I have arrived!

I made it to Limoux, France. The flight from Chicago to Madrid was long (over 7hrs). It seemed to go by relatively fast though. We were on a huge plane. I've never been on one that size. 8 people per row. Good thing was, the flight was pretty empty. That meant I had more space to sprawl out and try to get some sleep.

Gourmet food was served on the trip...

Another girl from the trip - Ashley Dymond - was on the same flight. That made things easier. She speaks French, and well, I just have a book :) Anyway, our flight left late, and arrived in Madrid late. We were pushing time trying to get on our connecting flight to Toulouse. We made it though, with 10 minutes to spare. Our bikes however, did not make it on the plane. When we arrived in Toulouse, we contacted the baggage support. Our bikes should have made it on a flight later in the day. The airline was then going to deliver them to our house in Limoux. So hopefully they will be here tomorrow morning. If not, well then I don't know.

Our director, Chris Georgas, met us at the airport. He's a super cool guy and really enthusiastic about helping out the sport. He is full of knowledge and knows the whos-who of women's cycling. He talked more about our program and what it's meant for. Without going too in-depth, I'll just say this is a great experience to be given and I'm glad I accepted it. It's a program to "get the ball" rolling with my cycling career. The program is geared toward learning how to race competitively internationally. Once you can do that, the skies the limit.

Chris telling us one of his many stories on the drive to Limoux. Very interesting stuff!

We arrived in Limoux. Ashley and I were both hungry and tired. Chris showed us around town. Limoux is a super cool place. Beautiful country side, small town, just amazing all around. Chris runs a bike tour business as well. He considers Limoux to be the best place for cycling in the entire world (and he's been to LOTS of places!). Limoux is in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Words and pictures cannot describe how beautiful this place is. I am so excited to get out there and do some exploring on my bike.

Today was definitely a rest day. Ashley and I went to a cafe in the town square which is like 100meters from our house. It was interesting. Of course, I couldn't read the menu and had no idea what I was getting. Ashley knows some French so that helped big time. The food was alright. I know there's good food here, I just have to find it. Some time when I'm not sleep deprived and on the verge of bonking. We spent some time looking around, but finally decided to head back for a nap. Our final teammate - Lauren Hecth arrived later in the afternoon. A girl from the Isralean National team is staying in Limoux too, helping Chris out. She took us to the super market where we bought groceries. I was sooo lost in the store. I couldn't read anything and didn't know what to buy. Extremely overwhelming! I am trying to learn though. Hopefully by the end of this trip I can speak French! Anyway, not much else has gone on today. Not sure what's on schedule for tomorrow. Guess it depends when our bikes get in. I'm sure we will do some walking around to explore the town. Here's some more pictures though.

One of the many alleys.

Ashley standing in front of our house.

My bedroom.

The kitchen.

Fountain in the town square.
Not quite sure what this is, but it was in the town square.

Ok that's all for now! Continue checking back for updates. My goal is to update once a day. Merci pour l'arrêt in. Bonne nuit!
-A