Yea not a good week aye. I was having a pretty chilled week after getting back from Ireland and just resting up for this race in France on the Sunday. But yea it didn't go so good. It was another rainy cold race day which seems like the norm for me now, I've done more races in the wet than in the dry. I got into the break with 4 other guys after the first climb of the day and we were hovering around 30 seconds in front of the pelo for like 40k and we were coming down a hill in the wet and I was the first rider to come around this easy corner and once I saw what was on the other side of this corner I was like ah shit. It was just a good old T intersection with a small brick wall if you go straight ahead and a really off camber right hand turn. I knew I wasn't going to be able to turn the corner without slipping so I thought I will just keep going straight and hope I can slow down enough to turn the corner but the footpath and the wall kept coming close and closer and my back wheel locked up and started skidding out and from there it's all over. Back wheel slipped out at 35 odd kph and I landed ass and elbow first on the curb of the foot path and was stuck on the ground for about 10 mins with a dead ass cheek. I whacked it real bloody hard on the curb and it was so painful I couldn't move. So yea I had to hop into the ambo and they took me off too hospital. It was bloody hard trying to explain to the paramedics what happened and that I didn't really need to go to hospital cause they didn't really speak English and I knew what had happened cause I've gone butt first into a curb before and come out with the same painful outcome but they still wanted me to go and I had no choice cause my team car had already taken my bike away and told the paramedics to take me to hospital. The pain was slowly going away but it was kind of a good idea to go to hospital and get some X-rays just to be sure. And yea nothing's broken so all geezy. I've just got a really sore and bruised right ass and a stiff and painful right elbow. I'm really gutted cause I was feeling really good in that race and there was a good chance that the break I was in could have made it to the finish if I hadn't of crashed but ah well, my teammate managed to get 2nd and another teammate got 9th so good day for the team I guess. I'm also really gutted cause there's a Pro Kermesse tomorrow that I was really looking forward to doing but I don't think I'll be able to do it. I went on the windtrainer today to see how I was feeling and my ass was alright but when you push down hard on the pedals then it's still quite painful and I couldn't really hold on to the handle bars too good cause of my elbow. Also when I rode to the supermarket this afternoon it was really painful when I rode over a bump in the road so I think it's a no go for tomorrow which I'm gutted about. I was wondering for a while when I was going to eventually crash cause it had been a while, I was pretty lucky to stay up right for the whole time in Ireland so it was about time I hit the deck to be honest.
So yea, unfortunately I think it's gonna be a quiet week for me which is gonna be boring. At least it's summer now. They reckon it's gonna get up to 31 degrees on Friday so I'll try get my pasty purply bruised ass out in the sun, that might help it recover quicker.
So yea, das it aye.
Sweet, thanks for reading
Nick
Monday 1 June 2015
Wednesday 27 May 2015
Potatoes
Well, that was a big week. I don't really know where to begin, it's been a pretty chaotic and up and down sort of week. I guess I'll start the day before leaving for Ireland; found a nice crack in my bike, not ideal. I managed to get a new frame that night which was lucky but what we had to do was strip the whole bike down and take all the componentry off it like the shifters, the derailleurs and cables and we were going to put all that stuff on to this new frame because this new frame had electronic gearing which means it has no cables to change gears, it's all electric so you push a little button to change gears and I ordered a bike at the beginning of the season with manual gearing cause it doesn't cost as much. So we stripped everything off both bikes and the next day (the day I was flying out) we started putting all my old stuff on to the new bike but as we were putting all my stuff on, we realised that the bike could old have the electronic gearing on it so we had to put everything back on again which was a bit frustrating. And we also realised that the frame was a little bit smaller in size. It was luckily still the same size length wise as my old bike but it was shorter vertically so the handle bars sat lower and there was more seat post sticking out of the frame which wasn't ideal but livable.
So I wasn't off to the best of starts, I was just trying to get rid of all the bad luck early. And I think it worked cause it was all pretty smooth sailing from there. Got the train to the airport no worries and my flight was all good and got to the hotel in Ireland all geezy. I met all the staff and the riders that night at dinner and they were all good. Everyone was all chilled out and organised. With my teammates; I had really only met one of them before but I didn't really know anyone else. There was Luke Mudgway, (Mudgy) Nick Kergozou, (Kergy) Alex Frame (A Frame) and Marc Ryan (Dream).
Dream flew in from Italy the day before the race but everyone else had flown in from NZ the day before I got there so they were all pretty tired. The next day we all just chilled out and went for a cruisey as spin, I was a bit confused being back on the left hand side of the road but it came back to me fairly quick. That was about it really, we just chilled at the hotel after that cause everyone was pretty tired. But man! The hotel was awesome! It was a big flash 5 star hotel called the Dunboyne Castle. I was sharing a room with A Frame and we both had nice big double beds and this awesome TV that could connect to the internet so we just sat on Youtube all day pretty much.
The next day we got to go into Dublin and have a wee look around. Once in Dublin, we hopped on a tour bus and had a gander at all the attractions in Ireland like the old churches and buildings which was pretty cool to see. It was also really nice to be in an English speaking country too. We finished the tour off at the famous Guinness Factory. It was mega busy in there but it was pretty cool the history behind it all. It's like Guinness is life in Ireland. It was cool to see the history behind it all and how it's made. The tour was made even better when we found out that at the end you get a complimentary Guinness at the top of the factory. It was pretty funny, they have a wall of celebrities that have visited and a picture of them drinking a Guinness and there's Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, The Queen then on the very far corner of the wall; Ian Jones. The Kiwis made it!
We got to the top and there was nearly a full 360 view of Dublin to look at while sipping back ye ol' Guinness. It was the first Guinness I'd ever had and what a way to have it. They served them in these cool looking pint glasses so Mudgy, Kergy and I washed them out and stuffed them into our jackets to take home. We made it back to the hotel with them but I'm gutted now cause I lost it! The day before the race we packed our bags and put them in one room cause we were coming back to the same hotel on the last day but I think I forgot to put it in my bag. Oh well, it still came in handy when I was hungry and had to eat muesli from it cause we had no bowls in our room.
So yea, race day. I won't tell you the ins and outs of everyday otherwise this will become a bloody novel so I'll briefly sum up the days if I can remember them all.
Day 1: Confusing as hell. This stage was a 154,4 km and it was pretty up and down all day with rolling hills. There were so many attacks and always different people trying to get away. Eventually one big break got away after what felt like a million different attacks. But even after that break went, heaps more people kept riding away in really small groups. I got feed up and just attacked, bridged up to heap of different breaks and then we were joined by another group. I finished 28th, 4.57 mins down.
Day 2: Cold, wet and a little un-ideal ending. This stage was 137.2 km and it pissed with rain nearly all day and was pretty damn cold. Hailed a bit too. The final 25k was pretty sketchy. We were on a pretty narrow and rough road then there was quite a long and steepish hill. I managed to get over the top with the front guys and I tried to change into my bike chain ring for the downhill but my electronic gearing battery was starting to go flat and the first thing to stop working is the front derailleur so luckily I still had my back gears working. It was 10k to go from the top of the hill so I managed to keep in contact with the front guys but it sucked cause A Frame was up in the group too and he's a really good sprinter but I couldn't lead him out cause I couldn't change gears. He ended up coming 2nd behind fellow Kiwi, Aaron Gate who rides for an Irish team. I finised 20th and sat 22nd on GC
Day 3: Cold, wet and sketchy. This stage was 155.9 km and it started it off as an alright day but then it pissed with rain then it was nice then rain then nice then rain then a little hail then coming really really close to being part of a massive as crash then a little more rain and sun and then bunch time with A Frame claiming another 2nd place. I finished 28th and 19th on GC.
Day 4: Disappointing, windy and cool scenery. This stage was 155 km all the way along the coast. I was really disappointed with myself on this day because we were told that one of the teams were going to light it up in the cross wind at 25km in. But my mind seemed to be else where and when we hit the crosswind section I was too far back in the peloton and sure enough, one of the teams lit it up and the whole peloton split to pieces and I missed the front group. I finished 47th 8.31 min down and sat 30th overall. Gutted as.
Day 5: More rain, break and tailwind. This stage was 142.4 km and it was nearly all tail wind. I was pretty keen to get into the break after a disappointing day yesterday. One guy broke away in the cross tailwind section so I broke away too and bridged up to him. Then shortly after, we were joined by 15 other guys. A lot of the riders were high on GC and there were 4 guys from the very strong An Post team. There were a couple big teams that missed this split so everyone was really keen to ride super hard to stay away from the peloton. We started putting heaps of time into them and with about 25k to go I had a few digs to get away. I was hoping they would let me get away cause I was so far down on GC but it was pretty hard to get away. 3 guys managed to get away with 15k to go. I sat on the front trying to pull them back cause A Frame was in the break with me so I was trying bring everything back to try and get A Frame sussed for the sprint as he should normally win them. I sat on the front for 12 k and got no help from anyone. I couldn't quite pull them back but we were quite close. I lapped off with 3 k to go and A Frame drilled it on the front and managed to catch the very last guy of the break with a couple hundred meters before the line but the rest of the bunch sprinted over him at the end so he finished 10th. Aaron Gate, who was in that break at the end managed to win the stage again. I was just a bit off the back of the group and finished 16th and 16 seconds behind. That moved me back up to 15th on GC.
Day 6: Pretty chilled day until the end. This stage was 160.1 km and it was a pretty nice today. Me and A Frame pretty much chilled in the bunch all day until the final climb with 30km to go. There was a break up the road that stayed away. A Frame and I got over the climb with the front guys and finished 2.18 mins behind the break. I finished 23rd that stage and dropped down to 16th on GC.
Day 7: Warm but real average day. This stage was 142.4 km and I was trying really hard to get into the break but I think I tried a little too hard. It took 70km for the break to go which is a real long time. I was pretty knackered after trying to get in the break and with 7 days of racing in my legs. I then punctured which wasn't ideal but I managed to chase back on which was lucky because I punctured on the main climb and it was a cross wind all the way up it to it was pretty hard to chase back on and I had no team car to help me out because they were stuck in the convoy. I got back so all good. I just finished in the bunch in 38th place. The break stayed away so I went back a place to 17th on GC.
Day 8: Last day. This stage was 132.6 km and I was pretty tired. We wanted it to be a bunch sprint so we could get A Frame up for the win so I helped out by taking a few turns on the front near the end to try and real in the break. We had to do three 15k laps at the end that had a decent hill in it that was pretty hard. I managed to always stay in the front group and I helped A Frame get to the front with a couple hundred meters to go but 3 guys managed to stay away from the break by only 8 seconds. A Frame won the bunch kick and got 4th on the stage while I finished 25th and moved up a place to 16th in GC and 5th in U23 GC.
So all in all I really enjoyed my week in Ireland. Learnt a few things, met some cool people, saw some cool things and yea, really enjoyed. I'm gonna wrap this up quick cause it's long enough as it is. I'm off to France on Sunday for another race and yea. All jeezy.
I can't be bothered proof reading so hopefully everything makes sense and is spelt correctly.
Oh yea. If you look up on Youtube An Post Ras 2015 you can watch the highlights of each stage. I get a mention in there.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday 11 May 2015
Bout Bloody Time
Last week was alright aye. Not too much happened. I think I've fully recovered from my illness. I was doing a bit of panic training last week so I can be in shape for Ireland. I was doing over 100k rides pretty much every day and feeling really good and strong. It was bloody windy for the first few days of the week and on my 5 hour Tuesday ride it bucketed down with rain but we got blow dried shortly after. Riding in the exposed areas in the direct headwind I was struggling to do more than 25kph on a downhill. I was still feeling really motivated and really keen to keep riding though. On Wednesday I was invited to go to Zottegem and do a bunch ride with some of the Terra boys (the team I rode for last year). There's only one guy from last year riding for the team this year and also Ricky, my new roommate, is riding for them. It was windy as hell and there was constantly big black clouds rolling by so for the whole ride we were just riding to avoid the rain. At the very end of the ride, with 2k to go, it bucketed down again! Took us about 3 mins to get home from when it started raining and we were drenched. But ah well, it was nice to ride somewhere different and with some different people. Then yea, Thursday and Friday were just more big rides but this time under the fairly warm sun which was nice then Saturday Ricky and I grabbed a good old flat white in Roselare.
Then Sunday. Race day. My second kermesse of the season. I was really looking forward to it after getting 2nd at the last kermesse I did which was a few weeks ago. I had my tactics sussed and I trusted myself that my tactics would work. The break went pretty damn early, it doesn't often go this early. A group of guys rode off the front after about 12k and then a couple more guys attacked to try bridge across and then a couple more went but there was no reaction from the bunch. Normally someone would attack and then someone would jump on his wheel and then eventually the whole bunch would be on his wheel but no, not this time, they were just letting riders go. So I thought ok, I should probably bridge across cause there's some strong riders up there and no one's reacting back here so I bridged across. There was about 20 of us or so and we were all rolling through really well and riding pretty fast and that's basically how the entire race went. There were prems every lap that guys were sprinting for but I was like nope, I'm not gonna touch them cause I want to save my energy. Then yea, with about 8k to go, a rider that I hard marked to be pretty strong just casually rode off the front. I was kinda rolling through in the bunch and was at the front at the time and I turned around to see that I had a small gap on the bunch and everyone in there were just looking at each like you chase him, no you chase him, no YOU chase him. So I to kinda just casually rode off the front, caught up to the guy ahead and rode past him. He hopped on my wheel and then we turned a sharp corner and I turn around and he's not there anymore. Righto, I'll just do it myself then. Apparently after the race, Sean Joyce (who's a Kiwi and rode for Terra last year and was at the race and who's now the teammate of that guy) said that 'old mate' turned around when he was on my wheel and saw that the peloton was pretty close to catching us so he just gave up. Bet he's kicking himself now. So I just spent a lap and a half up the road by myself, picked up a prem with one lap to go and won the whole race pretty comfortably, had time to celebrate just before the finish. I was pretty stoked to finally win here, I knew it would happen soon enough. Happy that all the hard work and sacrifice is finally paying off and I reckon I could win a few more of these. So now I can tick one thing off my list and focus on my next goal.
So yea, really good week. Really looking forward to Ireland now as I think my form is looking alright. We'll see what happens there and I'll write my next blog when I get back on the 26th.
Bloody good
I'll leave a few pics below
Thanks for reading
Nick
Then Sunday. Race day. My second kermesse of the season. I was really looking forward to it after getting 2nd at the last kermesse I did which was a few weeks ago. I had my tactics sussed and I trusted myself that my tactics would work. The break went pretty damn early, it doesn't often go this early. A group of guys rode off the front after about 12k and then a couple more guys attacked to try bridge across and then a couple more went but there was no reaction from the bunch. Normally someone would attack and then someone would jump on his wheel and then eventually the whole bunch would be on his wheel but no, not this time, they were just letting riders go. So I thought ok, I should probably bridge across cause there's some strong riders up there and no one's reacting back here so I bridged across. There was about 20 of us or so and we were all rolling through really well and riding pretty fast and that's basically how the entire race went. There were prems every lap that guys were sprinting for but I was like nope, I'm not gonna touch them cause I want to save my energy. Then yea, with about 8k to go, a rider that I hard marked to be pretty strong just casually rode off the front. I was kinda rolling through in the bunch and was at the front at the time and I turned around to see that I had a small gap on the bunch and everyone in there were just looking at each like you chase him, no you chase him, no YOU chase him. So I to kinda just casually rode off the front, caught up to the guy ahead and rode past him. He hopped on my wheel and then we turned a sharp corner and I turn around and he's not there anymore. Righto, I'll just do it myself then. Apparently after the race, Sean Joyce (who's a Kiwi and rode for Terra last year and was at the race and who's now the teammate of that guy) said that 'old mate' turned around when he was on my wheel and saw that the peloton was pretty close to catching us so he just gave up. Bet he's kicking himself now. So I just spent a lap and a half up the road by myself, picked up a prem with one lap to go and won the whole race pretty comfortably, had time to celebrate just before the finish. I was pretty stoked to finally win here, I knew it would happen soon enough. Happy that all the hard work and sacrifice is finally paying off and I reckon I could win a few more of these. So now I can tick one thing off my list and focus on my next goal.
So yea, really good week. Really looking forward to Ireland now as I think my form is looking alright. We'll see what happens there and I'll write my next blog when I get back on the 26th.
Bloody good
I'll leave a few pics below
Thanks for reading
Nick
Tuesday 5 May 2015
Not My Week
Sorry for the late blog. I got home kinda late on Monday after our trip and I couldn't think of anything to write.
So last week wasn't exactly the best week. I had my stomach virus last weekend and then a cold for the rest of the week. I just felt really drowsy and had a blocked nose and just felt plain old blah. I was only riding an hour each day because I really wanted to recover from this cold as soon as possible so I can gear up for Ireland and also have a good tour in France over the weekend. We left for France on Thursday morning and I was starting to come right but I wasn't really sure how I would go after not really riding my bike that much so I was planning on just riding the race and try finish it. After 7 hours of driving we finally made it. That night it started to piss with rain and it basically didn't stop. We had the first stage the next day and it was still raining and cold. I was still pretty eager and keen to race though despite everything. When we started my legs felt amazing. I thought maybe having a week of little riding did me some good so I thought stuff it, I'll go out on the attack. I managed to get in the break with 3 other guys on the wet and hilly course. Managed to pick up some KoM points as well. But after 80k, we got to the bottom of one of the climbs and the peloton had just caught us as well and my legs just turned to concrete. I felt knackered. My legs lost all power and everything in my body was tired and sore. I wasn't even close to being able to hang on to the bunch, they flew past me. I was riding by myself for a while and then a bunch of about 12 guys caught up to me. I rode with them or a while but up one of the climbs my legs had nothing in them and I couldn't hang on. A little further on there was a long downhill to the finish (but we still had 30km and 1 lap to go before we finished) and I froze going down there. I started getting the shakes. Our team car and camper van was just before the finish and I was like stuff this, I am so cold and tired and I doubt I will even make time cut. So I took the easy way out and called a quits, something I never like to do. But yea, who knows, if I had kept going I might have gotten more sick. I was pretty gutted to see that I would've made time cut because there was one guy who was behind me and he made time cut. So for the rest of the weekend I basically chilled with my Aussie mate who's in the team as he had some mechanical troubles on the first stage and didn't finish.
Onwards and upwards though. I feel a lot better now, still a slight runny nose but it's not bloked and I feel fresh. Had a good training today with 5 hours of hilly riding but man was it windy. Sometimes it was difficult to go faster than 20kph on the flat and it pissed with rain again.
Oh yea I also got a roommate on Monday. I'm back at the house I stayed at last year and I managed to get the double bed again booyah! It's quite funny seeing all the stuff we left from last year and even some stuff I left here my first year. Found some instant coffee that me and Zeno bought last year so I had a nice coffee this morning. Roommate is another Pom who's riding for Terra and he seems alright. It was nice to ride with someone today and someone just to yarn to.
So yea that's basically it from me. Gonna do a big training block this week and prepare for Ireland. Really looking forward to Ireland, hopefully it all goes well.
So yea
Thanks for reading
Nick
So last week wasn't exactly the best week. I had my stomach virus last weekend and then a cold for the rest of the week. I just felt really drowsy and had a blocked nose and just felt plain old blah. I was only riding an hour each day because I really wanted to recover from this cold as soon as possible so I can gear up for Ireland and also have a good tour in France over the weekend. We left for France on Thursday morning and I was starting to come right but I wasn't really sure how I would go after not really riding my bike that much so I was planning on just riding the race and try finish it. After 7 hours of driving we finally made it. That night it started to piss with rain and it basically didn't stop. We had the first stage the next day and it was still raining and cold. I was still pretty eager and keen to race though despite everything. When we started my legs felt amazing. I thought maybe having a week of little riding did me some good so I thought stuff it, I'll go out on the attack. I managed to get in the break with 3 other guys on the wet and hilly course. Managed to pick up some KoM points as well. But after 80k, we got to the bottom of one of the climbs and the peloton had just caught us as well and my legs just turned to concrete. I felt knackered. My legs lost all power and everything in my body was tired and sore. I wasn't even close to being able to hang on to the bunch, they flew past me. I was riding by myself for a while and then a bunch of about 12 guys caught up to me. I rode with them or a while but up one of the climbs my legs had nothing in them and I couldn't hang on. A little further on there was a long downhill to the finish (but we still had 30km and 1 lap to go before we finished) and I froze going down there. I started getting the shakes. Our team car and camper van was just before the finish and I was like stuff this, I am so cold and tired and I doubt I will even make time cut. So I took the easy way out and called a quits, something I never like to do. But yea, who knows, if I had kept going I might have gotten more sick. I was pretty gutted to see that I would've made time cut because there was one guy who was behind me and he made time cut. So for the rest of the weekend I basically chilled with my Aussie mate who's in the team as he had some mechanical troubles on the first stage and didn't finish.
Onwards and upwards though. I feel a lot better now, still a slight runny nose but it's not bloked and I feel fresh. Had a good training today with 5 hours of hilly riding but man was it windy. Sometimes it was difficult to go faster than 20kph on the flat and it pissed with rain again.
Oh yea I also got a roommate on Monday. I'm back at the house I stayed at last year and I managed to get the double bed again booyah! It's quite funny seeing all the stuff we left from last year and even some stuff I left here my first year. Found some instant coffee that me and Zeno bought last year so I had a nice coffee this morning. Roommate is another Pom who's riding for Terra and he seems alright. It was nice to ride with someone today and someone just to yarn to.
So yea that's basically it from me. Gonna do a big training block this week and prepare for Ireland. Really looking forward to Ireland, hopefully it all goes well.
So yea
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday 20 April 2015
Still Coughing Up Dirt From Flanders
This week feels like it's gone pretty fast but it kinda hasn't. Feels like I've been over here for ages but it's only 3 weeks today. It's been a pretty cruisey week, windy but cruisey. Not too much has really happened to be honest, it's been pretty boring and quiet as I have no roommates yet. I'm hoping to have one soon cause it's starting to get fairly lonely as Andrew isn't always home as he has to work and do other things so I'm just trying to keep busy with things to keep myself occupied. There aren't a heap of kermesses on at the moment as it's the beginning of the season. There's really only one race a week around my area that I can go race, the other races are too far away.
The weather is slowly starting to get warmer and the sun is starting to come out more often, really only had one maybe two average days last week so I'm happy. It's been nice to finish some of my rides at the cafe and sitting outside in the warm sun, the wind is pretty cold but the cafe is fairly sheltered so you get some pretty sweet vitamin D in ya.
Been cooking up some pretty mean feeds as well. I haven't really had to cook for just myself before, I'm used to cooking for two or more so I'm always over dosing on dinner cause I cooked too much. Not a bad thing I guess as lunch is normally sussed for the next day. I made burgers and roast potatoes and kumara for dinner 3 nights in a row cause it tasted so good. You can buy a cheap loaf of ciabatta bread so I used that for the buns and chucked some fancy lettuce and other stuff on there to create a fancy burger. Heaps better and healthier than Maccas.
I did my first Kermesse of the season on the Sunday. The course was in the same town where I got 2nd last year and we raced a little bit on the course from last year but we turned off and did a different circuit this time. I was feeling pretty good and quietly confident. When I got home last year I couldn't stop thinking about those kermesses that I did and how most them had a pattern. I think I figured out the pattern to win one of these race so I was quite eager to get out there and race. So I was just playing it cool and really concentrating on sticking to my game plane. I manged to make a split in the field going up the climb and there were maybe 20 - 30 guys so I was like sweet, that's good. Again, I just played it cool while up in the split, tried not doing too much work and to conserve my energy. I was watching everyone and I chose two guys who looked pretty dangerous, who could win the race. With 7 laps to go there was maybe only 20 of us left and attacks started going off the front. There was still over 45 km of racing to go when this all started happening and I knew there was still a lot of eager beavers who won't want to let those riders go so I just kept an eye on the guys up the road and just sat back and made everyone else chase. They would eventually be pulled back and then another attack would go but I had a game plan and I was confident it was going to work. We pulled back the break and with 4 laps to go, the guy that I had marked attacked up the climb so I jumped across and another guy managed to get across and we rolled well together, all taking our turn on the front. The guy who bridged across after me got a flat front tyre with one lap to go so he had to pull over and get a new wheel. So it was just me and the other guy for the last lap and basically he just beat me in the sprint for the line. I'm not the best when it comes to sprinting. I have to start my sprint for the line about 10 - 15km out. The guy who won was ex pro and got 5th at the World Champs at Cyclo Cross a few years ago so he's a good rider but yea pretty gutted I couldn't get my first win. 2nd place again in that same bloody town. God damn!
But yea, I am pretty happy that I stuck to my game plan and it sort've payed off. I really do think I can win one of these races now. I have to wait till next Sunday to give it another crack.
So yea that's basically my week.
I'll leave some pictures from Flanders and from yesterdays race below
Thanks for reading
Nick
The weather is slowly starting to get warmer and the sun is starting to come out more often, really only had one maybe two average days last week so I'm happy. It's been nice to finish some of my rides at the cafe and sitting outside in the warm sun, the wind is pretty cold but the cafe is fairly sheltered so you get some pretty sweet vitamin D in ya.
Been cooking up some pretty mean feeds as well. I haven't really had to cook for just myself before, I'm used to cooking for two or more so I'm always over dosing on dinner cause I cooked too much. Not a bad thing I guess as lunch is normally sussed for the next day. I made burgers and roast potatoes and kumara for dinner 3 nights in a row cause it tasted so good. You can buy a cheap loaf of ciabatta bread so I used that for the buns and chucked some fancy lettuce and other stuff on there to create a fancy burger. Heaps better and healthier than Maccas.
I did my first Kermesse of the season on the Sunday. The course was in the same town where I got 2nd last year and we raced a little bit on the course from last year but we turned off and did a different circuit this time. I was feeling pretty good and quietly confident. When I got home last year I couldn't stop thinking about those kermesses that I did and how most them had a pattern. I think I figured out the pattern to win one of these race so I was quite eager to get out there and race. So I was just playing it cool and really concentrating on sticking to my game plane. I manged to make a split in the field going up the climb and there were maybe 20 - 30 guys so I was like sweet, that's good. Again, I just played it cool while up in the split, tried not doing too much work and to conserve my energy. I was watching everyone and I chose two guys who looked pretty dangerous, who could win the race. With 7 laps to go there was maybe only 20 of us left and attacks started going off the front. There was still over 45 km of racing to go when this all started happening and I knew there was still a lot of eager beavers who won't want to let those riders go so I just kept an eye on the guys up the road and just sat back and made everyone else chase. They would eventually be pulled back and then another attack would go but I had a game plan and I was confident it was going to work. We pulled back the break and with 4 laps to go, the guy that I had marked attacked up the climb so I jumped across and another guy managed to get across and we rolled well together, all taking our turn on the front. The guy who bridged across after me got a flat front tyre with one lap to go so he had to pull over and get a new wheel. So it was just me and the other guy for the last lap and basically he just beat me in the sprint for the line. I'm not the best when it comes to sprinting. I have to start my sprint for the line about 10 - 15km out. The guy who won was ex pro and got 5th at the World Champs at Cyclo Cross a few years ago so he's a good rider but yea pretty gutted I couldn't get my first win. 2nd place again in that same bloody town. God damn!
But yea, I am pretty happy that I stuck to my game plan and it sort've payed off. I really do think I can win one of these races now. I have to wait till next Sunday to give it another crack.
So yea that's basically my week.
I'll leave some pictures from Flanders and from yesterdays race below
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday 13 April 2015
Hidely-Ho, Neighbourino! Shut Up, Flanders
Last week was a big week for me. Managed to squeeze in a race before the big U23 Rhonda van Vlaanderen, also known as Tour of Flanders. On the Wednesday I had my first team race with Pro Race at the 1.12 Scheldeprijs which is a smallish race and good place to warm the legs up for Saturday. Scheldeprijs is also a professional race held at the same time so while we were racing, the pros were out on a different course nearby and then race the final few laps on the same course we just did 6x so there was a big crowd at the finish line which was cool to see. I got in the break with 2 strong Lotto riders and two weaker riders who could hardly roll through. The Lotto riders and I were pulling some pretty hard strong turns but we only got in front by just over 30 seconds and then after a hard 40km of riding the peleton caught us which sucked. I was kinda swinging for the rest of the race and I was just hanging on the back of the bunch for the rest of the race cause I was pretty knackered but it was good to blow some of the cob webs out of my legs.
Now with Flanders. I was pretty damn nervous the morning of the race. I had heard some scary strories about the race being really hectic and one of my roommates last year had raced it and he broke his wrist and was out of action for 2 months so that's why I was nervous. Once I got to the meeting place and met up with the rest of the boys my nerves eased off. It was a pretty cold day and it had been raining in the morning so the cobbles will be nice and slippery. As the flag dropped the war began. It was a massive battle to stay up the front and everyone wanted to be in the break away because it was the safest place to be. My job for the day was to try and get into the break so I had a few digs. Zeno attacked off the front with one other guy and I was at the very front of the race so I sat up expecting people to attack or try and chase him down and the plan was when he got caught then I would counter attack and hopefully start a break but surprisingly no one chased him down. Zeno dropped the one other guy he was his so Zeno was by himself for a couple hours. I just stayed in the bunch, helped out Hayden who was the team leader and tried holding my position at the front which was still a battle. I've never had so many elbow and shoulder battles with riders in a race before but you had to do it to stay at the front. Take no prisoners. You have to do everything you can to stay up the front and out of trouble. The race route was one big lap and then two smaller laps. The smaller laps had all the cobble sections and climbs in it so that's where the race really starts and the war steps up a level. There was a feed station not long before we started the small laps so I grabbed a feed bag and filled my pockets up and tried eating as much as I could but in doing this I was at the back of the race and not long after it started to piss with rain. I couldn't move up because we were on a narrow road for ages and the bunch was riding quite slow so we were all bunched up across the road so I couldn't get to the front. We then came out on a big road, into a cross headwind and uphill and everyone was fisting it because at the top of the hill we would hook a left on to a 2km cobble section. I was still at the back here trying to move up going up this climb but I was really struggling. We hit the cobbles and I had moved up a bit but not enough and I basically lost contact with the front guys there. It was all strung out and everyone was letting the wheel go in front of them. Came around a corner on the cobble section and my teammate and friend James Judd was on the ground and not in good shape and just up ahead was Hayden who had binned it as well so I pulled over thinking he might have had a flat tyre so I would've give him my wheel but his whole pedal had busted so he just told me to go. I was really suffering and we still had the Koppenburg to come which is a famously steep cobble climb. We got to it and everyone got off there bikes and walked cause your back wheel would just spin out on the wet cobbles.Then near the top where it wasn't as steep you would have spectators helping you back on your bike and giving you a push to get you going again. Zeno, Hayden and a few other guys managed to bridge across to the small group I was in and then Zeno and I started feeding it to try and get Hayden back up to the front guys but I was pretty rooted and we still had one more small lap to go. I got dropped up one of the cobble climbs but I continued on cause I just wanted to finish and I did which I'm happy about. Came 3rd to last out of the finishers but less than half of the field finished so I'm happy. I wasn't at my best on the day after travelling over here just a little over a week before the race and taking a few days to get settled in and do some decent rides but I think I could have lasted a bit longer if I had hit that 2km cobble section with the front guys. I know the roads out there quite well so I know how to ride the cobbles and how tight the corners are and what not so I did have bit of an advantage over some of the riders but yea I couldn't quite get there so I am gutted about that.
To sum up the race; I would say it was a terrifyingly shitty epicly awesome race. Terrifying because of the amount of crashes and near misses. Shitty because of the weather, the cobbles, the steep climbs, the sore ass, fingers and legs. Epic because it felt like the pro race you see on tv with the cold rain, the mud all over you and in your mouth and racing the same roads as them. And awesome because I got to cross the line while wearing the Sliver Fern.
So yea, I best wrap this up cause she's bit of a long one.
I'll put some pictures up of the race next week. My phone isn't corroborating so I can't upload them
Thanks for reading
Nick
Now with Flanders. I was pretty damn nervous the morning of the race. I had heard some scary strories about the race being really hectic and one of my roommates last year had raced it and he broke his wrist and was out of action for 2 months so that's why I was nervous. Once I got to the meeting place and met up with the rest of the boys my nerves eased off. It was a pretty cold day and it had been raining in the morning so the cobbles will be nice and slippery. As the flag dropped the war began. It was a massive battle to stay up the front and everyone wanted to be in the break away because it was the safest place to be. My job for the day was to try and get into the break so I had a few digs. Zeno attacked off the front with one other guy and I was at the very front of the race so I sat up expecting people to attack or try and chase him down and the plan was when he got caught then I would counter attack and hopefully start a break but surprisingly no one chased him down. Zeno dropped the one other guy he was his so Zeno was by himself for a couple hours. I just stayed in the bunch, helped out Hayden who was the team leader and tried holding my position at the front which was still a battle. I've never had so many elbow and shoulder battles with riders in a race before but you had to do it to stay at the front. Take no prisoners. You have to do everything you can to stay up the front and out of trouble. The race route was one big lap and then two smaller laps. The smaller laps had all the cobble sections and climbs in it so that's where the race really starts and the war steps up a level. There was a feed station not long before we started the small laps so I grabbed a feed bag and filled my pockets up and tried eating as much as I could but in doing this I was at the back of the race and not long after it started to piss with rain. I couldn't move up because we were on a narrow road for ages and the bunch was riding quite slow so we were all bunched up across the road so I couldn't get to the front. We then came out on a big road, into a cross headwind and uphill and everyone was fisting it because at the top of the hill we would hook a left on to a 2km cobble section. I was still at the back here trying to move up going up this climb but I was really struggling. We hit the cobbles and I had moved up a bit but not enough and I basically lost contact with the front guys there. It was all strung out and everyone was letting the wheel go in front of them. Came around a corner on the cobble section and my teammate and friend James Judd was on the ground and not in good shape and just up ahead was Hayden who had binned it as well so I pulled over thinking he might have had a flat tyre so I would've give him my wheel but his whole pedal had busted so he just told me to go. I was really suffering and we still had the Koppenburg to come which is a famously steep cobble climb. We got to it and everyone got off there bikes and walked cause your back wheel would just spin out on the wet cobbles.Then near the top where it wasn't as steep you would have spectators helping you back on your bike and giving you a push to get you going again. Zeno, Hayden and a few other guys managed to bridge across to the small group I was in and then Zeno and I started feeding it to try and get Hayden back up to the front guys but I was pretty rooted and we still had one more small lap to go. I got dropped up one of the cobble climbs but I continued on cause I just wanted to finish and I did which I'm happy about. Came 3rd to last out of the finishers but less than half of the field finished so I'm happy. I wasn't at my best on the day after travelling over here just a little over a week before the race and taking a few days to get settled in and do some decent rides but I think I could have lasted a bit longer if I had hit that 2km cobble section with the front guys. I know the roads out there quite well so I know how to ride the cobbles and how tight the corners are and what not so I did have bit of an advantage over some of the riders but yea I couldn't quite get there so I am gutted about that.
To sum up the race; I would say it was a terrifyingly shitty epicly awesome race. Terrifying because of the amount of crashes and near misses. Shitty because of the weather, the cobbles, the steep climbs, the sore ass, fingers and legs. Epic because it felt like the pro race you see on tv with the cold rain, the mud all over you and in your mouth and racing the same roads as them. And awesome because I got to cross the line while wearing the Sliver Fern.
So yea, I best wrap this up cause she's bit of a long one.
I'll put some pictures up of the race next week. My phone isn't corroborating so I can't upload them
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday 6 April 2015
Back In The Big B
Well, I'm back. Made it over here without too much hassle... Had a sweet flight cause I managed to score the very front seat of the row all the way to Dubai so I had heaps of leg room but the only down side was that I was sitting next to a mum and her baby. Little Josh didn't like flying and he let everyone know that. Lucky I had noise cancelling headphones. Once he was asleep he was alright. Managed to sleep quite a bit on the Melbourne to Dubai leg of the journey which is the longest trip so time went pretty fast. Had a couple hours in Dubai so I just grabbed some taka and we boarded the flight to London but everyone had to change seats. I knew I had an aisle which I was happy about but now it was just where and who will I be sitting next to. Got on the plane and I was counting down the rows while we were all stuck in a traffic jam and I kinda roughly counted I would be the last row before the toilets. I was just praying that I was right. It would be luxury because I could just put my seat back without disturbing anyone and the toilets were right there. And wouldn't you know it; I was right! Booyah! Luxury! But again there's always a downside. I had an endless supply of asses in my face from people waiting for the toilet.
But yea I made it through Heathrow and Brussles all good and met Andrew at the airport so it was all good. But man it's cold here. First few days have been stupidly cold like it doesn't go above 10 degrees. Like 7 - 9 degrees doesn't seem that bad when you compare it -20 or something but when you've come straight out of a good New Zealand summer then yea, it feels like it's -20. I've been wearing track pants and a jumper to bed every night. It's been really depressing weather too with a strong cold wind and dark grey overcast clouds and light rain through out the day and heavy rain at night. But yesterday was finally a really nice day; clear blue sky. My alarm went off at 7.30am and I crustily opened my eyes a bit to turn it off and then I noticed this weird thing coming through my window and curtains. IT WAS SUNLIGHT! Hadn't seen that thing in a while. I actually bounced out of bed and stared through the window for a good 5 mins. I was doubly excited cause it was Tour of Flanders and me and Andrew were gonna go ride out and watch them go past. We started riding on the course towards Brugge which is where they start and there were already heaps of people lining the streets waiting to catch a glimpse of the riders. At this time it was around 9.30am - 10am and people were already cracking in to beers and there were bands playing and people had set up little bars in their garages. That's one of the reasons why Tour of Flanders is such a famous race. We just did a U turn and headed back towards home along the course and there were even more people on the side of the road. We then pulled over and waited for the riders to come past. When they went passed I managed to spot a few of the Kiwi riders who were racing and it was cool to see fellow Kiwi, Jesse Sergent, up in the break. Sucked to watch him get hit by the neutral car though. Then yea we just watched the rest of the race back home on the TV.
There were also a bunch of Swedish guys who came down here to ride some of the famous roads in Belgium. One of the Swedish guys new this Belgy guy and so the Swedish dude organised a group of guys to come down and the Belgy fella, including Andrew, showed these Swedes around. We rode out to Roubaix and did some of the famous cobble sections that they do in Paris-Roubaix which was awesome. I've always wanted to ride them and they are by far the roughest cobbles over ridden on. We then rode to the famous velodrome in Roubaix where they finish the race. It was always a dream to ride a lap of the Roubaix velodrome and I got to do it. Then the next day we rode out and did some of the famous cobble climbs and sections in Tour of Flanders. I have ridden those roads a lot so it was nothing new to me but we rode it 2 days before Tour of Flanders started so people were setting up these massive tents and stands on all the important sections of the race and there were lots of people riding there bikes trying to get a feel of what it's like to race Flanders so that was pretty cool to see.
So yea I'm just trying to get readjusted to the Belgy lifestyle again. I still remember a few Flemish words which is goed (good). So now I just need to get some good training under my belt for U23 Flanders which is next Saturday. Hopefully all goes well for that.
Yea that's pretty much it. Got no roommates at the moment but I've got a few friends who don't live too far away so I can always go training with them.
So yea, I've left a few a photos at the bottom.
Thanks for reading
Nick
But yea I made it through Heathrow and Brussles all good and met Andrew at the airport so it was all good. But man it's cold here. First few days have been stupidly cold like it doesn't go above 10 degrees. Like 7 - 9 degrees doesn't seem that bad when you compare it -20 or something but when you've come straight out of a good New Zealand summer then yea, it feels like it's -20. I've been wearing track pants and a jumper to bed every night. It's been really depressing weather too with a strong cold wind and dark grey overcast clouds and light rain through out the day and heavy rain at night. But yesterday was finally a really nice day; clear blue sky. My alarm went off at 7.30am and I crustily opened my eyes a bit to turn it off and then I noticed this weird thing coming through my window and curtains. IT WAS SUNLIGHT! Hadn't seen that thing in a while. I actually bounced out of bed and stared through the window for a good 5 mins. I was doubly excited cause it was Tour of Flanders and me and Andrew were gonna go ride out and watch them go past. We started riding on the course towards Brugge which is where they start and there were already heaps of people lining the streets waiting to catch a glimpse of the riders. At this time it was around 9.30am - 10am and people were already cracking in to beers and there were bands playing and people had set up little bars in their garages. That's one of the reasons why Tour of Flanders is such a famous race. We just did a U turn and headed back towards home along the course and there were even more people on the side of the road. We then pulled over and waited for the riders to come past. When they went passed I managed to spot a few of the Kiwi riders who were racing and it was cool to see fellow Kiwi, Jesse Sergent, up in the break. Sucked to watch him get hit by the neutral car though. Then yea we just watched the rest of the race back home on the TV.
There were also a bunch of Swedish guys who came down here to ride some of the famous roads in Belgium. One of the Swedish guys new this Belgy guy and so the Swedish dude organised a group of guys to come down and the Belgy fella, including Andrew, showed these Swedes around. We rode out to Roubaix and did some of the famous cobble sections that they do in Paris-Roubaix which was awesome. I've always wanted to ride them and they are by far the roughest cobbles over ridden on. We then rode to the famous velodrome in Roubaix where they finish the race. It was always a dream to ride a lap of the Roubaix velodrome and I got to do it. Then the next day we rode out and did some of the famous cobble climbs and sections in Tour of Flanders. I have ridden those roads a lot so it was nothing new to me but we rode it 2 days before Tour of Flanders started so people were setting up these massive tents and stands on all the important sections of the race and there were lots of people riding there bikes trying to get a feel of what it's like to race Flanders so that was pretty cool to see.
So yea I'm just trying to get readjusted to the Belgy lifestyle again. I still remember a few Flemish words which is goed (good). So now I just need to get some good training under my belt for U23 Flanders which is next Saturday. Hopefully all goes well for that.
Yea that's pretty much it. Got no roommates at the moment but I've got a few friends who don't live too far away so I can always go training with them.
So yea, I've left a few a photos at the bottom.
 |
| The back of the velodrom in Roubaix |
 |
| The velodrome grandstand |
 |
| Just flashing my NZ sponsors at Flanders. Too cold to take my jacket off |
Thanks for reading
Nick
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