When it gets hectic.

Eventually during a hectic week I did spot the Arthur's seat – please see the photo for that.

View from my lounge.

By hectic I don't mean some stuff to do on the legendary 'To do-list' here and there, but more something like keeping on going from dusk till dawn sort of stuff. On Tuesday I did my training ride from 900-1230hrs was on first lectures at 1400hrs until 1600hrs, then had a snack only to be back at lectures from 1800 to 2000hrs. Then again on Wednesday woke up just after 600hrs and had completed my first training session of the day just before 900hrs. Then one important meeting took place at 1000hrs after which I had lunch and headed to the roads at 1400hrs for some two hours to be back at uni for 1800hrs to assist my friend in his PhD data collection. Now, after all that, I'm pretty tired already. Tomorrow I'll rest or at least active rest. And yeah, I sincerely hope that next week will be more settled and less hectic, and luckily for me, the odds are good for that.

My classes have started well quickly. There was just a quick necessary induction and from there on the real stuff began. In fact, the start was so quick that me and Alex, a colleague of mine from IPP and PP, got a tad bit frightened by the workload and athletics. But at the end of the day, we'll live with it.

Mentioning the IPP. Training has started well smoothly. Riding is on a good state despite the relatively insufficient resting periods. All other things have also caused that it has not been quite as structured as we would have liked it to be. I've also started my new strength and conditioning program (SnC) with my new SnC coach Stephen Bishop. That guy is amazing, he definitely knows his stuff. Already, I feel that I have made progress in terms of technique and maybe I'll squat like Sir Chris Hoy one day (again, in terms of technique – please remember). There is also some new mobility stuff added into my training, run by another SnC coach - Dave. I've now started also working with our physio to open up my back, which will hopefully make me more aero and efficient on my bike. Roads are well good and drivers around here have been very considerate, even though the surface is mega rough in some places.

For next week, or preferably already Saturday, I'm looking to get settled and get back to basics. That would mean creating an overall plan for coming season, and weekly plans from there on. Also in a weird way, it also means the end of last season, and I'm also done with my off-season, without actually noticing them. That is due to some changes in racing plans and as mentioned before, it has been pretty hectic. With all new stuff here, I can't even say how excited I am looking at the coming season.

Some of my first impressions from Edinbarra.

Sitting on the sofa, trying to spot Arthur's Seat through the darkness and just chilling.

Life has been a bit hectic lately with so much going on. I've just tried to balance my days with university inductions, moving in, necessary shopping (ie. the dull stuff – hangers, boxes, cleaning aids...) and then of course getting back to training.

Now though, I've had a bit of time to relax and reflect all that I've seen and heard so far. And maybe, to begin with, I could babble a bit about what am I actually doing here. Last february I applied for a masters degree over here in the University of Edinburgh. The programme I gained admission to officially goes under the name of MSc Performance Psychology. Though, it will be shortened to PP (or maybe peepee) as it is quite a long pair of words and the other reason will be enlightened little bit later in the text. Anyway, my studies are about people who perform, such as athletes, businessmen and -women, military and performing arts to name a few, and to understand the psychological attributes and determinants of such performances. The best thing is – it will all start tomorrow.

When it comes to cycling, I have been accepted to the Individual Performance Programme of the University of Edinburgh. Now this IPP (see the difference to PP) is a programme created to support student-athletes towards their academic and sporting ambitions. In the programme the sports vary from my cycling to archery to kayaking to athletics to pistol shooting – just to name a few. From my part it is all just about to kick off, but only the induction was a sign of something I've never experienced. The system is pure class and I feel extremely honored and proud to be part of it. There are loads of new things coming up for me, but more about that later on once the things are running.

So far Edinburgh has been super (yet sometimes fairly rainy) and I can't wait to get properly started. The people I've met from my school, from the university's cycling club and from the IPP have been amazing. I've also bagged first proper training rides around the area. Hilly, I believe, is the best way to describe my new training ground. A sound example is the Holyrood Park only five minutes from my door, which provides a solid 2km uphill for some hill repeats – I'm sure that the hill will be familiar come spring time.

It is all good!

PS. In case someone wonders the spelling of Edinburgh in the header. A quotation from a well-known travel guide states: 'No matter where you come from, you should not forget that Edinburgh is always pronounced with a Scottish rasp as 'Edinbarra''!

Very first greetings from Scotland.

Here I am now in the beautiful city of Edinburgh. Still in a hotel though as I haven't got keys to my new apartment. Still, from the hotel window I can see the Firth of Forth and it is all pretty damn good. Program at Uni is yet to start, but sportswise it will start on Saturday and my Performance Psychology degree on Monday.

Thinking back and reflecting to the time after the last update. Yep, quite a long period – I know. After track nationals I was supposed to travel to Sweden for Tour of Jamtland, but as many of you well know that never happened. I sprained my back during the training sessions leading to track nationals and it didn't let me go to such demanding stage race at all, let alone in competitive form. Such things happen, it is just part of the sport.

Instead of Tour of Jamtland, I dozed myself with Ibuprofen, beetroot juice and carbs and at the same time had my back covered with Kinetic tape and went for the longest time trial of my life – it goes by the name of Kalevankierros. For my luck and great surprise it was actually easier to tuck into TT-position than on normal roadbike. Anyway, it was 68km long lumpy if not hilly route and I nailed my plan except that I managed juggle other of my gels midway through. Nailing the plan brought a solid result and I won the event. Happy ending for the summer season despite the aching back.

On my holiday I took a big chill and at the end had a family weekend in Budapest with my most important support crew. We wandered around Budapest, visited Sörözös and Borozos (ie. Pubs and winebars) and ate well. I also went, as our big time tradition is, to my godparent's cottage for a weekend visit. After that it was time to go back to basics.

Uphill sprints near Cramond

Now in Edinburgh. First hundred or so miles done. Waiting very much to meet and greet new people. From now on it is pretty much all academic work and training – in that particular order.

On the banks of Firth of Forth

All in all, the summer was very much okay and I feel that I reached some steps and progressed. The summer months also brought some changes to my training and lets say diet, which seems to be working well as well. I have to admit that I maybe didn't get quite all the results I wanted for one or another reason. But then again, I know that I made progress and there were some very strong rides in the mix. This is definitely a solid starting point for the winter season.

From stage racing to track.

Again a relatively long break from blogging, but relatively productive block on bike. After the road nationals it was a week until the U6 Cycle Tour in Tidaholm. That period I spent just getting ready to roll from the first to last stage.

The race itself clearly itself provided me with definite highs and lows as well. The highs included prologue, first road stage and especially last road stage. The criterium and second road stage were the lows and the finishing time trial landed somewhere in between being neither good, nor bad ride. In the prologue I was 10^th with a solid but shy overall performance. The road stage was quite nervy, but I managed to get through with no problems. Second road stage was simply terrible. Cold, wet, and even colder – I ended my race shivering at around 115km. The criterium next day went at the beginning from break to break until I had to gasp some air inside the bunch and during that period I locked my brakes and destroyed my rear tyre and was eventually flagged out.The last road stage was good. I was in the first break and rode actively. Some nervy moments inside last five kilometers, however, cost me a chance for real good stage result. In the time trial I gave my all, but the active road stage made a notable difference and I just wasn't hitting the right watts and ended up being 18^th.

After U6 Cycle Tour it was time for a two-week track cycle to complete the nats. In the mean time, my training had made me slower and slower and actually the only idea of the two-week cycle was to get at least some speed to my legs. It worked okay in the end. On Tuesday before I rode a solid kilo in almost perfect conditions. Come Friday and the national kilo champs my time was enough for fourth, meaning that the sprinters had got the better of me– as I expected, but managed to forget at the time. My sincere congratulations go to Juhani for his first jersey. You really deserve it, wear it well buddy!

On Saturday I had two disciplines in my schedule – individual pursuit and match sprint. Individual pursuit to win and match sprint for fun. I qualified fifth in the match sprint in the morning and first in the individual pursuit with a controlled ride, despite my too quick opening. In match sprint I was dropped by my friend Antti and then solely concentrated on the pursuit final and especially starting calmly. The final was good for me, and I even got to enjoy the last three laps of the race. It was my third, but still felt superb. The day on that was getting only better and better when I watched Antti riding like a boss in his first ever proper sprint competition. At the end of the day, he was crowned the champion. Congrats Antti! On the last day we had the team pursuit in the program. We rode it safe and got gold to wrap up the weekend. Then it was time to enjoy the rest of the competition as a spectator.

Good couple of weeks are now bagged and I'm looking forward to the future.