Well, where do I start? Our team director brought a new house in Silver Springs MD approx 1 1/2 weeks ago, mainly to house all of us internationals. As Emma and I were the only ones here we got to go shopping for all new house things including lounges and all other furniture and kitchen stuff etc...you know, all the important stuff that you need to move into a house!
Liz arrived on Monday night so it was a late trip to the airport and an even later trip to bed, 2:30am! Our last international, Dale Tye, arrived on Tuesday night, so all the internationals are finally here.
So here is a little info on the new place: its only 20mins away from Washington DC with plenty of quiet rides for training. Rock Creek Park is approximately 6k's away with a few climbs around it, so there is no excuse for not doing any SE's. The house its self is 3 big bedrooms with a study, 2 kitchens, 2 bathrooms and 2 living areas but we all tend to use the downstairs for chillin out in and upstairs is for the bikes to live! I must say it kinda feels like a home away from home.
So about the racing: Our first race together was on Saturday, which went fairly well. The first few races are for us to get to know how everyones races, and so the other 3 internationals can find their legs. We finished in 9th place so it was a good finish for the team.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thursday, May 8, 2008
One Important Thing I Forgot To Mention....
During Speed Week this incident happened....
Well we were driving to our race in Walterboro which wasn't too far away from our hotel, the next thing we see police blocking everything off, all in the directions we need to travel. So Bega (our team director) asked if we can get over there as we are racing, they let us go so far. Then we get to another road block and tell us we can't go any further and we all ask "why"? So the police officer kindly informs us that there was a "Bomb Threat at the Court House". We then move down another street and the GPS then took us to the race course. We stop and get out as we realise that there is nobody racing and nobody warming up and we see the police. We then put 2 and 2 together and realise that we are one street over from the Court House, Sheba and i didn't feel so safe.
Sheba found out from the police that they are waiting for a bomb sniffer dog that had to come from Beaufort or Charlotte, of which are a minimum of 45mins away. All our races had been delayed.
The dog finally arrived and sniffed the outside of the building and it was all clear, so they moved inside...the dog and 4 bomb squad officers. Eventually we got the all clear and the races were able to start.
This was just a little excitment for the trip! I wonder what's next to come??
Well we were driving to our race in Walterboro which wasn't too far away from our hotel, the next thing we see police blocking everything off, all in the directions we need to travel. So Bega (our team director) asked if we can get over there as we are racing, they let us go so far. Then we get to another road block and tell us we can't go any further and we all ask "why"? So the police officer kindly informs us that there was a "Bomb Threat at the Court House". We then move down another street and the GPS then took us to the race course. We stop and get out as we realise that there is nobody racing and nobody warming up and we see the police. We then put 2 and 2 together and realise that we are one street over from the Court House, Sheba and i didn't feel so safe.
Sheba found out from the police that they are waiting for a bomb sniffer dog that had to come from Beaufort or Charlotte, of which are a minimum of 45mins away. All our races had been delayed.
The dog finally arrived and sniffed the outside of the building and it was all clear, so they moved inside...the dog and 4 bomb squad officers. Eventually we got the all clear and the races were able to start.
This was just a little excitment for the trip! I wonder what's next to come??
A New Season Begins
The trip back to the USA was eventful that's for sure! It couldn't have got off to a better start, my plane was delayed for 1 1/2 hours in Perth. So I was stuck at the airport for over 3 hours, of which was from 4am, I could have been sleeping!! I only just made my next flight to San Fransico, but that was ok. I was so close to having a full row of seating to my self until this man decided that he wanted to move and jumped in my row...there went that idea! I eventually make it to the USA and then immigration decide to make my life hard even though I have a 5 year visa, "you have to be careful miss, doing this type of travelling, you can't just kept coming back every year. This visa is for people coming over for a few weeks here and there not months on end." My visa is a 6 month one, what a dumb arse!!! I get on the plane heading for DC and I have to sit next to a big fat man that was taking up half of my seat. I finally get off the plane and was so grateful to get away from planes.
The next day I get my new bike, it was so exciting, until I find out that it has the wrong stem size on it and our new pedals are really hard to get into. All was sorted and I went for a ride with Sheba (my team mate), it felt fantastic.
So we leave for the South East Crit Series know as Speed Week on Friday. It's at least a 10 hour drive and we have little Delila with us (Sheba's 3 month old daughter), this just meant that we made a few more stops and got in a little later. Our first race is on Saturday and we return on Monday week. During this time we travelled to Florida, Athens Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, back to South Carolina, North Carolina and then back home to DC.
The racing was really hard as I was trying to get my legs back. My legs were getting better and better each race and I ended up finishing the series in 31st (out of approx 70 riders), only 4 points out of the top 30, oh well. It wasn't that important for me or the team that I was riding well at that time as I was just riding my legs in, so there was no pressure. I raced 8 races in 7 days and travelled over 60 hours in 1 1/2weeks! I was buggered at the end that's for sure!
I'm finally over my jet lag and the places I got to see were amazing. Alabama wasn't really that exciting but South Carolina was fantastic...you actually got to see the beach! I don't get to see the ocean much here at all, so, it's make the most of it while you can. The weather has been very kind, fairly sunny with the occasional storm, 2 hydroplanes, 1 near miss accident in the car - due to some idiot in the pooring rain/storm wanting to turn with not lights or indictator on, and on the bike - that's just from some stupid chick that couldn't corner correctly!
Until the next race or road trip.
The next day I get my new bike, it was so exciting, until I find out that it has the wrong stem size on it and our new pedals are really hard to get into. All was sorted and I went for a ride with Sheba (my team mate), it felt fantastic.
So we leave for the South East Crit Series know as Speed Week on Friday. It's at least a 10 hour drive and we have little Delila with us (Sheba's 3 month old daughter), this just meant that we made a few more stops and got in a little later. Our first race is on Saturday and we return on Monday week. During this time we travelled to Florida, Athens Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, back to South Carolina, North Carolina and then back home to DC.
The racing was really hard as I was trying to get my legs back. My legs were getting better and better each race and I ended up finishing the series in 31st (out of approx 70 riders), only 4 points out of the top 30, oh well. It wasn't that important for me or the team that I was riding well at that time as I was just riding my legs in, so there was no pressure. I raced 8 races in 7 days and travelled over 60 hours in 1 1/2weeks! I was buggered at the end that's for sure!
I'm finally over my jet lag and the places I got to see were amazing. Alabama wasn't really that exciting but South Carolina was fantastic...you actually got to see the beach! I don't get to see the ocean much here at all, so, it's make the most of it while you can. The weather has been very kind, fairly sunny with the occasional storm, 2 hydroplanes, 1 near miss accident in the car - due to some idiot in the pooring rain/storm wanting to turn with not lights or indictator on, and on the bike - that's just from some stupid chick that couldn't corner correctly!
Until the next race or road trip.
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