Wild weather

I have enjoyed a week of relaxation in Holland...the weather was terrible all week which was a good excuse to stay inside, hang out with the little sister, do some uni work and get plenty of sleep. Last Monday we went down to Gent to see Gary Sutton, his wife Deb and the Australian Junior World Track Team. Kate lived there in 2003 and so she know's the city and surrounds well...its nice to be in a familiar place. We went into the city, had lunch at her favourite Asian and then coffee at her old haunt. It was great to catch up with Gary and Deb and to see all the Juniors only a few days out from their worlds.

The rest of the week was relatively uneventful. I took Kate to the airport on Thursday for her to fly to the US and join Richie for a couple of weeks....she was very excited to be going :) I did some longer rides towards the end of the week, spending the whole time trying to avoid the wet roads and black clouds but it felt good to get the body going again.

Yesterday we raced in the south of Holland, near Maastricht...the Holland Hills Classic which is probably the only race on the Dutch calendar that involves climbing more than a highway bridge. The course looked to be challenging and our team mission was to try and break the race apart from the start. As it was my job to make the speed on the first climbs I was a tad nervous but our plan worked well....Theresa (our team mountain goat) launched herself and only a few could go with her. There was some disorganised chasing from the peleton and so the gap grew to the front riders. Theresa attacked again and again and was able to go clear by herself. The poor bugger had fallen on the descent earlier in the race so with bloodied elbows and knees she crossed the line solo for a great victory.

I joined Theresa for the trip back to Germany and am here for the week before my next race, a one day race in the west of Germany. I hope that the summer returns for us in the next few weeks, I am not willing to believe that it has come and gone already.

(I have been trying to post plenty of pictures with every blog but unfortunately it isn't always working for me so I apologise for the lack of visual stimulation :) )