More Wild and Woolly Weather

Today was another day of rain and extreme wind, which kept the temperature down and anyone vaguely faint hearted indoors.  Not the intrepid Australian and Chinese Taipei teams though. In the interests of cross team harmony, Australian physio and classifier Anouska and Taipei's star athlete Jing came together for a trainer session early this morning, fully supported by various members of the Australian team waiting to leave for their training session on the course.

Jing and Anouska tough it out in the wind on the trainers while Kerry, Brandie, Sue, Peter and Jayme provide moral support or distraction, depending on your perspective!

Kerry and Brandie had an interesting time on the tandem, suffering a puncture only a few kilometres into their training ride, then as the wheel was changed, the sky opened up and it started to pour.  Some days are like that I guess.

But no matter what the weather...

A very rainy, windblown view from the hotel room

...there's always the reward of a hot cup of coffee waiting, if you just know where to look...

Latte at the local cafe

Today things started to get serious around race headquarters.  This morning we collected numbers, had racing kit inspected to ensure it complied with UCI regulations and were issued timing chips - after handing over a 100 euro deposit!

This afternoon at the Manager's Meeting we were briefed on all the various requirements for the next few days of racing, like where we have to park, how and when riders have to turn up for their time trials, when and where feeding is permitted during the road races and so on  all the administrative stuff that ensures the racing runs smoothly.  We were also given cool stickers to put on the front and rear of our cars to show that we are really allowed to follow our riders during the time trial.  What a shame they gave me stickers with "Turkey" on them instead of "Chinese Taipei"! Might have to do something about that tomorrow.

The day ended with yet another drive from Roskilde to Ringsted, but this time I was able to enjoy the scenery from a passenger seat. Soon we won't have to drive the vans because they'll know the way on their own! Here's an example of the scenery along the roadside.

The benefit of all the rain

Tomorrow marks the start of the business end of the trip.  Sue races in her C4 time trial starting at 2.14pm local time (10.14pm AEST). Australia also has three other competitors in action tomorrow. Jing and Brandie and Kerry will be on course racing for the first time on Friday.

Tune in tomorrow for results and race report.