Hmmmmm L
A real BIG apology to everyone reading this. So sorry for this post being so delayed! My laptop decided to retire on me and die! I got it repaired as it has everything I need on it, and it’s the only computer access I can get my hands on. Plus I have thousands of picture files I didn’t want to let go
so my finger have worn away these past few days......
Sooo where do I begin… As you can imagine I have a million things to write, but it would result in 100 pages!
I wanted to quickly mention Johns birthday, which was on the 22nd of May, and it was spent with a handle of best friends and family in Miami Beach.
He was telling me that he hasn’t ever really had a good birthday as most of them were spent in Europe and wasn’t too much fun. So I was determined to have him smiling and laughing the whole break. Plus he has obviously been slightly stressed with his work lately so I wanted him to have some fun.
Most days leading up to his birthday we just relaxed on the beach, or our little clan would go out all day on the scooters.
We were pretty eager to show everyone our local spots and have them try our favorite restaurants.
The night before Johns birthday, well just after midnight, John was already passed out on the bed, so me and some girls wandered out to find some balloons and a cake for john. keep in mind he doesn’t like sweet stuff but did mention to me one time that he loved ice-cream cake. So, ice cream cake it was J
We were highly enthusiastic when we started but as the night dwindled on we kind of lost the motivation. So here was our little ‘do it yourself’ attempt for a morning birthday surprise pretty pathetic I know.
So for his birthday I made sure to make reservations at his favorite restaurant and had organized a table for us at a classy bar/club downtown. It was nice to see him kick back and chill for the week, even though he is half way to 50 now
Like I expected, Miami holiday flew by! I think I blinked and we were back on a plane and going to Italy.
When we arrived in Florence we had to drive quite a way to the track. The scenery is so beautiful.
To me, it is like the movie ‘Mary Poppins’ when they jump into a picture, its pure bliss.
The evening of our arrival in Italy we made sure to go out of the track and eat, as we are in the country that produces the most amazing food.
It was pasta all the way for all of us that night, we were so full and bloated.
Leading up to the race wasn’t too bad, the weather was very unpredictable and it seemed every weather site was different.
Like every year the amount of fans was out of this world. They are so loud at night as they party through morn on all the fields. I prefer it when the races are like that, the atmosphere is fab, and it makes it 10times more fun.
The weather on Friday for practice was torrential rain. That did effect the times and practice substantially, so they were hesitant on what to try, and what to use for Sunday, as today wasn’t a good day for data.
Saturday John came in 14th in qualifying which had him on the 4th row. That didn’t help his confidence for the following day but he always makes the best out of what he has.
Sunday didn’t start to well, John didn’t get much rest the night before and morning practice wasn’t what they had hoped for.
He put his game face on for the race though and went out like he always does, with pure determination and aggression.
As you know John did come off in the 7th lap due to technical problems, break shifter would not back shift, so he was at full speed approaching the turn. Crashing was inevitable so he had to roll with it.
Yes it is such a disappointment as this isn’t the first time, but we are lucky that John wasn’t hurt bad and is able to move to the next round…..
So of course we were pretty eager to leave the track and move on to the next one.
The majority of mechanics and a handful of riders choose to take a boat to Barcelona every year, and of course we are invited.
We were thinking about going but we enjoy the drive too much. Even if it does take a whole day to drive there, the scenery makes it worth it! It is breathtaking.
Its from Italy, through Monaco, then France, then Spain.
Along the way We drove through Genova, the cute little town where pesto pasta originated! we were desperately searching for a restaurant that served the dish, but everything was closed due to a bank holiday. Bummer L
We did find this cute little Mini though, it was SO tiny, we may get it to travel America in when we retire ;) definitely would get squished on the roads of America!!
we decided to stay in Monaco with Marco Melandri and his assistant Pastoni for a few days.
Marco’s place was really cool, he had a 2bed apartment with a view of the beach from his balcony. Definitely a bachelors pad ;)
As he knew the place well he took us to some amazing restaurants in the town, with stunning views of the ocean, and yummy gelato shops to end the evenings…
One evening Marco took us to one of his local spots, it was a small family run restaurant that was set up in a wine cellar underground. It had magnolia colored walls with dark oak beams running along the ceiling. The husband and wife cooked the food and laid the tables, whilst the children helped the guests with their seats.
As you could imagine the food was exceptional, homemade Italian pizza’s and pasta’s were endlessly brought to our table. They have this desert which is well know here I guess, which has mascarpone whipped up with Nutella spread. Yes it is like a 1000 calorie desert, but hey, it was good ;)
Once we left there, Marco wanted to show us this harbor where they held the most expensive and out of this world yachts. Some were 3 stories high and had 24hr security and servants, check out John with his one
The following day I think we all felt slightly guilty of our over indulgence the night before, so we all went off to train. John, trainer Louch and Marco went for a road ride, whilst Me and Pastoni went for a long run,. And boy was it the best id had. I normally get board of running very easily but the amount of steps we climbed, and the constant view of the ocean made it fly by, it was great.
We got back before the other guys, so I quickly showered and took full advantage of the balcony.
When the boys got back John was so eager to tell me of their bike ride, he had me get ready quick so the two of us could go and check it out.
We began driving up the side of this steep mountain, it was so lovely but John kept saying “you wait, we aren’t even near the top”. once we pulled up and parked I couldn’t get over it. You could literally see everything from all sides. There was this small humble village here which had a handle of small houses, a little bar for the locals, with an old church.
Sat on the bench was a little old man drinking some water that he had just got from the spring water fountain in the wall. We had some empty bottles in the car, so we filled them up, I grabbed a few more photos and we started the long drive down……
The following day we had to leave Marco’s, we decided to all run that morning then grab some lunch for the road.
The roads are very tight and bendy where Marco lives, so our “Mini Bus” had to repeat the 12point turn about 20 times.
The drive down to Barcelona went by quick, we arrived at the track just in time for dinner.
We were immediately enlightened on the ‘boat shenanigans’ and how certain riders and people got so drunk that they nearly fell of the side of the boat, or were in tears most of the time. Glad we avoided that one ;)
CATALUNYA:
Like the previous race, Friday had bad weather, its like we bring the rain everywhere we go L
7laps in John had a big crash which had a whip effect on his lower back.
As soon as he came into the garage he knew, and said immediately to the team doctor something is wrong with his lower back.
John got out of his leathers, quickly showered and went to the Clinical Mobil. At this time Jorje had also been involved in a big crash and was sent to the same place as John. There were way too many photographers & press outside and none of the riders could get through without being hassled.
Once John was able to have his scan, it was onlu the muscle tissue to see if there was internal damage. Nothing definite came from it but Johns knows his own body and was adamant on getting a bone scan.
He rested the rest of the day but still wasn’t happy with the results on his back.
He qualified in 14th again on Saturday but was in so much pain he had to lay down the rest of the day, and have his lunch brought to him.
Everyone was indecisive on John competing on Sunday, but John seems to always fight through the pain and ride.
He done extremely well coming in 10th due the conditions.
When he pulled into the garage he was unable to get off the bike like usual and had to have some help. You could see he was in so much pain.
He had to do his meetings from there for data information then he went to lay down. We had Deano the team doctor organize an X-RAY for John for the following day as he still wasn’t content and needed to be 100% sure on his injury.
So Monday morning they drove into Barcelona town and went to meet with DR Mia, a well known surgeon, who also had Lorenzo and Pedrosa as his patients that day.
After a few hours it came back that John had definitely had some damage to his lower back, the 4th vertebrae had fractured to be exact.
Obviously John was frustrated but at the same time fulfilled in the fact of knowing.
They sent him away with a back brace that is to be worn only when he is experiencing pain (which is all the time) but the body needs to develop its own healing and support system.
So we left Barcelona a little wounded on Tuesday, we flew to England for a week to hang with my family in my hometown. We will get some good English breakfasts in……
Ashleigh J