Staying put for an entire month!!

Since I arrived in the US over 2 months ago (jeez it has flown by) it has been a case of one week here, get on a plane, 2 days there, next destination, get on a plane and so on... However I have had a whole month in Asheville (North Carolina) since my last race. It was really good to get a solid block of training in and get over my reoccurring breathing issues. There are lots of cool cyclists to train with here; and stray dogs that chase you which all helps to mix up the training! Summer has officially arrived, the tan lines are coming along nicely. Soon I will have to start rolling my sleeves up triathlete style and start smothering the white parts in baby oil off the bike! Courteney and I are embracing the Asheville lifestlye, hanging out with the locals; last week we went to a yoga class for the first time. The man on our left had green painted toe nails and the women to our right lifted up her arms for a yoga pose to display some delightful forest vegetation in the pit area! Not entirely sure how we managed to remain composed throughout the session.



Last weekend we drove to Charlotte (also in North Carolina) for the NRC crit.  This race was a pretty big deal with some serious bucks at stake. It was a technical course taking me out of my comfort zone with 8 tight corners, man hole covers and off camber sections. Jade powered to 4th, and despite losing my positioning badly on the last lap I finished 12th. We had a great weekend with our host family; they were so welcoming and generous. We arrived back post race to be greeted to a delicious Mexican banquet.

From Charlotte we drove back to Asheville. It has been great to train as a team here; yesterday morning we had a skills session working on our descending. We rode down, we drove back up; it was ideal, like a ski lift! Then in the afternoon we did some motor pacing which was interesting once the heavens opened and the glasses fogged up! Today for a bit of variation and team bonding we went zip lining. Despite pouring with rain the entire time it was really good fun.

Next up... on Friday we drive to Alabama for the Sunny King crit, then its off to Arkansas for the Joe Martin Stage race then scooting off to New Mexico to contend with the altitude at the Tour of the Gila!