Wednesday, April 27, 2011
How good is your french?
http://www.directvelo.com/actualite/11721-sam-lindsay-souhaite-progresser-a-vaulx-en-velin.html
Monday, April 25, 2011
Circuit de Saône-et-Loire
This was an elite national tour, raced over 3 days, 4 stages on a super hard hilly course, and I'm pleased to say I am starting to come into some good form with some really promising results this weekend.
So Friday morning I headed up north to a place called Creusot only about 2 hours drive away. We were greeted with an amazing lunch put on by the tour organizers and also unloaded our gear into the hotel we were staying in, which was really nice! The first stage of the tour was 140km on a hilly course and with temperatures in the 20's it was going to be a hard day. As always it started with a lot of attacks with nothing getting away until about 50km in. It wasnt until about 85km when the break had a gap of about a minute, I went with an attack of one of the main GC contenders on a climb and we managed to bridge across to the front with 3 other guys. I did a lot of work on the front hoping to stay away but just before the last hard climb 15km from the finish we were caught by about half the peloton, and on the climb I was to stuffed to go with attacks and I didn't make the front group over the top. so in the end I finished 25th and about 40 seconds down on the winner.
Stage 2
The next day had 2 stages, so the first in the morning was 90km and hilly again but with some real steep nasty climbs. The first hard one coming at 35km was where the action started, straight away the steep slopes narrowed the group down to 20 odd riders and then with a second straight after the bunch was whittled down once again, although we were driving it hard in the front group a long flat section after let a lot of riders rejoin us. The Final climb before the finish at 10km to go proved to be the decisive moment of the stage and I made the front group over the top with 20 others. Then at the finish I had a shocking sprint finishing second to last in the group in 20th place. So now I had moved up to 13th on GC(stands General Classification for anyone who isn't up with the cycling lingo) and 3rd Under23 rider.
Stage 3
This stage was in the afternoon after stage 2. The stage was 80km long and had 2 hills right at the start which lead to me being in the front group of 30 and it was only 15kms into the stage. The rest of the way was just undulating and a 4guys got away and finished 50 secs ahead of my group. I also moved up to 12th on GC and 2nd U23 rider.
Stage 4
Last stage was probably the hardest, it was 160 km with just under 2000m elevation gain. After 20km when the breakaway was established the pace settled down and the GC leaders team controlled the peloton keeping the breakaway within 2 minutes. I made sure I saved as much energy as possible for the final climb which was 7km long. with the bunch mostly still together coming into the climb it was a mad fight for position at the front of the peloton for the 10km leading up to it. right at the bottom we had reeled in the breakaway and I was in a good position at the front, the first 4km weren't so bad but the last 3km was just crazy steep and to make it eve worse it started pouring with rain so every time you would stand up the rear wheel would slip. I had a look at my at my speedo after the race and i was going between 7 and 10km/h. Anyway over the top there were 4 in front and was in the second group of 7 with one of my team mates(who i forgot to mention before was a few places ahead of me and leading the young riders jersey for 1st under 23 (i was in 2nd))So after a super slippery decent I managed to avoid all the crashes and also a couple more stragglers from behind joined our group to make 12 of us. I got the call from the team car to work on the front to try bring back the front guys so that was fine as I was feeling strong. In the end we didn't pull them back and I finished 16th on the stage and moved up to 11th on GC and kept 2nd U23 rider and my team mate was 8th on GC and was first U23 rider.
So pretty good weekend for the team and real happy I'm getting some good form and another plus was my legs felt as good on the 4th stage as they did on the 1st.
So Friday morning I headed up north to a place called Creusot only about 2 hours drive away. We were greeted with an amazing lunch put on by the tour organizers and also unloaded our gear into the hotel we were staying in, which was really nice! The first stage of the tour was 140km on a hilly course and with temperatures in the 20's it was going to be a hard day. As always it started with a lot of attacks with nothing getting away until about 50km in. It wasnt until about 85km when the break had a gap of about a minute, I went with an attack of one of the main GC contenders on a climb and we managed to bridge across to the front with 3 other guys. I did a lot of work on the front hoping to stay away but just before the last hard climb 15km from the finish we were caught by about half the peloton, and on the climb I was to stuffed to go with attacks and I didn't make the front group over the top. so in the end I finished 25th and about 40 seconds down on the winner.
Stage 2
The next day had 2 stages, so the first in the morning was 90km and hilly again but with some real steep nasty climbs. The first hard one coming at 35km was where the action started, straight away the steep slopes narrowed the group down to 20 odd riders and then with a second straight after the bunch was whittled down once again, although we were driving it hard in the front group a long flat section after let a lot of riders rejoin us. The Final climb before the finish at 10km to go proved to be the decisive moment of the stage and I made the front group over the top with 20 others. Then at the finish I had a shocking sprint finishing second to last in the group in 20th place. So now I had moved up to 13th on GC(stands General Classification for anyone who isn't up with the cycling lingo) and 3rd Under23 rider.
Stage 3
This stage was in the afternoon after stage 2. The stage was 80km long and had 2 hills right at the start which lead to me being in the front group of 30 and it was only 15kms into the stage. The rest of the way was just undulating and a 4guys got away and finished 50 secs ahead of my group. I also moved up to 12th on GC and 2nd U23 rider.
Stage 4
Last stage was probably the hardest, it was 160 km with just under 2000m elevation gain. After 20km when the breakaway was established the pace settled down and the GC leaders team controlled the peloton keeping the breakaway within 2 minutes. I made sure I saved as much energy as possible for the final climb which was 7km long. with the bunch mostly still together coming into the climb it was a mad fight for position at the front of the peloton for the 10km leading up to it. right at the bottom we had reeled in the breakaway and I was in a good position at the front, the first 4km weren't so bad but the last 3km was just crazy steep and to make it eve worse it started pouring with rain so every time you would stand up the rear wheel would slip. I had a look at my at my speedo after the race and i was going between 7 and 10km/h. Anyway over the top there were 4 in front and was in the second group of 7 with one of my team mates(who i forgot to mention before was a few places ahead of me and leading the young riders jersey for 1st under 23 (i was in 2nd))So after a super slippery decent I managed to avoid all the crashes and also a couple more stragglers from behind joined our group to make 12 of us. I got the call from the team car to work on the front to try bring back the front guys so that was fine as I was feeling strong. In the end we didn't pull them back and I finished 16th on the stage and moved up to 11th on GC and kept 2nd U23 rider and my team mate was 8th on GC and was first U23 rider.
So pretty good weekend for the team and real happy I'm getting some good form and another plus was my legs felt as good on the 4th stage as they did on the 1st.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Triptyque de la Vallée de l'Ance
So had my first tour for the year. It was category 1 race and had 3 stages over 2 days. Team did pretty well overall picking up 2nd on General classification and 2nd in the teams classification. As for me personally I just had an average result but it was good to help out my French team mate finish 2nd.
Stage 1 130km
first stage was really hard, the course was up and down all the time but with no big hills and there were constant attacks throughout the whole stage with no let up. This also made it really hard to read the race to make the right break away. Finally a break got away with 40km to go and I had one team mate in there who ended up finishing second in a group of 10 and then there was my bunch which had 30 or 40 guys left.
Stage 2 67km
This stage was the next day in the morning and it was freezing cold as we were at a pretty high altitude. I think about 1000m. So having a good warm up was important which I did have although it still took me awhile to get in to it. The stage had 2 hard hills in it about 3 or 4 km long. our team plan was to get our guy in 2nd to 1st so we were on the attack to force the yellow jerseys team to chase. It seemed a lot of people were tired from the day before and the stage wasnt to hard and nothing got away and all the team finished in the peloton.
Stage 3 80km
Last stage was on the same day of the 2nd stage but in the afternoon. Again we wanted to be active in all the breakaways and we controlled the race really well, we always had some one up the road and if anything dangerous got away it didn't get far as we were there to chase it down, unfortunately the leader of the race was to strong and we weren't able to move our guy into the yellow jersey. But in the end my room mate Martins got painfully close to winning the stage but ended up 2nd which was still impressive as he had been working his ass off the whole stage.
All in all good tour for the team, and I think I ended up 29th overall on the same time as 10th.
Next weekend I'm looking forward to another tour Circuit de Saône-et-Loir which is elite national and looks super hard and hilly, form is coming along so hopefully some good results coming.
Stage 1 130km
first stage was really hard, the course was up and down all the time but with no big hills and there were constant attacks throughout the whole stage with no let up. This also made it really hard to read the race to make the right break away. Finally a break got away with 40km to go and I had one team mate in there who ended up finishing second in a group of 10 and then there was my bunch which had 30 or 40 guys left.
Stage 2 67km
This stage was the next day in the morning and it was freezing cold as we were at a pretty high altitude. I think about 1000m. So having a good warm up was important which I did have although it still took me awhile to get in to it. The stage had 2 hard hills in it about 3 or 4 km long. our team plan was to get our guy in 2nd to 1st so we were on the attack to force the yellow jerseys team to chase. It seemed a lot of people were tired from the day before and the stage wasnt to hard and nothing got away and all the team finished in the peloton.
Stage 3 80km
Last stage was on the same day of the 2nd stage but in the afternoon. Again we wanted to be active in all the breakaways and we controlled the race really well, we always had some one up the road and if anything dangerous got away it didn't get far as we were there to chase it down, unfortunately the leader of the race was to strong and we weren't able to move our guy into the yellow jersey. But in the end my room mate Martins got painfully close to winning the stage but ended up 2nd which was still impressive as he had been working his ass off the whole stage.
All in all good tour for the team, and I think I ended up 29th overall on the same time as 10th.
Next weekend I'm looking forward to another tour Circuit de Saône-et-Loir which is elite national and looks super hard and hilly, form is coming along so hopefully some good results coming.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Tour du Charolais
So had another elite national race, was 150km on an undulating circuit, always up and down but no hill longer than a km or 2. Was a pretty large field as well with 190 riders.
I sat in waiting for the last 50km as there were steeper climbs there and i knew it would start splitting there. In the last 50km I was in a lot of attacks and was feeling really good but nothing was staying away for very long. Unfortunately about 20km from the finish the wining break got away and to be honest I didnt even see it go so that was crap.
So the finish was up a short steepish hill that had a nasty narrow road leading into it so with everyone wanting to be at the front at the bottom of the climb it was more than dangerous, I wasnt as crazy as some people so was about mid pack at the bottom and passed as many guys as i could on the way up and finished 29th.
I feel I can do so much better as I was never in any big difficulty in the race, its just a matter of good positioning, smart thinking and a bit of luck and I think I can have a good result.
I sat in waiting for the last 50km as there were steeper climbs there and i knew it would start splitting there. In the last 50km I was in a lot of attacks and was feeling really good but nothing was staying away for very long. Unfortunately about 20km from the finish the wining break got away and to be honest I didnt even see it go so that was crap.
So the finish was up a short steepish hill that had a nasty narrow road leading into it so with everyone wanting to be at the front at the bottom of the climb it was more than dangerous, I wasnt as crazy as some people so was about mid pack at the bottom and passed as many guys as i could on the way up and finished 29th.
I feel I can do so much better as I was never in any big difficulty in the race, its just a matter of good positioning, smart thinking and a bit of luck and I think I can have a good result.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Transversale des As de l'Ain
Well another weekend, another race.
And today was the first race iv done since i got here that was in some decent heat i think it was about 25degrees, i even got a bit sun burnt! was also real cool to see 6 other New Zealanders there so it was a bit of a social gathering.
Ok the race was real close to my apartment about 30km away, and was raced over 147km wit the first 70 km flat then a big 10km climb and then a couple more hard climbs thrown in for good measure untill the finish.
So i thought great the first 70km will be easy and i can just sit in until the first hill...wrong! there were really strong crosswinds so i was in the box. It also didnt help that i was just chilling at the back at the start and straight away it went single file and with 160 racing its a long way to the front. For the first 10km i was fighting my way to the front and when i was about half way there was a big crash in front of me which i was lucky not to get caught up in but it left a big gap to the riders in front so I had to waste alot of energy just to get back on. After that i just made sure i was at the front in the windy sections and there were no dramas.
We hit the first climb which was 10km long, the bunch took it pretty easy and was cruisy most the way up just a few attacks at the top which came to nothing. It was the next hill that did the damage it was short maybe 2 or 3km but really steep and when we reached it i was a bit far back from the front maybe 15guys from the front (which was a stupid place to be as it cost me the race) and the first 5 or 6 guys attacked and I had to go around all the guys in front of me and i didnt catch the front guys till about a bit less than 1km to go on the climb and just as i reached them they went again and I couldnt attack with them so over the top i was stuck 10m behind and not able to bridge the gap. Basicaly the race for first got away there and if i had been a bit smarter with my positioning i think i could have made it, but yea excuses excuses I just need to ride my races better tactically.
Back to the race, the group that got away on the 2nd climb stayed away and i finished in the 2nd group in 34th place.
And today was the first race iv done since i got here that was in some decent heat i think it was about 25degrees, i even got a bit sun burnt! was also real cool to see 6 other New Zealanders there so it was a bit of a social gathering.
Ok the race was real close to my apartment about 30km away, and was raced over 147km wit the first 70 km flat then a big 10km climb and then a couple more hard climbs thrown in for good measure untill the finish.
So i thought great the first 70km will be easy and i can just sit in until the first hill...wrong! there were really strong crosswinds so i was in the box. It also didnt help that i was just chilling at the back at the start and straight away it went single file and with 160 racing its a long way to the front. For the first 10km i was fighting my way to the front and when i was about half way there was a big crash in front of me which i was lucky not to get caught up in but it left a big gap to the riders in front so I had to waste alot of energy just to get back on. After that i just made sure i was at the front in the windy sections and there were no dramas.
We hit the first climb which was 10km long, the bunch took it pretty easy and was cruisy most the way up just a few attacks at the top which came to nothing. It was the next hill that did the damage it was short maybe 2 or 3km but really steep and when we reached it i was a bit far back from the front maybe 15guys from the front (which was a stupid place to be as it cost me the race) and the first 5 or 6 guys attacked and I had to go around all the guys in front of me and i didnt catch the front guys till about a bit less than 1km to go on the climb and just as i reached them they went again and I couldnt attack with them so over the top i was stuck 10m behind and not able to bridge the gap. Basicaly the race for first got away there and if i had been a bit smarter with my positioning i think i could have made it, but yea excuses excuses I just need to ride my races better tactically.
Back to the race, the group that got away on the 2nd climb stayed away and i finished in the 2nd group in 34th place.
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