Party time

Well thought I should probly write a bit of an update since iv been back in New Zealand!
So i got back safe and sound and i have been chilling out with mates and family which has been awsome and have been making up for lost time goin out when ever i can and drinking enough beer to last me all year.. And have also been working down at the bike shop heaps, thanks to my dad I was starting the day after i flew in to NZ.

I have started training which wasnt easy after not touching the bike for a month, but luckily the motivation was high so all good. after getting slowly back into it i have been cranking out the kms with some 700-800km weeks so the form is coming back a bit and the weight is coming down too.
Cycling wise for the rest of the time i have in NZ im building up for the elite Nationals in January which im really looking forward to. although im not to sure how the form will be as im not going to be doing much speed work as its so early in the season but im still hoping for a good result and getting the opportunity to test myself against all of New Zealands top cyclists. I will also be doing the tour de vineyards in nelson as part of my build up for nationals so hopefully itl be some good racing in the sunshine.

Since iv been back i have done one race, i went down to taupo for the round taupo cycle classic. I wasnt to sure how id go as id only just started riding but it didnt go all bad. from the start i was just feeling crap i think it was not used to much speed so anyway i sucked for the first 90km and missed the break even though i was in a position to get in it i just had nothing in my legs. And once the break went everyone gave up chasing so that was race over so i pretty much sat in the bunch sulking untill my legs must have got used to the speed and i was ready to race so i had a bit of a dig near the end and got away from the bunch and ended up finishing 20th. It was good to see that the distance was no issue just the speed at the moment.

Also not long till i head back over to France again i will be going at the end of January which is heaps earlier than last year so will just have to brave the cold over there. But have heard i will be spending most of February in Spain so hopefully that might be a bit warmer. I have also been trying to brush up on my french in my spare time as i think i will be needing it a lot more next year than i did this year.

So Maybe see you round before i go
au revoir!!

Piccolo giro di Lombardia in italy

After another long trip to italy staying in Como it was time for my last race of the season and was a big one a UCI 1.2 (if you dont know what that is look it up on the UCI website). And this race was probably the hardest race iv done because there was a stacked field and basicaly iv been ready to get home for the last 3 weeks so the training didnt really happen. Anyway enough excuses, right from the start the pass was on with attacks going all over the show untill a big break of 20odd riders got. so then at 120km we hit the big climb of the day the Madonna del Ghisallo which is famous climb in italy which the pro tour of Lombardia and some times the Giro d'Italia travel up. its 6km at 12 percent or something so bloody hard. well we got there and i was near the back of the 180 rider peloton which was stupid and so i had no way of getting to the front so race over for me.
Not a good way to end my last race of the season but im just glad to be getting back home.



Trophies we won this year


Season over and overall im pretty happy with my first full season of racing. I am real pleased with how consistent i was most of time, just a shame it dropped off a bit at the end but you cant always be good. So now its time to relax and catch up with everybody back in little old NZ so if your in Auckland come have a chat with me in Avanti plus botany ill be working there most of the time im home.

Sweet as thanks everybody following me this year!

2011 with team Vulco-VC Vaulx en Velin

Well I finally have my team sorted for 2011 I will be riding with a division national 1 team Vulco-VC Vaulx en Velin which is based in Lyon in the Rhone alpes region in France. So im real happy as I have been talking with them for awhile and stoked that it has all worked out.
The team ride on look bikes with mavic wheels and shimano groupo, so its good I wont have to worry so much about equipment next year which makes life alot easier.
So being on this team means il be doing the top ameture racing in France which will be real cool but also a big step up.
Heres their website if you wanna check it out
http://www.team-vulco-vcvv.fr/


Last race this weekend before I come home on the 4th and it will be the biggest race iv ever done Piccolo giro di Lombardia in italy.

14eme girro de la provincia di biella

So first race in italy, and id have to say it was a big step up, as there were all the top Italian ameture teams. the race was also part of the Italian national series.
The race was a 112km loop and then 5 laps of circuit with some super steep climbs in it. right from the start the pace was on and stayed that way for the whole race the first 10km we averaged 56km/h and the first hour was 48 average and that was with a few hills aswell. I just sat in the bunch for the long lap as my legs were just average.
when we got the first finishing circuit on the first hill the bunch blew to pieces and there were only about 30 odd riders left in the front and i only lasted one more lap after that. And with Italian racing the broomwagen follows the front bunch so if you drop you have to pull out, so by the end of the race there were only 15riders left in the race out of 150 that started. so yea pretty hard race.
Also we stayed in an amazing hotel on the top of some mountain above a city called Biella. and there was a big cathedral and some old buildings there aswell have a look at the pictures above.

PRIX DU FAUCIGNY

After a week of rest and recovery it was time for another race which i wasnt really looking forward to much as such a long season is taking its toll on me and im feeling a bit burnt out.
The race was cat 1 with alot of good teams there and was raced over a 3 lap course which had 2 climbs and then a smaller lap which went over a steep 7km hill. for the first 2 laps i wasnt up to much just making sure i didnt miss any serious moves, about a group of 20 odd got up the road and on the third lap i managed to get into a group with most of the top guys on one of the hills and we bridged to the front group.
as soon as we got to the last climb of the race there were attacks right at the bottom and i wasnt very well positioned so i didnt get into the front group and the rest of the group was split up all over the road. i stayed with what was the 2nd group for most of the climb but just lost contact near the top of the hill and ended up finishing 22nd i think. I was pretty pleased with my race after having a week off and feeling pretty burnt out.
Only 2 races left for the season and are both in italy and the last one is piccolo giro di lombardia so a pretty big race http://www.piccologirodilombardia.it/Prj/Hom.asp

PRIX DE LA MI SEPTEMBRE and prix des deux communes les fins morteau

So it was an important weekend for me in that i hd to gain points to secure a team for next year and i had the blue jersey to do defend.

PRIX DE LA MI SEPTEMBRE
the first race of the weekend was cat 2 and dead flat with one very small climb of about 300m, so it was not ideal for me but never the less it wasnt going to stop me giving it my all. At the start of the race i was as aggresive as possible hoping to make the early break. but with the feild being quite large everything was getting brought back. about a third of the way through i got in a move that looked like it would stick but was caught just before the short hill and so i slipped to the middle of the peloton and unfortunatly this was when a break of about 15 got away, i had missed my chance. Morteau had no one there so after awhile we finaly set up a bit of a chase but no one was willing to work so with just 2 of us we got the gap down to 15 seconds. by this point i was stuffed and the gap went straight back out again. bloody anoying that no one would come through or we would have caught. and then that was my race over.

prix des deux communes les fins morteau
atleast one good thing came out of this race i won le maillot bleu(the blue jersey) so that was pretty cool but the result of the race wasnt so good.
The race was cat 1 and hosted by morteau so the course was a few minutes away from the apartment. my plan was to follow the guy in 2nd on GC for the blue jersey as he was the only one possible to pass me in the GC. but right from the start my legs were shit, i think after such a long season its all starting to catch up with me as im way off my normal form. but i kept to my plan and luckily the guy in 2nd wasnt able to make any of the breaks (lucky as neither could i) and we ended up in a small bunch sprinting for 25th place and he only beat me by one place which kept me in the blue jersey. unfortunatly i wasnt able to get up there for the points so i will have to see what the team i want for next will have to say.

PRIX DE COLLIGNY and prix de Velesme Essart Challenge Credit Mutuel N°8

PRIX DE COLLIGNY
first race of the weekend and was real hard and i didnt have the legs for it. the race was around a circuit with 2 decent hills in it and being a cat 1 race with heaps of good riders the pace was always on and i was always having to go into the red zone following attacks and staying near the front. there were always groups getting away and a couple of times i would make them but they always got pulled back or most of the bunch would bridge up in small groups so there was never a time where you could just sit in the bunch and chill and that really took its toll on me as on the last lap about 7km from the finish i cramped up real bad and could barely pedal which was really odd as i havnt hardly had cramp all season so i dont know why i would be getting it right at the end of the season. so really annoyed as felt i hadnt really run out of gas. kieran ended up 7th in the sprint at the end.

prix de Velesme Essart Challenge Credit Mutuel N°8
Sundays race i wasnt really looking forward to as my legs were real cooked from the racing on saturday, but the race was part of the credit mutuel series which im in 2nd for the cat 2 riders so i needed to move up. The race was a bit different to normal as cat 1,2 and 3 all raced together, but the cat 3 riders goin off first then cat2 3minutes after then cat1 1minute 30 after. so this made for a bit of a confusing race, i started with the cat2 riders and we had a pretty good tempo for most of the first lap as kieran sat on the front but when no one else wanted to work everyone just attacked each other until keiran and a few other guys got up the road. on the 2nd lap my group was caught by cat1 and that started more attacks and i was feeling shit and just sitting at the back so i missed them all, so i was rolling round with a smallish group with everyone just looking at each other, until finaly everyone started working together and eventually we pulled in the front group which i think had caught the cat 3 riders but was hard to tell. then more groups got off the front and i had 2 team mates up there so with 2 laps to go i was starting to feel a bit better so i had a go at trying to bridge to the front i managed to get away from the bunch solo and i caught a guy just up the road a bit and another small group bridged to us.
We ended up catching the front group in the last km which was slightly up hill and i ended up midway in the group at 12th. Also luckily the guy leading the cat 2 in the series was in the group behind i got the blue jersey back.

Also i have small problem i have been accepted by a top team in france the problem is in france you get points throughout the season on top placings and so the team say i need 1500points and im in and im only on 1470 and next week is the last weekend to get points so basically i need a top 5 placing, hopefully all goes well.

thanks for reading (especially Jude)
Sam