WEEK 38 (Tuesday, September 20, 2005)
[Translation: Crispen T.P. de Lange]

NEW JOBS

That just about concludes the season of 2005! And now several weeks of work with a new focus await us. We’re looking very much forward to some different days after many months of focusing totally on training and competing just about 24 hours a day. We’re expecting some really busy weeks in the time to come, and we have many big challenges on our schedule.

I’m sitting at the airport at Copenhagen as I write. In a couple of hours we’re boarding the plane that will take us all the way to China and Beijing this time. The official competition season is over, but we need to keep the wheels turning, so we have the bikes along with us.

The program for the coming week is to check out the Olympic conditions – the race course, the competition, photography on the Great Wall of China, press conferences, “promotion” work for Merida China, and probably a whole load of other exciting things. It’s the Birkebeiner organization that’s invited us along to Beijing, and they and several others have arranged an MTB race this coming Sunday.

HIGH LEVEL OF ACTIVITY

The week at home in Stavanger, after the World Cup finals last weekend, has been full of fun and experiences. We’ve been out for dinner with our Best Man and Maid of Honour, we’ve met our toastmaster, we’ve ordered our wedding rings at Siv and Adam’s, I’ve had a look at my wedding dress at Gunn’s Style, been to my hairdresser Yvonne (Frisørsenteret at Bryne), had a girls’ night in together with Brit and Tonje, and done some shopping. In other words, the planning of the wedding is very much on the move, and my big sister, Hege, is at the helm.

Yesterday we were also at the building cite at Lura together with our friends from KleppHus and Ramp, going through various things on the drawings of the house. The blueprints are now going to be sent in the Municipality of Stavanger to be processed. If things are all OK, we plan to start building the house early next year.

Kenneth spent 3 days in Trondheim at a course for coaches last week, while I travelled to the Czech Republic and the Merida dealer for the weekend. On Saturday I took part in a Marathon cycle race, starting with 1300 other mountain bikers. I spent three wonderful days together with our Merida frienda in the Czech Republic, and was once again wined and dined as if I was royalty J I also spent a day in Sandefjord with Coop Obs on my travels northwards, focusing on nutrition, health and well-being. So this day turned out to be a little different at the fruit and vegetable disc! I enjoyed myself, and I hope I made many others happy too.

In other words, it’s been an interesting week for both of us, with lots of fun. As we now start on our travels to Asia, we would like to share our experiences in China with all of you. I’m going to try to write a short report from every day, which I’ll post on my website when we come home next week. I wish you all a great day with lots of exciting challenges.

TRAINING STINT OF THE WEEK: That’s got to be the Marathon race in the Czech Republic, which was very exciting with lots of single-track.
DINNER OF THE WEEK: Pizza on Tuesday evening together with good friends. I didn’t eat too much, but it must have been the good company that made the evening perfect.
ADVICE FOR THE WEEK: Think more about eating fruit and vegetables. They taste great, give you lots of energy, and it’s a wonderful way of investing in better health.

Bicycle-hug from Gunn-Rita