Chilling

So had a little holiday in Paris and Amsterdam the last few days so here is what we did- http://bradtilby.blogspot.com/2011/09/trip-to-paris-and-amsterdam.html

I'm too lazy to write anything so that is the link to Brad's blog.

a terminé la saison

My season in France has come to an end with my last race done on Monday. It has been a while since I have done a post on here as I am getting a bit slack with it being the end of season. It would be fair to say I have been going out a lot to make up for a quiet year etc.

Well anyway quick update on my last races.

From the 26th to the 28th of August I had a small tour - Tour du Pilat. It was a hard race and I ended up 20th or something in GC.
After that race my training basically went downhill. I probably have spent more time out in Lyon town than on my bike but its all good fun.

The following weekend I had 2 races. The first was a hilly race Prix de Coligny. I actually felt really good in this and found my self in every break away only to be caught in the last lap and finish in the bunch. It was ok however as a team mate got 2nd.....team happy. The day after I had a criterium in Annecy and was pouring with rain. Not so good for the motivation and I was not keen on crashing on the tight circuit so I ended up pulling out half way. This was also another good race for the team though as we won.

So now the weekend just been. I had a race Sunday and Monday, with my last race of the season on Monday. Sunday's race was another criterium and I wasnt feeling the greatest so I just went all out from the start and got away by myself to win the first money prime....40 euro in the bag. After that I just cruised around in the bunch.
Finally, the last race in France for this year I should have been motivated but I wasnt and I ended up pulling out. Not the best finish but got to drink some beer while I watched the rest of the race.

In the bunch at a crit (Martins in the white Latvian national champs kit)

Crit again

Now that the season is over for me Im just chilling out waiting to leave here on the 20th of September. I am going catch the train to Paris to meet Brad Tilby and Matt Kurtovich for 3 days and we will do some touristy stuff. Then after that I am going with Brad to Amsterdam for the weekend....... And then I am spending a week with some family in Holland. I catch a flight out of Amsterdam on the 1st of October back to New Zealand just in time for my 3rd summer! First stop will be the Titirangi bakery for a Caramel slice......also amped for the RWC

I have really enjoyed this year and feel I have really progressed as a rider. The team was the perfect choice for me and exposed me to some of the biggest races in France below the pro races. Now that I have seen and done all of these big races once, I want to come back next year and compete for some top results. I feel I was there or there abouts, its now about closing the deal. I am stoked that I got two wins this year and its given me a lot more confidence.

Also for the 2012 season Im stoked that I will be returning to France to race with Team Vulco again!

A few more photos from 24hours du mans

Walking away form the podium with our winnings

Me and Martins

24 HEURES DU MANS VELO

So this weekend I had 8 hours of traveling to go to Le Mans for the 24 Heures Du Mans race. Basically this race is a 'fun' race something like round Taupo so a big range of levels with 1754 riders. The race itself was raced on the same race track as they use in the 24 Heures Du Mans for cars and you have a team of 2,4,6 or 8 riders and you change riders at different intervals for example we had a team of 4 and changed every 2 hours. The team with the most laps in 24 hours wins. The main reason we did this race was for our sponsors, Vulco (Vulco is a auto repair shop) , which were sponsors for the event and so was very important for us to win.

The race started on Saturday and was a scorcher of a day, around 35 degrees. I was scheduled to race 2nd, which meant I started at 5pm for my 2hour block. When I started the front group was all still together so about 30 minutes into my ride I attacked on the small climb on the lap which was about 500m long at 4percent. I managed to get away with 4 other guys and I rode with them for about 45 minutes but were a bit to slow for me so I ended up going alone for the last 45 minutes. By the end of my shift I was 3 minutes ahead of the bunch. Luckily our team had someone to take us to our hotel, which was 10 minutes away, to sleep for a couple hours before our next shift.

By the time I was back at the track for my next shift at 1am the team had finished what I had started and were 1 lap up on the field. This made my next ride a little easier as I could just sit in the bunch and follow any moves, which was lucky for me as I wasn't to keen on making a big effort in the middle of the night. It also had started raining during the night and the track was really slippery, I think I pretty much drifted around most of the corners.

My last shift was at 9am, so by this time the sun was out again, the track was dry and it wasn't too hot yet. At this point we were 1 lap up on 7 teams and 2 laps up on a dozen other teams. I was getting pretty bored sitting in the group so I attacked again and got away with one other guy who I knew as we have raced each other before and got about half way to lapping the field before I had to change again. So I had finished my part and the rest of the team easily got another lap and at the end we won by 2 laps to 2nd place. Also my Latvian team mate got the fastest lap time in 5minutes 14seconds, an average of 48km/h which also beat the previous record by 15 seconds. In the end I think we averaged around 41km/h for the whole race.

Super stoked to get 2nd win of the year although its not the biggest race a win is a win.



The start


Our director





Pit zone

First WIN of the season!

Well its my first blog post in almost a month, so sorry to any regulars. I have some good news! I have finally had some good luck and good legs, and I have won my first race in the first category!!Saint-Sernin-du-Bois
The race was on a small circuit of 2.5km that we did 40 times, and had a 500m hill that snaked through some forest.

It didnt seem like so much when you rode around it but after 40 times up it definitely took its toll, adding up to just under 1000m total elevation by the end. The race had about 60 odd starters so not a huge field but had some half decent riders there with one guy who has just got a stagiaire with AG2R.
For the first 10 laps I honestly felt like I wanted to pull out, the pace was really fast and I was feeling awful. I think it was because the race started quite late at 4pm and I wasnt warmed up properly. After the first 10 laps I started coming right and could lay down a few attacks. On the 16th lap I managed to get into a break away of 8 with 3 riders of the same team and I was the only one from my team. So this meant I was able to sit back a little and not do so much work. We managed to keep the gap to the peloton at about 40 seconds for most the race. At 10 laps to go the gap shot out as the peloton split up behind.
With 4 laps to go 1 guy from the break attacked on the hill and got away by himself, which was a good situation for me as it forced the team with 3 riders to do the work to bring him back. The next time up the hill when we were just about to catch the front guy I followed an attack of another rider and we bridged across to the front with one other, so we were 4 in the front. It stayed like this until the last time up the hill and one guy attacked right at the bottom which was easy to follow and about 100m from the top I launched my attack and managed to get away by myself. I pushed on to the end to win by a handful of seconds!
here are some articles on the race also
http://www.lejsl.com/sport-local/2011/08/10/un-kiwi-gagne-a-st-sernin

http://www.creusot-infos.com/article.php?sid=29609&mode=&order=0

http://www.creusot-infos.com/article.php?sid=29610&mode=&order=0








I havnt just been doing nothing the last month I have actually been quite busy so I havnt had the chance to write on here. Basically I think I will just try sum up what I have done.

I have had Brad Tilby practically living with me. He came down for the Tour de France then went to Italy for a few weeks. Its good to have someone to train with and I think for him it was a good chance to get away from the rain that Holland has been having. We have done some epic rides in the mountains around Lyon.

I have also done 10 other days of racing so a quick summary......

On Thursday the 21st I had Nocturne d’Albertville a night time criterium, where our team dominated. We had 4 of us in the break and we took 1st 2nd 3rd and 6th(I was 6th) and we also won almost every sprint preme so we ended up with about 300 euro each by the end of the night.

After that I had my parents arrive on the 24th of July and they stayed with me for 2 days before coming to watch me do a 5 day tour(I will write more about this in a later blog I dont wanna make this one to long). I was 28th in this tour.

I had another race 2 days after the tour where I pulled out....still a bit tired from the tour.

I had a race on the 7th that Brad also came to watch, and I was 12th in this race and I won heaps of wine, 5 bottles. Unfortunately I don't like wine.

And yea I think thats about it for me. Form is good

Thanks for reading

Bastille day and racing

Its rest day time today for me so time for a new post. I didn't have such a busy race schedule this week just two races, one on Thursday and one on Sunday.

There was a race on Thursday as it was Bastille day here in France which is a big national holiday which I'm not even sure why the celebrate it. Someone from the team told me it was celebrating democracy or something to do with war I'm not really sure. But anyway there is always a massive celebration in Paris with the military and stuff which was really impressive to watch on tv. In Lyon there were lots of fireworks every where. Martins and I went to a big firworks display with some of the guys from the team which was cool and we had planned to go to center Lyon after to check out the street parties that were supposed to be really good, but we didn't end up going unfortunately. So anyway during the day we had an elite national race only 10km down the road from the apartment, so was cool to just ride to the race for once. Was on a flat course with a stacked field. from the start i got into a promising break but only stayed away for a lap and when we were caught the next break to go was the one that stayed away and nobody from the team made it so we had to work on the front. From there I just thought I would ride the rest of the race for some good training and drill myself on the front with some of the team to catch the break. We ended up catching them with 3 laps to go and the guys we had sitting back didnt even attempt to make the next break which was so frustrating and none of the team got in the next winning break.

On Sunday I had another flat race just a regional cat 1. not to much to report except it poured with rain and it ended in a bunch finish and I rolled 21st in the sprint.

Tour du Pays Roannais and Tour de la Dordogne

So I have had a heap of racing after my break, I think 8 stages all together in 2 weeks, so I am going to keep this post short and summarize a lot as no one wants to read a novel and I don't want to write one.

Ok the Tour du pays Roannais (elite national) was my first race back after my holiday so I didn't have very high expectations as its always hard to get racing legs back after some time off the bike. first stage was a night criterium which was good fun and super fast think we averaged 47km/h, everyone finished together.
2nd stage was 160km and was incredibly hot around 35degrees and it wasn't ideal when I ran out of drink with 60km to go and wasn't able to drop back to the car for water as there were a few hills at the end that were important to stay at the front. Anyway last climb I was really suffering without any drink and I ended up in 2nd group ended up 32nd.
3rd stage was short and hilly and I just had no legs finished 40something.
4th and last stage was hilly again and I suffered a lot, same story no legs.
Ended the tour in 36th GC.

Next up I had an elite national tour in Bordeaux which I actually got the last minute call up for as a few riders decided to pull out for some reason, which was a bit annoying as Brad was still staying with me and I had to leave on Wednesday and he had a train back Holland on Friday. But Iv just heard from Brad that he loves staying at my luxurious apartment so much he is coming back for a week next Monday, hopefully this time I wont have to ditch him for half the week to go race...........
So had 5hour drive across France to Bordeaux where we were staying with all the other teams in a boarding school as all the students are on holidays at the moment.
The tour started on Thursday with a 160km stage with an undulating parcours. I was originally only supposed to help the "roulers" of our team but in the middle of the stage I was quite active in attacking on a hilly section and I found myself in the front group of 40 and the only one from my team. Unfortunately a group of 9 got off the front in the final 40km and I didnt get into it, so I rolled 32nd in the stage and all the rest of my team mates had lost 4 minutes or plus.
2nd stage was a 10km time trial and normally I would be really excited for a time trial but not so much when I have to ride an average tt bike and without shifters on the end of the aero bars. But I tried to forget about that and focus on a good ride. didnt feel to bad and ended up 40something about 30seconds down on the winner and moved up into the top 30 on GC.
Stage 3 was 160km and undulating again with a hard finishing circuit with 2km climb that we did 3 times. Most the stage I just sat in waiting for the finishing circuits and the peloton was controlled by the yellow jersey team. In the circuits I had a few good attacks off the front but never managed to stay away but the bunch splintered a bit and the group was down to 30 odd riders left to sprint for the win. I finished mid group but moved up to 23rd GC.
Last stage was 160km again much the same as the 2 previous road stages but an even harder finishing circuit with a small hill maybe 800m but really steep about 15percent, a real leg breaker. The stage was controlled by the yellow jersey team again with a break of 12 getting away at the start. I waited till the finishing circuits again. Was feeling ok but on the 3rd of 6 circuits I didn't have the legs to make it into the front 10 that got away on the hill which caught the remnants of the breakaway and stayed away till the end. I finished in the 2nd group but still managed to move up to 21st on GC, but still gutted I couldn't make the front group as I would have moved into the top 10 on GC.

In other news I'm pretty excited about my parents coming to France to visit me for a week on the 24th of July.

And also my Latvian team mate is the new Latvian National champion!

Brad Tilby: Part 2 - Marseilles, Montpellier and Sete

Brad Tilby: Part 2 - Marseilles, Montpellier and Sete: "This is part 2, if you haven't had a read of part 1 do that first For Part 2 of our trip we headed down to Marseilles. This is about a 2hr..."

Brad has written the 2nd part of our trip on his blog so you can have a read there

South of France - Monaco, Nice, Antibes and Cannes

On Monday Brad came down to Lyon to start our summer vacation.
The plan for the first 6 days from there was full on as we were both having a week off the bike because its cycling nationals over here and of course foreigners can't race. We had decided to do a whirlwind trip of the South of France

On Tuesday Brad and I took the TGV fast train from Lyon to Nice. Its about a 4 hour train ride that cuts through the middle of France and then follows the coast from Marseilles up to Nice. The plan was to stay in Antibes. Antibes sits half way between Cannes and Nice and was to be our base for the next 3 days.


Brad managed to find a camp ground that was 50m from the waterfront, 50 meters from the train stop and most importantly wasn't expensive.

On the Wednesday we headed to Monaco. From everything you hear and see, this is the place to go. Everything is on a grand scale and within 5 minutes of arriving there we saw 2 Porsches and a Ferrari. The place is most famous for its wealth, its marina and the Formula One.....the later had been on just 2 weeks ago.


The view looking down on the city


One of the boat marinas

Our plan was to do a city tour as its such a hilly place. They have noddy trains that give English commentary so this seemed the easiest option. From here we walked to some of the key attractions. One place that was on the must do list was the Oceanographic Aquarium. This is both a museum and a aquarium and was run by Jacques Cousteau for 30 years. They had some really crazy fish in this place.


The museum is built on the cliff side


Transparent fish


Moray Eel

For the afternoon we continued to walk around more of the city and the marinas. This place is really hilly and you end up doing a lot of walking

It got so hot in the afternoon that we decided to take a swim in the sea. The water there is clear and pretty amazing. Nothing says class than 2 people from NZ just going for a lazy swim in their boxers.... Oh well


We went swimming just around from this place on a little beach

On the way back from Monaco we stopped in at Nice for dinner and to have a look around. This is really the hub of the Cote D'Azur region and one of the most recognised places. Our thoughts however were its a little overrated to the other places we visited. The beach was horrible and the shops were like any western city

On Thursday we headed down to Cannes. This place is most famous for the Movie festival so it was worth a stop through the cinema area to see the red carpet. I had done a fair bit of reading before we went and we decided to take the ferry over to the island of St Marguerite. The beaches here were supposed to be less crowded (summer time and school holidays here) and free (most nice beaches in the Cote D'Azur are not free and can cost up to 30 euro a day pp). This area didn't disappoint and we found a pretty cool inlet that had only a few people. One of the funniest stories from our trip was when 2 french girls turned up and decided to do their own modeling shoot in the water. Priceless....and we were in tears watching (yes, photos below)


Cannes red carpet


Island of Saint Marguerite


Me noticing the girls.....they are in the background and you need to zoom


One of the many modeling pics, they other girl has the camera around the corner. Sorry we missed the pic of the moody head turn....while lying the water but believe us when we say it was some funny shit.


Again more walking. I think we racked up close to 10k a day

Back in Cannes we did some more sight seeing, monuments, castles and churches. Leaving Cannes we managed to get the wrong train. We got on the direct train to Nice and not the local stop train. This meant another trip to Nice so we decided to stay and have dinner and another look around. The great thing about France is the train conductors are useless and you can ride the trains for free quite often. I think out of the 8 or so times we took the local train we never got asked for tickets

This is part one to our trip. I will write the next 3 cities in the next day. Hopefully that is a small insight in to what we did and saw. There is so much you could write about. I also have a post below with a link to the whole album from the trip.

photos Summer holiday, south france

click on the photo and you can see the whole album^^

Le Tour des Pays de Savoie

Finally I am doing a write up for this.......It was a bit of a mixed bag.
Well I went into this with some great form and was a little unsure how I would go as it was a classed as a UCI 2.2 and the only other UCI 2.2 i have done was the Rhone alps isere tour, and that was effing hard.

So the prologue was cool as it was the same course as the Criterium Dauphine a couple weeks ago. It started in the evening and it poured with rain and being on a short technical course staying upright on my bike was my biggest priority, as I thought it would be better to lose a little time not taking the risk rather than risking it and crashing and lossing alot of time. I ended up losing 40 seconds to the winner so not the greatest.

Stage 1 was flat for 80ish km then 2 mountains to finish it off. I expected a small break to get away on the flat and I thought the peloton would be controlled by some of the bigger teams, but this didnt end up happening and a massive split of 30 odd guys got off the front and I didnt make it. Up the first mountain the peloton set a real hard pace which was good and it whittled it down to about a bunch of 30 and we pulled back a few guys that had dropped of the back of the break. On the last climb at the bottom the yellow jersey attacked and he took about 3 or 4 with him, I went after but was a bit late to react and didnt have the kick to hook on to them so I was stuck between them and bunch for a bit so ended up sitting up for behind. We pretty much stayed together most the way up and with about ten in the group and we werent getting much closser to the front break away so near the top their were a lot of attacks and we all split up a bit. It was then downhill to the finish and i ended up in 28th was a bit gutted as if there was no break i could have made top 15.

stage 2 I was confident of a good finish and feeling good after the day before. It was a super hard stage with 3 mountains and was just over the border in Italy which was cool. First climb a break of about ten got away and the peloton just had a steady tempo. Coming up to the 2nd climb I attacked from the peloton with 2 other guys and we bridged up to the front, also a group of 7ish behind us made it across. So was a fairly large group of us in the front and the motorbike was saying we had 4 minutes over the peloton. Basically as soon as I had made it across to the front there were constant attacks which wasn't ideal as I had already worked my ass off to bridge up, so it really cooked my legs and by the time we were 1/4 the way up the 2nd climb I completely blew to pieces, hit the wall as they say. I think it was also due to not eating enough early on in the stage which was a stupid mistake. I crawled to the finish and literally zig zaged my way up the climbs trying to shove as much food down my throat as possible. finished 40th i think.... I was pretty disappointed.

stage 3 I was hoping I could salvage my tour but it wasn't to be I just hadn't recovered well enough from my torture the day before and the legs were like lead and I couldn't get my heart rate over 85percent. Was just suffering in the bunch and ended up dropping and finishing a few minutes down.
In the end I was 32nd on GC

Even though I had the form I made some stupid mistakes that cost me.

I have just had a sweeeet holiday down in the south of France so that has made up for any disapointment. will have a post on it in the coming days!!!!!!!!

quick update

So I have been rushing around a bit since I got back from the tour with brad arriving and now leaving to go down south today so I have had no time to do a race report from the weekend....... so will have to do it next week when i'm back home. But basically it was good and bad had a good first stage and then didn't eat enough the next and completely blew... so tune in next week for the full story.

race preview- Le Tour des Pays de Savoie

Just thought I would put a little info up on this tour I have this week starting thursday. If you have been reading my blog lately you might have noticed I have mentioned it a lot as it is a big goal for me and I'm really looking forward to it and I think will be a real hard test for me................

here's the link for the website of the race
http://tourdespaysdesavoie.com/page/presentation.html

and here's some profiles of the stages
http://tourdespaysdesavoie.com/images/cartes/2011_profil_1.jpg
http://tourdespaysdesavoie.com/images/cartes/2011_profil_2.jpg
http://tourdespaysdesavoie.com/images/cartes/2011_profil_3.jpg

A weekend in the alps- Time Megève Mont Blanc

So this weekend me and Pierre (A french guy on the team) Headed to Megève, a small town in the alps. We were doing a 'cyclo sportif' race which is basically open for any one to race, from your weekend warriors to professionals. I would compare it to something like round Taupo back home except a million times harder with a total of 3500meters climbing elevation in 130km over 3 mountain passes. The main reason we were doing this race was for preparation for the Tour des Pays de Savoie next week as the race went over some of the same mountains I will ride over in the race next week.

We stayed in the house of an ex-rider of Team Vulco who now rides for a pro team Saur Sojasun. He had a really nice place with amazing views of the surrounding mountains, and also a great view of Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the alps at 4810m. So our race started on Sunday at 8.30am which was a massive change as I usually race around 2pm..also due to some poor organisation and probably my average french speaking skills, nobody had organised me any race wheels and all I had was my frame (usually we turn up to a race with just our bike frame and the team provides all our race wheels) so I ended up having to race with some shitty 2kg training wheels and a 23tooth cassette (I'm used to a 25 or 27 tooth) which was less than ideal for the hilliest race iv ever done.

All excuses aside I tried not to think about it to much. The start of the race was flat for the first 15km and with the large amount of un-skilled riders it was one of the dodgiest 15km iv ever done, so was gald when we reached the first mountain and the front bunched thinned down to 20odd riders and about 10 pro guys from FDJ, AG2R, Saur Sojasun and Bretagne-Schuller. But the pace really picked up for the 2nd mountain and a group of 6 split of the front and I wasn't able to stay with them on the steep sections as my 23 wasn't cutting it so I had to slip back to the 2nd group. It seemed everyone in the 2nd group was stuffed by the 3rd mountain there was only me and an AG2R guy by midway up and then the group up the road. It basically didn't change much from there and I came in 9th which I was fairly pleased with, all things considered. And all seems to be on track for the biggie next week at the Tour des Pays de Savoie!


Megève, France ^^

(mostly) Non cycling related post

Well this week has been the first week since iv been in France where i have had no racing but it hasnt meant I have had an easy week, I have racked up close to 30 hours on the velo so has been full on. But anyway enough about cycling I thought this week instead of a cycling related post id try a non cycling related one.

So with a free weekend Martins and I decided to have a night out on Friday in Lyon and experience the night life of one of the biggest cities in France. We met Chris, an English guy who is part of the team and lives in Lyon, to show us around so we knew where the good places to go. Was a really good night, and is always good for us cyclist to have a bit of a blow out ..... we ended up getting home at 6.30am and I'll leave it at that.

Also I have been busy organizing a summer trip to the Cote d'Azur region in the south of France with a good mate of mine Brad Tilby (well actually he has done all the organizing) who is bike racing in Holland this season. So on June 20th he is coming down to Lyon and then we catching the train down to Cannes where we are camping for 3 nights and will be also visiting Nice and Monaco. Then Friday we are heading down to Marseille for the day, then we are going to Montpellier for the night as its heaps cheaper than Marseille. We will stay in Montpellier till Sunday then its back home! So heaps to do in a little amount of time.




And also if you have noticed on the side of my blog I have joined Twitter and become a bit of a twitter geek, so click the follow me button and see a bit more of what I'm up to.

Tour de Côte d'Or

Had my 3rd tour in a row this weekend, another 3 days of hard racing. But I would defiantly say I enjoy tours more than 1 day races, as I seem to feel really good by the final stages. So anyway on Friday morning we made our way to Dijon for the first stage and after amazing 30 degree weather all week it decided to rain and was only 12degrees at the start which felt a bit odd after the good weather id had all week. the stage started with some hills, got in the first bunch of 20 odd but we were caught on a flat section mid stage, then didnt make the break that stayed away for the win so finished in the bunch.

2eme etape
flat stage bunch stayed together.

3eme etape
Was pretty cool had a 20km team time trial and we even had radios with ear pieces so that the DS could yell at us to go faster the whole time. We only started with 5 as one of our guys was sick and had to pull out the day before so had a wee disadvantage but all good. I found it pretty hard to find my own rhythm as it was only my 2nd ride on my tt bike but was still ok. About 4km from the finish there was a 1km steep climb and we dropped 2 guys so only 3 of us till the end (which was the minimum we had to finish with). We finished 8th out of 22teams.

4eme etape
last stage and was probly the hardest, an early break got away which I didnt try for. Then there was a cobbled section maybe 2km long slightly uphill, I was expecting them to be not to bad but they were massive full on bone jarring cobbles and it split the bunch a bit, luckily i made the front group. Stayed in the bunch till the hardest climb mid race was about 10 guys from the front at the bottom and the guy in third GC a miniature french climber attacked from the front taking one other with him and I went after them but was a bit far back to get on the back so held them all the way up the climb (which averaged about 15 percent ouch) and they pulled away from me over the top and i ended up getting caught by the bunch and they bridged to the front. Annoyed with myself for not being in a better position at the bottom of the climb but owell. finished in a diminished bunch of 30 arriving for 6th place.
Managed 27th on GC.
Again felt great and I have the Legs but I'm just not making the right breaks or being in the right place at the right time.

Tour du Beaujolais

So this weekend I had a small tour in the region of Beaujolais which is just west of Lyon maybe an hour drive or so. Probably had the hottest weekend since I have been in France and it made the racing really enjoyable especially with the amazing scenery as Beaujolais is famous for its wines so there were a million vineyards.
Well anyways the race 3 stages, the first being 100km on Saturday on a rolling course but no long hills. Right from the start the pace was on and the peloton was single file through windy small road passing through a lot of small villages with a lot of corners, so before long there were a few breaks up the road and people trying to bridge all over the show and eventually when it settled down 15km in there was a group of tenish up the road and my group which was basically the peloton now, of 30 riders. The team only had 1 guy up the road and all the rest of us in the group behind so the chase was left up to us. I ended up doing a lot of work as I was feeling super strong( in hindsight it probly wasnt the smartest move ) and we caught the front bunch fairly quick. As soon as wee caught them attacks were going straight away. Went with a few but didnt quite pick the right attacks so a group of 6 got off the front and we had Jeremy in there so we didnt have to chase. In the end the group stayed away and Jeremy got 3rd on the stage, I was in the group behind, 16th.
2nd stage was on Sunday and completely flat on a circuit we did 4 times, I just sat in saving myself for the afternoon stage and finished in the bunch.
Last stage was 120km of rolling terrain like the first stage but probably a bit harder. I felt really good and was mostly helping out the team defend Jeremy's 3rd position on GC(he also had the U23 jersey). The whole stage seemed really easy to me, and I was really itching to try get off the front on the final KOM climb although unfortunately it wasn't as long as I hoped, and Jeremy put in a dig first and then over the top of the climb I tried to get away but it came to nothing. Then coming into the finish I looked behind and realized our group had only about 15riders and I was looking at my speedo and I have had training rides with a higher average heart rate than what I had at that point.. so anyway Jeremy said he wanted to have a crack at the sprint so I tried to give him a good lead out which wasn't to bad i thought and got 5th on the stage with me in 12th. I ended up moving into 9th GC so not too bad.
Im defiantly pleased with my form at the moment and can feel I can still improve. I am starting my build up to one of my main season goals Tour des Pays de Savoie on June 16th so all is basically towards that at the moment, will put more about the it another time.

Rhône-Alpes Isère Tour

Well this tour was insane, like nothing I have ever done before it was crazy fast and my four days were filled with ups and downs. Before the start I had fairly high expectations but after finishing it has really showed me how much faster pro racing is, and this isn't even the very top level....
Just to name a few of the top teams there-(for anyone who knows a bit about cycling) FDJ, Europcar, Saur-Sojasun. http://www.rhone-alpes-isere-tour.com/

So the first two stages I felt like crap. I dunno what it was either the speed of the race or I was just having bad days, but when ever I was going hard on the hills I could never find my rhythm and my legs felt like lead and also positioning was really important before the climbs because of such a big peloton and I was having a bit of a hard time getting a good place. So first stage I was 5 min down and the 2nd stage I was like 20min down eeek...

Finally on the 3rd stage which had the most climbing I felt a little bit better and was just pissed I got dropped on the penultimate climb due to poor positioning. But pleased to be getting some good feelings back in the legs. O yea and it also poured with rain on this stage and at the top of the last climb which was at 1200m altitude it was freezing and we then had one of the most dodgy decents I have ever done which was 25km long and was wet and you couldn't see 10m in front of you with the fog and with it being so wet it took about 200m of squeezing your brakes before they started working, hmm fun.

Last stage my legs were pretty much back to normal and I was feeling great on the climbs and ended up finishing in the front group so really happy with that. I reckon if there was another stage I would feel even better...

In the end I finished 46th on GC and 10th U23 and also 1st U23 ameture. So not too bad but nothing special. And It was defiantly some good training with 650km of racing in 4 days, I hope it gives me some good form for next weekend!

Tour du Chablais

So after having an easy week in Holland with 3 days of the bike I was sort of hoping I would have some good legs for this race as it was super hilly with some big climbs and it is also a big race here in France. Unfortunately it didn't go my way, well my legs let me down, I cramped up really bad at only 115km of the 160km which is strange as I haven't cramped all year. So I think I'm going to put it down to the lack of riding I did in the previous week, as I always feel really good in a race after a hard weeks training. Otherwise the first part of the race I was feeling strong, not as good as the previous weeks but still good. I finished in 28th and looking at the results I have beaten a lot of the guys in the top ten in previous hilly races so I'll take that as a positive.
Hopefully I'm good for next Thursday as I have pretty much the biggest tour of the year a UCI 2.2 with a few top European pro teams.

Some pictures from my trip to Holland

Enjoying the Heineken tour











A typical sight in Holland, Bikes everywhere!



Just some casual souvenirs