It's Been A While!

Well, It's been a while since I have written anything as i have been so busy. I'm back home in Australia now and have been for about 7 weeks. The trip back was, well, how can I put this in the nicest way, interesting. I was sitting next to bigger people the whole 30hours so half of my seat was taken up, then i got to Sydney and we then got stuck on the tarmac for 1 1/2 hours as a passenger decided that he wasn't feeling well so he was going to abandon the flight. The baggage handlers then had to get his bags and then got the wrong one and so they had to do it all over again. Finally we take off and then our entertainment system wasn't working for everyone. The crew turned the system off and on, and eventually we had some entertainment. I was watching the Flying Scott's Man and just towards the end we were landing so I didn't even get to watch a whole movie in 5 hours!!! What a joke I say, but at least I made it home!
Since I've been home I've had treatment my shoulder, been getting back on my bike and getting my business up and going. I'm now back to training and getting those K's back into my legs but I'm also preparing to run my abs classes and boot camp (non running based) at the beach towards the end of October as apart of my business, as well as my personal training with my regular clients. Well I know that come October I'm going to be busy but it will be great and I look forward to the challenge...
So until next time....have fun!

OUCH!

We were off on our 2nd last trip for the season to Charlotte, North Carolina for one of the biggest prize purse races throughout the year, $25,000. Our race was fairly short, 25 miles or 18 laps. It was approx 12 or 13 laps to go when there was a crash on the corner, of which I saw, and was going to avoid til a stupid girl t-boned me. Over the handlebars I went and landed on my right shoulder...I have had the left one reconstructed before. Whilst lying on the ground with my bike stuck on top of me, I managed to find my radio piece and say "help I'm on the ground and I can't get my bike off me!" So J Dub had seen me lying there and come over to me to help as did more medical people. I knew something wasn't right as I couldn't really move my right shoulder. In the ambulance I go off to hospital...no my favourite place in the world as they jab you with needles! It felt like forever before I got pain relief and they had to find one that would make me vomit. Finally some drugs, then a few hours later my x-rays were taken. The Dr then came back and said we have some good new...no broken bones...yippee I thought. Well that kinda blew up in my face, didn't it, as they never checked out my AC joint (the part that holds your shoulder and arm together). It was majorly swollen, so once the swelling went down on Monday and Tuesday I discovered that there is a huge step in my shoulder and my collarbone isn't sitting properly either!! It looks and feels the same as when I broke my left one.
This looks like it could be season over for me unless a miracle happens. I have been trying to make an appointment for a doctor or a physio but I can't get in or they just don't call back...what's up with this place??!!
So now I know where I'm headed when I get off the plane...straight to my doctor, Carmel Goodman rooms!!!
Will let you know how it all goes.

Superweek or Should I Say Weeks!

Well driving out to Superweek was you know, very long 12-13hrs. We, Beca and I had our sing-a-longs along the way and one extremely funny incident. We got to one particular stop and we needed a nature break and walked into the bathroom to find this older lady (60+) washing out her handbag. We didn't take much notice til she said to us that she dropped her bag, including the contents, in the toilet. I said "that's not good". Then as we were walking back out to the car she was following and she then said to her friend that she dropped her bag and all the contents in the toilet! We then had to hurry to get to the car and unlock it so we could laugh....all we could think was how can you drop your bag in the toilet, hold it over the bowl then 'plop' in it goes!!!! So we had a great laugh there!
We then make it to our destination, Blue Island and our host family, Bob and Cathy Manethei, were so lovely and very welcoming. Beca and I had a huge room with air conditioning! Which is the complete opposite to DC.
Racing went very well for our team except our sprinter J Dub was extremely injured. We all worked very hard all series, actually 7 days and 2 days of extra racing, to keep her in the race but also to get her to the finish. J Dub had to pull out of 2 races due to her injury but we still managed to keep her in 3rd overall for the series! This is something to be proud of and to know watch out Kelly Benjamin when J Dub is not injured as she won the series. In amongst that J Dub won the stage at Whittnal Park and come very close in all the other sprints.
To our trip home, another 12hrs or so, we had to try and fit so much stuff into the car it wasn't funny. We had all the team gear eg windtrainers, radios, food, esky, chairs etc plus 4 peoples personal belongings and 3 people. Well we managed to get it all in so that it was 50% people and 50% stuff, the poor matrix! Well we made it home safely thanks to Sheba!

Saturday was a very long day....firstly we didn't race til 6.45pm but we left DC at 11am, the race is only 2hrs away. I was already exhausted before we left as sleeping at the moment is not going so well for me. So we make it to West Chester PA, had some lunch at the Iron Hill which was great then we chilled out for a bit.
So time to get ready to race...we can get out on the course as the kids have stopped their racing and check it out. There is a fairly nasty corner before we head up a slight incline and I could see that this can either be a really fast corner or a really dangerous one. We then go to the staging area and I get called up to the front which is a great start for me. We make one lap around successfully then a preme lap was call...well some stupid chick couldn't corner and that corner that I mentioned early well it was the dangerous corner. She took out half of the field including our whole team and Laura Van Gilder, I thought I was on a safe wheel being Laura's. We then went up to the pit and didn't even get a full lap out and then there was a break. Well the officials didn't let us go til the bunch had gone past so we had to chase to get on. Not fun at all...I just couldn't get back on so I worked with the small group that was around me which eventually became 3. The group was only 5 seconds away but the other girls just wouldn't pull through hard enough to catch them. So we got the bell early and I won the sprint and finish 16th overall. Feeling a little stiff and sore from the jarring of the crash and very tired it felt like a really long trip back to DC.
Our next team race is in Wisconsin for Superweek....9 days straight of hard crit and road racing. Lets hope there is no crashing there!!

When Will It End??

It was 4pm on Friday afternoon and we are finally on our way to Ohio for Tour de Grandview. All was going really well until we started getting hungry. Beca and Irma had spotted Subway but I had overdosed on it in Australia a few years ago, so it makes me sick. We decided that we could wait til Morganstown as Irma said there would be some really nice restaurants as there was money in the town. We made it to Morganstown and had a bit of a look around but there didn't seem like there was much at all. We spotted Wings Ole so the decision was made. We when inside and placed our orders, Wings, chicken nachos, cheese sandwich and fries. So it finally came out, the wings were so small that the bird was possibly 20 years old, the chicken on the nachos was processed and shredded and the cheese sandwich was one slice of cheese in toasted bread! We weren't too impressed but all we could do was laugh then Irma found some extra protein in her fries and sandwich...it was somebodies hair, not hers either!
We continued on our long journey and next thing I hear ooh oh, ooh oh. Next thing we were being pulled over by a cop and issued with a speeding ticket...poor Irma! Beca was in the back asking if she could get a photo with the cute cop as he was writing the ticket, so she just settle for videoing the next process. The cop came back with the ticket and at the end he said "and nobodies perfect"....what a thing to say after handing Irma a ticket!
So we get back on the road again and finally made it to Columbus Ohio but the street we were supposed to turn down was blocked off so we kinda got a bit lost. Eventually, 1.15am we arrive. We start unloading the car and Irma opens the back door and the tortilla chips fell out all over the driveway. The drama didn't stop there.
Saturday at the race, Irma was trying to set up the tent and the stupid thing just wouldn't go up. We all managed to get the tent up after approx 15mins of struggling...it's a 2min job!!! Then it was time to get the radios set up for all of us and only 2 were working so it was decided that JDub and myself would wear them. JDub's radio decided to die...so no radios for the race.
Race started. I initiated the break from the gun and the Shannon and Sam bridged across but Jdub thought it was Beca as Sam was in Orange too so she didn't go with them. During the race I won 2 premes and got 6th overall as I was cut off and gaped in the last turn, JDub was 10th.
Results were posted and they only gave Irma one of my premes...of which was $50, they gave her $40. I sent Irma back to get my 2nd preme and they weren't going to pay it until the official finally recognised that I had won 2. Again it was $50 but then they only gave her $25....ripped off I say!!!!!
Sunday actually went fairly well for us, except Beca was throwing up in a port-a-loo trying not to put her head anywhere near it but not wanting to spew on her white shoes!! So JDub finished up 3rd and I finished 9th.
Monday morning at 6.15am we leave for DC. Back on the highway, I said to Irma I'm going to sleep and we ended up near Lake Eerie in Cleveland, totally the wrong way!!! We ended up spending an extra 180miles in the car (3-4hrs).
Irma decided to stay at our place on Monday night as she was so tired from driving, then she gets up in the morning to go to work and found a parking ticket on the car for street cleaning....10mins over!!!!
When will it end???

Operation AT & T and Postcards

Well, how long would you think it would take to get some credit on your phone or find a postcard, maybe a walk down the road?? We arrived in DC on Monday afternoon and it is now Thursday. We have made numerous amounts of trips to the Giant supermarket and you think they have phone cards or postcards, no of course not!!! We went to Adams Morgan and you think I could find anything, no! Beca found a couple of postcards but I didn't like them much as they weren't touristy enough for me. So I gave up on that really quickly! When we went back to Giant I decided to ask them if they carried phone cards and they said try CVS just down the road, so off I go to CVS.
We arrived at CVS drowned in sweat and Beca found credit for her phone but there was nothing that resembles my carrier. "Do you have any AT & T phone cards as there is none out" I ask, "Sorry we don't stock them" the lady said. So, off we go again looking for somewhere else that would remotely look like they'd stock phone cards. I said to Beca "7eleven should have them". We walk inside and there is heaps of Hispanic people everywhere pushing and shoving, and I finally make it to the counter and I ask one worker for a phone card and he then told me to see the other guy at the other counter, all I want is a phone card!!!! So, again, I line up and ask for the same thing, finally he said they only have cingular, but isn't cingular and AT & T the same?! Well yep it is. Eventually I get my credit Thursday arvo, but still no postcards!

Trip to DC

So just before we (Beca and myself) left for Syracuse I found out that I would be driving the team car back to Sheba's house in Washington DC. That was all going to be fine but we would have to spend Sunday night at Bellie's place in Lancaster and say our goodbyes especially to evil kitty! This is Mocha the cat, he is all fluffy and looks sooo cuddly but don't you dare go near him cause he will hiss at you and swipe at your legs...lucky for us he has no front claws!!!!
We get up in the morning and have our breakfast etc. I went out to the car as I knew it had to be repacked. Our mission was to fit all of our possessions including our bikes into the Toyota Matrix along with the 6 wind trainers, team tent, esky (cooler) and all the team bags! We could have put the bikes on the roof but we had a shopping mission for a part of the day, so it all happened, we managed to get everything in! I couldn't see out of any windows besides the drivers, front passengers and obviously the windscreen, but that's ok.
After our shopping was over we headed to DC. All of our directions were great til map quest said turn right after going through a roundabout. We never come across one, but we figured out that they must have meant the square part of the road that looked nothing like a roundabout it was just a turn. So we did a tour of DC and eventually made it to our destination. We get out of the car and there is all these people sitting on the wall arguing then they start asking us questions like "how many of dose do you hav in the car??" They were talking about our bikes. We finally got the car unpacked and were walking out the door heading to Giant (the supermarket) and one of the brothers of the hood asks Beca and I if we wanted to go out on a double date to the movies! Well we didn't know what to say as we could only just make out what he was saying!!! We just had to laugh and keep walking. What an adventure!! Til the next one