GOT TO REBUILD, WHY NOT IN ITALIA?

So for those of you, who sit at home and read this on your big computer screens and still think "wow, what an awesome life these guys get to live", picture me now, in a beautiful Italian cafe, sitting here with wireless internet and enjoying a latte with my beautiful girlfriend.....is that rubbing it in enough????

Kate and Alex's sweet Italian pad. Her bedroom is bigger than my parents!!!






My stuffed sheep, Palmy, keeping me company on the road during the Nature Valley GP. Kicking back, laughing to Ricky Gervais stand up...if you see it buy it.

So that is where my life has now brought me. With a month off racing i figured that i would come over to Europe and support my better half through some of her racing. Jet lag aside, this is a beautiful place to ride your bike. The roads, while rediculously skinny, are sceanic and amazing for training. Kate has herself a great little apartment in Castrono, just around the corner from the AIS Cycling HQ, so i find myself with no shortage of Aussie accents and riding partners for the perfect training camp.

The only thing bad about wireless internet....reading about everyone in my much beloved sport getting involved in a drug scandle. Come on DeLuca....did you honestly think you were fooling anyone??? It is a damn shame that people cant just be honest with themselves and just ride clean. I think that all cyclist should have to earn what i earn and then see if they can justify the expense....anymore than that and it becomes too easy for them.....Its a sad sad time for cycling and while we thought we saw the light at the end of the tunnel after last year, im not convinced that it is there. Im just happy to be associated with a team of clean and dedicated athletes who do the sport for the right reasons...why? beacuse they love to ride their bikes and challenge their bodies to continually improve. And when they stop improving, like mine did for a time last year....they dont go to the pharmacy....they get depressed and just keep trying to work harder and push through....because cycling is like life.....sometimes it sucks, but you just have to work through it. I think my new cycling hero is Aaron Olsen....he and a few others will know the exact details of why.....but he stands on higher ground for me than many others, particularly in the protour....I just cross my fingers for the friends of mine who worked hard for the talents that they posess and have gone into the protour, that they can overcome the trend and prove to the people that cycling can be clean....

So thats what my life is all about at the moment....im a happy camper with where im at....just hope that the world approves around me.

Later all

ALL ROADS LEAD TO MICHIGAN

Somehow my life always seems to bring me back to the humble abode of the Hughes house. Its hot out here and Omer and i have been enjoying some easier days on the bike, getting ready for an all out assault on Nature Valley. Last time i was out there i won a stage and this year i am going with equally as high if not greater expectations.

So i guess some of you will be wondering what has happened to me in the last few races....most of the time you would have seen me in the DNF list....fortunately it has not been as bad as it may have looked. CSC was a good race for me, i was working for Emile and after dragging him around for the last 20 laps, dropped him off in a nice posie with 2 laps to go and then i was out...DNF no. 1.

Lancaster.....broken chain on lap 6.....in terrible conditions.....but i felt good so it was disappointing...DNF no. 2.

Reading.....i was a disgrace....i rode so soft the 2nd time up the hill and was absolutely pissed at myself for being such a little girl....so that race did go as badly as some of you may have been thinking.....DNF no. 3.

Philly....I finally cracked it....i finished my first Philly against all odds, considering 4hrs sleep the night before, vomiting up my breakfast and not being able to eat any solid foods during the race. I survived on nearly 20 gels and although i had nothing left to give in the front bunch at the finish, i still managed to make it, which was a huge monkey off my back. After jumping the median curb to avoid the crash in the last 400m i came in 26secs down in 50th....not great, but considering the day i was very happy.

So thats it....nothing much else to report.....except that Kate raced like an animal in Canada and Philly. She is an engine at the moment and its exciting when she gets that glimmer in her eye, she is hard to stop.

See you all soon