Doing it Hans Solo

Woke up this morning feeling slightly better than I did yesterday. Had a good night sleep and woke up and a half way decent hour of the morning as we weren’t meant to leave until 9:00. So I got up, had an insanely huge breakfast and then checked the emails only to find Brian and MaryAnn on the old skype! It was really nice to talk to them, to hear from some friendly voices from back home. I needed it. Have been feeling pretty down the last couple of days (if you haven’t managed to pick that up in my entries already lol…looking back on them now I sound a bit like an emo…) because I’ve been feeling tired and I’m sick. Anyways, they seem to be enjoying South Africa and were just about to head over to the track to see the day’s session.

After our chat, went and got myself ready and we cruised over to the race.
We all rolled over to the course pretty easily as we were all boxed from our last 4 days worth of racing… was going to be a toughy. Went to rego and we got a free powerbar with our entry. I scored banana!! YAY! Was pretty happy since I hadn’t tired it before.. most people say its gross but I’m a bit of a fan..shhh lol. Our race started at 11:00 and it was starting to heat up. Just like it was yesterday, it was 38 degrees on the start line. The race was around 50km. 3 laps of a 17km loop circuit with 1steady 3km climb each lap with KOM points on the top each lap. The girls headed off at a pretty cruisy pace, not much was happening… when we got to the hill I went to the front and set my own pace then at 500m to the summit I attack to get the KOM points and gapped the bunch to pick up max points. Had a bit of a break going but waited for Elspeth (one of the US juniors that we train with) to catch up as she had broken away too and we had a little break going for about 5km then got reeled in by the bunch on the downhill. On the second lap, same deal. Pace wasn’t anything too special and then I attacked again to get max KOM points. That time I had gapped the bunch again but no one was chasing, so with 30km left of the bike race, I was doing it solo. It was a split second decision but glad I made it. So I did probably the longest TT of my life lol and managed to stay away for the rest of the race. Not sure exactly how much I won by but I think it was around 3min? Its not the easiest way to win a bike race, but it sure as hell feels good once you’ve finished. Pretty sure I nearly got heat stroke though it was so hot lol.

Brodie and Lara also rode really well, Brodie breaking away for 2nd overall and 1st in the 15-16yrs and Lara got 2nd in the same age group. Very proud of them :-D
In the boys, Pat and Thommo crossed the line together (Pat got the win) and Mitch brought it home for 3rd. Another good day for the team.

At presentation, they present awards for the KOM and I got 3 boxes of powerbars and a hat! The flavors were banana (YES! Lol), apple and cinnamon and berry which I was pretty stoked about because you can’t get them back home and I was keen on trying them before I left! Then they presented the state medals for each category (which we weren’t eligible for) and then the overall placings. The overall place prizes consisted of medals for top 3 and Norwegian cow bells (May Britt Hartwell is Norwegian) which was pretty cool. So picked up a medal and cow bell as well as some Colavita pasta and oil! Didn’t do too badly if I do say so myself! Haha was pretty pleased with my little stash.


in the break

KOM presentation

Overall 17-18yr

My little stash :)


The girls then got a lift home (no way in hell I was going to ride home up the massive berg…) and then we all got ready to go to a BBQ at one of the US junior’s (Zack Semian) house. Their house is HUGE its pretty much insane and it backs onto a forest. Way cool. So we hung out there for about 5hrs and talked to everyone and it was really fun! Except the part where it rained and I got wet… and when I spilt beer on my leg.. lol. Rick also did a talk for the people there and he suddenly asked if I would like to say a few words…I was like ummm ok yeh sure! He was talking about racing and stuff and I had this massive speech about how you have to trust yourself as a rider and trust that you’ve done all the right training, trust your coach and all that sort of stuff (was pretty please with it might I add lol) but just before he asked me, he was saying how he thought I was a bit of a superstar and didn’t know why I wasn’t getting results back in Aus and that he thought it was because I was riding in the shadows of another rider. So just as I was getting started on the trust thing I started to tear up!! Was pretty embarrassing lol but its just i’ve copped so much shit from people telling me that I wasn’t going to make it as a roadie and blah blah blah and I have been given the opportunity to ride for myself and I’m finally beginning to trust myself and my ability and to have someone like him tell me that I’m a half way decent bike rider is a good feeling. So I felt like a bit of a knob but hey.

We then pretty much just cruised home and went straight to bed. Was a pretty long and eventful day but I have to admit, I’m looking forward to hopefully not doing much tomorrow. We have 80km on the program but I’m gonna see if I can reduce that… just slightly lol

Oh! Before I forget. Congrats to all Aussies for getting such great results at Worlds!! Tom picked up gold in the TP, Paul bronze in the Kieran , Megan gold in the scratch, Ashlee gold in the IP and Sarah silver in the IP. You’re amazing :-)