The week after Energiewacht

The last 2 days of Energiewacht were more about finishing up the race and moving on but not before Maura crashed the last day - twice within 1k but she is ok!!!  So it was good that that race was OVER!  Then the travel started....

Sunday: leave race 5pm, arrive at Fitland at 8pm, eat dinner, pack bikes in bike bags for flying, repack clothes, go to bed at 11pm

Monday: wake up 4:50, depart 5:30am, 2hr drive to the airport, flight at 9:35 to Madrid, arrive 12:30ish, drive from Madrid to Ponferrada - 4hrs, arrive at hotel, eat dinner, call it a day....

Tuesday: breakfast 8:30, ride at 9:30, lunch, chill, dinner, call it a day....

Wednesday: breakfast 8:30, ride at 9:30, pack bikes, lunch at 2:30, drive back to Madrid to airport hotel - 7pm, dinner at 8:30, bed at 10....

Thursday: wake up call 3:45am, flight at 6:30, back at Sittard - 12pm, lunch, bike ride, dinner, SLEEP!!!!

But it was worth it, I got to ride and see all of the world championship courses and hopefully have loads of information come September.  We had police escort both days which was needed because there were a couple of roads that are one way and we had full access to the whole road at all times, it was awesome! 

Once back here in Fitland, I've just been recovering, sleeping, eating(a lot) and now getting ready for the next couple of races - Gelderland(140k on Easter Sunday) and Fleche Wallone(world cup) on Wednesday.  That will be my last race with the national team for this block and then I head to Britain to meet my Optum teammates.  We race Tour of Britain - May 7-12th and then I head back to the US.

Here are some pictures from my phone from the past week or so....

 This was one of our starts of Energiewacht....imagine.... 170+ girls, all nervously fitting in this:)

 Taking a walk around the park in Ponferrada...

 Kids playing some soccer....

 Watching a game of bocce ball....

 Too bad we couldn't eat outside, instead we ate downstairs for meals.... oh well...

 The police escort getting organized...

 Our hotel....

 Having a good time...

 One of the beautiful views of the city...

 Day 2 of riding - Ruth Winder, Tayler Wiles, Carmen Small and Megan Garnier...

 The whole crew....

 Our rooms...

 The iron work was really beautiful....

 So we had a discussion about RyanAir flights and the comical emergency descriptions.... if you look closely, this one asks you to take our your ear rings and dentures in case of an emergency landing....

 Apparently the cool thing here is to have your socks OUTSIDE your leg warmers.  News to me but when in Europe!!!

I think this is canola or rapeseed? I googled it;) .... 

Reading: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut

Watching: all of the girls, sitting around talking and on the Internet

Eating: oatmeal, blueberries, raspberries, banana, pb, yogurt, sunflower seeds, walnuts

Listening: Stay with Me by Sam Smith

Website: http://www.letour.fr/la-fleche-wallonne-femme/2014/us/  this is the race I'm doing on Wednesday....