Windham World Cup

For the last week I have been down in Windham, New York for the Windham World Cup. This was my last race for my North American season and I wanted to make the final race a good one.

The race track was on a ski feild like every other track I have on over here. The track climbed up for about 12 minutes then decended for 6 mintues. It had some short down hills on the way up and a few short climbs on the way down to break it up. The course was like a high way compered to some of the other tracks I have been racing on in canada.

I was plate number ninety two out of over one hundred riders and I was ranked eighty seventh so I was pretty much at the back. The start was just as fast as I imagined and I was fighting for positions and dodging a crash. The first lap was hectic and bottle necked a few times so that meant off the bike running and being agressive is the key to passing people in these situations. I made a few spots but lots then soon after, I didnt have the strength to hold on I was really suffering. I suffered like this for most the race, Well for three laps then I got pulled because of the eighty percent rule.

I'm dissapointed in that results because I was feeling good and was hoping to be able to get a good result. I am now heading back up to Mont Sainte Anne to watch the World champs and support the kiwis and spend some time with my parents which have been having their own Canadian experience.

We also had a break down on the side of the highway which sucked but all adds to the experience. We had 7 bikes and 7 people on this trip so we were full as. We even got to ride in the van while on the tow truck. The problem was a blown alternator and was fixed on a Sunday afternoon in 3 hours or so.

Quebec championships

This weekend I raced at Mont Sainte Anne which is 3 hours north of Bromont. We drove up on thursday and rode a few laps of the track that evening.

This race was the Quebec Championships (regionals) and includes the majority of the world champs track, there were a few differances like the worlds track climbs a bit longer half way through the lap and there are extra technical sections of single track that will in the worlds track. The track is super fun, with technical sections to keep us on our toes and some nice step climbs along with a few rolling bridges to keep the crowd interested.

My race was just like the rest of my races in Canada, we started at the back and had to make our wy through the feild which is good pratice for the world cup this coming weekend. I am also laking race form, I just kept picking off riders until about the 4 lap and then the riders started being a bit more competitive with me like racing for the single track and battling it out on the climbs. I felt strong in my last lap. I finished 13th and about 9 minutes down.

Bromont Open

This weekends race was slightly depressing with finishing nineteen minutes down and in 27^th place in elite. I have been feeling really weird on the bike, kind of sluggish and dead legs even in training.

The race track for this weekends race was a good one, it was based on a ski field it had about a four minute climb to the top and then traversed back down with plenty of technical obstacles including rocks and roots. Riding these technical sections were fine in training but when at race pace, if I wasn’t concentrating 100% I would get a bit rowdy and end up losing time. I was happy with the track it was a great race track, had good climbing some fast single track and a lot of technical features.

So there I was, on the start line in the beaming sun and glanced over to a temperature display screen at the base of a chair lift and it was reading 29 degrees. With a Midday start it was only going to get hotter and hotter. I was called up 11^th because of my UCI points from the NZ season so I was all ready for a good start.

The gun goes off and I clipped straight into my pedal and got on with the race. I was right up there mixing it with the big boys, but slowly everyone started coming around me and I just felt average, really gutting! I was trying to hold the wheels but I was just not strong enough.

Lap one I lost a lot of places and I was racing with a few other guys so we were all still pushinghard to get to the single track first. This went on for awhile and I slowly got in front of them and caught a few other guys. We ended up doing short 6 laps.

All and all I’m not racing as well as I would of liked to here in Canada and have missed out on the chance to make the worlds team and will now be concentrating on the world cup in Windham as my main event to finish off my Canadian season of racing.

The time I have been in Bromont I have been staying with Mike, Michelle, Adrian, Locky, Andrew a Canadian guy that we have meet and Sebastian, Sebastian has let us take over his house for the week which has been so nice of him thanks heaps man.

Ontario Cup/Selection

This last weeks of training went well, I was feeling good and ready to race. After many laps on the track to get to know all the hotlines etc. the track was starting to feel natural to me. On tuesday night we done a club race which was three laps and gave me a good chance to get the feel of the track at race pace.

The race track was interesting, it started with a climb for about 3 minutes and then into flat single track with a few short decents and flat roads which made it a track with very little recovery time.There were some nice technical sections that took a bit of time to work out the fastest way through them, which was fun to do with a few mates just to get other opinons.

The race morning was full of nerves and we had a 1:30pm start so all morning we were just sitting around the campsite killing time and thinking about the race. By the time came around to go up to the track I was ready and amping for a good race. I had a alright warm up but didnt feel the best, i felt a bit slugish and I done some sprints to try and fire myself up and then went into the starting gates.

The start was pretty fast thanks to another kiwi Mikey Northcott who ripped off the front up the main climb, I got caught in a bit of a tangle up about 100 meters from the start but it didnt seem to effect me that much as I just passed alot of people on the climb before hitting the single track.

The first half of the race my legs were feeling slugish but I just kept on pushing and hoped to push through, sure enough in the fourth lap out of five I started feeling better and took my carbo shot and for my last lap i felt great which was anoying cuz I wish I felt like that for my whole race but that was just how it was.

Over all I wasnt that happy with my result which was 10th in elite and I was 6 minutes down on the winner Adam Morka.

The New Zeland team has been named as you all maybe aware I havnt made the team but have been giving the chance to prove that I can get a top thirty at the world Champs at my next race which is a UCI event and there should be some fast guys to compare myself against. Either way if I get a good enough result at Bromont this weekend and make the worlds team well in good, how ever if I am not fast enough I will still keep training just as hard and make my peak for the world cup in Windham near New york.

I am now in Bromont staying with Mikey, Locky, Michelle and Adrian and Sebastien (its his house).

Regina and the Wascana Challenge

For the last week I have been in Regina, Saskatchewan which is slightly west from central Canada. It can get pretty hot here (as well as very cold around -30 degrees in winter!!!), not as hot as Vegas but still uncomfortably hot. We end up sitting around doing nothing because of the heat most of the time.

While wewere in Canmore we were camping next to this young family that are from Regina, they opened up there house to us with a camper on their front lawn for all four of us to sleep in for the time that we were going to be in Regina.

So far we have found that Canadians are very kind and helpful, but this family are over and above everyone else, it’s not every day you come across people as helpful as Kim and Jeremy, I mean Kim cooked us wonderful meals and Jeremy helped us with our bikes the day before the race and got a hold of a bike from Western Cycles for Adrian to use before he flew to Vancouver to get his. The kids also provided some good times. Thank you guys so much, greatly appreciated.

The river valley the track was, with the feed zone tents in center

Not only they done all that for us, we also were given a free entry for the race that Jeremy sorted out and even still got prize money and lunch at the track!

The race itself was a tough one, with 30 degreesand being humid it wasn’t quite what we were used to. The track was based in a big river valley because there are no hills around Regina it is all dead flat. Being flat we thought maybe not much climbing? We thought wrong; the track was up hill then down dale for most of the lap. Lots of 30 second climbs that soon wore us down; there was also some nice tight single track for us to negotiate around. Over all a great race track for our 2^nd race in Canada.

The low key podium. From left Jeremy Erdmann, Carl Jones and Scott Green.

I placed 2^nd a few minutes down on the winner Carl Jones (NZ), we were together for the first few laps and the pace he set was digging a hole in me in particularly on the hills. He rode strong.

New Helmet

Today I spoilt myself with a new helmet. After having my one in Chile it got a bit thrashed and I had tape holding the back support together. I did how ever go for one of the flashest ones in the shop and spending a lot more than I should of, but the saying goes, "safety first" doesn't it?

The red will match my Waiariki kit and my new stem on my bike to contrast the black and green of the frame.

I have a race this sunday, which has a lot of step short climbs so its going to be a intense race. Im not sure what other competition there is going to be, besides us kiwi's. Looking forward to it, this will be my second race in Canada.

A week in Canmore

For the last week we have been in a small ski town called Canmore, there is some great riding here on the mountains slopes around us. We have been here for a week and have had time to settle down in a RV park and find the best riding around the area.

There is a lot of climbing around which has made a great training ground for us and its all at altitude so makes it great for hard training

.

me and the nice view on a sunday ride

The main reason we came here was to watch the Canadian National Champs, we weren't aloud to race because were not Canadian residents which is fair enough. So we just watched and cheered the very few people we know on. Normally watching races is pretty hard because we all ways want to be in them and get all excited just watching.

The elite mens race was pretty cool to watch they are just the next level from what we have in NZ and to see Jeff Kabush smash it out in the last lap to loose two other riders that were on his tail and take the National title. Making the small journey to Canmore has been worth while and is another place we can tick off on our Canadian experience.

On Tuesday we are moving on to a bigger town Regina, just north-east of here where our next race is this coming weekend.

Race one in Edmonton

My first race in Canada was in a city called Edmonton. Edmonton is the Capital of Alberta a state

in Canada. It is a pretty cool city, I’m guessing around a million people living here. It has one of the biggest malls in the world; I am going to check out today.

Pro men started at 2pm just like in NZ and there were 45 starters. We raced 6 laps of a 7.3 km track with a few short climbs, over the whole lap there was only 116 Vertical meters of climbing which is pretty low for a XC race. The hills that were around were definitely ones to hurt on and still make up time on. The dirt was well packed and made a fast highway when there weren’t bundles of roots which did happen to be an often occurrence. This race track reminded me of the track that Timaru used in last year’s south island cup, in the middle of town with bits of track going all over the park.

The race itself was defiantly an eye-opener; there is plenty of training to be done in the next few weeks no doubt about that. I was ranked 10^th from the UCI points that I won in NZ so was in the second row on the start line. The start was straight into a short step hill that hurt more and more every lap. The first four laps were good I was feeling strong but not strong enough to race up front with the big boys yet. The second and third laps I rode mostly by myself, after that everyone was starting to feel it and I started to catch a few, things were good. After the fourth lap I then started to feel it but just kept on digging in, knowing it was only going to be beneficial to be in the next few races.

It was a pretty warm day, reaching about thirty degrees, so keeping the body hydrated was the key to finishing the race. Every lap I was drinking a full Raiseys drink bottle (750ml) of HYDR8 to keep me hydrated.

This is the event village, a lot bigger than we get in NZ.

I finished 24^th in pro. Overall for my first internal race this year I am happy knowing that I still have some much better results to come. I am now moving on to a place called Canmore where the Canadian national champs are, we aren't aloud to race in them but we heard there is heaps of great riding there so will go and spend a week there then moving on to a town just outside of Regina, Saskatchewan (the next state east of Alberta). My next race is in two weeks, so I am going to get some good training in before the next race on the 25^th July.

My Ride for Single Speed Worlds

Hey everyone, I can confirm that I will be riding a Ventana El Padrino at Single Speed World champs in Rotorua in October. It is a 29er, which has 29 inch wheels as opposed to 26 inch wheels. It is a Aluminum frame with Rock Shox forks. Here are some pictures of the bike. Its not going to be exactly like the photos like the bag carrier on the back will be gone. These are the only photos I could get ahold of. At least you get the general idea. when you have some spare time you should check out the Ventana webpage website http://www.ventanausa.com/, you might see something you like and in that case get ahold of me and well get you sorted.

This was all made possible by a real cool guy named Oliver Whalley. He imports these bikes from the US and sells them in NZ. He is lending me this bike for SSW. If you feel like some good reading check out his blog http://www.mountainpedalerNZ.blogspot.com/.

Thanks heaps Ollie, its going to be a great ride.

Touch down in LA

Well I am now in LA after two days of living in airports, which has been an experience.

My first race is on the 11^th July so I have got one week to make my way up to Edmonton Canada. Adrian and I have decided that we are going to drive up through Las Vegas and Salt-lake city. Driving this way to Edmonton is about one and a half day’s non-stop. We are going to stretch it over four days and try get some small rides in.

Our van for the epic road trip

We have bought a van and everything that we need like pots, pans, gas cookeretc. All that kind of stuff was so cheap at Wall mart all up cost us about $300 USD. As we are going to be living out of it for the next two and a half months, it’s going to be tight but can’t I complain when on a budget.

I have still not got confirmation whether I am in the NZ team to race at worlds or not, which is a pain but it’s just how MTBNZ are running their selection this year. I start my training this weekend, combined with the race at Edmonton to kick things off, I am looking forward to it, it has been a long time coming.

Ill post another update about the drive through America and my first race after this weekend.

Just a huge thanks to Carl and Debbie Retief (Adrians parents) for helping us sort a van and everything in LA.