NOTHING MUCH TO TALK ABOUT....

The last 2 weeks, although they have seen me in Sydney to watch a world cup and beginning my training again for a new season, have not had a lot of interesting stories arise that are worthy of blog reports....instead i have been putting in some solid and solo km's to build the base that will hopefully carry me through the remainder of my season in good form. So far so good. My legs are still hairy, after 5+ weeks of no shaving, but i feel good on the bike and am looking forward to opening myself up a little this weekend for the Scott Peoples memorial race in Sheparton. For those of you who dont remember or are new to my blog, please refresh your memories about this brilliant kid who was taken from us in not so brilliant circumstances .....
http://richardengland.blogspot.com/2006/12/tribute-to-scott-peoples.html
I still think about Scott while i ride and i similarly still have the last text message he sent me saved in my phone.....His death had a tremendous impact on my thoughts about life and cycling, all of which helps to motivate me in following my passion and i look forward to honouring his memory this weekend.

RETURNING HOME TO A WAR ZONE...
After talking in my last post about bailing out my girlfriends basement, i got a "fun" surprise when i came home from Sydney yesterday to find half of my carpet torn up and an industrial size fan drying underneath. Apparently it rained in Melbourne on Monday....apparently it rained a lot.....

Our house was not spared and my sister, Grace and Mum were all outside fighting a loosing battle as the rain came down hard and fast and started to invade the inside of our house. At the end of the day, the damage sustained was not too bad, more of an annoyance than anything else. All my bedroom furniture is in the center of the room and im sharing bed space with objects that used to be on my floor....but ill survive.

OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST...
Nothing else has really happened...but i do want to pass mention that i backed the winning team for the election. My man, K Rudd, got up and has already started kicking some ass in his first 2 days in office....i watched so much election coverage this year in the lead up and i have to say to my readers...i really love the country we live in. I love going to vote. I love looking at all the people who have to go to their local primary school and fill in how they think the country should be handled. It kicks ass over the American system, where by you can vote if you want, but you can also be a bum and take no interest. Just something about looking at the faces in and around the polling booths made me feel a sense of pride to be an Australian...cant explain it really.

So only a short jot this week for you all. Keep your eyes open for me on the Melbourne roads this week before i head back to Sydney for the fortnight before Christmas....and even though it is now politically incorrect to lay it down like this....HO HO HO HO...enjoy the Christmas build up. (can you believe Santa cant say HO anymore.....what a joke.....i think all the girls that sleep around should take a long hard look at the children and think about what their actions are doing to them.....after all, most of the children are probably theirs).

One last thing that does deserve a mention...Sydney World Cup madison.... it has to be pretty rare for a guy to cheer for his girlfriends ex-boyfriend, but that is exactly what i did when i watched the race. It was by far the best, most entertaining madison i have ever seen and was won by the Dutch combo of Jens Mouris (Kate's ex) and Peter Schep (my, now, favourite endurance track athlete) with only 300m to go. They rode unbelievable. For those who were there to witness it....youre very lucky and those who werent....well....sucked in....it was a special race.

Ok...thats it....Later

WORKIN' FOR DA MAN

WORKING MY RECOVERY DAYS AWAY....

I did my first bit of real work in years this week.....funny thing was, it was for Kate's old man. The pressure was on...If i screwed it up, who knows what the consequences could have been. Needless to say i pushed myself to accomplish the task in the minimal possible time and i think i exceeded expectation. It was actually a bit of fun, just kicking it in the basement of Rob's offices with a lot of paperwork and a few tunes playing through my computer. Not a bad way to be re-introduced into the work force...even if it was only for 2 days.



RUNNING BUCKETS (x2).....

Lots of rain in Sydney late last week....all i will say is that if our water catchments were as effective as the Bate's basement, then water restrictions, as we know them, would not even cause a problem. It was a solid 2 hrs of running water filled buckets up the stairs and a true family effort to clean it out.



This was also made an interesting week after Kate suffered from a virus or some sort of food poisoning....she spent 3 days absolutely wiped off the planet and i was quickly thrust into running vomit buckets from beside the bed to the point of empty in the toilet....It was an interesting role, that i would normally struggle with, being a sympathetic vomiter, but i played the supportive boyfriend well i thought. Held her hair back, rubbed her back....all the stuff that real men are made of.



AUSTRALIAN CYCLING...

OCEANIAS.......

A mixed week for me. I have watched some great results and times done in the, almost useless, Oceania Championships. The competition is great....until you get about 5 deep in the field....but it is important for some of the boys for worlds and Olympic selection and i have enjoyed seeing some of the success. Most noticeably, Phil Thaux continual progression in the individual pursuit....he is still on the way up and it doesn't make any difference what the competition is like, when you re fast in the IP, you re fast in the IP. Also a shout out to Cam Meyer taking the points title. There is some pressure on the young gun this summer and so far he hasn't put a foot wrong. It is going to be an interesting little battle between Cam and Renshaw for the Beijing spot and i look forward to being track side in the Sydney World Cup, to watch round 1 in 2 weeks.



REVOLUTION....

World class cycling in Melbourne is coming next weekend. Anyone who enjoys watching the best of the best on the track, i encourage you all to get down to Vodafone Arena next Sat night and soak in what track cycling can and should be all about. I'm looking forward to taking up my first try at being a spectator.....it may be sad, but I'm looking forward to criticising from over the fence. But if you re a cycling fan, support our best talent and get down there....



QUESTION: Why an appetite suppressant when your body fat is 3%?

It is always a shame when an Australian goes positive for anything, in any sport. But when its a cyclist, who me and my team have had to race against and loose to all year, it hurts all the more. He handled it well...chose to go down the "I'm sorry line", not the "I'm going to fight it" direction, which will probably serve him best when it comes to his punishment.....but my belief as to why he chose this line of defence will remain my opinion...I'm not going to fully slag any one....but let me say, on behalf of my team and in particular BJM (who finished 2nd to him on so many occasions this season), I'm not disappointed to be a fan of the shadow that will now follow him and his results.



That's it for me this week. I'm back to Melbourne tomorrow to re-introduce myself with my tredley and get back into some training. Will see some of my mate out on the road and hope to see all of my Melbourne readers in at Vodafone next Sat.

THIS WEEK....BORING...BUT HERE IT IS

BECAUSE NO RIDING, DOESN'T MEAN NO TRAINING

I am being reasonably lazy, but not all together lazy. Training has started again. I am off the bike for another 2 weeks, but this doesn't mean that i all together go to sleep. I have to keep my body working, have to try and improve some of my weaknesses and this is the start of that push and that desire. It will start easy, but the intensity and volume will grow in the coming weeks and i hope that the pay offs become evident during the 2008 season. But i wont be able to tell you until then.

DRAPAC CONTINUE TO BE SCREWED

Lets assume for a second that the Tour Down Under is good for Australian cycling.....In the Tour De France we have seen Agritubel.....in the Vuelta a Espana we have seen Relax-Gam.....in the Giro de Italia we have seen Sele Italia and Panaria.....and now in Australia's only Pro Tour race we continue to see Australia's only Pro Continental team get shunned for what can only be described as BAD, UNFAIR, RIDICULOUS, CORRUPT (take your pick) politics.

Regardless of what you think about the Drapac-Porsche Team (and believe me i think they have some big issues), you have to agree that in such an event we should be encouraging and supporting Australian talent. The problem is that Michael Drapac, for better or worse, has trodden on a lot of toes since he bought his team to the scene and now the riders that he supports are having to suffer the repercussions.

They have achieved some very impressive results over the past couple of years....the most impressive of which being a 1,2 finish at our national road championship. Stage 1 of the Sun Tour was a disappointing one for them, but once the tour had concluded Darren Lapthorn had proved that had he not missed the opening day break, he would have challenged for overall honours.

I, like many, believe that Drapac-Porsche and their eternal message of education before participation is annoying and often counter productive to their athletes and the teams aspirations, but you can't help but admire some of the things they have achieved in a short time. I'm not going to spend a blog telling them what i think is wrong with the way they run things and the 'holier than now' image they portray, but i think that it sucks for their riders that they don't get to compete in their colours for our biggest race.

Id be interested to see what others think, but i think that the organisers need to take a long hard look at themselves and the ultimate damage that they may be causing to cycling in Australia. Problem is....they think they are brilliant.....

KATE LOOKS PRETTY!!!