2 Thumbs Up for Sembach!

I’ve been at the base for a little over 24 hours now…and I’m already packed up to leave in the morning! I’ve got a 9am flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Budapest, Hungary. Upon arrival, I’ve got another 2 hour drive to look forward to…the little town where the race is located does not have an airport (I even think that Budapest might be the ONLY airport for Hungary:).
So far this trip has been amazing…I’ve competed well at the first race…nothing too dramatic happened during traveling…and the Sembach base is really nice! We’ve moved into our rooms (as you can see by my photos) and we each get a whole room to ourselves! Unfortunately, if you can tell by the ‘countryside’ photo…I’m quite a bit off the ground…4th floor to be exact and they DO NOT have elevators, just stairs!! Not a problem if I wasn’t transporting a 70lbs BIKE BOX to and from my room…but thank goodness for friends and training partners to grab the other end and help carry it up 9 flights of stairs.
I’ve been on two bike rides…in different directions both times…and it’s just so much fun. There are signs every couple of kilometers to YIELD TO BIKES so the drivers are very aware and give plenty of space when passing. I’ve also seen TONS of other cyclists out on the roads so the American Triathletes are nothing new to this area:).
Jarrod, Manny, Alicia, and I all have our bike boxes loaded into the rental van (John Crawley is here as coaching staff to drive:) and I’ve got my alarm set for an early morning wake up…I’m hoping to get a 20-30 minute jog completed before I shower and hop in the van to the airport.
I’m not sure what kind of housing I’m going to be in during this World Cup in Hungary…it’s like 20 dollars a night (split between two people)…Leanda Cave is my roommate so we might be sharing a small space!! Good night and I will be writing next time from another country!!