Paul May

We´ve arrived in León for our rest day - 500K into the trip with another 400K to go. Yesterday was a tough 110K slog in very cold, then very warm weather. Needless to say we went out last night and took advantage of not having to cycle today :) For the last few days we´ve been cycling across Spain´s northern plains; a huge tract of dry, flat country. Some of it is farm land, other parts are just open plain. The cycling hasn´t been technically difficult since we left Burgos; more an endurance test..a slog. Everybody is feeling pretty good, and glad to be stopping in one place for a full day. John has been having some knee problems, but is getting stronger.  I left my phone in the last town, which is a bit of a pain, but no problems otherwise. Anyway, that´s all for now. Rest today, then 4 days, 400K :) (edit - actually only 350K, but more like 370K with our few wrong turns)

We’re off on our Camino De Santiago cycle tomorrow :) I’ve had a hectic few days in work, and I’m only back from London a couple of hours, but thankfully I have most of the packing done. All that needs to be done is to put my bike into the box, tape it up - and wait for the flight tomorrow. Worryingly, I can’t find my booking reference for the flight - but hopefully that just means I’ve deleted the mail; not that my booking hasn’t gone through, or I’ve gone senile and have forgotten to book the flight altogether. Anyway, that’s it for now. Off we go (hopefully…).

A week from today, we’ll be off. 12 days, 800K (and then some…depending on the exact route and how often we get lost), leaving from St. Jean de Pied de Port in the South of France, travelling the Camino De Santiago through Northern Spain all the way to Santiago De Compestela. I can’t wait!

I think cycling is transformative and very special (I’ve said this before…), so it’ll be amazing to get to see a different country from the saddle. My bike is being serviced (new front derailleur cable, fitting of a pannier frame, possibly replace the bottom bracket), so I’ll pick that up on Saturday when I’m back in Dublin. Other than that there’s not too much to do, I’ve packed my gear so that I can bring it home at the weekend and leave it there until I fly out (from Dublin) next Thursday. It’s going to be great; I’ll post up before we leave.

The o2 rugby site is now live; and was developed by Front. Submit a message through the site, and your message will screen in the Irish dressing room before every match of the Rugby World Cup. Check it out. (http://www.o2.ie/rugby)

Unfortunately I’ve had to miss my last two races (Blessington and Lough Neagh) of the Triathlon season because of the move to Belfast. I’m just really up to my ears moving gear up to Belfast, and getting the kit together to do races and travel up and down at weekends just isn’t practical.

It’s been a good season; I’ve done a couple of sprints and a couple of Olympic distance races; and I’ve been happy with my times in all. It’s not the 6 races that I had planned to do, but the cycle across Spain in September will be a good challenge before we head into the deep dark winter.

Belfast is going well; the house is great and work is nice and challenging (in a good way). We’re pitching for some great work, so fingers crossed.

I live in Belfast now. Last week I lived in Dublin. That’s the short version of my move to Belfast to take up a new job with Front, a growing web development company. I don’t tend to blog about work, and that’ll continue to be the case - but the first few days have been great and I’m hoping to make a good go of it here in Northern Ireland. Being away from Cliona during the week is already tough; but hopefully we’ll settle into the routine of me being in Dublin at weekends, or her visiting me here. Anyway, that’s all for now. Wish me luck.

London lived up to the hype; it was a great race with over 9000 people competing over the two days of the race - officially the largest race in the world. Like Dublin, the weather in London has been dreadful this summer - except for this weekend when temperatures hit 30 degrees during the race. Luckily I was in the 7am wave, so I was out of the heat before it got too grim.

My race went pretty well - I was really happy with my time of 2.31.33, but the swim was a bit ruined when some fool pulled my goggles off. I swam 1200m in horrible water with no goggles and was pretty pissed off until well into the cycle (angry cycling). The cycle itself was fine - closed roads all the way through central London with some very fast sections through tunnels along the Thames. The turn on the bike was just at Big Ben, opposite the London Eye and the scenery was a real bonus (even though I didn’t pay too much attention to be honest). The run was warm and pretty uneventful, just a two-lap grind around Victoria dock - then into the Excel centre to cross the finish line with cameras flashing and a great atmosphere all round. All the Piranhas did really well, I’m sure they’ll be posting their own reports on the Piranha Site. Special thanks to Cliona for the support and for helping me lug my bag and bike around London for the weekend.

In 5 hours I’m moving to Belfast - how did that happen? :)

We’ve arrived in London, and the buzz before tomorrow’s race is great. The sprints are on today and then we go tomorrow - the weather is shaping up to be great (London has been plagued by bad weather too in the last month). Bit worried about the water quality - but that’s life for you. I’ll write a proper update afer the race with some photos.

Zoom. Not long back from Barcelona, now we’re off to London for the weekend. I’m doing the London City Triathlon on Sunday, which should be good fun. I had hoped to do a good time in London, but a combination of colds and holidays have set my training back a bit. I’m happy enough to finish this one and just enjoy the day. I’m already thinking ahead to next year; I’ve spent just over a year doing the sport now, and next year I’d actually like to train to be good a the sport - not just to finish. Anyway, three more races to go this year; then back into the gloom of winter training. One week to new job.

Today was my last day in my current job. I got up a bit later than usual before getting the Dart into the head office - where I handed in my laptop and name badge, did the exit interview, and headed off into the wild blue yonder.

It’s been an interesting couple of years. I’ve met some great people and worked on some interesting projects. I’ve travelled a bit, trained with people from all over the world, and taken up Triathlon. Working with a large (huge) multinational really opens your eyes; you see the scale that a company can grow to, the scale of the money that washes around the global economy, and the “machinery” companies put in place to stay big and get bigger.

On the negative side, I never felt as though the work I was doing was a good fit for my skills or interests. That’s not to say that I didn’t learn things, but that my job sometimes felt like a bit of a detour - and some days I found it hard to motivate myself; which is hard for somebody who considers himself to be pretty driven.

Before the money gets better, before I get a little bit older I’ll take a leap and hope that my next job (which I’ll talk about in coming days) is a much better fit. Belfast here we come.