There has been abit going on since I last updated...
Firstly we had the NZ teams time trial champs, it was a 3 race weekend with the TTT being in the middle, first up was a 1hr Crit round central Hamilton, the legs were not so great but it was a nice leg opener, the following day was the TTT, our team was unchanged from the week before and we all rode pretty well, I was feeling pretty good and strong which was nice, we rode the flat 40km in 53min11sec and took the bronze which we were all pretty stoked about. The next day was a 100km race with afew lumps to mix it up, I had a great start when my speedo fell off in the first KM, I went back and picked it up, then had to chase back on for the next 10-15km, that really hurt so had to spend some time recovering, with about 20km to go we went up the hardest hill of the day and I made my move reaching the 3 leaders just at the top, it was pretty uneventful from there as we just rode to the finish for a sprint, I was beaten into 2nd place there...need to work on that sprinting! I was feeling good though and there was only 1 weel till southland.
Mid week I flew to Queenstown to meet up with my new team for next year, Pure Black Racing, we got alot of kit, the first of our bikes and some choice weather, this was a chance to do some team bonding, visit some cafe's and plan for next year so it was a pretty choice time, the new bike is really nice the kit fits superb and it's a good bunch of guys so some exciting times ahead for sure. I will start riding for them in the new year.
Then it was down to invercargill to join some friends in the Ascot Park Hotel team for the tour of southland, all the boys were well prepared and we were looking to take it to a fairly strong feild. The TTT prologue went to plan, we finished 7th reasonable close and the legs were good...that afternoon was the stage to bluff but unfortunatley I didn't get there, near the front of the peloton a rider hit a rock and lost control causing a nice pileup...I came off worst breaking my collar bone putting an end to my tour right there. That was a pretty painfull and dissapointing experience and 2 weeks later im just starting to turn the pedals again on an indoor trainer, it will be another 2-3 weeks before I can ride on the road so thats slightly frustrating but something that comes with the sport.
I stayed in southland for the week though and tried to enjoy what I could, one of the days the tour stays in TeAnau for the night, a tradition with the Ascot team is a boat cruise with BBQ dinner on the lake, that was by far the highlight of my trip, that place is just massive and untouched, pretty incredible!
So for now it's just 'Poco a Poco' and ill be up and going in no time, probably the tour de vinyards starting 1 jan.
Cheers for reading
Michael.
