Racing, Crashing and a Team.

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.

WCNI TTT

After an easy week of training(very easy) to recover from the mountain of km's I had done and also to get stuck into some solid efforts this week and the following there was the West Coat Nort Island Teams Trial Champs, a 40km race against the clock with 4 of us from the Stratford Club, with your time taken on the 3rd rider finished.
The team was Dad, Greg Marfell, Nick Sutton and myself, it was a windy day on a flat course, the 2 boys were abit tired from a race the day before but we were still planning to have dad as our 4th rider and not expecting to take him all the way...well that plan changed after about 3km when nick couldn't hold the pace, this meant we went into conservation mode just to get to the finish, there was some solid croswinds in the first 15km which can be abit sketchy when your riding deep section wheels...Dad rode well meaning we only had to ease the pace 2 or 3 times for him and we came home 55sec ahead of the next team so a successful day, 56mins for 40km on a very windy day isnt bad.
I was happy with how I felt and feeling ready to do some hard work with only 3 weeks untill the tour of southland, coming up is a club fun ride going over some choice roads on the 'Forgotton World Highway' starting in Taumarunui through to Stratford.
Should be a good bit of fun.
Mike.

RTM

We just had our local race in the weekend the 'Round The Mountain' We had 8 of us start in the scratch bunch and 65mins to make up on the first riders to leave, A solid effort on one of the hills in the first 20km saw us down to 6 which is how it was for the rest of the day, we all lapped very well and were pulling time back nicely catching B grade with 50km to go then C grade another 20km up the road, the other bunches were pretty split up and there was 1 lone rider left to catch as we left inglewood, we started playing around abit and 2 riders jumped clear and held us off to the line, i came through 4th and reasonably happy with my ride, still feeling a long way from any real form but felt like I was going strong, it had also been a pretty long week on the bike so the body will be pretty jaded,
So many positives I felt and with a rest week (still riding) then a couple of hard effort weeks i should be going a little better I hope.
There is a couple of Teams Time Trials over the next few weeks so I'm looking forward to them and will update as I go.
Cheers
Mike.

Ticking Over

The last few weeks things have been ticking along nicely, after abit of a rest, some time hunting, afew weeks to build back up slowly, a MTB fun ride/race then a club race i'm now starting to roll out some solid rides and had a reasonable race over the weekend.
The race was the Taupo to Napier and part of the National Points Series(NPS), it's a tough course with 2 longish climbs but 20km of flat to the finsih, the day gave a tail wind and things started pretty quickly, the breakaway for the day was formed almost immediately and seeing who was in it I made sure I was one of them, we had 7 riders but that was soon down to 5 as we pushed hard to establish the gap, I was really suffering but just pushed through as I knew we would eventually easy a little and also that I would ride myself into the race after a very heavy weeks training.
The first long climb of the day saw our break split up, I crested the climb 3rd but was unable to rejoin the front two, I held the gap pretty close up to and over the next climb and got pretty close at times over the other side, but 2 against 1 was always going to be tough, I held on for 3rd and came away satisfied with where I'm at, there is still alot of work to do but I feel it's all pointed in a good direction.
This week I'm hanging out in the Hawkes Bay for abit of sunshine, the weather in the Naki can be abit demoralising at times but ill be back in time for the Round the Mountain this coming saturday, another NPS race.
Cheers
Mike.

Re-focus

Well active recovery didn't do the trick, I went to some races and was just getting it handed to me. I was struggling to finish a race let alone be anywhere near the front!
It's not the first time I have been in this situation and I do try to learn from my experiences, the same thing happened a year ago and I tried to just ride myself out of it...I slowly improved but was still just miles from any sort of form and just wasted the 2nd half of the season.
So, do something different, I need a good rest...a proper rest, 2 weeks off and 6 weeks without a race, but by that time i would only have 2 weeks left in spain before the visa runs out, so it seemed obvious to get home asap. which is where im at now, Iv'e just had my 2 weeks off so now its time to try and get fast again for the end of the season here in NZ and possibly some races in Aus.
Next up will be the Taupo-Napier in mid september then plenty of races up until the focus race, the Tour of Southland, where we have assembled most of our winning team from the Tour of Wellington.
I have some mixed feelings about leaving Euro land early, but i know this is the only way to get anything out of the rest of the year. So I hope to be bringing some reports of some good results again soon!!
Thanks for reading.
Mike.

Resting!!

Well, the body has told me it's time to put the bike aside for a wee bit, and the team has been kind enough to let me sit out some less important races to get going properly again. I had 5 days off just over a week ago but after getting back into some training I was still feeling like i needed more rest, so im taking another few days off right now, and feeling alot better already.
Summer has fully hit here now which is making things a little uncomfortable with temps often sitting over 35degs, the boys and I went and checked out the 'running of the bulls' festival that going on at the mo but tried to keep our distance a little since the place looked like a disease fest, Also the Tour De France is all go which is great for afternoon entertainment.
Coming up... in a week n a half is my next race which is the start of a huge block of racing, so more of that as it rolls around and also more study, after getting through the first bit study ive done for awhile the 2nd lot has started up which has been quite good for gettting my spanish up to speed, although i find speaking still pretty tough I can understand a heap more week by week which makes life easier aswell as not feeling so guilty and just having a blank face all the time!!
Off to catch the tour now, cheers for reading.
Mike

Up and Down

Had afew races lately, Firstly was a race i did well in last year, the Vuelta Central Montanas de Asturias, It started well although i was feeling abit tired with a 2nd in a small bunch sprint, the 2nd day was marked with 2 big climbs but it just wasnt to be, i had 2 wheel changes, crashed in both the descents and just wasn't feeling on my game so i was pretty happy to get that stage out of the way! then next day was just a suffer fest and i pulled out after less than 1hr so was a pretty dissappointing tour in the end.
The next day was a classic race close to home but the body was again still suffering so i just sat in all day and rode it out.
The body is starting to feel like it's in need of a good rest at the mo so im having abit of down time but had to go to a race on saturday and also today, they both went pretty average as i just tried to look after myself and not hurt too much, something that the team director does not quite understand but never mind.
I have alot of tours coming up over the next month or 2 and would like to get some results! So it's abit of feet up, watch some movies and eat some ice-cream for the next week to hopefully restore abit of order to how i know i can ride.
Thanks for reading, will have to do a better report when time allows, internet is the house if failing so it's down at maccas for the free wifi and McFlurry's!!
Mike

On Top

Got my 2nd win here in Spain for the season on sunday, the race was called San Martin Proba de Ataun, was 130km with 3 climbs, the last was close to the finish and was just this crazy steep berg.
I was feeling pretty average, kinda abit tired, so was nice when right from the start one of the bigger teams revealed their race tactic which was just to control everything until the climbs started, so i just had to make sure i was at the front for the start of the last climb which we came into on this crazy off cambered paved and wet drive way then into this wall of a climb that was also wet and super slippery, it was every man for himself just to get to the top, i crested with 1 other team mate but 1 guy just ahead of us, after the descent there was 3 or 4 km to go where we easily pulled in the leader then in the sprint i had to legs to come aronnd the 2 of them to take the win.
I was pretty happy with that after giving a win to my team mate earlier that week, felt like a nice reward.
That afternoon I was on a bus to barcelona for an exam the next day, so i got the day off the bike but am feeling abit overloaded on the travel front and pretty tired so a couple of easy days are in order before i start my next tour on thursday.
Will get some photo's up soon!!
Cheers for reading.
Mike.

A long weekend.

Had the 'vuelta a coruna' over the weekend, teh first stgae went pretty well, i made the split of the day then with about 40km to go i went away with 1 other rider, i was feeling really good but unfortunately my companion wasn't putting in the same effort and eventually wasn't helping at all, just before the last climb of the day with about 12km to go we were caught by a small group and over the top we had a group of 6, the finish was an 800m uphill cobbled section, but i wasn't quite up to it finishing 5th. The next day i tried again but this time with about 30km to go, over the last climb i had about 45secs but again it wasn't to be as the group of about 20 pulled me in. The last stage and still in 5th but only 5secs down i took to them went in the day long escape with one team mate and one other rider, we got out to 3min40secs, but again this was to prove fruitless as we got pulled in with 30km to go, needless to say i was pretty much smoked after that but we all got a wee treat on the long drive home, a phone call to say we were going to be racing the next day!!
The race was the first round of the Copa Iberica, our team rode brilliantly, covering every move and it eventually paid off, it was a 3 lap race and on the final lap up one of the first hills i hit out, soon i had 2 team mates and 3 other riders there, it was a big help to have team mates there and gave us some good options in the finish, we managed to pull it off perfectly, with myself and 1 other getting away then our other team mate taking the sprint between just behind us, I rolled in for 2nd but an awesome day for the team filling out the podium.
The form seems pretty good so just abit of recovery now then some quality training with the help of my coach Silas at http://sites.google.com/a/smartcoaching.org/home/
My next tour is just over a week away, I was 2nd there last year so we will see how that goes...
Untill then, cheers
Mike

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

Close again in Pontevedra

Sunday 18th of april, my 3rd race and another spanish cup, 143km with a HARD 3km climb at 10km to go.
The team was looking after me and one other in the team, which was nice when i punctured mid way and was given a wheel right away then had someone to tow me back on!!
I just had to wait for the last climb really, which turned out to be alot harder than i thought, knowing i had to attack as i wouldnt win a sprint i hit it with just under 1km to the top and had maybe 15secs at the top.
I hit the descent hard and had 3 guys chasing behind, definitely not quite feeling the strength of the week before but the km's were counting down fast so i just kept giving it everything.
It wasnt to be though and my time was up at 800m to go, the tank was empty and wasn't able to contest the sprint.
Another solid performance though and our team worked really well so a little disappointing not to deliver for them, so a 4th this time round, never mind i will try again!! as you do.
Here is a link to a video from the race. www.roadcycling.co.nz/RaceTalk/caught-before-the-line-michael-torckler.html
Cheers
Mike

Clásica Ciudad de Torredonjimeno - Copa de España – A Win

Winning needs afew things,motivation, good form, a little luck and ofcourse a race!

This was my 2^nd race since arriving in Spain and my 2^nd Spanish Cup, a series of 10 races with the best U26amatuers in Spain. This was round 6 and a fairly bumpy parcours of 153km, so was suitable for the task at hand.

The motivation was to make the mommoth drive wothwhile and also was my birthday-eve!

The trip set off on a bad note though, both our team vans had been vandalised with each having 3!! flat tyres.....that sorted and we got on our way.

Not a whole lot happened in the race for me until 100km, it was too fast and not hilly enough to get away, also needed to shake the legs out a little after the drive. The first and main climb was at 97km, it was a cat.2 of about 8km, I was feeling pretty good so about ½ way up I jumped away and rode through afew people until reaching the lone leader, the 2 of us reached the top with a 30sec lead and 50km to ride, not much to work with but there was a lot of damage behind us. We stretched our lead to a max of 1min over the next couple of cat.3 climbs but the gap was decreasing slowly, at 15km to go we were on an easy climb with about a 40sec gap, I was starting to think about going solo after my team told me this guy was quick in the sprint but decided to wait, I thought id blown it by not going thinking that was the last climb but fortunately there was another at 10k to go, the gap was closing and the two of us were kind of looking at eachother not willing to give it %100 just to tow the other guy to the finish(well thats how I felt anyway), 1km from the top when the gap was just under 20secs my companion said something in spanish which I interpreted as 'im going back to the group'. Great....time to go! I hit it just incase he changed his mind and the gap started to increase, pulling back out to 35secs on the 15 or so remaining riders.

The last 2km were abit of a false flat hill and the finish couldn't have come soon enough, I did get there though and with 25seconds to spare!

The team had won a race the day before aswell so were a bunch of happy campers.

Next up is another Copa in Galicia in a weeks time, another big drive so will be trying again.

Cheers, Mike.

Race on - Valenciaga

Been in spain for a couple of weeks now and had the first hit out yesterday...Things are taking a little time to settle in, new bike, new shoes, change of pedals and crank length, so the body hasn't been giving me many great signals and this got worse as i started one of the most important spanish cups for the year.

The course was a fairly brutal 163km, with 7 reasonable climbs, 2 of them with a solid gardient, the hardest of them coming at 30km to go.My job was to look after the team leader all day, he was sitting 2nd in the points classification for the series. Rolling through neutral my rear wheel let out a hiss but was changed easily and i rejoined the group no probs, the race started fast, real fast, there was alot of 'junk' on the road and i was just waiting for a crash to happen, 10km in and i was the one sliding down the road after hitting a stray bottle...a little shaken and a hard chase put me back in ok, now was just a waiting game. Staying out of the wind but close enough not miss anything dangerous was the go for the day, we hit the penultimate and hardest climb all together, i went to the front to keep things together for my team mate, after a km or so i looked back to see he was struggling, easing up allowed others to now attack, i followed initially then went back to help our leader but he gave me a wave and told me to just go. Cresting the climb with 2 others at the front of the race was a good place to be, we were joined by 2 others then later 7 more on the final climb, as much as i tried i didn't have the legs to get away solo, then was unfortuantely dropped with 2km to go having to settle for 12th.

A good result considering and it looks good for the season coming up, Brad(the other kiwi in the team) had a reasonable first day also, finishing 56th at 4mins down or so. Next up is another Spanish Cup in 2 weeks, Bring it on!

Cheers

Mike.

blogging

Thought about this for awhile now and finally done it! have myself a blog.
The days really are counting down untill I leave for another season in Spain! It's an exciting time for me after a super start to the year i am really keen to see what i can do, but will try not get ahead of myself just yet.
All things are in place and the training has been ticking along nicely, got my last bit of NZ out of my system with a quick trip to the bush with my dad and bro during the week, all good cross training at the end of the day too!!
Next blog should be from Pamplona, Bring it on!!
Untill then.
Mike.