“Don’t be so hard on yourself” A sentence I have heard many times in my life, not only in sport but also in professional and personal circumstances. High expectations are something I also carried in my day to day life. In a way I believed it made people reach for the stars and in my […]
Dreaming of a White Christmas and many off road adventures
It is that time of the year again where the Christmas spirit takes over and even the most serious of individuals become cynically interested in the festive season. Houses, trees and streets are covered with decorations and pretty Christmas lights whilst the songs “Fairytail of New York” by The Pogues and “All I want for Xmas is you” […]
Nienke’s Euro Bog: Xterra Italy
Xterra Italy : Happy Faces Smash Races I had another unpleasant experience on the trains after Xterra France. exhausted from the race I dragged my bike and luggage through 3 different countries hopping on and off trains for 8hrs, speaking bad French, bad German and in the end bad English, only to find the car […]
Nienke’s Euro Blog: Xterra France – A Charbonniers Charm
I endured a little hiccup on the train in Switzerland where I was oblivious to the fact that there are trains where bike’s are forbidden and almost ended up with 150 Euro fine and a night in jail! I confused the guard by telling them I was from Australia but presenting a Dutch passport. The […]
Nienke’s Euro Blog: Racing Xterra Switzerland
Many thoughts can take over your mind when preparing for a big race, I believe female athletes might be slightly more extreme in falling into this negative spiral of doubts. “Am I good enough, did I train hard enough, do I belong here, do I look fit enough, will I get smashed, what if I […]