Listen Up

Now you can listen to your favourite song while reading my blog! Just search for your song in the box on the right. ----->

Take a look

TIME Pictures of the Year 2008. Worth a look. Some pretty amazing things happened

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2008/personoftheyear/article/0,31682,1861543_1861868,00.html

The Taj

From Lindenwood University, Missouri back to my home in Taree took no less then 30hrs of being in cars, at airports and aboard planes. Goes without saying that it was a relief to finally get home. I was lucky enough to fly back on an Airbus A380 and for those that don't know this is the biggest commercial aircraft in the world. Planes have always amazed me and this was no exception, this thing was huge and should definitely not be able to get off the ground. Being only 2 months old it was very nice inside and more comfortable then a 747. I can now understand why the price of carbon bikes have risen though as Airbus has used it all in this plane (every seat is made of carbon fiber.)

My House

It has been good to get home and catch up with most of my family who I haven't seen in 4 months and look forward to having a few drinks with some mates over the festive season. After being told by mum that I could not go to the family Christmas if I did not get a hair cut, I have just returned from the hairdresser and I'm sure you will all be disappointed to learn that the mullet has been taken away! It's been a very sad day.

The full extent of the mullet

When you get back after being away for a few months you realise that you have missed some things but not at all others. Of course I have missed my family and friends but there has also been the weather (currently 32 Celsius/90 Fahrenheit,) Triple J, home cooked meals, and the beach. On the other hand I have been reminded how bad our roads are, how inconsiderate the drivers are towards cyclist and how un-enjoyable Australian rap is!

As most of you would know I have not raced a bike in 3months as all road racing stops in the US in about October. I knew I would get a wake up call when I had my first race in Port Macquarie on Tuesday evening. 6 minutes into the race it was all over for me, pretty much what I expected though. The next day I raced at the old stomping ground at Kolodong in Taree. I must have flushed the cobwebs out of my legs on Tuesday though as i was able to come out with a win. Thanks must go to my roommate Owen though for a great lead out. Over the weekend I will return to Newcastle to hopefully have a few more races in order to get ready for the Bay Criterium Series in Melbourne in January.

I will keep you updated on what I have been up to while back home. And for all the yanks reading I'm not jealous at all of the freezing rain and snow while I'm back here.

Fall down

With just one final to go tomorrow for my first Fall semester in America I am looking forward to touching down in the land down under. I could stay over here longer and have no troubles, but the fact that I know I am going home to see everyone is very exciting. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is the 24hrs I will be spending in either Airports or on planes!

My last week over here has been pretty much the usual. Few notable standouts...I went to watch the movie Australia on the weekend. It was interesting to see how the country would be portrayed and what the yanks would think of us. Turned out to be quite a good movie, very long and thought it was going to end numerous times but nevertheless was enjoyable. Throw in a few kangaroos, a ripped Aussie with a thick accent and the duo of Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman, how could the Americans not like it.

I have never experienced as cold weather as what it has been. When days don't get above freezing it really doesn't make you want to get out on your bike. It has to be done though so you have to make your own fun. What you may ask you could do on a ride in the freezing cold??? Throw rocks, sticks and whatever else may be laying around on frozen lakes of course! It is quite an experience to see an entire dam frozen over. It is even better when you get off your bike mid-ride and throw large rocks onto it and not see it break. Why not stop at a frozen waterfall as well, even more fun! Crades, Chev and myself went for a very cold Sunday ride also. This time we were only 1min 15sec into our ride when we decided to test out the strength of the ice on the uni's dam. After a few rocks throws, gradually getting bigger and with our confidence growing, what harm could putting a foot on it do? Now two feet, wow, walking on water.Or if your a mountain goat like Chev, walk a few feet with your bike! (photo to come) You know its time to scramble off that ice when you hear the first signs of cracking though.

With only 24hrs left till I leave Lindenwood I should probably finish my packing. First though a ride (its 3 degrees Celsius). Until next time, look after yourself.

White Powder

Hi all. The last couple of days have been quite a new experience for me. When I woke up on Sunday morning and looked out my window I was surprised to see that it had been snowing all night. There is something different about waking up to snow where you actually live compared to having to drive 8 hours to see it at Thredbo or Perisher. I thought it was kind of sweet to see this site until I realised that it forces me to ride indoors. After a 2hr session on the rollers (indoor trainer) and then checking to see if I was still a man, I decided snow isn't all that good, especially for training. I took a few photos to share with you (of the snow that is.)

Thanksgiving

Hi all,



I'm currently writing this blog while I'm in Springfield, Missouri. It's about a 3hr drive south-west from St. Charles. Paddy, Chev and Myself made the trip down here on Tuesday night to stay at fellow Australian Pat Bergin's house for Thanksgiving. Bergin is a swimmer at Missouri State University, I hadn't met Pat before this trip but chev and Paddy are good friends with him. He is a great bloke and now a good mate. Bergin and his Canadian housemate Eric have been unbelievable hosts for my first Thanksgiving. The meal that Eric and Francy cooked for the group was amazing and is certainly the best meal I have had since being in the states.



Since my last post I have just been doing the same as usual; a lot of training, more familiarising myself with the nightlife of St. Charles and adding in some uni work when I can. My training is coming along well I think and have really noticed improvement since I came off my break. I hope to do better at Bay Crits in Melbourne this coming January and the way my training is going I think I should be OK. It is two weeks today until I head back to Australia and although I won't be seeing some of my friends I have over here for 6 weeks I am really looking forward to seeing my family and friends back in Oz over the break, can't wait to get home and catch up everyone.

I will add some photos as soon as I can of my time in Springfield, but until next time stay safe.

College Life

After realising how long it has been since I last posted I thought I should give you an update of what I've been doing in the last few weeks while in the US. My life recently has basically consisted of college, exploring the main street of St. Charles (cafe's by day, clubs at night) and training. It is the off season right now and I won't be able to race until I return to Australia in December. This is a lot different to being in Australia where we can race on the road all winter, over here many people turn to cyclocross to get their race fitness. I have decided to not worry about setting myself up with a cyclocross bike and just focus on my road training. I have enjoyed doing some longer rides lately with the boys and exploring new roads and paths. It is a nice experience to start riding on a road and having know idea where it goes and where it will take you. I often ride to an area we call 'the farms' which is basically dead flat farmland with very quiet and smooth roads, the only downside is that because it is so open I usually encounter sopme pretty strong winds which slows the pace right down.



St. Charles is also the starting point of the Katy Trail. This is a compacted gravel path that extends over 220miles (350km) and follows, for the most part, the Missouri River. It was orignally a railroad track but has since been turned into a recreation path. This is another of our favourite rides and it is beautiful to ride, there are no cars, great scenery and you often feel like you are alot further away from any towns then what you really are. The trail is also protected from the wind, the only bad part is how dirty your bike gets!



The weather has finally turned now for good. Last night it got down to -2 celcius and it didn't get past 7 celcius all of today, and its not even winter yet. I look forward to living over here when it snows but in the meantime there is no benefit for it being so cold.





My camera hasn't made it out with me to too many places but this was one of the many good nights we have had at Tony's on Top. If you ever make it to St. Charles you can't go past this watering hole.



Picture of my room which I share with Owen. Of course it is usually much cleaner than this, must have been a bad day.

Will try and be more constant with my postings.

Keep safe

Collegiate Track Nationals

After a painstaking 14hr car drive back to St. Charles from Colorado Spings I have an opportunity to update you on how the nationals went. Along with 4 other Lindenwood riders, I arrived in Colorado Spings Wednesday afternoon in time to loosen the legs after the trip and test out the track. Thursday morning we had the 3km individual pursuit (for those unfamiliar with track racing it is a race where two riders start on opposites sides of the track and each rider goes as fast as they can for 3km.) I was the third Lindenwood rider to start after 'Diamond Dave' and Chev, both these riders had completed the ride in 3min 55sec so it was up to me to join the 3fifty5 club, and somehow I did it. Don't ask me how we all managed to get exactly the same time! Although this was my first 3km pursuit I was still pretty dissapointed with this relatively slow time.


Thursday afternoon the 1km time trial, or 'kilo' was scheduled. Unfortunately, and as I was told earlier Colorado's weather can be extremely fickle, it started to rain, the saying that "It never rains but it pours" rang true and it didn't ease up until Friday afternoon. This meant the kilo, teams pursuit and points race was all pushed into the Saturday morning session. As my biggest goal for the weekend was the 3km teams pursuit I decided to pull out of the kilo in order to save myself for this event. I should also note this is where one of the biggest lows of the week occured. For those unaware my good friend and Lindenwood teammate, Paddy Kilmurray, has been training his ass off over the last year in preparation for this one event, the kilo, at the very beginning he pulled his foot out of his pedal. This was a devastating blow as this means RACE OVER. As some Aussies might recall Shande Kelly did this at the 1996 Olypic games. Although this is an awful thing to happen I know that he is more focussed then ever to perform in this event next year. Even though he may not yet realise it, I reckon this was a good thing to happen to him as he will be able to draw so much from it.


So Saturday morning it was time for the 3km Teams pursuit, each team is allowed 4 riders and once again must ride as fast as they can. As a team we could not have rode any better and everything went excactly to plan, I was the designated rider to only do a bit over 2km and it was my job to give it everything I had with 1km to go and do a full turn on the front and leave the remaing distance up to the other three boys. We ended up finishing in 3min35sec which was the fastest ride of the day at the time. With one heat to go we were holding onto 2nd postiton but unfortunately we were knocked down to fourth at the end. We were still all very pleased with how we went and we have made it our goal for next year to rock this race and take home the gold.

My next race was a 15km points race heat, with the opportunity to qualify for the points race final later in the evening. This was one of the hardest races I've ever done and was shattered afterwards. I didn't make the final but Owen did and in the following heat Paddy also made it through.


We ended up 5th in the omnium pointscore and this was without any girls riding for us. It has given me an idea of what to expect next year and I can tell you now we will be a force when it comes round.



So after two long but often hilarious bus trips I'm back at uni. As all racing has finished over here until next year I have decided to take 4weeks off the bike and use the time mainly to discover the St. Charles night life and live like a real uni student for a couple of weeks. I will keep you updated on how it pans out. Live the dream

Gateway Cup

After being told I need to re-enter the blogosphere after being absent for a while I thought I should probably update you on my experiences over in the US of A. Last weekend I had the Gateway Cup which was held over 4 days on the Labour Day long weekend in various locations of St. Louis. The first race was a totally new experience for me; not only was it the first big race I have done since being over here, it also started after my usual bedtime. It was a night time crit with 140 starters around Lafayette Square, starting at 10.15pm and with only the four corners with any significant light on them. You can read Chev's humorous blog to find out how he thought the race would pan out. So after the "The Star Spangled Banner" had been played to the riders and the crowd of thousands and me only having a rough idea of what song was being played at the time, the starter fired his gun and we were off....well almost, after i got around a crash that occurred 2 meters into the race, I thought Chev's predictions could come to fruition. The pace was fast but easily manageable, I tried to stay as close to past Australian Road Race Champion and current pro, Henk Vogels as I could as I knew he would be the man to watch. The race went for 60min+5laps and with 5 laps to go I was in the top 10. With 2 to go though I lost a few positions and ended up finishing 27th whih I was very happy with. Let me tell you the last 10min of the race was terrifying, sitting on 50+kmh through pitch black ares, not recommended.

The rest of the races were all pretty fast and although I only finished 2 out of the 4 races (the 2nd day I pulled out intentionally and the last day it was extremely hot and humid and the heat smashed me more than anything.) But I did find some form in my legs...finally which is a good sign for Nationals which start 2 and a half weeks after Gateway Cup.

The weekend just gone the four of us Aussies all travelled to Inianapolis again for a final workout on the track before nationals. I think we came away with a lot more of an idea of the track form we have got and how we will perform at nationals. We leave tomorrow morning for a 8hr drive to Kansas City and then another 6hrs on wednesday to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Competition starts on Thursday so hopefully if I have access to the net I will be able to update you daily on how we are going. Until then, cya

Indianapolis

Well I wrote this blog about a week ago and just realised I never posted it. So here it is. I will write another one after Gateway Cup finishes on Monday. It's the third race this afternoon of four so hopefully it will be a good form finder.

After a partly successful weekend in Indianapolis classes start at uni today. I've been pretty fortunate with my timetable this semester with my ealiest class at 11am and the latest finishing at 4pm. Will give me plenty of time to train and do other things.



Back to Indy, when we eventually finished squashing 8 bikes and luggage into our american team mate, David's, people mover Chev, Owen (the newly crowned Missouri State Track Champion), David and myself were on our way to Indianapolis on Friday evening. After some last minute changes we organised to stay at one of David's teammates house. Thanks to Tim and his family for putting up with us. With an extremely humid 35 celcius (95 faren.) day behind us we hit the velodrome on Saturday night not really knowing what to expect. We were racing many guys from the Marian College cycling team who we would be competing against at the track nationals in a few weeks. To be honest it was a wake up call and I found myself in desperate need of more leg speed. Owen and chev did much better then me with Owen being in a 3 man break with 2 marian guys. Unfortunately they worked him over but Owen was hapy with his ride...his time would come tomorrow.



On Sunday we raced a criterium at the Indy fair grounds. With a small field of about 20 we were pretty confident that we could go home with the win as we had four people in the race. After some early attacks by everyone in the team and then some awesome work by David to bring back a break Owen tried his luck again and went solo with about 25min left in the race. Everyone else just looked around and no one chased. Owen continually extended his gap and comfortably held on for the win. Owen's break gave me and chev a very easy ride to end as we just sat in. Unfortunately we weren't able to take a place. Everyone came away satisfied with how they raced though. Till next time, cya.

Living the Dream

Well I'm finally over here. After a 13.5hr flight to LA and then a further 3.5hrs to St.Louis our team manager; an all American 6'3", 250 pound tobacco chewing 6 car owning yank drove us to our dorm rooms at Lindenwood University, St. Charles, Missouri. I was lucky enough to be offered a sporting scholarship along with 3 other Aussies; Owen Belton, Nick Chevalley and Paddy Kilmurray. Watch out Lindenwood! I thought one of the best things to do as I'm so far away from the people I left in Australia was to start a blog...seems like the thing to do these days anyway. So this is it and I hope to update it at least once a week. Hope you enjoy it.

St. Charles is a beautiful town with a spread out population of around 60 000. The town center is right on the Missouri River and has an awesome historic main street which is still cobbled and has plenty of bars, restaurants and shops. I've been here for two weeks now and one word to describe the United States of America so far...HUGE! The drive back from the airport amazed me, no one or two lane Pacific Highway here...4 or 5 lanes each way and all the time, entry ramps, exit ramps, over and under passes everywhere! I'm glad I haven't had to drive yet, I'm only just getting used to the fact THEY drive on the wrong side of the road here. Up till now my days have been very crusiey. They've basically consisted of riding, working, exploring the town and getting ready for uni to start. The riding is great around here and one of the first things you notice is how nice the drivers are to cyclists compared to back home; no horns, flying projectiles or side mirrors that shave your arm as they go past. If I travel one it doesn't take long until we are riding through corn and soy been crops with hardly a car on the road. Travel another way and it's not long until we are riding an awesome bike path around a lake and through a forest. Another thing that hits you is how green everything is here...no water restrictions or farming trouble to be heard of.

Riding and racing wise it has been pretty full on so far. We have done a few small crits (short circuit races lasting about an hr) and some track (velodrome) racing so far along with a lot of training. The weekend just passed we had the Missouri State Track Championships. After only being in the country for a week and a half my room mate Owen has come away being awarded the MISSOURI STATE TRACK CHAMPION! Only Owen could manage it i guess. Overall it was a good weekend though and gave us a good taste of what the track racing is like over here and how we work as a team on the track. The next couple of weeks are just more crits, with a major series in 2 weeks and some more track racing. Of course these are all training events for the USA cycling National Collegiate Track Championships in Colorado Springs starting on 11th of September.

Until next time, stay safe and Live Your Dream.