For those that are interested here is a quick run down of my latest racing, Here in warm (cough) Canberra. This weekend hosted the Kowalski tour. There were 4 stages and it proved to be a very eventful tour.
Racing kicked off with a 15km individual tt, which was not my best performance to say the least. In my defence though I was one of perhaps only 4 riders to not be riding a tt bike or aero bars. I rode a road bike as is due to weight issues with luggage. many of the other nz crew paid to bring two bikes or had parents come over with them, but life goes on. :-) I finished mid field any way
The second stage was a short but not very sweet road race, a sharp little course. As we had a nz girl in a top 5 spot i rode to protect her. shutting down the attacks from the aussies and keeping her out of the wind. we had a turn around around a cone however which saw me collected by a crazy australian and leaving the derailleur unhappy and the hip a bit bruised. all was well though until my chain jammed at the bottom of the last big climb of the day.. I was sadly left behind by the break away bunch as i tried to get it fixed, luckily though they then went the wrong way further up the course (rider responsibility to know the course!) and i found myself in contention again, finishing with the front.
Stage three was a criterium, my most hated of races. I did however put out what was labelled a stunner performance, so that was a buzz. :-) I was enlisted to look after Georgia again and keep her in touch with the bunch, it all went fairly well.
The last stage this morning was unbelievably cold, I made the novice mistake of not wearing enough layers thinking it would soon heat up, we dropped deeper and deeper into the valley however where the frost looked like snow, all over red rover. I did my job of taking Georgia through the technical decent and into the break up the constant long climb on the other side, through the turn and back again. it was the next Queen of the Mountains climb that saw me wave good bye to the sizable break and enjoy the hunt for kangaroos through the foggy scenery for the last leg of the race. As the weather heated up I began to find my mojo again, only to laugh out loud when the course turned and dived back into the depths of the fog. We live and we learn though.
All and all it was a successful weekend though, I did my job in protecting Georgia and her spot in the general classification.
Time to move on to 25+ degrees. hello Holland!!
Ash
