Benchmark #3.

Well, the weekend was a good one! Saturday saw the team gather again for the 3rd round of the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycle Series. 135km around the North Canterbury region was on the menu with a garnish of wind, cold and gravel to spice things up! Going into the race we had a clear plan and that was to keep Daniel Barry in the series leader jersey and to win the race in the process. Unfortunately only part of this eventuated, however we laid it all out there and rode a good race.

Through the Ashley Gorge. 

After a seriously fast start with the wind blowing right at out backs we turned into some hard cross wind sections. It was a good opportunity to test the legs and see how the peloton would respond to attacks. As it was early in the race nothing was sticking but after 20km Sam Horgan slipped off the front and built a small lead. A few km's later James McCoy, Kristoff Ford and myself joined him. Sam, James and I were doing nice hard laps to try and gain a reasonable lead on the peloton while Kristoff who was visibly struggling chipped in when he could which was helpful. We managed to gain a 1 minute advantage over the next 10km and held it there for a solid 20km until we hit the Ashley Gorge where we extended our lead to just over 2 minutes. Through the Gorge we also lost one of the riders in Kristoff Ford. None of the riders that joined me in the break were a threat to Dan's lead so the break was a perfect way to take the pressure off Dan and the rest of the team back in the peloton.

Shortly before the Ashley Gorge, working well together.

After the Gorge we turned a hard left down German Rd which saw us ramp right up to 55km+ with the wind right behind us. Towards the end of German Rd just before Summer Hill Sam started missing turns which isn't like him. I thought he was preparing to try and rip it up Summer Hill and get rid of us but this never happened and unfortunately for Sam and our break he fell victim to a cold he had been fighting all week. The last straw was when we hit the 1.5km long gravel section where the only option was to hit it full gas purely to hold yourself upright because as soon as you buttoned off the power you lost a lot of control.

Through the gravel section 

With just James and I left after the gravel we were unsure of what would happen to the peloton through the same section so just kept working hard for the next few km's. Behind us the peloton completely split to pieces over the gravel and we were quickly joined by a group of about 15 riders. The group included 3 of my team mates (Daniel Barry, Hamish Schruers and Anthony Chapman). The group also contained the riders who were Dan's closest threats for the series lead. (Robin Reid, Brad Tuhi, Dan Ellison). Up German road a flurry of attacks and counter attacks were launched until, finally, a group with all the right people formed. Dan was there and was joined by Hamish Schuers. Anthony and I were in the group just behind (with 2nd in the series, Brad Tuhi) so it was an absolutely perfect set up for us.

The group stuck until the end where Hamish Schruers unleashed a killer lead out for Dan who kicked into his sprint but was unfortunately pipped on the line by double Olympian Chris Nicholson. Gordon McCauley rounded out the podium. Even though we didn't quite manage the win the day was still a success. We proved we were the strongest team out there by winning the teams section for the third round in a row and managed to do what we set out to do with Dan holding and extending his lead in the series. To add to that Hamish Schruers managed to gain enough points in the finish to take over the lead in the U23 jersey.

Winning team for the round. 

Personally I was happy with my ride. I felt strong in the break and even once caught felt I had good legs and helped Dan out as much as possible. Next up is the PowerCo Tour of Taranaki on Queens Birthday weekend. I am looking forward to a good hit out up there before a wee break as winter takes its strangle hold on Christchurch!

Thanks again to Benchmark Homes for their support, to Jimmy for the help throughout the day from the team car and to the team for a good day out! A continued MASSIVE thanks to Anthony Chapman for the help and support regarding my injury. I am feeling better and better on the bike each week. And of course to my coach Hamish Ferguson

Also all credit for photos is to Bruce Wilson Photography and Hendrik Bakker Photography.

Cheers for reading!

W

"Almost" a good weekend

I will keep this short and sweet as there aren't many good points to share! The weekend consisted of the 130km Around Brunner race on Saturday followed by the 136km 2nd round of the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling Series on Sunday.

Around Brunner was always going to be a very testing race with us and Subway wanting to make the racing as aggressive as possible. From the gun aggression was the obvious theme of the day. The race whittled down to about 20 riders by halfway where a small group of about 6 riders went up the road. Sam Horgan and I put a big effort in to bridge across to the group where unfortunately Dan Barry and I were the only Benchmark Homes riders while Subway had 3. They did what they had to and 1-2'd us which forced us to work hard to make sure none of them slipped away. With us essentially doing 50% more work covering their moves they eventually cracked us and slipped away in the final 15km. Not an ideal position to be in at all but we did all we could.

Sunday saw us shoot over to Hokitika for round 2 of the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling series. Benchmark rider Dan Barry was in the leaders jersey before the start so we were keen to defend this as well as take the win. It was an odd race. The course was super fast and there weren't really any sections hard enough to force a successful selection. There were a couple wee hills where we were always able to split the field but it just wasn't hard enough after that for anything to stay away from a massive field of fresh riders. Because we were the biggest team we didn't want to miss any move as we would always be looked upon to do the chasing if we did. All day we had riders in every move until one slipped away with 60km to go and quickly built a 2 minute advantage over the main field. We managed to bring the gap down the about 30 seconds over the harder part of the course but couldn't quite bring it back and two riders from the move managed to stay away until the finish. We managed to salvage a little from the race by getting Dan up for 3rd by winning the bunch kick. So he still remains comfortably in the leaders jersey. However it was definitely not the result we were looking for though. Congrats to Gordy who pulled off the win and showed there is still life in those legs!

Chasing the elusive break. 

It was a solid weekend of racing. Good to get it in the legs before the Country Road Classic this weekend where Dan Barry and I are looking for a good result.

Thanks Brendan and Jodi Hart for all their help over the weekend! Also to David Letsche for the photo. You can find him at dlphoto.co.nz and Facebook.com/DLPhotoNZ.

Cheers

W

Tour de Lakes

Finish of Stage 5 into Glenorchy.

Over the weekend a small but ambitious Benchmark Homes team raced in the Vital Signs Tour de Lakes. The race took place in the beautiful Queenstown Lakes region. We were lucky to have perfect weather throughout the weekend to go with some bloody good racing!

The tour opened with a 5km Prologue in Cromwell. The super-fast course started with a steep downhill then a very gentle downhill to the finish. I was pretty keen to knock out a good time in this but had an absolute shocker. I got caught up behind a car on the descent then struggled to find a rhythm into the finish. I managed a disappointing 5th however the times were all fairly close.

Stage 1 greeted us with a very fresh, fog covered morning. The 80km stage wound its way down the lake from Remarkables to Five Rivers. Moves were flying off the front then getting reeled back in for the first 30km as expected. With such a small team our only real tactic was to be as aggressive as we could and be represented in every move. I managed to slip into a move near the halfway mark which had a good make up of riders who were willing to work together. I managed to take the Sprint and KOM points throughout the stage as well as the stage win and the Yellow Jersey, so it was a positive first stage!

Stage 1 finish

After a quick rest, feed and espresso we were ready to rip into the second stage of the day. Another 80km jaunt from Five Rivers to Manapouri. The stage literally climbed for 40km then descended to the finish. I was in the yellow and once again with such a small team our aim was to race aggressively as we didn't have enough riders to successfully ride the front to defend the jersey. So straight away we were on the attack which was a good move as Dan and I quickly found ourselves up the road with Sam Horgan and Dillon Bennet from Subway. We had to work hard to build a gap over a hard chasing peloton but we managed to establish a gap and it was clear we were going to be away 'til the finish. Sam Horgan unfortunately punctured in the last 3km so wasn't there to contend the final. Luckily Dan and I managed to pull off the Benchmark 1-2 on the stage. A good first day!

In the lake after the Stage. Best ice bath ever!

Day two was an important one as it opened with a 20km TT from Manapouri to Te Anau. It was a tough course with a fair amount of false flat and on the day it was a head wind. My aim of the race was to limit my losses to Sam Horgan. I had 3.15 on him on GC so was confident in not losing the jersey to him however I knew how well he was time trialing. I got a good warm up and rode a good TT and was happy to get second to Sam only 40sec down.

20km Time Trial

The afternoon stage provided us with an epic GC shake up. It was the reverse course to the afternoon stage the day before. So it climbed up to halfway then was downhill to the finish. I started the stage with the aim of sticking to Sam Horgan like glue as I knew he was feeling good and I couldn't really allow him to get up the road without me. In doing so a group slipped up the road with my team mate Dan Barry and Dillon Bennett who was currently 2nd on GC. Because Dan was there I overlooked the danger of the move so Sam and I played silly buggers, not wanting to go across with the each other. When we heard the time gap of 5 minutes at the halfway mark we decided to sit up and roll, very easily, to the finish. We lost 18mins on the stage because of this so were both out of GC contention and were now going to be in the position of helping our team mates try win the tour. Sam had Dillon in the yellow jersey now with my team mate Dan Barry 2 minutes down on him. The gap seemed pretty big, however we were confident that on the final day we would be able to give it a good nudge.

The last day of the tour consisted of two short but hard stages. The first one was from Queenstown to Glenorchy. About 45km with a few short but sharp climbs along the way. The idea was to be super aggressive as we knew Dillon was struggling on the steeper stuff. I found myself up the road pretty quick with two other riders. Just before the climb with the stages KOM points we were about to get caught so I hit it as hard as I could before the bunch got me which made sure I got the points to retain the jersey but also the pace managed to eject Dillon out the back of the bunch which is what we wanted. Unfortunately about 10km up the road he got back on with help from a super strong Sam Horgan. It was good however for us to see he was not comfortable on the climbs. I quickly found myself in another move with the Australian track rider Sean Finning with about 20km to go and we worked well together and managed to get to the finish clear of the field where I edged him out for the stage win. I was pretty happy as it was a crazy hard stage for me so it seemed like a good reward!

The last stage started in Glenorchy and on the Moke Lake hill. I talked to Craig Adair before the stage and he reckoned Dan and I should hit the first hill as hard as we could and see who could follow us. This is exactly what we did. I hit the first major hill full gas and did a big pull then looked back to see only Dan ad two others were on my wheel and the rest of the group including Dillon were dispatched. Success! Dan and I kept hitting it full gas and we bridged a two minute gap to a small group that had snuck away at the start of the stage. I did a couple big pulls on the front as hard as I could to set Dan up before my legs threw in the towel. It was then Dan's job to get to the finish as fast as he could. He ended up finishing 5th on the stage, 3 minutes in front of Dillon which was more than enough to take yellow! We were stoked. The aggression paid off.

All in all it was a bloody good weekend. I learnt a lot about racing aggressively and I gained a lot from the hard racing. I feel like I finished a lot stronger than when I started. Thanks to the Subway team for making the racing hard.. Also to Richard and Natasha Evans from Benchmark Homes for the use of the wicked Mercedes Sprinter Van for the weekend! It was awesome to travel in this luxurious vehicle! Once again thanks to Bruce Wilson for capturing such awesome pictures of the racing!

Next up for the team is Around Brunner followed by the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling Series this weekend.

Cheers for reading!

W

Le Race - How not to.

On the Saturday just been Christchurch held the annual bike race from Christchurch City to the very quaint French settlement of Akaroa. As is the norm in Christchurch at this time of the year it was a crisp morning that greeted the riders at the start line of the race. Luckily the course takes us straight into the ascent of Dyers Pass Road to the Sign of the Kiwi. Always a testing obstacle to tackle so early in the race!

The team was in high spirits before the race as we knew we had some good fire power. The line up was Daniel Barry, Anthony Chapman, Hamish Schruers, George Tutton, Ben Robertson and me. With a hill like Dyers Pass straight out of the blocks in a race this short, the pace is always going to be on from the start. With this in mind we were positioned well leading into the hill and made sure we were ready for the inevitable pace that was to be set up the hill. Both us and Subway were very active as soon as we touched to lower slopes of Dyers but it was clear nothing was getting away this early. The race was whittled down hugely up the hill but was still, in essence, together.

Sam Horgan and I reaching the Sign of the Kiwi

Along the Summit Road Hamish Schruers managed to slip off the front which took the pressure off us. Leading into the technical descent off the Summit Road into Gebbies Valley, Daniel Barry positioned himself on the front in an attempt to take advantage of his devastating descending prowess. And boy did it work! He managed to break clear and a small group formed at the bottom of the descent followed closely by a second group of about 5 which contained Anthony and me. The gap was quickly evaporated however and the race was back on. The responsibility largely fell into our hands as Dylan Kennett of Subway had just slipped up the road and begun to build a healthy lead. The usual flurry of attacks and counter attacks ensued until something stuck just before we reached Little River. This turned out to be the winning move...I was not in it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I didn't follow the move as I saw Hamish and Daniel were both there but failed to register that Subway had 3 riders there as well as one rider up the road. So we were seriously out numbered. Even though Dan and Hamish are riding super strong at the moment, it is very hard to win a bike race when you are out numbered 2 to 4, especially with 4 very 'on-form' riders. 

All was not lost however as Hamish Schruers managed to sneak onto the podium with 3rd place. Unfortunately he had a mechanical incident down Long Bay Road descending into Akaroa which may have cost him a higher placing. But that is cycling for you! 

I managed to ride into the finish in 6th place as the first rider not from the lead group. I felt that I had good legs in the last 40km and was very disappointed to not be in the lead group to put them to better use! However the sensations were encouraging as I have a lot of racing coming up and I am still very much on an upward trend after an injury stricken 2011. 

Rolling over the finish

So, as a team, we learnt a lot from the race and have taken away a couple very good points to work and improve on in the future. Next up is Tour de Lakes in Queenstown this weekend. I have been told it is a pretty solid weekend of racing! I am looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading.

W

Post training goodness - Bacon, Egg and Spinach Fried Rice

Whipped up a choice fried rice after a solid 4 hours this morning. Thought it deserved to be on here. It's the ideal post training meal. Easy as. Doooo it.

Ready to go

• Crushed garlic and ginger
• 1/2 red onion
• 2 eggs
• 2-3 cups cooked rice
• 1 cup bacon
• Sweet soy sauce
• Sweet chilli sauce
• Salt and Pepper
• HEAPS of Spinach
• Can add whatever other meats or veges you want.

Oil and heat a big pan and add the ginger, onion, garlic, bacon, salt and pepper. Fry til crispy. Crank the heat and add the rice and stir. Add the sauces. Let the rice stick to the pan then scrape it off every now and then to get little crispy/chewy bits. After a few minutes add the whisked eggs an mix through the rice. Then whack the spinach in and cover for a few minutes so the leaves wilt. Eat.

Get stuck in. Mix it up, add whatever, take out whatever. Choice!

W

That's Bike Racing!

Got back last night from a solid weekend of racing right up the top of the South Island so thought I would write a wee report! 

The usually pleasantly warm and sunny region of Marlborough hosted two races over Saturday and Sunday, kicking off with the Forrest Estate Graperide on Saturday morning. 

The Forrest Estate Graperide

The Benchmark Homes cycling team were fired up from the get go to make sure we were aggressive and represented in every dangerous move. As always the race started at a rapid pace and a move stuck straight away. As planned we were represented in this move with Anthony Chapman. The first 40km of the race is relatively flat with nothing of note to cause serious damage to the race so the main group stayed intact before the hill out of Picton. The pace increased when we hit the hill with a few of us keen to get rid of some people to create a more 'select' group of riders for the run back down in to the finish. We were successful in doing this and the group was almost halved by the top of the hill. The road through Linkwater and Havelock with it's rolling terrain and out-if-sight out-of-mind feel was where we expected the winning move to form. And as expected, it did...A group got away with most teams represented, in which we had Anthony Chapman and Hamish Schruers. Then disaster struck! Down a slippery descent two of the riders in the break away crashed including our own Hamish Schruers. This put and end to the move almost straight away which was unfortunate as we would have had a very good chance of winning from that move. 

Luckily we still had Anthony Chapman and me at the pointy end of the race. I followed a wee dig from Sam Horgan just out of Havelock and we managed to get a gap. We were soon joined by Rob Reid, Nick Lovegrove and Tayla Harrison. I wasn't really happy with the composition of the group ,which included 3 Subway Team riders, so didn't do any work in the hope that we would be caught by the chasing group and I would have some support coming into the finish from Anthony Chapman. This never happened however so Rob Reid and I were forced to follow the inevitable attacks from the Subway riders in the last 10km. We did well not to let any of them get away solo and Rob entered the narrow and twisty finishing chute first with Nick, Sam, myself then Tayla on his wheel. You need to be in the top 2 or 3 positions heading into this chute to have a chance at winning so I was already on the back foot by being in 4th position which wasn't ideal. Into the last bend about 50m before the finish I saw a small gap between the grass and Sam Horgan which I decided to take...turns out the gap was not really there and I should have tried to undercut him 50m earlier. I ended up hitting some gravel and hitting the deck nice and hard. Very disappointing, especially so close to the finish. However I managed to get up and roll over the line 5th albeit in an uncomfortable state. Luckily I just lost skin and didn't break anything. I wasn't wearing gloves and ripped a nice patch of skin off my palm...learnt my lesson the hard way I guess. 

So the day went far from how we planned it but the encouraging thing was that we rode very well as a team and put the right people in the right moves all day. We just didn't have luck on our side! Congratulations to Nick Lovegrove on the win. I enjoy racing with him, always a good honest rider....with obscene amounts of go-go juice!

Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling Series #1

After the debacle of the day before the team was steaming at the ears and fired up to rip into some hard racing! The plan was simple. Have at least two riders in each move and deliver Dan Barry to the line with his wheel in front of everyone else's. (Dan was drafted back into the team for the first round of the series. It is awesome to be racing with him again!) 

As soon as the race started the usual burners off the front came and were quickly shut down by an antsy peloton. However about 5km into the race a large group of about 18 riders managed to sneak off the front and quickly build a solid advantage over the rest of the field. Every team was represented in the move so there was no organised chase from behind which meant the break went out to a 2min lead before we knew it. We were lucky enough to get three riders in this move with Dan, Hamish and Anthony. The group built a huge advantage of about 6mins in the first 30km of the race as we were dawdling along with no urgency at all. So from my point of view the race was over as there was nothing I could do to help the boys up front apart from covering moves to make sure nothing got across without me in it. While doing this a few of us ended up riding off the front of the group and essentially just had a good 'training session' out in the wind. Bridging a 6 minute gap in those conditions would have been somewhat futile and unnecessary as we had 3 riders in the move. As I rolled across the finish line I was ecstatic when I was told Dan got the WIN! In style as well, a solo break away for the last 20km to take it by 15 seconds. Love it when a plan comes together!!!

Dan celebrating his win! ©Bruce Wilson

So all was not lost from the weekend and the team was happy again after the performance on Sunday. 

Next up is Le Race this Saturday. It is the annual 'mountain classic' down here in the South Island and never fails to deliver some very testing racing. Hopefully I can recover as best as possible from my wee tumble before then and be 100%!

Thank you to everyone for the support this weekend, especially Benchmark Homes, Brendan and Jodi Hart, Vic Chapman for dressing my wounds and Mum for giving me lots of nice food for the weekend. Oh and Sam Horgan for closing the gap on me which lead me to crash... :) 

Cheers!

W

Road to recovery

Well, this is my first post in almost a year. Purely because there has been nothing to post about in that time! I have been injured. Last year was a tough one on the cycling front due to a series of issues that arose from the one big injury in late 2010 which was breaking my leg. I started 2011 off well with some good form leading into the European season with the BikeNZ U23 track squad and thought everything was well on track, not only with my form but with my injury. I thought I was past it all. I wasn't! I learned the hard way, very soon after getting to Europe that not completing the whole rehab program prescribed to me was idiotic. I did what I was sure I wasn't going to do...I got excited and rushed back into training far too fast and far too hard. My knee flared up within the first month. I was home after 6 weeks. It was pretty tough but  my knee was obviously not ready! I struggled for the rest of 2011 to get things sorted. I was constantly uncomfortable on the bike and no matter what I did off the bike I couldn't seem to get rid of my knee pain. I had patches here and there with no pain and a little bit of form which was refreshing but nothing like what I had before my accident. It was bloody frustrating!

Towards the end of the year it seemed to be getting better and better so I was training harder and harder over the summer for races like the NZ Cycle Classic and Track Nationals. I was having to cut training rides short at least once a week because of my knee so I knew in the back of my head things were nowhere near perfect, but I kept on training hard anyway. Everything came to a peak at NZ Cycle Classic. On the third stage it got to a point where I couldn't ride anymore. I was gutted. And it was the people who had put the support behind me for the year and for this race that I was gutted for, not myself. This was also turning point from bad to good however! Luckily Chappy (Anthony Chapman) was racing as well and he had a look at me after the stage and straight away found some pretty serious issues with my body that were all contributing to my knee pain.

Literally straight away, thanks to Chappy, things started to improve. My bike set up was far from desirable so we worked hard to get that perfect and went straight to work with getting my body back to normal! This was 4 weeks ago and since then every week I have been taking huge leaps forward in rehab and pain has been getting less and less to the point now where it is almost gone.

I have just begun to start racing again as well which is a breath of fresh air. Good to be able to focus on hurting myself while racing as opposed to blocking out knee pain! Great success!! This time I am making sure I am doing everything right, down to the smallest detail and the hard work seems to be paying off.

I am not going overseas to race for the season this year as I am determined to have my body 100% fixed before I dive back into the big kids racing. But I will get there and I am motivated to get there in bloody good shape.

Next up is Oceania Road Champs in Queenstown this week where I will race the 40km Time Trial and 150km Road Race. Obviously I am entering the race to get the best result and best performance I can on the day but I know I won't have devastatingly good form by any means so will try and focus on getting through the racing with good technique on the bike and no knee pain!

Thanks to everyone that has helped over the last year with trying to get me sorted! Especially Anthony Chapman, Hamish Ferguson, Mark Hollands and of course Mum and Dad! Chappy's website is http://www.bikefitter.co.nz/ Check him out if you have any niggles or need a scientifically backed bike fit. Also a big thanks to Mark Morrison who has been very generous and provided me with both a disc and a set of race wheels as well as many other things!

Here is a picture of me racing this past weekend in the Tour of Canterbury. Managed to finish up second on GC behind a FLYING Sam Horgan. Was really happy with how I got through the racing with no pain and with very limited training. Onwards and upwards!

Cheers Cathy Adair for the shot!

Cheers for reading!

W