Just a quick update, as today was a rather important little race... the Commonwealth Games :)
Chris attacked off the gun, which was as expected. Then we were a chase group of 5 riders with Liam, Oli, Sid and Seamus. Surprisingly, Kabush was off the back. I made a few efforts to break up the group, but the course was so fast that it was like a road race and I was not going anywhere. There were also so many hair-pin corners, meaning constant accelerations. Chris was around 1 min ahead, holding a very good tempo. After half the race Oli picked up the pace and things started to heat up. My legs were starting to suffer, but I was still feeling comfortable and riding smooth. Then with 3 (of 8) laps to go they picked up the pace again and I cracked badly. I just ran out of accelerations!
I suffered alone for 2 laps before regaining my rhythm on the final lap. I managed to pick up a dead looking Sid and just before the finish got close to a blown Chris, but didn't catch him. So my place was 5th, in around 2.15hrs... a very long race considering 30d+ heat and the course.
Up front the Brits stole the show with Liam and Oli taking 1st and 2nd respectively. Seamus McGrath from Canada took 3rd.
So that's that. This course was always going to be a huge challenge for me to do well on. I'm certainly a bit bummed not to win a medal, but happy that my legs felt so good on the first few laps. It shows that the speed work I've done has been working. So, now a few days to relax, then onto Curacao to see my team again!

The days are passing by quickly here in Dandenong, a rough little suburb just outside of Melbourne. Overall everything is sweet although the traffic is horrendous and we've been yelled at almost everyday by over-stressed drivers. We've now found a nice cycle path up the Dandenong creek and there's also the course just 30min away, so we're managing fine. I've also been doing some local criterium races. The course here is very flat, but with lots of sharp corners... I'm figuring the crits will be the perfect preparation and I guess we'll find out soon enough if I'm right! Otherwise we're just hanging out and when we're bored we go to the local mall to buy groceries and grab a freshly squeezed juice. I've managed to avoid all distractions and are trying to treat this like any other big race. The opening ceremony was on this evening, but we chose to watch it on T.V from our room. The race is on Thursday next week (23 March, women's start time 1030, men's 1400), so cross your fingers for me!

Today was the Oceania games on the Rotorua World Champs course. It was the old battle of the Aussies vs Kiwis, with Geoff Kabush adding international class. It's been the final big test for the course, which was definitely suiting the climbers with some super steep pinches. The basic shape is of a one up, one down lap. The descent opening with some lumpy grass singletrack, onto a high speed gully and then just to piss us off, another grunty climb. Finally the real descent started with some tricky drops and a long section of zig zags through the forest. At the moment it is not very technical, but hopefully before August some more roots and ruts will form to roughen things up.

The race turned into a four man deal quite early on, with the Aussies Chris Junglewood and Sid Taberely taking turns at attacking Geoff Kabush and myself on the first few laps. At one point I was over a minute down on Sid and I was starting to wonder what was going wrong. But then Chris blew a fuse, followed soon after by Sid, who I caught and passed. Geoff had stepped it up a gear though and with a lap to go had 1min over me. The last lap felt good, but I still lost more time to Geoff, who is clearly on great form. None the less, I took my first ever Oceania Champs title, which is pretty cool in its own right.

Meanwhile, 100km away, the Taupo ironman where Allan was competing in was complete chaos! Gale force winds were causing 2m waves forcing them to cancel the swim and half the distance for the bike/run. I was devastated for Allan because I've never seen someone more dedicated and focused... he'd put everything into preparing for this day. In the end they all raced in TT format, starting one at a time. Allan still didn't know his place when he came home, or if he had achieved his big goal of qualifying for Hawaii. Then we checked the internet and the results were up.. Allan had finished 2nd in his age group.. almost certainly qualifying him for Hawaii. His bike time was the 6th fastest including all pros! Clearly our hard training we've been doing together has been working... and now we could all celebrate together... a great 2 months in NZ, with some great success :)

Its been a bit sad to say goodbyes to all my racing buddies on the circuit. It's been so much fun travelling the NZ series again and feeling part of it. The riders down here are so relaxed and seem to be having fun, yet there is some serious talent brewing at the same time. BikeNZ (our national federation) is working well and after talking with various people, I am starting to feel excited again about possibilities to come. I have to say, I am proud to be a kiwi right now :)

A huge thanks to so many people that have helped me out during this trip and to all the people I have stayed with. I think I must mention Dave and Shreeve Donaldson, who are the head organisers of the world champs. As everytime I come to Rotorua, they take me in and treat me like a son. This year Allan and Nathalie, a swiss friend, have also seen witness to Shreeve's amazing cooking! But its also been so interesting to hear the behind the scenes action and the shit they have to deal with! it really makes me appreciate the events even more.

Photos from www.vorb.org.nz

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http://www.vorb.org.nz/article-36135.html

The Napier round of the National Series didn't work out quite to plan. I started to get small chain jumps on the second lap and my gears were skipping around a lot. I guess my chain got twisted, or perhaps there was a stiff link from the beginning. In any case, after 3.5 laps it opened up and caught on my rear derailleur, ripping it clean off. At the time I was in second place, around 45sec behind Clinton. I was probably a little tired from all the training I've been doing, but I was starting to feel better just before the problem. This Saturday is the Oceania Championships and it looks like the competition will be awesome. Geoff Kabush, Liam Killian, Sid Taberely, Chris Jongeward and the other kiwis will be tough to beat... but I'll do my best :)