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.