Instead of the usual race report and because 2017 was very much a build year I thought I'd just share some learnings. These are in no particular order.

• Muscle Memory is a real thing

Thank god for that!
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After 7 months off and a few failed starts due to lack of interest and health, I finally committed to putting a 12 week block together for Dublin 70.3. Lucie and I had planned to give serious racing a miss in 2017 but at the same time make sure we qualified for the 2 championships so that we could focus  2018 solely on Kona.

​The first 3 weeks were hard but it wasn’t long before the body started to remember the routine. Consistency up to Dublin and then for another 5 weeks up to Italy was great. Averaging just under 15 hours and just over 10 sessions per week. Shortest week 8 hours after 70.3 Dublin, longest week 20 hours the week after that.

So the day of departure has arrived – I am not going to say ‘finally’ as it has suddenly come so quickly.  11 months ago I qualified and thought it would be aaaages till I actually go to Kona.  As always, in hindsight, it all went too fast.

With all the excitement (and stress) of getting ready for a trip literally to the other side of the globe, comes the dreaded bike packing.  This was made more interesting this morning when I struggled for over an hour trying to get my new BMC Time machine into my bike bag.  I have never packed it before and owning a ‘SUPERBIKE’ comes with its challenges.