What goes on on tour....

I'm just back from 4 days training in Mallorca.  Fantastic.  30 degrees +, good road surfaces and car drivers and cyclists living in perfect harmony.  This couldn't be further removed from cycling in the UK and  loved it!
There were just 4 of us  ride and our leader (they will debate who that was but it certainly wasn't me!) had planned it well.  In the first day we had a few hours to ride and we didn't waste anytime.  We battered in 33 miles and 755m of hills and the heat made me realise it was going to be a hard slog.  Listening to Elvis, thought he was dead, that night was enough to send us for an early night! Day 2 started with a 600m sea swim as our "domestique" (Wilson) is doing his first Ironman and wanted some sea swim experience.  Then we hit the hills and 73 miles later I was busted.  Despite our domestique taking the brunt of the work at the front 1,230 m of climbing isn't easy, especially in that heat - it was great.  A few pints in the evening and another early night however we were planning an easy day tomorrow.
Thank goodness for a rest day.  1,800m swim, 26 mile ride with a 452 m  climb and lunch at a fabulous restaurant at a beach and then a 3km run the end.  This was a life saver as without it I wouldn't have made the best day's riding of my life.
Day 4 was brutal.  The warm up was a 1,900 m swim which was unbelievable in the warm salt water. The bike involved 81 miles and 2 big climbs, one of them a Cat 1 climb (big bugger in pros language!).  The big climb took 1hr 15 min but it was worth every pint of sweat for the views and the descent.  Technical and fast but our domestique decided towards the end to "rip the legs" off us.  I hid behind him and chewed the handlebars while trying to stay on his back wheel.  Along the flat road we did the last 5km in 8min 30 secs.  It hurt like hell but what a buzz.
Every day my max heart rate reduced which showed my fitness was improving and I pushed myself as hard as I could.  Ironman Frankfurt may be in July 2016 but there is a lot of work to be done between now and then.  I'll build on this training over the winter but in the meantime it's back to training in best the Scottish Winter has to offer.  My thanks go the Kenny (the real leader), Wilson (the domestique) and Donny (my hill climbing partner).