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Chapter 5
 
As the team plane lifted off from Vancouver International, Jenny announced they only have one more stop in Canada.

“It’ll be a refueling stop in Gander, Newfoundland … just to top up the tanks and then a direct flight to Amsterdam, Holland.”

She then decided to give them a glimpse of what’s to come and to give them a pat on the back for a tour well ridden.

“I’ll say a bit more later … but up until now this team has done beautifully. You’ve handled everything thrown at you and you’ve done it very well … both individually … and as a team.”

“These last two races on the ‘Tour’ will actually be world class in every respect, including the competition. We’ll see more teams and individual competitors than we did in the US or Canada. Being a World Cup race … you’ll also get your first real taste of world-class size crowds … as the fan base in Europe is much greater than in North America … even for a junior event.”

She paused for effect and then continued, “This team has been entered in the junior ‘Ronde van Gelderland 2008’ … out of Apeldoorn, Holland.”

Jenny glanced over to Kristen and noticed she resembled the Cheshire cat from ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

“Thought you’d like that, Kris …your Grandmother still lives there?”

“I haven’t seen her in three years … do you think I’d have time before we have to leave?”

“We’ll make time … don’t you worry about it,” Jenny quietly replied.

“Now … the last thing I’ll say about the ‘Ronde van Gelderland’ is this that this one is for the … 2008 Women’s Junior World Champion.”

This time, she looked at both Gaby and Kristen.

“The final race will be back in Germany in a town called Schmá¶lln … and this’ll be for the 2008 Women’s Junior World Cup title.”

“The course you’ll be riding, there is the same course used for Stages 4 and 5 of the 2006 Internationale Thá¼ringen-Rundfahrt der Frauen ... and like Vancouver … it’ll consist of both a time trial and a road race on the same-day.”

She finished up by stating, “We’ll have three days before the ‘Ronde van Gelderland’ so for today, we can relax.”

As Jenny rose from her seat to go back to the kitchenette, Judith approached her.

“Jenny … can we talk to you for a sec?”

“Certainly … what about?” Jenny asked as Nina and Kristen joined Judith.

Nina spoke for the three girls.

“We haff been thinking ever since Gabi told us she was going pro … und we would kind of like to stay mit her … also go pro … if you think ... we are ready.”

“I’ve been wondering when you girls would ask. I thought I saw it in your eyes when Gaby announced her plans back in Toronto,” Jenny admitted.

“As for being ready … all of you have proven and not only to me on this tour … but to George … even back when you were training with the pro team … that you can easily make the transition.”

“… and what’s more … both George and I think you’re ready. We just had to hear it from you.”

Jenny looked at her daughter and called over to her.

“Gaby … you’ve got some real friends here. They all want to follow you to the pro team.”

Returning her gaze to the other girls on the team, Jenny informed them of her intentions, then immediately issued a cautionary warning.

“When we get back to Bad Neuenahr … I’ll ask George for a meeting with each of you … alright? But don’t let this go to your heads. You still have two very important races to ride.”

“We won’t Jenny … Danke!” Judith enthused.

The stopover at Gander, although short as promised, was long enough to allow everyone an opportunity to grab something to eat. It was late afternoon when they finally left Newfoundland behind and headed out over the Atlantic.

“Can I have your attention? I know our bodies think it’s still early … but I think it might be a good idea if you set you watches ahead and then seriously consider getting some sleep. It’ll make things a lot easier when we land.”

“In Amsterdam, it’s now eleven PM. There’s some blankets back there in the closet … if you want them.”

“Uh … Jenny?” Kristen quietly called out as she moved from her chair to collect the blankets.

When she got Mrs. Bond’s attention, she pointed over to the two lovebirds already snuggled together, asleep on the small couch that was along one wall of the plane’s cabin.

“At least someone’s got the right idea,” Jenny quietly agreed.

Kristen covered the two girls before grabbing a blanket for herself and heading back to her seat.

A few hours later, Eric came back into the cabin and proceeded to quietly awaken Jenny from her sleep.

“Frau Bond! You asked to be awakened when we are approaching the English Channel. We are there!”

“Danke Eric … let Hans know and I’ll get the girls up.”

When she walked back to the kitchenette to put the kettle on, she shook Maddy’s shoulder as she passed the couch.

“Rise and shine, dear … and wake my daughter while you’re at it?” Jenny softly requested.

“ Mmmm … morning lover,” Maddy quietly cooed and then followed her greeting by a light kiss on Gaby’s lips.

“Mornin’ … (sigh)…”

As signs of life began to show amongst the others, Jenny cheerfully let the girls know they were almost ready to land.

“Eric tells me that it won’t be too long until we put down in Amsterdam. When customs are satisfied, it’s just a short drive to our hotel in Apeldoorn. Once there … we can all freshen up, grab a good breakfast and generally try to join the living … okay?”

Shortly after being asked to fasten their seat belts, the girls felt the plane begin its descent into Amsterdam and a short time later they were on the ground and heading for a private corporate hanger.

After checking in at the arrival desk, Hans collected the keys for the team’s leased van and trailer. While the others waited at the plane, he brought it around where he and Maddy made short work of off-loading the team’s equipment from the plane under the watchful eyes of customs officials.

The paperwork completed, everyone piled into the van and then with Jenny navigating and Hans doing the driving, the team finally made their way out of Amsterdam and set off towards Apeldoorn.

After missing a turn or two, the group eventually arrived at their hotel and Hans located the reserved area in the car park for the cycling teams.

“I think I should’ve let you navigate, dear. There’s a reason your ol’ man would rather have you do it on trips and unfortunately ... everyone now knows,” Jenny playfully whispered to Gaby as they both got out of the van.

“I won’t tell ‘im you got us lost...” Gaby mischievously hissed.

Once in the hotel, Jenny gave some last minute instructions.

“Okay, before you all run for the showers … it’s … ummm … almost nine. How about we meet back here at ten-thirty? That should give everyone time to unpack and make themselves pretty…”

A few chuckles broke out amongst the team as all eyes shot towards Hans.

“Well ... most of us, at least,” Jenny continued as she realised her blunder.

“Meet back here at ten-thirty like I said … then we’ll decide the question of food.”

Once in their room, Kristen offered the shower to Gaby while she picked up the phone and started to punch some numbers.

“You go ahead, Gabs. I’m gonna call my Grandmother and let her know I’m in town.”

“Thanks … I’ll try to be quick!”

“Hallo?” Kristen heard a familiar voice in the handset.

“Hallo is oma … met Kristen!” Kris enthused. “Ik ben hier in Apeldoorn met het team. We verblijven het Bilderburg Hotel DE Keizerskroon. Ik deel kamer 615 met een ander meisje, Gaby Bond.”

After explaining that she’s in Apeldoorn with the Junior Team Apollinaris to compete in the ‘Junior Ronde van Gelderland 2008’, she promised to call again when she had a better idea of the team’s schedule. Kristen also told her that the team’s Direktor assured her that she would have time to visit.

When finally Gaby emerged, Kristen eagerly ran for the shower.

At the appointed time, the team gathered in the hotel lobby and began their search for food. Jenny mentioned there would be a short team meeting following their late breakfast and then everyone was free to rest up for the task at hand.

“Did you manage to call your Gran, Kristen?” inquired Jenny, between bites. She nodded her head.

“I let her know I was in town and told her I’d call back when I had a better idea of our schedule.”

“Well … after the meeting … you’re free for the day. I’ll keep it short,” Jenny countered.

“Okay people! I just to let you know what you’re facing this time … then tomorrow we’ll take a good look at this course!”

Jenny paused briefly and then revealed, “This will be your longest race to-date ... it’s 140 kilometres in length … starting and finishing at the Loolaan in Apeldoorn.”

Allowing that to sink in, she scanned the long faces of her team.

“I know you can do it as you’ve all ridden those distances … and longer … with the pro team. It’s really all just mind over matter,” Jenny urged.

“You can always think of it like this … once on the pro team … 140 kilometres is just another boring day in a stage race,” she added with a playful grin.

Calling up the official race site on her laptop, Jenny linked to the course map and profile. The four girls huddled close around the screen as Jenny described the course.

“Okay … when you start out, you’ll be taking a small road along the river Ijssel where you can expect a few hills. The first one will be just outside of Rheden, about 77 kilometres into the race. Because you loop around at that point … you’ll encounter the same hill at the 85 kilometre mark.”

Jenny mentioned there were a total of nine hills that vary from a 30-meter to 100-meter ascents and detailed every one in terms of height, the ascent grade and were they are on the course.

“I want to point out, that two of the nine hills are right at the start/finish routes … just outside of the city … so keep that in mind … and pace yourselves accordingly.

She wrapped up the meeting with a summary on the expected competition and also gave the team their first look at the Route Schedule.

The rest of the day saw the team doing the tourist thing, with Kristen acting as guide. They even managed to get in some shopping and later that evening, Kristen’s grandmother hosted the team for dinner.

The next morning saw the girls out with Jenny and Hans, on the course. Since the circuit wasn’t yet closed to normal traffic, they all piled in the van to drive rather than ride, the full course. Hans made frequent stops to allow the girls to study a feature.

Jenny pointed out that even though kilometre 0 is at the Loolaan/Heuvellaan, the official start is in Wiesel, 2.4 kilometres away.

On the way through the various towns, Jenny and the girls noted any features of the roads, like concrete islands, roundabouts, narrowing of the road and other points of interest — including hills and a lift bridge! They also noted there would be a single feed at Middachterallee, 71.2 kilometres into the race.

The first two hills they would encounter, was the Zijpenberg with a 90-meter ascent. Since the course looped at Rheden, the girls would encounter this hill twice. Jenny pointed out of all the nine hills they would negotiate, this particular one was the highest but she made sure the girls were familiar with each and every one as well as all the twists and turns.

When they got back to the hotel, she immediately called another team meeting to thoroughly discuss all they had seen. After lunch, she donned her skins, grabbed one of the spare bikes and took the girls on a short ride following the last portion of the course between Apeldoorn and Arnhem, a round trip of approximately 95 kilometres.

The final day prior to the race was spent with practising tactics and honing skills.

The Dutch were well represented with several teams, but the girls noted their competition also included teams from Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Italy, the US, Switzerland and that other German team. There were 150 riders at the two-thirty start, far more than the girls had encountered in a single race thus far in the tour.

Even before hitting the official start at Wiesal, the leaders in the peloton were setting a fast pace, averaging 35-40kph. In keeping with their successes in North America, the team had come to prefer initially keeping a comfortable position back in the peloton, but not so far back that they couldn’t move up when they felt the time was right.

After snaking through the streets of Vaassen, the peloton was beginning to stretch out over a long distance and upon exiting the town, Gaby felt they hung back long enough. In the 4 kilometres between Vaassen and Epe, she’d gradually eased the team up to a point where they could see the leaders and breakout if given the chance.

As the field approached Deventer and its three small narrow bridges, all of Team Apollinaris made their move. Nina slowly moved up and then burst out of the mass of cyclists, inviting others to chase her down.

“Will they never learn? … Not that I want them to!” Gaby thought as some girls from the Dutch Junior Women’s National Team, Team High Road and the Swiss Junior Women’s National Team took the bait.

Like in Vancouver, the ruse worked yet again, causing chaos among the peloton’s leaders and allowing the rest of the team to escape almost unchallenged. As they passed Nina and the remnants of her breakaway, she re-joined her teammates. In the process they acquired four other riders, Monique and Noortje from the Dutch Junior Women’s team and two old friends - Uta from Team High Road and Denise from the Canadian Junior Women’s team.

After winding through several towns and working together, the lead group of eight found themselves a full minute and a half ahead of the main peloton. Even when she wasn’t taking her turn at the front of the group, Gaby’s computer was showing a speed of 43-45kph!

She recalled her mum had mentioned the Route Schedule was calculated on an average speed of 40kph, so they weren’t far off the pace. It was the rest of the peloton that was below the mark.

Once they hit Ellecom, Gaby knew it was a straight 7.2 kilometres to her first hill — the Zijenberg. She knew she could out climb the rest of her teammates, Uta and Denise but she was less sure of Monique and Noortje.

As she approached the Zijenburg for the first time, she rose out of the saddle and broke from the group when they were well into the ascent. The only one to follow was Noortje and at the crest, it was close but Gaby still took the points. Her plan had worked and she was now aware of her competition for the remaining hills.

It wasn’t long before she realised she that was a far better descender than Noortje and that was her ‘Achilles heel’ she could exploit whenever possible. Jenny always told her she had no fear in the descents and she was bound to prove her mum right, even if she did still have a healthy respect for pavement and gravity.

At the bottom of the descent, knowing it would be far easier to work in a group, Gaby deliberately sat up allowing the others to catch up to her.

As the small group completed the long loop in the course and approached the hill for a second time, Gaby changed her strategy.

Still feeling good, she again made her break in the ascent but this time much further up the steep grade when the others were too committed to struggling up the hill to try anything. Although she struggled to rise out of her saddle this time, her gamble paid off and she reached the crest unchallenged.

Back at the bottom, she again eased back, waiting for the others to join her.

The next four hills were much the same with a battle between Gaby and Noortje. Of the first three, Gaby only allowed Noortje to take one — Geitenkamp near Arnhem. Noortje also took Terlet, outside of Arnhem but only because the sustained fast pace was taking its toll on Nina and Gaby hung back, pacing her teammate up the grade.

With a little over 32 kilometres to go, the small group still had the original eight and their lead over the main peloton had increased to a little over two full minutes.

Gaby knew she had one hill left before Apeldoorn and that was the Berg De Dalweg at Hoenderloo. The team had earmarked that one for her and they acted accordingly. Even though it was only about a 30-meter ascent, it was steep but she was able to call upon her hill-climb competition experience and as a result, easily took the points.

For the next 22 kilometres the course was all downhill, through Beekbergen then on to Apeldoorn. They re-entered Apeldoorn with 17 kilometres remaining, only to exit the city at the 11 kilometre mark and prepared to tackle their second last hill.

As they approached Wilsaan, Judith and Denise noticed the group of eight was now six with both Nina and Noortje having dropped back but still remaining in sight. With her main hill-climbing rival behind her, Gaby easily took the points on Wilsaan and Amersfoortseweg,

The good news for Team Apollinaris was that three of them were still together and Nina was less than a half of kilometre back, facing a nice easy downhill run to the finish. The bad news was that they still had three strong riders with them in the persons of Uta, Denise and Monique.

Gaby and Kristen had seen both Uta and Denise fade in shorter races and judging by their faces, they didn’t have much more to give.

However, Monique was an unknown. She was also riding on ‘home turf’, so she was determined to give a good accounting of herself.
With 4 kilometres left to go and Monique at the front of the six, Gaby, Judith and Kris took turns attacking her, trying to bait her into a chase in an effort to determine just what she had left in her.

Just after the 2 kilometre marker Gaby signalled Judith to break out. Monique took the bait and chased her down but no sooner did she catch her than Kristen bolted past them. Again Monique gave chase.

At the 1 kilometre marker all six were back together and Monique was once again the subject of a game of cat and mouse. She was the cat, up against three very troublesome mice!

Passing the half kilometre marker, Kristen started to break to the right but found herself boxed in against the curb by Uta, Denise and Monique. They obviously thought she was the main threat and planned to contain her until the last possible moment then break for a short sprint.

Sensing that they had been all but forgotten, Judith and Gaby seized the moment with Judith rocketing up the middle of the road past the four girls. At the same time, Gaby bolted off on the left curb. As expected, Uta and Denise started to give chase to the two girls, but faded before they seriously threatened either girl.

Denise and Monique were possible threats to Judith so while she kept their attention and with a little over 100 meters to go, Gaby called on whatever she had left and made her move.

Monique decided to leave Kristen’s side and rose from her saddle to challenge Gaby but by the time she had enough speed to be a serious threat, Gaby crossed the finish line with a good five or six bike lead! Judith crossed second and with the other three leaving her alone, Kristen came in third. A clean sweep by Team Apollinaris! Gaby’s official time was 3:15:15.

As Gaby’s bike slowed to a walking pace, Hans ran up and grabbed it. Maddy ran up to Gaby excitedly yelling, “You won! … You’re the new Women’s Junior World Champion!”

As she got closer, she lunged to grab a slumping Gaby as the three other girls approached with their bikes.

“Gabeeee … say a few syllables! … please?” Maddy pleaded as she held Gaby while race officials tried to keep everyone at arm’s length except for team members.

“Uh huh,” Gaby mumbled through a smirk. Despite her chest heaving to take in oxygen, she accepted Maddy’s loving embrace.

“Are you going to finish all your races like this?” Maddy asked as she wrapped her arms around Gaby and looked at her bewildered fiancée.

With a tearful sigh, Maddy momentarily looked up at the sky then returned her gaze to Gaby and mumbled, “Oh, gawd … what am I going to do with you?”

“Well…” Gaby breathed with a mischievous smirk.

As Jenny found the team in the crowd, she looked at Hans and then smiled at the lovebirds. “I guess I’ll just have to get used to standing in line to congratulate my own daughter.”

“I can take a hint,” Maddy jokingly shot back as stood aside to allow Jenny to hug Gaby.

During the podium ceremony, Jenny’s pride in the Junior Team Apollinaris was quite evident. Back at the hotel, she hosted a small celebratory dinner for the girls.

“Gaby’s captured the 2008 Women’s Junior World Championship and it was the longest single race the girls had ridden thus far — what’s more, they all stayed together and rode as a team, all the way! All that and a 1, 2, 3 finish - God, these girls have done really well!”

While the girls enjoyed some well deserved ‘down time’, relaxing in Nina/Judith’s room, Jenny put in a conference call to both Dave and George informing them of the day’s race results. She found it hard not to be excited over the level of teamwork displayed by the girls, not only in this race but also in the whole World Cup series, to date.

Jenny was also justifiably proud of her daughter’s accomplishment, earlier in the day.

She also mentioned the wishes of the other three girls, to turn pro with Gaby after the race in Schmá¶lln. Once she finished, Jenny went to inform the girls of the call and to tell them to pack after breakfast as they were scheduled to leave for Germany late the following morning.

At seven-thirty, Jenny’s requested wake-up call rousted the girls from their beds. Later, she visited each of their rooms, gathering the team members and herding them down to the lobby.

“C’mon people … let’s get some breakfast … then back upstairs to pack and when you’re done … my room!” .

Back upstairs, Jenny looked at their eager faces.

“Since the flight will be only about an hour, consider this as our usual meeting.”

She continued with a detailed run down of the course, courtesy of her laptop.

“To begin … we’ll be landing in Leipzig and then it’s only a short drive to Schmá¶lln. The course for the time trial and the road race is identical … the only difference is that the road race is four laps for a total of 74.4 kilometres and the time trial is a single lap of 18.7 kilometres.”

“Both will be held on Tuesday with the time trial in the morning and the road race in the afternoon. On Monday, we’ll have a one-lap ‘recon’ ride to take a look at the course. Today, we get settled in and check in with the organizers ... the usual routine.”

After a brief pause to see if anyone had any comments, she continued.

“When we get out on the course, you’ll see why it was meant for our resident mountain goat … even the so-called flat sections are a slight uphill or downhill grade. Not too much in the way of level road, I’m afraid. The two rated ascents on the course are both seven percent.”

“You’ll also discover your first climb is right at kilometre 0. Like I said before, it’s a seven percent grade with a vertical rise of some forty metres. The last climb on each lap is a three-step ascent with a vertical rise of about sixty metres … but what a nice downhill run into the finish!”

Jenny paused again, then resumed.

“Finally … keep these two things in mind when formulating your strategy on Monday’s ride … again … it’s a course well suited to all of you … but … especially to Gaby’s hill climbing and descending talents!”

“Since the finish is at the bottom of a long downhill … it’s not going to be the sprinter’s that decide this close race. It’s going to be the one who can handle the descent the best. They’ll have the advantage at the finish … and that may be your ace-in-the-hole if you find yourselves in a group on that final descent.”

Following the meeting, they made their way down to the van and eventually back to the Amsterdam airport. After an uneventful flight to Leipzig and the short drive into Schmá¶lln, the team arrived at the hotel.

Following check-in, while Hans and Maddy took care of the team’s equipment, the girls took care of the registration process for the race and by the time everyone completed their tasks, it was time to hunt for food and settle for the evening.

On Monday, Jenny again took one of the spare bikes and led the team on a familiarization ride over the course. Even though each lap of the course is only expected to take about a half hour to ride, the team found themselves stopping frequently to study the area or hone their skills needed for this course by re-riding a particular section, several times. Six hours later and feeling confident about the next day’s race, they finally made it back to the hotel.

Tuesday arrived and as usual, everyone was up and mobile by seven AM. Following breakfast and all the various individual preparations, the girls were on the line at Markt Pfarrgasse for their turn to start the Time Trial. Like Vancouver, the ranking of the cyclists meant they started in the last quarter of the field with Gaby again dead last on the course.

Precisely at nine-thirty, the first of 120 riders was off on the course. Four hours later, the best time of the day to beat was 28:47:26, posted by Amanda Sullivan of the Australian Junior National team. So far the best for the Junior Team Apollinaris was Nina with 31:15:47. Good enough for twelfth position.

(Beep, Beep, Beep)

With a gentle nudge on the back by the starter, Gaby was off on the course. She took the Bergkuppe with its 500m slope with relative ease. Going through the first checkpoint at Kummer, she recorded a 3:33:00, third best time of the day. At the mid-way point at Weisbach, she went through at a blistering 12:04:01, by far the best time of the day. Soon as she cleared Weisbach, Gaby entered her first long descent, which she powered through despite the two right hand turns at Selka and Sommeritz.

After a quick left at the watertower in Sommeritz, she pedaled through her second major descent with her computer showing a fast 85kph. Just outside of Sommeritz the descent reversed itself to become her last major climb, this one being some six hundred meters at a rated grade of seven percent The momentum gained from the previous descent, bled off quickly but she still recorded the best time going through the final checkpoint at the crest of the hill. There was only a long downhill run to the finish. She crossed with a 28:00:00, winning the Time Trial.

Following a massage, lunch and a quick briefing, it was back in the bike saddle for the girls and the four-thirty start of the 74 kilometre road race. With the team now totally familiar with the course, each girl knew what had to be done. Gaby was still relying on the team gaining a position near the front to the peloton early in the race.

Critical to the team’s planned strategy was to not only get them up the hills together, but to stay together throughout the race. If they became separated on the descents, the plan was to re-group at the bottom. It was very successful in Apeldoorn and they hoped they could adopt the formula for Schmá¶lln.

Jenny knew it was Gaby’s climbing ability coupled with her aggressive, almost reckless descents that would combine to be a very real advantage for the team. At the same time, she was concerned with the girls’ ability to stay grouped. Where Apeldoorn was relatively flat with a few hills, Schmá¶lln was the exact opposite.

As the peloton rolled past the official start at Markt Pfarrgasse and onto their first hill, the four hundred meter grade of Bergkuppe, the team was sitting in the first third.

Approaching the hill, Gaby rose out of the saddle followed by the rest of the team. The maneuver had two benefits. It allowed the weaker hill-climbers like Nina to add power to get up the slope, thus keeping the team together and unexpectedly, allowed the team to move up a few places in the peloton. Although she’d expected some riders would lose momentum on the slope, she didn’t figure it would be as many that actually did. As a result the main peloton became stretched out, temporarily breaking into three distinct groups.

Once the girls were able to make any kind of a breakaway, the profile of the course played right into the hands of the team’s strategy.

Pedaling through the descents rather than freewheeling, as the majority of riders would do, allowed the team to increase any time gaps. Any increased speed they had when they reached the bottom of one hill served to greatly assist any effort to ascend the next hill, while the few flat areas served to offer a chance to rest and gather themselves for the next descent or hill climb.

Over the course of three laps, the peloton split twice and suffered a few failed attempts by some to breakaway. One attack did go unchallenged on lap three and managed to chase down Team Apollinaris during the six hundred metre ascent outside of Sommeritz, leading back down into Schmá¶lln.

It was during the descent that half of this newly arrived ‘chase group’ was dropped because of their weaker descending skills. Judith’s computer read 87kph when they neared the bottom of the hill and they found themselves having to brake so they could safely make the long left into Schmá¶lln.

Whether it was skill, reckless abandon, an adrenalin rush or a combination of all three, it carried the leader’s effortlessly up the next slope and over the crest. Back on the ‘flats’, the rogue group quickly re-assumed ‘piano’, with each cyclist taking turns to lead the group.

It was during one change of leadership, when Kristen was drifting back to assume her place at the end of the line, she glanced over her shoulder and realized the main peloton or the lead elements of the peloton were no longer in view. As she drifted past, she informed Gaby of this development.

As the merry band approached the large hill at Kummer for the last time, Gaby knew that with it being roughly the halfway point of the bell lap, something would have to be done with their ‘guests’. She quickly decided that they’d keep the status quo until the very last climb. Her plan was to try to loose them on the ascent, providing the rest of the team wasn’t exhausted themselves.

As each of her teammates drifted past her after doing their stint at the head of the line, Gaby gave them a subtle signal to follow her lead. Another thing in their favour was that the lead group had become somewhat complacent with their large gap, relaxing the pace a bit.

About one-third of the way up the last climb, Gaby once again rose out of her saddle and powered her way out front of the leader’s. Although the other three tried to do the same, Judith had the only other successful attempt. Together they reached the crest a few bike lengths ahead of the leader of the group they just left.

Once past the crest, they were gone. As both girls powered down the descent into Schmá¶lln, they were well aware of that sharp final turn at the base of the hill.

Judith approached it by riding across the lanes right-to-left and holding to the middle of the road as she went into the turn, then recovering near the right-hand curb as she exited.

Gaby followed much the same line of approach, but appeared to have overshot her entry. As soon as she made a sudden correction, her bike started to shake and it appeared as if she was going to lose it at the height of the turn.

She recovered, missing the right-hand curb by inches and in the process narrowly passed Judith in a short dash to the finish. In the end, it was Gaby and Judith, followed within a bike length by Kate Spratt of the Junior Australian National Team.

Jenny ran up to congratulate Gaby and hugged her tightly.

“You keep that up, young lady … an’ you’re going to give your ol’ mum a coronary!” Jenny whispered in her daughter’s ear and in a more normal voice, added, “I’m so proud of you! … It’s only a very select few that can claim both the Women’s Junior World Cup and Junior World Championship in the same year.”

Maddy’s first comments were a bit more forceful and direct.

“Don’t ever … do ... that ... again!” She then added, “But ... I’m so proud of you!” and then proceeded to wrap her arms tightly around her fiancée.

Next morning, life had returned to normal and traffic into Leipzig was the usual Wednesday stop and go. Once the team made it to the airport and got things loaded onto the aircraft it was less than an hour’s flight from Leipzig to Bonn.

When the engines of the Challenger 604 finally shut down in front of the Apollinaris corporate hanger, Mike was there with the same mini-bus that he used to drive them to the airport.

“Willkommen! Let’s get all this stuff packed and we go back to Bad Neuenahr, Ja?” Mike enthusiastically greeted the team as they got off the aircraft. “George und Dave are anxious to see you girls.”

On the way back, Mike chatted with Hans and Jenny while the girls largely stayed silent. They were just glad to be getting back home. Maddy and Gaby had mixed feelings and just sat quietly in their seats, cuddled up to each other as much as the bus’ seating would allow.

On one hand, they were both glad to have completed the World Cup and spent the summer together but on the other hand, their time together was fast drawing to a close. Maddy would be retuning to Warsop on Sunday.

It was just after noon when the mini-bus pulled into the Team’s training facility. Together Mike, Hans, Kat and Maddy made short work of off-loading everything. Soon after they started to wipe down the bikes, Jenny appeared in the shop door and asked Maddy to accompany her to George’s office.

“Something wrong?”

“No … we just need a witness to a signing … and I thought of you. I can’t do it as I’m related to Gaby.”

“You could witness the others.”

“True … but it’d look better if the same person signed all four contracts.”

When the two entered George’s office, they saw the entire Junior Team Apollinaris, Dave and another man that Jenny identified as lawyer for the Team Apollinaris’ organization, all sitting around the large table that dominated one half of his office.

As they sat down, George started off by stating how pleased everyone including corporate Apollinaris, was with the junior team’s performance and with Gaby for winning both the Women’s Junior World Championship and being overall first in the standings for the Junior World Cup. As far as they were concerned, the junior team validated the decision to go with Jenny’s suggestion of creating a youth program.

He went on to also say how very pleased he was to be able to offer each of the four girls that made up the Junior Team Apollinaris, an initial two-year contract with Team Apollinaris.

The lawyer then went through the contracts with the girls, ensuring they understood every detail. When everyone was satisfied with everything, each girl signed their contacts, in all the indicated spaces. Maddy then countersigned each contract.

Following the meeting, George, Dave and Jenny socialized with all the girls before leaving the complex for the day. While Mike drove the girls to their homes, Maddy and Gaby went with her parents and Jules.

“Dave … it’s still early enough in the day … could you swing around to the ‘Town Church’ on the way home? The girls would like to see if Rev. Albrecht is around.”

Jenny put her hand on Dave’s arm as she settled in the front passenger seat.

“Don’t you have to schedule things like that?” Dave asked.

“At least the girls could meet him. Right now they just want to know if they can get married in the church … or … if they should be thinking city hall … and I agree. It’s just not right for them not to know. They can’t do any planning … let alone even dream of their wedding until they know what they’re dealing with.”

At the church, Jenny and the girls were able to briefly meet with Rev. Albrecht where they learned that the church would perform a same-sex wedding. They also briefly met his new assistant, Rev. Gotthard. Before they left, the girls were asked to schedule a longer meeting at a later date.

Jenny informed the two ministers that Maddy was off to university back in England, but would be in Bad Neuenahr for the occasional visit and that Gaby would schedule a meeting to coincide with one of her visits. The girls left the church feeling another hurdle had been conquered.

Ever since they left the training facility, Gaby noticed her dad had been noticeably quiet whenever the subject of her signing with Team Apollinaris came up in conversation.

While Jenny and Maddy prepared supper, Gaby looked for her dad and eventually found him alone in his den.

“Daddy … what’s wrong? You‘ve been terribly quiet ever since I signed. Was I wrong?” Gaby asked as she put her arms around her dad.

(sigh) “It’s your life, Petal ... but watching you sign … I just saw your mother … and it brought back some uncomfortable memories,” Dave quietly replied.

“Promise me you won’t repeat her mistakes with Maddy … she doesn’t deserve that.”

Gaby laid her head on her dad’s shoulder and whispered, “Don’t worry, Daddy. I may be like Mum when it comes to bikes ... but … don’t forget I was also on the receiving end … just like you an’ Jules were. I remember it all too well.”

“Even if Drew didn’t always show it … it was there ... (sniff) an’ it hurt...” Gaby added in a breaking whisper. She then heaved a heavy sigh and held her dad tightly.

“I promise … I’ll leave the sport before I start treating Mad like that … I can’t put her through what we went through.”

Then in a more upbeat voice she exclaimed, “C’mon … betcha supper’s almost ready.”

Meanwhile, back in Warsop…

“Carol … sit down, luv … I’ve got something we have to discuss,” John solemnly announced as he came home from work.

“I’m listening.”

“Don called me into his office this afternoon and dropped a bombshell into my lap. It seems there’s a vacant high-level management position and that they feel I’d be the right person for the job.”

“More money?” Carol asked.

“Oh, yeah…” John grimaced.

“Do you think you can do it?”

“Yep…”

“Why do I see a big ‘but’ on the end of that?”

John saw a chance to wind his wife up even more. In a serious voice, he revealed, “We’d have to move from here...”

He paused to let Carol’s reaction register and when he saw her face drop, he cheerfully added, “To Germany! It’s in our Bonn office.”
Carol was excited at the prospect of moving to Germany.

“My God ... take it! You said it’s more money and we’d be close to Jenny and Dave again. From what Maddy tells me … Mayscho០is an easy commute to Bonn … by train or car. We’ll also get to see our daughter a lot more than if we stayed here.”

“Huh?” John was confused at Carol’s last comment.

“I think they plan to live in Mayscho០or near Bad Neuenahr after they’re married, dear.”

“Oh … well ... in that case I better tell Don that I accept the position tomorrow when I see him at the club ... hadn’t I?”

“When would we have to move?” Carol asked.

“I guess I’ll be over there a few days a month until I get the ‘lay of the land’. I wouldn’t expect the move to be done for a while yet but I’ll learn more after I talk to Don.”

“I’ve got to call Jen!”

“No you don’t ... not yet, anyways. Let me at least accept the job first,” John joked.

“If things go well, it looks like I’ll be making my own call to Dave next week to get an idea of the local housing picture. Don also told me that if I took the position being upper management and all, the firm will cover any relocation costs ... which means m’dear ... nothing comes out of pocket.”

“When we pick Maddy up Sunday … we’ll tell her.” Carol insisted.
 
 
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To Be Continued...