Stage 1: 105km
Stage 1 was a relatively undulating course with 3 categorised climbs and 4 intermediate sprints. Our plan of attack was to have our newest member t the team, Jazzy Apples rider Ruth Corset as our GC contender and save Chloe for the sprinter’s jersey and as our sprinter on the flatter stages. This left Tiff Cromwell, Shara Gillow,U19 rider junior world’s representative for Australia Kendelle Hodges and myself as the work horses for the Tour. On paper we were definitely one of the stronger teams and were confident that we would be able to come away with a good result for the team.
The field split up relatively quickly with a break consisting of close to 10 riders, including our own Ruth Corset, get clear up the first GPM. The break contained riders from most of the bigger teams in the Tour so the peleton was in no rush to bring the group back. The weather was shocking, after about 1hr of racing you could see the dark clouds gathering overhead and it wasn’t long until the heavens opened around us, turning the roads into streams. Thankfully the heavy rain lasted less than 1hr but we were left to ride the rest of the race with wet shoes and chamois which we didn’t rate highly. At around the 70km mark, the peleton split up the GPM. I was feeling strong and managed to make it over the top of the climb in the front bunch but unfortunately, whilst reaching for my biddon on the decent, I hit a pothole and my hands slipped off the bars which left me sliding along the greasy roads into the dirt. I watched my bunch race on ahead as I was putting my chain back on and pulling half a tree out of my rear wheel but got my act together just in time to jump onto the back of another bunch which had formed over the climb. Chloe and Kendelle were in the bunch and since we had the rest of the team up the road, we just rolled along with the group to the finish. We came close to catching them at one point but with half the bunch working for team mates up the road, the gap blew out again by the finish. In the end, Ruth’s group dwindled down to 5 girls and she placed 3rd in a close bunch finish, Tiff and Shara rolled in in the 1st bunch behind them, a little over 3min down and my bunch rolled in a further 3min behind them. So overall, not a bad day in the office for the team. I was happy with my form and how I positioned myself in the bunch although a little frustrated about the crash as I can only wonder if I would have been able to hang with them and got a better result for myself at the end of the day. But Ruth is 3rd on GC which is now the main priority and hopefully we’ll be seeing her in pink by the end of the Tour!
Stage 2: 99km
Today’s stage was the ‘flat’ stage of the tour. It consisted of a slightly undulating loop outside of town before coming onto a flat 10km circuit around the town. The majority of the race was run on tiny, narrow roads and the back straight of the circuit could be compared to a goat’s track with moss growing down the middle of it. Our plan was to firstly roll with attacks and protect Ruth’s position on GC and hopefully set Chloe up for the stage win. Luckily for us, Lotto Belisol, who was one of the stronger teams of the tour, had similar ambitions as their rider was currently in the leader’s jersey and they were hoping to set up Rochelle Gilmore for the stage win.
As Marv would say, today was definitely all about ‘position, position, position’ and unfortunately that never quite happened for me. My inexperience on narrow roads and my lack of confidence moving around in the European peleton (although it is improving) saw me quickly squeezed out the back of the bunch and just trying to hang on. I was left praying that someone would put the pressure on at the front of the bunch so the field would become strung out when I could make up around 20 places by simply stepping into the wind and TTing it up the side of the bunch. However, the moment the pace eased and the peleton swelled up, I was back to where I had started. Frustrated with what was happening, I made a solid attack from the back of the bunch to the front up the last climb before entering the circuit in town. I managed to stay there for the majority of the first lap where I was able to go with a few breaks and take the pressure of the other girls but when a counter attack went after I had just chased a bunch, I didn’t have the legs to stay up the front an found myself down the tail end of the peleton yet again. It was virtually impossible for me to move up on the narrow back straight of the course and if that didn’t make for a big enough challenge in itself, thunderstorms welcomed us towards the end of the first lap throwing in a whole other load of challenges I would have to face.
Meanwhile, the team put in an excellent group effort to look after Ruth and Tiff put everything on the line and produced a really gutsy ride to get Chloe in as best as possible position for the sprint. Chloe put up a solid fight to hold on for 2nd in the bunch kick which meant more celebrating for the team!
So although frustrated that I was unable to contribute much to the team today because of my positioning in the bunch, I was able to walk away with yet more lessons learnt from the race which I will utilise to improve my ability for my races to come. I was also happy again with my form today and felt strong throughout the race and the back didn’t cause any concern for me today which was awesome news! I just hope that ‘ll get a chance to put my form that I seemed to have finally uncovered to good use instead of wasting it trying to bridge splits in the bunch because I’m down the back!
Stage 3 and 4 report to come...
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
GP Cento Carnavale, a day I'd rather not remember...
We all have bad days, thats a given, and it turns out that I was apparently just about due for one.
The GP Cento Carnavale was about a 4hr drive from Varese and was 11 laps of a flat 10km circuit on narrow roads with two cobbled sections in it, just my kind of race! The team for Cento was Chloe Hosking, Rochelle Gilmore, Emma Mackie, Tiffany Cromwell, Shara Gillow and myself. Our plan was to follow attacks and work for Rochelle in the sprint. Sounds simple, right?
Well unfortunately I was having troubles even BEFORE the race started. Although we arrived at the race in plenty of time to spare, the teams presentation took way longer than expected and so my warm up consisted of rolling to the presentation and sitting on the start line. Then it turned out that my rear wheel was flat and so a quick wheel change was on order before we got under way.
From the word "go" the bunch was pretty much strung out and whilst trying to move up, another rider suddendly swung out infront of me, sending me off the road and falling into the grass. Barely 5km into the race and I was already having to chase back onto the bunch! The dirty crosswinds weren't making my life any easier either and it was a couple of kms until I was able to rejoin the back of the bunch. I held my position for another lap when an attack went and I was dagging off the back of the train, doing my best just to get back on! I rejoin the pack again by the end of the lap, and just as we hit the cobbled section, my front wheel goes flat. So another wheel change and I was chasing onto the bunch yet again. Legs screaming and back burning, I never quite got on the back of them and at lap 6, the sag wagon pulled me out of the race....
So there we have it, a far from ideal say in the office on my part but the team did come away with a great result! Emma Mackie was in the breakaway which got caught with less than 2km to go, then Rochelle was set up perfectly by the rest of the team to come home in 2nd place behind World point score champion, Fabiana Luperini.
Although my day didn't precisely go to plan, I did get to experience racing on cobbles for the first time which was a bit of fun! And it was a good chance to experience a different sort of European racing instead of the hard hilly stages of the Giro!
Next on the agenda is Tour of Limousin in France. On paper, we are considered to be one of the stronger teams so hopefully we'll be able to come away with a few more results!
Until next time
Ciao Ciao
xx
The GP Cento Carnavale was about a 4hr drive from Varese and was 11 laps of a flat 10km circuit on narrow roads with two cobbled sections in it, just my kind of race! The team for Cento was Chloe Hosking, Rochelle Gilmore, Emma Mackie, Tiffany Cromwell, Shara Gillow and myself. Our plan was to follow attacks and work for Rochelle in the sprint. Sounds simple, right?
Well unfortunately I was having troubles even BEFORE the race started. Although we arrived at the race in plenty of time to spare, the teams presentation took way longer than expected and so my warm up consisted of rolling to the presentation and sitting on the start line. Then it turned out that my rear wheel was flat and so a quick wheel change was on order before we got under way.
From the word "go" the bunch was pretty much strung out and whilst trying to move up, another rider suddendly swung out infront of me, sending me off the road and falling into the grass. Barely 5km into the race and I was already having to chase back onto the bunch! The dirty crosswinds weren't making my life any easier either and it was a couple of kms until I was able to rejoin the back of the bunch. I held my position for another lap when an attack went and I was dagging off the back of the train, doing my best just to get back on! I rejoin the pack again by the end of the lap, and just as we hit the cobbled section, my front wheel goes flat. So another wheel change and I was chasing onto the bunch yet again. Legs screaming and back burning, I never quite got on the back of them and at lap 6, the sag wagon pulled me out of the race....
So there we have it, a far from ideal say in the office on my part but the team did come away with a great result! Emma Mackie was in the breakaway which got caught with less than 2km to go, then Rochelle was set up perfectly by the rest of the team to come home in 2nd place behind World point score champion, Fabiana Luperini.
Although my day didn't precisely go to plan, I did get to experience racing on cobbles for the first time which was a bit of fun! And it was a good chance to experience a different sort of European racing instead of the hard hilly stages of the Giro!
Next on the agenda is Tour of Limousin in France. On paper, we are considered to be one of the stronger teams so hopefully we'll be able to come away with a few more results!
Until next time
Ciao Ciao
xx
Monday, July 20, 2009
Rest, rest and more rest!
Alora, the Giro is done and dusted and lots of recovery is what the doctor has prescribed! Since coming back from the Giro, I’ve been on a diet of 1hr recovery rides and rest days. A bit frustrating when you’re all the way over in Italy with beautiful weather and mountains to climb, but I know that if I want to be in some sort of form for Cento (18th July) and most importantly the Tour of Limousin (22-26th July) then I have to grit my teeth and deal with it.
On the positive side, it means that I have been able to go do a bit of my own exploring and sightseeing. Over the past week, I’ve caught trains and gotten off at places that ‘sounded cool’ and been on long walks around the place having no clue where on earth I was headed. I figure I’d take the risks and I was often rewarded with beautiful scenery and new experiences.
One of my little adventures led me to Lago di Varese (lake of Varese) where I decided I’d have a bit of a picnic and walk around the lake. Lake Burley Griffin has NOTHING on this lake. It is 27km in total with a bike path running the whole way around with lots of places to stop and enjoy the view. I got off the train at Gavirate and wandered my way down through the cute little town to find the perfect spot for lunch.
Another day was spent shopping in Milan with the girls. It was a epic day, with a 1hr train ride to the Duomo (Cathedral where the main shops are) and then we spent close to 4-5hrs wandering the streets. Upon getting off the metro, it was about 5secs before I was approached by a guy who asked if I wanted to marry him (if only life was that easy!!!). You know the type, the salesmen who spot tourists a mile away and try to sell them stuff they never knew they wanted until you met them. He tried selling me a bracelet and after denying his proposal, gave him back the bracelet and made a bee line for the shops!
Luckily for us, it is the time of the year when all of the sales are on and everything is 30,50,70% off!!! However, we were not the only ones looking to take advantage of the cheap prices. In the shops we were packed like sardines and had to wait up to 20min to try an item of clothing on and god forbid if you wanted to actually buy something! It took another 20min of your time before you could actually make the purchase. It was a good experience and I came away with a shirt/dress for my efforts. I would have liked to have gotten more but so much time was wasted hanging around just looking at stuff! There were so many shops to be looked at that in the time we were there; we never left about a 300m radius around the train station!
Another rest day saw Laura take the girls and I to Lago di Magiore for a nice relaxing ‘recovery’ session. The water was cold enough to be refreshing but not so cold that you couldn’t swim in it! Donning our new Victoria’s Secret swimmers, we took the plunge off the rocky ledge into the water below. We then dried ourselves off on the rocky edge in a miserable attempt to free ourselves of our tan lines. Unfortunately, a few peoples’ pasty white bellies served as a perfect reflective surface for the suns rays resulting in a not so pleasant sunburn!
Apart from that, there has been multiple movie watching sessions, trips to the Gelateria across the street and numerous treatments with soigny extraordinaire Beth. My back is slowly but surely making a comeback and I look forward to seeing what sort of form I’ll be in come the Tour of Limousin early next week!
But before then we have to tackle the GP Cento Carnivale, a 110km pancake flat circuit race equipped with cobbles. Exactly my kind of race :)
Until next time,
Ciao Ciao
Miffy xx
p.s my computer isn't cooperating with uploading photos... but you can see my happy snaps at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275166&id=746470234&l=7a4717fe97
On the positive side, it means that I have been able to go do a bit of my own exploring and sightseeing. Over the past week, I’ve caught trains and gotten off at places that ‘sounded cool’ and been on long walks around the place having no clue where on earth I was headed. I figure I’d take the risks and I was often rewarded with beautiful scenery and new experiences.
One of my little adventures led me to Lago di Varese (lake of Varese) where I decided I’d have a bit of a picnic and walk around the lake. Lake Burley Griffin has NOTHING on this lake. It is 27km in total with a bike path running the whole way around with lots of places to stop and enjoy the view. I got off the train at Gavirate and wandered my way down through the cute little town to find the perfect spot for lunch.
Another day was spent shopping in Milan with the girls. It was a epic day, with a 1hr train ride to the Duomo (Cathedral where the main shops are) and then we spent close to 4-5hrs wandering the streets. Upon getting off the metro, it was about 5secs before I was approached by a guy who asked if I wanted to marry him (if only life was that easy!!!). You know the type, the salesmen who spot tourists a mile away and try to sell them stuff they never knew they wanted until you met them. He tried selling me a bracelet and after denying his proposal, gave him back the bracelet and made a bee line for the shops!
Luckily for us, it is the time of the year when all of the sales are on and everything is 30,50,70% off!!! However, we were not the only ones looking to take advantage of the cheap prices. In the shops we were packed like sardines and had to wait up to 20min to try an item of clothing on and god forbid if you wanted to actually buy something! It took another 20min of your time before you could actually make the purchase. It was a good experience and I came away with a shirt/dress for my efforts. I would have liked to have gotten more but so much time was wasted hanging around just looking at stuff! There were so many shops to be looked at that in the time we were there; we never left about a 300m radius around the train station!
Another rest day saw Laura take the girls and I to Lago di Magiore for a nice relaxing ‘recovery’ session. The water was cold enough to be refreshing but not so cold that you couldn’t swim in it! Donning our new Victoria’s Secret swimmers, we took the plunge off the rocky ledge into the water below. We then dried ourselves off on the rocky edge in a miserable attempt to free ourselves of our tan lines. Unfortunately, a few peoples’ pasty white bellies served as a perfect reflective surface for the suns rays resulting in a not so pleasant sunburn!
Apart from that, there has been multiple movie watching sessions, trips to the Gelateria across the street and numerous treatments with soigny extraordinaire Beth. My back is slowly but surely making a comeback and I look forward to seeing what sort of form I’ll be in come the Tour of Limousin early next week!
But before then we have to tackle the GP Cento Carnivale, a 110km pancake flat circuit race equipped with cobbles. Exactly my kind of race :)
Until next time,
Ciao Ciao
Miffy xx
p.s my computer isn't cooperating with uploading photos... but you can see my happy snaps at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=275166&id=746470234&l=7a4717fe97
Saturday, July 11, 2009
and all of a sudden it was like being hit in the head with a dead fish...wtf??
It seems as though as quickly as it had started, my time at the Giro has ended. Today I did not start stage 8 of the Tour.
I've been managing a back injury since I was involved in a crash at the Cootamundra handicap over a couple of months ago back home and unfortunately the stress of stage racing has taken it's toll on it which is why it was suggested that I do not finish the Tour. Beth our soigny has done an amazing job getting me as fit as possible to step over the bike everyday but unfortunately not everyone is as talented as our mate Jens Voigt and my body simply would not shut up and do what it was told. I am now back at the base in Varese on strict instructions to do as little as possible so that I can be back flying for our next race, GP Cento Carnevale on the 18th July.
Needless to say i'm crushed not to be able to have finished what I had started but one thing i've recently come to terms with in my cycling career is that it is always best to look at the bigger picture. I was in no state to be of any use to the team and for the last couple of days I was simply doing my best to drag my butt to the finish. As I said preivously, I didn't come here to be a spectator in the Giro Donne, I came here to race. Dragging my butt to the finish isn't my idea of racing, it isn't in my nature and I know under normal circumstance I could do better. By stopping now i'm able to give my body a better chance to recover and hopefully be back to my old self in no time.
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
I'm sorry to those who have supported me thus far, I really appreciate all of the words of encouragement and best wishes! It really means a lot. I hope that this is simply a small hurdle which i will overcome and I will be giving you all something to cheer about in no time.
Now i'm going to go drown my sorrows with pizza and gelato :p
Until next time, Take care
Ciao
xx
I've been managing a back injury since I was involved in a crash at the Cootamundra handicap over a couple of months ago back home and unfortunately the stress of stage racing has taken it's toll on it which is why it was suggested that I do not finish the Tour. Beth our soigny has done an amazing job getting me as fit as possible to step over the bike everyday but unfortunately not everyone is as talented as our mate Jens Voigt and my body simply would not shut up and do what it was told. I am now back at the base in Varese on strict instructions to do as little as possible so that I can be back flying for our next race, GP Cento Carnevale on the 18th July.
Needless to say i'm crushed not to be able to have finished what I had started but one thing i've recently come to terms with in my cycling career is that it is always best to look at the bigger picture. I was in no state to be of any use to the team and for the last couple of days I was simply doing my best to drag my butt to the finish. As I said preivously, I didn't come here to be a spectator in the Giro Donne, I came here to race. Dragging my butt to the finish isn't my idea of racing, it isn't in my nature and I know under normal circumstance I could do better. By stopping now i'm able to give my body a better chance to recover and hopefully be back to my old self in no time.
Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
I'm sorry to those who have supported me thus far, I really appreciate all of the words of encouragement and best wishes! It really means a lot. I hope that this is simply a small hurdle which i will overcome and I will be giving you all something to cheer about in no time.
Now i'm going to go drown my sorrows with pizza and gelato :p
Until next time, Take care
Ciao
xx
Friday, July 10, 2009
Then there are the days which don't necessarily go to plan...
Apologies again for the delayed updates, who would have thought that the further south we go, the more stone age the motels and the less likelihood of the having internet? But success at last!
Stage 5:
Stage 5 was suppose to be a ‘flat’ stage, and I say ‘flat’ because my idea of a flat stage is one where there are NO HILLS. This ‘flat’ stage comprised of 2 rises of around about 3% which carried on for a good 5km each. Each lap of the course was 27km and for today’s stage we were to complete 4 laps, making it roughly 120km. So I started the stage feeling OK until we got to the first drag and someone (I think it may have been cervelo) decided to lay the smack down. I quickly discovered that my legs weren’t feeling quite as good as I thought/hoped and was struggling at the tail end of the main bunch at the second climb and the majority of the first lap. Coming into the second lap, I knew that in order to hang with the group I needed to position myself as close to the front as possible so I could drift back though the bunch up the climb. Easier said than done. My legs were missing their kick and so gaps in front of me were shut down before I could even get my legs to respond. So I got dropped going up the first ‘false flat’ again. Thankfully I was not the only one and after about 10km of riding solo, a bunch caught me and by the end of the lap we were back at the end of the bunch, where I had just enough time to say Hi to my teammates before being dagged at the bottom of the second climb. And this time I was by myself…(I didn’t know at the time that there was a grupetto about 10min behind me). Coming into the last lap I was thinking to myself ‘please just make time cut…’ when I thought I felt my rear Zipp going flat. I was struggling and thought it was simply my mind playing tricks on me however by the end of the first drag it was evident that my wheel was flat and by the top of the 2nd climb, I was riding on the rim just in time for the decent. Determined not to get pulled from the race and with no communication available through my radio and no spares vehicles in sight, I decended praying that I wouldn’t eat tarmac for the second day in a row. With just under 10km to the finish on the decent, grupetto passed me and the police motor bike told me to jump on and looked at me as if I was stupid going about 15kph on a decent. After finally getting through to him that I had a flat he was on the radio and I had 4 police motor bikes around me. 4km to go and still riding on the flat, a spares motor bike rolled up to me and I got a wheel change, better late than never I guess? I sprinted my butt off to the finish because the police escort and the sag wagon in tow meant that I was now officially the end of the race. I was relieved to finish and it took every bit of mental strength not to give up then and there. But I made it to the end and lived to fight another day… I just hope that I won’t be paying the price too badly after my close to 40km of TTing tomorrow!
Stage 6:
Rest day. That is what today’s stage was meant to be for me. After the ride yesterday, I was somewhat relieved to be told to look after myself and get through the race using as little energy as possible and this meant that as soon as we hit the climb, I was to go straight to grupetto. But as always nothing is quite as it seems and this whole stage is uphill from the word VAI. With the GC contenders firmly in position, today gave the opportunity for those riders lower on GC to get away. This was our team objective today, to try and send someone up the road. But the bunch had different ideas and the pace was on from the start and at some point a group of around about 6 (including Ina Tutenberg and Giorgia Bronzini) slipped away up the road. This group eventually stayed on for the win. The bunch was strung out up the climb before a lengthy decent and by that time for me it was basically game over. Riders were going backwards as the 6 prior days of racing were finally taking their toll. I lasted about 50km with the group before getting spat then spent a while in the convoy trying to drag my butt up to no avail. What hurts the most is seeing riders grabbing onto their team cars and being towed right up to the bunch…Pretty sure that is called cheating. Not long after, a group of about nearly 20 riders came up behind me and I had no choice except to just sit on and limit my losses. Next minute, police motor bikes rock up around us and before I knew it there were riders (from the dodgy Italian teams) grabbing onto the bikes and being towed up the road…Our bunch then dwindled to about 10 riders including Regina Schneider and Charlotte Becker from Nurenberg and Linda Villmanseun from Columbia. As long as those girls were staying there, so was I. I mean we weren’t even grupetto! So it was a long ride to the finish and my legs were counting down the K’s before we would hit the wall with about 800m to go of cobbles at an average gradient of 16%. It was similar to the finish of the Timetrial, except way longer. Girls were zigzagging everywhere and Regina Schneider decked it in front of me and I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t come down too. So I grovelled my way to the top of the climb and lived to fight yet another day.
Reading back on my reports you could say that I’m hating life, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m loving the challenge and the invaluable knowledge I’m gaining each and every moment i‘m on the bike. Sure there have been tears but that’s all part of character building. I’m only growing as a bike rider and what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. If I come out of this in one piece I might as well be made of re-enforced steel.
Stage 7:
Lost: legs, if found please return.
When you get dropped within the first 30km of a 120km stage race, you start asking yourself why you do this sport. Today’s stage started at the base of a climb (over 10km in length) and needless to say it wasn’t long before mushroom clouds were seen exploding left right and centre. I made it to the top of the climb dagging between the peleton and one of many chase groups. The chase group of at least 10 riders caught me on the decent and we were joined about 20km down the road by grupetto. We were now a bunch of close to 25 riders and it was again just a case of getting to the finish in one piece. It wasn’t all bad, as it gave me a chance to have a chat to fellow Aussies Kate Bates, Rochelle Gilmore, Emma Mackie and team mate Belinda Goss. One rule of thumb is that you NEVER attack grupetto, unless you feel the need to race for about 140th on GC which most of the lesser teams feel the need to do. With a group the size of ours, you would think that there wuld be no need to get towed but at least 5 girls latched on the police motor bikes nd we never saw them again. Then there were the girls who grabbed on up theclimbs or who motor paced behind their team cars as comssaires turned a blind eye just wishing we’d hurry up and get to the finish. Apart from pissing the girls off, Kate made a good point in saying something similar to ‘these girls who keep on getting paced will be the ones who will always get dropped and never get any better’. Here’s to that. You might as well face the fact that you aren’t strong enough yet to hold onto the main pack and use the rest of the ride as a training ride so that you can learn and one day you will be able to stick with the big girls. It was a long ride to the finish but we made it there in one piece… Turns out it was a hard day in the office for all with no ‘distinctive’ peleton to be seen…
Off the bike, it’s been a ritual of eating, drinking, recovering and sleeping. Safe to say I never want to hear/see the word pasta ever again and I would never have thought I’d see the day where I dreaded having to eat and the very thought of it made me sick. But this is apparently what it’s like to be on tour and you force yourself to eat/drink not only to recover from the day’s race but to ensure you are properly fuelled for the next day. You got to put up with the rain in order to get to see the rainbow.
Our team of mechanics/soigneurs are working around the clock to make sure we have to do as little as possible and it is only by doing tours like these where you truly start to appreciate all the things that they do. On arrival at our motels, Dave has our bags up in our rooms and room allocations all sorted. Nico our mechanic pulls out the hose and cleans/fixes/adjusts our bikes and gets them ready for the next day’s race. Beth and Laura do our laundry, get us food (apparently we go through nearly 20 bananas a day!!), wash biddons, make race food and look after logistics. Then Beth gives up to 6 riders massages/treatments and changes dressings and makes sure we are fit to fight another day whilst Laura analyses files from the day’s race and calculates our hydration loss and asks us questions about each stage to get a better understanding things like if we feel good on the bike if our power is high, or if we feel bad but power still high and vice versa. So whilst we are resting and watching movies, everyone is working their butts off to make sure we can race the next day in the best conditions possible. I definitely feel privileged to be part of this team.
So 3 more days of racing and this means 3 more opportunities t try and make an impact/impression on the race. I came here to race, not to do a 120km training ride every day and I’m doing everything I possibly can to make sure that I can recover and get the form back which I had at the start of the tour so that I can finally fulfil my role for the team and help Tiff claim the white jersey. I’m sick of being a spectator in the game, I want to start being a player. Jens Voigt stated something along to lines of “when my legs start to burn I say to my body ‘shut up boy and do what I tell you to do’”. Tomorrow, I’m going to bring ear plugs.
The tour may be done and won by the time I next get a chance to update but until then, take care.
Ciao
Miffy xx
Stage 5:
Stage 5 was suppose to be a ‘flat’ stage, and I say ‘flat’ because my idea of a flat stage is one where there are NO HILLS. This ‘flat’ stage comprised of 2 rises of around about 3% which carried on for a good 5km each. Each lap of the course was 27km and for today’s stage we were to complete 4 laps, making it roughly 120km. So I started the stage feeling OK until we got to the first drag and someone (I think it may have been cervelo) decided to lay the smack down. I quickly discovered that my legs weren’t feeling quite as good as I thought/hoped and was struggling at the tail end of the main bunch at the second climb and the majority of the first lap. Coming into the second lap, I knew that in order to hang with the group I needed to position myself as close to the front as possible so I could drift back though the bunch up the climb. Easier said than done. My legs were missing their kick and so gaps in front of me were shut down before I could even get my legs to respond. So I got dropped going up the first ‘false flat’ again. Thankfully I was not the only one and after about 10km of riding solo, a bunch caught me and by the end of the lap we were back at the end of the bunch, where I had just enough time to say Hi to my teammates before being dagged at the bottom of the second climb. And this time I was by myself…(I didn’t know at the time that there was a grupetto about 10min behind me). Coming into the last lap I was thinking to myself ‘please just make time cut…’ when I thought I felt my rear Zipp going flat. I was struggling and thought it was simply my mind playing tricks on me however by the end of the first drag it was evident that my wheel was flat and by the top of the 2nd climb, I was riding on the rim just in time for the decent. Determined not to get pulled from the race and with no communication available through my radio and no spares vehicles in sight, I decended praying that I wouldn’t eat tarmac for the second day in a row. With just under 10km to the finish on the decent, grupetto passed me and the police motor bike told me to jump on and looked at me as if I was stupid going about 15kph on a decent. After finally getting through to him that I had a flat he was on the radio and I had 4 police motor bikes around me. 4km to go and still riding on the flat, a spares motor bike rolled up to me and I got a wheel change, better late than never I guess? I sprinted my butt off to the finish because the police escort and the sag wagon in tow meant that I was now officially the end of the race. I was relieved to finish and it took every bit of mental strength not to give up then and there. But I made it to the end and lived to fight another day… I just hope that I won’t be paying the price too badly after my close to 40km of TTing tomorrow!
Stage 6:
Rest day. That is what today’s stage was meant to be for me. After the ride yesterday, I was somewhat relieved to be told to look after myself and get through the race using as little energy as possible and this meant that as soon as we hit the climb, I was to go straight to grupetto. But as always nothing is quite as it seems and this whole stage is uphill from the word VAI. With the GC contenders firmly in position, today gave the opportunity for those riders lower on GC to get away. This was our team objective today, to try and send someone up the road. But the bunch had different ideas and the pace was on from the start and at some point a group of around about 6 (including Ina Tutenberg and Giorgia Bronzini) slipped away up the road. This group eventually stayed on for the win. The bunch was strung out up the climb before a lengthy decent and by that time for me it was basically game over. Riders were going backwards as the 6 prior days of racing were finally taking their toll. I lasted about 50km with the group before getting spat then spent a while in the convoy trying to drag my butt up to no avail. What hurts the most is seeing riders grabbing onto their team cars and being towed right up to the bunch…Pretty sure that is called cheating. Not long after, a group of about nearly 20 riders came up behind me and I had no choice except to just sit on and limit my losses. Next minute, police motor bikes rock up around us and before I knew it there were riders (from the dodgy Italian teams) grabbing onto the bikes and being towed up the road…Our bunch then dwindled to about 10 riders including Regina Schneider and Charlotte Becker from Nurenberg and Linda Villmanseun from Columbia. As long as those girls were staying there, so was I. I mean we weren’t even grupetto! So it was a long ride to the finish and my legs were counting down the K’s before we would hit the wall with about 800m to go of cobbles at an average gradient of 16%. It was similar to the finish of the Timetrial, except way longer. Girls were zigzagging everywhere and Regina Schneider decked it in front of me and I was thanking my lucky stars that I didn’t come down too. So I grovelled my way to the top of the climb and lived to fight yet another day.
Reading back on my reports you could say that I’m hating life, but you couldn’t be further from the truth. I’m loving the challenge and the invaluable knowledge I’m gaining each and every moment i‘m on the bike. Sure there have been tears but that’s all part of character building. I’m only growing as a bike rider and what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. If I come out of this in one piece I might as well be made of re-enforced steel.
Stage 7:
Lost: legs, if found please return.
When you get dropped within the first 30km of a 120km stage race, you start asking yourself why you do this sport. Today’s stage started at the base of a climb (over 10km in length) and needless to say it wasn’t long before mushroom clouds were seen exploding left right and centre. I made it to the top of the climb dagging between the peleton and one of many chase groups. The chase group of at least 10 riders caught me on the decent and we were joined about 20km down the road by grupetto. We were now a bunch of close to 25 riders and it was again just a case of getting to the finish in one piece. It wasn’t all bad, as it gave me a chance to have a chat to fellow Aussies Kate Bates, Rochelle Gilmore, Emma Mackie and team mate Belinda Goss. One rule of thumb is that you NEVER attack grupetto, unless you feel the need to race for about 140th on GC which most of the lesser teams feel the need to do. With a group the size of ours, you would think that there wuld be no need to get towed but at least 5 girls latched on the police motor bikes nd we never saw them again. Then there were the girls who grabbed on up theclimbs or who motor paced behind their team cars as comssaires turned a blind eye just wishing we’d hurry up and get to the finish. Apart from pissing the girls off, Kate made a good point in saying something similar to ‘these girls who keep on getting paced will be the ones who will always get dropped and never get any better’. Here’s to that. You might as well face the fact that you aren’t strong enough yet to hold onto the main pack and use the rest of the ride as a training ride so that you can learn and one day you will be able to stick with the big girls. It was a long ride to the finish but we made it there in one piece… Turns out it was a hard day in the office for all with no ‘distinctive’ peleton to be seen…
Off the bike, it’s been a ritual of eating, drinking, recovering and sleeping. Safe to say I never want to hear/see the word pasta ever again and I would never have thought I’d see the day where I dreaded having to eat and the very thought of it made me sick. But this is apparently what it’s like to be on tour and you force yourself to eat/drink not only to recover from the day’s race but to ensure you are properly fuelled for the next day. You got to put up with the rain in order to get to see the rainbow.
Our team of mechanics/soigneurs are working around the clock to make sure we have to do as little as possible and it is only by doing tours like these where you truly start to appreciate all the things that they do. On arrival at our motels, Dave has our bags up in our rooms and room allocations all sorted. Nico our mechanic pulls out the hose and cleans/fixes/adjusts our bikes and gets them ready for the next day’s race. Beth and Laura do our laundry, get us food (apparently we go through nearly 20 bananas a day!!), wash biddons, make race food and look after logistics. Then Beth gives up to 6 riders massages/treatments and changes dressings and makes sure we are fit to fight another day whilst Laura analyses files from the day’s race and calculates our hydration loss and asks us questions about each stage to get a better understanding things like if we feel good on the bike if our power is high, or if we feel bad but power still high and vice versa. So whilst we are resting and watching movies, everyone is working their butts off to make sure we can race the next day in the best conditions possible. I definitely feel privileged to be part of this team.
So 3 more days of racing and this means 3 more opportunities t try and make an impact/impression on the race. I came here to race, not to do a 120km training ride every day and I’m doing everything I possibly can to make sure that I can recover and get the form back which I had at the start of the tour so that I can finally fulfil my role for the team and help Tiff claim the white jersey. I’m sick of being a spectator in the game, I want to start being a player. Jens Voigt stated something along to lines of “when my legs start to burn I say to my body ‘shut up boy and do what I tell you to do’”. Tomorrow, I’m going to bring ear plugs.
The tour may be done and won by the time I next get a chance to update but until then, take care.
Ciao
Miffy xx
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
We're Back Online
Yes it’s been a while since I’ve last updated, but this is because I’ve been travelling around the North of Italy with the 2009 Giro Donne. For the last 3 days I’ve been in a little motel somewhere near Pisa, with no internet, much to the horror of most of the girls! As we speak I’m sitting in a nice 4 star hotel in Fermo right on the beach, the sun is shining and looks like a perfect day for racing. Unfortunately from today onwards we move hotels every night so there is no time to get settled and long transfers after racing become the norm.
So here’s how the Giro Donne has played out so far:
Prologue:
The prologue was a 2.5km hotdog loop around the streets of Scarperia. It started with a short rise before a long downhill straight and uphill finish. I was pumped with adrenalin leading into the TT. Rolling up to the start line and seeing the likes of team Columbia and Cervelo, and people wearing their national jersey’s and the World Champion bands was overwhelming. As I was rolling up to the start, Marv wished me luck and said to have fun. I’m riding for my country in one of the biggest women’s stage races in the world. How could I not have fun? Sitting on the start line awaiting my start, I couldn’t believe what I’d gotten myself into. I was about to embark on one of my biggest learning journeys yet, that some of my biggest dreams were starting to unfold right in front of me. The clock hit 0 and it was time to go off, and just as quickly as it had started, it was over. I’d just finished the first stage in the Giro. Kirstin Wild from Cervelo won it and Tiff Cromwell was the best placed from the Aussie Team in a time of. A little disappointed, I finished in with a time of 2min29.
Stage 1:
Stage 1 was a 99.9km loop from San Piero to Sieve and Pratolino di Vaglia. It was a relatively flat course with 2 rises in the 2nd part of the course, the first one an average of 3% for km and then the last one a nasty 2km steep finish. My job for the day, and the Tour, is to be Carlee’s right hand man. It is my responsibility to try and help Carlee to position herself in the front of the bunch and help her whenever she needs it. I have to admit I was a little nervous with the role that I was given as Carlee (along with Tiff) is one of our GC contenders and so it was my responsibility to make sure she had to do as little as possible to save herself for the hiller stages when GC would be decided. Overall, I was really happy with how rode and fulfilled my role. I was positioned in the top half of the field for the whole race and managed to get Carlee into some better positions leading into the bases of the climbs. I’m not sure if I was still running on adrenalin or was just ‘in the zone’ but looking back on the race now, I don’t know how the hell I managed to fit through some of the gaps I did or move around the bunch like I did. One of the highlights for me would have been sitting on the back of the Columbia train as they dragged a few of their riders to the front. Definitely a cool moment there. I finished off the back of the main group with some of the other Aussie girls as my role was done for the day and I had done all that I could to help Carlee. It was then just a matter of getting myself to the finish using as little energy as possible. After the race, we rode back to where the van was to find our own seats with our own protein bottle, sandwich and bags all laid out in front. Buckets with water and towels were there to cool ourselves down and Nico and Dave were taking our bikes off us as we rolled in. I couldn’t believe how well organised the team is, and little did I know that this is what would happen everyday that we were on tour :)
Stage 2: 15km TT
I woke up this morning with a sickly feeling in my stomach. I’m not the best time trialist the world has ever seen and frankly, to be honest, they make me feel a little nervous. However, Marv came and spoke to Lauren and I shortly before departure and said that today we’d be having a ‘rest day’ and for us to only go 80%. Oddly enough, instead of feeling relieved, I was a little worried. Going 80% in probably my biggest time trial to date? But I soon looked at the bigger picture and my role in helping Carlee was far more important to me than giving everything in the TT, so I took the opportunity to conquer my fears and concentrate on my technique and practice my race script instead. The time trial ended up being quite enjoyable, I was happy with the way I rode it although the sharp pinch 500m from the end on cobbles through some narrow road through the houses proved somewhat of a challenging surprise (a girl who passed me shortly before we hit the climb literally came to a track stand!). I still finished mid field (I think 69th) however I think there were a few other girls who were having ‘a rest day’ also :p Tiff was our highest place getter on GC and now sits 3rd in the young rider classification
Stage 3: 90km, Monte Serra hill top finish.
What is today? Today is the most important day of our lives until tomorrow. Day 4 was dubbed the ‘Queen Stage’ of the Tour. It was on this stage last year that Luperini broke away from the field to win by 1min30 and secure the leader’s jersey. Needless to say, similar to last year, today would have a major impact on GC. Again today my role was to help out Carlee as best as possible. Loud cracks of thunder sent us off and within minutes, there was a heavy downpour and we were soaked to the bone. This made the 50km of flat before the climbs a lot more interesting. I was unable to move up through the bunch as I had on the first stage as there were mini ponds on the sides of the road and so was forced to fight my way through the much more edgy bunch. Visibility was minimal and scretching brakes and yells were heard frequently and of course there were a few crashes. I got caught up in one but fortunately managed to unclip as the girl infront of me tumbled down the side of the road but Lauren wasn’t so lucky getting caught up in another crash and after requiring a bike change, slipped on a white line as she was being towed back into the bunch! Looking a little worse for wear, she but on a brave face and set a good example for the team which is why she is our team Leader. She is a bit of a tough nut :P . Meanwhile I was still struggling with position when I heard over the radio that Carlee had punctured. I used the opportunity to go back with her and help to tow her back up to the bunch with Chloe and Belinda before the base of the first climb which was rapidly approaching. We managed to get her up in time but the mass of riders negotiating the narrow roads made it dfficult to get into the first half of the bunch. I was still in the tail end of the bunch when we hit the climb, I started to pass riders when the ‘grupetto’ started to form. Lauren and I managed to get into another group in front of grupetto and tempoed to the top of the first 9km climb. Our job was done, there was nothing else we could do for our GC riders now except to make it to the end of the race in one piece. If only it had happened that way. On the 10km decent, I was feathering the brakes to get some of the leftover water off before coming into a hairpin turn when much to my shock nothing was happening. The corner was coming up fast and still nothing from my brakes. I signalled to the girls to come past and took the corner as wide and best I could but slipped out and found myself in the gutter. Loz stopped to help me and the US team car also helped to peel me off the road and get me back on the bike. The rest of the decent was slow and tedious as there was still little response from my brakes. A small group caught us at the base of the decent and dragged our butts with them to the finish up Monte Serra.
All in all, not a terrible day in the office but not one of my finest either. I think I let the weather conditions get to me and never quite settled in. But I was able to take away a few things from the race also, like the importance of positioning in the bunch, that when a small bunch forms behind the leader’s bunch you do not attack it and all roll to the end together just to name a few.
This tour has been one of the steepest learning curves of my career to date and i'm enjoying learning the ins and outs of international racing and I feel that this experience can only help mould me into a bigger and better bike rider :D
Until next time,
Take care
Ciao xx
So here’s how the Giro Donne has played out so far:
Prologue:
The prologue was a 2.5km hotdog loop around the streets of Scarperia. It started with a short rise before a long downhill straight and uphill finish. I was pumped with adrenalin leading into the TT. Rolling up to the start line and seeing the likes of team Columbia and Cervelo, and people wearing their national jersey’s and the World Champion bands was overwhelming. As I was rolling up to the start, Marv wished me luck and said to have fun. I’m riding for my country in one of the biggest women’s stage races in the world. How could I not have fun? Sitting on the start line awaiting my start, I couldn’t believe what I’d gotten myself into. I was about to embark on one of my biggest learning journeys yet, that some of my biggest dreams were starting to unfold right in front of me. The clock hit 0 and it was time to go off, and just as quickly as it had started, it was over. I’d just finished the first stage in the Giro. Kirstin Wild from Cervelo won it and Tiff Cromwell was the best placed from the Aussie Team in a time of. A little disappointed, I finished in with a time of 2min29.
Stage 1:
Stage 1 was a 99.9km loop from San Piero to Sieve and Pratolino di Vaglia. It was a relatively flat course with 2 rises in the 2nd part of the course, the first one an average of 3% for km and then the last one a nasty 2km steep finish. My job for the day, and the Tour, is to be Carlee’s right hand man. It is my responsibility to try and help Carlee to position herself in the front of the bunch and help her whenever she needs it. I have to admit I was a little nervous with the role that I was given as Carlee (along with Tiff) is one of our GC contenders and so it was my responsibility to make sure she had to do as little as possible to save herself for the hiller stages when GC would be decided. Overall, I was really happy with how rode and fulfilled my role. I was positioned in the top half of the field for the whole race and managed to get Carlee into some better positions leading into the bases of the climbs. I’m not sure if I was still running on adrenalin or was just ‘in the zone’ but looking back on the race now, I don’t know how the hell I managed to fit through some of the gaps I did or move around the bunch like I did. One of the highlights for me would have been sitting on the back of the Columbia train as they dragged a few of their riders to the front. Definitely a cool moment there. I finished off the back of the main group with some of the other Aussie girls as my role was done for the day and I had done all that I could to help Carlee. It was then just a matter of getting myself to the finish using as little energy as possible. After the race, we rode back to where the van was to find our own seats with our own protein bottle, sandwich and bags all laid out in front. Buckets with water and towels were there to cool ourselves down and Nico and Dave were taking our bikes off us as we rolled in. I couldn’t believe how well organised the team is, and little did I know that this is what would happen everyday that we were on tour :)
Stage 2: 15km TT
I woke up this morning with a sickly feeling in my stomach. I’m not the best time trialist the world has ever seen and frankly, to be honest, they make me feel a little nervous. However, Marv came and spoke to Lauren and I shortly before departure and said that today we’d be having a ‘rest day’ and for us to only go 80%. Oddly enough, instead of feeling relieved, I was a little worried. Going 80% in probably my biggest time trial to date? But I soon looked at the bigger picture and my role in helping Carlee was far more important to me than giving everything in the TT, so I took the opportunity to conquer my fears and concentrate on my technique and practice my race script instead. The time trial ended up being quite enjoyable, I was happy with the way I rode it although the sharp pinch 500m from the end on cobbles through some narrow road through the houses proved somewhat of a challenging surprise (a girl who passed me shortly before we hit the climb literally came to a track stand!). I still finished mid field (I think 69th) however I think there were a few other girls who were having ‘a rest day’ also :p Tiff was our highest place getter on GC and now sits 3rd in the young rider classification
Stage 3: 90km, Monte Serra hill top finish.
What is today? Today is the most important day of our lives until tomorrow. Day 4 was dubbed the ‘Queen Stage’ of the Tour. It was on this stage last year that Luperini broke away from the field to win by 1min30 and secure the leader’s jersey. Needless to say, similar to last year, today would have a major impact on GC. Again today my role was to help out Carlee as best as possible. Loud cracks of thunder sent us off and within minutes, there was a heavy downpour and we were soaked to the bone. This made the 50km of flat before the climbs a lot more interesting. I was unable to move up through the bunch as I had on the first stage as there were mini ponds on the sides of the road and so was forced to fight my way through the much more edgy bunch. Visibility was minimal and scretching brakes and yells were heard frequently and of course there were a few crashes. I got caught up in one but fortunately managed to unclip as the girl infront of me tumbled down the side of the road but Lauren wasn’t so lucky getting caught up in another crash and after requiring a bike change, slipped on a white line as she was being towed back into the bunch! Looking a little worse for wear, she but on a brave face and set a good example for the team which is why she is our team Leader. She is a bit of a tough nut :P . Meanwhile I was still struggling with position when I heard over the radio that Carlee had punctured. I used the opportunity to go back with her and help to tow her back up to the bunch with Chloe and Belinda before the base of the first climb which was rapidly approaching. We managed to get her up in time but the mass of riders negotiating the narrow roads made it dfficult to get into the first half of the bunch. I was still in the tail end of the bunch when we hit the climb, I started to pass riders when the ‘grupetto’ started to form. Lauren and I managed to get into another group in front of grupetto and tempoed to the top of the first 9km climb. Our job was done, there was nothing else we could do for our GC riders now except to make it to the end of the race in one piece. If only it had happened that way. On the 10km decent, I was feathering the brakes to get some of the leftover water off before coming into a hairpin turn when much to my shock nothing was happening. The corner was coming up fast and still nothing from my brakes. I signalled to the girls to come past and took the corner as wide and best I could but slipped out and found myself in the gutter. Loz stopped to help me and the US team car also helped to peel me off the road and get me back on the bike. The rest of the decent was slow and tedious as there was still little response from my brakes. A small group caught us at the base of the decent and dragged our butts with them to the finish up Monte Serra.
All in all, not a terrible day in the office but not one of my finest either. I think I let the weather conditions get to me and never quite settled in. But I was able to take away a few things from the race also, like the importance of positioning in the bunch, that when a small bunch forms behind the leader’s bunch you do not attack it and all roll to the end together just to name a few.
This tour has been one of the steepest learning curves of my career to date and i'm enjoying learning the ins and outs of international racing and I feel that this experience can only help mould me into a bigger and better bike rider :D
Until next time,
Take care
Ciao xx
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Ah recovery days. After smashing yourself for over a week, it’s nice to unwind with a cruisey ride where you have time to take in the scenery around you and even make a brew stop or two. That is what we have on the program today :) After a pretty solid few days, my body is relishing the fact today I will not be crawling back from this ride on my knees. And how exactly have I come to reach this point? Well since our last double session, we’ve ventured close to 4hrs south to do a recon of Stage 3 of the Giro Donne (also dubbed as the ‘Queen stage’) which includes 2 climbs which are close to 9km in length. The stage starts of with a flat 50km before winding through a little town up the first climb, then down a long decent with another flat section not long before we start the climb to the hill top finish up Monte Serra. It is definitely going to be a tough one but at least now I’ve seen the climbs so hopefully it will not be too much of a shock to the system as I know it’s humanly possible to haul my butt up them!
We’ve also done some more motor pacing and yesterday ventured up what is more commonly know as the ‘Basso Climb’, I’m just hoping that means I’ll now climb like him! Now just a couple of more days for our bodies to recover before we tackle the Giro Donne head on!
Off the bike, the girls and I have enjoyed yet more gelati, grocery shopping, Italian lessons, shopping excursions and pizza eating. I even managed to catch up with fellow Canberran Vicki Whitelaw and her husband Dave who are currently living about 40km from where we are! It was great to catch up with them and hear how Vicki is coping with life as a pro cyclist, plus it was nice just to see another friendly face! It sure is a small world! We originally met at what the girls call the ‘chocolate spoon café’ which was dubbed that as the hot chocolates are actually served with a chocolate spoon! However, much to my disappointment, it was closed so we had to settle for another café where I had a very respectable hazelnut smoothie, not quite a chocolate spoon but I still rated it :)
We’ve also hit up the train to do a spot of shopping Varese before getting stuck in a thunderstorm in hail whilst having yet another mouth watering gigantor pizza from della Motta. Hmmm. I’ve finally mastered the food ordering process and can now add/change ingredients at my discretion; nothing is going to stop me now!! Who knows what random concoctions I’ll come up with next! We also had fun talking to one of the waiters who when we proceeded to give him a tip, kindly declined it in what we thought was a very polite manner before adding ‘I only take notes’, all in good spirits though. After having a bit of a laugh over that, we decided it would be funny to leave him a $5 Aussie note which he took as a souvenir, little did he know that it was well below the value of the 15 euro tip that we’d originally left for him!
Today I’m going out the lunch with some of the girls to Bar Cavour, home of my very first Italian hot chocolate. Apparently they don’t have a menu and you simply ask for whatever ingredients you want on your Panini or salad and voila! Just for something different.
My roommate Belinda Goss has also finally arrived! It’s great to have someone else around, started to get a bit lonely! And the U23 boys have come back to the base and Marv and Laura both arrive today so the base is crawling with action!
Our nights have been filled with more high stakes UNO bliss and we have decided that we are going to hold the inaugural UNO World Championships! Winner takes all. We’ve also discovered one of the dangers of owning a credit card = online shopping. Last night, the girls and I spent hours scavenging through the Victoria’s Secret website and we ended up with an order bordering on $400 worth of swimmers and dresses! You could hardly blame us, with a one day only sale of 20-60% it was an offer we simply couldn’t refuse!! So hopefully when we get back form the Giro, we’ll have a nice little package waiting for us on the doorstep . It was also an excellent team bonding exercise, with girls each giving their 2 cents worth, phrases such as ‘you’d look so hot in that’ and ‘nah, you have to be a skinny bitch to pull that off’ were thrown around and peer pressure was used heavily on the indecisive. I ended up with a bikini and a dress, chosen for me with the help of the team of personal shoppers :P can’t wait until they arrive!
Yesterday was also our last Italian lesson until we get back from the Giro. Ariane treated us those who had done their homework to a lovely homemade cheese cake. We’ve learnt a lot in our lessons and I now feel confident that I have been provided with enough material to get by in Italy it was also another great team bonding experience, with the girls each discussing how we could cure the ‘drought’ that has plagued a few of us over the last few months :P
We’ve also are starting to get organised for the Giro which starts this Friday with the 2.5km prologue. I didn’t actually realise just how fortunate I was to be apart of the Australian team. I wouldn’t be joking when I said all you had to do was ride your bike. At a brief meeting we had yesterday, we were told that all meals/snack food/biddons was taken care of, that our washing would be done every night for us, we’d get massages at least every 2nd day and all of the recovery stuff and bike equipment taken care of. We sure are spoilt!! I feel a bit lazy actually…
Well I think that is all that has been happening over the last couple of days..I’ll try and give another quick entry before we head off for the Giro as who knows when we’ll have internet!
Until then, take care and best of luck to all those riding the Canberra Tour!
Ciao Ciao
Miffy xx
We’ve also done some more motor pacing and yesterday ventured up what is more commonly know as the ‘Basso Climb’, I’m just hoping that means I’ll now climb like him! Now just a couple of more days for our bodies to recover before we tackle the Giro Donne head on!
Off the bike, the girls and I have enjoyed yet more gelati, grocery shopping, Italian lessons, shopping excursions and pizza eating. I even managed to catch up with fellow Canberran Vicki Whitelaw and her husband Dave who are currently living about 40km from where we are! It was great to catch up with them and hear how Vicki is coping with life as a pro cyclist, plus it was nice just to see another friendly face! It sure is a small world! We originally met at what the girls call the ‘chocolate spoon café’ which was dubbed that as the hot chocolates are actually served with a chocolate spoon! However, much to my disappointment, it was closed so we had to settle for another café where I had a very respectable hazelnut smoothie, not quite a chocolate spoon but I still rated it :)
We’ve also hit up the train to do a spot of shopping Varese before getting stuck in a thunderstorm in hail whilst having yet another mouth watering gigantor pizza from della Motta. Hmmm. I’ve finally mastered the food ordering process and can now add/change ingredients at my discretion; nothing is going to stop me now!! Who knows what random concoctions I’ll come up with next! We also had fun talking to one of the waiters who when we proceeded to give him a tip, kindly declined it in what we thought was a very polite manner before adding ‘I only take notes’, all in good spirits though. After having a bit of a laugh over that, we decided it would be funny to leave him a $5 Aussie note which he took as a souvenir, little did he know that it was well below the value of the 15 euro tip that we’d originally left for him!
Today I’m going out the lunch with some of the girls to Bar Cavour, home of my very first Italian hot chocolate. Apparently they don’t have a menu and you simply ask for whatever ingredients you want on your Panini or salad and voila! Just for something different.
My roommate Belinda Goss has also finally arrived! It’s great to have someone else around, started to get a bit lonely! And the U23 boys have come back to the base and Marv and Laura both arrive today so the base is crawling with action!
Our nights have been filled with more high stakes UNO bliss and we have decided that we are going to hold the inaugural UNO World Championships! Winner takes all. We’ve also discovered one of the dangers of owning a credit card = online shopping. Last night, the girls and I spent hours scavenging through the Victoria’s Secret website and we ended up with an order bordering on $400 worth of swimmers and dresses! You could hardly blame us, with a one day only sale of 20-60% it was an offer we simply couldn’t refuse!! So hopefully when we get back form the Giro, we’ll have a nice little package waiting for us on the doorstep . It was also an excellent team bonding exercise, with girls each giving their 2 cents worth, phrases such as ‘you’d look so hot in that’ and ‘nah, you have to be a skinny bitch to pull that off’ were thrown around and peer pressure was used heavily on the indecisive. I ended up with a bikini and a dress, chosen for me with the help of the team of personal shoppers :P can’t wait until they arrive!
Yesterday was also our last Italian lesson until we get back from the Giro. Ariane treated us those who had done their homework to a lovely homemade cheese cake. We’ve learnt a lot in our lessons and I now feel confident that I have been provided with enough material to get by in Italy it was also another great team bonding experience, with the girls each discussing how we could cure the ‘drought’ that has plagued a few of us over the last few months :P
We’ve also are starting to get organised for the Giro which starts this Friday with the 2.5km prologue. I didn’t actually realise just how fortunate I was to be apart of the Australian team. I wouldn’t be joking when I said all you had to do was ride your bike. At a brief meeting we had yesterday, we were told that all meals/snack food/biddons was taken care of, that our washing would be done every night for us, we’d get massages at least every 2nd day and all of the recovery stuff and bike equipment taken care of. We sure are spoilt!! I feel a bit lazy actually…
Well I think that is all that has been happening over the last couple of days..I’ll try and give another quick entry before we head off for the Giro as who knows when we’ll have internet!
Until then, take care and best of luck to all those riding the Canberra Tour!
Ciao Ciao
Miffy xx
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