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TT Time

2009-06-26T16:57:00.002+12:00

The grand total of tt intervals done this calendar year is..............1! I am not going to let that stop me lining up for club champs tomorrow arvo though. If anything, it will be a good benchmark for the Auckland champs which are on the same course in 6 weeks....it will be minutes, not seconds coming off the time by then.

Anyway, the tt rig got all spruced up last night, disc went in and got all tuned up and road tested, at 9.30pm, and its all ready to fly. For me this is something quite significant as usually I'm messing round with parts the night before getting all worked up and shitty.

I have a nice new skinsuit for tomorrow as well, cheers Gordy, but as its mainly white, it may get saved for another day if the forecast rain arrives....that and I have no white booties yet and would hate to clash.

So fingers crossed, stepping back on the tt bike for a waterfront tt usually makes you hobble around for the rest of the day as you use a whole new bunch of muscles. I am not looking forward to the feeling after 40kms. One thing is for sure, tomorrow wont be a day for spinning....there is going to be a lot of grovelling and pushing the big gears....c'mon legs be good!

A good turn gone punished

2009-06-26T09:32:00.003+12:00

I was out training last night doing some hill efforts, emphasis on hill efforts at night time (motivation is high) and came across a rider that had punctured and was sitting on the grass and had both wheels off the bike. I decided to stop and make sure all was well, he had punctured and had left his tyre levers at home and had called his wife to come and pick him up.

I haven't used tyre levers in ages, so I offered him some help and advice on how he could get by without them. He said the tyres were impossible to get off without levers, so I made sure he was starting at the valve and working his way around with both hands so he could pry it off with his thumbs....he wasn't interested.

I also mentioned that if you get real stuck then you can use your quick release....he wasn't interested. All he did the whole time was sit on the grass and say how that they were impossible to get off without levers "they're not like mountain bike tyres". I had done the good thing and offered help, he obviously didn't care so I left him to it, I needed extra recovery time anyway so it wasn't a major to stop and was heading for home anyway.

So I get going again, and no more than 200meters down the road and psssst! not happy but didn't really want to stop and practice what I had just been preaching, so I rimmed it home. Talk about a good turn going un rewarded

its been a bit busy round these parts

2009-06-15T11:16:00.003+12:00

so here is how my last 5-6 weeks has gone...

1 weekend in Australia
1 weekend in Whakatane for a 21st
1 weekend in Taupo for a wedding
1 weekend welcoming home our new puppy
1 weekend in Rotorua for a family holiday
1 weekend sitting on the couch looking at the rain

so its been fairly low key cycling wise with the bike taken on none of the above trips which was nice for anyone else invloved but not great for the form but lack of bike trips means I obviously wasn't too fussed. It is early winter after all.

Work has also been crazy busy as well which has meant the motivation for early morning rides has slipped somewhat over that time....but at least the recession won't take my job for the moment.

I am probably underselling how much riding I have been doing, just not a great deal of quality but that will come.

Holiday time

2009-05-03T11:14:00.002+12:00

There hasn't been a lot of riding the least 10 days as I tweaked my knee and was struggling to ride pain free for anything more than 20minutes so I shut it down for a bit. Its been quite nice timing though as I fly out to the Gold Coast this arvo for 5 days of doing not much at all which should be mint. Its not really summer I know but need to get away and re charge the batteries, more work batteries that riding ones as I haven't been running them too low recently.

Its been cold up here the last 2 days so hopefully when I get back its not down to single digits and full blown winter.

Investment advice

2009-04-23T15:08:00.002+12:00

While I am on a financial angle I thought I would dish out some free investment advice to make everyone out there rich. Now this isn't invest in share xyz or Currency B or even to buy gold. Thats all tried and trusted and you don't need to be a genius to work that out.

This advice is based purely on supply and demand, so go and buy Malt Biscuits. Stand back and take a deep breath and I will explain.

I am going to Deborah's sisters wedding in Taupo this weekend, so my job is to make my killer lollie cake to keep everyone energised during Fridays working bee. No problem I thought and I went to the supermarket last night to get the supplies, one of the key ingredient is a 3 packets of Malt biscuits....I was tripling the recipe as I needed to feed an army.

anyway, Pak n Save Glenn Innes....Sold Out
Foodtown Quay Street.....Sold Out
5 various gas stations.....Not in stock
Countdown Greenlane......1 packet in stock

I would have paid a lot of money for another 2 packets last night, so I am stuck now with only 1 batch of lollie cake and a 4 hour drive this afternoon to taupo. I am not liking the chance of having any of the stuff left by the time I get down there.

Oh and good lucky Shaina and Tom, I'm sure it will be a great day!

Help out the Recession

2009-04-22T14:47:00.000+12:00

without wanting to get all doom and gloom, I think everyone realises we are in a recession and consumer spending will lead us out of it or will at least help.

In light of this I urge would appear to be the vast majority of auckland cyclists to go out and buy some leg warmers. They aren't terribly expensive compared to the bike and time you spend on the sport. I am amazed how underdressed so many riders are in the mornings. I head out covered head to toe usually and am still cold for the first half an hour. Seeing people riding at 5am in shorts, a short sleeve top and a fluro vest just slows down the warming process for me.

Forget the performance benefits you will get from leg warmers, the reduced probability of injury and the reduced recovery times....its just makes sense, and will help out the recession.

a bit slow

2009-04-16T16:02:00.002+12:00

this week has been a little on the slow side training wise as a stupid thing called work has got in the way so its drastic action time. Didn't get out Tues or Wed so its intervals tonight and tomorrow morning before shutting it down for a coffee spin....who needs recovery.

I think the next race on the wards is May 2 at Counties and then a 2up TT and then the Queens Birthday tour which is always a good road trip to the naki, had some good times and some not so good times over the years at that tour so might do some reminiscing closer to the race about it.

Happy Easter

2009-04-14T14:52:00.000+12:00

I know its a few days late and all but what the hell. I had a really good ester break which started Wed lunchtime, so I got 5.5 days and really felt like I had a good break. There is nothing worse than waking up after a break and wondering where the time went.

I managed to get 2 rounds of golf in, 400 and something Km's on the bike, a sneaky trip to the pub and almost a win in mini golf. I actually had the game in the bag til a bit of a choke on the last in which I was left with 3 meters to tie the game....couldn't really afford to miss it and let a girl beat me.

I'm also not too disappointed with my picks for Roubaix. Boonen was the big favourite so I'm not taking and credit for picking him...but to chuck out 6 names and have 5 in the top 11 including 2 guys that weren't on many radars isn't bad...now I just have to back it up in the upcoming classics like Amstel, Gallipoli cup and Leige

Nice Photo

2009-04-14T12:07:00.000+12:00

Just seen this on the web and I rekon it sums up the different emotions in our sport brilliantly. The difference between winning and loosing can only be centermetres yet the diffrence between the 2 team mates joy vs the guy in seconds despair is brilliant.

And for anyone who doesn't understand the team aspect of cycling, the teammate giving it the bigger posting says alot. This wasn't a classic but I'm sure it doesn't matter to these guys as it will probably help secure contracts for next season already. Dom Rollin who rode southland last year is in the Cervelo kit on the left of screen and aussie Baden Cooke is furtherest to the right. Other than that your guesses are as good as mine.

Prediction time

2009-04-12T15:09:00.000+12:00

I was meant to put my picks up here before last weekends Tour of Flanders, lucky I didn't though as it wouldn't have been pretty.

So here goes my Paris -Roubaix pics...

I think Boonen and Flecha go to the finish with Tornado Tom easily winning the kick, hope Flecha wins though with Leif Hoste rounding out the podium.

Its supposed to be wet and muddy so maybe its even a break that makes it to the finish so a couple of extra names that I think could sneak a result...Johan Van Summeren, Wouter Weylandt and Martin Elmiger. There you go go loose all your money at the TAB.

And go the Warriors this afternoon!

A good weekends work

2009-04-12T12:56:00.002+12:00

I have managed to put together a pretty solid weekend on the bike which is good for the morale...but not so flash for the legs right now.

I managed to get a 3 hours spin on Friday just to loosen up the legs after playing a couple of rounds of golf on Wed-Thurs so that was pretty uneventful.

Saturday was a bit of a stop start affair. The plan was to do 100k with Gordy in the waitaks but when I got to his place its was looking like it was about to tip it down, so an hour on the coach watching docco's seemed like the best bet while the weather passed. Once it did it was 3.5 hours in the hills on quite a good circuit which is all either up or down and very quiet roads. I was well and truly in the box by the end of the road, so after 130kms it was time for an hour in bed to aide the recovery...does twice the job of skins and recovery shakes I reckon.

I have just got back in from the Sunday Bunch over Albany way. I left home at 4.45am and just walked in at 12.40 so that 8 hours I think and 195kms or there abouts. It was a good ride with Will, Gordy, Murray and Pamela. Again nothing major dramas but a good ride with some mates which always makes the hard yards that much more bearable, in fact it was pretty good fun this morning which was mint.

I think the 400k over the 3 days has earned me an Easter egg, I won't go crazy otherwise I'll never get off the couch this afternoon, and the house needs a clean before Deborah gets home.

Night Rider

2009-03-31T17:06:00.002+13:00

Things are getting pretty dark before work on the training rides at the moment which is making for some interesting experiences. here are a couple of interesting things that happen in the dark when riding, mainly day time but Day Rider sounds no where near as good as Night Rider.

I have done my hill reps on Mt Eden for a while now....they aren't really helping the climbing that much but then again I don't think doing hill reps up Alpe D'Huez would help me that much. Anyway there are no lights on the climb and no cars are allowed up before 7am, so its pitch black except for my tiny little blinking white light. This is of help only to the walkers/runners/dogs and cattle that also use the road. They give me no visibility of whats coming up, all I get is a shadow approaching and have to try and navigate my way around them. I did almost bin it last week when I wasn't prepared for a little dog who thought my shadow looked like something worth chasing. So far I haven't come unstuck which is useful....they have been a few frightened walkers as I slowly grind past them....maybe a need one of those goofy head lamps those dirty mountain bikers use.
I think some cyclists don't eat carrots as often as they should. This morning Meechy past me going in the other direction no more than 7 meters away, and despite me screaming "meechy" at the top of my voice he was none the wiser. He must have been in the box or something.
Night riding meets Night Racing each Wednesday on the way to the mast up in the waitaks. Its usually single file at the bottom and see how long you can hang on for. Usually you only have the sound other riders breath and gear changes to indicate how well someone is going. In the darkness you get the added sensory aid of seeing the rider behinds light either slipping off the wheel or making it back on as the climb changes gradient. Lat Wed was classic as I must have seen the light behind drift off and get back 6 or 7 times before it disappeared for good.

These fun times will end this weekend when Day light saving ends and it gets lighter in the mornings.

Shameless promotion of Subway

2009-03-30T17:29:00.001+13:00

As I start typing this entry, I am not really sure where this is going to end up or why even I m blogging this topic, but there have been a couple of interesting Subway run ins lately and surprise surprise, none of these have had anything to do with cycling.

I was watching tele last night and they was bugger all on, so we ended up watching some show about drunk guys getting up to no good and the cops cracking down on them, I think it was British which should be no surprise. Anway there was an fight at a Subway restaurant where 2 lads were kicking it off with the staff and fighting with the other customers. When the dust had settled and everyone had calmed down the guys ended up explaining that it started because the restaurant had stored the salami in with the salads. No most people know about food safety but to get in a scrap over it was priceless.

Interesting subway interaction number 2. It was lunchtime today and felt like a sub so went online to place my order, placing it online saved me 20minutes in the queue. Anyway on the site you could navigate to any of the international subway sites...here are some store observations.

New Zealand has 203 Subway restaurants
Iraq has 20
Zambia has 4 stores
There are 4 in Afghanistan, I'm guess there might have been 20 like in Iraq before bombs started dropping
Lebanon has 2, no interesting Lebanese fact except that Hazim El Mazri is from Lebanon and he has scored more points than anyone else in the NRL.
there are 2 in Aruba...........where on earth is that???? Google says its a small island of the coast of Venezuela

Anyway there is a bit of useless subway info....hopefully that might be enough of a plug to get a ride next year.

Oh and I might have spent the time saved by ordering online by surfing the web

A change of seasons

2009-03-13T17:46:00.002+13:00

The last few days have started to get colder which means its a shift of mentality from Summer cycling to Winter cycling. It needs a serious mind change if not only for the weather. In summer, most rides are in shorts and a top and if it rains you get grumpy. In winter, its a case of letting minimal skin face the elements and being happy if you get home dry and you don't have to wash the bike every day.

So tonight the cycling cupboard gets a clean out. Gone are all the summer undershirts, the sparkly white socks, the track mitts, the dark coloured sunnies....

To the top draws now come the long sleeve thermals, all the leg warmers, the booties, the 3 different rain capes, the jackets, the clear lenses.....

The focus racing wise also moves from fast paced crits and fun rides to grovelly short races on dead roads with crap conditions and grumpy riders moaning about the grovelly races which the same people seem to dominate.

so here goes....bring it on

for some reason the spell checker can find the word grovelly, maybe I need an entire post dedicated to grovelling

a week in review

2009-03-13T11:37:00.001+13:00

so here goes the last 7 days....

Friday.... felt like a bag of arse, coming down with a cold so blagged work for the arvo

Sat...still felt like arse but opened it up in the tailwind on the waterfront and figured I was up for Sundays race

Sun....Raced Heels on Wheels but probably shouldn't have. Rode up Razorback rd on the way up and definitely shouldn't have, that's one of the harder climbs in Auckland. No more whinging guys that live out south about lack of quality training roads

Mon....Felt sorry for myself and kept the bike in the garage

Tues....Did a recovery ride that should have been done on Monday and felt invincible...yeah right
Wed....Torture loop which threatened to shower us all day but didn't. bumped into Will who had retired....I give him 3 weeks before he's back racing. Got a bee sting and almost binned it.

Thursday....Cyco crit day and the bee sting has caused my left quad to look like a track sprinters. I do very little in the crit, hit it at the bell and showed everyone all my form

that's my week in review, just a normal week on the bike, might have clocked up 450km for the week which isn't too bad all things considered. Next week will be more

All quiet on this front

2009-03-02T13:54:00.000+13:00

Not a whole bunch is really happening at the moment. Raced the Rev last weekend and managed to survive all the crashes and get through the race with my health despite the pissing rain for the first 2.5 hours. The rain seemed to have an effect on peoples cornering skills and I haven't seen so many people eat it in a NZ race for a long time. I felt good during the race and carried out the plan I had but just couldn't get over French Pass with the leaders. I had good position going into it before a down hill corner which felt like 900degrees where the two guys in front of me stacked it....so I started climbing last wheel which was never going to be pretty.

Raced the Cyco crit on Thursday night and that was ok, spent a lap and a bit lone wolf, then tried a late move but nothing was sticking so will try it all again in a couple of days.

It was a pretty quiet weekend which wasn't all that bad as club racing starts at the end of March so it was a good chance to set the plan for the upcoming club season.

Next race for me after the crit on Thursday will be the Heels and Wheels race on Sunday....grabbed second there last year so will have to try and go one better this time round.

Stop Press!!!

2009-02-20T11:18:00.002+13:00

Lance has found his Time Trial bike....crisis averted and we can all get back to our normal lives.

fresh isn't always best

2009-02-18T16:38:00.003+13:00

after a pretty good block of training I ended up having an enforced 6 days off the bike through one thing or another...well actually mainly work as we have moved premises which has meant alot of extra hours and heavy lifting which has left m a bit wrecked.

I rolled out this morning with every intention of doing 3 hours with some solid hill intervals until I discovered that the legs were very sore so wasn't that optimistic. As I got onto the waterfront I bumped into the Subway - Avanti teams Auckland division so sat on a cruised to the end of the waterfront when I decided to just make the day a recovery spin.

Hopefully the legs are feeling ten times better tomorrow for the Cyco Crit and then on Saturday for the Rev as there is a fair bit of climbing on the pacours and a fair bit of $ on the finish line, 10K in prize money which makes it one of, if not the richest races in the country.

I was confident where I was this time last week....now I'm not sure but will have a better idea after tomorrow night.

Love

2009-02-14T19:45:00.002+13:00

Time to share a bit of love which I probably don't do enough off round here.

Took my bike in to Cyco to see whether they could put a chain on quickly which they said would be no problem. I had Kinda hoped so as the mechanic there, Colin Cornberg, is a good dude and I roomed with him last year at Southland as part of the might Riverside Rentals team.

Anyway, left the bike there whilst I pooped out for lucnh and a perv with another rider who spends way too much time floating round bike shops. Anyway after the lunch I get back and the following had been done...

New Chain
New rear gear cable
Straightened the rear hanger
Attached the rear derailleur properly
Tuned it up
Cleaned up the bar tape

So now its running mint as, Cheers Col! pop into Cyco I reckon and get your bike running sweat, will probably mean you don't have to train so hard to get the same result.

Hot Stuff

2009-02-13T19:34:00.000+13:00

What a weeks its been up here in Auckland with the heat, well more the humidity and muggines. Its been almost impossible to sleep and each time you walk outside you feel 2kilos heavier as you desperately search for some air con.

Wednesday was the hottest day in Auckland for 137 years with the overnight low being 23degrees. That made my Wed morning ride a fun filled affair as I rolled out the garage at 4.45am to head to the waitaks, it took all off about 1km to be dripping with sweat. It was that uncomfortable I almost turned round after half an hour as there was just no escaping the humidity...it was actually 100% humidity....not fun. Anyway after 140kms in that I was rather ruined and its fair to say I was pretty much useless for the remainder of the day.

It was no cooler on Thursday which made the Cyco Crit a fun place to be. The heat obviously got the tempers of a few up as I saw headbutts, punches and general bitchiness. It was nice no get round in one piece and be rewarded with a nice soaking of rain for the ride home.

The worst seems to be over now though as things appear to be getting back to normal which will be nice....although not long now til winter

things starting to click

2009-02-08T18:40:00.003+13:00

For the first time in a long time, I am starting to feel not bad on the bike. Raced the Cyco crit on Thursday night and had an early crack and felt good, it did stick and then I missed the move which ended up lapping us for the first time every...nice work guys. Ended up being the only one in the main chase group prepared to put in an effort so I turned it into an interval session and just did large turns on the front to get a workout.

Did my first Sunday bunch today for the year and felt real good on the climbs, I normally hate going up Albany Hill at 6.30am but today I spun up it no worries chatting away which was rather more enjoyable. The climbed not bad for the first part of Hellensville hill before shutting it down half way up.

I also got a touch ratty on the ride home, more of the crap that I was talking about previously with motorist. All this added together have me thinking that things might be pointing in the right direction. So coming up in the next wee while I have the Rev in Hamilton, the the Heels and Wheels in Pokeno then either the Grape ride in Blenheim or Rotorua-Taupo so hopefully I can pick up a result along the way.

Not much love on the road today

2009-02-04T11:19:00.000+13:00

So it was back for another Wednesday ride through the waitaks today, but instead of Gordy and I being the haters...the riders became the hated. Whats new, all riders are hated by motorists I hear you ponder. Well usually out west its pretty laid back with quiet roads and and laid back drivers. Over Christmas I even almost crashed into the back of a tractor who was trying his hardest to pull over to the side of the road to let me by.

This morning wasn't one of those mornings. Firstly a lady in a 4WD bombed through a Stop sign at full gas, she never saw us. The attitude of presuming that cars won't stop probably saved us from something a little uglier.

Then whilst riding single file, some old bag got on her horn when she had not only most of our side of the road but also no cars coming the other way. She had plenty of room to get by us but must have been having a bad day...wasn't that smart of her either in her nice new BMW and distinctive personalised plate. I think motorist must think that their horn is going to help the situation but usually all it seems to do is wind themselves up more and give us someone to rip on for the next 10minutes.

Then coming up through Ponsonby so guy leans out the side of a rental van and starts giving me all the expletives under the sun. He was that angry and close that he heard me say Pardon so he started his rant all over again. I hadn't even seen this van out on the road so had no idea what his beef was.

I was pretty pleased to get back to work in 1 piece having survived another day on the roads. I like to think we generally ride responsibly, always singling out for motorists when they need the space and not gapping it through every light in town...Share the love folks!

Armstrongs Back

2009-01-27T15:20:00.002+13:00

Like the guy loathe the guy...Lance Armstrong is back and its good for cycling. I was sceptical when he announced his comeback that it would fizzle out like many other great athletes before him. The way he preformed at the Tour Down Under was a sign that he isn't that far away from being in race winning form again. It would have been easy for him to cruise around in the bunch for a week using it as a training camp with a focus on keeping the sponsors/charities happy off the bike.

Every time the race got hard though he was always at the front of the race driving it which was pretty impressive to see. I don't know how that will translate to winning grand tours again but his power numbers are right up there apparently. I do think he will turn heads again at the Tour of California in Feb and then I'll be interested to see how he goes in the Giro.

Either way...its good for cycling. There were almost 800,000 people watching the TDU, double last year. We also got 30mins of highlights each night with the last stage live, the only other race we get live coverage for is the tour.

A quick bit of history about the Tour down Under. Adelaide used to have a round of the formula 1 which the last to Melbourne 12 years ago. They held a poll to see what the people wanted it replaces with and they voted for a cycling tour, which was pretty cool and its grown into a pretty cool event to have all the Pro Tour riders down this way....us kiwis should think of something cool to get them down here like some 1 day races or nice training camps down south...just a thought

2009-01-22T12:10:00.000+13:00

So with Tour of Wellington starting today, it was a very quiet Wednesday morning ride....no smack talk, no hating....just silence. It gave me plenty of time to ponder why I wasn't at the Tour of Wellington, so here are my top 10 reasons for not going to well

10. Most days are raced above 30degrees
9. No convoy to utilise when trying to survive on climbs
7. Stupid long steep climbs done at way too high a pace
6. For a 5 day tour there are only 2 stages over 110km
5. technical crits, Mastertnon isn't that bad but the final crit is nuts
4. Have i mentioned the climbing yet
3. Having an 60minutes bus ride over the Rimutaka's...twice!
2. I have done 2 tours of Wellington and only raced in wellington for 3 stages

and the number one reason why I am not racing the tour of wellington

Lasts years stage to admirals hill has left me scarred. 187km in 35degree heat finishing up a 6km climb after the race got blown to bits inside an hour and spending the next god knows how many hours grovelling over climb after climb. Then breaking my forks when the bike fell off the roof on the way home. Then getting back to the motel and finding the guys the ripped the race to bits in the first hour had all climbed off in the second feed. and then....hopefully you feel the pain now as well, its taken me almost a year to write that.

Cracking on the bunchie

2009-01-18T15:19:00.003+13:00

It seems like every time I do the Mechanics Bay bunchie these days I end up cracking on half a dozen people and wind my self up into a state of Hate. Yesterday there were 2 guys who's interpretation of cycling attire included sleeveless shirts...they must have been triathletes, but even still. That wasn't their only sin for the day, one of them processed to ride half way down Ti Rakau Dr 3 abreast just so he could catch up with a mate. Then the other one decides that while he was on the front to just roll through a red light at a busy intersection.

Then there were 2 guys in the bunch who had headphones in both ears all day, its a muppet of a thing to do on a bunchie let alone a training ride lonewolf. For one of their efforts, he almost got cleaned up by a truck cause he couldn't hear it.

I think there needs to be a name and shame policy going round where people call out those that put all of our riding safety at risk just because they can't engage their brains when the wake up in the morning...sleeveless tops might not be a safety issue but the other 2 items are.

The last thing I want is to be cleaned up out riding somewhere because a driver has been pissed off by someone else's stupidity.

anyway, thats my rant for the day....its usually a good sign when the Hate is building up as it often means there is some serious training going on

training camp summary

2009-01-15T17:43:00.002+13:00

somehow my recent blog post got eaten so here's how my little camp ended up...

The intention was to ride 10 days straight but a mixture of work and fatigue meant I rode 8 out of 10 days for 1140kms averaging 142kms a day when i got out. There were also 5 torture loops chucked in there because I ran out of imagination and figured no ones probably been that silly to do that before. I was going to do dubs on the last Saturday and hit 250km for the day but really couldn't be bothered and common sense says we don't race that far.

a few stats...
KM's.......1140
Km's spent riding with others.....8kms
Morning rides......0
Coffee Stops......0
Police Chases......1
stops at Dairy's for coke and lollies to ensure I make it home.....1, okay maybe 3
abuse by homeless guys....twice, same dude but different days

So has it put me in some sort of shape for the season, time will tell but I was at least pleased with the motivation to get out there and ride. Because it was all done lone wolf there was plenty of time to asses goals and just think up random stuff.....some of which I'll share late. There will different be a story on the police chase and homeless guy but that's it for now.

torture loop number 1

2009-01-02T22:12:00.000+13:00

Day 2 of the training camp meant that it was time to pick up the distances so it was off to the torture loop to get some good endurance riding in. Rightly or wrongly I left the house at 2.30pm which usually seems to be the hottest part of the day. All was going well til I got a call from home saying I needed to be home by 8pm so I could have dinner before catching a movie. I got the call in Kumeu which is about half way around the circuit and after a bit of mental arithmetic I figured I was going to be pushing shit uphill to get home in time.

I could either take the soft option and ride home straight up the highway to the bike path and be home by 6.30 or ride fast along along the remainder of the circuit....anyway long story short and got home and 7.50 and was a mess, I went pretty deep.

the movie was Yes Man and was well worth it if your looking for something to see these holidays (perhaps if this job doesn't work out I could be a film reviewer!)

KM's today 150km
KM so far 260km

1 down 9 to go

2009-01-01T13:07:00.000+13:00

The day stayed mint and headed out the door for 4 hours of cruising, headed out through Ranui to Taupaki then up to Bethels via the quarry climb up to scenic drive then home. I was planing on chucking a few extra climbs in but thought better of it as it was pretty warm and the 2 bottles of water were starting to run dry.

nothing very eventful happened really as all the cars still seem to be on holiday which is a nice change from what we are used to.

KM's to day 110km
KM's so far 110km

Training Camp

2009-01-01T10:02:00.000+13:00

After many hour relaxing in the sun this last week, I thought why not go euro and do a January training camp....It seems like a good idea. The fact that some of our biggest races of the year are in Jan shouldn't stop things...so here goes.

Duration: 10 days
Place: Mainly the waitaks
Purpose: Get some condition

Its probably going to be a very lonely training camp as it will just be me hitting the roads lonewolf as everyone else seems to be away racing, which is what I probably should be doing hey ho!

So I am out the door shortly for a loosener to get the pins used to riding again after taking the last week off.

I'm Back

2008-07-11T16:16:00.003+12:00

Shock horror but a blog post after more than 2 months!!!

It's been a while I know, I don't really remember what happened in May, won a small race but nothing else really and June was pretty much written off as I took a decent break to fully recharge the motivation levels. My first real ride back was Saturday worlds last week which was a fun 3 hours in the rain.

I'm looking at my race calendar at the moment and the big goal is Southland in early November, it sounds like we might have a pretty decent team lining up for it so training is going to be built around that. There is some pretty decent racing months with September and October being pretty solid, so the grunt work now will hopefully pay off then.

that's really all that's going on, I have had all number of people over the last couple of weeks surprised to see me. I had a couple of guys asked why I came back from the UK in the middle of winter and one of my better mates ask how Belgium had been....amazing what happens when you go to ground a bit.

that's all for now....but the blog is back....hopefully the motivation stays solid as well

R4

2008-05-05T09:35:00.000+12:00

The R4 is a 100km race from Rotorua to Whakatane and its a race I have never done but had heard good and bad things, so I wanted to check it out as I have done alot of training on the course.

The race started out rather slowly as the neutral section rolled into the race course without any change in pace, I think the heavy clouds over head had a lot of people feeling a bit negative. It didn't start to rain about 20kms in which further emphasised just how many muppets were in the race as the bike handling skills were atrocious, and coming from me that is saying something.

The paccours are made up of rollers until half way where there is a 5km climb and then a 10km twisty decent and then flat into the finish. I made it over the climb without too many difficulties, well thats a bit of a lie as I was in the box, but I still was in the wheels of the front group which for me means a lack of difficulty. I sanbagged the decent as in the rain I was more interested in keeping on 2 wheels. At the Bottom I was in group 3 with 7 guys up the road and a group in the middle, so when the road levelled off I rode across to the second group and watched them try and organise a chase.

The 7 out front slowly came back and broke up a bit so with 15km to go there were 3 guys at 30 seconds, so when the chase lost a little momentum I took the opportunity to ride across to them...lonewolf. I made contact but they were pretty stuffed so ended up pulling them a bit til we got to the outskirts of town where I had to leave them and press on solo. This wee move come unstuck about 3km from home...still too weak to make this kind of move stick.

The last 2km had 6 roundabouts, half of which had cars banked up, 2 sharp left handers into on coming traffic and the best bit was with 500m to go the road covered in cones directing us left when we could see the finish line ahead...all this in the pouring rain. Needless to say it was a sktechy sprint with too many muppets taking silly risks to try and move from 7th to 8th, so I rolled in at the back of the front group. Probably the most dangerous last couple of kms I have done on a bike.

Gallipoli Cup

2008-05-03T09:16:00.000+12:00

This is the traditional open race that Counties runs each Anzac day. Its a 82km handicap over 4 laps which takes us up and over Twilight Rd each lap....fun times early in the season.

Our group was working pretty well especially after the climbers calmed down after the first time over the hill. There wasn't a lot of action except for avoiding the wheel in front of me kissing the pavement, it was a pretty close call but as I was on the back of the rotation and saw I saw it happen early I managed to sneak around but it was still a close call.

As we got to the hill the penultimate time I heard the dreaded Pssssssst! a rear wheel flat. It was probably the worst place on the course for it to happen. I did manage to get a change and get back on by the top....it was a daredevil accent, if that makes any sense. I was pretty pleased for the quick change from the wheel wagon :)

Anyway in the last 5km the whole race came back together and I had been weighing up the option of sprinting vs attacking late. At 2km to go there was a wee lul and I took that as my leave pass and hit out. It was always going to be a long shot but came up 400 meters short, which is really a country mile but it was worth the risk...too many cagey clubbies who had obviously been saving a fair bit for the finale.

A good day all in all as its the first time in 4 attempts that I have got over twilight with my mark each lap.

Lab Rat

2008-04-24T17:57:00.002+12:00

I went into the Millennium Institute this morning for some testing to see what kind of number I can throw down. Well really its part of a top secret study, but I'll claim its for my own good. So I did a V02 max and lactate tests which were both firsts for me.

Both tests are done at the same time and the V02 is recorded by wearing a mask and working out how much air you can process. The lactate test is done by stabbing your ear and measuring part of the blood for lactate levels. You basically jump on a stationary bike and start at a set wattage then increase it by 30watts every 3 minutes...its great fun, you should all try it! Then if that's not enough fun you get 10minutes rest before going harry for 60 seconds to see what max and ave power you can dump through the bike.

I'd tell you the numbers but to be honest I didn't have a clue what the meant so I forgot them pretty fast. I get to do it all again in 7 days, can't wait...might even try get some shots of the suffering.

I've got a couple of races coming up over the next 2 days. First is Gallipoli cup tomorrow out at counties, 4 times up twilight should sort out the men from the boys. There are supposed to be a dozen of us on scratch so hopefully we see the front. Then on Saturday its the R4 down in Rotorua which will be a first for me. I know the roads pretty well as I have done a fair bit of training down that way, but I guess we'll see what the day brings.

Tonight its off to clean the bike before 30minutes spinning on the erg to freshen the pins up...its supposed to work, so lets see.

Its time to rug up

2008-04-21T09:42:00.000+12:00

Well winter has finally arrived up here in Auckland which is a bit stink. We have had one of the best summers that I can remember so there is no complaining coming but it still is that moment that you never really want to arrive.

Last week it basically rained all week which wasn't too bad as I did very little riding as I was on bed rest trying to prevent a wee lurgie getting anything more serious (mission accomplished) then Saturday was torture loop with Gordy for the last time. I wont go into too much detail as I am likely to start welling up, but good luck down in ChCh mate I hope its all you want it to be and you don't come back too often to ruin our racing. Sunday was bunchie, and it was almost cold enough to turn back and go home to bed. It had been a clear night and my summer undershirts and vest just weren't keeping the chill out at all.

So Sunday it was off to buy the thermals, most of my cold stuff is still in the UK, so it was stock up time. Well this morning was much, much more manageable with dubs on the polypro, thermal jacket, vest...and felt toasty. In fact had to unzip during my interval work, much better to be too hot than too cold. The one thing that does crack me out riding is when you see other punters out there in just the basics. All in all I had 10 pieces of clothing on and yet there were guys riding with no arm warmers or leggings. I don't really understand it but its a sure fire way to get sick and ruin your riding, plus it must be miserable as well, hey ho.

update

2008-04-10T18:36:00.002+12:00

Things have been pretty quiet on here the last couple of weeks, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening. Had a couple of races and been putting in some strength work so I am feeling pretty good, know its just a chance to get out and try post a few W's.

The first race was Bike the Bays a couple of weekends ago, this was the first outing of the full Bike360 mens team, and we rode pretty well. Covered or started most of the early action then got the right combo away in the winning move but come away with second. Its pretty tough to really shape a 40km flat race on the waterfront but we did our bit.

Second race was opening day at club, this is always a goodie its first time back up since October usually. For me it was first time back in 2 years so was extra mint to catch up with a whole bunch of people. A grade was stacked with sprinters so I decided to bugger off up the road to try and grind the down. Well after attacking after 3kms I got caught by the bunch with 2km to go. Spent the rest of the time either solo or in small groups.

So the form is starting to come round, I don't actually know if it is good form or just some regular training paying off. I don't really want to be going any good for at least 2 months so will just try not get carried away. Long term I will probably take 3 weeks off around the end of July before building up for the end of season stuff.

Well thats my lot, hello to all the new Chinese readers of this blog, you must be out there know that the free trade agreement has been signed.

Therapy on a bike

2008-03-28T14:58:00.002+13:00

This mornings friday morning recovery coffee ride turned into a little bit more than I was expecting. It seemed that sick, tired, injured and fed up cyclists make for a rather negative mob, especially at the end of the week. So the ride turned into a therapy session where everyone seemed to vent their frustrations that have been building up during the week. I think we are all the healthier for it, even if noone seemed to care about my ailments.

One of the great things, or bad things, about cycling is that by its nature it is a very individualistic sport where we spend many a long hour training lonewolf or in small groups. These sessions are hot beds for great ideas on how to make better lives for ourselves or build up and channel hate and anger.

So if your full of a little hate or have a really good idea which leads to us all working less for more moolaa then come along and join us, you have to buy the coffees and brekkie though. We are easy to spot as well as we are all trying to sit on in the headwind section of the waterfront.

A call to all Ladies

2008-03-26T17:18:00.002+13:00

I know of the hundreds of thousands of you that read this blog, there must be a fair smattering of the fairer sex out there, so for all you Ladies a special event....but if you do win the YSL gift pack they are giving away, I want at least 25% of it.

Ladies Evening
Presented by bike360 and Genius Bikes

bike360 (www.bike360.co.nz) and Genius Bikes (www.geniusbikes.com) are hosting a ladies only evening on 15 April 2008 at bike360 in Avondale, Auckland. A star-studded line up will cover all things cycling from correct bike and gear selection, nutrition, training tips, bike care and maintenance, riding in a bunch, socializing and much, much more!

An expert panel including Tim Pawson and Ric Reid (Olympians and the brains behind Genius Bikes), Gordon McCauley (current National Crit Champion, Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, Oceania Pro Tour winner and x4 National Road Champion), and Suzy Pryde (Commonwealth Games medalist and Olympian) and the Jazz Apples Womens Pro Cycling Team (New Zealand’s only UCI Pro Team) will be in-store and eager to answer any questions you may have.

Although the quality of the panel is first class, make no mistake, this evening is for women cyclists (and triathletes) of all abilities. From beginner cyclists to racing cyclists looking to improve your performance, this evening is for you. Come prepared with loads of questions for our panel and leave with a clearer outlook on how to improve your cycling, increase your comfort on the bike, and increase your enjoyment on two wheels. There will also be fantastic deals available on the night for Genius and Wilier women specific bikes, women specific cycling apparel, and nutritional products. Although this is a ladies only evening, please feel free to bring along your male team managers, dads, coaches or partners.

The evening starts at 7pm with some light food and refreshments.

Please note: bike360 is only 10mins from the Auckland CBD and less than 1 minute from the Motorway exits. Click on the following link for bike360’s contact details and driving directions: http://www.wises.co.nz/l/Auckland/Avondale/624+Rosebank+Road/#c/2r8y4/70fb2/2/
Please register your interest by emailing info@bike360.co.nz

Don’t miss out!

...but if you do win the YSL gift pack they are giving away, I want at least 25% of it.

Classics time

2008-03-22T21:17:00.002+13:00

Tonight is Milan - San Remo, the first of the classics for the season and a time of much speculation and excitement for cycling lovers. Typicallly San Remo is deemed a sprinters race with a relatively flat course over almost 300km. There is the Cipressa and the Poggio climbs in the finale to light things up, but it is usually a bunch kick as the break is caught pretty late.

My first recolecction of this race was when Andre Tchmil, riding for Lotto, attacked in the last km amd held the sprinters off, I think zabel might have been second. The other memorable one was when zabel, wearing his german champs kit, posted the victory only to have Oscar Freire come at him very very late.

Im not convinced that this year will be a mass gallop, it seems like cycling has changed a lot over the last 12 months where more and more breaks are going the distance as the big teams run out of horse power. Freire is going in as favourite but Rabobank cant ride the front all day like a Saeco or Fassa Bortolo used to, so it will be interesting to see who takes responsibility for the race.

If it is a bunchie then I'm taking Pettachi to nail Napoloatano and Hushovd. I think the new downhill sprint will help the power sprinters. Boonen says he has targeted San Remo this year, but I am yet to be convinced that he is the power he was the last 3 years.

If its not a bunchie then Alessandro Ballan to top Chavanel and Di Luca.

There you go, I've put it on the line so lets see how bad I am at picking it.

croc off

2008-03-19T15:36:00.002+13:00

I was walking up Queen street today for lunch when I saw something both disturbing and amusing, all at the same time. The disturbing thing was came across a pair of grey crocs lying on the footpath, now that's gotta scare anyone. If you don't know what crocs are, just go into Bike360 and check out Meechy's footwear. This blog wont stoop as low as describing the aforementioned footware in detail.

Anyway...so they would have been about size 9 or 10 and they were sitting underneath a rubbish bin, looking as they had been discarded in a prompt fashion. There were some bums sitting at the shop entrance no more than 5 meters from the shoes so I figured they belong to this un kept group...it appeared that even the homeless didn't want to be seen with them, and they would collect them when they were ready to move on.

But here comes the funny bit. After an hour at lunch, on the walk back to work the crocs were still there...but the bums had moved on! I had a closer look out the corner of my eye and they looked like they were in pretty good nick. Credit must go to whoever decided they just looked like a dick with them on so ditched them and decided to go barefoot the rest of the day.

Home sweet home

2008-03-17T16:32:00.002+13:00

So after 3 months of back and forth between lawyers, agents, banks, insurers....we finally get the keys to the new house this afternoon, so I am pretty excited. For those that don't know, its a 3 bedroom house in Glendowie which will be our first so its a time of much planning and celebration. The place was first signed for on xmas eve but today was settlement so I am shortly of to the agent to pick up the keys and start the long process of moving all much stuff 1.2km down the road from where I live now.

To make the trip a little lighter, there will be a large sale of cycling stuff coming up shortly as there is just far too much to move, so keep your eyes peeled for a bargin or 2.

This is far from the end of the whole cycling gig as well. I may be switching the bib short for stubbies and swapping the helmet for a hard hat as we clean and alter but I can see the bike being a very useful tool for getting out of all those jobs that really suck....like cleaning up under the house.

I will try and get up some photos soon as well because the before and after shots will be pretty cool if everything goes acording to plan. Oh and there will be a house warming!

Big ups Michael and a shout out to the Hatch

2008-03-13T20:18:00.000+13:00

Just a quick shout out to my little brother Michael for graduating today with his Diploma in Information Systems. Good on ya mate, I'm proud of you. One more year and you can wear one of those goofy hats!

I think its a 3 day bender for him now as his graduation celebrations will blend into birthday drinks for Sunday. If only us cyclists could just write of 3 days to the booze...I struggled last year after one night on the sauce at the Moon and Sixpence in Hatch End.

Speaking of the Hatch...my mate Tim (the football hooligan) will surely have had a wee smile this week as the might Portsmouth FC qualified for FA cup semis last weekend. We are now the only premiership club left in the comp, which means we are favourites but we'll prob choke. Anyway Tim and I, and Gordy for that matter, used to have some great fotty debates...have one for me Tim!

a view from the podium

2008-03-10T09:58:00.002+13:00

Sunday was the first outing for the Bike360 racing team at the Pokeno heels and wheels race in a very foggy Pokeno. So foggy and small is Pokeno that when we first drove through we somehow ended back on the motor way not entirely sure if we were heading north or south, but thats a story for another day.

The race was 56km which is pretty short, but was on a pretty testing course with a decent 4km climb after 15ks and then rollers and false flats most of the rest of the way. So the plan was for me to get away before the climb and then for Gordy to come across on the climb, then ride away. So as the race started, the was no flag drop it was just race out of the carpark, the attacks started as I knew i would need all of 15km to try and get some time for the climb. Eventually on about the 4th time I got a gap and it went out to about 40seconds at the bottom...job #1 done...now to climb!

Well the climbing wasn't a complete disaster, got caught just before the top by the lead 2, gordy and 1 other, but couldn't go with them so jumped in the second group. By this stage there were only 10guys left in the race with a chance, not bad from the 40odd who started the climb together.

Spent a good portion of the remainder of the race trying to jump across the gap to the leaders without much luck as each time I jumped the reaction from the chase group seemed to bring the leaders a little too close for my liking. So I thought lets at least make sure of the last spot on the podium, but as the 2 in front become 1, the 1-2 for Bike360 was looking on. And so coming into the sprint I took up a good position and then let rip, relativly speaking as my sprint isn't that huge, but took it pretty comofrtably. It was a strange sprint through as there was no flag, no 200m to go signs and a line on the road followed by a phantom finish line a further 100meters down the road where most of the people were gathered, so it ended up being a slightly longer sprint as I wanted to be safe.

All in all it was a pretty good day at the office especially considering I was still sreuggling to get a huge amount of air into the lungs, but was good to put on a show as Dave, the shop owner, and his family had come out to watch so it always a best to take care of business when the boss is out watching.

End of an era!?!

2008-03-07T10:37:00.000+13:00

It was the possibility of being the final tank farm crit ever and the fact that I had some bling new Genius kit that I decided to venture down after work and number up. I had been seriously thinking of giving it a miss as I had been struggling with a head cold all week and really didn't want it moving to my chest...I have had enough of that shit recently to last a life time.

Right of the line 6 guys went away and that was the race, even though the first move normally never sticks this one had everyone in it, but i had missed it. So a few of use tried jumping it but it was never going to work and I was really struggling, it felt like I was breathing through a straw which wasn't fun.

Towards the end of the race it looked like the leaders might get close to getting a lap up on us, its never happened down there before and something I wasn't too keep on seeing happen to be honest, so a group of 5 of us buggered off up the road in the hope of picking up the speed which had really dropped of as everyone lost interest.

Our little move got caught with 500m to go but managed to hold position and get second in the bunch kick and 6th on the day. The leaders never got to the back of the bunch but was the closest I think anyone has got, and for that reason alone I think another series is a must next summer....here's hoping.

Get across

2008-03-06T15:30:00.004+13:00

I stumbles across this group of people who are trying to put a cycle lane and walk way across the harbour bridge. This is of interest to me for a couple of key reasons.

I ride the 7am Albany bunch most Sundays. With a cycle lane on the bridge it will mean I will no longer need to leave home at 4.30am just to get there...via the greenhithe bridge. This will probably give me an hours more sleep, which knowing me will be redundant anyway as I'll probably just stay up an hour later anyway.
How cool would it be in summer to get on the bike after work one night and going on an easy coffee spin over to Devonport, they have some mint cafes there so that has to be a bonus.
Guys like Crooksie and Smartie can man up and come ride the tankfarm worlds each Thursday night.

So if you support it for whatever reason go to their site here
and sign up. Even if it doesn't go ahead its still more awareness of bikes on the road and that has to keep us all safer out there.

There is also a cool wee banner on the top right of the site, I got a bit geeky and added it in to my site so check it out.

The maiden voyage

2008-03-04T13:17:00.000+13:00

Yesterday morning, set in amongst the visa of luxury cruise ships and huge container ships berthing was the site of the new Genius Squadra on her maiden voyage along the waterfront. Such occasions bring many emotions to pass for both riders and casual observers alike.

The rides was smooth and comfortable and passed without incident, there was no stopping to adjust handlebars, not seat post slipping no brake pads rubbing...it was just me and my bike on a 60km voyage of discovery and wonder. Discovery of how to shift using SRAM after 11 years of using another gruppo. There was wonder at how the brake hoods actually are nicely shaped to fit your riding position. One thing I get sick of hearing in bother the cycling industry and many others is how gadget x is ergonomically designed....these things are!

I thought in order to really test the bike out that i better give it a go in a few crossing sprints, so under the cover of darkness I comfortably took the sprints 2-0 and was pretty pleased with how it responded. It comes fitted out with some Grammo one piece carbon bars which were not only pretty nice to sprint with, but also must have a different shape to my old bars as my wrists weren't all bruised like they used to be after some sprint work I have done in the past.

All in all things felt good, it was the first ride and I was feeling like a bag of ass so I didn't test it too much in the hills, that will come tomorrow afternoon provided its dry, can't go getting my new bike dirty.

The farm gate is still sitting in the hall way at home feeling sorry for itself, there is a new girl at home and things are going to change for the better. So if anyone knows of anyone after a large (possibly very large) roadie let me know.

wet wet wet

2008-03-02T10:07:00.000+13:00

I'm not talking about the 1980's pop band of the same name, I'm talking about this weekends riding...it was super fun in beautiful conditions.

Saturday morning was the Mechanics Bay bunch and it started raining hard as I rolled up the drive and got worse as the ride went on, it was also pretty windy down on the waterfront which made riding in bunch formation rather interesting. I did almost turn around 3 times in the first 30mins and head home but each time I got talking to someone different which took the mind of the rain. There were only about 15 on the ride which did make it a fair bit safer than the usual 100+ which was a nice change. 100km's on the clock so not the worst for a pretty awful day in the saddle.

Sunday was supposed to be a ride out the the Albany bunch and back which would normally take all morning but I wasn't too optimistic about making it out there as again it was throwing it down. So i Soldiered out the house at 4.30 rugged up to brave the conditions I spent the whole hour on the way to the bike path praying that no one else would be stupid enough to be meeting there. Alas, after waiting 10minutes and seeing no one, in fact not seeing much as the rain was pretty heavy, i decided to head home and jump back into bed. So i managed a pretty weak 2 hours, but I did get a bonus 3 hours sleep mid morning.

I did go into Bike360 on Saturday and picked up my new bike, a Genius Squadra with SRAM Force...mint! I got all set up on it and changed a few things around....cheers chickenman and gordy, and am now all set to go. If this rain pisses off i may even get to ride it sometime soon.

All dressed up and nowhere to go

2008-02-29T09:37:00.000+13:00

Last night was supposed to be race night, it is every other Thursday night as the Powerbar crit series takes place down at the tank farms. So we all lined up, paid out $10, pinned the number on and started getting into that special little mind space that you need to be in for crit action.

Then during the B grade race there was a big spill with half the bunch coming down and after some discussion the rest of the nights racing was called off. It was a bit of a bummer but you have to make sure everyone is looked after properly by the ambulance first, so it was the only decision that could have been made.

The only problem was that I had taken on the alter ego of Crit Man and was fuelled up on Red Bull but nothing to use it on. So like the rest of A grade we all went and rolled a lap of the waterfront....just a little bit more pumped up than normal.

hey ho, there's always next week

Here we go

2008-02-28T16:43:00.000+13:00

After a significant amount of time not riding and then just cruising, I am finally into my Base phase of training for the upcoming season. So far its been 2 weeks of solid training and I am starting to feel like a bike rider for the first time in a while. I'm going to lay down another 4 weeks of solid riding just to put some miles into the bank for the season.

I am really looking forward to this season which will start for real in April when the club season kicks off, but before that there will still be some good chances to pin a number on and make sure everything is ticking along nicely.

I have written up an annual plan for the first time which includes races which I will be going good for, so it's a pretty exciting time.

There is also some good news coming up about some new threads and wheels that will be helping everything click together, all I can say at the moment is stand by its going to be fun for the next wee while...

the new year

2008-01-17T19:25:00.000+13:00

A new year always brings a a chance to reevaluate things especially around how your riding is going and what you want to achieve in the new year, that's another post though. It also gives you a great chance to catch up with family and friends and sit in the sun enjoying their company catching up on time you missed out on during the year. I had a great break and really reminded me why NZ rocks.

The racing so far....
Round the mountain classic
This is always a good chance to race in front of the family in Taranaki on a pretty good course. I was racing really patiently until i saw there was alot of heavy breathing on a climb with 55km to go. I chucked one into the group trying to get 3 or 4 away but no one else wanted to play ball so i tried to ride all the way home into a headwind...not a great idea and got caught 10km from home. To win the sprint in this race you have to go through a roundabout and 2 big judder bars and a gate, all within 200 meters from the line. Not my idea of fun so it was attack fest trying to steal it but it all come back together from a kick, so i watched.

National TT Champs
I was looking forward to this race but things just didn't really click. I felt good but didn't have that last little bit of top end, I was never going to win or even medal but thought i was going to go better than 13th. I probably didn't help my cause much by not touching the tt bike for 2weeks leading into it but sometimes you can't control those kind of things.

National RR Champs
What a stinking hot day, 30degrees and starting at midday always meant it was going to be a tough day. My plan for the day was to ride position for as long as i could and see how i would fare on the climbs. The plan was going good and i was doing my best impression of a human bollard until half distance. With the break out over 6 minutes everyone decided to drive it into the bottom of the climb so i couldn't get great position. I made it to the top of the climb where i made a bit of a blue, someone went on the attack through the feed and I chose to go for my bottle and never made it back.
I wasn't too fussed how it all went as i didn't think i had any climbing legs. So now its off to the hawkes bay for the 3 day tour which should give me some good racing leading into the wellington tour.

the great escape

2007-12-13T09:15:00.000+13:00

Its been a while i know....been mega busy leading up to xmas with work and what not, but this needed a blog.

I was out training on Wednesday morning on my normal loop when something irregular happened, my steerer snapped! for those of you that don't know much about bikes, its the part the the handlebars/stem join the bike at the top of the forks...which hold the front wheel in place.

This all happened very slow motion, so here is a detailed report.

As i went over a little bump, i lifted the front wheel a bit and when it landed there was and mighty bang/snap/crush whatever you want to call it. I knew something was a miss from the noise, but a fraction of a second later i realised i was also holding my handlebars up in the air...while both wheels were on the ground still....not good. I am now a passenger with no way whatsoever to control the bike and where it wants to go, or so i thought.

I don't know how but i headed for the grass with one hand now holding the handle bars at head height and the other hand out the the side balancing like i was on a tight rope. When the bike went into the grass, still doing about 20kph, i had enough time to think "sweet at least it'll just be a collarbone"cause if you snap your steerer going down hill your probably not going to be walking home.

So as the bike starts to slow down I start to realise i might have this all under control and might be able to avert and physical damage. Apparently at I was laughing as well, that was the fear talking. I now also have one leg unclipped so that all that is attached to the bike from a control point of view is my left foot....and i am naturally right footed, so it wasn't even my good side.

The bike is now doing about 7kph so i decide to jump off, i nail the landing and the bike rolls to a graceful collapse in the grass as i joyfully expel my satisfaction of keeping it up. Sammy and Gordy were suitable impressed as well, I was more relieved. I am a terrible bike handler as a rule but somehow manage a way to keep things up when they really go tits up, I think its the fear taking over.

The steerer sheered itself in half so its a new fork for me and a great story to tell.

Duck!

2007-11-20T11:04:00.000+13:00

I had a run in with some Ducks today out training, an incident that reminded me of a previous run in with the my web footed friends.

It would have been 3-4 weeks ago and I was coming off a decent on scenic drive and I see a bit of a kerfuffle in the road ahead, so I slow down to see whats going on. As I get closer I see what I am going to presume is a mother duck and with her were 7 or 8 ducklings crossing the road in an orderly fashion. So being the good and noble citizen that I am, I start flapping my right arm. This wasn't an attempt to impress them with my flight but to slow down the motorists coming down the hill so that we can avoid a calamity. Crisis averted as everyone crosses safely and everyone moves on with their day a little happier for seeing ducklings.

Today I had my second close call, well hardly a close call it would have been if they were geese cause those bastards can hurt....bad memories as a child! These 2 today, which I think were a man duck and a girl duck because they had different coloured plumage, were just strolling down the road with not a care in the world. I gave them a wide birth but they didn't even flinch, oblivious to be presence. These ducks today were tough, too tough to walk on the footpath or even the grass. Hey they were even too tough to fly, just walking down the road like they owned the place. In thinking of my earlier encounter, they were tough ducks too, they didn't wait for no ducks crossing sign they just manned up and went for a stroll.

10 things I think I think: Tour of Southland

2007-11-17T12:36:00.000+13:00

Ok so here is the new friday feature.

Its reputation for being a tough tour is well earned.

Thank God the whole tour wasn't held in Bluff like conditions, more so for Joe's sake.

Spending only 4 weeks of the 10 weeks leading into the tour training isn't great prep.

Banna cake makes good race food, especially when the icing is in the middle of the cake so it doesn't stick to the tin foil.

Some guys never saw the front of the bike race for 900+kms, and I'm not talking being at the front either.

Is being 67th on gc really that much better than 68th?

The boys in black and white rode alot better than most of has had thought. Oddy seemed to be love feeding it to himself, especially over the top of blackmount.
I wasn't credited with my sprint point!

You cant explain the tour to people who haven't experienced the joy of it all

Doug Bath saved the tv coverage from being a complete embarassment

A few thanks

2007-11-13T09:34:00.000+13:00

for making Southland 07 so memorable...

Nancy and Chub from the pub for backing the team and having so much energy for cycling. Some of the names on your wall are truly impressive.
Paul for making sure the team run smoothly and for giving up yout own time to put up with us, oh and for hooking me up with a big bed, cheers mate I hope you got something out of.
Dale for making us lunch and race food each day and for picking us up each day. The blankets after bluff were also a life saver. Also to your sister for putting us up and feeding us the first night.
Mum and Dad for coming down and supporting, even if it wasn't everything you expected.
Jim McKensie, Trevor and the others that came in the pub bus, cheers for the cheers.
Donna, The Kia rocked! Go buy a Kia folks, you'll never be short of a cup holder.
Bronnie, Jodi and the other bar staff for letting me run havoc on Saturday Night.
My team mates, the wolfman for being just nuts (who does 3 ironman and southland in the same year) Crooksie for suffering all week and still being able to laugh. Leon for not giving me TB and James for supporting my anti cervelo tirades.
Deborah for picking me up from the airport, its good to be back!
prob missed someone so cheers you!

Day 6

2007-11-12T09:21:00.000+13:00

The mornings stage was pretty unevntful really, in fact it was one of the quieter stages of the tour.

The afternoon stage from Winton to Invercargill is a good chance to see who is feeling the effects of the tour and who is getting stronger. I was starting to feel pretty ordinary as i have picked up a cold from one of my team mates, it sounds like he has tuberculosis so i hope mine doesn't get that bad. Out of the blocks I followed a move and 3 of us got a little bit of rope but as the sprint ace was decided it was never going to work. Still it was a good chance to get the green shirt out in front leaving Winton and the sponsors saw it up the road so that was a good thing.

It was nice making to to invercargill and it was pretty cool riding home with Aaron Lawson. For someone who hadn't ridden a bike tour before he rode bloody well and with a few more miles under the belt I am sure he will be able to do something in a big tour before too long. I wish the last stage was a parade like in le tour but that would be against everything that southland is i Guess.

After the stage it was back to winton, then back to invercargill then back to winton to enjoy a few festivities, meals and the like. One of the traditions of the team is that the riders pour beers for the locals on the last night, so I clocked in with a couple of solid hours of bar work which was great fun and a good chance to give something back to the people who had made Tour memorable. We were eventually kicked off to bed shortly before 5am when they thought it was time to shut the bar for good.

Day 5

2007-11-11T17:32:00.000+13:00

This is normally a stage where all kinds of strange things can happen, its 165km from Winton to Te Anau with a decent climb 50km from home to split things up.

Mum and Dad had come down he night before so was good to get sent off by them and a group from the pub. The stage was in memory of Scott Peoples who races Southland last year and cleaned house on a couple of stages. He was killed a couple of months later when he was driven into whilst training...pretty serious stuff and brings home the risks of what we all love.

The stage was pretty uneventful for the first few hours with nothing major to really put you in a massive world of pain. In saying that you can go to sleep down here cause next thing you know you'll turn out of a head wind and be in the gutter for the next 15kms so even when 'cruising' its still taking a bit out of you.

About 20km from the climb I went to go back for bottles and Joe come back too, but those boys at the front must have heard cause the gc boys starting playing their cards. I was 20m of the back when this happened to had to flag the feed and hit the survival button, Joe was less fortunate and went shit can. It never really let up and we hit the climb pretty well warmed up, somehow I managed to climb with a group of 15 that thanks to some hard riding and easing off up the road, we made contact with 25kms to go.

I ended up second group on the road at the end cause as we hit the lake front we were doing 50Kms+ in the crossies and as like the rest of the days i was lacking that little bit of snot needed. Still a pretty good day and the legs felt better again so that promising. Last year i never made it to Blackmount with the front group let alone being front group on the other side.

Day 4 to Crown Range

2007-11-10T17:20:00.000+13:00

The day looked like it was going to be a beauty with hardly any wind and no rain, to make things even better there was also no snow like there was on this stage last year. The legs were feeling pretty good today so I wanted to see if i couldn't sneak away in anything early on. The stage has a KOM about 25km in which i struggle on every year and I had the good oil that the move wasn't going until after the climb.

Being me, I followed a few moves before the climb but nothing stuck and then battled over the KOM. The move went a fair bit after the climb and never got more than 90seconds as there was a high gc man there and a little angry man sitting on and popping the sprint primes...onya scotty...hate!!!!!

The race split up when the climbing started which meant it was time to deploy the parachute and make it to the finish which was done without too much drama. We did have a bit of a disaster of a feed earlier on in the day though, as soon as the 50km board was passed i went back for some jam sammies and fudge and a bottle and then when i got back it was a procession of each of my team mates going back 1 at a time. The problem with no radios is its hard organise collective feeding. It was quite funny to watch, dont think we could have planned it worse.

after the stage we had to first change a wheel on the car, when i say we i mean Paul but he did a good job once we realised it was probably best the car had no riders in it whilst up on jacks. We then headed to Nancy and Chubs holiday house in Arrowtown for whitebait fritters and a cold speights. It was almost too hot to sit in the sun and the location was mint....couldn't have got much better really

Tour of Southland day 3

2007-11-09T15:38:00.000+13:00

This is the killer day with back to back stages from Invercargill to Tuatapere then from Tuatapere to Winton.

Surprise surprise it was windy and wet for the first stage so i rugged up super warm with pockets full of food. One thing i learnt last year on these double stages is that if you don't keep warm in the morning and eat all stage then your going to blow in the arvo. Good thing i rugged up warm as it was shit can for me as soon as we hit the first bit of cross winds, big time shit can too early. So we formed a laughing group of about 14 and were managing our losses in the beaut conditions until 2 twats hit it over one of the KOM's and split the group. I was out the back with 3 others with the legs protesting in a major way when 2 of the guys jumped in the sag wagon, so 40km from home it was me and another champ trying to make time cut. We had both given up hope until somehow we made contact again with the group and made time cut...just.

We were looked after mint between stages with Chub and Nancy organising us a hotel to go back to and Dale feeding us and Paul making sure the morale was still there. Its amazing how when you hit rock bottom all you can do is laugh.

The afternoon stage started dry and probably because the fact that it felt like we were going home the morale was high, and i rode very high up in the bunch all day. In fact i saw the break go on the climb and just about rode across to it but thought better of it. I was riding pretty strong and when i did look back the bunch only had half its riders left so we mustn't have been mucking around. Got shelled not far from town in the crossies but felt pretty good about life again and it was mint seeing everyone from the pub at the finish, being able to ride up to your bed was pretty cool. Maybe things are starting to come right.

Day 2

2007-11-08T11:13:00.000+13:00

165km Invercargill to Gore

The plan today was to survive, if my legs were today were as bad as yesterday then it was going to make an interesting ride. Again there was significant wind but luckily the it appeared fine enough at the start. The first hour was pretty fast with us covering 46kms which included a hell for leather chase after a pile up in the middle of the bunch. Then after the break had been established we had an hour or 2 of tempo which was appreciated. It was a bit disappointing to hear one of the tv commentators giving us a bagging for cruising, but i guess when you have a 6 day tour with 5 man teams sometimes its best for everyone to let the breaks stick if they dont effect GC.

I went back to the car during the middle of the stage to give them my vest as things were starting to warm up a bit....what a mistake, within 5km it was hailing! not a great deal but just enough to momentarily freeze you.

There were still moments of madness as over the top of ever KOM there seemed to be nice bits of flat cross wind sections where the race was splintered before coming back together. Ended up getting canned over the last KOM and came in with the first group of the peloton.

Went down to the pub, we are staying at the middle pub for the tour, to watch the Melbourne cup and rub shoulders with the locals but we all lucked out on picking the winner but it was still pretty cool catching up with with the locals as they all were interested and had good stories to tell of previous tours.

Tour of Southland day 1

2007-11-07T10:55:00.000+13:00

Welcome to the Winton Middle pub team for the 2007 tour of Southland, In the green and white this year are Joe Crooks, Reon Hextall, James Gibson, me and Jeremy Smart. After meeting the boys and the sponsors and half of Winton it was time to get down to business.

Stage 1 was a 4.2km tt, I find it hard getting up for this as I know in the grand scheme of things time lost here is irrelevant to 90% of the riders. Add to the fact that the TT bike, fast wheels, aero hat.... were all sitting back in Auckland it was going to be fun going Eddy Merckx style. Oh yeah and chuck in the hail and wind it was was a fun little test. I still rode the course 100% but put out a pretty weak time, loosing close to 40seconds more than last year.

Stage 2 was an 80km jaunt to Bluff then up the bluff hill, if you haven't been up it then it becomes very difficult to explain. Last year the bunch arrived in tact at the bottom of the hill to race up for stage honours.....not this year though. Within 10km there where groups all over the place as the race was ripped to shreds. The wind was insane and the hail/sleet was intense, it was actually very painful to ride in.

2 things i wont forget from the stage were having to walk a steep section as i cramped and there is no way to get back on your bike until you can get to a car to hold onto to get going, and seeing Joe at the top of the hill. He got into the van and just looked absolutely drained of any life, the realisation of southland had hit him pretty hard and i tried to convince him we couldn't have too many more days like that.

Dale from the pub did say it was the worst she had seen it in her 14 years of following the tour!

All systems go....ish!

2007-11-01T10:05:00.000+13:00

After 9 days of panic training I think i am as close to being ready for southland as i can be, hit it pretty hard over the weekend which blew out a few cobwebs. Took out meechy to show him the Torture loop on saturday, of course he played by the rules and only rode the big dog!, and then on sunday rode over to albany bunch. So after some ekkies each day I was pretty deep in the box sunday afternoon. So deep that my normal 60minute siesta became a 3.5hour hibernation, and that was backed up by another 9 hours that night....good bye cobwebs.

My team sounds mint though for the tour, I'm riding for the Winton Middle pub team which from all accounts sounds like they are great hosts. Our manager is Paul Dahl and between him and the pub they have really hooked us up so everywhere there is a stage finish we have a place to go and keep warm/shower/eat/sleep, even on the split stages so there will be no excuses.

The team is also getting the hookups from Kia Motors and Maxxis tyres so thats pretty sweet.

I fly down on sat morning so between now and then its a case of resting and staying upright. My hip is still quite swollen but all my bandages are off except for the hip so feeling a little be more mobile.

A cracking good time

2007-10-23T15:02:00.000+13:00

I had sore legs this morning when i got up to go for my ride, not just normal tired legs but sore legs which was a touch unusual, but anyway i soldiered out the door. The plan was 5+hours up and over the waitaks, but it wasn't to be. Just before getting to scenic drive i cracked for the first time, only 30kms into my ride, so I nailed my a brunch bar which is the only food i had...sweet I'm fuelled up. Then the whether turn to crap, major crap and i find myself at the piha turn off just in the box with what feels like hunger knock...not good!

Somehow i make it off scenic drive after not taking the bethels turn, with much guilt, in desperate need of anywhere that might sell food. Being a public holiday all thats open is 1 dairy so I pull in and park the bike, keen to make sure the locals don't tax my bike. The only thing appealing is a box of choc chip musli bars and boy did they go down well. I had half on the side of the road and pocketed the other half for later on.

Did bump into Stu not long after that, he was heading in the opposite direction but I turned around because i was in one of those moods where anthing was better than riding. After about 15minutes it was back on the bike and the glycogen levels had balanced out so it was a more enjoyable ride home. Did stop in a gordy's new shop which is very handily placed less than 1km from the wodden bridge on the bike path.

Ended up with 120 hard earned wind blown kms and went straight to bed for an hour...but im still in the box!

blown away

2007-10-21T21:57:00.000+13:00

Today went better than I expected really, the race was held in really windy conditions which took its toll on the field. First time over the finish climb we got the first real bit of crosswinds so a bunch of guys decided to they'd rather hit the deck than get lined out in the gutter. This split the field and I was sure that was it for the day then and there as I was in the back half of the field, but somehow we got back.

Didn't do a great deal in the race and got given the arse card when the heat really went on but did manage to get close to 4hours of training in so that's not too bad i guess. It is panic stations though leading into Southland I have some good old fashioned hill miles coming up to get that bit of strength needed...well going by today its quite a bit but never mind.

It was pretty cool riding round getting the support from the local club men, and women, who were marshaling and spectating. The club did an amazing job over the 4 days to put on a great, well organised and friendly racing environment.

the green light

2007-10-20T20:58:00.000+13:00

The doc gave me the green light tonight to race our club nats tomorrow which was nice of her. I don't think she understands that not touching the bike for 7 days isn't the best lead up for a 184km road race but hey ho.

I'm really looking forward to it because its not everyday you get to race a nationals at your home club, I know the title for the senior men is very hollow but most of our club members don't know that.

hopefully all goes well, i don't have high hopes but i just don't want to wait another 10 years before counties get the nationals again, so its off to pack the bag.

medical report

2007-10-17T18:04:00.000+13:00

So i went back to the doctor too see if the prognosis had got any better with a nights healing under my belt, it got worse. They said no riding til Monday which kinda blew my plan of riding national tt and road race this weekend but never mind. I learnt last time i got beat up by the roads that sometimes its good to listen to people who spent 7 or whatever many years at med school, so I am out of both.

Im not too disappointed to be missing them as they weren't an objective of mine as its too early into my new season...but i am starting to get a little worried about the Tour of Southland starting first week of November. My build up will go:
-4 week end of season break
-3 weeks training
-1 week sitting on the couch
-10 days training
- then New Zealands hardest bike race Nice!

Oh well suck it and see, at least i will be fresh for it.

Hamilton Open

2007-10-14T21:19:00.000+13:00

This was going to be a real good test to see where my fitness levels were at, it was 125kms with a pretty decent field. I wasn't totally sure about whether it was too early or not but thought better to have a race under the belt going into the nationals at labour weekend.

The race was super windy with good parts of the course exposed, and it was raining at the start just to make it more interesting. Not long after the start Michael Torkler went up the road and was just sitting out there so I decided to put a little pressure on a little rise, then found myself clean across to him. So we worked hard then Gordon McCauley come across to us and we quickly had 50seconds then psssssst! front wheel puncture and it was back to the bunch for me.

The chase was going nowhere fast as guys kept on getting shelled in the winds but i was please with how i was travelling until someone touched wheels in the tailwind and 4 of us come down. I had nowhere to go and ended up going straight through Chris Macic before landing pretty hard. The impact broke my helmet in pieces and talking to some of the other guys in the group i made quite the acrobat.

Anyway bottom line is i am now wrapped up like the mummy with hardly any skin on my back or left hand side but surprisingly nothing broken. Its amazing how slow motion these crahses happen cause i remember thinking to myself that was collarbone was toast, all before hitting the ground. The Dr spent 2 hours scrubbing wounds and patching me up but will have a better idea tomorrow how I'm looking.

Was pleased with how i felt on the bike, hopefully im not down for too long.

Back at it

2007-10-13T20:08:00.000+13:00

Today was my first race for a long time, about 5 weeks I think since I had pinned a number on. It was a waterfront TT so 16km of early morning suffering to kick start the weekend. I hadn't ridden my TT rig since nationals in January and was still assembling late on Friday night, so the pins and lower back were in for a hiding.

The motivation levels weren't super high so I left the trainer at home and just did a quick road warm up. I busted out a 21.17 which was better than it felt, it was pretty windy out there and i switched of for a couple of km's so I thought i was in for a disaster. In the end it was 10 seconds of my best summer time so can't really complain too much.

The best part of the waterfront tt are sharing the battle stories in the carpark afterwards before migrating down the road for coffees and smack talking for the rest of the morning.

its good to be back

2007-09-17T09:52:00.000+12:00

I got home last week and boy is it great to be home. Not just because it has hardly rained but getting a chance to catch up with family and friends that i haven't seen in 8 months. The first 3 rides I did were really cool, everyone was interested in what i had been up to and they all seemed to know how well the team had been going...i put that down to correspondence spam!

Im back at my old job as well now, things are crazy busy and there have been a lot of changes but the old faces are still the same.

Had a massive stag do on Saturday night for Luke, I'm a groomsman so was responsible for the stag do, it went mint and everyone enjoyed themselves but naturally i cant really divulge much more. I can say this, i am a lightweight when it comes to drinking now days. Some of the boys went midday to 4am, but not this little cyclist, i ended up fast asleep at 1am and woke up fully dressed in me shoes about 9am ready to go....must have been a good night!

There were alot of good times in the UK though that i will never forget, building a snowman in my front lawn, living the highlife in Nice and Monaco, seeing the tour de france and having some good quality time off the bike. Home is great but theres one thing i really miss in the UK...

Home sailing

2007-09-10T14:59:00.000+12:00

This blog is more for me than anyone in particular.

Im sitting in the LA Koru lounge after a busy day travelling, was up this morning at 6am and its 9pm now, tack on 3 hours for timezones and I'm a touch tired. Missed my connecting flight in Denver but it wasn't a major and got here about 5pm. Got another 90minutes of this adventure left before the big brid takes me home.

Its been a fun wee 9 moths away with some memories that will stay with me for along time, both positive and negative. I have discovered alot of things especially about how important friends and in particular family are. When shit starts going going down and your along way from home you learn alot about what is really important to you.

Im really looking forward to getting stuck back into working, dont know how long this will last but i have some good ideas that hopefully this time will get actioned. Its also an opportunity to take my cycling in a different direction, but that journey starts again on Wednesday hopefully with some interesting new goals.

Everyone today i have talked to has said how far it is for me to travel home....but i wouldn't have it any other way. New Zealand is great and part of that is that we are so far away so alot of bad stuff stays away, Im also looking forward not having to give way when turning right...well i think thats the rule back home, i know its the opposite of what it was in the UK.

hopefully this isn't too much drivel, back to the bar!

2 of everything!

2007-09-09T09:50:00.000+12:00

My work related element of my trip to Orlando finished up yesterday so now its time to kick back and relax and boy is it easy to do. Normally when I am travelling i try to spend as little time as possible in my room but this time its a touch different.

This resort room i have has a bigger reception room than any bedroom i have seen, the bed is a super king and it has 2 of the following...
48inch plasma tvs
Bathrooms
showers, and a bath
balconies
massive couches
phones....
Its lavish but then i guess you would expect that when the room goes for $285 a night, oh yeah thats US dollars as well, so its quite a chore as you can imagine.

Spent yesterday afternoon at the kennedy space centre which was pretty impressive even for someone who is a tad skeptical of the space program.

Well tomorrow morning i start my journey home, it will be 34hours from walking out the hotel to walking back in my front door so i can't wait.

Change of scenery

2007-09-07T06:59:00.000+12:00

My cycling season is over it finished on Sunday morning when i handed back my trusty steed so I had a dilemma....do i sit round on the couch in England watching it rain and no doubt sinking too many pints, or do I hot tail it of to sunnier climes and sit poolside sinking too many pints. It was a super tough choice but i decided on that later.

I flew London to LA, had 5 hours sleep in LA before getting a plane to Orlando Florida via Denver. It was 17 hours flying and spending time in 4 time zones but I made it and it was worth the trip. I am here for a 1 and a half day conference related to my old job back in NZ and we are staying near the Disney complex in a luxury spa, more about the place later. But the weather is mint, its 94 degrees in their money, which is about 35 in our stuff.

I bumped into Pete Latham in the lounge at Heathrow, poor guy has an internal fracture of his back, thats prob not the medical term but thats what i think he said. He's in a big brace and can hardly get around so best wishes to pete for a speedy recovery. All things considered he still seemed pretty chirpy and upbeat so all the best with the rehab.

I get back to NZ mid next week and by then it should have been a good spell off the bike and ready to make some decisions about what to do next.

Anyway i gotta shoot cause the beers dont stay to cold poolside at this time of the day!

Starting to wrap up

2007-08-30T22:32:00.000+12:00

Well i have finally booked a flight home and am flying home on the 11th of September which I am looking forward to. Its been a long season with a lot of highlights and alot of memories to take home. Unfortunately I wont be able to ride up until the day I fly so my last day on the bike will be this Sunday. This has an upside i guess as it forces me to have a break before getting home. I haven't had a break since Southland last year, so mentally I'm pretty tired to be honest.

Tomorrow i head of driving for 3 days to see some of the country we have raced yet, so lets hope its some good weather. Going to cruise mainly around Devon and Cornwall as its supposed to be quite nice down there.

A wee update on the kit, went to pick it up and the same gent served me, he folded all the kit and put it in a bag and handed it to me. He then went to serve the next customer til i handed him some cash, so could have been a huge Deal opportunity had i not paid...but thats not cool.

Deal or No deal

2007-08-24T01:01:00.000+12:00

After a rage fuelled incident at the flat the other night, we are currently minus a working washing machine. All week its been throwing it down so there has been a lot of very wet, very dirty kit to wash by had, it cracked me though and i went in search today of a Laundromat.

So I found one pretty easy in the high street and thats where the fun started. I started speaking to the man on the counter who was not local, i rekon Algerian, and told him what i needed. Well he started like it was an auction starting at 7 quid, then up to 10 quid then back, throwing in things like drying sorting. I hadn't even had a chance to say much att his point until he said 5 quid washed, dried and folded...bargain! so i jumped at that price.

He thought he had a bargin so I was more than happy. The proof will be in the pudding though and lets hope the kit doesn't get fried or he doesn't start re negotiating the price when i come back tomorrow to collect it...stay tuned!

How to engineer a race win...the hard way

2007-08-21T00:50:00.000+12:00

We had 6 guys line up at the Python road race on sunday which was 130km around a pretty much flat course. The boys who were going to Ireland wanted to sharpen up with a tough race so the plan was to let a small break get 3 minutes before riding it back. Well things didn't really go according to plan as the break went out to 5.45 and there were 8 guys in it! Oh well time to ride it back.

To cut a long story short we brought it back then gordy clipped off and won, but not without a fair bit of effort and its fair to say we were all in the box after the race. I think it took Milly a couple of hours to come round...he was so bad he opted for the salad for dinner.

I did have an interesting moment during the race, while we were riding the front I went back for some bottles for the lads and just as I got the last one on board, my front wheel decided to blow and i snapped a spoke in the middle. Now its not a good look to go back for bottles and never make it back, so i decided to risk not changing the wheels till the bottles were dropped.

So it was bottles to the lads, then a front wheel change before chasing back on and back to the front, all while we had the pink train in full chase mode...that'll fist ya!

A different way to get in a break

2007-08-15T20:40:00.000+12:00

it was the last prem cal of the season on sunday up in pendle and part of my plan for the day was to not cover any of the early moves. I had no problem with this and as the flag was pulled from the lead car i thought i had made a smart decision as 200m after the neutral was over we were climbing a 1500m climb. This is just what you needed after rolling a stupidly slow 7km neutral zone in the pissing rain...but that climb is another story as i actually made it over in better shape than others who were chasing over the top.

Anyway there was about 10km between that and the main climb of the circuit which was 4km climb and somehow in a moment of confusion I ended up on the wrong side of a long stretch of road barriers. I must have looked rather silly with 100 riders on one side of the road and me on the other but i got the last laugh. After about 400m the road came back together at a roundabout, which i had the short side around, and when someone laid it down in the roundabout when i rejoined i was in the front group of 16. Nice work but very much not the plan!

that's about the only highlight of the race unfortunatly.

a close call

2007-07-28T09:07:00.000+12:00

I raced last night at a local 10mile tt which was a good chance to see how much quicker the new tt bike is versus the roadie and it should be no surprise but it is significant. I did almost meet my death though as on the way back from the turn i looked up and saw a van in my lane heading towards me. Well its fair to say it dirtied the chamois as i dived for the side of the road narrowly missing it. I am please i looked up when i did, the guy who was sitting on me, its another story!, said it was a pretty close call. Oh well all part of the fun.

Now its up to sitting around and waiting to see if we get to race this weekend. With all the rain we have had it is unlikely that we can race because most of the courses are under water still.

Other than that it has been pretty quiet around here, alot of time watching the tour and working on how the sport can be helped, but thats another issue

Le Shame!

2007-07-26T10:52:00.000+12:00

I went to the pub tonight for a couple of quiets with Pammie and Gordy and found out while there that Rabobank have pulled Rasmussen from le tour for lying to them while he was tackling up in Italy. This pisses me off no end as all it does is brings embarrassment on the sport as well as to me as a fellow professional cyclist.

I know that i am going to found questions from all my mates about how many people are tackled in the tour and what not but i don't really want to answer them. I have some faith in the sport, the beautiful sport that it is, that it will come through this. But when you look at the record it looks like it is getting worse and worse, we have now lost the last 2 tour winners due to doping.

I know guys on a lot less that managed to fill out the forms he needed to fill out to meet the uci regulations. All it can mean is that he was off on a pre determined and calculated doping program with the pure intention of winning the tour and deceiving everyone. Thanks for that! You have shat all over the sport that I love and work my arse of for. I don't know and dont care what you were on last year but obviously it wasn't enough for you.

I dont know what is going to happen tomorrow when the tour rolls out but i would fully understand if the peloton dont roll and the event is turned into the biggest laughing stock that goes around. thanks guys, the sport is undoubtedly one of the hardest going around, just ask me about it, a sport with very little skill, based purley on hard work and an ethic of suffering, and yet guys aren't prepared with what they are dealt...always looking for more.

Thanks Michael, this year we had the chance to show how exciting a clean tour can be, but you took the piss out of all of us!

I'm not sure how i am going to feel in the morning but these are me thoughts right now.

Bastard Vino

2007-07-25T10:52:00.000+12:00

Well the news has broken that Vino is out of the tour after returning a positive blood sample for a blood transfusion which is just what the sport needs right now. I think that the Cofidis DS has summed it up well when he said "Vinokurov is a Bastard".

Yeah sure it proves that some testing works, and I do think the sport is getting cleaner ever year but i don't think it is enough. I think a major step forward would be to increase the deterrents by making it a criminal offence akin to match fixing. With this the penalty wouldn't be a weak 2 year ban but a term in prison, making it sporting fraud to dope.

Does this mean that the remaining competitors in the tour are clean? I'd love to say yes but i don't think you can be that naive, which is a great shame as this is a beautiful sport.

Stand back and wait for the rest of the fall out....

Global warning, Yeah Right!

2007-07-24T16:30:00.000+12:00

Yes this is going to be another moan about the weather, but this time with a touch of drama. I am currently down in Reading and I had read that there was supposed to be flooding over night when when all the water from down south, which is underwater, made its way down the Thames. I thought it was just a bit of a beat up for news sake but when the the council turned up with a sandbags for all the houses in the street, i thought it was time to start taking things a bit more seriously.

So the sandbags were put around the doors and the garage as the coucnil man said there was a 75% chance that the river would be coming calling during the night. Also took a couple of extra precautions like making sure most things were up off the floor and that there was plenty of drinking water on stand by.

who knows if the waters will come but maybe the next blog will come from an emergency shelter.

Heart Attack hotel

2007-07-21T22:41:00.000+12:00

I have been up in Blackpool for the last 6 days for a series of 3 races, staying up there saved me about 15 hours of driving back and forward from London, which was appreciated. My view of Blackpool was a nice seaside holiday town, well was i in for a surprise. The place is stuck in some bizarre time warp and everything looks like it would have been 30-40 years ago. There is a giant promenade that runs for a couple of miles along the sea front which is covered in entertainment complexes, much like a massive theme park.

The hotel we were staying at was also very dated, our first room didn't have a shower and Milly and Ken's room had roof tiles that would move every time a breeze would blow through the room. The best bit of all were the other guests, 95% would have been over 60, so hence Jas and I labelled it the heart attack hotel.

Because Jas and i spent an extra 3 nights in Blackpool than the rest of the team, we got a chance to see the real Blackpool. We went out for a pint after the prem cal victory on Sunday and it seemed that more people were interested in fighting each other than drinking, which didn't really bother us as it gave us something to cheer.

We have seen some pretty nice places so far this year, unfortunately Blackpool isn't going to be a highlight, except for the racing that is where the team went 3 for 3.

Race Report -Blackpool Crit

2007-07-15T05:24:00.000+12:00

This was the first of a 3 race stint up on the north west coast and required a 5 hour drive in the morning to get up there in time for the early evening start time. And by the time the start rolled around it was no surprise that it was throwing it down. The course was a 2.5km hot dog with a downhill hairpin at one end and an hairpin into a cobbled climb at the other....right up my alley! We were racing on the edge of the beach, in fact if you had binned it bad enough on the back straight you would have ended up lying in the sand.

I punctured pretty early on going up the climb and when i rejoined a pretty decent move had gone, which we had 2 guys in so it was a case of covering everything. Gaywood, who was leading the series, told me to cover Russ Downing which led to some rather interesting facial expressions from me as he tried numerous times to try and get across to the move.

The boys up the road had things under control with Gordy soloing in to win comfortably with Gibby rolling 4th. We kept everything in order back in the dwindling peloton so it was a great result for the team. The only downside was spending all night getting sand and grit of the body, it becomes a problem when you race with contacts like I do as visibility is restricted which makes racing all the more fun.

Bec CC 10mile TT

2007-07-07T20:01:00.000+12:00

While most of the worlds top testers were still in bed before there big showdown in London, the remainder of us aspiring time trialist were lining up at the Bec CC 10mile. The main reason we were down to ride this event was because it was our Team manager Garry Becketts home club and he wanted us to put on a show for his clubmates.

Part of the build up included the job of building up a new tt rig. It had been sitting around the house for a while but seeing that Jason never got around to build it, the team said I could build it. Now seeing that I am to bike building what Helen Clark is to modelling, it wasn't always pretty but with a bit of help from Gordy and only 1 trip to the bike shop I was set.

After having only a short spin on the bike on Friday it was straight into it at the very early start time of 6am. Anyway the ride went pretty well and I was pretty pleased with how my position felt after being a little worried that it might be a touch too aggressive but it was fine.

I ended up doing a 21.41 for the course which wasn't flat and had a tough little headwind to push home into. it placed me 7th out of the 120 riders which wasn't bad especially since i have hardly being doing any tt prep. We would have also won the team prize except we had one rider miss his start by 5 minutes and the other puncturing on the way to the start.

never mind though, a good show put on for Garry.

Its prologue time!

2007-07-07T07:12:00.000+12:00

Tomorrow sees the start of the Tour in London which seeing that our team haven't been given a last minute call up, I'll be standing along the course with the expected million others. But before that I have my very own TT to get out of the way. I'm racing the BECC 10 miles tomorrow morning, well its not really morning its more tonight as we have to be up at 4am to get to the race and warmed up on time.

i have got a little trick just for the day, which might make the start time bearable...a new TT rig all set up. the frame has been sitting in Jas's wardrobe since the start of the year and since he never got round to building it, Gibby gave me the green light. Given that i am to bike mechanics to what Helen Clarke is the supermodels, it was an interesting experience. thanks to a bit of help from Gordy and only 1 trip to the bike shop its all up and firing. It looks pretty hot and i'll try get some snaps of it up during the week.

Back to the other minor TT in London tomorrow, Its certainly going to be interesting to see who fires on the day. Millar and Wiggins have been talking it up alot, in fact some riders have been talking up their chances who haven't even been given a start but thats for another time. Im picking Paolo Salvodelli for the win, with Hincapie, Wiggins, Rasmussen, O'Grady, Vino...well maybe one of those is taking the piss a bit.

As for the overall -Why they can win and why they cant
Vino -Only Grand Tour winner with best team in the race, wont win if he has 2 bad days.
Leipheimer -Learnt how to attack last year and can gain in the TT. Wont win because he is scared of vino...he actually is!
Menchov -Consistenly hangs around on the climbs as others falter, wont win because
Valverde -He can do it all and will be fresher than at the Vuelta last year. Wont win because getting the 3 weeks will be a challenge.
Evans -Can hide for the first 18 stages then roll everyone in the last TT. Wont win cause he'll break his collarbone.
Kloden -Everyone watches vino and doesn't cover Kloden, like cunego won the '04 Giro. Wont win because he is no longer on T-Mobile
Sastre -Probably the best climber in the top 10. Wont win because even on the fastest tt bike in the peloton he looses bagfulls of time against the clock.
Moreau -Hes flying and gets in a sneaky break that takes alot of time. Wont win because he is french.
Fothen -Will attack and attack when the road goes up. Wont win because he is too young
Rogers -Double world TT champ and has the frenchies on his side a bit. Wont win cause he cant climb well enough
Popyvich -3rd in the Giro was along time ago and with the pressure of after last years flop he could come good. Wont win because his best days are behind him

Its probably going to be completely wrong..wait wait, gordon wants a cheeky darky horse so here you go...Juan Cobo...dont ask why cause its a secret, but you wait!

check back later for my other classification picks.

oh well i'll check back here in 3 weeks and see but now its time to pack the bags and get some sleep.

Wet Wet Wet

2007-07-05T09:00:00.000+12:00

With the number of 90's British pop bands reforming recently including Take that and the Spice Girls, this post would be more enjoyable to write if it were about pop music rather than the weather.

I hate to sound like a whinging pome but i think it is needed at this time. It was all over the news the other day how June was the wettest on record over here, so foolishly i thought that July might mean summer was on its way. Oh dear was I wrong! So this is the summary of the last 48hours...

Head out on a 70km ride yesterday well equipped for a shower or 2, even though the sun was out and it seemed like a day for a tan. 20minutes down the road and I'm sitting in a bus stop as the rain is just stupidly heavy and as I am doing a point to point ride there is no turn around quickly option. I do quickly count to see if i have enough cash for the bus but realise that's probably not logistically possible from where I was.

After realising I'm going to get wet regardless I push on and eventually arrive home soaked to the bone. So after drying up a bit its off down the high street for some lunch, when a thunder storm arrives and i get my second drenching of the day. This was no normal thunderstorm as it flooded most of south London in an hour of crazy rain.

So after a second shower and getting warm and dry, its back into riding kit (dry and clean!) for a local race. The circuit is filthy but the racing must go on, the biggest hazard on the night weren't the lapped riders like usual but the number of snails on the circuit. There were hundreds of the little fellas all over the circuit! The race went alright, took a flyer with 3 to go and unfortunately no one came with me so got caught at the bell, so tucked into the bunch and run top 10 in the sprint. Oh bike, car, kit and rider were completely filthy and wet.

So today i was hoping for a bit better luck weather wise but to no avail. Over the course of 5 hours i got completely drenched 4 times but each time did manage to dry up just in time for the next downpour. i even had a motorist pass me on a blind corner in the rain going downhill with me at almost 60k, it doesn't bear thinking off what might have been...especially when i rolled by him again at the bottom as he run into traffic.

oh well thats my weather rant, hopefully the last for a while.

A pretty cool fan

2007-06-19T08:46:00.000+12:00

I headed off to race Hillingdon tonight, which is a closed circuit race and a good way to get some speed into the legs without having to do intervals out on the lonely road. Gibby won the race after Gordy and I gave him a pretty solid lead out, but that wasn’t the highlight of the day…

Sitting in the team car before the race a young girl and her old man came up and started talking to us. He wanted to know how he could get a pink team cap for his little girl, so I gave here the one I was wearing which was she was stoked with. Like anytime we give a cap to a fan we make sure they cheer for us while we are racing. The girl, whose name was Amy, was 7 and it turns out that she rides but only a mountain bike because she is too small still to ride a roadie.

Anyway they walk away only to come back 5 minutes later with a pen and she wanted us to sign the cap for her which we did without any dramas and you could see her smile getting bigger and bigger. So the dad then wanted to get a photo of us with here, no problems. Garry, Simon and Tony stop reading here…

So we get Amy up on the bonnet of the team car and have a couple of photos which should turn out pretty cool. (note to Simon Barnes…it was her idea to stand on the car, not ours and you cant really tell a 7 year old off! ) I told the Dad to send in the photo to the team site www.plowmancravenevanscycles.co.uk and enter the fans competition.

When they left it did cross my mind that maybe the dad wanted the cap more, so if your Amy’s dad send us an email and I’ll send you one out.

Anyway those are the small things that really give you a buzz, cycling is a tough sport which requires a lot of selfishness but when you make a young fan happy it really puts everything into perspective, makes it all worthwhile….oh and winning helps also.