Flying south on Qantas went smooth. Its never easy, but with modern technology keeping me entertained, it was bearable. I had my first stop in Melbourne to take a look on the course for the Commonwealth Games. I was super lucky, as the local Cannondale rep, Dave Cooper, took a couple of days of duty to show me around. I decided to hit the track straight away before the tiredness from the flight would hit. There were many reports that this would be a pure roadies course. While it was very smooth, there were also many hairpin corners, which do take some skill. It’s going to be a race to be very smooth on, yet power will be the essential element.

The next day we took a cruise down St Kilda beech, which is the most popluar training strip in Melbourne. It was the perfect place for an easy ride, letting the mind wonder off over the ocean, or admiring the incredible houses and endless funky café’s, a great place for talent spotting, which is an easy sport in this town! We stopped for some brekky at the Racer Café, which is the place to be seen for wannabe Italian pro roadies. No deca or soymilk on the menu here.. only the real stuff.
Then it was time for a little work again, checking out some native bush and doing a small photo shoot for Free Wheel magazine. Everyone’s getting excited about the new team gear, which looks great. Then it was back to the airport for my flight to New Zealand. Big thanks to Dave for giving me the pro treatment!


After being away for a few years, the site of flying over the southern lakes area is quite emotional. It’s a really different kind of beauty to the European alps, with spectacular vast wide valleys, glowing golden hills and deep blue lakes. While the area has been developed at record pace, it still feels completely empty.. Hmmm, nice.

Hayden from the local R&R Sports fixed me up like a king for the weekend. It’s amazing how relaxed NZ’ers are with having guests in there houses! The race was up on the top of Coronet Peak, the local ski resort. The XC course was nothing much more then a few access roads and some marking tape, but that just marked the mood of the moment… DH DH DH! Not too surprising considering the two recent DH World Champions.

Its been super cool to bump into all the old fellows again. Still a lot of familiar faces hanging around, and the atmosphere still carried the same fun, social spirit. Mind you, the level of competition seems to have taken a hike. I was semi expecting to just walk away with the win, even without any race preparation and traveling from Europe. But in the end I had a great battle with young Rotorua prodigy child, Clinton Avery. We diced it out right to the end, and he eventually beat me in a sprint finish. Marcus Roy also raced awesome, charging back from an early puncture to finish just behind us! It’s a good sign of things to come. For me, I’ll just blame it on the jet lag J But honestly, it is a bit of a wake up call!