Monday, June 22, 2009

Nature Valley all done!

Hey, so quick rundown on the rest of the stage in Natre Valley!!

Stage 3 Thur; about 95km.  1 big loop, then 4 smaller finishing loops. Ok so today was pretty sweet, once we got going I started to feel better. Everything was going pretty smooth till we hit the gravel road that took us to the finishing circuits. I knew I had to be near the front coming up to the right turn, but what I didnt realise it was onto a tiny almost like a driveway road, even the leading motorbike missed it, and it was slight chaos in the peleton.  Most of the people that were near the front ended up half way back and had to unclip etc.. I was on the wrong side of the road moving up, and had to do a complete U turn and was basically dead last wheel going into the gravel…  by the time we hit the finishing circuit a couple of us were way off the bunch… anyway it was a pretty frustrating day…. finished with a  small group!!

Stage 4 Fri:  crit. 1 hour. dead flat. Man these girls can ride!! Again starting almost last wheel I didnt exacly give myself the best opportunity…. It was strung out from the start to the  finish!! Thankfully I stayed upright and finished safely in the bunch! The highlight of the evening was the time we spent at the Jazz Apple tent, promoting and giving away apples!!  I really enjoyed that! We actually got to meet the Kiwi growers that were in the US for a bit!! They were buzzing we were there and likewise for us too!!  They were cool!!

Stage 5 Sat:  145km.  Pretty flat. 1 long loop with 4 finishing circuits (1 massive hill about 700m long steeeep) Quite a few attacks and about 100km later, finally a break got away with our own Dotsie!! It stuck right to the end with Jazz  finishing 2nd!! Not a bad day in the office!!! The team worked well today and backed each other up all the way!! So it was awesome to podium! The other major highlight was hearing that Mike placed 3rd in the stage and was now in the young rider leader jersey!! yaaaaayyyy!! :)

Stage 6 Sunday! 13 laps  of a really cruel way to finish a 5day stage race circuit!! That’s just evil!! Start off stright up the hill, basiclaly the only bit of flat was about 200m around the start finish area the rest was either vertical uphill….almost vertical uphill mixed in with slight uphill with a touch of downhill… so perfect for me really!! hahahha not…. nah seriously it was pretty cruel but I actually really enjoyed it… the crowds were insane!!! The hill was packed with spectators and it was just like in the TDF where they clear the road just enough  for you to squeeze by!! it was awesome!!  After our race it was the men!!  I was so nervous for Mike, pressure was on to retain the jersey!! oh he did so well, ended up 3rd overall on the young rider category with his team mate taking the honours!! So it finished off the tour on a high… well for me ayway.

So right now Im in Portland Oregon, (where Mike’s team is based) and finally I get to spend more then 4 days in one spot and I am stoked!! 2weeks all up actually!  The first thing I notice is the change in weather!! One day its got and humid and the next its wet and cold :( kinda reminds me of Belgium last year!! 

Ok thats all for now folks, back soon!! 
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Friday, June 12, 2009

Tulsa tough day 3 (delayed report 2 weeks)

Tulsa tough - Day 3   (delayed 2 weeks)


So today was a stunner once again!!  Not only was the sun out baking, its was by far the most testing course of the 3 days!! It’s called Tulsa Tough for a reason!!!

The only flat part of the course was the start finish area which was about 400m long and then a hard right into a steep 250m climb, then a few more steps up and up, hard right and slight down hill and a sharp right hand turn down a steep hill to the finishing straight!! 

 You would think that on such a dangerous corner is where the carnige would happen, but no, seems that the girls in our bunch have a special talent in crashing on the uphill!!! Thank god the Jazz girls don’t posses this talent and were fortunate to get through the races in one piece!!

So anyway the race was 60min!!The pace was on from the gun, and pretty much within 15 min or so the bunch had whittled down to 30 riders or so!! Lauren and Dotsie were right up there, covering and countering moves!! It was awesome to see!! 

 Malindi, Steph and I were on the climb showing our support (from the sidelines at this point)!! There was a huge party atmosphere, with on house having a DJ and the occupants dressed up in speedos, sparkly suits, pink wigs, and needles to say they were rather merry and barely standing at 2pm!!!   The big screen was in perfect position, we got to see the whole race and managed to steal a bit of TV time too!! Parading around in our snazzy Jazzy skinsuit!!  :)

So back to the race! Watching Lauren so strong and dominant in the pack was like a proud mama’s moment!!  ”shes with me”/ “that’s my girl” type thing!!  She finished 8th overall, a great result and a high to finish on!!  Philly here we come!

Over
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Fun Fun Fun!

So, continuing from the last blog update!!

I ended up spending more then 8 hours at  Philly Airport in the end. The 2.45pm flight didnt leave till like 6 pm, then spent another hour on the runway for our spot in the line…. and luckily I had managed to change my connection in Chicago to a later fight or I would have not made the race!!  Once I landed in Chicago I was basically sprinting to the next gate, where I was the last passanger on board!! (that flight was also 2 hours delayed) but before I got on to the plane I told the lady I that I HAD to have my bike on board this plane as I had a race at 8am the next morning… blah blah blah… Anyway Southwest Airline were so good as they held the plane up a bit more as the pilot announced “we are just waiting for one more bag from the Philly connection to be loaded then we are off”…..   Up until this point its kinda funny as I didnt even really panic all day, I mean what can you do, it happens……  The only thing that cracked me once I got onto that last plane was that there was only 1middle seat available and the stupid white trash lady did not wanna get up, she was expecting me to climb over her to get tot he seat, and its not like she was a stick insect either….. grrrr… its such a small thing, but I was tired and that just CRACKED ME….. made her get up and move the F handbag and drink she had on MY seat!!   (sorry  sounds so stupid, but I had to let it out) ….
Anyhow I made it to the host housing!! Freaking HUGE house and absolutely amazing!!  Unpacked my bike and was pretty much all go for the 6am wake up call!!!

Stage 1 WED:  6 mile TT.. Well the aim for me was to just ride the TT and finish within the time cut!!  I was on my road bike which was sweet as….. basically went for a spin……. towing a  trailer…. man I felt like crap.
We got to go home inbetween the stages and it was straight to be for me (after a shwer of course) 2 hrous boof down!!

Stage 2 WED: 40 lap crit.  inner city.  It was fast and strung out right from the start.  I of course had the best position in the bunch….. if we were going the opposite way that is!!  I was basically the LAST wheel…. anyway again all I had to do was have an easy ride and try recover from the previous days travels.  I am pleased to say I finihsed in one piece and actaully felt really good once I passed all the randoms and was safely in the bunch!!  So thats a good sign!!

Back tomorrow with rest of it!!
Over ….
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Thursday, June 11, 2009

Leaving Philly….

Hi

So, I am sitting at the Philly Airport waiting to fly to our next race!! Nature Valley! Because I was a late arrival to the team I am flying alone this time and will meet the team there! Now I know I am supposed to be a grown up here, but the thought of driving to the airport this morning in the rental car was still pretty nervewrecking. This is a big place and sooooo many signs/east/west.blah blah… but I am pleased to announce I am here alive and well….. I did however manage to get here 3.5 hrs early and now am sitting on the ground typing away trying to amuse myself till the battery dies….

I thought I could get away with eating my ready made lunch/wrap type thing with out dripping it all over myself….. but how wrong was I…. maybe I could kill another 15min trying to clean the sauce off the white t-shirt…. hmmmm……As someone would say….. Messy pup!!

So yeah, Kutztown was pretty cool!! Its about a 30 min ride to trexlertwon where the summer track season goes off!! I was here in 2001 for 3 months and have some great memories of the place…. Met some cool people!! Anyway, so I actually enjoyed sleeping out in the motor home, was like my own little hideaway! The team left this morning at 4.30am, while I was like hehehhe suckers you have to get up so early!! Once they left about an hour later the thunder and rain came down…. so needless to say the fear of getting struck by lightning was back and I got up soon after….

Philly was a pretty wicked race!! First of all there would have been at least 15 Kiwis taking part in the race (men and women)…. so it’s a great time to catch up!! Our goal for the day was to get my team mate Ruth into the QOM jersey…. and that we did!! It was a hotly contested competition,. But we managed to pull it off!! (for a more detailed race reports and photos please check out www.jazzapplecycling.com) I love it when the plan works to a T!!!

The other major highlight was the womens peleton, PASSING the men, about 3 laps into the race!!! bahahhah…. shame!! There were a few words exchanged on the way!!! Dont think I should write them on here, but basically the men got hassled big time!! ha!! If you think about it some of those guys get paid more than the yearly budget for a womens team!!!

Anyhow! My battery’s about to die, only 2.5 hrs to go…….. ohhhhh!!! :(

Back soon!!

Bye


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Wednesday, June 3, 2009

America - Jazz!!

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Hey there

So as promised here is the update….

Righto, so as you might have realized I have joined the Jazz Apple cycling team! It was a bit of an unexpected event, but it has turned out great!! The original plan for the year was to take it as it comes and up until like 7 weeks ago I was going on a trip to the US to visit Mike, a couple of emails to Susy asking if I was able to join them for a few races…. etc… And things just went on from there!!

I arrived in Monterey California last Saturday, greeted by the team manager Chris Drake! It’s been 9 days now and I have managed to:

Shift houses/accomodation :5 times (absolutely amazing team host housing, a MASSIVE change from my last year in Europe thats for sure!! People are so nice and friendly here too!! Actually smile and are excited to have us here!!

Race : 4 times ( 4x 60min crits)

Plane trips :4 Right now we are flying to Philly for a major event on the 7th June

Tangled up in crash (but not go down by some miracle) :1 amazing that a bunch of girls can corner at like 45km/hr but take each other out on a straight bit of wide road, right past the start finish line!! I had nowhere to go and piled straight into a girl already on the ground, but somehow I didnt go down, all I know is that I was sliding along, on my cleats totally upright and using every bit of my inner thigh strenght not to end up on the gound doing the splits!! So I just gradually slowed down and just tipped over, managing to hold myself up with one finger!! hahah I looked round for my bike and realised it was like 5 meters back!! I had to crack up, no idea how I managed that one, but the only proof I have is a tiny scratch on my ankle!! waaaahhh!!

Number of kiwis spotted at races so far : 3, Huck, Toni, Jas!! 4 with Liz! More kiwis to be spotted this weekend in Philly!!

Promotianl work for Jazz Apple ; 1 at Wholefoods! Pretty good fun!!b basically just spend a bit of time in the shop talking about and promoting the apple..

Witnessed a demolished team bike!!: 1 Malindi had a bad spil on the first night of racing and the bike was totally stuffed! Forks completely snapped, and considering state of the bike she’s come of pretty good!

Anyway, it’s only been like 4 races (crits) so far, but man its been soooooo much fun!! The crowds and the atmosphere here are totally different to Europe!! people are loving the fact that there is a race on, and the mens and womens races are on the same time so thats wicked too!!

Gotta, go… be back soon! Kutztown here we come!

Over

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