An Update From Sunny SoCal
David Smith | Wednesday 16th November, 2005
David Smith |   |
Well, I thought it was about time I gave a little update on my off-season activities for this winter! Since the end of my season at the Tour of Britain I've been fairly busy, firstly I got myself a job at the local pub, 'the Northern Sands Hotel' as soon as I got home (better that side of the bar than the other!) to earn myself a bit of money. I then thought about my plans for 2006 and on reflection decided it was about time I made use of my espoir years! As reported in previous entries my season with DFL was less than successful so after discussing with Brian Smith I decided I'd be best off back in France. Fortunately, Nick Collins of DFL was very understanding and said if that was what I wanted he didn't have a problem with me leaving, I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank him for all his efforts on the team's behalf this year.
So having posted my CV off to various French teams I sat back and waited for the phone to ring which it did, firstly with an offer from US Montauban and then one from VC Vaulx-en-Velin. I initially accepted with Montauban as they are a DN1 club with a good reputation but after having spoke with Michel Gros of Vaulx-en-Velin I decided to go with them. My main reason was that they are an espoir team and I'll get to do far more espoir racing with them and secondly that the director is very experienced and will hopefully be able to guide me to some good results! This year they were the feeder team for RAGT so they have good connections which will help in trying to find myself a pro deal. I will go to France at the start of Febuary for a two week traning camp on the Cote d'Azur and from thereon in it'll be into the racing, can't wait!
In the meantime I'd managed to save enough money to fund my winter training, I'm staying at my auntie's place in San Diego again till the end of January. Last time I spent the winter here I went on to enjoy a great season so I'm hoping the same will be true this time round. The temperature is still in the low 80's (they don't use centigrade here!) so conditions are ideal for putting in the miles! I've also recently started an Open University degree course studying French & Spanish so with a nearly 50% Hispanic population here I'll hopefully get the opportunity to practice a fair bit! Lastly I just like to wish my old buddy Mr. Gary Hand a speedy recovery form his unfortunate spill, hope you're feeling better soon!
a bientot.
