Greetings! How are you all? Well we hope, despite the chilly winter wind and (hopefully scarce) rain. How did the Naki treat those of you who went? And how was the battle for Saturday honours for those of you who didn’t? All our love for Holly, we check Facebook every day for your progress, good to see you smiling. Best wishes to you, and to Dave and Serpa. We wish you all quick and thorough recoveries.
We have seen yet another week pass us by like a frightened hedgehog in the night. We are growing so old so quickly and will soon return to the familiar faces and places, and all too familiar Apley Road circuit; which will be the first race of our return, just a few hours after touchdown. Woohoo! See you then.
We had a speedy crit on Monday, covering 80km in just 1hour 40. Not a bad speed considering there were 9 corners to be navigated each lap. Phew! There was of course the final lap pile up, which luckily Hannah and I avoided, along with the rest of the girls in the team. Aside from that we truely shone in out domestique roles, and it can be said no break got away without a Ruiter rider present from the start or bridged across at a murderous pace. They were very happy with our efforts, and we joyously rode home in celebration. Haha.
After a 25km warm up for yesterdays race, and a 25km cool down (missing my car like a lover across the sea) we went for a recovery ride along the picturesque coast on Tuesday, just to clock up some more miles. We had a bit of a late start after Ashleigh spent the majority of the morning “under the illusion that home isn’t half way around the world, and ruining the adventure” with skype. Apparently using video calling is cheating, and when we get home we will feel like we never left. Righto. At least while she was doing this it gave Hannah the chance to get her travel agent on and begin to plan our epic Tour de France adventures. We know that this will have you all jealous. But we will be sure to take lots of pictures to show you, so you can feel as though you were really there too. Today was also the resurrection of the core training sessions, after being a little slack we may have been caught in a vicious cycle of being scared since we had left it so long and not wanting to do it, so then leaving it longer, and being more scared. And so on and so forth. Not our smartest of moves, but smarter than Hannah’s question of the day “Hey Ash, can swans fly?”. Core must really have messed with her mind a little.
Thirty 30 sprints featured on the training menu for the day, and we devoured their deliciousness in the cold windy Wednesday afternoon. What else we did that day eludes us, it possibly involved some sort of deep revelations and inspirational aspirations. Thursday brought a downpour of rain and plummeting temperatures, continual hope that the weather would improve and procrastination prompted a rest day when we suddenly found the day drawing to a close and no chamois had been worn. We did however make many generous gift purchases at the market, a feat requiring a 30km commuter ride.
Friday we were feeling guilty for the lazy antics of the previous day and off we went for a 2 hour spin to warm and loosen the legs for tomorrows’ race. Hannah was keen to show me a new circuit she had found while I had been in the south a week before. Little did she realise, the new loop she had navigate and remembered was really a loop we have ridden a few times, but backwards. Bless her heart. We really do need to purchase more tea bags, her mentality and cognitive function appears to rapidly decline without the daily tea consumption. It has been a difficult tea-less week for her.
Saturday- Race in ijssimuilden (or something similar). We had a 125km classic today, what fun! 160 starters, a course beginning in a shopping centre and then completely structured on dykes and pathways. The directions from the team manager where simply “make it into the first fan”, which is what they call an echelon here; but when there is only room for 12 of you since the roads are so narrow, those where very very hard instructions to follow. Ashleigh got herself into about group 6 with another Ruiter rider, 2 others made group 3, one spent all day in no man’s land, another crashed out and we all enjoyed the comforting love that only Chocomel can bring you post race. The race also went through ‘Kampen’ which for Hannah van (from) Kampen, was even more exciting than Kempen.
And finally here we are, wrapped up warm on another winters day in summer, after a bit of a 2 man Sunday bunch this morning The glorious stream of weather we have had, has been enough to build the tan lines once more and leave the body expecting heat. Although sadly it has been punctured by all too frequent overcast days, all to similar to the cold winter days of NZ. At least the forecast looks up! Bring it!
Send us your Tour de France must dos! Or inspirational ideas.
Ashleigh and Hannah
