Richard Kingsford Question

Club la Santa in Lansagrotty as loads of the top tri atheles train there

Andy

austin, texas: hill country, bike lanes everywhere, great open water swim venues, many trails, and home of sir lance.

Back it up , try this for an exotic training location. GAZA

Whilst based in Israel where I worked as a News Cameraman. I would often have to travel to Gaza and spend time there. Getting up early in the morning I would don the lycra and go for a run. Up to the checkpoint near Yassar Arafat's old compound where a nervous kid would raise his AK47 , signaling the turnaround point back along the road to another checkpoint where another gun again signals the turnaround and race either the donkeys or the horse carts back to the hotel. Nobody could fathom what the hell a mad westerner was doing running , unfortunately running is no longer advisable due to kidnap threat . One serious BAD location

Mal aka Gaza Running (my athlinks name)

Clermont Florida. The hills are real and the USA Triathlon National Training Center is there for swims and gym workouts. The family can pop over to Disney World while you do an 8 hour bike ride. Do I need to explain Florida winters? They are the best, cool and dry.

Colorado Springs, Colorado. It offers flats, rollers, mountains, trails, altitude, lakes/resevoirs, quality athletes and great cycle and running events, like a marathon up and down 14,000ft pikes peak. Charmichael (Lance's coach) has his centre there. Food is good. People are friendly. Micro-breweries... oh, its got it all! Screw bloomin' Miny Mouse and Disneyland, I am going to book a flight and get back their right now.

Next favourite, a trip back to NZ to enjoy the delights of the South Island.

This one is a no-brainier - Jeju Island, South Korea! Everythign is great about this place. Weather - warm summers - can be hot and humid so great to acclimatise for the heat! - but nice evenings/mornings - Lots of riding on undulating roads, lots of trails, great swimming on clean beaches. Heaps of spas and saunas (known as Jim-jil Bangs in Korean) which have hot and cold pools, and hot and cold rooms (great for recovery). Close to Japan and China if you want to take a quick break for a couple of days. Best of all - the people are so friendly and kind, and they will treat you really well take great care of you! English is widely spoken, and it is somewhere a bit different to what is familiar for most of us - making it an intriguing and worthwhile interesting place to visit! (Click for the Link ...) and (Click for the Link ...)

Anywhere with hills. I live on the east coast of the UK and it's as flat as a pancake. Scotland this summer and Cornwall last year gave me some decent climbs. Also trained in Mexico this year which was bloody hot!

If your name is Bevan then it's probably stepping up onto the stool at the Clinique For Men counter at the local department store to get another gallon of moisturiser. For the rest of us (at least in Europe) it has to be Club La Santa in Lanzarote. Warm weather, hills, a 50m swimming pool, a running track, gym, food on site and everything else you need for your warm weather training.

P.S. They do have a day-spa on site for those you need to look after their skin...