Travel can be stressful at the best of times. Add in the complication of taking some unusual luggage and the pressure to arrive with plenty of time to spare before jumping back into the massive challenge of a triathlon and it’s clear to see why Richard Westover and his team need to plan so carefully.
If you’re considering emigrating, and having to deal with all the financial concerns that come with it, you’ll no doubt be thinking about the logistics of your own upcoming travel. For now, we invite you to read about how a professional triathlete will be navigating the trials of taking part in races all over Europe. Over to you, Richard!
Training with Minimal Disruption
In preparations for the 2017 season, we’ve actually kept things very simple and with very minimal travel and disruption. I’ve based myself in Germany as it’s got some great facilities and roads to train on and is a good central location when preparing for the European race season.
I’ve made a trip back to England and also visited my coach in Switzerland, but apart from that, we’ve just wanted to focus on high quality, consistent training, day after day, week after week. I have a great base set up at my home here and gone to work over the past few months!
It’s not always possible to do this and sometimes it’s even very positive to change things up for variety and take some weeks out for a training camp in more favourable weather conditions than those provided by northern Europe outside of the summer months. But, after the challenges of the big injury last year as well as other previous disruptions, it was important to put some consistency back into training and not over-complicate things. I can work extremely hard from my base here near Hamburg and for now the simplicity is working very well.
Staying “Local” in the European Races
For racing, travel is a bit more difficult, but as I mentioned previously, basing myself in central Europe and focusing this season on the European races without the more exotic Asian or American races, does reduce the stresses of travelling somewhat. The 2016 season turned into a bit of a difficult one, so as with every aspect of racing this year, we’re getting the basics right and keeping things simple. 2017 feels like a second chance at my first season of truly racing as a professional.
That’s not to say that there won’t be challenges when travelling to the races however. It’s always a balance between keeping costs low, but also getting to the start line fresh and ready to compete, which affects how we’ll travel and how far in advance we’ll get to the race site. At least we don’t have to worry about time zone changes and jet lag though!
For some races we’ll drive, which can be more tiring, but has the benefit of being able to transport more home comforts with me. For others we’ll fly, which can be faster, but brings with it the risks of flying with a bike and all your equipment. It’s always a lottery and you simply have to take your chances when it comes to how much you’ll eventually be charged by the airline, whether the bike and other bits arrive in one piece, or whether it arrives at all. I have experience of all three!
My ‘favourite’ of these has to be getting charged £120 extra by the airline at the check-in desk to allow the bike on the plane due to a failure in their booking system and for the bike to then not arrive at the destination! And that was at the very first race of last season. Fingers crossed for no repeats of that particular experience.
Back to bdhSterling
With the first big race of the season just a few short weeks away, we can’t wait to see how Richard will perform. If his previous successes are anything to go by, we’ll be celebrating some seriously impressive results!
Staying organised and preparing as much as possible in advance is just one way that Richard maximises his performance. You can emulate this in your approach to your finances.
By reaching out to the financial advisers at bdhSterling, you can ensure that preparation for your future is taken care of by the experts. Contact us today.
