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.