Stages 2,3 and FOUR...
Not really sure what to tell you guys... Getting second place today kinda came out of nowhere. I certainly didn’t expect it of myself. I’ve felt too sore to expect anything of myself but survival over the last two days.

This result comes off the backend of two stages of absolute grovelling to stay in the race and trying to drag my morale up off the ground. I’ve not been able to write anything for my blog – I’ve been way too smashed to do anything but the bare minimum.

My evening two nights ago - after crashing heavily in stage 2 - was spent at the hospital getting x-rays. The team doctor feared a case of broken ribs and after riding through the Giro last year with an undiagnosed broken rib, I felt that he may have been right. Suddenly everything in this year’s Tour seemed like it had just gotten a lot harder; especially trying to sleep with a good portion of the skin of my back grated off.

Thankfully the ribs are intact – just severely bruised.

Then last night I was that beat up from trying to survive the cobbles, at the end of the stage I couldn’t do anything except the necessities and even those felt incredibly hard to get through.

Today was a much easier day on the road so it was a good chance to recover a bit. I had no intention of doing anything at all today except letting myself come around a bit before I felt ready to step back into the game again. As we got closer to the finish, I began to realize that getting involved, even if I didn't sprint, should be part of that ‘recovery’ process. So that’s what I did. It was nothing more than following wheels and being cool. And it turned into something good. I’m just as astounded by the result as you guys are...

With Tyler still down it meant that I could do my own thing and float around as I chose. I had no expectation and nothing required of me from the team. So it all seems to have come about in an odd sort of a way really. I seriously didn’t expect to be that good and maybe that’s why I did do so well.... I didn’t expend too much energy on the mental process of sprinting... I obviously just let my instincts take over and rode on autopilot. And bugger me, second place was mine for the keeping....

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I could feel however that in the sprint I’m certainly not at my best. And this in a sense gave me mixed feelings about the result. I AM really happy but I just wonder what would’ve been if I had felt like I was really on top of my game and sprinting well. But in saying that, today’s result is a great sign and as long as the body continues its healing trend I will try again in the coming days if the situation arises. Although of course, I am here as Tyler’s lead-out man so I may not get another opportunity for myself...

Julz

Stage 4

WOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!!!

...An update on it's way, people!

Prologue & Stage 1

Starting the Tour in Holland the evening after their football team had put Brazil out of the World Cup, I wasn't sure how the turnout would be for the Prologue as football fever was running high, but in true Dutch fashion it seemed like they just continued to party on and the atmosphere of Saturday evening was equivalent to that of the previous night’s victory over Brazil.

As a Kiwi I was stopped numerous times by fans of this football-mad nation to mention the valiant performance of the All Whites and the respect they have gained for their historical performance is obvious. You can be sure that even if the All Blacks win the Rugby World Cup, the appreciation of the result won’t be as far-reaching into this part of the World as that of the All Whites. I’m not particularly football mad but when you live in a country whose national sport is football and is surrounded by equally football-fanatic countries, it’s impossible not to absorb the enormity of the Football World Cup. And if you understand just how big the World Cup is then the All Whites’ performance would have astounded you too.

They are a real credit to our nation and did us all extremely proud. For me, the most remarkable moment in their World Cup campaign was while I was watching the final moments of the match against Italy in a bar at Malpensa Airport on the way home from my last race before the Tour. When I entered the bar just after half time, it was packed out with the Italian fans - 300 plus, I reckon. It was heaving and the atmosphere was electric... Until of course the game entered into it's final minutes and the score was still locked at 1-1. The disappointed fans started to leave the bar in droves and the spirit of the Italian team exited the football pitch at about the same moment. It was obvious the team and their millions of fans had expected the Kiwis to be a walk over. They hadn’t realised what pure passion for the sport could do to a non-descript team from a non-football nation.

Anyway, at this point there were still a good 10mins left to play and it seemed far from over to me. The NZ team appeared to be hanging on with every last ounce of guts and determination they had left in them and despite the fact that they had key players going down and had battled twice as hard as their opponents the whole game, the Italians couldn’t break down the Kiwi’s wall of tenacity.

Those final moments of the game spoke volumes about the All Whites as individuals and as a team and why they were able to be competitive with the World’s best teams. Their performance throughout the tournament was truly extraordinary. And in terms of raising the spirit of a nation, there have been very few sporting performances that have lifted NZ like theirs did. Although I don't live there, after talking to people back in NZ, it really seems like they did something special for the country. In my lifetime, the two teams that I really remember doing something special like that was when the All Blacks won the 87' rugby World Cup and the first time a Kiwi crew won the America’s Cup. In my view the way a performance moves a nation is a genuine indicator of its quality.

Anyway, back to the Tour de France:

The teams tried to be clever and predict the weather pattern and instead of lining our favourites for the prologue TT last as is the norm, they lined them up first hoping to avoid the bad weather forecast for the day. We were one of the few teams to do this so it meant that a non-specialist like me got to experience going off in the last wave of riders amongst all the favourites, when the hype was at its peak - a first for me and something to be savoured. So I thought that I really needed to try and give it something special on this occasion – a good chance to try and do my best ever ride in a prologue maybe? How wrong was I! I did my worst ever ride and came away feeling embarrassed even. I'm not sure what went wrong other than I obviously had difficulty turning the pedals on this particular occasion. It certainly wasn’t how I had hoped to start...


Rotterdam-Spa

After yesterday’s ratshit ride I was naturally hoping that it was what I needed to get the body rolling and today I’d be back in the game again.

The first stage of the Tour is always hellish as the tension is sky high. And as much as we love them, the volume of fans on the sides of the road today were something I had very rarely ever seen anywhere in my career. There were so many spectators out there today that it was a very nerve-wracking experience for a great part of the day. There were so many of them and they were so close and with the riders' nerves on complete edge, along with a moderately windy but sunny day on the exposed coasts of the Netherlands, the sensory overload almost caused a complete shutdown of my brain. In fact, I’m not really sure I could’ve taken much more than I did.
For sure, a part of that is just getting used to being at the Tour again and it’s always amazing that by the end of three weeks, this circus seems normal.

So although I was hoping for better things it wasn't to be. I struggled much of the day, feeling flat and like I was never on top of things. We had hoped to set a standard or protocol in the team today as to how we were going to operate in the sprints this Tour but the nerves of the peloton today turned the race on its head - as it often does on the first stage of the Tour.

Not to worry though, my experience has taught me that the first stage of a Grand Tour rarely sets the rhythm for the rest of the race. I’m sure today isn’t a true marker of how this Tour is going to continue for me or for the team. Here’s hoping anyway, otherwise for me it’s going to be a very long three weeks.

Julz

How 'Bout A Catch Up First???

Well, I guess before I begin another race I should wrap up the last one and in between a little bit:

The Giro finished well for me with a second place on the 3rd to last day of the race - at which point I bailed to go home and get a wee rest in before building again for the Tour. It was a great result for me after having spent 2 ½ weeks focusing entirely on working for Tyler. Generally whenever I do get the opportunity it’s difficult to make anything of it as the mindset and process of doing a lead-out is so different to that of doing the sprint for yourself. To win a sprint at this level, there are a lot of crucial ingredients needed, two of which are self-belief - which comes with sprinting often and gaining results; and instinct - which tends to come to the fore more when the self-belief is roaring. I tend to lack the self-belief and therefore don’t always allow my instincts to guide me through the final moments but a big, wide run in with relatively straight roads made this opportunity a little easier to convert into a solid result. I didn’t have anyone to help me in the final kms so I just had to play my own cards. I opened up a little early in the sprint but it seemed like there was a nanosecond of hesitation and jumping then felt like the right thing to do. It was a perfect sprint for Griepel and I don't think that I would’ve beaten him outright but I had to try something and going early seemed like the best option. It worked pretty well. I was more than happy with the outcome and it was a great way to leave the Giro, which had already been more than a great one for the team as a whole.

A return home from the Giro feeling good and not overdone is always a bonus. The first 10 days at home are a great time to relax and enjoy while many others are training full gas for the Tour. From then on though it always does become a little difficult to manage how much to do or not do before the Tour. Most of the time I just rely on feelings during this period as it’s quite difficult to get good consistent days in as the body endeavours to re-adjust itself to working under a normal load as opposed to a race load. It’s these sorts of times when a SRM can be a somewhat frustrating tool to have as the sensations and the data rarely seem to correspond. The other thing that people often say in their bid to boost my confidence is that, “You’ve done it so many times so you should know what to do”. To an extent yes, but each time the Giro is different and each time you come out of it differently and each year you are a little older and respond a little differently.

So to be honest, I’ve spent this final week questioning what I did do or didn’t do, or should’ve done but didn’t do, or did do that I shouldn’t have done, bla, bla, bla... I’ve thought it over and over more the closer I’ve gotten to the race and the fresher I’ve become during this wind-down period. I’ve been having a mental tug-o-war with myself but now that I’m here 1 day before the start of the Tour de France 2010, I just have to be quiet within myself and know that I’ve done all that I thought was right.... And as my generally-always-in-perspective-wife says, “You’ve never done a Grand Tour without having great form at some point of it, if not for most of it... Your form is there or lurking thereabouts. It will raise itself to the top at some point”.

Although there were a fair few people around at the presentation yesterday, it didn’t seem like it was too extravagant by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the whole ‘Depart’ of this year’s Tour has seemed to us riders a little lacklustre. Certainly there are a few cool things the city has done which are a nice touch; the best of which is putting up flags of each of the riders on the TT circuit. We were planning tonight to get one of the staff members drunk and send them on a mission to cut our ones down and bring them back to us as a souvenir. We thought that Whitey might be up for it. Just like the old Commonwealth and Olympic Games days....

Aside from all that is going on around us, I’m just trying to rest up. I think that maybe nowadays I know how important it is to rest up these final days before the gruelling day in, day out Grand Tour routine kicks in and for that I tend not to get wound up in the hype as much. I’m sure it’s just as big as every other previous TdF and the next two days - especially the first stage proper on Sunday when we have to make our first throw down at a stage – will be when the enormity of the greatest event in cycling will prove to be exactly that. Enormous!!!!

Julz

Who's ridden the most grand Tours?

Catch Up...
I’m sitting on the balcony of the hotel on our rest day. For Joe Bloggs who is none the wiser, all he sees from here is a beautiful backdrop. But someone like me who is in the know, is not fooled by its gorgeous looks. I know what that backdrop is really all about and all I see from my balcony is a merciless mountain waiting to unleash its wrath on me. See,my ‘beautiful view’ is that of Plan de Corones - the setting for tomorrow’s 12.9 km uphill time trial; 8 km tar seal and 5 km dirt road with a 24% grade section in the final kilometre and an overall average gradient of 8%. I was dead last in the stage which ended up here 2 yrs ago and finished just 1 sec inside the time cut. I can't help but wonder if tomorrow will be the last day for me in this year’s race. It is a very real possibility....



Once again the rest day has almost gone and it never seemed to be overly generous in giving me much rest. Unsurprisingly it started with the 8 am wake-up call from the first drug testing agency that came to test us followed an hour later by the next drug testing agency. It never ceases to amaze me how they can’t somehow come at the same time and share the samples.... So my morning was consumed by donating blood and pissing into a cup. Not the way I wanted to spend the morning of my rest day. Anyway, I always think of it like paying tax. Hate doing it, can't get out of it but on the inside know that it’s necessary for the greater good.

It has been more than a long few days to say the least. It started with stage 9 which took us through and around Naples. For those who aren't familiar with Italy, the south is no place for people who aren't comfortable with being exposed to a different way of life. And in fact it’s easy to think that the north and the south of Italy are two different countries. I actually love it there. It’s very raw and unique for Europe. Yet ‘nice’ is not an adjective I would throw in there, although maybe it could be used for describing the landscape.

Anyway, the limited infrastructure there is not really up to coping with copious amounts of rain like we experienced on stage 9. So in many parts, the roads were hub high in water and pretty treacherous - all the rain seemed to be channelled down on to the roads. It was quite an experience. I punctured at the most critical time in the race when it was all going down with 40 km to go. I changed the wheel but by the time I’d got back into the race, the peloton had shattered into 30-odd groups as guys battled to keep their bikes upright and see 3 feet in front of themselves. I never got to see the front again. The worst part was when we got to the finish it was sunny and looked like we’d had incredibly pleasant conditions all day.


Stage 10 - the day I almost won. It was a very good day for us and many things went very well in what was a sketchy run in to the finish that I would normally bitch about, saying something like, “It was too dangerous. Why do they do that to us? Bla, bla, bla...” Fortunately, with Tyler going as well as he is, all we have to do with him is just pop him in a good position these days and he seems to be able to pull it off. So the plan was to drop him in the front into the first part of the dodgey stuff, which started 1200m out. So into the corner at 1200m I moved up as close to the front as I could which ended up 3rd wheel. From there on I did nothing more than follow the two riders who continued at the front until the last corner.

It all felt very smooth: I didn't have to break hard, panic or hardly accelerate out of any of the corners. It felt a bit like the downhill section on a roller coaster where the cart effortlessly seems to race full gas through all the bends while you as the passenger are just holding on. Approaching the last corner at 500m to go, it seemed like the time to take control of the cart. So I jumped and started my effort, all the while just hoping that Tyler was in my wheel: In sprinting you just have to assume that your passenger is there. I took my run into the last corner comfortably so as not to risk too much but coming out of the corner again I punched it as hard as I could. At 150m I still hadn’t seen anyone but then I felt the presence of someone from behind. There was a moment when I thought maybe this presence wasn’t going to pass me but in the last metres I also started to feel the effects of my accelerations into and out of the last corner. It had already been a long sprint. Fortunately it was Tyler who had me covered and he went on to take the victory with ease. I held on for 3rd which was still a very gratifying feeling.

Afterwards, Tyler said that he’d wanted to sit back and let me have it but he could feel Sabatini of Liquigas coming and didn’t want to jeopardize a possible victory for us. I was happy that he didn't in many regards. Sure, I would’ve loved a victory for myself but for him to do that, in that kind of situation you have to be supremely confident. I would have hated it and we would have looked like idiots if we’d run 2nd and 3rd. So in the end it worked out well and it was a great day for the team; 1st and 3rd in the stage.

As is always the case in these big Tours - and one of the reasons why I really love the psychology of these races - by the start of the stage the next day it all seemed like it happened in another life. We faced the longest stage of the 2010 Giro, 262 km, and it was pissing rain and we were heading straight up a climb. In what has been so far a wet Giro - as in raining everyday wet - the previous day had been mostly warm and dry for the most part. Now we were riding in sub-10 degree temperatures in relentless rain. My body didn't know if it was summer, spring or autumn. To make matters worse, it was one of the strangest days I’ve ever experienced in racing - a 56 rider breakaway stole the show. This meant doom for the grupetto as no team seemed interested in taking responsibility for the race. Sure enough on the first categorized climb of the day the heat went on in the peloton sending us non-climbers out the pipe. Thirty - fourty of us promptly formed grupetto and so began the ‘swapping off’ for 150 km to make the finish in the pouring rain, over the climbs and down the descents. It was horribly cold and at one point I went back to the car and changed all my clothes. As we neared the finish it was clear that we were going to miss the time cut for the day but I couldn't really care less at the time and home was the only place I wanted to go to the next day. I felt I was well and truly done for this year’s Giro. In fact, it became a joke between us all that if they didn't throw us out we would protest saying that we demanded they throw us out, or else!

We missed the time cut by 10 minutes and they didn’t throw us out due to the ‘adverse conditions’. Why couldn’t they have stuck to the rules this one time?

And so my Giro 2010 continues.....

The Day The Strada Bianca Turned Us Brown...

Stage 7 turned out to be everything the Giro organisers could’ve dreamed of: rain, rain and more rain throughout a long and technical stage which ended with riders not only exhausted but absolutely caked in mud. It was a spectacular stage for the aficionados to witness.

The 'Strada Bianca' roads of Tuscany are a type of hard-packed limestone and what makes racing on these roads all the more spectacular are the short, steep climbs that punish the legs and lungs without mercy.

Although I’ve never raced over the Strada Bianca before there is a one day race, Eroica, which they feature in yet, in all my years as a Pro, I’ve never seen it raced in the wet conditions we had to endure during stage 7. The rain made the Strada Bianca anything but white. It was a mud fest out there. We had mud up our noses, in our mouths, in our eyes – in every nook and cranny the body has to offer.

Team jerseys, and riders themselves, were all but indistinguishable from the front - team colours meant nothing to the eye - but from behind, they were almost pristine thanks to the incessant rain drenching our backs and keeping the colours bright and visible. This contrast between the front and back of every rider was actually quite beautiful. Each of us was a piece of the same art. It was a sporting spectacle of great proportions and in a sense it was the epitome of what our sport is about. And to top off the spectacle? A muddy, barely recognisable rainbow jersey as the winner of what was an epic and hard fought day on the bike.

The terrible weather conditions, the muddy and challenging Strada Bianca, and the clash between the big hitters all helped to create one of those special stages that will go down in cycling history as an epic battle on all fronts; not only between riders but within themselves as well. It was not particularly pleasant out there. In fact it was bloody horrible but we all knew at the time that we were creating something extraordinary. Something that would go down in cycling history and will never be forgotten; always coming up when people talk about the historical stages of the Giro de Italia.

Although I felt pretty dirty by the time I got to the finish, I could only comprehend how bad I looked by looking at someone else. And on more than one occasion I caught myself thinking how filthy a guy looked only to realise after the thought that I would not have been any more aesthetically pleasing to the eye.

I do reckon though that I was slightly cleaner than most as I made sure that at each section of Strada Bianca we hit, in our group I was first on to it and first off it – so as to avoid collecting the crap coming up off the other riders’ bikes. It didn't, however, stop me from having to throw out all my clothes at the end of the day. No matter what ‘wonder whitening’ laundry product is out there these days, those team colours could never be rescued from beneath their muddy facade.

Julz

Getting You Up To Speed With Speed...

After our first stage win, naturally the goal was to get another one and stage 5 was almost it. In fact, it couldn’t have been any closer. Had some of the other teams chipped in then we would’ve caught the 3-man break that eluded us by three seconds in the finish.

Tyler wrapped up the bunch sprint no problem but only ended up 4th which was a bummer for us all. Anyway, we just had to be content with the fact that we did all we could and it was just a bit unfortunate that we didn't get as much help as we should have from other teams in the chase.

I felt pretty good in the final but coming into the last corner, which was a tight right-hander, I had positioned myself on the outside. As usual there are always those who choose to risk more than others and as I slowed for the corner a bunch of guys who chose to come into the corner at lightning speed, cut through underneath me and then locked up their brakes to make the corner. Of course I got quacked and lost position, although by then it didn’t really matter. Tyler managed to come out of the corner fine and he was in a great spot from which to start his sprint.


Stage 6 finished in the home town of Italian sprinter, Petacchi. You would’ve thought the finish would’ve been tailor-made for him but the run into Carrara looked pretty difficult in the book and indeed proved too hard for most sprinters, including the local hero. It was all in all a hard day, raced full gas from the gun and the final two climbs with 40km to go saw the race explode as the peloton tried to bring back the two breakaway riders in a bid for any sprinters who were able to make it over the climbs to contend the final sprint.

It never happened though with most sprinters getting dropped on the climbs and the chase losing steam over the final kilometres. The break held off the peloton for a second day in a row. The win went to affable Aussie rider, Matt Lloyd, so it was nice that a guy who is so often doing everything for others gets to stand on the podium himself for a change.

How About A Banquet To Go With That Transfer?

...On arriving in Italy, in true Giro-style the organizers thought it a good idea to put on a banquet dinner at the airport for us (or them???) and charge punters to come and share dinner with 200 grumpy, ravenous cyclists who’d already had the World’s longest day and just wanted to get to the hotel and go to bed. After all, it was nearing midnight by now and our day had been a hard one – both on the bike and with the transfer and yet we now had to sit down and eat en masse with excited punters whose last thought in mind was that of going to bed! It was just ridiculous and I just had to laugh at the whole thing. I thought that I’d seen it all in my years of professional racing but this was a new one. We really are just a travelling circus.

It made me wonder what they will be expecting of the athletes in the years to come as days like this are now becoming the norm in pro sport rather than the exception as organizers and sponsors try to capitalize on their investments as much as they can. It’s these moments in cycling that make me wonder whether race organisers forget, or actually even care, that we’re athletes who need plenty of rest and recovery to make it the spectacle that a Grand Tour is.

Anyway, after the chaotic transfer from Holland to Italy, followed by the ‘hooplah’ banquet, we arrived at the hotel after 1 am. Finally we could crawl our exhausted selves into bed. It felt great.

The next day was a rest day, although that was never really going to be a rest day as such with the next stage being the TTT, requiring re-con of the course and a practise session to give us some cohesion in the order of our line-up.
Our aim of taking the jersey for Millar was made all the more difficult to achieve after having lost Christian with a broken collar bone the day before and an inexperienced team. But in our hearts we were committed to give it our all. I was particularly afraid. I’m normally pretty good in a TTT but still not feeling into the groove of racing yet and then coming off a rest day, I wasn’t sure how I was going to fair. I always struggle after a rest day and especially when I’m not completely on top of my form. For whatever reason, although my body loves the rest day, it hates the day after.

As it turned out my ‘post-rest day fear’ was warranted. Conditions were not really good for me with it being a little fresh and raining. So from the start I was struggling and felt heavy and dull. I was hoping that I might get a turnaround in my sensations but instead I just progressively felt worse and worse. Eventually I felt I was more of a hindrance to the team than a help and felt it better to let it go. That was that.

Even riding in after being dropped, I did not feel good at all. I obviously just wasn’t up for a ‘good day’ unfortunately. I felt a little disappointed but knew that it was all I could do on the day and felt a certain amount of comfort in that. And as for our result as a team... Well it wasn’t overly flash but considering we were one man down from the beginning, the performance wasn’t bad either.

So now I’m looking forward to some normality returning to the Giro. We are now back where the race belongs and I feel what I need is some good weather and consistent days to gain a bit more confidence in my form for the rest of the race and on to the TdF.

Julz

Giro 2010

After what has seemed like the longest first 4 stages of the 14 Grand Tours that I've done so far in my career, we’re finally down in Italy and ready to settle into a normal Giro routine. As it was with the Vuelta last year, the first couple of days up in Northern Europe and then the transfer down to the home of the race have been both taxing and difficult.

That aside, fortunately for us, things started pretty well with a nice victory for Tyler in stage 2.

The prologue, for me, was more than a little disappointing and made me fearful of my form for the first week. Although I’m not a specialist at these, I normally do a little better than I did. Thankfully my confidence in my form was given a much needed boost in the second stage with a first class lead-out and a win from Tyler.

In a day that was marred by a gajillion crashes, we seemed fortunate enough to escape them all and even though I wasn’t feeling near top form, I still managed to ride a cool and calm final to protect and place Tyler where he needed to be at the right time.
I was able to wait a fair while in the finish and as I brought the speed back up out of the last corner nearing the finish line, I started to wonder where the rest of the field was. I thought maybe there had been another pile up. Then they came past, Tyler leading the way inside 150m to go with two bike lengths on the rest. Done and dusted! It was a victory that felt almost effortless. Although, that’s always the way with commanding victories like that; they feel easy because everything goes right.

I felt a great sense of satisfaction that I haven’t felt for quite some time. It was good to be back and competitive at the top level again. Especially when I know that I’m still not at my best form as I continue to build on it for Tour de France.

So anyway, we hoped to repeat that fine effort in stage 3 - the last of the stages up in Holland, but it was always going to be a big ask to have the luck of the previous day. As it turned out it wasn't to be our day. We had hoped at least to gain a 2 second bonus for Tyler either in the intermediate sprint or the finish so that he could take the jersey. But instead we nearly lost everything in the last 10 km with crashes and splits in the field that dictated the stage more than anybody’s fine form. Our saving grace was that Dave Millar avoided all the carnage to stay in the front group of 25 or so and remained within a few seconds of the jersey, giving us another chance at it if we could put together a good TTT. And as for me? Well, I managed to stay up in the front group too until a bunch of Sky riders went down in front of me.... It was a very minor crash for me but enough to hold me up long enough to lose contact with the front group.


Mega Transfer.....

While I enjoyed Holland; the atmosphere and enthusiasm for the Giro that it afforded us, the transfer to Italy was always going to be a prick of time.
Transferring something like, say a horse or a fridge from Holland to Italy is probably not such a big deal. But a bike race? And the second biggest bike race in the World? Yeh, well that’s never going to be stroll in the park, is it? Especially when there’s an angry volcano spitting ash all over the show. The threat of cancelled flights and the unavoidable 14 hour bus journey after a 230 km stage didn't seem very appealing and the fact that we’d had a day that didn't quite go to plan and the morale was a bit deflated made the whole bus transfer idea even more unpleasant. Luckily for us though, the sky was clear and we were able to catch our charter flights from Brugge in Belgium to Cuneo Italy. Phew, I thought until what happened next....

TO BE CONTINUED...

Quietly Building...

Hi people.
Sorry for the lack of news lately. I've been head down, arse up plugging away on getting myself ready for the Giro.

Things have been going pretty well lately. I've finally found some consistency in my training and my health seems to be definitely on its way up.

The Classics were, in a word, 'crap' for me really. I grovelled my way through them doing what I could for our team leaders and although I did start to improve by the end of them, I certainly wasn't jumping for joy with the sensations I was feeling on the bike. More than anything, it was probably my experience that got me through them with my sanity and body relatively intact!

Since coming home I've been able to focus solely on my training and diet and I've been doing quite a bit of pilates to strengthen up my core and help 'straighten out' my body after my run of crashes throughout the Classics. I'm finally starting to feel that for the first time since coming back to Europe I'm heading in the right direction. As I knew I would at some point.

Next weekend I'm heading up to Girona for a pre-Giro team training camp where we'll just try and put the final touches on our form and get our head-space as a team in the right place.

Julz

Gent-Wevelgem

Yay. I survived the first weekend in Belgium with only minor damage.

I came away from the race feeling ok with things. Once again, with how my season has panned out so far, I never really knew what to expect going into it. Judging by the previous week, I was at no point expecting too much but nonetheless looking forward to starting in the first of the big northern races.

They are always special races up in Belgium and during the Classics you truly get to see and feel that up here is where the heart of bike racing in Europe beats. As difficult as it always is going up there without my best form, I always hope that the atmosphere and the enthusiasm will help me lift my game, which it does to some extent but to be competitive in these races you being high-spirited just isn't enough. You need to be 100% healthy, fit AND full of beans. Nevertheless, if you don't have a little bit of hope or dream a little, where’s the sense in even starting?

This year’s Gent-Wevelgem was a big change from the history of the race. On Saturday we took the chance to do some recon and check out the parts that had been added. It was at this point that the air started to seep out from my over-inflated balloon of hopes and dreams! The changes to the race were dramatic and what was once a race that was easily achievable to be competitive in without knowing all the ins and outs of every corner and each little bump in the road, now seemed like something less achievable for us non-Classics specialists.

The race was now full of extra small country roads, no more than a car-width wide and 10,000 extra corners. After seeing it, I had a similar feeling to that I had has a kid when someone wrecked one of my favourite toys. I’ve done this race many times in my career and it was certainly a race that I was fond of but this new version of Gent-Wevelgem wasn’t something I liked the look of. Maybe I’m just getting too comfortable with familiarity and too old to welcome change?

Apart from feeling a tad ripped off, it also seemed a bit like someone was out there rubbing salt into my wounds; on top of struggling with my health and form since getting to Europe, one of my favourite races had been butchered. Another unwanted addition to my difficulties.

Anyway, of course there was zilch I could do about this change except get stuck into it and just hold on to the hope that I might be raised to the top of my game by the Belgium cycling spirit. I went into the race with good morale and I wanted to see what I could do to help our three boys in Van Sumeran, Masskant and Ferrar.

As it turned out, a miracle was not befallen to me by the Belgians' passion for cycling which powered me through the day with lightening speed and built-in shock absorbers. Nor did a new pair of incredibly adept-to-riding-cobbles-legs fall out of the sky and attach themselves to my torso. And nor was I blessed with sudden Classic-winning form. What I did do though was all I could for our team leaders. In black and white it didn't seem like I did much but I was satisfied that I did for those boys all I could do. I came away being ok with that and just tried focusing on being positive and moving forward.

This time of year has historically always been a tough time for me (Although this season takes the ‘Worst Ever’ cake) and I have never really found my form in these races so with that knowledge I know not to be too hard on myself right now.

What I have to focus on is keeping calm through this mentally and physically challenging time and be satisfied knowing that as long as I keep trying with tenacity and concentrate on putting together a strong and structured block of training, the tide will eventually turn in my favour.

So now I’m home for a few days where I can lay down a bit more ground work before I head back up to Belgium at the end of the week for the biggest of them all - Ronde van Flanderen.

Julz

Part III

There was one other little point I should mention, which I’m a little embarrassed about, that may have contributed to my struggle at around the time I got dropped. Although it was quite a blunder on my behalf, I’m not sure how much it had to do with the overall outcome of the day. But regardless of all that, I’m pretty hesitant to mention it as it does portray me as somewhat of an idiot...


At the start of the day I was thinking I was going ok but as we started to head up the Turchino, the first major climb of the day at about the halfway point, I was caught in a crash where I was wedged between the guard rail and my bike. It was a pretty critical moment at this point in the race so I quickly jumped back on my bike and chased back on. It was a real mission to get back on and when I finally made it back up to the peloton, the speed seemed high and the last few kilometres to the top of the Turchino saw me go well into the red; more than I can remember in recent years. It was this at point that I began to realise that I was going to be in a spot of bother if I hoped to do anything in the 2010 Milan San Remo. Cresting the Turchino, I was not able to get anywhere near the front, putting me further in trouble as we headed over the top and through the tunnel where we then got caught behind a crash due to the tunnel lights being out.

When we got back down to the coast, I just kept feeling worse and worse. Things were hectic, I was struggling and any sense of rationale I might’ve had was gone as I struggled to stay in the pace line of the group. To my amazement I wasn’t even able to hold the wheel on the flat. Something I never normally struggle with. This was the point when I thought to myself that something just wasn't right today. It was just not going to be a good day for me at all.

After telling the team that I was so terrible they decided I was best used to try and bring back the break before the next climb. I had no objections as I was absolutely pig rooting and didn't think that I was going to make it past that point anyway. I was at my absolute worst and I just could not believe it.

After getting to the front, I gave a few pathetic turns to try and close the gap and once we arrived at the climb, I was well and truly wrecked. I was still shaking my head in disbelief asking myself why I had been so bad. I just figured it just must be one of ‘those’ days.

After being dropped, I stopped for a piss as I headed to the feed zone, where I was looking forward to putting the day behind me, getting in the car and heading to the finish (how wrong was I). As I slowed down to stop to relieve myself and the hectic pace, stress and noise of the race left me in its wake, I heard a ‘Shhhhuc, shhhhuc, shhhhuc....’ noise which slowed down as I slowed down. I looked down and (finally) noticed that my front left break pad was catching on my rim. In my frantic bid to get back into the race after the crash, I failed to check my bike - which was an idiotic mistake - and my front wheel had been rubbing on my break pad for 70km.

Just to be completely frank here though, I’m not saying that I would’ve gone any better but for sure it would’ve made things a little easier during the chaotic previous 70km and most likely I would’ve lasted a bit longer in the race than I did.

I couldn’t believe that I didn't think to check over the bike after the crash. It’s a story that I’m probably not going to share too often and like I said, it’s not an excuse to hide behind.

I forgot to check the bike when I got back to the bus to see how much it was actually rubbing but I did notice that it was easier when I finally released the breaks. Don't tell too many about this story as it makes me look like a right twit - especially after being a pro for 13 yrs.

Anyway, let’s hope some better times are just around the corner. Cycling aside, I’m fizzing about heading home for the next few days to hang with the family after almost a 3 week road trip.

Julz

Part II...

Anyway, at the end of the day it’s my own responsibility to speak out a little more and tell the team what I have learnt about myself over the years. Unfortunately we were all just hopeful I’d turn up and have a great day....

But to the contrary, it was an incredibly hard day for me mentally and physically and I wasn’t very happy at the end of it. What made the whole stinkin’ day even worse was that after I got dropped with still 100k left in the race, I rolled into the feed zone to find it completely vacated. All the teams had gone; there was no-one from our team to hand me out food or liquid to help get me through the remainder of the race. There was absolutely no-one to be seen. In fact, it was difficult to tell that 10min earlier a race had even passed through there. What was I to do? I was somewhat of a forgotten soldier. It was still a 100km to the finish and there are no shortcuts to San Remo. I had no food and no water and no way back to the finish other than my own sorry legs. That was an incredibly lonely feeling to be stuck with, with no recourse.

Given that I didn’t have a choice, I continued on my way, feeling sorry for myself. I had given my last amount of energy to the team trying to close the gap to the front group after the race had split due to a crash. I had been shelled out the arse end of the race with nothing left in the tank. I admit my effort wasn’t up to its usual standards but it was all that I had on this particular day and this is what I got for it - left out in the middle of nowhere with nothing. I felt fairly pissed off.

So I kept riding and riding and riding and riding, hoping that at some point someone from the team might ask themselves 'Shit, where’s Julian?'. Especially given that the race leaders were most likely to finish an hour ahead of me if I had to ride all the way to the finish by myself.

I was out the arse because I was going bad, now I had to keep going to the finish, hoping that at some point I might see someone coming from the finish to collect me after they finally realised I was MIA. But it didn't happen and I had to ride a miserable 100km to the finish with no fluids or food on one of the worst days I’ve had on the bike for as long as I can remember. What kept me going were the 5 other guys who’d also been 'abandoned'. We stuck together and shared what food and water we had left between us. It wasn’t a lot and certainly wasn’t enough and although we were from different teams, we rode as one to make sure we all got to the finish in one piece.

Eventually, after almost 8 hours, I rolled into San Remo to the team bus feeling more than a little cheesed off and disillusioned as to the lack of consideration of the welfare the team has for its riders - especially for an athlete who’s struck a bad day and needs a little more support than they might need on regular occasions.
What added to my frustration was that in my heart I knew I had done all I could to get back on top of my form after being crook and even though I couldn’t contribute much on this particular day, I still buried myself for the team.


Anyway that’s often what you get when you have a bad day. Unless you are running at the top of your game, professional sport can be very demoralizing and disheartening no matter how long you’ve been in it and how much stature you have. Everybody prefers to be with a winner....



This is to be continued again....

A Decisive No To Twitter...

Well that was an interesting exercise!

Julz and I have both been very 'unbothered' about taking on the Twitter fad. It wasn't something either of us really felt he needed to be a part of.

Firstly, although at times his diary updates are sporadic and at times, non-existent, when he's got something to say, he'll say it. That's just the sort of fella he is. He's never been the kind to waste energy on stringing together a bunch of meaningless words for the sake of keeping others happy. Secondly, he's not the sort of bloke to sit at the team dinner table comparing the number of daily 'tweets' or whatever you call the bloody things... which is basically what those with Twitter tend to do. That's just not the way Julz rolls and thankfully the majority of you roll his way so NO TO TWITTER it is then!

Cheers for all your thoughts on that one...

C

La Primavera That Just Wasn't Meant To Be

The not-so-glamorous life of pro bike-riding and the ups and downs since returning to racing from sickness continued with what I call my worst Milan - San Remo ever.

It’s amazing how the race that I love so much can turn out to be one of my most terrible days on the bike in memory. How, in previous years the race that I’ve felt I was as strong as anyone, turned on me and made me feel like a boy among men; an athlete who was, and never would be, capable of competing at the level needed to be a contender in the race that I'm so passionate about.

Why? I don't really know exactly. Although the last couple of weeks had started to see me head in the right direction with the form, yesterday’s M-SR threw me the proverbial ‘curve ball’ and derailed any morale I was beginning to rediscover.

So why did I ride my personal worst yesterday? In retrospect I think that more than anything it’s my own fault for not speaking out louder about what I needed to do to get back on track after being crook.

After talking with Management, we decided that it was best for me to try and race myself back into form by putting me in Murcia and Tirreno, back to back. Right there was the biggest blunder for me – and actually a method that has never worked for me in the past when I’ve been out of form after illness or injury.

My 13yrs of experience should have given me enough foresight to give me the confidence to tell the team that it was a plan that wasn’t likely going to be the right one. I suppose my own character let me down there. I suppose I just felt that I could handle it – like every other hurdle I’ve pushed through in the past.

While for some fellas racing into form works, for me it has never been the best solution to get back into form. The way I’ve always got to my best and most consistent condition is through a slow, gradual progressive training plan that when I get to the end of I have my best form. Kind of like building a house or something that is never really any use until it’s all done.

By trying to race myself into condition has only ever lead me to having hot and cold days in racing and never knowing what to expect the next time I pin a number on my jersey - something that I struggle to deal with as an athlete. For me, I’m a lot more comfortable and calm in the building process. I know that time and patience will bring me to the top of my game. I hate nothing more than being unpredictable on race days. I’m too passionate about my performance to feel ok with crap form...


To be continued 'coz the Ed'ess is too tired to do the rest now.... :0)

Twitter Anyone?

I was just curious to get your guys' take on me starting up with Twitter. I've had a number of people ask me why I haven't jumped on the band-wagon. I've thought about it but I'm not sure that it's something I see as overly informative or useful. I'm not a poet so I think that random short groups of texts that I string together probably have little value or meaning.

On the otherhand, when I get something new up on the website it would be a good way of letting you all know that I've updated the site.

It's always been a bit odd to me how the whole Twitter gig operates. More than anything to me it seems like a tool that the boys use to compare their fame by making comparisons with each other as to who has the most follows, rather than a way of informing people of what's going on.

As I said, I'm not sure that unless you are literally very savvy you can really put anything worthwhile out there using Twitter.

Or maybe I'm just getting old. Any thoughts anyone?

Julz

Where am I? What am I doing?

Well, I feel like I’m nothing more than a struggling bunch-fuller at the moment. I’m far from passing through one of the most comfortable periods of my career. Since being back in Europe, it has being a struggle. Everything has been a struggle. Although as I write this, I think that I say that about this time every year...

Anyway, I’m pretty sure I’m not where I was this time the last couple of years when I nailed my best performances in Milan San Remo.

To sum up in a few words what’s been going on since my incredibly comical trip over; I’ve been crook on and off. Arriving here in the cold from the fairly idyllic summer Downunder, I ended up with the snots and coughs. No real biggie. I managed to get through that ok although of course the weather here has been well less than average so getting through the training in the rain and sleet while trying to knock off the cold just didn’t really happen as quickly as I’d liked. Then, just as my nose, throat and chest cleared, a stomach virus ripped through the entire family over about a 2 week period. It really did annihilate the lot of us, although not all at the same time... It chose to knock the stuffing out of me as I was about to embark on the Volta Algarve. I raced the first day then spent the following two days getting to know the porcelain maestro, ‘Don Roca’ of my hotel bathroom until I was well enough to fly home. The sickness itself wasn't that long – about 5 days in total but when it was time to return to the bike, I was going up and down on the spot for two weeks. Mostly, my lack of form has been the hangover from that. I felt absolutely empty. I had nothing to offer myself in training; to the point where it didn't even seem worth it to be on the bike some days.

I was so disheartened by my complete lack of progress that I suggested to the team to take me out of the race block we are now in the middle of because I knew I wouldn’t be able to offer anything. I felt it was in the best interest of the team - especially when at my first race back two weeks ago, the Vuelta Murcia, I had 6 team-mates who were significantly better than me. But they insisted that I stay in, as the team needed me. I’m not sure that they fully realised at the time how bad my form actually was – and still is.

Anyway, as the team have asked, I have soldiered on and have now made it through Tirreno-Adriatico - although the whole process has been far from pleasant. One thing that I have really come to detest as I have gotten older is going to races out of form. Especially hard races like Tirreno-Adriatico. It makes me hate a lot of things about racing bikes.

Now that I’ve made it through Tirreno, I’m still not convinced that the back to back race block of Murcia and Tirreno-Adriatico was the best solution for me but we have yet to see. I have been a test subject for the ‘super compensation’ theory and reckon that I will be able to write a thesis on it after this lot of races.

I have now enjoyed a couple of easy days’ training. I haven’t felt this relaxed for some time. I still feel as though I haven’t come out of the last racing block as far ahead as what the bosses had hoped for but I can only do what I can do. And who knows? I might surprise myself. I surprised myself with my ‘come-out-of-nowhere-form’ at the Nationals this year and at the TdU. I might be able to do it again this time for Milan San Remo. Although if there’s one thing I’ve come to realise over the years it’s that ‘things don't just happen’ at this level of competition, the athlete has got to make them happen.

I will check in again in a few days and give you a rundown of "La Primavera".

Part 2 Has Arrived...


...So the fact that I was now at the airport 12 hours after my flight had already departed posed a much bigger problem; I was meant to be back in Europe for the team training camp, which us TDU guys had already missed half of. We were all suppose to hightail it back to Spain in time for all the media and sponsor doowop so I didn’t have a spare day to waste on a ‘oopsy daisy’ like this. The other problem I was now facing was that by missing this flight there would be an ensuing knock-on effect on my connecting flights. Now I was faced with having to rearrange my entire trip – and all from the comfort of an airport check in hall!

Anyway, after a bit of to’ing and fro’ing, the wonderful people at Emirites sorted me out with flights and connections that worked out pretty sweetly; instead of arriving mid-afternoon, I arrived later that evening so all in all it didn't work out too bad.

After it was all sorted I had time to reflect on my complete cock-up and I just couldn’t believe that after all these years of travelling I could have made such a mistake. I think it’s only the second time something like this has ever happened. The other time was after the Tour of Romandi. I stayed at an airport hotel in Zurich and had an early morning flight the next day. I took a sleeping tablet and never woke up till mid-morning.

...Although that’s not counting the time Carole and I turned up a day early for a flight out of San Fran back to Europe after a mid-season holiday in Northern California.


So while my oversight meant that I had to spend an extra 10 hours in Melbourne Airport and 7 hours in Paris Airport which was a little bit of a drag and tiresome, to say the least, there was only one thought at the forefront of my mind. “At least I don't have the two boys in tow”!!!!

No matter what goes wrong these days it never seems to make travelling as difficult as it can be with the boys at times. Not that they are bad travellers or naughty kids. But they are just kids and kids just wanna have fun and then they have needs that need all hands on deck and then they get tired but can’t get comfy and then they get hungry and the aeroplane food just doesn’t always cut the mustard and so it goes on...

But before you even get on the plane, there’s the ‘checking in’ to nail and no-one gets more bored in a queue than a kid or two. After check in there’s the tedious chore of getting through security. Another queue where - for a child - there’s only fun to be had if you can escape your parent’s iron grip and do a ‘runna’. When our circus finally gets to the front of the queue while keeping one eye on the kids (actually to be fair Tanner is a star traveller, it’s the almost-2-yr-old Val who is the ‘unpredictable random guy’), we take out the laptop and the see-through plastic bags containing the ‘liquids’ and/or thereabouts with no more than 100ml per item and place these into one of those plastic trays and put that along with the rest of our carry-on crap onto the x-ray machine. At this point it’s time to ‘unfasten’ the small child from the stroller and collapse it ‘coz that has to go through the x-ray machine as well.... of course. So now we have small child in arms. While Parent 2 is holding on tight to small child, Parent 1 is hastily trying to squeeze the stroller through.
As soon as we get the nod from the usually overzealous-on-the-authoritive-pose security person, Parent 1 whizzes through the metal detector followed quickly by Tanner. Val generally wombles through looking for mischief while Parent 2 ‘tut-tuts’ him on and equally whizzes through like Parent 1 did. Now it’s time to re-gather everything and everyone. Parent 1 has to quickly gather up the belongings while Parent 2 is busy holding small child in one arm while trying to ‘pop out’ the stroller in a swift one-arm flick, which generally doesn’t always happen in a single flick so Parent 2 is left looking like a right twit doing some kind of uncool arm-flicking dance while holding a child in one arm and a half-opened stroller in the flicking arm. Meanwhile Tanner is maturely taking responsibility for his wee ‘Cars’ backpack loaded to the brim with his ‘chosen’ toys.

All the while we are going full-gas; we know that not everyone in the queue has children and therefore sympathetic to our situation so time is of the essence and this is made ever so more apparent by the hundreds of pairs of eyes boring into the backs of our heads trying, and successfully, letting us know that our circus is holding them up...

Finally, once we stock-take our bits and kids, we sigh a huge sigh of relief and feel as though we’ve truly accomplished a small miracle... And then of course we head off to our departure gate for the beginning of the first long-haul leg of the journey home....



So anyway, God knows what we would’ve done if I’d made that mistake while travelling back with Carole and the brothers Dean. It would’ve been total carnage.

After thanking my lucky stars for the smooth result to a lumpy problem, I figured I was home and hose all the way to Europe. Except when I got to Dubai where we were to change planes, I wasn't going to be allowed on the flight ‘cause my passport was stuck in my jeans pocket! The one time I’m vigilant about my passport and zip up my pocket, the zip breaks. I wasn’t too worried about it – I found it pretty funny but the ground staff were hell-bent on setting my passport free of its dungeon. I had three Emirites staff at the gate trying to get the zip open on my back pocket. And if that didn’t look hilarious enough, I had to bend forward so that they could get a better grip on my jeans. Anyway, it all ended up ok once one of them finally cracked it after ordering in a safety pin from Head Office to solve the problem.

So now, 72 hours after saving my brothers belongings and 50 hours after leaving my brother’s house in Melbourne, I am just about to touch down in Valencia. I will now have a few days with the team for our pre-season camp before I head home early next week. It feels like I’ve been on a big mission over the last few weeks; it’s been all go since before Nationals. I’m certainly looking forward to getting back home here in Spain and most importantly seeing Carole and the boys when they arrive back in Spain later next week. Their arrival will see our life return to normal as the season kicks off proper.

It’s nice to feel on top of things going into the year. I’m hoping that this year I’ll load up the end of the year a little more. I had the chance to check out the Worlds course also while I was in Aussie and saw something that I quite liked so I’m looking at that as one of the last chances I’ll have before I retire, to improve on the top tens that I have managed at previous World Champs. So coupled with the Tour I think that I now know what I’m about this year. At least, that is the plan but as we have seen so many times before things can change very quickly in this game. But one thing is certain I am as excited as ever for the 2010 season with goals, aspirations and dreams that are clearer than ever.

Julz

Part Two Arriving Soon

Hi all,
The second part to a possible three-part 'Comedy of Errors in Motion' is definitely going to happen.... It's just that I, Ed-ess, am about to head back to the other side with 2 small children in tow and so haven't the time right now to finish off the editing of Julian's most captivating and comical diary entry in a very long time. In fact probably since the last time he flew long-haul alone.... without me. Maybe I'm somewhat of a 'lucky charm' for Julz when we travel together because we are seldom the main characters of a 'Comedy of Errors' when I accompany him....

Anyway, hang about.... The next part will give you all another bout of the chuckles...

Ciao,
C

Just Another Oopsy Daisy
I've just touched down in Europe. It's 12.30pm and MINUS 3 degrees. That might sound pretty bad but actually things seem pretty good after what has been a comedy of errors throughout my return back to the continent of my livelihood.

After the TDU, I had to return to Melbourne to hook up with my flights back to Europe. I had a night at my brother's place there before I got on the flight at 2.55 from Melbourne to Dubai. Now you'd think that at the age of 34 - actually 35 tomorrow - I would be able to tell the time and after having travelled the world for the past 20 years doing my sport, I would've cottened on to to the fact, or at least remembered, that flight times are given using the 24-hour clock. Well, for whatever reason, on this particular occasion my brain obviously subconsciously refused to acknowledge that departure time as 2.55 A.M. It didn't even 'surface' in my process of planning to get from the finish of the Tour Down Under in Adelaide to my bro's house in Melbourne then to the airport on time. I had planned on a cruisey night at my bro's then a nice, relaxing morning before wombling off to the airport for a very respectable departure time of 2.55pm. Unfortunately it turned out a tad pear-shaped. Instead of arriving at the airport to catch my flight at 2.55 am on the Tuesday morning, I casually rolled up Tuesday lunchtime thinking that I was there with ample time. In fact, I thought that I had extra time to spare as my bro dropped me off early; he was heading to the Big Day Out concert for the day. So as I waved 'toodle loo' to my brother from the curbside at Melbourne airport, I was still blissfully unaware that I was 12 hours too late for my flight.

Actually at that particular time of doing my wee wave, I was feeling that in general everything was going pretty well in life. I had gotten through the Tour Down Under really well and I was happy with how I was going. Granted it was the easiest Tour Down Under I've ever done but all the same I felt that my general condition was ahead of previous seasons at this time of year and I was able to enjoy the race, feeling comfortable and stress-free throughout. A perfect way to start the season.

The day after finishing the race, I had spent the day with my brother. Something we haven't done for several years. We had a couple of hours relaxing at the beach, hanging out and enjoying the great weather - although that nearly went pear-shaped (even though unbeknown to me I had already missed my flight so things were already pear-shaped!). I spotted someone rolling my brother's bag off the beach while we were down swimming. In true David- Hasselhof-Baywatch style (apart from the fact that I have a hairy, skinny white chest, very distinctive tan lines on all limbs, including the ankles of course, brown hair with more than a few flecks of grey and oversized thighs) I leapt up out of the water in hot pursuit. Trying to take big leaps to make faster progress through the water as I saw the thieves casually walking off trying not to draw any attention to themselves. Unlike 'The Hof' though just as I was almost out of the water, I stepped into a hole and fell flat on my face. Un-phased, putting my fast twitch fibres to fine use, I sprung back up to my feet and continued with my pursuit.

As I followed them up off the beach through a cafe, where I nearly slipped over on the tiles thanks to my wet feet, they headed out the back entrance up two flights of stairs to the roof terrace on the beach front building. At this point I began to wonder how I was going to approach the situation when it came time to confront the teenage muppets. My first instinct was the desire to beat the shit out of the twits but thankfully I quickly came to the realisation that I'm not actually that good at fighting and taking on two blokes was not going to be good odds for me. It was all feeling a bit tense and my option to go against my instinct in such a situation was a very weird feeling for me when I thought about it later. It seemed like 'The Way of the Peaceful Warrior' (Ed. Book by Dan Milman) spoke to me and by confronting the youngest with a 'Give the bag back and walk away and we'll leave it at that.' got me all that I needed out of the situation without creating more problems for myself. Sure I was afraid and a part of me wishes I had a more of the fight than flight response. Must just be getting old (Ed. Or possibly wiser????). I think that's more how I roll in my racing now also these days; I choose my time and take the risks when I have to and at no other time.

Anyway, I took the bag back as the thieving bastards sweared and declared that it was their mate's bag and that they'd been asked to pick up but must've taken the wrong one my mistake, bla, bla, bla. I just wished at that moment that I had it in me to give the little shits what they deserved. Anyway, I got the bag back and everyone was in tact. All that aside, I felt pretty chuffed that I had been so cool and calm in the whole situation. It made me feel a little grown up. A great performance followed by a great result!

So, I stood there at the airport feeling relaxed that I was early, proud of the fact I had chosen 'the way of the peaceful warrior' and content that I had made it through the TDU feeling good. Everything almost seemed too good. And it was once I tried to check in for a flight that had departed about 9 hrs earlier....

To be continued.....

NZ Road Nationals 2010

There hasn't been too many occasions in my career where I've gone good even though I hadn't really put in the work. This year's Nationals turned out to be one of those rare occasions. Something that hasn't happened to me for a looooong time.

I think when you race at the level we do, unless you are an exceptional talent, you can never expect to go good without doing the training or having the race condition. Certainly there have been years when I have trained very little post Tour de France and have gone well but once you do the Tour in July, you set yourself up with good condition for the rest of the season.

One of the problems going into this year's Nationals was that I was in two minds as to whether I was going to ride the race until a few days beforehand. This meant that I wasn't ever really committed to training specifically for the Nationals. After my 2009 season, I was more keen on gradually building up my condition over the off-season with no mental pressure to be at a certain physical level by the first week of January.

After a lot of to' ing and fro' ing, in the end I felt like I had to be there. More than anything just to show that I'm not the sort of athlete who is afraid of losing when I know that I'm not in the best condition. I would always prefer to be known as a athlete who tried and lost rather than one who didn't because he knew the chance of winning was not as good as it could possibly be.

By the time I made the decision to ride, I had no expectations going into the race. With no racing whatsoever since the end of September, I had no clue as to where on my scale of form, I fell into. Although my training had been alright pre-Xmas, it wasn't so flash in that wierd time-disappears-into-the-post-Xmas-Pre-and-Post New-Year-void and on those days where my training particularly sucked, I decided the Nationals would be somewhat of a weekend away for Carole and I before heading back to Europe where we predominantly live 'baby-sitterless'. Not to say that I wasn't secretly hoping that some good legs would fall out of the sky and attach themselves to my slightly overweight torso allowing me to be active in the race. But I know after all these years that hard work, focus and determination is required for me to be good and that this time around I had chosen to 'save those cards' for later in the year.

What I did forget - even though my wife tried to remind me several times over - are the years of miles and races that I have under my belt and that in certain environments this will be enough to get me through. And as it turned out, the Christchurch Nationals 2010 was one of these environments.

The early part of the race seemed very had and I felt more than ever the I really hadn't done enough to be competitive in the race but as the race progressed and particularly into the last few laps, I began to realize that those around me were starting to crumble. I wasn't feeling any better but nor was I really feeling any worse while for the majority around me, their Freddy-Go-Fast-Legs had done their dash and they were left pedaling squares.

A big part of me still had a lot of doubts about who had what left until the last climb and then I realized that no one was better than me. Until this point, I had been ticking the laps off and particularly for the final three, it was a case of, "Well, I made it through that one, that's a bit of a surprise."

It wasn't until I crested the climb the last time that I realized that I could actually win the race. From the top of the climb until the last 150m, when I went to start the sprint, I felt like I was going to win. But at the most crucial moment when I locked in the upper body, focused on the line and stepped up out of the saddle to accelerate with everything that was given to me, my entire self - except my heart - came to an incredibly abrupt halt. Both legs locked up with cramp and for the life of me I could not turn the pedals. It was an incredibly bizarre sensation. I almost crashed as the normally fluid process of my body acting in sequence as I stepped up out of the saddle was derailed and all that momentum culminated into an explosion of mispent energy through the rest of the bike as both legs were locked in place.

The 'good' legs that had miraculously befallen me for that particular day had failed at the 59th second of the 11th hour and the possibility of having the National Champion jersey for a third season in Europe was gone.

At the end of it all, in one way I was disappointed that I had been so close to victory yet the bigger half of me was happy that I had been much better than expected. For much of the race I didn't think that I would even be there at the finish. And I was, so that was gratifying.

My approach to the race was casual and unexpectant. Which is very unlike me. Especially on a day when I road so well. So although I did not end up with what I was so close to getting, there was a certain amount of satisfaction that I did get from the race. I enjoyed it immensely and have been gently reminded of two things. One is that I am a good bike rider by ways of natural talent and, secondly, that an approach to a race does not always have to be wired and dialed for a good performance.

Julz

Mid-Offie Update

Hi there all.

Yes it's been a long time without a peep out of me. It seems like so long ago now that I was fighting so hard to get through the final days of the Vuelta....

I had every intention of writing up a season overview once I had gotten over my chest infection and insane fatigue post-Vuelta but although I have gotten over the chest infection, the insane fatigue seems to be lingering longer than I had expected. Or maybe it's just that I've been whacked with a new bout of it since arriving back in NZ. We haven't stopped since we touched down here in the land of the long white cloud and to be honest with you, I'm hanging out just to sit in one spot for longer than an hour and do absolutely nothing - not even think a single thought.

So alas, no deep and meaningful season overview to speak of just yet.... It may still happen though...

I'm back on the bike now - albeit fairly casually at the moment. I've been doing loads of cross-training gigs like pilates, gym work and running. I've been enjoying the change but my body has definitely had to adjust to it. I've spent a few days with sore muscles - especially after the first few runs but it's been fun and refreshing, and the higher impact stuff every now and then is always great for strengthening the bones of a pro-cyclist.

As for next year, although it's old news now, I am staying on with Garmin. I have signed on to do 2 more years so that's been a huge relief to have our immediate future sorted out.

And that will have to be it for now.

I hope all is well out there for you guys and thanks again for following me and my adventures through another season.

Take care and have a safe and exceptional Christmas.

Julz and the rest of Team Dean.

Still Paying...

Hi guys....

Over a week has passed since the end of the Vuelta and still Julz is paying the price. He spent the first week coughing up his lungs all over our toy-littered floor, although he did manage to get out for a couple of rides with Trent Lowe, fellow team-mate who lives nearby.

He finally started to feel better on Sunday - as we watched the Worlds while it thundered and rained outside. Monday cursed us with incessant sheets of rain so it was a day spent climbing the walls inside with the kids. Tuesday and the rain continued but Julz had enough enthusiasm and amphibious tendencies to venture out into it for a long-anticipated mountain bike ride, which he LOVED. Tuesday arvo and KAPOW! Man down yet again. A tummy bug has wiped him out and Tuesday night was spent with his head in the toilet bowl! Wednesday and it's a gorgeous autumn day out there... just perfect for a leisurely bike ride!

So that's the situation for now. He IS planning on doing a season 'round up' when some semblance of normality presides....

C :o)

63 - The Magic Number

Yipeee! Whoot whoot! Yay! Whoo Hoo!

I got an early morning call from Julz this morning. I asked him why he wasn't sleeping.

-"'Coz my coughing keeps me awake" was his reply.

- "Ohhh. Lucky it's just a womble into Madrid then today." I said.

-"Yeah... But I'm a bit worried I'll get dropped once we hit the circuit into Madrid and the tempo rises".

-"Surely the boys will tow you to the finish if that happens?".

-"I've never been worried of not finishing the last stage of a Grand Tour before".

-"You'll be right."

And he was. He was even there vying for position in the final until he had to go at maximum, at which point he left a trail of his exploded mucus-filled lungs along the main drag of Madrid! That was his cue to sit up and just be content with finishing.

So he's fizzing to have made it. I talked to him tonight and he's quietly chuffed with himself. In true Julz style he's certainly not out there blowing his own trumpet... But then leave his trumpet-blowing to me, I reckon.

Scraping In By The Hair Of His Chinny Chin Chin...

Well, the nut-bag has pretty much nailed it! Just the 110km womble into Madrid tomorrow left and barring any bizarre meteorite-crashing-into-Spain-and-wiping- out-the-parcours-into-Madrid-incident, Julz WILL cross that finish line tomorrow.

He IS the walking dead right now. He has an ever-growing list of 'ailments' which now include mouth ulcers, cold sores and the flu - all on top of his sore neck, skinless back and the hole in his knee (from his crash in Stage 4). How he is still racing is beyond the comprehension of a non-athlete such as myself, but why he is still racing is something I can understand and have fully supported even if it does mean the boys and I will be left with trying to 'rebuild' Julian from the squillions of broken pieces that'll get sent home to us on Monday!

Today David Millar won the TT in Toledo. Nice. For a very diminished team (only 4 left now!), it's impressive that they can still feature so strongly on a daily basis in this body- and spirit-crushing Vuelta. As for Julz today.... Well, he had no choice but to go as slow as he did in the TT. He sent me a text afterwards that read, "I think I have reached a new level of f#$&ed-ness". Needless to say, just putting on his skinsuit and signing in was half the battle for him in today's stage!


Tomorrow will signal the END of his season. And what a bloody long season it has been. Although it hasn't been a fruitful one result-wise, he has achieved plenty. Just to put Julian's achievement into context... as David Millar pointed out: Julian would have completed 63 Grand Tour stages this year by this time tomorrow, and since the 9th May, he has raced every other day! That's insane. And that's not including all the racing in between each 'Grandie'; nor that before the Giro; nor the gash-to-the-bone to his quadriceps in Ghent-Wevelgem; nor the insane infection followed by urgent finger surgery after being one of 2 riders 'shot' at the Tour.... I mean, really?!?!?!?

So enough from me. I could go on and on and on but I too have battled through 3 'Grandies' of my own this year and I didn't get 'rest days' so I too, am buggered!

I shall suggest, nudge, urge, and then probably coerce Julz to give you all a Vuelta wrap-up. But I'll have to revive him first so give us a week or so...

Carole :o)

...And He's Still Truckin'

Hi again. I just wanted to let you know that although Julz's back has been deprived of a substantial amount of skin and his neck is duly unimpressed with the impromptu headstand it had to support, all is ok in his camp...

The smell of the end to all this Vuelta madness is wafting closer and teasing his nostrils and that is why he is still truckin'. I think if the crash had happened a week ago, he may have actually hung up his crash-mangled bike shoes and come home.

He has two more monumental stages to survive before the 30km TT on Saturday and the final 100km dead flat stage into Madrid on Sunday - which, until the final 20km or so, will be more ceremonial than serious racing.

It'll be an incredible achievement - if not a slightly insane one - if he can make it through to Madrid.

Ciao.
C

Unlucky...But Lucky.

Right, who's stabbing the crap out of a voodoo doll of Julz??? It's mad. Unbelieveable.... Friggin unbelieveable. That guy has the shittiest luck...

The 16th stage of the Vuelta came down to a sprint today. I was glued to the tv watching the final kms and spotted Julz nicely tucked in the front of the peloton.

I was fizzing that for the first time this year Julz was going to have an opportunity to sprint for himself. Great, awesome, wonderful and all those other superlatives wandered through my mind as I watched him unassumingly muscle his way into position.

Things were unfolding nicely in the race for him while my house was unfolding chaotically at the wee hands of the boys as they took full advantage of my complete and utter focus on the telly. They were blissfully unaware of the possible result Julz was in the process of trying to make happen. Piling every cushion in the house into a metre-high tower and diving into it from the couch was way cooler!

Anyway, with about 3km to go, the peloton was seriously getting down to pre-sprint business through the city streets of Puertollano. The overhead TV shot showed the front of the peloton and me being soooo familar with Julian's riding style I quickly picked him out. He was without a team-mate and making his way up the outside of the peloton to get into a better position. I was impressed with how easy he was moving up.... at which point one guy got squeezed out, which squeezed the guy beside him out, which squeezed Julz out toward the barrier. That was ok, Julz still had enough room to move... until he collided with a spectator who was hanging too far over the barrier! Beauty. So there my eyes were fixated on this body tumbling over the handle bars. At that split-second, I wished I wasn't so good at picking him out of the bunch 'coz the feeling that floods me whenever I see him crash is that of such dread and fear that it really does make me nauseous. And then there's the wait..... Waiting to see whether he's ok or not. One eye wants to continue watching for any signs of 'ok-ness' while the other eye just wants to seal water-tight shut just in case Julz is really hurt. I've witnessed too many of his crashes on live TV and shared every post-crash rehabilitation period with him so my 'fear-metre' is hypersensitive these days.

When I took the boys to see Julz while the Vuelta passed through our territory, I was talking with Michael, the team doctor. He asked me if I still like watching Julz race after so many years of crashes. I replied, "No, not really... It makes me too nervous. I've seen him crash way too often." It's funny, no-one has ever asked me that before. But it made me think about just how intricately woven together age, experiences and fear are in shaping our reactions. Many moons ago, I simply loved watching Julz race on live TV. Now it just makes me feel fearfully nervous.

Anyway, thankfully Julz was ok. The camera was super nice enough to zoooooooooooom in on his road rash and the pained expression on his face - none of which looked ok to me at the time, but Julz sent me a message as soon as he got back to the bus to tell me he was fine; no skin left but no broken bones. Grated like a chunk of parmesan cheese but not crumbled, I can handle. Phew.

Carole.

Taking Its Toll

Hey all. Carole here. You'll just have to put up with me updating you for now. I've asked, nudged, urged and finally pleaded for Julz to flick me through one of his own but to no avail. His third 'grandie' for the year is taking its toll on his body and his mind. Have to say I'm expecting little more than an empty shell by the time I get him back! I'd say boobs on a bull would be more useful than Julz as a husband after his hectic 2009 season.

So no doubt the majority of you have been seeing the Vuelta in black and white, ie, the results page on Cyclingnews. It really does little justice to the work horses of the peloton and although I've always known that, I was reaquainted with that unfortunate reality the other day when my Mum asked me, "Isn't Julz feeling very good?". Well if you look at the black and white of it, it certainly doesn't look too flash for our Julz. But me having the luxury of Eurosport and the inside word, I know that our Julz has been busting his arse for one and all and although is weeeeeeellllll dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnn on GC, he's proving once again to be an integral piece in the machine we commonly label as the 'team'.

He initially went to the Vuelta to help Tyler. Which he did marvelously on several occasions. The only problem with lead-outs is that they're never really applauded unless the sprinter actually pulls off the win.... Tyler came oh so close every time him and Julz paired up and when he finally did nail the win, Julz wasn't even there to lead him out! He'd been dropped on the last climb so although Julz was stoked for Tyler, he was definitely bummed he wasn't a part of it.

The next day was a rest day and 'exit stage left' was where Tyler headed. He had achieved what he had set out to so it was 'Home James' for him to prepare for the Worlds. One would therefore think that Julz's job was also done... But wait, there's more... for Julz to do.

The Vuelta has headed into some serious mountain goat territory so Julz has now turned his hand to helping out Tom Danielson, who until today's manic stage, was sitting pretty in 4th, just 51 sec down. Unfortunately he had a bad day on the wrong day and lost a chunk of time so he's now sitting 9th, I think. Bugger.

Julz's job has been to look after Tom as much as possible for as long as possible until his big ol' pedal pumpers can't keep his sprinter's sizeable butt or body moving up the climbs at mountain goat pace any longer. At which point, he's literally sucked out the back of the peloton and into the much more civilised pace of the grupetto!

I have spoken to him tonight and he's in good spirits. He's the only guy left who has started all three 'grandies' this year, finished both the Giro and Tour and is still trucking in the Vuelta (there were only 2 of them to begin with, by the way!).

Anyway, Julz may not be featuring much in the black and white version of the Vuelta but he's playing a sound role in that of his team-mates. So next time you scroll down the results page and see those blokes way down yonder, stop and give them a wee clap 'coz a lot of those fellas are working selflessly to help the light shine brightly on those at the top of the results page!

There should be a jersey (let's say a lovely sky blue with black stars!) for the most hard-working domestique - the unsung heroes of the pro-peloton!


Carole

Vuelta Espana
Waiting for the Inevitable

I feel like I’ve been spending the first three days of the Vuelta in Holland waiting for the inevitable. So far it’s been a sketchy experience starting from kilometer one of the first stage to the last 3km of the fourth stage into Liege, which saw a crash nearly wiping out half the peloton. It was certainly one of the most spectacular I’ve seen in a while; undoubtedly ending the Vuelta for some riders.

Lining up for stage one I wasn't really sure what to expect. One of the biggest problems is that many of the Spanish riders are not accustomed to the conditions that the North of Holland typically throws at the peloton; tight roads, road furniture, rain and crosswinds are generally what we have to endure up there. These are arduous enough conditions for those who are familiar with them so I can't imagine how riders who hardly ever, or have never, raced in those conditions would cope with it. It created a very risky environment for us all.

Fortunately for me, I was ‘Freddy Fresh Legs’ in stage 1 and despite the fact that I was unsure of how I would be after limited preparation coming into the Vuelta, I actually felt and rode great. The best place to be on days like today is in the front and I was comfortable there the whole day, battling to stay out of trouble. Coming into the sprint, it all seemed like it was going in slow motion. I was able to sit in comfortably, finding my place and moving around with my fingers up my nose, as we often say in cycling when racing feels easy. I placed Tyler well and was happy with how the day had worked out. Unfortunately Tyler wasn't on a good day and didn't quite have it in the sprint. But these things happen and it’s just one of those wicked parts of racing.

On to Stage 2 and the dream was over for ‘Freddy Fresh Legs’. It seemed like the day before I could do no wrong and on this day I couldn't do anything right. Each time I went to move up or loop around guys, I got shut out, nearly crashing, or having to break heavily losing my momentum. It was a real struggle the whole day. When I did get into a good position with 1.5 km to go, I breathed a sigh of relief at which moment we got swarmed from behind. I got completely out of position as we had to negotiate a tight turn 700m from the finish and I couldn’t bring Tyler back up to the front. It was a crazy finish with riders everywhere. It was nothing but chaos. As Tyler had had the day before, I was just off my game and did a shit job. Maybe I was a little too relaxed because I was feeling so good the day before, thinking I could do whatever I wanted when I wanted... Or maybe the dream had just come to a mighty abrupt end for ‘Freddy Fresh Legs’.

Fellow countryman, Greg Henderson was able to capitalize on the chaotic moment and snatch the victory in what was a great result for him. Something only a few kiwis have done before him.

The last stage in the land of the North produced what we’d all been hoping to avoid; pure carnage. After the first day where the weather had been marginal, Stage 2 treated us to superb weather but Stage 3’s weather to Liege, was nothing short of a hellhole. The first 50km were ok but from then on we were pelted with relentless rain – all 175 km to the finish. Inevitably the stage became a crash fest.

I was one of the first guys to go down in a crash that was really my own fault. I locked it up coming into a corner when I wasn't paying attention for a split second. Initially I managed to keep it upright, sliding for some time but then I hit the gutter and high-sided over top of the bike onto the deck. I wasn't really badly injured but did have a substantial gash below my left knee. I decided not to look at it again after an initial ‘peek’ and just got on the bike to see if I could ride. After struggling to get back to the race, I made my way to the medical car where, after quite an effort that took four attempts, they finally managed to get it covered up. I was able to continue on – somewhat a little battered and bruised but essentially not too bad.

I wasn't feeling at all good by now and as the rain continued to sting my eyes and taunt my tyres, I quickly began feeling regrettable that I was here in my 3rd Grand Tour for the year. This self pity did nothing but make the suffering I was enduring, all the more painful. I finally made it back to the peloton but not to the front of the race again. I was feeling shit and besides, it wasn’t like I was going to be able to contribute anything positive to the final anyway.

I got dropped 15 km from the finish and continued to suffer from my self-imposed misery right to the finish. I just didn’t want to be anywhere, if that makes sense.

As I came into the finish inside the last three km, there were the remains of the mega crash getting up off the deck. It was nothing but carnage and for sure I would’ve been a part of it if I had been in the front - given that almost everyone else in our team was in it. One way or another, I was going to crash today it seemed; it just happened earlier rather than later.


All in all, I think that the start for the Vuelta in Holland was cool. It had a good feel about it amongst the spectators and fans. I think the race had seen more spectators in the four days up there than it has seen in a long time in Spain which is a huge positive. Although it was a little difficult for those riders who are not accustomed to the racing up there and difficult for the teams logistically, I feel like a little life was injected back into a race which since my first year professional in Europe, seems to have been on a downward spiral in terms of popularity and exposure. What the ‘Dutch Affect’will translate to in Spain, I’m not sure. Probably nothing, but all the same it was good to feel the life of the Vuelta again; somewhat reminiscent of how I remembered it in my early years here in Europe. The Vuelta is both a beautiful and demanding race and certainly deserves to have that ‘Grand Tour’ buzz about it.

We’re on our back to Spain tonight where we’ll have a well-needed rest day in Tarragona before heading down to my turf on Thursday.

Julz

Yes It’s True – Here I Go Again...

Yep, it’ll be three out of three for me. I’m lining up for my third start in a Grand Tour for 2009. By special request from the team. Why? To target stage wins in the first week of the Vuelta. Tyler is here and he needs a lead-out man.

I’m not sure how I am or even really whether I’m going to be much use. It’s been a bit of a bumpy ride since the Tour. As you may have heard, my ‘shot’ finger blew up like a ping pong ball, got super red, hot and nasty and heinously infected. All this drama culminated in the rather urgent surgical removal of the ‘foreign body’. I was hoping the Doc’s report would say, “bullet” or at least, “pellet” but obviously neither of those were clinical enough! Anyway, all this action saw me spend a couple of weeks on some serious antibiotics. It knocked me around a bit – on top of already being buckled after the Tour - and I feel like I’ve only really been coming right over the last week or so. Not really in enough time to do some serious training for the Vuelta.

So I see myself as a bit of an unknown quantity here. Although my bets are that I’m not likely to be that good. I’m never the guy that can just turn up unprepared and pull something off. That’s just not my style, unfortunately.

The motivation for me though is that a few of the stages at the end of the first week are close to home on some of my regular training roads. So that should be nice and I’ll have the chance to catch up with the family over these days as well so there’s some extra motivation right there.

Today the Vuelta kicked off with the prologue on the Assen Motorbike GP circuit. I was sceptical going into it as to how successful it’d be but it was actually pretty fun. It was certainly a little strange starting the Vuelta in Holland but the turnout and the atmosphere today was the best the Vuelta has seen for a long time.

We have three more stages proper up here before making a plane transfer down to Spain. Our goal? Try and get Tyler into the Leader’s jersey for a day or 2.

Julz

Final Stage Into Paris
A Day Of Reflection

The last day of the TdF is always a day of reflection. And this time around it was a different one for me compared to other years. Initially I was a little disappointed. We had set main objectives for the team to at least win a stage and have a crack at the green jersey. And although we didn't really get close to the jersey, we did have a lot of good stage results: just not the win we had hoped for. In Paris, it was our last chance to nail that elusive win and I wanted to do all I could to make it happen. In hindsight maybe I tried to do a little too much.

Having done the sprint in Paris a few times now, I have a good understanding of it and believe that it’s won in the Plaza Concorde before turning onto the finish straight. A good line through the plaza to come underneath the riders doing the lead-out through the final curve was what we were aiming for. This was a tactic I had used before with Thor when we had won and a tactic used against me when we hadn't won.

All of the guys had the best intention of getting involved but it didn't go like I had hoped it would. We just didn’t have the numbers participating. Christian was awesome as was Dave, but with a 1 km to go, I was left at the front. We had hoped that I would be at the front turning into the plaza with 700m to go, where I would take a straight line for the corner instead of swinging left to take the fastest line through the last corner. That would insure we wouldn’t get rolled by another team coming underneath us in the Plaza Concorde.

When I was left on the front with a km to go, I had to make a decision. I chose to prop up a little with the hope of getting back into the line up and then bring Tyler back to the front underneath everyone in the plaza; quite the ambitious plan at 65 km/hr. The de-acceleration, the acceleration and the fight to get back in the line proved a little too much and I didn't have the power to get underneath the Cavendish train before the corner. I drew up next to them but because they had the faster line on the left into the corner I had to back off too much. I just wasn’t far enough in front of them to swing out to force them to back off. I lost too much speed and both Tyler and I had used too much energy up till that point.

From the corner they had it wrapped up. The chaos that I caused into the corner made it look like it was even easier for them. But under the pressure I was to make a split decision as to what to do in the heat of the moment, it was the best I could do. It was either that or be at the front for the last km, still use up too much energy and then get swamped in the last 200m. There’s a big difference leading out from 1km to leading out from 700m. I was gutted our plan didn’t pan out. Tyler still manage to get 2nd so that was some consolation.

After a lot of retrospective contemplation since the Tour, I think we need to plan our lead-out differently. While all the guys have the best intention of contributing, the thing is that sometimes less is more and if we left things to play out a little more, I think that it would give us more options in the sprints. That had been my gut feeling throughout the Giro and much of the Tour and the final in Paris was the flashing neon light to take some serious note of it.

Cavendish is certainly the fastest man in the world at the moment. But Tyler is a close second and at the right moment he can beat him. It’s just a bummer for us that as hard as we tried in the Tour and the Giro, we just couldn't get it right.

It made me feel that I wasn’t as good as I have been other years but I’ve since put things into perspective and surrender that there’s more to the story than that. Firstly, there has not been a rider as fast as Cavendish to this point in my career. No-one has been so dominant in the sprints. Secondly, Columbia have a well-drilled, finely-tuned lead-out train, who have the confidence to wait, wait, wait and wait some more which is what I remember always doing on the best days in past years. And lastly, for me, I think that I’ve struggled to figure out how best to use the resources we have in the team. I know how I can lead-out best by myself and maybe with one other, but I’m finding it hard to figure out how to incorporate the other guys into a unit that needs to be perfectly timed.

So in terms of a general performance, I do think that I was as good as other years. One of the major differences for me especially was that every stage I had work to do. I had to cover the sprint stages and then be there as long as possible in the mountains for our GC guys. This meant that I had to give something everyday till I was dropped. So unlike other Tour’s I’ve done, this year for me there were no ‘quick-exit-out-arse-end-of-peloton-to-first-grupetto-and-roll-it-the-finish’ stages.

I was climbing better than I ever have and was proud to be there on occasions when there were not more than 30-40 riders left on the mountains, after riding for Wiggo and Christian. Although I felt it made my Tour harder and certainly sent me into the hurt bag more often, it was stimulating and enjoyable.

Finally, when you look at the team as a whole, no-one would have predicted before the start of the Tour, the success we would have. And success right across the board; from the sprints, to the GC, to the teams classification. We were in the thick of it all and when I watched the stages on TV in the evenings, it gave me great pride to see us grouped together in the peloton riding, looking and performing like a big team in the Tour de France. And as a team that means business. It’s a long way from where we were last year as a wild card team and still one of the lowest budget teams in the Pro Tour.

Plus, I got shot and still finished.

Julz

Belated Tour Update!

After the Tour was done, I sat down to write my last entry covering the last three days of the Tour. I found myself missing stage 19 and going on to write about Mt Ventoux as it was the best experience I had of the Tour this year. But now that some time has passed since the end of the Tour, I’ve decided it’s better that I write a little something about the day that wasn't what I wanted it to be...as so many of the days in our ruthless sport can be.

As I said in the last Tour diary entry, it was going to be my last chance for a stage result and although I knew that I wasn't going to be particularly good after I struggled on the TT the day before, I thought of what is tattooed on my team-mate’s wrist, "you are only here once". So I went into Stage 19 with good and mentally focused intentions...

Unfortunately the mental focus I had that day just couldn’t change the way my body was feeling. When the body doesn’t want to go, no matter what the mind tells it, it just won't respond accordingly. From the get-go I was on the rivet, suffering to be in the group. When you are at this point in the race, everything is hard. Not only because it’s the last chance at getting into a break for all the non GC riders, so every man and his dog wants to be in the move, but also because you’re into the last three days of an epic three weeks. My hope of being able to participate in the race, get in the break and have a crack amounted to nothing - no matter how hard I tried to focus, drive and commit myself to the day’s effort. My form had well and truly taken a back seat for the day. That’s what I guess makes the Tour, or any three week stage race hard. Although what always scares me is how there are guys who can be in the mix day after day. Sure I have my good days but I also have my bad ones chucked in amongst them.

In the end it didn't matter so much anyway. The break did go away but only to be caught 30km from the finish so for a while I found myself back in the mix again. We had a cat 2 climb near the finish which I crested with the tail end of the peloton after having to help Wiggo halfway up the climb after he dropped his chain. As we crested the top of the climb, the rain came down and being at the back of the peloton was the worst possible place for me. A few of the sprinters had been dropped except for the main one that needed to be, Cavendish, and I thought that I might be able to have a go but again my hopes were dashed when my nervousness on the descent in the rain, after a season of a fair few spills in the wet, saw me get caught behind as the peloton split on the downhill. We never got back on and the chance I momentarily felt to contest the final had simply vanished once again.




Ventoux was, when I think back about it, one of my better rides of this year’s Tour. Unlike the day before, which was all about getting in the break for a crack at the stage win, the stage to Ventoux was about everyone in the team doing all that they could to look after our two GC riders the whole day until we could do no more. Hopefully that would be well and truly into the decisive Ventoux climb. This stage was a crucial one for us; with Wiggins we were riding for a place on the podium at the Tour de France. We had a tough job ahead of us but a lot to gain if we pulled it off. We were trying to get Wiggo ahead of Armstrong for a top three place. No small feat but we were all keen as mustard.

Personally, it was a new experience for me as I had never done the climb. The difficulties of it being exposed to the wind on the run in and the brutality of the climb were only things that I had heard about second-hand.


The tension in the peloton at the start of the day was thick for a race that was expected to take 5hours of which only the last hour would be really significant. It was a strange feeling at the start. You could just feel that by the final of the stage everything could be won or lost.

Most of the day, things were pretty settled but as we crested the last climb before heading onto ‘judgement hour’ and onto the 15km out where the climb really kicked up, it was all on.

I think that more out of fear than anything, Astana threw it down in the crosswind over the top of the penultimate climb, hitting over top of Saxo bank, who had been riding tempo. Crosswinds continued to plague the peloton as headed toward the bottom of Ventoux so by now the race was in pieces. I was only focusing on bringing my team-mates to the front whenever I could. It was absolute madness and there were riders everywhere at one point. I went back to check that our two main boys were in the group and saw that we were only 20 or so riders in the front group with 30 odd kms left. Christian was not there. I could see him coming from behind with a group of 15 or so. Hitting panic stations, I dropped back to ferry him back up into position.

Now with 50 or so in the front group, we started to prepare ourselves for the run into the bottom of the climb. It was crucial to give the boys the best shelter from the crosswinds as we could so that they were fresh to start the climb. It became clear that the best way to do this was from the front so coming into the climb, we started the battle at the front with Astana for the optimal shelter for our riders. Next thing I knew our team was lined out, riding into the bottom of Ventoux in the Tour de France for the Queen stage and there were not more than 30 riders left. The pressure we had put the peloton under was hurting everyone. My time came at the front to give my all heading up the first part of the climb.

Although the stage was going to be won by the break that was up the road, the riders and the race that was going on behind me on my wheel was what the people had come to see. The feeling was insane. The fact that I was there making it all happen, turning the screws on the biggest, hardest race in the world to try and make a difference in the final was electrifying. I was feeling pretty sweet. Sure, I wasn’t going to be there in the final but the fact that I could contribute at such a critical moment and set the stage for the final show down in this edition of the Tour was something new to me and something that I took a lot of pleasure from. It is a day that I’ll never forget.

Although nothing changed in the overall that day, it could well have and the important thing was that all the boys in the team gave it everything and did what we could to make a difference.

The No Drama That Turned Into A Drama

Julz has it in mind to write a final TdF '09 wrap up. In fact, he's even started it. And it hasn't really been due to lack of motivation that he hasn't yet finished it... What's distracted him most has been the 'unfinished business' the air rifle pellet had in his finger! After what Julz considered to be something of a 'no drama' affair, the air rifle shooting incident took a belated bizarre turn.

After the Tour ended, we flew home to spend a quiet week with the kids before Julz was to start back on the bike in earnest. As it turned out, he felt terrible and could barely muster up enough energy to get out of bed... And when he did get out of bed, he felt hot, was constantly sweating, felt lethargic and nauseous.... He basically, for want of a better term, felt CRAP. It was kinda strange. He's never been that knackered after the Tour before so I knew there was something else not quite right. But Julz being Julz, he didn't really complain about his finger. He just figured the Tour had knocked him for 6 and on top of that, we're living in an open-air sauna here at the mo so he put his 'crappiness' down to fatigue and heat. Hmmmm???

Meanwhile, his 'shot' finger continued to redden and swell up more as each day passed. By Thursday, I dragged him down to our local medical centre. The doctor there told him to head into Emergency Centre in town to get an x-ray done to see whether the pellet was still inside. After the customary 2hr wait, an x-ray showed that the pellet was happily lodged against the bone in the tip of his index finger. The doctor chucked him on a hefty course of Augmentine and told him to come back in 10 days to see the Traumatologist. It would be decided then as to whether or not the pellet would be removed.

Julz bumbled through the weekend with an uncomfortably large index finger and although he did get out on the bike, the constant vibrations through the finger were really irritating him. He was by now well and truly 'over it'.

After talking with the Team Doctor, Julz was advised to get the pellet out as soon as possible so come Monday we went to a private hospital to see a traumatologist. After taking another x-ray and deciding not to wait for the course of antibiotics to finish, he penciled Julz in to remove the pellet the following day.

The Doc made a 2cm incision along the side of his finger, removed 4 ml of pus and dug around until, much to Julian's relief, he extracted the 'foreign body'. Julz was so happy to hear the 'tink' of the pellet hitting the bottom of the dish. Finally some reprieve from the relentless throbbing he'd endured for a week.

Of course we kept the pellet. It's not everyday you get one of those out of the tip of your finger! And Val? Well, he's absolutely fizzing on having a new rattle. The sound of a small metal ball hitting the side of a sample pottle is something any 15-month-old would enjoy.

And so the saga of the 'Air Rifle Incident' at this year's TdF is finally coming to an end. Julian's finger is mending well and he's already rediscovered some of his energy! What a bizarre story this has been. The first TdF Julz managed to stay upright on his bike, yet instead he got shot!

Carole

Another Belated Diary...
Stage 17

Stage 17 in any Grand Tour always seems to be an epic and today was no different.

From km 0, we headed straight uphill again and I was hoping I was going to feel as good through it as I did yesterday. I was wickedly wrong. As soon as we started, I felt like crap and the whole day was a struggle for me. I had really hoped to have a good one to help out the GC boys as much as I did yesterday but it was never to be. I did what I could and stayed there as long as I could but unlike yesterday, when I managed to hang on until there were only 40-odd riders left, today when I got dropped there would’ve been close to 100 guys still in the peloton.

All the same, it was a monumental experience being part of today’s stage. Coming off the Col de Romme, descending to the Col de la Colombiere, as I looked up I could see thousands of spectators lining the road all the way to the top of the climb. It was quite a sight on a day that continued with everything the weather gods could throw at us.

That's one thing I love about the Tour; even when you're having a crap day on the bike, the magnitude and enthusiasm of support lining the roads always manages to lift my spirits beyond the feeling of disappointment of having a bad day physically.

Besides, the show must go on....

Julz

Better Late Than Never...
Second Rest day

The second rest day is always quite different to the first - especially when you have a mountain stage the day after the rest day. Now being 2 weeks into the Tour, I always find it better to keep the body going and make the effort to ride a decent amount with 15-20min at threshold.

We were staying at the bottom of the first big climb of the next stage so I chose to ride to the top of the climb and check it out. It was only me and Ryder that did it. The TT specialists took a helicopter from the hotel to go check out Thursday’s TT course. Ryder, being the sole Canadian in this year’s Tour and thereby carrying the weight of the nation, was also keen to get a bit of an insight of what the Coll de Gran St Bernard had in store for us. It took us 2 hours to do the 40km to the top of the climb but we cruised up there so it wasn’t actually too bad. Naturally the ride down was where the real joy lay.

Like always, the rest day needed to be a 48 hours long. By the time we caught up on body work and did a little bit of media stuff, the day had all but disappeared. I didn't even find the time to have an afternoon nap, which is always a real treat on the rest day, so that was a real bugger.

So with the rest day done and dusted, the Tour reconvened with Stage 16. My reconnaissance of the climb paid its dividends as I crested the top with the front group - a bit of a rarity for me on hors category climbs. It felt pretty sweet. I was feeling good the whole day and I was able to be there for Wiggins and Christian until the shit went down on the last climb when the hitters started attacking. Mission accomplished. My day was done. I unassumingly slid out the back door.

Stage 15 - Verbier


Today was one of the few uphill finishes that was always going to make a difference in the race. Although Verbier is a shorter climb, it’s still a hard one and it gave us all a bit of preview of who to expect to shine in the week ahead. Wiggans showed our team today that he is going to be real podium contender at this year’s Tour. All of our team’s resources will go toward this goal for the remainder of the Tour - as they did today.

The story of today for me was Wiggans playing a practical joke on Whitey at the start of the stage. The race was going bananas at the start of the stage as always and Ryder had got in the breakaway that looked like it was going to stick for the day.

We call Ryder "weight of a nation" because he is the only Canadian in the race and therefore has to carry the weight of a nation.

For those of you who know nothing about Wiggans, he’s a bit of a comedian and a great impersonator of people. Once Ryder was in the break, Whitey (team director) was on the radio to Ryder telling him to conserve himself in the break; just to relax and take it easy.

Immediately Wiggans was on the radio pretending to be Ryder and started saying things like;

“I’ve been waiting this moment for all my life...”

“Canada is depending on me. I gotta take it to ‘em.”

“It’s now or never, Whitey. I gotta go.”


In response Whitey - not having a clue it was Wiggans taking the piss - was frantically trying to calm him down telling him to...

"...Relax. It’s a long way"

“There are some good climbers in the group. You need to conserve...”

Then Wiggans would come right back at him with more of the same and Whitey would continue with more ‘settle down’ comments.

It went on for a few minutes and Whitey had no idea that it was Brad. In fact he didn’t find out until we were all back in the bus after the stage. It was a great laugh.

Now that’s a classic TdF story for the grandkids.

Julz

Stage 13 Vittel-Colmar

Colmar is famous for being the birthplace of the creator of the Statue of Liberty. For me, it’ll be more remembered for the stage in which I got shot. I’ve never been shot before so it was bizarre that my first time happened to be at the Tour de France... and it turned into a news headline worldwide.

It was a pretty shit day; a hard stage with a lot of climbs throughout and with cold, wet weather things were pretty miserable. The drama of being shot at just drew the misery out even more.

Well, for me getting shot at didn’t actually feel like too much of a drama but for the rest of the world it seemed like something pretty significant. The truth is that if it happened again I don't think that I’d tell anyone about it so it didn't get out of hand. I don’t mean to trivialise the incident. I fully understand that it was dangerous and the injuries Oscar and I received could have been much worse. But at the time I figured it was probably nothing more than a couple of kids fooling around and, as usual, not thinking about the possible consequences.

I took the ‘bullet’ on my finger and most likely because my hands were so cold, I didn’t feel much pain so I didn't think too much of it. As I began to thaw out after the stage, the pain made its presence felt but most times when I crash I’m way worse off so my ‘gunshot wound’ was no real drama, to be honest.

The real drama started in the evening when I got back to the hotel and I started getting calls from the press and having to give statements to the police. In a 40 min period I had 20 missed calls from people wanting the inside scoop on what was essentially nothing. It was not the way I’d ever want to get attention at the Tour de France and by the time I was finished at 12.30pm with all the police protocol, I was well and truly over it. It had been a long, cold, hard and over-dramatised day.

It continued on the next morning when I had a visit from the police doctor, who wanted to examine and take photos of my finger, which looked nothing more than a finger with a stone bruise on it! The whole thing had become quite embarrassing - a joke, even.

I guess the more I thought about it, the more serious it seemed. But contrary to popular belief, I didn’t fear going out to ride the next stage or any stage after that. It could’ve happened to anyone, anywhere.

Most of my concern had been with the family who had lost a loved one, hit by a police motorbike at the start of the stage.

Julz

Tour Catch Up
Picnic Envy & Another Fiasco


Well, I made it to the first rest day at least and it was, as always, a day I enjoyed. We did a couple of easy hours on the pushie and enjoyed an awesome lunch and dinner by our new chef, Shaun. He is proving to be really amazing for the team and much of the conversation throughout the day is based on the excitement and anticipation of what we’re going to have for dinner that night. It’s truly a welcome change from the generally poor hotels and crap food we normally experience here in the TdF. For the rest day he made seafood paella for lunch and in the evening we had turkey cooked on the barbeque and then braised with some sort of sweet salsa. The food he has been making has been to die for. I can't imagine how much hard work it must be going from hotel to hotel each night, planning, preparing and cooking for us. What’s even more amazing about his efforts is that he’s consistently punching out culinary delights which have become a daily chat topic among us riders.


During today’s mid-ride ‘coffee stop’, we managed to change the topic.... slightly. We had quite the discussion about how we have ‘picnic envy’ at the Tour de France. That being when we see the fans out on the side of the road with a full picnic set up, eating fine French foods and drinking fine French wine, it sends a twang of envy through us which has lit a wee fire of desire to come back one day and do it ourselves. Nothing much else seems more enjoyable than setting up on the side of the road for the day with a group of friends, waiting for the biggest bike race in the World to pass by. Weather permitting, that is.


As per usual the rest day went way too fast and before we knew it we were into what was one of the most talked about days of the Tour - the "No Radios" day. For those of you who don't know, each rider wears a radio which allows the riders to talk to their team-mates or back to the team manager in the follow car. So if we need bottles or have a mechanical, we communicate it to the team car or if there’s something we need to know, the Director can tell us or give us instructions on how to ride the race tactically; effectively taking away the riders’ capacity to think for themselves. The argument from the Directors of teams who wanted the riders to use radios, was a safety issue.

From where I sit, the biggest problem for the Directors was the control that they would lose over the riders. If they were really concerned about safety, the easy solution would be to give some of the riders, for example, 2 per team, radios, but instead of being able to hear dialogue for the Directors, all riders would hear information from a central base provided by the race organiser with information related only to the race. The riders could then make their own decisions about what to do and the organisers could also then be responsible for relaying safety info as well. It seems like a pretty simple solution to me.

Anyway the stage was ridden in protest and sprinted out in the end which went to Cav again. It was a pretty odd day but there was definitely a more relaxed atmosphere in the peloton without the radios.

'Tis The Wife Here...


Hi all... Please hang out a bit longer for the next entry. Julz has written another blog but tonight the bus is parked halfway down the mountain from where the hotel is and he forgot to take his laptop with him!

He felt good today and is in pretty good spirits. Tomorrow is going to be a mammoth day so Julian's main objective tonight is to get a good night's sleep - which hasn't actually been very easy for him to achieve during the past week or so.

Anyway, hope you're all enjoying the Tour so far... it's been pretty jam-packed with action so far and I'd say tomorrow won't be anything but a nail-biting, hair-pulling, on-the-edge-of-ya-seat sort of affair.

Cross all available appendages for Wiggo who's doing a fantastic job of dislodging a few favourites of a possible podium spot.

Ciao,

C :o)

Stages 7,8&9
Rendevous In The Pyrenees


With the extraordinary stage into Barcelona locked firmly into the memory bank, we headed into the Pyrenees for three difficult days. It was off to do some serious work again.

The first of these mountain stages was up to Andorra from Barcelona and as has been my experience most of my career, the turn-out in Andorra was a little disappointing. Although we didn’t see a whole lot of spectator action going on, we did get to see, for the first time so far in this year’s TdF, the favourites in action and who might be the riders to beat. Yet, to me it didn't quite feel like the grandeur of the Tour de France. Something was lacking. However, Contador did show that he was King Mountain Goat at that particular moment in the race.

The stage for me - and for the rest of the sprinters - was just a matter of survival. Most of the day was a gradual climb up to the finish before the big guns ripped out of Andorra up the final climb. For us in Garmin-Slipstream who don’t climb so well, once we had our GC guys in position at the bottom of the final climb, it was a ‘Hasta- Luego-good-luck’ salute to Christian and Wiggo. Speaking of whom, they both showed us that they are definitely possibilities for the podium in Paris; they both managed to mingle with all the favourites in what was one of the critical days of this year’s race. There are only going to be two more mountain top finishes and this is where differences can be made so things are looking good for them.

The last two days in the Pyrenees saw the race return to France after the first 7 stages had taken us into 4 different countries.

It was nice to be back in where it feels like the Tour should be and more than that, back on the big climbs the Tour is famous for. For the overall, things were never going to change much in these stages. The climbs were in the first part of these stages with the top of the last climb being over 60 km from the finish both days; too far for any attack on the climb to continue on to the finish.

Although stages 8 & 9 were never going to test the GC guys much, it was still just as hard as ever for us non-climbers. For us fellas in grupetto, it sucked more than ever. In fact these are the worst stages. Because these stages start with climbs, we get dropped at the start and we have to ride all day to make the time-cut. In a way, it’s kinda silly as we are the ones that suffer the most all day swapping off while those who are there racing for GC, play a little bit of cat and mouse up the mountains and yet end the day essentially as it began – within a few seconds of each other.

Anyway, I made it through both days - as hard as they were. And I did enjoy it - especially stage 9 going up the Coll de Aspin and Coll de Tourmalet; two of the Tour’s most famous climbs. Nothing compares to riding up these climbs with the mad Basque fans out in force with their orange t-shirts, freaky wigs and Euskadi flags, giving it their all for every rider that comes past whether you are 5min off the front or 30min out the ass. For me these are classic Tour moments at their finest.

Stage 6
Barcelona - One Never To Forget

It’s been few days since I’ve written but the memory of Barcelona is still very vivid in my mind. It was one of those times that I’ll always remember in cycling. The day started out a big one for the team as it started in Girona, which is where many of the riders are based and where the team’s European headquarters are. So it was a big day for the team.

Carole had made the trip up from home with the boys the evening before so I was feeling pretty good about things after having a brief but enjoyable time with them. It had been a few years since I’ve been able to see the family in the middle of a race so it was nice to have the race broken up with their visit.

The weather for the stage was marginal from the start and by the time we got half way through the stage, it was shit... and very, very dangerous. The roads in this part of Spain are notoriously slippery - especially in the rain. So, half the battle was to stay upright which for a change, I managed to do - although not without a bunch of near-misses. At one point, I remember my back wheel appearing at my side as we passed through an off-camber roundabout. But the most frightening for me was on the run in to Barcelona as we were riding down one of the boulevards. It was raining heavily at this point. I was following the rider in front of me and we were supposed to loop around a 4m metal grate on the road. I missed the detour and rode straight over top of it. I did a two wheel almost-sideways-slide across it as my momentum continued to carry me forward. It was a freaky feeling and somehow I managed to keep it upright. I was truly thankful for my good luck on that one. My appreciation of my fine luck continued for the entire run in to the finish as I defied more close calls after more near-misses. Whether we were riding through corners or in a straight line, bikes were literally falling out from beneath guys. It was a scene of pure carnage.

All the same, the turn-out of people and the intensity of their enthusiasm, despite the rain, were nothing short of magical. In their thousands, spectators lined the run-in to Montjuic. They’d been given big yellow cards to wave around and this gave a streak of brightness out the corner of each eye on what was otherwise a smear of wet, dull, grey rain. As we ripped through the streets, we were all but immersed in water by not only the falling sheets of rain, but by the wake of water each bike carved up. All this water made it barely visible for us to see anything at all yet there was one thing I saw vividly; the chaotic and frantic motion of bright yellow cards. As horrible and dangerous as it all was, those who braved the weather to come out and cheer us on, made it a truly special day in the Tour de France. As John Travolta once said, it was “electrifying”.

Although I hadn't finished as well as I had hoped in the stage, I felt afterwards that I had just been a part of something incredibly special. Having been in the sport for so long and experiencing so many major events, it’s easy to get a little de-sensitised to the enormity of what we do at times. The stage into Barcelona was a moment where the enormity of the TdF was soaked right back into these old ‘been-there-done-that’ bones.


Julz

Stages 4 & 5
The Tour is getting away from me......

Man, it has been a hard first week of the Tour this time round. We were at dinner tonight and it was agreed upon by the boys that this is the hardest we can remember as far as the first week goes. And today’s stage into Barca was no exception.

If we go back to the TTT, it was a day I would rather forget. When I think back over my career I can’t really think of any situations when I have let the team down like I did in the TTT here at this year’s Tour. It nearly killed me. I just had one of those bad days on the bike and although I threw myself well and truly into the hurt bag, I just couldn't hang on to the back of the boys up one of the climbs. All I could do was watch them ride off into the distance. It was a very bad feeling that I carried through to the finish and on to the next day. For me, nothing is worse than letting the team down. As much as I know I did my best, it just didn't really help me feel any better.

Once we got racing into stage 5, I had to quickly forget about the day before. Before the stage had even started a race against the clock had already begun for our team. The organisers called all the teams, except our’s, to inform them of a route change to get to the start. One of the exits of the route marked in the race book was blocked with traffic. The forgotten Garmin team was none-the-wiser, took the exit and ended up stuck in traffic until we got rescued by the police and escorted full gas to the start by the coppers. It was pretty sick ripping through all the towns in the team bus behind police with flashing lights.

Right from the start of the stage we headed through one of the windiest parts of France with some fairly narrow roads so it was all on. It was a hugely stressful time as everyone was constantly battling for the front. The entire 200km required 110% concentration as any lapse and you’d, at best, lose your position, or worse still, cross over someone and crash.

In the end, the peloton was that stressed and worn out that the break stayed away and the peloton was left to pick up the scraps. So it all seemed like a whole lot of work for a whole lot of nothing.

Once back in the team bus, I felt the extent of the day’s efforts take its toll on me. It hadn’t been a hugely demanding day physically, but mentally I was trashed. All I needed was a complete ‘mental shutdown’ for the evening. Those batteries were in dire need of recharging.

Julz

A Weekly Read
Hi guys,

Go to www.sundaystar.co.nz to read Julian's weekly TdF article.

I'm trying to squeeze another diary entry out of Julian today. He's feeling pretty knackered after a week full of first week jitters, gnarly crosswinds, drama, near-misses and mountains. Monday is a rest day so if he doesn't get around to it this evening hopefully he'll send us a nice, big, fat and juicy diary entry tomorrow!

Ciao
Carole

PS. If anyone following the TdF manages to snap a photo of the Kiwi (the soft toy version)wearing a greenstone tiki sitting in the window of the team bus, could you please send it through to kiwiana.tdf09@yahoo.es

TdF - Stages 1,2,3
Sorry for being so slack at keeping you guys updated so far in this year’s TdF. It already seems like we’ve pushed through some very difficult days and yet we haven’t even entered mountain goat territory.

To fill you in super briefly, the team has started well with good stage 1 results followed by Tyler’s second in the first sprint stage, which I was pleased with. I felt very relaxed doing the job I know so well and I punched out a great lead-out. I felt awesome afterwards. The immense feeling of satisfaction of a job well done washed over me and was reminiscent of how I felt when I used to lead out Thor.

Yesterday was a bit of a stuff up on our behalf as we got complacent in the last 20km. We were blasted by some gnarly crosswinds and there was a split in the peloton which our whole team missed, along with many other teams. After all these years you would think that I would be more on to it and not allow myself to get into these situations. But hey it still happens to us old fellas. If there is one thing this monumental stuff up reinforced in me during this stage, it’s that you can never be complacent in the Tour de France. Everything happens so quickly.

As it turned out, after a long chase by several teams, including us, we never caught back on. It became one of those stages added to the bag of ‘missed opportunities’. The first week is always so critical for the sprinters and it’s where most of the opportunities lie for us, so it was a real bugger to have missed out on the sprint finish.

So far this year’s TDF has already been a stressful roller coaster ride. It has been made all the more so by the fact that we have started the race through the windiest part of France so the nerves in the peloton have been running higher than usual. Needless to say there have been the customary first week crashes to try and avoid.

We are due to head on down into Spain so hang around and I’ll do my best to keep you guys better updated!

Julz

A Long Week

We’ve been here in Monaco for a few days now before the start of the TdF. The week has seemed long.

It started Monday when I left home and met up with the team in Montpellier to suss out the TTT course. Naturally, as it’s an objective for us, it was important to see what it is like. It actually turned out to be a bit of a surprise for a Tour TTT - technical and hilly. Not just a straight forward drag race like we have had other years in the Tour.

From there, on Wednesday evening we headed up to Monaco for the grand depart. The home of the rich and famous; the sort of place a fella like me struggles to comprehend the lifestyles lived here. It’s a beautiful place but it’s hard to think of it as naturally beautiful. More like a ‘bought’ beauty. All the same, it has been fun looking around here checking out the big boats and fast cars.

As far as the team presentation went, it was nice but not overly well-attended. Compared to London a couple years ago, it was nothing.

Anyway, we are all ready now and enjoying the moment. All the boys are in good health and gee’d up - especially for the opening TT tomorrow. It’s a hard one with a fairly substantial climb to the halfway point and then downhill to the finish. Way too hard for us non-TT, non-climbing specialists. But I reckon that a few of our boys will be in the mix, even possibly in contention to take the jersey.

Julz

Back to the Tour

It has been a pretty cruisey month at home with Carole and the kids since the Giro but as usual the time has gone too quickly. Now this week we are well into the final prep before heading off to the Tour de France.. for the 5th time.

Our team is strong this year and unfortunately I'm not going to have the same freedom for myself as I did last year. I'll be going back to doing lead-outs. This time for Tyler Farrar. I just hope that when one of the few opportunities which may pass my way, I can take it and make something of it.

Anyway, I'm going and as we always know with the Tour de France, anything can happen to anyone at anytime.

And So On And On It Went....

Finally we've wrapped up the Giro - the 100th edition of the World's second greatest bike race.

After Tuesday's rest day, I was looking forward to what I hoped would be a more settled and relaxed race as the pattern of the race became more apparent. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Every stage of the last week was just as intense as the first week. Even the two mountain top finishes were stressful. The first of which, immediately after the rest day, looked probably the easiest stage of the race, as it was only 80km long. However the final 30km took us straight up a mountain. Because it was such a short stage, us non-climbers still had to ride solidly to finish inside the time-cut so the pressure was still on for much of race until we knew we'd make it. So contrary to what I'd longed for, there was nothing 'easy' about that stage....

Stage 18 turned out to be one of only two stages where a breakaway would ride to the finish for the win. Somehow, through a rare stroke of luck, I managed to pick the right time and follow a wheel that landed me in the break with 24 other old mates. It was pretty funny actually, as I hadn't seen the front of the race the whole day and at times, was swinging off the back 'til the one moment that the break went. It was nothing but pure luck. The one effort at hunting down a breakaway and there I was and off I went!

The first 20km of the stage was uphill and I actually thought that it would've been hard up to the top of the climb by which time the break would have established itself. But no, instead it was all on like Donkey Kong for the first 80km, with groups going and coming back willy nilly until I, spending most of that first 80km bringing up the rear 'til this moment, found myself in the right place at the right time. I followed the right wheel and our breakaway was the one to stick. We were a group of 25 riders - a big break - and it was always going to be a bit of a lottery coming in to the finish.

Once in move, it was a matter of doing my bit - but not too much. We were a big group with a lot of very capable riders. 15 km from the finish, a group of 7 went away from our 25 and they went on to win the stage. Danny Pate was in there for us so once that group was established, I couldn't do much except jump on the other guys who tried to close the gap, and shut them down. Danny went on to get second which was pretty sweet. It felt good to be a participater in the race again instead of just filling the bunch, like it seems I've been doing most days. Although, to be honest, I was a bit disappointed that I didn't make the final group to go for the win.

The last couple of days were uphill finishes and as the GC got tighter at the top, the intensity of the race increased with the time bonus seconds available at intermediate sprints and at the finish, looking like they could possibly make the difference to the overall in the race. Pretty strange after 3 weeks and over 3500 km of racing.

The finale of the race was different to other years, with the finish being in Rome - as opposed to the traditional Milan finish - and it was a short but very technical 14km TT. I didn't get to see it on TV as I never do when I'm doing these races, but after doing a warm up lap of the course, which started and finished outside the Colliseum and looped through Rome past many of it's most famous sights, including the Vatican, I imagine that it would've looked great on TV. Despite the fact that it was a shit circuit with dangerous turns and a crap road surface making it horrible to ride on. Unfortunately it's not always about what is good for the riders.

The historical significance of finishing the Giro in Rome and in such a way as we did, did have its appeal to me though and it was nice to put it up there with some of the other great places I have raced around, through and over. Such as Tiananmen Square and the Great wall of China, the Acropolis in Athens, Central Park in Sydney, underneath the Petronas Towers in KL, around and through central London, and up and down the Champs Elysees in Paris.

And thus the Giro ended with what became it's trademark of this edition over the last 3 wks - with intensity and 'down-to-the-wire' excitement. Although Menchov crashed within the last km, his mechanic flicked him a legendary bike change and off he rode, pumped up on adrenalin, to his first Giro d'Italia victory. Hats off to a valiant ride.

As far as my form goes, I have finished much better than I started here. The final few stages I would even go as far to say that I was feeling good - which I don't say too often about myself.

From here I go home for 10 days and then off to a 3 day race in Holland. From there, all going well, the Tour will be my gig in July. Between now and then the first task becomes recovering well, then I need to try and lose a couple kgs and sharpen myself up. I hope to go do a couple weeks at altitude if time allows, and I will try and look for my own chances in this year's Tour in some of the more selective sprints. For the flat out sprints, I'll be there to help out our rising amercian star to a stage win - which I'm also looking forward to guiding him to, as I really believe that he is the only rider in the world that is capable of beating Cavendish in a drag race.

Ciao

Hot And Hard

The last few days haven't been particularly enjoyable. And in fact, that would be describing them generously kind.

Normally I’m not too bothered by the heat but it has been a real ‘boil-up’ here and I have been uncharacteristically suffering in it.

Stage 13 to Firenze was the last show for the sprinters and the last chance for us to dial our lead-out for Tyler before he quit the race. While we did our best one yet, it wasn't enough for the result that we wanted. It wasn’t the fact that our lead-out wasn’t good enough; it basically come down to a little bit of a lot of stuff that didn’t guite go perfectly.

It’s been a little strange for me trying to get it together in the sprints with the other lads. I’m normally used to working alone so it’s taking a bit for us to figure things out. If I’ve learned anything from this experience, it’s that when you have a lead-out train, every carriage has to get it exactly right. There’s no room for error and if a carriage comes up short, the whole train is screwed. The timing has to be perfect.

We have improved it a lot over the Giro so I hope that when we arrive at the Tour we’ll be able to pick up where we left off. I’m sure that when we do start to get it right, we’re going to be a hard team to beat.


From there we’ve had three dirty mountain stages that have been hot and hard where just surviving has been enough of a mission for us non-climbers. The hardest day was yesterday which took us guys in the grupetto, 8hrs to complete. Collectively we were a pretty ugly sight and there was a lot of suffering going on. The 5 of us left in the team went through over 150 water bottles. It was one of the most brutal days that I’ve ever spent on the bike. It consisted of 5500m of climbing in temperatures ranging from 32deg to a max of 38deg. On the second to last climb of the day, which was 13km long, I remember looking down at my computer, and not seeing more than 10km/hr most of the climb and at times my speed was down to 8km/hr. We were a sorry-arse sight to behold.

Anyway, it was another day and another epic for the grandkids’ story time one day. To finish the day off, we had a classic 3 hour ‘Giro-transfer’ to the hotel in our bus - which has a broken air conditioner. So as you can imagine, we were all in pretty good spirits by the time we got to the hotel at 10.30pm!

Julz

Scraped In By The Hair Of My Chin

The Queen Stage nearly killed me.
I was caught by surprise at how bad I was on the queen stage of this year's giro. I really thought that I would get through ok but I ended up having one of the worst days in a long time. Everything hurt; my neck, my back, my legs, my skin - everything. For the entire day I was in the grupetto and even then I was flatstick just to stay in there over the last three climbs. A lot of the time I thought only about getting off the bike and quitting the race. These 'off days' get you when you least expect them and today I never expected it and it got me good.

I had felt that the progress I had been making up 'til this point was good and that I would pass through no problem. It certainly was a bump in the road but I'm happy that I got through it.

I often wonder what brings on these days and when I think back to other times I have had days like today, I can never find a common element. Seems that it just happens to me sometimes. All I can say is that I'm dam I'm lucky I'm not a GC rider.

When I returned to the hotel, I went straight to my bed and got up only to have massage and to eat. It's been a long time since I've felt that exhausted after a stage.


Stage 11 has been another incredibly fast stage. The speed during the early part of the stages has been super fast as all of the riders are afraid of missing the break as their directors will make them chase. Today was no different. It was all on for the whole day and eventually everyone was trying so hard to get in the move that they all cancelled each other out and there was no break. It ended up a day for the sprinters again. It gave us another chance to refine our combination and have another crack. We did good and it was better than any of our previous attempts. Still we didn't get it exactly right and Tyler finished second. We've almost got it dialled and I'm sure that when we do, Tyler will beat Cavendish.


Story of the day goes to Lance, who at one point was having it out with Cunego as they were fighting for position mid-way through the race. Cunego goes by the nickname in Italy, 'The Prince'. All the Italians seem to have dorkie nicknames, such as the 'Dolphin' or 'Cricket'. Anyway, after squabbling back and forth to each other, in all his anger and frustration, Lance turned to Cunego and said, "I'll crush you, little Prince!". I had to laugh my arse off as it just sounded like something that had come straight out of a fairytale book.

Julz

Stages 8&9

Easy Made Hard

By stage 8, in most grand tours you are starting to get to the point where you expect the stages to be dominated by breakaways. Even if the stages are hard, as was the case for the stage today, you prepare yourself for a couple of hours battling 'til the break goes and then the race is relatively controlled from there by the team defending the leader's jersey. Just as long as there is no-one in the break who is a threat to the top GC riders. Today was anything but that. The race never stopped and everytime a break got established, it was chased down by a team that didn't have a rider in it. So this meant that the race was all go the whole day and every rise, every descent and every major climb was an all out shit fight just to survive. As it turned out, a break never stuck and the race was shattered by the end. Different Directors of different teams had their riders on the front at various times throughout the day so the race never slowed down. For the riders it was one of the hardest days we have had and many of the riders carried a lot of 'unimpressed' sentiments about their Directors after today's stage. It was tough.

For me, it was a day where I just continually got dropped and came back after every climb until I got close enough to the finish where I could find a comfortable group to ride the last 50 km to the finish with. Anyway, I made it and it was another day in the can.



The Milan Show - Stage 9

As it is the centenary edition of the race, the organizers decided that it would be a good idea to have a circuit race in one of the most congested cities in Europe; Milan. A city that I think no matter how much planning or preparation you put into it, it would never be conducive to a street race. From the outset it was obvious that the race was horribly dangerous with parked cars, road furniture and tram tracks scattered at all angles around the course - the worst set of which were 300m from the finish line. We were in a situation where I think most of the riders were not that comfortable with. However, cycling's premier problem of a lack of solidarity reigned supreme again and despite the fact that the majority of the peloton didn't want to race, the fear was put up some riders by their team bosses and we ended up racing after deliberating for half of the race as what to do. It was a situation that left me feeling a little disillusioned with the peloton again.

I strongly feel that the issue was not really just about today. It was more of a cumulation of the dangerous finishing circuits, unlit tunnels and dangerous descents of the last week and the Milan circuit race just topped it all off. I felt that by opting not to race, we had the chance to make a statement and show some solidarity. It was the chance to show that we are a cohesive force and not just a group of puppets who seem to be constantly dictated to and who just take whatever is thrown their way. To me our sport is dangerous enough. At certain times it requires us to take risks and that is ok as that is what we choose to do. But when day after day we are put in unnecessarily dangerous conditions, it becomes a little too much and shows little respect for us from the race organizers as to what we do.

So after all the hooplah, a couple of teams started racing and after riding for 30km/hr for the first half of the stage, the race got underway. It's always hard when you've been mucking around the whole day to suddenly having to flick the switch on to race mode. Anyway, we did what we could to get Tyler up for the sprint. I did a pretty shit job as I veered away from my usual lead-out style, to try and incorporate the other boys in the team, which didn't work out too well. Next time I think that it might be a case of leading out like I did in the old Credit Agricole days where I wait back a little bit and then hit 'em at the last moment. Anyway, that's what we are here for; to try and get it right for the Tour. Today was a bit of a stuff up but I hope that we can get it right before Tyler leaves.

We had a 4 hour bus transfer after the stage to Cuneo, where we have spent our first rest day of the Giro. A 4 hour bus trip that was dominated by Whitey in his best story telling form so it went by pretty quickly. I needed it.

While I have been getting through ok we have two very hard weeks ahead of us. So today I tried t make the most of the rest day. I had a fairly pleasant one actually - despite the fact that we got woken up early by the UCI for doping control. I had a nice easy 3 hour ride (the sort that I hope to enjoy when I am retired from racing), an afternoon nap and a massage. Almost the perfect recovery day. Let's just hope that it puts me in good stead for the days ahead.

Tomorrow is the most epic stage of the Tour; it's 260km which some sick ass climbs. I reckon that it's going to take the grupetto 8hrs.

Julz

Grupetto Again... & Again

It’s been a fairly solid three days, to say the least. The weather gods have been taking care of us, which has made it a little easier but the mountains have been tough all the same. Stage 4 was a nervous one from the start as it went straight up from the get-go with an 8km climb. Lucky for me it was a tame start and the attacks only began with 3km of the climb left. After that it was a 60km descent before the final 25km climb to the finish. It ended up being not too bad of a day as once we arrived at the bottom of the last climb, for us in the grupetto it was about riding a steady tempo to make the time cut.

Stage 5 was the complete opposite of stage 4, being one of the longest of the Giro this year. And we felt every kilometre of it. From the start it was all on and in the first two hours, despite the fact that it was mostly uphill, we averaged 47km/hr. It felt like the break was never going to go. Eventually a group of 5 riders broke away and things settled down a little. Although I didn't get to appreciate the scenery fully, it was beautiful today as we headed from Italy across the border to Austria. On the last climb, 50km from the finish, I was dropped with the grupetto again, which seems to be the story of this race so far for me. Hopefully in the latter part of this race I’ll be a little better and I won’t spend quite so much time as a founding member of the grupetto.

One stage and three countries was the story of stage 7. From our start in Austria, we passed through Switzerland and then across the border back into Italy for the last 40km downhill to the finish. It was a mad day with a gradual uphill for most of it, where it was getting colder and colder until we finally made it to the high point of the stage before hitting the 40km descent to the finish. As we crested the summit it started to rain, making the descent to the finish a ‘Who Dares Wins’ scenario. There would’ve been a time in my career I think, when I would have embraced this but today I was feeling the fear. As it turned out five dare devils escaped the peloton to take the stage victory. It was a bit of a bummer for our team as the boys had worked hard to keep the race together during the 240km stage in an effort to get Tyler in a bunch kick. Instead the victory of the stage was really dictated by the environment and how much risk people wanted to take. That’s racing I guess, and you can’t take it away from the guys who had the balls to take on the opportunity.

Julz

After three proper stages of the Giro, I’m now starting to wonder if it was a good thing to come here under-prepared. The reality of being back on the bike only long enough to prepare solely for the team time trial has started to hit home as I struggle through these early stages of the race.

From Venice we headed up to Trieste for the first stage and for the second stage, we looped back around toward Venice but a little further inland. It was a hectic couple of stages - both with mad finishing circuits. Although, this is actually pretty normal in the Giro.

We had a chance to take the jersey both days so the pressure was on to try and help out Tyler to take the jersey. I was a little shocked by the intensity and difficulty coming into the final and was not able to hold my own either day and so did little to help the team out. One of the amazing things that I find after coming back from injury is how the intensity of a final can really mess with your nerves. When you are fit and strong, the psyche is fairly un-phased by a technically hard finishing circuit. Whenever I first come back from injury, I always wonder how I will ever be able to get back to that high level of fitness – and not just the physical fitness, but also the mental fitness that allows me to cope with the intensity of these races: from the noise of the helicopters overhead; to the motorbikes and cars weaving through and whizzing by; to the cheering hoards of people; to the narrow roads, dangerous corners and city streets full of road furniture. It seems impossible that anyone can train themselves to cope with it all. I guess that these moments in my career just give me a reality check on the difficulties of our sport and all that we have to cope with.

After not really being able to contribute much for the first couple of stages, today we headed away from the coast for the first medium mountain stage. The reality of not being fully prepared for the Giro continued to bite. It wasn't the hardest of stages at only 160km, but I really didn't feel too comfortable for the majority of the day. By the end, I had a pretty sore set of legs which I rarely get when racing. Much like the first time you go to the gym after a spell of not going. I haven't been doing a lot of that sort of riding so my legs are suddenly taking a thumping and letting me know about it.

Anyway, the day has finished well. It was a 500m ride to the hotel (very unusual for the Giro which is notorious for its long pre- and post-race transfers) and I have nice little balcony that I sat out on this evening looking up to the snow-covered peaks above as I pondered over something to write for you guys.

Roll on tomorrow.

An Over Calculation

Yesterday’s team time trial was actually one of the most interesting experiences that I’ve ever had as a professional rider and something that I think I really learnt a lot from as an athlete.

The general consensus in the team was that we forgot to race on instinct and tried to calculate everything from the start to the finish in too much detail, not letting the nature of the race take its course. If you look at our team on paper, we were the clear favourites, with many of the World’s best time triallers in our line up. But as can happen, especially in team time trials, this doesn't always translate to a victory.

We meticulously planned how the race was going to be ridden through every kilometre - to the point of who would pull off where and how. Such attention to detail backfired on us and we didn't run with the feelings or the collective years of experience that we have between us as riders. In short, we didn't let ourselves race as we know we can. We didn't trust ourselves.

Although we didn’t get the victory, hindsight has given us knowledge. I know I certainly gained a lot as an individual and at the post-TTT debrief, as a team we learnt a lot from our experience; things that we can work on for the future and most importantly, for the Tour de France where there is a 40km team time trial this year.

The Giro continues and now we will try to focus on other parts of the race.

Julz

Giro’s A Go

Just quickly to let you all know that the Giro is a go. After racing against the clock for the last few weeks to be ready in time, the team was happy enough that I’m fit and ready, after we did some team time trial training over the weekend in Girona.

While I don't feel that I’m quite 100% fit, I am still well capable of contributing to the team time trial which is the most important objective for the team, and hopefully some sprints later in the race. I’m not really sure how I’ve done it again to come back so quickly and strongly but I seem to have conquered yet another comeback one more time.

It’s going to be a little tough as I try and ride my way into it but I also feel that in the bigger picture it’s better for me to be at the Giro than any other place in May.

So stay tuned as we get ready for another lap of Italy.

Julz

Here's Hoping...

Hi guys,

So sorry for the drought in diary entries. I've been head down, bum on seat trying to claw my way back to fitness in a bid to make the team for the Giro. My leg is feeling fine now so that's not what's keeping me from the team.... It's my form. I lost a bit of that while the leg was healing so now I'm playing a game of catch up.

Our team's objective for the Giro is to win the opening stage, the TTT. I have more than enough fitness to go to the Giro but at the mo, I'm just not sure I've got enough high-end stuff to give the team what they want in the TTT.

Anyway, I'm off to Girona this weekend for a final training camp so we'll see after Sunday whether I'm included or not.

Head on over to roadcycling.co.nz for a full interview I did a few days ago with RadioSport.

Keep all appendages crossed for me...

Julz

Oh My! What A Deep Gash You Have There!

Hi all. Carole here. Happy Easter to you all....

Julz is ok. He's coming home tonight and so begins another 'recovery and rehab' phase of our life in pro-cycling... Something that I think we're well on the way to perfecting...

His knee is ok; no bones broken or ligaments/tendons torn so that's a monumental relief. It was a deep gash right to the bone so there was quite a bit of urgency to get him into surgery as quick as poss to give it a good huck out and rid the wound of all bugalugs lurking in amongst the tissue (or meat, as they say here in glorious Spain!).

I spoke with him this morning and he seems ok. Bummed but ok.

Will keep you posted.

Carole.

Por Fin Estoy...

It's been a couple weeks since I last wrote a diary and there are a couple of reasons for that. I think the last time wrote was a pre-MSR entry. I had a great race that day right up until the final 500m but unfortunately I wasn't able to finish it off too well which was something that really disappointed me. It took me a while to come to grips with it. I felt devastated actually. It's always a huge disappointment when you're feeling so good and doing everything right till last moment - which is the moment that makes or breaks the result.

I finished 19th which is gutting considering I was heading for a top 5 result until I ran out of steam with 500m to go. I had fought so hard to obtain and maintain position in the last kms that by the time I needed to do the sprint, I had nothing left. So the result was not what I had hoped for and once again, I did all the hours of training and preparing to try and get it right and it all came to nothing.

It was similar to the Worlds last year, which I also failed to write a blog about afterwards. When you feel so much disappointment over something, sometimes writing a blog is like rubbing salt into a festering wound. I chose the 'avoidance' approach that time! This time round I've chosen the 'reflection';

I feel that I just never get it right and Milan-San Remo was just another one of those moments of truths. If I knew how to do it differently, I would. I just really don't know how to do things better. The desire is there; the commitment and sacrifice is there; the hard yards are always put in, but for some reason the last piece of the puzzle is always lost at the last minute... It's so frustrating because I know that physically, on these days, I have been as good as anyone.

I think that what bugs me no end is that I really know that I am capable of winning...but I just can't ever nail it. Actually even a top five or a podium would do me the world of good at the moment. And even after MSR, I thought that even a top ten would've made me feel better.

I feel like the guy who is always up there but never quite does anything notable.

So anyway, like a good professional that I try to be, after two days off the bike moping, I got back on the bike and headed up to Criterium International the following weekend. It was the first time that I'd ever done the race in my career so it was good to do something new. But it wasn't a particularly good weekend for me. I crashed 30km from the finish on the first day, tweaked my knee and I was hurting on the second day and only just managed to finish. The bad weekend gave me the feeling that all the form I had the week before was fast disappearing. I always struggle to understand how I'm good one week and not the next. But with the way my body works, it's just like that sometimes.

So here I am, after another short week back at home, up in Belgium for the Classics again. I've been a last minute call in for Flanders but it's always nice to be in one of the World's biggest races. This is truly a special race and today was no exception. For the Belgians, it is undoubtedly the biggest event of the year so the intensity is immense. I've always spent my energy helping others and this year we had Martijn to help out as our leader. For some reason, I've never gone particularly well here, mostly because, as we all know, I am not a cobble specialist. I've always done a good job as a helper though and have always enjoyed being a part of the teams that I have raced with here.

Today I actually felt the best I've ever felt in this race and was pleasantly surprised by my form. However, the gods were not looking down on me and I had a mechanical at the most crucial moment of the race. After being lucky enough to miss all of the crashes throughout the day, at the bottom of the Koppenburg I went to change down from the big ring and dropped the chain. Bugger. As always in these situations, I tried to rush getting it on, fumbled it and then finally, just as I was about to throw a leg over and continue on, after a 100-odd guys had already passed me, someone came around the corner, T-boned me and knocked me off, setting me back even further.

Finally, I got on again only to look up the road and see the front guys, who I was with, disappearing over the crest of the climb. I would never see them again for the remainder of the race. I tried for 30km to get back to them but never did.
Apart from helping Martijn as much as I could, it was another failed attempt at Flanders for me. All I got out of the day was the reassurance that my form is good. Better than I expected, anyway. So that was nice. We have Gent-Wevelgem next so we'll see how that goes.

Ciao,
Julz

Hmmmm????

Hi. Carole here. Well... MSR came and went.... And left Julz feeling pretty devastated. He felt superb on the day and a top 5 result was within reach until 500m to go. At this point he had used all his energy fighting for position and ran out of puff for the sprint. This is when just one person to help in the final would have made all the difference. All the top place getters had at least 1 or 2 people in the final kms to help them.....

Not much else to say. Maybe Julz will tell you all himself soon....

Carole

Spring Is Here...

Well, we're done with Tirreno-Adriactico are now heading into the whole focus of the week, Milan-San Remo - La Primavera.

I improved a lot over the week and feel that I'll be in with some possibility of making a good result in tomorrow's race. When you have a long race like Milan-San Remo, you never know what is going to happen; how you are going to be at the end of 7hrs; or who else is going to be good. Sure you have some idea, but there are always surprises at the end of such a long race - and sometimes you can even surprise yourself by how good you're going.

That happened to me last year when I wasn't really good at all the week before MSR during Tirreno Adriactico, yet on the day of San Remo, I was going really well. Even in the early parts of the race I wasn't going overly good - getting dropped a couple of times - but in the last hour I was as good as anybody. So there is always hope.

The last days of Tirreno Adriatico were hard - especially the penultimate stage, which was one of the hardest days I have done on the bike for some time. Seven hours in total. I went pretty well though, and climbed about as good as I'm capable of, given my genetics. Although I was still 18min down on the mountain goats!

The last day was the traditional finishing circuits, culminating in a sprint. So naturally after his win the other day, we lined Tyler up for the sprint. It all worked out pretty well. I was stepped back into my old role of doing lead-outs again. We managed to place him on the back of the Cavendish-Columbia train with a 1km to go which was just perfect and although he never got around Cav, he did what he could.

Tomorrow is MSR. I feel that I'm ready so I hope that I have the luck that I need and I can give it a good crack. Initially we would have had an awesome team for the race but we have lost a lot of guys through injury and illness this last week so will really miss some of the guys who are out of action; mainly Maaskant and Miller, who would have been our two best riders for this race. Anyway, not much we can do about that so we'll just have to do what we can with horsepower we have.

Julian

Stepping Up

It's been a great week for the Garmin-Slipstream boys. From where I see it, for the first time the team has made a real mark on the Pro Cycling World by getting stage wins in the two biggest stage races of the Spring. First, it was Christian's win in Paris Nice, and then here at Tirreno-Adriatico, the team's young American sprinter smoked the World's best in a huge bunch kick at the end of stage 3. Both wins are really impressive results.

For me, Tyler's victory was particularly impressive. At this race, there are all of the World's best sprinters. Absolutely no one is missing and in fact, it's even rare that you get this many good sprinters at one race... And he beat them all. And actually, what made it an even more remarkable win was that there was nothing really lucky about the sprint. It was pure speed on his behalf. Most of the last 10 km was relatively untechnical with huge roads and a pretty basic, safe run in. So really you had to be good to win this stage. And he won convincingly.

For me, this has really seen the team step up to another level. Now we just need to keep the ball rolling.

As for me, I'm plodding along. I haven't written since the first stage because I haven't had anything positive to say about my form. I have been terrible and that has bummed me out no end. I'm at a loss as to why I've been going so crap. If I hadn't been training hard then I'd have an answer. In fact, my training went really well leading up to this so I have no answers as to why I've felt like a fish out of water since this race began. We are now up to stage 6. Yesterday was the first of the hard days and finally I was feeling a little better and riding a little better. So I just have to be happy that I am on the improve. Still not really where I had hoped to be but nonetheless if I'm trying to find something good about every day, it's that I'm getting better...

We had the ITT today so after getting through that, we move on to the queen stage of this year's race. It's going to be an extremely hard day tomorrow. Really the last big effort before Milan-San Remo. Being a long stage, it will be a real show of who is going to have it in La Primavera next saturday.

I'll let you know so you can all go place your bets...

Julz

Decisions, Decisions...


I'm here in Italy just having done the first stage of Tirreno Adriatico.

Since Algarve it has really been about trying to make all the right decisions about training and racing. At the time they seem like decisions that are going to make or break my season but when it's all put into perspective, the reality of it is, is that it's not going to make too much difference. It's almost though, as an athlete, you have this subconcious need to make drama and stress for yourself about these things when at the end of the day, within reason, these decisions aren't going to make so much difference.

Part of my desire to make the best decisions for my lead up to MSR, led me to filling an empty spot that came up in the Tour of Murcia after Zup got sick. I umm'ed and ahh'd over whether it was good for me to go and in the end I decided to go. I thought getting a bit of racing into my legs, instead of staying at home training, would be good for my lead-up to MSR. Once at the race, I couldn't decide if I should stop early and then do a couple days training at home, or finish the race, which would give me only 1 day at home before travelling to this race. Then, after finally making that decision, I did 3 days of the race and came home but then had trouble deciding how to structure my 3 days training left before coming here! I was painful to myself..... and no doubt to Carole who was my sounding board for all possible options for each and every decision waiting to be decided!

I was thinking that everthing was going to be the difference between winning or losing at Milan San Remo or doing well here at Tirreno Adriatico. Every decision seemed a major. I only wanted to get it all right for this next important block of racing but in the process, I just stressed myself out completely and lost perspective of the bigger picture, I guess. But then I s'pose that's part of the make-up of an athlete's mind. That is what makes us. Trying to get it exactly right.

However, after today's first stage I feel like I've made all the wrong choices. I wasn't good at all today and it was a stage where I should've been good. It was a final that would normally be perfect for me and I was bad. We had a 4km climb, 15km from the finish - not too unlike the finish of San Remo - and when we got to the bottom of it I couldn't follow the second group, let alone the front group!!!

So I'll have to see how the rest of the week here goes. I'm not sure why I didn't go better today. Anyway, I know that I've worked bloody hard during the period before this block of racing so it's a tough situation to be in. As usual I just hope my week gets better.

2 Days, 2 Punctures And A Bruised Ego

The last couple of days have been nothing special and today's TT especially sucked.

Yesterday I was going ok until the second to last climb when I punctured - just as the race was splitting up. For the first time this week, I wasn't one of the first guys dropped but the bad timing of the puncture meant that I had to wait for the car which had not yet had a chance to get passed the dropped riders and team cars.

So by the time the car finally attended to me, the front of the race was long gone. Thankfully I was able to get back and ride to the finish with the grupetto. Not that it really mattered anyway as it was an uphill finish that was never going to be for me.

Today, however, was much worse than yesterday. I have had two 'firsts' this week. My first time racing in Portugal and the first time falling off a home-trainer. Yes, as hard as it is to believe, it did happen.

Yesterday I rode to the hotel from the finish for a bit of extra training so I was feeling a little worse for wear as I rolled out of bed this morning. Then falling off the home-trainer just added to the bastard of a day I was already having. I have to add in here though that me falling off the home-trainer wasn't actually my fault. The bolt to lock it into place wasn't done up so I was the unsuspecting bugger to suffer a bruised glut and not to mention, ego, as a result of someone else's F' up....

So, when I finally did make the start line and was halfway through the 33km Time Trial, a puncture completely killed any morale I was trying to bolster in order to put out a good effort. The good 2min spent on the side of the road waiting for a spare wheel - as I had no follow car - was just another jack-hammer attack to the morale... just in case there was any semblance of that left!

After finally getting a wheel, I got myself back on the bike and arrived at the finish thinking that I never should've got out of bed this morning.

At least tomorrow can only be better. Let's hope that it has all been happening for a reason and my luck is about to change.

Julz

Algarve, Portugal
Life Back On The Continent

Well, the Volta Algarve here in Portugal has seen my return to European racing for 2009. Amazingly enough, after having raced as a pro for 12 years, there are still a few races I have never done and this is one of them. Actually, this is the first time that I have ever raced in Portugal.

While the novelty of doing a new race has kept me motivated, I have been struggling a bit to get on top of things. Since the Nationals, I have been really up and down and while the return to Europe has settled me more into a training routine, I'm still looking for an improvement in the form.

It took us a good 10 days or so to get over the 'trauma' of travelling back to Europe with the two kids. Shit, 'long haul' travel takes on a new dimension when there are kids in tow. It certainly is not the same as it used to be for me and Carole. Back in our 'old' long haul travel days, it was a case of watching as many movies as possible in between sleeps to avoid the pain of boredom. These days, it's a case of stealing any wink of sleep at all on offer and trying not to wear out the aisle with our constant passage, up and down, up and down, up and down.... Small feet never seem to tire and young minds just love a couple hundred strange faces to look at. Needless to say, the tradition of tripping back to NZ is losing its appeal as a more simple life with the boys - free of travel - seems more inviting. Well, at this stage anyway.

My first week of proper training here in Europe was more than 30 hours so coming into the race here, I was never going to be ready and charging. But I was probably hoping not to be suffering as much as I am. It's always hard when you know you have been doing the work but are not at the point where you are reaping the benefits of your labour.

The first stage here was a bad one for me and although I had hoped to get up in the sprint, I was not even close. I really had nothing. Not even enough strength to get up to the front. It was a bit of a morale breaker that I can only put down to not being fresh enough after my big training week last week.

The second stage was a little better but I still felt like I was dragging a tyre around. Coming into the finish, I was a little better but still not up to doing anything in the finish.

Keeping the objectives in mind, I have to think down the road to late March which is my next focus period. The moments that I pass through now are always hard mentally. The fatigue I feel from the volume of training can be a real morale crusher but I just have to keep it firmly planted in my mind that it will pay off when I need it to most.

At least the race here has been kind with some nice weather and civilised racing. We have some hard days ahead but as always it will be one day at a time.

Julz

Pedal Pumpers Are Back Pumped And Ready To Roll...

Once again, I had good intentions all off season to write something but once again a new season has arrived and I failed to get fingertips to keypad before it did. Sorry!

I think the first thing that I have to write about is the National Championships. I s'pose there isn't really much detail to it really. It just didn't go right. I tried to ride the race as best I could but when I think back over it, it was always going to be a difficult one to conquer.

The course was significantly easier than the last two years so there was no real natural selection process to sort out the strong riders from the not-strong-enough riders. And the weather wasn't selective either. It wasn't at all hot so unlike 2007 and 2008, most of the peloton managed to finish. I s'pose what frustrated me the most though was the fact that no-one in the peloton really committed to chasing the break. I tried a few times to give the guys a 'curry up' but no-one was really interested. And there was no way I was gonna bury myself to bring back the break so a bunch of 'Freddy-Fresh-Legs' could roll me at the line. So I guess that all that can be said is that Gordy and his team rode well tactically and benefited from the non-committed chase of the peloton. At the time I didn't really feel too bothered about it but being here in Adelaide this week and having a chance to think about it, I'm pretty bummed that I won't be riding in the NZ jersey in Europe this year.

I'm also a little disappointed at how I rode and when I think back, maybe I should've been more aggressive. But the 'woulda, shoulda, coulda' scenarios are punishing and retrospect can't change a thing. I just didn't want to take 40-odd riders to the line and still have the possibility of losing the race - especially with no team to help me control it or to help me in the sprint.

Anyway it's done and dusted now and good on you, Gordy and your team.

So I've had a bit of a struggle this week - mainly because it's hard to train all summer for something and then not have it work out the way that you'd hoped. The form at the moment is just not what it has been the last couple of years either yet I feel like I have worked the same amount. And although a true test of the form will not be until this week, I have been around long enough now to have a pretty good feel for where I am.

The big talking point this week has obviously been Lance's return to racing and the whole World is waiting to see what he has got. I think that even here at this race, people are going to see him go surprisingly well. I'm sure that every time it gets hard he will be there. I've often been wondering how nervous he must be feeling. I certainly wouldn't want to be returning to racing after three years off with a 50km crit against Aussie's top sprinters at the back end of a summer crit season...

Anyway, his return to cycling is awesome for us all. I'm pleased he is back and after briefly hooking up with him again at lunch today, I'm looking forward to seeing him back in the peloton again.

Right, let's get racing!!!!!

Julz

No Cigar

Hi all,

Carole here. Still haven't managed to give Julz enough of a 'curry up' about doing an update so here I sit and write.... again.

By now it's probably well known that the National Champs jersey won't be draped across Julian's shoulders for a third straight year.

What a funny old race that ended up being. It was basically decided by a team time trial. Hats off to Gordie's team though. They obviously had a plan to get as many of them as possible into the initial break and knowing that they were the only team in the race, it was always going to be a tough job to bring them back. It certainly wasn't an impossible task to reel them in.... if there had been cohesion in the peloton to chase. As it turned out, Julz tried to rally fellas to jump on the front and take turns but no-one wanted to commit. So that was that. Subway took the first 4 placings of the 2009 NZ Road Championships.

Julz was pretty disappointed. Not initially but yesterday on his way to Adelaide, he finally had time to really think about the race and all the 'woulda, coulda and shoulda's'. Although to be blunt, that course was a crapper for Julz. It just wasn't hard enough which meant it wasn't selective enough. The two years that Julz won the jersey, the course was hard and the weather hot. It sorted out the men from mice. They were battles of attrition and only the strongest were left pedaling.

But whatever... That's bike racing.

So now we look ahead to the next race... That being the Tour Down Under which starts next week. That'll be a biggie with ol' Lance making his first appearance in the peloton since his announced comeback.

Right, that's me done. Gotta a garden to weed.

Ciao,

Carole

Devo'd

Hi all,

Carole here.

Just want to let you know that Julz will update his diary after the Worlds.... He's just a bit devo'd at the mo. He had incredible form in Varese. The best ever. Only no team to support or play chess with so he had to just sit tight with the favourites and hope their teams would chase down any attacks..... Unfortunately that didn't happen and Julz was left with nothing but frustration.

He truly believed he could've got on the podium with the form he had (which is huge to hear come out of Julian's modest gob!), and for those of you who actually watched the race, you would've seen just how comfortable he was all day shadowing the likes of Bettini, Freire, Boonen, bla, bla, bla.

He's not quite ready yet to re-live the experience in words for you all but I'll make sure he does some time very soon....

Thanks again for all your support this year... As usual you guys have been fantastic for our morales!


ciao,

C

Tour of Britain Wrap Up

I've been going good, there's no doubt about it, but still I have come away from this race without a win. It kinda sucks when I've been racing so well.

The penultimate stage of the race was a chance that I really blew. I wanted to get in the break for the day. I wanted a hard day as my last hard hit out before the Worlds and I knew the break was going to be the best way to do that. Besides, seen as I hadn't won any sprints, I felt it would be a good chance to have a crack at a stage win trying another tactic.

As it turned out, although I had to try to go with 90% of the moves before I actually got in the one that stuck, the perseverance finally paid off. I wanted it to be a hard day where the eight of us in the break swapped off like maniacs till we killed each other. Unfortunately it turned out to be exactly the opposite. Once we had a 1min gap the peloton just let us go and in 10km we had a 5min lead. Once the gap was established, the guys in the break just started crystal cranking and it became easier than a normal training day. Not at all what I wanted the day to dish out to me.

Toward the end, we did start to ride a little harder but the day had just been too easy and we were all fresh as Spring daisies even though we had been out by ourselves all day. Again, nothing at all want I wanted if I was to win the stage or get in some good prep for the Worlds.

I didn't really know what to do coming into the finish. There were a couple of faster guys in the group and a couple that had been sitting on most of the day. I've never really come to the finish too often in breaks in my career so I wasn't able to draw on too much experience either.

As it turned out, I knew that I was the strongest and that I should win but when you know that it's like that it's often the hardest to win as you expect it to happen. Instead of taking a gamble and letting some of the other guys take the responsibility in the final, I did the nervous thing and chased to close the gaps, except the last one which won the stage.

I was bitterly disappointed after the crash I had the day before and the way that I messed up the finish in this stage when I had been riding so well. I always find it hard to know what to do and make the right moves in the final with a small group and I think that in the final of this stage, I did everything that you shouldn't do. I think that I just wanted the win too much after all the recent second and third places I've had. I got impatient.

The final stage turned out pretty good, all things considered. I was 'over' the race after my balls up the day before and never really wanted to race from the time I got out of bed. It was a short, easy, flat stage with some circuits to finish so it was always going to be a sprint. The finish was pretty safe and by the time we came into the final few k's, I had g'eed myself up enough for the sprint.

I had a perfect run off Pettachi and as I came over top of him, I started to get squeezed into the barrier by him. There might have been a time in my youth when I would've taken the gamble and tried to push through but instead I backed off and tried to come around the other side. In doing so, I lost my momentum and speed. I had to settle for another 2nd place. Dammit!

I was so sure that I was going to get over top of him and I'm not sure if he could sense it and closed the gap on purpose. Part of me thinks that that's the way it was. The only thing I know is that I was going faster than he was. This is some consolation to missing out on the win.

The Tour of Britain was not too bad in the end. It's always dangerous racing in the UK with all the cars and limited amount of space on the roads but I've just come to expect that. The worst thing this year were the long transfers we had; a couple of which were around 4 hours after the stage. It certainly wasn't ideal preparation for the Worlds but it was really the only option that I had and I got out of it what I could.

So to wrap up, the form is good and although there were no long stages to test the endurance for Worlds, there was very little else that I could've done better. I will have to do a couple mega-endurance rides over next two weeks and hope that it's enough to get me through the 260km road race in Varese, Italy.

Julz

Tour of Britain...
Boxing On...

Well, it's been a pretty long week so far and we still have a few days to go here at the Tour of Britain.

Since the Tour of Ireland, things have gone pretty well and I'm still confident about my form. Unfortunately here I still haven't nailed that elusive win but came close in stage 2 and have been top 5 a couple of times since. Most of the stages since I got 2nd, have been breakaways so I haven't had the chance again to sprint. It might be the go to get in the break if I'm feeling up to it.

I'm actually finding it a little hard to balance things out with the form and preparing for the Worlds. It's been a long season for me. I've been racing since the second week of January and have had a lot of 'focus' races, what with the Nationals, Milan - San Remo, the Giro, the Tour, the Olympics and now the Worlds right on my heels. It would easy to go out and give it all every day here for the win but my body is telling me to conserve a little bit on some occasions in order to continue to build the form for the Worlds and more importantly, to save some punch for the Worlds.

I seem to be alternating between having one good day and one average day here. Although even on the average days I still seem to be going ok. It's important though for me to take it easier whenever I can so as not to tip the balance the other direction. After the season I've had, for sure I'm running low on both the 'mental cards' and the 'physical cards' that allow me to peak for each focus race. It's crucial that I ride this race smart or else I could easily spend my last cards and be left empty handed come the Worlds.

Over the next couple days I'll try and pick a moment to attack or follow an attack. I want to dig deep once to see just how good the form is and to find out what I need to work on specifically before the Worlds. So my aim now is to get in the break, dig deep and try for the stage win. Sounds simple, doesn't it?

When I think back to 1999, when I first came here and won 2 stages, it makes me realise what a good young talent I was and I didn't even know it. It's not easy here even though the field is a lot less than what we are used to and the teams are smaller. The racing is staunchly competitive and it's not a race you can bluff your way through and get results.

Anyway, we have three more stages to go then it's home James for 2 wk's solid training before heading off to the Worlds in Varese, Italy.

Stay tuned if you dare...

Tour of Britain

Hi all,
Carole here. Have just got off the phone to Julz and chucked in a few soft ones about doing a diary. He said he'll flick one through tomorrow....

He's having a good race so far. He got 2nd in Stage 2 and today he managed an impressive 4th place after attacking the bunch up a punchy climb with just over a km to go. He got caught on the descent but managed to hang on to 4th. The first two placings were gobbled up by the remaining two guys from the breakaway.

Tomorrow is another rolly-poly day although Julz seems to have taken his climbing legs with him to England so here's hoping he can try for another nice result.

Hang ten for Julz's update...

Carole

Beijing Olympic Road Race, 2008

It's all said and down for me now and although it wasn't a race that I did particularly well in, I enjoyed the experience more than ever before. I reckon it was a pretty good Games and although I would have liked to come away with a better result, given the difficult nature of the course, my result didn't reflect the 110% I gave it. I had stayed focused after the Tour de France, I had trained well and prepared perfectly. I went into that race with excellent form. The only ingredient to the recipe I didn't have right was my genetic make-up. I needed to be a specialist climber.... or Fabian Cancellara.

If I think back over the race, it couldn't have gone any less in my favour really. I knew from riding it a couple of days before that it was going to be a big ask for me but I always had a glimmer of hope that if the race went the right way I would be in with a chance. I had hoped for an easier first part of the race with some possible attacks on the second to last time up the climb, to whittle down the peloton a bit, with a more serious attack up the climb on the final lap, hoping that I could come back on the descent.

The race was nothing like that though. It started easy for the first 40k then it was on like Donkey Kong. The 40 kms before hitting the circuits and then every time up the climb, it was either a high tempo or a lot of attacking. Something that I just flat out didn't have in my favour. And to make it even worse, it was a headwind down the descent and a tailwind up the climb, making it harder still for the non-specialist climbers, like your's truly.

On the second to last time up the 10k climb the Spanish Dream Team threw the gauntlet down and the tempo became too much for me. With 3km from the top, I was dropped from the group and that was the moment my Olympic hopes went down the gurgler. My last chance to get a stellar result in an Olympic Road Race faded as the seconds between me and the lead group grew. I knew that I had done all that I could but at the same time I was still pretty disappointed that it had to end that way. I had always dreamed of something beautiful happening for me at an Olympic Games - just like every other Olympic athlete does - but unfortunately the odds were stacked against me this time around.

Aside from the actual racing, the Olympic RR kind of sucked really, coming from the Tour de France. There was zero atmosphere. In fact, those electric fish that live in the darkest, deepest depths of the ocean would exude more excitement when they finally come across prey to zap. Spectators struggled to get out to the course so enthusiasts were few and far between. The only spectators out there, apart from the 30 or so Westerners on the bottom corner, were the local Chinese 'Rent-a-Crowd' who were all sporting bright yellow t'shirts and flags (freebies no doubt) and who knew nothing about any of the athletes or cycling. Apart from providing 'visual' fillers, they also provided some sound bytes by chanting in unison whenever we came past. Hmmmmm?????

Other aspects of the event seemed to run faultlessly. The organisation was perfect. Getting around was made easy and if anything needed to be done, it was done without issue. And from my perspective, even the air quality was better than I have raced in many times before in other parts of the world. Especially other major cities. All that aside and though, the hardest thing for me to come to grips with was not achieving a better result even though my performance was pretty solid. It was a huge disappointment even though I knew it was going to be a big ask for me to contest the top placings.

The rest of my Olympic experience was great. I really enjoyed being part of the NZ team this time round, more so than the other three previous Games that I've done. I used every other chance that I had to get out and support the other Kiwi athletes competing, as well as trying to take in a few sports that I had never had the chance to watch before. I didn't get to do anything cultural, apart from a few hours in the Forbidden City, but I figure that those things will always be there if I choose to go back one day. Especially given that they have already been there for 1000's of years.

Of course being there just a few days after the race before heading back home to Valencia, didn't seem like enough to make the most of my final Olympic experience but given that I've been doing such a heavy program from the Giro d' Italia to the Tour de France and then the Games, it was only fair to Carole and the boys that I get home for my fatherly duties. It has been a pretty full on few months for us all, to say the least.

julz

Tour of Ireland

A Very Irish Race...

Well, we are three stages into it and although it's far from what we are used to in Europe, it has been ok - even if the weather is not the best and a few 'glitches' in the finer details have made this Tour 'interesting', ie., our hotel restaurant ran out of food the other night so we had to go out to eat.....hmmmm????????? It is the Tour of Ireland so you can accept these things a little more easily. I'm sure that if it was a regular race on the continent, I wouldn't be so accepting. "It's an Irish thing" has become the motto of the race for us.

Anyway, starting from Dublin, I had a good first stage, a shit second one and an ok 3rd one. Throughout I have managed to hold down second on the overall classification with a second on stage 1 and 3rd on stage 3, with some additional intermediate sprints for some bonus seconds, in between.

Cavendish's team have been controlling the race well and I've been able to ride off them. We are expecting one of the last remaining two days to be a race decider where a group gets away or a selection is made and the contenders for the overall come into their own. Although in saying that, this is the Tour of Ireland and some of the stages that they said would be hard, weren't so who really knows how this race is gonna find it's winner. Regardless, it's nice to have had a change of racing environment for a little bit as I ease my way back after the Olympics and begin getting ready for Worlds.

Julz

Tour Wrap

When I think back over the Tour, I feel that it could've been better. Or maybe it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

For the last 3 years I've been the best lead-out rider at the Tour and this year I wanted my own chance at victory, hence the change to Garmin. Bottom line is I wanted to win a stage. Unfortunately it's not an easy feat to achieve and if nothing else, it made me realise how good and how much value I was to Credit Argricole, because what I really missed so badly was someone like myself to help me in the sprints.

I'm not a crafty, risk-taking, dive-through-a-gap sort of rider anymore; those days have gone. My years as an 'inexperienced and do-at-all-costs' youth have been shedded and in their place I've become layered by years of experience, untold scars, broken bones and metal throughout my body, and moulded into a much wiser and more cautious sprinter. I'm not willing to risk life and limb anymore - my priorities have changed - so I think I sprint best off the back of a train when I am placed safely into position.

So when people congratulate me on my ride at the Tour, I feel a little hollow and lament what could have been. What I did this year is well within my capabilites and I know that from riding the Tour in previous years. For me personally, it wasn't an outstanding Tour. I had great form and I just don't feel that it was reflected in my results. But I'm an athlete and no matter what scenario I find myself in, I want to be one of the best or the best. Whether it is doing lead-outs or winning a sprint. I'm like that by nature and I wouldn't be the athlete I am if I wasn't.

More than ever now I wonder what I could've achieved in my previous Tours if I had been able to ride for myself instead of doing leadouts. It'll probably be one of those 'what if's' that will plague me for a lot of years to come. Maybe I would've been able to win a stage in the Tour by now if I'd chosen other avenues but I've always chosen the road that seemed to take me to the next level and into the biggest races. And I reckon I have made pretty good choices right the way through my career. Besides, the Tours I did with Credit Agricole, hitting over top of the Fassa Bortolo and Quickstep lead-out trains with Thor or my wheel, are something that I got a lot of satisfaction from and really enjoyed. Being a one-man lead-out train was actually pretty cool.

At the end of the day I have to have resolve in the fact that every sprint I contested, I tried with all my heart and did all that I could to win. And throughout the Tour I did my best as a helper to Christian. As hard as it was physically and as disappointing as it was mentally sometimes, I absolutely loved it. Whether I was suffering, hurting and going shit in the pissing rain into Toulose and doing less than average in the sprint; or riding up Alp d'Huez in grupetto with a camera strapped to my helmet; or the uncomparable tingle that buzzed down the spine when we pulled onto the Champs after the three week battle - something that I reckon you could do 10,000 times and it would still incite the same euphoric buzz - every day of the Tour is an experience of a lifetime. For a bike rider nothing compares to the Tour de France.

Pre-Olympics

Well folks, it's going to be a hard one. I rode the course yesterday and it really is one for the real climbers. Pretty much it's a 12km in-the-little-chain-ring uphill with two12-15sec downhill pieces. We have to do it seven times with the first 80km flat heading out of the city to the circuit.

For a rider with my build, it's going to be a big ask to be there in the last time up the climb. Especially given that I'm finding it hard enough to breathe the crap air here without putting physical exertion into the mix.

What I do have in my favour is fear. Talking to a lot of the riders out there yesterday when we rode it, they are all afraid of how hard the course is and the climatic conditions. This can play into my favour as it might mean that the race won't be too hard until the final lap or so as a lot of guys will be too afraid to throw down the gauntlet too early in the race in case they blow a gasket. I know my condition is good and I've pulled up well after the Tour. In my mind, there is nothing to be afraid of. Due to the nature of the course, my only game plan can be to follow as long as I can all day. I don't have to attack or try and make the race any harder than it is going to already be. That will be for the stronger teams who have backed their top climbers to win the gold medal tomorrow. It'll be their job to control and force the tactics of the race.

Besides, as I've learnt from previous experience, anything can happen - it's the Olympic Games. Each country has a maximum of 5 riders, meaning the race is a little less predictable than normal. I believe anything is a possibility here and will have to try and fight on as long as I can and see what happens. It will be a process of elimination.

The Game's feeling all round has been a little odd. Around the city you can actually see places where the organisers have put up screens to hide the roughest parts of the city. I'm sure that in parts of China, there are people who don't even know the Olympics are on.

I'm not sure if it's just because I'm a little older and a little more aware but this time the feeling around the Games seems less about sport than ever before. Most likely it's just that my perceptions have changed. Not that this really affects me too much with regard to my race tomorrow. For me, I know what I have to do and how to approach it. So although I'm up against all odds tomorrow, like always I'll do the best that I can. That's all I ever ask of myself and whatever happens, happens.

Julz

Part II

So after we did our parade lap up the Champs, we headed back to the hotel, stopping off for a few at a bar on the way. With less than an hour to get 'shit, showered, shaved and fluffed' I busted into my room to find that my 'dead bag' wasn't there with my suitcase!!!!!! Not panicking too much, I assumed that the staff had just forgotten to bring it up. But after asking a couple of 'whereabouts' questions and getting no definitive answers, I then set about frantically sms'ing and calling everyone in a mad dash to locate the all-important 'stepping out' kit. It soon became apparent that my bag was nowhere to be found and after a 'Sherlock Holmes' type investigation, I learnt that it had actually been sent back to Girona by mistake. A F***ing BIG mistake. Especially given that I don't even live in Girona.

At the time, I gave that whole dead-bag-in-Girona thing little thought; my immediate concern was my 'stepping out' kit for the team party. I was down to having to go out in Paris in my team tracksuit and flip-flops. Beauty! Oh well, I thought, I'll just go with what my Mum used to say, "It's not what you look like, it's who you are that matters". And I was prepared to take one for the team so Garmin tracksuit and flip-flops in one of the World's most sophisticated and cultured cities, it was going to have to be. Besides, I thought, particapation is the key....


Anyway, as it turned out I scammed some clothes from a couple of my team-mates. Others were also missing their dead bags so there was a fair bit of garment sharing going on. What a mish-mash bunch we must've looked. I managed to get myself a pair of trendy cargo pants and a t-shirt that had 'Florida' written in big capital letters across the front of it, which actually turned out to be a hit of the evening.

It wasn't until 5.30 the next morning when I was back at the hotel getting ready to head to the airport that the penny dropped. I was flicking through my backpack making sure my passport was handy when suddenly I realised of course it wasn't friggin handy. It was in Girona tucked safely away in my dead bag! Suddenly this whole dead bag thing became a major. I was tired, still somewhat 'tipsy' and so looking forward to seeing my boys in a few hours time yet I was doomed to be stuck in Paris without a passport, a week before I was due to leave for the Olympics. Suddenly it was looking as though my week back at home with the family was going to be reduced to just a few days. With that realisation I felt like a dead soul with all hopes of seeing the boys at 12pm that afternoon snatched away. The hangover and the tiredness now seemed like nothing.

After exploring several options, my only choice was to hitch a ride to Girona and find a way back to Valencia from there. So early that afternoon, I jumped in the back of Josep's (the soigneur) car and started my journey, drifting in and out of sleep and dreaming about how I was going to prepare for the Olympics and what I would've been doing that moment if I was at home with the boys.

Nothing was more of a downer than spending three week's racing around France, feeling like a superstar, then having to spend a whole day in the back of a car, tired and hungover as hell, knowing that precious time with the family, before having to head to the Olympics, was getting eaten in to.

At 11pm Monday night, I headed out of Girona to Valencia in a rental car. At 3am in the morning I finally arrived at the door to my home. It had been a punishing day and a travel F.U.B.A.R that almost tops the lot, but when Tanner came into our bedroom in the morning and saw me lying there, the look of joy on his face was priceless. Nothing can better that.


But wait! There's more...

TdF 08 Wrap Up
Part I of a several part story...

It has now been over a week since the finish of the Tour but with the Olympics fast approaching, it has hardly been a time to kick back, reflect and think about the highlights of the last month... until now as I sit on a flight bound for Beijing, China, so here goes;

Firstly, I was dealt a rude deal getting out of Paris after the Tour but in doing so I clocked up yet another story for the 'Julian Dean's Travel F.U.B.A.R's' book. That book will never end at the rate I'm going.

At the beginning of big races like the Tour de France, we normally have what we call a 'dead bag'. This is a bag of bits and pieces that we've been given upon arrival and other personal belongings that we don't need until the end of the Tour. Generally it's just 'stepping out' kit for the last night. Although in our case, this year we had a few extra bits and pieces from the change-over of the team's sponsor. I also tend to put other stuff, such as my passport etc, in there as well, knowing that it's the safest place for it to be until the Tour finishes.

So all was jolly on the last day. I had an ok sprint once again, placing 6th but having a good crack as I chopped under everyone in the last corner. Actually it was one of the 'really very nearly' situations. We had talked about the final in the team meeting and the boys were keen to help out. Millar did a great job on the front 'til just under the flamme rouge kite. His pull kept the peloton strung out and clean. Then heading through the Concorde Plaza, I had to make a move to the front as Quickstep were drilling it and I needed to get myself up and into a good position. I spent a bit too much time out in the wind moving up but did manage to get myself into a nice spot. Through the last corner I dived underneath the bunch, cutting through several places and found myself on the back of Steegman's wheel - the perfect position. Unfortunately though this is where the last stage became a 'really very nearly' finish. I had used too much of my energy moving up and as we came out of the corner, the lactate acid forced my legs to a grinding halt as I tried to accelerate with the Quickstep train.

It looked pretty poor on TV and a lot of people asked me why I couldn't hold the wheel. It was just that I had used too much energy moving up to a better position before we turned onto the Champs Elysees. Miller had done a great job 'til 1km to go but from that situation I need one of two things. Either I needed to be better placed when he pulled off or I needed the help of one other team-mate after he pulled off, to move me up through the Plaza. Then things would've been different.

I took my chances from where I was, knowing that I was risking running out of gas, but I felt like it was the right thing at the time. In hindsight - which is always such a cruel bugger - I might have been better to wait. Although, if things had slowed up a little coming out of that last corner, allowing me a couple of seconds recovery, things could've gone in my favour. But hey, 'woulda, coulda, shoulda' doesn't change a thing. That's the way things go in sprinting - you have to run on instinct and make the calls at the time. That's what makes it such a love-hate relationship for me.

The hard part for me to swallow is that Miller and Christian both helped me out before the sprint but I couldn't repay them with a better result. By having team support like that when I normally don't have it, I really wanted to place better to justify getting that support and having it in future races. But with things not really working out as good as I had hoped, I felt bummed that I didn't deliver for them. I also feel that next time they'll have a little less faith in me and may not even really be into it, which I can't blame them for when I'm only running top 10s.

Anyway, I did my best and that's where I have to draw my fulfilment from and hope that at some other point, they will help me again and I will do better...

Stay tuned for Part II

The Wife's TdF Round-Up

Hi all,
Thought I'd do a wee 'TdF '08 Round-Up' seeing as my husband will, at this very moment be incredibly wobbly on his feet. It's 11.35pm post-stage 21, so he'll be fairly 'off guts' by now I'd say, as he celebrates the end of the TdF with his team. I've only been treated to a five minute chat with him this evening. The guys were biking back to the hotel after the stage and got way-laid in a bar enroute so I managed to talk to him in between sips of whatever it was he was drinking. My two guesses would be Vodka or Rickard... Although it's not unlike him to have one of each in each hand. Thank god he's not an octopus!

Right, just to get straight to the point, this is how it stacked up for Julz:

Stage 5 -10th
Stage 8 - 19th
Stage 12 - 9th
Stage 13 - 9th
Stage 14 - 4th
Stage 19 - 10th
Stage 21 - 6th
Green Jersey standings - 9th
General Classificaton - contrary to what the NZ media thinks, who cares! He's a sprinter not a climber. GC standings mean nothing to the sprinters and everything to the mountain goats.

From my point of view, that is a wicked TdF '08. This is the first TdF Julian has been able to hunt down his own results. Of course his objective was to win a stage which he didn't accomplish but let's be realistic; to win a sprint stage in the Tour without the support of a lead-out train is a HUGE task and one where luck is needed - even if you have the strongest legs on the day. Although the win remained elusive, he was super consistent! And that shows his class.

Is Julz satisfied with his Tour? Short answer: kind of. At the moment, anyway. He's an elite athlete and they are a hard bunch of buggers to please when it comes to their performances and results. Julian is especially hard on himself which isn't always a good thing. I know in a few days time when he manages to get things into perspective, he'll look back over these 3 weeks and concede that he rode a great Tour, although he'll always carry with him the 'If only...' scenarios.

As far as the helmet-cam footage of Alpe d'Huez goes... We've had a lot of requests for it to be cyber-posted. Even his team website want to get hold of it. We'll take a look at it and see what we can do... Knowing Julz though, he forgot to press the 'record' button.....

Where to from here???? Beijing. Hot, sticky, over-crowded, stinky and polluted Beijing. A health hazard for any athlete who's going to have to compete in the endurance disciplines. Maybe as part of his final build-up to Beijing, he should spend a few days hanging out in those heinous 'smoking' rooms in Hong Kong airport, wearing every piece of clothing he can muster. Maybe that's just the 'acclimitisation' training he needs to pull off a big ride on the 9th August...

Anyway guys, thanks for all your support over the last three weeks. It's been yet another blast to have you all along for the ride. We absolutely love reading all your messages and they really do make a difference to Julian's morale. It's humbling to see so many people from all over the World supporting Julz, the farm boy from Waihi.

I guess for all you die-hard Tour fans, life will slip quietly back to normal until July '09. For those of you down in the Antipodes, the lounges-come-makeshift-bedrooms will be transformed back into lounges, with all sleeping accessories taken back to the bedroom, and you can now treat yourselves to a full night's sleep. Maybe even manage to bank a few z's through the day when nobody's looking.

I'd like to say that Julz will write a diary within the next couple of days for you, with his thoughts on his TdF but I'm not gonna promise you anything. I'm too knackered from being a single parent of two for 26 sleeps to take to him with the 'nagging' stick. I'll quietly suggest it nonetheless.

Carole

Stages 16 & 17

It's been an epic couple days, folks, and to tell you the truth, I'm way too wasted to be writing too much. I've survived the two hardest days though and am now looking forward to heading out of the Alps tomorrow and onwards to Paris. Four more days to go.

Yesterday's stage 16 was actually pretty good for me and I was able to roll with Christian for a fair while; 'til the bottom of the last climb so I was pretty proud of that. Not that I did much...but was just there for him if and when he needed something. In the end, it didn't go too well for him as he lost a bit of time on the final climb and then crashed on the gnarly descent into the finish losing 30-odd seconds and slipping down the GC a few places. That's the Tour de France though and the good thing about it is that there's always tomorrow... And today he showed what a great athlete he is and fought his way back into the race, trying to attack on the Alpe d' Huez to try and gain back his time.

To pick himself up and fight back like he did after a disappointing day yesterday, is a mark of a true champion who deserves the respect that any winner gets.

As for me, I had one of my worst days yet. I had to suffer through the whole day, which I didn't enjoy too much, 'til we finally got settled into the grupetto 40km from the finish. It was a real grind for me the whole day but I guess the important thing is that I made it. It was an awesome day out there with the fans though, as it always is, and the ever present groups of Kiwis dotted along the roadsides gave me the inspiration to keep grinding away.

One of the highlights for me from today's stage was hearing Team Director, Whitey, giving the run down to Chrisitan half through the climb up Alpe d' Huez. It went something like this, " Menchov and Kohl look bad mate. They're absolutely ROOOOOTED. Stick it to 'em.". Classic. That made me smile a fair bit.

Another cool highlight of Alpe d' Huez will be my 35min or so of video footage I managed to capture on the way up. I had the bright idea of using a bit of Kiwi ingenuity and taping my video camera to my spare helmet. At the bottom of Alpe ' Huez, I swapped helmets and rode up wearing my 'helmet cam' Julz-style. I ran out of HD space just inside the final km but that didn't matter. I'd managed to get in the 'Dutch Corner', which is always good for a laugh.

Well guys, I gotta hit the sack. Sorry it's not much, but I'm pretty "roooooted" myself. It was a couple of cool days and I could write a lot more about it all but just I don't have it in me at the moment.

Julz

Stages 16 & 17 Updates Coming

Hi all,
Carole here. I've just got off the phone to Julz and he hasn't had a chance to do his diary yet... Instead he's been rubbing shoulders with Pat Riley tonight... You all remember Pat Riley, don't ya? Ex-coach of the LA Lakers. I remember him from the '90s with his smooth, slicked-back hair and he always used to pace up and down the court chewing gum like a cow chews cud... Yeah, that guy!

Julz was fizzing and no doubt he'll tell you all about it himself. We are both ex-basketballers and spent our adolescent years in awe of the NBA so for Julz to meet Pat Riley was something of monumental value to him.

I asked him what Pat had to say but he said he did most of the talking 'coz Pat was flat-stick asking him questions about the TdF and Julian's past injuries.... He must of heard through the grapevine that Julz is the grand authority on a vast range of injuries and the preferred methods of rehab!

Julz then went on to say that Pat was there with a famous 'old actor-dude'. I asked him who but good ol' Julz is never a great one for pairing up famous faces with their famous names so I had to play 20 questions with him about it 'til finally we figured out it was Michael Douglas! One of his hints was that this 'old actor-dude' was married to a younger good-looking sheila... "Hmmmm..." I said, "That REALLY narrows it down!"

Anyway, Julz said he's absolutely buggered from the last two days of mountain-hopping so hopefully he can find the energy to write a diary tomorrow, rounding up the events of these epic stages.

Cheers,
Carole

Stage 15 & Rest Day
Rest Day

I've had an easy rest day here on our second day in Italy at the Tour de France. I rode three hours easy this morning and felt like shit. I wanted to ride more 'til I felt better but it wasn't happening so in the end I just came back to the hotel. It was a nice ride even though I don't feel too good. Although it's a rest day, the day just seems to go too fast. There always seems to be something to do, whether it's an interview; re-organising the suitcase; getting a little bit of extra body work done. It all takes time and seems like work when all you really want to do is just sit down and do something non-cycling related. As strange as it may sound, even sleeping seems like work 'cause you know you need to do it to help the recovery.

I'm more than a little afraid about the next couple of stages. I was really tired last night after the stage and although I slept like a baby last night (what a stupid saying that is considering our first child hardly ever slept!), I'm not really feeling much better today. I really feel like I could sleep for a month. Maybe yesterday's crash has knocked me about more than usual, or more than likely it's because we're 2/3rds through the Tour de France and that's enough to make anyone tired. Anyway the show will go on and I will try and survive!

Julz



Stage 15

A Couple Of Days In Italy

In today's stage, I saw the two most spectacular things of this year's Tour de France. One good one and one bad one.

The first was at the the start of the stage when we were heading up the valley to the 2744m Col de Angel. As we were approaching a bridge, I was looking up the road and saw two dudes come flying out of the trees above the bridge, on mountain bikes. And when I mean above, I don't mean 1 or 2 metres. I reckon that it would've been a good three stories (if my Mum-in-law was telling this story, she'd double that!). At first I thought they were going to land on the bridge but they continued their free fall, disappearing behind it. As we rode over the bridge, I looked down and could see them on their MTBs sailing through the air. Impressive hang time and one of the coolest stunts I've ever seen. Definitely puts my lake jumping antics on a BMX I did in Naseby one time, to shame. While our Naseby lake jumping never made it on youtube, (although to be fair to myself and the boys, youtube wasn't around then), I'm sure that today's stunt will be somewhere in cyberspace to view.

The second spectaclar thing of the day was not a pleasant one. Coming down the descent, as I approached a switch back, I saw the 'Vall Verde' and his team-mates stopped on the side of the road, looking over the side. As I came out of the corner, I saw one of his team-mates lying on the road in amongst broken branches and debri. At first I couldn't figure out what had happened then after a second, the light flicked on and I realised what had happened. It made me nearly dry reach at the thought. He had gone off the road and over the barriers just before the switch back and fallen down onto the road below. I had been thinking a few kms before how mad we were as we were coming off the Col de Angel at 80k/hr on tyres that are as wide as your thumb, in the wet, trying to catch the front group again. I was thinking that we should be paid a shitload of danger money - especially given that we wear no protective equipment apart from the helmet, which I've been known to smash to smitherings in several unsavory past crashes, and until 3 years ago, we didn't even have to wear them if we didn't want to. We are some mad units when I think about it.... Best not to think about it....

Anyway, that rider turned out to be Pereiro and fortunately he was ok. Well, that's if you call a broken shoulder and femur ok. Unlucky to crash but lucky not to have come out of it well worse off than he did, I reckon.

Stage 14
Gettin Up There...

Today was a little better again as I ran 4th in the sprint. My best result so far. It helped that a few of the sprinters were dropped on the last climb with 10k to go. It was a tough moment in the race and I had to bust my balls to get over it. I went deep and it hurt but that's what you have to do sometimes - well, most of the time actually.

Although I finished 4th, the sprint went far from well. I found myself almost in the exact same situation as yesterday with Milram doing the lead-out and running out of riders too early to hit out. Today after we got swarmed from both sides, I found a way out on the left-hand side. Some guys had gone way too early which opened it up. That, along with the fact that guys were on the limit from the last climb, made room for me. I was also in the red like most; I had had a constant battle for position throughout the last 10k but I had managed my position well until 500m to go when the Milram train ran out of puff.

Once I had the room to move, I went. I had to spend a lot of time out in the wind coming from far back. It was one of the hardest sprints I have done and I thought my lungs were going to pop once I crossed the line.

The whole day had been hard. The sun was beating down on us with no mercy - it was the hottest day of the Tour so far this year and the heat along with the high tempo of the race to reel back in the break, made me feel as though I was dragging a tyre the whole day. So in the end to do what I did, I guess wasn't too shabby.

So thanks to everyone for your messages of support. Keeping 'em coming.

We're off into the big mountains tomorrow. Hold on to your hats, there's gonna to be some good racing...

Julz

Stage 12 - 9th & Stage 13 - 9th

You might think that getting 9th two days in a row would give me the same satisfaction. Well, as strange as it my seem, the 9th in today's 13th stage was much more satisfying than my 9th place yesterday.

Yesterday I was pretty bummed with my placing. Hence, no diary last night! I was gutted that I didn't get myself into a good position to sprint from. I had great legs and felt a bit ripped off by not getting a better result. I had to fight too much for position and then ended up being too far back once it was time to throw down the gauntlet. Today, the focus was to position myself better so I had a good place to start the sprint from. And I did exactly that. I guess that it's the old performance vs results comparison. Both results were the the same but the performance of today was better and way more satisfying.

I lined the sprint up well behind Zable and his Milram train but he ran out of riders at 350m to go. We got stuck in that dead zone where it's too early to hit out but too late to hesitate. As it turned out, we both hesitated, hoping that his last man would hold on a little more but he died losing speed before it was time to hit out and we got swamped by guys with the speed coming from behind.

It was a ride I was happy with. Each time I am improving as I get back both the confidence and the knack for sprinting for myself. I haven't really had the opportunity to sprint much so far this year so I hope I can keep on refining things to get it right before the Tour ends. The form feels good and the confidence is growing - apart from a sprinkling of luck, the two most important ingredients to a successful sprint.

Nothing would make me happier than getting it right just one time before the end of the Tour. Although I'm not sure how many more chances there'll be for a bunchie now; maximum two, and possibly only in Paris.

Julz

Check out www.slipstreamsports.com. It's the team website and there's a truckload of excellent pics of Julian showing off his dashing Kiwi kit. Also head over to www.velonews.com to view Julian's daily video diaries. Enjoy :o)

Stage 11

I'm sitting here in my hotel room, which isn't actually a hotel room but some sort of camp for kids with a jungle gym, pool and soccer field, and although it's nothing flash - we are out in the middle of nowhere - I'm pretty content. It feels good here with nothing but trees and paddocks surrounding us. It's warm and sunny, I have the window open and although the Ipod is on shuffle it seems to be blasting out a selection of the best NZ music tracks; Fat Freddy's, Black Seeds, and Trinity Roots are a few that I've heard since I've been back in my room after a relaxing dip in the pool.

On the bike today I was much the same as I have been the last few days in the Tour - average. But I'm enjoying it nonetheless. We had a Cat 1 climb in the middle of the race today and it basically split the field in half of which I was in the second half. The break had gone well before the climb so the field splitting up didn't have much bearing on the race. In fact our group was so big that even if we were outside the time limit - which it looked like we were going to be at one point - I'm sure that they wouldn't have eliminated us.

Being away from all the other teams and in the middle of nowhere tonight is a nice change from all the mayhem that we normally have to deal with. The fact that the accommodation is so budget kind of just adds to the tranquility of it all.

My plan for the next couple of days is to try and get in the break if I get the chance - although that's always easier said than done.

Julz

The Best Fans...

The last two days have seen us ride up and down the first major climbs of the Tour in the Pyrenees; Col de Aspin, Col du Tourmalet and Peyresourde Pass, to name a few. All difficult climbs where for us sprinters suffering is an understatement, but where you really see the Tour de France come alive. The mountains are where all the afficionados come out in force.

For me, the climbs in the Pyrenees are harder than the Alps but they are often the part of the Tour de France that I enjoy the most. It's where you get the most enthusiastic and 'into it' fans. Namely the crazy Spaniards that make the trip across the border for the day. The Tour de France always has an insane amount of people on the sides of the roads but when we get to any of the monumental climbs, there are always people 2 or 3 deep all the way up. Many have been camping up there for days and having one continuous party. The kind of party I could see myself partaking in....

The distinctive Spanish fans are easy to pick out. The easiest ones to spot are the Basques with their unique green, red and white flag and orange t-shirts. Cycling is big in this region of Spain and they go absolutely bananas, especially if you are riding up there with a rider from the Basque country. Often they like to dress up and on yesterday's stage I saw a fella dressed up as a penis, another as a cow with a nice pink udder and some blokes dressed up as sheilas. Plus a heap of others doing crazy shit. All there having a good time and fizzing just as much when I come along an eternity after the first riders have past through. It's pretty humbling when they are just as into it for me who's just a bunch filler.

One of the good things about not being a climber is that up the climbs, hurtbag permitting, I get to enjoy all of this and try and interact with the fans a little which is always fun. I always look out for the best dressed and the most 'off guts'. In fact, up the next climb if my state of being allows me (not suffering too much, that is), I might appoint myself as a judge and choose a best dressed. Although we are moving across to the Alps now, I'm sure there'll be a few nutters about, even if they're not as abundant as they have been here in the Pyrenees.

Right, I can't sign off without mentioning the Kiwi fans. You guys are awesome and I love coming across you as I grovel my way up the climbs. It certainly gives me a lift to see you and while you're not as mad as some fans, your enthusiasm is equal and makes me proud to be a Kiwi. All the other riders here are in awe by the presence of so many Kiwi fans for such a small country, so far away. So keep it coming. Thanks everyone - to those of you cheering me on here from the roadsides; those of you lucky enough to be in the Northern Hemisphere watching the Tour on the T.V; those of you doing the graveyard shifts in front of the tele in the wintry Southern Hemisphere; and those of you out there posting messages on my notepad. Whereever it comes from I really appreciate your support.

Julz

Stages 7 & 8
Battling

The last three days have been nothing but a battle for me. It started with the first of the hillier stages, stage 7. It wasn't a hard stage and although I got through it ok, it was more due to my wisdom and experience than great legs; by being at the right place at the right time when it started splitting up in the crosswinds. Then, when we finally arrived at the harder climbs, I had saved enough energy to get by ok. All the same, I suffered a lot during the stage and more times than I would care to mention, I wanted to sit up and let the wheel go. I knew that I would pay for it later if I did so I had to just grit my teeth and bare the pain and suffering. It was horrible.

Stage 8 into Toulouse was another misery. It rained pretty much the whole day and once again from the start, it was bananas with every man and his dog trying to get in the break. The orders had been given from Director Whitey, for us all to get into it and try and get up the road. Me included. I tried my luck 20 km in and was away for a few k's in a group of 10 before we got reeled in. Just as we got reeled in, I punctured and watched the peloton disappear at 65km/hr away from me. I changed my wheel and then proceeded to get back in the race. The commissaires have been awful here with regard to crashes and punctures. Typically it's the UCI who runs the race but one of the fall outs between the ASO and the UCI has meant that this year the UCI is having nothing to do with the TdF so the commissaires are from the French Federation. These blokes are being more than unreasonable when it comes to any rider getting helped back to the peloton after mechanical mishaps or crashes. As soon as you tuck in behind the car for a free ride, they do their balls at ya.

The truth is that no-one would be able to get back to the peloton without help when the bunch is doing over 65km/hr. Anyway, after fighting for a bit and losing more ground, Whitey eventually found a moment to help me back to the cars. I then looped through all the team cars to make it to the back of the peloton just in time for the cat 3 climb, which I started at the back and already in the red. This sent me deeper into the hurt bag and I was dropped again up the 5km climb. Thankfully, a few k down the road, it eased up and I was able to come back. I really thought though that I was 'a la casa' there for a while.

After all this, it then started to get cold and rain. I was hating the day as nothing was working out. The break had gone but it was only a few riders, I was fisted and struggling and it looked like it was going to be a sprint. It all came back together as the rain continued to come down in sheets as we headed into Toulouse. I still wasn't good and botched up the sprint. I just wasn't strong enough, after my day of suffering, to get to the front and get a good position. I just had nothing when I needed it. I could only pull in a 19th place. Gutted.

I'm frustrated as this is the first time that I've been able to come to the Tour with chances for myself and it seems that my form is shit and I can't get out of my own way. I'm certainly not as good as I've been here other years where I have been able to dominate the sprints when setting Thor up. I can only hope that it will get better. It's hard times mentally though for me right now. I have felt like giving up since the poor finish in today's stage....

Julz

Stage 6
The Hurt Bag Is In Sight...

Today was a bit of a non-event for me. Well, actually no stage is a non-event; there's always something to do and today my job was to help Christian as long as I could. With the last 2 climbs at 50km to go, proving too hard for me, I ended up in the grupetto.

Things are going to get hard from now on. The terrian is difficult. Not mountains but small climbs - the sort you have to hang on for as long as possible and suffer to stay in the race. When it's the mountains it's often easier as straight away the grupetto forms and those of us who can't climb know we're never going to hang on to the peloton so there's no point in trying to fight it. The best thing for us to do is to get together and help each other through it. Hence, the grupetto is born!

The next two days won't be like that though, it'll be every man for himself and it's going to hurt. Let's hope that I'm going to be able to survive so I can try and do better later in the race.



Stage 5: Bugger.

Today was a little more like we expect to get in the Tour de France. Heading away from Brittany toward Tours, the weather was more like I hoped for with a little less wind and way more sunshine.

After the miscalculation of stage 2, it was unlikely that a group would stay away today... although it almost did.

A break went early in the day and no real fight was put up to stop it from taking time out of us. Once the break was established it was left up to the Gerolsteiner team to control the race as they held the yellow jersey. The race rolled along pretty nicely and with 15km to go the break was at 1 min so it all seemed under control. Up until this point nothing had seemed too stressed or too hard. Things were just getting faster and faster. It seemed like we would catch the break with no problem at all as the time gap was steadily coming down.

Things had gone well for me leading into the sprint. Miller did a good job of dropping me, Magnus & Martain off in the last corner with 1600m to go. From there I followed the other boys under the 1km kite, then it was on to the wheel of Magnus to the final meters. Unfortunately from there on in things didn't really work out as I had hoped.

We got caught too far behind and when I went to start sprinting, I had to come from too far back. We were too boxed in on both sides and it seemed Magnus was getting bounced around like a pinball trying to get us up into a better position. In a sprint like today where it's so fast, you have to start from the front of the arrow head. Position is everything and we didn't have it. I think it's pretty fair to say that our leadout just wasn't up to scratch today. Hopefully we can get it better next time.

....And the break was only just reeled in within the last few hundred metres....

The positive thing was that I felt good and although I started from too far back, once I broke free I was able to make up a few places. I finished 10th. Next time the priority will be to ride better position in the last 1km.

Julz

Stage 4: Cholet Time Trial

This stage wasn't one for me today but for the team, especially for Miller. It was a big day for him and one that he'd been targeting for a long time.

Like the rest of the race so far, it was another odd day. Normally the time trials aren't so early in the race or so short. Today was 30k when normally they are about 50k.

For me it was an ok day with just the objective of getting through it, ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow we're finally heading out of Brittany after some days of zig zagging back 'n' forth. Hopefully that'll mean 'adios' to crap weather and 'hola' to better weather. So far it has been well less than average with rain of varying heaviness every day. Hopefully with the finer, warmer weather it'll also begin to feel more like we're at the Tour de France again because for me so far, it hasn't felt like the great event of the years gone by.



Stage 3:Strange Days

This seems to have been one of the strangest Tours ever. Unlike other years, it hasn't really had its regular pattern and stage 3 was a prime example of this.

Normally on these early stages, there is a break that goes early that is later reeled in by the sprinters' teams for a sprint finish. For today's stage I thought that it would especially be like this as we have had no real chances yet for the sprinters. And if any one likes part of the action it's the sprinters.

Today however, with little co-operation between the teams, the break that should've been easy to bring back was left to take the stage and the yellow jersey. Something quite out of the ordinary for the any bike race, especially the Tour de France.

Hats off though to the four riders who went out there, who I'm sure were just as surprised as anyone that they stayed away to the finish. Fortunately for us we had a rider in the break. Initially we wanted someone in there just for the publicity and tv time so to finish second in the stage was quite something.

I guess that the unpredictable pattern in the Tour so far is most likely to do with the fact that there has been no prologue time trial and that this year there are no time bonuses on the road or at the finish. It has certainly changed the nature of the race more than I expected.

In any case, we had a little sprint for 5th where I mixed it up. Things went well and I was able to be in the mix till I took an unexpected barge in the shoulder with 100m to go, nearly crashing again which frightened the hell out of me and threw me off my game. Tough business even when you're going for a crummy 5th place. I hate to think what the first real sprint is going to be like given that there hasn't been one yet and all the sprinters are chomping at the bit for a crack at a stage win.

Tomorrow we have a time trial a little chance to relax for me.

Stage 2
Down But Not Out.....

I crashed again today and quite frankly I am over it. Crashing, that is. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time again, when a couple guys crashed in front of me and I went down on top of them.

At the moment I feel ok. I hurt my right quad a little and my tailbone feels a little sore too so I hope that it's not too much worse tomorrow as an injury there can cause problems.

It's times like these that cycling is at its hardest for me. Often feeling too hard. It has been a hard few months and I have just been waiting for the time when it all comes together. Always hoping that it would be here at the Tour. I've been fighting back for relentlessly and it always seems like I'm against the odds. It seems like my entire cycling career is going to be a 'Ground Hog Day'.

Anyway if there's one thing certain about the Tour, it's that things change very quickly. Tomorrow is another day and as I've done for the entirety of my career, I'll be back on the bike tomorrow to keep battling.

The good times have got to be ahead......

Blast Off
Not What I Hoped For........

The day never started too well. I was a little nervous this morning and unlike the experienced professional I'm supposed to be, I did the unthinkable and left my race jersey in my suitcase. All worked out ok as the team truck was chased down and my jersey rescued. Idiot.

I was hoping to be a little better than I was today. Actually I was hoping that I could've won the stage. When I'm on top of my game, a little uphill finish is good for me. I had been told that it was a hard finish but not outside my climbing capabilities. Unfortunately, as it turned out, even if I was at my best I think today's finish was a bit too much of an uphill finish. For sure I would've done better than I did but certainly not win the stage. There were no real sprinters in the top 10.

At minimum I had hoped to get bunch time which I don't think happened although I haven't seen the results yet. If I made bunch time, with a couple of good results I may have been able to take the jersey in the next couple of days. That won't happen now.

In any case, I don't feel too disappointed. I did my best. I rode with good position as long as I could but my legs just locked up in the final 500m.

On the positive side, as well as riding good position all through the final, I made it safely through a day that was nervous as hell and marred with crashes. As usual in the first days of the TdF, it was full of extreme stress.

Tomorrow is another day - as the saying goes in the Tour de France. First days have generally never been my best days so we hit tomorrow with the same focus as today but hoping to find better sensations in the body. We'll see how she goes....

Julz

Final Countdown...
Well, I'm here in Brest ready for the start of the TdF 08. It's been pretty hectic over the last few days juggling the media interest from NZ and getting myself packed and here ready to kick off my fourth TdF. I've pretty much had my mobile phone glued to the side of my head while taking care of business. But that's just what the Tour does to the World. And that's just the beginning...


Yesterday's preso certainly didn't have the same feeling as London's last year but on the positive side, logistically it has been much easier here in Brest - although sometimes it doesn't seem like we are at the Tour at all as it seems a bit too low key. Maybe it's just that I've been around too long and have become a bit de-sensitised to all the chaos the Tour creates.

As I said in my last entry, things leading into this Tour have been up and down. I'm not actually feeling as hyped up as I have done before but I'm sure once I get going I'll be on fire. It's always difficult at this point as I'm always unsure as to whether I've done enough, which always plays on my mind a bit. Yet I know it doesn't make sense to worry about it now as there's nothing more I can do. I guess it's that certain element of worry that makes me a little nervous and nervous energy is always good as long as I channel it in the right direction.

The team preso at the Tour is always interesting. It's the time you get to catch up with all the other boys before the race starts. Everyone is buzzing a little bit. They're looking happy, healthy and extremely fit. Ready for battle. Everyone looks good. In a few days' time, it'll be nothing like that. Everyone will be more than a little tired. There will be buckled units, crashed units, bandaged bodies and busted arses... 'Hurt Bag' galore.

We'll go from being the strongest and best athletes in the World to some of the most susceptible and damaged in a few days. When I looked around yesterday at all the riders and then thought about what the days ahead will do to us, the contrast is one of the most amazing things to experience in the Tour.

Anyway, here we go. It's going to be a crazy first stage. With no prologue, there's a lot more at stake with the winner taking the jersey. So it's going to be on for young and old with no holds barred. Let's hope it's a good one....

Julz

PS. A big birthday hug going out to my bro-in-law, Jas, from us Deans....

Final Prep Pre-TDF

Hi all,
Just a quick update to let you all know that my final prep for the TdF seems to have come together nicely. After struggling to get over my injury and back on track after my crash at the Giro and then the disastrous Tour of Zeeland, I've finally reached solid ground again after floundering for what seemed like way too long.

After the Tour of Zeeland, I have managed to nail a high quality block of training. For the first part of this block, I sucked. I felt well less than average and was getting a bit worried about my body. The morale was fine so getting out on the bike was never an issue. It just seemed that I was stuck on the spot and progress was far from forthcoming.

Thankfully though, over the last week I have felt everything starting to slide into place and now that I've finished pumping the kms into my legs, I am using the next few days to freshen up.

I fly out on Wednesday to Brest where the TdF 08 kicks off. I'm starting to feel the nerves and excitement that the TdF always commands although this being my fourth TdF, I am feeling well in control of this energy....

Julz

Delta Tour of Zeeland
Just What I Didn't Want....

I've been around a little while now and I've reached a very different part of my career to where I once was. Whether justifiable or not, in my job now I'm only really motivated by the biggest and most prestigious races such as the Grand Tours, the Classics, Worlds etc.... For that reason, when I was called to do the race this last weekend in Holland I was very nervous about doing it. With the Tour de France right around the corner, having to go to a race in Holland this past weekend that no-one has ever heard of, gave me an uneasy feeling. And rightfully so.

The part of the world where the race was, is notoriously dangerous and known for being a special type of racing unique to that part of the world. And it's about as far away as you'll ever get from the Tour de France so to do the race as prep for the Tour just didn't make sense to me from the get go. But sometimes in all aspects of work there are things that are required of you and although you're not keen on doing it, you do it. For me, doing the Delta Tour of Zeeland was one of those situations.

My apprehension probably meant that from the start something bad was going to happen to me. And it did. The race started with a 3 km Prologue. It was Friday the 13th. When I came around the first corner after 800m, I had in my exact line through the corner, a lady pushing a bicycle across the road. I braked as much as I could without throwing myself off. As I adjusted my line she paused causing me to re-aline myself yet again which this time sent me heading straight for the curb. I had just enough time to pull my front wheel over it. The back wheel hit it full gas, broke and I was catapulted onto the grass, landing with an almighty thud. Uninjured and happy at the fact that I had survived, I changed bikes and got on my way. I marvelled at how I had managed to pull that off and figured that must surely be the bad luck done and dusted for the weekend. The stress was by no means over however, as the remaining two stages would take us over cobbles, bike paths and roads full of road furniture while battling the customary crosswinds.

Day two of this tour and things weren't looking too bad. I survived all the stress and dangers of the stage. I got caught behind a crash with 10 or so kms to go so that threw a spanner in my works and although I didn't do too well in the final sprint (I got quacked by a quacker!), my first priority for the weekend was not to injure myself and that was achieved; even if it did mean not taking the risks to be there in the final.

In the second and final stage, I thought, until the last 10km, that I had been touched by an angel. I thought I had survived dodging all the road furniture, cobbles, crashes, etc., without any major dramas (except the first time trial). Unfortunately I had counted my chickens before they had hatched though and going through a roundabout, a dude in front of me changed his line to avoid a puddle of water. With zero time to react, I hit the puddle and went straight down like a rag doll as my front wheel slid out from under me. My fear of this race had unfortunately been justified...

At this point, a couple of hours after the stage as I sit on the plane heading home, I'm not sure what the damage is besides the missing skin. It took me a while to get up after the crash and I always take that as a bad sign. Apart from the "standard" road rash my knee is feeling a bit funky. It hurt as soon as I got back on the bike and it's still sore now. Whether it proves to be nothing or not, it's still going to affect me to some extent for my prep for the Tour de France. To what extent, at the moment it's hard to say. Hopefully it's nothing like what I had to recover from in the Giro. The frustrating thing though is that no matter how minor my injuries are, I'm still going to be stiff and sore for the next few days and at a time when optimal rest, recovery and training is crucial leading up to the Tour, even a minor crash at the moment is one crash too many.

The next few weeks will be spent at home before heading off to France. Spain has flicked on it's summer switch so I'm heading home to some hot hours on the bike. This is always a good thing for me. I always have better form in the heat than in the cold....

Julz

Racing Again

Veenendaal-Veenendaal, Holland

Yesterday was my return to racing again since what was a pretty difficult Giro for me, to say the least. Although I suffered hugely with my injury throughout the Giro, I didn't realise the toll it had taken on me til I got home and had the chance to unwind. I was that buggered I could barely scratch myself for the first four days, let alone think about getting on the bike. And I've got to say, getting into the groove of having Val in our family equation certainly has changed the dynamics of my post-grand tour recovery. The first few days at home were fairly chaotic getting re-acquainted with Val and the new routine of juggling two kids, training and recovering. Now after getting a couple of decent training rides in and getting more accustomed to the demands of a newborn and toddler, I did my first race yesterday here in Holland.

At the Pro level yesterday's race is a fairly unknown and non-descript race and one that I didn't want to come to, to be honest. I was more in favour of staying at home with the good weather and great training routes in order to put myself in good stead for the Tour. But sometimes you have to do these things whether you want to or not.

Like always in Holland, the race was notoriously dangerous as we had to dodge road furniture every 500m, such as traffic islands and medium strips and not mention the fact that we seemed to have a turn every 500m that required full acceleration to get back up to speed. The difficulty of this being that it's totally something you aren't used to even when you are coming off the Giro, which is normally more controlled and consistent racing with a much smoother overall feel.

Although mentally I wasn't thrilled to be there, physically I was ok. At the end of the day, the base you gain from doing a grand tour comes through and you find yourself able to get through a race without too much effort and at times able to mix it up in the final - which I was able to do a bit yesterday. I got myself into a break which was caught with 500m to go and at that point I had used all my cards. So although I didn't want to be at the race from the outset, I was still able to make the most of the situation and be competitive which was all that I could ask of myself. More importantly I got out of it alive.

Unfortunately, it's onto another amateur race here before heading home on Sunday night. We are driving today to another even smaller and equally unmotivating 3 day Tour. If it wasn't 3wks out from the Tour, I wouldn't mind so much having to do these kinds of races but when you're about to hit a focus race as important and taxing as the Tour, for me, these races are far from being ideal preparation races. This is certainly a period that I would prefer to be at home with the family and doing the kind of structured training that I know mentally and physically prepares me for the most important part of my year with the Tour, Olympics and World Champs lying in wait.

Tomorrow's first day of the race is a 3km prologue.

Julz

The Giro So Far...

Hi guys...yup, it's finally me writing. I know... It's been more than a while. Anyway, here you have it;

This year's giro has been a roller coaster, to say the least.

After the victory in the opening stage, I was on a high heading into the second stage. Unfortunately I crash landed from that high with an almighty 'thud' during that stage along with several team-mates. I fell heavily and injured my shoulder and ribs. I have suffered badly since and haven't felt at all comfortable on the bike. It has been a difficult week to get through. Not only because of the injury but also because I reckon the parcours in the first week have been the toughest of any of the 10 grand tours that I've done so far in my career. The hard stages haven't given much room for recovery from each day's effort, let alone recovery from the crash. At a lot of different times during the week I considered stopping the race. I would even go as far to say that the first week has been the biggest grovel of my career.

None of the doctors have really been able to tell me what exactly I've done to myself but toward the end of the second week they reckon I should be feeling better. Certainly after the first week I'm feeling better but nowhere near 100%.

The thing about a three week stage race is that it's always hard but if you have an injury, it becomes a relentless battle. Ironically, in a normal race you would stop as you know that you have no chance of getting better before the race finishes. In a three week stage race however, you have the chance to get better before the end even if it takes you two full weeks. You find yourself suffering through each day hoping that tomorrow will be the day you finally feel competitive again.

Yesterday in stage 9, for the first time in a fair while, I was back in the mix in the sprint. The idea was for me to get the feeling back; not really focusing too much on the result. The good thing was that I was battling it out till the last moment with Bettini on the back of the Milram train. I didn't quite have the power to kick at the end but was happy that I had the strength to be up there after such a difficult first week.

After a week of mega transfers and mega kilometers, I feel that I'm on the upward side of the low point I've spent the first third of this race at. I've gone from experiencing the elation of my first Grand Tour stage win to feeling and suffering like it was my first Grand Tour ever. The roller coaster that epitomises Pro-cycling perfectly.

The final two weeks of this race are going to be hard and there's only likely to be another two or three chances at the most for me to do something. I have to try and make the most of those. Let's hope things continue to improve as I try and get among the mix again whenever I have the chance.

Now that I'm feeling better I'll hopefully be able to write a bit more regularly.

Thanks for sticking around.

Julz

Still Suffering...

Hi all,
I've just got off the phone from Julz and the latest is that he's still hurting pretty bad from his crash. His only focus for now is to make it to the first rest day. Hopefully a day without racing followed by Tuesday's TT - a stage which Julz will be able to take it easy in - will help him out of his hurt-bag. He said he's getting really tired from suffering through each stage....

Hmmmm...the way I see it though, it's a double edged knife; he either suffers from the pain of riding the Giro injured or comes home and suffers from the customary lack of sleep which is the gift of every newborn to their parents!

Carole :o)

Giro d'Crashes

No doubt you're wondering why Julz still hasn't updated his diary..... Well, the poor fella has yet again been knocked off his stool of good form by a nasty crash. On Stage 2, he was one of many who got caught up in a pile-up after a drink bottle bounced out of it's cage, first being hit by Dave Zabriskie, who consequently hit the tarmac, which then caused the 'domino effect' seen all too often in bike racing. Julz hit the deck hard and apart from leaving a bunch of his skin plastered to the road, he also heavily bruised his ribs.... Hence his absenteeism in the sprints so far. He is struggling hugely to breathe normally let alone deeply so putting in any effort on the bike is giving him untold grief at the mo.

All this has hurt his morale - especially after putting in a stellar effort in the TTT and coming out of that feeling confident in his form.

For now, each stage of the Giro is all about trying to survive until his body recuperates from it's injuries.... Hopefully he'll bounce back some before the stages get too hard and hilly...

Since winning the TTT, Slipstream has been plagued with shite luck. Dave Z fractured his L1 in a crash following the drink-bottle spill, and just about all of the team have hit the deck at least once so far. Yesterday I saw a very close-call with two Slipstream riders as they both successfully dodged a dog wandering in the middle of the road.

Anyway, that's about all the news for now.

Carole

Nice Victory...

Team Slipstream has achieved what they set out to do in this Giro d'Italia... They've nailed the TTT with a resounding victory.

I spoke very briefly to Julz last night who had planned on doing a diary update but a victory in a Grand Tour always attracts chaos with media, etc, so last night ended up being a bit of a circus for them all.

Julz was on a high and said it was a great feeling to be part of such an impressive victory. He said that even if they hadn't been able to pull off the victory, the whole team had completely buried themselves in trying and that in itself was hugely satisfying.

Hopefully tomorrow he'll have some spare time to write something up...

Carole

One More Fella Added To Team Dean

Hi All,
Just wanted to quickly update you on something completely non-cycling related...

We successfully added another bloke to our 'Team Dean' on the 26th April. Val Owen Dean blasted his way into this crazy world weighing in at 3.98kg and 2 wks early. Obviously he figured if he wanted to meet his Dad on his arrival, it was best he turned up unannounced before Julz headed off to the Giro.

We are all doing beautifully well although Val has had to say bye to his Dad for the first time already. Julz has headed up to Girona for a pre-Giro training camp. He's up there til Sunday night and will pop home for a few days before heading off to Italy on Wednesday.

Hopefully while Julz has some quiet time up his sleeve at the TC, he might even write his own update for you all....

Carole and boys...

Better Mine Than Nothing?

Hi guys,
Carole here. I've decided to update you on Julian's behalf 'coz I'm done nagging him to do it himself. I tried gently planting the 'How-about-updating-your-diary' seed various times to no avail, so then I upped the revs a bit to 'Come-on,-you-should-really-do-a-Post-MSR-diary', but that still didn't work so then I chucked in a few, 'Hurry ups!' with more force but hey... when the boy doesn't have the urge to write, no amount of my nagging on any level is gonna work.... so here I am.

To be fair to Julz, he was pretty crook the week following MSR. He caught the nasty lurgy floating around the peloton and was out of action for the most part of a week. By the time he felt well enough to get back on the bike in earnest, he was feeling fairly stressed and demoralized by the loss of a week's training. He felt crap out training and knew that he had taken a few steps out the arse in his form. That's always enough to throw Julz's morale.

So although he has been training hard since shaking off the flu, he still feels shite on the bike and is now racing Cirque de la Sarthe just trying to get through it as best as he can.

This Sunday he'll be supporting Magnus in Paris-Roubaix. His aim to lend Magnus a hand for as long as his form will allow him....Or for as long as the brutal pave will allow him - which ever dominates his day!

His next race after P-R will be Amstel Gold, followed by my race to have our second baby before he flees to Italy for the Giro in May!

So that's it all in a very tiny nutshell... Hopefully Julian will find the urge to update you himself, right alongside his form he's trying to re-discover!

Adiu
Carole

Pre-Milan - San Remo
La Primavera

Well, we're here for the first big Classic of the season. It's one of my favourite races of the year but also one of the most stressful. The early morning start in Milan is always relaxed with a strange, dull, cold Milan-feeling about it. This mood is soon blanketed by what's to come.
After heading out along the plains from Milan toward the coast, you can sense the tension beginning to build and by the time you pass the first feed zone and head down to the coast after 120km, everything is on the up - the stress levels, the energy levels, the speed, the temperature - They're all heading toward a massive crescendo. Once along the coast, with every kilometre, the race becomes faster as the tension continues to build.

By the time you get to the 270km mark, which welcomes us with the Cipressa, you know you've come to the first critical part of the race. The Cipressa signals the first make or break point. For me, the Cipressa is the most critical part of the race. Position is important and if I have that well covered, I just have to hang on as best as I can over the 6km accent; a 10 minute block of intensity.

After that, it's back down to the coast. Then, before you know it, you hit the next critical moment of this epic race - the Poggio. This is, like the Cipressa, no more than a 10min make or break point. Once at the top you have the most crazy descent down to the finish you'll do all year. Put it on the line and hope that you don't crash. It's that simple. Position is everything and you have to be in the top 30 at the top of the Poggio to eliminate the 'luck' factor or the game is all but over.

The amazing thing about Milan - San Remo is that it's 300km or about 7hrs, and really it only comes down to making it through two 10 min periods - the Cipressa and the Poggio - and a gnarly descent.

Julz

Tirreno-Adriatico
Stage 6: San Benedetto del Tronto - San Benedetto del Tronto, 176km

After yesterday's tt, I was fully wanting to test out my condition to see if I was going to be up for San Remo on Saturday. With a pretty lumpy stage and five laps of a 15k circuit with a 3k climb up to the finish, I figured that it was going to be a good indicator of whether I had the form to finish up there on Saturday. As it has been on most of the days so far, I started out not feeling good. CSC had let a break of 13 riders go then started riding a solid tempo for a lot of the stage. Initially I suffered a bit but as the day progressed, I improved. By the time we got to the climb on the first lap of the circuit, the first guys were getting dropped. I still wasn't feeling overly flash but although I didn't feel like I was flying, I certainly wasn't worse than I felt in the 1st km of the day. Normally I take this as a sign that form is not far away.

On the second to last lap, Bettini put in a solid attack over the top of the climb, it was pretty hard but I was able to ride in the group ok without losing any places. Another good sign. The last lap I would give it everything I could to try and finish in the front group. Unfortunately, last time up the climb with 2k to the finish, there was a crash that I got stuck behind. I didn't crash but I lost all my momentum and as I was already on the limit to maintain my position up the climb, this loss of momentum saw the end of any hope I had of finishing in the front.

I was disappointed that I didn't get the chance to max myself out but figured that if I was there with 2k to go on a non-sprinter's territory, I must be starting to come around with the form.


Stage 7: Civitanova Marche-Castelfidardo 196km

Tradition Rains Supreme....

I love the last stage of Tirreno-Adriatico as it always has a tradition of an easy start 'til we get to the finishing circuits then we start racing full on. After doing an extra 70k back to the hotel yesterday to prepare for San Remo, I certainly had the feeling like I was going nowhere fast today, so I was more than happy for the day to feel long but easy.

When we came down to the finishing circuits, it started to rain. After a lap in the rain, there was a huge crash that split the field. I was behind the crash and unfortunately the peloton never came back together. I wasn't too disappointed as I didn't feel like risking it all on a road surface that was like an ice-skating rink.

I felt disappointed that I didn't get to have a go at the sprint again but happy that I didn't crash. Guess that I'm just getting too old for that shit. There would've been a time when I would've been all over a finish like that but not nowadays, and especially not 4 days out from a huge race like Milan-San Remo.

So now it's three days easy before hitting Milan - San Remo, the 300km epic that, for some reason, I have an affinity for. The weather is suppose to be crap which will certainly make the day tougher - mentally and physically.

For sure my form is on its way so although getting a top result may be a bit too big an ask, I'm confident if all goes well I can at least nail a good performance.

Julz

T-A, Stages 4 & 5
Stage 4: Porto Recanati- Civitanova Marche, 166km

It's always amusing to me when we have a stage that starts with a long period of flat terrain with a tailwind. Everyone thinks that they are feeling as strong as 10 men so want to attack. Consequently the peloton ends up motoring along at 55+km/hr 'coz everyone thinks they are so good they can get away in a break. The break never goes though as the peloton is always doing 55kph+ and for any break to stick they have to ride away at 65 km/hr and that ain't going to happen... until we turn or it starts to get hilly, then the break will go. That's actually what happen today. We spent the first hour doing 55km/hr then when we turned off the coast inland and as soon as we no longer had the tailwind, a group of four got away.

After that, tempo was set by the race leader's team 'til we got close enough to the finish when the sprinters' teams took over. At this point it looked like it was going to be a sprint finish, all though there was one obstacle to overcome - a climb 10km from the finish. It wasn't hard-looking on paper but it was enough to split the race up a bit. For the first time this week I was able to make it to the finish in the front group. Unfortunately I was that pinned after the climb I wasn't able to move up to contest the sprint. I was there though so the daily improvement continues. I was happy with that although a little bummed I couldn't get myself up for the sprint.


Stage 5: 26km Time Trial

'Save it'. I got through it easy as possible to save my energy for the coming days. Looks like some bad weather is heading our way. It has been great the whole week so far so let's hope it's not going to be too bad.

Julz

Tirreno-Adriactico: Stages 2 & 3

Hi all,

I've been having a bit of a joke over the last couple of days with one of the Belgian guys from Cofidis, Nick Nuyens.

What happens is that at the start of every race, we are always given a race book with the stages, maps, race rules etc, etc, and the hotel list for all the teams. The first night we were here, just as I was tucking up into bed for the night, the phone rang. I thought it was a little strange as I had just finished speaking to Carole and Tanner. Anyway, I answered the phone and some chick was on the other end. Someone who I didn't recognize. Eventually, I figured out that she was looking for Nick Nuyens so I assumed it must've been his partner. After a little back and forth chatting, I told her that she was not even close to getting through to Nick's room and that in fact, Cofidis weren't even in our hotel.

When I checked the hotel book I saw that the phone number for the Cofidis team was just below our's so Nick must've got it mixed up when he sent it through to her.

Anyway, the next morning when we rolled out, I said to Nick that I had a nice chat with his wife last night.
"Oh, that was you she was talking to? She said you were really helpful and nice." he replied.
"That's me." I said.
The following day he came to me again and asked what I had said to her.
"Oh not much." I said, deciding to play the game a little, trying to be as aloof as I could to keep him guessing. "Just being me." I added.
"She doesn't stop talking about you now..." he said. I just raised my eyebrows and gave him a blank look.

So this morning when I saw him, I thought that I would play it up a little more again. I told him that his wife had accidentally called me again and asked him if he had played the joke back on me. She hadn't called me and he hadn't set me up, but I thought that it all sounded more believable if I asked him if he had asked his wife to call me.

"Anyway..." I said. "we had a nice little chat. She's a nice girl. You have any photos you can give me after the stage?" I asked. He looked back at me puzzled and not really knowing what to say. He didn't know whether I was for real or if I was just taking the piss. He looked a little worried so I didn't let it go on for too long before I cracked a laugh, letting him know I was just joking around with him. Poor fella. It was all pretty funny.

As for the racing, it has been a little better over the last couple of days - regardless of what any news articles that you may have been reading in NZ have said! I'm not flying but I'm getting by a more comfortably than the first day. I'm not sure what was up the first day but I haven't been that bad since then.

Yesterday's stage from the start town of Civitavecchia to Gubbio was all over 20k from the finish when we hit a solid climb that split the race into many groups. It definitely wasn't a stage for us sprinters. I managed to get into a good group and roll into the finish without spending too much energy, which is always the name of the game when it comes to us sprinters tackling a climber's terrain.

Today's 3rd stage from Gubbio out toward the Adriatic coast to Mantelupone, was a mad finish again. We did a circuit which had a climb up the finish that we had to do twice. It was filthy hard. A 20% gradient that played havoc with everyone involved, including team cars and a t.v motorbike. It was only 2km long but one of the steepest that I've ever done.

The first time up, I had to walk the last 50m as there was a crash which blocked the road and it was too steep to get back on and start riding again. As we were riding up, we could hear all the clutches burning in the team cars around us. A petrol head's nightmare.

That climb signaled the end of the day's racing for all us dudes who regularly attend grupettto. We got together and bopped along to complete the last lap and the final grovel up the 2km climb to the finish without too much suffering.

Julz

Tirreno-Adriatico: Stage 1
Down....

After the last stage of Valencia, I was feeling good about things. I improved a lot over that week and on the last stage, I actually felt good about my form. Even though I wasn't that flash in the sprint, I had really good legs and didn't place better only because I got quacked out of a good position. After I trained well through the following week, I began to feel that I was making solid progress toward Tirreno-Adriatico.

I'm now here at Tirreno-Adriatico and have just finished the first stage. I was shit. I couldn't even get out of my own way. This is one of the hardest things in cycling to have to cope with; no matter how hard you train or focus on a good diet, bla bla, bla, sometimes the form just isn't forthcoming. Sometimes I think the form comes when it wants, no matter how hard I train. It's frustrating to do the training yet still the form elude me. Unfortuately when you aren't going good, you still have to keep on battling and grovel just to push through because without punching out the training and maintaining some sort of focus, the form will never come. It's a little bit like getting over an injury - most of the time you never feel like you're making progress but you have no choice but to keep on fighting.

I knew last week that I was really struggling to find form after analysing my SRM data. Each intensive day's training data wasn't good but I didn't think that I was going this bad. Let's just hope that today was more to do with just 'having a bad day' and that I'll feel a little better tomorrow. Hopefully I won't be one of the first five dropped like I was today....

Julz

Stage 4

One of the beauties of riding on an English speaking team is that you get to enjoy the humour and understand it a lot easier. Even more so when there is an Antipodean connection. Here at Valencia we have the whole ANZAC posse with Whitey as Director, Chris Sutton, Trent Lowe and myself.

Trent and Chris are a couple of young fellas embarking on the journey that I started 10 odd years ago. Both are pretty different riders and characters, with Chris the more out-going type and Trent, the Mr Low Key, all round nice guy type.

This morning in the bus before the start, we were debating whether to put sunblock on. After yesterday's rain, today it turned out nice and sunny. Eventually we agreed that it was best to 'slip, slop, slap and wrap'. Trent, for the first time in his life, has grown a goatie, well something that resembles a goatie anyway. Prior to now he's never had enough facial hair to do so. He's been pretty excited about it in his low key way so this morning when he was putting his sunscreen on we started to give him some shit when he began rubbing it into his goatie. He never really says much and even when are giving him shit, he doesn't say much although this time he came back at as with, "hairs have feelings too, you know".

It was a classic from a kid who never says much. It certainly reiterated to me the little moments you miss on a non-english speaking team when you're not confident with the lingo.

The race itself was a bit of a bore. It seems that this year in Tour of Valencia there has been a lot of circuit-type racing. Today was no different with an 8 lap circuit race. It was really difficult and finished up a nasty little 350m, 12% climb with a 3km slow drag run in to the bottom. Definitely not my cuppa tea. I sat up at the bottom and rolled in comfortably so my lungs coped fine. Those who chose to bury themselves looked to have left their lungs about halfway up.

It's the last stage tomorrow. We start and finish at the impressive City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia. The architecture of it is well worth a look if any of you ever get to Valencia.

After the stage, there'll be no airport or long road transfers for me, Trent or Chris.... Just a 70km bike ride home!

Julz

Stage 3
A Couple of Good Things....

Well, today was the king day of the Tour of Valencia with four cat 2 climbs marking out the stage. It was never going to be a day for me but for those who wanted to have a shot at the title, today was the day that they had to strut their stuff.

It was all go right from the start and on the first climb after 15km of racing, I was out the pipe. It was then a full on chase to stay in contact 'til the race finally settled down after 60km. It'd been a rude, hard start but I was happy to come back to the peloton after such a difficult start and before hitting the next 3 climbs.

The second climb was pretty controlled. The break was gone and the tempo had been set for the day. After an easy'ish second climb, it was a long downhill. This gave me a chance to test out the bike on the downhill in a race situation. Sure we get to run it in training and I've done some downhills in this race but none full on racing. And I have to say that the bike is well up to the mark. The Felt F1 with the Zipp wheels is an awesome bike. For me, one of the best ways to test a bike is descending and this bike is a good one. It's fast but most of all, it responds instantly. Sometimes it even seems like it gets itself out of trouble if you over-cook it on a corner. It made me pretty excited about the rest of the season and how comfortable I am beginning to feel on it.

After the smoking descent to the bottom of the climb, it was straight up the penultimate climb of the day. At this point it was grupetto time which meant a smooth roll in to the finish for me and the boys. The day was done and I had survived the hardest day of the Valencia 08'.

Julz

Tour de Valencia - Stage 2

Today's stage was the only stage that was entirely on roads that I regularly train on. Unfortunately, most of the day was on a circuit so having local knowledge didn't really benefit me much.

It was a pretty uneventful day. It was a near sprint but the final 10km was pretty hard with a few climbs and a kamakaze technical downhill run into the finish which split the field up quite a bit.

For me, I just didn't have condition to be competitive at the finish. I was pinned in a bad position at the top of the last climb and couldn't improve my position on the hairy descent before the final km. I certainly wasn't up for risking life and limb in the final downhill run. Just didn't feel it necessary.

All together it was a fairly pleasant day in the office with Valencia turning on a 25 degree sunny blue sky day. And I got to see the family a few times out on the circuit and at the finish, which is a pretty rare occurance when racing all over Europe.

Tomorrow is a hard stage and apparently the weather is turning feral again. It'll be a bit of a showdown for the GC, I'd say.

Julz

Stage 1 - Tour of Valencia

The first race I ever did in Europe as a pro, was the Tour of Valencia back in 1999. Today I was trying to remember back to those days but for some reason I don't have two many recollections of my first race in Europe.

One of the few things that I can remember was driving to the start. One of the soigneurs picked me up from the 3 bedroom apartment I was renting for 150 euro/month - unheard of 9 years later, and in fact you can't even rent a quater of an apartment for that now - and we drove to the hotel faster and more insanely than I had ever been driven before in my life on the open road. I was loving it though.

The second memory I have is coming into the finish of the first stage. Frankie Andreu was driving to help me into position in the final kilometers. At one point, with a couple km to go, he told me to get on that wheel. I had no idea why. I just got on it. Came around the next corner and I lost it. That wheel turned out to be Cipo's.

The last thing that I rememeber was on the second to last day, riding past the hotel after 50km and Cipo riding up the side of the peloton, shorts pulled up and sleeves rolled up to work on the tan and waving good-bye to all the riders as he pulled off into the hotel car park. I remember not being able to understand why he didn't want to finish.

There is nothing else that I remember about that race.

Now I write for my website so I'll always have a reference to flick back over although on days like today there's not much to say. I wasn't feeling real good. We had two climbs and the second one was hard and only 30k from the finish. The race blew to bits at the bottom. I was one of the first dropped. I managed to come back to a decent group after the climb and we rolled into the finish 12 or so minutes down. And that was that.

Tomorrow I'll continue to look for the form again. Although I don't expect to find it before Tirreno-Adriatico with the way things are at the moment.

Julz

Pre Vuelta de Valencia
Saddle Up Again

Well, I'm about to start up again with my first race in Europe for the '08 season. It has been a bit of a rough ride since the Tour of Qatar. After the crash on the penulitimate day, it has taken a little while to get going again. The last day of Qatar I was a twisted sister on the bike and struggled to make any power. Luckily the weather was dangerously windy and the stage was shortened. Not that it helped much as I still went out the pipe on the finishing circuits.

After Qatar I returned back to Spain but this time it was home. I had been almost a month on the road and had been away from home in Spain for 2 1/2months so I was pretty excited to return. I always like this time of year. The days are short and the mornings chilly, but it usually warms up nicely before the night returns, bringing with it the cold again. And in the afternoons - on the way home from training - as the sun is going down, the colours reflecting off the ripe and ready-to-be-picked oranges and fresh growth on the orange trees, brings a sense of completion to the day and a feeling of fulfillment at having banked another day's training. There is no other time of year like it when training is most important and everything you do now you will benefit from later. As hard and long as the days are, they make all the difference later on in the season so the satisfaction I feel from nailing good quality training rides is massive.

I had week or so at home before Carole and Tanner arrived so I tried as best I could not to mess the house up before she got home. I must have done alright as I got the nod of approval when she came in the door. She noticed straight away that I'd mopped the floor so I scored some major brownie points there.

Since then things have been ok. Not as good as I would've liked but I've done what I could. I hit another speed bump a week or so ago. Just as I was improving from the tail bone injury I sustained in Qatar, I managed to jam my thumb in the back gate, leaving only the corner of the nail attached at the base. Oh yes it F***** hurt. One of the best ever. I refused to go to the doctor on the day it happened for fear of having to have the nail completely removed. I was feeling well and truly over suffering any more pain so I opted just to bandage it up. 'Out of sight, out of mind' was my motto for the day. But by the next day, Carole and I figured it really needed attending to so off I ambled to the local medical centre, fully expecting the nail to stay there long after me and my thumb had left. Thankfully the Doc was sweet to leave it be - as crooked as it is - and just told me to keep it covered. Perfect.

Anyway, it took me a couple of days before I was able to be back on the bike as the awkwardness of the bandaging and the throbbing pain made riding fairly impossible. After 2 days without riding, I managed to get a pretty good block in before coming here to Valencia. I'm not positive that it's going to be enough to get through here comfortably but I'll do my best. It might mean that I'll be suffering again but that's what I've done most of my pro career so I know what to do to survive.

The good thing is that it's my home race. Well, as close as I get, so it's always a little easier to push through. The closest finish to my house is 30km away so it's always good to race where you know the roads like the back of your hand. It's nice to be able to drive to the start and be at home within an hour of the race finishing. A rare privileage in pro bike racing. Unless you live in Belgium.

Julz

Stage 5
Slipstream Train Derailment......

The lead-out train got derailed today. With 450m to go, the remaining three of us came down in a screaming, metal-scraping and bone-crunching heap. Magnus was the worst off, breaking his collar. He ran straight up the arse of the lead-out rider of Quickstep who was just pulling off.
For me, who was behind Maggie, leading out CJ, I had no hope. I could see the whole thing happening in slow motion.

As it started to happen, I headed to the right in a bid to steer clear of the carnage. Just as Magnus came down, I clipped his back wheel. I kind of got over him still upright but then I had no control of the steering as my handle bars had twisted. Down I went on the left-hand side; helmet, shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, and ankle - I got them all. Luckly it was nothing more serious than that. I have a few stiff joints and it's going to make getting on the bike tomorrow pretty tricky but I could've been a whole lot worse off if I hadn't have made the mad dash right at the split second that I did.

Crashing is never easy and when we had things so perfectly lined up like we did at the time of the crash, there's also the, 'I-wonder-how-we-would've-gone' element. I'm pretty annoyed as I hate crashing in the races that don't matter so much. Everyday I've been extra viglilant in the crosswinds and the bad roads here in Qatar. Then in an instant, I got caught up in an unavoidable situation that I had no control over. It's an arsey end to a fine effort our team has made so far in this race.

Julz

Stage 4

Another Birthday......

Mine was not the only birthday on the team this week. Maggie had his today and also turned 33. I offered to lend him my race number, which is 33, but we decided it might confuse people.

Today the team really started to come together. Collectively, day by day, we are going better as we figure each other out. Today, for the first time we got it together to stir the race up. At the half way point it was only a slight crosswind but we gave it a crack at trying to split the field up and managed to catch a couple of riders napping, leaving about 40 or so of us in the front with 7 from our team. Nice.

It's always a little risky trying to pull moves like this at this time of year as it's hard to follow through and make something work. Today once we got the gap, a couple of other teams jumped in and helped to keep the speed up all the way to the finish.

Also today, for the first time collectively, we had a crack at the sprint. It was a little wierd for me as I'm used to leading out either on my own or with one other. Today, however, We lined it up, waited a little later, and had a crack. Even though we came from behind, it was still a little early in the headwind so we didn't quite get the result we were after. Good practise though.

It was a fine effort and the team had huge moral after the stage. We didn't come off with the win but we made the race and we lined up the sprint as a team for the first time. We didn't get it right but we know that next time it will be a little closer again, if not the win.

After the stage, we enjoyed a couple glasses of wine and another birthday cake for the second time this week.

Perfect.

Julz

Stages 2 & 3

Stage 2
Let’s Not Store That One In The Memory Bank!!!

Today hurt more than I could’ve imagined. I knew that I wasn't having a good day and I always expected it to be hard but it was worse than I thought.

It started after five metres. Immediately we were hit with a crosswind and within 5km the race was split into 6 or 7 groups. At this point I had just missed the first group and was in the second group. We chased for 70km before we caught the front group at which point I couldn't take it anymore and got popped again, falling back to the 3rd group. After which my busted moral couldn’t even hold me in there and I filtered back to the 4th group where I finally managed to stay to the finish.

I had bad legs the whole day and by the end of the race they were aching with discomfort. I’m just not conditioned at the moment to spending that long on the rivet and my body paid badly for it. By the time I finally got off the bike, I was sore all over.

It’s easy to get down about it but I have to remember that it is only January. Although in saying that, I did expect to be going better given that I did a bit of work over the offie to prepare for Nationals. We’ll just have to see how things play out day by day from here.

On a positive note for the team, CJ is doing really well so he’s our focus at the moment.





Stage 3
More Pain But Still No Gain....

Today was a little better than yesterday. I think that the start helped a lot as it was easier than yesterday and whenever the race is hard at the start, it’s never good for me. Today we had a block headwind as we headed out of the camel racetrack from where the race started.

When it did go down I was in the right place at the right time and landed myself in the front group. When the dust settled there were four of our team at the front. We decided to have Miller and I ride to let CJ and Maggie handle the final. Boonen had missed the split as he got caught behind a crash so it was a priority to try and stay away. The idea was good and we gave it everything for 55km in the cross and headwinds. By the end of our attempt, I was buggered and although our group got caught within 30km from the finish, it was worth a try. At that point I was too knackered to do much else. I was able to help a little in the sprint but nothing major.

I reckon that this is for sure the hardest first race of the year. There is nothing pleasurable about it. Today was a better day but at this time of year it’s always a little bit up and down and you never know what tomorrow will bring.

Julz

Strutting Our Stuff!!!!

We always had an eye on the season's opening Team Time Trial today here in Qatar. A top three was the least we
expected but a win was what we wanted. We had put a bit of effort into TTT practise at our training camp in Girona last week, so although it was a good feeling to run second to Quickstep by 3sec, being so close to the victory did hurt a bit. As it always does when you are so close. In any case, it was good to get out and show the
World that we mean business and this year we will be one of the most competitive teams out there.

In a strange kind of way it feels odd that getting second in the TTT prologue at the Tour of Qatar feels so good. I know that if I was on any other team I wouldn't feel quite as chuffed about it as I do now. The truth is that most teams don't really give a toss about today's prologue but to us that didn't make any difference and the
result feels great. In our position we feel like we have to show the world that we are fully capable and committed to being a team who'll make an impact. Today the work and focus we put in last week to show that, paid off. And that is what makes it feel good.

Like I wrote in my last update, it has been a pretty disrupted couple of weeks with all the travel and change in time zones, but today, all things considering, I was feeling ok. Although it was only 6km I was happy that I was actually feeling ok again. Last week in Girona I was feeling less than average so it feels good mentally to get today's race out of the way and have a good ride under the belt. We'll see how it goes from here but I'm sure that I'll get better as we go. Not that I'm too worried. It's only January and I have time up my sleeve. The most important thing for now is to get settled back in to stage racing again and try and get in a bit of sprinting practise while I'm here.

One of the best things about today was that I was shown something that I've never thought of doing myself. These days for time trials, everyone has their playlist on their ipods for warming up to. My playlist is about a 45min mix of tunes that get me going. Before the warm up today, my Swedish team-mate, big Maggie Backstedt, gave me a listen to the last track on his playlist. Low and behold it was the Haka. Just the 12sec I got to listen to it g'eed me up and afterward I was asking myself why I don't have it as the last track on my playlist??? Maggie himself said he doesn't know what it is about the Haka but nothing else g'ees you up like it - even when your Swedish!

"I hear ya" I said. RESPECT!!!

Julz

Back in the Mix

Well, we're back into it again. Yep, the 'offie' has come and gone again at warp speed and I'm now staring down the barrel of what's going to be another big year with the new team and new focus.

As per usual - although Carole cracked the website diary whip regularly over the last few months - I didn't manage to keep you up-to-date with how things have run over the offie. But...better now than never....

The start of my offie kicked off with a Team Slipstream 'initiation' camp in November where we assembled in Boulder, Colorado for 10 days. We all had a pretty loose time so it was a perfect way to get well acquainted with the each other. I've never been in a team where we have had a 'get together' in November. I prefer to call it a 'get together' as training didn't really seem to be the main focus of the time there. Bascially we got the chance to try and sort out some stuff that needed to be sorted out when a new team is building itself, and hang out having posh dinners with sponsors and those associated with the team.

From the outset, the mood and ambience in the team was good, setting the scene for the rest of the year. For me personally, it became apparent that things were going to be a little different on this team compared to other teams that I've been on before. Everything that could possibly make a difference to the performance of the riders was being investigated and methods of improvement were being made available to everyone. For example, for the first time in my career, I had the chance to go into the wind tunnel. We were also given a full run down from all of the sponsors about the equipment they provide us with. As well as that, we had a fancy-as team preso, where I made it on to the back of the New York Times with my 'Movember' (ie, cultivating a moustache in November which loads of men do throughout NZ as a way to increase prostate cancer awareness).

After the training camp, it was back to business - business time. I nailed some serious knee rehab sessions in amongst some serious pre-season training before making a quick trip across the ditch to Aussie in late December for Director-to-be, Whitey's retirement criterium. That mixed up with a party and a barbeque with all the other Aussie pros made for a great weekend. Ten days later, just after Santa had been and left Tanner a new green bike and a matt black helmet with blue flames on it, I followed up Whitey's race with an appearance in one of the best races that I've ever done in NZ, at the Mount on the 27th Dec. Whitey, himself also made an appearance and the race was a huge success for all those involved. Hats off to Logan and co for a job well done!

I allowed myself a couple of days to enjoy seeing in the New Year and then it was back to business, winding in some hard days' training in final preparation for the Nationals....and before I knew it, the day of the Nationals was upon us once again.

With all the travel and disturbances of the last couple of months before the Nationals, I was a little unsure, to say the least, about my form. I certainly hadn't felt that I had done the most consistent work that I could've in the lead up. When I had the moments, I did what I could and did it well but I always felt like I lacked the consistency in training that I tend to rely on to find good form.

But as most of you know by now, things worked out pretty good. Well as good as they could have. I took the National jersey for another year. It was a bit of a difficult race at times, as the Nationals often are, as it's a hard race to keep things under control. Most of the competitors rode a pretty positive race with everyone racing for the win right to the end and as a result it was pretty well kept together 'til the final lap, despite at times it looking like the early break might go away and stay away. The length of the race and the hot, dry conditions made for a hard enough day in the saddle that there was a certain degree of natural selection to sift out those with true form from those without.

In the end it came down to Heath Blackgrove, a young Scott Lyttle and myself after attacking up the main climb. Fortunately for me they were gutsy enough riders to work with me right to the end to ensure that we stayed away. The three of us came into the last little punch of a climb together where I attacked and was able to ride away and stay away from Heath and Scott. Heath once again showed himself as a classy rider and Scott showed us that he is a rider to watch for in the future.

I was really happy to win the Nationals again and will be looking forward more than ever to wearing the silver fern again in the TdF, should we get a start. Also it's a good moral booster for the team starting off with a win, setting the standard and lifting the spirits of everyone.

Straight after the Nationals, I headed back to Europe for a training camp in Girona, Spain before heading off to the Tour of Qatar. A pretty important race for us given that it's run by ASO so hopefully a first step to gaining a wildcard for the Tour. It has been a bit of a mission itinerary heading all the way to Europe for the 6 days training then half way back to NZ for the Tour of Qatar again but we had to get in some team time trial training to ensure that we get it right for the first stage in the race next week.

Since leaving Europe in November, I feel like I have had little time to reflect on things. Now that I'm on the plane to Qatar for the tour that starts in 3 days, I feel like I'm finally starting to catch up with myself. With my first major focus of winning the Nationals out of the way, I'm now looking to Qatar to get back to stage racing. This will be followed up by the Tour of Valencia (my home race) and then I hope to be good again in Milan San Remo before trying my hand at the Classics. For certain there'll be a lot less distractions from now on as I prepare for another year of focus races, culminating with the Olympic road race in August.

Julz.

Another Year Draped in the Silver Fern

Carole here.

Most of you already know the result of the NZ Nationals held yesterday in the super duper sunny Hawkes Bay... but for those who are still wondering... Julz won. It was a beautiful day that ended equally beautifully with a well executed victory by Julz. It was a nerve-wracking last lap that almost forced me into retirement. It seems the longer I support Julz in his cycling, the worse my nerves become! Thankfully the realisation of Julz wearing the silver fern again for another year was enough to make suffering the gajillion dive-bombing butterflies in my stomach worthwhile!

Anyway...Julz is outa here on Wednesday so he's promised to write an update or 3 while long-hauling it back to Europe....

Til then, hang tight,

Carole :o)

Defending that Jersey...

Just a super quick note to let you all know that I'll be trying my best to defend the National Jersey this weekend in Napier. Training has been going ok - probably not as good as I had hoped going into the Nationals but with having to play catch up after knee surgery, I can't really expect to be going any better than I am. I'll just have to ride smart and hope for the best. I'd really like to keep the jersey. It was great pedaling around Europe with a huge silver fern draped across my body... One of the proudest moments in my cycling career...

So cross fingers for me and we'll see what comes of it all....

I head straight to Europe after the Nationals so I should have more time to update you all once I hit the continent...

Til then,

Julz

Pre-Chrissy Update...

Hi all,

Sorry for the complete lack of updates since hitting NZ soil. It's been an incredibly hectic time since arriving home and to be honest, I just haven't had the time to sit in front of the computer long enough to get a diary update done and dusted.

I've got a few stories to share with you all regarding my latest team training camp held in Boulder last month. It was a long one, a busy one, but definitely an entertaining one. It was refreshing spending time in a team environment where English is the first language again. It made me realise just how little verbal interaction I actually had on CA. Although in saying that, I'll miss the challenge of learning French.

Following on from the training camp, I've spent a lot of time on the bike and in the gym trying to push the rehab of my knee as quickly yet safely as possible. I'm feeling pretty happy with the progress and although I'm still playing catch up on form and fitness, I'm satisfied with where I'm at. I'm probably not where I need to be to be super ready for the Nationals but there's not a lot I can do about that. The most important thing for me (besides training) is to curb my food and beverage consumption over the Chrissy period and just hope that keeping the kegs off will help me a bit with the form come Nationals.

Anyway, I'll leave it at that for now and the next update will include a blog about the training camp....

Also went to Whitey's retirement crit in Sydney on the weekend....but that's a whole other story....

Ciao,
julz

Not Much News

Hi guys,
Not too much to tell you from this end of things. I've just been plugging away at my rehab which is ticking along. Unfortunately rehab is never easy and progress never seems to come soon enough but in saying that I've had no dramas and according to my physio, my progress is where it needs to be.

The family and I head back to NZ this weekend so it's a madhouse around here at the mo getting packed and cleaned up.

A week after we arrive home, I have to get back on a plane and head to Boulder, Colorado for a 10 day team training camp. It'll be good to meet the rest of the team and find out what the go is for next year as at the moment I actually don't know much at all about what Slipstream's programme is for 2008.

That's about it for now. Fill you in again soonish.

Julz

Back on the Bike...

Hi all,

Just a quick note to let you know that rehab has been going really well after a bit of a set back a couple of weeks ago. I'm now steaming ahead with daily improvements and I'm back on the bike just taking it easy. Have been cruising around through the Valencian orange groves, keeping the legs quietly ticking over on the flat. It's nice to be back on the bike and hopefully I'll get my pedal pumpers back into shape sooner rather than later...

Carole, Tanner and I have just a few weeks left here now before we head back downunder so it's all systems go with rehab and trying to tie loose ends before we leave here... We're looking forward to seeing plenty of open spaces, plenty of green grass, and good sushi from our local Japanese restaurant...and of course our families!

Take it easy,
Julz

Rehab Update
Hi all,

Well it's been just over 2wks since my op and things are going really well. I've been paying a few visits to Pepe, my physio and he's been pounding me with rehab exercises. It's hard work and I can't say I'm enjoying having to put myself in the hurtbag every day but the progress I've made so far has been great. I should hopefully start on the bike this week which will be nice. Autumn has arrived here in Spain and as usual the Autumn weather is perfect for riding so I'm looking forward to getting out there as soon as I can.

Anyway, will keep you posted...

Julz

Back Into Rehab...

HI all,

Sorry for my poor effort at keeping you guys updated... I've had a bit on my plate lately.

I had to pull out of the Eneco Tour 'coz my knee was giving me a bit of grief. I actually fell over the day after the Tdf ended and my knee blew up like a balloon. I went and had an MRI done and it showed that I had completely busted the ACL, although it appears that it may have already been partially torn before and then I just finished it off well and proper when I fell.

After talking with my surgeon and my trustie physio, Pepe (from Physio Sport Valencia, plug, plug!), they both advised me to take it easy for a month and see how it went when I started back racing. Because the stability of the knee isn't hugely important for cyclists, they both felt that if the knee felt ok on the bike, we could avoid surgery until my career is done and dusted.

As it turned out, the knee was way too funky-feeling for my liking at the Eneco Tour and so after talking with the team doctor, we decided it was best that I call the season quits and get the knee fixed well ahead of the 2008 season.

So that's what I've done. I had surgery last Friday to repair the ligament and it went wickedly well so now it's just a matter of doing the rehab and hard yards for the upcoming season....

I'll let you know how it all goes...

Julz

Back-Tracking to Stage 16, TDF 07

Once upon a time, some fellas from an island way down South of the equator and far away from anywhere much, travelled the great distance North to a strange land known as France, where they eat frogs' legs and snails. Their adventure took them deep into the Pyrenees mountains, bordering an equally strange land known as Spain, where they don't do anything today but instead do it 'Manyana'. There they joined throngs of others, from all over the globe, to become observers of a great annual battle on bicycles, known by the world over as the 'Tour de France'.

Engulfed by the excitement and urgency of the battle, they thought it a grand idea to show the strange people of the North and elsewhere, what they in the deep South do in battle. So when they spotted in the distance one of their follow men from the far South, traversing his way up the Col de Aubisque, they preformed with conviction their land's pre-war dance, known especially well in the world of rugby as the 'Haka'.

The lone man from the South, who was gritting his teeth in his battle with the Col de Aubisque, oozed with pride as he passed his fellow countrymen performing the traditional war dance - a symbol of his country. Others in the battle of the Tour de France had never seen anything like it in their previous Tour de France battles and many agreed it would likely be a first in the 100 year history of the race. For the rest of the day, and the next after that, they ooh'ed and aahhh'ed about it. It was a piece of Tour de France history in the making!

The day on the Col de Aubisque, where the Kiwis stood proud, made a stand out performance from all the millions of other spectators that we had passed along the way during our 2 1/2 week battle so far.

Until I had seen the Kiwi contingent do the Haka on that last climb today, the best thing that I had seen all day was some of the Spanish spectators when we looped into Spain. A particular group of them had taken their chilly bin up the climb and on the bottom of it they had taped two old roller skates to it so they didn't have to carry it. When I saw them, they were coming down the climb. It was a classic as the roller skates were those rickety old two-strap jobs that you buckle over your own sneakers and the chilly bin was a brand new looking thing. I thought that they must have a bit of Kiwi in them to come up with an idea like that.

Anyway, the Haka was awesome fellas, and had me feeling super proud to be where I am from. It got the groupetto buzzing for the rest of the day and was something cool at the end of what was definitely one of the hardest days of the Tour this year; more than 7 hours on the bike for us non-climbers. That's 7 hrs of hard riding.

The good thing about today was that once over the finish line, we could see the lights of Paris shining brightly at the end of what's been a testing tunnel. With just 2 intermediate stages left before the last time trial and the final stage into Paris. The hardest part of the Tour de France 07' for me and my sprinter comrades is over and it's on to paris from here.

Julz

No Cigar in Germany

Hi all,

Nothing much to report about yesterday's race, the Vattenfall Classic. I was actually feeling ok throughout the race, although certainly not tearing up the tarmac or nothing.

I got caught up behind a pile up with 20km to go and that put an end to things for me. Even in hindsight, if I'd dug deep to try and get back on I probably would have crashed anyway 'coz it was nothing short of a crash-fest in the last few kms. Feel a tad thankful actually, that 'game over' came for me when it did. Both Thor and Mark Renshaw went down with 2km to go so chances are that would've been me too!

Anyway, I'm in Belgian now waiting it out for the Eneco Tour to get underway. It starts on Wednesday.

Ciao,
Julz

News Flash....

I can now officially let you all know that I'm up for a change of scenery next year.

The 2008 season will see me heading to the ever-expanding American team, Slipstream, along with ex-teammates, David Zabriskie and Christian Vandevalde. Also heading in the same direction is Dave Millar.

For me it's just all about tackling a new opportunity and a new environment and I'm really looking forward to it all.

I enjoyed my time on Credit Agricole and it wasn't an easy decision to leave but I feel ready to move on....

Stages 17 & 18
After the epic stages of the Pyrenees, the final two road stages heading out of Pau up toward Paris saw the Tour take on a different style of racing. Typically the last couple of stages are breakaways. Most of the sprinters have had their chance and if they didn’t win a sprint many of the teams with sprinters do not have the numbers now to control the race.

So for me it was a chance to try and make it into a break and have a crack at a win after the disappointment one week ago coming into Montpellier. Having said that however, getting into a break is never as easy as it sounds. The two biggest difficulties are that I always find I'm never any good in the first hour of any race (which is always when the break goes) and the second thing is that in a race like the Tour, after one attempt to get in the right move it takes a good 25km to recover before I can go again. Especially during the last week. Put it this way: I am no Jens Voight when it comes to getting in the right moves.

Both stage 17 & 18 were stages that didn’t really go as good as they could've for me. Stage 17 saw the break go in the first 5km. With my inability to be good inside the first hour, I never even got a chance to move near the front of the race before the breakaway was done and dusted. Once the eight riders had gone there was a bit of a chase from a few teams that didn't have any riders in the break, but it soon became apparent that there was never enough interest in the peloton behind to totally commit to bringing the break back. So for me that was the end of stage 17. All over in 4km.

The end result of Stage 18 was hardly any better although at least I had the chance to get in the mix a little. After letting the race run a little for the first 20km til I felt I was going to be able to make a good concerted effort to get in the right move, I gave it a shot. A group of ten or so fellas had a small gap going up one of the climbs. I thought it looked a good one so gave it everything to get across over the top of the small 1km climb. I made it across solo so was pretty stoked at that and then I started to swap off for a few laps when I could. I was absolutely knackered after the effort to bridge the gap but knew that I had to give it all if we had any chance to get away.

Unfortunately it never amounted to much though and we were soon caught. By this time I was way in the red and struggled for the next 10km just to be in the peloton let alone having another crack at making the move. A few km later the move went as I was swinging in the last 10 riders of the peloton trying to recover. It hadn’t worked out again but I had a chance at a break which was more than I got the day before. That's just the way the Tour is and in stages like the last two that's often about the best you can do without a little luck on your side.

Julz

1st Aug
Hi guys,

Julian left his laptop (and hence the updates) in the team bus so we're waiting for it to get sent down to us.

As soon as it arrives, I'll crack my whip...

Update To Come

Hi all,

The remainder of Julian's updates will be up soon....

Stage 14
Mazamet to Plateau de Beille 197km

First of the Pyrenees...

Today was the first of the three stages in the Pyrenees. So for me it was back into survival mode where the focus is just about getting through and saving as much energy as possible for the coming days. After a rude start again - straight up a climb, the break got away and we settled down for the day. It was a big relief after the first climb ‘coz I knew that all I had to do was basically make it to the bottom of the second to last climb, the Port de Paiheres, then it would be gruppetto to the finish. And fortunately it was pretty much flat to false flat to the bottom of the climb and with the Rabobank team riding a consistent tempo, all went pretty well.

The last time I rode up Plateau de Beille, it was in the 2004 TdF. At that time it was Iban Mayo who I was in the group with. He had been a race favourite but had blown up and lost everything that day. It was heartbreaking to see him struggle up that climb watching his chance of a TdF podium finish slip away from him. What struck me most about that moment of misery for Iban was the intensity of the support and encouragement the fans threw his way.

Today I was in the same situation up that climb but this time it was the French star, Christophe Moreau, who was having an ‘Iban Mayo’ day. Once again, just like it was for Iban, the respect the fans have for him, continuing to encourage the French National Champion, was huge and really awesome to see.

After the finish today, unlike last time, things were better organised and we didn't have to ride the 15km from the descent back to the hotel. That’s a pretty painful memory of the TdF 2004 that I won’t forget any time soon.



Stage 15: Foix to Loudenvielle - Louron 196km

Another One Just Like The Other One...

Today was much like yesterday in terms of the way that I had to get through it. For me the stage was 140km long. At that point I could start looking for the gruppetto and all us non-climbers could band together and make it to the finish safe and sound within the time-cut - as we collectively do on these hard days.

Today however, was much harder than yesterday with some critical climbs, which the gruppetto had to make over at tempo. All went well though and actually I passed through with no problems. There were guys who were certainly worse off than me.

It seemed today that the spectators weren’t out in the numbers they usually are in the Tour de France. I’m not sure if I’m right or I’m just more used to the mayhem these days. Certainly it seemed that in the Alps there were more fans. Maybe it’s just a consequence of cycling’s problems in recent years. I'm not sure. Maybe the numbers are still the same. Whatever.

Tomorrow is a rest day and I’m happy about that. I need it. I’m not sure why but having a rest day makes you think that if you had to race that day you couldn’t possibly do it. I’m sure that if I had to though, I’d just get out there and do it. I guess the mind and body just know they can shut it down for a day.

Anyway the most important thing is that I survived the first two days in the Pyrenees. Now I have one more super hard day to get through and then there are no more major mountains to tackle before Paris so I’ll have to switch out of ‘survival mode’ and back into ‘race mode’.

Julz

Stage 12
Montpellier to Castres 178km

Today we never expected the stage to end in a sprint. There were a lot of lumps to ride over all day with a 10km Cat 2 climb near the finish. A stage like today would normally have been a breakaway at the start that would’ve stayed away while the rest of us would’ve cruised in to the finish. The headwind though made it nearly impossible for any group to get away early on and coming into the Cat 2 climb with 50km to go, I expected the race to get ripped apart and a group finally break away. Again it didn't happen and the next thing I knew the teams were riding for a sprint.

The last 50km was balls to the wall and I was feeling less then flash after the crash yesterday. There wasn't much I could do though but luckily as I thought more about the possibility of a bunchie, I started to get g’eed for the sprint.

All was well going into the last km as Quickstep lined it up for Boonen at the front. We were pretty comfortable sitting just behind them and the feelings I had in the stage when Thor won, started to brew inside me again.

Then a group moved up on our left and sandwiched us against the right hand barrier. We were left with no room to move. I tried to get the Lampre riders to move out so I could start the sprint but they wouldn't budge. Then it opened up on the barrier. I was able to move to the front and place Thor on the wheel of Boonen. That was ok but unfortunately it was too late to counter the speed of the Quickstep train. They had the advantage of a good team lead-out for the sprints and the stage victory well sown up. I really felt that if I’d had the space at the right time I could’ve nailed it like the other day. I crossed the finish line frustrated.



Stage 13
Albi 54km Time Trial

Less than glamorous...

I rode the TT in the pissing rain. The roads were shit and I felt like I was creeping. For a while there I actually felt like I was doing a TT in the Tour of Southland rather than the Tour de France. Nonetheless, I made it through another day and now it’s on to the Pyrenees... Ouch.

Stage 11
Marseille to Montpellier 182km

I Don’t Wanna Talk About It...

I possibly lost the chance of a lifetime by crashing in the last km today. Thor had missed the front group in the crosswind spilt so I had the chance to do the sprint for me, myself and I.

All was going well and I really felt like I was up for a top 3 result then in an instant everything turned to custard and my chance to have a go at winning a stage in the Tour de France was lost; the one and only chance that I’ve ever had.

I don’t have the words to describe my disappointment.... I don't think that I’ve ever felt this bummed before. I’m gutted.

Julz

Stage 10

Tallard to Marseille, 230km

We entered another phase of the Tour today, which has also brought about another change of scenery. From the big shit of London it was on to the relatively flat lands of Belgium and Northern France, then southeast toward the rolling vineyards near Champagne before heading into the Alps. Today we left the Alps and rode into the dry, barren-looking land of southern France.

While riding through today's surroundings I thought about the different landscapes and environments we’ve ridden through over the last ten days. The contrast between where we began this journey and where we are now is amazing. We’ve ridden through some beautiful places. I just wish we had the time to truly appreciate them.

The race itself also changed today. The sprinters had the first week, the last few stages have belonged to the climbers in the Alps and now it’s the breakaway specialists’ turn. With most of the field well down on the classification, there’s the chance to get in a break and win a stage. Unfortunately, it’s never as easy as it sounds with 150 riders all with the same idea.

I was one of those 150 riders today trying to get in the break, as I will be over the next few days as well. But I never chose the right one. I gave it a few good cracks but just didn’t get it right. I never seem to do that well at selecting the right moment or attack. Some guys always seem to get it right. Jens Voight is one of those dudes. By the time the winning break went I was pretty knackered from the numerous attempts I’d made. You only have a certain amount of cards each day to use in trying to get in the right move and today I used all mine before the break finally stuck. I guess I just have to wait ‘til tomorrow and try again.

After the break went it was just a long, slow, hot day. With temperatures up into the 40's it was not particularly enjoyable being out there and I was happy to be get into the team bus at the end of the day.

Julz

Stage 9
Val d'Isere to Briançon

Over And Out..... Of The Alps

Today's stage saw the finish of the Alps for this year's TdF. I spent a lot of the rest day worrying about getting through today's stage because of the hard climb at the start. As it turned out it wasn't too bad for us non-climbers. In fact, for me, on the first climb I was even in the front group. Amazing... We were only 40 odd riders at the top and somehow I was still there. I reckon that it must've been the warm up I did 'coz I made sure it was a good one.

After the first 15k climb (Coll de I'Iseran) out of Val d'Isere, which took us to 2770m, the peloton regrouped then before we knew it we were on to the Col de Telegraphe and then we were tackling the big one up the Col de Galibier. It was more or less 30km of straight climbing.

For us fellas that just wanted to make the finish as survivers of the Alps, we formed a grupetto of 70 riders at the bottom and started our journey to Briançon, letting the climbers do their thing.

From that point on it was never too much stress for us. It was still hard but we were never in danger of being outside the time limit.

Rolling into Briançon after the 30km descent of Galibier, it was nice to realise the Alps were over and as hard as they were, or always are, they were done and dusted for another year.

I had to bust out some descending moves on the descent as I got a puncture on the top of Galibier and had to chase back on on the downhill. I wasn't too comfortable pushing too hard though, what had happened to Stuey the stage before was sitting in the forefront of my mind. I certainly didn't want to end up like that.

Unfortunately for me, my day got dragged out an extra hour as I had random drug control today. I know that we have to have it but nothing is more tiring at the end of the day than having to wait around an extra hour for control - especially when the day has been hard, you have a 100km transfer to the hotel on mountain roads and tomorrow is 230km. That's our life though.

Julz

Repos

The Rest Day.....

I had a dificult sleep last night. I always find it difficult to sleep at altitude. We are in Tignes, where the race finished yesterday, and the hotel is at 2100m - not really ideal for recovery.

We went out for a little ride, 2hrs, with a 20 min climb at tempo; the climb that we start out with tomorrow. The stage starts 15km straight up - not my favourite at all and even less so after a rest day. To tell you the truth, I'm shitting my pants about it 'cause as always, if I'm dropped at the start, I'm screwed for the day - most likely I won't be able to make it back up to the peloton. And I'm always bad after rest days so I'm not looking forward to it at all.

I often wonder why they put such difficult climbs at the start of stages. The bottom line is that it never changes the outcome for those who are going for the overall. It only hurts the dudes like myself who can't climb. I guess though that it's just one of those many things about pro cycling that the logic of will always be a mystery to me.

With that waiting for me tomorrow, I have to say that I haven't enjoyed the rest day too much, despite spending the day in amongst the beautiful scenery of the French Alps.

Julz

Stage 8
Le Grand-Bornand to Tignes 165km

Out To Do The Impossible....

On stages like today’s I feel like I’m going out to do the impossible. Like I’m being sent on a mission that I’ll never be able to accomplish while those that have sent me on it sit back and laugh at me struggle.

Yesterday was hard but it was nothing on today. Today was nothing but a day of pure survival. We had three big climbs to tackle but actually the hardest part of the day was the few smaller climbs that we had at the start. Climbs at the start of a stage are always the hardest because it becomes a do or die situation. You have to make it over with the front group otherwise you will never make it to the finish within the time- cut. The key to making it over in the front group basically comes down to suffering as much as you can and then some. And just when you think that you are going to get dropped you have to bite a little harder and suffer even more. It’s bloody horrid.

I knew that if I could make it to the first of the big climbs after 80km, I’d be ok. From that point it was 20km up, 20km down, 15km up, 10km down and then 20 km up to the finish and it would be a situation where you have to find a group and ride a good enough tempo that you hope will get you to the finish inside the time-cut.

After the first big climb we were 60 odd riders in the group, riding hard enough to try and limit the damage knowing that we could never ride up hill as fast as those in front. Still we were going as solid as we could for what we were capable of yet allowing for the climbing we still had ahead of us.

As it turned out we made it inside the time-cut by 1 min. It couldn't have been any better. Although, I'm not sure that if we had to we could’ve gone any harder anyway.
All in all, it was a day of carnage. A few guys didn't make it over the first small climbs and rode in to the finish outside the time-cut. A fair few others had nasty spills and ended up having to stop. As for the rest, well I’m not sure what happened at the front of the race. A funny thing about the Tour de France for me is that I never know what’s happening in the race during the mountain stages. I’m always so far out the back that I’m oblivious to the details of the ongoing battle at the front of the race day after day. There’s always the option of watching the replay on TV in the evening but usually even just watching what we rode over seems like too much of an effort. Not to mention an unnecessary reminder of how much I suffered!

Julz

Stage 7

Bourg-en-Bresse to Le Grand-Bornand

Well we headed out of the pleasant rolling wine growing regions of France toward the Alps today. It was never going to be the stage were we saw the overall contenders draw their swords but certainly it was going to be the first little teaser for most.

For me and others like me, it was a test to see if we were going to be able to cope with the mountains that the Tour is going to throw at us over the next two weeks. The start of the stage was hard. Everyone wanted a chance at the break today 'coz for those that could make it into the breakaway and over the climb at the end, the yellow jersey would most likely fall onto a set of those shoulders - even if it would only be for one day. Everyone knew this and it made the stage hard until the break got away. Although, come to think of it, I don't remember it ever feeling easy. The whole day was uncomfortably hard.

I managed to get to the bottom of the last climb with the peloton and from there on it was just about finding a group and getting through the last 30km safely and as comfortably as possible. After all, today was only really a warm up for stage 8 - the first of the real big hard mountain days.

Julz

Stage 6
Semur-en-Auxois to Bourg-en-Bresse

Our Last Chance.

Today was probably one of the last chances for a sprint until Paris. Certainly there are likely to be other possibilities but today was to be a sure sprint. Some of the coming stages are more likely to be breakaways than sprints.

As for today’s stage it was nothing special. Much like the other days; an early breakaway spent much of the day out and then the sprinter’s teams got on the front and controlled the race, eventually winding the break back in.

Coming into the sprint it always looked like it was going to be messy. There was a strong headwind and when there’s a strong headwind, the pace is slow making it easy for guys to move up but difficult to stay in the front. This constant ‘swarming’ at the front makes it very difficult to hold good position so it’s a non-stop shit fight full of high nerves, quacking (meaning elbowing, shouldering, nudging, or any other means of fighting for position without taking the hands off the handlebars) and lots of near misses.

A repeat of stage 4 would’ve been nice but we always knew it was going to be difficult in a situation like this where often a lot more luck comes into nailing the victory. And unfortunately luck was not on our side today.

Just at the 1km banner there was a near crash and unbeknown to me Thor lost my wheel. I carried on expecting him to be there. After the one km banner the road curved around to the left and when we came onto the final straight it should’ve been 500m to the finish - according to the race bible. Once again I was tricked. After we came onto the straight, I let rip moving, from a few places back, up to the front, passing the front dudes. I couldn’t really make out where the finish was but figured from the map in the race bible, that it couldn’t be more than 400m. As I hit the front I passed the 500m sign. Opps, that was a bit early but it was all too late and there was nothing I could do about it. I had already committed myself. Game Over.

The finish turned out to be nothing like diagrammed in the book and I even reckon that the last 1km was more than 1km. Certainly the last straight was more than the 500m it was in the book. In any case, I would’ve got Thor into a good position if he’d been on my wheel, which he wasn't anyway so none of it really mattered.

Things just didn't work out for us today and that’s the way that sprinting goes sometimes - especially when there is so much at stake like in the Tour de France.

Julz

Stage 5
Chablis-Autun 182.5km

I have to say that I was a little bummed about the stage today. It was never going to be a day just for the sprinters; it was always going to be more for those who could climb ok yet still have the power to bang out a strong sprint in the finish. After the form I had at the Giro I counted myself in that category.

We had a 6 km climb coming into the finish at Autun. It was a hard one but the whole stage had been full of lumps, which had made the day difficult. Right from the start I didn’t have really good legs and felt that I was struggling a little all day.

Into the last climb I failed to get into a good position and started the climb a little too far back. Going up the climb I was right on the limit and when I lost my momentum avoiding a crash and had to accelerate back up to speed, it was just a little too much and sent me into the red where I could only ride for a couple more minutes before I blew up, two km from the top.

To have had a chance, I would’ve needed to be in the top twenty at the top. From the top it was straight down to the finish with only the last couple kms flat. Because I started too far back and got involved in all the shit that goes down 40 places back, I never gave myself a good chance to make it.

I lost a chance today when I could’ve had a crack for myself. I’m not absolutely sure that I could’ve made it with the front group over the last climb but I think that I could’ve done better than I did which is always a bummer - especially when it’s the Tour de France and ya might not ever get that chance again.

Julz

Stage 4

Finally Got To Unleash One.....

Today was the first time that things have worked out for us in the sprint and it couldn't have been any better. We had a run in to the finish that couldn't have been any sweeter. The last 15 km was a massive straight road and for once there wasn’t any road furniture to contend with so it was just a matter of being strong enough to hold a good position.

For the last few k's it was like a merry-go-round and the riders coming to the front swarmed those already at the front sending them to the back. Then as we got closer to the finish, the speed got higher and holding position became a little easier.

Into the last 1 km, it was Boonen's team doing the lead-out and we were sitting well at 6th or 7th. It’s a strange situation because I never look back to see or ask if Thor is on my wheel - I just always assume that he is.

After we came under the 1 km banner, I just wanted to launch forward but knew that it would be way too early; I was just a little excited so I took a breath, held on and waited.

Any time I have to wait I’m always nervous that riders will swamp us from behind. The speed seemed high though and it felt like the right thing to do. When we got to 400m out, the moment felt perfect. I had the gap and the power. I opened up giving it everything I had. Although I wondered whether Thor was on my wheel, I seemed to sense that he was. As we neared the finish line I got out of the way and watched the victory unfold. We had gapped off the rest of the field and aside from Hunter on Thor’s wheel, there was no one else even close. It had worked out perfectly.

After the stage there was a lot of ‘hoo-ha’ over the win. The team had got what they had needed out of the TdF.
Whenever we win a stage in the Tour, the aftermath is an insane media frenzy - almost a little too much for a quiet Kiwi kid. Finally when I shut the hotel room door later that night, it all went away and I had time to digest the day’s success. For me, it was about how I’d gone from zero to hero. In the first few days, the team was not super happy with how things had gone and the heat had been on us to perform but now we were heroes; at least for a day.

One of the most satisfying aspects of doing a great job like I did today, are the accolades I get from other riders in the race. To know that I have generated so much respect from those who I compete against, makes me feel good about what I do.

Julz

Stage 3
Post Crash Blues...

After yesterday’s bingle I was feeling a little worse for wear today. We headed from Belgium back into France so it was good to get back to French soil where dodging spectators isn’t part of the parcours.

It was apparent from the start that I had been knocked around from the crash yesterday. Actually, to me it was apparent from the moment I woke up. My body felt very average as soon as I swung the legs out of bed. I was just hoping that I would feel better once I had warmed up a bit but unfortunately I felt powerless from start to finish today. We finished in the same town where Paris-Roubaix starts and as expected the stage came down to a bunch sprint. As much as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get up for the sprint. It was a pretty hard day to get through – physically and mentally and I just hope that I’ll be better tomorrow.

Things have been more than a little frustrating in the Tour so far this year. It hasn’t gone at all like I’d hoped. We need the luck to change a little bit.

Julz

Stage 2

The Great Escape

I’ve had some bad crashes in my time but I’ve also had some lucky escapes. Thankfully today was a day of a lucky escape.

It started out a pretty normal TdF day. From Dunkerque we zig-zagged along the coast. It was nervous for the first part because of the wind. All the teams were afraid that it might split up in the crosswinds as it so often does in races around that area. As It turned out, the wind wasn’t a problem although the nervous energy remained hovering over the peloton.

The finish was in Gent and once again the number of spectators lining the roads was insane as we neared the finish. Only this time the crowd seemed out of control. Belgians love their cycling and today they were out in force risking their lives and ours, trying to get as close to the race as possible while screaming their lungs out and frantically waving their flags. Too often they were way too close for comfort. I think they must have forgotten we weren’t riding up the Koppenberg or Molenberg at 20km/hr where they can come right out to the middle of the road. They didn't seem to comprehend that we were doing 60km/hr coming into the sprint finish and that it was not ok to stand out in the middle of the road until the very last nano-second. It was like this right up until 5 km from the finish.

Coming into the finish, all seemed cool. It was a little technical but we were able to ride a good position and I felt comfortable. Then as we passed the 3 km banner the inevitable happened. Eric Zabel, for whatever reason, lost his composure for a split second and rode into another dude from Liquigas, who dropped it 2 riders in front of me.

We were hard on the right-hand barrier and I could see it all happening in slow motion. A few guys escaped on the left-hand side but eventually the toppling mass of fallen riders and bikes was enough to block the whole road and the 20 or so that made it through went on for the win.
When I saw it all happening in front of me there was nothing I could do except say ‘Oh No!!!’ I managed to scrub off a bit of speed with the brakes and after that it was down I went. I felt it was going to be a mess so braced myself as best I could. I don’t know how it happened but as I came down, my fall was broken by another poor sod who was already down on the road. I landed smack bang on top of him. I’m not the sort of bloke who is too comfortable with lying on top of other guys but today I was more than happy to be lying in the middle of the road on top of another bloke. It was a much softer landing than hitting the tarmac. It was a lucky escape and someone above was looking out for me. Don't get me wrong though, I won’t be making a habit of lying on top of other men.

Julz

Not Much Better...
Stage 1: London- Canterbury, 203km

After yesterday’s bad day I had no other choice but to get over it and move on. That’s one thing about the TdF or any big tour; you don't have a lot of time to dwell on what didn’t go right the day before ‘coz you have to re-focus your thoughts on the next stage. Nonetheless I was still carrying my disappointment with me most of the day, today.

Once again London turned it on and I was proud to be part of something so incredible. The number of people that were out to watch the race today again was insane. They lined the road from start to finish 3 or 4 deep and in places 10 or 15 deep. I can’t imagine how many were actually out there to catch a glimpse of the TdF ‘07.

As far as the race went, although I enjoyed being out there and part of the chaos, I didn't really go much better than yesterday. I wasn't able to get into a good position at the finish as I wasn't feeling strong enough and every time I tried to make it through a gap I seemed to get shut out.

I had Thor on my wheel in the last bend, at about 10th-12th place but I got closed in on the inside of the corner. He managed to dive across to the right and finished up second in what was a slow drag of a finish. McEwen astounded everyone again with his class to win the stage with ease.

It was a pretty frustrating day. Not just because I was struggling but just the fact that it didn't really go well. The last 20km was nothing but stress. With 25km to go I got a puncture and as I was chasing back on to the back of the peloton, I got caught up in a crash so I had to start the chase back on again. Then, just as I was making contact with the peloton for the second time, there was another crash so I had to chase back on a third time. So for much of the last 20km, I played a game of ‘Tag’ with the peloton and I was ‘It’ all the time!

After the stage we had the transfer across the channel in the euro tunnel. It was pretty impressive the way that they managed to get all the teams to the trains and across the other side – trucks, buses, cars and all. It took a while but it all came off pretty well and it was an experience traveling across the English Channel below the sea.

Julz

A Personal Worst...
Prologue - London

The only disappointment about the start of the TdF here in London has been me. I had big ambitions for the prologue but ended up with the worst result I’ve ever had in a prologue.

I was sure that after my month of quality training, the form was good and I’d be able to do a good opening TT. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, I had a bad day on the bike and my form was nowhere to be seen. It was a truly disappointing day for me.

What I did enjoy about the day though was the atmosphere around the central city. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen or felt before. After three days of training in the traffic and rain, the race day weather turned out to be awesome. It was warm and sunny - enough to bring out any Londoner from the local pub.

Initially the day seemed perfect and I enjoyed riding around in the warm up and seeing all the Kiwis out and about. And I have to say there was a fair few of you. Enough to scare my French teammates, who couldn’t believe how many of you were out there lending me your support. They even started to think that I might be famous in NZ…

Unfortunately that warm up was the best part of the day. During the race I just felt like I couldn't get going. I don't feel like I could’ve gone any harder or done any better with the warm up or anything else. I just didn't have it. In my mind it wasn't even an average result. It was a poor result. Something pretty hard to stomach when I’ve worked so hard to be good.

Julz

Pre TdF Blog

Hi All

Well, we're up again. I'm on the plane out of Valencia heading to London for the start of the TdF 07'. The big battle is about to begin.

Just before I go on, I want you all just to give a thought to Carole's Mum, Debbie, who is in a battle of her own at the moment. For those of you who don't know, Carole went back to NZ a couple of weeks ago. Her Mum has been diagnosed with cancer and went directly into surgery and now for the next few months will have on-going treatment. All the best to you, Deb.

For us, it threw a spanner in the works. But nothing that we couldn't handle again. In fact, the decisions were pretty easy to make and I think that it has and will all work out for the best.

While Carole & Tanner leaving left an almost eerie quietness in the house, I'm sure that those on the other side got a lift from the life Tanner brings with him where ever he travels. Most of all, it just felt like the right thing to have Carole & Tanner back in NZ with her family.

As for the Tour prep, all has gone pretty well. The best ever actually. It was a hugely different build-up for me not coming in off the back of an injury and with the Giro under my belt.

The approach that I took to the training was a conservative one to say the least. So being a character that constantly trains the house down and feel that I'm losing out if I don't, it was quite a strange period.

In the three weeks leading up to the Tour, I often called my trainer to ask him if he thought I was doing enough. A lot of the time I was feeling uneasy about what I was doing, or rather, not doing. In some ways it was mentally harder than if I'd have trained full gas right up to the Tour. At least by having to train full gas I always know I'm doing all that I can as physically there's no way I could do any more.

This time it has been about 'invisible' training. Or recovery. Taking benefit from the work that has already been done. It was an odd feeling though getting around not feeling tired all the time when preparing for a big tour.

It just became about reminding myself that I was coming from some of my best form ever only 6 weeks before and that I had trust in my trainer of 10 years. He knows me well physically and mentally and his training has always paid off for me.

So that’s where I'm at. I reckon that I'm in some of the best form ever. Certainly the numbers on the SRM show that and now it's just a matter of converting it - keeping it tight and keeping it upright.

I suspect that it might take a couple of days to get the rhythm as I haven't raced for a month but when it comes it'll be good.

Julian

A Very Vague and Brief Update...

Hi you guys,
Carole here. Thought I better update you on Julian's behalf - even though it's going to be brief and somewhat vague as I've only managed a 3 minute conversation with him since he left for the Tour...and he hasn't been able to get online once yet.....

First up the prologue.... Unfortunately it didn't go well for Julz. He had the prologue as a focus since last year but for whatever reason, his form eluded him on Saturday and subsequently he had a shite day in the office. The bugger about a time trial is that it is a super honest race and there's no way to bluff your way to a good result. He was pretty gutted about it but thankfully philosophical enough to let that one go and concentrate his energy on the coming stages.


Stage 1 was a pretty successful one for the team. Julz managed to lead out Thor ok and Thor got 2nd which is a cool enough way to start the Tour. Julz said he wasn't feeling overly flash. I reminded him that it's impossible to do a leadout in a Grand Tour without a fair bit of form in the legs. He mentioned that he thinks he didn't do enough training before the Tour....Yeah right! Good Tui beer ad that, Julz! Honestly... if he isn't busting his arse being a 'Come Back King', he thinks he isn't training enough.... Hmmmmm???????


Stage 2 was a disaster for Julz and Thor. No doubt you've already heard or seen the state of the race at the 2km banner. Some dude dropped it right in the middle of the leadout riders and 'boomfa'....guys were dropping like flies, including Julz and Thor.

I haven't managed to talk to Julz since the mass bingle but he looked ok as he puttered across the finish line.

Hopefully Julz will get online sooner rather than later and flick me through his diaries.

Stay tuned and don't forget to deck yourselves out in a TdF 07 supporters t'shirt. Go to either;

www.torpedo7.com
(click on apparel then on t'shirts) or to
www.nzoactive.co.nz

TdF T'Shirts....
Right, you guys, we've hooked up with our good mate, Gaz from NZO Active and come up with a funky t'shirt to see you through the 3 wks of the Tour (and some), to be worn either sitting on the couch here in wintry NZ, watching the Tour on the goggle box through the graveyard shift hours or, better still, while out there sweating through the heinous July heat of France, cheering on Julz in the flesh.

If you're keen, you can buy online from www.torpedo7.co.nz

They should be available from Friday 6th July.

Final Wrap Up of The Giro

Well, I have to say that the finish of the Giro didn’t really pan out like I had hoped. The penultimate day was a time trial. Not my favourite thing but normally in the last week, I usually manage to enjoy the TT as it’s a chance to soak up the ambience of the race before the stress of the last day. This time, however, there was not much to enjoy about as the shit weather of the past few days continued, putting a horrible spin on the day. Anyway, it wasn’t too much stress to make it through and an hour in the rain never hurt anyone.

All the same, even though I was trying to go easy to conserve myself for the final day into Milan, I still found it a grovel, making me think that the day before - when I went pretty deep - cost me physically. I just hoped that I would recover enough overnight for the final stage.

The last day of any grand Tour is always a lengthy experience even though it’s a relaxed and enjoyable ride to arrive at the finish circuit. This was the first time I had done the last day of the Giro so it was a new experience for me. I’m not sure why (like a lot of things about the Giro) but they thought it a good idea to put us over two climbs at the start of the stage; even though we never race ‘til we get to the circuits anyway. It was just more of a drag that we didn't need to have to deal with on a day which for us, is supposed to be a day that allows us all to reflect on what we have put ourselves through over the last three weeks. Typically the final day is usually around 150-160km but this time they made it 190km. Hmmm….. obviously they thought we needed the extra miles in our legs????.

Albeit a long one, it was a cool day. Unlike the TdF where we pretty much ride through the suburbs to the centre of Paris, in the Giro we started a fair way out of Milan and made our way to the finishing circuit passing through small villages painted in pink, the colour symbolizing the leader’s jersey at the Giro. From flowers to ribbons, balloons and painted cars - they had it all. It looked brilliant.

The best part was that occasionally, as we passed through some villages, the locals blocked the road and stopped the race to offer us their congratulations and some of their local cuisine; pastries, pizza, cakes, chocolates, gelato and bubbly were all on the menu at different places.

It was all a pretty cool experience and showed just how deeply passionate the Italians are of the Giro, even with the clouds that hang over cycling at the moment. It was really cool to see and even cooler to be a part of – especially in the unsavory climate of today’s pro cycling world.

Through all of this, I wasn't able to indulge too much. I was too focused on doing well in the final finish in Milan. It was a chance that I couldn't let go as it was only the second time in the 3 wks of racing where I had free rein to do something for myself. The first of which got messed up when I was almost taken out by a crash 700m out from the finish. I really wanted to make it happen in this one as it was going to be the last chance I would get at anything until after the TdF.

Things went well in the sprint on Thursday despite the crash and I hoped to repeat the same again, although without having to deal with a crash this time. I knew that if I could do this, I would be in with a good chance of winning.

The final finishing circuit in Milan was a little tricky to say the least, with four corners in the last 1500m. Of these, the most difficult was a hairpin and I knew from the get go that it was going to be important to be in the first 5 or 6 through it as the peloton would then be strung out and there would be almost no place to move up. Although having the best intention, my actions didn't follow through with my thoughts. I was ok going into the hairpin until the last few metres when I let too many guys come around me and I lost my place. It was a complete disaster as I was exactly where I wasn't supposed to be after the corner. From there on, as I had predicted, it stayed strung out ‘til the finish line and I couldn’t move anywhere. If it had been the target race for the year, I would’ve maybe taken a little more risk, but I had decided not to take any risks so at the end of the day I had to be happy with my decision.

Although a little disappointed, I still finished the Giro with a sense of fulfillment. I had gotten through with no major dramas and that was the goal. I was 100% healthy and fit and ready to start my prep for the TdF - the big one for the year. Although there were some stages where some better results, given the form I had, would’ve been nice, the main objective of the race had been achieved. For the first time I would be going to the Tour 110% fit and healthy; finally not having to overcome any majors just to get to the start line.

See ya there,
Julz

Stage 19
Pain In the Rain

Today was nothing but awful. It rained non stop. It was incessant, relentless, unremitting, persistent and any other adjective with the same meaning. The only variation in the day was the speed and volume at which the rain fell.

It was going to be the last day for many to have a go at a Stage win and it was expected to be a break. I had planned to have a crack and although the morale was a little down with the bad weather, I looked at it as a chance to get to the finish sooner.

Things went well and I chose a good move. I was pretty sure that we were gone. We were a group of 16 and we had a good combination of riders, i.e., Bettini, Mercks, Garzelli, Mayo, but unfortunately there were a few teams that have done nothing here who weren’t represented in it so they got together and brought it back. It should’ve been the move of the day. After we were caught, we hit the climb and the climbers attacked. I was unable to follow the breaks up the climb and by the finish of the descent a group of 10 had got away.

Up the climb, grupetto was called but I decided to fight on a bit. I didn't want to go in the grupetto and spend any longer in the rain than I had to. The ten were reduced to 6 over the last climb and although I was with the front peloton, I punctured with 10 km to go and came in solo, only 4mins down.

It was a good day though and I was riding well on the climbs and if I hadn't have got a flat, I would’ve been up for the sprint for 7th.

The piss-poor weather made the day a hard one and tonight I’m really feeling like we are at the end of a three week stage race.

Stage 18
A Near Miss

Today was to be one of the few chances that I would have in this race. I gave it a go a couple of days back (when Garzelli won) but the last climb proved to be a little too hard for me. Today was completely flat and with Petacchi looking for his 4th Stage victory, it was going to be another chance for me.

As I thought starting out the day, it came down to a sprint with the race coming together with 10km to go. We had two laps of a finishing circuit so I had a good look at what was a pretty tricky finish.

After the 1 km banner, we had a left turn with 800m to go, then a 250m straight, then another right turn into the last 550m. It was all pretty tight but the advantage was that we had seen it beforehand. The first time through I formulated a plan for the finish. I was on my own for the sprint with no team support so my idea to stay out of trouble was to be in the top 5 in the first corner after the last 1 km banner. That way I would be out of trouble and could recover a little bit through the last corner onto the finish straight. Provided I maintained a good position.

All went well coming into the last 1 km. I did my first planned semi-sprint to move up before the corner and going into it, I was 4th. Unfortunately, those in front of me weren't as cool and collected as I was feeling. The first two riders just came into the bend way too hot. As we entered it, I thought, “What are you coats thinking?!” They were just going way too fast in my mind and had no way of making it - especially the line that they chose.

Sure enough, as soon as the first guy leant into the corner, he lost his front wheel and dropped it. IDIOT! Then his team-mate, who was second wheel, went down straight behind him. Before they crashed, I had already backed off a bit, then as they slid into the barrier and bounced back, I braked a little more, hoping that somehow I would be lucky enough to find a way through.

Fortunately, I managed to avoid them both but in the process lost all my speed. Those behind me managed to have a sweeter run, losing less or no speed through the corner and avoiding the crash. Coming out of the corner, Pettachi came underneath me with his speed intact.

Immediately he had 30-40m on me. I had to jump out of the saddle and accelerate back up to speed. On the finish straight I gave it all that I could to close the gap. I seemed to be able to hold him but certainly wasn’t gaining on him. The energy I had used to get back up to speed had taken it out of me.

The whole time that this was going on, I had no idea what was going on behind me. As it turned out I had a bunch of dudes on my wheel so I was closing the gap for all the contenders. Once again I did a good (although completely unintentional) lead-out! After a long drawn out effort, I blew up in the last 50m metres and got swamped by the guys on my wheel. I finished 9th. What a bugger.

It was really disappointing at first but I had to be happy that I did what I could. I did my best. I had a plan, I followed through with it but it just didn't work out. Unfortunately, it got hammered by one of those nasty ‘uncontrollables’ that often plague good intentions. That’s just the way it is sometimes, I guess, and it could’ve easily been a very different result. Just gotta remember that that’s sport. Being able to tell you guys about it reminds me of that and puts it all into perspective. As a good friend always used to say, “It’s just a bloody bike race!”

Stage 17
Part of another Legendary Stage...

In today’s Stage, I was once again part of another legendary stage in the world of cycling.

The finishing climb up Monte Zoncolan was talked about as being the hardest climb in Europe. Overall the stage was pretty short so for me it was just about getting to the bottom of the climb with a good group and riding up it at my own speed. I knew that it was going to be a cool day as it had been one of the most talked about Stages in the Giro so the tifosi were going to be out in force. And a dedicated force they were.

Because sections of it were so steep, it was not possible to drive up there so people had to either walk or ride but that didn’t faze them. Even near the top they were out there in the 1000's. People littered the slopes and the awesome sight set a breathtaking backdrop to almost match the breathtaking gradient….The steepest parts were 22% with an average gradient of 11.9%. The climb was 10.1km long and gained 1203m. Even the team and officials’ cars weren’t allowed to follow. Team mechanics and commissaires had to go up on motorbikes.

Once I got to the bottom of the climb, I just rode up at my own speed in my 34x27, enjoying the moment. Up the 22%’s, even with the 34x27, grinding the pedals wasn’t an easy task at times. Nonetheless, the pushes and enthusiasm from the spectators not only gave the grupetto some relief but also made it fun.

It was definitely one of the hardest climbs that I’ve ever done although it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been ‘coz seen as it was the final climb of the day there was no problem to make the time-cut. Thankfully without that pressure, I was able to ride at my own pace so it all just came down to enjoying the moment. Phew!

Stage 16
To Start Or Not To Start....

The bad weather continued today. It was raining when we left the hotel but as we descended into the valley to the start, the temperature rose and the rain stopped.

The problem of the day was the fact that over night it had snowed and when I looked out the hotel window in the morning, the snow was just a couple of hundred meters above the hotel. Probably down to about 1300m. Well actually, that wasn't even the issue; the issue was that from the start we headed straight up a climb to 1900m were it was snowing.

Before the start, there seemed to be no open discussion as to whether or not the stage would go ahead. Most of the riders seemed to want to start on the other side of the climb but the Directors and Race Organisers decided it would be ok to pass the climb - even though they’d be all rugged up with the car heaters on full gas while us poor buggers would be the ones having to race through that shite. Still don't understand how that works; why what the riders think just never seems to matter. It’s a monumental downfall of bike riders. At times like this there is never 100% camaraderie. I truly believe that we need to stick together more and stand up for what’s best for us but it never happens. It’s a strange culture.

Anyway, contrary to what the majority of the riders wanted, we started out. The first part going up the climb was no problem. It doesn't matter how cold it is going up, that’s always ok. The horrible part was going downhill. As per usual, we descended a helluva lot faster than we ascended and were wet through from sweat, rain and snow, and our muscles weren’t having to work, the body temperature dropped quickly and all the extremities started to freeze. It hurt.

After 15 km of descending we passed through a long tunnel. By this time everyone was freezing cold and miserable. So in a rare show of solidarity, the riders called the race to a halt in the tunnel. In the shelter we were all able to put fresh, dry clothes on and continue on our way. It was a nice moment that you don't get too often in cycling nowadays.

After that point the race was on. By the bottom of the descent, the rain had stopped and the weather had cleared.

We had three hard climbs coming into the finish so I thought that today might be a chance for me to get in the mix - something that I haven't done too much here given that I’ve been thinking about the TdF most of the time and preparing for that.

Ten kms before the climbs, with 60 km to go, a break of 13 went away. Then a group of 8 or so started the chase which I managed to include myself in. At the bottom of the first of the three climbs, there was 30 sec in front of us and we had more than a minute or so, on the peloton.

We rode solid up the first climb but the gap stayed the same. From our group there were only two of us left at the top but we collected 3 or 4 others who had been dropped from the front group.

At the start of the second climb, we were still at 30 or so seconds. The two of us started to ride a good tempo on the second climb and closed the gap a little as we neared the top. Then just before the top, Steffano Garzelli came past us at warp speed. The front group, which by now was only 4 riders of the original 13, was 15 or so seconds in front when Garzelli caught me. I dug as deep as I could and hung on to his wheel ‘til the top and over the top we bridged the gap to the front group. I had absolutely buried myself to stay with him.

By this point, it was raining again and on the descent I was feeling a little twisted after going so hard to get across to the front. Being so buggered, I was afraid of misjudging a corner and dropping it so I lost the wheel a little bit going down the hill and came on the last climb 5-6secs off the back of the front group that I was with at the top of the previous climb.

Unfortunately from there it got worse for me. By this time, Garzelli had ridden through the front group and was away solo. The guys could see that I was struggling a little bit on the bottom of the last climb and then started to wind into a little more not wanting to take me to the finish with them. I rode the first couple of kms of the climb just off the back but then when it flattened out more at the top, I started to lose more time. By the time we came off the climb, I was 1 min down and it was too late for me.

Essentially I lost any possibility of a result by not taking risks on the downhill. It feels a little disappointing now when I think about it but I would be feeling a lot worse if I had have crashed, injured myself and missed the TdF. Just have to keep things in perspective, I guess.

Eventually I was caught by a group from behind but we were 2min 30sec down on the front by then with 20km to go and had no chance to come back so it was game over.
I finished 11th.

PS. Belated Happy Birthday wishes to you, Melva. Lotsa love and hugs, Carole, Julz and Tanner :o) xoxox

Stage 15
Oh, To Be A Cricket Player.

Last night, lying in bed, all I could hear was lightening, thunder and pissing rain. All I could think about was the next stage and how hard it was going to be going over four mountain passes in these conditions. The thought made me wish I was a cricket player ‘coz they get to have the day off when the weather is shite. Lucky bastards.

Stage 15 was always going to be the hardest day of the tour and with the conditions the way they were, it was only going to be even harder. When I woke up this morning, I tried to be optimistic and told myself that we had three hours ‘til the start – plenty of time for the sun to wiggle its way through the heavy, water-laden clouds. Hmmmmm….

My optimism was all in vain and three hours later we started in the rain and headed for the mountains, the highest of which today was 2300m. It’s bad enough to be freezing cold at the top when it’s raining but then you have to make the descent for 30 min which is plenty of time for the wet and cold to penetrate deep in to the bones. Honestly it’s bloody horrible.

Because of the crap conditions, I thought that it was best to fight on as long as possible. The time cut was pretty generous for the day but I didn't want to take any chances. Also the last climb was steep and therefore easy to lose a lot of time on.

Halfway up the second climb, I found a group of 20 or so old mates to make my way to the finish with. The cold and wet conditions had made the day hard and by the last climb all of us had had a gut’s full. Actually none of us had a full gut. On the cold days the tendency to be hungry increases 10 fold and we were starving for the last hour. No matter how much we ate in the race, the hunger pangs persisted. If anyone in the group had some food they would share it around but it didn't really seem to make a helluva lot of difference. The conditions had nailed us.

Eventually, after making it to the last climb, which we averaged 8 km/hr for the last 5 km in our 39x27 gears, it was all over. The only difficulty remaining was to make the descent back to the bus through the hordes of Italians swarming all over the road on their way back down. This always seems to be a problem after the mountain stages in Italy.

Anyway, rest day tomorrow…finally.

Stage 14

Today’s stage was about as hard as it could’ve been. It was always going to be a hard stage for us non-climbers as the second half of the stage had difficult climbs but it wasn’t classified as a mountain stage. This meant we didn’t get the usual mountain stage time-cut. We only had around 30min which isn't a lot.

The stage was flat for the first 85km but we had a strong headwind and a break never formed. So when we hit the first climb, which was the longest of the race at 26 km, all hell broke lose. It was just a matter of holding on for as long as I could ‘til things settled.

Fortunately, I had a pretty good climbing day and managed to stay in the front group ‘til the smoke cleared and the pace settled to a tempo ridden by Liquigas. By now eight riders had gone in the break which allowed some sanity back into the race. I was able to stay with the peloton ‘til 7km from the top when the attacking started again. By this time, I was sweet-as as there were 70 odd riders already out the pipe and I was able to ride the last 7km easy and wait for the next group to catch me at the top of the climb. From there on in it was just a matter rolling with the big group that soon formed, to the finish. It all worked out pretty well.

Tomorrow is going to be hard. It’s the hardest day of the Tour. I’m really looking forward to the rest day in two days. It’ll be good to be in one place for a bit. The hardest part of this race has been the transfers. Once again, after 5hrs 30 in the saddle, we have another 200 km drive to the hotel – just in case the 2hrs 30min drive we had yesterday to get to the hotel on the other side of Milan, wasn’t enough to pee on our recovery picnic.

I guess though that we are just the ‘muppets’ in 'The Muppet Show'.

Stage 13
12km Uphill TT....

My Favourite...Not!!!!

I'm still waiting for the day when we have downhill time trials. I can’t understand why it’s always this uphill business. I reckon a downhill TT would be awesome. Just to make it extra cool, they’d have to make a 1% time-cut...

Anyway, this morning I managed to get out for an hour easy ride after breakfast. It was one of the nicest things that I’ve done in a while. It’s strange when you’re at a Grand Tour and your daily routine is solely focused on yourself, the team and the race.

You wake in the morning, have breakfast with the team, go back to your room and pack your suitcase for the staff to load into the truck, brush your teeth, take a dump, and if you have a few spare minutes before you leave to board the bus for the start, you do some stretches. Otherwise, as it is most times, it’s directly to the bus you go.

Then it’s off to the start. We arrive at the start about an hour before, in that time we do the team meeting, get organized; sun block, race food, radios, arse cream, another poo if the urge presents itself, and whatever else you need to do. Then we go to the sign in stage and sign in before rolling into the start village for a quick chinwag with the boys. The whistle goes to go to the start line and then the race is on and you are with the same crew for another day.

After the stage, it’s straight into the bus, shower, change, food and then to the hotel. A massage precedes dinner and then usually there’s time to chat with Carole before going to bed. Maybe there’s a little time to read or watch the goggle box if the transfer to the hotel isn’t too long.

Every day is the same; the same people, the same routine. There’s little or no contact with the outside world and sometimes you almost forget that a world outside the ‘Grand Tour Bubble’ even exists.

This morning before the TT, however, it was good to get out there on the bike by myself for an hour and see some ‘real world’ things going on. Where we were staying was nothing special - just an airport hotel in Torino, but it was good to get out on the bike and see that there is life outside the Giro. It sounds kinda crazy but it was nice to see people in their gardens, kids playing and people doing shopping.

As for the TT, I rode it without having to dig deep so that was a mission accomplished.

Stage 12

The Big Mountains....

Today was a little bit more of a serious feeling ambience than yesterday. We faced two big climbs with the first peaking at 2800m and the second, Coll de Izord, 2300m (in France) which I have bad memories from in the TdF last year. Last year in the Tour it was one of the climbs that I suffered the most on.

In any case, I feel like I’m climbing better here than in the Tour last year. The only problem I’m facing is the cold I have has got a little worse. So the objective was to get through as easy as possible.

Fortunately things couldn’t have worked out any better. Although we have lost many of the riders who fill the autobus, we still had an ok group. When grupetto was called half way up the climb with 70km to go, I jumped straight in there. I have to try and conserve myself and stop my cold getting any worse so I wanted to take the easy way. Well, as easy as it could be. As always in the grupetto, we still had to ride solid to make the time cut but I was able to ride within my limits as we passed the big climbs and descended down to Briancon. The time cuts here on the big mountain stages are pretty generous so that makes these mountain stages pretty nice riding in that regard.

It’s strange being in the Giro and crossing into France. The crowds here at the Giro have impressed me quite a lot. For the majority of the time, we’ve had loads of people lining the roads. When we crossed the border into France at the top of the first climb you could almost feel the difference. There certainly weren’t the spectators in France for the last 60km of the stage that we’d had in Italian half of the stage.

I guess that’s the difference with the Giro and the Tour. At the Tour there are always people everywhere, no matter where the race goes. The following of the Giro really only exists within the borders of Italy. Not that that’s a bad thing; I quite enjoy the difference.

Stage 11
Fun in the Sun

Today was a pretty rare day for us in the racing world. After a hard 7 hr day yesterday everyone was content today to take it easy for the most part.

With it being one of the last flat stages and a last opportunity for many of the sprinters before they go home, it was always likely to be a sprint and no one was interested in trying to attack the sprinter’s teams.

This gave us the chance to enjoy the sunshine on what was a blistering, hot day. After a couple of hours riding at 30km/hr, things were getting a little boring as everyone had run out of gossip. Whitey, the entertainer, however, had a bright idea to spice things up. It was a perfect day for ice cream so he thought that he would go back to the car and get some money so he could stop at the shop. When he went back to the Discovery car, he scabbed all the money he could from Geater (Kiwi mechanic notorious for being a tight arse) which only amounted to 2 euros. A few kms later we passed a gas station. In Whitey went and asked how many Magnums he could get for 2 euros. The guy turned around and gave him the whole box and Whitey was on his way. He came back to the peloton, bopping up the side with his box of Magnums handing them out like he was Father Xmas. I train a lot with Whitey and I know that we like to stop for coffee when we are out but today was something else. It was classic. A day that I enjoyed a lot.

As far as the race went, it was not such a rosey day in the CA camp. We had the same plan as the other day for the sprint but when I started a huge pull off the front, Furlan didn’t follow. Thor was yelling at him to go but for whatever reason, Furlan didn’t: all unbeknown to me. Unfortunately, the Milram team saw an opportunity to jump on my wheel and took it. I ended doing a wicked lead-out for them with Petacchi taking the win…..hmmmmmm. Thor and I were pretty disappointed with what happened and after some discussion, we’ve come to the conclusion that our original two man sprint team (i.e., Thor and I) works best….

Stage 10

Ouch!!! Tonight I am absolutely buggered. Today was another 250km and it was all on from the gun. I have come down with a chest infection so I was suffering a lot today on what was already a hard stage. I don't have a lot of energy so I better save it as we are not even half through the race yet. I'm down - good night.

Stage 9

What More Can Ya Do?

Today the riders made their own rest day of sorts. Normally the second Monday of a Grand Tour is a rest day but this year they gave us a rest day after only 3 days which wasn't even a rest day anyway as it was used up traveling off Sardinia. So today after the hard stage yesterday, everyone just seemed to take it pretty easy.

What helped was that it was finishing in the home town of Petacchi so most were content to leave it to a sprint. We had a pretty nice safe run in so all was good in the lead up. The last 5km was straight down the coast - a nice simple finish. The wind was a little in the face but not too bad. This caused the peloton to bunch up a little in the last kilometers making the speed not particularly high. It meant that it was a constant roll over to the front and as you quickly as you rolled over to the front, you were swamped from behind.

As we came under the 1 km banner, we had a pretty good position but the pace was slow to say the least. Before we could get swamped again, I took the initiative with 900m left and hit the front with my new Italian team-mate, Furlan, on my wheel, who in turn had Thor on his wheel. I knew that I was going to have to go for a long one but it was better that than having to fight for position. We had talked in the team meeting about me going into the final slight bend first with the two of them on my wheel – this, we said would be the ideal situation. Coming out of the final bend it was 450m to go and Furlan could take Thor from there. It went perfectly; I rode through the final slight bend, out the other side and pulled left as we passed the 450m sign. A perfect job. The field was well strung out behind me so my speed had been good and although I had done the best part of 500m, it meant we had good position and Thor would be fresh as he did not have to fight for a wheel within the last 1 km. In my mind, it couldn’t have been more perfect. It was exactly what we had talked about in the pre-race meeting.

Unfortunately, after what I felt was a perfect job, it didn't come off too well. Thor didn't get the result he was after. I thought that the lead-out had been pretty exceptional. Maybe a little too early but sometimes you have to take the bull by the horns. I made the decision to go early because of the situation but I was the one who bore the brunt of it as I did a longer turn and like we had planned, I came out of the bend first with the two of them on my wheel. Unlike some, I felt what I did was text book and I was pretty proud of myself. My effort, my strength and my power even impressed me...and it takes a lot to impress myself.

Hmmmmm... Oh well…what more can ya do??

Stage 8
Bring Back Cipo....

Today was one of those days that we needed Cipo in the race. Someone to stand up and say, “We will ride easy ‘til I say.” At least to the top of the first climb. Instead it was the worst possible scenario. The first 100 km today was going to be some of the hardest in the race. From km 0 we headed straight up a 13 km climb and from then on it was up and down ‘til the last 100 km. Mostly up, I reckon. Anyway, we got off to the worst possible start after a French rider with panache attacked after 1km. That set everyone off. Incidentally, the rider who attacked first was the first one dropped and ended up riding in the laughing group all day. Some guys never learn.

The attacks and the hard riding continued for the first 50km then a big group of 25 riders got away. It was dangerously big so it meant that the pace never slowed as teams who are in contention for the overall kept the speed up so as not to let the gap get too big.

Eventually, after riding at what seemed to be warp 9 speed all day and completing one lap of the Ferrari testing circuit, we arrived at the finish in Fiorano Modenese - the home of Ferarri. It was nice in all but next time I want to do the lap in a Ferarri - not suffering after 190km on the bike.

As hard as it was today, I was pretty much ok for most of it. I was able to ride within my limit and the fact that I did a warm up before the start today made it a little easier on me up the first climb. I am notoriously bad for the first 50 or so kilometers so doing a warm up as a prelude to the 13 km uphill start was a must or else I would’ve been toast. I was happy that I made the effort to do that. From then on I was ok. It was a lot of suffering but I didn’t find myself on the rivot too often so that was good for today.

Stage 7: Was Way Too Long...
Today was long. Way too long. 254km. That’s the length of a Classic. Although I have to say that most of the day was pretty enjoyable despite it feeling too long.

It was always going to be a day for the sprinters with none of them wanting let a chance go by. So when the break went and the tempo started, we were able to sit back and enjoy. The weather was awesome (super clear sunny late 20's) and the scenery a treat.

The stage started in Spoleto and finished in Scarperia near Pistoia and was basically straight up the guts of Italy. Being 254 km, we covered a fair distance on the map. It was the sort of countryside that you see pictures of in magazines on Italy and I reckon we had the perfect day for it - just like what you see in those mags. There were all things Italian in the countryside; olive trees, old stone houses, vineyards and of course, Italianitos.

50 km from the finish we had the only climb of the day. After what had been a pretty relaxed day, it all quickly changed as Quick Step took charge riding flat out up the climb to try and split the race. For the first time in the race, I really felt like I was on the rivot. I didn't get dropped but if it was 1m further I think I would’ve been.

Today the finish was on a race car circuit so for a change it was safe with only the riders themselves to make it dangerous. I was pretty tired coming into the last five k's on the circuit but I think that most of the peloton felt the same. Still, I managed once again to do my job. Milram have been doing great lead-outs here for Petacchi and today was no exception. On the last bend I managed to bring Thor up onto the wheel of Petacchi with 300m left and that was the best that I could do. It got him second place so that wasn’t bad and I think that it was the best thing to do when we were only the two of us.

I have to say that even though it was hard, I really enjoyed the last part of the race today. The Giro has a much better identity than the Vuelta Espana and a better feel to it; much like the Tour de France but with less stress and people. Tonight we are in a tiny little village in the hills. The hotel is average but it’s a truly beautiful place with good, clean air, pleasant surroundings and a nice village. These little nightly stopovers that we have in these random towns are something that I’ll miss when I stop cycling. Often we are in the cutest, smallest places with shit hotels but you can always count on them having a real feeling about them. I only wish that after cycling I could go back and visit them all at my own will and pace.

For those of you who are interested, we are in Bivigliano (FI)

Julz

Just Gettin’ By...

Today’s stage from Tivoli - Spoleto was the first proper mountain stage. We passed 2000m on the first climb then it was a couple of smaller ones after that before descending to the finish. It had the potential to be a very difficult day but actually it couldn’t have worked it out any better for us non-climber types.

The first climb started after 75km and although the start was as mad as a snake, finally after 65 km a group got away. If anyone wanted to be in the break, today was the day. It seems that Liquigas were happy to give the leader’s jersey away after a few pretty hard days defending it. Straight away the peloton sat up and the break quickly took time out of us. For the rest of the day the teams who had hopes for the overall GC road tempo so the break stayed at a reasonable time gap and us fellas who worry just about surviving the climbs rolled with the peloton ‘til the last climb 20 km from the finish, sat up and cruised into the finish. All went well given how ugly it could’ve been.

The only story of the day came as we were descending to the finish. Naturally the group I was in wasn't the front group and therefore the kind of group which are always prone to attracting the odd Terry-Tag-On or two. As we were nearing the bottom of the descent, a Terry-Tag-On bopped on into the group - obviously so that he had something to tell his work mates the next day and possibly to act out his dream of being a Giro d'Italia competitor. He even had the swingers to have a crack at coming under Gatesy (Nick Gates) on one of the corners. I’m sure now he’ll find absolute delight in telling his mates that we don't go that fast, ‘It’s eeeeeasy!’ Hmmmm, winners everywhere.

Julz

Stage 5
Returning To Normality....

Well there was nothing special about today. It was probably the easiest day that we’ve had so far. A break went early and a nice easy tempo was set for most of the day. The roads were good and although it looked like it was raining all around us, thankfully the rain clouds left us alone.

The finish was more than a little mad. We came to a top of a climb with 15 km to go and then it was a mad dash down the descent to the finish with switchbacks, twists and turns. I was feeling pretty average today and when it’s twisting and turning like this, if you are not good, it’s hard to get into a good position and hold it. The plan was to get up and help Thor but I wasn’t going well enough to maintain a good position and in the last 5km every time we came through a turn, I lost 10 places through fear. It’s a little unlike me but I’m just not on top of my game at the moment.

Thor has again shocked the peloton with his turn around in form. After struggling horrendously and getting dropped the first three days of the Giro, today he finished 2nd. It always amazes me how he can have such a dramatic turn around in form but it’s not the first time that I have seen it from him.

Julz

Stage 4: Another Bright Idea From The Organization....

Finally I reckon us riders did something sensible. Today the race started from a place called Salerno. From here it went out around a peninsular and what the Italians proudly told is one of the most beautiful places in Italy. Well if I had been able to take my eye off the road for 10 sec, I might’ve been able to look around. Nice as it might have been, it was no place for a bike race; particularly a big race like the Giro. The road was that narrow, that twisty and that up and down, we had to concentrate 110%, 110% of the time. Even on the uphill sections doing 20-km/hr we had to break in the peloton to make the corner.

Fortunately the riders were sensible enough to take it easy and ride out the first 50km ‘til it opened up a bit. Then as the road just started to get better, the rain came down and I took part in one of the biggest bingles I’ve ever seen in bike racing. It was just incredible. According to Carole from the overhead shot on TV, the peloton looked like the ‘Domino Toppling World Champs’. Remember those? Wonder if they still have them……

When I got up off the ground and glanced around at the wreckage, I reckon that at least 90 riders must have come down. The funny thing was that as huge as the crash was and the amount of riders and bikes all piled on top of each other, there didn’t seem to be anyone really hurt. It was a straight road and I think that it was more of a panic reaction that caused the crash. The first guys went down at the front and everyone slammed on the anchors (the worst thing you can do on a slippery road, especially front breaking) and guys just started falling left, right and centre. Eventually we all got up and had a bit of a laugh and continued on our way.

Later that night I was able to see it on TV and it was quite an impressive sight on the box even though they could only get in three quarters of the guys down in the one shot.

For me, it was a pretty easy rest of the day as we raced to the last climb, found the grupetto and wombled on up to the finish.

Julz

Stage 3: Barumini-Cagliari, 181 km

Today there was a bit of a mix up for the team in the finish. After a couple of less than average days for Thor, today he said he was feeling good again so we had to do the sprint for him. Things all seemed to be going pretty well ‘til the last 600m when there was a crash that Thor came down in. I was near the front but I didn't know that he had crashed. I kept on racing doing the sprint as though I was leading out like normal. The last 600m was on cobbles and I felt a little sluggish but managed to pull up alongside the front of the race with 350m to go. I pulled over and then realised that I was alone. It was a bit of a stuff up but it all happened so quickly. I'm not sure how I would have gone if I had known to sprint for myself. I don't think that I would have been good enough to win as I was a little sluggish on the cobbles but I think a top 5 was on the cards.

Ale-Jet (Pettachi) won the stage in a pretty impressive sprint. It has been a long ‘very average’ period for the rider who was so dominant for a couple of years there and he was real emotional with his win. It was nice to see some pure passion expressed after the stage.

Today was the last stage on Sardinia before we transfer to the mainland. Tomorrow is meant to be a rest day but having to get up early to catch the plane then drive to the hotel then go for a recovery ride, it’s not going to be much of a rest day. They wouldn't want to make it too easy for us.

Stage 2: Tempio Pausania-Bosa, 205 km

Sometimes when it’s a long day and not much is happening in the stage, the mind tends to wander off on to other things that are happening around you. Now that we have Tanner, often my thoughts during these cruisey race moments are with him and Carole.

During the stage today, one of the Liquigas riders had a caterpillar crawling around on his arse. One of Tanner’s latest words is ‘cacapillar’ (caterpillar). He absolutely loves them and spends a good proportion of his time in search of a ‘cacapillar’. When he finally sees a caterpillar, he asks, "Cacapillar, touch it?" So as soon as this caterpillar crawling around on Mr Liquigas’ arse caught my eye, all I could think about was my little man, Tanner. It was a nice moment for me, as I had a pleasant little reminder of his cute little voice. I was dying to say it out loud but I don't reckon that the Liquigas rider would have appreciated it if I had said "Caca-pillar, touch it?" to him.

Anyway, as far as the race went, it wasn't a real good day. We had a crazy Giro finish. With a climb 7 km from the finish, it was all on after that. I was just off the back of the first group over the top of the climb and made it back on just over the top. When we got onto the flat with 3 km to go, I was really pinned. I was stuck on the wheel, not able to move. Petacchi and McEwen came past a kilometer later and I was still unable to move up. It stayed that way to the finish. I just didn’t have enough left in the legs to move up into a better position and was too buggered to do the sprint.

Normally, I would’ve said that it was a perfect stage for me but I didn't really feel like I was on a particularly good day today. It was a lost opportunity for me. Thor didn’t make it over the last climb in the front so I was out there for myself but didn’t have good enough legs to do anything. Hopefully things get better and I have another chance at the sprint finish.

We have one more stage on Sardinia before we head across to the mainland on our first rest day.

A Logistical Balls Up…

Stage 1: Caprera - La Maddalena, 25km Team Time Trial

Well, it has been nice here for the first few days of the Giro, on the Island of Sardinia but it has been a logistical nightmare for the team. The first problem was just getting here. Many of the riders had complicated flights and a long travel day. Then there was the problem of getting to the presentation and the first stage, which were on smaller islands off Sardinia.

Yesterday for the presentation, we had to drive to a port 40min away, hang around for a ferry to take us a naval base on an island 25min away and do the presentation on a Navy ship docked at the marina. After the presentation we then had the return trip to tuck under our belts. It was a lot of stuffing around and standing out in the heat waiting, on a day when all you want to do is rest up for the three weeks of racing ahead. I’m sure the Organisers forget sometimes how hard a three week stage race can be and what it takes out of an athlete. More and more it seems to me that the sport is less about the cyclists.

On a positive note, which I always try to look for, is the absolute beauty of this place. It’s probably one of the nicest parts of Europe that I have been to. The landscape is amazing with masses of rocky terrain, old Roman walls and a lot of low lying plant life which, at this time of year, have all kinds of brightly coloured flowers that stand out in the harsh, orange rocky surrounds. The wind here is pretty mad - blowing intensely all the time. It’s because of this that most of the plant life is low lying and compact

The wind and the ‘nightmarish’ logistics made the first stage, a Team Time Trial, difficult as well. Once again we had to travel out to an outlying island for the stage - a nice idea and once again, a nice place, but logistically not the easiest things to achieve. Because of this, we didn't get to see the course before the stage. Instead we left early in the morning, got out there, did a lap of the 25km circuit and then retired to the bus for lunch and a relax before our 4.30pm start.

As it seems to be everywhere here, it was windy as hell and the course itself was not really one that you’d imagine having a TTT with 9 guys racing around, doing 60km/hr. It had way too many twists, turns, climbs and descents. In fact it was down right dangerous - and that’s on a fine day. Anyway, we’re only the riders so what does it matter; we just had to get on with it. Oh yeh and get this, it started on a dirt road for the first 300m. Unbelievable!!

As it turned out, it went ok for us. We knew that we didn't really have the climbers or the depth to win the race, but we were 8th which was not too shabby. Most importantly, we negotiated the course with no mishaps. Although the whole process was a hassle and certainly not the ideal TTT course, in an odd way I enjoyed the little adventure. And besides, I'm sure that it looked a pretty picture on TV.

We have two more days on Sardinia, which I think will be hard. The roads here either, turn, twist, go up or go down. Chuck the constant gale force winds in the mix and if you’re in 200th position then you’re in a spot bother…

Julz

Snail Mail Still The Go In Italy...

If only accessing the internet in Italy was as straight forward as ordering a Quattro Formaggi pizza or a plate of carbonara
or serving of prosciutto e melone... I kid you not. Julian has been in Italy since last Wednesday and has not once had internet access at any of his hotels....Two of which have been Four Star. Hmmmmmm?!?!?!

...But I'm not going to update you 'coz he HAS written diaries each day and as soon as he flicks them through to me for a 'once over' (or twice over, or even more - depending on his state when writing!), I'll pop them up.

Ciao ciao,
C&T

The Call Up

For those of you that don't already know, I was told a couple days after the Classics that I must now ride the Giro.

I was pretty disturbed about the change in race schedule in the beginning because I really felt like I needed a good break after the Classics and had planned a little break away with Carole and Tanner which I'd been so looking forward to. So instead of escaping for a few days away, I had to resume training and prepare myself mentally and physically for battle once again. I've done a lot of racing this year and with the TdF the main focus, I have had to
re-adjust things. It's going to be hard to maintain top form all the way to the Tour but I'll have to try and work it as best I can.

Probably one of the hardest parts of the whole thing was getting my head around the change. It's frustrating to have to change the race programme when you know that's not the best thing for the form or the mental side but when you are told by the team to do something you just have to do it. I did discuss what I thought was best for me but the team were convinced the change was for the better. I was concerned about the number of races I've already done so far this season and the importance of not arriving to the Tour stale but....

That's pro-cycling. Sometimes it seems that unless you are sick or injured, they will keep racing you no matter what you have already done or what you still have to do.

Anyway it's on with the show. I can only do what I can do. The hardest thing about now is that I'll be away for almost 5 weeks over Tour de Romandia and the Giro without seeing Carole and Tanner. Ratshit. Even when things are going well in this sport sometimes it seems pretty brutal and cold.

Julz

Paris-Roubaix '07
Waiting For The Bus…That Never Turned Up….

Well, I can confidently say that after 9yrs as a pro in Europe, Paris-Roubaix is just not for me. As far as a good run into the first sections of cobbles go, it couldn’t have been easier for me.

I managed to land myself in the first break of the day which was a massive group of 30 or so guys. I was pretty pleased with this as it was something that I had set out to do at the start of the day. It’s never easy to get in the first break and most of the time it comes down to luck. Today I chose the right moment to go in the move and the move stuck.

We only got out to 3min but it was a comfortable advantage going into the first section of cobbles and because we were 30-odd riders, I didn't have to do too many turns at the front of the break.

It was a pretty cool buzz coming into the first section second wheel of the race. The people were just going mental and I enjoyed the moment. I couldn’t have had an easier ride into the first section.

As we cruised over the first section, I realised that being in a breakaway in P-R was the best chance for me to grab a decent result so I probably pulled a little harder on the front than most others in the break. This would take its toll further down the road.

As we crossed the first few sections I was feeling ok. Getting thrown around, eating mouthfuls of dust and struggling to make the bike go forward over the pave seemed like part of it and I figured it was the same for everybody no matter how easy it had been on the run in. Coupled with the aggravation I had in my hand (which I broke last year), life in P-R was becoming increasingly more difficult.

After making it through 10 or so sections, we hit the Arenberg Forest section. By far it was the worst and hardest section of the race but still 80km from the finish. I had been hurting a little in the sections before, to maintain the speed over the cobbles but was feeling ok. I hit the Arenberg Forest section second wheel again. The perfect place but things quickly went from bad to worse. As hard as I pushed on the pedals I was going nowhere. I was being thrown up and down off the seat and struggled to maintain momentum. Although I’m not a cowboy and have never ridden in a rodeo, it’s the only thing I can liken it to. I felt like a wannabe cowboy riding a bucking bronco at the ‘Rerewhakaitu Xmas Rodeo’. It felt horrible. As the breakaway rode away from me as I lost my momentum, the possibility for me to ever do a good P-R disappeared. My hand wasn’t really allowing me to hold the bars too well, but mostly the legs were to blame. I had expended way too much energy pulling the break and fighting with the cobbles and as hard as I tried, I just couldn't increase my momentum. When you lose your momentum over a section like Arenberg, you are screwed. You never get it back and end up riding out the last part at 20km/hr struggling even more. It was one of the worst feelings ever.

Coming out of Arenberg, I chucked in one last effort to close the gap to the break but couldn’t before the next section and lost even more time. A couple of sections later, I was caught by the peloton - well what was left of it.

I tried to stay with them over the following section, but by now I had totally blown and when I felt the speed they were riding at over the cobbles, I realised there was no hope for me. I got dropped again and consoled myself with the idea that no matter how good things go for me in Roubaix, it’s just not the race for me.

After being dropped from the peloton and with still 60km to go, my legs had blown to bits and my hand was aching like a bugger so I opted to sit up and keep riding till the bus (I know so well from previous P-Rs) caught me and picked me up. Unfortunately I waited all day and never saw the ‘magic’ bus. I was suffering and hurting the whole time, wondering where it had got to and hating every moment that I had to ride over another section of pave.

Eventually I rode into the velodrome flying a solo flag. No bus, only a handful of officials hanging around and just the odd diehard P-R fan to cheer me on. I felt like one of those people who finish the Ironman in the dark and I didn't particular enjoy it….and just to rub salt into my already festering wound I was outside the time-cut. Nice.

So what was the moral of that P-R story? I suck on the cobbles. There’s no other reason for my inability to do that race well. It seems no matter how good the form is and how good a run in the race I have, I struggle no end on the cobbles. Carole and I have talked a lot about it and we both figure the main issue is my position on the bike. I always ride high and forward which is totally the opposite that you need to go well on the cobbles. I am very particular about my position and I won’t change it for the sake of one race.

I have never been good at Paris-Roubaix. From my debut ride in 1999 and 8 years on, I have always struggled in this race and after P-R ’07, where I had the form and a good start, I know that no matter how good the form is or how well things go tactically, it’s just not the race for me. I have tried it more than enough times to know. The good thing is that I am content with this realization. It’s easy to think that you’re not a good bike rider because of it but actually that’s not at all the case - contrary to what I believed in my first years as a pro. After all, Paris-Roubaix is such a small part of professional racing.

Julz

Updates Coming...

Hi. Just thought I'd let you know that Julz IS doing updates...He's just having trouble getting online again.

And just in case we've forgotten to mention, Julz will be doing the Giro d'Italia. Thor asked the Team Directors to include Julz in the team so he can help Thor in the sprints....

This has meant quite a change of plans to his original race schedule and also a postponement of a wee 'wind down' period he was hoping to have post Classics. Nevermind. That's pro-cycling.

Carole

Gent-Wevelgem 07'


This year's Gent Wevelgem was like none that I've ever done before. O'Grady described it as cricket with a tennis ball. It was just all too easy.

G-W is notorious for the wind being the factor that decides the race but this year there was absolutely no wind at all. Normally it only takes a little wind once we hit the coast after 55km, to blow the race apart. This year, however, we started the race with a barmy 16 degrees and arrived at the coast like it was a group training ride. We turned left and headed down along the coast for the 40km to the feed zone before turning back inland toward the infamous Kemmelberg.

At this point, it became clear that the Kemmelberg was going to be the decider of the race and as most of the riders feared, it wasn't the climb that made the race, it was the cobble descent that turned the race into something else.

From my point of view, it shouldn't be that a race is decided by a notoriously dangerous piece of parcours that inevitably causes crashes. But unfortunately, as it has often been in the past, it was the same again this year on the Kemmelberg. There were heinous crashes both times causing complete havoc and creating gaps which split the field up.

Once again, I'm disappointed that nothing is done about something which always causes so many people so much grief year after year. It certainly isn't a freak accident that every year some riders write off themselves off for the rest of their season, if not their careers. I don't care how traditional it is, it's stupid and unnecessary. But the hard thing is that as a rider you have no say or influence over what should or shouldn't be ridden over. At the end of the day race organisers know that dangers keep the spectators fizzing.

As for me, I was a lucky one who didn't come down. And in fact for the first time in a while, I felt like I have been coming back to some good form since I was sick at Milan-San Remo. I was able to ride good position both times over the Kemmel and was at the front the whole day.

Into the finish, the teams that didn't have riders in the breakaway of five were not able to get well organised enough to bring back the break. That is despite the fact that there were at least four teams with an interest in bringing it back, including us, Quickstep and CSC. However, it just never happened and deservedly so the break held off the disorganised peloton.

In the sprint I took charge and lead Thor from 500m to 200m to go. But it was too early for Thor as he got passed by a few others before the line finishing around 11th, I think.

Now it's on to the Hell of the North, as they like to call it. Paris-Roubaix. The race that I have a love/hate relationship with. It is in one sense, an amazing race that has a special energy about it which gives me a buzz on the inside. Yet at the same time it's a horrible, hard race that gives you that feeling of dread - so much that ya really don't want to have to take part in it....

Julz

Flanders 07
Doing It Tough

Things have been less than average since Milan-San Remo. The little cold I had at MSR turned into a sinus infection in the days after and I had to do a 10 day course of antibiotics. Certainly not what you want 10 days before Flanders.

After MSR, I was only home 2 nights and then it was off to Begium for the lead up races to the Classics. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have raced. It wasn’t until I got up to Belgium that my sinus infection was diagnosed and although I was feeling really down and completely blocked up, the doctor didn't think it was necessary that I rest up so really I didn't have much of a choice. Sometimes I wonder about the logic of these things. There’s always a big song and dance about doping and doing this and not doing that but I often feel in cycling the basic health of the athletes is forgotten.

Anyway, I ended up starting Waregem and E3 on the Wednesday and the Saturday after MSR. I wasn't able to finish either of them and came away from Belgium not feeling too good at all about the coming week.

Once again, I was only home for a few nights before I had to be back in Belg for Flanders recon. It was a hard few days at home. Although not really feeling a lot better, I had to keep riding and punch out a couple of good training days to try and maintain the form for the Classics. I did what I could despite feeling crap. It took all my morale and energy to get through it. I really felt like just hanging up the bike and resting for a few days but at that point, it wasn't an option. I had to battle on for 1 more week.

By Flanders, I was feeling better but as the race progressed it became apparent to me that I was still pretty far from where I was two weeks before. I lasted about 215km of the 250km and then the body just shut down on me. It was a weird feeling – although my legs weren’t hurting and my lungs felt fine, I just couldn't push the pedals with any force any further. When I got dropped, it wasn't even a hard moment in the race; I just had nothing to give. I wasn't even dropped with anyone else. It was just me, myself and I. Nice. I soldiered on, figuring that it was just a result of still suffering from the illness. I did what I could when I was in the race so I felt pretty satisfied that I had given it everything.

It had been a horrendous day with crashes and guys dropping it left right and center throughout the race. I avoided all that so I had something else to be happy about. I don't think that I’ve ever been in a race that has been so bad for crashes and nerves(Opps, I said that about MSR too). It wasn’t actually all that much fun.

Despite the fact that people say Flanders is a great race with history, ‘Ra de ra de ra’, the more times I do it, the more stupid I think that it is trying to fit 220 riders on all those stupid little shit roads. Of course there are going to be crashes in any race with guys taking risks to be at the front at the right time. But shit, let’s not make cycling any more dangerous than it already is. Yeh sure that race has tradition but let’s remember that cycling has changed a lot over the last century. The only things that haven’t changed are the pave and the width of some of those roads. They’re just my thoughts. You can ask any Belgie any time and they will swear and declare it’s a beautiful race….

Julz

Empty...

Hi.
Julz is still unable to get online up there in Belg so I thought I'd just let you know that although the results on cyclingnews had him as a non-finisher, he did in fact finish with a small group but they were outside the time cut.

He said he felt ok for the first 200km and then his legs were running on empty. He's been feeling like this since his sinus infection and he's been on antibiotics until yesterday so hopefully now that he's finished the ABs and his infection has cleared up, his form will improve. He's feeling pretty frustrated by it all but as he knows, there's nothing he can do about it - just gotta ride it out.

He's racing Gent-Wevelgem on Wednesday so let's hope he feels half decent by then....

Carole

Milan - San Remo 2007

The Chaos

I don't think that I’ve ever been in a race where I’ve heard or seen as many people go down as Milan-San Remo 2007. Seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it. Just to make it to the finish in one piece without losing any skin or breaking anything was a mission in itself…

The day started perfectly with a pleasantly warm morning in Milan as we headed out to the coast. Early in the day, the word was that the weather wasn’t too flash out on the coast but we were all hoping it would improve by the time we got there.

Unfortunately, when we crossed the top of the Torchino to descend to the coast, it quickly became apparent that the showers and wet roads were here to stay for the day. Hence the crashes soon began…

I was involved in one of the first ones, just a couple of kilometres into the descent. Fortunately, the guys who crashed in front of me were just far enough ahead that I had time to slow down and jump off my bike. This was to be the first of many near misses on today's 294km ride to San Remo.

All day along the coast, guys were dropping like flies, on the greasy roads. It turned bitingly cold for a long while with the temperature dropping as low as 4 degrees before warming up a little before the end. The conditions of the day were not going in my favour but I had the last few months to prepare for this race and I had to make the most of it.

I had been good the week before in Tirreno Adriatico so I knew that I had the form – it was just about putting it together despite the conditions. I’d been a little sick the last few days as well but had tried my best to put it off and focus on the job at hand.

The two critical moments in Milan - San Remo are the Cippressa climb with 30km to go and the Poggio with 6km to go. Mostly it’s about being in a good position to make it over these two climbs in the front. I made it to the Cippressa no probs, avoiding all the crashes. And just to sidetrack a bit; the most amazing thing was when I saw a bike from one of the Astana riders sliding across the road in front of me. I was only able to brake slowly as my brakes didn't work that well and any sudden braking in the wet would’ve seen me on the deck. I can still see it now as clear as day: the bike was sliding across the road in front of me and I thought that I had no way of missing it. “It’s coming across toward me and is going to hit the gutter, stop and I’m going to ride right into it.” was my exact thought. I was fully prepared for the crash as it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Amazingly, the sliding bike slid in such a way that when it hit the gutter, the seat impacted first and it bounced right back across my path into the peloton. I can't say that I missed it completely but somehow I managed to bunny hop over the back wheel as it slid back into the peloton, which inevitably caused another crash. Sometimes I am unlucky with crashes but this time luck was definitely on my side.

Anyway, I made it over the Cippressa feeling good and in a good position. Despite all the chaos and having to ride myself into position all day, things were good. I hadn't seen any other riders from my team since we came onto the coast so I figured I was all alone.

My good fortune continued and as we neared the Poggio, I maintained my good position and managed to miss even more carnage. I was in the top five riders as we entered the Poggio. Just perfect! All that I had to do was stay here over the top and my dream of a great finish on Via Roma in San Remo was almost upon us.

I lost a couple places on the first hair pins but was still well placed and trying to keep my cool.

By the time we crested, I was in 15th-20th position, a little rooted but still comfortable. Now the mission was to make the tricky 3km descent without crashing. Done!! Perfect. For the last 3km on the flat, my key word was to "WAIT". Wait for the moment to move up. As it turned out this was a vital mistake and what cost me a better result.

I decided to take a moment to recover once we got to the bottom and onto the main road again. I would wait for a good moment to move up to a good position for the sprint. I was alone so I had only a certain amount of energy to expend to position myself.

As we came under 2km, I tried to move up a little but it was just going too fast and I was using energy going nowhere. I dived back in and struggled to find a place. We came under the one km to go. Then it was a left turn, a right turn and then on to the finishing straight. I had to move up now. I went out in the wind by myself on the left but I didn't have the power that I had hoped. To top it all off, I got a bit squeezed and lost some momentum. I got up to about 10th or 12th at best with 150m to go. Then I died a rapid death, losing a few more places before we crossed the line.

I felt gutted. In hindsight, I had made an error in my race plan coming into the finish. I should’ve tried to move up as soon as I had descended the Poggio. I’ll be sure never to make that mistake again in MSR. I was well capable of doing better on the previous week’s form but didn't do the right thing in the final kilometres. I rode 291km well and 3km badly. Unfortunately, it was the last three that counted for a result. 1% of the race rode badly but it accounted for 100% of the result. The hard thing is that in pro sport, it’s only the result that matters.

However, it’s the first time I’ve made it to the final of Milan - San Remo and I hope that in the future I’ll get to be there again and you can be sure that I’ll do it differently next time.

Julz

A Bit Crook

Hi all.

Just a quick note to let you know that Julz is suffering from a sinus infection, hence pulling out of Wednesday's race. It's knocked him for six so he's not too confident about the upcoming races....

He's still on the start list for E3 on Saturday....

Ciao,

Carole

No Rest For The Wicked...

Hi guys. Carole here. I just wanted to let you all know that Julz WILL write a diary entry about MSR. He was only home for 2 days before heading off to Belgium so he hasn't had time to punch one out yet...

Tomorrow (28th March) he races Waregem and E3 on Saturday so he's pretty full on at the mo...and he told me tonight that he can't get online at the hotel so there may be a back log of updates to come....

Carole & Tanner.

Stages 4,5,6 &7

Stage 4 - Pievebovigliana-Offagna
Lucky or Unlucky????

Today was another uphill finish with a 3km sharp climb at the end of the 161-km stage. It was going to be another chance to test myself on the climbs before Milan-San Remo next week. And who knows, if I went well and was able to hold on, I might be able to have a go at the finish.

There was no slow Italian start today. It was all go right from the gun. It was pretty hard as it was up and down from kilometer 0. After a few k's though, the race was directed the wrong way. It was a potential disaster as we dodged cars on the road at speed through intersections. It was a little nail biting. I thought they would've neutralized the race till it was safe but instead we raced through the next couple of towns then out on to the motorway - which they then closed to traffic - and we rode down the motorway till we met up with the course with 80km left to do. I can't really imagine that happening at home; when the race goes the wrong way, they send us out on to the motor way, shutting it down till we pass through. Nice.

It was good though - made the race easier 'coz we missed out a climb and it was 5km shorter.

As we came to the last climb, I got myself into a good position on the wheel of Bettini; 10 from the front. We headed into the narrow road leading to the climb and I was perfectly positioned. As we rounded the corner though, a rider, two in front of me, lost his front wheel from under him hitting the deck straight away. In an effort to avoid the crash, Bettini headed straight for the ditch on the side of the road and I had just enough time to lock it up, come to a halt and get my foot out before I fell over. It was as about as close as it gets without coming down. I was sure that Bettini was badly damaged but I saw him cross the finish later. As for me, the race was lost at that point. I continued to ride seeing the front group 500m in front of me once I was back on my bike. They stayed that much in front of me for most of the climb till the last 1.5k then I blew up a bit. So although unlucky I was still lucky. I was almost a lot worse off. And if it means missing the chance to contest the finish then so be it. As it turned out it was another finish for the climbers.



Stage 5 - Time Trial Civitanova

The time trial on the border of the Adriatic Sea was never going to be for me. It went along the sea then a bit inland before heading up a 3km climb. After losing the time yesterday and it not being a TT for me, it was best to save myself for the coming days.

It was nice to have an easier day. I was able to sleep in in the morning and then head out for an easy hour's ride along the beach from the hotel. It was an awesome morning for it and it was good just to be cruising and pulling up for a fine Italian Cappuccino.



Stage 6 - San Benedetto del Tronto - San Giacomo(Monti della Laga)

Today I woke up not feeling the best. I've had a niggling cold and sore throat most of the week and this morning it was a little worse than the previous days. It's always one of the things that you have to battle with when you start to get good form and certainly it's not something that you want to have on the mountain stage of a race.

Today was always going to be a pretty hard day. The climbs began after 5km with two of the big climbs toward the end of the day. The race started down on the coast and the weather was a barmy 20 degrees but it was forecast for snow at the top of the mountain passes at the end of the stage.

As it turned out, it was a good day. There was no snow till after the finish and I was riding good. Climbing good actually, would you believe? I was able to ride at the front of the peloton the whole day till the last 5km of the last climb. Even then I wasn't struggling too much. I made a choice to take it a little bit easy because I'm not 100%. For me it's more important that I get over the cold before Milan - San Remo and pushing myself hard at a time when I'm not even going to be able to win, doesn't make sense. The important thing was that I had ridden comfortably the whole day and was able to confirm to myself that my condition is very good - even in the hard mountainous conditions.



Stage 7 - Civitella del Tronto - San Benedetto del Tronto

Today's last stage was probably one of the most civilized races that I've ever done. Always the last stage of this race is known to be a bit of a cruise for the first 50k or so then we start racing after the first KOM. Today the cruise continued after the KOM till the circuits down on the beach of which there were 7x8km. I was set to do the sprint for Thor. Normally this stage is always a sprint as the circuits up and down the beach are dead flat. All went well and I did what I reckon to be one of the best lead-outs I've ever done, to take Thor within the last 200m. Unfortunately Thor had some bike problems when he went to start the sprint and was unable to be competitive. I reckon that I was awesome though and that's the main thing for me. It's just a real bugger that I'm going so good and did a near perfect job yet we didn't get the result. Especially it being contract year and a chance like this is missed through no fault of my own. It increases the pressure later on and is hard to deal with when things have been going so well for me and I essentially get nothing out of it.

I guess the important thing is that I've got the form. The form to be in the final of Milan-San Remo next weekend. I can now enter the race with a pocket full of confidence. Everything is in place.

Julz

Tirreno-Adriactico

Stage 1 - Civitavecchia-Civitavecchia

Today was probably the first real return to European racing. Sure, last week I was in Belgium for the two one day races, but it's almost a completely different sport racing those races at this time of year.

I was ok there last week but it's often hard to gauge the form when you have so much to overcome during the race. Here at a stage race like T-A, it's much easier to gauge the form.

From today's first stage, it seems that all is well by the way I felt and the way I rode. It wasn't the hardest of days and I was able to maintain a good position over the climbs in the final 70km. Despite having to chase back on twice before the last climb heading into the circuits; once for a crash and the second time to change my front wheel, I still felt strong once on the circuit.

When we hit the circuit, it all got pretty crazy and I tried my best to ride at the front to stay out of trouble. Along with 200 other riders!! I was quite strong so I was able to ride the last of the three 4.5km laps at the front in second position. I was using a little more energy than I would've liked but it was better that way than taking any risks. I was told to help Thor so when Milram started to go into the last corner I hit out to help Thor maintain a good position as I knew it was going to be a case of 'first to the last corner wins'. As I did that, Lotto came up on the other side of the road and lead McEwen into the corner first. Maybe I wasn't as good as I could've been as I had already used a lot of energy riding at the front during the last circuit. Nonetheless, I still did pretty well for him. I certainly bought him to a good position and did what I could. I feel I did a good job.

I hope that I can have a chance to do something for myself in the next week. I feel I have the form and I hope that the team will give me the chance. I need to make some results as it's contract year and I need to go to the negotiating table with something as unfortunately being a good lead out man won't give me much leverage with other teams. And I have been in cycling long enough not to trust too many people - no matter what they say.



Stage 2 - Civitavecchia-Marsciano

The Stand Off

Today became a stand-off between the sprinter team. Lotto had the Jersey after Robbie's stage win yesterday and when the break went away soon after the start today, Lotto started to ride tempo. The problem was that the break was 5 riders and after some mucking around at the start they quickly had 10min. Our guys started to ride with Lotto to bring it back but none of the other teams would help. Normally Petacchi's Milram team would've been expected to contribute but for whatever reason they chose not to. I think because they rode a lot yesterday and had nothing to show for it at the end.

Eventually after our team and Lotto failed to make a significant dent in the lead of the breakaway the other teams with hopes for a classificcation result stepped up but it was too late. Despite us riding at what seemed like 100km/hr the last 50k, the break still came to the finish with 1 minute.

It was a bit of a bummer as there is really only 3 chances for a sprint in this race and today was one of them and because none of the other teams would contribute, we all lost that chance. We still did the sprint in which Thor run second. More for practice than anything. The highlight of the day was when Bernard Eisel, the rider from T-Mobil who beat Thor for 5th, thought that he had won. He didn't realise the break had stayed away. He crossed the line with his arms in the air and throwing kisses. Providing us fellas behind with a good laugh. I think that everyone gets caught out in this situation at least once in their career. At least he felt like a winner for 6 seconds.

We also had the pleasure of riding through some pretty nice scenery today. I always find it a shame that we ride by so many places and I'll never get back there. I took a mental note of the name of the town we passed through that impressed me today in the hope that I'll be passing through Italy in less of a rush one day and I can call in. So if any of you are passing through Italy and are anywhere near Orvieto, try and call in for look. It's an awsome old Roman town perched precariously on a rocky mountain.



Stage 3 - Marsciano-Macerata

Today was a pretty dull day. One rider attacked at the start and rode the whole day on his own. The peloton just cruised through the day winding it up on the finishing circuits which included a 3k climb up to the finish. I was hoping that I was going to be able to hold strong on the climb and close to the front. It proved a little too hard though with a couple 12% sectors that took their toll on my legs. It turned out to be more of a climber's finish rather than a finish for a sprint, which can happen sometimes on short uphill finishes.

Nonetheless it was a good day for me again. It was the longest day of the race and the fact that we rode pretty easy for most of it made it pretty enjoyable. We have been well treated here at this race this year. Of course the food is good as it always is in Italy but also we've had great hotels so far and the weather has been just perfect, not something that you can always count on for this time of year. Let just hope it continues.

Julz

Thor's Lead Out Man... Again

Hi all,

Carole here. Julz has been making a concerted effort to update you but unfortunately he's been unable to get online at both race hotels so far... He has assured me he has been writing the updates so at least he's finally taken heed of my whip! Although it was probably those comments on the notepad that did the trick.

Anyway, just to briefly fill you in on the goss....

We're into Stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico and Julz is feeling good. He had a crap training week last week and was feeling pretty down on himself so it's nice for him to be bouncing back with this race.

By looking at the stage results, you're probably not overly impressed with his efforts so far but don't be fooled. Once again he has been assigned lead-out duties to Thor. Apparently in the first stage, Julz did a fine job of getting Thor well positioned into the last heinous corner and although Thor didn't manage 1st or 2nd, that had nothing to do with the lead-out!

...And I've heard from a few www.cyclingtv.com viewers that the National Jersey stands out like the proverbial 'dog's balls'...

Stage 2 was decided by a breakaway but again Julz lead Thor out for the minor placings. Julz felt strong and did a great lead out for Thor, who is fizzing on Julian's work....

If only Julz could have a crack himself though, eh????? It's a shame he can't. I guess that's the pitfall of doing such good job for Thor...

Anyway, that's me, done. Hopefully Julz will be able to get online tomorrow...


Ok bye.
Carole :o)

The First Belgie Races...

Hi all. Carole here. I've decided to write for Julz 'coz he just can't be arsed to do it at the mo and as the days roll on, that apathy will only greaten so here I am....

Julz wasn't overly impressed with himself in Belgium over the weekend although I thought he did pretty well.

He's such a typical pro athlete in that if he's not flying on a particular day then he decides his form in its entirety is crap. It's such a 'Julz' mentality that and one that often causes puffs of 'frustration' steam to billow out my ears...

On Saturday night after Het Volk, he told me he felt really strong through the race but got out of position on the last section of cobbles with 15km to go and then managed to get caught behind a crash. Hence finishing in the peloton. He was most unimpressed - even when I reminded him of the number of starters vs the number of finishers.... and the important fact that at least he was only held up by the crash and not actually part of it!

Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the following day, impressed Julz even less. He said he just swung off the back all day and felt very average. Again, I pointed out the number of starters vs finishers and reminded him that neither of these races were focus races so just finishing them were great preparation for up-coming Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.

We've spent a lot of our pro-cycling life discussing Julz's lack of form during the Spring racing and no matter what he does or doesn't do differently, he has never had a stellar Spring. He's always really struggled at this time of year and especially in Belgium where his body loathes the weather and where the style of racing has just never clicked with him. It's been an ongoing battle for him throughout his career to go good in the Spring and although he thinks he's just having one of his 'typically bad' early seasons, I actually think he's in way better form than he's ever been before at this time of year...


But anyway, he'll come right. He's been training bloody hard and his weight is down so he's not too far off where he needs to be. It's just his mental side which needs to bounce back up to where his physical side is and voila! Julz will be in equilibrium and therefore 'flying'...

Will keep cracking my whip at him to update you himself... My whip doesn't seem to be as effective these days...probably a tad worn out, I'd say!

Carole :o)

Back To Belgium...

Hi all,

Sorry for the delay in the updates... Things got a bit busy there at the Tour de Langkawi and haven't really slowed down since landing back on European soil.

The family and I have been back here for almost 3 wks now and tomorrow I head off to Belgium for the start of my Spring races. I start with Het Volk on Saturday and follow that up with Kurne-Brussels-Kurne on Sunday. From there I come back home for a few days before heading off to Tirreno-Adriatico in Italy, starting on the 14th of March.

I've been training really well at home here in Spain and am feeling very ready to race. The weather here has been insane for this time of year. We've been spoilt with warm, dry weather which has made achieving good quality training even easier. I have only been rained on once in 2 1/2 wks. And this is winter! It's going to be quite a shock to the body to head north up to Belgium and race in that notoriously crap weather they have there during these early season races. At least when it rains I'll be wearing black everything so I won't be looking half as grubby as the rest of the peloton...

Anyway, will keep you in the loop.

Ciao,
Julz

Another Balls Up

Tour de Langkawi Stage 5
Kota Bharu-Kuala Terengganu

I think I need glasses.....

After finishing 4th in today’s stage, I think I need glasses so I can see the finish line better. I know I’m getting old but I didn't think that I was losing my eye sight.

Generally as a team we got off pretty lightly today as far as riding at the front goes. Despite the fact that it was a pretty hectic start again, a break finally got away after 60km. It was a pretty perfect situation for us with six riders away of which the best on the overall was at 12min, so all we had to do was ride easy tempo and keep the break at around 6-7min. We did this till about 50km to go then the race took another turn in our favour. We turned into the crosswind and the race took control of itself as everyone tried to move to the front half to get a good position in case any splits happened. It meant that the tempo picked up as a variety of different riders and teams battled for position at the front. Over the following kms, the gap between us and the break started to come down rapidly and eventually some of the teams with sprinters started to show an interest and ride at the front to bring it all back together for a bunch kick. Best of all for us, despite having the leader’s jersey, we didn't have to do anything.

Eventually it all came back together with 6km to go and we were up for the sprint. I decided to give it a crack; even though I had been riding on the front for most of the day I was feeling ok. As we neared the finish, I remembered that it was right after a curve. I looked down the final straight I could see the road curve off to the left - just like the map in book said. I couldn't see the finish. All I saw was a walking bridge over the road followed by the left hand curve. Thinking that the finish was just around the curve after the pedestrian overpass, I waited a little more. But as we came under the overpass, I saw the finish line just a few meters away. I had misjudged the finish for the second day in a row. I still had enough time to do a little sprint, which got me into 4th. Not too bad I reckon, given the fact that I was riding on the front for most of the day.

Tomorrow I’ll ask the director if I can borrow his glasses. Poor eyesight coming into a sprint finish is pretty dam frustrating…

Tomorrow we head further down the coast of the Sea of China from Kuala Terengganu-Cukai. Being on the coast, it’ll be another windy, difficult day. I only hope it’s not raining like it was today because when it rains here in Malaysia, it really rains. At least tomorrow is a little shorter at only 140km.

Oh To Defend The Leader's Jersey!


After one of my team-mates did a ‘Landis’ (the new expression in cycling when someone does an epic ride) in yesterday’s mountain stage, winning by 4 mins, it has put us on the defense for the remainder of the race. We now have to defend the race for the next week as best we can. It’s going to be a little difficult and not something we were looking forward to given the 40 degree heat.

Fortunately for today’s 4th stage, I was relieved of any riding-on-the-front duties as I was told to save myself for the sprint. Not something that I was complaining about. I never really wanted to come here and flog myself. The objective was to ride conservatively - just using the race as preparation for the classics. So not having to ride on the front today definitely aided that cause.

Unfortunately though, I blew it for myself when I cocked up the sprint by waiting too long and getting swamped at 300m from the finish. It was a huge mistake and one that I haven't made for a long time but there’s really no excuse. I just didn’t do my job properly. It was pretty frustrating, as I don't get opportunities too often and when I blow them like that, it hurts. This time it’s going to hurt even more as after the stage I was told that I have to work for the team in the coming days to help conserve the climbers for the mountain stage as we try to defend the lead.

It’s not something that I wanted to have to do here as I’m afraid of digging too deep. I had planned to get through as easy as possible so I could nail the training when I get back to Europe. We still have 6 days of the race to go and it’s going to be very difficult and physically costly to defend the lead this far out with a team of just 6 riders of which only 3 of us are to set tempo.

Anyway there’s not much I can do. I had my chance today and if I had converted it or got close, things would be different. I just hope I don't come out of here too toasted or it’ll knock the stuffing out of my return to racing in Europe and possibly mean a few changes to my plans.

Julz

Back to the Other Side

Away Again

Well, it’s been a long time and a lot has happened since I last wrote myself.

For a long time after the crash, I wasn’t able to write due to my hand being so messed up. The hand injury was another hard one that took a long time to get over and even made me and Carole consider quitting the sport. The recovery after the injury was a process that I didn't push too hard as I have done with injury rehabs in the past. The bottom line was that it was the end of the season and I wouldn’t have been able to make it back for any races in time.

In one way, I believe that this was a good thing. It forced me to have a longer break than normal and gave me a little more hunger to finish my career at the top of my game. For both of us, we would have felt that finishing now was premature. So eventually we let things run their course and now we are back.

The objective for my return was the National Championship. It was probably something that I would’ve done earlier in my career but the timing never worked out. The change of date has been good for me and I’m going to be very proud to have the National Jersey on the continent this year. It was in a sense, a lucky victory. Often a National Championship is one of the hardest races a year to win because of its negative nature. For a Championship though it was a pretty hard course and I think that that played in my favour.

My first race with the jersey was the Tour Down Under. Unfortunately, although it was a buzz to be there with the jersey for the kiwi fans who made the effort to skip across the ditch, they didn't have much to look at. The jersey was an ugly-looking chinese bazar garment that made me the laughing stock of the pro peloton. It was an embarrassment that left me trying to explain to my team why I was in such an unprofessional-looking National Jersey. It’s a long, frustrating and unnecessary story that shouldn’t be repeated any time soon for any other National Champ, but anyway, after some intense discussions with someone who thinks they know more about pro cycling than we do, a new design has finally been forwarded to the team. I just hope that when it comes out of Nalini’s factory, it’ll look as good on fabric as it did on paper. One thing is for sure though, it won't be the sub-standard garment that was given to me by BikeNZ to wear at the TDU.

After the Tour Down Under, I managed to convince the team to let me back
into NZ for a week before going to Malaysia for the Tour de Langkawi where I am now. As it always is, it was a bit of stress getting organised to leave. It is amazing that after so many years you think it would be easier but it never seems to be. I certainly didn't get to train as I had hoped to after the TDU but I did what I could. I just hope that I haven't lost too much of the form I had to take back to Europe


The morning I left NZ was a truly stunning day. The sort that makes leaving even harder. Looking out across the lake and over to Mt Ngongotaha while I watched Tanner play on the grass, I breathed in as much energy and power from those views as I could to take back across to the other side of the world for our coming year. Standing there looking out over such a beautiful place made me feel a little privileged about who I was and where I come from.

Then it was into the car for the drive to Auckland to start my journey back to Europe with a stop off in Malaysia for the Tour of Langkawi. I have been feeling good about returning to Europe this year. I’m not sure why but I have been looking forward to getting back and having another crack.

I’ve now been in Malaysia for three very hot days and doing the race here has made me realise once again how diverse the sport of cycling is. There are riders of all levels here and because of that the race is pretty sketchy so goal number one is to maintain the rubber side down. This has meant giving up the sprint on stage one and not taking too much risk the second day. But for now I’m happy with that. After all, my business is back in Europe.

I do have to say though I really enjoy being here and participating in the different style of racing. A lot of guys try to avoid racing here because it’s not a cycling culture and Malaysia is so different to anything in Europe. But for me I love coming here. It’s a great eye-opener and grounding place to visit. It’s a great place for its people, diverse cultures, diverse foods and spectacular scenery. For me coming to places like this is the spice of life.

Julz

Going Good

Just me here. Have spoken to Julz and he's feeling good although he's missing the top end stuff that only comes with top end racing but apart from that he's feeling very comfortable in the bunch.

So far the level of racing isn't outside his range of fitness which is a great thing for him at this time of year. Usually he struggles at the TDU coz all the Aussies hit this race with an off-season full of criterium racing and a very competitive National Championships in their legs. Thankfully this TDU isn't feeling like such a grovel for him so far and that's gotta bode well for his confidence when he hits the roads in Europe in a few weeks time.

Anyway, no doubt you're all keeping an eye on the live updates on Cyclingnews.com so no need for me to give ya a rundown of the stages....

Ciao,
C :o)

WOOO-HOOOO!!!!

Just a quick note to let you all know that Julz won the National Road title on Saturday the 13th Jan. It was a 156km circuit race over a course that wasn't very suited to him and although he didn't actually feel too flash throughout the race, thanks to some smart riding, a very blank race face and good enough legs, he was able to grab the win in a 2-up sprint with Heath Blackgrove - who rode a very strong and super impressive race.

Julz is super stoked with the victory 'coz not only is it his first win in donkey years, but he gets to thrash the NZ national jersey around the biggest races in Europe for the year, which for me is the coolest thing about the victory. There's just something very special about seeing that silver fern bopping around on the super competitive international sporting stage and for the first time in Julian's pro-career, he gets to bop around that stage with the silver fern all season long. Basically standing out like the proverbial 'dog's balls'...

Thanks to all those people who made the trip to the Nationals. It was great to see support out there for cycling. I have to say though that Julian's little entourage of supporters (The Harveys, the Jordans and the Deans) were by far the most colourful, creative and vocal. Poor old Julz didn't know whether to own us or disown us every time he came past our circus. We managed to get a grin every lap though which was great for those of us who don't get to see Julz in the flesh race all that often or if at all.

Anyway, he zoomed off to Adelaide yesterday for the Tour DownUnder which starts this evening. He didn't take his laptop so although he won't be able to update you guys, I'll try and do my best to keep you in the loop.


Will post up some photos soon...

C :o)

Average News

HI. Got another Dr's update to share with you all. We went back on Monday and unfortunately the Dr still isn't fizzing about the hand so he decided to leave the pins in for another week. So it's gone from 3wks to 4wks and now to 5wks. It was a bit of a bummer really coz it meant we had to postpone our family holiday which we are feeling in need of after this seemingly long-winded recovery.

This smashed hand business has proved to be the most problematic of Julian's history of crash injuries. We are thankful that this didn't happen in the middle of the year coz it would've been a real bugger to hurry back to racing from....

Anyway, this time the Dr didn't bandage the hand so heavily which has allowed Julian's hand a lot more freedom to move. We've been chucking him through some rehab exercises, thanks to our mate Pepe the Phys from Valencia, and the improvement has been great so that has been a positive sign for Julz. He was getting a tad concerned about not getting his range of movement back in the index finger but by what he's managed to achieve in the last 5 days, things are looking heaps brighter for his future social club basketball days to come...

So that's it. Will write again when the pins come out....

Team Dean :o)

Yay! Some Good News!...

Hello.

Just wanted to share with you all the grand news that Julian's tendons are intact and therefore there'll be no open-hand surgery for HIM! Phew!!! We were expecting the worse from the scan but thankfully it turned out to be a happy, smiley scan with handsome looking tendons.

So now we just have to wait for the bones to heal and the pins to be extracted and then the rehab can begin to try and get the first two fingers working as best as they can...

Julz still has weekly x-rays taken and re-dressing done which means we spend a lot of time hanging around in the hospital. Basically the weekly hospital trip to Valencia is our 'Hurry-Up-And-Wait' day... Although waiting up to 3hrs to be seen is fairly frustrating for us, Tanner thinks it's Class A fun - especially 'coz there's a gajillion other people having a 'hurry-up-and-wait' day to entertain...

Anyway, will keep you all posted...

Ta luego,

Carole

More Not-So-Good-News...

Hi all,
Carole here. Julz is still OTA with his right hand so I have to do the updating for him. Probably for the best though or else you wouldn't get an update til 2007 anyway...

Well, we went to see the surgeon again today for an update. Unfortunately the hand isn't healing too flash. The metacarpal bones of the first finger were so smashed that the reconstruction surgery was quite a tricky one. It's been two and half weeks since the surgery and still Julian can't straighten his finger. The Doc isn't stoked about that at all so he's pencilled Julz in for an ultrasound scan to check out the condition of the tendon. There may be a chance that one of the fractured bones pierced the tendon and hence the lack of movement.

If there is damage to the tendon, Julz will need surgery to repair it.

Hmmmmm...... so it's all a bit crap really. Julz is over it today. And as the days tick by, the Worlds draw nearer and all he seems to be thinking about is his lost opportunity and his crap luck that took that opportunity away...

But our motto is never far from the conversation... "Well, what can ya do????...."

...Enjoy the Spanish autumn, play with Tanner, practise making paella, paint the car port, play with Tanner, water blast the roof terrace, paint the gates, make another paella, play with Tanner, drink a nice cold Summer Ale on the roof terrace while eating paella.......

...That's about half of what he can do until that hand of his gets sorted!

So anyway, we'll let you know how he gets on with the scan...

Ciao,
Carole

A Time To Rest and Reflect...

After 2 nights in hospital, Julz is home now and the recovery process is underway. He's feeling ok physically. The hand gives him pain but nowhere near as much as his elbow did last year so that's a bonus. He has 4 pins through the hand bones of his first two fingers. The tips of the pins are external so in a month they get whipped out.

Apart from being a time of rest and recovery for him now, it is inevitably a time of reflection and disappointment. His season is well and truly over and just as he was coming into some stomping form. We keep wondering why this couldn't have happened after the Worlds - if at all. But our motto at the mo just seems to be, "Well, what can you do???"

I think I might write down a chronological list of all the injuries/setbacks Julz has had in the last 6 years and then carry out a ceremonial burning of it. Maybe that might kill the curse...???

But whatever....we're just a bit over it all at the mo.

Thanks for all your thoughts....We'll let you know how the 'recovery' goes...

The Dean Team.

More Metal...

Hi all.

Just a wee update.....Julz was operated at 9pm (Spanish time) last night and pins were inserted into the fractures of his first two fingers. Thankfully this metal isn't there to stay and will be removed in 4wks.

The operation went well although as usual with Julz, the fractures were worse than what the surgeon had originally thought.

Now that it's all sinking in, Julz is starting to really feel that heavy gloom of disappointment and "What if???". He is truly devastated about losing another opportunity of putting his excellent form to good use...

As much as I like the sound of 2006 as it rolls off the tongue, it really has been a crap year for Julz and one we just want to see the tail end of asap.

Will keep you posted...

Carole and our 'sunny' wee Tanner.

Cursed....

Hi all.

Just a quick note to let you know that Julz crashed yesterday in the Tour of Poland and has smashed up his hand. He needs reconstructive surgery so the season is over for him just as he's coming into some of his best form ever....

Will let you know more as and when....

Carole :o(

Eneco Tour of Benelux Run Down

Time to Write

Been a bit off the back with the updates while I was at the Eneco, Tour of Benelux, so sorry about that. The truth of the situation is that it was a bit of a roller coaster ride with regard to the way things went.

After the first two days, I was feeling awesome about things. I had a good prologue and finished 4th in stage 1. I was pretty wrapt with myself, especially given that while placing 4th, I had the capacity to do better but just couldn't get the space that I needed to really open up in the sprint.

The week was set to go well after these initial results in my hope for a top ten finish overall and some stage results. For the first time in a long time, I started to get the confidence back that I haven't had for so long. A certain feeling was beginning to return that has been missing for a long time.

After stage two however, it all went out the window as I rode like an idiot in the final and missed the split in the crosswind with 10km to go. I lost a minute and any hope of doing a good overall result. I was bitterly disappointed with myself. Cycling is not rocket science. I know that I just have to be at the front during dangerous moments like we were in when it split. It’s all about the position and you just have to be at the front to make the split. You don't even have to be strong. But if you are not well positioned, even if you are riding like ten men, you are screwed. And this was me. Although I was feeling really strong, I couldn't get myself back to a good position. Guys swinging off the back of the front split kept losing the wheel ahead of them so I was forever just trying to close gap after gap. I fought for a few kms but then was eventually shelled out the ass, back to the second group. I was so angry and disappointed at myself after the race. It was such a stupid mistake.

Stage 3 didn't do me much better. It was an easy stage and coming into the sprint it was on for young and old. Everyone thought that they wanted to give it a go. I just didn't have the courage to fight enough and take the risks through the final corners to position myself for the last km. I was around 15th place at the 1km to go and tried to move up in the final 400m but it took too much energy and I lost places in the final metres. I never really in contention for a top placing. I wasn't as bummed as the day before but nonetheless, it didn't do me a lot of good. Mentally I hit a pretty low spot - especially ‘coz it had all seemed so positive a couple of days before and without a doubt I was feeling really strong.

Next up was the time trial. In the beginning I was in two minds as to what to do. Now I was out of contention for the overall, I didn't know whether to ride conservatively in order to save myself for the coming days, or have a crack just to see how I would go. I chose the latter as I felt it might do my confidence a favour to have a good ride. I knew that I wasn’t about to win or anything, as it's not my speciality, but putting out a good effort and reasonable result like I did was great for me mentally. My time slot ended up being less than optimal as it pissed down 10min before my start and with a highly technical course, it was a big disadvantage. Maybe a dry road would have at least been another 15secs. Well, who knows? Certainly there were guys who rode in better conditions and guys who rode in worse than me.

After the TT, I was feeling a little better about things again and was ready to give the sprint another nudge. The finish was into the home town of Boonen so it was always going to be a sprint for which he was geed. The day was much like the rest of them in the race with it being flat all day and a finishing circuit at the end. With a safe wide open run in to the finish, I was feeling pretty comfortable during the last part of the race and didn't have to take too many risks to ride and maintain a good position. Perfect for me.

It was a fast sprint in wet conditions. I opened up a little early on the right-hand side with around 250m to go. I had been brought into a pretty good position by the team although maybe not as close to the front as I would’ve liked. I was still satisfied with their effort though as it was the best we have operated as a team in this race. Opening up from as far back as I did, I was one of the first to go. As I closed in on the front, I saw Boonen go a few seconds after I had started. I had not got up to him yet so as he started, I still had a deficit to make up and fatigue was starting to factor. Then as we closed in on the line, I realized that although we were well clear of everyone else, I wasn’t going to be able to pass him. I finished second and once again felt like I was the very powerful sprinter that I can be. I'm definitely feeling better about things again.

It’s been a pretty up and down week to say the least. I reckon that frustration is what I have felt most as I keep trying for that race win that has eluded me since riding for Credit Agricole. Three years.

The final 2 stages of the race brought me no special results. Well, not as good as I had hoped for. Stage 6 was another bunch sprint and as I did the day before, I put all my trust in the team to bring me to the last corner with 300m to go. It was a tight and dangerous finish and I knew that I had to be first to the last corner to win. I was on team-mate, Jan K's wheel in the last couple kms but we got stuck on the barrier before the last right hander. When we finally got out, it was too late as we were way out of position in the last corner. I was pretty bummed about it because once again, I was feeling good and just didn't get the placement right even though I knew what we had to do.

The final stage 7 was not much better. Once again after feeling good the whole race, I didn't deliver on results at the end of the day. It was a hilly day with a course similar to that of the one day classic, Liege-Bastogne-Liege. I rode solid the whole day; always at the front and rarely out of position. I attacked with about just over 5km to go in an attempt to bridge to the breakaway who looked as though they were going to stay away. Unfortunately, at the top of the final climb, as I was just off the tail of the breakaway, we all got caught and immediately Gilbert attacked. He managed to stay away for the win so the rest of us were riding for the minor placings. The final 4km was technical and I wasn't able to recover enough from my attack to do much of anything in the final, barely making the top ten. I did have to loop around a crash in the final 50m but I think that if I was up to win the sprint, I would've been in front of George’s crash anyway.

Although having good form at the race, I've still come up short on some convincing results. I just hope that before my form is over, I can get a notable result. The next race is Plouay (27th Aug) so hopefully I’ll do better there. That would be good as it's an important race for French teams.

Julian

Solid Start
Tour of Benelux, Prologue

Well, I’m finally starting to feel better after the TDF. It seems to have taken a long time to get over it but today in the 6km Prologue, I was, for the first time in a long time, feeling good again.

It was a typical Tour Of Holland city course in the north of the country. A lot of turns, cobbles and wind. I was in the middle of the field and had the fastest time when I finished so I was pretty buzzed even though I knew that I wasn't likely to win. In the end I think I was 13sec or so down in 23rd place which I thought was pretty good for me.

I fe