Duathlon

No running today but a bike and swimming duathlon instead.

I took the boys out on the mountain bikes today to give them some exercise and to get them away from the television. I decided that it would be good if we got some height in order to admire the views on another fantastically sunny day here in Aurillac. So, despite my fears about the moans that would inevitably be caused by this announcement, we kitted the boys out and got on the bikes. Laurence stayed at home since she was lending her bike to Henry, and so it was with some trepidation that I set out up the route des crêtes with Henry and Paul.

Henry has discovered a talent for cycling now that he gets to use a full-size MTB and after 5 minutes of uphill, he was already some distance in front. I stayed behind with Paul encouraging him to stay constant in his efforts, not to burn all his energy immediately and to enjoy the views as he went. Anyway, I had a problem with an excess of pressure in the rear brake system and the brake was creating an extra drag on the rear wheel.

We cycled up to St Jean de Done which is over 3.5 kilometres of uphill, so I was extremely pleased with both boys performance. They were happy with what they had achieved too and we carried on the road along the ridge until we reached the St Simon sign to descend. This was the road that the tour de France took to go up, right at the end of the Aurillac stage, and we went down at top speed today. Paul loved the downhill but Henry declared that he preferred cycling uphill to down. Along the road from st Simon to finish and the boys both left me as by now the extra heat had caused the rear brake system to grip even harder making every turn of the pedal feel like going up a 20% gradient. Nice ride doing about 13 km in total.

Swim this afternoon in Aurillac pool. Did 70 lengths and then played with the boys going down the slides.