A weather improvement!!!!

Ahoj there
I just had to take some photos today of my local and favourite park (only 2 minutes bike ride from our apartment) - Divoka Sarka.  The weather has been fantastic the last couple of days.  On Tuesday I was biking in 11 degrees, and by Thursday temperatures had reached 26 degrees!!  Today is just as good, and this warm weather is forecast for another week yet. Bring it on I say!!

Today I went to the park and lay in the sun reading a trashy English magazine (thanks Sandy!).  At one point I glanced up, and spotted a man stark naked, in a stride stance facing the sun reading a book!!  What is it with Europeans and nakedity?!  In a city park???  Like in Zurich, I had no idea where to look, so put my nose back into the magazine!

Last weekend I did my first race in 8 weeks.  I loved being back racing, although it is quite funny being at an event where I can pretty much speak to nobody!  It was a bit of a mission registering, paying my entry fee, getting feed zone passes (there was a fair bit of miming on my part!), and finding out how many laps I actually had to ride.  Then the course was another challenge - there was a sign up above one technical descent that I couldn't read - but saw the word 'elite' and figured since I was in the elite women's grade, then that would be me.  It was very loose and steep to say the least, but I figured I would need to ride it in the race so set off down it on the practise day gritting my teeth and hoping to stay on my bike and not hurt my shoulder again.  What didn't help matters, was a man shouting "ne zeny! ne zeny" repeatedly as I rode down it.  I don't know much Czech at all, but I do know that 'ne' means 'no' and 'zeny' means 'woman'.  I successfully made it to the bottom though and looked at the man, who now just gave me a thumbs up and uttered the word "dobry" (good).  This left me a bit confused as to whether I was supposed to ride it or not, but I luckily came across another girl who spoke a little english, and she told me it was only for the men.

Race day was sunny and a rather mild 16 degrees.  I had an ok race - 8th out of 29 girls (1st, 2nd and 3rd were Slovakian, Polish and Ukrainian, then 4 Cz riders, then me).  It was a bit of a shock to the system racing when I had been off my mtb (apart from 4 rides) in 8 weeks, but it has given me a starting point that I can hopefully improve on.  Lots of fun anyway!

Not much more to report for now.  This weekend we will make the most of this weather - it is awesome!

Oh before I sign off I do have something exciting to report!  The McDonalds up the road at the entrance to the park has just opened a McCafe!!  Too awesome for words really - I love a good hot, large, strong coffee - and I have to say McCafe meets all my requirements!  And it is now pretty much on my doorstep - things really are looking up!

Hope you all enjoyed Anzac day.
Bye for now
J

Cesky Krumlov

Dobry den.  We have had a busy couple of weeks over here.  On Sunday Jase's Aunty, Uncle and cousin (Sandy, Brian and Wills) flew over from London to stay with us for 4 nights.  Unfortunately the weather didn't play ball on Sunday and Monday but the rest of the week was pretty good.  On Sunday we took them to see the local castles (Karlstejn, and Krivoklat), followed of course by dinner at Fabianos.  On Monday Jase went to work, and the rest of us set off into Prague after a late start (with runs, bike rides etc).  It was a pretty damp dreary day, but we got most of the sights in, and also a 2hr stop at Costa Coffee!  Jase came and met us after work, and it was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe (whereby Brian now owes me a trip to Hawaii for correctly predicting the next song and singer!). 

Mid morning on Tuesday (thanks to me holding everyone up with my training!) we all (including Jase who took a couple of days off work) headed down to a cool little place that Sandy had booked in the south near the Austrian border, called Cesky Krumlov.  It was an awesome wee town (all the photos above are taken in the town), and it is now a World Heritage sight.  Boy was it chilly down there though!  We had a good look around the town on both days, went up the tower, into the castle, etc etc.  Our sightseeing was regularly interspersed with food and coffee stops - often just to warm up inside!  I have to say I had the best steak I have had since being here in Cesky Krumlov - I now ask for 'well done' and it seems to come out just as I like it - medium!  I would hate to think what I would get if I asked for rare - probably a slice straight from the cow!

Yesterday Jase went back to work, and the rest of us headed back into Prague for a day of sightseeing in the dry.  Much more pleasant!  Another long stop at Costa Coffee, much to my liking!  While there I had a chat to 2 kiwi women (there aren't many of us kiwi's in these parts so it was pretty exciting) - they had been here for 5 days and were off to Budapest today.  They couldn't believe how great the Cz coffee was - I didn't have the heart to tell them Costa is from the UK!  (well I think it is anyway). 

Brian, Sandy and Wills flew back to London last night so things are a little quiet around here today!  I have been busy cleaning my bike and getting ready to leave for Teplice (90mins North of here by the German border), where I am going to do my first mtb race in a good 8 weeks!  The fracture will have healed now, but the rotator cuff tear still causes me a bit of grief.  Good enough to race though with it strapped up, and I will just take things somewhat conservatively on the technical sections. 

Last week I joined two Cz guys (both mtb marathon racers) for a mtb in the park near us.  It was great fun, and they sure pushed me along, so hopefully they will speed me up!  They speak really good English and are both really nice (have to say that as Michael reads this!!!) - good to also see a male who is slower at changing a tube than me!!

Well that is all for now.  I couldn't be bothered trying to sort the photos neatly side by side (and lets face it, I still don't really know how to!).  I can't get too tricky anyway - I have already outdone myself with this fancy centering!!

Hope you are all well

Jeanette

Easter in Berlin

Guten Tag!  We spent a very chilly Easter in Berlin.  Jase had been there several times for trade shows with work, but I had never been there before.  We were tossing up on whether to go to Vienna or Berlin for Easter, but given the weather forecast was pretty grim everywhere, there was no 'warmer option', so we opted for Berlin.  We had a great time, and it is a really interesting city to visit.  We stayed right in the centre of Berlin, so everything was pretty much in walking distance.  On the first day we were there it snowed!  Man it was cold!  In fact, I don't know if I have ever been colder - you will see from the photos that I was dressed as if I was heading to the ski slopes!  It was freezing!  Jase was in Berlin in February, and said it was -10 to -15, so this weekend was actually quite an improvement at 3 degrees!  It was the wind that was the killer!

Some of the photos above show parts of the Berlin wall that have been preserved.  One section of this had a huge memorial timeline of all the historical facts regarding Hitler, the war, the Olympics in Berlin, the Holocaust, etc etc.  Was really interesting.  The photo of me in front of a whole lot of concrete blocks is the Jewish Memorial.  There is also a photo of 'Trabi-world'.  Trabants are plastic cars that East Germans had to pay for in advance, and wait in some cases up to 10 years to get!  Then the wall came down, and they could buy what ever they wanted - and some had only just received their Trabants - gutted!  Jase said they are 600cc's - man that is worse than my justy!! 

We also went to the Berlin Zoo.  Neither of us had been to a zoo for years, and since it is the oldest zoo in the world (created in 1844), we thought we should go and pay a visit.  Saw the lions and tigers being fed which was pretty cool, but I couldn't help feeling sorry for them all caged up.  I also enjoyed the monkeys - especially the chimps!

Our hotel had a buffet breakfast - yum yum yum is all I can say to that!  The Germans sure know how to put on a huge spread, and they do the best bacon in the world if you ask me.  It was so delicious that I arrived back to the table (much to Jason's amusement) with an entire dinner plate full of bacon!  Not exactly healthy, but I didn't know when I would get to eat bacon this delicious again!  In hindsight, it was a bit much - so the next morning I was a bit more conservative, only half fulling the dinner plate...

We drove back to Prague on Monday afternoon, and then Jase and I went for a mtb in Divoka Sarka park.  I showed Jase some new tracks and took him down to the monument that overlooks the city - great views... I will have to remember my camera one day, and take some shots while I am down there.  I am going riding with a group of Cz mtb marathon racers in the park this week, so it will be fun to ride with some locals and learn where all of the tracks are.  My shoulder is improving as I strengthen it, but I will just take things carefully as it still doesn't really like the bumps too much.

Well I hope you all had a great Easter - I hear the weather was fantastic.  I soooooooo hope it warms up here soon - I think I have become a bit soft in the cold!

Jeanette 

Photos at last!!

Zurich

Zurich

Karlstejn Castle

Karlovy Vary

Karlovy Vary from lookout point

Zurich

Ok - so I managed to get the photos on there at least!  Still can't seem to figure out how you line them up properly!!

We went up north to a place called Karlovy Vary last weekend.  It was absolutely freezing and even snowed on Saturday night!!  It is a crazy sort of a place - very popular with Russians, and the entire place is based on "wellness".  It reminded me a little of Lourdes - people drinking the "healing water" (although this time the water is hot and straight from a hot spring).  I can't say I was even tempted to 'speed my shoulder along' as I don't really believe a mouthful of water will cure anything other than mild dehydration!! 

Jase and I thought we would give this pampering thing a go, so each had a full body massage!  It was great - other than when the woman took it upon herself to try to fix my shoulder!  I put a stop to that!  The next day we took a cable car ride up to a lookout point - there appeared to be good biking tracks up there, and there were great views - but sadly it was far too cold, so we ventured into the restaurant up there for hot coffee!

This weekend is easter.  The Czechs don't have Good Friday off, but have the Easter Monday, so Jase and I may head off somewhere for the weekend.  The weather isn't supposed to be great, so I am making the most of getting out on my bike this week.  In fact I have started mtbing again!  Stoked!  My shoulder is coping pretty well, and today I even managed some slightly technical tracks without too much pain.  I love being back in Divoka Sarka park.  It is awesome - so close to the city, but you don't even feel like you are in a city when riding in there. 

I am also pleased to report that I have found some GF pastries!!!  YUM!!!  Not sure if it is a good thing or not, but man I have missed pastry!  Also today, I decided I would try having coffee at the local (aka Fabiano's - or Fabian's as we refer to it, based on Jase's hero).  I asked the guy for a very large black coffee using several adjectives for the word 'big'....ie large, grande, Americano, tall.  He definitely got the idea that I wanted a big coffee, because he came back with a decent sized cup and asked me if it was big enough!  I was very happy with my strong, piping hot, big coffee - so sat there very content in the sun, having spent several hours on my mtb, drinking my coffee whilst reading an article on the man himself - Fabian Cancellara!  If only my legs would work like his!  Jase is somewhat in mourning after the big man has broken his collar bone in 4 places though - nasty!

Have a good Easter everyone!
We are 10hrs behind you in NZ now.
Jeanette