Yeah, I have to say I'm pretty happy with my ride at our national champs this weekend :)

Honestly, I was a bit nervous before the start! Cannondale had already prepared a special national jersey design and we had gone to big efforts to ensure that BikeNZ would approve of it. I think most people just expected me to win, but after seeing how fast Clinton and Marcus were riding this year, I knew I had to step it up a gear.

The course probably suited me, with some super steep climbs in blazing hot sun and tight flowing singletracks full of hairpins, exposed roots, drops and jumps. It was a short lap, so we had to do 8 laps.

The first lap I felt my legs were good, so I pushed a little at the top of the climb to take the lead into the decent. Marcus Roy was the only one to hold onto me, with Clinton Avery, about 10m off the back. At the bottom of the decent I had a 20sec lead. From here I raced my own speed, trying to keep the technique good and smooth. Overall I felt comfortable the whole way, except the second lap decent, where I totally lost my focus and slipped or crashed about 5 times! In the end I won by around 3min. Marcus was second and Clinton third. We then had a really good Champagne shower on the podium :)

Tim Vincent put on a good kiwi BBQ afterwards and I tried a new kiwi beer.. Monteiths Summer Ale.. very light with honey, not bad at all.

Allan Carlsen also arrived into NZ this week. He'll be the Vredestein/Cannondale Soigneur this year, but is also a die hard ironman dude. So he's here in NZ both to support me in my quest for Commonwealth glory and also to do the Taupo ironman and hopefully gain selection to Hawaii worldchamps.

On monday, the day after my suffer fest at Nationals, Allan and I both lined up on the road bikes. It was the Lakes to Sea classic 90km road race.. a good chance for some more pain. After 10km was the biggest climb and we both managed to get away with ex. tour de france pro, Nathan Dalberg, current world champion adventure racer, Richard Usher, and old mtb buddy Chris Burr. Funny mix of endurance sports athletes! It didn't last long, despite Allan and Nathan almost blowing Chris and I off the back! In the end we just rode with the bunch.. i was seeing stars anyway, so a perfect way to push the body to its limit again.

The week didn't start as I was hoping, with my asthma hitting really hard as soon as I arrived home to Dunedin. Its a lot due to the housing, which is often damp and cold. Its a tricky puzzle to understand and probably my biggest weakness in my racing these days. For now I just need to avoid any damp places.. which is not easy when you book accomodation ahead of time! If anyone has any good advice, please let me know! Otherwise its been great to be home.. seeing family again, enjoying the great cafe's and international restaurants.

Moving on up the south island, this weekend's race was in Waipara, a wine growing area in north Canturbury. I'm on the road with the R&R Sports team.. my first ever sponsor and we're still going strong :) Nick Flyger is doing an awesome job of managing the programe, so its almost like being with my trade team. Tom Mckay is wrenching for us, helping me dial in my new Cannon's... then there's around 10 riders in different ages and categories... its so much more fun to hang with others, as so often we're on our own.

The course was miles from civilization... it took me 1.5hrs to ride there from the closest town! But once on the course it was easy to understand why they dragged us out there. The locals had been busy bees building an awesome track full of fun and grunty climbs. Some sections were quite raw, with little sheep tracks that are impossible to get out of! I attacked hard from the start and had the lead going into the first descent, but got caught out by a little lump. I got thrown off balance and landed on a funny angle, rolling my rear tire off the rim. My CO2 adaptor then proceeded to fail and left me standing scratching my head wondering what to do next. Finally I walked back to the start finish, grabbed a spare wheel in the tech zone and re-started 15min behind. I still gave it all I could and made the most of the great track. Frustrating, but better late then later. Now I better go and double check all my tubes and CO2's, as I don't want the same problem this weekend at Nationals.

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!

Jan 06 - Willingen.

All my stuff is now packed into a big garage, I’ve seen my friends one last time and I’ve skied almost everyday of the week. Why is it that when you’ve finally got to leave somewhere, you don’t want to go anymore! At the same time though, I’m looking forward to this trip.. I’ve been planning it for ever now and its going to be good.

My first days as a vagabond were with my team. My final obligation before I was allowed to head south. The first day was all about photos… and new stuff. The clothing and bikes looks great. I’ve also already received both a hard tail and a Scalpel in the new team design. Its so nice to be on a Cannondale again. Not too much has changed, which is a good thing. It feels very familiar!

Photo: I guess this is why the hire professional photographers! Freddy and Peter hanging out at the hotel.

First up we shoot in the studio. All the normal boring poses, but we also got to be silly playing with a bunch Polaroid camera’s… Later we went outdoors, but that was just stupid! Try riding around in negative 3 with racing clothing and trying to look fast. It’s just not going to happen. That evening we drove to Willingen in Germany, which is where we raced a world cup last year. They also call it a ski resort, but I’d call it an after-ski resort, as the slopes were better for toboggans then skis!

So, while my ski boots stayed in the hotel room, we all ended up riding our bikes each day and finally did some pretty ok training rides. The U23 team were with us, so it was good to get to know everyone and drink some beers. I think we let Jan and Ruud (our managers) down though, as we didn’t go party and get wasted at all. What’s this, a serious MTB team! I was also surprised.. I thought that at least Peter would be dragging us out one night.


Rory from Cannondale also had a great idea to go hassle some bobsledders for photos, as it was the German champs that weekend. We took some funny photos and saw the German woksleed champion… yea, that’s right, he had a wok on his ass, big spoons on his feet and a big jet rocket for propulsion! Crazy Germans.

I've just started using the 2peak softwear to log my training, which means that if anyone is interested, they can see what I am doing each and everyday.. A bit of a scary thought!
Its a cool piece of softwear that Benoit (my coach) has been involved in developing. They provide different solutions, with the basis that the new programe adjusts automatically based on the 'actual' training the athlete does...

You can visit my training log at : http://2peak.com/2peak/start_trainingplan.php