Arrived in Euro land - First ride done!

It would be an understatement to say im excited about this whole Euro adventure and the season ahead with Maaslandster-Nicheliving CCN International Womens Team.

Yesterday it all begin with a total of 27 hours of travel from Sydney to Brussels. With a few changes in time difference I'm not too sure whether I ate a few too many on-flight meals or whether I didn't eat enough. Suprisingly, after a full nights sleep I haven't experienced any jetlag... I have a feeling however that it may be that I'm just so excited about everything that I haven't noticed it.

So a few things I have taken note of on arrival in the Netherlands:

- I found out quickly on our drive from Brussels airport to our new home for a while, Vaalkenburg (where we will be staying for a month before moving to a team house) that there is no speed limit on some of the main roads, and despite heavy rain drivers still do 130+ km/hr...

- Do not ask where a coffee shop is because a coffee shop here refers to a drug house not an actual shop where you can buy coffee. Luckily I didn't have the chance to do that before being warned haha

- Also on the topic of coffee, I don't think a Piccalo exists to the Nederlanders. I received a very strange look from the lady who served me when trying to order one. I also didn't help that I asked for soy milk with it, which doesn't seem to be a common thing available at cafes.

- As it's February, it is the dead of winter in the Netherlands so every piece of cycling clothing owned should be worn at all times whilst riding. I now know this depsite leaving the aparentment for our first ride in just about all the warm pieces of clothing I could find and feeling like I was prepared for the cold. It would have been fine if it hadn't rained and hailed...

- So about my first ride today; as I said lots of rain, multiple episodes of hail, also strong cross winds and lots of wild cats. Ok, so will have to get used to that! The scenery however is stunning, even with the grey skies and rain the blocks of land are as green as anything and the rows of little houses are beautiful. It was hard to stay focused on not riding into the wheel in front while everything was exciting and I just wanted to look and take in everything.

- Salt is sprinkled onto the roads here to stop black ice from forming, which is great because black ice and bike riding are not two things that go together very well... however riding on the salty roads means bikes gets dirty very fast and need to be hosed down after every ride, otherwise things will wear down quite fast.

Things I'm looking forward to:

- My first European race will be in just 4 days, talk about getting right into things!! It's the Omloop het Nieuwsblad a UCI 1.1 race in Belgium. I have now learnt that Omloop means a race consisting of laps, that is probably why it's called OmLOOP, makes sense doesn't it.

- The weather forcast predicts snow tomorrow. Snow is exciting, riding in the snow might not be so exciting but I'm sure I will soon find out!

Looking forward to more adventures in Euro land!