Hiya Chippy Choppers,
Little while no blogging, unforgiveable I know but I've been busy and blogging trash hasn't been on top of my agenda beleive it or not.
Anywho, I don't really have anything exciting to report other than I ate some Brussel Sprouts last nights and I also ate some leftover cold ones today - and no not with nutella as that would just be wrong! I think I may well eat a few more cold ones later on as a special treat and wash them down with some green tea.....I love living on the edge. I would actually say that brussel sprouts are potentially my favourite vegetable in the whole world and I definitely class them in my "Top 5" of favourite vegetables.
It's mothers day today, my mumsy is celebrating the day by having a long nap whilst I'm cleaning the house (obviously not right now as I'm typing this trashy blog) - talk about taking liberties! I thought it was a day where Mutha's go about their normal daily chores and just get praise for the work they have done on their "special" day before normal service resumes tomorrow where they just get on with the chores and not expect to receive praise after every little chore they have done.....apparently not, so muggins here is labouring away whilst mumsy has a nice nap. I don't think I can really complain too much though as I forgot to get mumsy a card so I'm getting on with the chores like a good little daughter and trying to avoid the whole card situation. Happy Mothers day to all you Mutha's reading......if I ever get to be a mumsy and celebrate mother's day I think I would make my children do the most awful chores out there....actually I would probably celebrate it by getting as far away as possible from the little brats and drinking a Pina Colada or something similar.
I had to go to Jungle Gym's yesterday. Yesterday was a rather rainy day and it was a Saturday, so that meant Jungle Gym's was heaving - there were also two birthday parties happening in Jungle Gym's whilst I was there. I didn't go there for fun as that would just be really weird, I was actually looking after 2 children all afternoon and they wanted to go to Jungle Gym's so me thinking that was a great idea we went there as I thought I could sit down, chill out and let them run around like crazy nutters, get tired then I take them home.....oh how wrong I was. Firstly, there was no place for me to plonk my bubble bum so I had to stand and watch them run around - wishing all the time I was going down the great big massive slide - and then I had to listen to little brats screaming and crying because they were weak as piss and scared of going down the great big slide. The kids I was looking after didn't cry once however as they are nutters. When they were nicely tired I took them out for dinner and then back home....I'm not sure who was more tired, me or them!!
That's enough nonsense for you to digest for now. I best get back to the chores now whilst mumsy sleeps away the day.
Bye Bye
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Ouchie
I rode my bicycle today and had the most horrific back pain I have ever suffered whilst on my bicycle. I was not amused in the slightest and to make it worse I had to do some efforts that are painful enough without back pain let alone with back pain.....I did it though and suffered away like a right little trooper. I'm not overly looking forward to attempting to put socks on tomorrow as I reckon I won't be able to bend my back tomorrow.....hopefully it's warm and sunny so I can just wear jesus sandals all day instead.
I don't have anything else exciting to report so I'm going to go to sleeps now and put a heat patch on my back and hope that it works so my back will move in the morning so I can at least get out of bed.....it will mean that I will sweat like a mutha tonight but that's ok as I'll probably have a disturbed sleep anyway from tonight's powers trainings. Hopefully I'll sleep good though and dream of Nutella and George Clooney - read into that as you wish!
Laters whoppers
I don't have anything else exciting to report so I'm going to go to sleeps now and put a heat patch on my back and hope that it works so my back will move in the morning so I can at least get out of bed.....it will mean that I will sweat like a mutha tonight but that's ok as I'll probably have a disturbed sleep anyway from tonight's powers trainings. Hopefully I'll sleep good though and dream of Nutella and George Clooney - read into that as you wish!
Laters whoppers
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Bicycle Race
Quick short and sweet (much like myself) blog as I'm a little bit busy at the moment ....
I had a bicycle race on Saturday and what d'ya know, I bloody well finished the mutha! I thought I was a gonna after the first few laps as it felt more like a crit than a road race but I remembered something a good friend told me and so I hung in there in the race and it all started to get a little bit easier and before I knew it I was onto the last lap of the race and I finished with the pack. I was however at the back of the pack for most of the race when it was nicely lined out due to the stupid wind and some strong beasts nailing it on the front.
It was good to finish this race and a nice morale boost and has helped me put that ball bag of a race the other week behind me and to keep striving forwards as they say.
Anywho I'm busy so I'm going now. Oh and a quick update on my mumsy, she has a few bruises from her horrificly embarrassing fall in the middle of town the other day but other than that she is fine - thank god I didn't inherit her spacial awareness skills!
Have a fun week all and I'll report back soon
Ta-ra
I had a bicycle race on Saturday and what d'ya know, I bloody well finished the mutha! I thought I was a gonna after the first few laps as it felt more like a crit than a road race but I remembered something a good friend told me and so I hung in there in the race and it all started to get a little bit easier and before I knew it I was onto the last lap of the race and I finished with the pack. I was however at the back of the pack for most of the race when it was nicely lined out due to the stupid wind and some strong beasts nailing it on the front.
It was good to finish this race and a nice morale boost and has helped me put that ball bag of a race the other week behind me and to keep striving forwards as they say.
Anywho I'm busy so I'm going now. Oh and a quick update on my mumsy, she has a few bruises from her horrificly embarrassing fall in the middle of town the other day but other than that she is fine - thank god I didn't inherit her spacial awareness skills!
Have a fun week all and I'll report back soon
Ta-ra
Friday, March 9, 2012
A funny story
Hiya beansprouts,
I'm going to tell you all an amusing story - it's not about me so I can laugh along also, it's actually about my mumsy (poor little mumsy). I sent her a text message this morning to check she is still alive and not missing me too much but more so just to let her know that I'm still alive (she's a bit of a worrier is my mumsy). Anywho, she texted me back and told me what she's been up to the past couple of days and mentioned that yesterday as she was walking to work, went to cross the road between two cars but unfortunately for her she didn't notice the car behind was being towed along by the car in front and what happened.....you got it, she fell over the tow rope and fell flat on her face and had to be picked up by the two men in the cars, oh dear! Poor mumsy, I assume she didn't sustain any injuries, I didn't actually ask but as long as she can stand up to do the ironing and the dishes she'll be fine. As well as a worrier my mumsy is also a warrior! So if any of you reading saw a little lady walking along Castle Street yesterday and then fall over between two cars and you responded with laughter - I'm going to get you as that was my mumsy and no one laughs at my mumsy except for me.
On to today and I rode my bicycle today believe it or not, not for long as I still couldn't be bothered to ride it but I thought I better had as I have another pain fest tomorrow also commonly known as a race. I'm slowly coming out of my black hole from my last race but I've let myself have this week off to do and eat whatever I want and then get back on it tomorrow without fail so I will just see what happens in tomorrow's race and go from there. I've booked myself a couple of UK races also so that gives me a few targets to aim for in training and I can then use the races over here to gain experience.
That's all there is to tell you for now. I'm going to go and finish watching the movie I started watching yesterday, it's called "We Need To Talk About Kevin". It's a bit of a strange movie and the book is definitely better than the motion picture, I would actually say the book is in my "Top 5" of books it's that good! If you haven't read it yet, treat yourself to reading it. Righto, movie and waffle eating time.
Salut
I'm going to tell you all an amusing story - it's not about me so I can laugh along also, it's actually about my mumsy (poor little mumsy). I sent her a text message this morning to check she is still alive and not missing me too much but more so just to let her know that I'm still alive (she's a bit of a worrier is my mumsy). Anywho, she texted me back and told me what she's been up to the past couple of days and mentioned that yesterday as she was walking to work, went to cross the road between two cars but unfortunately for her she didn't notice the car behind was being towed along by the car in front and what happened.....you got it, she fell over the tow rope and fell flat on her face and had to be picked up by the two men in the cars, oh dear! Poor mumsy, I assume she didn't sustain any injuries, I didn't actually ask but as long as she can stand up to do the ironing and the dishes she'll be fine. As well as a worrier my mumsy is also a warrior! So if any of you reading saw a little lady walking along Castle Street yesterday and then fall over between two cars and you responded with laughter - I'm going to get you as that was my mumsy and no one laughs at my mumsy except for me.
On to today and I rode my bicycle today believe it or not, not for long as I still couldn't be bothered to ride it but I thought I better had as I have another pain fest tomorrow also commonly known as a race. I'm slowly coming out of my black hole from my last race but I've let myself have this week off to do and eat whatever I want and then get back on it tomorrow without fail so I will just see what happens in tomorrow's race and go from there. I've booked myself a couple of UK races also so that gives me a few targets to aim for in training and I can then use the races over here to gain experience.
That's all there is to tell you for now. I'm going to go and finish watching the movie I started watching yesterday, it's called "We Need To Talk About Kevin". It's a bit of a strange movie and the book is definitely better than the motion picture, I would actually say the book is in my "Top 5" of books it's that good! If you haven't read it yet, treat yourself to reading it. Righto, movie and waffle eating time.
Salut
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Little Fish
Sup,
Hope you aren't getting too bored of this drivel now, still nothing overly exciting has happened since yesterday, in fact I don't think anything exciting will happen until Saturday when I will no doubt get belled out the back of another nutty hardcore race and have another prolapse!!
I tell a lie something exciting did happen yesterday, I went to watch a pro race and it was bloody fast! It was that fast it was all crazily lined out and the race was shortened because there weren't enough riders left - crazy! The weather was rubbish yesterday so I didn't ride my cycles, the weather is much nicer today but I still can't be bothered to ride my cycles so I'm just festering in my pit instead.....I think Sunday's en disastre has left a nice dent in me and the fact that I know that for the next two months I have nutty hardcore races lined up I've kind of lost a bit of motivation (actually a lot of motivation) and feeling somewhat despondent. As always I'm sure I'll bounce back and get back to my normal nutty self but at the moment this whole experience kind of seems somewhat overwhelming and has taken me back a bit. I know it's very early days and fear not I'm not one to throw in the towel that quickly and easily, I suppose it's the reality of going from a big fish in a little pond to a tiny little fish in the bloody great big ocean and having to learn lessons rather brutally and suddenly. Again I'd be lying if I said that I've not thought about throwing the towel in, who hasn't thought of throwing the towel in when things get tough!? But everytime I've thought about it I've always asked myself how much do I really want to live my dream at the top level and the answer is I want it more than anything! Now just to confirm to any of you reading, I don't expect to be doing well in these pro races, not yet anyway, but I do give mself the expectation of finishing them, call the aim nutty, delusional or whatever you wish but it's an aim and one that I think is bloody hard but realistic and if I don't aim to be finishing them then I shouldn't be here, so that's kind of why I'm feeling a bit down at the moment.
I've felt this way more than once during my short time cycling and a fair few times during my badminton days, the last time I felt like this was when I broke my wrist in a stupid bike crash when a car decided to nicely plough into the peloton. I was so close to quitting after that crash because things weren't going my way but I pereservered through it, albeit with the help of others and got back on track and have done alright since. That was nearly a year ago so to think that my last big low point was nearly one year ago then I'm pretty much due this low point, in fact it's probably long over-due. One thing I have learnt during my low points is not to fight them and just to let them run their course as I know in a few days once I've got myself sorted and my head back in the game I'll be back on it like a car bonnett and ready to endure the pain of the big races and everything else that goes with it. So in light of that, I'm going to sort out my routine over here as I'm pretty sure going to bed at near midnight and waking up at 9am isn't doing me much good! and getting myself over to the UK for a few "easier" races at more my level to keep the confidence and motivation up as I'm sure doing a few of those races I'll soon realise that racing these hardcore nutty races is what I want to be doing and will make me accept the beatings a bit more.
This may all be a bit deep for a blog entry but I said to myself that I'll write the truth and let you all know of the goings on of the life of Kimmy over here in Belge so I'm doing just that. I knew to expect these kind of set-backs before I came as I had the same when I was living by myself in Denmark and I'm sure it's much the same for anyone else living away from home in a country where they don't speak the lingo, I'm not saying that I don't like life over here - I love it and I love trying to learn a new language and culture etc, it's just sometimes having home comforts makes it that much easier.....for example I'm sure if I was travelling back and forth between Jersey and training full-time at home then I wouldn't be feeling too down at the moment but where would the challenge and fun be in that....afterall I'm not here just to ride my bike and try to make it, for sure that's my number one aim, but I'm also here to get a life experience, make new friends, learn a new culture (much like what living in Denmark was for me) and it's something to tell the granchildren - with that in mind I better come out of this low-point pretty quick and make it into the world of cycling pretty quickly as I don't have long left to have little childrens who can then have little childrens for me to tell stories to as I'm getting old and it will be baby time before I know it.
Well there you go, that's a bit more an insightful blog of what's been happening lately and beats the other drivel I've been writing.....I bet none of you knew I was such a deep and meaningful person and a rather complex little character, should this cycling thing not work out then I think I'm going to go into the profession of sports psychology or something similar. Until then though I'm going to build myself back up again, get out of this little black hole, sort my training and day to day life out over here, book some UK races and get back on track with it all and go into Saturday's race with an open mind-set and no pressure of how I do and just see what happens and then focus on the season ahead. After all if I was in Jersey I wouldn't have even started racing proper races yet as the UK races don't begin until April so I'm ahead of the game as it is. And just like Coldplay say in one of their popular culture hits "nobody said it was going to be easy" so I'll just take that Diva Whitney Housten's (RIP) advice and take it all "Step by Step". If cycling or me becoming a psychologist don't work out then I think my third job choice would be writing stuff with as many musical references in it as possible as I'm not too bad at that also. Anywho, those tubs of nutella and speculoos are calling me.
For now, Salut and thanks for reading
Hope you aren't getting too bored of this drivel now, still nothing overly exciting has happened since yesterday, in fact I don't think anything exciting will happen until Saturday when I will no doubt get belled out the back of another nutty hardcore race and have another prolapse!!
I tell a lie something exciting did happen yesterday, I went to watch a pro race and it was bloody fast! It was that fast it was all crazily lined out and the race was shortened because there weren't enough riders left - crazy! The weather was rubbish yesterday so I didn't ride my cycles, the weather is much nicer today but I still can't be bothered to ride my cycles so I'm just festering in my pit instead.....I think Sunday's en disastre has left a nice dent in me and the fact that I know that for the next two months I have nutty hardcore races lined up I've kind of lost a bit of motivation (actually a lot of motivation) and feeling somewhat despondent. As always I'm sure I'll bounce back and get back to my normal nutty self but at the moment this whole experience kind of seems somewhat overwhelming and has taken me back a bit. I know it's very early days and fear not I'm not one to throw in the towel that quickly and easily, I suppose it's the reality of going from a big fish in a little pond to a tiny little fish in the bloody great big ocean and having to learn lessons rather brutally and suddenly. Again I'd be lying if I said that I've not thought about throwing the towel in, who hasn't thought of throwing the towel in when things get tough!? But everytime I've thought about it I've always asked myself how much do I really want to live my dream at the top level and the answer is I want it more than anything! Now just to confirm to any of you reading, I don't expect to be doing well in these pro races, not yet anyway, but I do give mself the expectation of finishing them, call the aim nutty, delusional or whatever you wish but it's an aim and one that I think is bloody hard but realistic and if I don't aim to be finishing them then I shouldn't be here, so that's kind of why I'm feeling a bit down at the moment.
I've felt this way more than once during my short time cycling and a fair few times during my badminton days, the last time I felt like this was when I broke my wrist in a stupid bike crash when a car decided to nicely plough into the peloton. I was so close to quitting after that crash because things weren't going my way but I pereservered through it, albeit with the help of others and got back on track and have done alright since. That was nearly a year ago so to think that my last big low point was nearly one year ago then I'm pretty much due this low point, in fact it's probably long over-due. One thing I have learnt during my low points is not to fight them and just to let them run their course as I know in a few days once I've got myself sorted and my head back in the game I'll be back on it like a car bonnett and ready to endure the pain of the big races and everything else that goes with it. So in light of that, I'm going to sort out my routine over here as I'm pretty sure going to bed at near midnight and waking up at 9am isn't doing me much good! and getting myself over to the UK for a few "easier" races at more my level to keep the confidence and motivation up as I'm sure doing a few of those races I'll soon realise that racing these hardcore nutty races is what I want to be doing and will make me accept the beatings a bit more.
This may all be a bit deep for a blog entry but I said to myself that I'll write the truth and let you all know of the goings on of the life of Kimmy over here in Belge so I'm doing just that. I knew to expect these kind of set-backs before I came as I had the same when I was living by myself in Denmark and I'm sure it's much the same for anyone else living away from home in a country where they don't speak the lingo, I'm not saying that I don't like life over here - I love it and I love trying to learn a new language and culture etc, it's just sometimes having home comforts makes it that much easier.....for example I'm sure if I was travelling back and forth between Jersey and training full-time at home then I wouldn't be feeling too down at the moment but where would the challenge and fun be in that....afterall I'm not here just to ride my bike and try to make it, for sure that's my number one aim, but I'm also here to get a life experience, make new friends, learn a new culture (much like what living in Denmark was for me) and it's something to tell the granchildren - with that in mind I better come out of this low-point pretty quick and make it into the world of cycling pretty quickly as I don't have long left to have little childrens who can then have little childrens for me to tell stories to as I'm getting old and it will be baby time before I know it.
Well there you go, that's a bit more an insightful blog of what's been happening lately and beats the other drivel I've been writing.....I bet none of you knew I was such a deep and meaningful person and a rather complex little character, should this cycling thing not work out then I think I'm going to go into the profession of sports psychology or something similar. Until then though I'm going to build myself back up again, get out of this little black hole, sort my training and day to day life out over here, book some UK races and get back on track with it all and go into Saturday's race with an open mind-set and no pressure of how I do and just see what happens and then focus on the season ahead. After all if I was in Jersey I wouldn't have even started racing proper races yet as the UK races don't begin until April so I'm ahead of the game as it is. And just like Coldplay say in one of their popular culture hits "nobody said it was going to be easy" so I'll just take that Diva Whitney Housten's (RIP) advice and take it all "Step by Step". If cycling or me becoming a psychologist don't work out then I think my third job choice would be writing stuff with as many musical references in it as possible as I'm not too bad at that also. Anywho, those tubs of nutella and speculoos are calling me.
For now, Salut and thanks for reading
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
The Weather
Apparently overnight Belgium moved somewhere near Alaska or somewhere similarly cold as it's bloody cold, windy and miserable weather over here today...so much so that I can't be bothered to train, yes you read that correctly, I can't be bothered to train today. I hate winter weather and I'm well and truly over it after enduring a long winter training away in the little Isle going round and round in circles. For sure I could have got on my turbo trainer but I'm over that also, it's dull as dishwater and I just can't be bothered to train today.....I'm going to train my stomach instead and see how good it is at digesting Cola (that's cocoa-cola for you English speaking goons) , nutella and some Belgian chocolates....call it interval training at the highest level. I'm actually good at eating a lot of junk food - I used to be a right fatty fatty, a few people have even seen a picture of me in my fat days and my god I was fat. I'll try and describe the picture.....I was Fat, the same small height that I am now, that's 5 foot 2inches approximately and not 4 foot 11inches as some tall person once said I was! I had a big fat double chin, my same big Jewish nose oh and my mother thought it would be a great idea for me to have a bob haircut, the evil wench that she was. To enlighten you at how good I am at eating junk food I once ate all but half a slice of a family size stuffed crust pizza hut pizza from pizza hut with chicken and vegetable topping, impressive I know....so today I'm going back to my fatty roots and avoiding anything remotely healthy.
It's weird as since Sunday's disaster I've kind of felt at a bit of a crossroads (10 points to whoever can name the band who sung that song crossroads, and no not Blazin' Squad, the original band that sung it). I know that I'm training alright and going better than I've ever gone before but feel at a bit of a loss when it comes to the races....maybe that's why also today I can't be bothered to train. I think now I just need to race, race and race some more and get that all important experience that you can only get from competition and then it will make the training all seem worthwhile as this week it hasn't really felt that way, I know it's only Wednesday peoples, but I know for a fact that I could be a world champion when it comes to training, as I'm actually not too bad at it, but that means diddily squat when it comes to competition. So yeah I think I'm going to get myself entered in as many races as possible and hit it hard.
Today Jeroen (that's Kristina's boyfriend) is competing in some nutty hardcore race so I'm going to go and watch him race and keep Mariska (Kristina's sister) company. Apparently there is a pro's race also so I'm going to take my baby oil with me just incase they want a leg massage. I found out the other day that Jeroen played an evil joke on me when I asked him to teach me a Dutch word within my first few days of being here.....I had thought it odd at the time that he taught me how to say finger however I was kindly pointed out that the word I had learnt was in fact not finger at all - thank god I never said the word to anyone in conversation - boys do not change from country to country , they are all the same and always ready to play a joke on peoples, fair play Jeroen, I'll give you that one.....however as he doesn't speak a lot of English I think I'll have some fun myself in teaching him some English words, fire with fire and all that.
I think that's enough information you have learnt about me for one day, it's time for me to eat some more food and get off to watch the races and get back on track with it all tomorrow starting with a well-needed diet.
Laters
It's weird as since Sunday's disaster I've kind of felt at a bit of a crossroads (10 points to whoever can name the band who sung that song crossroads, and no not Blazin' Squad, the original band that sung it). I know that I'm training alright and going better than I've ever gone before but feel at a bit of a loss when it comes to the races....maybe that's why also today I can't be bothered to train. I think now I just need to race, race and race some more and get that all important experience that you can only get from competition and then it will make the training all seem worthwhile as this week it hasn't really felt that way, I know it's only Wednesday peoples, but I know for a fact that I could be a world champion when it comes to training, as I'm actually not too bad at it, but that means diddily squat when it comes to competition. So yeah I think I'm going to get myself entered in as many races as possible and hit it hard.
Today Jeroen (that's Kristina's boyfriend) is competing in some nutty hardcore race so I'm going to go and watch him race and keep Mariska (Kristina's sister) company. Apparently there is a pro's race also so I'm going to take my baby oil with me just incase they want a leg massage. I found out the other day that Jeroen played an evil joke on me when I asked him to teach me a Dutch word within my first few days of being here.....I had thought it odd at the time that he taught me how to say finger however I was kindly pointed out that the word I had learnt was in fact not finger at all - thank god I never said the word to anyone in conversation - boys do not change from country to country , they are all the same and always ready to play a joke on peoples, fair play Jeroen, I'll give you that one.....however as he doesn't speak a lot of English I think I'll have some fun myself in teaching him some English words, fire with fire and all that.
I think that's enough information you have learnt about me for one day, it's time for me to eat some more food and get off to watch the races and get back on track with it all tomorrow starting with a well-needed diet.
Laters
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Jibber Jabber
Hiya Dirtbags,
Not really sure why I'm writing a blog post entry today as I don't have a lot to say, ok I do have a lot to say but it's all useless shiz niz, but I'm bored of facebook stalking (my favourite past-time) so I might aswell write some jibber jabber for you to read. And also because there is nothing worse than being an avid blog reader and finding out their is no new entry to read, it kind of puts a downer on my day when that happens.
Okey dokey, today I got back to bicycle business and attempted to throw some powers down on my little bicycle with my little sparrow legs. I also managed to not get too lost today which was a Brucey Bonus as it was somewhat chilly and the sun was out so I was happy with that.....I did stumble upon one long cobbled road which went on and on for what seemed an eternity. Of course in reality it wasn't an eternity as I'd still be out there now if that was the case, it was probably only about 3minutes long and was bumpy as hell but good fun. It hurt a little bit towards the end, I think I've lost a very small amount of bubble from my bubble bum so I could feel those lumps and bumps all the way. It was good fun though and I pretended I was Tom Boonen smashing and driving along at VO5 level (this is the level I assume Boonen rides those cobbles at), I'm apparently only up to VO2 level but I think it's more like VO1 at a push. Anywho, cobbles over and I saw a nice sign showing me the direction to home so off I pedalled.
The rest of my day has been spent doing a small amount of housework (hoovering if you must know), I'm very good at hoovering and I quite enjoy it. Sometimes I pretend I'm Mrs Doubtfire and dance whilst I'm hoovering but I haven't done that since I've been here in fear of being seen and then laughed at and booted out the house. I also watched a little bit of cycling on the television and then I finished off with a bit of core and flexibility work....all in all it's been a splendid day and the pain and sorrow and self-pity of Sunday has been put behind me.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this useless and pointless blog entry, and have a nice image of me as Mrs Doubtfire singing and dancing whilst hoovering around the house....or whatever image of me you wish to have in your head whilst hoovering. I'll hopefully have something less pointless to write at some stage, perhaps on Saturday as I have a race on Saturday which is apparently another hardcore pain-fest.
Ta-Ta for now,
Kimberley (that's my real name incase you didn't know and please note the E between the l and y, many people omit the E from the end of my name and it irritates me).
Not really sure why I'm writing a blog post entry today as I don't have a lot to say, ok I do have a lot to say but it's all useless shiz niz, but I'm bored of facebook stalking (my favourite past-time) so I might aswell write some jibber jabber for you to read. And also because there is nothing worse than being an avid blog reader and finding out their is no new entry to read, it kind of puts a downer on my day when that happens.
Okey dokey, today I got back to bicycle business and attempted to throw some powers down on my little bicycle with my little sparrow legs. I also managed to not get too lost today which was a Brucey Bonus as it was somewhat chilly and the sun was out so I was happy with that.....I did stumble upon one long cobbled road which went on and on for what seemed an eternity. Of course in reality it wasn't an eternity as I'd still be out there now if that was the case, it was probably only about 3minutes long and was bumpy as hell but good fun. It hurt a little bit towards the end, I think I've lost a very small amount of bubble from my bubble bum so I could feel those lumps and bumps all the way. It was good fun though and I pretended I was Tom Boonen smashing and driving along at VO5 level (this is the level I assume Boonen rides those cobbles at), I'm apparently only up to VO2 level but I think it's more like VO1 at a push. Anywho, cobbles over and I saw a nice sign showing me the direction to home so off I pedalled.
The rest of my day has been spent doing a small amount of housework (hoovering if you must know), I'm very good at hoovering and I quite enjoy it. Sometimes I pretend I'm Mrs Doubtfire and dance whilst I'm hoovering but I haven't done that since I've been here in fear of being seen and then laughed at and booted out the house. I also watched a little bit of cycling on the television and then I finished off with a bit of core and flexibility work....all in all it's been a splendid day and the pain and sorrow and self-pity of Sunday has been put behind me.
Well I hope you enjoyed reading this useless and pointless blog entry, and have a nice image of me as Mrs Doubtfire singing and dancing whilst hoovering around the house....or whatever image of me you wish to have in your head whilst hoovering. I'll hopefully have something less pointless to write at some stage, perhaps on Saturday as I have a race on Saturday which is apparently another hardcore pain-fest.
Ta-Ta for now,
Kimberley (that's my real name incase you didn't know and please note the E between the l and y, many people omit the E from the end of my name and it irritates me).
Monday, March 5, 2012
Grufallo
Morning all,
You'll be delighted to know after yesterday's "en disastre" I've woken up in a positive mood and put the doom and gloom of yesterday to the back of my mind - I'm never forgetting yesterday as that is now my new motivation for training but more importantly in races to make sure I'm alert in them and fight away my demons of big bunch riding.....a very good friend told me yesterday "I'm a Gruffallo and I shouldn't be scared" so from now on I'm the Gruffallo.
Speaking of friends, since I've been over here in Belge I've found out who some of my good friends are as without some of their kind, frankly truthful and helpful words I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have woken up in a positive mood this morning and ready to continue with this cycling game. I'm not just talking about hearing from friends yesterday or today (which helped a big deal!) but all along since I've been here......so I want to say a big thanks to all my good friends - you know who you are - as without your words and support along the way I could well have been packing my bags. And also to those of you who I know are reading this blog as it sure does help to know that people care how I get on.
I'm also going to give a big shout out to my new family "The Cool Coolens" as last night we went out for a post-race dinner and I had a great laugh with them and they helped me forget yesterday's pain. At dinner I was asked if I was home-sick and to tell the truth the answer is no, and that's down to the family I'm staying with and also hearing from my friends back home as they are the people I miss the most from back home. For sure I miss my mumsy, pops and brother but we've never been a close family so not seeing them doesn't really make a difference to me as I know that they are there for me should I ever need them....had I not been staying with such a great family and been welcolmed into their home I'm sure it could well be a difference story.
Anywho, on to a new week here in the land of Speculoos, sprouts and chocolates (quick Kimmy fact, I love all three of the above, my new family over here can't believe I love cold sprouts!). What's not to like about cold sprouts or warm sprouts....for sure they make your farts smell but they are good for you....other things that make your farts smell are M&S Yum Yums - time to let you know a funny story about me! I was away racing with my friend Jo and we were driving to our hotel and checking out the course for the next days racing and I had purchased some yum yums, I love them (I don't eat them anymore though and you'll soon find out why), anyway we were driving along and singing to some tunes when I got tummy ache and as I had to let out a fart (it's nature people! and if all of you say that's minging that girls fart well just deal with it, it's a fart) so I popped a fart out and within approximately 1 second of releasing said gas I realised it wasn't a good one to say the least. I was too scared to wind my window down and I just prayed the smell had calmed down when it reached Jo's nostrils.....unfortunately not, it had in fact got worse and was like nuclear waste, it was that bad that Jo could taste the fart and had to stop the car and get out. I think it even gave her a headache!
So, onto this week and the weather is meant to be pretty crap all week so it's going to be a week of having fun on the turbo as I don't do wet weather riding any more and making more use of my days and getting a little bit more professional with my approach. For now I'll say bye bye and thanks again for your positive comments as I best get on with some core work and get some abs of steal as beach season will soon be here.
Cheers for reading whoppers
So this week the weather is meant to be wet, wet, wet (do you remember that band!?) and cold so it could well be a week of having fun on that turbo of mine as I don't do riding in the wet anymore. It's also going to be a week of getting into a routine and doing more with my days and just getting a bit more professional.
You'll be delighted to know after yesterday's "en disastre" I've woken up in a positive mood and put the doom and gloom of yesterday to the back of my mind - I'm never forgetting yesterday as that is now my new motivation for training but more importantly in races to make sure I'm alert in them and fight away my demons of big bunch riding.....a very good friend told me yesterday "I'm a Gruffallo and I shouldn't be scared" so from now on I'm the Gruffallo.
Speaking of friends, since I've been over here in Belge I've found out who some of my good friends are as without some of their kind, frankly truthful and helpful words I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have woken up in a positive mood this morning and ready to continue with this cycling game. I'm not just talking about hearing from friends yesterday or today (which helped a big deal!) but all along since I've been here......so I want to say a big thanks to all my good friends - you know who you are - as without your words and support along the way I could well have been packing my bags. And also to those of you who I know are reading this blog as it sure does help to know that people care how I get on.
I'm also going to give a big shout out to my new family "The Cool Coolens" as last night we went out for a post-race dinner and I had a great laugh with them and they helped me forget yesterday's pain. At dinner I was asked if I was home-sick and to tell the truth the answer is no, and that's down to the family I'm staying with and also hearing from my friends back home as they are the people I miss the most from back home. For sure I miss my mumsy, pops and brother but we've never been a close family so not seeing them doesn't really make a difference to me as I know that they are there for me should I ever need them....had I not been staying with such a great family and been welcolmed into their home I'm sure it could well be a difference story.
Anywho, on to a new week here in the land of Speculoos, sprouts and chocolates (quick Kimmy fact, I love all three of the above, my new family over here can't believe I love cold sprouts!). What's not to like about cold sprouts or warm sprouts....for sure they make your farts smell but they are good for you....other things that make your farts smell are M&S Yum Yums - time to let you know a funny story about me! I was away racing with my friend Jo and we were driving to our hotel and checking out the course for the next days racing and I had purchased some yum yums, I love them (I don't eat them anymore though and you'll soon find out why), anyway we were driving along and singing to some tunes when I got tummy ache and as I had to let out a fart (it's nature people! and if all of you say that's minging that girls fart well just deal with it, it's a fart) so I popped a fart out and within approximately 1 second of releasing said gas I realised it wasn't a good one to say the least. I was too scared to wind my window down and I just prayed the smell had calmed down when it reached Jo's nostrils.....unfortunately not, it had in fact got worse and was like nuclear waste, it was that bad that Jo could taste the fart and had to stop the car and get out. I think it even gave her a headache!
So, onto this week and the weather is meant to be pretty crap all week so it's going to be a week of having fun on the turbo as I don't do wet weather riding any more and making more use of my days and getting a little bit more professional with my approach. For now I'll say bye bye and thanks again for your positive comments as I best get on with some core work and get some abs of steal as beach season will soon be here.
Cheers for reading whoppers
So this week the weather is meant to be wet, wet, wet (do you remember that band!?) and cold so it could well be a week of having fun on that turbo of mine as I don't do riding in the wet anymore. It's also going to be a week of getting into a routine and doing more with my days and just getting a bit more professional.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Ball Bags!!!!!!
Ball Bags is an apt title for this blog entry as it fully describes how my race went today. If I thought Wednesday was a school lesson today was like sitting an A Level (or if you're old, an O Level) having never studied the subject.....I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed the whole experience today, having said that however I didn't not enjoy it, it was just a brutal shock to reality as to where I have to get to if I want to make it.
The race was in a windy part of Belge and I knew that I had to be near the front of the peloton if I standed a chance of just surviving the race and achieving my target of finishing the race.....neither of the above happened however. The race started swiftly and I felt like I was going full-gas immediately and having a brain like a space cadet my mind ahd nicely wandered and before I knew it I was killing myself just to hang onto the peloton within the first 5k! Needless to say myself and a fair few others got popped out the back....as the race went on a fair amount of the peloton got popped so I'm not going to be losing any sleep over getting dropped as the race was nails just looking at it on paper. I won't lose sleep over any of the race infact but I will be giving myself a telling off for being such an air head and not getting myself sheltered in the peloton as I know when I'm in there that I have the ability to hold my own and do alright....I just have to accept that today was a brutal lesson in bicycle racing and I was racing against some of the best women pro's around, having said that I would have liked to have done slightly better.
So the race and the convoy of cars had flown me by and I was left on my own trying to catch others in front of me, I'd be lying if I said that at this point I hadn't thought about throwing the towel in, getting off my bicycle and sitting on the curb whilst crying some salty tears and thinking this was all a bit much for me....the thought certainly went through my mind but then so did all the kind and positive words I have heard from others in my life when times had got hard and what helped make me into the kind of athlete I am today. Whilst on this subject of quitting today's race I'll tell you a little story about me and the one time I have only ever quit and gave up all fight in my life....it was in my badminton days and I was training with my coach (who was a bloody good badminton player!) and he was of course demolishing me on court but making it brutally hard for me at the same time.....half-way through the game I gave up and just started hitting shuttles in the net or out the court or not even going for the next shot. Of course I was getting pissed off and so was my coach and he walked off the court and called it a day for that lesson.....and how did I feel after it all.....like Shit is how, and it was from that moment I vowed that I will never ever quit anything again in my life and I will continue to fight to the end or, like today until we were told to take our numbers off as the race was too far ahead.
I suppose the moral of that story is that I'm proud of myself today for fighting through quite possibly my lowest moment on a bike since I started and not quitting when things weren't going my way, for sure I'm dissapointed in the result but I can take pride in how I reacted and continued to ride as hard as I could until I caught up with some riders and then rode with them - one of them was a USA Pro riding for Team Tibco and long listed for the Olympics and it was good to chat with her and get an insight into the life of a pro....she wasn't out the back for the same reasons as me however, unfortunately she had a nasty crash and that was her race over.
Today has also taught me that since I've been here I've possibly not making the best use of my team and frankly I've been a bit lazy so as of tomorrow it's time to get a bit more professional in my approach and making all those little things count so that every time I go into a race I know that I have done everything possible and I can be pleased with myself whatever the outcome.
So yeah today hasn't been a great day in my cycling life however I know for a fact enduring the shit days and growing from them makes the good days and victory that much sweeter....afterall what enjoyment do you get from winning things easily, not a lot is the answer! And when I think about it, I'm new to a sport and riding against some of the best in the world!
Apologies if this blog entry seems a bit dismal, far from it, as yes I am a bit down right now, but it's nothing a bit of nutella can't fix and if anything today's hammering has fuelled the fire even more and made me really want this dream.....
The race was in a windy part of Belge and I knew that I had to be near the front of the peloton if I standed a chance of just surviving the race and achieving my target of finishing the race.....neither of the above happened however. The race started swiftly and I felt like I was going full-gas immediately and having a brain like a space cadet my mind ahd nicely wandered and before I knew it I was killing myself just to hang onto the peloton within the first 5k! Needless to say myself and a fair few others got popped out the back....as the race went on a fair amount of the peloton got popped so I'm not going to be losing any sleep over getting dropped as the race was nails just looking at it on paper. I won't lose sleep over any of the race infact but I will be giving myself a telling off for being such an air head and not getting myself sheltered in the peloton as I know when I'm in there that I have the ability to hold my own and do alright....I just have to accept that today was a brutal lesson in bicycle racing and I was racing against some of the best women pro's around, having said that I would have liked to have done slightly better.
So the race and the convoy of cars had flown me by and I was left on my own trying to catch others in front of me, I'd be lying if I said that at this point I hadn't thought about throwing the towel in, getting off my bicycle and sitting on the curb whilst crying some salty tears and thinking this was all a bit much for me....the thought certainly went through my mind but then so did all the kind and positive words I have heard from others in my life when times had got hard and what helped make me into the kind of athlete I am today. Whilst on this subject of quitting today's race I'll tell you a little story about me and the one time I have only ever quit and gave up all fight in my life....it was in my badminton days and I was training with my coach (who was a bloody good badminton player!) and he was of course demolishing me on court but making it brutally hard for me at the same time.....half-way through the game I gave up and just started hitting shuttles in the net or out the court or not even going for the next shot. Of course I was getting pissed off and so was my coach and he walked off the court and called it a day for that lesson.....and how did I feel after it all.....like Shit is how, and it was from that moment I vowed that I will never ever quit anything again in my life and I will continue to fight to the end or, like today until we were told to take our numbers off as the race was too far ahead.
I suppose the moral of that story is that I'm proud of myself today for fighting through quite possibly my lowest moment on a bike since I started and not quitting when things weren't going my way, for sure I'm dissapointed in the result but I can take pride in how I reacted and continued to ride as hard as I could until I caught up with some riders and then rode with them - one of them was a USA Pro riding for Team Tibco and long listed for the Olympics and it was good to chat with her and get an insight into the life of a pro....she wasn't out the back for the same reasons as me however, unfortunately she had a nasty crash and that was her race over.
Today has also taught me that since I've been here I've possibly not making the best use of my team and frankly I've been a bit lazy so as of tomorrow it's time to get a bit more professional in my approach and making all those little things count so that every time I go into a race I know that I have done everything possible and I can be pleased with myself whatever the outcome.
So yeah today hasn't been a great day in my cycling life however I know for a fact enduring the shit days and growing from them makes the good days and victory that much sweeter....afterall what enjoyment do you get from winning things easily, not a lot is the answer! And when I think about it, I'm new to a sport and riding against some of the best in the world!
Apologies if this blog entry seems a bit dismal, far from it, as yes I am a bit down right now, but it's nothing a bit of nutella can't fix and if anything today's hammering has fuelled the fire even more and made me really want this dream.....
Friday, March 2, 2012
Good News
I heard some good news this evening.....the crazy driver Cyril, you remember him from the other blog entry....the guy who likes to put his foot full on the gas whilst still having his foot full on the clutch and then rags around in 1st and 2nd gear at 70kph, well he isn't driving us to the race on Sunday! Thank god for that!
I can now rest easy and look forward to the race (prolapse fest) on Sunday and not fear for my life whilst he's driving flat out towards a big white van or into a roundabout . I saw Cyril yesterday and he mentioned that I sleep alot in cars.....little did he know that I was pretending to be asleep and closing my eyes for the whole journey because his driving was quite frankly horrific. Now all I have to worry about is the pain of the race on Sunday and trying my hardest to get a finishing spot!!
I can now rest easy and look forward to the race (prolapse fest) on Sunday and not fear for my life whilst he's driving flat out towards a big white van or into a roundabout . I saw Cyril yesterday and he mentioned that I sleep alot in cars.....little did he know that I was pretending to be asleep and closing my eyes for the whole journey because his driving was quite frankly horrific. Now all I have to worry about is the pain of the race on Sunday and trying my hardest to get a finishing spot!!
Core Blimey
Today has been a nice at ease day for me today and I'm a bit bored of it now so I thought I'd write some more junk on my blog for you all to read....in truth it's more so to help me pass the time and to keep me away from the jar of nutella and candy cupboard that keeps calling my name!
Last night we had our team presentation and it was good to meet all of the riders or as they say in Dutch "Rensters" and for me to practice my minimal Dutch. The evening involved us putting our team kit on, having a few little snaps taken, being interviewed on stage one by one, another kit change, more snaps, change into normal clothes and then nattering away to everyone. All in all it was a good evening and I got to have a laugh with the new family and meet new people and practice my minimal Dutch...it's slowly improving. My housemate and team mate Kristina did threaten to push me off the stage and make a laughing stock of me in front of everyone, luckily however this never happened - perhaps she realised I didn't need to fall over for people to laugh at me as merely looking at me is enough to give people a good chuckle!
I've not done a lot today except for having a nice little pedal, a shower, eating some food and doing some Core work......I haven't done Core in a while and it hurt a lot, I was even shaking like a little leaf when doing my planks! If those of you reading don't know what Core work is then quite frankly you should be ashamed of yourselves. To enlighten you somewhat Core work is strengthening, beleive it or not, your Core muscles to help improve your posture and reduce the dreaded back ache....also a weak core makes for a weak person. So I thought as I have an easy day and time to kill I'll get back into the routine of doing my Core exercies and getting my ab and back muscles back so I'm all ready for the beach and bikini season (sorry if you were about to eat when you just read that sentence!) I'm also going to get back on with the flexibility training and see if I can get back to a level where I can touch my toes - currently I'm just about able to touch the top of my ankles (ankles, not kankles!) so I have a way to go yet.
Sunday I have another big race, Tielt-Winge.....it's another Lotto Cup race with a big field and 130 kilometres of pain! My aim for this race is to see if I can go better than Wednesday and try and finish the whole race and get a finishing position and get more confident in the bunch....and should I get dropped then fight like a dawg again to try and get back on. Now that the first race is done, the only nerves I have are excitement nerves so roll on Sunday and some more pain. And Veel Success (that's good luck in Dutch by the way) to all you choppers and choppettes starting your season off this Sunday wherever it may be!
Salut
Last night we had our team presentation and it was good to meet all of the riders or as they say in Dutch "Rensters" and for me to practice my minimal Dutch. The evening involved us putting our team kit on, having a few little snaps taken, being interviewed on stage one by one, another kit change, more snaps, change into normal clothes and then nattering away to everyone. All in all it was a good evening and I got to have a laugh with the new family and meet new people and practice my minimal Dutch...it's slowly improving. My housemate and team mate Kristina did threaten to push me off the stage and make a laughing stock of me in front of everyone, luckily however this never happened - perhaps she realised I didn't need to fall over for people to laugh at me as merely looking at me is enough to give people a good chuckle!
I've not done a lot today except for having a nice little pedal, a shower, eating some food and doing some Core work......I haven't done Core in a while and it hurt a lot, I was even shaking like a little leaf when doing my planks! If those of you reading don't know what Core work is then quite frankly you should be ashamed of yourselves. To enlighten you somewhat Core work is strengthening, beleive it or not, your Core muscles to help improve your posture and reduce the dreaded back ache....also a weak core makes for a weak person. So I thought as I have an easy day and time to kill I'll get back into the routine of doing my Core exercies and getting my ab and back muscles back so I'm all ready for the beach and bikini season (sorry if you were about to eat when you just read that sentence!) I'm also going to get back on with the flexibility training and see if I can get back to a level where I can touch my toes - currently I'm just about able to touch the top of my ankles (ankles, not kankles!) so I have a way to go yet.
Sunday I have another big race, Tielt-Winge.....it's another Lotto Cup race with a big field and 130 kilometres of pain! My aim for this race is to see if I can go better than Wednesday and try and finish the whole race and get a finishing position and get more confident in the bunch....and should I get dropped then fight like a dawg again to try and get back on. Now that the first race is done, the only nerves I have are excitement nerves so roll on Sunday and some more pain. And Veel Success (that's good luck in Dutch by the way) to all you choppers and choppettes starting your season off this Sunday wherever it may be!
Salut
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Merci Buckets
Hola, me again! As promised yesterday I said I'll do another blog entry today to do some thank you's so here I am tapping away on my keyboard whilst listening to some classic Tina Turner and Whitney Housten and thinking of things to write. Many of you may be chuckling right now at the fact that I enjoy listening to Tina Turner and Whitney Housten and wondering how on earth I know who such artists are! I know who these popular culture artists are as my mumsy used to love listening to a bit of Tina, Whitney, Mariah or Celine whilst doing the ironing, cleaning or cooking when I was a little nipper - she even had a Celine casette for her car when we drove to the shops so that is how I know who those pop divas are. I also enjoy listening to other artists and if any of you out there know who the Sugarhill Gang are then you have earned yourself a virtual pat on the back from me. If you haven't heard of them then please get onto itunes and discover real music!
Today I'm totally screwed from yesterday's race and travel and everything else that went with it so I am having a nice easy day of a spot of bike cleaning, little bicycle pedal and team presentation this evening. Team presentations are big deals over here so I'm going to wash my barnett for the occassion and maybe even have a shower also and try and not look like a little hobo that I normally look like....I once got told I look like Worzel Gummidge, I had to laugh at that one as it wasn't far from the truth!
Thank you time now and I have a few.....firstly I'll thank you all for reading this drivel and babbling and for your comments about it.
The biggest thank you I have is to my cycling club back home, the mighty CCC's, as without their support over previous years and this season there is no way I would have been able to firstly do as many races away in the UK last season and also this season be based in Belgium living the dream. Also, not only their financial assistance has helped me but the words of wisdom and help and guidance along the way from people within the club and for knowing that they support my goals of trying to hit the big time....so many thanks to them!
Next up, I'd like to thank Advisa Financial Services, Bellpumps Ltd and Pedal Power for their assistance throughout this season as again without their help life over here would be more of a struggle and mean I wouldn't be able to focus solely on riding my cycles and racing as hard as possible. I'll also give The Colonel a "shout out" as without his contacts and help I wouldn't be on a team over here and having a chance to race in these hardcore races!!!
Don't worry I'm nearly done and you can get back to surfing the internet or watching Eastenders or whatever nonsense you were up to before you started reading this fine blog entry. I must thank the family I'm staying with over here, the Coolens, as the name suggests they are cool! If I wasn't staying with people then I can safely say that my time over here would have been very lonely but they have welcomed me greatly and let me into their family and included me with everything so it's a home from home and I love it here. Okey dokey, last thank you and it's another important one....I want to thank everyone close to me who has helped me along the way over the past couple of cycling seasons and also when I was a badminton player, they know who they are so I'm not naming no names, but without their help through training, advice and friendships or whatever it may be, I could well have not ended up taking this path of trying to make it in cycling.....they have put up with me being a right pain in the arse at times (that's most the time if I'm honest), helped me through my low points and anything else inbetween and so thanks peoples!!
I suppose I should also thank my mumsy and family for letting me out of the Island and supporting me, they've always supported me through my sport back from when I was junior short-tennis star, through to regular tennis, badminton and now cycling (and no it wasn't short tennis because I was too short to play regular tennis, it was the junior version of tennis which I wasn't bad at whatsoever!).
That's it, the thank-you's are done (for now anyway). Hope you enjoyed the read, and learning a little bit more about me, now go and download some sugarhill gang and start educating yourself with proper music.
Salut
Today I'm totally screwed from yesterday's race and travel and everything else that went with it so I am having a nice easy day of a spot of bike cleaning, little bicycle pedal and team presentation this evening. Team presentations are big deals over here so I'm going to wash my barnett for the occassion and maybe even have a shower also and try and not look like a little hobo that I normally look like....I once got told I look like Worzel Gummidge, I had to laugh at that one as it wasn't far from the truth!
Thank you time now and I have a few.....firstly I'll thank you all for reading this drivel and babbling and for your comments about it.
The biggest thank you I have is to my cycling club back home, the mighty CCC's, as without their support over previous years and this season there is no way I would have been able to firstly do as many races away in the UK last season and also this season be based in Belgium living the dream. Also, not only their financial assistance has helped me but the words of wisdom and help and guidance along the way from people within the club and for knowing that they support my goals of trying to hit the big time....so many thanks to them!
Next up, I'd like to thank Advisa Financial Services, Bellpumps Ltd and Pedal Power for their assistance throughout this season as again without their help life over here would be more of a struggle and mean I wouldn't be able to focus solely on riding my cycles and racing as hard as possible. I'll also give The Colonel a "shout out" as without his contacts and help I wouldn't be on a team over here and having a chance to race in these hardcore races!!!
Don't worry I'm nearly done and you can get back to surfing the internet or watching Eastenders or whatever nonsense you were up to before you started reading this fine blog entry. I must thank the family I'm staying with over here, the Coolens, as the name suggests they are cool! If I wasn't staying with people then I can safely say that my time over here would have been very lonely but they have welcomed me greatly and let me into their family and included me with everything so it's a home from home and I love it here. Okey dokey, last thank you and it's another important one....I want to thank everyone close to me who has helped me along the way over the past couple of cycling seasons and also when I was a badminton player, they know who they are so I'm not naming no names, but without their help through training, advice and friendships or whatever it may be, I could well have not ended up taking this path of trying to make it in cycling.....they have put up with me being a right pain in the arse at times (that's most the time if I'm honest), helped me through my low points and anything else inbetween and so thanks peoples!!
I suppose I should also thank my mumsy and family for letting me out of the Island and supporting me, they've always supported me through my sport back from when I was junior short-tennis star, through to regular tennis, badminton and now cycling (and no it wasn't short tennis because I was too short to play regular tennis, it was the junior version of tennis which I wasn't bad at whatsoever!).
That's it, the thank-you's are done (for now anyway). Hope you enjoyed the read, and learning a little bit more about me, now go and download some sugarhill gang and start educating yourself with proper music.
Salut
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
First day at school
A wise man (not like one of those wisemen in Jesus' time) told me the other day that today was going to be like my first day at school and he wasn't wrong....I suppose that's why he's a wise person. As you know today was the biggest bicycle race I have entered in my life and I loved every single second, pedal stroke, water sip, crash dodging and snot blowing moment of it. Before I go into details of the race let me take you back to 05:40am Belgium time and how the day panned out.....
So my alarm "Quak Quaked" at 05:40am....my alarm is on my ipod and the quak quak noise is the only decent alarm ringtone that I don't mind waking up to....I don't overly like waking up to any alarm actually, when I was back home my mumsy was alarm clock waking me up with a cup of coffee every morning - if some of you like the sound of that, I can rent her out so please get in touch. Apologies for all the digressing that may happen in this blog entry, I'm still a little wired after the race and high on energy food. Alarm went off, I closed my eyes for 10minutes saying my "Shalom's" and then ungracefully got myself out of bed, got dressed and tried to shovel down as much nutella on bread as was possible. I did ok, not great but ok....normally I'm very good at eating but not at silly o'clock in the morning. Food eaten, bag and bike good to go and off we set. First stop was to pick up the team car to accompany the team van and at the point of stepping in the team car I was ever so thankful that I was tired as the journey there was an experience in itself.
I'm going to tell you about the car journey as it was insane!! Me, Mariska and Jeroen hop in the car and the man driving it (I don't know his name so I'll call him Cyril for this story). My first cause for concern was how he slammed his foot on the gas with the clutch pedal still all the way in and attempted to move kind of slowly out the drive until he rammed his foot out the clutch and we were off in first gear ragging away for a good minute until second gear was found and eventually third, I think fourth gear was used once or twice - how that engine still works I don't know....that wasn't the main cause for concern however, the main problem was the distcint lack of breaking when coming up to a junction at 70mph or driving toward a lorry in a lane no bigger than a green lane in Jersey. My eyes were then closed for the whole journey except for opening a few times to respond to text messages from my friends. I was rather releived to get out the car along with my other passengers, Cyril apparently was unaware of his driving skills or lack there of.
At the HQ and it was all looking rather professional, teams with their vans and bicycles all set up nicely and what not, and there was me looking like a little bit of riff raff who had lost her way. After nibbling away at more food it was time to get ready and massage some heat rub on the pins and go and sign on and have a few snaps taken - clearly nobody in Belgium knew I was a right chopper so I put on my best smile and let them continue snapping unawares. Onto the start line and we're off. The race started at a pretty gentle pace, a little bit of bumping and burging with the odd Surge here and there and within a few minutes, crash, someone went down. About 5minutes later same thing and so on for the next 30k or so....how I stayed upright I'll never know but I did it and I give myself a pat on the back as I was bricking it a tad at some point. I was near the back of the bunch when the first crash came so I thought I best move up to the front, got to the front and another crash came.....after that I just tried to sit somewhere in the middle and stay out of harms way. Unfortunately for me there was a crash just before the first time up the cobbled climb and the bunch got away from me. Did I give up and say "oh well bad luck, try the next race".....did I buggery....I then set myself on a mission to get back on the pack, first up was catch up to the team cars, when there it was trying to work my way up through them and what d'ya know I got back on, just in time for the cobbled climb again and I went "Pop" and out the back again....there was no catching that one back. I worked with a few others for a lap before we then sat up and worked our way around the course before being pulled one lap from the finish.
All in all it was a great experience and I know now that I'm capable of getting on a pro team, I've just got to keep working hard, learning and taking the positives and negatives out of every race. Learn from the negative I hear you ask.....another wise man once told me, if you don't learn from the negatives how can you eliminate them from your performance in anything in life....now this man was clever, he was a psychologist, a very good one...always good to finish off with a bit of education.
I have way more to say but I've put you through enough torturous reading for one day, I'll be back tomorrow with more goss and a few special thank-you's for the people who are helping me try and acheive my goals as without them I wouldn't be here writing exciting stuff for you to read after my first big race.
Thanks for reading,
Laters mongrels
So my alarm "Quak Quaked" at 05:40am....my alarm is on my ipod and the quak quak noise is the only decent alarm ringtone that I don't mind waking up to....I don't overly like waking up to any alarm actually, when I was back home my mumsy was alarm clock waking me up with a cup of coffee every morning - if some of you like the sound of that, I can rent her out so please get in touch. Apologies for all the digressing that may happen in this blog entry, I'm still a little wired after the race and high on energy food. Alarm went off, I closed my eyes for 10minutes saying my "Shalom's" and then ungracefully got myself out of bed, got dressed and tried to shovel down as much nutella on bread as was possible. I did ok, not great but ok....normally I'm very good at eating but not at silly o'clock in the morning. Food eaten, bag and bike good to go and off we set. First stop was to pick up the team car to accompany the team van and at the point of stepping in the team car I was ever so thankful that I was tired as the journey there was an experience in itself.
I'm going to tell you about the car journey as it was insane!! Me, Mariska and Jeroen hop in the car and the man driving it (I don't know his name so I'll call him Cyril for this story). My first cause for concern was how he slammed his foot on the gas with the clutch pedal still all the way in and attempted to move kind of slowly out the drive until he rammed his foot out the clutch and we were off in first gear ragging away for a good minute until second gear was found and eventually third, I think fourth gear was used once or twice - how that engine still works I don't know....that wasn't the main cause for concern however, the main problem was the distcint lack of breaking when coming up to a junction at 70mph or driving toward a lorry in a lane no bigger than a green lane in Jersey. My eyes were then closed for the whole journey except for opening a few times to respond to text messages from my friends. I was rather releived to get out the car along with my other passengers, Cyril apparently was unaware of his driving skills or lack there of.
At the HQ and it was all looking rather professional, teams with their vans and bicycles all set up nicely and what not, and there was me looking like a little bit of riff raff who had lost her way. After nibbling away at more food it was time to get ready and massage some heat rub on the pins and go and sign on and have a few snaps taken - clearly nobody in Belgium knew I was a right chopper so I put on my best smile and let them continue snapping unawares. Onto the start line and we're off. The race started at a pretty gentle pace, a little bit of bumping and burging with the odd Surge here and there and within a few minutes, crash, someone went down. About 5minutes later same thing and so on for the next 30k or so....how I stayed upright I'll never know but I did it and I give myself a pat on the back as I was bricking it a tad at some point. I was near the back of the bunch when the first crash came so I thought I best move up to the front, got to the front and another crash came.....after that I just tried to sit somewhere in the middle and stay out of harms way. Unfortunately for me there was a crash just before the first time up the cobbled climb and the bunch got away from me. Did I give up and say "oh well bad luck, try the next race".....did I buggery....I then set myself on a mission to get back on the pack, first up was catch up to the team cars, when there it was trying to work my way up through them and what d'ya know I got back on, just in time for the cobbled climb again and I went "Pop" and out the back again....there was no catching that one back. I worked with a few others for a lap before we then sat up and worked our way around the course before being pulled one lap from the finish.
All in all it was a great experience and I know now that I'm capable of getting on a pro team, I've just got to keep working hard, learning and taking the positives and negatives out of every race. Learn from the negative I hear you ask.....another wise man once told me, if you don't learn from the negatives how can you eliminate them from your performance in anything in life....now this man was clever, he was a psychologist, a very good one...always good to finish off with a bit of education.
I have way more to say but I've put you through enough torturous reading for one day, I'll be back tomorrow with more goss and a few special thank-you's for the people who are helping me try and acheive my goals as without them I wouldn't be here writing exciting stuff for you to read after my first big race.
Thanks for reading,
Laters mongrels
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Nervy B
Word up peoples,
Quick pop quiz, do you know who sings the popular culture song "Word Up"!? No going on to google to find out.....my friend thought it was by Bobby Brown - I can tell you Bobby Brown did not sing that song! I'll put you out of your misery, it was Cameo.
Right, education lesson for the day over and done with to business and tomorrow is my first proper big race and I'm nicely bricking it....I don't have the nervous shakes or feel sick yet, I doubt I will get to that stage as I've been there before in my badminton days and it was just stupid - I think I was that nervous I missed the shuttle all the time - I looked like a right plonker on court. I always looked like a plonker on court actually and pretty much the same on a bicycle, some things never change. Tomorrow I'm racing in Le Samyn des Dames, if you've read my other blog posts you will already know that. The start list is out and there are some big teams racing it, Specialized Lululemon and Greenedge to name a few - nothing like throwing myself right into the deep end!!!!
I'm under no illusions that it's going to be rock hard and if I even just finish the race then I'll be happy, of course I'd like to try and finish half-way in the field but as a wise person used to tell me in my badminton days a few years ago, baby steps first and just enjoy the occassion, so I'm going to do just that whilst being as competitive as possible. After all it's a long season and I'm mostly just looking forward to getting started with the racing and enjoying this opportunity.
Tomorrow is an early start for us as we have quite a drive to get to the HQ so that means today will be a day of a bit of training, packing my kit for tomorrow, cleaning my bicycle, shaving my sparrow legs as the pins will be out tomorrow, eating nice and healthily and generally chilling out and holding the nerves at bay and of course spending far too much time on facebook!
Salut
Quick pop quiz, do you know who sings the popular culture song "Word Up"!? No going on to google to find out.....my friend thought it was by Bobby Brown - I can tell you Bobby Brown did not sing that song! I'll put you out of your misery, it was Cameo.
Right, education lesson for the day over and done with to business and tomorrow is my first proper big race and I'm nicely bricking it....I don't have the nervous shakes or feel sick yet, I doubt I will get to that stage as I've been there before in my badminton days and it was just stupid - I think I was that nervous I missed the shuttle all the time - I looked like a right plonker on court. I always looked like a plonker on court actually and pretty much the same on a bicycle, some things never change. Tomorrow I'm racing in Le Samyn des Dames, if you've read my other blog posts you will already know that. The start list is out and there are some big teams racing it, Specialized Lululemon and Greenedge to name a few - nothing like throwing myself right into the deep end!!!!
I'm under no illusions that it's going to be rock hard and if I even just finish the race then I'll be happy, of course I'd like to try and finish half-way in the field but as a wise person used to tell me in my badminton days a few years ago, baby steps first and just enjoy the occassion, so I'm going to do just that whilst being as competitive as possible. After all it's a long season and I'm mostly just looking forward to getting started with the racing and enjoying this opportunity.
Tomorrow is an early start for us as we have quite a drive to get to the HQ so that means today will be a day of a bit of training, packing my kit for tomorrow, cleaning my bicycle, shaving my sparrow legs as the pins will be out tomorrow, eating nice and healthily and generally chilling out and holding the nerves at bay and of course spending far too much time on facebook!
Salut
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The Molenberg
Evening Choppers and Choppettes,
What a weekend, I got to see some live cycling action yesterday watching the Omloop and today I got nice and lost for 90 whole minutes on a bicycle training ride .....other stuff happened this weekend so please do continue reading to discover more about the life of Kimmy in Belgium.
Okey dokey, I'll begin with Friday evening as that was a nice evening with my new housemates. We went into one of the cities to have a peruse (I do like that under-used word) around the shops in a shopping mall, I purchased a new battery for my Quarq Quarq as I had put too many powers through the old battery and it died on me. We then went for dinner in a nice restaurant and I got to learn some more new words and get to know my housemates better....I learnt the Kristina's boyfriend Jeroen can do foul smelling farts (or bottom burps for you posh peoples) which he kindly let off when we were in the car, I nearly puked!!
On to Saturday and the Omloop, the start of the Belgian classics. I had team training so I got to meet the rest of the team, explore new routes and have some fun attempting to ride my bicycle fast behind a car. We rode parts of the Omloop course and got to see the guys and girls in action. We rode around and then hit the Molenberg to tackle that little monster before chilling out at the top to wait for the ladies to power up it....unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see Tom Boonen, sorry I mean the guys go up it but we got to see them twice on other parts of the course so that was cool. We then had a nice team luncheon and saw the end of the Omloop on TV. Luckily it was a wonderfully sunny day so I got to work on my gardeners tan i.e. tanning my hands and face, roll on the summer heat and getting those tan lines topped up again!
Today I had a nice lie-in and rolled out of bed at a casual 9am to eat some bakery goods for breakfast before setting off for my training ride. I think the days of me getting out of bed in time to meet my training partner at west park for 8am are long gone....actually I think me getting out of bed before 8am won't be happening anytime again soon! Unless I need a wee in the middle of the night of course. Apologies, I digressed somewhat, back to today and my training ride....I had a nice 3hour ride planned and I thought I'd test my directional skills and see if I could ride the route we did yesterday and hit that Mollenberg again and find any other decent climbs and roads....I found plenty of climbs but unfortunately I didn't enjoy them so much as they all cropped up when I was lost, hungry and starting to fear for my life and thinking I'll never see my mumsy again....I was hoping not to come across any strange men as a few friends back home have warned me about strange men - thank god I didn't and 4hours later I arrive back home completely cooked and in need of a cola and a nutella sandwich! I managed to find my way to the Mollenberg just fine and I powered up it (actually it was more a grovel) but after that it all went Pete Tong and I got lost for 90 minutes when I was already cream crackered and had to tackle more bloody hills and wind. I see it as character building and all part of the adventure...
This week sees me getting into a nice little routine with training and getting back on the core work so I can attempt to look like a beach babe when the summer arrives, doubt that will happen but it's worth a shot and also my first proper hardcore race on Wednesday. The nerves are building up just nicely, in a good way though as I'm psyched to get started and discover a whole new world or cycling and racing and trying to achieve my dreams....but yeah I'm shitting it big time!
Anywho that's enough jibbering on for now, I could do this all day as I'm very good at jibbering on about random nonsense....that's all I used to do when I was employed in previous jobs oh and make very good tea and coffee for everyone, I'm going to put that on my CV I think along with "has the ability to find her way home when lost" - excellent credentials I know.
Bonne Nuit
What a weekend, I got to see some live cycling action yesterday watching the Omloop and today I got nice and lost for 90 whole minutes on a bicycle training ride .....other stuff happened this weekend so please do continue reading to discover more about the life of Kimmy in Belgium.
Okey dokey, I'll begin with Friday evening as that was a nice evening with my new housemates. We went into one of the cities to have a peruse (I do like that under-used word) around the shops in a shopping mall, I purchased a new battery for my Quarq Quarq as I had put too many powers through the old battery and it died on me. We then went for dinner in a nice restaurant and I got to learn some more new words and get to know my housemates better....I learnt the Kristina's boyfriend Jeroen can do foul smelling farts (or bottom burps for you posh peoples) which he kindly let off when we were in the car, I nearly puked!!
On to Saturday and the Omloop, the start of the Belgian classics. I had team training so I got to meet the rest of the team, explore new routes and have some fun attempting to ride my bicycle fast behind a car. We rode parts of the Omloop course and got to see the guys and girls in action. We rode around and then hit the Molenberg to tackle that little monster before chilling out at the top to wait for the ladies to power up it....unfortunately I didn't get a chance to see Tom Boonen, sorry I mean the guys go up it but we got to see them twice on other parts of the course so that was cool. We then had a nice team luncheon and saw the end of the Omloop on TV. Luckily it was a wonderfully sunny day so I got to work on my gardeners tan i.e. tanning my hands and face, roll on the summer heat and getting those tan lines topped up again!
Today I had a nice lie-in and rolled out of bed at a casual 9am to eat some bakery goods for breakfast before setting off for my training ride. I think the days of me getting out of bed in time to meet my training partner at west park for 8am are long gone....actually I think me getting out of bed before 8am won't be happening anytime again soon! Unless I need a wee in the middle of the night of course. Apologies, I digressed somewhat, back to today and my training ride....I had a nice 3hour ride planned and I thought I'd test my directional skills and see if I could ride the route we did yesterday and hit that Mollenberg again and find any other decent climbs and roads....I found plenty of climbs but unfortunately I didn't enjoy them so much as they all cropped up when I was lost, hungry and starting to fear for my life and thinking I'll never see my mumsy again....I was hoping not to come across any strange men as a few friends back home have warned me about strange men - thank god I didn't and 4hours later I arrive back home completely cooked and in need of a cola and a nutella sandwich! I managed to find my way to the Mollenberg just fine and I powered up it (actually it was more a grovel) but after that it all went Pete Tong and I got lost for 90 minutes when I was already cream crackered and had to tackle more bloody hills and wind. I see it as character building and all part of the adventure...
This week sees me getting into a nice little routine with training and getting back on the core work so I can attempt to look like a beach babe when the summer arrives, doubt that will happen but it's worth a shot and also my first proper hardcore race on Wednesday. The nerves are building up just nicely, in a good way though as I'm psyched to get started and discover a whole new world or cycling and racing and trying to achieve my dreams....but yeah I'm shitting it big time!
Anywho that's enough jibbering on for now, I could do this all day as I'm very good at jibbering on about random nonsense....that's all I used to do when I was employed in previous jobs oh and make very good tea and coffee for everyone, I'm going to put that on my CV I think along with "has the ability to find her way home when lost" - excellent credentials I know.
Bonne Nuit
Friday, February 24, 2012
Dress Down Day
Every Friday in my old job used to be dress down day so I thought I'd continue the tradition today and I've spent most of the day in my trackies and hoodie and generally chilling out as today is my rest day. I did don some cycling attire for a short while when I went exploring the area on my bicycle. My housemate and team-mate, Kristina, showed me a nice route yesterday by a river so I went out to see if I could remember how to get there, which surprisingly I did. And people say women have no sense of direction!!!
Today marks the end of my first week with my new family and life in Belgium and I've enjoyed every minute of it....thankfully I'm not a home-sick kind of person so it's been pretty easy for me to adapt to life over here, but I have to say it's been even easier by being so welcomed by my new family. Of course I have missed my friends and family back home but with the electronic communications that are around these days it feels like I haven't really left home. I've enjoyed a nice easy week this week and as of next week it's back into a routine and getting into the swing of it all.
This weekend the Belgian classics begin with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday which just so happens to go past right where I'm living! Perfect for me to try and get some snaps of the pro's and their hot legs. We have team training this weekend and tomorrow we are cycling some of the course to catch a glimpse of the women's and men's races in action so that should be pretty cool. It will also be good to meet the rest of my team mates before the racing starts on Wednesday and to learn some more of the lingo
Wednesday marks the official start of my 2012 cycling season and I am bricking it as I'm throwing myself right into the deep end and riding Le Samyn - if you haven't heard of it before, google it and you will soon understand why I am bricking it!! Having said that I'm super excited as I can finally get to see what level I'm at and how much I really have to progress to get to where I want to be....I'm under no illusions however that it's going to be rock hard and just finishing it will be an achievement in my book.
Okey dokey, Ta-Ta For Now
Today marks the end of my first week with my new family and life in Belgium and I've enjoyed every minute of it....thankfully I'm not a home-sick kind of person so it's been pretty easy for me to adapt to life over here, but I have to say it's been even easier by being so welcomed by my new family. Of course I have missed my friends and family back home but with the electronic communications that are around these days it feels like I haven't really left home. I've enjoyed a nice easy week this week and as of next week it's back into a routine and getting into the swing of it all.
This weekend the Belgian classics begin with the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad on Saturday which just so happens to go past right where I'm living! Perfect for me to try and get some snaps of the pro's and their hot legs. We have team training this weekend and tomorrow we are cycling some of the course to catch a glimpse of the women's and men's races in action so that should be pretty cool. It will also be good to meet the rest of my team mates before the racing starts on Wednesday and to learn some more of the lingo
Wednesday marks the official start of my 2012 cycling season and I am bricking it as I'm throwing myself right into the deep end and riding Le Samyn - if you haven't heard of it before, google it and you will soon understand why I am bricking it!! Having said that I'm super excited as I can finally get to see what level I'm at and how much I really have to progress to get to where I want to be....I'm under no illusions however that it's going to be rock hard and just finishing it will be an achievement in my book.
Okey dokey, Ta-Ta For Now
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wah Gwan
Wah Gwan mah neegs,
I wasn't sure of a title for this blog entry or how to say hello to you all, so I went with the gangsta way of saying "What's Up All".....consider this blog a part of your education for the day (I'm too kind I know). If you are over the age of 25 however, I would suggest you refrain from using the above phrase as you will just sound like a Plum and get some strange looks from people!
Righty ho, down to business and informing you all of what's been happening or more than likely in my case what's not been happening as I'm pretty good at doing nothing. I got another tour around the Belgian roads yesterday by Gert, it felt like I was back home as it was windy as hell and a little chilly. No problem though as I donned some suitable clothing and got on with it....in a strange way I didn't mind the wind too much. I watched a nice bit of English TV yesterday also, of course with subtitles so I can try and learn the lingo some more, I think I'm actually starting to understand it a bit more now.
Today I had another lovely lie-in, I'm getting that hang of this laying in business, I then trotted down to the kitchen to start my day off with some nutella on bread, a few coffee's and then I hopped (not literally) onto my turbo for training. As I don't know my way around too great yet I'm mixing in a bit of turbo and the road so I can stick to Sensai's plan - as I would very much hate for Sensai or anyone else to think I'm weak and just cruising around all day! I think I sweated out half my body weight on that turbo session but I certainly felt the difference of being able to train whenever I want instead of cramming it in after work. The thought of my first proper hardcore race also motivated me as it's going to be bloody hard as nails and to say I'm, excuse my French, "Shitting it", is an understatement!!!!
So, the rest of my day today will be spent recovering from this mornings training and then heading out again this afternoon/evening and then the routine begins again tomorrow......I certainly don't miss my old life of working, training and sleeping. I best be off now for a little nap and some food and then another bicycle ride.
For now, Salut Choppers
I wasn't sure of a title for this blog entry or how to say hello to you all, so I went with the gangsta way of saying "What's Up All".....consider this blog a part of your education for the day (I'm too kind I know). If you are over the age of 25 however, I would suggest you refrain from using the above phrase as you will just sound like a Plum and get some strange looks from people!
Righty ho, down to business and informing you all of what's been happening or more than likely in my case what's not been happening as I'm pretty good at doing nothing. I got another tour around the Belgian roads yesterday by Gert, it felt like I was back home as it was windy as hell and a little chilly. No problem though as I donned some suitable clothing and got on with it....in a strange way I didn't mind the wind too much. I watched a nice bit of English TV yesterday also, of course with subtitles so I can try and learn the lingo some more, I think I'm actually starting to understand it a bit more now.
Today I had another lovely lie-in, I'm getting that hang of this laying in business, I then trotted down to the kitchen to start my day off with some nutella on bread, a few coffee's and then I hopped (not literally) onto my turbo for training. As I don't know my way around too great yet I'm mixing in a bit of turbo and the road so I can stick to Sensai's plan - as I would very much hate for Sensai or anyone else to think I'm weak and just cruising around all day! I think I sweated out half my body weight on that turbo session but I certainly felt the difference of being able to train whenever I want instead of cramming it in after work. The thought of my first proper hardcore race also motivated me as it's going to be bloody hard as nails and to say I'm, excuse my French, "Shitting it", is an understatement!!!!
So, the rest of my day today will be spent recovering from this mornings training and then heading out again this afternoon/evening and then the routine begins again tomorrow......I certainly don't miss my old life of working, training and sleeping. I best be off now for a little nap and some food and then another bicycle ride.
For now, Salut Choppers
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Sup Y'all
Hiya choppers, it's me again. Back to give you a little insight into my beautiful little world and what's been happening in it.
To be honest not a lot has happened over the past two days and it's been nice to just "live the dream". Monday I was meant to go for a cycles ride with my housemate and team-mate but fortunately for my sleep requirements it rained and was sub-zero temperatures overnight so I got to have a nice long sleep and finally got out of my pit at around 11am. Of course all of you would have been in your offices, or wherever else you may work, drinking coffee (or tea if you are into that stuff) and talking about what happened in Eastenders or Coronation Street when you caught up with episodes by watching the weekend omnibus. Anywho, back to me as that is why you are reading......Monday continued with a nice little turbo spin whilst listening to some classic Whitney Housten and I then cleaned little Mel Madone, had a nap, ate some nutella, had dinner and went to sleep.....all in all it was a splendid rest day and long may they continue.
Onto today and it started off nicely again with another long sleep, a little bit of email and skype action and of course facebook, a little nap and then some nutella and then a ride with one of the riders from the guys team, Gert. He took me on an awesome route and showed me some pretty hardcore climbs, on all of them I was thankful for having my little 39 chainring as some of them were bloody hardcore. He then took me up a nice cobbled climb and I had the shakes for a good minute after that climb. It was a cracking ride and Gert took me up some of the climbs that are in the Belgian classics and around some pretty cool roads....I have more of the same planned with him tomorrow and cannot wait.
Anywho that's enough about cycling, more about life in Belge and my new "family". I've settled in nicely with my new family, well I like them and I hope they like me so if they do like me then yeah for sure I've settled in nicely. I'm starting to get a bit of an accent which I hope to progress onto speaking Dutch....I'm learning the lingo and picking up new words everyday, today on the ride I even had to teach Gert how to say left and right in Dutch, and he says his English isn't so good! Mariska is one of the daughters of the family I'm staying with and to say she is a good cook is an understatement....she is like Delia Smith but better!!! Tonight she cooked an awesome Lasagne which was well received after a long evening ride. Kristina is the eldest daughter and also a rider on the team and she is helping me learn Dutch whilst also showing me around Belgium and where we live and being a good translator to help me understand what's being said so basically yeah the family are cool and it's nice to be a part of a big family though I do miss my mumsy.
Apologies if I have been blabbering on, it's 22:15 here right now (I do like military time) and I'm a tad tired and also rather cooked after today's ride. I also couldn't be bothered to proof read this before sending that important Publish button so if there are any spelling errors or it doesn't read nicely, well I send my sincerest apologies.
For now, I shall say laters and as the Belgians say, Salut (that means bye bye)
To be honest not a lot has happened over the past two days and it's been nice to just "live the dream". Monday I was meant to go for a cycles ride with my housemate and team-mate but fortunately for my sleep requirements it rained and was sub-zero temperatures overnight so I got to have a nice long sleep and finally got out of my pit at around 11am. Of course all of you would have been in your offices, or wherever else you may work, drinking coffee (or tea if you are into that stuff) and talking about what happened in Eastenders or Coronation Street when you caught up with episodes by watching the weekend omnibus. Anywho, back to me as that is why you are reading......Monday continued with a nice little turbo spin whilst listening to some classic Whitney Housten and I then cleaned little Mel Madone, had a nap, ate some nutella, had dinner and went to sleep.....all in all it was a splendid rest day and long may they continue.
Onto today and it started off nicely again with another long sleep, a little bit of email and skype action and of course facebook, a little nap and then some nutella and then a ride with one of the riders from the guys team, Gert. He took me on an awesome route and showed me some pretty hardcore climbs, on all of them I was thankful for having my little 39 chainring as some of them were bloody hardcore. He then took me up a nice cobbled climb and I had the shakes for a good minute after that climb. It was a cracking ride and Gert took me up some of the climbs that are in the Belgian classics and around some pretty cool roads....I have more of the same planned with him tomorrow and cannot wait.
Anywho that's enough about cycling, more about life in Belge and my new "family". I've settled in nicely with my new family, well I like them and I hope they like me so if they do like me then yeah for sure I've settled in nicely. I'm starting to get a bit of an accent which I hope to progress onto speaking Dutch....I'm learning the lingo and picking up new words everyday, today on the ride I even had to teach Gert how to say left and right in Dutch, and he says his English isn't so good! Mariska is one of the daughters of the family I'm staying with and to say she is a good cook is an understatement....she is like Delia Smith but better!!! Tonight she cooked an awesome Lasagne which was well received after a long evening ride. Kristina is the eldest daughter and also a rider on the team and she is helping me learn Dutch whilst also showing me around Belgium and where we live and being a good translator to help me understand what's being said so basically yeah the family are cool and it's nice to be a part of a big family though I do miss my mumsy.
Apologies if I have been blabbering on, it's 22:15 here right now (I do like military time) and I'm a tad tired and also rather cooked after today's ride. I also couldn't be bothered to proof read this before sending that important Publish button so if there are any spelling errors or it doesn't read nicely, well I send my sincerest apologies.
For now, I shall say laters and as the Belgians say, Salut (that means bye bye)
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Holy Moly
Holy Moly. I like the phrase Holy Moly, I would perhaps go so far as saying it is in my "Top 5" of phrases. In fact I would definitely say it is in my "Top 5" of phrases. Anywho, back to business and informing all you avid readers or bored souls with nothing better to do than read this drivel, of what's been happening in good ol' Belgium today.
Yesterday was my first race and boy did it hurt! I thought I was actually feeling ok after my mammoth drive on Friday however I soon found out that a mammoth dive mixed with riding against Belgian riders does not make for a good cocktail, so to speak. Having said that I still gave it my all on the day and what d'ya know, I only went and bopped out a peak 1minute and 5minute effort along with a max heart rate, I do love a good bit of data review as it kind of makes the pain worthwhile. Back to the race and it was great to pin a number back on again and to get the season started after a long and painful winter. The course wasn't too technical, only involving a few cobble patches, corners and a nasty little hill.....oh and lots of wind (no, not from me!). It was a mixed race with the ladies joining the junior boys with us following a car for 4 laps and then 4 laps of proper racing, unfortunately I didn't last the whole race and got pulled out with a few laps to go. All was not lost however as I learnt one important lesson when racing in the wind......Positioning is key! I was like a scared little kitten in the bunch on the first few laps and because of this I was having to chase back on after each corner and when the bunch split in the cross-winds and burnt far too many of those valuable matches. Onwards and upwards and roll on the next race on 29th February and some more pain and to learn to stop being a scared little kitten!!
So far all is going well in Belge, today I went for a spin with Kristina who is a rider on the team and the daughter of the family I'm staying with and Gert who is the boyfriend of Kristina's sister and I got to experience some more cobbles and riding on new roads oh and some more wind. Over the next week I'll be discovering the roads around here and the routes and mixing in a bit of turbo so I'm good to go for the next race and then it all kicks off properly.
Righty ho that's me done with typing for now as my fingers are tired and I need a nap before dinner (it's a hard life!)
Laters gaters
Yesterday was my first race and boy did it hurt! I thought I was actually feeling ok after my mammoth drive on Friday however I soon found out that a mammoth dive mixed with riding against Belgian riders does not make for a good cocktail, so to speak. Having said that I still gave it my all on the day and what d'ya know, I only went and bopped out a peak 1minute and 5minute effort along with a max heart rate, I do love a good bit of data review as it kind of makes the pain worthwhile. Back to the race and it was great to pin a number back on again and to get the season started after a long and painful winter. The course wasn't too technical, only involving a few cobble patches, corners and a nasty little hill.....oh and lots of wind (no, not from me!). It was a mixed race with the ladies joining the junior boys with us following a car for 4 laps and then 4 laps of proper racing, unfortunately I didn't last the whole race and got pulled out with a few laps to go. All was not lost however as I learnt one important lesson when racing in the wind......Positioning is key! I was like a scared little kitten in the bunch on the first few laps and because of this I was having to chase back on after each corner and when the bunch split in the cross-winds and burnt far too many of those valuable matches. Onwards and upwards and roll on the next race on 29th February and some more pain and to learn to stop being a scared little kitten!!
So far all is going well in Belge, today I went for a spin with Kristina who is a rider on the team and the daughter of the family I'm staying with and Gert who is the boyfriend of Kristina's sister and I got to experience some more cobbles and riding on new roads oh and some more wind. Over the next week I'll be discovering the roads around here and the routes and mixing in a bit of turbo so I'm good to go for the next race and then it all kicks off properly.
Righty ho that's me done with typing for now as my fingers are tired and I need a nap before dinner (it's a hard life!)
Laters gaters
Friday, February 17, 2012
New Family
The fact that I'm able to write this blog entry means just one thing.....I made it to my new home in Belgium ALIVE!!! I know that some of you out there doubted little Kimmy's driving and that I may well have ended up in a gutter in my car somewhere on some scary motorway, well shame on you for doubting me....I did it, albeit through the help of some superb mix cd's. Some artists included Bonnie Tyler, Celine Dion, Whitney Housten, Mariah Carey and the cast of High School Musical! And no I don't listen to that kind of music when training, I listen to hardcore dance, not happy hardcore, just hardcore dance.
I used to think that I enjoyed driving, I now know that I do indeed driving but only for a couple of hours, not 6 hours driving on the wrong side of the road and having to negotiate windscreen wipers, indicators and changing cd's. My hat goes off to truck drivers as after about 3hours I was starting to cramp up and I had to rummage for some electrolyte tabs just to stop the silly calf spasms. To think that I made it here with only two U-turns being needed also, I give myself a little pat on the back for that achievement!
So I arrived at my new home and met my new family, and they are pretty darn cool and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more through the rest of the season and actually being able to speak Dutch and who knows maybe even Flemish! I had a nice din-dins cooked for me this evening, which is far more than what I get at home with mumsy....normally she just leaves the bread on the side for me so I can plop it into the toaster!
Tomorrow is race day and I just found out that I'm racing with the guys...should be a hoot!! Though it probably won't be much different to winter training as that has felt like racing at some points whilst grovelling onto Sensai's wheel...
Anyway I'm tired now and need to unpack my bits and bobs and get in some decent zzzz's as I'm somewhat fatigued. I just thoght you would all like to know I'm alive as no doubt you have all been worrying yourselves silly over the past 24hours to know if I'm alive or not!!!
Nighty night choppers
I used to think that I enjoyed driving, I now know that I do indeed driving but only for a couple of hours, not 6 hours driving on the wrong side of the road and having to negotiate windscreen wipers, indicators and changing cd's. My hat goes off to truck drivers as after about 3hours I was starting to cramp up and I had to rummage for some electrolyte tabs just to stop the silly calf spasms. To think that I made it here with only two U-turns being needed also, I give myself a little pat on the back for that achievement!
So I arrived at my new home and met my new family, and they are pretty darn cool and I'm looking forward to getting to know them more through the rest of the season and actually being able to speak Dutch and who knows maybe even Flemish! I had a nice din-dins cooked for me this evening, which is far more than what I get at home with mumsy....normally she just leaves the bread on the side for me so I can plop it into the toaster!
Tomorrow is race day and I just found out that I'm racing with the guys...should be a hoot!! Though it probably won't be much different to winter training as that has felt like racing at some points whilst grovelling onto Sensai's wheel...
Anyway I'm tired now and need to unpack my bits and bobs and get in some decent zzzz's as I'm somewhat fatigued. I just thoght you would all like to know I'm alive as no doubt you have all been worrying yourselves silly over the past 24hours to know if I'm alive or not!!!
Nighty night choppers
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
A day of lasts
What a day! Today was, at the title of this blog post suggests, a day of lasts for me......It was my last day at work in the office, my last bicycle ride with my training partner and seeing friends, and in a few hours it will be the last time I sleep in my little pit in my bedroom.
I surprised myself today by being a tad emotional at leaving work and my super duper work colleagues, they are actually pretty super duper. I made a few of them bye bye cards and then, being the original prankster that I am, played a nice prank on two of my colleagues to teach them a lesson for never making tea's or coffee's. The prank was a good one and worked a treat, off I went to the kitchen do my second round of drinks of the day without being offered one and instead of putting sugar in their mugs I put a palm full of salt in each one. I trotted back to the desks, gave them their coffee's and then watched them nearly vomit as they gupled a mouthful of salty coffee down them, that'll teach them not to do tea and coffee rounds! As a leaving present I should have given them a map with directions to the kitchen however now that I've left work I really don't mind if they make a brew or not.
My last bicycle ride with my training partner was emotional, I was strong and held back the tears and just battered the pedals instead of crying. I'm going to miss my training partner though as he made winter training in Jersey good fun, normally it's proper boring, cold and lonely, not so this year. I also said bye bye to most of my friends today, I don't have many friends so it didn't take too long to say bye to them.....but yeah I'm going to miss my friends when I'm gone.
Enough doom and gloom for now though. In return of saying bye to my friends over here today, on Friday I get to say Hi to new friends and my host family, the Coolens. I'm looking forward to meeting them and starting life in Belgium and riding my bicycle full-time and getting to "live the dream". Until then I have one more bicycle ride in Jersey so I can throw down some more mega powers and then it's onto the boat I go to France and then Friday I drive to Belgium whilst listening to some classic Whitney Housten and Celine Dion oh and Justin Bieber.....time to rock and roll.
I surprised myself today by being a tad emotional at leaving work and my super duper work colleagues, they are actually pretty super duper. I made a few of them bye bye cards and then, being the original prankster that I am, played a nice prank on two of my colleagues to teach them a lesson for never making tea's or coffee's. The prank was a good one and worked a treat, off I went to the kitchen do my second round of drinks of the day without being offered one and instead of putting sugar in their mugs I put a palm full of salt in each one. I trotted back to the desks, gave them their coffee's and then watched them nearly vomit as they gupled a mouthful of salty coffee down them, that'll teach them not to do tea and coffee rounds! As a leaving present I should have given them a map with directions to the kitchen however now that I've left work I really don't mind if they make a brew or not.
My last bicycle ride with my training partner was emotional, I was strong and held back the tears and just battered the pedals instead of crying. I'm going to miss my training partner though as he made winter training in Jersey good fun, normally it's proper boring, cold and lonely, not so this year. I also said bye bye to most of my friends today, I don't have many friends so it didn't take too long to say bye to them.....but yeah I'm going to miss my friends when I'm gone.
Enough doom and gloom for now though. In return of saying bye to my friends over here today, on Friday I get to say Hi to new friends and my host family, the Coolens. I'm looking forward to meeting them and starting life in Belgium and riding my bicycle full-time and getting to "live the dream". Until then I have one more bicycle ride in Jersey so I can throw down some more mega powers and then it's onto the boat I go to France and then Friday I drive to Belgium whilst listening to some classic Whitney Housten and Celine Dion oh and Justin Bieber.....time to rock and roll.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Hiiiiiiiiyyyyyyyaaaaaa
Hiiiiiiyyyyyaaaa!!
So here it goes, my first steps into the world of blogging and what better way to start than giving you all a big "hiya"! Believe it or not it's taken me about 20 minutes to think of the previous sentence, I could have done a 20 minute FTP effort in that time on my bicycle but instead I was struggling to think of how I should start my first blog entry. My mumsy always taught me that people judge you within the first 3 seconds of meeting you so I wanted to make the first sentence of my blog a corker so you don't all think I'm a whopper and stop reading.....no doubt my second and third sentences have now made you think I am indeed a complete whopper and you have closed this tab and gone back to our facebook chat!
Anywho, down to business.....the reason for this blog is to give all you avid readers a chance to see what happens in the life of me, Kim Ashton aka Bubble Bum, fantastic or what!?! So, tomorrow is my last day in the real world of working full-time before I begin my adventure of riding and racing my bicycle full-time for Wetterse Dakwerken-Autoglas Wetteren cycling team whilst living in Belgium for the cycling season. To say I'm excited would be an understatement, I'm also a little bit nervous as it means leaving my precious little home and my mumsy. Luckily mumsy has taught me well so I can (just about) look after myself, albeit through the help of her notes on how to thoroughly wash, clean and cook.
That's enough for my first blog entry as I have packing to do and din dins to eat and time is ticking by......I'll be updating this blog all too often no doubt so until then, laters!!
So here it goes, my first steps into the world of blogging and what better way to start than giving you all a big "hiya"! Believe it or not it's taken me about 20 minutes to think of the previous sentence, I could have done a 20 minute FTP effort in that time on my bicycle but instead I was struggling to think of how I should start my first blog entry. My mumsy always taught me that people judge you within the first 3 seconds of meeting you so I wanted to make the first sentence of my blog a corker so you don't all think I'm a whopper and stop reading.....no doubt my second and third sentences have now made you think I am indeed a complete whopper and you have closed this tab and gone back to our facebook chat!
Anywho, down to business.....the reason for this blog is to give all you avid readers a chance to see what happens in the life of me, Kim Ashton aka Bubble Bum, fantastic or what!?! So, tomorrow is my last day in the real world of working full-time before I begin my adventure of riding and racing my bicycle full-time for Wetterse Dakwerken-Autoglas Wetteren cycling team whilst living in Belgium for the cycling season. To say I'm excited would be an understatement, I'm also a little bit nervous as it means leaving my precious little home and my mumsy. Luckily mumsy has taught me well so I can (just about) look after myself, albeit through the help of her notes on how to thoroughly wash, clean and cook.
That's enough for my first blog entry as I have packing to do and din dins to eat and time is ticking by......I'll be updating this blog all too often no doubt so until then, laters!!
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