HI!

Hey!

After a few weeks home, a few motor pacing sesh's and a fair few repeats up Fitzwilliam I was on the road/ plane again of to the Netherlands for the world champs!!! :) :)

I have spent the past week staying with the lovely Angela Van Smoorenburg... in a little village 30km outside of Amsterdam called Ter Aar, prepping for Worlds (my race is next sat - the 22nd) :)

Round here things are done a bit differently to old N Zeee and Ameruuuca:

Holland is Paaan flat (well all of Holland, except for South Holland where worlds is) and no one has fences, all the properties out in the country are 'fenced' off by a moat of water....same goes for the paddocks...lucky sheep and cows can't swim too well or there would be nightmares happening all over the show for the farmers. These moats are what formed the national sport of fierljeppen, so farmers could get from paddock to paddock....not your average everyday sport!

My first two days here, the weather was beautiful. No wind, clear blue skies, and so many people were out riding there bikes, and on there boats in the dykes (canals). But true to the NED (apparently) the weather this week has been vary variable all week long...and wiiiiindy (a bit like Auckland...or maybe Wellington with the wind....buuuut minus the hills).

There are bike paths every where, and every one is super bike friendly. I am pretty sure that everyone has a bike. People ride their dutch bikes everywhere (young and old.. in fact I saw a poor old lady fall off her bike the other day).

Every time I go to the supermarket it takes me a good 30mins longer than it should as I cannot speak a word of Ductch...who new quark was yogurt?
Yesterday Angela sent me for some parmesan cheese...well for the life of me I could not tell the difference between the cheeses in the super market, I probably stood there for a good 20mins before picking out 3, 2 of them were right (wwwhew).
Thankfully everyone under the age of about 60 can speak english pretty well, so this makes my life a bit easier :)

I have had a pretty cruisy week with just training, getting over Jet lag (finally slept through the whole night last night woop), and finnishing off assignments.

Tomorrow I am catching the 9am train to Valkenburg, where I will meet up with the rest of the NZ team, and begin our final prep for worlds. Can't wait!!

The NZ Elite women's team for the road race is:
Linda Villiamson, Emily Collins, Emma Crum and Myself.

Bike path