Farewell to Ladek Zdroj

Monday, 30 July 2007

This is a really beautiful place to stay.  It is a spa town and the main spa itself is quite special.  All around town are hostels to stay with good accommodation and food.  As with much of Czech republic and Poland it's great to see a lot of restoration of old buildings which had been neglected through the communist years.  It wont be long until these countries return to their original beauty.

Today's race was a two loop course for all, albeit different length loops for different classes.  It was a bit unusual for this sort of race in that courses were totally different so in the end some riders had significantly shorter courses than others.  But a mass start is a mass start and, as ever, fast and furious fun. 

Overall the Aussies rode strongly.  Thor came in 2nd only 10 seconds behind first.  Way to go!  In the boys, Alex was back first, riding strongly on a course which was quite a bit longer than most.  Dave Wood was next back, with Paul right behind him.  Paul had a bit of problem early on, crashing whilst riding through the forest and breaking his map board.  So he carried his map the rest of the way in one hand.  A bit behind came Larry and Tony, very close together.

Tomorrow we head for Czech Republic and the final training camp.  Which means mostly lots of rest and a bit of looking at the forest and maps before the world champs the following week.