Mary on the start line (Image credit: Mike Broderick & Mary McConneloug)
The anticipation of travelling in Europe for several months on end to race bikes is always a bit daunting, and this year proved to be no exception. After returning from a two-week season opening race trip in Puerto Rico and Venezuela, Mary and I spent a BUSY week at our East Coast home base sorting papers, contacting friends/ sponsors, and equipping our bikes with the latest '08 gear. We really had to touch on a bit of everything including some serious training all aimed at getting everything in line for the World Cup races and another significant travel event. In the end we did all that was humanly possible before assembling a jumble of critical things into our huge overweight bike bags and paying dearly to lug them onto the plane.
This is our fifth year of renting an RV for an extended bout of European racing and this time it actually felt a bit like returning home. Our friends from the RV rental company (www.rv-rental-germany.com) meet us at the Munich airport to help out with the incredible mass of gear and once again get us started on the right foot for another Euro journey. Moving into any car for two-plus months is always a bit claustrophobic at first, but the convenience of having everything you need – cooking facilities, bathroom, bike storage, etc, all at arms reach makes it pretty convenient. Still its pretty realistic to say that with two people living in a car you are always somehow in the way of the another other unless you are outside. Still, for better or worse, this is our chosen style, it works out really well for attending and traveling to the European races and is something that we really enjoy, most of the time.
Mary and I have often found ourselves at our best while on the go and living without the distractions and the sweet, yet somehow cumbersome comforts of the real world. The simplicity of a vehicle to live in, and just enough equipment and gear to handle the job seems to be our most effective strategy for attending races . We tested this theory once again on our most current leg of the journey, competing in three World Cups in as many weeks. We began in Houffalize, Belgium, for the season opener, then on to nearby Offenburg, Germany, and most recently in the not so near by Madrid, Spain.
