Botanical Garden road race

This stage was 90km of a short 3.6 km rolling circuit with one short steep climb to the finish. We were a couple of men down today, Bennett and myself were the only ones starting. The Rock racing professional team turned up 8 men strong. t\The plan was to look after ourselves for what looked like it would be a bunch finish. I basically just sat in and tried to keep myself fresh for the finish rather then try and attack. A break of 7 riders managed to get clear towards the end of the race I was sure it wasn't going to stick but it did. Bennett put in a great effort to get away in the closing laps but got pulled back not far from the finish. I felt excellent today but just didn't have the greatest positioning for the finish, I was on the end of the rock racing train with about 2 km to go but got majorly swarmed coming in a to a tight section of the coarse before the finishing climb. I am very happy with how I am going just need some results to show it. Next race is Thursday a 100km short circuit crit.

Saw fellow Kiwi Dale Tye help her team to their first NRC win today.

Alpine Valley (NRC) road race

The stage was 165km on a 15km circuit, the course had about 3 wall climbs in it which did not suit me at all. Brandon was going well and he missed the split in the groups so Bennett and myself worked our butts off to try get him back in. We cooked ourselves in doing so but we left Brandon with about 100m to shut down. Only a few km later we came across Brandon on the side of the road crashed out. He had hit wheels with the guy in front and he went down hard breaking his collar bone. The team is gutted because Brandon's strength as a rider and leader. Brandon is hoping to go in to surgery as soon has he can and make a speedy recovery.

Frankie had an awesome ride making the break away and working very hard he came 5th, very impressive.

superweek #2

Another 100km crit in blue island Chicago.

The coarse was a 4corner 1 mile circuit. There was a good breeze out but nothing to worry about. I decided to go on the attack today as i was feeling great. On my second attempt at a breakaway at 16km in i managed to get a break that stuck with three other riders. We got a lead out to 1 minute and almost had the bunch within sight, I was pretty sure that we were going to be able to take the lap, but the commentators kept on putting primes in for the bunch so it would speed them up and also put in multiple 100 dollar primes to split us up.

Three other riders bridged across with about 20 laps to go. At this stage there were riders from 5 different nations in the break. The break eventually got caught with 8 laps to go, i was stuffed. the counter attacks went which eventually won and i just hung in the bunch till the finish.

I was really happy with how i rode, a little disappointed we didn't make the lap but made a good go of it. I spent a total of more then 65km off the front.

Rest day tomorrow and first road race on Monday.

superweek day 1

Well today was the first super week race in Beverly hill on the out skirts of Chicago. 100km of a 1.6km crit circuit.

The race didn't have the numbers that i was hope but it was hard all the same as the coarse was on the side of a hill. a break went early with 2 of my team mates, it eventually lapped the field. I really liked the coarse, i didn't seem to have any problems, there was a lot of slowing with long accelerations along the straights coming out of dodgy corners. i felt awesome and was disappointed that i missed the break as the coarse suited me and i had surprisingly good legs. Bennett and Brandon both took a lap which meant it was my job to set them up for the finish, we picked up 3 top 20 placings.

looking forward to tomorrows stage, another 100km crit.

Jackson Hole Wyoming

I am on vacation now in Jackson Hole for 5 days, it is awesome here. The town sits at about 6000 feet altitude, its making for an interesting visit. I did a local race today just for a bit of fun, it was a 12 mile time trial with the last 6 miles going up the side of the mountain. I went hard going into the bottom of the climb and then tempo up. The altitude makes it difficult to push yourself as your lungs start to run out before your legs do and once you are in oxygen dept you have to back off a lot more for your system to get back on top of things. I ended up finishing fifth with a time of 41.46. It was a great day finished off with a bit of fly fishing.

Super week is starting on the 13th of this month, I'm feeling a lot healthier and looking forward to the great racing.

Grandview 45mile crit

well after trying to get healthy for the whole week being mucked around with bronchitis. there was a great local race on and i couldn't miss it, even though i had been on antibiotics for two days and not really getting any better i wanted to start. I started the race with the intention of racing for the rest of the team and lasting as long as i could whilst still making sure i don't push myself to far with being sick.

well i rode at the front of the field practically the whole race chasing down attacks and working with team mates, i was not expecting to last long as i felt pretty bad all day. the criterium was on the side of a hill which made it a tough coarse that would have suited me if i was in good form. i ended up making the break away with 10 other guys which eventually shattered, and i was so spent i just couldnt shut down any more gaps and ended up dropping off the break in the closing couple of laps with 2 other guys, i had an excellent day and surprised myself, finishing 9th and team mates in 2nd and 5th.

next race for me is super week and im looking forward to getting better and getting more racing.

New Clips from the last stage

part 1 springfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v22KTjxgeQ

part 2 springfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCe_Cvc-JrI

part 3 springfield http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gGNsNUh5ng