Well, I’m sitting in Los Angles airport, half way home, another season done. It’s a bit of a weird one really. I’m well and truly ready to be heading home but at the same time I don’t want to go. It’s even a bit sad to be leaving France, which has become my second home, as I don’t know if I’ll be back again next year. At this very moment though, I’m a bit pissed off because my flight has been delayed by an hour and a half. Apparently my boarding pass is worth ten buck’s though, so I might go visit Burger King or Starbucks which is just across the terminal from me.
This year has been an interesting and testing year. To be honest it hasn’t been as good as I had hoped. It hasn’t been bad but its kind of a case of how much better could it have been? The team quite simply hasn’t been good enough and I have struggled with form in the last couple of months. The biggest problem this year has been that we have had to live with our team director. It’s a long story but quite simply it has been far from ideal. Would you want to live with your boss? If it wasn’t for Marky and James I could well have been back in NZ a lot earlier, put it like that. However, when I look back this has definitely been my best year yet on the bike. When on form I was at a whole new level, it all seemed too easy. The win I had at Buxerolles in the Coupe de France was massive and then to back it up with other big results was brilliant. In the first half of this year I honestly felt that I was one of the very best in France. Despite a lack-luster last couple of months I still ended up 7th in the Coupe de France standings this year. Not bad for a kid from the Wairarapa I feel.
The thing that has been so good in the last couple of weeks, but perhaps not the best thing for the bike, has been the overwhelming hospitality that we’ve received. In the last 12 days that I was in France, I ate out at home only once. We dined like kings. It’s no secret either that I love a vin rouge and most of the people in the club know that, which was great. Each time we were invited out to diner a good bottle was pulled out to impress us. Top local drops as well as some of Bordeauxs best like Paulliac and Chateaux Margaux were upon the table, which by the way are the dogs bollocks, magnifique! We came to the conclusion that they loved us which was extremely touching. There were plenty of handshakes, kisses and merci beaucoup’s. We found out that the French really love the word bon as well, which means good. Bon chance, bon continuation, bon voyage, bon courage, bon appetite etc etc were flung around repetedly. So French, so great. I have parted with some great memories.
I really don’t know what I’ll be doing next year, which is worrying. It is a tough time in cycling at the moment and finding a professional or continental team isn’t easy. I have done four years in France now and it feels as if I’ve done my apprenticeship, so to speak. It’s time to move on. I have had a great couple of seasons and I feel I’ve merited a spot on a good team and after this year I know I’m at the required level. The most important thing for me in the next couple of weeks is going to be securing a ride somewhere for next year.
To finish I must say thanks. Thanks to all of you who have helped me out and been behind me. I have had a good year and come a long way, something that I definitely couldn’t have done by myself. I really do appreciate the support, cheers.
Scott