July Monthly Report



Welcome home!!  Living in Vitoria, in the Basque country, for 4 months of the year, I am happy to call it home. People often get mistaken and think after every race I am making the journey back to Australia but really I am making a short few hours flight. This time I arrived back to the smiling girls who tell me they missed me J and new apartments. My relationship with the oven began as soon as I walked through the door, already cooking up a storm with my roomie Grace. We are currently on a 30 day challenge, not allowed to cook the same meals twice within the 30 days. We are going strong, inspired by our morning Masterchef watching and Google recipes of romantic dinners for two.

July has been non- stop with races, travelling to Paris, Hungary and Hamburg. All of them were solid races, surrounded by girls peaking for the Olympics. I was overall happy with how everything went, still knowing that I have so much to work on, which is so exciting. Being sprint racing, they were full gas from the word GO, allowing no chance to sit up and enjoy the sights but more the sights of the girls wheels in front of me. After all the hard work was done, I got the chance to explore Paris and became a tourist for the day. After the 3 weeks was done, the body did want a rest and I set off to Munich for a mini holiday. Being by yourself… the opportunity only to blame yourself when you get lost. I explored the city pretty much seeing everything that my map showed with an excellent transport system, not realising sometimes that I was catching the train about 200m to my next destination. I even brought myself a pair of snazzy Birkenstocks, possibly the most comfortable shoes in my collection.

Once again, it’s the support from people behind the scenes that allow us to excel in our sport. A big thank you to HUUB wetsuits for sending me a new custom Aura wetsuit. They always keep in regular contact with me and I am happy to be the first blog on their website with “ Life as an athlete”. This gave me a chance to break down where I have got in the last 18 months from races to the unique experience at every airport to the professional support that surrounds me every day. I am grateful also to get Compresssport on board for my compression needs in everyday training, traveling and racing. I am looking forward to receiving their products soon.

The biggest event that only ever happens every 4 years arrived on our tv screens today. As little as milliseconds determines the winner in a 2 hour race – 10cm difference!! In training when it's easy to think that that last rep doesn't matter or won't make any difference... I guess it can be the difference between victory and second best. If only we could ride bikes like the one below at the Olympics and still win. But wow! Edge of you  seat racing, with the doubt of not knowing if the same amount of girls, would turn the corner when you see them next. The pavement became close friends with too many people. Sad to see many girl’s dreams fade right in front of them and others achieve what 4 years of preparation has brought them. Like the quote on the girls wrist “ All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us”.

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