Summer has been awesome. Aside from previously mentioned race results its been a summer of great training. And by great training that should read – slogging my guts out on those strength building roads around Taupo.. Its not the first time I have said it but I do believe the roads around here are great for a road cyclist. Its hard – mainly physically , sometimes mentally  but its not meant to be easy right?

A huge thank you to some of you who help me out in NZ..

Huka Cycles – weather its fixing busted wheel or lending me a MTB.. Best bike shop in Taupo

Rachel Trapski – Deep tissue sports massage extraordinaire

NZ Post – Keeping the dream alive

Anyone else? Sure I will have to edit this post, but its a start

The final chapter in the 2011/2012 Southern Summer has had the ink dry. The UCI 2.2 Tour of Manawatu had a bit of a circle around it the whole summer . Well I was there or there-abouts all week. 9th in the TT, 5th in the opening road stage, a brace of 3rds in the following 2 stages before rounding out with a 10th in the last stage. That was over a mixture of finishes from guys up the road and the race finishing in pieces to bunch sprints. Didnt manage to snag a big W, the bunch sprints where both characterised by a little bit of calamity as I was always just bouncing around wheels in the wind too much in the final kilometers to really be a factor. The overall? Pretty much got told what to do by some very very strong Australian Continental teams.

I did however finish up 4th on GC and taking out the sprint classification. All up decent results in a tour with both tough stages (wiiiindy) and a class field but I couldnt help but feel a little dissatisfied as I was close all week without actually getting to kiss the podium girls…

Anyway it chalks up a pretty damn consistent summer; I pinned a race number on 23 times, if we include that there was 3 tours in amongst that , we will talk 26 races this summer (including General Classifications) – I was top 10 – 25/26. Sprints, TT’s, hill top finishes, wind, rain, blistering heat, snow and tours. It was all there. Not exactly what I set out to do but is positive indicator of how the summers training has gone.

Thats it from me down under, I head off to the US on the 19th of Feb to roll right back into it.

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!

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!!

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…

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.

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’ 

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.

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.

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.