Since the last update we headed up to Lyon for a hilly circuit race that did not go so well for us.
To start things off we had a nice supposed to be 4 1/2hour drive up to Lyon, which turned into a hell of a drive getting there eventually after been stuck in some major traffic jams on the auto-route so we ended up getting there to late to go for a ride. The next morning i thought it would be a good idea to go for a little ride in the morning and came across the race circuit so rode a lap of that and went back to tell everyone that we were going up a Col or otherwise a nasty 5k hill every lap. Anyway on the way back to the race accomodation happened to see a Mercedes flying down the rode with sparkz shooting everywhere as the front of it was all smashed up, as i progressed further up the rode i saw why as it had just side swiped this little car going the wrong way round a roundabout which meant that they had just oviously just stolen it and heading out for there morning joy ride something that i wasn't really expecting to see.
As for the race we got out there and everyone around in the other teams seamed to be 5ft midgets that go up hills super fast so after 2laps of getting dropped and chasing back on down the descent decided on the 3rd lap when i could hang with them to call it a day and the only one to finish out of us kiwi's was Mike who managed to roll in with the last bunch on the rode so it was a bit of disapointment for all that driving we did to this race and only last 1hour.
Atleast the drive back to Limoux wasn't so bad as we didn't get held up in any traffic jams.
This week have done a little bit of training on some more scenic roads around Limoux so been able to get a few pics of the Scenary around here which has been good.
Hopefully we get in this race on up near Borduex next tuesday so keep you posted on how it goes.
Later
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
NORTH OF FRANCE
Hi Everybody
Just spent the last couple of weeks doing a couple of races in the North West of France
As Rond de Gard got canned, so we did not do any racing that weekend, then spent the next week doing some training leading into GP Plouay which was a circuit race and didn't go so well for me althogh managed to finish it.
We had some mission drives across france to get up north as we didn't stay up there in between the races.
So spent a couple of days recovering in Limoux before heading back up north to Cabri Tour which was based out of St Bruiec which is right up the ttop of France. The first stage was really hot, a break went early on which had Alex Meenhorst, Mike Torkler and Matt Silliars in it and it stayed away however it wasn't our day oviously as they all ended up crashing out of that bunch all at different parts of the race which left no one up there. The next day started out with a 11k tt which was pretty miserable and cold, as have no tt bike just rode a solid ride and ended up not doing to bad 18th at 53sec, so then it was a couple of hours rest before the last stage which was a 9.8k circuit which had a 3k climb up to the finish. After a couple of laps a break finally went and I managed to get in it so looked like it was going to be pretty good however the bunch pulled it back in with 2laps to go so I ended up getting dropped and just cruised a couple of laps to the finish. So we had a nice drive back down to Limoux however we only drove a couple of hours the day of the tour and drove the rest of the way the following day so that wasn't to bad.
This weekend we have a race around Lyon which is out to the east of the france and is generally hilly around there, so keep you posted on how it goes.
Later Chris
Just spent the last couple of weeks doing a couple of races in the North West of France
As Rond de Gard got canned, so we did not do any racing that weekend, then spent the next week doing some training leading into GP Plouay which was a circuit race and didn't go so well for me althogh managed to finish it.
We had some mission drives across france to get up north as we didn't stay up there in between the races.
So spent a couple of days recovering in Limoux before heading back up north to Cabri Tour which was based out of St Bruiec which is right up the ttop of France. The first stage was really hot, a break went early on which had Alex Meenhorst, Mike Torkler and Matt Silliars in it and it stayed away however it wasn't our day oviously as they all ended up crashing out of that bunch all at different parts of the race which left no one up there. The next day started out with a 11k tt which was pretty miserable and cold, as have no tt bike just rode a solid ride and ended up not doing to bad 18th at 53sec, so then it was a couple of hours rest before the last stage which was a 9.8k circuit which had a 3k climb up to the finish. After a couple of laps a break finally went and I managed to get in it so looked like it was going to be pretty good however the bunch pulled it back in with 2laps to go so I ended up getting dropped and just cruised a couple of laps to the finish. So we had a nice drive back down to Limoux however we only drove a couple of hours the day of the tour and drove the rest of the way the following day so that wasn't to bad.
This weekend we have a race around Lyon which is out to the east of the france and is generally hilly around there, so keep you posted on how it goes.
Later Chris
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Tour des Pyrenees
Hi everyone since my last update I have undertaken some major climbing in the Pyrenees which was very scenic.
The tour started on the 6th so that meant doing a traveling to Lourdes in the Pyrenees on the 5th of August.
It was about a 4hour drive up and then out to the west of France and had some pretty nice scenary for the last part of the drive.
6th was the first stage which started in Tarbes and finished in Loudenville 147k and like usual it was very aggressive with lots of attacks happening all day long. It had 3 major climbs in this stage Col Burg Cat 3, Col Le Hallia Cat 3 and then to finish it off Col d' Aspin Cat 1, which was the hardest climb but was well worth it as it had an awesome decent down to the finish where i finished in a bigger bunch out the back of the race.
Stage 2 St Laurent Neste to Val d' Azun, which was the longest day of the tour and the hilliest it was 168k and went over Col Cieutat cat 3, Col du Soulor Cat 1 and then a hill climb finish on Col de Couraduque Cat 1 which was rather suckfull as had no decent to look forward to.
Stage 3 Orlon-Jaca this stage saw us crossing the border into Spain we started the day with a Hors Cat climb otherwise the biggest mountian we went over in the tour. Col du Somport HC then had an awesome decent hitting 90kmph alot then we had 2 other climbs Puerto S.Juan de la Pena Cat 1 which had a nasty steep section at the top followed by a decent then Puerto Oroel Cat 3 which wasn't so bad and then a nice decent to the finish. After the stage we drove back to the race Accomodation or should I say ski resort which was rather nice, It even had Eurosport in English so we could watch the opening of the Olympics and undrstand what they were saying.
Stage 4 was a flat stage in comparison to the last 3 days it only had 2 climbs Alto de Alcubierre Cat 3 and Alto Lecinena Cat 3 and this stage was all in Spain which meant it was like a desert and rough roads unfortunately. I missed the break of 9 that road away in the first couple k of the race, so just sat in the bunch and waited for the bunch sprint where i ended up 7th so 17th in the stage. Then we had a marathon drive back to Limoux via the Pyrenees so atleast we had some pretty spectacular views and photos. So all I can say it was a nice tor for scenary but not really that friendly to the bigger riders like myself.
August 10th I just went for a 1 1/2 hour spin with Mike Torckler.
11th Did a 2hour tempo once the rain had gone.
12th Was a rest day so got around to updating this and doing some baking of training food for the next few weeks and just chilled. The next race is Ronde Gard which is on sunday then we are off up North to Plouay where we will spend a week or so up there doing Plouay on the 24th and then Cabri Tour the following weekend.
Catchya
The tour started on the 6th so that meant doing a traveling to Lourdes in the Pyrenees on the 5th of August.
It was about a 4hour drive up and then out to the west of France and had some pretty nice scenary for the last part of the drive.
6th was the first stage which started in Tarbes and finished in Loudenville 147k and like usual it was very aggressive with lots of attacks happening all day long. It had 3 major climbs in this stage Col Burg Cat 3, Col Le Hallia Cat 3 and then to finish it off Col d' Aspin Cat 1, which was the hardest climb but was well worth it as it had an awesome decent down to the finish where i finished in a bigger bunch out the back of the race.
Stage 2 St Laurent Neste to Val d' Azun, which was the longest day of the tour and the hilliest it was 168k and went over Col Cieutat cat 3, Col du Soulor Cat 1 and then a hill climb finish on Col de Couraduque Cat 1 which was rather suckfull as had no decent to look forward to.
Stage 3 Orlon-Jaca this stage saw us crossing the border into Spain we started the day with a Hors Cat climb otherwise the biggest mountian we went over in the tour. Col du Somport HC then had an awesome decent hitting 90kmph alot then we had 2 other climbs Puerto S.Juan de la Pena Cat 1 which had a nasty steep section at the top followed by a decent then Puerto Oroel Cat 3 which wasn't so bad and then a nice decent to the finish. After the stage we drove back to the race Accomodation or should I say ski resort which was rather nice, It even had Eurosport in English so we could watch the opening of the Olympics and undrstand what they were saying.
Stage 4 was a flat stage in comparison to the last 3 days it only had 2 climbs Alto de Alcubierre Cat 3 and Alto Lecinena Cat 3 and this stage was all in Spain which meant it was like a desert and rough roads unfortunately. I missed the break of 9 that road away in the first couple k of the race, so just sat in the bunch and waited for the bunch sprint where i ended up 7th so 17th in the stage. Then we had a marathon drive back to Limoux via the Pyrenees so atleast we had some pretty spectacular views and photos. So all I can say it was a nice tor for scenary but not really that friendly to the bigger riders like myself.
August 10th I just went for a 1 1/2 hour spin with Mike Torckler.
11th Did a 2hour tempo once the rain had gone.
12th Was a rest day so got around to updating this and doing some baking of training food for the next few weeks and just chilled. The next race is Ronde Gard which is on sunday then we are off up North to Plouay where we will spend a week or so up there doing Plouay on the 24th and then Cabri Tour the following weekend.
Catchya
Monday, August 4, 2008
Cours la Ville
Hi Everybody
Finally got around to updating this blog.
As for the last 2 weeks they has flown past and where off to tackle the mission of Tour de Pryrenees (Mountains). Managed to get some decent training in down here in Limoux as know the roads down here a bit better than in Teilt.
After tour de Cruese i spent a couple of days just recovering and trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. By mid week i started a 5 days of pretty intense training which involved 3 x 13min hill reps, the next day was thursday and did a 2hour tempo, then Friday i got out and rode PORT DE PAIHERES which is an awesome mountain that took me about an hour to climb. Saturday was a prerace hit out and along drive up to the race which was in around Roanne on the east of France. The race was a 10laps of a 15k circuit which was basicacally straight up a climb then a descent, Brad did the best finishing a couple of minutes in front of Mike Torckler and Myself. Then we had a lovely 6hour drive back home. The following week was spent just recovering basically and on Friday it was my birthday so the Chicks put a birthday brunch on for me which was awesome of them and then the following day it was Matt Silliars birthday so i did some baking myself and made him a Cheese cake and yes it did turn out alright.
So thats all thats been happening in these last 2weeks.
Catchya
Chris
Finally got around to updating this blog.
As for the last 2 weeks they has flown past and where off to tackle the mission of Tour de Pryrenees (Mountains). Managed to get some decent training in down here in Limoux as know the roads down here a bit better than in Teilt.
After tour de Cruese i spent a couple of days just recovering and trying to catch up on some much needed sleep. By mid week i started a 5 days of pretty intense training which involved 3 x 13min hill reps, the next day was thursday and did a 2hour tempo, then Friday i got out and rode PORT DE PAIHERES which is an awesome mountain that took me about an hour to climb. Saturday was a prerace hit out and along drive up to the race which was in around Roanne on the east of France. The race was a 10laps of a 15k circuit which was basicacally straight up a climb then a descent, Brad did the best finishing a couple of minutes in front of Mike Torckler and Myself. Then we had a lovely 6hour drive back home. The following week was spent just recovering basically and on Friday it was my birthday so the Chicks put a birthday brunch on for me which was awesome of them and then the following day it was Matt Silliars birthday so i did some baking myself and made him a Cheese cake and yes it did turn out alright.
So thats all thats been happening in these last 2weeks.
Catchya
Chris
Friday, July 18, 2008
Tour Deux Sevres & Tour De Cruese
Hi every body finally got back to a computer,
Tour Deux Sevres was the last race with the NZ track squad so everyone was in fine form being the lastr race.
To start the journey we had a 7hour drive down from Teilt-winge to where the race was north of Bordeux, so after sitting in the car for most of the day we had a team presentation followed by settling into the race accomodation at a school.
1st Stage for me ended up being a disaster losing 25min as when i zent back to get some fluid for everyone a team decided to put it in the guter which had me left out in the convoy which I ended up getting dropped from. How ever Hayden Roulston had a good race winning the stage and taking Yellow and the rest of the team finished in the main bunch.
2nd Stage was more bad luck once again went back to the car to get some bottles and ended up braking a spoke in my front wheel, Which i had to do another wheel change and ended up wasting heaps of energy chasing back on then ended up getting dropped with Wes and Jessie and ending up missing time cut by 54sec so that was a bummer. To say the least we did some solid riding on the front for Rolly to try hold the break from going out to much.
I was out of the tour so had a rest day, while Sam and Marc Ryan did as much suffering as possible to keep Rolly in good nick for the finish then the last day of the tour I went for 100k easy ride in the morning on the afternoons stage. The TT in the morning was 16k and Hayden extended his lead winning it by 20secs which was good then the afternoons stage for them was all about controlling the race not letting anything get to far away, which they did a superb job all finishing in the bunch with Hayden winning the Tour. Then we had some more driving we first had to drive to Bordeux to drop off all the track squad and gear before making the 4 1/2 hour drive down to Limoux to say the least it wasnt a very early night.
Now in Limoux went for a 2hour easy ride with a few sprints.
The next day was a 6hour drive up north to Tour De Cruese which had a 25k teams time trial that night which we rode on standard rode bikes and ended up doing a resonble time considering finshing 15th team then the next day was a 156k stage that was quite hilly i ended up finishing in the second bunch around 40th with Matt Sillars, Mike Torkler end up finishing in the main bunch ahead of us. This was then followed by a long drive back to Limoux.
Tour Deux Sevres was the last race with the NZ track squad so everyone was in fine form being the lastr race.
To start the journey we had a 7hour drive down from Teilt-winge to where the race was north of Bordeux, so after sitting in the car for most of the day we had a team presentation followed by settling into the race accomodation at a school.
1st Stage for me ended up being a disaster losing 25min as when i zent back to get some fluid for everyone a team decided to put it in the guter which had me left out in the convoy which I ended up getting dropped from. How ever Hayden Roulston had a good race winning the stage and taking Yellow and the rest of the team finished in the main bunch.
2nd Stage was more bad luck once again went back to the car to get some bottles and ended up braking a spoke in my front wheel, Which i had to do another wheel change and ended up wasting heaps of energy chasing back on then ended up getting dropped with Wes and Jessie and ending up missing time cut by 54sec so that was a bummer. To say the least we did some solid riding on the front for Rolly to try hold the break from going out to much.
I was out of the tour so had a rest day, while Sam and Marc Ryan did as much suffering as possible to keep Rolly in good nick for the finish then the last day of the tour I went for 100k easy ride in the morning on the afternoons stage. The TT in the morning was 16k and Hayden extended his lead winning it by 20secs which was good then the afternoons stage for them was all about controlling the race not letting anything get to far away, which they did a superb job all finishing in the bunch with Hayden winning the Tour. Then we had some more driving we first had to drive to Bordeux to drop off all the track squad and gear before making the 4 1/2 hour drive down to Limoux to say the least it wasnt a very early night.
Now in Limoux went for a 2hour easy ride with a few sprints.
The next day was a 6hour drive up north to Tour De Cruese which had a 25k teams time trial that night which we rode on standard rode bikes and ended up doing a resonble time considering finshing 15th team then the next day was a 156k stage that was quite hilly i ended up finishing in the second bunch around 40th with Matt Sillars, Mike Torkler end up finishing in the main bunch ahead of us. This was then followed by a long drive back to Limoux.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Coming to the end with the trackies
1st of July it was a cracker of a day real nice and hot, so i got on my bike and went for a long ride and caught up with Tom David before he heads to Junior Worlds.
2nd went for easy 2hour ride with Karl and then that afternnon Jessie, Marc, Brei, Sam, Pete and me all caught the train from Arschot into Antwerppe which is probably the biggest shopping city in belg so went and got myself some new jandals and had dinner which was pretty good, the train on the way back to Arscot took 2 hours and it only should of taken 45min as there was problems withthe railroad barriers so all the trains had to go slow so we ended up getting back at around 10.30pm not 9pm when we were thinking we would be back.
3rd did a 3hour ride with 2hours in the middle being a time trial which hurt a bit.
4th went for an easy ride with the guys.
5th Malle Kermesse/race this was 130k 13laps of 10k up by Gent. Marc Ryan ended up winning, i finished in 25th, sam 33rd and all the others had a solid ride as well. It was quite a hard race as it was wet and was a rather technical circuit with lots of turns which ment it was slippery while wet.
6th Rest Day just chilled out in Tielt did some study
7th was supposed to have done 5min efforts today but legs were to stuffed from the weekend and so i just cruised for a couple of hours.
8th Just went for an easy ride tried to dodge the rain but failed and ended up get one down pour drench me so that was nice. Made a Cake to celebrate Jessie's birthday with the others.
So the end of being with the track guys is coming up, with the last tour with them starting on Friday in the region about 2hours north of Bordeux. We are driving there on thursday as is about a seven hour drive then once the tour finishes im joining the rest of the U23 guys in Limoux which is another long drive. Going to miss being with the Team Pursuiters but on the other hand looking forward to the better roads/weather of Limoux.
Later
Chris
2nd went for easy 2hour ride with Karl and then that afternnon Jessie, Marc, Brei, Sam, Pete and me all caught the train from Arschot into Antwerppe which is probably the biggest shopping city in belg so went and got myself some new jandals and had dinner which was pretty good, the train on the way back to Arscot took 2 hours and it only should of taken 45min as there was problems withthe railroad barriers so all the trains had to go slow so we ended up getting back at around 10.30pm not 9pm when we were thinking we would be back.
3rd did a 3hour ride with 2hours in the middle being a time trial which hurt a bit.
4th went for an easy ride with the guys.
5th Malle Kermesse/race this was 130k 13laps of 10k up by Gent. Marc Ryan ended up winning, i finished in 25th, sam 33rd and all the others had a solid ride as well. It was quite a hard race as it was wet and was a rather technical circuit with lots of turns which ment it was slippery while wet.
6th Rest Day just chilled out in Tielt did some study
7th was supposed to have done 5min efforts today but legs were to stuffed from the weekend and so i just cruised for a couple of hours.
8th Just went for an easy ride tried to dodge the rain but failed and ended up get one down pour drench me so that was nice. Made a Cake to celebrate Jessie's birthday with the others.
So the end of being with the track guys is coming up, with the last tour with them starting on Friday in the region about 2hours north of Bordeux. We are driving there on thursday as is about a seven hour drive then once the tour finishes im joining the rest of the U23 guys in Limoux which is another long drive. Going to miss being with the Team Pursuiters but on the other hand looking forward to the better roads/weather of Limoux.
Later
Chris
Monday, June 30, 2008
Hilly Race
26th after going for a easy ride with Karl, we went into brussels to go shoping and dinner which was nice to get out for the afternoon.
27th was spent doing a 3hour ride, 2hours with Karl, Westley, Jessie, Brei and Sam, which was good then did a 30min tempo.
28th went for a ride with wes did a couple of sprints and a tempo along the bike path along the cannal which was fast with a tail wind.
29th we went into the ardennes for a race in the hills, I had a solid ride finishing 11th, the others rode good as well despite the hills Hayden Roulston ended up winning, Marc Ryan finishing 8th and Westley finished 19th so it was a pretty good days racing for the NZ team.
30th just chilled out and cruised highlight would be going to the super market and study.
Catchya
27th was spent doing a 3hour ride, 2hours with Karl, Westley, Jessie, Brei and Sam, which was good then did a 30min tempo.
28th went for a ride with wes did a couple of sprints and a tempo along the bike path along the cannal which was fast with a tail wind.
29th we went into the ardennes for a race in the hills, I had a solid ride finishing 11th, the others rode good as well despite the hills Hayden Roulston ended up winning, Marc Ryan finishing 8th and Westley finished 19th so it was a pretty good days racing for the NZ team.
30th just chilled out and cruised highlight would be going to the super market and study.
Catchya
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Halle Ingooiem
Since last week iv'e been feeling alot better having got rid of the camplobactor. 17th and 18th of june were much the same just doing 2hour recovery rides.
19th was a shit day went out in the windy coditions which then turned to raining windy conditions, which i decided it would be better to do the rest of the tempo on the wind trainer after turning around and heading back I turned left into the road to get home but the wind caught me and ended up slipping over nothing ended up happening other than losing a little skin off my elbow and hip lucky I was going slow, the rest of the ride was finished doing the rest of the tempo on the trainner.
20th was 2 x 10min intervals on the trainner followed by a 2hour ride on the road.
21st was when the tour finally caught up with me had rather tight legs, went for a 4hour ride with a 30min tempo at 2 1/2hours it was an awsome day to be riding.
22nd went and drove to where to the race start and rode the course minus to climbs as we missed them as the directions weren't very clear it was a rather hard ride as it was into a head/head cross wind the whole way which made it a solid 3hours.
23rd was monday a rest day, so I just chilled out went to the track and watched/helped the boys do there training, on the way back got some new stuff for my bike from this massive bike shop in Aalst.
24th was just a pre race hit out ride so that involved a couple of sprints and a 10min tempo.
25th Race Day Halle Ingooiem this was a pretty big race on the scale of things it had 3 pro tour teams riding in it so was ready so give it stink which i did knocking it up at the starting getting in most of the early attacks and ended up paying the price later in the race, got to the finishing circuits in the peleton/bunch and getting shelled on this 1k climb since we had to do this climb 7 times I ended up getting dropped with a bunch on this climb and got pulled out of the race with 2 laps to go. So it was a solid 170k day.
The one impression I got from racing with the pro's is either its full gas or fully off.
26th was another recovery ride for 2hours
Later
19th was a shit day went out in the windy coditions which then turned to raining windy conditions, which i decided it would be better to do the rest of the tempo on the wind trainer after turning around and heading back I turned left into the road to get home but the wind caught me and ended up slipping over nothing ended up happening other than losing a little skin off my elbow and hip lucky I was going slow, the rest of the ride was finished doing the rest of the tempo on the trainner.
20th was 2 x 10min intervals on the trainner followed by a 2hour ride on the road.
21st was when the tour finally caught up with me had rather tight legs, went for a 4hour ride with a 30min tempo at 2 1/2hours it was an awsome day to be riding.
22nd went and drove to where to the race start and rode the course minus to climbs as we missed them as the directions weren't very clear it was a rather hard ride as it was into a head/head cross wind the whole way which made it a solid 3hours.
23rd was monday a rest day, so I just chilled out went to the track and watched/helped the boys do there training, on the way back got some new stuff for my bike from this massive bike shop in Aalst.
24th was just a pre race hit out ride so that involved a couple of sprints and a 10min tempo.
25th Race Day Halle Ingooiem this was a pretty big race on the scale of things it had 3 pro tour teams riding in it so was ready so give it stink which i did knocking it up at the starting getting in most of the early attacks and ended up paying the price later in the race, got to the finishing circuits in the peleton/bunch and getting shelled on this 1k climb since we had to do this climb 7 times I ended up getting dropped with a bunch on this climb and got pulled out of the race with 2 laps to go. So it was a solid 170k day.
The one impression I got from racing with the pro's is either its full gas or fully off.
26th was another recovery ride for 2hours
Later
Monday, June 16, 2008
Ronde l' Oise
Hi Everybody
Monday was a rest day and started taken some better antibiotics for the guts. tuesday was a 2hour tempo ride then wednesday was easy an hour and half with Westley did a couple of sprints towards the end. Then it was into the Tour Ronde l' Oise which was based about 100k north of Paris which was a 3hour drive but took 4 cause of traffic. The stage started late at 3pm and was raining and misserable I ended up getting a puncture 60k in the stage which was a bummer then i was in the cars till we hit the hill at 70k then it was a 50k tt to the finish line. Had the craps again so that wasn't to pleasant in the morning of the 2nd stage was a 180k and had a few climbs in it then I got a puncture in the nutrual at the start so ended up starting at the back of the bunch, so I hung in the main bunch til the last cat 1 climb which i dropped and ended up finish in a little bunch. The Saturday was a douple day consisting of 2 100k stages which i started which the craps then ended up coming right for the afternoon and even managed to finish with the main bunch. The last day was my best day I had good legs and went in most the early attacks and even initiated an attack myself and then finally at about 60k a break went and i missed that one I tried bridging to it by myself but couldn't do the last 50m so ended up chilling in the bunch for the rest of the day and finished about 2min down in that stage. The funny thing was my legs wern't even sore so I must have been getting better as the tour progressed. This tour was pretty insane the average speed for the winner was around 44kph for 680k so it was solid mileage. Then we had a 3 hour drive back home to top it all off.
Monday I was back to the Doctor to get another stool sample tested to make sure ive got rid of the camplobatia. So the next race isn't for 10 days so looking forward to doing some quality training over the next week or so hopefully the weather will stay good for a while.
Catchya
Monday was a rest day and started taken some better antibiotics for the guts. tuesday was a 2hour tempo ride then wednesday was easy an hour and half with Westley did a couple of sprints towards the end. Then it was into the Tour Ronde l' Oise which was based about 100k north of Paris which was a 3hour drive but took 4 cause of traffic. The stage started late at 3pm and was raining and misserable I ended up getting a puncture 60k in the stage which was a bummer then i was in the cars till we hit the hill at 70k then it was a 50k tt to the finish line. Had the craps again so that wasn't to pleasant in the morning of the 2nd stage was a 180k and had a few climbs in it then I got a puncture in the nutrual at the start so ended up starting at the back of the bunch, so I hung in the main bunch til the last cat 1 climb which i dropped and ended up finish in a little bunch. The Saturday was a douple day consisting of 2 100k stages which i started which the craps then ended up coming right for the afternoon and even managed to finish with the main bunch. The last day was my best day I had good legs and went in most the early attacks and even initiated an attack myself and then finally at about 60k a break went and i missed that one I tried bridging to it by myself but couldn't do the last 50m so ended up chilling in the bunch for the rest of the day and finished about 2min down in that stage. The funny thing was my legs wern't even sore so I must have been getting better as the tour progressed. This tour was pretty insane the average speed for the winner was around 44kph for 680k so it was solid mileage. Then we had a 3 hour drive back home to top it all off.
Monday I was back to the Doctor to get another stool sample tested to make sure ive got rid of the camplobatia. So the next race isn't for 10 days so looking forward to doing some quality training over the next week or so hopefully the weather will stay good for a while.
Catchya
Monday, June 9, 2008
On the Up
Van Coningsloo was the race I did yesterday which went alright ended up 46th and Marc Ryan was the best finisishing 26th in the group ahead good on him and sam finished in main bunch with me. So that was good now to have finished a race. Now we got a 4 day tour starting this thursday in France then a big one day race UCI 1.1 which will have some pro teams which will be a bit of fun.
The report came back from the doctor yesterday as well as a dose of antibiotics to go with it as had Campylobacter the last couple of weeks, no wonder i was using the toilet rather excessively. This weeks training has just been getting back into it starting with an hour on the Zoldar race track on tuesday where there's this massive bunch that sits on around 48kmph which is insane people like keep coming into the bunch and dropping out after a lap or so but i was just riding by myself, Wed/thursday was 4 1/2hour rides down to Namur which has a bit better roads down there. Friday was a easy ride and set up the SRM which is pretty good then Saturday i did a 15min effort on the erg which was just to get my legs in shape for the race.
Cheers
Chris
The report came back from the doctor yesterday as well as a dose of antibiotics to go with it as had Campylobacter the last couple of weeks, no wonder i was using the toilet rather excessively. This weeks training has just been getting back into it starting with an hour on the Zoldar race track on tuesday where there's this massive bunch that sits on around 48kmph which is insane people like keep coming into the bunch and dropping out after a lap or so but i was just riding by myself, Wed/thursday was 4 1/2hour rides down to Namur which has a bit better roads down there. Friday was a easy ride and set up the SRM which is pretty good then Saturday i did a 15min effort on the erg which was just to get my legs in shape for the race.
Cheers
Chris
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Up,down what can i say...
Hay everybody its been a bit of a rollercoaster after the last race i had a rest day then got stuck back into the trainning come tuesday was hard session on the erg then wednesday was a nice long ride in the ardennes with Karl the mechanic where i was based before junior worlds in 2006. Thursday was where it started going downhill for me which is not good firstly I rode in the rain then ended up crook later that night. Friday felt like crap but still got out for a light ride with Jessie. Saturday i was feeling a bit better and went for a ride with Westley, then ended up getting diorehahaha that night. Despite this raced on Sunday and of course didn't go all that well. Still had the craps then Monday came went to the doctor to see if they could help me which sent me away to pick up some probiotics to build up the good bateria in your gut so just chilled all day, altough managed to clean and fix the shower so all the boys don't have to bend down to fit under the shower anymore, as it has one of those stupid hoses that connect to a divertor off the bath which has a hose that wasn't long enough to reach up to where it need so i went out and got a couple of fittings to extend it while the boys were doing the weekly Grocery shop clean out. The next problem is the bloody toilet squelling as it fills up so that will be my next job atleast some of the plumbing fittings are the same as the ones back home.
God Bless
God Bless
Monday, May 26, 2008
Getting back into it
Now getting the ball rolling with regards to getting back and doing some quality training.
Did a few efforts during the week to try get me up to speed for the race in the week. As for the race it was pretty solid 170 starters and fast from the gun i managed to hang in there for around 3hours where i had bad cramp which made the decision to leave it for another week.
Also on thursday the guys wet to the movies at Leuven where i went for a look around the shops which was pretty cool it sort had to main streets and then off to the side where little cobble streets which had all the cafe's and restruants.
Catchya
Did a few efforts during the week to try get me up to speed for the race in the week. As for the race it was pretty solid 170 starters and fast from the gun i managed to hang in there for around 3hours where i had bad cramp which made the decision to leave it for another week.
Also on thursday the guys wet to the movies at Leuven where i went for a look around the shops which was pretty cool it sort had to main streets and then off to the side where little cobble streets which had all the cafe's and restruants.
Catchya
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Made It
Got to the otherside of the world in one piece. Although a couple of us had some gear not make the flight to brussels it a ended up showing up the next day in Tielt Winge which is to the right of brussels and about 60k left of Liege
The training isn't to bad, you can find some little hills in amongst the rolling/flat terrain.
Ended up getting some type of bug which put me out for the first race with the team.
Feelin heaps better after getting rid of this bug.
Back riding and look forward to racing this coming Sunday.
Catchya
The training isn't to bad, you can find some little hills in amongst the rolling/flat terrain.
Ended up getting some type of bug which put me out for the first race with the team.
Feelin heaps better after getting rid of this bug.
Back riding and look forward to racing this coming Sunday.
Catchya
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
The New Rig
Thanks to Scotty & Johnny got a new Pinarello Opera, which is alot lighter and not PINK.
Also won my first race on it in the weekend.
Also won my first race on it in the weekend.
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