Oops.. Been a while!

Half Way update!

Yet again it's been quite a while since an update.. And of course so much has happened since then!

I raced the Holland Hills Classic, Wodecq Kermesse and Gooik-Geerardsbergen in the last weekend of May, and had some mixed results. Wodecq went well with a top 10 finish, but I had a bad day at Holland hills and then some mechanical problems at Gooik. I just chalked the weekend up to experience and then started a nice mid season break off the bike. Unfortunately at the end of the week off I came down with a virus, so was layed up in bed for half of my break :(

The following week my month at home in Belgium came to an end and it was time to head back across the channel to England! There were 4 crits lined up for the team to race, including the London Nocturne and 2 of the 'Tour Series' races. Still suffering from the virus, but not wanting to let the team down, I took to the start line and experienced a whole new world of creeping. It was a great experience though, with the Nocturne being raced in front of huge crowds, and the Tour Series races being fast and furious, similar to the Bay Crits, but it was quite frustrating feeling completely useless in most of the races. Even when I did start to feel a bit better and find some legs on the final race in Aylsham, the torrential downpour and tight course saw me hit the deck (and barriers) hard after someone came down in front of me. 

Roast Lamb and Potatoes care of Chefs Amy & Coryn in London!

Tour Series start line. Heaps of fun racing with Ella & Coryn, despite how bad I was going!

Mid ride  Calippo Frosts in the Spanish heat with CT

After all of that was over, it was time to set sail once again, this time to the oh so sunny Spain! Getting back to Girona felt like coming home. My Yankee team mate Coryn and I arrived for 2 weeks of training & we couldn't have been happier. Thanks to the generosity of Dan Jones we had an amazing apartment to stay in (or rather, to take over) right near the centre of town and with zombie blinds which made sleeping through the early morning sunrises very possible. The weather was perfect, the training roads are always great, we got to catch up with heaps of friends and even made some new ones, and we even managed a couple of trips to the beach! It's fair to say that we could have happily stayed there for the rest of summer, but soon enough it was time to leave and get back in to racing.

On top of the world! Or at least on top of Rocacorba - with Miss USA

Rocking out to Acca Dacca with a Cameo in the new Green Edge video.. #neardeathexperience

Dinner by the beach with new friends!

Next update will be all about Krasna Lipa! Missing bikes, bad legs & an overdose of Chicken & Potatoes..

Girona

I was lucky enough to get to go back to Girona for a couple of weeks between races to try and get in some good training in the sunshine. Being that it's the place I've spent most of my time since getting to Europe, it felt like coming 'home' and I was happy to be there, even though most of the people I knew were away racing. Getting the chance to chill out by myself was quite nice, and gave me the chance to do a bit of exploring.

Beautiful blue skies and sunshine around Girona. Except for the few days when it was like a Melbourne winter..

Exploring the coastline from Tossa de Mar

One thing I've noticed about Girona and staying in the Old Town, is the Church bells. It's hard not to notice them. They chime every hour, on the hour, twice. Plus they also signal the quarter hour, 24/7. I did some googling to find out the reason they chime on the hour, and then 2 minutes later, and it turns out it's because back in the day, before wristwatches and iPhones, if you were out in the field working you might have missed the first ring and wouldn't know the time. So 2 minutes later, the time chimes again. That way you've never got an excuse to be home late for dinner! I like that thinking. So there's your Spanish history lesson for the day!

One of the other great things about Girona is the Creperies. There's about 5 or 6 of them, and most of them serve Glutard friendly Crepes! My favourite would have to be the Banana and 'Black' chocolate one I had from Crepedeque, where Lotti the dog resides with his owners who have been making crepes since forever. Thankfully the riding around the area is amazing so you can work off all the crepes!

Crepes!

I'd splurged a bit and got a car for the time I was there, otherwise I had no way of getting home from the airport when I arrived. It meant that I could meet Jo at the airport when she came back from Lux though, and we headed straight to one of my favourite places ever, the Boqueria Markets in Barcelona, for brunch. The Tortilla was even better than I remembered it to be and I can't wait to go back again for another one.

A happy place

Getting to have a pre-Birthday dinner on Thursday night with Jo, Loren & Carlee, before jetting back off to Belgium early Friday morning was so nice. Nothing like getting to spend your almost birthday with good friends on the other side of the world! Now it's back to Belgium for some more racing and to move in to home, which is where I am now.. Belgium update to come later!

Dinner (and colouring in) with the girls