Heather Fell, Olympic silver medallist, writes about her life in the media and sports world.

THE last few weekends have been predominantly focused on cycling. This might sound normal for me but actually my bicycle has been gathering dust over the last few months. I've been abroad a fair amount which hasn't helped and sadly just too busy whilst home to get any miles in. I failed to take this into account when I agreed to enter a hilly 'fun' ride in Wales a few weeks ago. I have always assumed that if I can tackle the beautiful rolling countryside of Devon then I can ride any hill elsewhere. While this might be true when I am fit, I was not on top form for this particular ride. After cycling 106 miles and climbing the height of Plymouth to Princetown six times I was absolutely exhausted. I only have the sunshine and great company to thank for getting me to the finish. The following weekend I opted to spectate when I headed to Northern Ireland to watch the start of the Giro D'Italia. Admittedly, it does seem rather strange that an Italian cycle race might begin in Belfast but that didn't detract from the spectacle of racing and the atmosphere. The country completely embraced the opportunity adorning itself in pink, the colour of the leading jersey, to the extent that even some of the sheep were sporting my favourite colour! Since my epic ride in Wales, I put my bicycle away for what I thought would be a few months. Last weekend I was supposed to be somewhere on the other side of the Atlantic but that didn't happen so what better way to spend such a glorious two days than on a bicycle. Thankfully the ratio of hills to miles was half that of Wales although I still managed nearly 200 miles in two days and my bottom certainly knows it. As Heather will be taking part in the Round the World Yacht race across the Atlantic her next few columns will be reporting on how she gets on.