Trek launches new "Trek Down Under" blog

Trek Australia has recently launched a stylish new blog which is one of the best sources for all of the latest gossip about Trek bikes. It includes media releases, race reports from their supported riders and random Trek news! Check it out at

http://trekbikesaustralia.typepad.com/trekdownunder/

and thank you James Collins for the flattering wrap up about yours truly!

December 12, 2008
Trek Supported Rider Myfanwy Galloway

Across Australia, Trek Bicycles Australia supports many riders through local Trek dealers. These riders ride and compete at a variety of different levels, from bunch rides to Club races to National level competitions.

One rider to recently come on board as a Trek Supported rider is Myfanwy "Miffy" Galloway, supported through Canberra dealer Ride Shop. Earlier this year Miffy, along with a few other Aussie juniors, traveled to the US to race for a team there for just over a month. Now she's back home in Canberra and has a busy summer of racing planned, on board her new Trek Madone 6.9 Pro frameset.



She recently completed an ACTAS training camp on the NSW South Coast and then jumped straight into competition at the Tour of Bright. Despite that being her first major tour as an Elite Woman, she rode very strongly to finish 5th overall! This was against a field of experienced women racers from around the country.



As well as being a regular at the Canberra Cycling Club crit's at the Stromlo circuit, Miffy will be racing at the Bay Criterium Series January 2-6, the Australian National TT and Road titles January 7-10 and then hopefully the Oceania Road Race and the Women's tour of NZ.

Sounds like a busy summer! You can keep up to date with Miffy's racing and read her race reports on her blog.

Thanks to Greg Long for the photos.

Some photos

here are some photos of me and the new bike courtesy of photographer extraordinaire Greg Long:








you can see more of Greg's work at http://greglong.photoeventplus.com/

After a pretty successful day yesterday, I have to admit I was a little worried that I wouldn’t live up to yesterday’s standards. Regardless, I was still feeling pretty good and was looking forward to giving everything up the climb. This stage was 56.5km with a climb up the beautiful Mt Hotham at 26.5km in. In addition, there were also two intermediate sprints, one at 16km and the other at the base of the climb (26.5km). The race set off at a pretty cruisey pace however it wasn’t long before attacks were being launched. Vicki had been giving me advice and mentoring me all weekend and she told me simply not to chase anything and to save myself for the climb, so that is what I did! Chloe was leading the sprint competition and her goal for the day was to hopefully maintain her lead, however a small breakaway made by Veronica Dudderidge saw her jump clear and pick up maximum sprint points in both sprints. Meanwhile, the pack was rolling along at a comfortable pace with the 3 sprinters from yesterday playing out front and debating on who was going to chase down the break. Bridie O’Donnell than launched an attack and the pack recognised this as another possible threat, giving a time trialist a significant head start on the climb and were quick to respond! Vicki chased and I was hot on her heels with the pack strung out behind us and we caught the two lead riders at the base of the hill. In similar fashion to yesterday, the pace was set from the base of the climb. This climb could be divided into 3 10km sections and this made it easier to tackle both from a mental and physical point of view. I had analysed each section of the climb and recognised where the danger spots were and possible places to attack. Slowly but surely, riders started to drop off the back and by the time we reached the 2nd section (which was predominantly false flat) we had about 10 riders left in the pack. The false flat gave us a chance to regain our breath and Lisa Jacobs took advantage of this to attack us and launch a solo attack up the road. Going into this stage, Lisa was about 17sec ahead of me and so to let her get up the road was a bad idea. I tried to get around the pack to chase to no avail and attempted to get the rest of the pack to help me chase but they were not interested, so I was left with no choice but to try and chase her back myself. Thankfully, fellow Canberran Narelle Hards came to my aid and help me keep the pace on. Unfortunately we weren’t making up any ground and she ended up wining the stage 2min ahead of us. As we approached the last section of the climb, the pack had dwindled to about 6 riders most of which who featured in the road stage yesterday. The third section was made up of pinches of 7, 9.7 and 10% and was definitely taking the sting out of my legs. I was trying my hardest to stay on when Shara Gillow launched an attack just shy of the KOM. The small group didn’t have the legs to chase so we continued to ride at our solid pace, trying to minimise our losses. Once over the KOM, we were given a little bit of recovery before the 3km to go mark. At that point, I wasn’t feeling too bad and I was contemplating trying to attack and try and put some time into Bron Ryan who was only 20sec ahead of me on GC. Stupidly, I didn’t do it. I think it was just because I was afraid I would blow and loose even more time which was stupid. Like they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained and as a result, I didn’t gain anything. Once we reached the summit and saw the 500m to go mark, I was starting to get edgy because Carlee Taylor was only 3sec behind me on GC and she was still looking strong. Luckily, Vicki was there to give me a hand and I was sitting on the front with her keeping up the pace and she was telling me “wait…wait..wait…” until we reached the 100m to go banner when she said “now” and I launched an attack. I ended up placing 3rd and gapping the chase group by 2sec. I was ecstatic with the result however disappoint that I didn’t give myself the opportunity to move up on GC and use my potential. I hate walking away from races thinking “what if” and annoyed that that was the case. But I can take away lots of positive things from the race, like the fact that I rode well leading up to the climb trying to conserve energy and that I pushed myself more than I thought possible to hang on on the climb!

In the end, I finished 5th on GC. I was very pleased with the result as it was my first major tour as an Elite Woman. Although the professional riders who were present were well below their usual form, it was still comforting to know that I was able to stay with them on the climbs and I look forward to seeing what I can do come Nationals at the beginning of next year! I took a lot away from the Tour and I will no doubt learn from the mistakes I made to improve my performance at my next race!

The top 5 on GC were as followed

Vicki Whitelaw
Shara Gillow
Lisa Jacobs
Bronwyn Ryan
Myfanwy Galloway

For the full results and final GC:
http://www3.your-sports.com/details/results.php?lang=en&page=6&eventid=1402&contest=7&name=Allg.%20Listen%7CGC%20RANKING%20with%20Stage%20Times&CertificateLink=1&format=view


Vicki Whitelaw and I at the top of Mt Hotham after the completion of Stage 3


The view of Hotham

Stage 2: the Individual Time Trial (ITT) 15.7km

Now, I’m not going to lie, I’m not the world’s biggest time trial fan! Maybe because I don’t do particularly well by myself in the wind and that I hardly ever get the chance to do them in training so the mere thought of having to do one scares me just a little…but at least this one was only relatively short at just over 15km. It was going to be a hard ride given that we had only just completed a RR several hours before, but everyone else was in the same boat! I don’t have a TT bike so it was just a case of putting some clip on bars on my bike and chucking on a skin suit and I was set. I was lucky that the break I was in put a fair chunk of time into the rest of the peloton so I had a slight advantage over them in the TT. I warmed up on the wind trainer listening to my ipod and going through the course in my head. It was a relatively flat course which didn’t necessarily suit me overly and more or less played right into the hands of the TTers such as Vicki and Bridie (who ended up finishing 1st and 2nd respectively ahead of Kathy Watt in 3rd) but I was going to give it a decent crack! I then headed over the start ramp and before I knew it I was off. We were off at 20sec intervals and I was chasing the morning’s 2nd place getter Shara Gillow. The problem I have with TTs is I find it hard to concentrate on one thing for an extended period of time and I think that ultimately cost me in my final result. Don’t get me wrong, I did go hard, very hard and my HR data will tell you that also, but your mental approach also plays a major role in TTs. Thinking back on it, I believe that next time I need to break the course down in sections and give myself specific goals to achieve and things to focus on in each particular section which will hopefully keep my mind busy and enable me to focus more on the job at hand. So although I was a little disappointed with the overall result, I placed 10th about 2min36 down, I was still sitting in 5th position on GC going into tomorrows stage: Mt Hotham Ascent.

for full results of the stage:

http://www3.your-sports.com/details/results.php?lang=en&page=6&eventid=1402&contest=7&name=Stage%202%7CStage2%20GC%20RESULT&CertificateLink=1&format=view

Tour of Bright: Stage 1: Gas Loop 79km

Here it is, finally, the Tour of Bright. I have been crossing off the days on my calendar waiting for this event to come around and finally it has! I travelled down yesterday on the bus with the majority of the crew who were at the ACTAS camp the week before. It was a long ride and it felt good to finally get out and stretch the legs on the bike. I have to admit, that I felt shocking and was very nervous about how my legs would feel come race day! I was sharing a cabin with Vicki, her husband Dave and Chloe at a local motel. After our ride, Susie, mechanic extraordinaire, tuned our bikes and gave them a clean so we were all set for the weekend of racing ahead of us!

The first stage was an early start, 8am, from Ovens to Bright. It included some climbs such as that over Towanga gap and for the boys Mt Beauty. I lined up along side riders such as Vicki, Bridie O’Donnell, Kathy Watt, Carlee Taylor in A Grade Women (after being originally put in B Grade which did wonders for my self confidence lol ). The first part of the race was pretty relaxed, it was like we were out for a Sunday stroll! And then as we hit the base of Towanga Gap (with just over 20km to go) Vicki hit the front and set the pace up the climb. Slowly but surely riders started dropping like flies until there was a group of about 6 of us including Vicki, Shara Gillow, Lisa Jacobs, Carlee Taylor, another fellow Canberran Bron Ryan and myself. We lost Bron at about 2km from the top of the climb and Carlee, Lisa and myself dropped the wheel when Shara attacked just under 1km to the top of the KOM with Vicki in tow. Vicki and Shara managed to hang on to their lead finishing 1st and 2nd respectively whilst I won the bunch kick form Carlee and Lisa to finish in 3rd spot just over 1min down. I was pretty stoked with the result as I would never have predicted anything like it! My main goal was to try and hang on to the girls for as long as I could on the climb but to cap it off with a podium finish in one of my first races as an Elite Woman felt pretty awesome to say the least! It was then just a matter of getting some food into me (nothing hits the spot like my banana bread oatmeal :P) and having a good cool down to prepare myself for the race of truth: the ITT.

for full results of the stage:
http://www3.your-sports.com/details/results.php?lang=en&page=6&eventid=1402&contest=7&name=Stage%201%7CStage1%20GC%20RESULTS&CertificateLink=1&format=view

ACTAS Road Camp: Day 5

Its been a long time coming, probably because I didn't want to have to remember the amount of pain I felt on this ride lol... but here's the write up from our last day on ACTAS camp!

Well it was another early departure for us, the boys left just before 8am and we were in the cars shortly after. Today the girls and a few others were riding from the now familiar Robertson Pie shop back to Goulburn whilst the boys tackled Macquarie Pass again and met up with us at the Pie shop. I don’t know about everyone else, but personally I was counting on this ride to being similar to the ride up to Kiama…Just a nice easy cruise along the highway! But little did we realise that we’d be treated to strong winds which turned into a nasty block headwind the moment we reached the highway. We were creeping, no joke. At some points we were probably going not much faster than walking pace! And it took us nearly over 1hr to do the last 20km of our ride…wow. Just thinking back on it I remembered just how horrible it was lol, the longest 95km of my life! But I was one of the lucky ones…I was fortunate enough to have a seat in the car with my name written all over it :D! I felt sorry for the guys who had another 80 or so ks to ride to get back to Canberra…apparently it was another very slow ride! But they all made it there albeit a little worse for wear! Once we had reached Goulburn we gorged ourselves on our much loved salad rolls which we had gown quite attached to over the last we days and we were changed, packed and ready to leave within a matter of minutes! I shot-gunned the front passenger’s seat because I rode in the middle of the back seat on the way up and my head was pressed against the window and I was fast asleep before we left the parking lot! I was pooped. But it was a good feeling, knowing that I had pushed my body that hard over the last few days! With any luck all my hard work will pay off for the Tour of Bright on the weekend!

All in all, I think that the camp was a fantastic experience and I definitely learnt a lot from being there! I pushed myself harder than thought possible and learnt new strategies to help improve my performance! And it all went down without a hitch thanks to the awesome work done by Glenn, Kris and Grant who took such good care of us throughout the entire camp!
Next on the agenda: Tour of Bright 6-7 Dec, wish me luck!

ACTAS Road Camp: Day 4

On today’s schedule was another 140km of undulating terrain with a hike up Macquarie Pass thrown in for good measure. I went down to meet everyone for our 9am start and do my pre ride weigh in when Glen came up to me with a genius plan. He offered to hook me up with a radio and every 10min was going to tell me to drink and tell me to eat at regular intervals during the ride. I had previously approached him about the difficulties I was having to remember to eat and drink on my rides and during racings which was ultimately affecting my performance, noticeably in the closing stages of the race. I thought it was a brilliant idea! And was surprised that no one had suggested I do something like it before! It was an epic task to take on on his behalf, as well as tedious, having to constantly remind me every few minutes, but I am eternally grateful and believe that it had a significant impact on my performance during the ride! I felt stronger on the climbs because I’d taken on adequate fuel and fluid before the major ones and found that I had more left in the tank in the closing stages of the ride! I think that it helped me a lot and I’m truly thankful to Glen (and Grant) for taking up the challenge!
Back to the day’s ride, it was again another undulating ride (remind me never to complain about doing cotter loops ever again!) with my favourite climb of the camp: Macquarie Pass. Macquarie Pass is about a 6km climb? I don’t know.. I’m just estimating.. it was long.. long enough for Viki to get in 2x10min SEs and another 6min one lol. It has a gradual increase in gradient, sort of like a Stromlo back home and it presented people with the opportunity to ‘tap’ up it or go all out and smash it to the top! I love it! Another significant part of the ride was the climb up Cardiac. Let me tell you, its not called Cardiac because it is easy. Far out. It was near the end of the ride and I was already feeling the affects of the last 3 days of camp…it hurt. It was only just under 1km but it was a very steep pinch. I was secretly praying for Glen to drive up in the car and offer me a tow up it but again, that would be giving up.. and that is not on.

Needless to say, I was glad when we finally got home! I went straight for the baked beans on toast and then it was just a case of relaxing in the ice bath (I’m actually a bit of a fan to be honest!) and soaking up some sun in a last ditched effort to get rid of the tan lines before formal on Thursday! Our room decided to celebrate our last night at camp by ordering Mexican..yummy! I got a chicken Chimichanga (don’t even know how to begin pronouncing it) and it was sooo tastey! Hmm..and so huge! But I ate every last bit of it :) After letting my stomach digest what it had just taken in, Chloe and I again treated ourselves to ice cream from the ice creamery again.. just because we could :) and then we called it a night because we had to get up early to start our trek back home!



Well at least my tan lines aren't THAT bad :P

ACTAS Road Camp: Day 3

Today: rest day: thank god. I was pretty shattered after my ride yesterday and woke up to the sound of rain, thankful that it was a rest day and I wouldn’t have to venture out in the more than unfriendly weather conditions which presented itself to us. On our schedule was a much awaited for coffee shop ride, but we definitely had to work for it! It was probably one of the hardest rec rides I think I’ve ever had to do! Being situated in a little valley, the only way to get out of Kiama was up and so our 35km ride proved to be challenging in some parts (well for me at least). But the berry frappe I had soon made me forget the pain in my legs and the cute clothes shops were really nice, and had fabulous cheap clothes! Probably best I was in my riding stuff…otherwise I would have bought half the shop! I didn’t do much for the rest of the day, which was really nice! It is great now that I’ve finished school and the feeling that ‘I should be dong something, not relaxing’ is finally gone.. well for now at least! And I was enjoying sitting on the veranda reading trashy magazines without a care in the world! We watched and laughed the video of ourselves struggling up the climbs and had a lovely bbq put on by Glen and the rest of the crew which was delicious (when it was finally ready :P…to their credit, the bbq was really dodgy and they ended up cooking the meat in the oven…). We are really spoilt!
So another day has been ticked off the calendar, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s ride where we are going to climb Macquarie Pass!

ACTAS Road Camp: Day 2

Day 2 promised to be the hardest day of the camp…and it certainly didn’t disappoint! The full schedule was around 150km of undulating terrain with 4 significant climbs: Jamberoo, Mt Berry and twice up Saddle back (up 1 way then up the other side, because just going up there once wasn’t painful enough!). Unfortunately I missed out on climbing Jamberoo as Chloe and I were put on a shortened schedule today but from the looks on the rest of the crews’ faces, it looked like it was one hell of a climb! Except for maybe Bling who smashed it all the way to the top and he was even able to give us a smile as he rode past the video camera to the top! Thinking back on it, it is probably best that I didn’t climb it, considering the massive box I found myself in for the rest of the ride…but I’d still rather ride up it than descend it any day :. Chloe and I got out at the top of the climb at the Pie Shop at Robertson and rode about 40km before coming face to face with our first climb of the day: Mt Berry. The climb itself wasn’t too bad and I found the gradient and the length of the climb to suit me quite well, in saying that though, it wasn’t easy! All up the climb was around 6km? and I was cruising up with Vicki, Bron and Fabio (who we started counter attacking in the final stages of the climb, lol ‘apparently’). Unfortunately with every uphill comes a downhill and so we were again faced with another dodgy descent albeit not as bad as Jamberoo. After conquering Mt Berry, we stopped in Berry to fuel up and regroup: Berg 1 complete. Only a few more to go…The thing about this ride was at no particular stage was the ride ‘flat’. It was constantly undulating which meant that there was no real chance for me to recover and I was having a hard time just trying to sit in!
We looped back nto Kiama where we would face the much talked about climb = Saddleback. We started climbing and Glen and John (Potholes) rolled up next to me in the car and asked ‘Do you want to do this climb? Because you don’t have to if you don’t want to’. For one split second I though that I should stop. Go home. I was buggered. But then I’d already started climbing and the thought of NOT doing the climb didn’t even come to mind before they asked me. I shook my head. If I can do this, I can do anything. And besides, I love a good challenge! My goal on the climb wasn’t to try and keep up with everyone, it was just a simple case of focusing on my technique and just trying to make it to the top. It was one bitch of a climb, 3-4km with gradients of 23% in some parts. I swear I nearly came to a standstill. But I made it to the top and I was pleased that I had achieved my goal!

View from the top of Saddleback (photo from google)... just to give you a little bit of an idea of how steep it was :)
Another interesting aspect of this camp is that Grant (the sports scientist) was filming some of our climbing and was able to provide us with feedback about our technique. This proved very beneficial as we learned ways to preserve our strength and it also proved to be entertaining as we watched everyone scramble and grind their way up the climb. There was definitely no style points awarded today! Once we had reached the top, we were given the opportunity to ride up the reverse side of the climb which was apparently shorter, although steeper than what I’d just done. Oh god. Or ride home. I was given my marching orders and finished the ride with about 100km.
After that, got home, had a much anticipated shower and pretty much fell into a heap. People can tell you that I looked pretty average… even after I had a nap! Lol, but hey, was broken…but you have to break yourself in order to rebuild yourself to be better and stronger than before! Before heading to bed though, we watched the decisively messed up and average Clock Work Orange and I ventured down to the local ice creamery I spotted when I was rounding up my Ks..and indulged in a scoop of ‘stairway to heaven’ ice cream. It was a reward to myself for pushing myself that little bit further, to expand my mental boundaries. Today, I surprised myself with my determination and dedication…and I think that warrants ice cream :P


Pie from the Pie shop (google images)

The Robertson Pie Shop (google images)

ACTAS Road Camp: Day 1

500km, 5 days, 3 significant climbs and the discovery of a whole new meaning of the world pain and that is in summary what the ACTAS Camp was all about :P. The ACTAS road camp is run annually and this year it's main focus was predominantly to put us all through a hard block of training leading up to the Tour of Bright next weekend as well as give us juniors the opportunity to ride different and challenging terrain and to expose us to new tools which we can utilise to further pursue our careers as cyclists. There were 20 people in total n the camp and we were fortunate enough to have ACTAS head coach Glen Doney, Kris Dunn a sports psychologist and Grant Van Der Ploeg a sports scientist helping us on the trip and providing us with invaluable advice and useful feedback which we can utilise to improve our performance.

The camp started on Thursday and on the schedule for myself, the other women and the U/19s was a 130km ride from Goulburn to Kiama which we would call home for the next few days. The rest of the group started from Canberra and met us in Goulburn after a quick brew stop! It ended up being a massive day for them with close to 250km! The terrain was undulating for the most part of the ride and the weather was treating us well which overall made for a very pleasant ride! One thing to take note of would have to be the decent down Jamberoo. OH MY GOD. I don’t think I have ever been so scared of a decent in my entire life! It was pretty sketchy, full of switchbacks and narrow winding roads which added to the excitement when it came to facing on coming cars! On the first corner, some of the riders locked up their breaks and it was from that moment I decided that I would be taking it easy.. there was no point going flat out and crashing on the first day! But yeah, definitely one for the records…

I’m not going to lie, we didn’t reach the accommodation a moment too soon! The accommodation was really nice! It is located on the main street and was right next to the supermarket (which is always convenient for hungry cyclists) and cute water front cafes were only a couple of minutes walk away! I had the pleasure of rooming with Chloe, Vicki Whitelaw and Bron and Joel Ryan and was privileged enough to share a bedroom with Vicki who was more than happy to share her experiences as a professional rider and give me some useful advice! It was really nice getting to know what life is like at the top of the pro scene and learning just what it takes to get there…plenty of guts and determination just to name a few! After we unloaded all of our gear and did our post ride weigh-in, it was just a matter of feeling the wrath of the ice bath and filling up at a local Thai restaurant before heading back to the apartments and calling it a night!

So that is day 1 complete, day 2 is meant to be the hardest day of the camp…Bring on the hills!

Wagga Wagga to Albury, 135km smash fest 16/11/08

I love handicap races, I love it how everyone works together to acheive the same goals...to catch limit and ride away from scratch as though you've stolen something! Unlike scratch races, there is less mucking around and different tactics involved in handicaps because if you slow up the slightest bit, scratch will swamp over you like a tidal wave before you know it and there is no point attacking your bunch because you need to work as a team to try and keep your advantage over the other riders.
Anyway, to the race. I started in C grade which was the 2nd bunch out on the road, about 10min back from limit. 7 min after us was B grade than scratch was another 10min back from them, so scratch had given limit 27min head start which may seem like a lot but over 135km of racing...Its nothing really at all. No wonder scratch caught us with just over 40km to go!
Our bunch started off riding pretty solidly, so solidly in fact that it unfortunatley meant i was feeling my lack of proper warm up and it wasn't long before i was sitting on the back of the bunch just trying to hold on! Fortunately it didn't take long for me to ride my legs into it and i was back pulling my fair share of the weight..definitely not the best way to start a very long day in the saddle! Thats another thing i like about handicaps is that it is an excuse for me to ride really hard and fast for as long as i possibly can and see just how far i can push myself and if i find i've pushed myself beyond my limits, i can simply miss a turn to recover and then rejoin the pace line.
Nothing overly excited happened in the race, except for when scratch and block caught us with just over 40km to go, a little bit earlier than we would have liked, but hey it was awesome riding in such a massive pack and trying to maneouver around the bunch proved quite challenging but fun at the same time! Thinking back on our small advantage, we were pretty much doomed to feel the wrath of the scratch markers! From then on it was a bit sketchy. We'd already caught limit and so the whole race ha come together and we had a bunch of around 90 people! Definitely one of the biggest bunches i've been in! At one point i looked down at my speedo and i was free wheeling at over 50km/hr on the flat.. we were flying! There was a lot of bustling in the bunch as some of the less experienced riders were trying to mix it up with the A graders which resulted in one pretty nasty looking crash but fortunately I don't think he was seriously injured...The pack was still togethere when we reached the last climb which was about 1km long and abut 5km from the finish when Michael Matthews from the Canberra Suzuki team attacked, forcing a chase in the bunch. I was two riders behind Chloe Hosking and Vicki Whitelaw, keeping a close eye on them as i was battling them for the title of 1st woman and they went with the attack but the riders between them and myself didn't have the strength to kick with them so i had to kick around them in the wind and didn't have the legs to bridge the last gap. I think it was partly due to the fact that i didn't eat or drink much during the race..thinking back on it, it has to be the reason. I mean i drunk less than 1 bottle and had 2 GUs on a 135km ride... not much. I just got distracted.
Anyway, we reached the summit and I decended by myself as I was caught between groups and the race was really strung out and it wasn't long before a small group caught me but they had bsically thrown in the towel already and i wanted to try minimise my losses as much as possible so opted to ride the rest solo. I'm not too sure how i finished up overall but i didn't finish too far from the back of the first pack. Vicki managed to ride away from Chloe over the top of the climb to pick up first woman and Michael won overall.
Overall, I was pretty happy with how I rode except for what happened in the closing stages of the race, but you learn from your mistakes and next time i'll pay closer attention to what I eat and drink during racing as well as to react quicker to attacks in the bunch and not hang around for the person in front of you to go.

The bike was awesome though, loved it. It was heaven. Made the ride very enjoyable and i totally rate the SRAM. Thanks again Trek and RideShop :D

Next on the agenda is the ACTAS road camp which is held on the 27 Nov-1st Dec. Its gonna be tough. But bring the pain, i can't wait!

The New Bicycle

It's finally here, my new bike! When I got the call up saying it had arrived, I thought they were playing a sick joke on me after they said it wouldn't be arriving t'ill close to Christmas! But it turns out they weren't but I wanted to see it for myself so I rushed over to the shop and sure enough there was a box there with my name written on it. I'm not going to lie, I fought back tears when Tim pulled it out of the box, i'm not quite sure people realise how long i've been waiting for his bike and to me it was an indication that things were going to get better and getting this bike was the first step in the right direction.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank James Collins at Trek for looking after me and of course Tim and everyone at the RideShop for all of their support, without their help this sexy looking machine wouldn't have been possible!

So heres the low down on the new bike:

Frame: Trek Madone 6.9pro frameset in the Astana paint job

Groupset: SRAM Red

Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace 10 Speed 165mm 39/52 with SRM Powermeter (well will have the SRM on it once we get it modified to fit the Trek's new BB)

Wheels: Zipp 404

Frame Size: 50cm

Saddle: Selle Italia Diva

Bidon Cages: Elite Carbon

Stem: PRO Vibe 80mm

Bars: Shimano PRO PLT Compact 40cm

Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace

Will upload personal photos shortly, but here is what it looks like!

NSW Crit Champs 18/10/08

After getting back to Canbera relatively late on Thursday night, needless to say that I was not looking forward to a 5am start on Friday morning, but you have to do what you have to do and considering I was due to leave for Sydney with Chloe and her family at 9, I didn't really have much choce as my legs were begging for a recovery ride. It didn't prove to be too painful and riding with the bunch was far more appealing than rding by myself.
So after my ride, I went home and got my things, wandered over to Chloe's and set off to Sydney firstly by passing the polling booths to cast our first ever votes (even though I hate to admit it, I would be lying if I said I played close attention to all of the candidates policies and knew exactly what they were on about rather than voting for however sounded cool and i'd seen on TV.. but hey, got to start somewhere and I promise my fellow Canberran's that I will make a more informed decision in the years to come. I did however get some guidance from Chloe who told me not to vote for certain parties because they were like weird cults...)
We spent most of the say walkng around Darling Harbour to do a spot of shopping (yeah I know, gerat recovery..but I was on a quest to find a formal dress! Sadly to no avail..:( ) Anyway, had a yummy pasta meal and attempted to reduce the damage to my legs caused by a day of shopping with a hot/cold shower, streches and some major Skin time.
I woke up the next day feeling a bit ordinary but didn't let that get to me, you know what some say - You race your best when your feeling horrible? well I was hoping they were right...It was disgustingly hot, over 30 degrees.. at least it didn't take long for us to warm up! The race was held at Sydney Olympic Park and was on an L shaped hot dog circuit which after the first 10min, started to take it's toll on my legs! It was a relatively small field of girls who started but the quality of the riders were definitely not lacking! Fronting up were riders such as Ashlee Ankudinoff, Theresea Gallagher just to name a few. The race was about 35min? and the pressure was on right from the gun. There were numerous attacks being launched, by myself included (god knows why I did that too myself lol, but I do like a challenge) to try and get the sting out of some of the sprinter's legs and slowly the race started to disintergrate. I was starting to struggle but ws still in contact with the 5 other riders who were left when someone ran into my rear wheel, causing a pile up witht eh other 3 riders. Fortunately, no one was badly injured and all took the liberty of hte 1 lap out an re-joined the field. I completed 1 more lap and noticed that my bike didn't feel stable going around the hot dog corners and it felt as though my Zipp rear wheel had taken a bit of a bashing and the last thing I wanted was the race to come down to a sprint finish and my tyre roll off or i cause someone to crash screaming around the last bend so i thought i'd take a visit to the pits and pick up my spare wheel. I stoppped at the pits and they started to fix my wheel when they told me that I had 4 laps remaining so wasn't allowed to pick up my spares (we didn't have a lap board and i looked at the time on my computer and thought it was still OK).. so unfortunately i had to chase back on to the bunch and try and finish the race. I didn't end up making contact with the bunch again, but I did finish, think I picked up about 6th or 7th. Ashlee won in the bunch sprint and completly inihilated the field, it was great to watch, Congrats to her!

So a disappointing race for me, but hey, there is not much I could do...except ride on my dodgy wheel? but I guess we all make mistakes and unfortunatley sometimes learn from them the hard way...

Until next time
take care
xo

Amy Gillett Cup: Mansfield to Mt Buller 16/10/08

This was a race I’d been looking forward to for a long time. Why might you ask? Well there are a few reasons. Firstly, because it was part of the Amy Gillett Cup, a foundation of which I am a proud supporter because of the work they do for raising road safety awareness for cyclists and secondly, it gave me the opportunity to race up a much talked hill in the Sun Herald Tour, Mt Buller. The Amy Gillett Cup was a support race to the men’s Jayco Sun Herald Tour which meant that we got the opportunity to see the pros battle it out on the climb at the end of our race!
So the race went like this, it was a 46km race with a 16km climb up Mt Buller at the end. 26 or so girls lined up at Mansfield and we cruised at a constant pace and the girls were all having a catch up chat up until we reached the bottom of the climb. The race was going to be a 16km hill climb with the person with the most strength and determination to take final honours. From the entrance gates to the slopes, the pressure was on with a rider from Albury Wodonga setting the pace (I later found out that she was riding in B grade and she doesn’t actually race competitively) and started to cause havoc behind her. I sat in the top 3-4 the whole way up the climb not wanting to miss any decisive moves. That’s the thing I like about racing interstate, it’s that I am not familiar with the ability or racing style with the majority of the girls and so as far as I’m concerned, we are all on a level playing field when it comes to our abilities as cyclists. So the rider from Albury Wodonga was doing a fair bit of damage but there was still a group of about 6-8 of us by the time we reached the half way point. Among the group were riders such as Sarah Kent, Peta Mullens , Tory Thomas and Lisa Jacobs (a strong hill climber with whom I raced against at Wangaratta). With about 3km to go, some of the stronger girls in the lead bunch decided to have a bit of a dig and so there were a few attacks being launched and one made by Lisa saw her, Rebecca Locke (the eventual winner), Sarah and myself go clear. It was hard work bridging across to Lisa and but with around 2km to go and the quality of those riders sent alarm bells ringing, it was definitely going to be the race decider. And so the race was on from there and it was basically a case of who could ride the other people off their wheel. With about 1km to go, Lisa and Sarah had just dropped off the back which left myself and Rebecca to battle it out however unfortunately for me, I popped with less than 500m to go and ended up finishing 2nd about 20sec off the pace.
All in all it was a good race. Although I was pretty annoyed that I didn’t win overall, looking back on the race now I realised that I’d given it everything and gave myself the best chance possible. Unfortunately for me I just didn’t have the legs when it came down to it! But I chased down every attack on the climb when I thought I was slaughtered and I surprised myself, I found that I could take myself to a whole new world of pain and mental strength I never knew I had. I believed in myself, and I didn’t give up. Something which I learnt from a very well respected coach when I was in the States. Its thanks to them that I rode how I did today.

I am sorry, sorry for my lack of blogging over the past few weeks. I guess I've just been caught up in life and all of the twists and turns it throws my way and as a consequence my blog has suffered. Needless to say, a lot has been happening both on and off the bike since my last report about the Glen Innes to Inverell Classic such as school, work and much more racing! So here's whats been going down racing wise:

- Amy Gillett Cup: Mansfield to Mt Buller 16/10/08
- McCarroll's NSW Criterium Championships 18/10/08
- Canberra Cycling Club and Tuggeranong Vikings Club Championships 19/10/08
- and a couple of Club Criteriums

Off the bike, I've enjoyed the pleasures that being 18 offers, trying my hardest to keep motivated at school but with the end being only 4 weeks off its time i stick my head down and just plough on through and the exciting news of the day is that i have finally ordered my new bike! That's right, in only a matter of short weeks a brand new Trek 6.9pro should be heading my way :) now if that's not motivation enough to go out and train, i don't know what is :P but it is safe to say that I'll be needing extra shifts at work to pay for my little hobby as these things don't come cheap! But it will all be worth it, I'm sure :)

Anyway, this is only a short post just to say that yes, i'm still alive and well and I will upload race reports and photos of goings on over the next few days! Just after I finish my English essay and my oral which is due at the end of the week :S wish me luck!!





Just a glimpse of some of the stuff I've been up to in my absence :P Hanging out with probably some of the coolest people I know!

Glen Innes to Inverell, Celtic Country Femme Classic

On Thursday last week, mum and i began our 11hr journey up to northern NSW for the Glen Innes to Inverell which is the Women's race which is run in conjunction with the men's Grafton to Inverell (226km). On the schedule for the women was a 95km race with 2 KOMs and 2 Sprint primes. The course was undulating for the most part it with a few steep 2-3km climbs thrown in to the mix. the profile of the course can be seen here:
http://www.graftontoinverellcycleclassic.com.au/site/images/stories/pdf/glen-invl_elsm_loop_coloured.pdf

26 girls fronted the start line including eventual race winner Davina Summers and Kirsty Broun, Liz Young and Carly Hibberd all racing for MB cycles team. Conditions for racing were good, except for that it was a bit on the steamy side. The SRM kindly informed me that it was 34 degrees... definitely don't get that back home! So after the field did a lap of the town to be introduced to the crowd, we headed off. We were told that there was going to be a surprise sprint somewhere in the race and that there would be flags marking when it was going to be. Unfortunately for most of the girls, they didn't see the flag or didn't read to program and were unaware when the first sprint was. at 10km in i saw a yellow flag indicating 200m until the sprint and i was in a good position near the front so i took off and gapped the field by a long shot to win it. I sat up and the bunch rolled up next to me and asked me what that was..they didn't realise that it was the surprise sprint until it was too late! Probably thinking what an idiot i was, attacking 10km into a 100km race ha ha.. oh well. So got maximum point for that sprint.

After that we ran into the base of 8% climb which was about 2-3km long and the first of the KOM. I broke away mid way with Kirsty Broun and Jodie Willet and managed to get over Jodie for 2nd in the KOM. The bunch regrouped shortly after and we continued on the undulating course until the next KOM climb, a 5.8% climb which was about 1-2km long. Kirsty and I broke away with her team mate Carly and Kirsty picked up the win again to secure the KOM. we were away for a little while but the course is essentially downhill so we got reeled in by the pack before too long. In the last 30 or so km of the race, most of the girls were running bit low on water since we didn't get an official feed station because our race wasn't very long.

One rider in particular asked the lead motor bike if she could have some water and he said he didn't have any and i overheard this and offered my 2nd bottle to her. later during the race she asked if she could have another drink and i was like' yeah sure', was hardly going to let another rider go without water...but if you keep reading on you'll see why i get a little bit pissed off at this rider.

So we had only a short 9% climb which was about .5-1km long, by this time my legs were killing me. i don't mean to sound up myself or anything, but i was definitely pulling my weight in the bunch! wa pulling a stack of turns but hey, thats just how i ride. I would rather be aggressive and get dropped than do nothing all race. At the end of that little pinch there was the last sprint and i picked up 2nd, securing my a win as the Women's Sprint Queen.

From then on, it was downhill to the finish. Then was when i was welcomed to the wonderful world of women's team racing. another rider (not the one who i gave water) but another rider told me her team mate was going to attack at 2km to go and that i should hold her wheel and go for it. now i took her advice because we'd been working hard together all race and she was saying how well i was doing and stuff..so trusted her. was a bit annoyed when i realised that the person she told me to follow was her lead out rider so she had me perfectly sandwiched out of the way from the rider they actually wanted to win. I was sitting on the inside of the lead out girls wheel out of the wind when her team mate behind me goes 'pull off inside' and pushes me to the side, which left me with 1km to go in the wind trying to get back into the lead out. i tried getting back into the pack only to be told by the rider who i gave water to 'to piss off'. left me having to go to the back of the pack of about 13 through a round-a-bout and having to come around them. managed to get 7th in the tight bunch finish. was pretty annoyed becuase hadn't reached my max in the sprint. didn't get the opportunity. reckon would have been up there for sure. but hey, guess thats just racing! and lesson learnt. it is kind of a sucky way to learn it but hey. At least I was happy with how i rode bar the last 2km. i rode more aggressively than the race in Wangaratta and did a lot of work. Just didn't quite go my way at crunch time. All i guess i can do is learn from my mistakes.

So thats another race under my belt and a big one at that. Turns out it was the last race on the NRS calendar! and i guess 7th in an elite field isn't too shabby.. and i did pick up the Women's Sprint Jersey (even tough they got the results mixed up and presented it as a tie at the Presentation between myself and Kirsty..turns out they had me 3rd in the 2nd sprint..) but got that fixed up not long after.


So that night we had the presentation pasta dinner which was good then crashed in our lovely caravan for the night, it was actually really cute! Oddly enough my body clock woke me up at 5am the next day as it is accostumed to during the week and was unable to get back to sleep but luckily mum was awake so we were on the road at about 6 so were were home in time for a 40km recovery ride and dinner :) the trip itself was good. i shared most of the driving with mum, stopping in little country towns on the way. thats one of the aspects i like about cycling, it can take you to some of the most wonderful places! i have been to towns people didn't even know existed! and cycling people are so friendly and people were out on the race route cheering for us the whole way! it was wonderful :)


Next on the to do list: 'Amy Gillett Cup'. going to be a good one ;)

P.S full results and race interviews can be found here:
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2031&Itemid=48
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2028&Itemid=101
and
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2030&Itemid=48

Wangaratta Racing

The Criterium

The Wangaratta Criterium was officially my comeback race since the states, and what an interesting one it was! The crit was held on a circuit at Sam Miranda Winery which was about 500-600m long with a hot dog corner in it. Now that I actually think about it, the whole thing was basically a corner! wasn't much opportunity to pedal, but that was not to say that it wasn't fast! The weather was perfect, sun was shining, wasn't any wind to be seen...loving life :)

They key to this crit was going to be stay at the front. We had about 13 girls who had entered? including Belinda Goss who one of the top domestic rides at the moment. Our crit was 30min and 2 laps with a few intermediate sprints thrown in for good measure. within the first couple of laps, the hot dog corner proved to take some casualties with the bunch reduced to about 6 riders. The constant acceleration out of that turn further reduced the field and in the end there were 4 riders left including myself. I didn't have as powerful acceleration as a couple of the other girls in the group so had to chase hard to get back on the end of the break most laps, legs were definitely feeling the lactic acid... it was like doing a track start every 500m for 30min! makes you tough haha. coming into the last 3 laps i realised that if i was to have any chance at winning, i'd have to go into that hot dog turn in front and hope for the best, was on the front for the last 3 laps and managed to hold them off until about 100m to go where got pipped for the line and picked up 3rd behind Belinda Goss and Chloe McConville.

Wasn't too fussed about the result, i'm not a classic sprinter but i think i gave myself every opportunity i had to do well! had a good cool down afterwards and fueled up on probably some of the best woodfire pizza (greek with lamb and tzatziki...yummy..) and iced chocolate in preparation for the road race the next day! quality stuff

The Road Race

The road race, where do i start? well guess first thing was the weather. I was surprised at just how quickly it could change! Perfect weather for the criterium and we rock up to the road race and it was blowing a gale and raining! Was definitely going to be a tough day in the office...100km of racing into the wind with a few climbs thrown in for good measure! I have to admit, I was pretty excited to see how i'd go on the climbs as it proved to be one of my strengths in the US. there was an 11km climb of about 3.25% i think, followed by another climb which was about 5km on top of which was a KOM (about half way into the race). the first climb was about 10km in and one girl attacked and I chased after her with Belinda on my wheel and turned around to see that we'd dropped the bunch. We stayed away on the climb until just after the KOM where we saw a chase group coming so was eased up and waited as we still had 60km in a head wind to do, so we didn't mind the extra company! The climbing was great, just a gradual increase. felt really strong but was a bit reserved because didn't know how my form would stack up. just missed out on the KOM because i left it too late and Belinda had the stronger acceleration. Should have just tried to ride them off my wheel with about 1km to go, but hey now i know where i stand in my ability and will hopefully be able to have more trust in it for next weekends racing! The decent from the KOM felt awesome, such an adrenalin rush! Hit the front and just smashed it, glad i had the 12 on! although it was a bit sketchy with all of the debris on the road from the wind :s

So there was a bunch of about 7 girls after we got caught and we stayed together for the rest of the race as it was basically flat or downhill. it was gong to come to a bunch finish because the winds were too strong for anyone to get away in by themselves. not my ideal situation, but hey, thats bike racing! So in the bunch finish i got 3rd again behind Belinda and Chloe again, so same placings as the crit. Was happy with how i raced, pulled my fair share of the weight just wish i was more aggressive on the climbs!


There is a picture of the break which i was in for the first half of the race going up the climb here:
http://www.pixweb.com.au/main/gallery.php?alb=73


It was great to get the first lot of racing under my belt and i'm looking forward to the next block of racing which i have coming up! It was definitely a race worth the 6hr drive! although, needless to say i was a bit buggered for the trip home!

Next on the to do list: Glen Innes to Inverell. Bring it.

P.S full results can be found here:
http://www.vic.cycling.org.au/?Page=17780

Back in business!

I know, it has been a while since we have last spoken…wasn’t going to continue blogging after the trip as it was basically just my online journal, but I had so much fun writing it that I thought I’d continue it..just putting up random race reports and results and other interesting things which have been happening!

So not much has happened since I’ve been back..started and finished school again, working at the bike shop, got sick, started back training, saw the girls and Gus ride amazingly at junior nationals… which pretty much leads us to about here :)

This weekend is my first race since the States. Was meant to ride Cootamundra a few weeks back but I got hit with the flu which seems to have been plaguing Canberra as of late. So tomorrow is my comeback race. I’m road tripping down with Chloe (my awesomely cool riding buddy) and her family to Wangaratta down in Victoria (about 5hr drive). Saturday is a crit and Sunday is a 100km road race. First half is uphill and second half basically downhill.. we are racing with the open women, glad I’m allowed to ride in my 12, reckon i'll be needing it! Oh, and that’s another thing.. I’m now officially an Elite Woman… no more juniors for me!! Have to admit, I’m a bit scared..but we generally race the women anyway, so it shouldn’t be too bad!

Anyway, that’s all from me…will update when I return, hopefully with some good news :)

Take care
xo

Our Last Day :(

So i've finally gotten around to writing about our last day in Kutztown. Have to admit, i've been putting this off because frankly i didn't want to face the fact that the trip was over. it was definitly an experience of a life time and i wouldn't change a second of it!!! well maybe just one :P

so after a big night last night, safe to say it was pretty hard to wake up at 4:30am to say bye to Brodie's mum good ol' Kath :p. but shes totally worth it :P She had to catch the bus to NY at 5:00 because she was on an earlier flight. It was definitly sad to say bye because she is such a nice person and she had been a great help! especially over the last few days. Don't know what we would have done without her!!!

Anyway, went back to bed after that for a few more hours then woke up at a more decent 6:30 (glad to see that even after 5 weeks of not having to wake up at ridiculous o'clock, my body still feels the urge too! oh well, guess it'll make adjusting back home a little easier...) to pack up my track bike and cram some more stuff into the box before the rest of the girls made their guest appearence several hours later. we then decided to venture down to the bagel bar for old times sake. I had a egg and sausage bagel absolutely delicious! and even tried a french toast bagel! no joke, it was litterally a bagel ... but it tasted like french toast. pretty much one of the yummiest things ever! thats one of the things i miss about the US is the food and the sheer variety of it! i mean they think of everything! there is just so much to choose from! Your probs thinking that i'm a weird one but hey, what can i say. I love my food and in the US there is certainly a lot of it!pretty sure i was sad to part with my banana bread oatmeal...creamy honey just doesn't cut it! i'm sorry. And Pop's ice cream...wish we had a little ice creamery like that back home.. they had everything! have to admit, was a bit of a fan of the old choc chip cookie dough... never got to try the cake batter or cupcake ice cream though.. oh well, theres always next time ;)

Back to the point, after our breakfast, we ventured down old main street and took some last minute pictures to try and capture the atmosphere and try and remind us of all the cool things we have done here. Thats one of the hardest things i'm finding back home is trying to describe everything and our experiences to everyone... you just can't! like the time in the crit at Fitchburg when all the girls busted their butts off for me. they gave everything! and you can't describe how good it felt working so well in a team like that...and all the funny things you try and recreate but turns out 'you just had to be there'. Like our late night escapades to Turkey Hill to get slurries...:p

I'm getting pretty side tracked ay lol. When we returned home, we pretty much cleaned for about 3hrs lol. i swear to god i dragged 20 bike boxes up from the basement! was feeling my arms the next day! and it was soo stinking hot! we were seriously sweating all over the place. charming. i know :P. Safe to say the house was cleaner and in a better state than when we got there! But it was worth getting all the cleaning and bags done early because it meant that we were able to have lunch with the young medalist crew and say our last goodbyes. Didn't quite realise how hard it was going to be. these people have been like family and best friends to us over here. they have always offered to take us places, keep us entertained lol, listen to our stories...God i miss them. I miss our rides together, our random get togethers and parties at Zach's house and freaking out whilst watching disturbia... the frogs and the bonfire...everything. they have all been so kind to us! and all the people we met at racing.. they welcomes us with open arms! no joke, i have about 100 new friends on facebook and i plan on keeping in touch with each and every single one of them.

So after lunch, we said our goodbyes and Bailey (shes such cutie, wanted to adopted her and take her home with us) gave us some young medalist kit which was great! now i have a new wind vest and arm warmers to face the elements with back home and i will be reminded of the trip everytime i wear them. Then our lift arrived to take us to the airport...When we got there it took us litterally forever to check in. We were tag teaming to get inside to the aircon cause it was about 37 odd degrees or something out there. so we'd take shifts standing outside with the bikes. When we finally checked in, we had some dinner and walked around for a bit until it was time to board the flight. I think it was at about that point that i realise that i was actually heading home...

The first flight didn't seem to take long at all! on that particular leg, i wrote letters to Audrey and all of the girls just thanking them for everything. They are probably some of the coolest people you'll ever meet and i miss them terribly! can't wait to see all of them when they come down for Nationals!! will be on the side line cheering them on for sure!

The next leg was the long one, Stockholm - KL. Mind you, with a little help from too many $1 sleeping pills i bough over the counter, was pretty much out for the whole flight! which wasn't such a bad thing...think i watched about 1/2 a movie? and got woken up for meals.. which really probably weren't worth waking up for lol.

In KL was when it started to get tough. This was where we were splitting up with the WA crew (ie Audrey, Mickey and Lara). Needless to say there were tears on all the girls' behalf...Who would have thought we would create such a strong bond in 4 weeks? pretty sure i would adopt them all if that was possible! Mickey bough Brodie and I comfort food (ie choclate lol) for the way home.. got through about 1/2 of it before i even started to feel the teeniest bit better!!

So we said our goodbyes then headed to board our flight. This was it. 1 more flight then i was home. The dream was over. It was back to reality. We got into Syd and said goodbye to the QLD people (Brodie, Thommo and Mitch) which was equally sad then headed to coustoms so we could all catch our domestic flights home. Our plane got delayed in KL so we litterally had about 30min to get our bags and clear coustoms. it was tight. we didn't really get to say bye to Pat, Pete and Angus because they were rushed to their connecting flight in a seperate terminal but we still keep in contact. Sam and I were met by our parents who were freaking out trying to get us on the last plane back home. we had about 4min to get everything checked in then had over to domestic. it was a close call but we made it. Then it was simply a 30min flight back home where i was greeted by my sister. It was great to see her again. safe to say i missed her a bit. So said goodbye to Sam and wished him all the best for the VIC states that weekend (bet he would have been stomping) then headed home.

So yeh, that was it. I was back home. Unpacking my bag, i was reminded by all the good times an things i have achieved over there. I went over there having just come out of a massive hole, feeling pretty down about things, never having won a bike race and generally at a loss about things. Over there, it was like a massive weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was able to forget about everything that was going on back home and finally be the person that i have always wanted to be! Have to admit, thats one of the toughest things i'm finding at the moment. When i stepped off the plane it was like i hit a wall. it was back to reality. everything i left behind had come back. it was back to the same old stuff... the same daily grind. the honeymoon was over. It is really hard trying to refocus at school because i have realised that there is so much more to life, so much more that i could/would rather be doing. But with any luck, i'll be back there next year. for longer.

I hopped back on the bike on Monday. safe to say i basically wore every piece of clothing i owned. thats another tuffy... went from riding at half way decent hour, in the warmth with probably some of the nicest/funniest/coolest people you'll every meet to waking up at 5 to train in the dark and freezing cold hans solo. oh well...guess i can't complain.. people are a lot worse off. and if it means i'll be able to go over there next year or continue my form back here... then it's totally worth it.

Just like to say a quick thank you to everyone who helped make this experience probably one of the best experiences of my life so far. It is definitly one to remember. it has given me hope and the friends that i have made are pretty much awesome. So to those who have stuck by me, supported me and believed in me i'd like to say thank you. Would list you all individually, but that would probably take years lol :P and besides, you all know who you are ;). Who would have thought that in 4 weeks we would have achieved so much? met so many new friends? or been to so many places? i certainly wouldn' have.

as you can tell, i'm avoiding wrapping this up because like i said earlier...i just don't want to face the fact that the trip is over. but i guess i'll have to. one day. but for now, i keep my photo keyring attached to my bag and look at it at every chance i get.

Just another thing, this blog started off as a diary just basically for me and my family to keep track of things whilst i was over here. Little did i know i would have randoms coming up to me at races saying 'oh your miffy! i've read your blog...'. So turns out i got a few more people than my Mum reading this. Got me in trouble a few times but hey. Just like to say thanks to the people who have been following me (not litterally of course lol) throughout my trip and for sitting through my long and pretty average entires lol... you deserve an award :)

wow, this entry is massive.. pretty sure i have written a novel. if only i put this much effort into my school work :P

Until next time (cause there will definitly be a next time ;) )
take care
and safe riding

xo Miffy

P.S If your ever looking at coming the AUS/ would like me to send you stuff from back here, let me know and i'll be sure to hook you up :p

the last post

only have 1 more post to go. will write it up as soon as i finish unpacking my suitcase and my room becomes no longer a health hazard. its gonna be a big one... so stay tuned.
xo

Final words from Audrey

Audrey Anderson has been the driving force behind this whole trip. Without her, we wouldn't have been able to experience half the stuff that we did. She is an inspiration to us all and words can't express how thankful we are to have had her with us o the trip.
love you Audrey!!
xo

Nicole Reinhart Tour PA 18-19th July
July 20 4:32pm
Location: Kutztown PA

17-18 Women GC winner of the Nicole Reinhart Tour: Myfanwy Galloway ( ACT)
15-16 Women GC winner of the Nicole Reinhart Tour: Michaela Anderson ( Perth)
15-16 Women 2nd GC Nicole Reinhart Tour: Brodie Stewart (QLD)
15-16 Women 4th GC Nicole Reinhart Tour: Lara Freiberg ( Perth

Wished to ackowledge the Nicole Reinhart Foundation , and the hard work it is doing for cyclist by donating all theirwinnings today back to the Foundation. Miffy Galloway when speaking with Mr Michael Reinhart turned to her fellow Team Budget teammates and asked if they did not mind donating their winnings back to the foundation. In quick agreement, the girls unconditionally handed back their prize money to Mr Michael Reinhart saying, todays win for the women was not about the prize money but the satisfaction of racing and going beyond your limits.

I have worked closely with these young women for the past 4 weeks, and the maturity they have displayed has been overwhelming. They came over her to experience international racing and leave here with memories of more than just racing. They will leave with memories of friendship from the local Lehigh Valley Cyclists, they will leave with memories of laughter at Betty’s in Kutztown for Lunch, they will leave the USA with memories of their final night at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome where tears and heartache were overwhelming them....

These young women, have a place in my heart not because of their sucess, but because of the smile they bring to my face.

To Brodie on Friday night when you took time out of the racing
to buy your 2 team mates a simple tee shirt, and take it around to the international racers to write words of encouragement to cheer Lara and Mickey up …as their coach of 4 years was not around...was inspirational.

To Miffy when you finished the Fitchburg tour, and received your medal...in front of the fountain...and said you need to cut the 2nd place GC medal into 4 peices for each of your team mates was inspirational.

To lara your ride at Fitchburg on the final day, to attack and try to help your team mate try to gain some 12 seconds she needed was inspirational. Your whole 4 weeks of racing has been inspirational as you have raced above your expectations of yourself as a rider.

To Michaela your ride on Friday night Speed night in the Scratch Race...with your team mates riding with you...was inspirational. To see you all lift after a hard week, and help attack as they blocked and counter attacked for you could go on to get a 2nd place in the Scratch race after such a shakey start to the night was inspirational…

So to you young women, don’t change, and maybe in being who you are you will honour the memory of Nicole Reinhart

Audrey Hendricks-Anderson
Team Budget Forklifts USA Manager
a lonely night without a coach…

tour de FCCC day 2

Today was our last race of the trip and the Tour :( a 20mile crit. Like yesterday, it was a combined 15-16 and 17-18 crit, so i was riding with the other budget girls. Mickey and Brodie were tied for first place in their age group so it was going to be a good day lol. there was going to be blood :p. Plan was for Mickey and Brodie to get away then I was going to bridge over to them so Budget was going to be off the front (Lara wasn't feeling too good after the heatstroke yesterday, so decided that she could help block in the bunch). Turns out I broke away with Brodie and then Mickey bridged across. So the plan was still working. This was at about 7 laps to go. We built up our lead and by 4 laps to go, knew that we were going to stay away. Started pulling mass dog turns and told the girls that I would lead it out with 1 lap (around 2.5km) to go so that they could have an equal sprint and may the 'best man win' to decide which one of them would take home the win and the tour. at about 200m to go, girls came round and Mickey took out the sprint from Brodie. Was a great ride and was stoked to be able to finish with the girls on such a strong note. Rate that as prob one of the best rides from them of the tour.


After that, hung around to watch the boys and had to wait a while for presentation lol. While we were waiting, Colleen (Who was 2nd on GC) came over and showed us how to make Smores!!! OMG.. prob one of god's best ever creations.. was pretty much delicious. omg.. i'm hungry just thinking about them. She also gave us changing towels (kinda hard to explain... its like a towel skirt so u can get changed) which was pretty awesome! She was really sweet :).

At presentation, got awarded 3 gold medals for each of the stages and a trophy and another changing towel for overall GC and some more pasta and oil for the sprint primes which was really cool :). I also picked up 100 bucks in prize money which I donated to the Nicole Reinhart Fund (sort of like the Amy Gillet Foundation here in Aus) and got the rest of the girls to aswell which they were more than happy to do. And the founder (Nicole's dad) was really happy and interesting to talk to. It is great that there are foundations out there which are supporting the career of aspiring junior cyclists! At presentation, also made a speech on behalf of Budget, thanking everyone for their support. Everyone has been great to us.. and we will def miss them!

After the boys presentation, we went home and packed the rest of our bikes and junk. I was surprised that everything actually fitted.. took a bit of organising, but it worked :) was pretty impressed if i do say so myself lol.

That night, the Young Medalists were having a bonfire for us at the Semian's. Was prob one of the best days of the trip. It was awesome. It is Brodie's b'day tomorrow so they decorated the front of the house in b'day decorations for her which was real sweet and Toni also caught her 2 frogs as her present (yesterday she caught one and made Brodie kiss it haha was really funny). Anyway, so arrived and had some food then decided to jump in the pool. It was really nice :) haha just hung out with the girls in the spa. was cool.
I also met another girl whilst we were there, Leah. She's pretty cool :) had a good time. She let me drive her car! I was like 'yeah, i've always wanted to drive on the wrong side of the road..' and she asked if i wanted to drive her car lol.. so i did :) just up and down the street, but was good. So driving on the other side of the road, tick :D.
It then started to piss down with rain and when it rains here, it pours, so we had to postpone the bonfire whilst we waited for it to clear, so we decided to give out our Aussie sovenirs which was pretty cool. everyone seemed to enjoy it. Then Juan's uncle made a speech which was really sweet :) just talking about how much they enjoyed having us here and how we have inspired them..awwwww :'(
Then we had dinner and i attempted to play the nintendo wii. I officially suck at mario kart lol. i chose to be king boo cause it looked cute and my vehicle of choice was a bad ass looking motor bike. I'm all for look, not function lol. So did 2 rounds of that, and came dead last in both so decided to retreat back to the pool and chat to everyone else. Wasn't going to get in but got peered pressured into getting back in lol.. it was our last night there.. so why the hell not? I also decided to try some of the alchool they had at the party.. thought why not...try some American alchool.. was actually pretty good lol..watermelon flavored..so no, the drink in the paper cup wasn't lemonade ;) hahaha... gotchya there!

Then it was time for us to go home.. really didn't want to! Audrey had to basically drag us by the hair... but Kath had to leave at 5am so we had to get back. Said our teary goodbyes to everyone.. god i hate goodbyes... and then jumped in the car and ventured home

def rated today...was prob one of the highest rated days of the trip next to fitchburg. everything/everyone was just lovely.

Not looking forward to tomorrow... our last day in good old Kutzy.. :'(

xo

Tour de FCCC day 1

Getting down to the last couple of days of the trip...Today was the start of our last Tour. The Nicole Reinhart Memorial Tour. Today we had a 4.2mile (7km) TT in the morn followed by a 20mile (round 35km) road race a few hours later. Not a massive day, but it was still going to be a challenge.

Rocked up with plenty of time to spare and started the old warm up on the trainer...It was an undulating TT so if i was going to do alright at any TT, it was gong to be this one. Didn't feel the urge to ride aerobars since it was so short and hilly so just ran the zipps. I was off last because we were late entries and I was chasing Brodie. Felt alright after the warm-up and was at the start line in time to see the girls roll off. The start was sorta downhill so i whacked it in the big dog chain ring for the start and did some mass track start lol..wasn't too bad...prob should have gone slighty smaller though. Anyway, so the TT didn't feel too bad, prob could have pushed slightly smaller gears on the hills (ended up doing semi-strengthies lol) but hey. Crossed the line and i had passed 2 other girls and was only a couple secs behind Brodie so didn't think went too bad. Turns out i won by 37sec which put me in good position for the rest of the tour.

We had a couple of hours before the road race, so we all just sat under the trees with the rest of the US juniors...I had a hoagie for lunch (sounds pretty gross ay lol...) which is kinda a sub sorta thing. anyway, i rated it. Then it was time for the RR. It was really heating up and as a consequence a few ppl got heatstroke including Lara. Was a tough ride. The race itself wasn't very exciting. I had no real need to attack cause i was leading by a bit, but the girls who were 2nd and 3rd were just sitting in.. it was like they'd given up alright..that they were content with getting 2nd and 3rd when they should have been attacking the hell outta me! Oh well.. their loss. The race was kinda starting to piss me off cause it was so slow, so i attacked on 1 of the hills wth 1 and 1/2 laps to go and the girl who was 2nd came with me which was alright. We had a bit of a gap and just cruised the last little bit. Decided to try my luck in the sprint so bout 300m to go stepped out and got it. Pretty pleased with myself :). I had also won the intermediate sprint so had increased my lead another 15sec with the time bonuses.

After that, we hung around to watch the end of the boy's race, then wandered home to have showers. Had to wait for ages to get into the shower so decided to go on the computer and turns out MaryAnn and Brian were on. so had a good cha to them about the World's RR and it was great to hear how well everyone did. Can't wait to get back and see them all. I miss them heaps.

Anyways, had a shower than a sleep while everyone was packing up their track bikes (mine was still at the track cause we didn't have enough room in the van) which was good... cause i really couldn't be bothered doing anything lol. That night, we went over to the Semian's for dinner and had taco's and watched Disturbia and chilled with the rest of the Young Medalists...its awesome there and the people are lovely. I can't get over how nice everyone is over here.. its pretty much ridiculous! but hey, i'm not complaining :)

We left there at around 9:30 so that we could get some sleep for our early start tomorrow (the crit and final stage of the tour was at 8:30am). So another successful day on the bike. Looking forward to tomorrow's stage.. gonna try get away with the girls. Should be good

xo

Sprinters' night at the track

So this morning we started back to semi-normal training. On the schedule, 80km in the morn incl. track session then the World Series of Bicycling that night.

We were meant to go out for our ride at 7am so got up and chowed down my raisin bran and froot loops and it was around 10 to 7 when i realised none of the girls were up. So went into their room and found them fast asleep... they obviously needed the extra sleep so thought we could postpone the ride for another 30min... 7:20am and they still weren't up. so i went in and woke them, which i felt real bad about cause they looked so peaceful :). So it wasn't until around 8:00 until we left. We decided to try and retrace the ride with did with Kate on the first day we got there and find the lake again as a sort of 'last ride' thing. We finally found the route, the one we had been trying to find again for the last 4 weeks...oh well, better late then never. We rode to the top of the hill where u could see the lake and the valley below. Pretty much one of the coolest views i think i'll ever see. So we sat there and hung out for a bit then we thought we'd give Audrey a call and just ask what time she wanted us at track. 9:00. It was 8:40 and we were 40km in the opposite direction. bugger. So we had to TTT it all the way to the velodrome. needless to say we were pretty buggered for the session which consisted of about 2 flying 200ms lol. my speciality. After that, we just rode home with the boys and took some pretty funny pictures if i do say so myself.

When we got home, we all rushed through our showers so that we were able to go to the King Of Prussia Mall, the 3rd largest mall in America. This thing was huge!! but was also quite expensive, so i didn't really buy much. Just got another shirt from A&F for good measure and some presents from Victoria's Seret since we only had 1hr there before we had to go to track.

Turns out that the trip back to the velodrome took longer than expected so we had about a 15min warm up before the 200m qualifying for the sprint rounds. I had a shocker and qualified 13th... top 12 got in. So i just missed out on having to ride off with Kaarlee (AIS) in the sprint rounds. bugger. lol

So that was me for a couple of hours until the program began. Had a super sprint (they eliminated half the field than it is a 3 lap scratch) which was pretty interesting.. showed my true track form by getting eliminated 2nd... To my credit though, my whole team was at the back and i saw them moving up so i decided to sacrifice myself to let them get through to the next round... shame someone dropped off after i got eliminated though...not happy jan.

That race didn't go exactly according to plan, and all the girls were having a pretty tough night as it was their first night of racing without their coach. We all had a chat and decided that in the last race (10km scratch) we'd give it everything. And that we did. At any one time, at least one of our riders was off the front. Mickey did exceptionally well after being off the front for nearly 10 laps then sprinting for 2nd. Very pleased with the girls, was very proud of them :)

Prob the coolest thing of the night though was after the super sprint when Lara and Mickey weren't feeling too great, Brodie went and bought 2x shirts and got all the riders to write a message of support on there for them, which they were more than happy to do!! riders included some of the AIS riders, ones we'd met over there and commisaires! all willing to show their support for the girls. Was really sweet :)

After racing, it was time to say our goodbyes to everyone... which was actually really sad. sad that this was the last friday night racing we were going to do and the last time we'd see all these friendly people and experience this great atmosphere. I say its the last, but hopefully not. I would love to come back and do this trip all over again next year. So lets just not say the last, but the last time for a few months.

I am definitely going to miss everyone we met at Friday night racing, they have all been so supportive of us and our cycling and always willing to lend us a hand and give us advice. Which we could bottle that atmosphere up and take it home...let me work on that...

Until next time
xo

A pretty lazy day

Well today was another slow start. The boys stayed with us and slept in the lounge room. we pretty much didn't get to sleep until close to 1:30am cause the girls decided to all sleep in the same room and we were talking junk for ages lol. My body decided to wake me up at 6:00am. pretty sucky since we were meant to go to Letterman's for breakfast and my stomach was already eating itself. decided i'd have cereal and skip Letterman's which was a good idea cause no one woke up until about 9 o'clock...

Hung around the house for a while after that and then at around 2 we decided we'd venture out to Lehigh Valley mall again. Was gonna buy some sweet body stuff from Victoria's Secret but decided since we were going to an apparently HUGE factory outlet place tomorrow... we Abercrombie and Victoria's Secret as well so decided to save my money until then :)

After shopping, we had bout 10min to get changed and leave to get the girls to the crit on time. The boys were taking their sweet time so the girls TTed out there. we were doing massive pace line, was pretty impressed... overaged 37km over about 16km lol haha..we got there just in time for them to sign on and race and then it started pissing down with rain and looked pretty much like a hurricane, so it got cancelled. And of course after everyone went home, the rain stopped. so we decided to ride back and found the boys riding out to do their crit. so we all rode home together and did a few more ks after that. all up 40km lol. hardcore. oh well, tomorrow is going to be a hard day. 80km incl. track sesh in morning then track racing at night. then the tour on the weekend.

not many days to go now :s
xo

A Day of mixed emotions

so today was an up and down kind of day. On the plus side, we went to awesome factory outlets where got myself a mad pair or white oakely radars with pinkish lenses for 130 dollars... bargain.

A day of nothing much

Last night we herd the words most of us have been dying to hear for the last few weeks. 'Sleep in'. today, there was no ride in the morning, no long ks , just track racing.
Was still feeling average and pretty much just mentally drained just thinking about having to race again. But i did it. and it turned out not to be too bad :)

Spent the morning doing nothing of much importance... went for an 1hr walk just around because the girls went out for breakfast (i'd been up since ridiculous o'clock so was pretty much ready for lunch by the time they woke up :p) then came back and slept for a tad before Kath suggested that we go get our nail done ha ha... so get our nails done we did. the lady was lovely but i have to admit that it wasn't the best manicure i ever got... but it was relaxing.

We then wasted more time by cruising the streets trying to suss out the tattoo and peircing palours... looking at getting either an airbrush tattoo or a belly button piercing. Turns out that none of them do airbrush tattoos so turns out piercing it is! i should have a poll... get it done or not... all up it costs 50 bucks.. thats for ring and everything... didn't think that was too bad!

So after patrolling the streets for another few hours wasting time before track, finally got home and started to pack bag for track when Mickey and Audrey came home :) missed them heaps it was quite suprising...didn't realise you'd miss people you'd only known for 3 weeks so much! just shows how close we've all gotten.. and how hard it will be to say goodbye.

We headed off to track, was very unmotivated... jumped on the rollers for about 30min before heading to track and my legs felt dead. Warm up wasn't much better. On the schedule was 1km scratch, 8km points and 5km scratch. Not a massive night, so decided to get over myself and just get the racing done. Tonight we were trying to get Mickey up for the omnium win again and so did a lot of work for her, attacking, chasing, leading out... turned out well as she won the overall ahead of Carly Mculloch from Aus and Liz.

Had a good chat to some of the Aussies who are over here.. there seems to be nearly as many Aussies as there are Americans over racing the track at the moment..is pretty insane! But it was good having a chat and hearing bout their experiences, and hearing another Aussie accent ;)

So it was a good night, the boys also picked up some goood results! (see Rick's update)

Got back pretty late though, didn't head to bed until around 12pm...got a long ride to do pretty early cause we are going shopping and to a water park!!! can't wait.. sooo pumped its insane. gonna be a good day.

xo

More from the coach

Oley Valley Road Race Sunday 13th July
July 13 10:20pm
Location: Oley Valley, PA

Aussie Junior - USA Success

It was another day in the office for the riders in the Team Budget Forklift as they forge a name for themselves during the hot American summer as they competed in the Combined Pennsylvania & New Jersey State Junior Championships today.

Again our riders raced very professionally and the results were outstanding. We sent Peter Johnstone to a Criterium which he also won so it was a huge day for the Team here in the US. And after hearing that Sarah Kent and Luke Durbridge had both medalled at the Junior Worlds – Team Budget FL members were ecstatic. With young Aussies like Megan Dunn, Ashley Ankudinoff and the TP & TS boys winning World Medals it has been a great day all round.

TodayR17;s race was organised by our host Coach – May Britt Hartwell’s Club - Young Medallists. May Britt is a World and Olympic medallist and has been a great help coordinating her club as they look after our needs here in US.

Patty Lane and Brodie Stewart had the 1st taste of success here in the US with Patty winning the 17-18 Men RR and Brodie the 15-16 Women’s RR. Miff Galloway continued her dominance with a solid win in the 17-18 Women RR as well as QOM prize.

Lara Freiberg must be the most improved cyclist on this trip with a very strong 2nd place in the 15-16 Women’s along with Gus Tobin taking 2nd in the 16-17 Men RR.

Thomo Richards took 2nd in the 17-18 Men’s while Mitch Mulhern was 3rd.

Aussie Results:

15-16 Women

1st Brodie Stewart

2nd Lara Freiberg

15-16 Men

2nd Gus Tobin

17-18 Women

1st Miff Galloway

17-18 Men

1st Patrick Lane

2nd Thomas Richards

3rd Mitchell Mulhern

The trip raps up in another week and I am sure the riders will have many stories of their time in the USA.


.

Rick Lee

‘Cyclewest’

0413 867 440

lee57@optusnet.com.au

http://www.cyclewestcoach.com


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Genge Wins in USA Share

July 13 10:12pm
Location: Pieffer Hill, PA

ACT cyclist riding for Team Budget Forklifts won the Cat 1/2/3 Pfeiffer Hill Classic in Pennsylvania USA today in sizzling heat. As the temperature gauge approached 100F the plan today was for the team to ride for Sam and give him the responsibility to finish off the bike race, he did this in great style.

From the start the Team Budget FL riders showed absolute dominance sending Patty Lane and Gus Tobin away and putting the others under pressure to chase, this break came back and then we had Peter Johnstone, Mitchell Mulhern & Patty Lane in a very serious break. Gus abandoned this race as we hope for better things for him in the PA/New Jersey State Championships tomorrow.

Thomas Richards and Sam Genge attacked the bunch taking 2 riders with them and in the last half of the race Sam moved across to the break, shortly after Thomo took care of the remaining 2 riders and we had all of our 5 riders away and the bunch shattered.

Sam who had saved his legs [as per the plan] went on to record a solo victory with consistent Patty Lane 2nd, Thomo Richards 3rd, Mitchell Mulhern 4th and Peter Johnstone 5th.

After the finish Sam said “it is a really strange feeling to have 5 guys working for you so my legs felt great, at one stage I went to the front of the bunch and was about to pull a turn and “Thomo” told me to get to the back and rest It was a great team race and I really know that the guys did it for me today”

We rested Michaela Anderson, Lara Freiberg and Brodie Stewart and gave Miff Galloway a ride in the Cat 4 Men’s, Miff raced very well and looked like running 3rd until she got a huge “chop” in the finish and came home in 5th place.

We now move to the State Pennsylvania/New Jersey Road Championships tomorrow and Peter Johnstone will race a Criterium in Bethlehem PA


Rick Lee

‘Cyclewest’

0413 867 440

lee57@optusnet.com.au

http://www.cyclewestcoach.com

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 :-)