I am currently listening to last weeks Econometrics lecture giving me a thrilling review of last semesters fundamentals of probability, while typing a blog entry, while checking my baggage allowance for my flights tomorrow, while rubbing voltaren onto my sore whip lashed neck! What is the expected value of me completing any of these tasks properly? A bit rhetorical I think....
The long and short of it is, I am leaving on a jet plane tomorrow night bound for Surabaya and some more exciting Asian UCI racing. Many, many thanks to the West Australian Institute of Sport and their main supporter in Plan B Wealth Management for giving me another guest appearance in their line up, it's fantastic to be able to switch sides and go do a race like this on a one off basis.
Other than that, I shall try to get some updates from Indon but if not I'll get some reportage happening when I hit the tulla tarmac in a weeks time.
If there was one thing I am looking forward to the most, it would actually be the food. Trying some traditional Rendang or Nasi Goreng (I hear there are loads of rabbits in Java...) from a rickety old street cart is definitely what I am after, screw hotel meals!
Anyway,
Be back in a week!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Gippsland in Review
Well,
Sorry my daily updates disappeared but I was stuck without the internet for 2 nights, it was pure hell I tell you, no email, no cyclingnews, no facebook, but I toughed it out. And managed to leave half of my skin in the aptly named Paynesville.
The rest of the tour for me was good and bad.
On stage 6 I put my balls on the line or so to speak attacked up the road. Though unlikely to hold it I was yellow jersey on the road for a while, but a bit like poor old Cadel in his spat with Thor and Fabian; no one wanted to work with me! Oh well, I had a crack, drove the pace on the uphills and got some KOM points.
Other than that the rest of the tour consisted of crits and one other road race where not too much happened. I lost time in some splits towards the end of some stages which where a result of my laziness which was ridiculously dumb of me, and I also got leapfrogged by a few guys who took bonus seconds at sprints or KOM's. In the end I slipped down to 6th on GC, certainly a good result but the podium was beckoning. My VIS team mates all worked really well for me, it was just unfortunate we did not have radios for the race. It made for some spectacular miscommunications and coordinating a bit of protection from the crosswinds was impossible, but hey that's life!
Many more salad bars were demolished by some of Victoria’s hungriest cyclists and the best meal I had all week was a whole baked Snapper from one of the race sponsors; the Bairnsdale RSL. All in all we ate well this week.
Now I have to dress some wounds, get my bike sorted (somehow my sexy new bouwmeester carbons are completely true!), catch up on a week of uni and get ready to fly to East Java on Wednesday night. Busy indeed!
Ciao.
Sorry my daily updates disappeared but I was stuck without the internet for 2 nights, it was pure hell I tell you, no email, no cyclingnews, no facebook, but I toughed it out. And managed to leave half of my skin in the aptly named Paynesville.
The rest of the tour for me was good and bad.
On stage 6 I put my balls on the line or so to speak attacked up the road. Though unlikely to hold it I was yellow jersey on the road for a while, but a bit like poor old Cadel in his spat with Thor and Fabian; no one wanted to work with me! Oh well, I had a crack, drove the pace on the uphills and got some KOM points.
Other than that the rest of the tour consisted of crits and one other road race where not too much happened. I lost time in some splits towards the end of some stages which where a result of my laziness which was ridiculously dumb of me, and I also got leapfrogged by a few guys who took bonus seconds at sprints or KOM's. In the end I slipped down to 6th on GC, certainly a good result but the podium was beckoning. My VIS team mates all worked really well for me, it was just unfortunate we did not have radios for the race. It made for some spectacular miscommunications and coordinating a bit of protection from the crosswinds was impossible, but hey that's life!
Many more salad bars were demolished by some of Victoria’s hungriest cyclists and the best meal I had all week was a whole baked Snapper from one of the race sponsors; the Bairnsdale RSL. All in all we ate well this week.
Now I have to dress some wounds, get my bike sorted (somehow my sexy new bouwmeester carbons are completely true!), catch up on a week of uni and get ready to fly to East Java on Wednesday night. Busy indeed!
Ciao.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Just a quickie...
...to say all is good after day two at Gippsland.
Made it through the crit OK this morning and managed to stay away from any trouble.
In the road race today a small group got up the road after some rough riding in the early crosswinds. The bunch went into shutdown mode but my team mates got straight to the front and kept the gap under control for me. I attacked once we hit the first real climb of around 4k and the other GC guys were straight on my wheel. We traded a few blows but nothing too serious.
We flew down the descent towards Walhalla and then flew up the last climb. The last 2k into Walhalla averaged 5% and the front group went up it at 31 kph, so no one was getting away! I got boxed in a the finish and maybe snuck in at about 15th. Was an ok day. I moved into 3rd on GC after the crit in the morning but at this point in time I am not sure on where I sit due to time bonuses from KOMs in the road race.
Anyway, another day, another 2 stages, another devasted salad bar and a whole load of tired legs. Can't wait for tomorrow!
Ciao
Made it through the crit OK this morning and managed to stay away from any trouble.
In the road race today a small group got up the road after some rough riding in the early crosswinds. The bunch went into shutdown mode but my team mates got straight to the front and kept the gap under control for me. I attacked once we hit the first real climb of around 4k and the other GC guys were straight on my wheel. We traded a few blows but nothing too serious.
We flew down the descent towards Walhalla and then flew up the last climb. The last 2k into Walhalla averaged 5% and the front group went up it at 31 kph, so no one was getting away! I got boxed in a the finish and maybe snuck in at about 15th. Was an ok day. I moved into 3rd on GC after the crit in the morning but at this point in time I am not sure on where I sit due to time bonuses from KOMs in the road race.
Anyway, another day, another 2 stages, another devasted salad bar and a whole load of tired legs. Can't wait for tomorrow!
Ciao
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Motel Madness
Instant coffee sachets, little packets of cookies, tiny shower gel containers, overpriced washing machines, towels on the racks or in the bath tub, slow wireless, WIN and PRIME and never enough pillows. Yes it's life on the road. The road to glory for some, for me it's just the boring old road to Traralgon and beyond in the Tour of Gippsland.
Day one is down with two short road stages now under my belt. The first stage was flat and windy and the bunch split a few times with various crashes. Kane Walker won the uphill kick impressively, me, I was in the bunch and felt good, job done.
The next stage we raced two loops around Traralgon south up a vicious 1k berg then went straight out of town and up Mt Tassie. The climb went for about 30-40 minutes, it's all a blur I just remember attacking once at the bottom, attacking a second time, and we were away! We had a solid group with some dam strong climber, Tim Roe and Jai Crawford were pushing it for Savings and Loans and Adam Semple was keeping the pace up for the AIS team.
To say the descent was sketchy would be understatement of the century. It was nuts! Mudd, moss, rocks, dirt, rain, ferns, branches, and four, yes, 1,2,3,4 pick a plank tyre swallowing bridges! Somehow I am still alive to write this story, somehow.
As we neared the finish the attacks started, I did a big bridge up to one attack then went straight over the top. In the end it was Leigh Howard, David Kemp, Tim Roe and myself away with about 2k to go. The sprint for me was not great, I was planning an attack before the sprint but then kinda ended up on the front into the corner at 300 to go basically leading the others out. Hmmm, not good Jono, not good. So 4th it was.
A good start and I was happy to show some climbing legs on the first day. I can't wait for some more of the hilly road races to have a crack.
On a side note, all you can eat salad bar really does mean ALL you can eat. And this evening we ate all we could eat, possibly more...
Ciao
Day one is down with two short road stages now under my belt. The first stage was flat and windy and the bunch split a few times with various crashes. Kane Walker won the uphill kick impressively, me, I was in the bunch and felt good, job done.
The next stage we raced two loops around Traralgon south up a vicious 1k berg then went straight out of town and up Mt Tassie. The climb went for about 30-40 minutes, it's all a blur I just remember attacking once at the bottom, attacking a second time, and we were away! We had a solid group with some dam strong climber, Tim Roe and Jai Crawford were pushing it for Savings and Loans and Adam Semple was keeping the pace up for the AIS team.
To say the descent was sketchy would be understatement of the century. It was nuts! Mudd, moss, rocks, dirt, rain, ferns, branches, and four, yes, 1,2,3,4 pick a plank tyre swallowing bridges! Somehow I am still alive to write this story, somehow.
As we neared the finish the attacks started, I did a big bridge up to one attack then went straight over the top. In the end it was Leigh Howard, David Kemp, Tim Roe and myself away with about 2k to go. The sprint for me was not great, I was planning an attack before the sprint but then kinda ended up on the front into the corner at 300 to go basically leading the others out. Hmmm, not good Jono, not good. So 4th it was.
A good start and I was happy to show some climbing legs on the first day. I can't wait for some more of the hilly road races to have a crack.
On a side note, all you can eat salad bar really does mean ALL you can eat. And this evening we ate all we could eat, possibly more...
Ciao
Friday, July 24, 2009
Up and Coming
I'm excited. Big Kev excited.
The big races have arrived, finally!
Over the next few months, in between bludging econometrics and macroeconomics lectures and downing double espressos at Castro's, I will be racing my arse off*
*Not to be confused with dancing my arse off, god save us from that heap of junk reality TV show.
Gippsland, East Java, Murray and Tasmania are all good hard tours I will be racing between now and October. The one and only Grafton to Inverell is also on the calendar and I am hoping to make it to the Goulburn to Citi to improve on 4th from last year, but logistics are looking fuzzy at this stage! It will all come to a close for this road season with the Warnie. I hope the gutterage* from Melbourne to Ballarat will give me a bit more confidence in windy conditions.
*From the verb 'to gutter', oft used in contexts such as, "Let's F******* gutter these ****s"
I tell you what, Aussie domestic racing is really taking off. Just have a look at the field for Gippsland this year! Big names galore! It'll be tough that's for sure.
Had a very interesting convo with Raoul Luescher today about all things aero. The man is an absolute fountain of knowledge. Hopefully I can put some of it to use and drag myself round the Geelong Tour TT course in a decent time, will be interesting so soon after Tour of East Java, I think I'll be absolutely flying or devastatingly slow; no middle ground!
Like I said at the start, I'm excited. It'll be good to just race and recover. My evil coach has turned me into a training robot (don't get me wrong, it's been working) but over the last week I have finally cracked. I have ramped up the rest time and actually had nearly a full week holidays. So now I need some races! Pronto.
In even more exciting news, the VIS DS next week will be none other that Hilton Clarke senior, and in his words, all those roadies in the convoy better watch out, trackie comin thru! Let the fireworks begin, just hope my radio isn't turned up too loud!
Final confession is that I won't make the Blackburn TT this sunday. It's a hard call, but I am committed to a mate's Ventoux et Vino party on saturday evening, say no more.
Finally, check out my new banner pic up top, Arnaud managed to photoshop some muscles onto my legs... clever guy.
Keep riding.
The big races have arrived, finally!
Over the next few months, in between bludging econometrics and macroeconomics lectures and downing double espressos at Castro's, I will be racing my arse off*
*Not to be confused with dancing my arse off, god save us from that heap of junk reality TV show.
Gippsland, East Java, Murray and Tasmania are all good hard tours I will be racing between now and October. The one and only Grafton to Inverell is also on the calendar and I am hoping to make it to the Goulburn to Citi to improve on 4th from last year, but logistics are looking fuzzy at this stage! It will all come to a close for this road season with the Warnie. I hope the gutterage* from Melbourne to Ballarat will give me a bit more confidence in windy conditions.
*From the verb 'to gutter', oft used in contexts such as, "Let's F******* gutter these ****s"
I tell you what, Aussie domestic racing is really taking off. Just have a look at the field for Gippsland this year! Big names galore! It'll be tough that's for sure.
Had a very interesting convo with Raoul Luescher today about all things aero. The man is an absolute fountain of knowledge. Hopefully I can put some of it to use and drag myself round the Geelong Tour TT course in a decent time, will be interesting so soon after Tour of East Java, I think I'll be absolutely flying or devastatingly slow; no middle ground!
Like I said at the start, I'm excited. It'll be good to just race and recover. My evil coach has turned me into a training robot (don't get me wrong, it's been working) but over the last week I have finally cracked. I have ramped up the rest time and actually had nearly a full week holidays. So now I need some races! Pronto.
In even more exciting news, the VIS DS next week will be none other that Hilton Clarke senior, and in his words, all those roadies in the convoy better watch out, trackie comin thru! Let the fireworks begin, just hope my radio isn't turned up too loud!
Final confession is that I won't make the Blackburn TT this sunday. It's a hard call, but I am committed to a mate's Ventoux et Vino party on saturday evening, say no more.
Finally, check out my new banner pic up top, Arnaud managed to photoshop some muscles onto my legs... clever guy.
Keep riding.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
A Bee's Dick
Is how close I came to pocketing the $3,000 first place prize cheque and the $2,500 prize cheque in the Melbourne to Ballarat Handicap today. What did I get? $150 for 4th, better than nothing eh?
The scratch group was motoring along all day in the solid cross winds and chilly air, I can assure you much gutter time was had by all! I spent a lot of time staying near Mr Protour Leigh Howard and David Pell waiting for the inevitable bar chewing gutter frenzy that was on the way. They didn't disappoint.
We started out really, really hard from Ted's Cafe in picturesque downtown Rockbank, obviously everyone was keen to get going. I nearly got popped in the first minute but eventually settled down and got on with the job.
We flew up Pentland Hills on the way out of Bacchus Marsh slowly catching and shedding riders as we went. The day was a procession of seeing riders up the road look around, see us, panic, try to get on, sit on for a bit, then get blown away to battle the winds alone. Harsh, cruel, a touch sadistic, but hey, this is cycling.
Eventually the group was whittled down to 6 of us with 15k to go. I threw in an attack at 2.5k to go hoping to thwart the sprinters and I really thought I had it this time! I only got out to maybe 7-8 seconds but I was holding them until the last 50 metres when Brett Tivers, James Mowatt and Leigh Howard swamped me. Dam. Dam. Dam.
Have a look at how close it was! After such a hard effort to get caught so close to the line is well; harsh, cruel and very bloody sadistic, but yep, that's cycling.
http://lovelock01.zenfolio.com/p115730994/h14ada4a0#h14ada4a0
After last weeks effort I am certain next time I'll hold on, either that or fall off trying!
EDIT-Some great photo's here.
Time for some couch action.
Ciao
The scratch group was motoring along all day in the solid cross winds and chilly air, I can assure you much gutter time was had by all! I spent a lot of time staying near Mr Protour Leigh Howard and David Pell waiting for the inevitable bar chewing gutter frenzy that was on the way. They didn't disappoint.
We started out really, really hard from Ted's Cafe in picturesque downtown Rockbank, obviously everyone was keen to get going. I nearly got popped in the first minute but eventually settled down and got on with the job.
We flew up Pentland Hills on the way out of Bacchus Marsh slowly catching and shedding riders as we went. The day was a procession of seeing riders up the road look around, see us, panic, try to get on, sit on for a bit, then get blown away to battle the winds alone. Harsh, cruel, a touch sadistic, but hey, this is cycling.
Eventually the group was whittled down to 6 of us with 15k to go. I threw in an attack at 2.5k to go hoping to thwart the sprinters and I really thought I had it this time! I only got out to maybe 7-8 seconds but I was holding them until the last 50 metres when Brett Tivers, James Mowatt and Leigh Howard swamped me. Dam. Dam. Dam.
Have a look at how close it was! After such a hard effort to get caught so close to the line is well; harsh, cruel and very bloody sadistic, but yep, that's cycling.
http://lovelock01.zenfolio.com/p115730994/h14ada4a0#h14ada4a0
After last weeks effort I am certain next time I'll hold on, either that or fall off trying!
EDIT-Some great photo's here.
Time for some couch action.
Ciao
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