Jennie Stenerhag

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Back in the heat:-)

2010-01-15

Two weeks in Sweden went very quick! It was an intense time since I had lots I wanted to find time for in a few days. I am very happy that I went and got to experience a white Christmas again. Unfortunately the weather was not playing my way since we had around -20 most of the days, so I could not do as much skiing as I had hoped for. I could only do cross country skiing three times and downhill skiing once. The downhill was so much fun and I was reminded off why I raced in that for 16 years!!!

That cold weather is hard to imagine and even I had forgotten how cold that really is…

We had family get-togethers both on my mums and my dads side where I met cousins that I have not seen for as long as 20 years, so it was really time to meet:-) It was nice to see them and get to know them a bit.

I got to do my asthma test at the hospital, one of the main reasons for me to go home. It has been hard to show on the tests before that I have asthma since I have had it since I was a kid and have used medicine ever since. As long as I take my medicine the tests are showing that my lungs are fine. So prior to this test I was without medicine for a longer period (which started to be a bit difficult…) and it was quickly proven that I have asthma and need to take my medicine. This was something I had to do to be allowed to use my medicine when I am racing.

New years eve was a big success! After a few days of -20 degrees it was “only” -8 that day and we went sledging! We were kids for a day and it was a lot of fun to go fast down the hill on those things that you can neither steer or break:-). Guess who won the race we had to see who could get the furthest?? In the evening I went to a party at friends, only 300 meters from my house, nice not having to think about how to get home:-) Thank you Ingrid and Jonas for a nice party!

On the 3^rd – 5^th of January we had the first team meeting with Alriksson Go Green in preparation for the 2010 season. It was some nice and informative days and the first time that we were all gathered riders and staff. It feels exciting to be part of the UCI ladies team in Sweden and see how it unfolds. We got to see our new kit and discuss the race program, we also got a surprise when a former cyclist that I know quiet well was introduced as our sports director, no one of us knew about that:-) We also had some training, a super hard boxing session! I had never done that before, lots of fun and so hard! My upper body was aching for a few days after!

I will be racing with the team from April and still be racing for my South African sponsor Alpha Pharm while in South Africa.

The day after I came back from the team it was time to pack the bags to travel back to South Africa. I left Falun on the coldest day during my two weeks, it was -28 degrees!! Since I could not bring the warm clothes to SA mum and dad came with me to the train (that I took to go to the airport in Stockholm) to take my thick jacket, hat and gloves! The good thing in Sweden is that we are prepared for the cold and the snow, not as the rest of Europe where it is chaos at the moment…

My trip back got a bit longer then expected, I only had a 45 minute transition in Zurich and since I had done this five times before without problem I thought it would be fine again. But since we were 15 minutes late from Stockholm it got a bit tight. It was five other short connections from my flight and they all waited for the passengers, but not the one to Johannesburg. I got to the gate as the plane started to roll out, so if they had waited for another 10 minutes me and many others would have made it. Instead we and 120 other passengers were checking in at a hotel in Zurich at 00.30!!! The day after I was booked on a flight to Munich then transfer to Johannesburg and then onwards to Cape Town, so I got to CT 22 hours too late, because of those 10 minutes!!! Just a little annoying….

When I was finally back I think the heat was a chock to my system, I went cycling the day after I was back and the thermometer showed +35, my head was boiling! In the evening I had a very bad headache from dehydration! I can normally take the heat but think it was a bit extreme to go from -28 to +35, only 63 degrees difference….!! As extreme as the coldness is in Sweden the heat is in the Western Cape, on Wednesday we had +41 in Stellenbosch and one could hardly be outside!!

It is really nice to be back in Stellenbosch, back to normal routines and most of all training in warm weather! I will do the first race of the year on Sunday, a local race in Cape Town to get some speed going:-)