There's a real Tour Down Under bandwagon these days and it's not just the one that throws out dangerous objects at unsuspecting injured old men.

It started with the He Who Can Now Be Mentioned Twitter ride a few years ago but it seems with the advent of social media every man and his dog is organising mass participation rides during TDU week. There was the 'Big Red Ride' on Saturday where you got to ride with Stuey and raise funds for some charity or another. Sunday was 'Ride Like Crazy', Monday was for the kids with the 'Touriffic Prospect' ride.

Today a good mate of mine Steve Cunningham (who himself rode for the UniSA team in the TDU a few times) was using the opportunity to promote a Tour Company he runs with his wife Michelle. Get on FB and Twitter and next thing you have a group of couple of hundred cyclists winding their way up through the hills to the start. I joined in but I got half way up the first climb out of Adelaide and realised the pain in my newly re-constructed shoulder was just too much (I since found out it's been sub-luxated since I tried to catch a throw-out on Sunday)...so I swiftly headed home and picked up the car instead and drove to the KOM.

The crowds seem to be up from last year and Fox Creek is a popular KOM spot (and a bloody steep climb too). It was no surprise to see Will Clarke take the points but I thought Kohler would be bludging his way in the pack after yesterday's effort.

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The peleton were looking untroubled, Valverde looked cool

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You'll notice the silver car in the background perfectly placed for the quick exit so I could beat them to the sprint at Balhannah...I got in just behind the Ambulances :-)

An intimate geographical knowledge of the Adelaide hills allowed me plenty of time to pick my photo spot just after the sprint and I caught the moment that Clarke and Kohler parted ways.

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And was surprised to see Greipl completely isolated in a strung out chase group...must be really missing his mate Jurgen.

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From there it was back in the car to get to the finishing circuit.

Clarkey was still in front and looking comfortable. The crowd was huge and my arm was dragging on the ground so I avoided getting bumped as much as I could but I couldn't not get some good pictures.

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And with a lap to go Will Clarke was still going strong and looking like he might hold them off.

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He was absolutely spent on the last run up to the line but victory was his and he savoured his run up the beautifully fenced off finishing straight.

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But the ochre jersey was not for him....the peleton finally got in to gear and must have been going twice his speed as they fought for second place.

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After screaming my lungs out for 13 years at UniSA breakaways this was way more satisfying than Patty Jonker's win a few years back and I celebrated by getting my shoulder put back in place.

Sadly that means I can't really ride even the deck-chair for a few days so I'm limited to seeing the start today. We'll see what Talent we can spot eh!

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The circus has hit town again and The Cannibal is here.

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Adelaide once again is host to the opening race of the Road Cycling season which despite a 'Mountain' top finish on the penultimate stage (the Tour de France should try that sometime :-) it still looks like it's going to be a race for the sprinters. No Cavendish but BAH!

I was last heard of bumming my way around Italy in a very fast Volvo emblazoned with Podium Cafe signage running with the Contadors and riding to the top of as many Col's as my skinny old legs would take me. It's all been down-hill from there. A couple of bad accidents and a bad lady have left me a broken man but there's nothing like half a dozen 1km to go spots to help me to regain my mojo.

I've only got one useable arm at the moment so instead of two wheels I ride on three now and it's not as far to fall. I did a Charity ride yesterday morning and was mixing it with the Grade riders on the flat on this thing and you (and my surgeon) don't want to know how fast it goes downhill....it only reveals it's true 'deck-chair on wheels' personality when my knees get higher than my heart.

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So...last night I set up in my usual spot to get a feel of the week ahead....it's going to be a fabulous week. The lap record for the circuit was demolished last night on both of the last two laps and the lead outs averaged close on 70km/hr for the last one, man they were flying. The race followed it's usual script with a breakaway being allowed the pleasure of contesting the preme's with Garmin (oooh) Barracuda's Aussie neo-pro Nathan Haas showing a good turn of speed to collect enough beer money for the team for the week and taking three out of four. Local boy Rohan Dennis, riding for UniSA despite having a Rabo contract was keen to show GreenEDGE where to spend their Euros next year and was the obligatory man from his team in the break.

Once the formalities were over it was Rabo with Leezer and Lulu, GreenEDGE with Cam and Stuey and Lotto with Sieberg and Hansen setting the stage for their sprinters. Sky had been conspicuous at the back of the pack for most of the race but I could see Dodger Hayman and Patey trying hard to get EBH towards the front.

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With two laps to go GreenEDGE had the inside running with Robbie third wheel and the crowd were going wild but Lotto had complete control, jeeez that Sieberg is hard to get past when he gets that big frame wound up.

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As they went past me with 1km to go (about 50 seconds, phewww!) I really couldn't see anyone beating Greipl, his team had done their job perfectly and a loud pop right in front of me saw Rabobank's hopes (and anyone following them) turn to dust. Quinziato was having a go at spoiling the party but the Lotto train even managed to get a gap before the last corner and it was all over bar some fast finishing from EBH, Barbie, JJRG and the Aussie with the best name in the peleton, Steele Van Hoff.

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Prediction time. I'm going to stick my neck out and go for Mr. Consistency Jose Joquin Rojas Gil to take out overall honours this year and I liked the way Van Avermat was travelling but it really could be any one of fifty.

What a start to the season. Yay!!!

It's Footy season here in Adelaide, I even got cold riding in the rain with my lovely lady yesterday.  Winter is just around the corner.  I don't often take leave from my work at this time of year, it seems pointless when it's getting cold, but not cold enough for snow...but this year is different. I'm off to Italy :-)

Apart from 13 Tour's DownUnder, a few Sun Herald Tours, last year's World Champs and every other weeks local races I ain't seen much cycling so it's going to be quite an experience for me.  One would think that I would have my itinerary meticulously planned to the n'th detail by now but certain things have transpired throughout the last while that have made this not so.

Rather than panic, I thought I might ask my friends at Podium Cafe if they have any suggestions or advice for my planned trip to the land of pizza and nice tans.  I'm flying out sometime next week when I get my shit together and am going to buy a car in England (an old Volvo perhaps...or maybe a Skoda Octavia wagon so I might possibly do some entourage assimilation)and drive over there, so I don't envisage getting to the Giro until they start heading back up towards the mountains of the North. I'd like to catch a few flat stages so I can get some photos from an overhanging tree near the 1 km to go mark, by then, Prince Harry should be slingshotting Cav towards the front.  I'd also like to get a few miles in the legs before we hit the mountains.

It's Mountains i'm wanting though and I'll be waving the Podium Cafe flag as high up Mont Zoncolan as my old legs will carry me. I might even act like a complete dick and run alongside Jack, Cam, Richie, Matty, Rennie and Robbie in a Ned Kelly outfit or something equally appropriate i see fit between now and then. 

So....does anyone know a good Pizza place in Milan?

Its funny how things work out sometimes.

I've been ardently supporting and following the TDU since it's inception in 1999.  Back in those days I used to give my all supporting my local mates who's ride for the UniSA team. I can count the number of stages that I've missed on one hand and have planned annual leave around the race so as not to miss the opportunity to take some splendid images, ride big miles, drink beer and get a nice tan. 

In 2001 I was doing chemo after being diagnosed with testicular cancer for a second time the month before but I still got out there and gave my all.  On Stage 2 in 2001 I could only get as far as the foot-hills so I dangled off the Freeway tunnel lip with my signed UniSA banner as the peleton flashed past underneath me.  Luke Roberts won that day into Strathalblyn....I kinda like the chances of him doing it again today.

This year I decided not to take leave...save it for the Giro in May, but I still managed a few shift swaps etc so that I could whizz around like a blue-arsed fly and enjoy. Yesterday was the first day I've had to work during TDU week, but being a Paramedic based in Stirling I thought I might possibly be able to savour some of the action.....as I said, It's funny how things work out sometimes.

I was delivering a patient to Flinders Medical Centre just as the Peleton whoooshed by at the end of the neutral zone....they were doing 70km/hr at the time...in neutral!! Bonus for the day I thought :-) We got back to our home station which is just after the KOM point just in time to watch the peleton roll on by again.  The breakaway was around two minutes clear at this stage and there was another group of three dangling in front of the peleton containing Timmy Roe and the PACC poster boy Angel.  I gave Angel a shout-out as he went past my Ambulance...he turned and gave me a smile...not pretty but I think it was a smile.  Angel doesn't have Arty Vichot's charisma as he hasn't really been blessed with handsomeness but he sure does love riding a bike.

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Bonus  #two...not bad getting paid to watch these dudes ride past :-)

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Both my partner and the Student we had riding along were hoked with the fly pasts. They wanted more so I managed to talk them into sitting in the Big White Truck down at the bottom of the hill rather than the air-conditioned comfort of the comfy chair on station....an ooportunist at worst.  Whilst Ambulances can normally park where the fuck they like, space was at a premium in all the good vantage points on the two laps of the Stirling/Bradbury loop but my Student managed to bat her long eyelashes at a nice Officer who let us park at a Junction about 800M from the line where just before the barriers.

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The break was still away by then but the peleton were chasing hard being led by Radioshack trying to protect Robbie's lead.  A colleague lives at about the 300M to go spot (next to the wood-yard) and so I grabbed the Hand-Held radio and chanced my luck at a walk up to a better vantage point for the next lap when my pager went off...damned inconvenient.  The tour has it's own Medical entourage and there were Bike Ambo's and Vollies amongst the crowd but there was someone collapsed near the finish line so we were dispatched.  My student was so excited at the prospect of driving with lights and sirens up the finishing straight that I almost didn't get the door closed as I jumped on board.  We headed up the hill grabbing a little attention as we went past and were directed into the restricted access area...which was a shame as our patient was nowhere near there and by the time I'd managed to fight my way through the crowd and find her, she'd drunk some water and was a lot less whoopsy. I still had to assess her so missed the peleton getting the bell lap but I heard form the crowd noise that Lance had led them through in serious mode.

My patient didn't need transport but I delayed her assessment long enough to get our Ambulance 'stuck' until at least after the race had finished :-) I grabbed my I-phone and headed towards the finish (carrying a little equipment so I could get a little let me to the barriers sympathy) but was once again called to duty and had to listen to the commentary of a finish just metres away...I retained my professional integrity despite the temptation.

Another 'faint' so no need for hospitalisation, but as I headed back to my Ambulance (where my partners in crime had been sitting after 'losing' me in the crow) I could see a crowd up on the hill above the oval.  Someone was holdin a LiveStrong Trek above their heads and it was a sea of Black and Yellow so i didn't need to be Paul Sherwen to know what that meant.

Now...I've lost both my testicles to cancer so I feel a small amount of association with Mr. Armstrong but despite my passion for the sport, I'm not a groupie so I've never met the guy in person. I'm more of the kind that would love for him to come for a BBQ or join Tufty on a trek up into the mountains for a few days but I wasn't going to wast a chance to get UCAP was I?  We had a chat and shook hands...not quite the same hand-shake as Ballan gave me but the poor sod had just busted his ass for Robbie and was being hassled by a zillion people...maybe I should've introduced myself as 'Flatbagger' :-)

Funny how things work out.

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Whilst in the 'restricted' zone...and on a roll..I thought I'd push the boundaries and see how far a uniform can get you even without the necessary accreditation....it gets you anywhere.

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Sorry about the quality of the pictures...the I-Phone was more inconspicuous :-)

Day off today but I'm supporting my lovely lady in the Community ride..I took a photo of her racing in E Grade on Monday night..cool pic I think. 

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BTW. heres a linkie to the Pictures I took on Stage 2

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=605724004&aid=271302

I'm a bit tardy getting my report on paper today...other things on my mind.

Cycling is a dangerous sport and all those who race are well aware of the dangers, it is also a sport of beautiful people that prefer being outdoors, that prefer a slightly slower pace to enjoy the view. Last night one of those beautiful people crashed during the Rendition Homes Women's series, Amber Halliday.

I feel bad...I'm a Paramedic and I was on the spot where she fell just minutes prior to the fall but I was more interested in taking photos than saving lives at the time. Amber was unconscious when she hit the ground, an awkward fall they reckon...she's in intensive care in a coma at the moment, I know all at PdC that shared her unique commentary on ABC radio for the TDU will be praying hard for her.

I took the PdC pursuit vehicle for a spin yesterday...the weather was gorgeous and the environment delicious but I just didn't feel like getting on my bike.....here are a few pictures from my day.

Everything was going perfect..I managed to get a few great spots and had the perfect sit at the 1km to go sign to photograph this year's new lead out trains.....then when they were about 50 metres from me, click and my new camera starts thinking about it instead of just motor driving away like it had been doing...must remember that the 'Anti-blur' setting is no good for blurrrs!!

This is my favourite picture from today...the rest are on my Facebook thing.

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Today the race ventures to 'Rain Shadow' country, the back side of the Adelaide Hills where the shades of brown rather than green are more evident. I'm gonna take the PdC Volvo out for a trip and find me a wee spot to watch the race go by while I practice my Italian.  Look for me somewhere after the feed station....I gotta get home to prepare for my race tonight. There's a local crit at Unley where the street party is being held. I hope to do better than on Monday in a similar field but tonight's course is over cobbles and speed humps...yay!!

It's a log downhill to the finish in Mannum today...Charge of the Light Brigade time. 

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Well...one could venture to one of the many cosmopolitan cafe's and restaurants  that light up this fair city I call home. You could head down and catch a sunset at the beach, or head further afield to winery and outback. Watch the flicker of city lights from the hills or stay at home, get stoned and watch Lebowski again.  I watched the replay of last night's CCC on SBS....fuck'n travel brochure interspersed with racing...better off with my report I reckon!!  

Monday night, Tour down under week is local crits night, those from Interstate are welcome to race but rarely win. This year Monday night crits was extra special as it also had Stage two of the Rendition Homes Womens series....yahoo, more chicks on bikes!

We have our very own closed off crit circuit in Adelaide....problem is, it's also part of a Motor Racing track so we spend half our crit season racing amongst an ever evolving mechano set...but with the huge old gum trees, historic buildings and no traffic to contend with, it's our little piece of paradise on TDU Monday.

It was my first race in B Grade this year, promoted after winning on Boxing Day so I was pretty pumped for tonight.  We had 47 starters in my grade, a lot for a tight circuit, the hairpin at the top of the circuit had already brought some of the lower graders undone. Looking at my Polar it says we reached 55km/hr on the first true lap down the straight...be fair to an old guy's heart you kiddies...be fair.  I gotta into the swing of things and followed the fast wheels for the Prime sprint after around 15 minutes...third and a long way off second with my HR two off max....hmmmm, the sprint could be interesting.  It took me a lap or two at the back to get my breath back but with a field this big on a windy night anyone who wants to win needs to be able to judge and mark breaks...just in case.

After 30 minutes we got the two laps to go board...I'd worked out that a break wasn't going to succeed so was having a rest and at the rear of the field.  I love it when my brain gets into it's next mode, I'm like a shark going through a shoal of Tuna so I was up to around 20th at the bell, still too far back but B grade FFS!! Some twat took my line on the 50km/hr bend at the bottom corner but it did me a favour as I ended up middle pack. A break went left just as a break went right so those of us canny enough to stay in the guts got sucked through for the final bend which I hit fourth wheel.  You have to slow to around 20 for the top hairpin but I decided not to change gear and grind my way down the straight and bide my time.  My plan was working as i sucked up to the three leaders but when a faster guy passed me on the inside I tried to go after him and my bloody seat tilted forward.  After that it felt like my back wheel was jamming or something as I tried to put more power down so I cruised in in 7-9th place. Happy with my lot :-)

So..the Chickie Babes race.  I'll tell my story in picture so you can enjoy our Monday night paradise too. 

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They should do a reality TV show about these girls.  What a Monday night talent line-up!!

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Carlee Taylor made sure it was fast from the gun!

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What a cool crit course...barriers :-)  The Honda Dream Team trying to give the peleton nightmares.

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Hosking seemed to like the wheel of the newly crowned Aussie Crit Champ Lauren Kitchen...the old Vic Park Grandstand in the distance...we'll be racing up next to it when they finish the course :-)

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The top corner is so tight they need Police to control the speed.

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And you have to get the power down early for the straight...which is the finish line.....which is where I was heading when on the next lap a nasty crash brought down two of the girls pretty hard.  I'd already run 800 metres around concrete barriers and construction site (and fat security guard too :-) to get a finish line shot and heard there was a fall...my Paramedic instinct kicked in so I ran further to the wrong end of the course (a furphy from an official).  I was too shagged to run back up and they woudn't let me hang on to the Ambulance so I left the professionals too it and got some pictures of what Cyclist's do when there's a break in transmission. 

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Chloe Hosking had to beg some of the guys teams for some shade and received advice from a man showing half his arse.

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The SASI girls were a little more constructive with their time.

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They tried to make up for lost time at the restart...hammering it!  Shara Gillow stringing them out.

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My new screen saver :-)

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The fans would/should have been there in their thousands had the grandstand been finished.

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It's a slightly downhill finish.

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Two to go and SASI are coming through.

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Bell lap.

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Nettie Edmondson celebrates early...I remember riding with her when she was a skinny little kid  :-)

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It was close for second...Hosking just got there to take the series victory...an inch back and it would have been a tie.

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The SASI girls celebrated their great win...at this stage they thought Nettie was overall winner.

I got a zillion other nice pictures during the Men's race....but tonight was a Monday night where the girls took centre stage.....better than a Travel documentary on the TV eh!!! :-)

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Today I'm heading up the Barossa Valley to watch Stage one of the TDU

I'm sure there's a preview or a decent guide somewhere online....the PdC Volvo is having a rest day....the PdC pursuit vehicle is require to get some good shots today :-) There she is...sitting nicely in the Paradise Caravan.

I love cycling...Flatty

Adelaide turned on another splendid evening for this years CCC, it couldn't have been a better evening for both riding and watching. I got myself a spot on the outside of the last corner and cemented it with a couple of fold out chairs, an esky and the PdC banner. Very little sleep over 48 hours (the joys of shift work!!) and a ride to depletion in the morning was making too much movement a little uncomfortable anyway.

The crowd was down in numbers from the previous two years peaks IMHO...not that I counted, but I've always wondered who does :-)  It was only about five deep on the corners this year :-) The crowd was as cosmopolitan as ever, still a lot of Lance-alots and newbies so the sport continues to grow....maybe SBS having a live telecast cut the numbers.

The women's race was a prelude to the CCC and was about the best field of women's racers ever seen on the roads of Adelaide together. Australian Women's cycling has been leading the men to the front of the peleton in recent years and most of those responsible for that rise were racing tonight.  Sadly, newly crowned Aussie Champion Alexis Rhodes was unable to race (already in Europe on 'commitments') and even more sadly...our own Miffy G didn't make the trip but I'd be certain she would have been ecstatic with her traning mate's performance.

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I predict breakaway containing at least one young Aussie for half the distance.

 

I predict former teammates getting animated with each other in the run for home.

I predict carnage on the last corner.

I predict a win to Johno Cantwell .

The media are drumming this up as a race between Andre the Giant and the Angry Wee Manxman. Sure, Greipl and Hansen will feel at home embedded in the HTC train but I think the HTC train will be trying to get Matty Goss over the line first anyway.  Sadly however, my crystal ball sees a big pile up caused by too many sprinters either finding or not finding their legs in the first big hit-out for the year.

Lots of team mates have been old team mates on different teams and there are a fair share of new bed mates for the sprint too.  Greipl /Hansen, McEwen/Hunter/HWMNBM, Dean/Farrar,  Brown/Bling, Rogers/Hendo/C.J., Cookie/JJ, and they will be bustling the crap out of HTC and each other on the back straight to get to the last corner with a chance.  But I see a lone sprinter like JJRG, Stuey, Alfie  or Chichi tavoiding the pile up and taking the spoils.

I looked at the video of last years sprint to the line (won by Hendo of Team Sky) and the Russian kiddie  GALIMZYANOV  (I had to paste that one in) and Johnno Cantwell of Team UniSA were both in the mix so I'm going all out and putting a tenner on them for the quinella.

I will spend my winnings (or rather re-imburse my wallet) on a couple of bottles of Adelaide Hills Sauvignon Blanc (Whippet or Shaw and Smith I think) while I sit under my favourite tree to watch the proceedings.

As you all should know, I'm a 1km to go man. That's where a race is won and lost so I'll try and get a good spot on the back straight and try out my new technology....the Brownie was much simpler to understand.

Look out for the PdC banner.

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G'day.

Me and me mates here in South Oz wanna take the time out to invite all you folks in the antipodes (and even further) to join us on a little tour of our own back-yard. I'll be fair dinkum to yas all and not tell you a lie, but the best way to get a squidge at my local views is to grease up the chain on the old Malvern Star, even give ya best cobber a dinky on the bars (if ya not too pissed from the Barbie the night before) and see it from the saddle.

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Tonight will see the meeting of two of the great Icons of the 21st Century Podium Cafe. The PdC Volvo and the PdC Banner will get to share the same space and time, right here in Adelaide.

Last time I saw the banner it was in the most prominent and dominant position of the most race defining climb of the World Championships men's Road Race.  It saw the early break but didn't flap much as it sensed a race for the sprinters.  With a couple of laps to go, the banner was waving to a Phillipe Gilbert banner on the opposite side of the road that was going wild in some kind of scorn as by the next lap, Cadel flew by and the banner flashed it's rear to the offending Belgian.

It arrived on my doorstep earlier in the week, all carefully packaged for the long flight from Melbourne. Celerity had cared for it well although I did notice some evidence of one of those pesky Minah Birds on the \0/...shame on you bird!

The PdC Volvo was also in Geelong in November, but she was being violated down at the beach while PdC banner was erect in Geelong....she's been covering many thousands of miles since last years Tour Down Under in search of perfect berg, piste and wave and, as all elderly Swedish ladies do, she needed a little bit of make-up before the big meeting.  She also decided that she needed a new starter motor, clutch pedal, wiring loom and better speakers before she would let me abuse her this coming week.

So....since PdC banner has been in Adelaide, PdC Volvo has been in hospital having some 'elective' surgery...but she's ready to roll.  I even re-sprayed the bonnet (hood) and she looks gorgeous and I'll pick her up on the way to work tonight so she and the banner can do a bit of a recon of TDU stages 2,3 and 5 together.

I bought a new camera too. The Brownie gave up the Ghost in Geelong....the last picture ever taken was a rather blurry shot of Omnevilnihil and Celerity cheering Cadel over the climb. Hopefully I'll have mastered the darn thing by Sunday and can get some outstanding shots of the action for you guys.

A preview of this years race will follow....in the mean-time, I thought you might like to see the new Leopard Trek steed, courtesy of Stuey's bro who stole it for a whilehttp://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150121987681098&set=a.185704521097.154422.589756097.

 

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There's a few things you guys know pretty well about me. One...I love my cycling, especially racing. Two...I'm extremely patriotic when it comes to supporting my nation's sporting teams. In an earlier thread where we were discussing the make-up of the Australian team for the World Championship I posted that in this country we don't choose teams on form or fame...we choose teams, or to rearrange the letters a little...mates.

That was more than perfectly demonstrated during the men's U23 Road Race yesterday and as I saw each of the Aussie team doing their jobs as I ventured around the course for the best vantage points, and then saw Michael 'Bling' Matthews tucked in behind Phinney's wheel as they approached the final turn for the finishing straight I didn't need to look up at the big screen to know who'd won.

The best way to feel a bike race is to be in it yourself....the cameraderie, the pleasure and pain, the unique noises of wheels whirring and gears clicking into place. If you're not really fast enough to sit in the middle of the peleton and enjoy such heavenly surroundings then the second best way to watch a race is on the TV...that way you get to see everything, every crash in slow motion several times, every break, every lap, all the way.

But, there's also nothing like being at the race itself, that way you get to feel the emotion of the fans, soak up a bit of outside (and sun if you're lucky) and get to breathe the same air as some pretty amazing athletes. There are several ways to watch a bike race such as this from out on the course, and Geelong has catering for all of them. Some are lucky enough to be able to sit on their front lawns and watch the race pass by where they normally only venture out to place their rubbish bins every week. There are those that bring the fold up chairs, find their favourite vantage point and cement themselves to that spot for the duration of the race, cheering intently as the peleton passes by then going back to reading the Sunday paper in the twenty five or so minutes until they pass by again. Some even sit in the middle of a big field and watch an even bigger TV than the one they've got at home and drink beer or coffee and either head to the barriers when the cyclists pass or pass out. I do it my way.

Yesterday I jumped on the Madone and did a loop of the course, bunny hopping kerbs, weaving through crowds without clipping out, catching up with mates (most of whom had chosen to find a vantage point in close proximity to where they sell beer) and sussing out the best short cuts, photo spots, coffee stalls and chickie babes.

This is the starting line.

　

I only made it a short distance down the road for lap one as a bike shop was having a big sale but 'Burger' Ben King had already played the ace

...I knew the Aussies would have to play a trump card and there can only ever be check-mate with two Kings up the road. "Vegemite' Ben King did his job to perfection, forced a couple of others to give chase and got to enjoy the downhill on his own for a couple of laps.

By lap two I was in the Barwon Valley so I watched a few laps from there as I concentrated on how the race was panning out. The peleton was relaxed through here allowing the protagonists to joust it out up front.

The top of the climb is where you find the most people in lycra and the best spot for pictures for reasons explained during yesterday's TT.

 

 

The descent of the climb is amazing but 90km/hr is a bit quick for my Kodak Brownie to pick up detail.

The bottom of the climb is probably where I will spend the most time during the men's race on Sunday, hard on the brakes, the wooden bridge and the little steep climb up the other side is surely where the race will be won and lost. The atmosphere is true cycling fan down there and the food and drink is just what's needed to quench the needs.

The next couple of laps I got stuck in a pub on Pakington street and watched as the Aussie team controlled the pace of the race and each reeled of as they busted their collective asses for their designated leader. This is probably the most social place to watch the race and being the 'fashion store' street in Geelong it's thick with chicks :-)

On the last lap I made my way to my usual 1 K to go spot. I tend to avoid the finishing straight as it tends to be full of the kind of people who make my viewing unenjoyable.....I usually know who's going to win from 1 K out anyway.

 

I'm going to have a similar day for today's women's race and hopefully the result will be the same.

But first....a couple of hours along the Great Ocean Road to soak up a bit of sun and sea mist.

  I must admit that when I heard that Geelong had been chosen as the venue for the 2010 U.C.I. World Championships I thought...why? It's an Industrial city, not very aesthetically pleasing and in Victoria. South Australia has had a long running battle of sporting greed with Victoria since they 'stole' the best Grand Prix in the World off us. We retaliated by staging the Tour Down Under and the Eastern States cycling bodies have been green with envy and putting their corporate dollars together ever since to try and upstage us yet again.

You never really know how beautiful an industrial city can be until you ride your bike around the nooks and crannies and the organisers of this race have done a great job in show-casing the best bits to the World....from a spectator

There are some wierd looking trees...

And some wierder looking art...

 

But as a background for fit dudes in lycra I'm not complaining.

It's not until you realise just how much a race like this can interfere with the infrastructure of a city that you appreciate how much organisation goes into such an event. Traffic is in semi-chaos, residential areas are in lockdown and the locals are having to consider alternative forms of transport...I've lost count of the number of times someone has said 'fucking cyclists!!"

I rode 147.8km yesterday in search of some nice pictures for you guys. It looked like the sun might show it's face as I rode around the coast towards Geelong from my beach haven....but even he/she decided it was too cold and remained tucked up behind the clouds.

Thank goodness for lycra to brighten the place up a bit.

Being midweek, most of the spectators at the moment are cycling fans and so the areas set aside for spectating, with huge TV screens and catering are deserted whereas the corners, chicanes and coffee shops are packed. Those who live on the course have plugged in the extension cables and brought their plasma TV's roadside so as not to miss anything .

I decided to perch myself at the top of the steepest part of the TT course yesterday....I wanted pain etched in faces, dribble dangling off ear lobes and fat guys hanging out of cars yelling encouragement in a multitude of languages. I got what I wanted.

It was amazing to see the different climbing styles on TT bikes, Millar, LuLu and a Moorenhout seemed faster at the top of the hill with high cadence whereas some of the other guys (Rogers, Larrson, Grabsch etc,) looked laboured. Cance didn't even get out of the saddle!!!

 

 

Some prick stole my beautiful carbon fibre frame mounted pump from my bike while I was spectating so the ride home was cautious and hopeful. It was so cold as night set in that as I rode along the Ocean Road to the warmth of my appartment I was covered in dew and it took a good long soak in the shower to be able to feel certain extremeties once again...but it was all worth it.

Today is the Men's U23 Road Race.....I'll be cheering for the Aussies (of course) and taking some more happy snaps.

If anyone's out on course they can call me on 0402383263 if they wanna catch up somewhere.

　

   
   
  

I thought I had the perfect plan but the God's are against me,,,perhaps I should have a word with Thor.

I'm staying beach-front this week....on the Great Ocean Road. Being a cancerian I needed some beach and sea to recover from last week, the week before and the months before that. I've not been well, a pesky virus just keeps finding new ways to taunt me, my musculo-skeletal has no system and my brain keeps telling me I need a rest.

Shut the fuck up brain!!

I managed to complete all of my three races in the Australian Masters Championships this year without ending up in an ambulance. I had planned to give you guys a daily report and pictures but a combination of unwell, problems logging on to Podium Cafe and the warmth of the bar I was staying in kinda conspired against that. I popped a few pictures of the Buninyong race up on others posts but the adventure I had that day was a story in itself that took hours to prepare...and only a microsecond to lose when my room internet timed out...I decided to enjoy my holiday instead.

So...it sounds like the perfect plan. Ride along the coast to Geelong, watch a few races, take a few photos of fit dudes in lycra, lunch with friends, ride home, cook food and drink beer then recall my day to you guys while watching the replay of the days proceedings on my DVD recorder that I especially brought for the trip....take a breath.

No god-damn internet connection and the TV won't pick up channel 10 because I'm on the beach!!!!

I think I just saw a dolphin.

So......I'm riding into Geelong today...a nice long ride past Cadel's place. There seems to be sun between the clouds. I'll take my camera just in case because the men's Time Trial is on...I'm not sure how photogenic men on Time Trial bikes whirring past me at varying speeds will be....the chicks were a blurrrrr yesterday :-) Then....once again I will ride home. But tonight instead, I will move to the top of the hill and if I have to I will sit in the PdC Volvo, looking out across Bell's Beach at a perfect corduroy sunset and tell you guys about my day....I bloody well will!

Here's a couple of shots of my yesterday.

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Flatty

PS....I rode on the TT course with Spartacus by accident on Tuesday and as he and his motorcyclist rode away from me into the sun between the rain showers...he was arched by a perfect rainbow. The times you wish you had a camera and not a stiffy :-)

So...I know who I think will win.

Watch out for my new little mate C.O.G. He's holding the hopes of the whole Chilean nation on his shoulders.

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The Italians are being meticulous and the Aussies aren't even here yet.

And here's Teejay getting advice from someone who knows the course well.

 

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I haven't been feeling too well since the TDU.  Life was going good so i decided to ween off the happy pills that I'd been swallowin for a year or so.  It went OK for a while but then the bastard crept up on me, disguised first as physical ailments, then an increasing need for rest and an intrinsic fear of all things that might hurt a wee bit....just like it did the first time!  So...the Trek's been adorning the bike-rack in the hall rather than eating up the glorious Autumn roads just over the horizon.  Tut tut....HTFU man!!

I haven't raced for ages and last week when i went out on a fast group ride I was ridiculed by my peers for having the noisiest bike known to mankind...when i don't wear my cochlear implant I can't hear a fuckin thing and when i do, i have it on a setting that drowns out constant noise so,  the sound of a loose chain, headset, bottom bracket
,et al was news to me.  I took it in for a service and it felt like a new bike when I got it back on Friday so I did an awesome 100km with a big Cheshire cat face as soon as i picked her up.  Saturday morning was supposed to be a slow spin but when an Ironman Tri mate of mine flew past on his black low profile Stealth Machine I just had to tuck in behind for a while.

So...not an ideal preperation for a Sunday race but we thought we'd give it a whirl. I'm entered in a graded Criterium with first seven in each Grade through to a handicapped three lap wheelrace over three laps (about 2700 metres) with $1000 first prize..

Last night, I fell asleep in a pool of dribble and Jim Beam way before the Poggio and dreamed that Dodger Rogers had won. I checked his Twitter and found that it was indeed a dream but subliminally I wasn't too far off the mark.  He wrote that he could've written a book about today's Milan/SanRemo race, something about a crash in a tunnel.  Hmmmm!! I feel that is the same for every race. Every ride has a story, every race is an epic, cycling is beautiful even if you're a 50 year old C grade rider lining up for a Twenty minute plus two lap crit in Whitmore Square on a sunny Sunday morning.  Last time I put the Zipps with the very expensive Continental Comp Tubulars on I got a flat on the ride down to the race so i had to decide between putting the Trek in the back of the PdC Volvo or riding down and racing on some Ultremo trod Dura Ace wheels.  I chose the latter as riding to races is what i do...I can't be arsed with all of the poncing about on rollers or having spare wheels perfectly balanced at the opposite side of the track to where you blowout....not my style.

Yay!!  Saturday night and the locals felt a need to throw bottles at Bus Shelters again leaving bike lanes strewn with diamonds...I have a theory that Bus Shelter repairers and Bike-Shop owners are in collusion on this one. So...five minutes from home and I'm riding back on a shredded Ultremo and plan B becomes Plan A but I decide to ride down on the Zipps and throw fate the challenge...god-dammit, these pills are working!! 

Whitmore Square is one of the five park-land Squares the Colonel William Light pencilled in for Adelaide when he surveyed and planned it 175 years ago. Being the closest square to the market place it has had quite a Bohemian existence and in recent rather than older history has probably been more famous for being where the drunks hang out.  Old buildings became hostels and sobering up units, pubs became a little seedy and the strippers from the pubs also opened up business establishments nearby.  Recently it's had another metamorphis, with modern appartment blocks springing up and the pubs employing baristas rather than brasistas...the sobering up unit's still there though so sometimes racing there can be a tad tricky, especially when the sun is high and the Bottle Shops open up.

I don't know how many of you guys have ever seen a local C Grade race so I'll try and set the scene.  C grade in Adelaide consists of gnarly old dudes like myself,  some of the best young Chickie babes in the State, some fit kiddies that can be relied on to hot up the pace from lap 1, the Korean Junior Women's track cycling team, a lot of guys that look like they know how to sprint a lot better than me and a couple of guys with hairy legs. The circuit is 900 metres clockwise round a two lane wide city square with kerbing cutting each corner down to one lane surrounded by lumpy yellow mounds of concrete. Must be 45 starters in C...I have my Implant on so I'll hear the bell but I ask if there's a two lap to go signal too just in case and am told it will be signalled...cool.

We're doing 45 friggin kilometres an hour half way into the first lap...strung out more than most of the guys sleeping things off under the trees in the square. Each corner the concentration needs to be so intense to keep your line and several near misses occur in the first few laps and the pace is relentless. A group of four kiddies make a break off the front and I decide to stay with the pack...about four wheels back but on one corner I'm shunted back to about 10th...it was like that every corner for anyone who slackened off or lost concentration. I looked at the Polar and realised the wheel magnet must've slipped after 29.2 seconds and my heart was doing 162 ...not much in reserve so i decide to ease off and drop back a little when the pace slows as the break is caught.  Then...whammo....my implant stops working and I'm in a cone of silence among 44 angry bicycles and i have to quickly re-aquint my brain with some sort of equilibrium.  There were several other escapes attempted but I stayed with the train until I felt confident to start getting a little assertive.  I thought I'd missed the preme sprint as it normally comes about half way and we'd ridden at least 15 minutes by my estimate so  i started position myself for both being able to see the Two laps to go indicator as now hearing the bell was nothing more than a Quasimodo dream.  A big green fuckin flag is what I see as i go past the Commissaires on the very next lap....my brain convinces me that this is in fact, the two laps to go indicator so i surge to about fifth wheel to mark any moves. The four guys in front of me gun it and I'm thinking that this is in fact the finish so I make sure i finish fifth, curse my deafness and head to the outside to pull off then realise that nobody else is....it was the preme sprint you cloth-eared numbat!!

Composure regained but a lot of wheels to claw back I settle back into the business of picking a good wheel to follow and making sure not to get caught behind any of the chickie babes...they tend to be not quite as quick on the acceleration and cause gaps..not good when the pace is 48km/hr. Strike me pink, next lap I see a marker board with a big number 2 on it, so I flicked her down into the 14 and settled in the drops for the run to the line.  I'm fifth wheel at the bell and the front four's arses look awfully familiar but a glance over the shoulder reveals another twenty or so still in with a shot of the top seven.  Two bends before the finish and a second echelon challenges down the outside...mainly the kiddies.  Two lines became one as we zipped together seamlessly at 50km/hr but unfortunately a touch of wheels and two were down...two became four and I was bunny hopping bodies and just managed to avoid the carnage.  Being a Paramedic I always glance back and have to mentally stop myself from stopping the bike so I crossed the line fifth...a long way off fourth and a long way in front of sixth. At least I qualified for the Wheelrace.  As soon as I finished I backtracked.....all of the guys were OK...lots of road rash and sad looking bikes but no serious injuries thankfully.  We averaged 43 km/hr. B grade averaged 43 too but A Grade was motor paced for 10 laps and a lot quicker.

So...I was off 150 metres in the wheelrace.  The guys that beat me were 10 and 20 metres in front of me as the handicaps were worked out from the whole season and I'd raced mainly in B's...and the scratch guys didn't need binoculars to read what was written on my arse either.  Still being in the cone of silence I didn't have a clue what was going on so when everyone else got on their bikes so did I...well, at least I tried but my cleats were clodded up with dirt...this is perhaps the main difference between professional and Ameteur n'est ce pas!   I had time...we had to ride to the start and be led to our marks by our sponsors anyway....well la di dah!!!  Three laps minus 150 metres...I had to catch the guys in front of me to have a chance so I started in the same gear I finished the previous race in...a 53/14. The gun went off and I imagined i was Shane Kelly, (minus the infamous Olympic Games foot pull of course), head down, arse up and making a face only my mother would love. I looked up and there was a thirty metre gap in front of me....I spent the next two bloody laps chasing that gap, nobody went past. Half way round the third lap, the scratch guys ate me up and i sat up...I was doubly spent and only passed a couple of guys with their hands off the bars.  The four guys who beat me in C grade made the first four places, I just couldn't make their train!!

The Winter road racing season starts in two weeks....not that that means leg and arm warmers just yet here in sunny Adelaide....25-32 degrees and sunny tends to be the Autumn norm....glad my brain's working better again. 

 

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I'm still on a high!  What a day for the sport of cycling, for the Tour DownUnder and for all those of us that yell for a break....no matter who's in it, to succeed. Cadel, LLSG, AVv and the Sagan kiddie were just why I sit glued to my computer during cold winter nights...why I climb trees at the age of fifty to watch my heroes go past, and why I'm proud to be part of this 'new craze' they call cycling.

I slept in...I deserved it, and so my usual spot for parking at Stage 5 was well and truly taken. So i had to pick another and with not much time in hand due ro aforementioned lethergy I chose a spot just as they turned into Range Road after the KOM. I then made my first descent of Willunga Hill to get to watch them passing on the first circuit.

There was a break and it had a UniSA boy driving it...Matthew's turn today.    

HTC Columbia were controlling the pace of the peleton and the crowds were simply amazing...bigger than last year even, this was going to be a great day.

 

I headed down to the beach to catch some more action...my legs were strong after yesterday's workout...bum a little sore but I was going well and managed to catch up the rear of the entourage for a bit of a 55km/hr tucked in behind a Police Bike TT to the beach.

I managed to get to Port Willunga and the Break Group was a little further ahead and working hard.

With guess who chasing??

 

 

I was enjoying the beach, there was a great party atmosphere and the food was good...time to replenish the fat stores with a Yiros (Souvlaki) and some Greek Honey Puffs...yumm yummm!!

Next lap the Seven man break was still ahead but they had a beach in the background this time :-)

 

 

Back to the finish line to see how things have sorted themselves out for the first climb up Willunga, the crowds were huge and this time it was BMC and CDE setting the pace for the peleton..the hairs on my neck (and back) were bristling with excitement, I was hanging out to get up to the top for the second ascent.

 

I took a back street in Willunga to dodge the crowds heading up to the climb and was (?) horrified/amazed/stunned to see this...I have honestly never seen this vehicle before (apart from in dreams perhaps) and the similarities are striking....it even had personalised plates MERCKX.....it too failed to be parked in a spot that the SBS director felt worthy of showing.

Nice rack!!!

I find Willunga Hill easy peasy and rode up taking photos of the amazing crowds, they were abuzz with the prospect of the GC guys jousting it out on ascent number 2 and Cadel, AVV, LLSG and the amazing Peter Sagan (you'd have a big smile if you were the Liquigas Slovakian talent spotter right now wouldn't you!!) didn't dissapoint.

HTC Columbia was in dissarray as they passed underneath my tree...Greipel was first of them past I think, what were they doing? I had expected Dodger to be with any attempt at a break but he was just marshalling troups. 

As soon as the stragglers passed I joined the mad rush down the hill to get to see the finish....this used to be a mad bastad 80km/hr descent to get prime viewing but pedestrian traffic makes it hard on the brakes now so this was as close as i could get...thank Cliff for big screens eh!

The finish line crowd was amazing...cheering every move from Cadel and just willing the break to succeed.  LLSG makes a habit of sprinting up the barriers on the RHS of the road here and mauled the rest of the four man break. Luke Roberts sprang out of the pack like a man possessed to grab second...where did he come from!

There was an absolute standing ovation for every finisher...the sport of cycling regained a few notches for the multitude and it was an awesome way to finish off my week.

Just for Chris....it's more Solvang than you think!! 

Just the formalities to go now.  HTC managed to keep Greipel in Ochre despite not following my plan. I'm having a few round for beers and swim this arvo...so watching the proceedings on the big screen in my front room...then heading off on a three week road trip up to Queensland in the Pdc Limo.  The surfboard on the roof, the Golf Clubs and dog in the back an esky full of beer and the bike in the shed...I'm all cycled out!!

Peter Sagan has been the highlight for me...I think the Port Adelaide Cycling club wishes they'd chosen him as their obscure neo pro to follow....although Arty Vichot hasn't put a foot wrong either. Luke Roberts and Matty Wilson showed that the faith put in them by their new employers was founded and all of the young UniSA guys were just outstanding...look at where Peter McDonald finished in the GC. The rest you've already discussed amongst yourselves. Only 550km for me this week but I had as much fun as ever....this may be my last TDU in this fashion so i hope you enjoyed sharing it with me.

   
 

Thankfully the heat dissipated...a day like yesterday and there would have been a smear of dead cyclist across the road from the Community Challenge Tour for the Pro's to negotiate.

I had to get up at five to get down to the start of the ride...there were over 5000 riders doing the 161 kms ride (we include the neutral section in our kilometreage total) so it pays to get registered and lined up early to get a good crack at early open road. It was still warm at the start, probably as warm as most of you dudes ever get at about 28.C so there was no shivering waiting for the start.  My plan was to ride easy...no going into even the orange zone as I was determined to race hard in the Masters Crit race that night. We started moving off at 0600 and even though I was up near the pointy end of the field I crossed the Start line at 0613.  There was clear road after about 10 minutes and so i started moving from pack to pack until I found my speed.

The KOM came early...a double whammy of Fox Creek after already climbing up the gorge.  It was a still morning so progress was easy...even on the steep bits my HR was staying below 80% and I was passing people with ease.

The clear road is from passing not being passed...I actually don't remember anyone passing me from the start to finish.  Just as we got to the second feed station my cam batteries went all sad but with a tail-wind that was picking up strength the packs I was joning were sitting in the mid to high 40's so in the back pocket it stayed. I must say that we had great conditions...the wind picked up as the morning progressed but I never remember it being a cruel wind.  I made the finish in about 4 and a half hours riding (about an hour slower than the pros did it later in the day.

I managed to score a lift back to Adelaide and we stopped on by the Feed Station at Strathalblyn on the way home for some more food, a stretch and a chance to see whether Lance took a better line than me through the corner.

Too tight man!!!

By the time I got back to Adelaide there was barely time to change over wheels on the Trek and head down to my Crit race.  The weather had significantly warmed up by the afternoon and the sun was hot. I was racing Masters in a combined C,D and E grade and made sure I was in the correct start group this time.

It was an L shaped course, fast wide corners and only one small section into the now strong Southerly wind (Glad that arrived later rather than earlier on our trip South this morning.)  But there were about thirty in my race which made the corners seem very narrow sometimes.  I took some photo's of the Women's race after mine.

 

There are more pics on my Facebook.

In a twenty minute Crit on a tight circuit you have to make sure you're up near the front all the time and I tucked into around eighth place as we lapped.  Each time someone attempted a break it was swallowed up within the lap so I was looking for big legs to get behind.  Mine felt surprisingly good...i must remember to do a longer training ride on the mornings before races in future :-) Two laps to go and I surged up to top five but everyone was trying to do the same and it got physical at times trying to protect your spot. I went to the front with over a lap to go, but that was just to see who was serious....they all were dammit and there were still 25 in with a chance as we got the bell. I moved as far back as about 8th on the back straight but out braked several of them on the last corner for the sprint and came out third wheel.  Half way down the straight I sensed a fast wheel on my right just as the guy in front of me slowed so i went left down the barriers....but so did the slow guy so I was baulked and just squeezed past him..I just got back on the fast man's wheel as we hit the line...second spot...first loser eh!!

Quite happy with my day's achievements actually!!

Tomorrow is the famed 'Willunga Hill' day, stage 5. My big goal for the day is to find a spot for some SBS airtime for the PDC Limo....look out towards the summit of the climb on the right guys.

I don't think Greipel will be able to hold on. Guys like LLSG, Hincapie, Fothen, Elmiger, Van de Walle and even Luke Roberts are only 30 seconds adrift and HTC have Rogers in that group so they might even work for him if Andre struggles with the pace. If that happens the it looks like Roelandts will wear Ochre tomorrow.

Any requests???

 PHHeeewww! What a day!

After watching this race from it's inception I've never missed a stage.  Sometimes I don't see the start...I rarely see the finish as I'm more of a 1km to go man but today there was a pub just past the finish line which seemed like an ideal spot to while away the time while i waited for the TDU warriors to finish.  And they were warriors...I didn't push it (much) today and I'm rooted!!

This is my second beer of the day after cruising up Norton Summit Road in the granny ring....and no, someone hasn't just thrown a bucket of water over me.

After wisely deciding to not attempt the originally planned 11 pubs due to inclement weather I jumped back on the Trek and headed over to the scene of todays battle and found a spot near the 1km to go banner by chance...it was in a spot that rarely gets sun and is always cool...local knowledge, this is where I do my paramedic stuff.

Oh what excitement...there was a five man break with Karl Bobridges lad, Jens Voight and young Clarkie among them...and Kroon...I was in heaven.

But HTC were making sure they could keep Greipel in ochre.

I needed a beer after that so I cruised down the road to the Aldgate Pump hotel and caught up with the mates. Everyone...but everyone was tipping Alejandro Valverde to win in the pub, there was a guy running a book who'd  have been shitting bricks when they came past the next time...Caisse D'Espargne in full flight.  I was trying to work out the pecking order in the Caisse train to see if my man Jose was being saved but it was he and Guitterez that were driving it....Alejandro. lay down misere!

The party on the far side of the road is a group of Americans who came here last year to support you know who and are back again...we drank wine.

 

Yay!!! the hormones are kicking in....she wanted me...I know she did :-)

So...I ended up in a pub above the finish line chatting to a cute chick and missed the finish but managed to get some just ace shots of the guys after they had finished...they looked knackered!!

This guy seemed pretty happy though...good job I warned him about that grate in the city the other day!!

Cardrosa blitzed em.  I think Valverde thought he had it won and didn't even see Cardrosa until it was too late.  Evans just couldn't not race could he...he was trying to beat Alejandro.  Fantastic rides by Sagan...who looks like getting a white jersey sometime soon me thinks, and Luke Roberts who is having an awesome race. Rogers looked sharp and most of the big names finished in the small main bunch that were given a second behind the clear winner.  Some guys were clearly hurting, Stuey looked like a ghost..I couldn't even snap him. Jack B was all wobbly and one of the Liquigas guys finished but timed out...kids on trikes were passing him as he bravely finished.

Another beer....Oh go on then. But as soon as it was downed I was off down the road to see who wanted my wheel. Ahhh...the FDJ boys have come out to play.  Hooter and Arty Vichot tried to hold my wheel but when they couldn't they sent young Cherel down the road to anchor me...tut tut!!

Cocky young upstart tried to pass me on my home downhill so I had a word with him....in French of course.

But...as mere mortals once again, we all had to stop for the lights before making our way back into the city for another beer or three.

 

There may be no Flatbagger report tomorrow.  I'm riding the Challenge and have to be up at some ungodly hour to ride to Goolwa with about 8000 other dudes.  Then i gotta get back somehow for a masters crit race at Norwood...at this stage it looks like I'm riding back so my only view of the peleton will be as I'm riding home. After 300km if I've got legs left for the sprint I'll buy myself a beer.

I'm gonna concentrate my cameras hard drive on the chickie babes Crit tomorrow night...drool drool!

Nighty Night

 

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Stage 2 of the 2010 is done and dusted. Greipel won again in a bunch sprint after a small break got swallowed containing a race fit young up and coming Aussie and a lazy as all shit more experienced European anchor....sounds familiar for the TDU doesn't it?  Timmy Roe on Monday,  Kempy yesterday, just who from UniSA is prepared to try their hand today? 
I had a shocker, I'm 'pre-menstrual' as my body sends out a flood of searcher hormones to get me to produce more testosterone...sadly when they reach their destination nobody's home. So i have a big syringe of the stuff sitting here tempting me to take it a day early...Oh! Go on then...I will!!

I wonder if this is a familiar scene at any of the rooms in the Hilton this morning??

So...yesterday after finding a suitable spot to give the Limo some SBS time for you folks far away (parked at the second sprint on the run to the line but they cut to a chopper shot just as they should've cut to a Moto shot and vice-versa...better effort than Stage 1 though where my idyllic, generic Barossa Valley setting was COMPLETELY bypassed by the coverage.....if I was paranoid!!!) I headed to the KOM.  I like hills, I like riding them....however, Checkers hill is a fucker of a climb with 15% plus bits on both sides..OK when I'm fit, not when I'm bitchin!! I rode up the back (after taking a detour up the equally formidable Martins Hill just so I could get this photo of Checker.

 

which follows the ridge up to the high point...doesn't look much from here but if you want to see the speed they get to check this out....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oiwKcJ04Tw

I went over to the other side (did a Doris as i call it!) of the hill to check out the crowds on the actual KOM climb..awesome as per usual and my PdC hearts Jens road-writing from last year is still clear as a bell :-) 

Young David Kemps took today's KOM but I wasn't there so I have no pictures and I only use my pictures in my reports!! :-) Here he is with Delage from the Pharma boys about twenty clicks from the finish just before they shook hands and were swamped.  

I had to ride like a man possessed to get ahead of them to take that photo.  My plan had been to tuck in behind the Green Light entourage for the first 5 km then take a 14km over hill short-cut as they did a 25km detour around the hill for the second sprint at Mt Torrens.  The plan was de-railed half way down the hill when at 70 km/hr my I-phone ear buds dis-lodged, flew back and got caught in my back wheel.....yay!! Unperturbed I soldiered on but everyone I caught said I had no chance of making it....no fast echelons to follow or lead like i thought...damn!!  So...a solo TT over Mt Torrens and I nearly got a stiffy when I got to the T junction just as the lead motor-cycles cam through.  Distance 20km, Ascent 206M, Ave Speed, 33.6km/hr, HR Ave 140...I had plenty left despite the bitchin :-)  The rest of the peleton came through but I missed the front guys with an equipment (fingers) malfunction.   

The guys at the back of the lead pack didn't seem to be pedalling too hard for 50km/hr.

My plan then was to follow them until the bike path that follows the road would allow me to pass them waving my PdC banner but the lazy arse bastards at the back were way to slow and the ugly big policeman on his motor cycle stood guard over me when I told him his efforts to evict me from the road were falling on deaf ears.

It was too late, I wasn't going to make the finish so I back-tracked to pick up the Limo.  I managed to pick up 7 discarded drink bottles on my way back to the Volvo. They're generic TDU bottles but one of mine has DL written on it...I wonder who'd had their lips around that one?? I went back to the Tour Village and took some bike pics...I like this one the best...the attention to detail, the colours...shame about the outfits!!

It's going to be a furnace out there today on a very tough course.  The three laps around Stirling will be a chance for someone to win this tour.  I couldn't see Greipel sticking with some GC guys if they really decided to put the hammer down.  Alfie won this stage last year and looked sharp at the finish yesterday.  I think this is Jose's stage.  Valverde and LLSG look so relaxed...waiting to pounce me thinks.

It's a pub day for me...the keys to the Limo will stay safely locked away. Pub, puberty and a red bike.....yee haa!!

 

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I made a wanker of myself last night.. Being deaf, B, C, D and E can all sound the same.  I was surprised I'd been handicapped in C Grade as I've been racing Open A's but on a really tight course over 15 minutes anything can happen.  One of the Kiddies in the Junior race had a bad fall and i was called upon to do my paramedic thing until the Big Whtie truck with the lights and sirens arrived. This put everything behind schedule so they had to run two grades at once.  They called for the grades to line up so i lined up with my grade (well!!).  We lined up and the gun went off...fifteen minutes or therabouts plus a lap.  The pace was a dawdle in the first lap so i went to the front and picked it up a bit in lap two.  as we crossed the start/finish line on lap three the Commissaire was shouting something.  I had my Implant on but the wind makes it like being on a windy surf beach next to an airport to my brain so I didn't hear him try to pull me out.  i was in the wrong race!!! D grade(9sounded like c to me :-0  I was oblivious so still tried to win the race.  last lap and i hit the front with half a lap to go and sprinted away....sadly I chose just as we caught up the lower grade through a tigt section and had to slam on the anchors twice and try and pump a big gear from too slow a speed.  I still led into the straight and nuggeted down...but alas, i was caught just before the line....didn't matter i was Dq'd anyway!!

So..today I packed the Limo and we headed out to the Barossa Valley for stage One. There were thousands of cyclists heading out there for the prospect of a great days racing

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I had a few beers on Saturday night as I finished off the Limo.

I set the alarm for 0530, had to be at the registration desk att The Ride Like crazy by 7 at the latest.  I've been having some real bad sugar lows recently, not diabetes...maybe getting old, maybe something to do with my rather erratic hormonal status...who knows.

I guess it was about 1.9 when the alarm went off and even when my brain realised WTF that infernal din was, I must've lay there with my I-pod dock in my hand foer a good while after. Sugar, carbo's, lots of water and a good deal of indecision later and i had 15 minutes to make the start.  As I rode toward Adelaide, head down, arse up I was thinking...am I struggling or is this one fuck of a headwind?

I made the start. 

The speeches were quite emotional for those of us that knew Mick, had been touched by cancer, had cancer themselves, or, like me...all three.  The rain came down just as we started but no-one in Adelaide dare complain about rain.  A right hand turn about 50 metres from the start had Adelaide cyclists shwing their skills and as i looked ahead there wer at least 500 ahead of me and more behind.  We were under escort until the start of the climb into the hills but there were still opportunity to pass once the incline started.

I was the dick-head with the out of whack Dura-ace that had to stop several times to re-align my gears...(it runs better with my Sram cluster!!).  

 

As soon as we hit the freeway i was off in search of clear air as I was a little claustrauphobic with so many cyclists around.  Once over the back and into the glistening Adelaide hills I was TT'ing it catching up to and driving splinter groups until they could hold my wheel no longer.  I caught one large pack around half way and we were working well together until a steep incline broke us up.  I followed a wheel and a couple followed me.  It wasn't until I'd blown a valve at the top of the hill that I realised this dude was on a 'fixie'. 

 

CycleGirl did the short ride and i wondered if I'd catch her.  I did, on a hard little section before you drop down the gorge (a 70km/hr+ descent).  She was battling on an I took a few snaps...  

We both made it to the finish safely...I just managed to top 30km/hr average for the ride...it was hard. In the afternoon was the Cancer Council Helpline Classic in 'DownTown Adelaide' (I love it when Lance says that).        Lots has already been written so i won't bore you with the details.  I took the dog down as she loves to watch, I also took beer and a good selection af both Belgian, Dutch and Aussie cheeses and fromage.  We settled at the mid point of the hill under the biggest tree.  I took some great snaps.

I like this one of the 'down to' four man break.  The Sagan kiddie was having the time of his life but Oscar seemed to be driving harder than Lance for me. The Caisse guy had been hanging on from the go and dropped just after I took this.

The lead out to the sprint was one of the best and most exciting I have ever seen...they were giving it heaps and you could just sense the desire to win.  The Sky boys  were superbe...i take my hat off to them.  I missed getting a snap of them celebrating as Komen had decided to chase possums and was upsetting someone.  However...they may as well be celebrating in this shot!!

 

This is going to be a great race.

Tomorrow is Stage 1 of the STDU.  It's not an easy one to follow as a fan but the TDU limo will be heading to the feed station at Seppeltsfield should anyone wish to photograph them passing through an iconic backdrop. It's also a good opportunity to grab some freebies and feedbags if you get in the right spot and are prepared to fight with fellow vultures.  It's occupants however, will be choofin it up to the top of the KOM at Menglers Hill then back down to watch the finish after they pass through. Look out for us.

My tip is a break with at least one FDJ, SIL, UniSA, Garmin and Caisse rider in it but a sprint finish with a more organised HTC Columbia bringing Andre the Gorilla home.

I'm racing in the Masters crits tonight.  There's a top class field in the Women's race so I'll be taking the long lens.

Oh...by the way Chris...knowing your profession and all that...shall i leave the Volvo as is and not make any direct reference to podium cafe on it..you know...for legal purposes..

And Lou...PM me if you can still drive Magnus down to Goolwa on Friday or you need picking up. 

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There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day!!!  The Podium Cafe Limo is almost nearing completion and will be parked in strategic places along the route over the next week or so. I hope the hood is not too lairy for a Volvo.

So...the 2010 Tour Down Under, what does it have install for the cycling afficionados worldwide?

It has Lance...again.  This year with his new Radioshack team (Radioshack stores are still called Tandy in Oz I think) and some very handy seasoned riders. Popovych, Impey, Vaitkus and a rather handy sprinter called Steegmans,  Gert used to lead a guy called Robbie to the line with perfection....it's Impey's turn to do the same.  The cancer thing seems so passe this year and most of Lance's talk is about riding, and The Tours, and Classics...wierd!!

It has Lance's old team Astana, who will be trying to get TDU legend Allan Davis over the line first (but I'm sure the QS Director Sportif might have something to say about that). Vinikourov you're not welcome here.... wanker!!

It has Cadel's new team BMC. Hincapie, Kroon, red lycra what more could you ask for?  When was the last time we had the current World Champion of the Road Race riding in the Tour Down Under....never, that's when!!

Then there's Columbia HTC or HTC Columbia or whatever.  Greipl has to be the favourite to take overall honours should a breakaway not be successful..  Grabsch, Rogers, Eisel, Greipl....not a bad B Train!!

Team Sky seem to be over here to get sun-tans,

AG2R were first team to arrive so if reconnaiscence has anything to do with it Elmiger or Dessel could be adding to the already impressive list of AG2R TDU vanquers....I doubt it.

Katusha win the award for having the most letters in their team start list...and Robbie.  Robbie has won 132 stages of the Tour DownUnder and kicks arse!!

Stuey will always be the sentimental favourite for the TDU...and with Big Jens in what might be his last year on the Pro Tour team SaxoBank have more guns than just Cookie, who i know would just love to get a stage victory here and especially go one better than his second behind Greipl at the CCHC last year. 

Milram will be looking at getting someone into a break on Stage 2 as it finishes in the Germanic town of Hahndorf...Luke Roberts on his return to his home race perhaps.

FDJ and  OPL always tend to have someone in an early break and Stge 1 looks like it will again be a decider if the right group get over Menglers Hill first.. One of the local cycling clubs in Adelaide choose an 'unknown' to cheer for every year...this is Arty Vichot's year they think.

And then we have the almighty pairing of Sanchez and Valverde for Caisse D'Espargne....but my man for this years TDU.....Rojas, If Jose is not kicking arse by stage 3 he's gonna get hose B somewhere unpleasant .

I hope the Euskatel Euskadi boys appreciate the fact that I have painted the hood of my belove Volvo in their Basque colours and will not be doing the usual lazy-arse effort that they normally put up in the TDU.

Or is it Rabobank orange??  Perhaps the PdC logo is Rabo orange not Euski orange and i have fucked up!!  Graeme Brown and some Dutch guys...what more can i say that Frinking already hasn't!

Liquigas....no Bennati, no Liqigas for this lover of all things smooth and tanned....another team out to get an even tan i reckon.

Garmin Transitions with Jackie Bobby at the helm.  He should know the course so if they follow him they'll be right...who needs a flamin GPS anyway!  For some strange reason I like this squad...it has balance and poise and plaid or whatever it's callled.

Footon Servetto.....snigger!

Quick Step are only here to nobble Alfie and prepare for the TOQ.

Finally Team UniSA. And not a finer collection of cyclists could one find at such short notice.  Kemps only got the nod last week after finishing a distant second to Mini Meyer at the Oz Champs.

I'm tipping at least one stage win for the local boys even if it means me parking the Volvo across the finishing straight to impede the fantastic sprints that will be on offer. Steegmans, Greipl, Sutton, McEwan, Elmiger, O'Grady, Cooke, Forster, Arty Vichot, Rojas, Brown, Hunter, Van-Impe and whoever else is brave enough to take on the PdC Volvo had better watch out for young Matthews.

 

Armstrong has Twittered and the masses will be rising early in Adelaide tomorrow morning to join him on a ride.  It should be huge but way too slow for me.  I've got training to do so am heading out with one of the other teams. Sunday morning CycleGirl and I are riding a charity ride.  Monday night I'm racing in a Masters Crit. Tuesday is souvenir day..I want me a BMC feed bag and i will take no prisoners.  Wednesday is back up day for Tuesday and the PdC Volvo will be parked temptingly near the feed station with it's windows open. Thursday is Pub day...I count 11 so far with three laps of three pubs and one on the way there and home. Friday is E'Tape du Tour day...160kms then i gotta hoot it back to do another Masters Crit....yay!!  Saturday is the usual photographic feast...the beach, Willunga Hill, the Vinyards.  Sunday too far away!

I'll be writing a daily report each day....we know that you are just hungry for racing..and sun.

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The wind is from the North.  It brings with it a dusty dryness that makes you just want to drink beer all day.  Training sometimes gets done when the moon is shining to the drone of a million air-conditioners.  Water stops need to be planned between bakeries for long rides through the still lush and green Adelaide Hills.

This is Summer riding in Adelaide yet on Sunday morning, as i did my 100km Meadows Bakery loop (which was shut for some selfish Philestine pig of a reason) I belive we reached critical mass.  Yup!! I believe I saw more cyclists than cars on Sunday morning.  Identically clad grupettos, couples, family groups and those competetive cyclists like myself out for a training ride.  This can mean only one thing....IT"S TOUR DOWN UNDER TIME!!!

Apart from Bobridge and Roe and Dennis who are local boys (and all beaten I may add by an even more exciting prospect of a young kiddie named Dale Parker on Saturday....yes folks, remember that name and who told you about him in future years), none of the riders have hit town yet...but soon, they will be here, i can smell it in the air.

This year, to improve my coverage of the race for you guys....I'm decking out the Volvo as a PdC TDU Media/Transport/Mobile Bar...resplendant with as many bike racks as i can get on it...it's a seven seater so i guess seven will do. 

 

So...I'm looking for suggestions as to appropriate livery and signage.  I already think that an \0/ on the bonnet (hood) and a couple of Marmottes on the bumper bar (fender) will be a good start.  Hell I may even cut a hole in the roof,( roof)  force Turtur off the road and wave them off one stage if the mood so takes me....i'm starting to feel so irresponsible!!

The Limo will be available for all PdC members to utilise which is handy as a lot of the stages finish in the middle of nowhere this year....and I need some lifts.

There will also be a get-together on the Sunday evening of the Cancer Council Classic post race at my place to plan the weeks proceedings. Pool, BBQ, Fairy Lights and huge selection of crap 80's vinyl supplied.

CycleGirl and I will both be riding in a charity ride that morning so if it looks like we drink a lot it's because we may be dehydrated. 

 

This is just totally self indulgent of me!

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I often question my passion about cycling.  I too have to suffer the indignance of defending my heroes only to be proven wrong again and again by the never ending soap opera that has become professional cycling.  There is however, another side to cycling and i am inspired when I see a neighbour who has adapted his bike with high rise handlebars, WELDED on to his flat bars so he can still ride with his new tracheostomy, just as much as i am inspired by the kiddies and fit old dudes in lycra who take to the roads each day.

This failing old body also makes me question my other involvement in the sport, that as a lower grade weekend racer.  I had my first ever handicapped road race on the weekend which for a skinny old bloke with no testicles, a bung ear and a marathon runner's back was quite a significant event for me.

I packed the car with the trusty Madone and an assortment of wheels, shoes, helmets and apparel sufficent for any possible weather condition and fashion requirement and headed up for the 'Tour of Riverland', a two day handicapped event held around 200km up the river Murray at a place called Berri. It's a 79km on Saturday and a 37km on Sunday on mainly flat exposed roads through parched orchards and vineyards.  The trip up is hardly inspiring as once you pass the rain-shadow of the Adelaide hills it's so dry that even the carrion Crows have left as there's nothing left to die...damn drought.

Berri is however, an oasis and the race started on the banks ot the Murray and for a fleeting moment you could forget the desperation of the area.  Saturday's route was a figure eight loop with two out and backs with Berri as start, finish and half way point.  The front group were off 22:30 and I was in a group that had 10 minutes on a scratch group that contained some pretty handy guys,  some of whom had ridden 100 mile race in 3 hrs 24 last week (so i knew...or hoped they'd be knackered).   The plan was no plan.  A friend of mine who had actually won this race in '83 sent me a message which read. 'Good luck with the race, be patient and wait for the right move. Get Bobridge's wheel and stick with it although many others will also be trying to do that'. I was handicapped well above my ability....it was afterall my first ever handicap road race so no amount of fitness can surpass the importance of experience. But because I did so well in my first Summer of Cycle racing I guess I was where I had to be in the pecking order. So I wrote back...'Thanks, what does his wheel look like?  If it is thin and black then i shall suck until i have no suck left'.

So...on the starting line I was looking for someone who had big eyebrows and strong legs and was obviously Jack Bobridge's brother.  I hadn't worked out which was he when they called us to the line so reverted to the no plan, plan!

Fuck!! We were going 40km/hr before I'd even had time to tighten the ergo-ratchet on my shoes and some old dude with big eyebrows and strong legs was shouting instructions for us to get ordered and hammer it.  Ahhh! Bobridge senior I thought!  I wasn't wearing my cochlear implant so i was oblivious to the dertogatory comments that followed my inability to hold the wheel in front of me. Problem was, the guys that I set off with in chase of people of similar ability to myself were just way too fast for me....and so rather than enjoy the advantages of riding in a bunch I was dropped off early to enjoy the scenery of Mallee bush interspersed with some pretty sad looking fruit orchards and vines on my lonesome.  There were only three bunches behind me and I knew all were going to be faster than the one I couldn't keep up with so i settled in for a hard day and went through some old albums and memories from the second drawer of my mind to distract the pain.  I hung on with each of the groups that came past me for long enough to get a bit of a hold on what to do next time but as the scratch group caught me before the half way mark and then spat me out the back,  I had to pull out and not finish...I was sad. I waited around to watch the finish and the sight of a huge finishing bunch of over 100 riders (which shows that, in general the handicapper got it pretty right despite one or two anomolies...ahem!!), which would have been such a buzz to be in...made me even sadder.
The sadness continued as I listened in, but couldn't really join in the post race story telling....the crashes, the 70km/hr downhill run before the finish, the battles up the hill to hold on.  I don't think anyone wanted to hear about my ability to remember the lyrics of a 1980's funk album or the time my mum stroked my head when I'd been a naughty boy (Brothers Johnson, Strawberry Letter 23 by the way), so I sipped my beer and headed back to my motel to freshen up for dinner.  I fell asleep before even having a shower watching the footy in my lonely Motel room. I woke up an hour or so into a blissful Tour de France dream and couldn't get off the bed...my whole sacral and coccyx region had spasmed up...fucked up old body!!! Now, after stretching things out enough to venture out, and as I'd forgotten to bring the Heroin, I decided to have another beer or two with dinner to increase the focus on my pathetic-ness and provide a little mental pain relief.
The dining room was another great place to re-live the post race buzz but after my beef lasagne and chips and two servings of sticky date I decided to take the drive back to Motel and chill out and re-focus....and stretch.

The best thing about a weekend like this is meeting new people and catching up with the familiar old one's. The kiddies involved in the sport all seem like a lilkeable bunch.  Even the one's that are on the brink of sporting stardom seem well grounded and enjoy the 'tales from the back of the peleton'. We'd heard of Jack Bobridges win in Japan and were all hoping for a successful day for the Aussies in Italy, most have ridden with Cameron Meyer and were living his dream with him. It's great to feel a part of that. 
I woke up sore as shit on Sunday morning but I was able to stretch it out whilst enjoying the most beautiful of sunrises over Lake Bonney (and yes...I have the photographic evidence).

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I knew one thing though, despite the pain. That I would try harder to remain in my handicap group today even though the race was shorter and would therefore be faster than the pace I couldn't keep up with on the previous day...dig in boy!!!

Dig in I did and despite being well into my red zone I was still hammering it with this, even faster bunch of dudes than the one's i was with yesterday about a third of the way in to the distance and into a strong wind..  Then on a small incline I made the mistake of trying to get out of the seat to pedal and realised i was stuck there...I was in spasm but the legs were still rotating...and only 25 kms left to race, what fun :-)  A moment of agony induced weakness and i was spat (no, make that shat) out the back of that group and humming obscure eighties power pop tunes once again.  I was yelling, trying to get that last bit of energy out of my body to tag back on but I was at max.  Another guy (Lincoln his name, we introduced as our group distanced itself from us) joined me in the lonely mire so we worked together until the next grupetto (that started a minute and a half behind us) caught up...we seemed to spend forever together alone, but the next group was a combination of the four minute and two minute thirty groups who'd joined together.  Lincoln and I gutsed it out together and tried not to get in the way of the finely tuned engine as they took their turns and we sucked on the back.  Eventually I was able to take my turn in the rotation and we were doing 45 into the wind, it was awesome but my legs were becoming more detatched from my body each turn i took on the front.
We reached the turnaround in Renmark and the pace increased to try and hold off the scratch group who were only about a minute behind us....I couldn't hold on to that increase in pace and my race was over.  I didn't even try and tag on to the Scratch group who went by me like a blur even though I was doing over 40 myself with the wind now at my tail.  I didn't catch any fellow stragglers up and i don't think there were many behind me but I kept up a good pace till the end and finished with a big smile on me dial. I averaged nearly 40km/hr for the 37 kms of the race....wicked!!! I couldn't get off my bike without help and needed someone to tie my shoelaces for me...why do i do this to myself??
It seems the boys in my original gruppetto held on and were too strong for everyone and took out most of the placings along with some others who's handicaps had been a little kinder than mine...it's all part of the apprenticeship.
As I drove home through the Mallee,  I relived the weekend through my pain as I caught up with some ol' Motown tunes turned up to 11 with the sunroof open.
Then I got back to Adelaide and found it had been raining...sometimes God can be so unfair.

It didn't kill me.....this is cycling!!

I've often written on this site of my relative triumphs in my first year of cycle racing and it's been a rapid progression through the local ranks with numerous wins this season. I started in D Grade and having been a semi elite athlete in most sports I laid my hand to 'D' felt a little Dgrading until I faced the shocking reality that until i learned my craft, D was actually a flattering place for me to be.

Eventually I served my apprenticeship.I Learned how to use the wheel in front of me, watch the cyclists around me, conserve energy and how to drag every ounce of energy i had through my pedals to the wheels for the sprint to the line and had my first win only a couple of months ago. My first three races in C Grade were two firsts and a second and my confidence was rising, I was eager to get out there and mix it with the big boys.

This morning I rocked up at my Club Championship Criterium and found that I'd been lifted to B Grade which meant I could contest the open title and ride with the A Graders. D Grade Crits are usually around 30 minutes...A/B, 60, quite a difference but I knew I had enough miles in my pegs. Adelaide has a very strong cycling scene for well known reasons....The TdU, O'Grady, Jonker, the AIS having it's training base here and now Bobridge and a new generation of kiddies coming through so the standard is high, but i was determined to give it my best. There were even two cycling chicks in B Grade but racing against Tiff cromwell and Carlee Taylor is certainly no disgrace but i didn't want to be looking at their arses (honestly)

I was as well prepared as I've been for any race this year, good sleep, no pre race disasters or recent surgery.  My Cochlear Implant gets activated tomorrow so my mental state was high...I even asked on the startline what the finish routine was so i could plan my sprint to the line...I needn't have bothered!!  The average speed for the first five laps was 48km/hr and i was struggling to hold on to the snake line in front of me and i was last in line. I finally lost the wheel in front of me on the sixth lap but still tried to TT it for a while to tag on to any fellow stragglers....I was lapped on my 11th lap...a rude awakening to reality.

I will train harder.

 Hey guys...I've been a bit quiet since the ATOC but have been lurking and enjoying Paris Nice and all of the usual fun comments on PdC...thanks.

My cochlear implant gets switched on this coming Monday...I can't wait, but I've had to.  I wonder if campag and Shimano make different noises?

Apparently some of you guys quite like my little local race reports and last Sunday was a beauty so i will tell you the story.

Sunday was a Graded criterium race around on of Adelaide's city squares...about a 500M loop around a tree covered square and the weather was a perfect windless 80 degrees. The first six in each grade qualified for a Handicapped wheelrace with 1000 bucks first prize.

Four beers on saturday night at a beach party gave me a good sleep but it took me a while to get going in my crit and when i tested out the legs in the Prime sprint they were telling me to get f##@@d.

via www.sa.cycling.org.au

That's me on the inside with the grey beard...distinguished eh!!

I kind of decided to conserve as much energy and just make sure i qualified for the big race but on the last bend i was in with a shot so I clicked down and gave it hoo haa....fourth in a photo from first.  There were a good couple of hours before the Wheel race so i had a sleep under a tree and dreamed of Paris-Nice.

The wheelrace was three laps and my handicap was 180M..Brett Aitken was off scratch but I knew the guys around me were fast so i was hoping for a good lead out from my fellow C graders.  First lap and three of us were threading nicely through the front markers, 45km/hr and making good progress...don't look back Johnny boy, don't look back. The second lap was a nightmare, i'm too polite and gaps closed as soon as they opened and i lost my wheels to follow but I was still passing at will.  Then on the second corner of the last lap i saw my chance to move down the outside and get clear air...my two buddies were already there but i was strong as. Just as i moved left to pass....whooooosh the scratch riders beat me to it  although  I noticed one of them was doing cartwheels which at 50km/hr plus is not nice.  I managed just to get on their wheel but by the last corner I was spent and finished eighth...six of those in front of me are sponsored riders though so i was pleased with the effort.

One more crit to go this Summer and if i place i'll be in B grade for the road season..not bad for a deaf old bastard with questionable hormones.

Wanna know a secret??  The TdU is venturing O/S next year...to Kangaroo Island.  I think they're really getting desperate now...a bit like the Giro going to Corsica or the Vuelta to Tenerife...pointless!

and finally...does this remind anyone of anybody?? And is that his brother's old bike?

 

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OK Ok...I know that this is hardly a site for pictures of cars but i just thought I'd share with you a thing of beauty.  She was mine for several years and handled so well for a front wheel drive...and once you got above 3500 she was exciting.

I was going to get the plate ALLEZ0....but I'm uglier than kd Lang and thought it may attract the wrong kind of attention.

What next...pet pics???

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Yeh right....how about having your hands in the drops, your arse off the saddle and fingers off the brakes!!!

I had my first post op crit last night.  My second race in C Grade after having won on my first outing just before my lobotomy a few weeks back.  That win made it five in a row and i thought i was getting the hang of this bike racing shit.  As per usual with me...there was a story.  My car was damaged on Sunday night so I'd done around 100km prior to the race on errands and appointments and only just made the start in time to sign in.
C Grade is 40 minutes plus a lap so i spent the first half of the race about ten back in the bunch of 40. The A Graders were on course at the same time but we hadn't seen them when a break of six went off the front...I chased and got on the front to pull it hard.  We caught and passed the A Grade bunch then one of the guys says...'Are we allowed to do that?'  We all looked round at each other...not a clue. Then the A Grade group went past us so we allowed our group to catch.  Each time a break went off then i just stayed in the pack as we weren't going much slower than A Grade and i thought 'What's the point?'

We got the bell and one lap to go sign (they still do that just for me...hopefully after my government tracking/cochlear device gets switched on the bell will do fine) so i tried to make my way to the front and picked a wheel to follow. Yup!...That's the one in the photo...followed his fat arse all the way to the line I did.  I almost got him with about 50 to go but i went all wobbly which is the reason for the unconventional sprinting position as demo'd in the finish line photo.                                                          I have been practicing...honest!!

Two more races next week and if i can place i think B Grade beckons..not bad for my first year, erratic hormones and a crook ear eh!!

jesus I'm an ugly dude!!

sorry if I alarmed anyone...a big sneeze just after Levi crossed the line must have dislodged a clot and the post sneeze suck in made me half swallow the red slug.  That made me cough my guts up...i'm still swallowing blood but my surgeon says that's to be expected.  Does anyone know of anyone that rides with a cochlear implant...i'm keen on getting some voice of experience advice re whether to try and ride with it on or whether to still ride deaf.  Also, does anyone know of anyone that makes custom helmets....even the XL ones are tight on me as I already have a wierd shaped head to house my huge brain and I don't want any extra pressure on my new lump.