no time to write

yep, I am back from the torture to cross the german/italian Alps.
And unfortunately, I haven't posted any report yet.
Busy applying for jobs and driving around the country for job interviews.
I just didn't have the sereness to sit down and write something. Still waiting for the photos, but as soon as I got them, I will at least post some nice pics for you to get an idea of the Transalp

First stage has been cancelled

''For the first time in the history of the Transalp, a stage of the world’s hardest mountain bike stage race had to be cancelled. Due to the bad weather conditions with heavy rainfall in the start town Mittenwald and partly snowfall in higher altitudes with already 0 °C at the Karwendelhaus a safe run of the course to Reith im Alpbachtal could not be guaranteed....''

Unfortunately I didn't pack my winter equipement...damn!Fingers crossed the weather will be better tomorrow and we won't freeze to death.

Instead I had a nice piece of the world famous 'Sachertorte' in one of those cute austraian 'Kaffeehausern'.....yummy! So far it has been fun and we had lots of laughs.

Its been great to meet the australian crew(Craig, Hans & wife, Naomi and Andrew), which are participating in this race. I spent the first evening with them getting entertaint with bavarian 'Schuhplattler'.

Crossing the Alps from the 18.-25th

Yep, here we are - time has come to face the pain. HURTFEST!

A long awaited race - The Jeantex-bike-Transalp race is up this Saturday until next Saturday.

I am going to leave home tomorrow to get down to Mittenwald, near the Alps.

If you are interested, check out the daily updates: http://www.bike-transalp.de/englisch/

We are starting as Team 'Schwarzfahrer 2' in the mixed categorie, but I can tell you now that my preparation for the climbs has been cero....

I was very much consumed by preparing my portfolio and send out job-applications. The job hunt takes all my time.

But most important for this race is to enjoy the mountain view, the social character and to finish without injury.

If I find the time and nerves, I will update the blog during the race stages.

And there it is...my new bike!

First tested near Andy's hometown, which is/was once famous for coal-mining. I am exactly standing on the tip of a heap of stones, which was constructed after the mining-industrie break down, in order to 'recultivate' the area for recreational activities. It is now a nice place to enjoy a stroll....or bike-ride with a view over the area.

My new bike.....yeah baby

Giant Anthem Advance Carbon...in red/black. Should take a picture soon and post it on the blog...

Believe it or not, but it is a really nice bike that knows when it should performas a dualsuspension and when it should be a hardtail.

120km of beautiful scenery

I did my first MTB racing test in Germany, riding(not really racing) a Marathon, about 90km from my home-town.
Wasn't sure if I will be able to comfortably finish 120km off-road, but it turned out to be no problem, just a long day on the bike.

The Marathon was the highlight of the SYMPATEX BIKE Festival and very well organised. Riders can still chose during the race, weather to race the distanc of 50,90 or 120km.
A sunny day, my nice new bike(later more on that) and fresh legs made it a very pleasant day. Ended up spending more than 7h30min on the bike (but really, I took my time...eating, drinking, looking, smiling) coming in on 9th position.
The only downside was that back in Australia at a race like that, I was used to meet many people that I know, but here I met only 2!
Well, it's a start....

What's up?

Long time no update, but I promise that I will be more active on updates in the future.
It has been a busy, emotional and strange last couple of weeks before flying out of Melbourne on a one-way ticket.

Since Sunday Andy and I are back in Germany and I have been so busy, that I didn't manage to unpack my suitcase until Friday night. We had my dads 70th all day Birthday party, Andys surprise party and days of catching up with people.

What has happened during the last weeks before arriving home in short form:

I broke my hand when I slipped away in the rain with my road bike.

After 3.5 weeks already, there is only 2.5 weeks to go...but I went for my first training roadride today!

Andy and I visited Newzealand to go hiking and to see the udmost beautiful part of the country - the southern Alps.

We saw the tallest building, the biggest mall, the biggest water feature, the biggest whatever and the ugliest City when we stopped over in Dubai on our way to Germany.
This tower is 800m high.....

Exciting times!

Most of you are probably aware of the fact that my time in Australia is up and that I am leaving you to go back to Europe/Germany by the end of April.
Some of you are even surprised to still see me out on the trails, because I haven't been around much over the last ten months.
I have been travelling a lot, first to Germany to be with my family and then around the left/western half of Australia(if you haven't visited our travelblog yet, here you go: www.ozoffwego.blogpot.com ...still to be updated...).
Yes, it will be very sad to leave you all after six years; ahead of me are exciting and challenging times adjusting back to german culture and jumping right into the german recession. After all that time travelling I am very excited to get back on my bike and race in Germany, get to meet the german bike community and hopefully be welcomed the same way as I was welcomed in Australia.
Well, I have entered the Bike Trans Alp as a team of two, which means a complete traverse of the Alps from Füssen Germany to Riva del Garda in Italy in July...autsch! Covering a distance of roughly 600 km (385 miles) and a vertical gain/pain of 19,500 m (65,000 ft.) .
Unfortunately my australian race partner is injured and therefore I have to look for someone else. Anyone interested? Seriously!!
And yet another opportunity came up:
The MTB racing team 'Fiat Rotwild' is searching for one member riding the 'Craft bike Trans Germany 2009'. You can win a start position, the hotel accommodation in each stage town and a race bike from ROTWILD for the time of the race week.
Wow, I just sent my appliation in and now fingers crossed, wish me luck!!
It was always a little dream of mine to race pro in exactly THAT team.
There you go - exciting times!
You might remember that I did the challenging eight day stage MTB race from west to east Germany with my brother in 2007,
check out the race report.
'Rotwild' is a german cool designed highend bike-brand that doesn't have exposure in Australia, *except of my old Rotwild bike that brought over when I first arrived in OZ.

My first crash with a Roadbike

With the goal in my mind to get really fit again and to get back into the 2009 racing season, I had an early start this morning to go out for a morning road ride. But while turning around the corner I saw myself going down besides a standing car .
I went over my handlebars and came to an abrupt halt in the gutter.
I couldn't explain myself what had happend when a passenger got out of the car and picked up a round stick from the ground that looked like a cut off broome stick. I was really lucky to get away with bruises and(unfortunately) a dint in the top tube of my roadbike. I much more prefer to crash with my Mountainbike and have a softer landing...

In agony!

...after 10 months without training, I decided to take part in the toughest Marathon race Australia has to offer - the Otway Odyssey !
Well, I had a ball last year and managed to finish top ten, but this year...
It's been 11 Months since my last race and I probably thought I could just plug in a memory stick and ride along with the other girls the same way I did before. Not that I expected to be competitive but I didn't think I would have to suffer so much and for every km in the 100km race.
I ended up within a group of riders, which got off their bikes on every single steep looking climb, blogging of the trails for riders going past.
Walking was the only option left and I soon developed Cramps in my legs that made me feel sick... not even the hardest 24hr race has done this to me.
The single track around Forrest is just superb and the fun factor kicked in temporarily.
While pobably everybody out there improved their time from last years race, it took me 7:36:44 to finish, almost 30 minutes more than last year, where the extreme muddy conditions slowed everybody down.

There is only one solution to it: Get out and ride!

Back in Melbourne

After seven month, one day and 27000km on the road(in the car) we finally arrived back in Melbourne.

Happy to be back and anxious about what there is to come...

2009 will be a challenging and exciting year. We are packing up and moving back to Germany after six years in Australia, trying to find jobs and to establish ourselves – all a bit frightening.
But on a positive note, I already started organizing my European racing schedule and will participate in the ‘Trans Alp’ stage race.

Unfortunately my race partner got injured and I will have to find someone else who is keen on traversing the Alps.
There is a lot of training ahead of me - not having trained seriously during the last 10 month doesn’t prepare for climbing up the Alps. Autsch!