Photos at last!

Bonjour everyone

Well here are some more photos at last. There are some of the scenery and of Jase riding on his long rides where I act as Johan Bruneel in the car - providing advice (always wanted of course!), directions (not always accurate as Saturday's ride proved!), and the always appreciated bottles and food! There is also a shot of how I am spending some of my time - French lessons and French wine (well 1 glass or the lessons would turn to custard!). There is also a shot of Jase's feet after his 1 hr run in bare feet on tarseal (although it is not too clear), and a shot of his split tyre - dodgey man!

Jase arrived back from the UK late (midnight) on Wednesday night. I stayed up and practised my French until he arrived. I can't believe how hard it is to pick it up - I have spent so many hours on it and still can't seem to manage a conversation (although I guess I am still in Germany - that is an estimated comment!). On Thursday Jase had a work meeting here - so I again made myself scarce by going to the pool for Thurday's "oldie's day". The pool was more crowded than ever and I got booted in the stomach by some old timer doing breastroke as usual. The man from Atlantis was there again and kept me amused - although I was a bit wary when he took to the surface and began leaping off the diving board, missing people by a fraction each time. Truth be known, I was more concerned that his speedos would dislodge as he surfaced!

After the pool it was the usual coffee stop, before heading home to try out my French with David, who is always happy to help. Jase's meeting continued until around 4pm so I sat outside with the ipod practising my French, and sincerely hoping that no-one could hear me. That night it was back to the Weinstube for the usual steak and onions.

Friday I returned to the pool. My shoulders were pretty tired but I made myself go as the warm indoor pool is only open Tues-Fri. That means 3 days of being sedentary over the weekend - grrrr. I managed 11km with my pool buoy this week - I will have shoulders like Arnie at the end of this!

Saturday was a long ride for Jase, with me in the car. I don't think he was too impressed when I directed him down a long valley 4.5hrs in, only to tell him we had gone the wrong way and he had to climb back out again!

We head to the French Alpes (Bourg d'Oisans) on Tuesday, and have our fingers crossed that the sun will be out at last!

Au revior
Jeanette

The sun has returned!!

Guten tag everyone

Well I have been a little slack with my updates.. I am currently in an internet cafe in Offenburg as Jase has gone to England and Scotland for work for a few days. The weather has finally improved! Yesterday was 28 degrees!

Just trying to think about what we have been doing...
I have still been swimming in the Hallenbad (warm indoor pool) Tues-Fri when it is open. As it happens Thursdays are the 'elderly' swimming day - I was under the impression that every day was elderly day based on my experiences! It turns out that on Thursdays the pool temperature is raised by 2 degrees (to 30 degrees) especially for the old timers. Man it was chaos in the pool. Old timers everywhere! I decided to continue to use my aggressive passing manoeuvres in order to clear my lane- but this time it simply didn't work! The oldies wouldn't budge! Two oldies were swimming (well kind of sidestroking) in different lanes (there are no lane ropes) whilst talking to each other. I decided to put a stop to this by purposely swimming between them each time I had to pass, not to mention using my secret flick of the fingers to splash them! I sound evil but if any of you were here you would understand! That didn't even work! They were simply not phased by me! Then just when I was thinking how boring swimming is with nothing to look at other than the bottom of the pool, the man from Atlantis swam by!! That's right - some old geezer was swimming widths underneath everyone at the deep end! He must have done about 20 of them so that kept me amused for some time! Today I was sideswiped by a woman doing double armed backstroke with breastroke kick, and basically swimming across 3 lanes each time! The crazy thing was that she seemed to get annoyed with every person she swam into!

Jase had a big ride scheduled on Saturday, so I drove some of the route in the car and gave him extra bottles when he needed them. It was good to see where he rides and check out more of the scenery, although I REALLY wanted to join him. After I left him, he had a major tyre blow out. Said he heard a huge bang like someone had shot at him! The back tyre had bubbled then split right down the middle - luckily he was on the flat and not hurtling downhill! This happened 6.5hrs into his 7 hr ride and pretty much left him with an hour run on the tarseal to get home (he doesn't take his phone as it is a little big, but we think he may take mine in future). He was wearing his favourite socks and didn't want to wreck them so ran the hour in bare feet! I will attach some photos of his feet afterwards (well Jase will!) when Jase is back. We have since found out that there was a problem with the tyre he was using and they have all been recalled due to this problem.

Sunday was World Cup day. We went along early and watched both the women's and the men's race. It was actually not too bad watching, and good to be able to support our sole kiwi racer (Nic Leary) and the Aussies too. Nic did awesome finishing 40th out of a field of around 100 riders. Catherine (Aussie rider pictured in last blog) also did well finishing around 60th. The competition is just so fierce. I also managed to have a good chat with Sabine Spitz afterwards about her recovery. It was her first race back after her surgery for iliac endofibrosis. She did awesome to finish 12th, and definitely gave me hope that I can return to racing again - although at this point I would just settle for feeling good and being able to ride my bike, walk stairs/hills, and run.

The mens race was incredible. Julian Absalon just tore the field apart. There were over 200 starters and only about 70 or so actually finished the race - the others were all pulled due to the 80% rule. He was simply on fire!

Sunday night we went out for dinner with the Aussies, Nic, and Nic's friends from Switzerland. It was a good night, and guess what I had for dinner??? (5th time at the Weinstube, and 5th time for steak and onions!! - Most unlike me to have the same thing!) The next morning we were up early as I dropped Jase off at the train station, so he could begin his journey to England and Scotland. I just cruised yesterday as my legs were a little dodgey after walking hills at the world cup race. I learnt French for several hours, then went to the local pool and sunbathed and swam. Nic invited me for tea that night which was great as we had forgotten that everything is closed on Sundays and we were pretty much out of food!

Well this is super waffly, so I'd better dash. Looking forward to seeing some of you soon!! I will book the good weather!

Auf Weidersan
Jeanette

Life in Offenburg!

Bonjour
Comment allez vous?
Yes - the French is progressing.... very slowly - it is a hard lingo to learn!

The weather is finally starting to improve - in fact the weather forecast shows sun and warmer temperatures for the rest of the week. Might be finally able to have my jeans washed!

On Sunday Jase headed out for a 6hr ride, so I made my way into town to go swimming. The mtb marathon race was on and most of the roads were closed until 1pm so it was a bit like trying to find my way around a maze in getting to the pool, but I eventually got there. I was gutted to find that the Hallenbad (warm indoor pool) was closed - I was told it was now 'Freibad season' (aka outdoor freezing pool season). Turns out the indoor pool is now only open Tues-Fri 10am-1pm.

I reluctantly made my way to the 'Freibad' (about 100m down the road). The sign on the door said the pool was 20 degrees and the outside temperature was 12 degrees. I convinced myself that this would be warm enough and headed in. There were only 3 people in the pool - 2 women and 1 small child. One of the women told me it was warm if you kept swimming....

Let's just summarise this story by saying I am an idiot. I swam 2.5km with my pool buoy (as I had told myself that this was the minimum as it was 1hr). I was absolutely freezing - especially since I was not kicking. I could feel myself shivering in the water but I was frustrated so kept going. When I got out I felt incredibly sick and almost drunk - I found it tricky to walk. I couldn't work out how to turn the shower on so flagged it and got changed. I felt like sitting down and sleeping and I was uncontrollably shivering. I decided I had better find the lifeguard and tell her I had hypothermia. I couldn't find her and knew I couldn't drive so walked into town to the cafe and ordered a coffee. I started shivering really badly at this point and I was quite scared. The ladies behind the counter were talking about me and brought me over 2 chocolates and one rubbed my shoulders! Finally I warmed up enough to head outside into the crowd watching the mtb race - I jammed myself right up against 2 fatties and managed to warm up eventually. I am an absolute idiot and I know it. End of discussion.

Anyway the marathon mtb race finish was awesome to watch. I will attach (well Jase will - the last 'learn to attach photo lesson' almost ended in fireworks!) some photos - The riders were all so stoked to finish and did major double arm victory celebrations - the guy pictured actually finished about 600th! There is also a picture of a guy rehydrating post race! Classic - we generally have water, sports drinks and coffee... the Germans had both a beer tent and a wine tent! Most of the crowd was dancing away to the sounds playing - Eye of the Tiger was played about 3 x, as were other hits from the 80's all in English! I think the Germans have been left behind in the 80's...

Monday I was a bit wiped out - think the cold really got to me! Jase was working, so I headed off sightseeing with Nic, Katherine and Ray (Katherine is an Aussie mtber and Ray is her partner). It is so great having some others to do things with - especially when they speak English too! We drove one of Jase's cycling routes - me as the navigator, and we didn't even get lost! Jase will attach some photos of the afternoon - at the ski jump, waterfall, and a picture of a sign up the road here - it seems it is a common occurrence for collisions between tractors, cars, and bikes here!

Today Jase was working again, so I went to the pool (the warm one!) with Nic and then had a wander around town - of course completing my routine of going to the bakery for coffee! Luckily the staff were different today so they didn't recognise the idiot who came in at the weekend! (although I did score free chocolates!).

Jase has now finished work for the day so is out biking. He has just received confirmation on his Marmotte entry - and has been given start number 6649! That sucks! Think that means he is in the 3rd wave of starters... Have you guys back home got your start numbers yet? You could stage a mass protest! (well all 4 of you!).

Not much more to report... we may go to the tennis this week in Strasbourg. Maria Sharipova is playing.. I need to look into it.

Aurevoir
Jeanette

Update

Hmmmm - just trying to think what we have done since last time I wrote....

The weather has continued to be shizen! The locals all say this is absolutely terrible for May - they have never had so much rain with such cold temperatures! We wear jeans and jackets every day, and it feels pretty much like mid-winter in Christchurch!

I have bought a new toy... not as good as the new bike we had planned to buy this year, but a new toy none the less! It is a pool buoy. I was having trouble with my legs when kicking in the pool so did some research on the internet and it seems a pool buoy is the way to go. I went to the bike shop (triathalon shop really) and bought one on Monday and the guy showed me how to use it to stop me using my legs entirely. Man it has made such a difference. I leave the pool feeling really good. It is pretty tiring on my upper body though, and the most I have managed with it so far is 3km.

Nic came to the pool with me on Wednesday and then we met Jase in town for lunch. We even sat outside in the sun which was great - I think that was the last time we saw it! That night we went and had dinner at the local Winestube restaurant with all the Aussie mountain bikers and Nic. It was a really good night, and good to be able to talk to a group of people who speak English. I of course had my usual steak and onions. No point changing from a good thing!! Been there 4 times and had the same meal each time! (just like the Mexican back home!).

Yesterday (Friday) Jase, Nic and I went to Strasbourg for the day. I managed to tell the waitor I was learning French and would like to try to speak to him - then ordered for us all. It was great because he gave me some tips on my pronunciation. They seem to like it when you have a crack at the lingo! It was all going well until we stopped at a cafe for afternoon tea. The waitress approached me too soon and I hadn't thought about what I was going to say... full stage fright (just like at your 21st CW!!) - I couldn't come up with anything at all! Not even parlez vous anglais?! The poor waitress just kept looking at me for a response but nothing came out!

Jase was going to ask where the toilet was when we were in the Decathalon store - he practised to me first luckily...."Est-ce que voo zet toilette?"... I cracked up! The translation for this is "Are you a toilet?" I should have said that's right, way you go!!!!

This morning Jase and I headed in to Offenburg to watch the finish of a Marathon MTB race, but turns out it is on tomorrow. There was a big market in town though, so it was cool to wander around and have a look at everything, and of course the usual coffee stop.

We are both currently in limbo. It is freezing, and my motivation to go the pool is poor to say the least... Jase wants to go for a ride, but our washing is not yet back so he has no clothes to ride in. The lady here does our washing for us as we have no washing facilities - it is great - although the washing turn-around is just not up to your level Raz! The Giro is on TV though so that is good to watch - seems it is raining in Italy too!

I will get the IT man to attach some photos again.
Hope weather is better back home!
Jeanette

A day in France!

Bonjour Nouvelle Zelanders (well something like that!)

Yesterday after Jase returned from his ride, we headed into Strasbourg. The weather had been dry in the morning so we were hopeful it would last. We had a brief walk around the town centre before adjourning to a cafe for coffee. I tried to order in French but ended up asking the waitor if he spoke English which he did. Then I got him to write down a few things for me in French so that I could do it myself in future!

From there we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral (the tallest building in Strasbourg) to meet Jase's workmate David. David acted as our tour guide and gave us a very detailed tour of the city - better than any tour guide I have had before. I practised my French to him the whole afternoon and it seems I have picked up a few things. I am up to lesson 6 on his CD, but have another 84 lessons to go! We had to have a few unscheduled stops as the rain returned - I will attach a photo of it - torrential rain! Yes I have become very sad - I even take photos of rain now! Jase and David walked up heaps of steps to get 2/3rds of the way up the Cathedral and Jase managed to get some photos of the city while the rain had briefly stopped.

After our tour, we went out to dinner. David's girlfriend Julia joined us - she is Russian but speaks perfect English, French, Russian and Astonian. David was able to ask the waitor if anything contained gluten and explain to him what gluten was in etc etc so I felt quite confident in what I was ordering. Jase ordered an entree of 1 dozen snails! (I would have thought he would try 1/2 dozen 1st but no!). I had one, and that was enough. I think they just use garlic to disguise the taste, but I still tasted it and it was pretty gross. Jase didn't mind them but I don't think he'd have them again. I then had sea perch and fries with icecream as dessert. Very French! Jase was more adventurous and had sauercrout (which basically was a whole pile of pork and sausages with cabbage underneath - gross!). I practised my French the entire night to the waitor which seemed to amuse him somewhat! I will get my IT man to attach some photos of the day.

Today Jase was working so I did the weekly grocery shop, then caught up with Nic (kiwi mtber here for World cup race) for coffee, before coming home to cook a chickpea and spinach curry for tea. Jase was very skeptical, and actually rightly so - it sucked! I got the recipe off the internet and I am not 100% sure that the spices I bought were exactly the right ones needed! I am still looking forward to Jase cooking tea however! He continues to tell me he enjoys cooking - there doesn't appear to be evidence for this....

Aurevior for now
Jeanette

A dry day!

Bonjour

Today is our first dry day in a week!! So good! I have sent Jase out on a mega ride - told him just to keep going and make full use of the good weather! Great coaching advice from me. I was incredibly frustrated this morning as I really wanted to ride my bike more than ever. So I went to the pool and swam 5km (200 lengths of boredom!) to curb my frustration! I am so slow that it took me a full 2hrs and that was without stopping! There was a swim squad there today, so I was by no means the fastest in the pool this time! I think it worked though - I do feel a bit better. After my swim I walked into the market for a coffee before returning to my favoured car park building. I am too scared to park anywhere else now incase another disaster occurs - I now know the ropes at this one!

Yesterday the weather was bad again - and cold (about 10-12 degrees). My 'athlete' was less than enthusiastic about getting wet and cold again, so we negotiated a rest day, and drove up to a town in the north Black Forest called Baden-Baden (German translation = bath-bath). It is a thermal town kind of like Hanmer but a bit bigger. We paid our 14 euro each (for 2hrs - more dosh if staying longer!) and went to the hot pools. The pools are supposed to bring "wellness"so we thought we may as well give it a crack! It was an awesome facility, although Jase was somewhat out of place in his long board shorts! The order of the day for German men is speedos or extra tight hot pants! Jase Hopper - you would fit right in!! I also notice that German men don't appear to enjoy deodorant - not good.

After our swim we wandered around the town - cool boutique stores and lots of gluten free food in the "Reformhaus" (hippy shops over here). I managed to restore my supply of gluten free baguettes again.

Well not much more to report from here - still haven't managed to upload the photos - they are not great anyway as the weather is shizen!

J

PS: CW you would love it here... it seems pigs are as well thought of as cats and dogs, and seem to grace the cover of magazines, birthday cards etc! We had spag bol for tea the other night and it seems it is impossible to buy beef mince - we had shweineflesh mince!! Not ideal and def not again!!

PSS: Jase just back from mega 7hr ride - said there was 2 feet of snow on either side of the road that was pushed up to head height where the road had been cleared! He said it was pretty cold and a bit icey on the down hill!

Trapped in a German car park!

Guten tag everyone

Well it is soooooooo much better having the car. Freedom reigns!

The weather has been terrible! Freezing cold and wet! Like the middle of winter, but luckily we brought lots of warm clothes (NOT!).

Yesterday Jase was working from here with one of the company's French sales people - David Bergot. I really wanted to stay and practise my lingo with David (I did at lunch time and he has left me 3 CDs to help!), but thought I should make myself scarce, so I drove to the Offenburg heated indoor pool!! Yes that's right - having a car means no more redundant walks to the local Durbach freezing outdoor pool! It was the first time I had driven over here since Jase drove the car back from Strasbourg on Monday. I must admit it is way harder having not ridden my bike over here - I just kept reciting, "Stay on the right", to myself constantly all the way to the pool and managed to park in a car park building nearby that said Frei (free) under the sign. So far so good!

Never one to start anything gently, I got in the pool and swam 2.5km without stopping. I think I was just fully frustrated after 4 days of full sedentaryism (if that is ever a word!). I was gutted as I initially thought the pool was 30m long, and thought 3km in 1hr wasn't too bad for my 3rd swim doing lengths (I had 2 swims in London) in about 15years. I went home and googled the pool and turns out I am slower than a wet week - swimming only 2.5km in an hour!! Strangely enough I am actually the fastest (and most obsessive) swimmer in the facility - which seems to be filled with elderly flounderers! They swim up and down floundering with crazy strokes like double armed backstroke! I can now understand your swimming pool rage CW! Today I simply used aggressive passing manouvres and never let the old timers stop me in my tracks - I managed to just about clear the lane by doing this!! Brilliant!! I am there to swim lengths - not make friends!

Well I best get to the drama that is the title of this blog.... Yesterday after swimming, I wandered into town and got a coffee and had a look at the shops. It was market day so there was heaps to look at and the town was buzzing. I even made a purchase - new actual swimming togs (yes CW the kind of togs I bagged!) - it seems a bikini is simply no good for my new found activity - every time I pushed off the wall I just about lost it!

Anyway after all of that I wandered back to the car park building, hopped in the car, and drove to the exit point with my ticket ready to put in the machine. The ticket was rejected - no matter which way I put it in!! Luckily no-one was behind me, so I backed away from the barrier and re-parked. I had just seen a car leave before me so thought there was just a fault with my ticket. Then I had a brainwave! Out I hopped and walked to the entrance and pressed the button for a new ticket. No luck. I guess then everyone could get out of the car pack without paying if that idea had worked.... hmmmm - try again I thought. I drove up to the exit and put my ticket in... no luck! I read the words that came up... "Parkzeit abgelaufen, bitte nachzahlen". Oh shit I thought!!! I think the car park is now closed for the night!!!! I drove back and parked contemplating my next move. I thought of ringing Jason but the fireworks I would receive were not really too enticing, especially since he kept going on about what a great car it was and that it only had 7km on the clock and I was to be very careful when driving, bla bla bla!! I could just hear him saying that "if someone breaks into it over night.....bla bla bla".

New and better plan then dawned on me... I walked up to the machine, and put my ticket in about 5 times, while I made sure to write the words that came up very accurately. Luckily for me a trusty SportsMed pen was found in my bag - they just seem to pop up everywhere! My next plan was to walk up the street and look for some young people to interpret the words for me (most older people here don't speak English). I spotted 2 "young" women about my age and asked for their help. They said that it meant my time was up and I had to pay in the machine by the exit. I told them there was no machine there so they very kindly walked back to the carpark with me, and I felt really stupid when I saw the machine right next to the exit!! I sheepishly paid my dosh and was out of there as fast as I could, whilst obviously still reciting "Stay on the right, stay on the right".

Yes it seems I am still an idiot. I am just not sure how these things happen to me.

Last night, Jase took me on a drive to show me his favourite training route - with a 20km hill. It was awesome, and there was even a ski jump up the top and some snow! There are some good looking walks up there, so I am planning to keep swimming for now in the hope that my legs will settle so I can get up there maybe at the weekend.

J

Freedom!

Hi everyone
Well the weather has taken a turn for the worst! Last Thursday was 27 degrees. Since then it has been between 13-17 degrees! It has also rained everyday... but never fear, today we picked up our car! Freedom at last! Unfortunately my legs are playing up a bit worse than before (think it may be walking up the hills here - and the fact that we are staying 1/2 way up a big hill), so I have had to can the walking as well for now. I have been confined to the indoors, and those who know me well (ie mum and dad) will know how I become after several days locked inside!

The Durbach outdoor pool is now open, and I have made 2 trips down to the pool.... and no actual trips past the gate as yet! I am really keen to do some exercise, but apparently the pool is not heated, and I struggle to get into an outdoor non heated pool in 13 degrees and rain! - especially since I only have a bikini, and I am not a huge fan of swimming anyway! I am going crazy though and feel like a fat blob (probably also thanks to my new found liking of nutella! - Lance eats it though so it must be good!). Now that we have the car I will head into the Offenburg indoor pool tomorrow.

Jase is off riding in the rain as we speak - he is enjoying his riding but says he is looking forward to having some others to ride with - so is really looking forward to the Hoppers and the dawn Possum negotiator (aka Jones) coming over.

Last Friday we caught the train to Freiberg (1hr south of here). It was cold and wet, but it was good to have a look around somewhere different. Freiberg is a Uni town right on the edge of the black forest. Saturday it was raining again, so we were a bit slow moving. Jase headed out on his 4 hr ride in the afternoon, while I walked to the pool and back (!!). I ended up very disgruntled with myself, so forced myself to have a 4hr French lesson! I am picking it up very slowly, but today when we went into Strasbourg to get the car, I was surprised at how much I had actually learnt. Better not talk it up too much - I still have a long way to go! I did manage to ask for 2 tickets to the airport however! As our train crossed over the Rheine and into France, I told Jase I was "in my element" - probably a stupid move as from then on he made me do all the talking!

Jase is working tomorrow from here, so I will be out swimming, and negotiating driving on the right hand side of the road again - god help us all!

I will get Jase to attach some photos of Freiberg... I really must learn to do it myself - but with my recent upgraded effort on technology (eg facebook, blogging), I think I have reached capacity for now!

Thanks for the message Dean and Sara - but do you seriously think Jase will lend me his garmin (?!!). I will hopefully get to Moostrum - just need to be kind to my legs for now.

Christine, and the rest of the peleton: you heard it here first - the Cervelo actually can get wet!

Hope all is well back home - the weather sure sounds better than here! (for now!)
Jeanette