That's it! And I have to say a massive thanks to Marco Polo Cycling Team and the organisors of the Tour De Korea for another great adventure..flight to Hong Kong departs in 1 hour. Sad sad reality awaits!
Ciao
Monday, May 3, 2010
Picture time
Photos from Korea
Hotel view: Beautiful Jeju Island. You can see the pre race presentation stage in the distance
Stage 1, Roll out.
Leaving the neutral section, stage 1, uphill and into the wind and rain.
Many hours post stage 1, plane transfer. Very over it by now, tired and grumpy for sure.
Brief moment on the front, stage 2
Stage 3, pacing back on after a flat. Downhill, tunnel, fast, fun.
Stage 3, Out of tunnel, nice view!
Jimmy, our mechanic, also a big fan of fresh Korean seafood.
A typical Korean sex motel (aka love motel)
Trying to have a team meeting in the overheated, sweaty and stuffy sex motel room!
Haidar in action: Drink time
Loh on the rest day, top of the 1st KOM for the next stage!
On the way up...
Heading back to the motel, rugged up of course.
That's it! And I have to say a massive thanks to Marco Polo Cycling Team and the organisors of the Tour De Korea for another great adventure..flight to Hong Kong departs in 1 hour. Sad sad reality awaits!
Ciao
That's it! And I have to say a massive thanks to Marco Polo Cycling Team and the organisors of the Tour De Korea for another great adventure..flight to Hong Kong departs in 1 hour. Sad sad reality awaits!
Ciao
S.H.I.T
That's it. The race is doooone. It has been a tremendously long two weeks of travel and racing. The mental stress had built up and built up and was finally let down last night with a few beers and about 5 animals worth of meat.
The last stage was amazing and ridiculous at the same time. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
What's Brilliant: Racing through the heart of Seoul. We started with a lap around the olympic park then looped out a highway and the river, u turned, came back, jumped off the highway and raced up and down around this crazy hill near where the president (or prime minister? I am frankly 100% ignorant on South Korean government structure..) resides then through some more big streets to end up finishing near the town hall smack bang in the middle of Seoul. Very cool. Very Brilliant.
What's Silly, Hopeless, Idiotic and downright Terrifying (S.H.I.T): The lack of traffic control and entering numerous massive intersections, with traffic, and, no marshals to tell us where to go! Mayhem. So as we were chasing after a group that split off on the dangerous cobbled speed hump descent (that's another story!) out of the presidential house/park/thingamajig we took two wrong turns and ended up stuck in the middle of a 5 lane road with cars banked up infront of us and behind us. We were screwed! Then even worse, the commisaire makes light of the situation by docking our group a hypothetical 3mins 20sec after saying he'd give us bunch time. What a Sha-mozzle. A brothel. A veritable logistical train wreck. Only beer and grilled carcass's can remedy such a shame.
So now I am about to fly out back to Melbourne and will be MIA on the blog front for a few weeks. The plan at the moment is to head off to Europe by the end of May whereby a massive 3 months of racing awaits. So unless I get any hilarious stories to tell it's bye for now!
Jono
The last stage was amazing and ridiculous at the same time. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
What's Brilliant: Racing through the heart of Seoul. We started with a lap around the olympic park then looped out a highway and the river, u turned, came back, jumped off the highway and raced up and down around this crazy hill near where the president (or prime minister? I am frankly 100% ignorant on South Korean government structure..) resides then through some more big streets to end up finishing near the town hall smack bang in the middle of Seoul. Very cool. Very Brilliant.
What's Silly, Hopeless, Idiotic and downright Terrifying (S.H.I.T): The lack of traffic control and entering numerous massive intersections, with traffic, and, no marshals to tell us where to go! Mayhem. So as we were chasing after a group that split off on the dangerous cobbled speed hump descent (that's another story!) out of the presidential house/park/thingamajig we took two wrong turns and ended up stuck in the middle of a 5 lane road with cars banked up infront of us and behind us. We were screwed! Then even worse, the commisaire makes light of the situation by docking our group a hypothetical 3mins 20sec after saying he'd give us bunch time. What a Sha-mozzle. A brothel. A veritable logistical train wreck. Only beer and grilled carcass's can remedy such a shame.
So now I am about to fly out back to Melbourne and will be MIA on the blog front for a few weeks. The plan at the moment is to head off to Europe by the end of May whereby a massive 3 months of racing awaits. So unless I get any hilarious stories to tell it's bye for now!
Jono
Friday, April 30, 2010
5500 Calories
Is what I burnt today in the looooong 241k spent saddled up today
225 stage + 10k neutral + 6 k warm up.
It was fairly hilly with lots of lovely things to write about but alas I am tired and about to go to bed! So just a quick post to say nothing really changed. Other than octopus, preserved egg and spicy tomato sauce sandwiches are really something special.
Oh yeh, we got more snow flurries at the top of the 2nd KOM today (900m), but no mass freezage a la stage 7.
And another newsflash to say that I am really sick of banana powerbars
Ciao.
225 stage + 10k neutral + 6 k warm up.
It was fairly hilly with lots of lovely things to write about but alas I am tired and about to go to bed! So just a quick post to say nothing really changed. Other than octopus, preserved egg and spicy tomato sauce sandwiches are really something special.
Oh yeh, we got more snow flurries at the top of the 2nd KOM today (900m), but no mass freezage a la stage 7.
And another newsflash to say that I am really sick of banana powerbars
Ciao.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Frozen To The Core
Man oh man, that was tough! Like crazy, ridiculous, just stupid tough!
Picture this: Start line, 6 degrees, icy wind but no rain. Ok this sure sucks, but it's managable.
2k into the 10k neutral the rain she begins to fall. The temperature also begins to fall, 6 degrees down to 3, where it will remain. 4.5 Hours to go. For some reason everyones motivation also begins to fall. Oh crap... ....Oh shit.... hmmm Oh well. Everyone has had one of these rides before. No feeling in your hands or feet, can't brake, can't change gears, don't even think about trying to get food out of your pocket and so on (on a side note I tucked my gels into the end of my knicks so I could access them with frozen hands). Generally it is bad. Real Bad. (second side note: I have a pair of medium winter gloves and a pair of full on winter gloves, I chose the medium ones. Massive error.)
Picture this, I crossed the finish line and found my Directeur and said: hey grab my bag and come with me, I can't use my hands so I need you to undress me! So like an F1 pitstop we ran into some bathrooms at the finishing stadium and I had my Directeur and Masseus on either side of me ripping off clothes, towelling, cleaning and dressing me. It was like a whirlwind of action while I stood there blubbering unable to conjugate correct sentences because my lips were so cold! Then our interpreter came running with tray of coffee and green tea! Legend. Then my Directeur pulls a packet of caramel waffle biscuits he had been saving from Holland. Oh thank you god!
So the race was great fun in racing terms, really jumpy and really fast. Lots of breaks and attacks and no negative racing, just good balls out aggression. In the end I couldn't quite bridge to a group of 15 that had formed at 35k to go and ended up missing an important split. Then bunch shut down and we lost heaps of time! Not helped by taking a wrong turn at an unmaned intersection. Never mind. I was riding aggressively and attacking when I could so I am happy to say I gave it my best.
My top GC aspirations are done for this race now but a decent placing is still possible with two mammoth stages to come. I'll be spending a good 12-14 hours in the saddle the next two days. Let's just hope it warms up.
It's a pity but my two remaining Malaysian teamates Haidar and Loh both suffered like dogs (doesn't everyone?) but couldn't last the distance in that cold. Talk about a shock to the system, 35 degrees and sun to this filth! Oh did I mention it started snowing in flurries after the finish? Even worse, this morning on the rest day we rode up one of the climbs for tomorrows 225k stage and there was snow everywhere from about 400 metres of altitude and beyond. Let's hope there is no snow tomorrow...
Bye for now
Picture this: Start line, 6 degrees, icy wind but no rain. Ok this sure sucks, but it's managable.
2k into the 10k neutral the rain she begins to fall. The temperature also begins to fall, 6 degrees down to 3, where it will remain. 4.5 Hours to go. For some reason everyones motivation also begins to fall. Oh crap... ....Oh shit.... hmmm Oh well. Everyone has had one of these rides before. No feeling in your hands or feet, can't brake, can't change gears, don't even think about trying to get food out of your pocket and so on (on a side note I tucked my gels into the end of my knicks so I could access them with frozen hands). Generally it is bad. Real Bad. (second side note: I have a pair of medium winter gloves and a pair of full on winter gloves, I chose the medium ones. Massive error.)
Picture this, I crossed the finish line and found my Directeur and said: hey grab my bag and come with me, I can't use my hands so I need you to undress me! So like an F1 pitstop we ran into some bathrooms at the finishing stadium and I had my Directeur and Masseus on either side of me ripping off clothes, towelling, cleaning and dressing me. It was like a whirlwind of action while I stood there blubbering unable to conjugate correct sentences because my lips were so cold! Then our interpreter came running with tray of coffee and green tea! Legend. Then my Directeur pulls a packet of caramel waffle biscuits he had been saving from Holland. Oh thank you god!
So the race was great fun in racing terms, really jumpy and really fast. Lots of breaks and attacks and no negative racing, just good balls out aggression. In the end I couldn't quite bridge to a group of 15 that had formed at 35k to go and ended up missing an important split. Then bunch shut down and we lost heaps of time! Not helped by taking a wrong turn at an unmaned intersection. Never mind. I was riding aggressively and attacking when I could so I am happy to say I gave it my best.
My top GC aspirations are done for this race now but a decent placing is still possible with two mammoth stages to come. I'll be spending a good 12-14 hours in the saddle the next two days. Let's just hope it warms up.
It's a pity but my two remaining Malaysian teamates Haidar and Loh both suffered like dogs (doesn't everyone?) but couldn't last the distance in that cold. Talk about a shock to the system, 35 degrees and sun to this filth! Oh did I mention it started snowing in flurries after the finish? Even worse, this morning on the rest day we rode up one of the climbs for tomorrows 225k stage and there was snow everywhere from about 400 metres of altitude and beyond. Let's hope there is no snow tomorrow...
Bye for now
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Pig disease
Well the last two stages (5 and 6) have been shortened from 150k to 84k and 200k to 54k respectively. We have been told its because we can't race through a certain region of Korea at the moment due to a 'pig disease'. Who knows! Maybe I'll come back with a curly tail.
The thing is, shorter is not necessarily easier, just fast! Today for example: 54k off death. Every kilometre filled with tension and animosity. Everyone was ready to race and jumpy as all hell. Bars clashed, words were thrown and the riding was not friendly. We raced along some tight, undulating and windy roads going flat chat for 17k untill we hit a 3k constant climb that we flew up. I made the amateur mistake of getting caught at the back, so it was chase, chase, chase up threw the bunch. I crested the hill with about 20 guys but there was a group putting GC in danger that had snuck off the front. From the bottom of the climb to the finish was about 30k which just flew by. Tailwind or crosswind it was just so fast. We averaged just a tick over 50.
Thankfully I grovelled my way back to the front as the race was exploding! At 20k to go there were 3 guys still in front and only about 15 guys in my group. Sweet! Unfortunately we turned into a bit of a headwind and lost our impetus. By the finish the group was back to 60 guys. Boy oh boy, that hurt!
Right now I am at Paris Baguette enjoying dipping a glutinous rice baguette into a hot chocolate. Trust me, this is living!
Ciao!
The thing is, shorter is not necessarily easier, just fast! Today for example: 54k off death. Every kilometre filled with tension and animosity. Everyone was ready to race and jumpy as all hell. Bars clashed, words were thrown and the riding was not friendly. We raced along some tight, undulating and windy roads going flat chat for 17k untill we hit a 3k constant climb that we flew up. I made the amateur mistake of getting caught at the back, so it was chase, chase, chase up threw the bunch. I crested the hill with about 20 guys but there was a group putting GC in danger that had snuck off the front. From the bottom of the climb to the finish was about 30k which just flew by. Tailwind or crosswind it was just so fast. We averaged just a tick over 50.
Thankfully I grovelled my way back to the front as the race was exploding! At 20k to go there were 3 guys still in front and only about 15 guys in my group. Sweet! Unfortunately we turned into a bit of a headwind and lost our impetus. By the finish the group was back to 60 guys. Boy oh boy, that hurt!
Right now I am at Paris Baguette enjoying dipping a glutinous rice baguette into a hot chocolate. Trust me, this is living!
Ciao!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Update
First stage=wet and windy
Made the lead group that formed after due gutter time but we never caught a lone leader up the road. Very hard day. Hardest thing abotu stage one was the bus then plane then bus transfer we had that took the best part 6 hours after our driver got lost! Oh well, thems the breaks.
Stage 2 was shorter and easier and there is not much to write up about other than nealy getting dropped and suffering like a dog for the last 30k after hitting the mother of all cateyes on the side of the road. Bloody tyre was hitting the brake pad pretty hard. Having said that, I was dam lucky I didn't flat or break the wheel because given the speed we were doing I never would have made it back on. Many people are falling victims to the ridiculous sized cateeyes in Korea.
Food update: Have had a fair bit of Bulgogi and bucket loads of Kim Chi. Last night I had Kim Chi on my spaghetti with some pickled octopus..yeh, try and get that in Italy. (I can hear the nonnas screaming in unison!)
Out of time!
Made the lead group that formed after due gutter time but we never caught a lone leader up the road. Very hard day. Hardest thing abotu stage one was the bus then plane then bus transfer we had that took the best part 6 hours after our driver got lost! Oh well, thems the breaks.
Stage 2 was shorter and easier and there is not much to write up about other than nealy getting dropped and suffering like a dog for the last 30k after hitting the mother of all cateyes on the side of the road. Bloody tyre was hitting the brake pad pretty hard. Having said that, I was dam lucky I didn't flat or break the wheel because given the speed we were doing I never would have made it back on. Many people are falling victims to the ridiculous sized cateeyes in Korea.
Food update: Have had a fair bit of Bulgogi and bucket loads of Kim Chi. Last night I had Kim Chi on my spaghetti with some pickled octopus..yeh, try and get that in Italy. (I can hear the nonnas screaming in unison!)
Out of time!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Dam you Volcano!!
Our six man strong team has now been cut back to 4 as my team mates Leon and Khalid travelling from Europe did not make it. Never mind.
I had a solid 24 hours of travel with 3 flights and train ride and a bus ride but I am here and most definitely ready to race. Here is also known as Jeju, an island south of Busan in Korea. It's fantastic, the island is basically a volcano so everywhere you ride you just circumnavigate this ominous looking peak in the centre of the island. Fortunately this one is no longer active...Everywhere is lush, green and the whole area is planned out with resorts all carefully placed around cliff tops and in among rolling hills, a very well laid out holiday destination.It's a bit like an Asian take on Hamilton Island but not so plastic and thankfully there is no XXXX beer..
To all seafood fans out there you are definitely missing out not being here. I have had some really fresh and tasty salmon, tuna, kingfish, calamari, oysters ,octopus and sea snails. Brilliant. Only let down is the coffee but there are no shocks there... the green tea comes up trumps.
The other big find in Korea has been the awesome chain "Paris Baguette". Now I 've been to Paris, and I've eaten spent vast quantities of time sampling everything I could afford at various boulangeries, now the ones here are certainly not that good. They are, however, well above the average Asian baked goodies, so I'm happy with that.
First stage tomorrw, 177 kilometres around the coastline non stop on a windy Island. I reckon it's gonna be H-A-R-D. Oooooh yeh. Bring it on. As long as its not 40 degrees (which it won't be..) I am ready to suffer.
Time for some sushi for afternoon tea. Again, I'm happy.
Jono
I had a solid 24 hours of travel with 3 flights and train ride and a bus ride but I am here and most definitely ready to race. Here is also known as Jeju, an island south of Busan in Korea. It's fantastic, the island is basically a volcano so everywhere you ride you just circumnavigate this ominous looking peak in the centre of the island. Fortunately this one is no longer active...Everywhere is lush, green and the whole area is planned out with resorts all carefully placed around cliff tops and in among rolling hills, a very well laid out holiday destination.It's a bit like an Asian take on Hamilton Island but not so plastic and thankfully there is no XXXX beer..
To all seafood fans out there you are definitely missing out not being here. I have had some really fresh and tasty salmon, tuna, kingfish, calamari, oysters ,octopus and sea snails. Brilliant. Only let down is the coffee but there are no shocks there... the green tea comes up trumps.
The other big find in Korea has been the awesome chain "Paris Baguette". Now I 've been to Paris, and I've eaten spent vast quantities of time sampling everything I could afford at various boulangeries, now the ones here are certainly not that good. They are, however, well above the average Asian baked goodies, so I'm happy with that.
First stage tomorrw, 177 kilometres around the coastline non stop on a windy Island. I reckon it's gonna be H-A-R-D. Oooooh yeh. Bring it on. As long as its not 40 degrees (which it won't be..) I am ready to suffer.
Time for some sushi for afternoon tea. Again, I'm happy.
Jono
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