Back to the airport,  drinking another bad tea, in another generic coffee shop. That’s the early start tired brain causing the little moan.   Totally unnecessary as I am embarking on an all expenses paid holiday to Barcelona courtesy of the spanish tax payer. Not only that,  I also get to ride 3 different brand news bikes with tour de France legend Miguel Indurain. 

I’ve been off the blogs for a while, and I think this trip is exciting enough to justify a return to the keyboard. It’s not that I haven’t been up to anything since my last blog. I’ve had plenty of cold water surfs,  even caught a few barrels. I’ve hiked a couple of Welsh mountains, re ignited my passion for lead climbing, painted a bike,  upgraded another, run a half marathon,  and been out on a few but deffinately not enough training bike rides.

Each winter since i can remember I have suffered from a case of the winter blues (seasonal affective disorder).  Usually culminating in me hibernating for several weeks or months. So writing about cold, wet dark trips on a cold wet dark evening doesnt fill me with inspiration. Despite drafting a few blogs,  even a funny one about my love life and lack thereof,  including a brief venture into the world of online dating after basically being dumped by text. Although funny it didn’t make the cut. My real inspiration comes whilst waiting for planes,  trains and busses on route to or from somewhere new. This my first trip to Barcelona has lit the blogging touch paper once more. With my favourite day of the year (clocks going foward) is fast approaching I can feel myself lifting out of the winter blues for another year.  

So as I negotiated my way past an army of middle lane drivers on route to Gatwick,  I put my thoughts towards the upcoming year,  my professional development and what I really wanted to do this summer. When I return from Spain I will soon after be in Morocco cycling to the Sahara.  Shortly after that a London 2 Amsterdam ride and then the season kicks in proper,  with trips to Geneva, Islay,  Munich,  Venice,  Prague,  Vienna,  Budapest,  Florence and he countless rarely visited places imbetween. There are also some less glam trips coming up to places such as Guildford,  Utoxeter,  Manchester and London.  What the photos of these trips wont show is the stress that is married to organising these trips.

Despite receiving free holidays and gettingpaid to ride my bike earlier this year I came very close to handing in my notice, were it not for another colleague handing in his,  and a feeling of responsibility to the company during his transition,  I would be without a fulltime job right now. Ive still not decided of it has been the winter blues influence making me think like this. Its not the travel i dislike,  i love that. Its the office work,  sales and trying to keep track of seemingly a million things at once that I’m not fond of.  My colleague has now left with the new guy starting next week. However the thoughts of moving on never went away and i’m now ravaged by indecision. Is the stress of the office really worth it?  The alternative would be to freelance cycle lead for work and then focus on some other  qualifications between trips spending the summer living out of my van surfing,  climbing and riding.

The trouble with doing this would be a sever impact on my bank balance. But the benefit would be a less stressed existence and plenty of time to enjoy life. Which as I write certainly seems worth the financial sacrifice. However I am giving myself these 4 days of holiday to clear my head and make a decision before the season is truly upon me. To be fair to my employer I need to have chosen my path by Tuesday so they have time to find a replacement in time for the season…  3days of cycling in sunny Spain chasing down ex pro cyclists should help me to get my thoughts in order. Bring it on!