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!!!

ALL GOOD THINGS MUST COME TO AN END

SEASON OVER.......

The Melbourne to Warrnambool, last Sat, saw the end of my season finish on a slightly frustrating note. As most cycling fans will know, after 7hrs and 15mins i came in 4th of a group of 9 after misjudging the finish. Nothing can express the disappointment of riding for that long and screwing up the final 200m. After seeing many of my feared competitors fall away during the day i was confident of a win in the closing stages. I saved all my energy for 1 big attack, which i launched with 2km to go. Pearson and Hughes mowed me down and in the closing stages Hughes was able to gain a gap. Despite my attack i still had a sprint in my legs and in the final 300m i had to determine how much time i needed to catch and beat Cam Hughes and how far out i could sprint and not die before the finish. Unfortunately for me, i caught Cam and fell about 20m short of victory.

Hindsight is a beautiful thing and i now believe that with the legs i had closing in on the finish i should have attacked more and harder over the closing 10km. I definitely feel i had the ability to win and i would give anything to take me back to the closing hour of the race. But thats how it goes sometimes.....and now i will have to return to the race and try again.....i pledge to win it before my career is over.

SUN TOUR.....

Sunny was not all that i had expected it could have been. The race itself was aggressive and hard from start to finish but my form was not up to scratch for the opening 3 days and for that i was disappointed. On day 3 i should have been challenging for the win, but instead i was chewing on my handlebars all day and made the finishing split only to finish last of the group......

The last 2 road stages i had my chance.....good legs but some bad timing and poor tactics saw me miss my opportunities for a good result. The team however rode really well and I would have to say that Omer and Scott had arguably their best tours of the year, after riding like weapons all week. We won the teams classification for the final 2 days, 4 top 5 results on the final 3 stages and a top 10 on GC......not a bad effort really after the shock and disappointment of loosing Teddy over a cliff on day 1 (he is on the mend for those who are interested).

GOOD BYE......

So the ups and downs of my professional life have been a big roller coaster over the closing month of my season. This has only been compounded by the death of my family dog this week, Sheba. Tuesday night was an emotional one, when the family buried Sheba in the back yard. After a nasty week of being ill, the vet found a large cancer and suggested that she would be more comfortable if we put her to sleep. She was an amazing member of our family. Fur everywhere, constantly tapping at the door and forcing us to get up but at the same time keeping us company and making us enjoy every bit of her 13 years.

She will long be remembered and, while not the first pet of the family, Sheba was our first dog and was integrated into our lives more than any other that came before her. She is sleeping now and i am happy that when we last saw her, the morning we dropped her at the vets, she was calm, relaxed and seemingly stress free about everything. It was nice to remember her like that and anyone that follows will have a tough act to live up to.

COUCH POTATO.....

It is now couch time for me. I have been lazy and sloppy for the first 4 days of my rest and i look forward to continuing this when i arrive at Kate's house in Sydney. Im sure her parents will object, but i will stay true to myself and be as lazy as possible.

Off for a big catchup with some old school friends tonight and looking forward to it......so....later.