My First win. Ever.

So today I did it, I won my first ever bike race. Funny how I had to come all the way over to the US to do it though. check out the results at http://www.bikereg.com/Results/2008/06/29-Union-Vale-Road-Race.asp
they are about half way down. i'm listed as wnning the juniors but we were als racing with the cat 4 women. Here's how my day went:

Woke up at 3:30am as we had to leave here by 4:30am to start our 3 hour trek to Union Vale, New York. Trip up there was alright except that I was sitting in the front with Rick and had to try keep him awake whilst I was trying my hardest not to start drooling on the side panel of the wall lol. As soon as we got onto the highway, I was running through a mental check list and realse i'd left my shoes in front of the aircon (we got soaked after our rid yesterday and thought it would be a good idea to dry them there overnight, obviously i was wrong..). So yeh, and as we had hit the motorway, there was no turning back. Swear a piece of me nearly died when i realised. Stupid thing was though I had packed everything last night so i wouldn't forget it and all I had to remember was to pack my stupid shoes lol. Anyway so I told Rick and he wasn't angry (which was good) and since the bys weren't on till a god 2hrs after my race, was going to borrow a pair of their shoes...However, Pat had the smallest shoes at a size 43, and I am a 39...So I rode the race in a pair of shoes which was 4 sizes too big for me! had pins and needles by the end of it and spent most of the race pedalling with my toes!

Anyway, here's how the race went. I was racing Cat 4 and Junior 15-18 over a 30mile undulating course. We had to do 2 full laps of the course which cntained several pretty decent climbs. On the last lap we had to go up a 3km climb which started off at 10% for about 1km then eased slowly to about 4% for another 2km (reminded me of Black Mt back home). There were about 15 people in our race and I was the only junior entered. Race started off pretty easy, like a sunday roll, which was alright.. but it wa still like that about 1/2 into the first lap which started to annoy me so jumped on the front up on of the first couple of hills and drove it for a bit to try and get some action happening. Near the end of the first lap, put the pressure again up hill and turns out we made a break of 4 people. the break was going alright and we managed to stay away for the rest of the race. On the 2nd lap, the girls in the break were chatting away which annoyed me a tad so after talking to them for a bit i pretended to breathe heavily up one of the climbs and say 'sorry, struggling' when the tried to talk to me so i could concentrate on the race! sounds bitchy now that i think of it... but it was really annoying, it was like they weren't taking the race seriously. Anyway, so our break was still together at the bottom of the hill and then we rode up it. me and this other girl just rolled off the front and then about 1/2 way up the climb I attacked the other lady. Ended up putting at least 30sec into her before the top of the climb.

So thats how it happened. my first win. did it hans solo on a climb with borrowed shoes and pedals. the way it ought to be done :P. was pretty stoked. Didn't get any prize money because was entered in junior cat (even though i won junior and cat 4 women) so only got a medal which doesn't bother me because i don't race for the money, its simply an added bonus and now i have a medal to remind me of my first win :D

The boys also did well, taking the first 2 podium shots. Rick is writing an update as we speak and so will post that as soon as he is done.

other highlights of the trip were seeing a deer,smelling a skunk (not sure that was a highlight, but was interesting), hearing one of pete's jokes where he pretended to be an indian (not appropriate for me to write here lol) and just all of the people at the race. they are all so friendly and the atmosphere is great! wish i could bottle it all up and bring it home.

It was another late night as we didn't get in until 10pm but all in all it was a good day.

Until next time,
xo

From the coach

More updates from the coach. These are all available at www.cyclesportnews.com/aus

No ‘Grizzly Bear’ stops Team Budget FL winning at Union Vale!
Location: Union Vale , New York State

Two years ago this race was stopped due to the presence of a Grizzly Bear on the circuit, I kid you not!

Union Vale is approximately 250km from the USA/Canadian border and a 3 hour drive from Kutztown our base in the USA. The scenery was breathtaking,

We raced the boys in Cat 3 and Miff in Junior Women/Cat 4.

Women – Miff was in control from the start and never looked like not winning. Miff applied some pressure on one on of the many hills and split the bunch with a break of 5 riders moving away. These riders swapped off turns until the final assent up to the finish [2.5km at 10% at the bottom and levelling out]. Miff made her move about 1km from the summit and rode to a Solo victory winning by over 30 seconds – It was a very special moment for Miff winning her 1st ever bike race and as she said ‘ I had to travel to the USA to do this, it is very special”. I had the opportunity to follow this race in the Spares vehicle and this young lady has come a long way and has gained in confidence that I am sure will see her move onto bigger and better things.

Men – The plan was to send Gus Tobin in an early break, however a puncture and slow change by the spares put that out of the question so we had some attacks early from our boys, however it was the move by Thomo Richards that made the race, Thomo was in a 70km Solo break and the Team Budget FL boys did a fantastic job controlling the 100 plus bunch. In the final lap the bunch of solid chasing brought Thomo back and after Sam had given Mitchell Mulhern the “nod” with 10km to go, Mitch made the decisive move with Team Budget FL controlling. Thomo ‘sat in’ until the final assent up to the finish and with his team mate [Mitch] well clear he again attacked and rode clear to make it a 1st 2nd result. To see Team Budget FL riders crossing the line was fantastic and all looks good for the rest of the trip.

In closing this short report, the guys were treated very well at Union Vale by Officials and riders alike, being asked to pose for photos with riders after the race, just hope they don’t get big heads, well I am sure we can stop that [hahaha].

Ricks Highlights.

· Miff Galloway winning her 1st Road Race in her career.

· Driving over the might Hudson River with the crew.

· 1st 2nd result in our 1st USA Road Race.

Rick Lee

‘Cyclewest’

0413 867 440

lee57@optusnet.com.au

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Aussies Do Well at USA Omnium Champs

Written by Rick Lee, CycleWestcoach.com
Sunday, 29 June 2008

With a full line up of International Stars including World Omnium Champion Hayden Godfrey, USA Champion Bobby Lea, and riders from Columbia, Trinidad, Canada, and Italy we were set for a top night of World Class Cycling.
A huge crowd was on hand, a great commentator, and the atmosphere was something I have never experienced before.

Our riders were not at all overwhelmed by the Super Stars and took it right up to them. The night was ran as a Omnium and the 1st event was a 3 lap [1kilo] mass start, so 20 riders in each heat with 6 from each heat going into Omnium event.

Then there were Points Races, Scratch races, Eliminations and then the top 16 Money earners went into the “Stars Shoot Out”, where there was Primes for $200, $100, $50 called at will.

It was unreal, and we had Peter Johnstone, Thomo Richards, Patty [Penny] Lane in the thick of it. Thomo rode a great PS to finish 4th,, Patty 3rd in SR... But the real point to be made is that it was our guys who made the racing in the longer Enduro events.

I had a chat to Hayden Godfrey after the night and he was all praise for the style of racing that our young guys brought to TrexlerTown. The crowd really loved our style and were very vocal in appreciation.

The Women’s events boasted a top class International field with many Aussies taking part including Jessie McLean, Laura McCaughey to name two.

We rested Lara, and Brodie wasn’t feeling too well so I pulled her out ½ way through the program. Miff Galloway raced again at a top level and was placed in one of the SR.

Michaela Anderson is learning heaps from this racing and is starting to understand what talent she has. Her first 2 races were quite “average” and then she came out to win one of the SR to give herself 8 Omnium Points.

She also picked up ½ way Omnium points to finish with 11 Points to secure Equal 3rd in the USA Elite Omnium Championships.

Michaela and I were interviewed on US TV after her win and we both made the point that this is the best racing we have been part of.

Ricks highlights:
#Michaela Anderson being “off the back” in the PR to chase down the bunch – go around – Lead out Miff and then place 2nd in the sprint – Unreal.

#Gus Tobin’s ride in the Elimination to get down to the last 10. { to see Hayden Godfrey on young Gus wheel, was a picture]. I am so impressed with this young man!

#Thomo giving them heaps in the PR.
#Patty Lane 3rd in the SR – and loving it!

#Michaela winning SR.

#The Crowd response to anything our young riders did.

#The Commentator Quotes [Thomo was going for $100 prime and had it until this Power House Sprinter was about to nail him ‘I hope that Guy has his number pinned down as it is about to be blown off’ and “Peter Johnstone you’re so Fast”

#Being acknowledged by the race promoters by telling us how happy they are with the style of racing, all this is good for next time we come over.

We are off to Union Valley, about a 2 hour drive to take part in the Union Valley Open Race tomorrow. This will be our 1st road hit out, can’t wait. So its up early to hit the road [and the wrong side of the road].
Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 June 2008 )

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Aussie Johnstone Wins Trexlertown Criterium

Written by Rick Lee in Trexlertown (US)
Saturday, 28 June 2008

It keeps rolling for the Team Budget FL riders in USA with the boys racing in a 50km Criterium on the fast and picturesque Trexlertown Cycling facility in Pennsylvania.

With approximately 80 riders starting in the race it was easy to see that a break would be hard to maintain on the fast circuit, however this did not stop our guys giving it to them almost every 2nd lap.

Photo: Peter Johnstone..winning form Copyright Chelsie and Peninsula Cycling Club
Our riders took it in turn to attack the bunch should there be the slightest stall.

As Usual the attacking style of Thomo Richards was on display for all to see, this little guy has the heart of a Lion and his continual attacking style will I am sure give him a win here in USA soon. Mitchell Mulhern was also very attacking as was Patty [Penny] Lane.

Gus and Sam were brilliantly placed to be ready to assist the boys should a break go and a break did go with about ¼ of the race left, initially we had Mitchell, Thomo and Peter Johnstone in the break with Pete picking up the points in sprints which were held every 3 laps. The break included a US Pro and some other solid US riders.

Coming into the final lap Thomo attacked at the bell to put the pressure on the break. This gave Thomo a chance to take the last sprint but also put Pete in the prime position should the Thomo break come back. They only just reeled in Thomo and Pete unleashed his big finish to take the final sprint and the Criterium.

I must say after the win and Pete would be the 1st to admit that without the boys he would have found it tough to cover all the moves.

Earlier Miff Galloway and Michaela Anderson took part in the B Grade Criterium and without these 2 in the race it would have been pretty average affair. Miff and Michaela attacked continually only to be brought back by the” big guys” on “big gears”, Miff was given some awesome lead outs by Michaela and managed to place in 3 sprints which gave Miff 4th outright. A great display by the girls.

Then we headed over to the Velodrome to give Lara Freiberg and Brodie a hit out in the Future Stars Track Series. Both girls raced very well with Brodie only beaten in races by a young up and coming USA Junior male rider. The riders are placed in Grades and not by your gender in these races so it was a great experience. Brodie had 3 2nd placing’s with Lara 3rd in her final event. The girls were then placed in a 10km All in Points race and Lara raced what I would say is her best race ever. Brodie was the best placed female.

We will rest some riders tonight [Friday UCI International Series] in readiness for the Union Valley Road Race on Sunday.

The experience being gained by all riders and staff will be an asset for the future and the contacts being made in the US will be a real benefit for the Cyclewest Development Program, Team Budget Forklift and supporting sponsors would be proud of the way the kids are representing them on and off the bike.

The T Town Cycling Community has embraced this young team and the support given by the local cycling community is quite amazing.

I went for a training ride [very E1ish for them and E4ish for me] with the crew yesterday through some spectacular scenery and Miff Galloway summed it up well when she said to me “this is awesome this is what you live for” as we meandered through the quiet back roads of Kutztown.
Last Updated ( Sunday, 29 June 2008 )

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Team Budget Forklift Hits The Track..U.S. Style

Written by Rick Lee , Team Budget Forklifts
Saturday, 28 June 2008


I have to say I have not seen better racing for many years and this is just the start, Super Tuesday Pro-Am at Trexlertown Velodrome kicked off our US Campaign with our riders showing that they are here to play!

I was very impressed with the way all our guys worked together to get the best results for the overall good of the team.


To see 40 riders on the track at one time in the Pro Am Cat1/2 races was unreal, especially the Elimination which became a 37 lap event of the 333metre track. There were riders from all over the world including Bobby Lee the USA rider who is off to the Olympics.

There are a number of Aussies here racing in addition to our young team.

The track outdoor complex is unreal, the racing format is well done and we will definitely bring home some ideas.

All riders and staff are still coming to terms with Jet Lag and the hot and humid conditions, sleep is a much sort after pass time.

The riders rode out to the Velodrome which is about 15km and then it was into action.

· Mitchell Mulhern had his 1st track race ever and we put him in Cat 3 which had about 25 very classy riders, Mitchell was soon in action and broke clear after about 5 laps of the Tempo Race and went on to gain enough points to win his 1st ever track race. Mitch also ran 3rd in the Scratch race and finished 2nd Overall in the Omnium.
· Peter Johnstone, after a bout of the flu hit the track in great style, with unselfish work by his team mates, Thomo Richards, Gus Tobin , Sam Genge, Patty {Penny] Lane. Peter was given an awesome lead out over the last 4 laps to go head to head with Bobby Lee and a top class field to finish 2nd in the Scratch Race. Pete took 1st Place in the Win and Out and finished 2nd outright in the Omnium.

· Thomo finished a very gallant 4th in the Pro Am Elimination.

· Sam, Gus [J17], Patty worked bloody hard and made the racing. The Promoter was very happy with our riders and expressed his thanks and amazement at the skill, speed and tactics that our young guys displayed.

·Miffy Galloway raced a very mature night of racing. I must say I have not watched Miffy much up until this trip and I am very impressed with her maturity and ability on the bike. We named Miff as our Women’s Team Captain and she was a very good choice. Miff finished 2nd in the Elite Women Scratch Race, 2nd in the Elimination and 2nd outright in the Omnium. As well 4th in the Points Race after assisting Budget FL team mate and eventual winner Michaela Anderson.

·Michaela Anderson after a very shaking start to her campaign showed the class of a seasoned Pro to take out the Elite Women’s Points race after an initial solo break and then joined by 3 others including team mate Miffy Galloway. Michaela also finished 3rd in the Elite Women’s Omnium.

· Brodie Stewart showed class to finish 3rd in the Elite Women’s Elimination and also 5th outright in the Omnium.

·Lara Freiberg won our award for the 1st rider to hit the deck in the Scratch Race, Lara raced very well in all events.

We race a Criterium tomorrow night and then The USA Elite Omnium Championships Friday night, Junior Omnium Championship Sunday as well as some riders racing a USA Open at Union Valley...

Hank's spam dogs

Well last night was another hot airconless night and i'm pretty sure i woke up dripping in sweat. Not cool by any standard. We got home from the track shortly after 11:00pm and it wasn’t until 12:00am that I crawled into bed. Was pretty tired when we got up at around 7:00 (weren’t meeting the boys until 9:00 but still couldn’t manage to sleep in!...) then went on a flatish recovery cruise down to the velodrome and back. Have to say that my legs are feeling pretty ordinary, my hamstrings are killing me and I’ve been asleep for over 2hrs this arv. So apart from eating, riding and sleeping, haven’t really done too much. Tonight is the World Series of Bicycling, should be good racing!

The World Series of Bicycling is an international event so we had pro riders from all over the US and some internationals (the boys were up against world omnium champ Hayden Godfrey and US Olympic team member for Beijing Bobby Lea for example…). The girls field also had some classy riders such as Gina Grain, Laura Macaughey and some other internationals from Argentina.
A good surprise was to see that Jessie Maclean and Gary and Theresea were there! It was great to see them. Gary rode the 1k scratch and I rode against Jessie in the women’s events but Theresea had a broken wrist so she wasn’t racing. Apparently she’ll be back next week though. So that was a pleasant surprise! It was great to see some familiar faces.
Back to the racing, first race for the girls was an elimination. Have to admit that I didn’t ride it very well because my head wasn’t in it. I was so nervous about riding against girls of this class that I forgot to think of positioning myself correctly and so got boxed down the back. Second race I managed to get my head back into gear and ran 3rd in the 3km scratch. 3rd race was Mickey’s race, a 1km scratch. She went straight to the front and led it out the whole way and no one could come around her. She is a machine that girl, and only 15 years old. 4th race was an 8km points race. Managed to get 3rd in the first sprint and pick up a few other points to finish 5th overall maybe? Anyway, it was enough secure my place in the top 12 for the final event – the 10 lap shoot out. We had no clue how this event worked and before we knew it the commisaire had said 3 laps. And we were like 3 laps until what? Turns out it was a 10 lap race with sprint like every 3rd lap for different prize money amounts. Really confusing. By this stage I was buggered and just wanted to finish the race with the girls. Did that and eve chased down a few breaks. Overall I finished 9th in the omnium and picked up $40. Mickey finished 4th overall and picked up total of $210 for the night.

Didn’t get home until after 11:00pm so another late night for me.

Hope everyone is going well,
Take care
xo

p.s the title was the name of a recipe i found in a magazine.. made me laugh. it is like a hotdog but made with spam.. guess written by someone called hank...

The Crit

I think last night would have to have been the best nights sleep i'd had since being here. think even at one stage i had a blanket over me! still waking up at 5:30am which i'm not too keen on. my body finally has the opportunity to sleep in yet it still feels the need to wake up ridiculously early. typical. lol. anyway, here's whats been happening since last left you:

Went for a recovery ride in the morning, the weather was looking a bit threatening but we didn't really think much of it. we got half way and literally just as we were u-turning to go home, it started bucketing down with raing. not your average rain but the sharp pelting rain that feels like your being hit with rocks lol. not very cool. Needless to say, we all pretty much looked like drowned rats by the time we got home and our shoes spent most of the day outside stuffed with newspaper. After our ride, still pretty tired from the hills, i decided to stay home and rest whilst most of the crew ventured down to wal-mart (i heart wal-mart lol) to get new phones (they origionally bought these cool phones thinking they could ring home but apparently Aus isn't one of the 60 countries you can phone too...). I actually thought it would be a perfect opportunity to start work on my maths but it wasn't meant to be as half way through the first question, the US juniors decided to pay us a surprise visit. they are all pretty cool and great fun to get along with. We all then headed down to main street and found an awesome vintage shop! no joke, this shop is awesome! and the average price for things was around 5-10 dollars!! def doing back there later...
The boys decided to do a bonding session and all get their hair done (look hilarious seeing them in foils sitting next to the old ladies getting perms...looked like the biggest tossers haha..)now that are equiped with bleached rat's tails and foils...not sure i rate it yet haha although it does look alright.

We then headed home and got ready for the nights racing: the crit. Mickey, the boys and i were going to ride the crit whilst brodie and lara rode the track. they run their crits differently compared to back home, its bassically just a massive points score. you have 15 laps and sprint every 3 laps for points and whoever has gained the most points after the race is the winner. Mickey and I were racing B grade and it was really weird racing. they don't actually pull turns, just someone will sit on the front and if someone else wants to take a turn, they just ride to the front and sit there....no paceline or swapping off... each sprint lap it basically went like this: 700m to go, mickey would jump on the front me on her wheel and then lead me out to the sprint. this happened every sprint and still no one caught onto us... did alright, got 4th overall... got 2nd in first sprint, 3rd in 2nd sprint, 2nd in 3rd sprit, 4th in 4th sprint and unfortunatley got 5th in 5th sprint which meant that got knocked out of 3rd by 1 point.. bugger.. oh well, not too bad considering it was against men and i don't really classify myself as a hardcore sprinter...haha

the girls did pretty well on the track, best i've seen them ride yet. And the boys won the crit (pete johnstone) so it was a good day for the team. tomorrow we have UCI World Series of Bicycling, Jessie and Theresea from A.C.T are suppose to be there so it will be good to hopefully catch up with them!

so life in the US of A is going pretty good at the moment if I do say so myself. I'm loving life and getting in some solid racing and training. I don't think i've done this many k's in my life, ever.

Well its been another long day and it is creeping up to midnight (got back from track at 11:00pm) so probably should head off to bed because we have another early morning rec ride and i don't want to get smashed by Rick again :P

take care,
xo

Hills and hunger flats

Just a short one today, nothing much really happened. Too busy sleeping most of the day.

So it turns out that more than 1 person is actually reading my blog which actually kind of surprises me. Reading back on them, I realise that they aren’t all that interesting to read and I have done exactly what i'd hoped not to do and that was rant on about nothng in particular.

Today was a long ride day. Headed off at 9:00 for what was supposed to be 80-90kms in the hills. May Britt and her rider Juan were taking us out. The boys were meant to do between 100-120km but decided that they would join us and do some extra k’s after. The ride was really hilly and we did a few hard hill efforts which people weren’t too happy about considering we have crit racing tomorrow. Once again the scenery was absolutely wonderful. There were areas which were bound under trees like a rainforest with lodges and farmhouses. breathtaking. We also rode up a climb that is going to be in the State titles which we will ride in a couple of weeks. It is insanely steep and the girls have to climb up it 3 times whist the boys do it 6. That’s going to be one hard race. Pretty sure i was close to getting off and walking bits of it. The boys didn’t bring any food on the ride because they ‘didn’t have any’ (we later discovered that they had 4 boxes of muesli bars in their cupboard…lol) and so majorly hunger flatted and were in the box pretty much the whole ride. Needless to say they didn’t bother doing an extra 30km when we finished. Instead they came back to our place and ate all our food haha. I rode next to May Britt for most of the ride and it was interesting hearing about her career and how she coaches and what she has planned for her athletes. Its good hearing other people's perspective on things.
We got back from our ride at around lunchtime and tucked in for a massive meal. We all then pretty much collapsed on our beds and didn’t move for the rest of the arvo. Late afternoon, the boys came over to help with dinner (hamburgers and salad) and the girls ventured down to Turkey Hill (the local gas station and hot spot at night for druggies, coppers and carlos) to get slushies for the boys (which i accidently spilt on the counter and the sales lady...oops..), stocked up on colouring books and pencils from the dollar store and movies from the movie shop. We’ve got a movie night planned for the girls on Sunday, should be good.
Got to remind myself to stock up on lollies and America stuff from the dollar shop (they have some pretty awesome stuff I must admit, they even have a pregnancy test for $1?...)

Hope all is going well back in Aus,

xo

First real hit out

Last night was probably one of the worst sleeps I’d had known to man kind. You know when you feel as though you’ve slept forever and it has only be a couple of hours? Yeh that happened to me, several times. Got woken up by a pretty violent storm and it was so hot that I could only lie on my bed without anything over me and I was still sweating… I eventually got up at about 1am and went downstairs because I herd the other girls get up. Turns out they had the same problem as me. Needless to say we were all pretty tired considering we had an early track session this morning and we had to leave here at 6:30am. The track session was pretty easy, did a warm up with the US crew and we then each did a standing half lap and a flying 200m. Track feels quite slow and has a massive headwind on the back straight.. Should make for some interesting racing tonight! We all cruised back home for lunch and Rick had a chat of what we’d be doing for the rest of the week. Here’s the plan:

- Tonight: track racing
- Tomorrow: 80-90km hills
- Thurs: morning = 40km recovery and in the afternoon I’ve got a crit
- Friday: morning = another 40km rec and UCI track racing at night (that should be pretty interesting. Apparently they get quite a lot of international riders…)
- Saturday = an easy 100km
- Sunday = the boys and I are hitting up a race in New York called Union Vale and the rest of the girls and Angus are doing a track omnium down here. Pretty excited for the road race, will be good to see what racing is like! Haven’t checked out the course yet but apparently all the info is on the net (our internet last about 2 seconds before disconnecting so haven’t been able to see it myself..)

Just got back from first real hit out of the trip and all in all I guess you could call it a success. After a pretty cruisy afternoon, we were all pretty keen to get stuck into some racing. We were racing in the women’s division which had several classy riders from numerous pro teams such as gina grain and a couple of girls from verducci breakaway etc. I think in total there was around 15-20 girls? Our first race was a 5km scratch. Racing was pretty hard and bit dodgy at times but I managed to get 2nd in that... Next was an elimination which I also picked up 2nd in and finally there was a points race which I got 4th in. Overall I got 2nd for the night behind Gina Grain from Canada. The girls worked really well as a team for each other, chasing down breaks and slowing them down when necessary! Highly rated it. The boys also did really well (see Rick’s update below)despite having forgotten half of their gear! (front wheels, pedals, shoes, helmets, tool kits etc..) haha but they sorted themselves out. We finished up at the track at around 10 o’clock and we were all shattered, people were falling asleep all over the place. All in all it was a really good day and a great way to start off racing for the team!

Hope this is a trend for the rest of our time here in the States!

Until next time,

Emails from the coach

Here are some updates that the coach has been sending out:

Hi Guys’

Well now that I have had a good sleep and a ride I feel much better. This place is unreal and the people are so friendly, I just cannot believe we are on the same planet. Kutztown is a very laid back Town in Penns State and the people are “different” but nice.

We have been adopted by a number of people and the team that are hosting us are just doing things for us that only good friends would normally do, so this is a very humbling experience so far for us all. I have made some very good contacts already and we will have a USA rider coming to Tassie Carnivals with us, I expect some more may follow.

There is a top US Pro Team staying around the corner and I hope to pop in and say hi today. The riders are out in the hills today, boys doing a 120km and the girls 80km, and they are Hills, not WA pimples.

I am meeting with a Canadian Team In Pittsburgh next week end and we have a top Brazilian Road Sprinter who wishes to race for us in NRS. So watch this space it could be very exciting. The Coach I am working with May-Britt is an Ex Norway rider and won an Olympic Medal has some great contacts in Europe as well as the USA so this will be great for our riders for the future.

Highlights or Funny Stories;

· Trying to convince the US Customs that we could not get all the bikes through in one pass through, they were so intense with us and we were like saying “chill out guys we will just walk back through and get some more bikes”, they were saying in the strongest US accent “ you must keep moving, you cannot go back, keep moving” “ but you cannot leave those boxes there” It was so funny, well now it is!!
· Seeing Deer for the 1st time on the side of a Highway.
· Nearly running over a Ground Hog out training.
· Our 1st training ride on the wrong side of the road, very strange.
· Having a $5 breakfast that could feed a family.
· Telling the Americans that $1 litre for fuel is OK! Well $4 a gallon.
· We got the OK to take a Shopping Trolley from a shop to take some gear back to our House and then to be pulled up by the US Cops, I did not have ID, thought I was off to jail hahahah for taking a trolley, they do get intense!


Anyway that will do for now, need some sleep.

1st race tomorrow, cant wait.


Cheers

Rick

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Mini Report

· Did a good track session today with the guys and girls having a light hit out before tonight racing.
· This week’s Planning
Tuesday Track Session then racing
Wednesday – Hills Session [guys 120 girls 80km]
Thursday – Criterium [Brodie, Lara Track Racing]
Friday – Track Racing
Saturday 100km easy
Sunday – Union Vale Road Race [all except Michaela, Lara, Brodie, Angus?] They will ride Omnium Championships at T Town.
Monday – Bike Free Day


Will ,let you know about the 1st race

Cheers

Rick Lee
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Race Report 1
Pro-Am Trexlertown Velodrome

I have to say I have not seen better racing for many years and this is just the start, Super Tuesday Pro-Am kicked off our US Campaign with our riders showing that they are here to play!

I was very impressed with the way all our guys worked together to get the best results for the overall good of the team. To see 40 riders on the track at one time in the Pro Am Cat1/2 races was unreal, especially the Elimination which became a 37 lap event of the 333metre track. There were riders from all over the world including Bobby Lee the USA rider who is off to the Olympics. There are a number of Aussies here racing in addition to our young team.

The track outdoor complex is unreal, the racing format is well done and we will definitely bring home some ideas.

All riders and staff are still coming to terms with Jet Lag and the hot and humid conditions, sleep is a much sort after pass time.

The riders rode out to the Velodrome which is about 15km and then it was into action.

· Mitchell had his 1st track race ever and we put him in Cat 3 which had about 25 very classy riders, Mitchell was soon in action and broke clear after about 5 laps of the Tempo Race and went on to gain enough points to win his 1st ever track race. Mitch also ran 3rd in the Scratch race and finished 2nd Overall in the Omnium.
· Peter Johnstone, after a bout of the flu hit the track in great style, with unselfish work by his team mates, Thomo, Gus, Sam, Patty. Peter was given an awesome lead out over the last 4 laps to go head to head with Bobby Lee and a top class field to finish 2nd in the Scratch Race. Pete took 1st Place in the Win and Out and finished 2nd outright in the Omnium.
· Thomo finished a very gallant 4th in the Pro Am Elimination.
· Sam, Gus [J17], Patty worked bloody hard and made the racing. The Promoter was very happy with our riders and expressed his thanks and mazement at the skill, speed and tactics that our young guys displayed.
· Miffy Galloway raced a very mature night of racing. I must say I have not watched Miffy much up until this trip and I am very impressed with her maturity and ability on the bike. We named Miff as our Women’s Team Captain and she was a very good choice. Miff finished 2nd in the Elite Women Scratch Race, 2nd in the Elimination and 2nd outright in the Omnium. As well 4th in the Points Race after assisting Budget FL team mate and eventual winner Michaela Anderson.
· Michaela Anderson after a very shaking start to her campaign showed the class of a seasoned Pro to take out the Elite Women’s Points race after an initial solo break and then joined by 3 others including team mate Miffy Galloway. Michaela also finished 3rd in the Elite Women’s Omnium.
· Brodie Stewart showed class to finish 3rd in the Elite Women’s Elimination and also 5th outright in the Omnium.
· Lara Freiberg won our award for the 1st rider to hit the deck in the Scratch Race, Lara raced very well in all events.


We race a Criterium tomorrow night and then The USA Elite Omnium Championships Friday night, Junior Omnium Championship Sunday as well as some riders racing a USA Open at Union Valley...

Until next time

Regards




Rick Lee

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Another day in paradise

Body clock finally adjusted I woke up at a half way different hour of the morning. Had my raisin bran and juice and then we met up with a lady named Kate who was taking us for a ride at half way decent 8:00am (nice change to waking up at 5:00am in the freezing cold). Kate is one of the older ladies that May coaches and is only a recent convert to the sport after playing basketball for most of her life. At the moment she is a full-time cyclist trying to break onto the pro circuit. On the schedule today was a 2hr30min undulating cruise. She took us on the most perfect ride ever. It’s the stuff dreams are made of. It was a ride around one of the lakes just outside of the town. It reminded me a lot of riding back home when you get away from civilization and it’s so peaceful and enjoyable. Except that instead of seeing kangaroos and magpies, we saw plenty of squirrels and turkey vultures (imagine if vultures swooped like our magpies….). Needless to say there were plenty of photo opportunities and I have uploaded them in the photo album. Oh, I asked Kate about the variety of powerbars which got sold in the US (I herd that there were some pretty good ones) and she told me that they had a whole variety of the things from caramel to peanut butter, peanut butter and chocolate/cookie dough, tropical fruit smoothie, apple and cinnamon, oatmeal and raisin.. and the list goes on! So I’m taking orders if anyone is interested lol. Its only $15 for a box!!! So I’m going to be hoarding them back to Aus.

Anyway, we got back a bit earlier than expected from the ride and I wanted to go for a bit longer so I took the liberty in exploring Kutztown University. The campus is absolutely huge and it is exactly the sort of thing you see in movies. They had a sports stadium and athletics field, dining halls, libraries and apartments (see photos). It would be incredible to be able to go there for uni and ride my bike around this area, it’s basically perfect.
Anyway, after our ride, we did nothing really but chill for the rest of the afternoon and did our own thing whilst Audrey and Rick picked up what is going to be our ride for the next 4 weeks. A pretty average looking ford van. The boys came over for lunch and had a pretty good time laughing at each other and bagging each other out. We are lucky that everyone is really nice and easy to get along with. Got a feeling it’s going to be hard to say goodbye to some of these people after being with them for a month if we are like this already! As soon as they got back, we ventured down to Wal-Mart. On the way, Sam spotted a supermarket type thing called ‘Kohls’ and he said that ‘they don’t even know how to spell Coles properly around here’ which was pretty funny… probably had to be there though. Wal-Mart was all that I thought it would be and o so much more. They had everything you could possibly imagine, it’s a shame I didn’t actually need anything.. Was contemplating buying myself a PSP considering that they are extremely cheap… Oh well, there’s still 4 weeks left :D. Everything there was so cheap though. Rick bought a TomTom GPS for $150 and a 10 inch digital photo frame for $150! And the food they have.. oh my god. Everything you could possibly imagine, they’ve invented. More food items to add to the list: twinkies and oreo cakes (basically a cookie cake) and chocolate skittles… interesting…Thought the whole point of them was they were fruit and not chocolate. And another thing! I can’t actually believe that they don’t sell mars bars over here, thought Americans were all about the mars bar! Obviously not…
We stopped for dinner on the way home at a pretty cool little Italian restaurant (cool in more was than one, the aircon was freezing and the waitress apparently wasn’t allowed to turn it down…my guess is that she just didn’t like us…lol.) But again, the food is great value for money. $16 for a insanely huge veal parmesana, salad, free refill drinks and garlic bread. Pretty cool hey? I know I keep commenting on it but it just shows how ridiculously overpriced things are back home. I can picture myself now, get back home and be like ‘your charging me what for that??’. After that we cruised home and had a pretty lazy night. Hit the deck at around 9:30 whilst watching the hills. Pretty pumped for racing tomorrow though. All in all, good day.

Hope all is well in Coldberra :P
Until next time,
Xo

P.S racking up a pretty good tan line already, been 2 days and already starting to see some definition… will keep you posted :P

PP.S If you have facebook, check out some cool photos at http://www.facebook.com/photos.php?id=732018242&ref=pb (add her as a friend and i'll tell her to accept you). will get around to uploading those photos eventually but internet isn't very good here

I'M LEGAL!

Ok, probably not the most appropriate title for my blog considering family is going to read this but oh well.

Let me first start by thanking everyone for their Birthday txts and emails. Really appreciate it. Replied to all of them so hopefully you got it!

After getting to be at around 1:30am, body clock decided to wake me at a rude 6:00am. Decided to build my bike whilst the other girls woke up then we ventured down to main street (which is ironically the main street of the town, very imaginative aren’t they? Our house is on normal ave. classy) and had breakfast at a cute little diner where I had possibly the best breakfast ever. No joke. I had French toast and it only cost me $3.70. And I’m talking for 4 slices of the stuff! I love American food! If I keep eating the way I have been these last few days I’ll defiantly be coming home looking different, have 3 chins instead of the normal 1! We then wandered round the street, and Rick (our coach) took us to the petrol station where the boys and him apparently spent the most of the night making friends with the local coppers and the night shift workers with their giant slushies (giant slushies are definitely on my ‘to do’ along with the bars of cookie does, smore poptarts…basically the whole confectionery section lol.). We then hit up the local dollar shop (where everything is actually $1, not $2, $3 +) to buy some necessities. However, just like to mention that on the way to the dollar shop, we did pass a drive through pharmacy and bank… weird? I know. One of the highlights at the shop had to be being able to buy fireworks for $1! They’re barely legal in Canberra and here you can walk in and buy them for a buck. And buy them we did. We also bought other necessary items such as silly string (for those unlucky enough not to have encountered silly string before, it is basically spray string in a can), guns that shoot balls and a pretty cool birthday balloon lol. We then came back and went for our ride at around 1. The US juniors came and picked us up and we went on an easy roll over to the velodrome. The juniors seem really nice, all very friendly and seemed just as eager to meet us as we were to meet them! The velodrome is also really cool. It’s a really nicely sealed outdoor track (there are pics of it in the album). After our ride, Rick and us girls cruised over to the local bagel shop (again, cannot get over how cheap the food is.. $1 for probably the best ever cinnamon and raisin bagel I will ever eat. Also to add to the ‘to do’ list, try a chop chip bagel…sounds good). It was about 4 o’clock by the time we got home and it was creeping up to 5 when we realised we hadn’t eaten lunch… so supper was our lunch. By this time, it felt like we had been here for weeks and we hadn’t even been there 24hrs. We decided that the boys would meet us for dinner at 8. By the time we knew it, it was 8:30 and still no sign of the rest of the boys. 9 came around and we decided we’d have dinner without them…it was 11 before we called it a night and half of the boys and Rick still hadn’t shown up for dinner. We figured that jetlag would have taken them as they didn’t sleep a wink the night before because they were having too much fun down at the servo with Carlos the nightshift worker. We had a yummy cake and cookie dough ice cream for dessert. The girls possibly also started what could be WWIV by ambushing the unexpected guys who showed up for dinner with the silly string which, as our lovely manager mum Audrey put it ‘felt like a wet tampon’ haha… it was gross and sticky. Needless to say, the boys decided that a payback would be in order and we were ambushed unexpectedly with the rest of our own supplies. The worst casualty, Brodie, who suffered a direct attack to the hair. She took it like a champ although it took for ages to get the sticky mess out. Brodie also copped another surprise when she woke up with a lollipop stuck in her hair, one which the boys had licked and placed unexpectedly on her pillow case. Gross, I know.

So that was the end of Day 2 in the always lovely US of A. Still having a good time and can’t wait to get stuck into some serious racing tomorrow.
Until next time
xo

And we're off!

finally we are in Kutztown PA. I didn't even know where this state was until i google mapped it the day before we left...Turns out it is a little 'Holland influenced' community in PA. It is also an Armish community, so we see a lot of horse and buggies lol. My apologies for these first few posts, they are probably going to be a bit long and descriptive but i just want to paint the scene so you understand a bit more of what i'm going on about. So here goes:

Nearly 30hrs and 8 plane meals later (swear they should do a documentary a la ‘supersize me’ style to see just how good living off nothing but plane food is for you…not very I suspect.) it feels good to be on solid ground.
Sam and I met up with the crew from the east coast in Sydney which consisted of Angus Tobin, Pat Lane and Peter Johnstone then caught the rest of the East coasters up in Brisbane (Brodie Stewart, Thomas Richards and Mitchell Mulhern) and we started our trek over to KL to meet the rest of the team from WA. We were frequently asked where we were going/what we were doing and one couple even suggested we were the Australian rep ping pong team…Pat (vic) decided to tell curious onlookers that we were the Aussie basketball team bound for Beijing.. Needless to say with about an average combined height of about 5 foot 5, people weren’t buying it. Anyway after 2 average movies, a marathon of tetris and battleship duelling between team mates as well as he odd game of bejewelled (I now consider myself a bit of a connoisseur at it actually), it was good to be on the ground and not have to think that we had another epic journey waiting for us just around the corner. The trip to KL took about 8 hours, then from KL to Stockholm it was an epic 12hr and finally another 8hr flight to Newark airport in New Jersey. In our battle to minimise jetlag, the east coasters mission was to not sleep a wink on the flight to KL. When anyone showed any signs of weakness they would be poked and yelled at until their slumber was disturbed. What made it extra tough is that it was an overnight flight and so by the time we arrived in KL, we literally hadn’t slept for 24hrs. Needless to say that we were all looking decisively average by the time we all caught up in KL. We all cleared customs alright; however, the fun came when we had to collect our baggage. Between us we each had our carry-on bags, suitcase and two bike boxes. With no trolleys to help us, we were made to drag all our gear through baggage check. Now anyone would be able to tell that it is physically impossible for one person to carry at least 4 bags in one go. However, the baggage officers told us that once we took a bag through clearance, we weren’t able to go back through. Not willing to offer any assistance or alternative options, we had to haul our bags convoy style through the baggage check only to be told in their strongest American accents ‘you gotta keep , you can’t stay here “ and ‘you can’t come back, you gotta keep on movin’ your blocking the way”. It was funny at the time, think you might have had to be there though.
Once we finally lugged all our gear through the airport, we met up with May Britt Hartwell (the coach of the US juniors we are training with) who kindly took us to our accommodation (which is about 1hr30 from the airport). After not being fed for over 5hrs we were keen for some real food. Cruising down the highway, we were overwhelmed by the amount of ‘Wendy’s next exit’ or ‘Burger King 1 mile’ signs we didn’t really know what to do. The boys got their way and we settled on Burger King and Taco Bell. My first taste of American food was a chicken rancho soft taco…and I can see why America is also known as the ‘fat nation’. That thing was delicious, and for only $2 a bargain. There I said it. Disgusting, I know but hey you know what they say ‘when in Rome…’. Anyway, we finally reached our accommodation which was a quaint little 4 bedroom house located in the city of Kutztown. However, this house looked like something out of an old fashioned horror movie equipped with scary looking basement and an old creepy shed in the backyard (check out the photos, and swear it looks more creepy at night). This place was basic to say the least. Our beds were simply mattresses (no sheets, pillows ,blankets), we basically had nothing. Our first night consisted of sleeping on top of sleeping bags (it was about 30 degrees at 1:30 am when we finally clambered into our beds).Feel asleep relatively early and managed to get a decent 5 hours sleep. Was that the best you had jetlag?


So there it is, my first post. Not sure who'll actually make it to the end of this, reading back on it now its pretty uninspiring lol. Oh well, its mainly just for me to recall what i've ben doing and to let my family know that i'm still around lol. But have to admit of I get more than 1 person reading this, then i'll be a happy girl ;-)

1 Day to go..

Oh my god. Its now only 1 day t'ill i start my trek around the world to the always eventful place that is the USA. Maths test now thankfully behind me... way WAY behind me... I have now officially come to terms with the fact that i'll soon be hitting it up with the big guns in the US. Still got a lot of things to do (ie pack) but i'm sure i'll get there... it wouldn't be my style unless I left it all to the last minute anyway... Will post again when i get an opportunity

take care
xo

P.S If I don't get the chance to post here again before Sunday, just like to say big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Bron! love you lots and hope you have a good time without me :P

Calendar of events :D

Here's our current calendar