Off Season-On Season

So a few people have mentioned I've been a bit useless on the website front. Since the last update I raced Milano-San Milan and Lombardie, then finished off with China...Lombardie is such an awesome race! 7hrs in the pissing rain and cold but I loved it mostly. I was good till I froze up and then it was just too fast for me for too long. I crept into the finish. It was good to get a 250km race in my legs but it effectively put me in my grave for the season. Given the week I had in Europe before heading to China I knew I wasn't in a good way. Completely ruined from Lombardie and a long year I tried to recover and keep some form going but I was pushing shit up a hill on that one. I packed up my things and started getting my apartment in storage mode for the Euro winter. Said good bye to Girona and met the team in Paris to fly into Beijing.

There are a few fundamental issues or barriers to getting good results in Tour of Bejing, the first being a Chinese visa. Being a New Zealander living in Spain trying and trying to get my visa put on my english passport during a Chinese national holiday period meant I aged at least 5 years trying to get my hands on one. It showed up the day before I left. The second barrier is is having anything left in the tank in the middle of Ocotober, in my case, no.

The build up to the race was far from normal, riding around beijing dodging buses and wild dogs. military escorts to strange training circuits and trips to the silk markets to stock up on counterfeit everything. The race was a struggle for me, I had a really bad patch early in the race and got dropped on a climb that even a few sprinters got over, and was really on struggling street. The legs came a bit better and I put all my eggs into stage 3. Long range break with a hill top finish. The break didn't go for an hour, I felt like I covered everything and when I finally got away I was rooted. 150km later I was even more rooted and we got caught about 8km to go...such a hard day out. The next day was one of the worst I've had and the last stage wasn't much better. Physically I needed my off season to start and when the legs go the mind follows pretty quickly.

So back to NZ...catching up with the few of my mates that havent disappeared around the world having graduated from university. I spent a week in Samoa sitting on a beach, scuba diving and eating coconuts. the rest of the off season was filled with a black keys concert, a bit of low key hunting, fishing and things that resembled a slightly more normal life. However now my nose is back firmly against the grindstone, training again on the bike and really enjoying it. Feeling fresh and excited about the season ahead. Not doing anything too hard on the bike front but gym work and all the other things that go with being a professional exerciser.

Actually sitting on a boat on the way back from a wicked weekend away in Taupo for the lake taupo fun ride. It was really cool to catch up with some good mates. There are few better places in the world to sooth the soul. Stunning weather, 10,000 cyclists and very big beautiful lake with an erupting volcano as the backdop.

Heading back to Europe soon for December training camp, always a bit rough heading straight back into Winter but always good to catch up with the guys and get some miles in.

gb