Jameswilliamsoncycling's Blog

On Sunday the 8^th of January 2012 I finally got the jersey I had been chasing for some 558km over 3years  around the streets of Christchurch, racing the dreaded dyers pass hill climb a total of 33 tiimes and collecting two silver medals in the U23 category along the way. But there is only one reason we turn up to the start of the national championships each year and that is to be the person standing on the top of the podium.

It has been a rather turbulent past couple of months for me but I feel that I have managed to come out of it in a good position given the circumstances. It was certainly hard getting the motivation to not only keep training but actually step things up in order to hit the nationals with some real form. Of course it definitely helped having some very supportive friends and family around me. My original plans to have a rather cruisy summer in terms of racing and training intensity were ditched and I reverted to my annual mission of preparing for nationals. I have done this religiously for the past two years and have managed to get a good balance between training and still enjoying the festive season.

Without PureBlack entering a team in the Tour de Vineyards this year I had planned to do it as a training holiday with some friends, it is always a good tour to get some solid training in over a time of year that you can easily get distracted. I still went into it with a super relaxed approach and was careful not to do too much in the first couple of days. After just cruising the takaka stage and riding the hill at my own pace, I was ready to get amongst it and try get something out of the race. I tried hard to get in the move on the third stage but was unlucky not to be in the right place at the right time and even though I was feeling pretty good I had to settle for another day rolling in the bunch. The final stage was on the brutal Richmond Hill St circuit, a 2.5km lap half up hill, half down. I had good legs again and so was aggressive from the start, for a while it seemed I would never make it away but eventually the bunch let up and the situation we ended up in couldn’t have been more perfect. Shem had been knocking it up solo at the front for a couple of laps, and myself and Dion Smith came across with race leader Paddy Bevan.When you have 3 teammates in a break of 4 the hardest part is deciding who will win, basically the only fair way to do it was to race all the way to the line and sprint it out. I was pretty determined to get a win under my belt and managed to edge out Dion in the sprint. Its always good for morale to have a win and to get it in the final build up race before nationals couldn’t have been better timing.   It was also a very successful official final hit out for us as PureBlack riders. Shem was super strong and consistant all week and ended up taking 3^rd overall, Dan Barry dominated the sprint ace and with my stage win on the final day we easily wrapped up the overall team prize. It was definitely an excellent way to finish off a massive year.

Due to the early start date of vineyards this time round we were able to relax and take our time to get down to Christchurch. After a few cruisy days in Nelson we rolled down south and got setup. It is the first time I have done the nationals outside of a team set up so a few of us decided to get a house and roll together anyway, with PBR team mates Taylor and Shem there it felt like old times.

When Sunday finally rolled round I was as ready as I was going to be, I was well recovered from the tour and was ready to race again. Its one race that I will never not get nervous for, there is so much prestige around it and with the massive crowds and lots of friends and family there you couldn’t really ask for a better stage to preform.

This years race was in one word ‘intense’ right from the start the pace was high and attacks were firing constantly. One of my pre race plans was to try and slip away into an early move so I was pretty active at the beginning, however as is often the case I wasn’t in the right place at the right time when a group finally went clear. It was a rather dangerous move aswell with guys who I knew were riding well up there such as Mike Northey, Paddy Bevan and Josh Atkins. I think this year we were consitantly climbing the hill 20-30sec faster than in previous years which is what split the bunch up so much right from the beginning. In the first few laps I really wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to maintain that intensity for the whole race but as the race went on I felt stronger and stronger and was more and more comfortable on the climb. A select group of riders from the bunch got across to the break about halfway through the race and it looked like that was it. We went from only having Taylor up the road to having myself, Shem, Scott Lyttle, Michael Torkler and Taylor all in the front group of about 20 which was more than ideal. I still wasn’t feeling amazing and was still keen to try and slip up the road but it was Shem who ended up making a good move and going away solo. He quickly put over a minute into the bunch by himself and looked like he would stay out for awhile. In the bunch the chase was messy and another break was initiated this time taylor and Torkler rolled away with Vink and Vennel in the most dangerous move of the race so far. I was still able to follow the others in the bunch and let them chase my teammates down up the road which was an ideal position. On the climbs we kept the pace on and got rid of more and more guys each time. Soon taylor and shem came back then unfortunately so did Torkler after he suffered a puncture. This put the emphasis back on us to chase so we rolled hard into the hill with 2 laps to go and myself, Paddy and Josh made a move up the climb to go clear. We soon caught Vennel who had dropped from Vink and the four of us rode into the last lap 1min down. On the hill we kept a solid tempo and were soon rid of Vennel meaning I only had to stay clear to take the Elite Title as the other guys were only U23. I was still very motivated to catch Vink and get to the front of the race so worked hard with the other two myself and paddy did some big turns and got very close to Vink but in the end he just managed to hold off, However for me my race had already been won a whole lap ago so when I crossed the line I could finally enjoy the feeling of being Elite National champion.

I had gone into the race with hopes and aims of doing something big, and there was nothing bigger I could have done than taking the jersey. Its always confusing when the u23 and elite races are run together as the tactics are completely separate. I didn’t consider Vink part of my race until the final kilometres. The only people that mattered to me where the other elite riders that I was trying to put time into behind me. However as a matter of pride it is always great to cross the line first and well done to Vink for his very impressive effort!

For now im going to enjoy a relaxing few days off the bike before slowly rebuilding for  the rest of the season, which races il be doing and who il be riding for is still very much up in the air but im working on it and hoping something will come along so that I can represent the national champs jersey in some big races overseas!

Will let you know when some decisions are reached, until then im going bush, tramping for a couple of days and then will get busy organising the year ahead!

Jimmy

As most of you may have heard by now, last weekend we received the devastating news that New Zealands premier road cycling team PureBlack Racing was not going to be able to continue with its plans in 2012 due to a lack of sponsorship funds. I was up in Auckland on friday competing in the NZ Criterium National Champs, where I helped PureBlack teammate Mike Northey to take his first national title. After a night of success and celebration the mood very quickly went from jubilation to shock as we were notified of the situation by team management on Saturday morning. Basically Carl and Greg had been working tirelessly to meet and arrange with sponsors funds to keep the team heading in the right direction, this had to be secured before the UCI deadline of December the 10^th. Unfortunately due to the current economic climate and a few other contributing factors, this was simply not possible.

At first I was shocked, I couldn’t really believe that it had actually happened to us. We had such a good thing going and so far everything had worked out better than imagined in our first year. But I knew that these can happen and tend to happen too often in the sport of cycling so was not totally bewildered. I think the most devastating thing about it was the fact that the 12 good mates that i had lived, ridden, travelled and raced with in the past year would no longer be part of the same team. We would no longer be fulfilling a dream of going pro in and taking on the European scene as a fully NZ made and owned team. There is still no doubt in my mind that if we had secured the necessary fund we would have shown the rest of the world that more than just a few New Zealanders are capable of competing on the world stage. Anyway it is not the end for us, we will simply follow our dreams individually but will not forget the friendships made in the stunning year of 2011.

For me I am in abit of a uncertain situation now. I don’t want to give up on the pursuit of going professional so easily but at this stage of the year it is extremely hard to find a similar quality setup to what we were going to go to with PureBlack in terms of setup and race calendar. So if nothing solid comes up its is very likely that I will spend the majority of 2012 in NZ riding and racing wherever and whenever possible and look at finishing off my University degree and possibly pursuing other options down that line. Then hopefully get back onto the international scene properly in 2013.

I had always planned on competing in the Tour de Vineyards and Elite Nationals this summer but had intended to use them as training races rather than major goals. However this massive change in plans has left me with quite abit more motivation and I hope that I can get to the road race at Nationals with similar condition as in the last couple of years and have a good crack at it. So at the moment it hasn’t been too hard to keep focused on achieving a short term goal. However after nationals I will most definitely have to reassess the situation and weigh up my options in order to decide which path is best for me for the rest of the year.

Untill then I hope to keep you updated with some good news and good results. I would like to thank all those people who have stood behind me so far and been so supportive this season. I am very grateful to all the sponsors, supporters and people behind the PureBlack Racing team who dreamed something and then tried their best to make it happen, providing an amazing opportunity for us along the way. Also to all our supporters in the States who helped to make our season so fun and successful. Most importantly my family and supporters in NZ who have welcomed me back and helped me through this tough time.

Thanks for reading

Jimmy

After a full on season racing all over the world I was well and truly ready to forget about riding my bike for a little while after the Sun Tour in Australia. The Tour was a great experience but i was struggling with fatigue at the end of a long season and so wasnt quite able to get out of it what i had hoped for. I had another rather drawn out trip home which was extended some 10-12hrs due to snow storms on the South Island, however when i finally got back i found it rather pleasant not to have to get up and go riding each day! keeping myself busy doing things that i dont usually have time or energy for has been great. I have still been keeping pretty active and have really enjoyed mixing things up with abit of running, mountain biking and getting into the gym.

Getting away for weekends in Queenstown, Duneding and Invercargill to watch the finale of the Tour of Southland has been keeping me occupied and away from my bike quite well!

With a massive season on the cards next year the last thing i want to do is fire up too early so it has been a matter of holding back for as long as possible before getting stuck into some base work and the odd race for fun. Im now in my first week back into training, getting familiar with the roads round the area again, safe to say i will be spending many an hour out and about on them in the next couple of months.

My first race back will be the Christchurch festival of cycling weekend, with a new course the race is abit of an unknown but im sure it will be as hard and fast as ever, which means my ‘fresh off only 3 weeks riding’ approach should make for an interesting couple of days. Am also going to go back to my MTB roots and do one of the iconic races here in central that has so far eluded me, the Garston to Bannockburn Gutbuster…from what i hear it is quite a brutal ride!

Anyway not to much else to report on at the moment, things are slowly ticking away as i build back into getting ready for next season. Hopefully see you out on the roads…any friends are always welcomed for training rides!

Man it’s been a crazy month. Hard to believe it was only 30 odd days ago that I was getting lost in the mazes of roads in Belgium. Since then I’ve been to the World Champs in Denmark then had the longest and most horrible journey of my life to get home, getting back to NZ with my short time here so far being spread between Auckland, Dunedin, Alexandra and now Hawea. Oh and I leave on Sunday to go to Melbourne for a week to meet up with my PureBlack Racing teammates for the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, the second biggest race in Oceania and my last race of the season.

Anyway think I went on about Belgium enough in my last posts but leaving Brussels for Copenhagen basically signalled the start of a long journey home.

I never got to do a proper race write up on my road world champs race as I have basically been on the go since then.  Also it’s always abit harder to relive a race that finished so disappointingly. Anyway its well and truly in the past now and I can look back on it and say it was still a great experience and am really glad that I got the opportunity to be a part of it.

The race itself was actually rather uneventful; the course which had seemed quite tough and testing in training was really no match for a bunch of 170 super ambitious U23 riders. It started off fast, went fast in the middle and ended a little bit faster! Of course there were parts where the bunch shut down for a little bit but this didn’t stop us averaging 42kph for 170km. As NZ has a pretty low ranking we were in the last half of the field to get called up to the start line. The start was crazy and it was pretty quickly obvious that it was going to be hard and really dangerous to try and get to the front straight away. So I just decided to play it safe and relax at the back of the field, there were a few guys with the same idea as me as it was so much easier to miss the crashes and pick your own lines through the corners. Anyway as expected a few guys went up the road and got a decent lead but they were never going to be a match for the charging bunch. With about 5laps out of 12 left to go I had found way to the front of the bunch and was maintaining a good position for when the business end of the race came. We caught the break and there were a few counter moves but the bunch was committed to chase and to get off by yourself was virtually impossible as was shown in all the other categories races. So I did what I could to keep myself at the front and save my legs in the hope that I might be able to do something in the last lap. But the chance never came; pretty much all the big teams wanted a bunch kick and were going to make sure it went that way.  This was not ideal for me as the race hadn’t been hard enough to thin the field out and give me a good chance in the sprint without a proper leadout train, meaning I would have to just rely on a bit of luck and hope that it all worked out, well it didn’t.  With about 4km to go I came around the second to last corner to find a few guys stopped right in front of me blocking half the road, I didn’t have room to go round and had to skid to a stop, I might have been able to get going again quickly and try get back to the front of the bunch but a rider behind me had ridden into my bike and got his handlebars tangled in my wheel. So I was left standing there watching the bunch and any chance of a good result disappear into the distance. Probably one of the worst ways to end the race and such an anti-climatic end to what had been a full on and really focused buildup to that point. I guess the worst thing about it was just not getting the chance to really test myself out in that field and see just how well I could have done.

Anyway I got to enjoy a couple of days checking out Copenhagen and watching the rest of the racing including the elite men’s race which is always a great spectacle, must say Cavendish’s win on that finish was super impressive!

After that I embarked on what would be a very very long journey home with stops in London, LA, Sydney, overnight in Auckland before finally getting into Queenstown and the driving home a full 4 days after I had left! Also they had decided to leave my bike behind somewhere along the way so that didn’t turn up for another day! Still got there in one piece which is the main thing.

It’s great to be home and getting to see some familiar faces again, though I can’t properly settle in yet as this weekend I’m off on the road again and re uniting with my PureBlack Racing team mates for the Sun Tour. It will be a big race with several ProTour teams showing up so will provide us another opportunity to perform on the world stage, hopefully will be able to take some of my worlds form with me over there and get to make the most of it!

I’m really looking forward to some quality down time after the race though, will have been a solid seven month season of racing overseas so will be great to relax and refresh for a little while. Central has put on a stunning few days so far since I’ve been back so here’s hoping it stays like this for a while, there’s no better place to be when it’s like this!

Lake Hawea in the spring

Anyway that’s all for now, will keep you updated on how the tour goes and check back in here soon enough!

Ciao

Jimmy

Today is officially the last day of my pre-worlds buildup. After a good little ride today to get the legs going all that is left to do now is to rest, fuel up and let the body do its thing.

I arrived in Copenhagen on Sunday night after a good last weekend training and racing in Belgium. I joined in with the NZ crew at the team Hotel on the outskirts of Copenhagen. It was all go from day one for the team with the TTs taking place over the first three days. It was very exciting and motivating to see all the guys and girls doing really well, only half way through and it has already been the most successful road world championships ever for NZ with two silver medals. For me it has been a pretty relaxing week, basically have just been freshening up, getting used to the conditions and testing out the course. Riding hasnt been great from where we are staying with 10 milliion traffic lights wherever you go but one day we did a mission out to the coast and rode along that for awhile which was nice, could see Sweden across the water.  We did a couple of trips with all of us squished in the van to get out to the road course, although we will get to know it very well tomorrow with 12 laps, it was still good to get an idea of what is coming up. It will be a tough course, virtually no flat, but nothing major in the way of climbs, but it is quite technical in sections which will test the skills of the bunch, fingers crossed it isnt wet or the chances of getting caught up in crashes will be insane.

Its always abit hard to tell how your really feeling when you virtually do nothing for a week leading into a big race, i think i was pretty tired after a lot of hard racing in Belgium but am finally feeling good again, plenty of time to get the legs going tomorrow, hopefully they are sweet when the race really gets going in the final laps. The other boys are all going well and even though there are only 3 of us i would think that we will have a pretty strong presence tomorrow. The main thing will be having all of us there at the business end of th race.

It has been pretty kool getting to see mum and dad again after some 6months. They took the opportunity to have a little tour round Denmark last week and have spent this week floating round Copenhagen. Will be a big day for the fam tomorrow with Soph having her race in the morning and mine straight after. She is coming of a big track buildup but has freshened up and had a couple of good results in Belgium leading up to this, it is her first time doing a big race at this level but she will be up for a good one tomorrow im sure, hopefully we get there just in time to see her finish!

After all the serious stuff is over tomorrow we will get to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the racing over the weekend with the Junior boys and Elite women on Saturday and then the Elite men on Sunday and then its jumping on a plane and heading back to NZ and home!plenty to look forward to…

Anyway not much else exciting to talk about yet…post race update will be more interesting im sure…

just incase you want to be awake all night im pretty sure there is live streaming of the racing at http://www.steephill.tv/road-cycling-world-championships/#live

Thanks for reading

Jimmy

Time is flying by here as i put the final touches on my world champs buildup, crazy to think i have been in belgium for nearly a month and will be heading to Copenhagen in only a matter of days! anyway just thought i would sum up how it has been going here with a little race report from yesterdays RETIE – GROTE PRIJS J.P. MONSERE race. It was one of my final buildup races in Belgium before the World Champs next week. The race was 140km classic consisting of a 80km circuit then 9 finishing circuts. It was a slightly bigger race than your average Belgy Kermese with a longer distance, bigger organisation, more prizemoney and more starters all adding up to make it a perfect hit out 9 days from my Road Race in Copenhagen. For previous two and abit weeks in Belgium i had a really heavy training load with lots of racing and intense workouts so this week was a time to rest up abit and have a final couple of touchup races. Therefore I went into this race after two very light days of riding in the legs so wasnt exactly expecting to feel great but still it was a good opportunity to get a decent race distance and speed in the legs. A short spin in the morning helped to get the legs going and kill some time before we departed at about 12.30pm, even though the race was only a mere 30km from our house we allowed a full hour to get there as that is just how long these things take on Belgiums road system. Anyway i got there and lined up to sign in, lucky number 101 out of 150 odd starters..this was going to be interesting.

The start was at 230pm and the weather really didnt know what it was doing so i decided to play it safe and run slightly more clothing as it could easily have cooled down alot in the afternoon, however it decided not to and we were treated to rather pleasant iif not abit windy racing conditions. The race started with the normal crazieness as everyone wanted to be at the front, however a break of about 10guys slipped away suprisingly early and were let to go and get established. As expected i was feeling abit flat and was happy enough just to stick in the bunch, although this was anything but relaxing with the zig-zagging nature of the course and with riders desperate to take 87th wheel of you in every corner, anyway we knocked out the first 80km in under 2hrs and soon enough we were on the finishing circuits. I was relieved to get to this point of the race as at least on the circuits you knew what was coming up and once everyone got abit tired it was much easier to stay at the front. The 7km finishing circuit was flat but had some exposed sections to the wind that really streched the field out when the pace was on. After a couple of hours of racing i was starting to feel better though still not amazing, i bascially just tried to stay near the front incase any move went once we caught the break with about 6 laps to go. However it seemed like nothing was going to stick and it would just come down to a bunch sprint.  I knew the chaos of the final few km that lay ahead if this bunch of adrenaline pumped belgies was to come together for the finish and decided i was not up for risking such a high chance of getting involved in a crash this close to the most important race of the year therefore i only had one option, to attack before we got there. On the last lap i finally managed to get near the front on the tailwind section of the course, there was a very unorganised chase of a solo rider who had somehow gotten a 20sec gap. I followed a couple of moves before hitting out hard with 5km to go, a couple of guys came with me and we committed straight away. In the crosswind section along the back we drove it hard, only a couple more guys got across and then we were gone, the bunch had pretty much shut it down. The headwind straight back to the finish was abt messy, everyone was trying to do as little as possible and wheels were being let go left right and centre. I played it pretty consevatively and tried to make sure i was never on the wrong side of a split but in the end had to jump across a gap to two guys with about 1km to go, by the time i got there they started to sprint and i had nothing left to come round them. Of course our disorganisation in the final kms had let the solo rider take the win by 3sec meaning i finished up 4th yet again.

It was still a decent result, probably more than i had hoped for at the start with the way i was feeling but it was also a good test to see where i am at and what i need to do in the final week before the big one next friday.

I have enjoyed my time in Belgium, it has definately been a great experience and good to see what it could have been like had i chosen to follow the path of many kiwis and ride the amatuer scene over here. The racing is a worlds of its own and there is no doubt that it has made me a stronger, faster bike rider in the last couple of weeks. The training round here gets old pretty quick if you are doing big hours as its so hard to find good loops with a variety of terrain, however i have very much enjoyed exploring all the little back roads around, some are so small you can hardly believe a car would fit down them. Heres a collection of the photos i have managed to get so far of my time riding and racing in Belgium. hope you enjoy.

Jimmy

well ive been in Belgium for just over a week now and i think i am slowling getting the hang of things here, luckily its one of those foriegn countries where every pretty much understands english aswell! There have been people coming and going from the BikeNZ house since i got here with the U23 track boys moving out and the junior roadies rolling in but now finally we are all settled, if not rather cosily. I am currently sharing a room with John Dean (the juniors coach) and young Hayden McCormick, also in the house are fellow U23 Jase Christie, My young PureBlack teamies Fraser Gough, Dion Smith and James Oram and my sister Sophie and her junior teammate Georgia Wilson. Anyway its a full house but everyone is getting along well and with us all here for the same reason its working well. Its been quite enjoyable going out and getting lost on new roads with some new training buddies, wouldnt go as far as saying training is any easier with these juniors than it was with my senior PureBlack teammates in Boulder! They way everyone is going i would say we could have some pretty impressive results come the end of September.

Anyway things for me are going pretty well, im really happy with where my form is at currently, i was able to get an awesome base in while in Boulder and now the focus is on speed. Its not really hard to come by when you do a 115km Kermese at 46kph on a tight technical course! In other words a few more of these and some specific work by myself and im confident i will have great condition for a big race in a few weeks.

The racing scene in Belgium is pretty unique and up until now i have only been able to get an impression from what other people have said about it but now im getting a first hand taste. Bascially after racing in the US for the past two seasons, racing here is utter chaos, well the amatuer racing anyway. There are now organised teams, its bascially just every man for himself and they certainly dont hold back. Tactics are thrown out the window as soon as you clip in, bascially it comes down to jumping off the front at the right time, and there is simply no predicting when that time will be. Its a lottery in which you can only increase your chances by being at the front as much as possible, far  easier said than done however.Im certainly not complaining, i think its a great style of racing for me to get the kind of condition i need so am happy to get amongst it and if im lucky pull off a few results. I had a good ride a couple of nights ago, making a late move from the bunch to catch a two rider move just before the last corner with only 200m to go, however i didnt realise there were another two guys up the road, pretty lucky one of the guys i had just caught bet me by half a wheel on the line otherwise i could have done one of those embarrasing ‘thought i had won but was really sprinting for 3rd’ posts…ohwell happens to everyone right..was still happy to get a result in only my second race in the country.

There is definately a special atmosphere at the races here…its probably the thing that sets Belgium racing apart from most other countries. All of the Kermes style races typically follow the same format, an afternoon start ranging from 1-6pm, registration down the back of some local cafe*,a few locals standing in the doorwablowing smoke in your face, the cycling enthusiasts rolling round with their favourite team kit on, the supporters hanging over the barries outside the cafe (where the race usually starts and finishes), a race circuit that would give an STMS official in NZ nightmares, and a ridicously fast start that is usually followeed by a fast middle and then a faster finish. Afterwards you pull your numbers off get your 5euro bond back (race entry only costs 3euro) and hang around if your in the money, if not its time to go home! all in all its a rather different racing experience from anywhere i have been before but im enjoying my time here so far and looking forward to lining up in quite a few more before i leave.

Just before I go I should update you on the Worlds situation…some very pleasing news with regards to this, it looks like i will finally be pulling on the NZ jersey and lining up with the worlds best U23s for a mega day of racing. It has been a long long road getting here and i would very much like to thank absolutely everyone who has supported me along the way, there is a massive list of you and there is no way i would have got here with out most of you. Anyway its really only the start of it, the real battle will be on the roads of Copenhagen for 168km on the 23rd of September and i intend to go there and show just how good us kiwis can go on the road.

More news soon

thanks again

Jimmy

*denotes ‘belgy’ cafe – more like a pub/bar that serves rather avg coffee and not so much food, usually old, dark and smokey.

The last week or so has been abit of a transition stage for me. I have enjoyed a solid 4 weeks of training in the sun and riding to ridiculous altitudes without a whole lot else going on but more recently I have been sucked back into the real world to deal with real world things. The two wounded soldiers, me and Shem successfully carried out some relatively thought out plans to move out of our residence on Walnut St. An abode that had treated us very well for the months we had lived there. I think one of the worst things about moving was the realisation that it was a location that would be hard to top anywhere in the world. Within 10min walk you could reach the constantly chilled but buzzing atmosphere of the Pearl St mall, with all the finest restaurants, cafes located in its vicinity but also in a similar distance in the other direction had the supermarkets and larger chain stores. I basically had to remind myself not to take it for granted or I knew I would struggle wherever I end up next.  Anyway we were rather fortunate with our temporary accommodation for the few days between our moving date and our departure date, we bunked up with some of the friendliest people in Boulder, Claudia and Mark, who had also helped the team get on its feet in Boulder in the first place. We were so fortunate that we were actually eve closer to the Happenings of Pearl St and went about productively spending our last days in town investigating the variety of the food and coffee industry around us….simply because it was too easy and rather enjoyable.

Nevertheless I continued to keep myself busy with some slightly more intense training sessions in an attempt to get the body ready for what is too come. I also proceeded to finalise plans and arrangements for my trip to Europe so hopefully I can hit the ground running over there.

On Monday Shem and I were joined by Tim, Dan and Scotty who rolled back into Boulder after a rather tough but successful week of racing in Utah, where the team secured the sprinters jersey with Roman against some of the best riders in the world let alone America. The boys were understandably tired but we managed to enjoy a few days with a few of us in town and of course hit up our favourite restaurant Pizzeria Locale for a final fling on the last night, big thanks to owner and cycling enthusiast Bobby who looked after us very generously.  Earlier today we said our final goodbyes to Boulder, and somehow managed to fit all our luggage into a shuttle to make the all too familiar journey down to D.I.A for the final time this year.  Currently I am writing (will upload it when I hit the ground) this from my isle seat near the back of an exceptionally standard United airways flight from Denver to LAX. Once we get to LA I will go my separate way and say goodbye to the boys, who I have enjoyed the company of on and off the bike for the past 6 months.  In a way it seems like we have been here for ever,  having achieved so much and been so many places since our march arrival, but this moment has definitely rolled round pretty quickly. I will then try to enjoy the extreme heat in San Dimas, my hometown from last year, for a couple of nights staying with my good mate Scott Moore. After what I hope to be a not too painful experience of swapping my training bike out with my race bike, and gathering a few other things to keep me running smoothly in Europe, I will be back on the big bird but heading in the opposite direction of my teammates.   There is no denying  my slight jealously towards them getting to head  home to friends and family but I am also undoubtedly excited about the next phase of my trip and the new experiences on the horizon.  I should arrive into Belgium on the 21^st of August and make my way to the BikeNZ house located in a small town called Blauberg. From there I will look to get stuck into the kermese racing circuit as quickly as possible, using the notoriously hard races as not only an excellent training scheme but also an opportunity to show my form and secure some results to hopefully gain a spot in the team for the U23 World Road Race Champs.

One another note some incredibly exciting news came through today as my sister Sophie had an amazing performance at the Junior World Track Cycling Champs in Moscow to secure the bronze medal in the points race. For her first year in the age group it is very promising for both the near future and long term. She will have to recover quickly to hopefully put in another fine performance in the 5 event omnium race which runs tomorrow and the next day. Along with some of the other NZ juniors she will join me at the house in Belgium at the end of August as they also prepare for their Road Worlds, which for the first time in a while are to be held along with the U23 and Elite races.  Anyway it will definitely be kool to see her on the other side of the world and also have a fresh crew of people to hang out with.

Anyway I better shut this down, don’t want to be the cause of a plane malfunction during landing. Will be sure to update once I get going in Blauberg!!

Jimmy

Keeping yourself sane when you have to stay behind and watch your team mates pack up and head to one of the biggest races of the season while you battle away on the bike by yourself is a big challenge for pro cyclists. Living in a new foreign place for 6 months can be hard enough even when you have all your teammates around, but when they are all off on the road doing what you came here to do, it is rather important to keep your head on and not lose your way. Cycling generally takes up so much time and energy that quite often it doesn’t really matter where you are because you don’t have time to do much outside of the training/racing routine but when your not in that routine you suddenly find yourself with way too much time on your hands and as strange as it sounds it can be a very hard thing to get around if your not used to it.

With my wrist still in a cast I have been unable to take part in the last two races of PureBlack Racings American season.  I had to make a decision on what would be the best way to spend the rest of my time in America while missing out on two of our biggest races. The timing of the crash was not the worst possible as it gave me the chance to take a mid season break, something I would have had to wait until September for otherwise.  While Boulder is a great place with lots going on in the Summer it is hard to be there and not riding while everyone else around is gearing up for racing so I took the opportunity to jump on a plane and visit a friend from school who now lives in San Diego, must say it wasn’t a very hard decision to go and spend a few days at the beach and leave my bike behind.  I was able to have a mini holiday and basically forget about cycling and put the bad things behind me. When I came back I was ready to look forward and make the most of the rest of my season.

san diego

I came back and the team was away at the Cascade classic in Oregon so I was able to get back into riding at my own pace and enjoy getting out in the sun on my bike without too much stress. The boys arrived back after a pretty successful week in Oregon and we were able to enjoy our last few bunch rides of the season, cant really believe how fast it has gone! Unfortunately for him, Shem was struggling with knee problems at Cascade and it wasn’t improving quickly enough when he got back so he also had to make the tough decision to pull out of Utah. At least now there was going to be two of us, keeping each other sane and making the most of our last couple of weeks in Boulder.

While I have my wrist in a cast I am lucky enough that I can still train to a pretty full extent, In the last two weeks I have been able to increase my volume back to normal and am feeling physically pretty good after a little break to freshen up. Shem on the other hand has tendonitis of the knee and  is having to take it really easy on the bike and try find other ways to keep himself occupied, exploring the amazing landscape here by foot.  We have been making the most of the opportunity to do things that we probably wouldn’t have been able to do if we were racing. Exploring all the great eating and drinking establishments in town, we could probably tell you where the best happy hour food and drink is on any day of the week…also have got a concert lined up for next week in Denver! We are very lucky to be in such a great place with so much to do, it would be pretty easy to just sit around the house and do nothing otherwise.

Its abit sad to see the boys leave, most of them wont be back in Boulder until next year and its strange to think I wont see them for at least a couple of months as we all head on from here. Most of them will head home after Utah and enjoy a little break back in NZ before gearing up for the NZ and Australian season. However I have decided to extend my overseas trip and will now head to Belguim in a couple of weeks where I will be based for about a month. It is my last year in the U23 category and with the form I have had this year I am pretty determined to get into the NZ team for the World Champs, which is on a course that suits me well. To do this I need to continue to get some good racing and training in. Belgium offers hard racing on a daily basis and with a few kiwis already based there, and the Worlds taking place in Denmark in late September, it is the best place for me to go to do my  build-up. It will be my first time racing in Belgium but I have heard plenty of stories about it so pretty excited to get stuck into it over there and then hopefully get to swap the black of PureBlack Racing kit for the black of the NZ team kit for one big day on the 23^rd of September.

After that I will be more than ready to return to NZ and the comforts of home, hopefully I wont have to bear with the cold weather for too long before the southern hemisphere summer rolls in…J

‘Till something else exiting happens…

Jimmy

One of the not so fun parts of being a professional cyclist is the inevitability of crashes, sometimes they can be only days apart, sometimes you can go for months, even years but it will always happen at somestage. The saying “you’re not a real cyclist until you have crashed” is about as true as it gets.

I like to think that I have at least my fair share of crashes and have left patches of skin on the road in many countries around the world but luckily enough I have always come off in a condition that allows me to keep riding. In fact when I crash and know that I can get up and am not too sore, I am usually more worried about my bike and whether it is still ride able. Often the most annoying thing about a crash is having your bike out of action for a few days while it gets fixed. Luckily now with the amazing level of support we get from Avanti bikes that is not so much of an issue now, though it’s never ideal to have to replace things.

The thing with crashes is quite often they are not your fault and you are simply the victim of circumstances, whether it be as a result of someone else’s mistake or simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time. So far this season I have had three crashes while racing. They were all in criterium races where there are a lot of corners and the race is fast the whole time and they were all caused by other riders taking unnecessary risks. Virtually the only thing that gets me nervous before a race now is the uncertainty of crashing. If the weather is bad, the course is technical or dangerous and there are inexperienced riders around I will always be abit more cautious and careful in the bunch but in reality if someone crashes in front of you or into you there is nothing you can do about it. It is one of the most frustrating things when you see someone in the bunch doing something dangerous in the bunch like over taking on the inside of a corner and then they crash right in front of you while doing that. I can accept it occasionally as a part of racing but when it happened 3 times in a few weeks I was pretty annoyed and had to let they guys who caused it know that they were fully to blame for riding dangerously. You also lose motivation to race pretty quickly when there are guys in the field riding in that manner so it is just a negative thing all round.

It is one of the disappointing aspects of the American racing scene that riders are willing to take such crazy risks and have such little respect for the other riders. Anywhere else in the world, Europe especially, such riding behaviour is not accepted and the riders will quickly get very bad reputations and in the end it will hinder their careers as no one wants to race with disrespectful riders. Hopefully this will change in time and the races will become a lot safer.

Anyway enough of me complaining about other people, the real reason I am out of action currently is all on me… while I was warming up on the course for the prologue of the Tour de Toona in Pennsylvania last week I took a corner and didn’t see the drain grate on the inside until it was too late, I swerved to avoid it but had too much speed and clipped the gutter on the other side of the road. I got up quickly abit scratched and bruised but feeling ok on the whole, my bike was still functioning fine, just some damage to a wheel, so I rolled back to the van. Jen our team souigner helped to clean and patch me up, my biggest concern to start with was cuts on the palms of my hands which are very very uncomfortable for riding. I jumped on the trainer to continue my warm up and then took the start line. I felt pretty horrible in the race. I don’t know whether it was due to the travel the day before or my body shutting down abit after the crash but it was not pleasant, I was also obviously abit more cautious on the corners. It was a great start to the tour by the team with Roman Van Uden taking the win and 6 of us finishing in the top 10, I was definitely a little surprised to finish 8^th after my sensations, turns out it was one of the best time trials I have done in a couple of years!

I ended up starting the next stage with my wrist strapped up but it was still rather swollen and sore, I couldn’t put any pressure on it and so was forced to ride seated for the whole day. With Roman in yellow and Scotty making the break the rest of us just controlled the pace in the bunch. The body was pretty knocked around from yesterday and I felt terrible at the start so tried to make myself as useful as possible with the expectation that I would not be able to finish the day. The most comfortable place for me to ride was right on the front where I could control the pace and see all obstacles on the road, as the race went on my legs got better and I found a good rhythm so continued to ride the front for some 90 odd kms before the final hill climb started, once I got there I had to back off and just get to the top it was very uncomfortable not being able to use my hand and get out of the saddle. My suffering was fully justified however when I got to the finish and heard how well all the other boys had done, with scotty taking the win and the yellow.

There was no racing on Friday so it was time to go to the hospital and get the wrist checked out. I had been dreading this and really wasn’t looking forward to spending a solid three hours waiting round for a couple of x-rays and the doctors thoughts. It was probably one of the least convincing doctors visits I have ever had, they could not tell me for sure if it was broken and what I should do but they suggested immobilising it with a splint to be safe. After getting some opinions on the x-rays from more reliable sources at home I had to accept that my scaphoid had not been able to hold up to the impact of the crash and had fractured, meaning I was about to enter a rather uncomfortable phase of my life spending the rest of the Colorado summer with a cast on…

So for the rest of the tour I turned into assistant feed zone technician and helped Jen out where I could (though she had to do most things for me ‘cos I was useless with just one viable hand) but I’ll still claim that I was a major factor in the teams overall success that week…a couple of cokes in the feed zone on a massive day of work for the boys was probably the thing that made all the difference!

Such is life and bike racing and I would be lying if I thought I could go through my career without this kind of setback, so the only thing to do is look forward and re-asses. Unfortunately it means I will miss out on some exciting racing in the next month as we wrap up our American racing season. But it will allow me to have a break, freshen up and focus on having a really strong end of season as we move to take on some big races in the southern hemisphere.

With such great support from the team it makes it easier in times like these. So big thanks to Jen, Sam, Ed, Carl, Greg and all the boys.

Also thanks to Avanti Bikes for the massive contribution which keeps me going on a working bike after these crashes, JUCY rentals for their enthusiastic support, and our sponsors, Kenda tyres, Peak Fuel, Bont shoes. They make my life so much easier.

The support from home has been amazing as well so thanks to all those who are following me and of course the mum and dad that back me through anything.

With all this behind me I should be back on track in no time at all….

Jimmy