Liberec

Dobry den.

We have just had a great weekend (well mostly great but I will come to that...) away in the North of the Czech Republic.  I really like this area - it is my favourite part of the Czech Republic.  We actually went up there as I was racing in Round 2 of the Cz mtb cup in a ski town called Bedrichov (another really nice area just out of Liberec).  Jase had Friday off work so we set off on Friday morning (with the usual McCafe stop along the way!).  Liberec is only 100 or so kms North and slightly East of Prague, up near the Polish and German borders. 

Our hotel in Liberec was interesting to say the least!  Never a great sign when you are the only guests.... !!  It was damn noisy as it was right by a busy road. In the middle of the night I even attempted to sleep on the floor near the door, but the wafting smell of stale cigarette smoke (from the owners downstairs who seemed to be the only people who used the restaurant!) soon put a stop to that!  The room was very dark, with only 3 out of 8 light bulbs working, the TV didn't go (not that we could watch it anyway), the pillows were the size of a small mattress, we ran out of toilet paper and had to buy more ourselves, and the toilet and sink were painted a funny shade of blue - the whole experience was quite amusing to say the least!  Then today when we went to pay, they told us the VISA terminal was not working since the hotel had recently closed down for several months so we had to pay in cash!  We had lots of laughs anyway, but not sure I would go back there!!!

On Friday afternoon we headed out to the course so I could pre-ride it.  I asked two of the officials where I was to register, and then told them I had made a mistake when entering online... without me telling them what the mistake was or who I was, they simply said "We know!  You have entered once as a Czech rider and once as a kiwi".  Luckily they laughed, but I had stuffed up their numbering/ranking system... oops! 

The mountain bike course was really bumpy with short steep pinches and rocky drops etc.  I was a little concerned at how my shoulder would cope with such a course as I have not ridden anything so bumpy since injuring it, and it is not yet strong.  Saturday's race proved that my shoulder is definitely not yet up to racing.  I think I have been lucky in the last 2 races (no drops and fairly smooth courses), but this course was a disaster for my shoulder.  It was getting worse and worse as I was riding and I was struggling to control the bike.  On the 2nd lap I punctured as I landed after coming over a large boulder (probably nearly the furthest point from the tech zone), and couldn't lift or push my bike after that as my shoulder was too sore.  Time to call it a day and have a break from racing until my shoulder is better....  grrrrrr!

Saturday afternoon we headed up to the transmitter and hotel on the top of Jested mountain (1012m).  The picture of the cone shaped building is the transmitter and hotel.  The views up there were amazing.  We went into the restaurant and had a drink and a snack and savoured the awesome view.  The mountain is popular for tramping and cycling in the summer, and skiing in the winter.  

After Jested we drove out to a small rock town in the 'Cesky Raj' (pronounced chess-ski-rye) region.  This area is amazing!  The region is dotted with massive rocks and castle ruins, and is probably the most impressive area I have seen since being in the Czech Republic.  The 'rock town' we visited was called 'Hruboskalske'/'Hruba Skala' (I think the 2nd name represents the rocks and the first is the town??).  See photos above - very cool. 

Jase is off to Switzerland next week for work, and Mum and I are off to walk the Cinque Terre in Italy.  We will meet Jase on Friday afternoon in Milan and then drive up to Domaso on the edge of lake Como for the weekend.  Should be fun!

Hope those aftershocks have eased off again in Chrischurch.... 

Take care

Jeanette.

Mum is here!

Dobry den
Mum has arrived in Europe!  We drove to Frankfurt on Tuesday night and picked her up first thing Wednesday morning, before trotting back to our hotel for a european buffet breakfast - yum!  German bacon is the best!  I made the most of it by loading up my plate a couple of times as usual.  Then it was back on the road for the 4-5 hour journey back to Prague.  It was Mum's first time on the German Autobahn - i.e., 160-200km/hr! 

We arrived back in Prague to a cold drizzly day - about 12 degrees.  Mum didn't listen to me when I said the weather is changeable and only brought 1 sweatshirt!  Luckily it has now warmed up again...
That afternoon we went for a walk in the local park - Divoka Sarka.  Don't worry Dad I am not killing her - we are limiting ourselves to 2-3 hours walking max. 

We have had a good week so far.  We have been into Prague a couple of times, and seen most of the sights - including the compulsory visit to the Hard Rock Cafe.  On Saturday we headed out to the nearby castles (Karlstejn and Krivoklat).  At Karlstejn Castle (picture above) Mum held the Owl!!  Jase took a few photos on Mum's camera, but I certainly wasn't getting too close to that huge bird (how can we be related?!). I am actually secretly quite proud that I was brave enough to get as close as I did (see photo taken by me above - we won't mention the zoom on the camera!!).   After Karlstejn we drove through the countryside to Krivoklat Castle.  Here Mum had a crack at hunting with a weapon (can't remember what it is called - sling shot arrow thing!!)... she managed to hit the pig a couple of times - Dad you would have been impressed!

Saturday night we headed out to the movies.  Jase was keen to see 'The Dictator'.  All I can say about it is.... not recommended!  None of us enjoyed it. 

We have now covered most of the park on foot.  Last Friday Mum and I caught the bus and tram to a place called Podbaba, where we started our walk of the length of Divoka Sarka.  We headed straight up the hill to the Monument called 'Baba' (see picture above), where there are great views out over part of the city and the Prague Castle (see picture).  Then we walked back home via the walking tracks in the park (see pictures), which took us about 2hrs 30.  Of course we had the customary stop at McCafe to finish with a hot chocolate and Americano!

This coming weekend (Fri-Sun) we are away to Liberec (just over an hour north-east of here near the Polish border).  Tomorrow I am considering a visit to the hairdressers... could be interesting with the language difficulties! - oh well, hair grows back!

Hope all is well back home
J

Prague Stairs Race

The Prague stairs mtb race - an annual event here - was on last night.  Wow!!  That is the most brutal race I have ever seen!!!  You basically don't get a rest because the descents are either bumpy cobbles or stairs (heaps of them!), and the climbs are steep cobbles.  One of the photos above gives you a bit of an idea of just how steep the climbs were.  Amazing! 

The race duration is 1hr - and it looks like 1hr of hell if you ask me!  There were no women racing - just elite men, including current World Champion from Cz, Jaroslav Kulhavy, and a former World Champion and top World cup rider from Spain, Jose Hermida.  Alot of the riders were lapped out, which is not surprising, with the top guys lapping in around 3 minutes. 

I went and watched the race with my Cz mtb friends, Ondrej and Michael.  I was quite interested to get an accurate idea of how tall Hermida is, as he looked very small but extremely powerful.  Then after the race I spotted my chance - a photo with the man for later comparison - yes that's right - I really do have no shame!!  As you can see he is not much taller than me, but Michael said the difference between us is all in the muscles!  He would eat me for breakfast!  More protein powder! 

Jase unfortunately missed watching the race as he has had to go to Poland for work.  It has been a busy last few weeks for Jase, so he will be looking forward to a weekend at home this weekend.  Last weekend we drove to Austria for a UCI Cat 1 mtb race.  I enjoy doing these races as it gives me an opportunity to race some of the top riders without having too much traffic on the course like at a world cup when there are 100+ girls on the start line.  Because I missed the Oceania Champs with my shoulder injury, I am down on points, so am always starting near the back of the grid.  These races are a good way of getting a few points.  I didn't have a great race this time.  The course was super tough, with a long steep climb that became more technical as it went up.  I finished 8th, and 12mins 52 down on the winner.  The girl who came third finished 5th at the last World cup, and the girl who came 4th is ranked 10th in the world at the moment (I looked these things up to try to make myself feel better!!), so I guess it wasn't too bad.  I want to get better though so will keep working hard!

On the way home from Austria, there was a crazy thunder storm.  The entire motorway came to a grinding halt due to the hail, and we managed to partially score shelter under an overbridge.  The hail stones were huge.  Jase was worried they were denting the roof of the car, and I was worried they were going to break the windscreen!  The temperature reading in the car dropped from 24 degrees to 7.5 degrees in the space of 5-10mins!! 

Yesterday Michael and I went for a road bike north of Prague, to a castle called Kokorin Castle.  It was pretty cool actually - a nice area.  On the way back, we biked past a huge inferno at a tiny railway station.  The building was blazing, and I expected it to blow at an stage!  Apparently the fire engine was on it's way.  We had to bike past it to continue back to Prague - it was quite freaky, as stuff was flying off the building and it was super hot as we biked past.  I live to tell the tale though!

Not much more to report for now - time to head up to the McCafe for my usual - standard Americano.  We were hoping to drive down south to Nove Mesto this weekend to watch the next round of the World cup and support the kiwis who are racing - but I think we will have to see how tired Jase is.  Next week we are off to Frankfurt on Tuesday to pick up Mum!!  Exciting stuff!

Hope all is well back home.

J