Wednesday 2nd Jan
MILEAGE = 982
Are there two 4am’s in one day!! Second half of the season, January 08, and so we begin. The journey starts in Sheffield and has to finish in Sestriere, Italy, by the late evening. It took 17 hours and involved lots of chocolate and playing the DJ with the music.
We arrive tired but are looking forward to getting selection out of the way. We both have a point to prove so can’t wait to start now!

Thursday 3rd Jan
MILEAGE = 997
After a brief morning meeting it is time to prepare our kit bags for the first day of selection. It is with anticipation that we leave for the push track, giving each other much encouragement. On arrival we are given the start list and then set about warming up both mentally and physically for the task ahead. We both push well and look to repeating the same again tomorrow.

Friday 4th Jan
MILEAGE = 1410
Back in the van!! Selection is finished and the crews have been finalised until at least the World Championships. BobTeam Minichiello is once again complete with the combination of Nicola and Lauren. We move today to Cortina, Italy to begin our World Cup campaign with sliding starting tomorrow evening. The hotel in Cortina is nice, however, the lack of a shower in the room is not filling us with much enthusiasm. We get to bed early so that we can take our sled to be fixed bright and early.

Saturday 5th Jan
MILEAGE = 1460
Where to start…we both feel as though we have seen 24 hours of this day! An early start was needed as our sled had to be taken to the infamous Italian sled doctor! After the disqualification in Lake Placid we wanted to get the sled checked over to be sure we weren’t going to have any more problems. Sliding tonight started at 8.30pm and didn’t finish until 11.30pm! The first two runs have officially been completed in cortina…we are both smiling but very tired!

Sunday 6th Jan
MILEAGE = 1474
Flu jabs at the ready! Today we feel like we are in the sick bay. Lauren has the flu and other people in the team are going down with it! First defence is definitely our friend this week. Nicola had two runs this evening and it went well, the driving is getting better all the time and we really are looking forward to racing now, We just hope Lauren gets better soon.

Tuesday 8th Jan
MILEAGE = 1538
Nicola officially lost Laurens crash virginity today, however this now establishes her as a true bobsleigher…we have to look at the positives.
We both survived the concrete walls and I have a few bruises and an ice burn on her shoulder to show for it. The sled has once again been taken back to the garage to be fixed. However, tomorrow is another day and I’m sure we wont be making that mistake again!

Wednesday 9th Jan
MILEAGE = 1598
We had a few nerves at the track today, despite all the bravado and camaraderie spending 60 seconds upside down in what feels like a washing machine on spin cycle does put the fear into you. But despite several big butterflies and bruises that are starting to look mightily impressive, we made it down the hill, had two good runs and finished the day as 10th fastest.

Thursday 10th Jan
MILEAGE = 1620
Today was a good day! We had 2 solid runs, the sled is almost fixed and we found out our disqualification from the Lake Placid race has been revoked. The runners are ready, the sled is polished and we are looking forward to racing tomorrow. The rest of the world better watch out!

Friday 11th Jan
MILEAGE = 1655
Race day! In so many respects a great day, in some just a little frustrating. We had two solid runs today, we started really well and had good speeds. We finished 7th and are now ranked 7th overall in the World Cup. So many positives! We were only 0.02 away from a medal. We really enjoyed the racing today and considering how busy this week has been it is a great result and reinforces our position as one of the best teams in the world.

Saturday 12th Jan
MILEAGE = 2085
Finally a day off! Time to get the sled fully sprung and good to go, say our goodbyes, pack up and get back in the van. We will be sorry to leave Cortina, but are definitely looking forward to starting again in cesana next week. European Championships and World Cup Race number 5…BRING IT ON!

Sunday 13th Jan
MILEAGE = 2085
Welcome to Lactic acid city!! Lauren was certainly regretting the chocolate brioche for breakfast! Now that Nicola is back training we were able to complete our first 2 training sessions together today, the first of which involved repeated flat out sprints on a bike and total oxygen depletion! Having completed the session we both realised that you wouldn’t do bike sprints on the top of Ben Nevis, which was what we were effectively doing as Sestriere is 2100 meters above sea level. The late afternoon brought a weights session and a recovery session of sitting outside in the snow for 6 minutes…not a nice way to finish the day!

Monday 13th Jan
MILEAGE = 2097
We are well and truly settled into the Italian tradition of Pasta now. Three courses every meal means we are having to watch our weight! We had a positive push session in the Ice house this morning. Having such good feedback from the 4 camera angles and instant playback has meant we can analyse technique straight away. This is a huge benefit to us and has meant we have come on leaps and bounds since the start of the season.