“What on earth are you doing?” de Vreen enquired when she finally emerged from the bathroom.
“My legs, what’s it look like?”

Well look, I was bored, unpacking was minimal, Max hasn’t answered my text and she was taking forever showering.

“It looks like you’re sandpapering them.”

I looked at the pad in my hand and considered her statement.

“Guess I am,” I agreed.
“So how’s that work then?”
“it just sort of rubs the hair away?” I suggested.
“Doesn’t it hurt?”
“Only if you rub too hard.”
“Think I’ll stick to razors,” I was informed.
“So you done in there?”
“Yeah, its all yours.”

I finished my ‘sand papering’, it doesn’t just remove the hair but does a reasonable job of exfoliation too, however you do need to wash off the debris, cue the shower!

 
From having bags of time by the time I was finished in the bathroom it was already nearly half four. Dad hadn’t given us a dress code so I went with one of my sun dresses, passable for dinner but comfortable enough to hang out in too. Mand decided at the last minute to lose her vest and shorts in favour of more genteel accoutrements so I went on ahead.

“Going somewhere?” Kat suggested as we waited for the lift, she’s sharing with Angela in a room a couple of doors down from me and Mand.
I shrugged, “dunno yet do I?”
“So what do you think of the rooms?”
“Bit pokey but I’ve stayed in worse.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I thought the seniors stayed in five star splendour?”
“Yeah, right, I think George would have us in a tent if he could.”

I gave a little chuckle, our mutual Obermeister is famed for his almost ‘Yorkshireman’ like tightness. The lift gave a ding to announce its arrival.

“Hold on, wait for me!” Mand yelled as she pounded along the corridor towards us.

 
Downstairs a certain amount of clamour acted as a beacon in finding the dining room, part of which was segregated by a couple of those moveable screen things. We weren’t the last to arrive but I’m guessing Dad and Caro had been somewhere not far away, they arrived bearing coffee cups, the swines.

“Settle down please,” Caro requested, “yes Darren?”
“Any chance we can get drinks?”
“Already sorted,” she replied.

As if waiting for the cue one of the hotel staff wheeled in a trolley laden with a couple of pitchers of ‘cold’ cordial and a jug flask which by the cups I’m guessing contained coffee. We have got some discipline despite being teenagers so we did wait to be invited before descending on the beverages.

“Okay, now that's sorted, if you can all move a bit closer in, we don’t want to be shouting across the restaurant,” Caroline instructed, “Dave?”

Dad stood and moved to where one of those flip chart things stood, “thanks Caroline, well folks, we’re here despite the respective federations and I propose that we do our best to show them the errors of their ways,” he paused and looked out over us, his acolytes.

“We have a lot going for us, for you, you’ve all been riding, living together in most cases, for several months, you all know each others strengths and weaknesses. In the morning we’ll have our numbers bolstered by a young Spanish lad, Mikel Lamba, I hope you’ll welcome him to the fold, the next couple of days will hopefully see him meshing with the rest of you.

We are on a fairly tight budget, George is a bit miffed with BC to be honest but he’s determined to keep to the Apollinaris side of the arrangement, hence we do have young Kat here as masseuse and of course the use of the senior teams car. Its not ideal but with Angela helping out and of course I’ll be helping Darren where possible we should get through.”

He paused for a quick wet from his cup.

“Now come the race on Wednesday you’ll be split into the two squads and in the race the organisers are very keen that you ride as two squads not one super squad so bear that in mind.”

Sal waved an arm, “does that mean we have to attack Mand and that?”
“Caro?” Dad suggested, “you want this?”
“Sure Dave, well officially yes Sal and of course vis a vis, unofficially though, provided its not too blatant that you’re working together we will have a single overall game plan. For the race Dave will be DS for Apollinaris, me for BC but we’ll be singing to the same tune, hopefully podiums each day but most importantly the overall. There are separate classifications for lads and lasses, the organisers would’ve preferred single sex squads which we considered but by having you mixed up we think we get an edge over the opposition. Questions?”
“So who are we riding for?” Jamie queried.
“We haven’t decided for certain Jame, i’m sure you’ll all have some thoughts on that, we’ll make that decision day by day okay? Anyone else?” no one apparently had anything else so she went on, “Dave?”
“Thanks Caro, just before we move on, whoever is nominated ‘leader’ each day will be on merit, not on history, as far as we are concerned you are all in the pot.”

In other words Gaby, don’t assume you’re in the driving seat.

“Okay, so tomorrow and Tuesday. you’ve already done the heavy training – and travelling so the programme is quite light.”

He flipped the pad over revealing a time table affair.

“So, breakfast from seven, its a buffet but sensible please. Dressed and ready to ride out front for nine thirty – we’ll be riding from here tomorrow. When we get back there will be a light lunch and Kat and Angela will have a massage schedule for you.”
“Smooth legs please,” Kat opined.
“You heard the lady,” Dad agreed, “time’s your own then until dinner at seven here in the hotel, again its a buffet, the hotel assure me they are used to cyclists so there should be plenty to eat. Tuesday will be much the same except after lunch we’ll be moving over to Pamplona.”
“What about dinner tonight Mr B?” Josh queried.
“Here in the hotel Josh.”
“Do we have to dress up?” Gret put in.
“Not here but tidy at least, we might want to come back! There is a presentation in Pamplona Tuesday evening but we’re not expecting you in dresses and heels on race days.”
“Good job, I left mine at Neuewied,” Geth quipped.
“Geth!” Claire complained as we descended into laughter.
“Can we go to the beach or into San Seb?” Tal asked as things calmed back down.
“Anyone else want to do that?” Caro enquired.
“Wouldn’t mind,” Mand allowed.
“We’ll see if we can sort something then. Any more questions?”
“When do we eat?”

There were a few snickers at my query.

“You were all thinking it,” I suggested.
“From seven Gab.”
“Ooo, ten minutes ago!”

Yep, somehow our little team briefing had run for over an hour and a half, didn’t seem like that long to be honest but stomachs were now rumbling.

 
“Glad I changed,” Mand commented as we queued with other hotel guests for our turn at the buffet.

It might be Spain and hot but looking around, here at the Villa Lezo Atlantico there was a sort of casual dress code. No naked torsos, no swim shorts or bikinis in the restaurant and a certain amount of dressing up seemed par for the course. The team dresses would’ve been overboard but my sundress fitted in fine – not that I was comparing myself of course.

I shuffled along and took a plate – but what to have? For the hotel, buffets are a ‘get out of jail free’ card, table service reduced to drinks, the dishes can be prepared in advance and generally waste is reduced. Me? Well I can take them or leave them, you do get the chance to try different stuff but sometimes you just want a straightforward meal.

 
As you might guess from our location the offering this evening was big on sea food, but not to the exclusion of the non aquatic elements. I added paella and some sort of chorizo risotto thing to the smoked fish and salad stuff on my plate and returned to the table Jamie and Geth were already eating at.

“Off your food Gab?” Geth asked.
“You can go up more than once,” I told him with a glare at his heaped plate.
“Oh cool!”

Boys!

“Not you too Mand?”
“Me too what?” she asked carefully placing not one but two loaded plates onto the table, “you not hungry then?”

 
There’s not exactly a lot going on in Lezo unless you are going to hang out in a bar, its therefore not a surprise that many of the guests spent a good chunk of the evening at the buffet – not eating as much as socialising and enjoying the breeze blowing across the restaurant verandah. Of course someone, well Gret, started a card school and given my lack of ability I decided to go up and catch up on my sleep.

“You going up kiddo?” Dad asked seeing me heading off.

The adults including Kat were relaxing over a bottle of something alcoholic.

“Yeah, bit tired.”
“Okay, see you in the morning luv.”
“Uh huh, nite everyone.”
“Nite Gab,”
“Night.”
“Abend.”

 
To be honest it was a bit early to go to bed, I switched the idiot box on for a bit of noise – there was some sort of game show on - not that I could follow the format. I dug out my Handy to check for a message, any sort of message to divert me from boredom.

“You watching this Gab?”
I forced an eyelid open, “hmm?”
“I said, are you watching the telly?”
“Not really, wossa time?”
“Half ten, your Dad kicked us upstairs.”
“Should get some sleep.”
“I slept most of the way down, there nothing else on here?”
“Dunno, here,” I lobbed the TV remote over to her divan.
“Cheers, didn’t see you come up.”
“I’m crap at cards.”
“At least there’s something we can beat you at.”
“No good at dressmaking either.”
“Nor me,” she mentioned as she flicked through the TV channels, “God there’s some dross on here, come back RTL, all is forgiven!”
“You could just turn it off,” I suggested.

 
My phone trilled to announce a text arrival, I flicked it up, now you reply von flippin’ Strechau, half past eleven! I didn’t bother reading it, he can wait. So of course then I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I did read it and replied and waited for a reply and…

I woke with a start, unsure of where I was but with a raging thirst. I got up and crept past my roomie to get some water to slake my thirst – the hotel insist its safe to drink from the tap. I needn’t’ve worried, Mand was still sawing away, lost to the world when I returned to my bed.

Apparently it was a little after two but it was still warm enough to remain on top of the bed rather than in it. Of course that did little to help me return to the Land of Nod, hopefully I’ll get used to it being so warm. For the third time I slipped beyond consciousness, one second I was staring at shadows on the ceiling the next I wasn’t.

 
Maddy Bell © 23.03.2018