Sorry about the late blog. Got home from France on Sunday night at around 10.30pm, then I just completely forgot on Monday until I remembered at 1am when I couldn't sleep, then last night we got called over to Andrews for a few final beers and a few rounds of Scum (I'm still champion).
But yea the tour didn't go too badly for me. The good news is my knee is a lot better, had no problems with it through out the tour or in training so I'm really happy about that. Was getting really bored and annoyed not being able to race or train. Stage 1 I felt fairly good, wasn't expecting much from myself for the whole tour because I hadn't done much racing and done little training building up for it so I took it fairly easy in the beginning. Oh yea I just remembered, I raced that crit on Monday and managed to score so bucks from that, that race was the tester for my knee and it passed with flying colours and then I raced on Wednesday and spent 15k out the front by myself to collect some prem money then I blew tits and didn't finish so that was a good base line to see how well I was going after not riding much.
But yea then the race in France I was feeling pretty good. I had to bridge a big gap across to one of the splits and then from there I finished around 36th on that stage about 4 mins behind the first group. The first group had Zeno in it and he finished 6th and won the Most Aggressive rider prize so he got to wear a nice fluro jersey and got a giant toy pig which is bloody good.
The next stage started with a 15km Time Trial in the morning and then 109km stage in the afternoon. Didn't have a TT bike so I was never gonna win it but I felt pretty good. The course was fairly flat through the town but bloody hell there was a lot of traffic to dodge. After the town you hook it left and start the 3km climb. Felt pretty good up there and I started catching my minute man (The guy ahead of me) who was my teammate, Josh, who was on a TT bike. Once you get to the top you go flying down hill, I hit 88kph going down there, and then it's a slight down hill for about 7km but it was headwind so it was pretty hard. Then you enter the main town again then to the finish. It was not too bad of a ride considering I was on a road bike but I probably could have shed some more time off it if it wasn't for the bloody Frenchys. The organisers and marshals were useless as. I had cars pulling out in front of me or I would catch up to them and they wouldn't move out of the way or they were blocking the intersection where I needed to turn or I would have some bloody old mate Frenchy start crossing the road then stop in the middle of the road to have a good old argument with the marshal. Bloody Frenchys! Made it a very interesting TT. Still finished 18th, first out of the guys with road bikes, unfortunately there's no prize for that; there should be though.
Stage 3 my legs were pretty kaput at the start. Was just cruising around in the bunch all day pretty much until we started turning left on to another road and then we had a bunch of marshals waving there arms screaming at us telling us that that's the wrong way. So we continued going on straight and then turned left down the next road and then in the bunch there was a lot of yelling going on and then the big riders like the leader of the race and the U23 French Champion and a couple other big guys went to the front and just told everyone to stop. Apparently the break that was up the road had gone the wrong way so we had to wait 10mins for the race to get back on track and then we started again. With 10k to go there were a couple big climbs that split the whole bunch up. I ended up in the 3rd bunch with Zeno so I sat on the front and drilled the crap out of it to try and catch back up so Zeno doesn't lose too much time. Finished 30 odd secs behind the first group in 49th so Zeno didn't lose too much time.
Last stage was the longest with 170km of up and down. Legs were feeling the purest form of crap for the first 1.5 hours of the race. There was a big climb in the first 10km that everyone smashed it on so that split up the bunch but I still managed to keep up with the bunch, just. There was a big split up the road though with Zeno in it so I could sit back a bit because we had a rider up the road. Was really struggling in the first 1.5 hours but after attacking up one of the hills to bridge across to one of the splits my legs felt heaps better. Managed to get into a break with about 90km to go and felt really good. With about 20k to go we got caught by a big split behind us. I was a bit tired so I slipped to the back of the bunch which was the worst thing to do. Pretty much as soon I got to the back, we went up a massive and steep climb. Just got spat out the back going up the climb and couldn't quite back on. I'm so stupid. Rode the last 15km with 3 other guys and finished 37th around 3mins behind the winner. I think I finished 29th or something overall.
All in all it wasn't too bad. So that was pretty much the last race of the European season for me. Off to Paris tomorrow now, staying in Brussels tonight and then catching the train to Paris early tomorrow, so excited for that.
It's been bloody nice here too. Clear blue skies and really hot, got up to 25 degrees yesterday and it's looking really nice again today. Bloody good.
So yea that's it from me. Might do one last quick blog on Monday. One week today till I head home whoop whoop.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Wednesday, 17 September 2014
Sunday, 7 September 2014
Swedish Balls
So yea it's been another quiet week for me. Been battling with a bung knee all week and couldn't ride too much. Normally, after about 30 mins of riding I would slowly start getting pain in my left knee. So on Saturday I went off to the physio/osteopath and he's seem to of straightened me up. He clicked my back and straightened up my pelvis and put some real hot stuff on my sore knee and it's already feeling better. Refitted my bike also cause I think that's what started the problem.
Managed to do a 50min ride this morning and then a 2hr 15min ride this afternoon with no real trouble so I think all is good. I was asked to do a criterium on Monday evening, (a crit is basically a shorter version of a kermesse) I wasn't sure if I was gonna do it because of my knee but I think I might give it a crack now because every lap you can win 6 bottles of champagne and then the next lap you can win money if you're first across the line so there's a lot of money and champagne up for grabs. Never done a crit over here as well and knee is feeling better.
Saturday was a pretty busy day, first rode out to the physio, then went to Kortrijk and got my hair cut (you're welcome mum) and then Andrew took us up to Ghent to go to the IKEA store. We told him that we had never been to IKEA cause there's none in NZ and he couldn't believe it. The place is massive! You could basically live in there for your whole life. Everything you need to build the inside of a house is in there. The place was packed as well, so many people! And to finish off the trip, we had afternoon tea at IKEA. Andrew bought us some frits with some weird Swedish sausage balls, tasted pretty good though. Someone should bring IKEA to NZ cause they would make a heap of money. Maybe I should do it.
But other than that it's been a boring as week. Not being able to race or train was doing my head cause time was going so slow and I wasn't making any money from the Kermesses. Really hope my knee is 100% now so I can start racing and training again and also do this tour in France on Friday. Might win me another iPad. Oh yea Zeno bought my iPad off me so that paid for most of my rent, bloody good stuff that is.
Ahhh yea. Can't really think of anything else to write about. Not a lot has happened. The cafe that does flat whites is opening again on Wednesday after about 3 weeks of being closed so we're going there as soon as old mate unlocks the door.
So yea, that's me for another week.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Managed to do a 50min ride this morning and then a 2hr 15min ride this afternoon with no real trouble so I think all is good. I was asked to do a criterium on Monday evening, (a crit is basically a shorter version of a kermesse) I wasn't sure if I was gonna do it because of my knee but I think I might give it a crack now because every lap you can win 6 bottles of champagne and then the next lap you can win money if you're first across the line so there's a lot of money and champagne up for grabs. Never done a crit over here as well and knee is feeling better.
Saturday was a pretty busy day, first rode out to the physio, then went to Kortrijk and got my hair cut (you're welcome mum) and then Andrew took us up to Ghent to go to the IKEA store. We told him that we had never been to IKEA cause there's none in NZ and he couldn't believe it. The place is massive! You could basically live in there for your whole life. Everything you need to build the inside of a house is in there. The place was packed as well, so many people! And to finish off the trip, we had afternoon tea at IKEA. Andrew bought us some frits with some weird Swedish sausage balls, tasted pretty good though. Someone should bring IKEA to NZ cause they would make a heap of money. Maybe I should do it.
But other than that it's been a boring as week. Not being able to race or train was doing my head cause time was going so slow and I wasn't making any money from the Kermesses. Really hope my knee is 100% now so I can start racing and training again and also do this tour in France on Friday. Might win me another iPad. Oh yea Zeno bought my iPad off me so that paid for most of my rent, bloody good stuff that is.
Ahhh yea. Can't really think of anything else to write about. Not a lot has happened. The cafe that does flat whites is opening again on Wednesday after about 3 weeks of being closed so we're going there as soon as old mate unlocks the door.
So yea, that's me for another week.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday, 1 September 2014
Quick Game is a Good Game
Sorry about the late blog. Was about to write my blog yesterday but I was called over to play cards and I am the game of Scum King.
But yea last week wasn't the best of weeks. Picked up bit of an injury in my left knee after a race I did on Wednesday. I felt it through out the race but I carried on through and still managed to finish 80 something. It was a big memorial kermesse so there were a lot of riders. Didn't really think to much of it so I raced the next day at a kermesse cause there was a lot of money up for grabs but that just made it worse. I was up in the break at the start of the race but my knee was getting more and more sore so I dropped out.
Have had a few days of the bike now trying to get it sussed.
We went out to the coast on Friday for something to do cause it was a wet and boring day. The coast is the place to be in the summer apparently so there were a heap of people from different countries. I don't see what's exciting about it cause it's an ugly looking beach with heaps of shops and tall buildings behind it. But yea we just hung around there for most of the day and ate waffles and drank coffee cause it was just pissing with rain and cold and windy.
Also went out to Ghent on Sunday for most of the day. We were going to go and have all you can eat ribs for dinner but we just ended up at pizza hut. It was heaps more fun going to Ghent than staying inside all day cause I can't really ride with my knee at the moment.
The Irish guy, Connor, is going home tomorrow so we're going to go round to Andrews and have a couple beers and play cards so that's why I'm rushing this blog.
I'll write a better one next week, promise. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on the bike this week and kill some time.
Yeeeea sorry for the short blog and the spelling mistakes (I'm sure there's some in there)
Thanks for reading
Nick
But yea last week wasn't the best of weeks. Picked up bit of an injury in my left knee after a race I did on Wednesday. I felt it through out the race but I carried on through and still managed to finish 80 something. It was a big memorial kermesse so there were a lot of riders. Didn't really think to much of it so I raced the next day at a kermesse cause there was a lot of money up for grabs but that just made it worse. I was up in the break at the start of the race but my knee was getting more and more sore so I dropped out.
Have had a few days of the bike now trying to get it sussed.
We went out to the coast on Friday for something to do cause it was a wet and boring day. The coast is the place to be in the summer apparently so there were a heap of people from different countries. I don't see what's exciting about it cause it's an ugly looking beach with heaps of shops and tall buildings behind it. But yea we just hung around there for most of the day and ate waffles and drank coffee cause it was just pissing with rain and cold and windy.
Also went out to Ghent on Sunday for most of the day. We were going to go and have all you can eat ribs for dinner but we just ended up at pizza hut. It was heaps more fun going to Ghent than staying inside all day cause I can't really ride with my knee at the moment.
The Irish guy, Connor, is going home tomorrow so we're going to go round to Andrews and have a couple beers and play cards so that's why I'm rushing this blog.
I'll write a better one next week, promise. Hopefully I'll be able to get back on the bike this week and kill some time.
Yeeeea sorry for the short blog and the spelling mistakes (I'm sure there's some in there)
Thanks for reading
Nick
Sunday, 24 August 2014
Just A Quiet One
Been a pretty chilled out week this week. Haven't done too much exciting as the weather has been crappy as for most of the week. We keep getting these massive black clouds rolling through that are filled with torrential rain and lightning. Pretty over riding in the rain and cold. It's bloody cold here now too, definitely coming into Autumn. The sun, when it's out, is usually pretty warm but the wind quickly destroys that warmth and puts ice into your bones. Yesterday we were out riding and then out of no where a massive black cloud appears with lightning and then the temperature drops to freezing and then starts bucketing down. Was so cold! Got a bloody puncture too when the rain first hit us so we had to chill under a bridge and change it, not ideal at all.
But yea on Tuesday, Zeno and I went up to Antwerp for the day to have a little gander around. I've only been to Antwerp once early last year and it was pouring with snow so it was cool to see it in a new light. It was still a cold and windy day though. It's quite a busy place with lots of shops mainly and a few hundred Italian pizza restaurants so for lunch we decided to be a bit more cultural and have some Belgium/Antwerp cuisine. We had pizza at one of the Italian restaurants. But we used a knife and fork to eat it cause we are sophisticated as. The pizza was alright but it's no Hell pizza. Can't wait to get home and have some Hells. Antwerp got pretty boring pretty quickly. It's mainly just shopping stores so we did have a wander through some of the stores but there was nothing else exciting going on.
Went to a race on Wednesday to try and win some bucks. Zeno and I managed to get into the break at the beginning of the race with 3 other guys. We were working well together and we pretty much stayed away until the end. A small group of about 4 caught up to us with 3k to go so I finished 8th. I didn't feel amazing the whole race but I still felt goodish but I just had no sprint at the end. Still managed to win two 25euro prems and 30euro for finishing 8th. Zeno and I are going up to Paris with two other Kiwi boys who are riding here at the end of September so most of that money has gone to pay for the train ticket. I've got a 'Paris' jar that will hopefully be full of cash from Kermesse winnings.
So yea that was basically my week. One month today until I leave here. Can't wait to get home. Getting a bit tired of this place, miss the New Zealand way of life. I was watching the live commentary on the All Blacks game on Saturday and it sounded like a hell of a game. Record breaking score against the Wallabies! Good stuff ABs.
Yep. That's pretty much all from me.
Thanks for reading
Nick
But yea on Tuesday, Zeno and I went up to Antwerp for the day to have a little gander around. I've only been to Antwerp once early last year and it was pouring with snow so it was cool to see it in a new light. It was still a cold and windy day though. It's quite a busy place with lots of shops mainly and a few hundred Italian pizza restaurants so for lunch we decided to be a bit more cultural and have some Belgium/Antwerp cuisine. We had pizza at one of the Italian restaurants. But we used a knife and fork to eat it cause we are sophisticated as. The pizza was alright but it's no Hell pizza. Can't wait to get home and have some Hells. Antwerp got pretty boring pretty quickly. It's mainly just shopping stores so we did have a wander through some of the stores but there was nothing else exciting going on.
Went to a race on Wednesday to try and win some bucks. Zeno and I managed to get into the break at the beginning of the race with 3 other guys. We were working well together and we pretty much stayed away until the end. A small group of about 4 caught up to us with 3k to go so I finished 8th. I didn't feel amazing the whole race but I still felt goodish but I just had no sprint at the end. Still managed to win two 25euro prems and 30euro for finishing 8th. Zeno and I are going up to Paris with two other Kiwi boys who are riding here at the end of September so most of that money has gone to pay for the train ticket. I've got a 'Paris' jar that will hopefully be full of cash from Kermesse winnings.
So yea that was basically my week. One month today until I leave here. Can't wait to get home. Getting a bit tired of this place, miss the New Zealand way of life. I was watching the live commentary on the All Blacks game on Saturday and it sounded like a hell of a game. Record breaking score against the Wallabies! Good stuff ABs.
Yep. That's pretty much all from me.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday, 18 August 2014
Not Ideal
Well, that sucked. Couldn't of asked for a crappier week. Only one day at the tour that it didn't rain which can only mean one thing... Carnage.
Before the tour started I had already decided I would have a crack at the General Classification (overall lead) so that would mean I would have to be very smart and well positioned through out the race. Last couple of tours I've always been going for stage wins or Sprints or KOMs. First day was pretty full gas with a lot of wind and a bit of rain. I had good position up the front for the first half of the race but I slacked off a bit and crept back to the middle of the bunch. We headed into a wooded area and the road was soaking wet from a passing shower and just as we were coming out of the woods there was a big crash that spread across the whole road so I had to throw down the anchors and come to pretty much a complete stand still. Was bloody lucky to stop in time because I was hauling ass on the inside because I had decided that I needed to start moving up just before the crash happened. Because of that crash, a big split got away from us and stayed away until the finish. There were heaps of small bunches through out the course at I finished about 2 minutes down with some small bunch. I was sitting 40th or so on GC so I just thought stuff it, I'm just going to go for stage wins again because there's only one way to move up on GC and that's by being in a successful break away group so I'll take my chances.
Stage 2 was a quiet day for me as Zeno was up in the break for most of the day so all I did was ride in the bunch and conserve for the next few days. Zeno and the break got caught about 30km from the end or so and it was just a bunch sprint. Lotto Belisol U23, which is a really good team, was in the lead so they just controlled the race for the whole day.
Now day 3 is where stuff got interesting. As we sit in the carpark getting changed for the race a big black cloud rolls over top of us and it starts pouring with rain and there were big cracks of lightning every couple of minutes. We were all thinking stuff this! The rain eased up just before the start but it was still freezing. The rain gave me really good motivation to be either in a break or right up the front of the race cause I knew it would be complete chaos behind us. I went up the road fairly early and got into a small break but we got caught not too long after but I made sure I stayed right up near the front. About 15 guys just rolled off the front and no one in the bunch was chasing them so I decided to attack by myself and I bridged up to them. A few more guys, including quite a few Lotto Belisol riders, bridged up to us and the Lotto riders went straight to the front and started hammering it. I quickly turned around and I couldn't see anyone behind us so I just thought sweet, I'm moving up on GC today cause we have the leader of the race and all his teammates in the bunch with us and they were drilling the crap out of it. But not long after, the lead car stops in front of us and tells us to stop. Apparently there was heaps of carnage behind us and over half the peleton had crashed. It was a bloody stupid course because they had diagonal railway crossings and everyone was binning it on them because it was wet so we had to stop and wait for them. Everyone in the group was pissed as. The neutralized the race until we had gotten through all the railway crossings and then we started again. It was another bloody windy day so I made sure I was right up near the front. Lotto was again on the front just drilling the crap out of it and they were splitting up the whole bunch. I managed to keep in contact in them until we hit 45km in. We were all single file in the left gutter and we were riding on nice smooth tar seal so between the gutter and the road there was like a small lip where the tar seal is higher than the gutter. I was riding right on the edge of that and leaning towards the right a bit because the wind was blowing from left to right. I think an extra strong gust of wind just pushed me of the road so my front wheel was in the gutter but I was still leaning to the right so my front wheel wanted to go back up on the road but because the road was still a bit wet it didn't grip on to the road so it just slid and I was still leaning right so I just fully decked it at 45kph and tore up my right side. I got up pretty quick and put my bottles back in and hoped back on my bike but some how my pedals and cleats were covered in mud and sand so I couldn't get my left cleat clipped in, it just kept pulling out so I had to pull over again and spray my cleats and pedals with water to get rid of the mud. Mean while I'm doing this, a heap of small bunches coming riding past me so I was loosing valuable time to catch back up to the main group. I got motor paced by the team car up to a small group and we eventually caught up to some slightly bigger group but no one was working and they pulled us out of the race with 45km to go. Was not ideal but still got to start the next day. Bit of road rash on the old right thigh, leg and elbow but all ok.
4th day was pretty chilled again as Zeno got up in the break again so I got to chill out all day. I did try to go solo with 2km to go but got caught with 800m to go. That tactic rarely works but hey, it's worth a shot, nothing to lose.
Day 5 was another cold wet windy day. Managed to get in a small break but only for 5km when one team, for no reason, decided to mow us down. Was bloody pissed because there was no one dangerous to GC in that group so we got chased down for no reason. A group of 3 riders went up the road but I missed that break. They were about a minute 30 up the road and the peleton was riding really slow and I was really bored so I decided to smack it up the road with some other guy in the block head wind. We were working well together and again, the same team decided to drill us back for no reason. They were about 20 meters behind us and the guy I was with sat up and went back to the bunch but I was bloody pissed off so I just attacked again and went solo. They let me go and I slowly caught up to the break. They were about 1.5 minutes up the road and I got to about 15 seconds behind them when I could start feeling my back tire going soft. Got myself a bloody puncture. There were a few team cars and race officials behind me so I pointed at my rear wheel and a team car came up next to me and I told them I had a puncture so I pulled over and got a wheel change. It was some random team car and the team mechanic was an absolute douche. He lazily got out of the and started to walk towards me but luckily the driver rushed out and told the mechanic to come on and took the wheel from him and put it in my bike. So before that I was 15 seconds behind them and after the wheel change I was at least 45 seconds behind the break. Not ideal. So I had to start all over again. After spending about 30km by myself I finally managed to catch them. I was feeling really good so I wasn't absolutely smashed when I caught them and I was able to help them out. But after being with them for about 15km we go caught by the bunch. And from then on I just sat at the back all day. With 2km to go I was pretty smashed and I dropped but I didn't care. Was pretty happy with my effort, it was a complete waste of time but it was a good sign that the legs are good.
So yea that's about it. I'm quite sore at the moment. I bought some bandage pads and savlon and stuck that on my thigh and it's been aching and stinging ever since. I'm sure it'll be fine though. But yea that's pretty much it for me. Had a pretty busy day today so that's why the blog is a little late.
So yea all is good.
Btw, sorry for any spelling mistakes. I can't be assed checking for the spelling and grammar cause I'm tired. Off to bed
Thanks for reading and don't hassle me too much Nans with my spelling errors, cheers.
Nick
Before the tour started I had already decided I would have a crack at the General Classification (overall lead) so that would mean I would have to be very smart and well positioned through out the race. Last couple of tours I've always been going for stage wins or Sprints or KOMs. First day was pretty full gas with a lot of wind and a bit of rain. I had good position up the front for the first half of the race but I slacked off a bit and crept back to the middle of the bunch. We headed into a wooded area and the road was soaking wet from a passing shower and just as we were coming out of the woods there was a big crash that spread across the whole road so I had to throw down the anchors and come to pretty much a complete stand still. Was bloody lucky to stop in time because I was hauling ass on the inside because I had decided that I needed to start moving up just before the crash happened. Because of that crash, a big split got away from us and stayed away until the finish. There were heaps of small bunches through out the course at I finished about 2 minutes down with some small bunch. I was sitting 40th or so on GC so I just thought stuff it, I'm just going to go for stage wins again because there's only one way to move up on GC and that's by being in a successful break away group so I'll take my chances.
Stage 2 was a quiet day for me as Zeno was up in the break for most of the day so all I did was ride in the bunch and conserve for the next few days. Zeno and the break got caught about 30km from the end or so and it was just a bunch sprint. Lotto Belisol U23, which is a really good team, was in the lead so they just controlled the race for the whole day.
Now day 3 is where stuff got interesting. As we sit in the carpark getting changed for the race a big black cloud rolls over top of us and it starts pouring with rain and there were big cracks of lightning every couple of minutes. We were all thinking stuff this! The rain eased up just before the start but it was still freezing. The rain gave me really good motivation to be either in a break or right up the front of the race cause I knew it would be complete chaos behind us. I went up the road fairly early and got into a small break but we got caught not too long after but I made sure I stayed right up near the front. About 15 guys just rolled off the front and no one in the bunch was chasing them so I decided to attack by myself and I bridged up to them. A few more guys, including quite a few Lotto Belisol riders, bridged up to us and the Lotto riders went straight to the front and started hammering it. I quickly turned around and I couldn't see anyone behind us so I just thought sweet, I'm moving up on GC today cause we have the leader of the race and all his teammates in the bunch with us and they were drilling the crap out of it. But not long after, the lead car stops in front of us and tells us to stop. Apparently there was heaps of carnage behind us and over half the peleton had crashed. It was a bloody stupid course because they had diagonal railway crossings and everyone was binning it on them because it was wet so we had to stop and wait for them. Everyone in the group was pissed as. The neutralized the race until we had gotten through all the railway crossings and then we started again. It was another bloody windy day so I made sure I was right up near the front. Lotto was again on the front just drilling the crap out of it and they were splitting up the whole bunch. I managed to keep in contact in them until we hit 45km in. We were all single file in the left gutter and we were riding on nice smooth tar seal so between the gutter and the road there was like a small lip where the tar seal is higher than the gutter. I was riding right on the edge of that and leaning towards the right a bit because the wind was blowing from left to right. I think an extra strong gust of wind just pushed me of the road so my front wheel was in the gutter but I was still leaning to the right so my front wheel wanted to go back up on the road but because the road was still a bit wet it didn't grip on to the road so it just slid and I was still leaning right so I just fully decked it at 45kph and tore up my right side. I got up pretty quick and put my bottles back in and hoped back on my bike but some how my pedals and cleats were covered in mud and sand so I couldn't get my left cleat clipped in, it just kept pulling out so I had to pull over again and spray my cleats and pedals with water to get rid of the mud. Mean while I'm doing this, a heap of small bunches coming riding past me so I was loosing valuable time to catch back up to the main group. I got motor paced by the team car up to a small group and we eventually caught up to some slightly bigger group but no one was working and they pulled us out of the race with 45km to go. Was not ideal but still got to start the next day. Bit of road rash on the old right thigh, leg and elbow but all ok.
4th day was pretty chilled again as Zeno got up in the break again so I got to chill out all day. I did try to go solo with 2km to go but got caught with 800m to go. That tactic rarely works but hey, it's worth a shot, nothing to lose.
Day 5 was another cold wet windy day. Managed to get in a small break but only for 5km when one team, for no reason, decided to mow us down. Was bloody pissed because there was no one dangerous to GC in that group so we got chased down for no reason. A group of 3 riders went up the road but I missed that break. They were about a minute 30 up the road and the peleton was riding really slow and I was really bored so I decided to smack it up the road with some other guy in the block head wind. We were working well together and again, the same team decided to drill us back for no reason. They were about 20 meters behind us and the guy I was with sat up and went back to the bunch but I was bloody pissed off so I just attacked again and went solo. They let me go and I slowly caught up to the break. They were about 1.5 minutes up the road and I got to about 15 seconds behind them when I could start feeling my back tire going soft. Got myself a bloody puncture. There were a few team cars and race officials behind me so I pointed at my rear wheel and a team car came up next to me and I told them I had a puncture so I pulled over and got a wheel change. It was some random team car and the team mechanic was an absolute douche. He lazily got out of the and started to walk towards me but luckily the driver rushed out and told the mechanic to come on and took the wheel from him and put it in my bike. So before that I was 15 seconds behind them and after the wheel change I was at least 45 seconds behind the break. Not ideal. So I had to start all over again. After spending about 30km by myself I finally managed to catch them. I was feeling really good so I wasn't absolutely smashed when I caught them and I was able to help them out. But after being with them for about 15km we go caught by the bunch. And from then on I just sat at the back all day. With 2km to go I was pretty smashed and I dropped but I didn't care. Was pretty happy with my effort, it was a complete waste of time but it was a good sign that the legs are good.
So yea that's about it. I'm quite sore at the moment. I bought some bandage pads and savlon and stuck that on my thigh and it's been aching and stinging ever since. I'm sure it'll be fine though. But yea that's pretty much it for me. Had a pretty busy day today so that's why the blog is a little late.
So yea all is good.
Btw, sorry for any spelling mistakes. I can't be assed checking for the spelling and grammar cause I'm tired. Off to bed
Thanks for reading and don't hassle me too much Nans with my spelling errors, cheers.
Nick
Sunday, 10 August 2014
No More Snot
Well this week has been a lot better. Started feeling better by Wednesday and now only have a slight runny nose. So this week I've been back on the bike gearing up for my next tour which starts on Wednesday. There was another tour on this week that the two poms and Irish in the house did so Zeno and I had the house to ourselves for most of the week. Made the house seem a lot bigger. Pretty happy to not be selected for that tour because it sounded like hell. One of the Poms and Irish came back with a couple broken bones. Liam the Pom fractured his hip so he had surgery and stayed in hospital for a few nights and Connor the Irish had a cracked rib and that was due to a big pile up on the first stage. So they came back home Saturday night and we've had to move Liam's bed smack bang in the middle of the living room cause he can't climb the stairs so it's really cramped now. He's going home next week so we'll be down to 4 people in the house.
Did a couple kermesses this week with one on Friday and one on Saturday. Had a nice and rainy race on Friday but the course was perfect for the conditions with only 3 corners and only one being tight. It started bucketing down as we sat at the cafe pinning our numbers on. We were fairly close to just handing back our numbers and going home because it was just cold, wet and getting dark. We just manned up and lined up at the start in the rain. From the get go, Zeno and I just drilled it and rode away from the bunch while taking a couple other riders. There were maybe 6 riders away with us at the start and we eventually just whittled it away down to 3; the last rider being a Korean. It was a short circuit of just over 3km with a 10euro prem every lap so we shared the prems every lap with each other. Every time we crossed the line the commentator would yell through the loud speaker "Nick Bain the New Zealander" or "Matt Zenovich the New Zealander" or "(some stereotypical Asian name) the Korean wins the prem!" And the crowd would go crazy just yelling our names and telling us to keep going. But with about 20km to go my legs just fell to pieces. I don't think I could hold the pace we were doing for that long and my legs blew up. My average heart rate for 2 hours was over 180bpm so we were working pretty bloody hard. A small group of riders came past me and I couldn't even come close to staying with them. Then the bunch came past and I went straight out the back of them. So that was my race over. Unfortunately Zeno and the Korean got caught by two riders with a lap to go so Zeno finished 4th. But after the race, Zeno was basically crowned Mayor of the town and I was Vice Mayor. Everyone came up congratulating us and would stare at us and you would always hear someone say New Zealand or something. Some would say thanks for making the race and even the Sports Director from a pretty good team came up to us afterwards and offered us to ride for his team next year so there's one team option for next year. Made a bit of money as well for winning some of the prems in the race so all is good. Bit gutted that I couldn't hang on for the whole race because we would have stayed away if I was able to make it to the finish. I guess I'm still just getting back to full fitness after being sick.
Decided to race again on the Saturday cause it was nice day and I didn't really feel like going out for a training ride. Was a pretty big race with lots of riders and spectators. Again, a lot of people staring at us. We made a new friend. This fairly old lady named Dianne who pretty much offered to look after us at all the kermesses we do. She said if we need water during the race then just chuck her our bottles and she'll fill it up and she also gave me a coke after the race and she would cheer us on every lap. But yea at the race the legs were feeling good. After the first lap I managed to get into a break away of about 12 riders. Just after 60km some guy smashed it in the cross wind and we were down to about 7 of us. There were prems every lap and two really strong riders sprinted off to get the prem and decided to keep going. I was on the front in the hard crosswind section and just as I lap off after a hard turn on the front some guy attacks to try and bridge up to the two riders up the road and I couldn't quite make it back on to the group. So I waited for the bunch and there weren't too many left in the bunch, maybe 30 left. I just chilled with that bunch for pretty much the rest of the race. The bunch caught the break but two different riders from the break had already broken away from the break away group and they stayed away for the rest of the race. I ended up 18th out of 96 starters so fairly happy with that result especially after having a hard race yesterday.
So yea that's basically my week. Made a bit of cash to help pay for food so yea all is good. Let's hope everything goes to plan at the tour this coming week.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Did a couple kermesses this week with one on Friday and one on Saturday. Had a nice and rainy race on Friday but the course was perfect for the conditions with only 3 corners and only one being tight. It started bucketing down as we sat at the cafe pinning our numbers on. We were fairly close to just handing back our numbers and going home because it was just cold, wet and getting dark. We just manned up and lined up at the start in the rain. From the get go, Zeno and I just drilled it and rode away from the bunch while taking a couple other riders. There were maybe 6 riders away with us at the start and we eventually just whittled it away down to 3; the last rider being a Korean. It was a short circuit of just over 3km with a 10euro prem every lap so we shared the prems every lap with each other. Every time we crossed the line the commentator would yell through the loud speaker "Nick Bain the New Zealander" or "Matt Zenovich the New Zealander" or "(some stereotypical Asian name) the Korean wins the prem!" And the crowd would go crazy just yelling our names and telling us to keep going. But with about 20km to go my legs just fell to pieces. I don't think I could hold the pace we were doing for that long and my legs blew up. My average heart rate for 2 hours was over 180bpm so we were working pretty bloody hard. A small group of riders came past me and I couldn't even come close to staying with them. Then the bunch came past and I went straight out the back of them. So that was my race over. Unfortunately Zeno and the Korean got caught by two riders with a lap to go so Zeno finished 4th. But after the race, Zeno was basically crowned Mayor of the town and I was Vice Mayor. Everyone came up congratulating us and would stare at us and you would always hear someone say New Zealand or something. Some would say thanks for making the race and even the Sports Director from a pretty good team came up to us afterwards and offered us to ride for his team next year so there's one team option for next year. Made a bit of money as well for winning some of the prems in the race so all is good. Bit gutted that I couldn't hang on for the whole race because we would have stayed away if I was able to make it to the finish. I guess I'm still just getting back to full fitness after being sick.
Decided to race again on the Saturday cause it was nice day and I didn't really feel like going out for a training ride. Was a pretty big race with lots of riders and spectators. Again, a lot of people staring at us. We made a new friend. This fairly old lady named Dianne who pretty much offered to look after us at all the kermesses we do. She said if we need water during the race then just chuck her our bottles and she'll fill it up and she also gave me a coke after the race and she would cheer us on every lap. But yea at the race the legs were feeling good. After the first lap I managed to get into a break away of about 12 riders. Just after 60km some guy smashed it in the cross wind and we were down to about 7 of us. There were prems every lap and two really strong riders sprinted off to get the prem and decided to keep going. I was on the front in the hard crosswind section and just as I lap off after a hard turn on the front some guy attacks to try and bridge up to the two riders up the road and I couldn't quite make it back on to the group. So I waited for the bunch and there weren't too many left in the bunch, maybe 30 left. I just chilled with that bunch for pretty much the rest of the race. The bunch caught the break but two different riders from the break had already broken away from the break away group and they stayed away for the rest of the race. I ended up 18th out of 96 starters so fairly happy with that result especially after having a hard race yesterday.
So yea that's basically my week. Made a bit of cash to help pay for food so yea all is good. Let's hope everything goes to plan at the tour this coming week.
Thanks for reading
Nick
Monday, 4 August 2014
Antibiotics Me Up
Well it's been a pretty quiet week for me. Sickness took over me and I was forced to just chill out for a bit. Zeno and I decided to go to Brussels on Monday just cause. Didn't really know what to expect with Brussels, haven't really heard much about it and we weren't sure if it was touristy sort of place or if it was more just business, we knew it was big though after driving past it a number of times. When we got off the train it was all just high rise buildings and people in suits so first impressions were it's just a business place but we wandered on in to the center and it got a bit more touristy looking. The place reminded me of London a bit with the tall buildings and they had sight seeing double deckers driving around. Lots of small streets and alley ways packed with people so we just went with the flow and ended up in some big cool square with old buildings covered in gold statues and random gold stuff. The square was packed with tourists which was quite surprising cause I didn't think tourists came to Belgium. When I've been to Ghent and Brugge I never really saw that many tourists. The center of Brussels was like being back home in Howick... Full of Asians. So many Asians lying on the ground trying to get the perfect angle to take a picture.
We carried on walking and came out on some massive walkway where everyone in Brussels seemed to be walking. Was chocker full of people. Black, white, yellow, brown, so many different people, it's a very ethnic city. A lot of bums though. A lot of beggars on the street asking for money and a lot of them were Muslim woman with kids. The walkway was all just phone and clothes stores so we U bolted and walked back towards the square cause there were quite a few restaurants and we were getting hungis as. We had walked down this one small lane that was packed with pizza restaurants so we headed back towards that direction to get some good kai. Sat down at the busy restaurant and you could hear so many different languages, Frenchys, Spanish, American, Pom. Took ages to get served cause the fat as waiter kept flirting with a bunch of French birds but he eventually gave us some menus and we just flicked straight over to the pizza page, no salad for us. It's all in a different language so we didn't really have any idea what was in it but we both decided on a pizza with our rough translation skills. Fat man waiter came back and started talking to us in French and we were like 'ahhh English' and he just goes 'no no no French'. Ok cool douche bag, I'll just have this pizza as I point at the menu. Surely you would know English in a touristy city like this one. Grumpy French fat man. But yea we got our pizzas and they were massive but pretty damn average. It was just basically cheese on a base with a bit of blue cheese blobbed in some places. Was pretty disappointed cause when we walked in we saw some girl with heaps of bacon on her pizza and I wanted that one.
After lunch we walked around a bit more but go bored so we went home. It's a big place so there might have been more to do further away but I thought Brussels was average as. Place was crowded as, heaps of bums, smelt like piss and someone/something dropped a massive turd in the middle of the street and didn't bother to pick it up. I give, what we saw of Brussels, a 3.5/10. That square was pretty cool but on one of the buildings they were doing renovations on the outside and just hung a massive picture of the building over the scaffolding. It was sort of weird cause inside that building was a starbucks and a few cafes so the building mustn't of been too important in history if they put a bloody starbucks in it. Ah well, it was better than sitting inside the house all day bored out of our brains. Can tick Brussels off the list now, only Antwerp to go. I did go to Antwerp early last year but it was covered in snow and places always look different in the snow so I want to go back.
First half of the week was pretty average as I would still always wake up with a killer sore throat, headache, blocked nose and ears but then near the afternoon my throat would become a bit more better. Throat is all good now though but now the snotty nose has kicked in with bright green snot which normally means infection and I still get a headache every now and then. Still destroying the lemon and honey tea.
Was starting to feel a bit better over the last couple days so I decided I would race on Sunday. Wasn't quite feeling it in the race, just had no real oomph in my legs. Managed to pick up 10th which isn't too bad but I think I should have maybe waited and fully recovered from my cold cause I am feeling really average today. Woke up a bit drowsy today and I just felt meh. Have had small headaches throughout the day and am blowing my nose constantly. I was planing on racing again today cause there's no more racing until Friday but I just felt average so I've just had a real easy day today. Really need to shake off this cold asap so I've been whacking back vitamin C like no tomorrow, apples, lemons, vitamin C tablets, everything.
So yea goal of this week is to get rid of this cold, I'm getting real sick of it.
Was looking at news back home and I saw that Auckland had a bit of snow like hail which was pretty choice. Everything was blanketed in white. Heard it was a pretty typical Auckland day with it starting off as a clear blue sky today and then it just turned. Good old Auckland.
Gonna make some ciabatta bread pizzas for dinner tonight so I'm quite looking forward to that. Only 49 cents for a foot long of raw ciabatta bread (you just chuck it in the oven and you're away). Zeno came up with the idea last week and I told him I was gonna one up him and make my pizza even more awesome so I've bought some ham and pineapple to make one Hawaiian pizza and I've bought bacon bits, chorizo sausages and BBQ sauce to make a meat lovers one. I just remembered I forgot mushrooms... Damn. Ah well it's still gonna be heaps better than Zenos.
Yea I'll leave you some pictures of Brussels
Chur
Thanks for reading
Nick
These are all pictures of the buildings in the square
We carried on walking and came out on some massive walkway where everyone in Brussels seemed to be walking. Was chocker full of people. Black, white, yellow, brown, so many different people, it's a very ethnic city. A lot of bums though. A lot of beggars on the street asking for money and a lot of them were Muslim woman with kids. The walkway was all just phone and clothes stores so we U bolted and walked back towards the square cause there were quite a few restaurants and we were getting hungis as. We had walked down this one small lane that was packed with pizza restaurants so we headed back towards that direction to get some good kai. Sat down at the busy restaurant and you could hear so many different languages, Frenchys, Spanish, American, Pom. Took ages to get served cause the fat as waiter kept flirting with a bunch of French birds but he eventually gave us some menus and we just flicked straight over to the pizza page, no salad for us. It's all in a different language so we didn't really have any idea what was in it but we both decided on a pizza with our rough translation skills. Fat man waiter came back and started talking to us in French and we were like 'ahhh English' and he just goes 'no no no French'. Ok cool douche bag, I'll just have this pizza as I point at the menu. Surely you would know English in a touristy city like this one. Grumpy French fat man. But yea we got our pizzas and they were massive but pretty damn average. It was just basically cheese on a base with a bit of blue cheese blobbed in some places. Was pretty disappointed cause when we walked in we saw some girl with heaps of bacon on her pizza and I wanted that one.
After lunch we walked around a bit more but go bored so we went home. It's a big place so there might have been more to do further away but I thought Brussels was average as. Place was crowded as, heaps of bums, smelt like piss and someone/something dropped a massive turd in the middle of the street and didn't bother to pick it up. I give, what we saw of Brussels, a 3.5/10. That square was pretty cool but on one of the buildings they were doing renovations on the outside and just hung a massive picture of the building over the scaffolding. It was sort of weird cause inside that building was a starbucks and a few cafes so the building mustn't of been too important in history if they put a bloody starbucks in it. Ah well, it was better than sitting inside the house all day bored out of our brains. Can tick Brussels off the list now, only Antwerp to go. I did go to Antwerp early last year but it was covered in snow and places always look different in the snow so I want to go back.
First half of the week was pretty average as I would still always wake up with a killer sore throat, headache, blocked nose and ears but then near the afternoon my throat would become a bit more better. Throat is all good now though but now the snotty nose has kicked in with bright green snot which normally means infection and I still get a headache every now and then. Still destroying the lemon and honey tea.
Was starting to feel a bit better over the last couple days so I decided I would race on Sunday. Wasn't quite feeling it in the race, just had no real oomph in my legs. Managed to pick up 10th which isn't too bad but I think I should have maybe waited and fully recovered from my cold cause I am feeling really average today. Woke up a bit drowsy today and I just felt meh. Have had small headaches throughout the day and am blowing my nose constantly. I was planing on racing again today cause there's no more racing until Friday but I just felt average so I've just had a real easy day today. Really need to shake off this cold asap so I've been whacking back vitamin C like no tomorrow, apples, lemons, vitamin C tablets, everything.
So yea goal of this week is to get rid of this cold, I'm getting real sick of it.
Was looking at news back home and I saw that Auckland had a bit of snow like hail which was pretty choice. Everything was blanketed in white. Heard it was a pretty typical Auckland day with it starting off as a clear blue sky today and then it just turned. Good old Auckland.
Gonna make some ciabatta bread pizzas for dinner tonight so I'm quite looking forward to that. Only 49 cents for a foot long of raw ciabatta bread (you just chuck it in the oven and you're away). Zeno came up with the idea last week and I told him I was gonna one up him and make my pizza even more awesome so I've bought some ham and pineapple to make one Hawaiian pizza and I've bought bacon bits, chorizo sausages and BBQ sauce to make a meat lovers one. I just remembered I forgot mushrooms... Damn. Ah well it's still gonna be heaps better than Zenos.
Yea I'll leave you some pictures of Brussels
Chur
Thanks for reading
Nick
These are all pictures of the buildings in the square
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