THE FLÈCHE WALLONNE - 2006

I arrived in Holland last week and spent 5 days training with a friend, Oenone Wood, who was staying close by. I have officially signed with a UCI trade team, Elk Haus No, which is based in Austria. The team language is German so I am doing my best to learn the basics but luckily everyone speaks English well.

On Tuesday 18th April, Oenone and I drove to Huy, Belgium to race the Fleche Wallonne World Cup. I was in-charge of the map and I admit to a small navigation error somewhere near Liege. We took the A42 the wrong way and ended up in Germany. In my defence the directions were all in Dutch. So we did a u-turn, stopped in a small village back in Belgium and I got directions in french to Huy. Luckily I am fluent in French whilst Oenone can speak Dutch and German so between the two of us, we have the main languages sorted out.

My body was still unadjusted to the new time zone and I suffered from the very first kilometre. It was only 10C and after having such a warm Australian summer my legs felt cold and heavy. The pace was high from the start and it took all my energy to stay near the front. The narrow rough roads and constant change in pace eventually caused me to lose contact with the front group at the 70km point.

Only 40 riders remained together to fight out the sprint up the Mur de Huy. My team mate, Annette Beutler (Elk Haus) finished 15th, whilst Nicole Cooke (Univega) took out a convincing win beating Judith Arndt (T-Mobile) and the Nürnberger pair of Trixi Worrack and Oenone Wood.

I chased for 10km, trying to get back to the convoy of team cars but soon watched them disappear from sight. I rode tempo to the finish, crossing the line in 108th position - not exactly a memorable result.

But I am confident I will be adjusted to the European time zone in the next few days and I look forward to reporting to you from Berne, Switzerland.