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.