Check out my hot buns :)

Happy Easter to everyone! It is not very spring-like here in Germany, instead there is a lot of The trees adorned with Easter eggs are surrounded by snow which makes them appear very Christmas like.

I have not been very well the last few days, after feeling really not like myself for over a week. I took myself off to the doctor on Wednesday and he diagnosed an ear infection and inflamed tonsils. I have antibiotics to take and am staying put in Germany, watching the snow from the bedroom window.

I ventured out of bed to bake and made my first attempt at hot-cross buns...they didn't go to badly at all and were well received by the family. They were not quite fluffy as one would find at home but still very tasty and I will try again soon.

Today I should have been driving down to Italy to race the first World Cup in Europe for the season, Trofeo A Binda-Cittilgio in the north of Italy. Instead I will be reading the Cyclingnews report and I am very sorry to miss it...I think it will be a great race on a tough course. It is always hard to hear about the racing, it is better to be out there racing but there is not much to do when the body is not healthy. I will take the time here to get on top of everything, hopefully I will be back into full training soon and I can race in Italy next weekend...fingers crossed :)

Training in Italy

Thank God the sun has come out to greet us and we have been able to get out on the roads for some nice training. Today was a glorious day, I went out in the thermal kit but quickly warmed up. We headed north from where I am staying and after 40mins or so turned onto a 12km climb...nice to have the hills so close. The photos are from the top, it was a lovely view. I can't wait to get to Germany and fingers crossed that the weather will be this good (think I am dreaming there!)...but there are plenty of other things that will make up for it.

Rain rain go away....

It has been under a week since I left home and I am missing things already....it didn't take long! It has been a bit of a crash course of a week since I arrived home from New Zealand last Monday morning, left for Europe on Wednesday and arrived in Milan on Thursday...it was 0 degrees but sunny and dry. Since Thursday I haven't seen a glimpse of blue sky and the last days have been a bit of a blur of team presentation, lots of driving, 3 races all raced in the rain and what feels to my body like less than comfortable conditions for a human to be racing in, throw a new bike into the mix which always feels odd until the body adjusts....my perspective on things is also a bit off thanks to a decent dose of jet-lag. This morning I woke at 7am which is much better than the 4am dark mornings that I have been waking to.

I am currently in the team house in Italy, I thought it would be okay to be here because the weather would be better than Germany but alas not and I am longing for my German home. This time next week I will be waking up there which is a very comforting thought as at the moment I am feeling a little discombobulated...lots of adjustments to be made, new team, language that I haven't used for some time, new dynamics to contend with. Luckily I am very behind with my uni work for this semester which only began 3 weeks ago and so I can play catch up before heading to Belgium on the weekend for a race up there.

I have heard that the sun was shining brightly in Sydney on the weekend....I am sure the weather is laughing at me but I hope it continues for the Sydneysiders who have missed a lot of sunshine this summer.