Well pretty much Mondays race in Haro was a dismal affair, im not going in to huge detail except to say I dont opperate well on sleep depravation. All week we have had the Baranain Feista happening literal outside our bedroom window, fire works and bands playing till sometimes 3 even 4 in the morning is not good for racing cyclists. After four hours sleep I CREPT. Pulled the pin affter an hour an half.
Last night I managed to get a good uninterupted 6-7 hours after a nice glass of red wine. Bang out like a light which was choice. Today I could still feel the lag in my legs a tad but got stuck in anyway. From the go things were looking good as almost 15 of us were away and with a lot of riders tired from tones of racing, and pretty well every team represented int he break it looked like we were gone, not to be however and attacks came and went till the 60k mark when after a pretty solid effort 10 of us got away, we stayed clear till about 90k. Unfortunaly at around 95k the last monster climb began which destroyed me. I crused home to finish around 65 palce but was happy as my legs seem to be returning after a pretty stink couple of races.
Josh
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Searching for climbing legs in Tolosa
Today we had another round of the Euskaldun cup in Tolosa, about half hour drive down the autopista from Pamplona. Tolosa is nestled in the bottom of a valley surround in nasty bit hills which meant a hilly day racing. 6 hills all up today in a bit of a curcuit race format.
Needless to say from the gun I was again on the front smacking it hard following the moves. I decided no to attack myself but just following attacks to save a bit of energy an dbe able to go with more. This continued for the first 25 or so kilometers before we hit the first climb. Unfotunalty my climbing legs were left in Pamplona it seemed, Im guessing the four hours sleep because of the massive week long festival that seems to be going down right out side our apartment. But that besides. The race turned in to a strugle up the climbs, smash down them straight to the front to follow more moves, get flicked up the next climb. This was how my day turned out till eventually I just got brutalised and the break finaly went on one of the climbs.
Mike wasnt racing today so he rode out to the race and we had planned to ride home together which made for a sweet hard training after the race.
Next race is on Monday so not to wurried plenty of time to recover from our 185kday. Plus looking to get some more climbing efforts in to get those legs back that were starting to show up.
I must say i think today was probly the hardest race I have done here so far, it was just pressure on the pedals all day long weather up hill or down hill. So hopefully some form starts to sneak up on me and I can start getting in those break aways
Adios
Josh
Needless to say from the gun I was again on the front smacking it hard following the moves. I decided no to attack myself but just following attacks to save a bit of energy an dbe able to go with more. This continued for the first 25 or so kilometers before we hit the first climb. Unfotunalty my climbing legs were left in Pamplona it seemed, Im guessing the four hours sleep because of the massive week long festival that seems to be going down right out side our apartment. But that besides. The race turned in to a strugle up the climbs, smash down them straight to the front to follow more moves, get flicked up the next climb. This was how my day turned out till eventually I just got brutalised and the break finaly went on one of the climbs.
Mike wasnt racing today so he rode out to the race and we had planned to ride home together which made for a sweet hard training after the race.
Next race is on Monday so not to wurried plenty of time to recover from our 185kday. Plus looking to get some more climbing efforts in to get those legs back that were starting to show up.
I must say i think today was probly the hardest race I have done here so far, it was just pressure on the pedals all day long weather up hill or down hill. So hopefully some form starts to sneak up on me and I can start getting in those break aways
Adios
Josh
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Euskaldun Cup Round
Yesterday we had a round of the Euskaldun Cup. A serries of race in the Euskadi area of Spain, Yes the same Euskadi that sponsers the Euskatel pro tour team. For those of you who dont no, the pro team Euskatel Euskadi is a sponsership between the phone company Euskatel (eg vodaphone in NZ) and Euskadi the Basque area of Spain. Its kinda like a regional team for the Basque people.
So the days race was fairly rolly country no realy big climbs probly the longest not any more than 1.5k MAX. But there was a bit of wind to contentd with. Not the brutal winds Southland or even some nasty winds some of you may have raced in at the recent Tour of Taranaki but some solid wind none the less.
I was pretty keen to try for my current goal of a top ten today as i was feeling good. So from kilometer zero I was right on the front at the pointy end of the race getting stuck in. Attacking and following attacks. Once or twice things looked good only to have guys try come across and spoil it. The pressure stayed on for the first 30k and it was a round 20-25k mark my lungs were screaming and werent delevering any oxygen to my legs whats so ever. Wise words from David McCain from when I rode with Giant Asia were if its easy no break goes when its hard and your hurting your likley to make it. So i sucked it up for another crack unfortunatly even with the determination and a quick sling from Mikey T the legs just werent going to co-operate with out the oxygen so I had no choice but to sit in for a quick breather. 2 riders slipped clear and the break was formed. The race settled down for the next few ks and Team Cafe Baque, managed by non other than Joseba Beloki, the very man who chased Lance around France to take 2x3rd and one 2nd on the TDF podium, settled on the front to keep things in check for their sprinter. I was sitting just behind in 5th wheel and thought id drop back to Mikey for a quick Stratagy meeting. Conclusion, Cafe Baque have a super fast man and where going to set it up for a sprint which meant we needed to set out Columbian fast man Willian up for a sprint if we want to win. Choice.... Wrong as soon as wed had this discussion only a few minuets after dropping back we hit some tight little roads and lots of rolling climbs and x-winds.
Pretty quickly I was cursing myself for dropping back and not just staying on the front. I had to skip through a couple of groups to work my way up and we ended up with 5 team mates in the 2nd group, fortunatly Brad and Willian were in the front group. Unfortunatly for us we had team Bidelans top sprinter with us, which meant sitting on and letting there team try to bring the front of the race back. So pretty much the rest of the day was spent as a fast training ride following to the finish as the gap went further away.
Lesson Learnt: when your on the front just stay there. Sometimes itl all just blow up in your face.
So I ended the day pretty angry. Fortunatly We have a good block of four races this week. Thursday, Saturday followed by Monday and Tuesday, so ill be out looking for Redemtion.
TIll then
Josh
So the days race was fairly rolly country no realy big climbs probly the longest not any more than 1.5k MAX. But there was a bit of wind to contentd with. Not the brutal winds Southland or even some nasty winds some of you may have raced in at the recent Tour of Taranaki but some solid wind none the less.
I was pretty keen to try for my current goal of a top ten today as i was feeling good. So from kilometer zero I was right on the front at the pointy end of the race getting stuck in. Attacking and following attacks. Once or twice things looked good only to have guys try come across and spoil it. The pressure stayed on for the first 30k and it was a round 20-25k mark my lungs were screaming and werent delevering any oxygen to my legs whats so ever. Wise words from David McCain from when I rode with Giant Asia were if its easy no break goes when its hard and your hurting your likley to make it. So i sucked it up for another crack unfortunatly even with the determination and a quick sling from Mikey T the legs just werent going to co-operate with out the oxygen so I had no choice but to sit in for a quick breather. 2 riders slipped clear and the break was formed. The race settled down for the next few ks and Team Cafe Baque, managed by non other than Joseba Beloki, the very man who chased Lance around France to take 2x3rd and one 2nd on the TDF podium, settled on the front to keep things in check for their sprinter. I was sitting just behind in 5th wheel and thought id drop back to Mikey for a quick Stratagy meeting. Conclusion, Cafe Baque have a super fast man and where going to set it up for a sprint which meant we needed to set out Columbian fast man Willian up for a sprint if we want to win. Choice.... Wrong as soon as wed had this discussion only a few minuets after dropping back we hit some tight little roads and lots of rolling climbs and x-winds.
Pretty quickly I was cursing myself for dropping back and not just staying on the front. I had to skip through a couple of groups to work my way up and we ended up with 5 team mates in the 2nd group, fortunatly Brad and Willian were in the front group. Unfortunatly for us we had team Bidelans top sprinter with us, which meant sitting on and letting there team try to bring the front of the race back. So pretty much the rest of the day was spent as a fast training ride following to the finish as the gap went further away.
Lesson Learnt: when your on the front just stay there. Sometimes itl all just blow up in your face.
So I ended the day pretty angry. Fortunatly We have a good block of four races this week. Thursday, Saturday followed by Monday and Tuesday, so ill be out looking for Redemtion.
TIll then
Josh
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
3 Races 3 Days
3 Races in 3 Days, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Saturday and Sundays Races were in Galicia a province of Spain around 700+ Kilometers away form Pamplona, thankfully due to the Autopista we were able to do this in around 5 hours.
We had a pretty awsome Motel to stay in, in a little village just out of the city of Ourensen around where the two races were to take place. Saturday and Sunday were pretty big with peletons of around 200 riders, I have never raced in a peleton of this size with guys all pushing hard and wanting to be at the front. And I can tell you it was pretty daunting and i was fairly nervous.SATURDAY
Unfortunatly due to the travel my legs were pretty smashed and swollen and the first hour or so of the 144k race was spent on the back holding on for dare life. Not the greatest thing when the Peleton stretches out to over 500m long. Fortunatly the first climb was around 40k in and by that time my legs had loosened up and I was able to use the climb to move my way up. I spent the next portion of the race looking after myself and getting through. At around the 80-100k mark we hit the 2nd last of the big climbs which came off a nice wide main road to a super skinny almost 1 laner. YOu can just imagine how hard squeezing 200riders through there was and i found my self again near the back. So there was nothing else to do other than grit my teeth and go for it. Powering up past riders i managed to go over the top with a bunch of team mates. We had 1 rider in the days break but the rest of us were in a small group together which meant on the front and pull some laps which was pretty much how the rest of the race panned out for me. Pulling turns on the front. Fortunatly Mauricio Muller our team mate stayed near the front and finished in 5th. The rest of us were quite a way back and i ended up around 80th somewhere. pretty pleased to finish such a big tough race and i must say i was pretty destroyed afterwards.
SUNDAYS race was a shorter affiar at around 120k and finishing up a 2k climb. Unfortunatly for me my legs were pretty tired after the previous day and again the first 30k was spent dieing near the back. Luckly it was the same first 40k as the previous day so I new what was coming and when I needed to move up. Again I used the climb to move forwards, however unfortunatly on the decent the bunch tore apart and I was caught on the wrong side of the split. With the high speed and presure on there was no coming back, and so the rest of the day was spent as a hard training ride. Brad however finished the race strongly in 21st place. And our manager also delivered some awsome news that Mike had won his race in another area of Spain
MONDAY was by far the highlight for me. Due to a mess up with the licences myself and Brad only were able to start the race with 5mins to spair so there was some rushed number pinning happening. Todays race was a bit smaller with around 90riders starting. I made sure I was right on the front when the race started and was driving hard attacking and following attacks. I wanted to get a good result as I no I have it in my legs I just need to be in the right place. Due to lack of warm up my lungs and legs were screaming and after 15k I faded out to the back of the race where I suffered till perhaps the 60-70k mark to ride myself back in to the race. Unfortunatly due to this i missed the days winning move. Not alot I could do in the start I was though. However I grit my teeth and rode myself back in to the race and at around 70k was back up front following attacks to try and bridge up to the front. With 20k to go I skipped across to a group of four riders and we went across to a group of around 6-8. A few of us were keen to drive hard and i pulled some pretty solid turns. The peleton was closing down on us inside the final 5k so I through down a couple of hard attacks to keep us clear but inside the final k I just about bottched it as I was on the back and with 500m to go the road went to 1 lane beacause of road works. I took a few risks and smacked it up the inside and started sprinting to take 3rd from our group. It meant I finish 18th and took my best result here so far. Pretty pleased to finish 3days hard racing with a top 20 and it shows my legs are slowly getting used to the hard and fast euro racing.
My next goal is to go for a top 10. Not realy sure whats up next but certainly the next few days will be taken pretty easy to recover for the next hammering
Till then
JOSH
JOSH
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
First Euro Race Experiances
Hi everyone.
Over the weekend I have finialy completed my first ever two races in Spain. First up on Saturday was the Memorial Luis Munoz, and then on Monday was a Copa Iberica round, which is a series of races. We rode the San Antonio round which is in Cantabria region of Spain.
MEMORIAL LUIS MUNOZ
This being my first race in Spain, and first race in 5 weeks!!! I wasnt realy sure what to expect. I guess it was going to be a case of take it as it comes and see how things go. My number 1 goal was deffenatly to finish the race and beyond then I wasnt realy sure what to expect.
On Paper the race was a cicuit of 120k 3x40k laps. In actualy fact the race was only 108k so you cant trust the race maps here to much. The Race profile also showed two hills and the rest of the race being down hillish. Again not realy to be trusted.
The race started like any tipical race with attacks going hard and fast. I Made sure i stayed near the front keeping an eye on what was happening and how things work here. After about 9k we turned of the main road and things started getting hard. The race was now slowly rolling up hill for the next 10-11k and it was on..... 14k in and i found my self going backwards FAST!!!! All of a sudden the demorilization started seeping in. WHAT AM I DOING?? HOW AM I GOING TO CONTEND with a year of this???? I managed to find some sort of a rythem and followed wheels to the top of the first big climb which ended at around 26k mark. From then on the race was pretty much over for us. And it was a case of finishing now. Which i did by myself. Here guys dont seemed to wurried about weather they finish races or not. But Jeremey Yates once told me "while your legs still turn finish the race, even if its just for training, youl get more benefit than the guys who dont." So i carried on my for the last lap rolling around to the finish 15-20mins behind the winner
.
I must admit I didnt realy no what todo after getting smashed so bad. Though in my mind I new what Carl (coach) told me was true that not having raced for so long always makes my legs slow and laggy.
Sunday Afternoon we got the email that we would be racing another race on Monday, so i was pretty pleased i decided to reduce my 4-5hour ride to 3 hours after i was feeling tired from Saturday.
SAN ANTONIO TROPHY
I must admit today i was pretty nervous about the race especially after Saturdays pounding.
Today was also the first time Mike and I were going to be racing together again since Hub tour way back in January.
The team won the race last year so I think a similar result was being looked for, which was sounding like a bit of a mishion as other than myself and Brad all the boys had jsut finished racing 2 tours back to back the day before. SO theyd either be flying or dieing.
We were told we had to work in pairs and were expected to be in every move that went. I paired up with Mike, for the first 10k we pretty much sat on the back of the race as we weaved and ducked through little lanes and the villages around the coastle area we were racing through, before I decided id had enough. Im not the most confident pack rider in the world and I tend to either be on the front or on the back never in between and you dont get anywhere sitting on the back, so i quickly scooted up to the front as fast as possible. Pretty much as soon as i got to the front a rider rolled away and i was on his wheel. Within a miunet we had joined the brake away and were on our way. What a turn around this time 14k in to the race and im off the front. I held nothing back either and on more than one occasion was asked by Deaigo one of our team mates who was in the brake with me to ease back on the climbs. Slowly small groups came across to us but we stayed away for perhaps 3/4 of a lap before it all came back together. Soon after another move went and we had Brad and Karol in it. On all the climbs around the circuit on this 2nd lap the elastic was stretching and constantly snapping through the top and then coming back together on the other side, so you could see the fatigue setting. I couldnt believe how my legs were feeling today, I must admit I havent felt like this in a long long time, as I was going over the hills no wurrys. Mike said the final lap it was going to happen so i was trying prety hard to stay on his wheel. Unfortunatly i slipped back abit before the decisive climb. As soon as we hit the bottom i slammed itdown through the gears and powered up the out side to arrive at the front just a tad to late, mike had a hundread meters with another rider. I was gutted to miss the move but amped mike was going clear. The work started now as we had to cover moves that would try to bridge the gap and at the same time hoping to slow the chase down. I was also hoping i could hitch a ride on a group going across. Unfortunalty i didnt. BUT Karol and Peter did. which ment a 6 rider Brake and 3 of us in it. With a few Ks to go Mike and Karol unleashed the 1-2 and went home for Karol 1st and Mike 2nd. Peter our Lanky Dutch team mate took out the sprint for 3rd.
All in all it was a pretty awsome day. We were all stocked with the way we had riden and then for the boys to finish it off with 1st 2nd and 3rd.
Inside I was super pleased with how I rode. I was a polar oposite of the rider I had been on Saturday which was awsome. The massive Ks i have put in over the last few weeks are starting to shine through.
Over the weekend I have finialy completed my first ever two races in Spain. First up on Saturday was the Memorial Luis Munoz, and then on Monday was a Copa Iberica round, which is a series of races. We rode the San Antonio round which is in Cantabria region of Spain.
MEMORIAL LUIS MUNOZ
This being my first race in Spain, and first race in 5 weeks!!! I wasnt realy sure what to expect. I guess it was going to be a case of take it as it comes and see how things go. My number 1 goal was deffenatly to finish the race and beyond then I wasnt realy sure what to expect.
On Paper the race was a cicuit of 120k 3x40k laps. In actualy fact the race was only 108k so you cant trust the race maps here to much. The Race profile also showed two hills and the rest of the race being down hillish. Again not realy to be trusted.
The race started like any tipical race with attacks going hard and fast. I Made sure i stayed near the front keeping an eye on what was happening and how things work here. After about 9k we turned of the main road and things started getting hard. The race was now slowly rolling up hill for the next 10-11k and it was on..... 14k in and i found my self going backwards FAST!!!! All of a sudden the demorilization started seeping in. WHAT AM I DOING?? HOW AM I GOING TO CONTEND with a year of this???? I managed to find some sort of a rythem and followed wheels to the top of the first big climb which ended at around 26k mark. From then on the race was pretty much over for us. And it was a case of finishing now. Which i did by myself. Here guys dont seemed to wurried about weather they finish races or not. But Jeremey Yates once told me "while your legs still turn finish the race, even if its just for training, youl get more benefit than the guys who dont." So i carried on my for the last lap rolling around to the finish 15-20mins behind the winner
.I must admit I didnt realy no what todo after getting smashed so bad. Though in my mind I new what Carl (coach) told me was true that not having raced for so long always makes my legs slow and laggy.
Sunday Afternoon we got the email that we would be racing another race on Monday, so i was pretty pleased i decided to reduce my 4-5hour ride to 3 hours after i was feeling tired from Saturday.
SAN ANTONIO TROPHY
I must admit today i was pretty nervous about the race especially after Saturdays pounding.
Today was also the first time Mike and I were going to be racing together again since Hub tour way back in January.
The team won the race last year so I think a similar result was being looked for, which was sounding like a bit of a mishion as other than myself and Brad all the boys had jsut finished racing 2 tours back to back the day before. SO theyd either be flying or dieing.
We were told we had to work in pairs and were expected to be in every move that went. I paired up with Mike, for the first 10k we pretty much sat on the back of the race as we weaved and ducked through little lanes and the villages around the coastle area we were racing through, before I decided id had enough. Im not the most confident pack rider in the world and I tend to either be on the front or on the back never in between and you dont get anywhere sitting on the back, so i quickly scooted up to the front as fast as possible. Pretty much as soon as i got to the front a rider rolled away and i was on his wheel. Within a miunet we had joined the brake away and were on our way. What a turn around this time 14k in to the race and im off the front. I held nothing back either and on more than one occasion was asked by Deaigo one of our team mates who was in the brake with me to ease back on the climbs. Slowly small groups came across to us but we stayed away for perhaps 3/4 of a lap before it all came back together. Soon after another move went and we had Brad and Karol in it. On all the climbs around the circuit on this 2nd lap the elastic was stretching and constantly snapping through the top and then coming back together on the other side, so you could see the fatigue setting. I couldnt believe how my legs were feeling today, I must admit I havent felt like this in a long long time, as I was going over the hills no wurrys. Mike said the final lap it was going to happen so i was trying prety hard to stay on his wheel. Unfortunatly i slipped back abit before the decisive climb. As soon as we hit the bottom i slammed itdown through the gears and powered up the out side to arrive at the front just a tad to late, mike had a hundread meters with another rider. I was gutted to miss the move but amped mike was going clear. The work started now as we had to cover moves that would try to bridge the gap and at the same time hoping to slow the chase down. I was also hoping i could hitch a ride on a group going across. Unfortunalty i didnt. BUT Karol and Peter did. which ment a 6 rider Brake and 3 of us in it. With a few Ks to go Mike and Karol unleashed the 1-2 and went home for Karol 1st and Mike 2nd. Peter our Lanky Dutch team mate took out the sprint for 3rd.
All in all it was a pretty awsome day. We were all stocked with the way we had riden and then for the boys to finish it off with 1st 2nd and 3rd.
Inside I was super pleased with how I rode. I was a polar oposite of the rider I had been on Saturday which was awsome. The massive Ks i have put in over the last few weeks are starting to shine through.
Next lot of Racing i think is next weekend Saturday and Sunday so till then.
Josh
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