Gaby Book 18 - Summery

 
“Gaby, might I have a word please?” Frau Thesing requested.
“Er sure,” I agreed returning to the counter area with the dirty crockery I'd been collecting.

We’ve been quite busy this morning, the warmer weather has brought out more trekkers and walkers and the board over by the bahnhof seems to be working.

“Tomas and I have been talking about the business.”
“Uh huh.”
“Well an opportunity has come up, you know the Imbiss hut by the bridge in Altenahr? The council are looking for new tenants.”

How could I not know it, nearly every time we go training we go past its tempting smells of grilled Bratwürst – not that we ever stop of course. I wondered why it has been closed the last few weeks.

“It’s been closed for a few weeks.”
“The chap who used to run it decided to retire, he had no family to pass the lease to.”
“You’re taking the lease?”
“Thinking about it, how would you feel about running it with Connie?”
“Running it? Seriously?”
“Of course Tomas and I would be in overall charge but you pair would look after the day to day stuff, making sure it’s staffed, there’s enough stock and so on. What do you think, interested?”
“Yeah,” I allowed, “but what happens when we go to college and I’ve got summer school and stuff.”
“We wouldn’t expect you to be there all day everyday, you’ll be the managers so you sort out the shifts, the menu, the prices.”
“What does Con think?”
“We’ll talk to her later, we thought we’d sound you out first.”

A customer came in, further discussion would have to wait a bit.

Of course the Thesing’s proposal did occupy my mind for the rest of my shift, it was certainly a good opportunity. On the other hand I, we, are only sixteen, it’s a lot of responsibility and would certainly cramp any plans for the summer. It was the end of the shift before I got the chance to talk with Con’s mum again.

“What we were talking about earlier,” I broached with Therese.
“Altenahr?”
“Yeah, well I'm interested but I really should talk to my ‘rents.”
“Let us run it past Connie then if it’s a goer we’ll all have a meeting,” she proposed.
“Er yeah, okay,” I agreed.
“You racing tomorrow?”
“When am I not? Maastricht.”
“Well good luck with that, see you Monday?”
“Probably,” I agreed.

“Alright, kiddo?” Dad asked when I arrived back at Bond Acres.
“Er yeah.”
“You look distracted,” he mentioned as he checked the bikes were firmly attached to the roof rack.
“Therese just offered me a job.”
“You already work for her.”
“A different job.”
“Oh?”
“Sort of a proper job, for the summer at least.”
“At the bakery?”
“Er no, they’re taking over the würst stand in Altenahr, you know, by the bridge, they want me and Con to run it.”
“And what does Connie think about this,” he asked evenly.
“Not spoken to her yet.”
“What do you think about it?”
“Well it is a good opportunity.”
“I hear a but coming,” Dad suggested.
“I'm not sure I want to do it.”
‘At least she hasn’t jumped in with both feet this time,’ Dave mused.
“Sounds like you need to think things through, we can talk more later if you want?”
“I guess.”
“Come on, get yourself ready, car’s loaded so we’ll have egg on toast or something then get off.”
“Ooh, egg on toast!”
“Get on with you!”

You may well ask why we are leaving this afternoon, Maastricht isn’t much over an hour away from home after all. The complication is that the race starts at ten so we need to be there by at least nine and we’d have to pick up Angela and Roni which would mean leaving home at like six. We’ve done it before but with Josh and Tali coming down it was just as easy to book the hotel for everyone.

No Gret – well spotted, the Luchow’s are away on holiday for a fortnight, sailing in the Med I think. So anyway we’re picking up the Grönberg’s this afternoon then meeting the others at the hotel in Holland. Oh yeah, Josh’s uncle is bringing them down, they’ll no doubt already be on the autobahn.

“What are you going to do when you finish school?” I asked Mand as we sat in the slow traffic past Bonn airport.
“Like college and that?”
“Nah, during the summer hols.”
“Dunno,” she shrugged, “out on the bike I guess, might see if I can get a summer job of some sort – your mum said they take on some at the bottling plant. What about you?”
“About the same I guess.”
“So what's it like being the brainiest girl in Germany?”
“It’s not all of Germany,” I pointed out, “just the High Eifel.”
“Well?”
“I'm not that clever, I suck at English.”
“But not at German, maths, geography or science and I bet your English is as good as anyone’s.”
“I only got 78%.”
“Which would be an A for GCSE, geez Gab if that’s your worst,” Mand observed.
I suppose when you put it like that it’s not that bad, I did rock over 90% for German though.
“I guess.”
“She guesses,” Mand sighed heavily.

I let the subject drop and instead used the traffic as a distraction, Mand plugging her earphones in and setting her new music cube thing going.

How many staff does the Imbiss need? I guess it depends when it’s open, have to find that out never really took any notice before but I guess no one wants sausages at like eight in the morning do they? Maybe they do. Hey we could do the pies there, maybe some pastries, get some better coffee in, stick some tables out. The place could do with a lick of paint, hmm we could put advertising boards out at the station, probably get some of the coach drivers over.

We had coffee in Mettmann before heading west on the second side of the almost equilateral triangle that connects, Dernau, Mettmann and Maastricht.

“What’s this course like, Herr Bond?” Ron asked as we crossed the Rhein.
“Flat,” I opined, “it’s Nederland.”
“I don’t think it is, Gab,” Dad replied, “Limburg is the hilly bit.”
“But it’s hardly the Eifel is it?”
“Maybe not but don’t expect something like Roubaix, the profile is a bit spiky.”
“Oh joy.”
“I'll say this now,” Dad went on, “I don’t want any heroics like last Sunday tomorrow, we don’t have anything riding on this, no Jungere points, no titles so let other squads do some of the work. It’s not just club teams, it’s a proper international with some national teams riding so there’ll be plenty of people with stuff to prove.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“Eh?” Mand queried pulling here ear buds out, “I miss something?”
“Go back to sleep,” I suggested.

The hotel wasn’t in Maastricht but a few klicks out at Meerssen, not far from the airport and for once we were the first to arrive. It’s only a motel type place but there is a restaurant just along the road that looks pretty reasonable. The room dynamics were thrown out a bit without the Luchow’s and with Joe here, Dad got a single, the Waugh’s and Grönberg’s twins and me, Mand and Tali sharing a ‘family’ room.

By the time we were settled in it was heading towards six, Dad had the bikes ready, he thought it would be a good idea to do an hour so before dinner.

“Okay guys, just steady, we’ll go up through Valkenburg then come back in a loop to the hotel.”

Five is an awkward number, someone is always on their own unless you are in rotation and it’s often the weakest rider of the group. I intentionally rode alongside Mand to avoid her starting as the gooseberry, that instead falling to Josh. The adults meanwhile followed in the Mercedes, offering a little protection on the surprisingly busy route eastwards.

I've had a couple of good sessions this week and I guess I can see what Dad was aiming to do. But training and real time are different, the Dutch roads were less than brilliant in places, by the time we reached Valkenburg I'd had to bunny hop three potholes! The town was still quite busy with tourists as we passed through but thankfully the road was much better in the centre.

Out the other side and we were climbing, not like hardcore but a gentle incline that nevertheless was gaining us metres in height. It reminded me a little of riding around Warsop, nothing much above 5% but long enough to generate a bit of lactic. We relinquished the lead after Dad indicated we should turn out of the valley and up a steeper climb.

Once at the top we bobbled along a stretch of Route National back towards Maastricht before returning to quieter roads that took us back to Meerssen. It wasn’t the longest or hardest ride, we’d been out for not much more than an hour and covered just over thirty kilometres. I wasn’t the only one ready to eat though, egg on toast doesn’t provide much long term energy!

“So what’s the plan like?” Josh enquired before shovelling another forkful of pasta into his maw.
“Good question,” Dad replied wiping his mouth clean of Tagliatelle Milanese. “this won’t be like the Jungere League, the national teams will have riders with things to prove, we don’t.”
“You won’t be able ta tek it to them,” Joe put in, “wait for opportunities, keep an eye on what’s happening around youse.”
“Joe’s right,” Dad picked up again, “Gabs is our protected rider for a sprint but not at all costs. You’ll be heavily outgunned, a lot of last year juniors, lads that can put out more power than you girls so you need to ride canny. Josh, if you think there’s a move you can get in, do it, no one’s taking prisoners out there tomorrow.”
“Should we help him,” Mand asked.
“If you are in a position to, you know the drill but don’t expect to be as successful as in the domestic races. Remember what is was like in Switzerland, this will be like that but more so.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Just telling it like it is.”
“Dave’s right, lass, the teams are too small to control things very well, you might be able to combine with others, an alliance like.”

“Not gonna be much fun is it?” Tali suggested as she hung her team dress up.
“That’s one way of putting it,” Mand agreed.
“I guess we just need to make sure we get to the finish.”
“It’s alright for you, Gab, you can hang on, some of us find it hard.” Tal told me.
“We’ll just have to use our heads, make them think they’re in control.”
“What’re you suggesting?” Mand queried.
“Operation Girly.”
“I'll text Ron,” Tali enthused.
“What’s Operation Girly?” Mand asked.

Maddy Bell © 26.11.16