A week close to home

I managed to survive the tour in France....all in all it was a good tour. We had some long days toward the end, a double stage day on the Wednesday in the rain and then 155km stage the next day. We finished the tour in the mountains on the eastern border of France, a really beautiful place that I would love to go back to and explore. The last two days we finished and then started in a place called La Bresse which is a ski-resort in the winter. There was, of course, no snow to be seen, just lots of very green, picturesque hills and cute little mountain houses....aaahhh.
It was good to get home after the racing and travelling around the countryside which definitely takes its toll. I have had a quite week since. Some recovery days off the bike early in the week, some catching up with uni and not straying too far from home. The furthest afield I went was to Jena (50km away) to visit CJ in hospital. I baked her some scones (she is from England) and had a nice afternoon chatting to her and examining photos of the amazing pins she now has holding her leg together. She is back to Australia tomorrow which is great news and a relief for her, I think she had had enough of the German style hospital food.
I am at home for the weekend which is a rare treat in the racing season. I can do some rides with the bunch, which always has its comic moments (lets just say its no Coluzzi) and I think a bbq is in store as the weather has been quite good, still sunshine prevailing.
Next Thursday I am off to Plouay, in Brittany in France for the second last World Cup of the season. It is tough race, definitely a race of attrition on the hilly lap and after the 1500km drive there I am hoping to have good legs. From there I will head down to Novellara in Italy for a week of training with Liv Gollan and to see some good friends, Baby and Massimo...can't wait for the coffee, pizza and gelati (not sure in which order).

Route de France

I am in Beauvais in France having completed the prologue and the first two stages of Route de France. We began on Saturday in a lovely coastal village called Fecamp in Normandy and we are working out way south-west to finish in the Vogesen region (much hiller than where we began). So far the racing as been pretty fast (thanks to the tailwind for much of the last 250km of racing)…it is a little shock to the legs after some slower, hillier tours but good nonetheless. I have still not mastered the bunch sprint (and after many years being a cyclist I am pretty sure that I never will) but I have been having a go and enjoying racing in the sunshine in such a pretty area.
Tomorrow we race to Argenteuil, very close to Paris and I think after that the racing will get a bit nastier…a double stage day with 95km in the morning and a 22km time trial in the afternoon is Wednesday’s treat and then 150km in the hills on Thursday.
The team is racing well, our young one Steffi Pohl has the Under 21 white jersey and we have to make sure the likes of Peta Mullens (fellow Aussie) keeps her hands off it! The Aussies have a development team here and they are getting amongst it and racing really well. I will report more when I have some internet access (not so easy in France)…

Thueringen Rundfahrt

I've just gotten home after racing a tough 6 days through the eastern part of Thueringen. We did lots of climbing, suffering in the cross-winds and racing through torrential rain...I tried my luck on the first few days with some break-away attempts that were unfortunately not fruitful. I wore the white sprinters jersey for a day (very funny for everyone who is aware of my sprinting prowess) and altogether the team had a very successful tour. I am home for most of the week and will try and get some R&R before heading to Sweden for a World Cup on the weekend. The little sister is staying here for the week in Arnstadt, it will be good to have her company and I might even be able to convince her to update her blog!

The photos are courtesy of CJ Farquarhson from Womenscycling.net.

A quiet week

I have enjoyed a week of sunshine and being at home. The second semester of uni has begun and I have been trying to get on top of it early before the travel and lack of internet access begins. I also took the time to go and get a hair cut that was much overdue. This in itself is not a newsworthy piece but while sitting at the hairdresser I had some time to reflect on the various interesting experiences I have had over the last 5 years at hairdresser's all over Europe. Explaining exactly what you want done is hard in English at the best of times and so trying to describe in German, Italian, Dutch and Flemish at various times what I wanted has been quite funny....it is amazing that I have always left looking vaguely presentable. One particular experience in Ghent in Belgium with Kate was quite amusing. We saw a place that looked quite good and so made an appointment for the following day. The next day we went back and there was a bald, middle-aged guy with full white overall's on ready to do our hair....so we sat there while Bob-the-Builder did a bit of colour on mine, bit of colour on Kate's hair, back and forth...
I start racing this afternoon in Thueringen Rundfahrt, a tough 6 day tour and hopefully I have something more interesting to report than a hair cut!
I would like to send out a big Congraulations to my ma and pa who managed to make it to the top of Kilimanjaro last week after some tough preparation over the last months. I just hope that I am as sprightly and adventurous at the same age....

More stamps in the passport....

Its good having people to chase in a TT
Not looking happy at the prospect of the next stage :)


I am back home after being away for a week and the temperature is 24 degrees warmer than when I left....crazy! The Germans have taken this spurt of summer with good humour and in the Sunday paper there was 48 tips for a 48 hour summer....its likely that that is how long this good weather will last....So no complaining that I am sweating like a maniac.


I have been in the hilly Krasna Lipa in Czech Republic for the last 5 days to get some racing back into the legs after just pedalling around for some weeks. The racing was pretty tough but it was a good tour to kick start the rest of the season with. My team-mate Gela had super form and I tried to do what I could to help. On the second stage I managed it quite nicely...there was a really tight right hand corner with 1km to go, the roads were wet and I locked up the back wheel and found myself sliding across the road...I was right at the front of the bunch and Gela was the only one to get through unhindered and won the race a few seconds ahead of the chasing bunch. Now that's team work (sorry to the other girls I took down....).


I now have a week of recovery before Thuringen Tour, a tough and important race for this part of the season. This is the area that I live, although I am slightly more in the west, but the terrain is familiar and hopefully that works in my favour. I will get some R&R, but still need to do some decent training days to ensure good form for the rest of the season. Hopefully the weather stays a bit warmer and I can enjoy some bbq's and swimming in the local lake (its not Freshwater beach but its better than nothing).

Back in the groove

After some weeks in not so summery German weather, dodging rain clouds and getting blown around from the crazy winds, I was ready to race again and escape training by myself. We had two days of racing in Braunschweig, 200km north of where I live in Germany and we were graced with good weather and some blue skies. Saturday was a 40km crit in the evening and after several weeks with no racing the acceleration was a shock to the legs but surprisingly I felt quite good. Team Getraenke-Hoffmann had the numbers to be the dominant force in the race and everyone rode well together, countering attacks and we filled the podium.
Yesterday we had a 95km road race, which was quite challenging considering the course...a tough little climb and cross-winds to contend with on much of the course. Similarly to the day before, we had the numbers to be a big force in the race and again filled the top 5 places. I was really happy to get some speed in the legs and a bit of power back.
I am now staying with Angela, a team-mate who spend some a few weeks in Australia in February before a four day tour in Czech Republic starting on Thursday.

I've been tagged..

Indy has tagged me and I'm normally not into these things but I have been very impressed with how her and Ken are going in the "Guamazing Race" that I figure I should be a sport about it. So....
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.

Random things about me:
1. Mum and Dad chose the name 'Natalie' for me after going sailing and seeing a sail boat with a beautiful blue sail and the boat's name was Natalie
2. My middle name is Robyn, after Christopher Robyn from Winnie-the-Pooh....lucky that I'm a girl and not a boy, or Christopher Robyn it would have been.
3. I am quite literally blind as a bat, when I go for an eye-test, I can't even see the very big letter at the top of the board
4. I'm currently doing a Master of Arts degree with a major in Linguistics (something completely non-related to my first degree but interesting)
5. My favourite ice-cream/gelati in the whole world is from a gelati shop in a town called Novellara in the middle of Italy. Kinder and Panna Cotta....to die for... :)
6. Since I have doing this cycling business which allows me to spend our Australian winter's in European summer's I am currently on my 10th summer in a row...no winters, just summertime for me
7. I am a pretty fast typist, thanks to high school days and trying to be half as fast as Indy who was a speed machine
8. I am really uncoordinated (anyone who has seen me to try to learn a new skill can back me up on this one)...

So...I don't have 8 people who can post a blog for this but I will pass the baton on to Kate and Richy.

Prague/Praha/Prag/Praag...

It doesn't matter which language you use, Prague is truly a beautiful city with a great atmosphere. In order to make the most of my time off the bike, Gunnar and I decided to head to Prague for a brief visit. We were only there for one night which meant a lot of walking in the two days to see the sights. We made it back feeling very satisfied with our trip, but with aching legs and feet....its amazing how unathletic such a venture can make you feel! We were both lucky and unlucky with the weather, it was pretty stormy so we had periods of glorious sunshine interspersed with pouring rain. We made the mistake on the first afternoon to head out without an umbrella or rain jacket....this lead to us running along the cobbled footpaths trying to make it back to our hotel before we were completely saturated (this was unsuccessful!).

We explored Prague Castle (the largest ancient castle in the world), walked across the beautiful Charles Bridge that crosses the River Vltava several times, drank some Czech beer (cheaper than the water here) and took photos of many other sights in the city....its hard to name everything. There were many highlights and I have to say that the only real downside was the amount of pissed British 'lads' who come here for the weekend to drink the really cheap beer, but even that was quite amusing in itself.

I am back 'home' now and today was the start of training again. My first race is two weeks away and so until then I am trying to build some strength and get ready for the second half of the season.

Mmmm....strawberries

After many hours of travel in many forms I have eventually made it back 'home'. We had one last morning in Montreal before our flight, it was a beautiful day and I am glad that we got to see the city in a good light before leaving. We went to the 'Le Monde du Corps' at the Montreal Science Museum which was an amazing exhibition of human bodies in many forms, with some dissections that I would have thought impossible...coming from a science background I thought it was pretty cool, some of the girls were freaked out by it which is not that surprising! We had a false start at the airport, a return from the runway with the plane being grounded and a further wait of 6 hours in Montreal....the joys of travel...

The weather in Germany has been a treat to return to, and apart from a good dose of jet-lag I am feeling good and glad to be back. The highlight of my day today was going strawberry picking....they have a field very close to where we live and you can go there and pick as many strawberries as you like....they then weigh them and you pay for what you pick at the bargain price of 2 euros/kilo...pretty good if you ask me. The challenge was to find the biggest, juiciest ones possible and we quickly filled up our little basket....should be enough for dessert tonight I think. Not sure if it possible to OD on strawberries but I have been doing a good job of trying :)

A little piece of paradise

It seems like quite a lot has happened since my last blog...the highlights of which haven't been on the bike! I thought Summerside where we first started was pretty but it doesn't really compare to the green, hilly interior and north coast of the island. Our first stage of the tour was harder than expected on a relatively flat circuit around Summerside. The sun was shining but the wind was blowing and lots of girls were struggling in the cross-winds which meant the bunch was strung out a lot.
The next day was a very interesting stage, an individual time trial of 28.8 km across Confederation Bridge, the bridge that joins New Brunswick (on the mainland) with PEI. Again the wind was blowing very strongly which meant 60kph+ on the way out, spinning out in the 12 cog and then a very slow grovel home of 22-26kph...crazy! All just on one road...no corners to ease the wind in our faces.
We then moved hotels to the north coast, we were staying in cottages on a lake, fireplaces in all of them and my highlight was a beautiful golden retriever named Sam who lived there. It was a gorgeous place and we felt very lucky indeed to stay there. The race on the third day was pretty nasty, again a lot of wind and after my tummy bug I haven't regained the strength I would have liked. I am lacking any power to have a real go and was hanging on for dear life. We started and finished in the village of Cavendish which is home to 'Green Gables', we took some photos and I explained the stories of Anne of Green Gables to the Germans who had never heard of it.
After much overnight contemplation on whether to start today, I had some feedback from the heart rate data that I take in the mornings that my body was coping okay, despite feeling terrible and so I started. Luckily it was a slower race at the start and I was able to ride myself into it a little bit. We raced from the north coast, eastwards and then looped to the south-west and we finished in Stratford, just across the bridge from Charlottetown, the capital of PEI. We are now staying in uni dorms in Charlottetown which are the flashest that I have seen. Tomorrow is the last day of the tour with a crit in the afternoon in downtown Charlottetown...its been a pretty tough 10 days of racing with some sickness and lots of travel thrown in. It has been great to see a different part of the world, but I am looking forward to going home :)
The first photo has Confederation Bridge in the background, the one that we time trialled across. The next photo is me at Green Gables, the next at one of our hotels called Shaw's which has been a hotel since the 1860's and the final one is of the team at Brackely Beach on the north coast.

To greener pastures..

After a not super enjoyable week in Montreal that concluded with we catching a stomach bug that knocked me about and meant that I didn't finish the tour....we have moved to greener pastures quite literally.

Yesterday morning we boarded our coaches, and reminiscent of a school bus trip, only slightly longer....16 hrs later we arrived in Prince Edward Island. We couldn't really appreciate the beauty of our surroundings at 1am, with both the darkness and weariness well and truly set in.

This morning we awoke to very blue, sunny skies and enjoyed a short ride, exploring what we could of the island....the first impressions are that it is very green, very quaint, lots of little white picket fences and immaculate houses, lots of water and very very friendly people. Whilst riding, we had so many people cheering from the footpath and hooting from their cars (in a friendly way)...these people are genuinely glad we are here and for cyclists that is a rarity rather than a regularity.

We had the team presentation and dinner tonight, very yummy brownies for dessert and tomorrow afternoon the tour starts. We have some interesting stages traversing the island, time trialling across the 13km long Confederation Bridge that joins the mainland to the island and a criterium on the last day in Charlottetown. See www.tourdepei.com for more info...

The rollercoaster ride

Photos courtesy of Andrea Brewer, CJ Farquarhson and Si Truc Phan.

This week in Montreal has been a bit of rollercoaster ride...as is often our lives, being full-time athletes. We have raced in thunderstorms, torrential rain, on extremely dangerous circuits and in the cold....my motivation has been up and down and there have been quite a few moments where I have been questioning what I am doing in the world. This cycling business is often not nearly as glamorous as it sounds, especially when staying in school dorms, racing in the rain and hand-washing rain soaked, dirt encrusted racing clothes in the small basin in our rooms. I have been lucky that many Aussies have been here racing and our late afternoon starts have meant the mornings can be spent in the local Illy caffee or Starbucks talking rubbish.

Last nights's criterium was the most enjoyable stage for me so far and hopefully it stays dry for our final stage this evening which is around a circuit with a climb in it (about time!)...this flat racing is killing me! Tomorrow morning we head off for our 12hr bus trip to Prince Edward Island...I have heard it is very scenic so I will be sure to keep my camera handy.

The circus is in town

Yesterday I raced my first ever race in Canada - the World Cup in Montreal. It was a really tough race, exacerbated by a pretty hefty dose of jet-lag and some very humid conditions. I had alternating good and bad laps yesterday and at the end of the 11 laps the result wasn't too terrible...I finished in the 2nd main group behind a highly fragmented first 20 riders.
Today is our 'day off' before the 4-day tour of Montreal starts tomorrow. Kate told me yesterday that her and Alex had managed to get tickets for Cirque du Soleil's new show Kooza and I hopped on-line and secured the very last ticket for the session. This is the third Cirque du Soleil performance I have seen, one in Rotterdam, one in Sydney and now this one in Montreal....it is hard to explain how amazing it really is if you haven't seen it live but it is just mindblowing. It makes you think that you can never say that something is impossible because what these people are able to do with their bodies is out of this world...I have never seen such strength, flexibility, control and daring. The audience in Montreal was the most appreciating that I have been in, they were constantly on their feet cheering and everyone was gasping in awe at some of the stunts....what a great way to spend an afternoon.
I was awake at 3:30 am this morning so I'm not feeling flash now....I hope to sleep through tonight and get ready for 4 tough days of racing...

Images of 'home'

Last Sunday after spending the afternoon inside watching live coverage of the Giro d'Italia and watching all those men suffer in the hills we decided to get out and get some fresh air ourselves. The area in which I live is home to the "Drei Gleichen"....three castles dotted on hilltops that form a triangle. Only one of the 3 castles is still standing, the other two are ruins and we decided to explore one of the ruins. The history of this castle is unknown and the first historical record of it is 1089 when it was mentioned somewhere....(my recall is astounding as you can see)..It was a good climb up the hill and the view from the top is great.

It is a pretty time of year, everything green and in flower and many many poppies growing by the roadside. Here are two of the photos to get a bit of an idea of what the countryside is for training every day.

Tomorrow I head to Canada for two weeks of racing, the bike has been packed, suitcase filled...off again :)

Gunnar's Grad

Those cobbles are nasty in heels!

Gunnar had his uni graduation ceremony and ball yesterday after completing his degree in 'Wirtschaftwissenschaften'....what a word! That means Economic Science for the rest of us who enjoy a language where the words are a little bit shorter and easier to pronounce!

It was a good excuse to put on a pretty dress, wear some high heels and attempt to understand what was being said. It is unseasonally hot here in Thueringen and yesterday was a very sweaty 33 degrees or so....there was not much air to spare in the Grand Hall where the ceremony was held. The university in Jena is one of the oldest in Germany, it was founded in 1558 and so I think there have been many many ceremonies held in this place :)

This weekend I am at home, a bit of a luxury in the racing season. There is no racing on that is in the vicinity and so I trained this morning with the local Saturday morning bunch (a little different to Universe or Coluzzi!). Tomorrow I will join the old men for a Sunday loop and then some extra km's, and enjoy some coffee and cake in the afternoon.

I leave for Montreal next Friday in order to race the World Cup on the Saturday (ouch!) and then there are two, four day tours in Canada...one in Montreal and one in Prince Edward Island. Ever since watching Anne of Green Gables as a little girl I have wanted to go to Prince Edward Island....I never imagined it would be on a bike!

Majorca

I am lucky enough to be on ‘training camp’ for a brief 4 day trip to Majorca. This island off the east coast of Spain is a favourite training place for German cyclists in particular. All the other girls in my team have been here between 10 and 20 times each and find it unbelievable that I have never ventured to Majorca to train….but I don’t have a winter to escape, and I have to say Sydney offers many of the same draw cards of Majorca…warm weather, beaches, good roads to train on, mountains to venture into. So far I have seen many British pubs and restaurants but not much traditional Spanish fare. We are on the east coast of Majorca, about 80km from the capital of Palma and apparently very popular with German and British tourists….many of them older than 60 and with skin that I would have to say is on par with well-worn leather. Many of the old men are wandering through the hotel in their speedo equivalents, bellys hanging out and looking at us like we’re freaks as we are decked out in our lycra….quite funny!
We are here to attend a seminar by German doctor, Dr Strunz about “Creativity and High Performance”…or that is as what my translation of the whole thing is….we train in the mornings and attend the seminar in the afternoon/evenings. We are staying right on the beach, I am writing this, watching the Giro d’Italia live on tv and looking out at the blue/green water. It is lovely to be back on the coast, breathing in that lovely salty air….something I have missed since living in the middle of the European continent.

Heading east

I am home again after a 4 day tour in Czech Republic and Poland....with 425km of racing under my belt, 1800km or so of driving and 7 new stamps in my passport :) What a week! I am really happy with how the week turned out, despite the 10 degrees and rain that we raced in yesterday! There was a good field, some tough racing, pretty countryside in the mountains of eastern Czech Republic and some steep uphill finishes. I am starting to feel as though it is coming together after a bit of a sluggish start to the season.

The first two days were hillier, and I was happy with my climbing legs. On the first day, a group of 8 were away and my team-mate Steffi Pohl was 3rd. The girls helped me to the bottom of the last cobbled climb and I was 5th out of the bunch..not too bad a start. The second day was the toughest I've had in a while, with the knowledge that the last 1km was a steep climb...couldn't spend all my cookies too early and I managed 7th up the climb. The next day was a TT in the morn, I was a bit disappointed with my result as I thought I could do a little better and my 11th place moved me into 8th on GC. The next two stages were circuit races around Orlova, the town that we were all staying in. Rain, small roads and some tight corners made for some interesting races and Flexpoint played it perfectly both days to take the win on both stages. I survived, had a decent last stage and finished 7th overall on GC.

I am home now until the weekend, there is a World Cup in Bern, Switzerland on Sunday...hopefully my legs are still good there. The weather is cold, windy and rainy here, perfect recovery weather and good for some study which really needs to be done.

The photo is from the time trial last weekend in Holland, its from www.sportactiefoto.nl.

Catching up...

I am a little behind with my blog news after some travel time and not much computer time. The weekend before last I raced my first Bundesliga (German National Series) race, because I am a foreigner I can't gain points in the series and was kind of racing as an individual, hence a national team jersey. It was a pretty tough little race, with some good climbs and nasty bits of road. From Karbach in Germany we drove across to Belgium last Sunday to get ready for Fleche Wallone, a World Cup race in the Wallonie region of Belgium. Wednesday's race didn't quite go to plan for the team and I didn't have the best of races....without Rob and Jude standing on the final climb cheering hard it didn't happen for me. I drove straight back after the race...650km which has become the standard drive...everywhere is about that far away.

Last weekend Gunnar and I travelled to Holland...this time a shorter trip of 570km for a hit out in a time trial which is a rare occurence. It was a lovely, warm weekend and we enjoyed being near the coast and being back in Holland, if only briefly. We travelled straight back and the last few days I have enjoyed not getting in the car to go anywhere. Tomorrow I drive to Czech Republic for a 4 day tour which has a time trial on the 3rd day in Poland. So two new countries and some new experiences for me I think....it should be interesting and I will be sure to take many photos :)

Lots coming up for me...from Czech back here, then to Switzerland, Mallorca for a week, home for a bit before Canada for 2 and a half weeks or so....its a good life :)

Lazy blog...

An example of a lazy piece of blogging....throught I could just post a photo and everyone would be happy :)

This was a photo the evening after Gunnar's last uni exam ever...we'd just cracked open a bottle of Moet and were getting snap happy :)