The Trip so far.........

World Champs – Bordeaux France
Neelu and I left Christchurch at 6:50pm on Friday 3rd August bound for Bordeaux France. Hate saying goodbye at the airport, it really sucks! First stop is Auckland with a three hours wait until we catch the flight to Hong Kong where we will be staying for about 40 hours at the Regent Airport Hotel. The plane finally left Auckland at midnight. All we want to do is sleep but they serve us a supper, it was very nice and I must say that when I smelt the food I decided I could stay awake a little bit longer – wouldn’t you?? Watched the New Zealand movie – Black Sheep…..really enjoyed it. Good kiwi humour in it which I do like. Time to settle down and try and get some shut eye….yeah right. First we’ll hit some good turbulence – that shakes things up for a moment or three. Finally settling down and it’s 2am NZ time. Managed to get a few hours sleep in between Neelu kicking me cause she had her feet up on the seat, so every time she kicked me I whacked her foot. I decided that if she was going to disturb my sleep I was going to disturb hers….fairs fair. Eventually woke up properly at about 6am NZ time, not bad – about 3 hours of that would have been sleep.
Got into Hong Kong – quite amazing as you land on the new runway, very impressive. Got off the plane and once we got everyone together we headed for baggage claim, quite a laugh really. Eventually found our hotel and of course because it was only 8am and our rooms weren’t ready. So, we milled around for awhile then Chris came back eventually with our room numbers (we thought that he might have been kidnapped and being held for ranson – he took forever to get back to us). We got our gear into the rooms, had a shower – lovely…….and went back downstairs. It was only 9:45am and we were rather hungry – nooooo…..I hear you all say, well we were. It was a long time since breakfast. Gabi got onto the phone to Brian to find out what was happening food wise, he was talking about getting something to eat at about 11:30am – too long to wait so he was going to get back to us. We were sitting in the lobby talking about food – as you do - when one of the guys at the desk took pity on us and bless his soul he brought over four muffins compliments of the hotel!!!!! Such friendly people!! We were in heaven…..it was a good stop gap until we went and got some proper food. Had to go over to Terminal 2 to get the better restaurant/food cafes etc but that was fine. Wandered around for awhile then the old eyelids started to droop. Had a lovely stroll back to the rooms. Going to go to the gym for an hour or so at about 2pm. We’re all meeting up at 6pm in the lobby to go and try some more yummy food over in Terminal 2 – life is good…….
You gotta love things not going to plan don’t ya……we went to this restaurant, had a look at the menu and proceeded to try and order food. Things were going okay until a couple of questions were asked regarding vegetables and what not. A guy came out and everything started to go wrong. He didn’t speak overly good English and things went from bad to worse. The meals came out in dribs ‘n’ drabs and a couple of people didn’t get what they ordered and one meal hadn’t even been started – we’d just about finished ours! Sam told them not to bother with it, she was going to go and get a pizza. Next thing you know out comes a meal and I don’t think it was what she had ordered! Oh dear, let’s just put this night down to a good laugh – well, some will laugh later I’m sure.
My meal was lovely….bonus!
Well, time for bed, it’s 9:30pm Hong Kong time. Tomorrow most of us are going to go into Kowloon. I guess you have to do it. Can’t say I’m overly fussed but a couple of hours with zillions of people might be bearable.
Good night
DAY 2 - Sunday
After a good nights sleep we get up and go down to a buffet breakfast – OH MY GOD!!!! What a spread!! It was incredible, all the different types of food you could have, it was amazing. We certainly had our fill as it was to do us for lunch as well. Yummy.
After that wonderful gluttony session we meet up at 11am and Chris took us into Kowloon. As soon as we stepped off the train and out onto the city streets I wanted to get the hell out of there. It was disgusting, dirty, smelly, humid beyond belief and zillions of people. The buildings were dirty, I hated it and I wasn’t the only one that didn’t like it. We had Sam and Ann-Marie (wheelchairs) with us and Jayne (blind) and you should have seen the people staring at us, you’d have thought it was a freak show or something (Neelu had gone with Aaron earlier to Victoria Peak and other places). I think these people hide their disabled people and close their eyes and ears to it. We had no end of trouble trying to get back to the train station because there was no lift to get the girls down to the platform. Eventually we found someone who could speak English that could help us. He was part of platform official type person or something……he got this robot type machine that went up & down stairs – really cool. The girls weren’t so sure about it for a start but it was great. You should have seen the people stopping to watch what was going on, incredible. They would lean right over you and stare!!! Finally after 6 hours we were back at the Hotel – thank god! I never want to go there again, it was definitely not my cup of tea.
Time to have a shower and get the grime and sweat off of you and get packed. Next drama was……at the check in, we got told that the plane that goes from Munic to Bordeaux was a 45 seater and that there wasn’t any room for our bikes, not a good thing to say to cyclists. We hung around forever for it to be sorted. Finally we get checked in and go and grab a quick bite to eat. Raced back to the check-in area and away we went. An airport official was taking us through to our flight. (The people over in Hong Kong were very helpful – I will give them that. If you looked as if you were lost or looking for something they didn’t hesitate to stop and help you). We got onto our flight and away we eventually went. Had supper and I was asleep before the trays were taken away, didn’t hear a thing. Slept really well, not surprising though after 6 hours walking around trying to get back to the hotel. Long flight, ankles blew up like balloons, oh yay……
It is now day three (Monday) and we are sitting at the Bordeaux airport waiting for our luggage, but then so are some of the other passengers. Our bikes got here but because of that some of the luggage didn’t arrive – I don’t think those passengers like us very much – oh dear. The guys who came to pick us up were told that there were only two people to pick up - ? – and were quite shocked to see 12 of us. I think they had to go away and get a people carrier as well as another van. Chris and Paula stayed at the airport to do the paperwork for the missing luggage. Away we go to the Hotel, they only thought two people were turning up!!!!!! Can it get any worse!!!!!! Here we are, tired from travelling hanging around a hotel waiting, waiting, waiting. Eventually Chris and Paula came back and Chris would have to go to the airport eveytime a flight came in from Munic to see if the luggage had turned up.
We finally get to our rooms – we had gone for a walk because we were getting very bored sitting around – waiting. The rooms are adequate, not much room but that is the French rooms for you. Chris has been and come back – no luggage. We have had something to eat which is good.
DAY FOUR – Tuesday
Had a good nights sleep last night. Down to breakfast we go and yummy French food it is – I love it. Still waiting for our luggage……The latest is that it went on a flight to Lyon – can you believe it??? We all go for a walk down to the supermarket and there are a heap of shops down there as well, so, you can guess what we were doing – shopping!! Might as well, the bikes are being put together but some of us are going to have to borrow gear to ride in. Still no luggage!!!!!! Poor Chris, he knows the way to the airport and back that’s for sure. Some of the riders do have their gear. The bikes were put together and we went for a ride – on my feet I had my normal day to day shoes – not a good look…..I don’t think it will start a trend. It was so good to finally get out and do something! We found this 1.8km block to go round and round on and it was only 400 meters away from the hotel – cool. Got an hour and a half in so that was good, it wasn’t fast because of course I was unable to comfortably cycle in my trainers.
Back for a shower and tea. Bed was good to get into. Fell asleep pretty quickly. At about 11pm there was a knock at the door – Merry Xmas!!!!! Our luggage had finally arrived!!!!! I went back to sleep very happy.
DAY FIVE – Wednesday
Oh it is soooooooo good to have my bag with all my gear in it, you can only borrow so much. We went down for an early breakfast and lounged around for awhile. We then got ready to go for a ride at 10am. 10am came and went and no Aaron or Brian. Aaron had gone for a ride – he got lost, Brian had gone for a trip around the road course with Bernard and they were late back. Finally all piled into the van – cannot ride on the motorways – and away we went to the course. We drove around it first, I wasn’t too happy with the course, it is very narrow. Very picturesque though. We parked at the start/finish line and got our bikes ready and did three laps of the course. Of course it had to pour down on the first lap didn’t it. We got drenched!! One nice thing though, it was warm. The sun soon came out and we dried off pretty good. The dirt from the road was all over us and our clothing – yuk. Got back into the van, back to the hotel and showered – turned the water black – and now we are waiting for lunch. We have got our first track season tonight from 7-9pm. Really looking forward to that. Will report more tomorrow.
DAY SIX – Thursday
Another good sleep, Neelu has got bit of cold but that’s nothing new with going to training camps/competition. Last night we managed to get onto the track, it was so good. It’s really amazing how different tracks are as in how they feel. I liked the track. For some strange reason it looks smaller than Invercargill. The track itself is made with dark wood – maybe that just because it was built in 1985 and has had a lot of use - I don’t know. Fiona’s gear still hasn’t turned up from Auckland, very poor service from the freighting people, it really is. Some of the gear was damaged as well. I’m sure they have had fun dropping boxes from great heights………Finished on the track at 9:30pm and headed back to the hotel. Had a bite to eat and headed to bed – 11pm. Had a good sleep despite old snuffeluffigus in the next bed. Got up early again – once I’m awake that’s it, gotta get up. Left Neelu sleeping, she needs it. Went and got Jayne and we headed down to breakfast. Aaron soon joined us then Sam then Neelu. After that I don’t know cause I took Jayne back up to her room. Gabs was still asleep in another room as she isn’t feeling to well at the moment either, she’s got a terrible cough. Rang mum and Nigel to let them know that I was still alive and having a couple of problems with getting the laptop set up. It’s all good, I’ll ask Chris to help me today and we’ll be away laughing. We are heading back out to the course again today and we’ll get a couple of hours in I guess, getting used to it. Very warm today so heaps of fluid and we should be good. We came back, had a great ride round the course. Getting used to it. Had a shower and Jayne & I went and got some lunch for us, Anne-Marie & Brian. Neelu got hers and disappeared back to the hotel. It was very nice. Jayne & I put our feet up and we chatting away (Neelu was sound asleep in our room – I was in Jayne’s room) when all of a sudden I felt soooo tired that I started to doze off. One minute she was talking about Vanessa then the next thing I know she’s talking about Brent. Oh dear, it was quite funny. We’ve got another track session tonight from 7-9pm which will be good. Looking forward to it very much.
DAY SEVEN – Friday
Had an excellent go on the track last night, very happy with what we did. Today we had a good ride on the road (round and round the road course). Tried out the aerobars for time trialing, they felt good, rather exhilarating going quick downhill on them…..weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!! Road’s a wee bit bumpy in places which adds to the excitement of it – tee hee. After we’d finished with the course we headed away with Aaron. When asked how long he thought it would take he said about 40 minutes, try 1 ½ hours…..yeah. It was a beautiful day so we didn’t mind too much.
Neelu’s cold has unfortunately gone to her chest. It will come fine by the time the champs roll round, she’s not the only one in the camp with a chest cold. So far, touch wood, I’m okay. Cruised around for the rest of the afternoon. Went and got a bite to eat then rested then off for dinner. It was very nice. We are trying out different places. Didn’t do much else today, a couple of the team went and did a laundry run which was desperately needed. It’s good to have the clothes washed and dried. Tomorrow we’ve got track from 9am – 1pm. We’ll see how Neelu is feeling as to how long we actually do stay on the track.
DAY EIGHT – Saturday
Got up nice and early this morning as we were away by 8am. Got down to the track, got set up and warmed up. Neelu is feeling pretty cr_p at the moment but we had a good 2 ½ hours training before she felt rather knacked. We weren’t hammering it. Time to pack up and head back to the hotel. Have had something to eat and waiting for everyone to arrive so we can have a team meeting then enjoy the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow is a day off completely so I think we are going to do a bit of sight seeing. Will keep you informed. Until tomorrow – au revoir.