From Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris.

In many respects Europe has a lot in common with Melbourne…38 degrees C yesterday, 9 today!  Worried about sunburn/heat stroke yesterday, trying to find warm clothes today.

My racing has been somewhat weather affected this year.  I was s’posed to do 7 races..3 got cancelled due to rain, 2 were unaffected and 1 (yesterday’s RR) was ridden in 38 degree blazing sunshine.

I got 3^rd yesterday…dropped on the big hill again..although a bit higher up this time, I was 4^th over the top not too far back and ready to blast down the hill etc etc.  I caught the rider in front and she did a couple of turns with me, but she was unable to hold my wheel and dropped back..I heard later she blew up big time and ended 5^th (body parts scattered all over the road was how it was described to me!).

I continued to be within cooee of the first 2 but at the top of the last hill and onto the TT course there was a head wind and being solo was a distinct disadvantage but by then I was struggling with the heat anyway and realised that what I had to do was to go my own pace and make sure I kept 3^rd possie.  The finish line couldn’t come fast enough.  Reckon I lost mega weight out there, but put it back on straight away with 3 very large mugs of electrolyte and some home made apfel strudel(!).

So then it was packing, presentation and bed followed by getting up today at 4am for the drive over to Paris.  I made very good time, partly due to the early start but also because the roads were strangely empty..perhaps the non stop rain helped.  My journey took me near Verdun, the Maginot line and sites of many First World War battle sites and cemeteries and Bitche again, but not Spy or Plopsaland.

So that’s it then…for this episode although I’ll be in UK in October and Italy in October and November..so don’t go away!  BTW at last count there were over 1000 visits to the blog…thank you all for visitng….

TT and yet another positive split

got third...and as always the ability to hold something in reserve for the return trip is a skill that eludes me. As a result  I rocked going out and didn't coming back.

ah well...one day perhaps!

Rest day tomorrow and a trip to Salzburg is on the cards in order to send my TT bike home as freight rather than incur  a mega buck fine for excess baggage. I did the same coming over and  even so was on the limit with my checked in and carry on luggage. 

The problem of excess luggage is magnified by the fact that  the trophies you get here are rather large and heavy and they give trpohies well down into the field..so in the older ladies classes you almost certain to get one. What a nice dilemma..place and get a huge trophy but can't get it home without paying,  What do you do??!..you can hardly refuse them.  One person I know managed to get hers on board without paying using the tried and tested method of bursting into tears when told how much it'd cost her...but  sadly bursting into tears, like good timing in a TT, just isn't in my repertoire.

St Johann in Tyrol ..masters for masters

 continuing from yesterday's post.....top dead centre are the flags at the top of THE hill

 kirchdorf again

there are still some houses in the old style with  house and barn under the same roof line

 prior to the start....the oldest ladies' class

neutralised for about 200m..well not formally neutral but there's a truck in front filming.....

Time trial and journey to Saint Johann

A hot and humid day, so i was glad to have an early start.  However the humidity had meant that I didn't sleep well and so was rather tired and in fact while talking to others it seemed that we were all struggling to get our heart rates up to the usual TT level.  I came second but was really struggling on the way back.

The journey to Innsbruck to pick up my sister at the airport came unstuck with traffic, accidents and road work issues that resulted in the autobahns resembling a rather long car park, so I had to ring her and suggest she take the train instead.

The rest of the journey off the autobahn took me through some really nice country side

 as I neared St Johann, I got held up again, this time  by the day's road race!

forecast for the week...hot!

Rest day ride

ah well..riding my treadlie in a dry 40 degrees plus heat is a really dreadful job....not, and I'm glad to be doing it. 
Today's effort was a ride of tomorrow's race course + a bit extra.

the course is ridden clockwise with a nasty 6% pinch and a half near the north west corner and a truly awful 11% drag on the extreme east part of the course.  My race is late in the day and with the TT early the next day, I'll not be expending any more energy than I have to.

Round the course I passed these beauties outside a furniture shop(!)

and they're hoping to sell them to.......?

Finally for this post another sign that really has it all I think...... a veritable double wammy..the result of a Google translate perhaps?

Austria to Italy..added to on 4/7

Jet lag and fatigue meant that I went to bed at 7pm yesterday and woke up at 2am...I must have crashed the moment my head hit the pillow...

Today's trip is ~700 km with just the first and last bit not on freeways..actually they're not "free" at all..I've bought a 28 euros vignette that allows me to drive the motorways in Austria for 2 months and will fork out ++euros to toll booths along the way in Italy .

As there is quite a difference in driving here and in Aus, and not just the right hand/left hand side of the road issue, I've decided to do a series of posts on my experiences on the road.  They'll just be personal, uninformed comments but as a regular recipient of demerit points due to speeding, I'm interested in the "speed kills" attitude of our law enforcers.

Sunday 3/7

• The journey today took 7 hours. I left St J with a shiver at 10 degrees and arrived in Urbania at 30 degrees.
• During my trip I stopped at petrol stations twice and at both places the staff replied in German to my Italian ….well at least I didn’t sound like a Pom!
• Since I was clearly the ONLY driver keeping anywhere near to the posted speed limit, here are some  Autostrada speed limit thoughts:Speed limits in Italy are considered to be

1. ·         advisory only
2. ·         a challenge
3. ·         the legal minimum speed

Urbania..photos wil follow

On arriving it was clear that both my planned alternative routes via the Google earth map were both impossible due to the one way system, so I drove to the school and started to try and make phone calls..with no luck at all…first because there seemed to be no service and eventually because there was no reply.  Luck was on my side because someone I asked for help happened to work at the school…she called one of the directors and the rest is history!  My guide from the apartment couldn’t speak English and so I HAD to speak Italian..2 hours later my fluency was much better!

Monday 4/7

Today I’ve just finished my first class..the group I joined are all singers and are in their final week.  There are 3 levels and I think I’m in the middle one, this afternoon I get another guided tour around the town.

My jet lag still lingers but I’m now waking at 3am instead of 2 am(!).  Classes start at 9 and it’s light from 5am so the plan is to get out on the bike early while it’s still cool, but first I need to get the brakes fixed as I loosened them off to allow better packing and have no pliers here to reverse the deed.