Sweet Home Pennsylvania

So far it's been a pretty awesome and enlightening experience. I haven't often needed to swerve around horse drawn carts trotting down the side of the road while racing at home, or freeze my drink bottles before each ride so that I might get around burning my tongue when I have a drink half an hour into it. Some of it has been challenging.. such as accustoming to the drone of the air-conditioner going full blast in my ear whilst I'm trying to sleep.. but that's all part of living in a new country, with new conditions, among new cultures. And the upsides far outweigh the downs.

My first night of racing was a shocker, which you may have guessed is probably the reason I've left it until now to tell you about it. In short (because it is not worth going into great deal about), I was not in great shape for racing. And, to make matters worse for myself, my top two inches were switched off, so I raced the long way around the track and drew greater attention to my already obvious lack of form. Though I had to remind myself that the important thing was getting some good, hard racing into my legs, and that was what I did - as unspectacular a display as it may have been.

Since then I've got some solid rides, decent sleeps, a course of antibiotics and a bit of retail therapy into me, so with some luck, tonight should be a bit more of a success. (don't hold me to that)

Yesterday we were rewarded with a day off our bikes, which we spent exploring the second largest shopping mall in the U.S. The size of it was a bit overwhelming, and after four or so hours bouncing from shop to shop, I'm pretty sure we only saw the tip of the iceberg they call 'King of Prussia'. We came home with much thinner wallets and heavier vehicles (both because of the ridiculous amount of shopping bags we collected, and the pizza Racket and I scoffed), along with refreshed mindsets and rested legs to take into the rest of the week.

So all in all, it's been a positive and rewarding first week here, and I'm eager for some more.

Peace Out.
Cassie

P.S. I never thought I'd say this - but to my fellow New Zealanders, you should take a moment to appreciate the wit of our TV advertisements. The ones here are distressingly tedious.

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