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