Due to the Olympic Rules I am no longer aloud to write blogs on this site. I will be putting things up on my Blogspot.

www.paulgoodison.blogspot.com

Thanks
Paul

I write this yawning as i sit and wait for my next flight from Beijing to Quingdao. I didn’t catch much sleep on the flight so im fueling myself with caffeine to try and stay awake. It all feels very real having just validated my accreditation. Walking around in my team kit everybody seems interested in what im doing here and what sport im competing in, even getting my photo taken with Chinese ground staff at the airport.

I have just had a good weak at home with a mix of cycling, sailing and sitting at home waiting for the post man to arrive with a whole variety of packages of new ropes, tillers, wetsuits etc….

On Thursday I had one of the nicest sails in Weymouth ive ever had, the wind increased to over 20 knots from the South East as i sailed out of the harbour into the bay. The sun was shining as i was out heading up towards Lullworth with only a few mored tankers for company. I enjoyed some great rides home on the building swell before heading home for lunch.

I pulled out of doing a time Trial on my bike on Tuesday night as still felt a little tired from the Europeans but this left me all rested up for my first ever road race on Thursday night after a great days sailing.

I headed off with Alex Hopson the new local triathlon star!!! part time 49er crew, with both bikes in the back of the car out to Morton. After registering and paying for a temporary racing license we had enough time for a quick warm up. There were over 50 cyclists signed on and several of the elite group where warming up on turbo trainers which was a bit dawnting!!!

We started just after 7 about 2 minutes after the Elite group for 10 laps of the 4km course. It wasn’t the gentle started that id anticipated as we raced off with my heart rate pounding away.

After a few laps i was getting the hang of things and find myself leading out of one of the corners, the guy next to me said lets go as we put the pedal to the metal and tried to brake away. After a minute we managed to gain a bit of a lead on the pack, I looked at my heart rate to see it over 95% I put my head down and drove on, the next time i looked back everybody was right there behind us, GUTTED!!!!!!!!

I took a while to recover as i clung on to the back of the group for a lap. Having not learned from my mistake i tried again with another rider before being caught and getting a bit of an earful from one of the locals, I just smiled and pedaled on.

The pace increased as we entered the last 2 laps as several people tried break aways, with 2 corners to go 4 of the elite riders that had broken away came past, Alex and i managed to stay with them as we stretched out into the last corner for the last mile to home. Alex kicked hard as i clung onto the back and then sling shotted past for the sprint to the finish (the work horse, taking one for the team cheers mate). Two riders from the Elite group pulled away and I was just passed with 20 meters to go to take 2nd on the line!!!!! Alex sorted me out a treat but was swallowed up by the group just before the finish, I made sure i bought him a beer after….

It was a great experience to take part in my first road race and a great work out reaching heart rate intensities that are really hard to achieve with out the adrenaline pumping in a race situation. I had a great time and im sure ill be back for some more after China.