Training can be tough, but when you have glorious mountain views on every ride and breathe crisp mountain air then you really can't complain. When I'm riding for hours on end, and the legs start to complain then I just tell them to think about where they are and if they don't behave then I will make them get up at 4am in the morning for a training session on the turbo. Then they behave, as they know I will stick to my word.
When I used to live in Nottingham I had plenty of 4am training sessions before full time work teaching and then at night trying to help Ian get AQR Holidays off the ground. I look back on those early days and don't miss the lack of sleep and all the long hours the two of us put in. But I know it was necessary in order to realise our dream of living in the mountains. Nothing in this world comes easy, and it makes me laugh when people say that we have been very lucky. Perhaps lady luck did play a part, but not without alot of hard work along the way.
These days we are probably working even harder as we both have our own personal goals that we are chasing as well as running a mountain bike holiday company. But whenever the stress of thinking becomes too much for Mrs P, I just take myself off and sit beside the river or take a short walk into the mountains. It really makes you stop and think about what is important in one's life.
Right now I'm resting very weary legs after 3 weeks of heavy training and looking forward to all the racing, guiding and biking adventures ahead. It all kicks off in March, and it may not be until October that I find some quiet time to just go and spend the afternoon in the mountains by myself. But there's nothing better then having something to look forward to. Like our AQR guests have a holiday to look forward, Ian and I don't need holidays as we just look forward to being home in Luchon and riding our bikes.
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