vueltas

Had a couple of tours over the last little while, unfortunately no success to report of or even a report that all things are going well...

The first was a Vuelta Maestrazgo in Castellon(15-16 may), i was kind of happt just to finish this tour and did some hard work for a team mate on the 2nd day but we couldn't quite pull off the win.

I then had a week and a half to get ready for the Vuelta Navarra, a very important tour for our team with alot of pressure for me to perform, unfortunatly my buildup was far from perfect as i found myself just needing to rest almost completly, presumably for a sequence of events with crashes, the cold, getting sick and alot of travel.

The first day i was pretty unsure of how things would go and i was abit sluggish and suffered for awhile but rode into it pretty well, it just ended in a slightly reduced bunch sprint, the 2nd day was very similar. Day 3 was the first test with a hill finish, only 800m long but hard, the legs were good but luck was against me as i dropped my chain at the start of the hill, in the frustration of getting off my bike to sort it i ripped my foot out of my shoe aswell, sorting that lost me 1min but had me fired for the next day, the queen stage.

The team still wanted my to try for the overall classification so and all day escape was on the cards, Getting in the escape was the first bit, which i did along with a team mate who wanted to take the mountains jersey, unfortunately it wasn't to work out, as we were pulled in at 1/2 way, i still managed to hold on to the front guys when the gas was applied over the next few climbs but in the final ascent the tank was empty and i came in 11th, not a bad effort really. The final day i was more keen to just take it easy as it was a flat stage and easy for the leaders to control. I did this well untill the one climb of the day where things got abit crazy with all the guys close on GC trying their hands, then in the trickey and slightly greasy descent a guy infront of me locked up and a good pile of up ended upside down in a prickley bush, I copped a chainring to the wrist and was again in the ambo and off to hospital for more stitches, pretty frustrating really but it's not a major with nothing else that badly hurt or broken, still feeling like iv'e seen my fair share of crashes and ambo's this year though...

So ill be taking it easy for 4 days now then off to another tour in Galicia, Kinda hope i can keep it upright for once...
found this book in a local market, about a kiwi that tries to fly!! a good laugh

Untill then, cheers.

Mike

cycling....

After feeling like i had sorted out the bit of trouble with my knee was kinda hoping to get some good racing km's in the legs...the plan was a 2 day tour then the final of the spanish cup series over 3 days.
It started pretty well as we left Villa-real near Castellon in 15-20 degree temps and started to head skyward, I was feeling reasonably good and there were some tough climbs to come, I hit out at about 100km just before the start of the climbing, i was away with 3 others who had a different idea to me of what we should do and they wern't interested in helping.Near the top of the climb the heavens opened and the temp plumeted, the descent was cold, slippery and visabilty was minimal, on the flat to the next climb it didnt take me long to work out that the 'gravel' i thought we were riding through was actually Hail, with my body really starting to freeze up now and hardly a piece of clothing on it wasn't pretty, all I was thinking was keep going as hard as i can to try and not sieze up...all the energy was going into shaking and shivering so the legs had nothing left...soon after we were caught by what was left of the peloton but i was in no state to stay there, i got a vest out of the car and ate all the food i had but it was no help, at the next descent i pulled over fearing i would surely crash, i was pretty quick to get into a warm car when one stopped and then into and ambulance with a blanket for awhile after aswell. A DNF is never nice especially in a tour and only being 10km from the finish, but im not sure there was much more i could have done, the manager was abit angry that i didnt just get more clothes and do star jumps on the side of the road to warm up, but an hour in a car with a blanket hardly helped so i knew what was best for me.
Out of the tour meant i was supporting the next day and just got in a 1hr spin later once we had arrived at the accommodation for the last Copa.
The legs were feeling pretty good to start on the sunday, it was cold and wet but we were heading downhill all day into warmer weather, it was pretty dodgey to start so i was staying near the front to keep out of trouble, didn't help though, 10km in and a dark tunnel and someone went down infront of me, i couldn't avoid him as his bike slid infront of me and down i went, i was a little slow to get up and my knee's were pretty sore, i then felt me head was abit wet...so it was off to the ambulance for me, after the race had finished i got taken to the hospital for afew stitches in my forehead.
Pretty thankfull really, it could have been alot worse, still not sure how my bike is but that is a side issue really, try and recover nice and quick now for another tour this coming weekend, again heading to Castellon.
Cheers
Mike

lately

Havn't had much to report on the racing front over the last couple of weeks, I had abit of a niggly knee for a little while with all the changes that I had made...bike, shoes, pedals and cranks. This hit me hard on a long ride where i was hardly able to pedal for the last 10mins or so, I took it easy then tried to race that weekend in a Spanish Cup in Cantabria where the profile wasn't overly brutal but sure was a tough day, after recent results there were alot of people watching my every move which was kinda funny, i got to 25km from the finish when the knee blew up again though so just pulled the pin right away.

I had changed back to my old shoes a couple weeks back and after the DNF(which i don't like to do) i also changed the cranks back to my normal length, went to see the physio(where i learnt nothing) and had a week with nearly no riding.

I started the next Copa which was a pretty brutal one but more worried about the health than a performance, things ticked along well, it was a hard day with 9 categorized climbs and rain...lots of rain. The knee was fine, the legs were average, was hoping that i could ride into it and be going good at the end....didn't happen, just got worse and worse but thats ok i was happy just to finish.

There was another race the next day(yesterday), not a huge race but hard none the less, again i went in with caution even though there was pressure from the team to go well in the 8km long mountain finish. The team worked well for me but i was abit nervous about letting them down since the legs were well off the pace. In the climb i went early with maybe 4 or 5 km to the top and started to put time into the group that was left, unfortunately i was caught by 2 guys with less than 1km to go and couldnt match them in the sprint, again i was happy that the knee was fine as i know the form will come back quickly and a 3rd isnt a bad result really.

The last Copa is up this coming sunday, very easy course so im sure ill just be helping others this time round.

Untill then.Cheers.
Mike