Holiday race

Recently I got told, yet again, that this blog has been silent for quite some time. I have to say that starting a new entry with these words feels kind of familiar. As putting down some words, and subsequently combining them into a story worth reading, is only a minor hobby of mine it suffices to say that I’ve found lots of other ways to spend my daily non-sleeping hours. It’s been almost a year since I started working 40 hours a week, which is not spectacular by any means, but sort of life-changing nonetheless. Or so I thought. 

Working for Shimano also brought me lots of joy and energy that allowed me to keep using the remaining hours of the week to stay fit and even follow some sort of semi-serious training regime. Maybe the ‘random’ free hours for training and other side-projects became less, but I’ve become increasingly motivated to ride my bike more. Might also have something to do with the need to test products from time to time or the nice weather we’ve been having this year. The result is that even while I’ve now nudged past my peak years (I’m getting old too you know), I’ve still managed to improve my physical shape, but also being more balanced in a way.

Speaking about balance, there’s also the amount of free days I get to spend in one year. There’s a limit to them, so unfortunately there’s also a limit to the amount of races I can do abroad. For years, near the end of the season, I could be found in China for the Tour of Poyang Lake. Although I always enjoyed it a lot, this time around I have decided to skip it and go to Vietnam instead. The VTV Cup Ton Hoa Sen is not anew race for me and the experience of two years ago was quite positive so I decided that I would love to give this holiday-race another go.

What makes the VTV Cup Ton Hoa Sen so special is that you basically get to do what some other people do as well when they go to Vietnam for a holiday: ride your bike from north to south (or the other way around). The race has grown a bit over the years and now features a total 14 stages that take us from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh. Also, this time it’s not just along the flat coastal roads, but even includes some climbs. In the eyes of the lazy B-sprinter I am, you could even consider them serious mountains. The concept will most probably remain the same: ride your ass off in the morning, fighting an army of Vietnamese teams in different jerseys, who all seem to work together, followed by an afternoon and evening of relaxing and behaving like a tourist. You can imagine I’m really looking forward to this, so I will keep updating this blog from time to time during the race to give some insight in this ‘holiday’. And if you like, you can also follow the race via their Facebook page.