Bashing out the k's

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April 26, 2006

Hello to all,

I have shelved the mountain bike and the track bike and kicked on aboard the Argon 18! My sanity has been re-assessed after my 8 hour experience and I have been let out on day release!

Since my last diary entry a few things have been happening in my world and the world of the FRF Couriers/Caravello cycling team.

Some of the boys headed off to South Africa for the Giro del Capo, and got in a good five-day tour. The Giro del Capo looked like quite a hard tour and the wind was a huge factor in the outcome of each stage. For some of the boys that gained selection it was the biggest race they had competed in, and I'm sure they learnt a few things and will gain experience from it for the rest of the season. Unfortunately Tony had a nasty crash on stage 2 and had to abandon. Hope the wounds are healing mate!

The rest of us were busy training and racing locally, and with some success. Robbie Cater, one of the young guys on the team, took two victories and second overall in the summer criterium series held at Heffron Park. Nice work! I managed to win six races and the overall at the Penrith criterium summer series. Of course, these races are not huge milestones but are nevertheless important building blocks to a solid training base and a solid season ahead. After not going to South Africa I prolonged the building stage for my season and I hope it will pay dividends in the coming races.

The team recently took a victory at the Macarthur criterium through Josh Marden. After getting away in a three-man break early on with Troy Glennan, the two boys up front managed to consolidate a win and third place. I leapt out of the bunch with about 20 minutes to go accompanied by Cam "sock height" (surname unknown) - I took fourth place and Robbie brought home the bunch for sixth. A great day for the team!

I also did the 120km Blayney to Bathurst and what an eventful day that turned out to be....but for not exactly all the right reasons! My teammates Brendan Jones and Aaron Little performed well to take fourth and third respectively. I, on the other hand, spent a lot of time by myself (and it wasn't because I have no friends!). As the event was not exactly a normal road race, allowing for the fact that it had a component for non-affiliated riders, there was no neutral service; unfortunately I punctured after 27km and watched 10 bunches ride past me until Mark Chapman pulled up and gave me a wheel...so I took off and did an 80km time trial - I caught bunch after bunch but figured I might as well just keep bashing my head against the brick wall that was positioned on top of my Cinelli stem!

It ended up just being a training ride...except normally I wouldn't get up at 4.30am to go training! Once I did get to the finish line I pretty much decided to just keep plugging along...ending up riding home after the race. Mount Victoria Pass hurts at the best of times, but after 200km I was seriously questioning my mental state and I knew I still had another 30km left to get home! I guess it was a good way of getting a big day of training in...with almost 3000 metres of ascending according to the Polar!

So apart from that not a lot has been happening; I've just been bashing out the K's, basically. After Canberra Tour the team will be heading over to the Tour of Ireland and GP de Beauce in Canada, which are two great races. I am just about to once again do battle with the rain gods and try and dodge those round drops of precipitation....ahh, nothing like living 1000 metres above sea level - it's been a bit wet of late up here in the Blue Mountains...I guess it ain't snowin' so it ain't that bad! Back to the building blocks!

Cheers,
Cody