National cyclo-cross champion Helen Wyman leaves the frozen fields of Belgium and gets some endurance training in with two weeks in sunny Portugal.

Having started my cyclo-cross season at the beginning of September, which seems like an age ago, I knew I was in for a long season.  So I'd always planned a short racing break for an endurance training block in a warmer climate. 

Having always done this at home in Belgium previously, I was pretty excited about the possibility of no frozen drink bottles and wearing less than 20 layers for a four hour ride in the kind of conditions you come to love and hate in Belgium.  Following the advice of Peter Kay, I visited Teletext and located the cheapest break I could find to a country with a warm climate and Portugal came up top.

We arrived in perfect sunshine and 23-degree temperatures at 10am in the morning to our four-star resort on the cliff top with sea views. I wasn't quite sure if someone was playing a practical joke on us as it's not very often you get such a great hotel for so little money, but five days later and no one has kicked us out yet.  This trip actually costs less than the taxi cost me last time I had to get home from the airport without a lift.

I've never been to Portugal before but everyone we had spoken to said it was amazing training with really quiet roads.  The only alarming advice we were given was ‘watch out for the dogs'. Anyone who knows me will know my slight fear of dogs, especially when I'm out riding and really don't want to get eaten so I wasn't actually looking forward to this part.

So off we went with a rather shoddy map in hand to investigate the terrain. We saw some wind turbines on a range of hills and decided that was the direction we were going for. Just before we started our first ascent we rode past a small house on the edge of the road with a rather large scary looking dog. I noticed him just as we got level and he was running at full pace towards us. Just as he got to the edge of the gate in true comedy style the chain run out and jerked him backwards a good few yards. It's fair to say Stef actually told me how funny it looked as I was already a good 200 metres up the road still at full sprint pace.

From the top of the hill we had seen a really nice looking lake so on the second day we decided to ride around this on what looked like good roads on the map. Knowing there are quite a lot of gravel roads we thought we would be okay by following the signposts even though it was getting more like mountain bike trails on a road bike. Ten kilometres later we saw the lake and it looked truly beautiful although the descent on the still gravel track didn't look quite as inviting. As we tried to find a real road again I was beginning to wonder if the ‘Hills Have Eyes' was actually filmed in Portugal and maybe I shouldn't have dropped Stef on the last climb until I finally heard a van and headed in that direction.

For anyone who has never been training here, it is amazing. We are staying near Portimao on the south coast of the Algarve. It's been 20-25 degrees everyday since we have been here and the roads are empty and in really good condition.  There are hills and valleys to ride in as well as the coast roads, and the coastline is truly beautiful. To top it all off last night we went to a local restaurant called ‘All Beef' (a vegetarian's delight) which has to be the nicest restaurant I have ever eaten in.  In true Master Chef style ‘it was luuuurveeely'.

Unfortunately we have to return from this paradise next week and back to northern European weather. I have two races in Germany followed by Koksijde - one of my favourite World Cup venues - back in Belgium a week later. I'm actually very excited as most of my family are coming to watch and I can't wait. Till then.

The Hills Have Eyes: all alone in Portugal

RELATED LINKS

Helen Wyman: A ball of cheese and three litres of beer

Bronze for Wyman in European Championships

It is with very deep regret that we announce the death of Johnny Helms. Our resident cartoonist needs no introduction after entertaining readers for more than six decades and for many he not only personified this magazine but also the essence of the British club cyclist.

Cycling Weekly simply won't be the same without Helms. The man from Cheshire was at the very centre of this publication for more than half of its 118-year history.

His work served to document club life through some six decades. That's approaching three-and-a half thousand cartoons since February 1946, making Helms the longest continually published contributor not only of this magazine but any publication in the UK and probably the world.

One of my first and lasting memories of Cycling when I first read this magazine as a teenager was of a luckless rider being pursued by one of Helms's famous canine creations.

Several years ago when I visited Johnny he drew a cartoon for my daughter. Was it of that dog? Of course it was!

A full obituary appears in news and next week's special issue of Cycling Weekly (November 19) will feature a 12-page Helms tribute.

Emma Silversides is a professional cyclist for the Lotto Belisol team and is based in Belgium. Here she shares her insight into the continental women's scene.

I have deviated from the Belgian theme for some weeks now and feel a little guilty about this; when first asked to write the blog it was specifically supposed to be about ‘the women's scene in Belgium'. So this week I am going to make an attempt to at least begin to get back on track with a sprinkling of Belgian influence.

I have in fact spent the last two weeks in Yorkshire working full time for an American optical company. My daily commute to work consists of 14km on quiet country lanes followed by a further 9km taking me from the south of York, right through the centre, up to the north of the city, and out the other side.

I was completely unprepared for the endless dangers that face me (and indeed all the others who opt to commute by bike) every morning and evening. I have come to the conclusion that I am being kept in the dark about two major things.

Firstly, the whereabouts of the roads that make York a ‘cycle city'; I am told that this is the case by the regional news programs and in the local papers. Seemingly my route to work, despite taking me from one side of York to the other, misses a major part of the city which qualifies it to be bike friendly.

Maybe all the 100 and 200-metre stretches of bike lanes total more than any other city in England thus making York a ‘cycle city'. Or maybe the fact that at the majority of lights a green box suddenly appears for cycles to wait in while the lights change; these are so helpful with their carpets of glass shards and impatient drivers collecting behind ready to race past at the soonest available opportunity.

And the second thing that I am being kept in the dark about? I can only guess it's maybe a party, a free meal or the visit of a celebrity. Whatever it is, it happens every evening and you must be there on time and not a minute late. Oh, and only car drivers are admitted so get your foot on the accelerator and don't lose a minute.

Where is the Belgian influence I hear you asking? Well I guess my ranting comes from growing accustomed to being treated with respect while riding my bike in Belgium; is that such a bad thing? In Belgium the verb to ride (as in a bike) is ‘rijden'. The verb to drive (as in a car) is ‘rijden'. Yes, they are the same, they are conjugated identically, and I think that this is no coincidence. Drivers of cars expect to share the road with ‘drivers' of bikes, everyone abides by exactly the same rules and more often than not the cyclist takes priority. It really is quite simple and neither party complains.

I become so infuriated by the attitudes of drivers everyday and wonder if some of them have ever ridden a bike themselves; probably not. So here lies the route of the problem; it is sheer ignorance of the majority of the population and I must learn to curb my frustration since you cannot blame a person for being ill informed and inexperienced. The car takes priority over the bike and that's how it's simplified here in England. I am returning to Belgium next weekend; I cannot wait. I assure you that the blog will be about Belgium and women's cycling!

Another international track meeting and another whitewash by the British team. It was business as usual at the Manchester World Cup, but even by our own very high standards these performances were something special.

With less than 1,000 days to go until the Olympics, this was the start of the proper build-up for 2012 and on the strength of this performance our riders are set for unprecedented success.

Sir Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton still reign supreme in the sprint, but with four riders in the top five of the men's competition, you can see GB's strength in depth. Our youngsters are also getting better, much better, and are not afraid to challenge the old guard for selection.

Things are changing fast. Bradley Wiggins has been deposed as Britain's current quickest pursuiter after Geraint Thomas managed a 4-15 in qualifying. The 23 year old's performance is now the third best of all time and the fastest using conventional tri-bars. And it was only his second individual pursuit series, after the previous weekend's National Champs.

It's no wonder the BBC devoted most of Sunday afternoon to TV coverage from the velodrome, and Sir Chris was even given a mention on the 10 o'clock news.

For anyone wanting to keep up with all the latest on our track stars, then a subscription to Cycling Weekly makes the perfect Christmas present. You'll save 15 per cent and our offer includes the DVD of this year's Tour de France.

Robert Garbutt is editor of Cycling Weekly magazine