So it's another rainy day here in Nijmegen, today all I did was ride to work and then drove home (today was a very distracting day - here's why).

So here's the situation - back in July I agreed to take my old job back as European Logistics Coordinator for Trek Travel, with the idea that it would be reduced to 30hrs/week so I could focus on training. This seemed like a dream situation - great job at a great company, very flexible job, and that would allow me tonnes of time to really focus on training and give this dream it's due attention.

Somewhere along the line (say mid-August) my boss dropped the hint - the job likely wouldn't be a 30hr/week job - it would require the 40hr/week that you'd normally expect, plus additional time (since I'm on salary there's no counting hours - if I work 50 hours in a week then it's my problem, no taking hours off or extra pay). Great. And there's no way around it, the job will be 40-50hrs/week, end of story. Like I said, GREAT! So here's my first big speedbump: what do I do about this pesky job?

I was so excited to give my dream the real attention it deserves, and now this comes along and I've got to decide if I'm going to stay in this job or not. To be honest, I'm not sure what to do. Originally the decision had to be made by tomorrow, but by some wierd change in the Dutch labour laws nothing has to be decided for another 2 months. I'm not going to wait that long. From the start I've had no doubt in my mind - quit the fucking job, follow the dream.

But after talking to a lot of people they seem to think I should give it a try - say 2 months, just to see if I can make it work. Not a bad idea really; it's a little silly to quit a permenant job in Europe. They're not that easy to get, cause once you get them you're IN for life - it's like joining the mafia - no easy way out. Have you got any idea how HARD it is for a company to fire a permenant employee??! It'd be easier to dock the Space Shuttle to the Space Station than try to fire a Dutchie!

Fuck I'm really confused though. I really want to walk away from this job, but at the same time maybe they're right about trying it for a couple months to make it work......

To top it all off, I've had a great week of riding. The first post I wrote last Saturday wasn't right - I ended up going for a 1.5 hr cyclocross hammer with Karel, one of the Lokomotiv's (a group of friends I ride with in Nijmegen, and Karel was my neighbor when I first moved here - great guy!). Then on Sunday it was 180km group ride with Mercurius (university students team - THAT's the team I should be on!!!! :o) I think there's only a few place on this great planet of ours where you can ride 180km and only gain 400m total elevation.....that was a flat ride (which means you've got to make it interesting other ways, such as riding each other into the ground ont he flats....ouch).

Then on Tuesday night it was the Wednrenners jam, a group about 150 strong in Nijmegen that break up into smaller groups and ride according to ability. I ride with the A1 group (long course, fast speeds). I went with 2 friends from Trek who do a LOT of riding (1 of them is an MTB racer), so we made it interesting and had a KOM competition for the 3 main climbs (1st = 3pts, 2nd = 2pts, 3rd = 1pt, 2 bonus points if you best the entire group). I took the first climb, with my colleagues 2nd and 3rd overall (good start!). I decided it would be fun to be at the front for most of the ride (I like it up there - it's a lot of work, but it's fun to set tempo and chase down breaks and try to break on my own!), so I took a couple of long pulls, and by the second hill my legs were pretty fried. I lost my rythm when we passed some slower riders, so one of my colleagues took the hill - we were tied for first place. On the last climb I took too many pulls leading into it, so when he punched the accelerator 1/2 way up I couldn't follow and he won the overall - rats! But I think this'll be a weekly event, so stay tuned as I whip Jeroen's ass next week (I'm not going to take any pulls - I'll do what he did and hide in the peleton!).

Then last night I went out on my own for a 2 hour spin in the fog/mist. It was so beautiful: no cars, no people, the fog totally damped all the sounds so it was just me, the bike, and the road. It was so peaceful with the mist and fog over the water and fields, and when I came back through the woods I thought I was going to stumble upon the Shire with all the hobbits (instead I get 7 ft tall blond people – ruined the moment).

OK - that's enough for now - but check back regularly as I'm going to get in the habbit of keeping this updated all the time now :o) I think I'll like this blogging stuff (and it's great to read up on friends blogs too - check my links to find them!).