We had the usual rest day after the Duo - we drove to Granville to amble gently about.  In particular the citadel area and the old town were very attractive, with the interesting wartime additions of the concrete gun emplacements that formed part of the German "Atlantic Wall".  Interestingly, it looked as though someone had had a go at chipping them apart but had given up.  Over 65 years since they were installed, the many concrete structures left by the Germnas still look quite robust.  We decided not to go to the aquarium, but wandered bak down to the habour where whe had an excellent lunch.  I had an  assiette de fruits de mer (whelks, winkles, oysters, crabs, langoustines, clams, etc) - while Carol had a salad nicoise and an excllent white fish (we think trigger fish) in a greenish spiruline sauce.  Then back for a lazy afternoon back at the house.

Photo gallery:

First thing, I went round the 15 mile circuit with Gerry (15.5 miles), stopping to buy bagettes and pains au chocolat. 

After second breakfast, we drove over to Utah beach for the ride we'd hoped to do the previous Wednesday - it was an altogether better day, with brilliant sunshine most of the time.  After unloading the bike in the Utah beach car park, we cycled to St Vaast le Hougue.  Initially along the coast road, but due to roadworks, we had to cross to the bigger D14 road.  Pretty nice cycling for the most part.  Lunch was galettes & crepes in a creperie in St Vaast le Houge.  Bizarrely we were supplied with the strong Leffe 9 instead of Leffe Blonde (!) - this made us feel rather sleepy as we set off to return to the car. 

We decided to investigate Agon-Coutainville today, and also try and find a village called Grouchy on its outskirts (some play on words re Team Grumpy!).  We set off via the small lanes near the house.  This practically was our undoing, as they proved very difficult to navigate due to the limited sinage on these tiddly roads.  Our aim had been to avoid the big intersections near Coutances.  We eventually crossed the D972 near Belval-Gare, after about 16 miles cycling, only to see signs proclaiming Cerisy La Salle 7km!  So we'd really come via a circuitous route. On the other hand, the roads had been delightfully rural, though populated by lots of barky dogs!

We narrowly avoided the Coutances industrial estates and the associated big roads ad in the end rode straight down the sea front at Agon-Cotainville.  Here we stopped for another excellent lunch in restaurant (pigeon breast salad & skate for Carol, assiette de bulots and skate for Robert).

I'd realised a few days before that I'd bought a return ticket to Poole rather than Portsmouth.  This was on the Brittany Ferries Normandie Vitesse.  I'd booked this because I wasn't keen on rolling off into British road traffic in the dark.  As it turned out, the ferry was still badged as "Condor Ferries" - presumably bought up by Brittany Ferries comparatively recently - but it was very quick, with a crossing time of 2h15.

Exiting Poole was a bit of a shock to the system after the gentle traffic we'd had in Normandy - but once out onto the motorway and A34 we rolled along OK, except for a major hold up due to an accident on the A34.  The A34 becomes more monstrous in its traffic levels each time we use it.  Astonishing to think that a few years ago we were still using it as a time trial course, albeit early on Sunday mornings.

Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel) tested positive for EPO (both A and B samples) back in June - test results which may see hims tripped of his Tour de France stage win.  Over the years, I've been quite amused to read the explanations for positive dope tests proffered by professional athletes.  These can vary from the vanishing twin explanation for a positive test for blood transfusion, to beer consumption as an explanation for aberrant testosterone:epitestosterone ratios.

Cyclingnews.com reports (Astarloza blames positive on training session) that Mikel Astarloza has offere an explanation for his aberrant test results. Apparently his lawyer Jose Rodriguez

Three months after returning from Belize, Vanessa of NatureBreak.org felt and heard the activity of a botfly larva in her scalp (I can recall reading an article in BBC Nature magazine about a cameraman who suffered this - he reckoned it was scritching against his skull!).

Botfly larvae are bulb-shaped, the the posterior spiracles poking out through a small hole in the skin - the main body of the larva is covered in backward pointing spines which serve to prevent the larva from being removed.

After the least successful racing season since I moved to England, I think the time has come to re-evaluate my off-season training programme.  In particular, I'd like to be a bit more successful next season, as both members of Team Grumpy will be 50 (thus making 2010 the "Team Grumpy Centenery") and it would be nice to make a mark.

Over the last few years, my out of season training programme has changed from a highly disciplined and progressive training programme (based on Pete Read's excellent "Black Book") to the more loosely controlled, and far less successful, approach. This hasn't been as a result of any intention on my part, more it's been a reflection of the demands of other parts of my life, and principally my working life.

So, off to France in a couple of weeks, so I'd like to find out whether I can use my Vodafone USB broadband modem over there, and what the charges will be.

Can I find out from the Vodafone website?  No I flipping can't! It is perhaps the most disorganised customer-focussed website I've ever had the misfortune to get lost in.

I spent some anxious hours towards the end of last week restoring access to the website I run for the North Bucks Road Club (see here for an outline of the woes).  I've now been moving the site to a new hosting company, which (apart from distracting me from blogging activity) has proven to be quite straightforward, apart from ensuring that both www.northbucksroadclub.org.uk and northbucksroadclub.org.uk point to the same place!  I have a temporary fix in place, and I'll sort out a proper resolution next week.

The reasons for the anxiety has been the upcoming British Time Trial Championship on 6th September, which is organised by the North Bucks together with TeamMK.  It's important that access to the event information is maintained, which is why the problems last week were so disruptive. 

A glorious sunny morning greeted me, though it belied the chill in the air as we gathered first at the clubroom and then down at the start of this club event.  Clearly, autumn had arrived!

The other factor to be taken into account was the headwind up to the turn onto the new dual carriageway - this was sufficient to knock me back to well below 20mph, before picking up speed on the undulating DC section. While the wind wasn't enough to cause problems, I could feel it tugging at the front wheel, particularly when passing lorries shielded me from it.