Road Nationals

What a day! Close but no cigar folks. The race happened in 3 parts so I will split the blog post accordingling. This is easily the longest race report I have ever written. Probably because it was one of the most extraordinary races I have been part of. The course and the crowds where mind-blowing, for a race in little old NZ it was something else.

Act 1. The Early Break

Yup I was in it. Not but accident, not by chance but exactly where I wanted to be. Suicide in a race 180kms long with 11 accents of a 1.5km 10% wall? Actually no. I tagged onto a move with some more than handy bike riders and in the back of my mind I knew there was a chance that the chase was going to be pretty un-organised. This is NZ bike racing after all.. Anyway it did keep pressure on the pedals but actually took the sting out of the climb, as  we where riding nice tempo. The course lay out means that rotating the flat sections really isnt as hard as it sounds and making the early part of the day pretty mellow. Yup I saw a bit of wind, but certainly a trade off I felt worth taking.

Act 2. Coming Together

So there was enough of a chase, only just though! By the time our group was picked up by the remainder of those in contention our group barely doubled in size! They had to work for it, meaning while the early break was not the tactical masterpiece it may have been, it was near enough a blank page restart. Race on with 60 kms to go! Little groups where coming and going and a very strong one slipped up the road containing Jeremy Vennell (my team mate) and Mike Vink (u23).. Once it was established I had to sadly watch it sail off into the sunset. Playing the ‘team mate up the road’ card I planted myself on the back and thought that my bid for the u23 title was over but was about to watch a team mate take out the elite prize. Had called it even in my head.

Well 2 laps to go I got a call I certainly didnt expect with the break still putting time into a pretty sporadic chase.. Jeremy was dropped and Mike was solo. The last time check we had was 1min 45 seconds… Suddenly there was life. I held fire as we hit the climb, thinking Jeremy may be dangling and all is not lost. This was quickly quashed by a time check and the fact we could now see Jeremy. So it was game on.

Act 3. Close but no Cigar.

The pace was ramped half way up the climb with only Josh Atkins, James Williamson and myself at the front. We rolled through the bell with the gap reduced to only 1min. We hit the climb again and soon lost Jeremy but could now see Mike on the climb.  The 3 of us went over the top of the climb.. Gap slightly reduced but our wheels where coming off. Josh (who on paper had the hardest ride of the day; early break and made the final selection) was cramping and James was still there but with the elite title being ridden into his hands wasnt about to ride himself out of this move. We worked, gap was edged down to about 20 seconds with 3km to go. 10 seconds with 1km to go. We eventually lost Josh in the final flourish and I was 100% committed on picking up Mike, giving it full gas right into the home straight. Wasnt to be – 6 seconds on the line and the moment I saw Mike put his hands up I was as good as done. Jimmy whistled passed by easily to pick up 2nd on the day and the elite title. To me that wasnt at all important; I turned up and put up a fight for a jersey, it ultimately wasnt good enough but was one hell of a day!

While it is bitterly disappointing to miss out on a national title, its hard to hang over it to much when the race was both raced and won in spectacular fashion. Roll on more bike racing!

Touring the Vineyards

Like I said last post – December 27th is the new Jan 1st.

Tour of Vineyards was a success. Started out with a great TT. Now I really hadnt done much TT training, but as I was driving down and had the room, I threw in all the TT kit.. Nothing like a bit of pressure to help whip things along. Ended up 3rd behind reigning NZu23 TT champ – Jason Christie.

It was all good from there. Took out the win on the first road stage after riding across a small gap early race and attacking the formed group in the last lap to win out of the 3 left at the front of the bike race. Jumped into the GC lead.

5th up Takaka. We never caught the early break but I traded blows the whole way up, eventually conceding time to only Jeremy Yates (20 seconds).

Next 2 stages where quite similar. In yellow with no team mates meant just attack. After all, this is the ‘hit out’ pre nationals.. so I went about getting 2 birds with 1 stone. Long story short, 2nd and 4th in the last 2 stages while on the attack and finishing ahead of the bunch both days. Held on to yellow and had a ball of a time just riding to do my best to dismantle the race. www.shuttersport.co.nz has some great pics of the action.

A great way to see out a 2011. Adding great weight to my attempt to trend a tough year in the right direction.. and hit 2012 with a foot on the gas!!

 

 

 

 

 

SRM Oceania & Road Nationals

Just to add a little bit to road nationals I have signed up to run a SRM live transmitter for Road Nationals.

For those out of the loop: SRM is the device in my cranks which measures wattage. This number is going to be relayed simultaneously  to the SRM website via a transmitter on my bike and will be there to see for anyone interested (and probably onto those at the race via commentary)

If nothing else it should be interesting – 76kgs, 4min powerclimb, to be done multiple times…

 

 

December 27th is the New January 1st

Nationals is a go go.

I have said I am not doing it about 14 million times.. but you know what? 15 No’s and a Yes is still s yes. And let me explain why

Its National Champs people; Plain and simple. When it is all said and done, the first man across the line is National Champion. There is just something quite appealing about a course set out so the strongest man on the day will win. Contrary to my previous attempts (I am 0/2 on finishing) I am actually genuinely excited about lining up again and finding out where I really stand. For those who dont know it check www.elitenationals.co.nz. Its quite something.I have always expressed my own personal concern about being fit enough in the first week of Jan to fight it out on a course where finishers are generally outweighed by those who dont. And then I grew a pair…. 

I havent dictated my training 100% around Nationals, I have dictated my training to be 100% awesome for the 2012 season but when it comes to Nationals I am turning up to put down a fight, its just a bike race after all. I all to often find myself getting a little caught up in the mythical form chase. Hell its all relative. Your either good enough, or your not – and there is only one way to find out.. From where I see it (and really why is anyone in a different boat?) I have a lot to gain and very little to lose. 

  Finishing off the season with a block of hard training and a Tour of Southland carriers on into the following season.  The goals of the season havent changed and had I not felt like I could give it a decent crack I would have kept my mouth shut and spent New Years with mates, probably sampling (just sampling) some of NZ’s fine beers…but wishing I was at Nationals. So I putting myself on a limb here!! No promises, no excuses. 

So why is the 27th of December the new 1st of January.. I have added the Tour of Vineyards to the campaign. Spending New Years in Nelson is hardly a chore. Holding to just one round on Mums Xmas pudding on the other hand, may be.

And just like that i go MIA

Well since we last talked.. I kinda had an off season!!

Time without any training. A bit of a re-shuffle but circumstances dictated a perfect time to sneek in a break, and take it without worrying about rushing into next year. I took full advantage of the break and made a year worth of being 20 years old fit into a few weeks…. 

Well I have been back on the bike just over a week and oh how that pendulum has swung. I found myself seriously on struggle street getting back on the bike; Turns out Taupo is built on the side of a rather large volcano… and there is only one way as you head out of town and that is down! Not the kinda of thing you notice when form is good and the legs in strong – Take yourself back down a peg or 4 and every ride home is a bit of a drag… Literally a false-flat drag

Well after a good number of days of getting the stuffing kicked out of me, I started giving Taupo a couple of hooks back and in the space of a few more days i was back to a level where I was training. NOT just surviving. On many of those long rides home I spent alot of time pondering about Taupo, its roads and its lifestyle… As i look back over the training I have done in the last few years I can tell you one thing, where you live and train has a rather large handle in dictating the type of rider you are. Once you embrace it, Taupo will make you strong.. 

Not a bad place to spend the ‘offseason’ 

And Thanks

The thank you bits.

This years tour of southland was brought to you by

Ascot Park Hotel.

Leppin

Blox

Peter Risdale and Matt Tuck director extraordinaire’s

Rebecca Pederson for the keeping the legs dandy post race

Mary Ann Avery for keeping everything else dandy post race.

Shane Melrose on the tools.

The fullas. Aaron, Bevan, Clinton, Mike and Wade – What a week boys. What a week.

I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head

Southland – You have been good to me.

If you are reading this blog, I have no doubt that  you either know about the Tour of Southland or can find the results easy enough.. SO I will leave that to you.

I will just fill you in on what the results dont tell you…

My goodness its good to be back! Not just back in NZ, not just back winning the odd bike race but BACK. Feeling at home at the front of a bike race, making the right moves and (gulp) climbing really really well? After a whole week of racing, a stage win and a second on GC – all anyone one wants to talk about is my 3rd on Bluff Hill and 2nd on the Crown Range.  Yes both hilltop finishes and both where I got my solid frame to the top within close proximity to the front of the race… Surprising? Not really to me…

The equation for climbing is made up of 2 parts.. POWER to WEIGHT… When I stepped off the plane in NZ I decided that it was time for a different approach, an attitude adjustment if you will.. It wasnt actually focused on the climbing, it was more to bring back some all round power – the fact that I got myself up those hills was a fabulous by-product and a testament to how well this new theory worked (for me).. I spent a good chunk of time internalising a really complicated situation in my head, decided to look at what made the new-school top sprinters good, you know those cheeky ones who are better than just sprinting, namely TT’s and/or classics – picked out the basics for training; and ran with it…

Decided that dessert was an important part to training, wine wasnt a bad thing and doing what ever it takes to make it through the training session was worth it… Better head phones, new music, coffee, living room (instead of garage) erg sessions, naps, recovery mixes, massages, a PS3 (wait the last one really didnt have much to do with it).. All small prices to pay to make training that little bit more comfortable… Although the price to industrial clean our living room carpet from all the sweat may be a slightly larger cost; Still worth it

SO for me it was a lesson learnt. For the first time in a LOOOOOONG time: I enjoyed training, I enjoyed putting myself to the sword, I enjoyed the twisted sense of achievement I got from some brutal erg sessions… I found a new zone of training, almost a sense of desperation pushing me through the days. Now I know where that zone is and know how to find it, I wont be forgetting it.

You Cant Be 6 Places At Once

So I am back in Aotearoa. I had planned to do the old season round up, thought it would make for average reading and I skipped it. Touched down Friday before last, back racing the Saturday just gone. My season is far from over…..

Round the Mountain Handicap. I started off in a scratch bunch of 25 set at a 75min handicap behind the front of the race. Was a strong bunch and we set sail down the coast at a great rate of knots. 50km covered in the first our on some stereotypical NZ roads was pretty damn quick. The peace held with almost everyone working untill we picked up a huge bunch containing most of the race infront of us with 40km to go. In the space of 10km it went from a well oiled TTT to a 30km club race.

Cut a long story short, you cant be 6 places at once. The first couple of attacks thinned the bunch to about 10 riders. 6 of which rode for the same team! I donned the gloves to do my best, a handful of large rollers on the way back in gave plenty of opportunity but without the right combo slipping away (was there ever going to be a good combo with the final split like that?) When it finally came back together in the last couple of K i was spent! Made a boo by getting caught on the right hand side of riders with a left curve sprint finish and that made my bed.

Ended up 2nd behind a very strong and ultimately very clever Dan Barry for PBR.

Cant be too disappointed, I reveled in the ‘back against the wall’ desperation in the final stages, had the legs to match and felt like I did next to everything I could. I know I have had the form, its just been a long time since I have been able to put it down on the race course! Any power geeks out there want to see what racing in NZ is all about, message me for the power data.. It was RIDICULOUS. Think 3 hour TTT into 30min hammer session. The best training day ever?

Season rolls on, heading into the Tour of Southland at the end of the month.

When It Is Out of Your Control

Its out of your control…

My weekend:

Fly to Binghampton NY (yes on the East Coast with Hurricane Irene ect ect) WITHOUT A HITCH. I kid you not, bar some careful airport ninja’ing to get my bike on the flight with the outrageous lines in Denver, I made it -storm and all without even a delay.. but it went down hill from then..

Sunday 8am- Find out the race is cancelled.

Sunday 11am – Trying to get an earlier flight out than out original 4pm Monday. Success, we got a 7pm Sunday flight.

Sunday 1pm – $25 Taxi downtown (this is important)

Sunday 2pm – we go watch a movie, its hardly storming.. Puzzled on race cancelation.

Sunday 4pm – $45 Taxi back to the airport (go figure????)

Sunday 6pm – Checked on and ready to board, we watch out plane come in for landing only to abort 40ft above the ground and RETURN TO WHERE IT HAD COME FROM

Sunday 8pm- We wait for our delayed flight

Sunday 9pm – We wait some more for our delayed flight

Sunday 10pm – Our flight is cancelled. We have to re-arrange flights and we end up going backward from out original flights… FAIL

Sunday 11pm- Faced with the prospect of another 24 hours minimum in Binghampton we got desperate.

Sunday 11.05pm – We rent a car and decided to drive the 6 hours to WashingtonDC for early flights Monday morning.

Monday 1am – Somewhere across Pennsylvania

Monday 4am – Arrival at DC.

Monday 6am- Fall asleep in terminal with phone plugged in charging, 10 ft away but someone decides that they like it better and take it.

Monday 6.15am – Profanities

Monday 6.20am – Text sent to phone asking nicely for its return to customer services as it will be locked via T-Moible in 15min and be worthless..

Monday 6.21am – More profanities

Monday 7am – Acceptance that I will never see that phone again

Monday 7.45am – The phone is handed in to customer services.. My faith in humanity is restored

Monday 8am-  Finally flying and  back in Denver by 11.

 

What can you do?

Irene 1 Paddy 0

Alive. Well. Fit and Fighting

 

Yes I am still here. Alive. Well. Fit and Fighting

I almost survived the double act of that was the Tour of Elk Grove and the Tour of Utah. My tour of utah finished about 60km early as i was picked up by the sag (sad) wagon. Up untill then I had genuinely enjoyed the race and really with 60km to go, 10000000 feet of climbing and being last wheel on the road (i wasnt in the group of 20 that got off their bikes at the feed station) I didnt need much persuading. I really really really wanted to finish but damn that thing was hard.

Utah is an amazing state and the race this year was next level. I spent a day in the break (at both Elk Grove and Utah for that matter) but to no avail. But overall I was content. I was able to race my bike HARD and be a part of the race not just on the back of it.

The season keeps ticking over. I have a handful of races still to come; NRC criteriums; Chris Thater Memorial and Capital Crit.  As well as a UCI ranked road race the Univest GP. World Championships is not to be this year. Gutted? Yes. Suprised? Not really. With no big W’s to send to the selectors I can hardly call it unfair. Stings as it has been billed as a sprinters course and those opportunities dont come terribly often at world champs but thats life.

Keeping on trucking, P