Timothy Christopher Hargrave

Chicago Crit

2009-07-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

After a week of racing superweek races it was time to head down to Chicago for one of the big money races of the year. With a full week of 100k crits in the legs, and not much rest from the night of racing before (we got home (actually Bob's house, but it's like home) at 1o, then had to eat and prepare for tomorrow, then leave 7.30am for the cat 3 race), it was going to be a hard race. Add to that the large amount of money on the line for the top 25, as well as big primes and a field size of 186, it looked like it was going to be an intense day. It was, however, quite the opposite. With wide sweeping corners on a short, flat circuit, it surprised me how easy it was to just sit on near the back. Getting to the last 15 laps of 46, I decided it would probably be a good time to start moving up. This turned out to be a lot harder. With such wide roads and a slow pace, the peloton resembled more of a big blob, with riders just moving back and forth much quicker than any other race. Still, I kept trying to move up. At least until we crossed the line with 5 to go. With the wind coming in from the right, I was moving up on the left, and hit a rather deep manhole, blowing out my rear wheel. Damn it.

That left me with no free lap, and no race left. Just four laps left for Brad Huff from Jelly Belly to drop everyone else and reach the finish ahead of Hilton Clarke.

It wasn't the end of the mediocre day there though. This was then followed by a horrible 13 hour drive back the Richmond. We left Chicago a 5 pm and still couldn't beat the morning rush hour in DC. How early do you have to leave these days? At least I found the love of my life on the way home. I wasn't actually looking for her, but she fell into my arms at Dairy Queen. [ed. I've since found out she isn't the love of my life, damn it].

Computers suck!

2009-07-03T19:54:00.000-07:00

I apologise for my lack of updating this thing, but to all those friends back home, who have been a bit worried that I might be dead, I assure you I am still live and kicking. Well, I'm not kicking, but I am still alive.

My computer f***ed up, and with soo much travel it's not till now that i've actually fixed the problem. I will endevour to write some blog posts to catch up. Other than that nothing exciting is happening, so keep watching.

Rock Hill: Patriot's Trail Road Race

2009-04-05T20:14:00.000-07:00

After a good fast day in the saddle during yesterday’s crit, it was time for my preferred style of racing in the road race. The race was 2 laps of a 45mile (72km) lap. The course was nice and rolling, with no real big hills. The wind today was unfortunately pretty minimal. There was a fair few little potholes, bits of sand, gravel and roughed up roads, but not enough to upset the race to much.
The day started off very unusually today. Unusual in that we were the first to arrive at the race, as opposed to running a bit late. We even got to park closest to the start/finish line, and right by the road for a quick exit. It was an early start for us heading off at 8am, and when we arrived at the race it was still dark. We met up with Eric, who was kind enough to feed us today. This would be more important today with the longer race, and since it was so cold in the morning, the extra clothes we’d have on even when it got a little warmer. Though pulling off arm warmers ain’t too much of a hassle.
Just before the race was due to kick off we met up with Dan and Phil (Phil missed yesterday’s crit as he was ion CA, but flew in time for the RR) ad were having a chat as the rest of the bunch were staging. As we sat there talking, we heard a gun go off. Is that our race? Oh s***!!! Next thing you know the four of us are chasing down the moving peloton as they ride away on the course.
The first 5-10mins were a pretty slow steady pace, as I tried to move up the peloton, which was quite hard with the yellow line rule. Pretty soon I came near the front, and the pace was picking up a bit. Not long into the race we took a right hander and some rider hit the deck. He prob took down a few others with him, but I couldn’t see. I just followed the line I was taking and moved back into the slipstream off the riders in front. Shortly after that we hit a couple of rollers, and the attacks really started to heat up. The peloton was hitting it over a hill as I saw Phil follow a move. With a teammate up the road, I wasn’t too concerned in chasing them down, but soon after I did have to boost round the side to make sure I didn’t miss a split. The bunch really was blowing to bits. I was then hoping the pace would stay like this while teams that weren’t up the road try to get across, and the race would be thinned down to a lot less than started. But no, instead everyone stopped pedaling, the bunch came back together and the race for first was effectively over for all those not in the break. We then had a big peloton, not quite as big as when we started, but still bigger than it could have been.
The next portion of the race was a pretty easy affair. We just cruised along pretty slowly. There were at times a few guys who decided it was an easy race, and would attack solo. This would generally last a km, a couple at that most, before we returned to a pedestrian crawl. It wasn't until the last 10-15km that the pace began to ramp up as everyone was going for the sprint. I was still feeling good, and tried to get into a good position for the sprint. With about 5km to go I was perfectly placed, but it only took about 3 sec for a big swarm to come round me on either side. I lost position and had to start all over again. I kept trying to move up, but couldn't quite get in the right place, then just rolled in with the remainder of the bunch.

Rock Hill: Old Downtown Criterium

2009-04-04T18:39:00.001-07:00

This weekend marked our furthest travel from home yet with a pair of races down in Rock Hill, South Carolina. The race consisted of a crit on Saturday and road race on Sunday. Since it's still Sat night, I'll only be talking about the crit for now. It was 40 laps of a .8mi (1.28km) for a total distance of 32 miles (51.2km). The course had 6 turns, a slight downhill run down the back straight, then uphill and round the corner to the finish.

Me by the course near Winthrop University.

Despite the fact that it was quite a technical crit I actually quite enjoyed it. Below is a pic of me rocking out in the crit.

Though I wasn't flying through the course like my team mate Dan, seen below off the front off the race.

Instead I was just sitting in the bunch making fun of my team mate (I'm forthback, kinda blurry, but you might be able to make out what I'm doing with my middle finger), who should have been in the race still, but needs to HTFU!!!

But really this little guy looks a lot better on his bike he does.

But to cut a long story short, I felt a lot more comfortable in that crit than I would have in the past. Last year I would have been one of the many riders being shelled, or at least one of the others left having tear myself apart to stay in contact. Though I do still have a lot of improving to do, as I couldn't quite wriggle my way far enough up to finish near the front, instead only finishing mid pack somewhere. Still, every race I'm learning, and every ride I'm getting stronger. Better luck tomorrow, I hope.

Jefferson Cup

2009-03-30T12:23:00.001-07:00

Despite the low prize money, and typically crap weather, this is the race that everyone in Virgina wants to win. I'm pretty new to the region, but it seems this is the race that cyclists want to have on their palmares. The entries list only takes a few hours to fill up. A lot of riders in the Cat 1 wanted to win it as it meant they could ride for the Nature Valley amateur team at the Nature Valley Grand Prix, so a lot was on the line.

The race was 7 laps of a 10 mile circuit (16km), or 70 miles (112km) total. It was consistently rolling, with no flat roads on the course. Though in saying that, there are no big hills. Typically this race is known for its miserable conditions, but somehow this year it was beautiful. There was a bit of wind, but not enough to do any damage, unless you're a retard who has no idea how to ride in breeze. Unfortunately there were a few of these guys.

We started the race with a neutral roll out to the start finish line before the start of racing. The Cat 1,2,3 field went first, followed by the Masters 35+ field. Not long into the neutral section I heard the sound that no rider likes hearing. Yep, I'd punctured my rear wheel. I stuck my hand in the air as I drifted to the back of the 125 rider field. When I got to the back I told the moto I needed a wheel. "Sorry, the wagon's behind the masters' race, keep riding." Keep riding usually isn't what you want to hear when you have a puncture. Why the hell was our service vehicle behind a different race? They pulled the service vehicle through, and I was given a crap wheel, with a horrible looking tyre fraying on the sides. It also had a bright purple hub. I could see my wheel right next to it, and I was asking for it, but no, I had the purple monster. As I was changing the wheel, the masters rolled past. I then had to fight my way round their race, with a whole lot of old buggers not letting me through as they tried to defend their place in the bunch. I'm not in your race you retards, just let me through. I did get on just before the racing started, so all was good.

The first couple of laps where a shit fight to stay near the front. Everyone wanted to be there, whether it was good riders who wanted to stay out of trouble, crap riders who wanted to be able to drift back when it gets hard, or muppets who have no idea what they're doing but think everyone else is trying to get to front, I should do the same. After a few laps some of the fatties started to tire, and only the halve decent riders were fighting for position, typical racing really. It was pretty dodgy trying to stay near the front with idiots doing stupid stuff.

I managed to stay out of trouble in the race, but Simon didn't have the same luck. He had a mechanical after 3 laps, and after some very slow servicing, found himself a long way back putting the grupetto further in the hurt box than they already were. With about 2 laps to go the pace began to get serious, and cracks looked like they were starting to appear in the group. I was hoping it would blow apart, but there were a few teams far to intent on ending the race in a sprint. On the last lap a group of 4 got away, and were dangling insight the whole way round. With about 5km to go they looked doomed and were almost back in the fold until someone stacked in the field. The crash was off to my right, and I luckily avoided it. The riders that were pulling the break back began to hesitate and look around for their riders. About another km down the road and break were moving away. It was no or never, so with the wind coming from the left I laid it down on the right side and began bridging up. With 2k to go I had more than halved the gap and I thought I had them. The final turn and a spectator yells, "Yea man, you got it. 8 sec". I was well in the hurt box, and dug deeper. With 1k to go, I hadn't closed the gap anymore, but I thought I had it over the bunch. With 700m to go though it was game over. The bunch round me and I was spent. I dug deep, gave it everything, but it wasn't quite enough. Looking back, I probably should have gone right after the crash, as I might have caught the break. But that's racing, you take your chance. Sometimes you ride away to glory, other times you get caught and spat out.

I don't have any photos or exact results at the moment, but will post them as soon as I get them.

Note:

I finshed 49th from 125th

Out Like a Lion

2009-03-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

The road race on Saturday was called out like a lion, but I think this weekend should have just been referred to as WTF?? weekend. Everything that could have gone wrong did (well almost everything), everything that couldn't go wrong also still did, and somehow what should have gone completely wrong didn't. Hmm... Well let's start from the beginning.

Things started to not look to good for the weekend last Monday night, when I woke up feeling a little queasy. I went to the bathroom, where I realised I wasn't just a little queasy, but down right sick. I then spent the majority of the remaining evening with my head above the toilet regurgitating what ever it was I shouldn't have eaten. I then spent a few days without riding, and by the time Friday came along I found myself really struggling to keep up with anyone on the bike. Having been sick, my blood sugars did there usual reaction and just went crazy.

We headed down to NC on Saturday, and things weren't looking like improving. I had an occlusion and 400 mg/dl (22.2 mmol/L) blood sugar. hmm, not a good start. I then had to clamber into the back of the tank to get my new pod, bolus, and before you know it I was back in range for the first time in a week.

After getting my BG's down, and nearing lunch time, we went to reach for some lunch we had packed. This enlightened us to our next problem, we left cooler behind. Bugger. Well, that had most our food for the weekend in it, bugger.

Me rummaging round the back of the tank for a pod while we cruise down the highway.

This trip did mean me reaching my 31st State, and first new one for 2009; North Carolina.

After stocking up with some 'race' food at the gas station where we filled up we were back on the road hopping that the worst was behind us. A little way down the road we get a message from Shelia the Slapper (our Garmin GPS) saying, "20min of battery remaining". We then checked the power adapter and realise that it was hanging by a thread and not really working. After frantically writing down the turn by turn directions (which we were really hoping we wouldn't need), we then began a repair job. Sticking a metal object in the cigarette lighter didn't work, it just sprayed sparks out. Even for Simon when tried it the 2nd time for some reason!?! However What did work was a little electrical tape. I think a warranty may be required for this job.

We did have some technical difficulties on the way down, but thanks to a little ingenuity with electrical tape we were away laughing again.

It was a good thing we got Shelia working, cause the roads around here were confusing. 3 lanes and 3 stop signs at a T intersection, hmm. We also had to turn down Random Rd, which was a real road, not just the Slapper not knowing where we were.

We did eventually get down to the race, early even, and set up for the race. One thing (of many) I hate about racing after being sick is guessing my insulin requirements. The last week I had been running with 40% more than usual, and still running high. This should mean that I should stay on that much more except with a racing rate right? Well, I had been feeling a lot better and BG's were coming down, so would it be too much? Dilemma. I ran pretty close to what I normally would and decided to see if it was enough.

The race didn't really go well for any of us. Simon was the only one of us 3 to actually finish the race, that's never good. I just felt empty, and halfway through the race couldn't even hang onto the back of the group. Goodnight. I then crawled back to the van, feeling absolutely rubbish, to test my blood. I was expecting some 3 or 400 ridiculous blood, but to my utter amazement it read 99! I couldn't believe it, 99! Not 100 or 98, but a perfect 99. I think it was about the only time I've ever been pissed off that I was 99. Just sums up the WTF theme of the weekend. Matt also exited his race early, and Simon came in a little after the bunch.

Our only finisher for the day.

WTF? The 'worst' 99 I've ever had, if such a thing exists.

The next day was a crit, and although I felt a million times better than the day before, crits have never been my forte. So much so that our sponsors wanted my bio to say, "Tim's goal is to ride a crit..." We'll I've already achieved that goal twice this year, and although I still wasn't feeling good, I made it through this one as well. I managed to get pretty well positioned for a lot of the race (not all), but when the winning moves went I just didn't have the legs. I did get in front of the massive crash though, in which Simon was caught up, but didn't go down (apparently there is a video of this, hopefully I can get it soon). They then let the 20 odd riders back in between the break and field, effectively closing the gap.

The trip home we were finally looking for some peace at the end of a crazy weekend. We had a quick dinner stop at the Olive Garden, which I had been wanting to visit for a long time, ie since I got to the US. Not due to the reputation for fine food, but rather the funny adds and tv/movie references, "Olive Garden, When you're here, you're family".

After that we just cruised home without any problems, except when our slapper went spastic on us. While still on the highway she tried to tell us to turn left, and kept recalculating. Below is her showing we are off the road.

It wasn't the most successful weekend, but certainly an eventful one. One to bigger and better things.

Part 3

2009-03-24T12:37:00.000-07:00

Part 3Host House.

Our first host house for the year, and it was to be a new experience for Simon. Not knowing what to expect, we turned up at the address, knocked on the door, and was greeted by our host. I introduced us Team Type 1, but received only a blank expression in return. Hmm..awkward, are we in the right place? “I think we staying here”, I said. This sparked a realization and we felt a lot more at home. After this Jeff and Kristen were nothing less than wonderful hosts. They provided some ridiculously good food, and made sure we felt completely at home. At home enough that we even joined in on the trampoline basketball game. That was a workout, especially for Matt, who found it harder work than the race. Maybe he should have finished it. Though the basketball must have done something for him, cause he came back pretty strong in the crit the next day.

Matt and I watch the net from afar during a round of tramp basketball.

Matt takes a shot during tramp bball.

Matt kitting up with his knee warmers, not that he needed it.

Part 2: Road Trip

2009-03-23T17:54:00.001-07:00

Part 2: Road tripping

One exciting thing about the racing was that we were able to depart on our first road trip with the Devo team. Having been given directions and orders from team General Tim, we head of in the TT1 Devo team tank.

The tank really was a beast to drive, but we handled it alright. Directions were okay thanks to Shelia the Slapper, that’s the name of our new Garmin GPS. Though her directions were at times a little odd. We didn’t seem to be going in a straight line at times, but weaving all over the place.

And we might have been in a tank, but at least we weren’t putting out what ever obnoxious gasses this lady’s car was (check out that face mask).

On the way home, we did finally get to see the Holocaust museum. I’ve been to DC twice before, and missed it both times, so this time I was happy to see. Unfortunately we were a little late, and didn’t have enough time to see it all. But we were lucky enough, possible due to Simon and my accents, to get free tickets that they weren’t giving out anymore. At least we were doing something useful while Matt was being swiped with a wand since he was trying to bring in a used insulin syringe.

We did see a few other sights, like rugby posts beneath an American icon, the Washington Monument. All in all a good trip away, but a few more sights to see. No new states, for me at least, but number 31 will be coming next weekend with NC.

The team out the front of the Holocaust Museum

Simon With his big ball of rubber bands

Washington Monument with a typicl kiwi seen in the foreground

An Amish family in PA. We drove straight past this family, and when I screamed at Matt I needed a photo, he slammed on the breaks of the Tank, threw it in reverse, and we got our photo. Even if it's still not that good a photo, it was entertaining getting it.

Check out this lady's facemask. We thought Simin let off a few rough ones in the Van, but her passengers must of done something terrible,

This is our Navigator, Shelia the "Slapper". She's pretty good, but gives us soem wierd directions sometimes. As you can see we weren't exactly going ina straight libe through Baltimore.

Me driving into Washington DC

Part 1: Racing

2009-03-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

The first race was the Farmisville Road Race in PA. This 80km race was 16 laps of a pretty flat circuit with an uphill finishing straight. Unlike all the surrounding roads, it was also sheltered from the wind, making for a pretty easy race. We started trying to follow most of the moves, but not much was happening when we did anything. It seemed the whole field was watching for these Team Type 1 pro riders who were fresh of Tour of California to light the race up. Though the truth of the matter was of the 4 TT1 riders (Me, Simon, Matt from the Devo team and Andy from the elite team), we had 2 cat.2s and one rider who had only arrived in the country 2 days earlier and still thought it was e in the morning.
The end result of the race was pretty predictable. A group eventually got away without any of us in it. I decided to try to bring it back so Simon could have a go in the sprint, but it didn’t happen. We managed to pop Matt off the back when I was on the front as well; oops. Good team work there.

The 2nd race was the Tradzone training crit Maryland. The scenario was almost identical to the day before. Except today was made a bit more fun by the horrible cold and rain, as seen by the amount of clothing on for an hour crit. I was, as put by my loyal teammate “left for dead by your teammates”. That’s probably a bit of an exaggeration; I wasn’t left for dead, just barely breathing.

Looking happy in layers of clothes after the crit.

Sitting in the crit

I'm mot sure if I'm attacking, moving up, back or what's going on here.

Matt looking a bit frazzeled after the race

Simon wasn't too happy looking before the stage

Road Trip

2009-03-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

We had the first Team Type 1 devo team road trip this past weekend, so I'll be posting a couple of posts to tell you how it went. So look out the next few days.

Cullop's Cup Crit

2009-03-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

My First race in Virginia, and my first race for the new year; exciting stuff. The race was a 'training' crit in Richmond. What exactly does that mean? I'm not sure, but I think it just means that there is a smaller entry fee and smaller payout. The race itself was a crit with a nasty hairpin at corner one, some rough roads up to an open corner two leading into an easy descent. This ended in a 90 degree right hander with an uphill run up to the start/finish line.

The race itself wasn't to bad, and I managed to keep out of trouble. I did try getting off the front, but the two who joined me weren't driving it that hard. We were still off the front when they called a burrito prime. I went into the bottom corner in third and went from the bottom, only to be caught right on the line by some guy jumping out of the pack. My theory on that is if I was light enough I would have won it. If I'm not light enough to win, I'm not light enough to enjoy a burrito.

That attack left me a little tired, and when the winning break established itself, I was just a little far back to get across. I tried, and came oh so close, but couldn't quite get across. I then ended up somewhere in the middle of the pack as we crossed the line.

Not a bad start for my Virgina campaign. It was good to get some racing back in my legs, and through my new bike around a bit. Hopefully next time I'll be a bit further up when it counts.

Timeline of bike's

2009-03-06T16:25:00.001-08:00

As some of you may know, it's been taking a little while for me to get my bike. Usually I would use my bike from last year, and hand it back when I get my new one. Unfortunately I broke my old one less than a week before leaving the states. So in New Zealand I used my old Fuji, with the Fuji stickers covered up. When I got back I was anticipating my new rig to be waiting for me, but how wrong I was. The next 40 days I was in the Wilderness (excuse the pun, but it is quite a coincidence it was 40 days), and jumped from bike to bike. So here are the bike's I've ridden this year.

1. Fuji:

The first bike for the year was the trusty old Fuji. I had to cover up all the non Orbea stickers. Luckily it was all black, so the electrical tape worked quite nicely. It was a bit odd going back to Shimano, but it was nice to riding Dura-Ace again instead of the rival, even if the frame wasn't as nice. At 61cm this was the biggest, and prob too big. The photo isn't from this year, but Nov '08, close enough.

2. Joe's Old training bike:

After getting to camp, and finding I had no bike, I was put on Joe's old training bike. Joe rides a pretty similar set up to me, so that wasn't too bad. But moving back to Rival and Force mix wasn't great after using D-A all summer. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of that bike.

3. Adam's fixie:

During camp we had an excessive amount of photography done. During this, we all had to ride behind the truck. Unfortunately we have a rider who doesn't know how to use gears. I'm not talking about Tim P, who doesn't know how to use his little chain ring, or the triathlon team, who can't use the big ring (sorry tri team), but Adam, who for some reason insists on using a fixie to ride across the country. Despite that Adam was quite comfortable on the fixie, he wasn't allowed it in front of the camera with it, so we swapped bikes. This isn't me on the fixie below, but the fixie specialist himself.

4. The photo bike:

After Joe claimed his bike back, I then took a bike which was apparently set up in a hurry for some photos. Which would explain why it wasn't running so smooth. But after a quick tune up it was running sweet. Especially with the new D-A. That's not me below, but it is the bike...

...and the prototype brakes.

5...

Well, I didn't ride this bike but I'd like a ride. Thanks Pez

5. Chris's Orca:

Since the priority was going to the Tour of California riders, my 'photo' bike quickly was taken off me for Chris to ride. Which left me with his bike from last year. That was ok, as it was the same as my race bike from last year. Was nice to ride Red again, even if I had just gotten used to Shimano again. The bike did get me up Mt Figueroa a lot quicker than last year though.

6. Alison's Teschner:

I left camp and headed for Boulder, CO where I had idea what bike I was going to ride. Luckily for me my team mate Alison was kind enough to lend me her old Teschner from last year. The bike rode pretty well, though it did feel a little different from Orbea. It did have Shimano, which I'd be riding for the rest of the year. Though I did confuse a few people by riding a bike with a name tag with an American flag reading "Alison Powers".

7. Tim P's bike:

I returned Alison's bike and headed for CA for a few days, where I remained bikeless. But I could sleep easy in the thought that soon I would be arriving in Richmond where my bike would be waiting. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. Instead I was set up on Tim's 54cm Orca.

8. My BIKE!!!

And finally I got my bike. My sweet Orbea Opal, with Selle Italia saddle (unfortunately in black, I hope it doesn't cause to much problem for my nice white bibs), Shimano Ultegra, Zeus handlebars, stem and seatpost, and wheels by... Ah, ignore that last bit, still waiting for them wheels.

Well now I have my bike it's time to get out an ride it. First race on it will be tomorrow.

Athlete days in SoCal.

2009-03-03T10:03:00.001-08:00

I arrived in San Diego late last Sunday night for what was to be my first athlete days for the year. It was scheduled then to coincide with the end of the Tour of California while all the hype about the race was still fresh in the minds of the public.

I was flying Frontier Airlines to SD, which is great, as I usually find them really good airline. Only problem is, no matter what airline you are with, you never know who you might be put next to. I was in the middle seat, and the lady by the window was very nice. The one by isle however, was a little more awkward. When I got to the seat, she was on the phone, in tears. I felt sorry for her at first, but then she started to get all s****y at me when I wanted to sit down. This was followed by even more excessive crying to the point where she was balling her eyes. Most people hate being put next to a crying child, but I would have welcomed that.

I did survive that, after which the evening began to improve. I went out to dinner to the nearby Joe's crab shack restaurant. It's a chain restaurant which I hadn't been to before, so decided to check it off the list. I don't think it was the best food ever but I'll give top marks for the service. Definitely the flirtiest waitresses around.

Monday morning and it was time to head off to work. Usually I fit a ride in the morning, but without a bike (I'm still in waiting) that wasn't going to happen. Instead I did some core strength training, and this just left me nursing my sore abs the rest of the day.
We spent Monday wondering around SD and visiting a few docs and so far. But the highlight of the day was visiting the pediatric clinic. Apidra has just been given indication for children, so this was the first time I had been able to talk to kids with type 1 and their families. The kids seemed pretty cool, and one young man even gave the room a demonstration on how he put on his OmniPod.

The meeting ended just after 6, at which point I was put in a car driven up to LA. The first hour of the drive was taken up by conference to 'practice' an athlete day. Good thing I got to do that, otherwise I might have started to miss docs/reps heaven forbid.

That car trip did take me to Beverly Hills though, where I would start my next days rounds. Of course I didn't have a bike, but I wanted to cruise around Beverly and check out Hollywood and so on. I made the best of the situation, and reserved a star on the Hollywood walk of fame.

Of course I'd have to start somewhere. Anyone who's heard me sing knows how much talent I have, so I thought I'd go to the same place that all the no hopers who struggle to hold a tune as I do go: the Kodak Theatre aka the home American Idol. I just hope I'm bad/terrible/dramatic/sad enough to get my 15min of fame.

Although my singing didn't appeal to anyone in Hollywood, I did run into my old girlfriend for the first time since the ING Capitol Criterium in September last year (see archives for old posts). And Ariel was still looking as hot as always.

Of course I did have some athlete days to do. I had to sneak in the back entrance at lunch due to the insane number of teenage girls that were lining up to see me. Or maybe they were there for the Jonas Brothers. I don't know, could be either.

After a successful day in LA, which included a lot of last minute drop ins (they were quite fun, even if a little disorganised), it was off to Santa Barbara for dinner. The function in SB was good fun, with a lot of young doctors pretty keen to hear from not just me, but also the local expert. Below is a photo of the Sanofi crew at dinner.

The next day was the final in visits for the week. There was a talk at the hospital which was well attended, and I did enjoy talking to a range of people. Unlike 2 days before when I had kids and their families, this time there was also adults. It was nice to have more variety in the day.

So there it is, my opener for the year, and no, not my racing opener. Of course after that I was still in SB, so I thought I'd go check out the town.

I did find a bike to ride, if only I had found it earlier.

And yes, I was kinda close to home. Just follow this direction across the sea for 10,000km and you're there. Just take a boat, the rest is in walking distance.

The next day I was on a plane off to Richmond, VA for the first time. After having a fat women crying next to me on the way in, I thought I deserved something a little better. But after boarding the plane in Dallas where I had a layover I wasn't to happy see a women walking towards me with an extender seat belt in hand. 'Twas quite a relief when she decided not to sit next me. It's usually upsetting when a women doesn't want to be near me, but not this time.

Until next time, take care

Lousy Smarch Weather

2009-03-02T09:10:00.000-08:00

I did intend on writing about my athlete day, and then a full report on my new abode, but then this came up. Apprently it is the worst snow Richmond has had in years, so here are some photos.

Snow mobile

Anyone keen on eatign outside?

For all you non ameircans, this is in Farhreinheit, not celecius, and yes its cold.

Even the main road is covered in snow/water/slush

The end of the road.

River Slush

Front porch

Apperently there's a path under foot somewhere.

Night time and the snow is starting to get heavier.

Last night there wasn't as much snow on the ground, but just as much coming down.

The dead end at the end of the road.

Wow, it looks rather magical

Hmm, looks like livign here could be fun. I just need some cross country skiis and a snow mobile and I'll be set.

Breifly back in Boulder

2009-02-25T23:46:00.000-08:00

I headed back to the rocky mountains to what I had last year come to call my "home away from home". Unfortunately this year it is no longer a home for me, though I do still have an affection for Boulder. This year my new home is to be in Richmond, VA, despite not having been there after arriving back in the US over a month ago. I visited Boulder primarily to pick up and send off my stuff from last year, but thought while I was there I should have some fun.

In Boulder I had the same problem I had a camp, I still didn't have a bike. Only at camp there where a few spare bikes floating around. I arrived in Boulder not really sure what to do. I started off by asking a few bike shops how much it cost to hire one for a few weeks, but decided $160/week for the cheaper option was a little to much. Luckily, after sending out a few emails, I was offered a bike by my team Allison. it was very kind of her, and i had a bike to use. The bike pictured below confused a few people with the name tag.

Of course the weather here was a colder than Santa Barbara, and a lot colder than New Zealand right now. The temps even got colder here in Fahrenheit than it was at home in Celsius. But at least the snow in Boulder was nice and dry and fluffy. Most of the times there were blue skies. With enough layers on training was never a problem.

I was reunited with the old scooter as well. It took a little kick starting to get going again in the cold, but it drove like a champion still. Only driving it this time of year was cold; very cold.

Still, it did at least mean I could go skiing. Though it was good altitude training, i did have to take it easy. The video shows my view on the last bit of the last run of the day. pretty unexciting, i was more playing with the camera than trying anything fun.

If I had have ended up like this guy it would be much more exciting.

But after almost 3 weeks it was time to pack my bags and head out. Say good bye to my friends and look to the future for something new. It's hard when you finally settle down somewhere, meet friends, discover good training roads and learn how to get what you want in a town, just to then have to move somewhere else. Though in saying that, it's also cool to check out a new place and I'm defiantly looking forward to the opportunities that Richmond will provide for me. I've just got to make sure I take full advantage of that.

p.s. Sorry for ending on something so cheesy, but it is true.

Skiing

2009-02-20T15:51:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday I went skiing for the first time in a while. It was the first time I've skied in the Northern Hemisphere, but while in Colorado in February I couldn't possibly miss the chance. So I bought myself a lift ticket for Eldora, hired some skis, and prepared for a day of fun. Unfortunately my ski clothes were all back in NZ, so I had to do a bit of improvisation. I pulled on old running tights, with last year's Team Type 1 winter bib tights, covered by my track pants. Hmm, good insulation, but poor outer layer. Without a ski jacket, I had to settle for my cycling jacket. Nice and warm, only problem is that it had no collar, so I had improvise. My face was a bit cold, but everything else was fine. I was almost tempted to wear my skin suit, just so I could look like Ned Flanders. But that might concern a few people.

Having never been skiing in Colorado, I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping it wouldn't be like that of South Park below...

Instead I hoping it would be more like this below

Fortunately it wasn't like the first, but unfortunately it wasn't like the second either. What I did see was nice powder snow (except in a few of the more exposed places where it was blown away), and no lines. The longest I had to wait in a line was while the chairlift in front of me was being occupied. Not bad at all. Below is a few photos I took.

The reservoir at Nederland frozen over.

Looking out from the top of the chair lift.

Looking at the opposite direction from the top of the chairlift.

Looking down the front range from the chairlift.

And on the chairlift.

All up it was a pretty good day. Even if it was a little cold on my face and fingers, but everythig else was fine. It was a good day of cross training, as not only was I working my legs all day, but got some time up at the high altitude as well.

I did have a great time on the skis, but now it's back on the bike training.

Diabetes: The good, the bad, and the funny.

2009-02-11T18:19:00.000-08:00

Upon arriving back in America it didn't take long for me to catch onto the different ways in which diabetes is viewed. Most of the people I spend a lot of time with know much more than the average person. This isn't surprising considering who I spend time interacting with: Team Type 1 teammates, drug reps and doctors on athlete days, my old classmates from nutrition, family and close friends who have known for a long time why I need insulin. I also assume that most people reading this are from one of the groups stated above, but for those who are not, aside from a big thanks for reading, here is a very brief overview on what type 1 diabetes mellitus is.

I feel very well represented by the cartoon below; apart from the fact I'm not quite as tanned, my puku isn't quite as big (I know I'm fat, but not quite that big) and I don't wear budgie smugglers (anymore at least). The other important difference is that my entire pancreas isn't on strike, only the part that produces insulin. Which is what Type 1 is, an inability to produce insulin because the bodies defence system has recognised it as foreign and destroyed it. Thus insulin must be injected in amounts equivalent to that produced by the body. Inject too much? I need to balance this out by eating more carbohydrate (insulin's role is to control this in the bloodstream). Inject not enough? I inject more, obviously enough.

One thing about diabetes is that there is always more to learn about it. Whether you've just heard about it for the first time, or like me you've not only lived with it for almost 17 years, but also studied it at University, there is still more to learn. This might come from reading a book, like I am below, but more commonly now for me comes from reading my blood sugar and talking to teammates.

But no matter where I go, I'm always seeing different ways in which people view diabetes. There are the people that just pretend it doesn't exist...

The people that don't give a dam...

The people that are prejudice against people with diabetes...

Then there are a lot of people who do actually care. The way people care and want to get their message across is different. For example, in New Zealand at the moment there is the scare tactics going on. This can be a good way to shock people, but I think I just find them amusing. The photo below is taken on the corner of Harris Rd and Te Rakau Dr in Auckland. I'd pass it every Saturday morning on a bunch ride, and usually laugh. This would sometimes get a reaction from the old people in the bunch, "you shouldn't laugh, you might get diabetes someday." Yea, I'm dreading the day.

But then there are the people who try to get the message across in a less intimidating way, like my favourite soft toy at home, and mascot for Diabetes New Zealand, Barnaby the Bee. Of course the bee at my house doesn't look quite the same as the one pictured, since I have had him since I was about 6 or 7. Still, he still has the same message, "Diabetes: Be aware".

In the US, however, they have different methods of advertising. There is of course the best method of promoting care and management of diabetes: Team Type 1 and Team Type 2. But I don't need to talk about those legends now, I'm sure if you read this you have/will hear enough about those legends.

America does have other stars to talk about diabeetus, like Wilfred Brimley. He's the one on the right below, the guy on the left is... well I don't know who he is, but he keeps saying he's a veteran.

Of course for every good effort at promoting something, there is always someone mocking them. Usually Family Guy or South Park. Below is Family Guy's attempt at mocking Wilfred, and unfortunately diabetes as well...

...And of course South Park had to try as well, they do take the Piss out of everyone else. Below is Scott Malkinson. Every time he was on screen, all he would say was, "I'm Scott Malkinson, I have diabetes." To the reply, "Shut up Scott Malkinson".

Then of course there are the random cartoons, just to make sure the Fox shows don't get all the fun.

After all, if you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at.

There also the random photos floating around, which are just confusing. Like the one below. I mean, how the hell do you fill up a syringe with insulin when the cap is still on the bottle.

So that's pretty much it for now for my random rant. I'm still in Colorado for another week, and not a lot out of the usual is happening at the moment. So farewell until next time.

Poor College Kid's Road Race

2009-01-31T15:49:00.000-08:00

My first race in USA for 2009. Not too bad a start for the year. I've already done a couple of races in New Zealand, but wasn't race fit for them. I wouldn't consider myself fully race fit now either, but I'm in much better shape now than I was.

I was going into this race with a couple of big days over this last week, but my form wasn't looking too shabby at all. I went up Mt Figeroa 2 days earlier, and rode it almost 10min quicker than I did in February last year. But now to see how I would handle some racing.

The race was 68miles (109km) which consisted of 2x out and back. This meant that the yellow line rule was strictly enforced, especially with other races on at the same time. The race started off going up a false flat, with a few steeper sections, before descending down a steep hill. It then was rolling down to the turn around, before heading back the opposite way.

With a lot of riders, I'm guessing over 80, it was pretty tight just in the right lane. It did stretch out a bit over the first hill, but the group stayed together. Coming around the first u-turn was where people started to be put under a bit of pressure. I learned that I should have been a lot further up the first time round.

I felt pretty good by the end of the race, but didn't quite have the power to be able to match the stronger riders up the final climb. A few of us chased hard on the descent, but weren't quite able to catch back onto to the group in front.
Overall result, I have no idea where I finished, but my Team Type 1 teammates did well to finish first with Ricardo Escuela, and Moises Aldalpe second. With 18 in the race you'd expect us to take and the piss, and we did with several other riders finishing in the front group.

My next race will be the last day of Feb down in South Carolina, so before then it's time to train hard, get a bit of altitude training in Boulder, and settle in at home in Richmond.

Summer at home

2008-11-23T00:09:00.000-08:00

First off all, let me apologise for my lack of writing and keeping up the blog over NZ summer/US winter. I've been in my beautiful homeland of New Zealand, pictured below, underneath our glorious nation's flag. In New Zealand I had very limited access to Internet, so was unable to keep up with my blogs. But now I'm back in the great US of A I should be able to get a regular feed going.

New Zealand is a bit different from America. The US usually has a lot more diabetes related advertisements than NZ, but there still some gems in Auckland. The one below is my favourite, on the corner of Harris Rd and Te Rakau Dr.

But upon returning home I did get a chance to do some racing. About 2 weeks back home and I was racing in the Tour of Southland. This was my final race for the year, and not an easy one to finish up with. Despite the predominately flat course, Southland is made very difficult by the dead roads and shit weather. Riding all day in the gutter, the race being blown apart 10min into a flat stage or struggling to keep the speed in double digits on the flat aren't that uncommon for this race: fun times. This year I rode with the Fulton Hogan team, and rode alright, but not brilliant. Below is a photo of me in a piss poor effort in the prologue.

Though my performance did get better after that first morning stage, the weather certainly didn't. Though that didn't get us down. Below is a photo of two rather happy teammates Jack and Josh. This was after a morning stage of wind, rain, snow and hail. Jack was happy since he just destroyed the stage, and josh was still warm with his 7 layers on.

Southland ended up ok in the end, but the important thing was that it ended. It was then followed by 3 weeks of no riding, and possibly a little bit too much alcohol consumption. After the tour I just hung round the South Island for a bit, making a nuisance of myself. I was hoping to enjoy the warming weather while I made my way back up north, but as you can see from the photo below at Punakiki, I didn't get too much of that.

I started back training with the Enduro Round Taupo. 320km is not an easy was to start back into things, but it was all good. I started racing with the Tour de Vineyards in the Nelson area on the 1st of January. The race went ok, not great. I was riding alright, and managed to slip myself into the break on the 3rd day on the way to Takaka Hill. Tough day to be a away with the typical headwind hampering our progress. I inevitably cracked, and even manged to hit the road in the feed zone after my feeder swung my feedbag into my handlebars. After 100km away I didn't think the peloton would finally pass me while I stood on the side of the road putting my chain back on. Below is a photo of me at the top of the hill, with pod taped on. It only barely survived the crash.

Not a lot else really happened in January. I didn't race again before leaving and spent most of my time either riding my bike, packing my bags, or trying to sort my visa. Having completed the packing and visa in time, I was allowed to fly off to the US, via Fiji. With such a long a flight, and a decent stop over in Fiji, I did make some friends on the flight. Here we are below at a curry place in Fiji, with my goat curry in front of me.

Now I'm back in the US with Team Type 1 training camp, so I should say a little bit about what I'm doing this year.

Last year I rode with the Pro team, but didn't race too much with them. This year I'm racing full time with the development team, and will be pulled into the Pro team when possible. This will give me a lot more racing, and by the end of the year I should be flying. I'll be based out of Richmond, VA, but will travel a bit. After all, I do still have another 22 states to visit.

Seattle, The Emerald City

2008-10-13T11:05:00.000-07:00

There was no time to head home after my wonderful trip to Oregon, instead it was time to head to another place I had wanted to visit in the US, Seattle, Washington. I had heard a lot about Seattle from my parents, and about their good friends that live there Ed and Patrice. With another athlete day a week after my trip to OR, I decided it would be a good time to head up and check out the Northwest.

I was flying out of Eugene Airport to Seattle on Alaskan Air. I've travelled enough with a bike around the US now to know what to expect to pay with each airline. Sometimes at small airports I might be able to sneak it on cheaper, but not always. However, I've never flown with Alaska air before, so didn't know what to expect. I was thinking I'd have to pay somewhere round $100. I walked up to the counter to check in, and was asked what was in my massive bag. Never a good sign. "It's a bike" I replied. The lovely lady behind the desk then smiled and said rather apologetically, "I'm really sorry, but I think we're going to have charge you $25 for that." I had to stop myself laughing, cause I did find that rather amusing.

The plane trip itself wasn't too bad either, with complimentary beer and wine offered on the flight. Why can't all the other airlines be like that?

I arrived in Seattle airport to be greeted by Ed, Patrice and Katie. This was a nice surprise to have all of them come to meet me. I was promptly taken to my Seattle home for dinner with my Seattle family.

Despite the pouring rain, I began to explore the city for the first time via bicycle. It felt a lot like riding at home in Auckland: crappy weather rolling in from the ocean, cracked and broken roads, short but steep hills and lots of round abouts. If it weren't for the fact that the cars were driving on the right side of the road it would probably be exactly the same. The ride would probably have been fun if it wasn't for the puncture!

The next day I went into town to check out the heart of Seattle. Many of the sights I wished to see were located in Pike Place Market. Below is a photo of me with my two wonderful guides Katie and Jill.

The first attractions to see in Pike Place Market was the original Starbucks. The coffee shop which started so small but eventually grew enough to have ambitions of world domination is located right here in Seattle. The original was a lot different from the new chains popping up on every second block. No leather chairs and couches, soft carpet and free wi-fi, just a basic store selling coffee. But what it does have is the original logo. The women in the logo is just a face, but a full breasted naked women/mermaid. Below is a photo of me enjoying my Starbucks coffee at the original store in front of the original topless logo.

After Starbucks we had to go check out the fish. This was pretty cool, with the workers having a great time throwing them all round the place. Below is a photo of the fish about to be thrown...

...in mid air hurtling towards me...

...and eventually me having caught the fish.

I was rather glad to have caught it in my hands. Dropping it would be far to embarrassing, and catching it in my arms would have left me stinking of fish for the rest of the day. If that was the case, Rachel surely wouldn't have let me ride her, as shown below.

Having ridden Rachel, it was time to head off and do some more womanising. I did manage to find Marilyn, and she was quite happy to see me. Angelina was a bit jealous though, an tried to lure me away, and Sarah was just down right pissed off. at least Barrak was happy for me.

But I did also have time to catch up with my old flame Hannah.

But there is only so much fun you can have with an underage girl, no matter how hot she is. So i moved on to Princess Leia, much to the disgust of Harrison.

The next day I was lucky enough to catch up with my Uncle Fraser, who coincidentally happened to be in Seattle at the same time as me. I went up the Space Needle for lunch with Patrice and Fraser. Below is a photo from the lunch table looking down at the wacky design of the EMP music museum, which I would visit the following day.

Below is the three of us with our smoking dessert, though most of the dry ice had run out by then.

After lunch I was taken on a tour of the Amgen building. This was a lot flasher than the facilities I worked at in Otago. Unfortunately no photography was allowed inside. Though I did get a photo on the double helix bridge leading over to Amgen.

And of course no trip to Seattle would be complete with a visit to the house of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain's house.

Of course the landmark which I was looking forward to seeing was Mt Washington. For four days it never popped out from the clouds, until finally, just before sunset, on my way home on a bike ride, the clouds cleared the mountain came into view. I didn't have enough time to take a photo, so I'll leave you with a photo from someone else.

Track Town, USA. The home of Pre

2008-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Of the many places I've wanted to visit in the US, Eugene, OR has always been right up there at the top of the list. All because of one man, Steve Prefontaine, aka "Pre". For those that don't know, Pre was a middle distance runner in the 1970's who had a big impact on the sport. Although he only finished 4th at the '72 Olympics in Munich, he had a huge impact on the fans for his aggressive front running style and his rough as guts, never say die attitude. His Coach, Bill Bowerman, was also famous for starting Nike by making running shoes with his wife's waffle iron. Right from the time I arrived at Eugene airport, there was no escaping Pre's impact on this little town.

But enough about the history, what about my trip?

My was with Sanofi Aventis. Another athlete day talking about the wonders of Apidra. Good times, I hoped. I wasn't disappointed.

Well the trip didn't start amazingly well, with those horrible people at United Airlines charging me $140 to take my bike and bag on the plane. But things soon got better. I went out riding, and managed to get soaked through. I was able to go round a nice little loop thanks to a local guide, Lisa, who I meet out riding and who showed me where to ride, so that was all good.

I was invited out to dinner by Stefanie, the Sanofi rep looking after me while I was in Eugene. In was at dinner where Eugene's slightly different culture began to show. First of all, there was a massive screen up showing the VP debate. There seemed to be a big crowd for what wasn't even the leaders. Secondly, they were advertising free wireless internet in a pub. In a coffee shop I could understand, but who brings their computer to the pub? Thirdly, there was their rather strange advertising to get people to vote. Below is a photo of the tomato sauce bottle at dinner. Note the girly hands holding the bottle up.

Apart from those weird little things I noticed about Eugene, there was 2 things that really stood out. The Ducks, who are the local University team, and the legend of Pre. Since I don't care about college sport or football, I didn't take much notice of the first. Though I am a big fan of Pre, and I was lucky enough to have some time in the morning to check out his legacy (or unlucky enough to have time, since the reason I did was that my bike was getting fixed). I did have an excellent tour guide with me, and our first stop was Hayward Field. This is the famous track which Pre ran on, and was the venue for the US Olympic trials.

Inside the stadium I took a photo with my good friend, running coach, and shoe maker Bill Bowerman. I almost felt bad for standing on the statue's base in Puma shoes.

After seeing the stomping ground of Pre, it was then time to see where he met his end. We took a trip up through Hendricks Park, and after a quick view over the city, headed to Pre's rock. Pre's rock is situated at the sight where Pre crashed his car, ending his life on 30th May 1975. The site is littered with flags, ribbons, race numbers, medals etc from dedicated fans of Pre.

Of cause had to leave my tribute, and to the lower left of the stone you can see my Team Type 1 business card.

After my guided tour of Eugene, it was time to get to work. This started with lunch number 1 at a doctors clinics. This was a typical meeting with doctors, talking about Apidra, my OmniPod and my Navigator.

After lunch number 1 it was onto lunch number 2. This was a much nicer lunch with a few doctors and people who I weren't quite sure who they were. Still, just spread the message of Team Type 1, how I use Apidra, and all is good. This can be quite an easy job when I just have to talk about how I look after myself.

After lunch there were a few more doctors to visit, then it was onto Alton Baker Park to talk to some diabetics who would be brave enough to turn up in the pouring rain. Unfortunately there weren't too many brave people that Friday afternoon. Fortunately, this wasn't a precursor for the stepout event on Saturday. Despite pretty lousy weather, good numbers came out. I did get a chance to speak to a lot of people, and spent a lot of time signing autographs. Not just on posters, but also a lot of t-shirts. I also got a chance to talk to everyone there. This is shown in the photo below.

After the Step Out, the weather started to clear up. This was great, as it gave me a chance to get out and ride under sunny skies. I was also lucky enough to have Stefanie as a local cycling guide to show me the good roads to ride on.

After the ride, we then got to check out the Laughing Planet Cafe. This cafe seemed quite suited to me; it was on Blair Blvd (my dad's name, for those that know), its smoothie flavours included "Auckland" and "Farm boy Tim" and it has a lot of randomness. Below is a photo of me and nutritionally aware Bigfoot reminding me to eat my greens.

And finally, if you had noticed from Hannah and Ariel, I do try to meet new girls every time I go on an athlete day trip. Below is a photo of me and my Eugene girlfriend.

New Jersey and the ING Capitol Criterium

2008-10-04T21:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay, but it's better late than never right? I mean that seemed to be theme with my travel. Despite that, I still managed to get to New Jersey, just as I've managed to finally get this done.

I got to NJ, the Garden State, and ticked off my 27th state so far in my journey. I also made my first trip to true Atlantic Ocean (not including inlets). Below is a photo of me by the beach.

But the trip wasn't all just hanging out the beach working on my tan, or lack there of. I started off by visiting the hospital which I did find very impressive. I was taken through Tammy, a walk through display of the human body. Tammy was the girl I was inside... hmm, it's not as dodgy as some may think it sounds though. Inside Tammy is a whole lot of displays showing how different parts of the body work.

Also in the hospital was the gym. The gym was equipped with a whole range of stuff, including an underwater treadmill to help with rehab. I should have taken my toggs (or for Americans, my bathing suit/swim wear/whatever it is you call toggs). Also in the gym was a room full of spin bikes, where for the first time I lead a spin class. Below is a photo of me with a whole lot of the people who joined me for my class.

I spent the rest of the afternoon visiting a few clinics before being shown the beach and heading back to my hotel. The next day started off with a training ride out to Hook Point, from where I could just look across the water to the high rises of New York. Unfortunately it was a little to far to ride to, maybe next time. We then went out for lunch, where I talked a bit about the team and my own riding. Below is a photo of with the Sanofi reps, showing off our cool Apidra stuff, including a picture of none other than the December pin up boy.

After lunch I visited a few more clinics before heading back to the hotel to try to figure out how I was going to get myself down to DC for my race that weekend. I thought it would be a good idea to take a train, but apparently the Amtrak train wouldn't allow me to take a bike, unless I took the 3.30am train. Like that was going to happen. After a lot of searching and fussing, and getting confused about the difference between Newark Penn Station and New York Penn Station, I finally got a trip sorted. I would take the shuttle down to the local train station, take the train to Newark, get on a bus that would drive to New York, have a 2 hour layover where I could see a little of the city, then drive down to DC. Turns out the bus was driving to the next station on the train route, so I didn't even need to get off at Newark. But I did anyway, and managed to get on a bus that went straight to DC. Unfortunately I didn't get to see NY, but they'll be another chance. I did however, get to drive through and tick Delaware of the list. Sweet.

I did eventually reach DC safely and was taken to my hotel. I was hoping to see my darling Ariel, and to my delight found i could see her bus stop where she lived from my hotel window. Unfortunately she was facing the other way. Below is the view from the hotel.

Two days later was the ING Capitol Criterium. I was a bit worried about the race in that I hadn't raced in a while, and hadn't done any speed work except for the last few days. I also didn't have any race wheels, and although I asked very nicely at the pit, I didn't manage to scab any. I felt pretty comfortable on the course, as all the turns were a few lanes wide. The only problem was the hairpin before the final straight. I was sitting in Ok for most of the race, but drifted to the back at one point. So I decided to try to move up. This resulted in me clipping my pedal on the U turn and nearly coming off. After a quick re alignment, a cheer from the crowd and sigh of relief, I began to try to close up the gap that had just been created. Only the pace lifted, and I was only able to lift my pace enough to match that pace, not close the gap down. I lasted 40 min, and was quite disappointed. But still, it could have been much worse. Below are some photos from the race.

Emile rode pretty well to finish 5th. After I dropped out, Dan crashed on the last lap, and Shawn was caught behind that crash, he was the only TT1 rider to be recorded finishing. Disappointing since Shawn and Dan could have both had respectable placings.

Me standing on the 2nd corner of the course.

Me going around the first corner sometime during the race. I think that might be Shawn hidden behind me, but who knows.

New Jersey, new plans

2008-09-17T17:20:00.000-07:00

I managed to make it to NJ safely. As for where I'm going from now, well who knows? I said in my last post about how I had last minute plans made up for me to travel to NJ, and that I almost was going to DC, but now I'm not. Well, now I am going to DC again. My flights were booked to and from NJ and Colorado on Mon, but that changed when I realised I was booked to come home on the wrong day. Then 2 minutes before being picked up to go to the airport I get a call saying that I am in fact racing in DC. My flights are now changed to have me flying back from DC, I'm just in the process now of figuring out how to get down to DC. The trains on Amtrak apparently won't take a bike. Bloody useless. O well, I'll find a way down somehow.

I did make it up to NJ safely, and had a great day today, but more of this to come in my write up. Lots of pictures to, so that's good.

Today is also a special day for me as it's Dad's birthday today. So in memory of the Big man, Happy Birthday. Love you Dad.

Change of Plans, Again

2008-09-11T19:21:00.000-07:00

I never seem to be able to plan anything very far in advance. As soon as I think I have my life sorted, it seems to change pretty quick. Originally I thought that I would still have races left in the US after July, but there were only local races on offer for me. Now that it's September there aren't even local races to do. So, after a week and half off the bike (again, not planned, but very essential thanks to Hobo Harry, as mentioned previously in my blog) I decided that I needed a race that to do. Something to give me motivation for training, and also a bit of hard riding. Looking at what is available, I thought my best option would be Tour of Southland. My original plans were not to race Southland, but rather step in as a team manager, but everything seems to change for me. Seems that my racing plans can change as quick as those f#*&'n c#*% cross winds that I'm so looking forward to on the way to Bluff.

The change of decision to ride Southland at least came well in advance. Other change of plans came a bit more sudden. I thought that Oregon and Minnesota athlete days in October would be my last; but apparently not. Two days after deciding that I'd race Southland, I get a call saying that I was needed to do an athlete day in New Jersey in a weeks time. Ok, cool, a little short notice, but that's cool. Another new state to add to the list. But that's not where it ends; right after that, I get a call telling me I should be racing in DC, right after my trip to NJ. That seemed to work out well, especially since I seem to be in such great form right now. But just as I think I've got everything sorted, I find out I'm not in fact going to DC. Huh, I should really stop trying to plan anything more than a week in advance, even that's pushing it. But I'm not too disappointed, at least not as mush as my girlfriend Ariel who I won't get to see again in DC (see previous post on AADE).

I've learnt my lesson from all this. Don't plan anything in advance, as you never know where you might be sleeping one night to the next. I just hope next time I sleep in some foreign town it's so I can wake up and go to a cool race.

Will report from NJ this week, so keep an eye out, it could get dangerous.

Filling in time till I'm back on my bike

2008-09-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

It has been now been 11 days since Hobo Harry disrupted my training, which therefore disrupted my simple, basic lifestyle. With the last week being spent alone in my flat, with Fabio racing in Ireland, and having no bike to ride, you think this could be a recipe for a little bit of trouble. Well, unfortunately this is no place for trouble reports, but I did find other ways to pass my spare time. So first a bit of an update on how I'm healing up.

My helmet took a lot of the impact from the crash, but my head did still get a bit banged up. Thats why their are a few grammar misstakes In this right up. Please forgive me, and hopefully I'll recover full brain function. But that's is unlikely since i never actually had full brain function,

A photo of my knee showing what I looked like immediately after the crash and 9 days later.

My hip after the crash and 7 days later. This healed the quickest thanks to the good plaster that I had.

My hands did get nicely messed up, but 9 days later they are healing up. Good thing I was wearing gloves.

But what hurt the most was the bike breaking. But my frame has been replaced and I got back riding yesterday. Was quite a relief to be riding again.

But what have I been doing the last week without my bike? I've been to the spin bikes in the gym a couple of times, but that didn't take long to drive me completely insane. But I haven't just been sitting on my arse all week. I've had the opportunity to get out and take a closer look at Boulder. I decided to study the flora and fauna around the front range. Below is a photo of the flora found round on Pearl St.

I also took a note of the wildlife life in downtown Boulder. Below is a squirrel, showing that animals are trying just as hard (ok, maybe not quite as hard) as us humans to keep up in the expanding waistline evolution. You can see a slice of pizza in the squirrel's mouth, almost the same size as the squirrel.

I also found a lizard that wasn't on the fast track to obesity. This little guy was running round pretty quickly over the rocks.

I spent a lot of time walking through some of the trails around Boulder. These trails were right at my backyard and I had never checked them out till now.

I also made some new friends at the boulder apartments where I live. I spent the afternoon learning how to balance on a slack line. Being unable to balance on a bike recently, and having the balance of a dead sloth I didn't think I'd be able to stay up for long. Some of you might remember that I have fallen off a three wire bridge before. But after a bit of training and tutoring I was able to stay up for a while, as shown in the photo below.

Though I'm still a long way from being able to walk a length of the rope. But I did find that I was quite good at lying down on the slack line. For some reason lying down seemed to come naturally to me; must be all that sleeping that I'm so good at.

Well now that I have my bike back it'll be back on the road for me. Now when I head down the Boulder Creek path I'll be riding, not walking. What a relief. Not long till I head back home to New Zealand, but enough time to enjoy the best the US has to offer. But not enough time to complete my lists, but I am over half way to the states. As for the fast food lists, all the time in the world and I still couldn't get there.

Tour de Cure, Colorado

2008-08-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

The ride for the Tour de Cure in Colorado looked to be a corker; pity I couldn't ride it. Well I had planned on it, but things didn't quite go as expected.

The charity ride featured a 160km (100 mile) ride, 100km, 50km or 20km options. Despite the fact that the 160km ride started ridiculously early in the morning, ie 6am, I decided that I would do this. Team Type 1 did have Matt, Joe and Dan riding in the 100km, but someone had to step up and lead the big ride.

The ride started in Longmont, just a short 20km ride from my flat. Although riding 160 meant I didn't really need to ride there for extra training, I didn't have any other way to get out there. I left about 5.15am, and wasn't mucking around trying to get to that start on time. It was still dark, so I was riding with lights. Only problem is that the lights are enough for people to see you, but not enough to really see much in front. They certainly weren't enough to see the random hobo drifter in front of me. I never asked him his name, so let's just call him Hobo Harry. Harry wasn't the most intelligent of men. I maybe wrong, but I don't think walking down a main highway, in the dark, with no lights or reflective clothing on, would be the choice of the smarter fellow. So yea, I rode into Harry, then hit the road; good times.

I don't really remember much of the crash, possibly due to the fact I hit my head. What I do remember is hitting Harry, and the next thing I know I'm on the ground, feeling a little sore, with my head spinning. I then hear Harry cursing at me, wanting to know what the hell I was doing. Well I was riding my bike, what the hell were you doing? He seemed to be ok, and kept on his way (to where I'm not sure, there wasn't a house, store or building of any description for a while).

After regathering myself I got back on my bike and kept riding to Longmont. It was probably slightly closer than riding home, plus there would be a medic tent there. Harry took off down the road before I got the chance to get going again, and riding past him the second time I was looking out for him, and riding pretty slow, yet I still had to struggle to make out his dark, shadowy outline. There was no way I could have seen him while I was riding fast. My bike still seemed rideable, though the left shifter was facing inward. My helmet was wobbling all over my head. I arrived just before the 100 mile was due to take off. I saw Dan, Joe and Matt, who looked rather perplexed at the state I was turning up in to ride.

As the ride got underway I made my way to the medic tent for wound repair. The tent was more of just a roof with no walls. This made it awkward when it came to dressing my hip. For privacy, I had to go to the men's room with the nurse. Yea, not ideal. Below are some photos of me in the medic tent showing my wounds:

My attempt to be like Sam Henry with his 'Pussy Knee'

Good day to be wearing gloves, that's for sure.

I was wearing a helmet, but that didn't seem to be enough.

Yes, while riders were taking off on their ride in the background, I was being soft and sitting it out.

I didn't get a photo of my hip when I was there, but this is what my left hip looked like when i arrived home.

Having survived 2 international flights, 17 domestic flights, being hit by an Auckland car and dropped don't know how many times (mainly during that chaotic week of RAAM), I thought my bike, which I called Opo, was indestructible. But what a car couldn't do in Auckland, Harry managed in Colorado. Yes, Opo finally joined the list of TT1 casualties.

After being patched up and cleaned up, and taking my bike to the good folks at bicycle village, I had a little time to chill out before the riders were due back in. The riders eventually started to roll in, from what point I was sitting at the Sanofi Aventis booth signing posters and calenders. Matt and Joe were also there, and the three of us were non stop talking, signing and posing for photos with fans and red riders (red riders being the riders with diabetes). After my right arm started to get sore, like my left had been for a while, it was time for a group photo with all the diabetics. Joe, Matt and I were placed in the middle, still in white, just to stand out. With my knees wrapped up, I wasn't to impressed when the photographer made us kneel. I was even less impressed when he kept us there for more photos. I had to try and pull out a smile, while Matt next to me pulled out his guns.

The three TT1 riders were also pictured with the three head red riders.

And for those of you have read my report on the tour de cure in Nebraska, you'll remember my photo with my darling cardboard Miley. This time I got a photo with someone in the flesh. But their was no clowning around between us.

I got a lift back to my flat after the event, and had a chance to lick my wounds clean. I was a bit shocked after I wet my hair in the shower to see a stream of blood running off me. My head was still bleeding, which was even more apparent when I woke up the next morning to find my pillow covered in splatters of blood. It looked like a crime scene.

The next day, with my bike broken, I decided to wonder into town. I sat on a Pearl st mall bench watching people go by. I had several looks, sympathetic smiles, and comments, "did you crash your bike? it looks sore." It didn't take long before I got sick of that. However, one guy asked me where it happened, to which I replied that it happened on the way out to the tour de cure. He then noticed I was wearing my RAAM shirt and clicked. "Are you on team type 1?" After I confirmed his queries, he then turned to the 3 people he was with, "This guys on the team. He's one of the diabetic riders who rode across the states."

I then had a good chat with his wife, who was a red rider from the day before. I get that a lot when I'm riding, at athlete days, or when wearing Team gear, but that was the first time while sitting on a park bench.

Well, it's now time to settle down, heal, and hopefully get back on my bike soon.

North Boulder Park Crit

2008-08-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

Well, the race didn't go so great. I was still pretty smashed from Boulder-Roubaix the day before, and was finding it hard to motivate myself for another crit. Though the course map did look pretty good, riding it was a bit different. A couple of the corners had a nice little dip for the drain. This made the corners a little bit more difficult. The back straight was also quite narrow. But all up the course wasn't too bad.

The race was 75min, but I only managed to last 45 of those. Was a bit dissapointing, but after a hard ride... a very hard ride the day before, it wasn't to bad. I mean, it could have been worse. I usually wouldn't bother writing this up, but since I mentioned it at the end of the last post, I thought I better. There wasn't much to write home about. The only good thing I really found from this race was that it at least got me out and into some hard riding.

O well, all good training. Time to get some more of that good training in for the rest of August. Will keep the posts coming next time I do something exciting, or at least sort of exciting if my life gets boring.

Boulder-Roubaix

2008-08-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

Boulder-Roubaix, Boulder's answer to the great one day classic. I have the run down here.

Preview:

The race takes place over 8 laps and 110.8km of hard riding. The race flyer says that there is 75% of hard pack dirt road, but I think it was probably closer to 80%. Although there were no big climbs, there were a few little lumps. Not enough to break up the field, but certainly enough to sap the energy from the legs.

I took some photos of the course on Thursday, but by Saturday the roads looked completely different. On Friday the weather turned to crap and the rain started to piss down. So the photos below are of what the roads looked like in the sun.

The first photo is of the road just as the race turns off the sealed section.

Another photo showing the roads we were to race on. In the distance the road goes up in what was one of the lumps.

Below is a photo of one of the locals chillin' out on the course. I sure hope he doesn't try to stage a protest of the race and lie in the middle of the road.

This race was one that I was quite looking forward to. In fact, I liked the look of the race so much that I skipped riding the Olympics to focus on it. Either that or I was just straight up not good enough for Beijing, one of the two anyway. It was a race that suited me a lot more than those technical crits or the horrible races that just go straight up hill. I had an easy week leading up to today, but I needed the rest. I wasn't feeling great all week, but was hopeful I could rise to the occasion. It was going to be a tough race, so I would certainly need to step up if I wanted to do well.

Race Report:

I woke up this morning, took a look out my window, and just saw a constant stream of rain. I didn't know whether or not that was good for me, but it would certainly make things interesting. It was pretty cold as well. At least compared to the sort of weather that we have been having here lately. It was time to put away the sunscreen and pull out the thermals. But luckily or not (I'm not really sure which) the rain cleared up by the time the Pro 1,2,3 men took the start line. The sun even managed pop out and say "hello", but not till the last lap.

The first lap saw me get off to a pretty bad start. Though there was a feed station, I had no one to feed me, so the two bottles I had on my bike had to last me 110km. Coming off the sealed section I was still doing well, but I hit the dirt and hit some trouble. This opening section of dirt proved to be one of the tougher sections of the race. We'd hit the dirt pretty quick, but finding the best line to miss the potholes and slow mud proved difficult. I hit the gravel and took the worse possible line I think I could have. I was bouncing all over the place, and it wasn't long before my still full bottle popped out. I now had to do 110km on one bottle; shit!

But that wasn't my biggest problem on lap one. Battling with the wrong line and getting in the wrong place meant I was spat out the back. I was using up a lot of precious energy, and still going backwards. But that's not where the story ends. I mean, if that was it, do you think I'd be writing about it now? Of course not. I gritted my teeth, smashed down on the pedals and clawed my way back on. I was still in the race, but that first lap wasn't the best.

After the first lap I took a lot more care and started to ride much better lines through the rougher bits. In racing, it is usually the uphills that are the most difficult, but not today. I found that the toughest bits were actually the slightly downhill run coming off the sealed section, and the final straight, which was cut up like crazy.

This was always going to be a race attrition. Two riders went off the front from the start, but where brought back before the end. Within the main bunch, there were always attacks coming here and there, but none that actually got anywhere (until the closing laps). All it did was shell some of the weaker riders off the back. Riders were even attacking on the sealed section, where the peleton had to do nothing but lap through on the downhill to bring them back. The race remained intact for the first 5 laps, but on the 6th the fatigue was starting to show, and the best were starting to show themselves. Each lap the hills got harder, the roads felt rougher, I got more dehydrated, was starting to cramp slightly, and life was just getting tougher. On the 6th lap the attacks began in interest. I was able to react to them pretty well, but was suffering. I hoped that would mean that everyone else was suffering as well, so I even tried my luck at getting away. It didn't work. I kept battling, but by the time we hit home straight leading up to 2 to go, I was gapped off the back. I knew that road would get smoother after the finish line, so I kept battling to remain in contact. I could see a rider just in front and focused on catching him. After a while I looked up a bit further to see that the bunch had blown apart.

For the last 2 laps there were just two of us. We battled on to the finish together, but the race was over for us. We rolled in side by side to take 19th and 20th (well, I was officially 20th). I was a bit disappointed, but I didn't do too bad. It was my first race that I put any priority to for a while, and I responded better than I thought I would during the race. I finished in a time of 3.19.18. Not bad since I had expected to take 3 1/2 hours, and we did sit up a bit on the last lap.

Here's a photo of me, looking rather happy after the race. The photo was taken just after the finish line.

Below are the happy winners on the podium. The guy on the right looks pretty keen to get into that beer.

Here are some close up photos, to show you the crap we rode through.

I was impressed my bike withstood the onslaught of the race without breaking. Maybe the casing of dirt gave a bit of strength to the frame.

The new paint scheme on the Orca, gold, to celebrate Samuel Sanchez' gold medal ride. And yea, Orbea got me the new bike straight away, just for this race.

SRAM, not to be out done, have their gold coloured cranks.

...and matching derailleur.

But most of the mess accumulated on the bottom end of the bike.

My attempt to be a euro cyclist (see Facebook group, "Official rules of the euro cyclist"). Shoes still white, even after epic muddy ride.

And you can see I'm following the euro rule of having my socks protrude above my booties, look at that line.

Riding in August is great. It doesn't matter if you're in Boulder or Dunedin, you can still end up with an epic mudline on your ankles.

The top half of my head is nice and clean thanks to helmet, hat and glasses. Lower half pretty dirty though. Note my clean jersey, not the one I raced in, I changed before the ride home.

Yea, my helmet wasn't as white and blue as it used to be. Maybe I should just chuck it through in the washing machine. Or not.

The race has left me pretty shattered. My whole body took a hammering. But after cleaning my bike and removing mud from all my gear, I thought it would be the perfect time to check out the pool and spa at our appartment complex. Felt great to soak the body. Hopefully it will help me recover, because I've got another race tomorrow. No rest for the wicked. North Boulder crit, I'm ready for you.

AADE Washington DC

2008-08-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

Diabetes educators from around the US, and even a few from above the boarder in Canada, all congregated on Washington DC to discuss, debate, argue and show off the latest and greatest in diabetes care. Well, it wasn't just the latest and greatest in diabetes care, the old out-dated pumps with crazy tubing were there to. Everyone was showing off their stuff at the trade show, and Team Type 1 were there to promote our sponsors.

We had team members working for Sanofi Aventis, Abbott Diabetes Care, Insulet, and Dex4. Some of our team was even working for more than one. I had the privilege of working for Sanofi Aventis for the most part, talking about how I use Apidra. I did also have a lot of questions about my OmniPod and Navigator while I was there, so I got to promote 3 sponsors all at once. At the end of the show, for the last hour, I got to work at the Dex4 booth, but by this stage everyone that wanted information had gone and the only people stumbling through still were those after free samples.

Below is a photo of me and my team mates hanging out at the Sanofi booth with a couple of reps.

Of course the expo wasn't where all the action was happening for Team Type 1. We got to meet one of our biggest fans, Marcus. We had meet him in Annapolis after RAAM, and he came to see us again. Though he did shatter Matt's ego after destroying him in a 'Pokemon' battle.

Below is a photo of our team in the hotel lobby with the Dex4 crew and Marcus.

On this trip I also got to meet a new member of the TT1 tri team Tom. Despite being a triathlete, he was actually a nice guy. Not that I mean to pick on try athletes or anything.

Of course the other great thing about the AADE was the give aways. There certainly were plenty of them, but some booths were reluctant to give stuff away, especially to other exhibitionists. They claimed they only gave stuff to attendees. I did sometimes manage to get around this problem by claiming to be a patient (which is true of course). Though this didn't get me an ipod shuffle being given away by the Wavesense people. Probably fair enough though. But if it was the choice between a shuffle or the Freestyle Navigator, I'm defiantly pleased we have the Navi.

But from the booths that were willing to give me stuff, I was able to gather quite a stash. I was lucky I had a bike with me, since the bike bag gave me plenty of room to fit all my extra stuff in for the trip home. Below are photos of my new stuff (minus what I had eaten already) after day 1 and 2. Day 3 was the day when I got most of the give aways, unfortunately I couldn't get a photo then.

For those that read my blog about Orlando, you might remember that I was trying to find a picture with my soul mate dressed as either Pocahontas or Ariel. Unfortunately I was unable to find either of them in Disney World, but my soul became complete in DC. Below is a photo of my new true love, Ariel. I would have much preferred another cardboard girl like Hannah (see post from Nebraska tour de cure), but I'm in no position to complain right now.

While in DC, I did get the chance to check out some of the city. It seemed that on every corner was a another statue. I must admit that the big memorials like Abe Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson were pretty impressive. I was also impressed to see other countries remembered at the Korean War memorial. And of course, my homeland even got a mention.

One of my favorite memorials in DC was that for WWII. It was obligatory of me to get a photo with my 'home' state.

I was dissapointed not to have time to check out some of the museums. The Holocaust one was what I really wanted to see, but unforutnately time was a bit tight this time round.

I arrived back in Colordao safe and sound on sat night, though a little exhausted. very exhausted actually. But now all I need is a few days rest and i'll be set for Boulder-Roubaix race on Sat.

Sometimes you gotta lose to win

2008-07-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

Cycling is a tough sport, no doubt about it. It requires that you get the most from your body. This includes proper training, recovery, nutrition...blah blah blah. I'm sure you've heard all that, so i'll skip the basics. This being my first year riding at this level, I've got a lot to learn in some of these areas. I have made changes, some of which a year ago I would be disgusted by. For example: last year I hated the idea of taking the esculator/lift to get up one flight of stairs. Even two flights i'd be reluctant to. I always saw esculators as a waste of time, kind of like a skyscraper of popsicle sticks or a 50ft magnifying glass.

Studying nutrition made me a big supporter of push play. Taking those extra few steps every now and then to fight diabetes, heart disease and all those things that seem to be a popular craze these days.

It wasn't till I started to up my training to the sort of volume and intensity required at this level that I started to really appreciate escalators and lifts. Now when ever I see an escalator I'm one of those really annoying people who try to push their way onto it. Well, not really. I try not to be obnoxious and get in peoples way, but I do always save my legs by not walking. I even turned a few heads at the ADA (American Diabetes Association) conference in San Fran when I was seen taking the bike up and down the escalator (holding it, not riding).

Another thing that I have changed, or am trying to change is my weight. Though I don't have huge amounts of body fat, I am still a lot heavier than a lot of other riders within the peleton. A health check at the ADA told me I need to talk to my doctor about a few things, one of them being my body fat %. Not too high, but too low. The check up also said I need to talk to my doc about my high HbA1c, random glucose and triglycerides. Given I'd just eaten, the glucose and the triglycerides were what I'd expect. As for the A1c, well, yes I am a diabetic.

Before I get distracted, back to the weight issue. Before arriving in the states, I was tipping the scales at around 79kg (174lb). During my first month or two in Boulder, I had dropped down to around 77kg. I had lost a little, but not a huge amount. I was riding pretty well, and feeling good. But then came RAAM. I heard about how I would lose all this weight during the race and that I shouldn't go into to light. Well, this didn't eventuate. Although I didn't try to put on weight before it, I didn't worry about weight. I then managed to lose absolutely nothing during my trip from Ocean to Ocean. The eating and celebrations certainly started after RAAM. By the time I got home to Boulder I had hit the 80kg mark!!! This wasn't good, I had to do something.

The last time I weighed my self was before heading off to MS and TN in late June: I was 80kg. I don't know if I put on weight over the next week, but I certainly didn't lose any. I then came home briefly before heading off to Cascade. It was when I was in Bend, OR that I decided to lose weight. There was no sugar coating it, I had to cut back a lot on my eating.

Arriving back in Boulder I cut back on my eating. For a start I've banned myself from cheese. I've also cut back on margarine and peanut butter. I'm eating a lot less energy than I use to, and my insulin requirements have reflected this. I'm obviously taking a lower daily volume, since I'm eating less, but when I do eat I need less as well.

Now I don't want to develop an eating disorder, and I'm certainly not wanting to lose ridiculous amounts of weight straight off, but I am slimming down. I finally weighed myself and I'm back down to 78kg, so I've lot at least 2kg in not that long, possibly more. If I can keep up this I'll be looking like the guy below.

I plan to lose a bit more, and see how I feel. Then I'll be flying up the hills, and pretty much every time I get on my bike; sweet. well, I'm off to get some food now... I mean some water.

Where dreams come true

2008-07-24T21:00:00.001-07:00

The start of this week saw me heading off to the south-east for my 25th state, Florida. That means I'm now half way through my list off states, only 25 to go. Not only did I get to go rock out in the sunshine state, I also got to visit the "place where dreams come true", Disney World. This was it, the big one, the original. I'd wanted to go there since I was wee one, and now I finally got the chance. Only problem is that I've grown up since then. Well, I've at least grown up a little bit. I do still do enjoy cartoons, and find pleasure in reminiscing about my old favourite shows like: Roadrunner, Captain Planet, Scooby Doo, Smurfs, Snorks, ducktales (and yes, I do still sing their theme songs). I do also like bright colours, cheesy themes, happy people, excitement, nice restaurants and southern accents, which Disney World had in abundance. All these elements should mix well into something that I really enjoyed, but there was definitely something missing.
Here are the problems:
1. Disney world is certainly not the place to go for a 22 year old by himself. It is all family and group activities, and no one wants to deviate from their group.
2. The people are all pushy and rude. Most people have spent a lot of money to be there, and it's their big opportunity to see Disney. But that only means that people will push in front of you, won't talk to you and just be generally rude so they can get the best Disney experience for them. I don't blame really, but it sucks if you're a loner like me.
3. It's all so fake. The cheer and excitiment is so forced, and so repetitive. Everyone gets excitied about the display of fireworks and the events going on thinking it's so special, but it happens all the time is nothing different this time around. Although there are some pretty cool events on, if they wanted to make something really special, they'd find it difficult to lift it.

4.The Roads there are terrible to ride on. I don't think I've ever been to a place that's less cycling friendly. And yes, I do remember going through Kansas in RAAM, and yes it was even worse than Abbott, NM!!!!! At least in Abbott there was a cool fence to look at, rather than the ugly road signs, like the one below.

These signs really bugged me. Aside from the disgusting mix of colours and the cliche mickey mouse ears, they never told me anything I wanted to know. They point out either theme parks and hotels, which I don't want to ride to cause it will end in a dead end road; or main highways. I did end up on the freeway a couple of times, often because there was no alternative. Not good.

I did find this picture, and thought it sums up my thoughts on Disney World.

But anyway, back to the actual reason that I was there. I had the task of talking to several groups of Sanofi Aventis reps from the Southeast area of the US. This was good fun, but pretty full on and hectic. There was no sitting around waiting and hoping that the doctors would be in soon, it was full on talking, working to an exact schedule. Well, it was suppose to be to a schedule, but I couldn't quite manage to keep the allotted time frame. I had been given 30 min to make a presentation, then pack up my computer/zipp drive, then find the next room where I was talking, set up my slides and start talking. I cut down the presentation quite bit, only to find I was repeatedly answering questions regarding what I had cut out. I ended up being progressively later for each event.

It was interesting this time talking to only drug reps, and no doctors, nurses, dietitians etc. The questions certainly had a different angle to them. The questions were based more on information from me that would help sell the drug. Doctors would ask questions that would be more to do with my individual management of Type 1.
This was quite unique talking to reps like this, usually I'd talk to the rep looking after me one on one. Now it was just talking to them as part of group. Some of them did have to be reminded that it my job is to ride/race my bike, their job is to sell Apidra. When I talk, I can only talk about my experiences using Apidra, The Navigator, my OmniPod and how I use these to control my blood sugars. I'm not a sales rep, and I have to thank Mary-Jo, who I worked with in TN, for defending me on this during the week.

Although I didn't really enjoy the whole Disney World thing, I did still have a good time. The only thing that I did enjoy wasn't your typical Disney experience. After my presentations were all done I joined the entire Sanofi crew for dinner. Of course with around 700 people, putting on a dinner is no small task, and thus we had an entire bar booked out for us. Not only that, but there was a live band playing. In my previous wanderings around Disney World I found it hard to meet new people, but here it was very different. I could go up to almost anyone, introduce myself, and the next thing you know we were chatting. A lot of people were coming up and introducing themselves, and some came up and started talking as if we already met. Some of which I probably had, but only fleetingly. So there were a few people on Tuesday night I had awkward conversations with while I tried to work out who they were. As seems to be quite typical for me this year, I also had a women tell me how much I'd love to meet her daughter. This was kinda weird, especially with the opening line of "I Know you're probably married or something, but my daughter would love to meet you. Are you married?"

"Um, no, I'm not"

"My daughter would love to meet you, she loves meeting people form different countries. She's in Chile at the moment, she's 20."

So how am I suppose to react to that? Well, I was quite flattered, though it was quite weird.
Apart from Sanofi reps, and despite their daughters not being there, I did still manage to meet new people, though out of the thousands of people there, I would have thought I'd meet more than just one new friend. Unfortunately that wasn't the case this time, but just like every other time, it was a disappointment I couldn't stay longer.

But talking about meeting new people, before heading to Disney World I was told I would find my soul mate dressed as Pocahontas. Well, I doubted that very much. But I thought I would try my best to get a photo with Pocahontas. This idea was in reaction to my photo with Hannah Montana in Nebraska (see my blog in June from Tour de Cure, NE). I tried my best, but couldn't find her. Is this what my quest for a soul mate is going to end up like? I hope not. Below is what we would have looked like if I found her.

After leaving Disney World, however, I have decided that maybe I have meet my soul mate, and just haven't realised it. Or maybe I was after the wrong character. The one I should have been after is Ariel. Ginga hair, blue eyes, shell bikini... perfect.

RAAM: The final push

2008-07-19T20:16:00.000-07:00

We are finally near the end of our journey across the great waste of space people call America. We were rather excited to be this far through, and couldn't wait to reach the ocean. The only problem was there was still a lot of riding, and not much of that was flat!

We were now in the Appalachians, which turned out to be a lot harder than the Rockies. Apart from the altitude, the climbs were a lot steeper, the weather was worse, a we were pretty tired. I mean very tired, sorry. Although the climbs weren't as long as in the Rockies, given the fact that we were only pulling for about 3 mins, the length of the climb really didn't matter. And since the roads through West Virgina had little to no shoulder, it was hard to find a place to pull over at times. This meant that some of our pulls had to last a lot longer than the 3 minutes we had planned on, damn it.

The good thing about this area, apart from the knowledge that we were almost home, was the fact that it was our last chance to catch the Norwegians. We were getting mixed time updates as to how far behind we were, but we were sure that we were catching them. This made us push just that little bit harder. We would smash it up the hills, then leave the descents up to Timpy, who was flying round those corners like they were straight lines. I did get to ride a good downhill, which I finished off by crossing the state line into Maryland. Our final state, we had finally made it! Or so we thought. We ended up crossing in and out of Maryland into West Virginia and Pennsylvania on multiple occasions, some of which weren't planned.

After crossing into Maryland for the first time, it wasn't long before we were back in West Virginia. And back in West Virginia means back with the WV locals. Below is a photo of Bob making friends with the locals.

But it wasn't all just a meet and greet, we did still have a race to complete. Well, for us it was only one pull plus the parade lap into the finish, but we still had to ride. We were at the end of our journey, and at this point we were in our most crazy, confused, sleep deprived, tired, hallucinogenic, furthest from having a grip on reality state we had been in. I think the photo below sums up just how demented my state of mind really was.

This photo was taken in Maryland as I waited for the A team to come in. This was the final shift for us. The rain was about to set in and we now had no realistic chance of catching the Norwegians, but we were still well within striking distance of beating the old record set by tt1 last year. My first pull was an interesting one. I was due to cross into PA and back into MD, so two state lines, sweet. Only problem was that my directions from the car behind weren't so good. I rode past a turn, but only went 20m of course, so not too much damage done. The second navigational error took a bit more time. It sent me across the state boarder. So by the time I got back on course that was another 2 crossings to my name: 4 in one pull, that has to be a record. The other hard part of the pull was the 20 something % gradient I had to climb. Don't know the exact grade, as I couldn't quite Rick on the loudspeaker, but it was 20 something. I struggled up it, and I would be very surprised if any of the solo riders didn't have to get off and walk up it.

At this point the rain was starting to come down, and there was plenty of lightning too. The lightning was good, as it lit up the way nicely. The rain wasn't so good, as it brought all the oil and s*#t to the surface, causing Alex to deck himself on a corner. Though to be honest, I'm sure the fatigue, dark and excessive caffeine that him wired up probably contributed as well. But given the treacherous roads, and the fact that we were never going to catch the Norwegians, and that we couldn't think straight, yet still somehow had to ride straight, we decided not to push the corners and descents that fast.

One cool thing about this leg was that we rode through Gettysburg. It was dark at this time, and we couldn't see the whole field, but what we could see was pretty spooky. The massive cannons, the huge fences and the ghosts of the men who died made the drive through rather intense.

We finished the pull with Me, Tim and bob all rolling in together. This was more symbolic than practical, as riding with 3 and trying to stay in the headlights, though traffic, wasn't the easiest. But by this stage we were still riding together as a team, and we were going to finish that way.

The next time we got on our bike was for the final 15 mile pull to the line. This was after the other team had to sit out TT1's time penalties. The plan was that all 8 of us would ride the last 15 miles to the finish. The 1st 11 of those were counted for time, but the last 4 were neutralised. We had a bit of snag though when some retard of an official told us that we weren't allowed to have all 8 of us on the road till after 7.30am. The guy was a retard, but it was no time to argue. So it ended up that the other team 'raced' to the start of the neutral section, while the B team just rolled along in front of the van's headlights. To be honest, it actually felt kinda weird to be just tapping on the pedals, after a week of nothing but smashing it.

We reached the neutral section, rather relieved and proud of our efforts. We had ridden 3,011 miles, or 4,817km in 5 days 13 hours and 40 minutes. It was obviously a disappointment to have been beaten, but for the Norwegians to beat us they sure had to ride extremely fast. Not just fast enough to break the record, but fast enough to have to smash it.

We now just our victory lap to the wharf left. This nice little cruise was the first time that A and B teams got to ride together. We rolled in united as one, to the applause of the supporters who came to cheer us in. I was actually surprised as to how many people were there, since was round 7am. Of course i wasn't actually surprised till the next day when I got a grip on time again. When I arrived I just thought, "It's daylight". We had bubbly on the podium, and I was kind enough to offer some to the supporters, friends, family and sponsors who came to see us in. I certainly wasn't expecting them to decline since it was so early on a Tuesday morning. Below is a photo of me and Alex as we cross the line with the team.

It was an emotional time at the finish, and we all got together to have a quite moment as a team to celebrate.

Right before we got to show off on the podium.

Which happened just before we got to let loose with the bubbly on the podium. I remember hearing form the other end of the podium someone say, "The race is over." But for us competitive types, there is always a race on. The race across America may have finished, but a new race was on: The race to get the bubbly open. Of course I won this, and if you look at the photo below, you'll see the only one with the cork still int he bottle is the underage boy. Poor little kid.

The end of RAAM signalled the start of a well earned celebration, intermingled with a well earned sleep. The two don't typically mix all that well, as celebration often leads to less sleep, but we some how manage to mix them.

During our two days in Annapolis, MD, we were able to catch up on a lot of sleep, have some good lunches and dinners with sponsors, check out Annapolis and go out to town in the evening, kick back and have some fun. It was good to see the Norwegian team out at one of the bars, and we had a could chat with them. Below is a photo of Me and Matt on a tourist cruise ship which took us on a trip round the harbour showing us the sights and sounds.

So this ends my my write up of all things RAAM. I'm sorry it took so long coming, but I didn't want to miss anything, and there was a lot to write about. I've also been busy with athlete days and racing. Now i'll be back to writing about things as they happen. Thanks for your patience while I wrote this, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

End of Cascade

2008-07-16T21:04:00.000-07:00

Sorry about the lateness of this post, but the race didn't quite go so well form the 2nd day. Well, not for me anyway. The team did pretty well. So here's what happened:

After making it to the end of the first stage, I didn't quite have the same luck the next day. I started off alright, staying in the front half of the field. Not quite as far up as I would have liked, but definitely nearer the front than the back. Though as the race went on I slowly drifted towards the back. After an hour of racing, the pace was still on, and I was starting to find myself nearer the back. I decided to try to move up, and coming up to a left hand turn at a stop sign there was a gap opening up on the right. I moved round the outside till the gap closed and I was forced off the road. I just happened to be right next to a big patch of soft sand. My wheels just sank in the sand, and I had to unclip and lift my bike back onto the road. I got back on and chased onto the back of a bunch that was strung out single file. As soon as I was back on, a rider a few in front of me let the wheel go, and this time the legs weren't there to get me back on. It was just 4 of us chasing to get back on. Then 3. Then just 2. Not the best way to finish the race.

But in better news, Matt went on to win that stage and take the yellow. Although he didn't hold it in the tt, we still did well with another stage win for Moises, who also took the K.O.M. by one point ahead of Chris. And Shawn was unlucky not to take a third stage for us ending the last stage in 2nd. So 2 stages, a 2nd, 1-2 in the KOM and 5th on GC. Not too bad for the team. Hopefully next time I'll be able to last a bit longer.

Cascade Classic Day 1

2008-07-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

This trip is the first to Oregon, a state which I've been wanting to visit ever since being in New Zealand. Bend was one of the places in OR that I had my eye on as well. The other place was where Steve "Pre" Prefontaine is from, but that's for another trip. But while I'm here in OR, I may as well hurt myself just like Pre liked to when he raced.

The race I'm out here for is the Cascade Classic, a 5 day NRC tour. This is my first NRC tour, and I'm quite excited about it. Today's stage was a 133km ride with a KOM in the middle and a steep 2km finishing climb. This was my first race after RAAM, so I was a bit nervous with how the form would be. Today was pretty hot, and all the riders felt the heat. It was also pretty fast, with the winner completing the race at an avg speed of almost 48kph (that's almost 30mph)!

The day started off pretty rough for me, with my legs just not agreeing with me. Within the first 1km, there were cones all over the road, and Chris Horner of Astana went down right in front of me. For about 5 min, my legs were really feeling the lack of racing, but it didn't take long for me to find my rhythm and settle in. The first hour felt pretty quick, with the bunch getting nicely strung out at times. We hit the KOM about a 80km into the race, and i found myself struggling a bit. Though I could see that there several riders behind dropping off the back, I tried my hardest to hang onto the bunch. I did for a while, but slipped off the back as the pace became a bit too high. I was hoping to catch back on the decent, but that certainly didn't happen. The decent was just dead straight, not good for chasing back on. The convey was also held up at this point, so there was no cars to help work my way up.

I ended up in a group of 9 riders, with several more riders behind. How many riders were behind I don't know, but I was glad I wasn't one of them. I ended the day in 122 place. Not a great day, but there is still another 4 days to go.

My thoughts at this time are with my team mate Ben who had a nasty crash today. He hit a cattle stop grove and was thrown off his bike, and is now in hospital. My prayers are with him, and I hope yours are as well.

Tomorrow is another road stage, and hopefully my climbing will be better, and I'll be able to get amongst it. Follow me over the week as I report on Cascade, and the final RAAM report will be up after that.

RAAM stage 5

2008-07-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Almost there now! This installment will see us race into Indiana, Ohio. Bring on the Apalachians, and bring on the finish.

This stage of RAAM we were well into the race, had no idea where the hell we were or what we were doing. We were being woken up, put on the bike and told to ride. Everything was just happening on autopilot. We would walk into a store at the time station, stare blankly at the cans of caffiene filled energy drinks and coffees, then decide we needed one. Or two. After putting the can on the counter for purchase, I'd then ask, rather dimly, "Whats the time?"
"Its 5.30," the clerk would reply.
"Really, that's early. What time zone is it?"
"Central," The reply would come, rather confused.
"Oh damn, i was hoping we were in Eastern. Where are we?"
"Your in Sullivan." The reply coming hesitantly, as the clerk was really confused.
"What state is that?"
"Indiana"
"Were in Indiana, sweet."

Our confussed manner and slow minds didn't change much after knocking back a few rock stars or ice coffees. Our team was still talking as much s#&* as we were at the start of the week, and the were still cracking jokes when we could muster the energy. The only problem was the rest of the van was becoming a lot slower to click on. Someone would say a joke, then there would be a delay, then one person would start laughing, then the next, and eventually all the van would get. It did take some time though.

We were now riding through the windy streets of Indiana. The route from which RAAM took went over some very short little rolling hills and round some tight little corners. Bob was smashing it through the turns and Scott's driving was pretty crazy to catch up to him. Lucky for us we had a formula one driver behind the wheel, otherwise Bob might have been on the road for far too long.

This leg was the first we had done in which we saw the break of day. For a few of our legs we had the sun setting behind us, but for the first time we were able to see the sun rising infront of us. We had quite a cool sunrise, and this is suppose to be a symbol of rebirth and reawakening, right? Well, I did have to wake up few times during this shift to get back on the bike. Below is a photo of tired Timothy having a little nap in the back seat.

In our tired state, the van really was starting to change. The clean van that was once was proudly part of the Team Type 1 convoy was now resembling a garbage truck. The roof was caving in, the lining of the door was falling off, the seats were wet with a mix of water and sports drinks, test strips littered the floor and the riders were far too tired to keep s*&$ organised. The photo below only just begins to show this.

So we were tired, falling asleep in the car, struggling to decided which helmet/bag/jacket/bottle belonged to who, and we still had along way to go. So how did we keep motivated? Well, we had an awesome crew that were in our ears the whole time, driving us on, congratulating us after every pull and amping us up before we started. Below is a photo of our crazy mechanic Brendon, whose Aussie views were a bit upside down at times, and below that, our insane coach Nate, who was someone to look up to for sure.

Later on in the leg, after battling through the windy rural streets on IN, we got to roll through the college campus. Well, Tim P did, flexing his huge quads and calves for all the cute college girls out walking around. Though Tim doesn't need to flex his legs for them to get attention.

After a hard day in IN, then a good sleep in the RV, we were then ready to smash it out through Ohio. Well, i don't know about being 'ready', but we were as ready as we could have been. Riding through the "Buckeye" state was reasonably similar to riding through Indiana. The roads were simialr and we did both of them in the light. The time of day wasn't important, all that mattered was that it was light and we we were riding. One thing that did matter, and that we didn't get quite right, was the directions. Raambo was on the road, and luckily for us he went he right way, so we didn't use any energy unnescarilly. The riders car, however, went the wrong way, drove round in circles a few times, and despreatley tried to the follow car on the radio. Then by chance we were drove past the side road from which we were suppose to come out, then drove down it to find Bob smashing away on his bike still. Phew. Good thing we found him, cause he had been on the road for a long time.

The end of our pull was given to Tim P, and he had some pretty cool roads to be able to ride on, thats for sure. The roads were brick, and some of them quite steep as well. Good thing it wasn't raining, or this could have made for some slippery riding.

Back to RAAM Stage 4 now

2008-07-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

The last post about RAAM finished somewhere in Kansas. KS was really not a very exciting state, but it did keep going for a long time. We spent most of the time wanting to get out of the state, so I won't make you share in my boredom reading it.

The next state on our journey was Missouri. This was the site for most of my first athlete days and was my 4th visited. That wasn't the reason I was excited to be there though: I was excited to get some hills and corners. You might not believe it, but that really was what I was after.

Riding through MO was fun, as the Ozarks provides lots of short downhills, followed by short uphills. I enjoyed this quite a bit, as I could carry my momentum going down and power into the hill. We were, however, having a few issues with some bikes. Luckily for us the RVs were coming past us soon, so we were able to get them to stop and have we could change bikes over. Of course this happened when I was on the road riding. Riding pretty hard, I could hear Nate in the follow car screaming "Way to power over that hill Tim, keep it up man", but when the rider car wasn't coming through it changed to, "Argh, we don't no where the other car is. You might be on the road for a little while, watch yourself." The car finally did come, though not till after I had taken a rather long pull, and was feeling the effects.

The other good thing about MO was that it was the only place where i got a nice long descent. The road wasn't super steep, went straight down for a while, and according to the follow car I was travelling at 44 mph (70 kph). This isn't super fast, but certainly feels that way when you can't see a thing. Apart from the fact it was dark, it was also very foggy. I could see that the road was straightish for a while only from the headlights of the rider car pulling away in the distance. After they were out of sight my line of vision was only about 5m in front of me, thanks to the headlights behind. It was a rather weird sensation going that fast practically blind, but the hill bottomed out at Lake Ozark, soon after which I handed over to Tim P to finish off the session for us. When we got to the time station we were greeted by a wonderful sign clearly showing us we still had a very long way to go. Raambo and I are posing in front of it below.

When we next woke up, the sun was shining and we were all set again to cause a storm. The only problem was that our storm brought floods to Illinois. Well, we might not have caused the floods, but there certainly were flooding problems along the Mississippi which our next trip would take us across. Below is a photo of a flooded field we rode past.

The day started in MO, but would take us into IL. This meant that we would get to cross the great Mississippi river. With all the flooding around, there were several route changes, which lead to some navigational errors on our behalf. It also made it a lot more difficult to find out where exactly we were going to cross the great river. This usually wouldn't be important, but we had decided that the foreigner in the team would ride across the river: that would be me of course. Only problem is that we weren't quite sure where it would be passed, and the honour of crossing it went to Bob. I stole the honours of crossing into my home state of him, and now he stole his home state of me. So everything worked out pretty fair in the end. And besides, I am a real American now.

After crossing into IL, we got the aid of a nice little tail wind, and really started to race. We were sitting on the flat at around 32 mph (51kph), and hurtling towards the next time station. This came as a bit of a shock to the A team, as we cut their rest time dramatically. They even looked like they were struggling to get ready in time, but then no one expected us to be riding that quick. I was given the task of finishing of this pull, and when I did, I had to stop as Mark came running to the road to start his pull. Sorry, we should have gone a bit slower.

It was also really hot at this stage of the race. So I was rather delighted to be met by the support crew with an umbrella for shade. I was even more delighted to see that our massage table was set up under a gazebo for shade. And then my day was just made complete to find sitting next to the massage table a kiddie paddling pool. Not only that, but the lady at the time station kept putting ice in water to keep it cool.

The other interesting thing about this time station was that it was near some fast food joints. with more to tick off my list, and burning calories like they were going out of fashion, I had a look around at what was available. Taco Bell, perfect. It was just as greasy and fat filled as I had anticipated. The box even came with warnings, such as "bend at knees when lifting box". They even advertise it as food that will make you a fattie, and people still buy it! Only in America.

My next installment will see us in the states of Indiana and Ohio, meaning we'll be almost at the East Coast.

Athlete days in the South

2008-07-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

While I have been writing up reports on RAAM, I will take a brief break to talk about my time in the Mississippi and Tennessee for athlete days.

After RAAM, I spent a good amount of time asleep at home in Boulder. It was good to be able to recover from such an intense week, and get back into the rhythm of everyday life. After a week of relaxing though, it was back to work, and I headed off to Mississippi for a string of athlete days.

MS didn't provide the excitement that other areas in the US did. Though I did get the chance to meet some nice people, talk to a few doctors, and even give a presentation to a select crowd. The next day was more of the same, meet and greet, and try to understand the southerners with their drawl, while repeating myself so they could understand my kiwi accent.

I departed MS keen to get to my new destination of TN. I had heard a lot about Nashville, and was very eager to get there to check it out. I was staying in a nice hotel right in the middle of town, and was thinking that this could be a very fun night. I went out riding in the afternoon and was lucky enough to somehow stumble across the annual international music festival held in Nashville, where the atmosphere and feeling at the event was amazing. Lucky me.

On the ride home from the festival, I stumbled across a place I have been waiting for since I arrived in the States in February: White Castle. I was rather disappointed when Matt and Tim's quest for White Castle after RAAM did not eventuate due to there not being any White Castles in Maryland. But now I found it.

I walked in, still in my cycling kit, with the biggest smile on my face possible. The women behind the counter was a typical fast food server: overweight, hating life, wondering why the hell she is still there. So she looked pretty shocked when I came in grinning ear to ear, and asked, "What's your signature meal?"

"huh?"

"What's White Castle's signature meal?"

"Arhh, number 1."

"Sweet, I'll take one of those."

I must have looked pretty odd, sitting there eating this food, which didn't taste very good, but I whole heartily enjoyed anyway.

I started my next athlete days in Fayatteville, TN. These days were good fun, and I was well looked after by Mary Jo and Nikole from Sanofi Aventis. The days were not too demanding, but I still got to meet a lot of people. I traveled down to Cool Springs that night, and did some more meet and greet stuff. In between meetings, I was fortunate enough to be taken to The Craker Barrel. I know it doesn't sound that exciting, but besides being able to tick it off my list, I was also able to try fried ocra. I had never even heard of ocra till about a week ago, when I was warned to stay away from it by my friend Karis. She said it was horrible, and I shouldn't let it near me if I had the chance. This only made me want to try it, especially since I was down in the south. It actually tasted pretty good, I was quite impressed. To me it seemed to be a cross between bok choy and brussel sprouts, both of which I like. Fried it tasted good, but even some of the southerners warned me not to have it any other way, but i'd still be keen to try anyway I could.

That night I was to give an informal presentation at dinner, but first I went to meet the doctor that was introducing me. We went into his practice, but before I got the chance to meet him, I was approched by a rather excited nurse. She ran up to me with an apidra calender, open at December (my month) and asked for an autograph. I was quite happy to sign one, but was rather surprised when she said, "Thank you. You know you're bigger than playboy round here!?" That was interesting.

The dinner that night was the last event I did for Apidra on the trip, and the next mroning I was headed back home to Boulder. Only thing was it was my new home, the apartment I had signed the lease for, but hadn't moved in. Thanks to Fabio, all my stuff was there, though all boxed up. I'm now settling in, but still have a bit of stuff to get.

Keep looking as I update the rest of RAAM, and soon will be reporting to you from Bend, Oregon, as I take on the Cascade Classic.

RAAM stage 3

2008-06-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

The third installment of our trip from coast to coast starts in the barren land of Abbott, NM before a slight downhill ride through Oklahoma to Elkhart, Kansas. We then have a transfer in the RV while the B team gets to smash it out to our next starting point somewhere else in KS.

Abbott, New Mexico was where the race organisers decided to have a Time Station. Abbott is a town, no... a place, no... a waste of space somewhere in the middle of America. There is not much happening at Abbott except for wind. It was flat, boring, dry and dusty. All that was at Abbott was a t intersection and a stop sign, a gravel patch to park the RV's on, two letter boxes (but no house) and a fence. Below is a photo of the barren waste land.

In our sleep deprived and tired state, we were starting to go a bit crazy, and the fence became the fixation of our madness. Its greatness became well known within our team, and quickly stories grew about when the US army tested the A-bomb here (the land doesn't have much other value), the fence was the only thing that survived the blast. The random letter boxes in Abbott were for the fences fan mail. The reason RAAM put a time station in Abbott was so that we could all see the fence. It had "epic continuity" and its legend will live on.

The A team came in just before dark and we had to say good bye to our beloved fence as we rode in a dead straight line for the next few hours. This shift would see us cross two state lines into Oklahoma and then into Kansas. Alex, lacking in state lines at this point, made his exclamation that he wanted to cross them. I replied "You can have the state lines, as long as I get to ride the corners." Well, after some time on the bike, Alex finally took the first corner. He also took the first state as we crossed into Oklahoma. He was getting all the exciting riding. The only other part of that trip really worth remembering was when riding on a dead straight road in the middle of nowhere, barely a car to be seen, and we pass a sign saying "no passing zone". Was passing not allowed? Or just not possible since there was no one to pass? I was pretty stoked to finally finish this leg. It was my first time finishing a stage, we'd had a pretty boring leg so far, and I crossed into Kansas. State line number 5.

By this stage of RAAM we were really getting into the rhythm. We were learning a lot about how to ride at our best, and how maximise our recovery, and how to control our diabetes during such a weird and strenuous time. And our crew were also learning about diabetes, but they were starting from the beginning, as shown by Leigh below.

Though to be honest, some of the riders needed to start with the basics as well. Pity the book didn't have anything for the diabetics dumb enough to want to ride RAAM.

We learnt to love the old camping shower. The crew did a good job of setting up the makeshift shower. This was pretty essential in cleaning up after our pulls, thus avoiding getting sick and saddle sores. Not what you want when your racing, or ever.

By this stage we were well in the rhythm of RAAM. Time no longer mattered. Before and after every pull, our wonderful nutritionists would cook us up some delicious meals. It was important to eat as much as we could, and try to keep it down, as one team mate found out the hard way.

We would be asked what we want for dinner, to which we'd reply "dinner? its dinner time? oh." We were on RAAM time, it didn't matter what meal we were getting. Below is our wonderful and currently sober chef Dan doing his thing.

After eating it was time for bed. Sleeping in a moving RV wasn't the easiest thing to do, especially at the back. But by now we weren't finding it too hard to enter the land of nod. It was rather a shock, however, if you were the first to go to sleep, and were the only one in bed when you drifted off, to wake up right next to your big ugly teammate. Below is a photo of Bob and me in our cosy little RV.

Back to our next pull. This was through Kansas, which just dragged on and on. It seemed to never end. The roads were just straight and flat, maybe slightly downhill. We had a cross wind for most of it, which made the riding agonisingly painful and dull. There wasn't much variation from the corn fields all around us. I'm not sure where we finished our pull in Kansas, but I was sure glad to get in the RV at the end of it.

There was one good thing about this pull however, and that was Time Station 25 in Pratt. It was pretty close to the half way point of RAAM, and has been famous in RAAM for its free McDonalds. Although I would usually stay clear of Maca's, it was a rather nice treat. Munching down on a greasy quarter pounder with cheese, or a royale with cheese for the Pulp Fiction fans, actually felt good. Heart Attack on a plate, it was exactly what we needed.

RAAM Stage 2

2008-06-23T20:33:00.000-07:00

Welcome to stage 2 of my epic trip across the US. Today we'll travel on Team B's third pull from Mexican Hat in Utah to Durango in my 'home' state of Colorado. We'll then start our 4th pull in Chama, New Mexico before ending in Taos, New Mexico.

If you read my last post, you'll remember how great I was riding at the end of the stroll through Arizona. Well, the difficult thing about RAAM is the race never stops. Unlike a tour, when after a stage you go to a hotel or house and sleep in a proper bed for a decent amount of time, we just keep going. Although we get to sleep while the other team is riding, its just not the same. Below are some photos of our team doing a night time transition. The once shiny white car you can see is now getting a bit muddy, and has people running all over the roof. This lead to the demise of the car later on.

Riding non stop through the night certainly took its toll on the riders. But it wasn't just the riders who were suffering. Below is a photo of a RAAM official, pretty much summing up how everyone was feeling. Thanks to the RAAM web page for the photo.

We also had a hard working support crew, and they too were feeling the effects of the arduous mission we were undertaking. Below is a photo of a great man, our massage therapist Chris. He did an amazing job, not just with his hands, but also providing morale boosting humour. And he was a great singing partner.

So anyway, my point from all this was that we were just starting to get really tired, longing for a good night sleep in a big comfy bed. We were at a stage where we were far enough into the race that we were sleep deprived and suffering, but not far enough in that we were used to it. This will become important later in the story.

The leg for us started in Mexican Hat, Utah. This area was named after a rock formation which consisted of a tall, thin rock going straight up, and a flat, round rock sitting perfectly on top of it. This area reminded me of the old cartoon Road Runner. Every time I got on the bike I saw myself trying to out run Wile E. Coyote, and finished every pull with a "beep, beep." Below is a picture of me out running my enemy.

Unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy this scenery for too long as night set in. In the dark, all we could tell was that the road was going up, and the riding was tough. It was so dark we didn't even see when we crossed the state line into Colorado. After one of my pulls I jumped in and asked Brendon when we were going to cross it, to which he replied "about a mile back". That meant I rode across it, sweet, state line number two!

As we rode on the riding got harder and harder. The road just didn't want to go downhill, and we were now all switched from our tt bikes to our road bikes. As the altitude began to creep up, some of my teammates seemed like they were feeling the effects. Luckily for me I'd been living at altitude, so this wasn't anything new to me. The team was getting really tired now, and people were starting to snap, but we never managed to lose our good spirits. How could you with Bob finishing every pull with a smile, Tim smashing it as he always did, and Alex's energetic youth shining through. Then there was me, but I didn't do much other than talk s#$*, and when we could tune into a radio station, sing loudly and out of tune (unfortunately my singing partners were all in the RV).

I mentioned before how tired everyone was starting to get. Well I was certainly no exception. I was taking my pulls as hard as I could, leaving very little in my legs. It was beautiful clear night and the stars were shining bright next to a big full moon. It was dead quite on the road, only the sound of the wind and screaming of my legs. We could also hear Nate in the follow car, but on such a clear, calm night, this was one time when I actually blocked a lot of his encouragement out (though every other time I was on the bike I listened intently to his yelling which spurred me on). In the car, Bob asked me about my parents and whether or not they would have liked to have been here. I told him about Dad, is trip from Cape Reinga to Bluff on a bike, and how he would loved to have been here. I also told him about when Dad died, and my ride round Lake Taupo for him. Later in that leg, when my body was completely drained of energy, and the only thing that kept me going was was determination and emotion, I couldn't stop thinking about Dad. On a clear, calm night under the stars I was pouring my heart out onto my bike and hadn't felt this close to Dad since finishing the Enduro Taupo ride 2 1/2 years ago. I felt a surge of energy on the bike, and was stomping on the pedals, not willing to ease up, not giving anything less while spurred on by my father. At the end of the shift I came back to the car, sat down, and burst into tears.

I don't know what the others in the van thought, but they looked a bit worried. Worried for me, or worried that they would have to take longer turns I'm not sure, but I'd like to think that our team was close enough that they weren't at all concerned with the thought of a few longer turns. About to start my next shift Brendon asked me if I wanted to take a slightly shorter pull, "Just give me whatever, put me on my bike and I'll kill it" I replied. As tired as I was, I doubt I went as fast as I normally could, but given how felt it seemed I was flying along a flat road. With Dad watching I still poured everything I had onto the road, and finished up with what felt like my strongest pull in all of RAAM.

We were now nearing the top of the hill, with a big descent before rolling into our finish at Durango. I took the last pull to the top of the hill, before Raambo took over for the fast and fun drop in altitude. I didn't feel bad about cresting the hill and giving up the descent, as given my emotion at the time I preferred the uphill cause it meant I could hurt myself more.

Below is a photo of the big man himself, whom I love dearly and owe lot.

After a rough night in Utah and Colorado, we slept soundly in the RV while bouncing around on the roads to Chama, New Mexico. We arrived at our destination, slept some more, and then got packed and ready for another epic session. Team A came rolling in just after sunrise looking like they enjoyed themselves in much the same way as we had the night before. We took off, and pretty soon into the shift began climbing. A little way up the hill we pulled over and I jumped out to wait for my pull. I was looking down the road in anticipation of Bob dancing up the climb towards me, when I noticed a big sign saying "Welcome to New Mexico, Land of Enchantment". It was the state line. I then sneakily walked down the hill back into NM, took over from Bob just before the state line, and claimed Colorado for the 2nd time. That was my third state line, hell yeah!
We had some problems with riders getting suspected altitude sickness as we crested the highest point in RAAM at just over 10,000 ft. The title went to Alex. We decided to pull him off before the descent and put on a rider with more clothes, to avoid any chance of getting any sicker than we already were. The transition, however, was a bit messed up, and we put out the wrong rider. Though Bob did an excellent job, and didn't complain to much about the cold.

On my next pull I felt a sense of deja vu when what should run out in front of me but a coyote! But he wasn't fast enough to catch me. Beep beep.

We moved away from the mountains and onto the false flat climb back into New Mexico. Who claimed this state line was debatable, as the change between the two Tims happened right on the boarder. But I'm not to shy to claim it. State line 4.

The riding through here was pretty tough with a head wind and false flat. Tim Powell was absolutely killing it now, which was lucky for us as Alex was feeling the effects of altitude, poor eating and exertion and left his mark on the route via a nice little chunder. After he sat out it left the work up to the three of us. This made it harder, but we weren't going to ease up at all, especially after hearing we had made up time on the Norwegians. Below is a photo of me pounding it out on the roads of NM.

We crested the top of the hill and then let rip on the false flat downhill. We struggled a bit with a strong cross wind, but then Rick pulled up alongside me in the follow vehicle, smiled, and asked "Do you want a tailwind, cause we're turning left up here." Sweet! After turning the corner I almost doubled my speed! The next transition saw a bit of a problem when Tim was given Bob's bike, but he still flew by on it, and we couldn't pull him off cause he was going to fast! This nice tailwind followed us all the way into Taos, NM. This marked not only the end of our leg, but the end of our first 1000miles.

Join me next time as we enter the horrible never ending state of Kansas after our start from our sponsors name sake, Abbott.

RAAM Stage 1

2008-06-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure most of you know, RAAM started from Oceanside, California. This was a pretty cool little beach on the Pacific, and if I looked straight out for about 10,000km across the ocean I would be at home. This was the closest I'd be to home since Feb, but in 5 days time I would be the furthest away from home I've ever been. Below is a photo of the wharf at Oceanside.

Since this was a race from one side of the country to the other, from the Pacific to the Atlantic, it was only appropriate that we at least dunked our feet, hands or whatever in each ocean. This reminded me somewhat of the Coast 2 Coast 2005. This is a race across the South Island of New Zealand. In 2005 I was part of a support crew for Mike Baker, and we all swam in the Tasman Sea at the start and the Pacific at the end. below is a photo of me and Alex dipping in the Pacific at Oceanside.

The day before the race we had all the prerace photos and hype. Below is a photo of the team at the beach in Oceanside, looking fresh and excited. We couldn't wait to get on bikes and hammer it, even if we knew it wouldn't be long till we would be craving the easy pace we were currently enjoying.

The photo below is off a nice, clean looking rider car. It may not look like a very exciting photo now, and at the time it wasn't either, but given the s*#^ this car went through over the next few days, its amazing to look at how good it looks now.

So at 2pm California time, the race finally got under way. Well, for team A anyway. Andy Monique started off our epic journey, while team B just sat in the RV on the way to Brawley, CA for start of our first shift. Driving along in an air conditioned RV was nice, and it wasn't till someone said to touch the window that I realised how hot it was outside. The window almost burned my hand. We got out of the RV at Brawley and stepped into some 105 degree Fahrenheit temperatures ( a shade over 40 i believe). Though we were told by a local that it "was quite cool for this time of year, it's usually around 120." The thought of that almost killed me, and I felt for the A team that had to ride through this. They must have been suffering, but they didn't really well.

Team A pulled into the time station a little after dark and then it was time for team B to shine. I'd been jumping out of my skin to ride all the from Oceanside (actually probably from before I even got to Oceanside, but anyway), so the team let me go first. I was pretty amped up for the first pull, and below is a photo from Brawley, waiting for team A to arrive, of me and Alex listening to "Wasn't Me" by Shaggy.

The exchange was a bit of a nightmare, with neither me or Matt, who was finishing, quite knowing where to go or what to do. Of course we didn't end up losing anytime at all since we had a red light waiting for me straight way. The first leg was good to be able to hit out again, though the legs were in desperate need of a bit of a warm up, and they certainly got it.

I finished my pull and handed over to a super motivated and extra strong Tim Powell. He took off so fast that the navigator couldn't keep up and missed the turn, oops. We managed to get back on track, and were flying again. We could see a team up in the distance, and were trying really hard to catch them, thinking that they were the Norwegians, the only team to come through the check point before us. Bob was flying when he caught and passed them. We then opened up a good gap, and were pretty stoked, only to later find out the Norwegians were still in front, and we had passed ViaSat, who were only a minute behind at the time station and passed us when we went the wrong way, gutted. at least we were in front now.

This first shift we rode from Brawley, CA to Hope AZ. This meant we had to cross our first state line. There was a bit of an informal competition to see who could cross the most state lines, and I had the glory of getting the first when I rolled into AZ. Well, this was kind of a weird state line, as the rules of RAAM stated that in one particular section when the race went on a main highway with no shoulder, the riders had to all travel in the car. It also stated that the rider that was on the rode when the freeway started also had to be the one to get back on the bike once riding resumed. I was luckily enough to be that rider, and as we crossed boarders on the freeway, I managed to take not only the fastest and longest pull, but also took the state line. We arrived in Hope pretty tired, ready for sleep, and happy to be on the road finally.

Our 2nd session began early morning and consisted of ride from Cottonwood, AZ to Tuba City AZ. The session started out really bad for me. My blood sugar was quite high. Their was a reason for this, though I've already forgotten. Breakfast was covered in maple syrup, so I wasn't that keen on eating it. On an ordinary day of riding that hard and far I would have been quite happy, but not while I was that high. I did eat around the syrup a bit, but not as much as I would probably need leading into a stage like we had coming up. After my first pull I felt like absolute C#^* and was just wanting to throw my bike into the ditch. But then if I did that I'd be able to retrieve, so was looking for a lake! The second pull I was feeling better, but then had a horrible time with traffic. I started on my tt bike, but spent barely anytime on the aero bars. I first hit a whole lot of red traffic lights. I then had a sweet looking downhill, on which I reached 70kph, but had to slow right down as at the bottom road works narrowed the lanes form 2 to 1. I got through the first bit of road works, but got stuck behind a truck that was bang in the middle. I could have passed on the left or right if he had of just moved over. Arghh! I then hit a few more lights before getting onto the open road at last. Except now I was stuck behind a truck. The truck did pull away, and I was now lookign straight up a sizeable climb. I knew that the support car would be stuck behind traffic for a while, so I faced just a long slow climb on the tt bike. It did finally come to an end, I was super glad it did. There was a photo taken of me here, but unfortunately I don't have it yet, but when I do I'll post it for sure.

The team then dominated the climbing and we were really chugging along a good speed. We were taking short turns up the hills which really let us rip. I remember waiting on a climb for Bob to arrive so I could take my turn. We saw him come round a corner, then disappear behind the next. Not long before he was due to come round the corner, maybe another minute, when I saw a rider that looked like Giuseppe Guerini flying towards me. It was Bob, dancing up the climb a like a real Italian climber, going twice the speed anyone would have expected from him.

After all that climbing, we were now ready for a down hill, or at least some flats. The big downhill fell on my pull. Now I'm usually not the best descender. In fact I'm not good at all, but this one just went straight down. I could use my weight. There was quite a strong cross wind, and travelling at 73kph with a strong wind and disk was quite nerve racking. Though i never used my brakes, i did at one point get off my bars. At this point i heard my coach Rick say something. I couldn't make out what he was saying at that speed, but I thought to myself 'stopping being a pussy and get back on the bars'. I did this, and this was key moment in the day. When I pulled of at the end of my pull the other 3 were all on their bikes to lap out in the head cross wind.

The next time I got on my bike some of my teammates were complaining about struggling to hold their bikes upright in the wind, but after my epiphany on the descent before I just put my head down and rode. Rick pulled up along side and asked us how we felt in the wind. In a complete reversal from the start of the shift I was feeling great and was ready to rock on, so i told Rick. I jumped back in the car and over the radio i heard Rick say "Don't worry, we're going to use Hargrave up." I knew that meant I was in for some pain, but that's what i wanted. The next hour or so I really put myself in the hurt box as I pulled massive turns. Bob and Alex, the climbers on our team, did a lot of work pulling us over the hills, and now it was time for the two Tims to power it on the flat, and we certainly did that. I was smashed by the end, but felt much better mentally than i did at the start. And looking at the positive attitude team B still had, I knew that might be one of the best things we had going for us.

Below is a photo form AZ. I'm not sure where or when this photo was taken, but this was some of the cool sites we got to see.

Well, that's it from me for now. I'll get my next stage updated soon, as team B blasts through Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

p.s. I mentioned above that as soon as i got photos of me going up in the hills of AZ i'd post them. I'd like to thank Bob aka Raambo for these photos. The first is me rather knackered just after I got of the bike with Brendon looking rather excitied to see me again.

The second is of me looking out into the hills of AZ after a rather hard pull. Good times!

Yeah RAAM

2008-06-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

RAAM is finally over! After more than 5 days of racing/groveling the bike across the country Team Type 1 finished in Annapolis, Maryland. No, we didn't win the race, that title went to the breasts from Norway who rode like demons. Congrats. But Team Type 1 still put in a huge a effort through all sorts of adversity to finish second, and still beat last year's record time. I'm proud of everyone of my teammates, and thankful to all our crew for everything they sacrificed for us.

There is far to much to write about in one go, so I'm going to be updating the RAAM race in stages. Then hopefully I can say all i want to say, thank everyone I want to, and get some cool pictures out. I'll let you into what went on inside our heads, so you all know about THE fence, Paddling Pool, Courtney and Cliff Chips affected us. Keep posted.

Also note I've added 8 new states to my ever growing list. I'm now at 21, almost half way through!

Ready to RAAM

2008-06-11T08:42:00.000-07:00

Wed 11th June 2.00pm California time, Team Type 1 is setting off to defend there 8-person RAAM title. The team was looking pretty sweet to break the record, until the loss of key rider Nathan. The search to find a suitable replacement was long, but in the end futile, and the team was forced to settle with a young New Zealand rider who little was known about. His age was not even known, with reports that he was as young as 22, or as old as 27. Though he is a New Zealander, people frequently mistake him as an Aussie (retards), and many people don't even know where this exotic place 'Aoteroa' is.

So who is this random fill in? Timothy Hargrave, well that's me.

I'm very excited to be here, can't wait to get going. I've been tapering for the last while, and now I just want to smash it! But there will be plenty of time for that this. I've been pretty laxed out here in Oceanside while waiting for the big race start. Our mechanics have done a wonderful job ensuring that our Orbea bikes are ready to fly, and the crew have ensured that we have had nothing to do except ride, eat, sleep, rest, and think about the 5 days of pain coming up.

The Team is splitting in to two teams of 4, each of which pull for around 6 hours. The teams are: Andy, Monique, Matt and Mark, who are starting off, then Bob, Tim P, Alex and Me.

Below are some team pics. The first is the Team at California, plus Phil, Joe and Fabio.

The team at the airport, being picked up by all the support crew. Well, actually not all the support crew, but a lot of them.

Our fearless team leader, Bob Shrank a.k.a. RAAMbo(b) will lead us to victory.

The team waiting for official photos before by the beach in Oceanside. There's only about 800m between my house from there, yea!

Wish us all luck for RAAM. It will be pretty tough, but should be a lot of fun. I'm all set now thanks to Marcus and Monique hooking me up with Vegemite, oh I love it. If nothing else, that will get me through. I won't be able to get in any updates till we reach the other side, but to see how we are going, check out www.teamtype1.org for regular updates.

C ya in Annapolis.

ADA in San Fransisco

2008-06-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

After a late night on Thurs thanks to leaving my packing way to late again, I was up early in the morning and off to the airport for my flight to San Fran. It seemed every second person on the flight was heading off to the ADA, and I even had a lady come up and ask me about about team type 1.

This was my first trip to San Fran, and my first impressions of it were that it is a pretty cool city. i had a walk down town and had a little look around, then decided San Fran has an awesome vibe to it. For those of you that don't know the city, here is a picture from above the Golden Gate bridge, courtesy of Alex.

Our first appointment of the weekend was a dinner/talk with Sanofi Aventis in regards to the regulations of the company and what expected during the weekend. We were also told all the people to contact if anything went wrong, but all I didn't worry to much about that, as if anything was too happen, I'd just ask Phil. Heading out to this first engagement, Nanny Nancy was telling me i was spot on. Flat lining at 98 mg/dl, or 5.4 mmol/l. Perfect. This, I felt, might be the last time all weekend, so I thought I better get a photo, as seen below.

Our next engagement was a dinner with OmniPod. Yes, a 2nd dinner, how good is that?

On Saturday morning we started work at the conference. I was originally scheduled to be with Dex4, but they didn't have a booth, so I was changed to hang out with Monique at the Abbott booth. Monique had the fun job of riding her bike on a trainer while her navigator was displayed on the overhead screen. My job was to stand or sit round and talk to people as they came in and asked about the navigator, how we used it, and what we liked about it. It was good fun, but by the afternoon I was ready to get out of there and go for a ride.

I went riding with Alex and Tim out towards the Golden Gate Bridge. We rode past the bay where the escape from Alcatraz triathlon was on the next day, and the atmosphere there was already building. We were even able to stop in and grab some free samples of shot blocks. We then went out onto the bridge, which was crowded with pedestrians and riders, and riding across was not very smooth at all. Upon getting to the other side we started riding up the hill, but then decided we didn't have enough time to go to the top and get back for dinner. We were suppose to meet at 6.30pm in the lobby (though at this point we thought it was 6.00) dressed and ready to go. It was already 5.25, so we thought we better start hitting. What followed was a crazy ride of dodging traffic, a lot of accelerating from stop sides, and almost killing ourselves avoiding pedestrians or traffic. Below is a photo of me and Tim on the Bridge, with Alcatraz in the background. Below that is a photo of me crawling up one of the really steep streets of San Fran.

Dinner that night was fun put on by our good friends at Abbott. Dinner was followed by a nice stroll back to the hotel for our last night in San Fran. Off to bed early as it was up early for another day at the Abbott booth the next day.

Sunday the conference seemed a lot quieter than it was on the Saturday. We did still talk to a lot of interested people, but also spend some time after my shift checking out some other booths and displays. That was quite interesting, especially the health checks, one of which said I need to see a doctor about my body weight!! I also got to spend a bit more time withe friends at the Sanofi Aventis and OmniPod booths.

At the end of the day we wandered back to the hotel and packed up to get to the airport. We were pretty pressed for time, but we did get there on time. I even had enough time to quickly say good bye to my new San Fran friends, which I think left some of my teammates with a bit surprise.

We have now arrived in Oceanside, and RAAM here we come!!!

Random Stuff

2008-06-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

On my last night in Boulder for a while I thought I'd update a few things. So here is some random info for you.

Random Info 1: I will be spending this weekend at the ADA conference in San Fransisco. Several of the members from Team Type 1 will be in attendance. For anyone wanting to see me, I think I'll be hanging out at the Dex4 booth. The team will be spread out between our sponsors Sanofi Aventis, OmniPod, Abbott Diabetes Care and Dex4. Look out for Matt Brooks who will be displaying the readings of his new navigator continuous monitor. When you see his blood sugar reading 55 with an arrow pointing straight down, you'll see me running over with some Dex.

Random Info 2: My good friend and training partner Sam Henry has taken a break from rowing and is now cycling full time. Reports suggest that he is currently under negotiations with several major teams, but which teams is not known. He has reportedly fully recovered from a knee injury suffered in past years and no longer suffers from a "pussy knee".

Sam took a long time out of competition after his accident, but is fully fit and highly motivated.

Random Info 3: Fabio and I are now the proud owners of a scooter. Getting round Boulder should now be a lot easier.

Random Info 4: Reports from my trusted ginga doctor (well, almost a doctor, he's just a wanta be doctor at the moment) Alistair Escott that I have placed a "bun in the oven" are completely untrue. This is very upsetting for Al, who is unable to have his own, as he is suffers from Gingivitis.

Medical reports from the big red are often very suspect.

Random Info 5: After ADA in San Fransisco the Team Type 1 RAAM team will be heading to Oceanside for the start of their defense of RAAM. After this, expect to see 8 riders from TT1 in a world of pain. If you have any questions you want me to answer, please ask before the 11th June, as after this date I'll be delirious from exhaustion.

Random Info 6: The song Pancreas, by Weird-AL-Yankovic has been posted as offense to those of us without a working pancreas. Personally, I think its a great song, celebrating the pancreas for all its hard work. The lyrics can be found at http://www.seeklyrics.com/lyrics/Weird-Al-Yankovic/Pancreas.html

Random Info 7: I can now confirm that I will indeed be the celebrity blogger on the unofficial Cycling Otago home page. It is now my 4th year as a member of Cycling Otago, and I feel privileged to be giving something back. The web page can be found at http://www.unofficialcyclingotago.blogspot.com/

Please note that not all of this information is credible. Some of the sources, particularly those used for even number random info, could be potently misleading, and is probably entirely made up.

Tour de Cure Nebraska

2008-06-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

Another early flight, and another response from Boulder Super Shuttle of "sorry, we can't pick you up that early unless you get yourself down to one of the Hotels we stop at." I'm starting to like them less and less, and would almost go as far as putting them in the same horrible category as the airlines. Although they don't charge as much as the airlines for a bike (usually, unless I can get the bike on free) it is a greater percentage of the fare that they charge. But I was able to make the bus on time, and made it to DIA with plenty of time to spare.
There was no rest when we got to Omaha, our team PR man Sean, a Omaha local, picked me up and took me to our first stop. This was the Nobbies store, a major sponsor of the Tour de Cure Nebraska. I met the Watanabes, the kind owners of the store. Below is a picture of me in Nobbies in front of the window, which was packed full off tiny yellow jersey, each representing a sponsor of the Tour de Cure. Below that is my favorite photo (and possibly a facebook profile pic in the near future). I was fortunate enough to get a photo with my idol. Someone I aspire to: Hannah Montana. Well, it wasn't actually a photo with her, but a cardboard cut out. But that's the closest I'll ever get to her greatness.

I spent Friday afternoon visiting the Crieghton Clinic and the new Diabetes Center at the University of Nebraska Med Center. The Crieghton Clinic wasn't really much to write home about, though there were some interesting people there. The Diabetes Centre was much more exciting. The new, state of the art facilities were very nice. I was lucky enough to have a tour of the facility before having a meeting with some of the endocrinologists, dietitians, directors, exercise physiologists and so on. Below is a photo of me with with Dr Rob Baum and director Beth Pfeffer, both posing in Tour de Cure cycling jerseys.

Saturday morning started off with the bike masters bunch ride. There was a good turn out of riders, with about 45 participating. This number got a bit smaller though as a few eager riders hit the pace early on and split the field on some of the rollers. Below is a photo of me with Dave Reinarz, the manager of Bike Masters, before leading off the bunch ride.

After the ride, I was treated by the "bike nut" Craig Harding to lunch. We ate and shared stories of riding with diabetes (he has type 1), and I tried my best to convince him that he needs a pod and navigator. But than everyone does.

It was an early start on Sunday morning, which meant I didn't stay up to late after dinner with Sean, though I hear that town goes off in Omaha on Saturday night; maybe next time. We got out to the ride pretty early, so had a bit of time to chill out, drink coffee, eat bagels and pretend that we're important. We also got to talk to a few of the sponsors. Below I am hanging out with Team Type 1 main sponsor Sanofi Aventis. I even got some free sunscreen, essential on those hot Nebraska days in the sun. The Sanofi Reps there were pretty cool though, so I wasn't just hanging out with them before and after because I was obliged to, but rather cause I wanted to.

As well as hanging out with Sanofi, I did talk to a few other people at the ride. This included some of the other sponsors, riders, and event volunteers. In fact I spoke to everyone via the microphone. Sean gave me a very nice intro, talked me up a bit (finally someone other than me talking me up) and I gave a little speech.

The ride itself was pretty good. The course was nice, rolling but not to hilly. At the start there were a few riders trying to push the pace a bit, but it got a little confusing at the first feed station when the lead motorbike pulled into the first rest stop. A few riders followed, and most others wondered, "is this a compulsory stop?" After a little stop to sort out what was happening, we got going again, until the next rest station, where everyone stopped. After leaving the feed zone there, it was a fair bit quicker to the turn around. After that it was a lot steadier pace on the ride back to the finish.

The finish area had a friendly atmosphere. The atmosphere was even better with good music and a dance spectacle from my new favorite Sanofi rep. A lot of nice people asked me to autograph their race numbers, jerseys, team type 1 team photo cards and just have a chat. I also had a lot of photos taken with riders, and also with Beth, who by then I was getting on so well with I was calling her mum (but not mom). The photo is below.

But the day wasn't over yet. We were then treated to food and wine at the Soaring Wings Vineyard. The vine was very good, well I thought so anyway, but I'm not much of a wine connoisseur. I signed a few more team photo cards, and as I did wrote my blog site on the back, so for all of you reading now, I hope you enjoy.

Unfortunately I had to rush away to make it to my favourite place on time, the airport. But I have to say thanks to Frontier Airlines and Omaha Airport for making my flight the most stress free trip I've had in a long time. After waiting in the check in queue for all of 2 mins, I then didn't have to pay excess for my bike. I was a bit worried after I walked up the stairs and heard "Could Timothy Hargrave please report to check in." I was thinking 'bugger, they're going to charge me for my bike', but I got down there, was handed my i.d. and walked up to security rather relieved. The one person in front of me in security didn't hold me up much and I was on a plane back home, already missing the fun, friendly people and beautiful sunshine of Nebraska.

Finally I'd like to thank all the people who got me to Nebraska, and those that looked after me while I was there: Sanofi Aventis, Abbott Diabetes Care, ADA, The Wiede's for all their help, Amy Kruse, Craig Harding, Dr Rob Baum and Beth Pfeffer. Also big thanks to all the supporters and riders on Sunday who made for a great day. I apologise if I have forgotten anyone.

Climbing Everest

2008-05-29T22:50:00.000-07:00

May 29th, 1953, Sherpa Tensing Norgay and Ed Hillary (good ol' NZ boy) were the first to make it to the top of the highest mountain in the world, Mt Everest (well the first to get up and down, but let's not get into that debate).

55 years after that monumental occasion people are still celebrating it. I know I am, and I was delighted when I got a message on facebook from my good friend Sam asking if I was celebrating it. And another message from Benedict alerted me to Google, who were also celebrating the anniversary.

55 years on and people still talk about having their own "Everest to climb". This made me think what was mine? Race Across America sprung to mind as the first obvious one. So racing, and trying to win RAAM is my Everest, right? Well, no. Although even the thought of torturing my body through 5 1/2 days of suffering on a bike seem epic enough, I did see one major flaw with RAAM being my Everest. After climbing Everest, there is no where higher to go, you've reached the top, you've "knocked the bastard off", so to speak. But I don't won't RAAM to be the pinnacle of my cycling career. Sure it will be my biggest achievement thus far, but I don't want it to end there.

So then what is my Everest? Well, I guess I don't know. Perhaps Everest isn't the ultimate, and after climbing the worlds highest mountain, or racing the worlds longest bike race (i think), there is still more to do. After Everest was climbed, the challenge was still there for men like Reinhold Messner to come back and climb the mountain solo, without oxygen. So after racing the width of the states, I'll have to step up to more races. Well this was always the plan, except by then I'll have more experience and can set the bar higher.

So rather than worry about my "Everest", all I really should be thinking about is the next step in my journey. Which would probably be recover from my last trip away. Being crammed into a small compartment with lots of others, with recycled air, and still not cleaned up after a race, with immune system battered to exhaustion can mean only one thing: getting sick. So I need to recover my health before I get on a plane tomorrow morning for Nebraska.

Nebraska should be fun. The state is already getting excited about my arrival. Well, ok, not the whole state, just those involved with the Tour de Cure, cyclists, diabetes professionals and all the single women (I wish). I have already had some excitement, and below are some links to articles celebrating my rapidly approaching arrival.

http://omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1200&u_sid=10345490

http://www.nebraskacyclingnews.com/content/view/976/1/

http://sydspinnin.blogspot.com/2008/05/soft-spot-for-team-type-1.html

Everyone in Nebraska, look forward to seeing you all soon. I hope you show me a good time.

Getting out of Tour Atlanta

2008-05-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

I some how made it out of the tour of Atlanta alive (as in not crashing), and even made it to the airport on time! However my health didn't quite stay intact. Anyway, starting off where we left off; stage 3.

The third race we were entered in was another crit. This time a 4 corner crit with a slight rise up through the finish straight. Success for the team in that we all stayed upright; but that was about it. I felt ok, but not really that into it. I hung in ok, but that was about it. My attempts to move up were pretty pathetic, and thus I stayed near the back. Not really where I want to be, but eh. I did try to move up a couple of times, once I had handle bars on another riders hips and the barriers on the other side, slamming on the breaks like all the others that tried to do the same as me. Not fun. I also almost took out the official who was holding out the laps to go sign in the middle of the road. Not the best place to be I thought as served to miss him.

One good thing about this race was that I learned a lot about my Nanny Nancy (my name for my continuous glucose monitor, the freestyle navigator. See last post.). The Navigator can be set to either beep or vibrate to warn of hypo/hyperglycemia. It can also beep of vibrate to warn of expected hypo/hyperglycemia before it happens. I decided to set Nancy to vibrate for hyper and beep for hypo. When I heard Nancy beep in the race i decided to eat a gel, so that was all good. A little bit later I felt Nancy starting to vibrate??? Was I feeling this right? 15min after I had the low beep I was now high? I checked after the race to find out I had set the projected low to beep, but not the actual low. I was going low, not high. That's something I've now sorted, so won't have that problem again.

Stage 4. Lasty day. It was pretty hot today. And humid. The team decided to race in what ever grade they felt like, so we were out early for the 2/3 race. There was a fair bit of sitting round, and even as close to the race as 45min I really wasn't amped. When I got to the start line I still wasn't firing, and sopent the first half sitting near the back. The race was an hour crit on a 4 corner course which had a steep little kicker round turns 3 and 4. It wasn't long enough to break up the field, but steep enough to sting the legs. Especially if you came out of turn 3 to slow. Half way through the race I felt better and moved up the front. The break had already gone, and was hovering between 20-30 sec, but not looking like it was coming back. I didn't think I had much Chance of bridging up, but thought I'd try anyway. I had nothing to lose, and as I was at the race for training, I went off the front several times. This ended up in me blowing up and being pulled with 3 laps to go, but o well.

Now the real race begins: making our flights. As soon as the race was over there was no time to muck around. We finished at round 4, and had to get straight into packing the bike into a bag to chuck on the plane. Then it was into the van, still only half dressed and sweating profusely in the heat and humidity. We had heard that there was a 2hour line through security, and were in a frantic rush to make our flights. My flight was at 7.29, and I arrived at the line for security at about 6.15. If it were to take 2hours I was looking like spending the night in Atlanta Airport. Luckily the 2hours was an exaggeration, I took the quickest line through. I don't think that the two guys sitting either side of me would have been to happy with me, drenched to the bone in sweat.

After arriving at DIA, I booked on shuttle home. The driver didn't seem to happy to take me with the bike, as "There isn't enough room". There was plenty of room as I lifted the bike into the boot. That was on the condition that I had to help lift it out when we got to our first stop, but that was sure better than waiting another hour getting a cold in my sweat drenched clothes.

I did finally make it back home. However the flying straight while my immune system is probably suffering the stress of the race, being in a small confined area with a lot of people breathing re circulated air, and being drenched in sweat as I had no chance of cleaning myself has lead to the inevitable. I'm not feeling to well today, but hopefully a couple of days rest and I'll be back on my feet.

Next stop, Tour de Cure Nebraska. My 12th state. Should I get better it could be a lot of fun. Already done my first interview for a paper via phone. Look out Nebraska.

Navigating the tour of atlanta

2008-05-25T11:02:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning I set out to get to Atlanta for Memorial Weekend. Only problem is that Boulder Super Shuttle wouldn't pick me up from my house early enough for my flight, so I had to walk down to the bus station by 3.25am. I got to the bus stop at 3.23am to see the bus pulling away. It's all good being on time, but not leaving early. Panicking, I rang the shuttle company who said if I could get to 30th and Baseline by 4am they could take me: time to start running. On the way I see a backpacker walking the other. She stops and asks me if we could catch the bus. I explained what happened, to which she replied she had a car and we could drive there. Sweet. Big thanks to Erin from Alaska for getting me to the shuttle on time.

I arrived in muggy Atlanta and headed off tot he hotel where we were being set up with the navigator continuous glucose readers. These are pretty cool devices which gives a continues reading of blood glucose plus projected direction to predict hypo/hyperglycemia. Sweet. I've named my navigator Nanny Nancy the Navigator, since it helps look after me, it would have to be a nanny.

That evening at 9.30pm we started our first race, a 1 hour crit. The tour of Atlanta I'm riding not with the pro team who I normally ride but with the RAAM team for training. 7 of us took the start line. 23min into the race and I was the last from our team to be pulled out. Not so good, but given the traveling and lack of sleep we had all had, the race went in the "can't be ****ed" basket. Especially given how stupid some of the riders in the race were.

Saturday morning and we woke up with a road race to look forward to in the afternoon. 90 miles, 4 laps, KOM each lap. But this was changed on the start to 3 laps, after a we had a vote on the start line. Disappointing, but 3 laps for 110km still sounded good. Sounded much more fun than a dodgy crit. Then less than 2 minutes into the race though 15 riders hit the deck going 20-25km/hr. Idiots. Apparently there was another crash 10min later, but it was behind me and I never heard it.

I stayed at the front of the bunch at the start and covered a few moves, but nothing was sticking. One move did look promising, so I decided I should try to get in it. The riders were bunching up, and I was on the left of the center line. I wasn't getting back right of it when some riders when up the road, so I passed a few riders and began chasing. Just as I bridged up the race ref pulled me up for riding on the wrong side of the road and ordered that i go to the back. Arrghh. I would have spent more time on the left if I hadn't done what I did!!! Well that pissed me off and put me out of any chance of doing anything.

We got some heavy rain and a bit of wind during the race. On the 2nd lap there was another big crash when people decided that it was a good idea to go straight over railway lines that were wet and on an angle. Idiots. After the first few crashes, and this one, it made me think people down here down know how to ride bikes. This was reiterated when there were strong enough Cross winds to thin the race a bit, yet the teams at the front are riding in the middle of the road, and not that quick. But I guess that's not as bad as a certain team that were sitting on the back of a 70 man peleton with less than 5km to go discussing if they should go for the sprint. Well maybe tomorrow, cause you're not doing it today.

The day ended with with Andy our top finisher in 28th. It wasn't that hard a day's racing, but it could have been. Let's now see how tomorrow works out.

End of Arkansas

2008-05-18T19:28:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day of the Tour of Arkansas, and the last chance for anyone to steal Chady's lead. Today we planned to go to the front and set a high enough tempo to discourage any dangerous breaks. So when we started I tried my best to get right up the front. Only problem was that my legs were so damn tired from 3 days of hard riding that I rode as hard and fast as I could but kept going backwards. It was only about 10min before the call to pull out came. Gutted.

Luckily the team was ridiculously strong and even without me the boys kept the race together. A break did get away, but there were no dangers to GC in it. With Kobza smashing it on the front the other GC hopefuls had no chance. The team (except for me) rode such a strong tempo that the field was whittled down to about 1/3 of starters and Chady took the overall.

So how did I feel after my first stage race with the team? I guess I felt pretty good. Initially after the crit, or after my 10min in the crit, I was disappointed. When you want to help out the race leader, but just don't have the legs, it's disappointing. But I'm still adapting to this level of racing, and given why I had no energy/speed today made me feel a lot better. I was quite nervous before the start of stage 1, and still nervous when Chady had a lead that needed to be defended. But I had a great team of experienced riders around me who showed me how I could be of the biggest help to the team. Thanks guys. And thanks chady for getting the results.

Below is a picture of the team train in action, yea.

Tour of Arkansas stage 3

2008-05-17T19:03:00.000-07:00

Good news in that my bag finally arrived. Late last night Ed came to our hotel room with them. It was a great relief, and bode well for a big stage today.

Today's stage was again about 150-160km with a nasty hill at the end. The hill wasn't as steep as yesterday, but it was longer. The hill was Mt Magazine. We started and finished at the top. The stage kicked off with a long gradual descent, a few rollers, a lot of flat, then a lovely little climb to finish.

After the descent attacks came on the rollers. And they were killing me, with splits in the field opening up and I was in the hurt box. Eventually a three man break went it was our job to set the tempo for the day. Today seemed a bit unusual in terms of racing. In a race with 90 people in the field, I usually get to a good view of most riders except those at the front. However, after 30 min today all I saw were the hard working boys of Team Type 1 setting tempo. Well that was until the bottom of the climb. At that point my job was done, I blew up and started going backwards. Kobza had been killing the pace all day, and he still was when I went backwards. Fabio and Ian were also still pushing it pretty hard right to the base of the climb.

I struggled up the climb, which just seemed to go on forever. I thought I was almost at the top, till I saw the 10km to go sign. Bugger. I did manage to struggle home well down, and my teammates were all packed up and ready to go. Chady finished in the front group to retain is overall lead, so we got to be happy with that.

Tomorrow is a 75min crit. Should be fun, but we'll see. Time to rest up now.

Tour of AR stage 2

2008-05-16T19:45:00.000-07:00

After yesterdays 'epic' stage, which left Chady in the lead, we had a bit of work ahead of us. Today's stage was a 150km race with 2 hills in the middle and a savage climb up Mt Nebo to finish. My bags still haven't arrived, so I'm bit angry about that. But that's not important for the race.

Apart from a flat prior to the start (better to get one then than after we start) the race started well. After a much shorter neutral section than yesterday, the race kicked off with some attacks. The team managed to cover all of them, and pretty good move with Kobza and Moises got away. Only problem was some riders in the break decided they didn't think it was a good idea to work, so it came back.

The main thing I was worried about in the stage was the two climbs along the way, but they proved not to be too bad. I got over the first climb with the bunch easily enough. The second was a bit more difficult. I had been on the front leading into the climb, and started to go backwards a bit after we hit it. I was able to slow the rate I went back, and though there were a few splits in the bunch, it all came back together along the top. Though not without the help of a few vehicles in the convoy.

After the climb a Jelly Belly rider went off the front, but Team Type 1 was up to the task of setting a chase on the flat. Riding up front is a lot harder than just sitting on, but I was able to do my job. I wanted to deliver our climbers right to the bottom of the final climb, but I blew up just before. With about 15km to go I popped pretty bad and started going backwards. My job was done, so I just tapped on the pedals and crawled in. Going up the climb, I was definitely crawling, with the hill being very steep. There were some of the nastiest switch backs I've ever seen. But I'd done my job, and Chady managed to not only defend his lead, but win his second stage in a row!

Tomorrow looks like it could be another day of riding on the front. The race is again about 150km starting with a descent, then goes flat for for quite away, and then climbs up Mt Magazine to the finish where we start. I don't think the climb is that steep, but it looks pretty long. I just have to look after Chady and get him and the climbers in the team to the bottom of the climb. Not too hard, well, we'll see.

Below are a couple of photos from yesterday. Our champ on the podium with Moises and a photo of me and Fabio with a fan at the start.

Tour of Arkansas

2008-05-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

Woke up early yesterday to fly down to Arkansas to race. All was going well till we reached the airport. Trying to check into united was difficult, as putting my credit card in for i.d. kept coming up "are you Lisa Hargarve travelling to Oregon?" Fabio had the same problem, at which point we realised we were flying American, not united. oops.

Things got worse when we were told the flight would be delayed. This put us under pressure to make our connecting flight in Dallas, Tx. Although we made it, just, our bags did not. Flash back memories of traveling to GA, for Athens. Only this time, since we were staying so far from the airport (about 3hr drive), they said we wouldn't get our bags till 8-11pm the next evening. I still haven't got it yet. Luckily for me I had followed Fabio's advice and packed shoes and helmet into carry-on luggage. Thanks to spare kit in the truck, Fab, Ian and I were able to race.

Before the race start we had some fans come up and ask for autographs. One I particular I remember, his name was Timothy and he was a type 1. He had a piece of paper with photos of Me, Joe, Phil and Fabio. We signed auto's for him and posed for photos. That was pretty cool.

I lined up at the start of the race feeling pretty good. Today was the 'epic' road stage. That's the actual name of the race, not a name I gave it. It was 177km with plenty of climbs. I had been given plenty of advice and encouragement before the start, and was ready to rock out in my first tour with the team. The race started with a ridiculously long neutral section. About 24km. I made good use of this by sitting right on the comm car. The driver was a bit of an idiot, going faster on the uphills than the down.

The race started good and proper and I kept myself near the front for a while. At least a lot closer to the front than usuall. There were a few little rollers, but no big hills immeaditaly after the start. The team was hoping to get all our riders at the front up the hill preceding the biggest of the day. When we hit this hill there were several splits formed. I was in about the 3rd or 4th, and I could hear Ed saying there were riders going back through the convey. I looked round to see the convoy still a fair way back behind a string of riders. At the top of the climb I could still see the bunches in front. Thanks to an uncharacteristic fast descent, I was able to catch back up to the front group. I then went straight to the front and lead into the big climb. It wasn't long before I started to lose place going up. I managed to get over the top with the "main" bunch. There were a good number, maybe 50-60 riders here, so i was happy to sit in. Up the road was the leading 30 or so, with my 6 teammates. From then on it was sit in and look after myself for tomorrow.

Up the road, my team mate Chaddy took out the stage and Moises came third. The others were also in that lead group.

I'm resting up now for a big day tomorrow. 150km with a hill top finish, good times. Hope my bag comes by then.

RAAM

2008-05-12T14:48:00.000-07:00

There have been numerous rumours and speculation floating around RAAM racers that the defending champions, Team Type 1, now have on board an exciting young prospect for their team in 2008. Some reports described this mystery rider as "the hottest thing to hit the American cycling scene this year" and "...brings excitement back into the sport of cycling". There was even an article in a popular women's magazine suggesting this rider "confirmed cyclists as the hottest of all sports stars." Unfortunately, these rumors are all false. Although the TT1 RAAM team does have a new rider, he doesn't live up to all the hype these publications implied. The rider is in fact a moderately overweight, out-of-shape, inexperienced novice who can't ride a bike to save himself. Quite a disappointed for a team of such strong riders. So who is this new rider? Me, of course. But I'm sure you'd have all guessed that by now.

Yep it's official. In June I will accompany 7 other fit, healthy, type 1 riders in a grovel from one side of the states to the other. During that time, I will have to travel 4840.6 kilometers or 3008.45 miles and pass through 14 states. Two of which I've lived in: California and Colorado; four of which I've been to: Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois; and eight new states: Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Indiana, Ohio, West Virgina, Maryland and Pennsylvania. My list of states will be pretty big after that.

Above is the map of the race route for RAAM in 2008.

I do think that RAAM this year will be a good experience. It is also a good opportunity for me. I'll have the chance first of all to do a lot of riding and becoming physically a lot stronger. At least after I have had a bit of recovery. I mean a lot of recovery.

It will also help me to promote the team's message of control and management of type 1 diabetes, and hopefully inspire young diabetics, an old, to do great things with their life.

I'm also sorry to say to David Ayre of the Otago Cycling Club that after that much riding, mostly on an tt bike, I'll easily be able to take him down in a tt. One of my goals as a cyclist for a long time has been to beat Dave in a tt, but he's just too aerodynamic. After this I think I'll be able to do it though.

To be honest the thought of RAAM did not appeal to me immediately. With a full racing schedule in the pro ranks for Team Type 1, RAAM was not a priority. However, after being persuaded to give it more thought, the idea started to grow on me. Although I would be missing the Nature Valley Grand Prix, my racing schedule was not largely effected.

Not many people would enjoy the straight up suffering required to win a race like RAAM. It is a huge strain both mentally and physically. I hope throughout my years I have endured enough suffering to be able to handle the hardships of RAAM. It is after a hard endeavour like this that you feel most satisfied.

But just to finish off, I think I should put the ordeal into perspective. It can't really be that hard to ride across the US once, with 7 others, on bikes, when a man like Forrest Gump ran the length of the country several times (the photo below shows Forrest during his epic run). He didn't even need a bike, he just ran. Of course he was a legend, but you'd have to be to be a war hero, ping pong superstar, shrimp boat captain, American Football allstar, a very good lawnmower and inspire Elvis to Dance and John Lennon to write 'imagine'.

But me and Forrest, we do have one thing in common. We'll both end up looking the same after our run or ride across the US. Though I probably won't look as fresh as him.

Sunshine hill climb

2008-05-11T15:58:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I rode the Sunshine hill climb race in Boulder. Although I do like the sunshine, I don't like races with sun in the title. Didn't do so well in the Sunny king crit last weekned, and then this. What a horrible race. Well, for someone like me it was anyway. I've described the race in the last post, so read that for an idea of what I'm talking about. I was in the box the whole way. The climb started off pretty sweet, but from what I had heard it was going to get a lot worse. The steepest sections are in the middle, but the last 3 miles are just as hard because its own dirt roads. For this reason I took it a bit conservativley at the start. I struggled up the steep bit and onto the dirt. It had rained/snowed the night before so the dirt became a little muddy. That didn't make it all that fun. About half way up the dirt bit it began to snow. Only lightly, but enough to make it cold, especailly on the decent. I have no idea where I placed in the race. Far from the front, but not at last. Far enough down anyway.

After a cold descent I did still do some more riding to make up a good 4 1/2 hour day. Which left me pretty tired for my ride today. Headed back into the hills with the legs feeling it. But it's all good training for Arkansas on thursday. Now I just have to rest up to prepare for it.

Settling into change

2008-05-08T21:52:00.001-07:00

I've now been in the US for a few months now and am starting to settle in. I know most US slang now, and I know that when I speak to Americans I have to speak slower. Although I do forget most of the time.

Part of being able to train and race well here is feeling at home. I've now meet a lot of cyclists, and when turning up to races I'm saying hi to as many people as I'm meeting. This feels a lot more comforting than turning up at a race where the only people you know are the ones you meet 5 minutes ago. Don't get me wrong, I do like meeting new people, but it's good to have people you know as well.

I have also started to make "non-cyclist" friends. This is good just to get the mind away from cycling and back to the real world.

I'm slowly making my way through the fast food list, but I do still miss some of the food back from home. I'm looking forward to my care package hopefully coming soon from the Otago Uni Cycling club. I haven't had marmite or vegemite for a long time, and it's starting to crack me.

But with all this settling in, there is also a bit of change going on. Spring is here, and the flowers are blooming. The tree outside our deck, bare before leaving for Georgia, is now showing off its bright pink colours. Just in time for the Giro. The warmer weather certainly is nice. Sorry to all those people back home in NZ, especially those in the poorly insulated scarfie flats of Dunedin, who will now be losing daylight and warmth as winter approaches.

Of course with the warmer weather approaching, it makes it easier to get into the mountains. Well, for someone my size it's never easy going into those hills, but at least it's not as cold up top. So that brings me to the race planned for this Saturday: The sunshine hill climb. Here are the stats for the race:

Distance: 9.14 miles (14.62km)
Elevation gain: 3226 feet (983m)

Average grade: 7.6%
Maximum grade: 23.1%

Start altitude: 5509ft (1679m)

Finish Altitude: 8426ft (2568m)

And just to add to the fun, the last 3.5miles are gravel. Good times. I don't think this is a race that I will excel in. Below is the race profile.

There was also on more quite important change to my race schedule. I won't talk about it now, but keep posted, as details will be out soon.

Photos from Georgia and Alabama

2008-05-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from the weekend. Read the prevous blog posts for the story. All these photos are thanks to Monique Hanley, my wonderful teammate/photographer.

This first photo is of me, Fabio, our host Terry, Morgan, Monique and Joe at our host house in Alabama

Me just chilling out modeling my team vest, clearly labeling me as the most wanted.

A photo of me racing in the Roswell crit, coming out of the last corner.

Nalley Historic Roswell Criterium

2008-05-05T20:55:00.001-07:00

Today was the day of our last race in the South-East. The team was getting pretty tired. It wasn't just the racing that was tiring me out. The races were all in the evening, and I'd get amped up for them, have some coffee before hand, get the adrenaline pumping, and during the race put back some double espresso cliff shots, which really give a kick. This was good for the race, but not so much for the post race relaxing. By bed time I was still ready to roll, not to rest. So the nights were always late, and due to a lot of driving, we had to be up reasonably early. With all the traveling the team was starting to get a bit cranky.

I was not only physically tired, I was more mentally tired. Having not been able to finish the races was not good for my morale, and although I was learning heaps and getting better, I still needed a boost. It was at this time when my teammates really helped me out. We had discussed how the races had been going, and what our plan would be for the last one. Each race I had gone in with the plan in my head just to try to finish. This had left me feeling scared to 'waste' energy moving up. So the new plan: don't worry about finishing the race, just get into the top 10 for at least one lap. Even if you get dropped after, just get up there. Of course once I did that I was still planning on continuing the race and trying to stay up there, but my goal was top 10 on a lap.

So the race itself. The race was a rectangle crit, with the first 2 corners pretty easy. The third was after a slight downhill into a tight corner, and the last was off camber and kinda tricky. It also came out up a slight rise. The race was 80min + laps.

We didn't get a call up at the start, but our team did get a mention. "Riding for Team Type 1, a diabetic racer, Joe Hargrave..." Yea, not the best omen before the start. Once the gun went it was a lot things were going well. I stayed right up there. It wasn't as fast as the other races, but I sat about 9th or 10th wheel for a while. I couldn't manage to stay up the front, but i did keep moving up. I felt good, a lot better. With about 40min to go the pace picked up a lot and I went of the back. But I knew the pace would slow eventually, so gritted my teeth and hammered it. I took Joe's advice knowing I couldn't crash anyone else out and went balls out into the corners. I then smashed myself on the straight. Although I wasn't paying much attention to the crowd, I could hear people screaming get back on, and even a few people shouting my name. That was encouraging, and evidently it worked, cause I got back on. And stayed there, at least till 2 1/2 to go. But I finished!!

Small achievement, but did a lot of good mentally. I have to say thanks to Fabio and Joe for the their advice and support throughout the week. And Doug did an excellent job, not just as mechanic, but everything.

I'm now back in Boulder, recovering. I'm feeling good about my next big race in Arkansas in 9 days time. Things are looking up. Looks like there is a lot of climbing in AR, but we have a good team and it should be fun.

Georgia Photo

2008-05-05T06:07:00.000-07:00

This photo is up a bit late I'm sorry, but i just received it. This photo was taken at the Tour of Georgia booth on the last day.Their is a blog post and more photos previously. This photo sums up one of the cool things about our team. We were chilling out at the booth when a guy walks up wearing our team top from last year. It was great that he was supporting the team.

Anniston Crit

2008-05-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

My first NRC race for the year was the Anniston Crit in Alabama. I was feeling pumped for it, having done a lot better in the last crit. However, it wasn't my race. Possibly the worst of the week. I didn't last very long, and was generally pretty miserable. It was good having radios for the first time, and Vassili giving us direction, but if you don't have the legs good advice won't help. So, i'm not really write much more about the race, its just one to forget. Wait till tomorrow for my last race of the week. It will be much better, i promise.

Greenwood crit

2008-05-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, this year is all about learning, and I seem to need to do that on and off the bike. First lesson to learn was at breakfast. Early morning and i was still a little dopey. I grabbed a bowl and filled it with cereal. I then saw some porridge (same as oats, for those Americans who don't know what it is) and mixed it with the cereal. I added milk and had my first mouthful. Yuk! It had to be the most disgusting porridge I've ever had. At which point i realised that what i thought were raisins was actually meat. I had mistaken the sausage gravy for porridge. Not my brightest moment! Who has gravy for breakfast?

After an easy ride in the morning, and a few hours drive we arrived in Greenwood for some crit racing. The circuit was a rectangle with a s-bend on the downhill back straight and an uphill finish. The race started on time tonight, so the course was lit up the whole way. I managed to stay in twice as long tonight, which I was happy about, but was still disappointed when I was dropped. But, this year is all about learning, and I learnt a lot from that race. My cornering was much improved. Although I'm still not consistent enough, I do know how to ride, and when I'm doing something wrong. When I got dropped I completely screwed up the corner, but I'll learn for next time.

The other lesson was to be more attentive to my bike. While pushing myself hard I didn't realise I had made my seat come lose. This would have been perfect in the race, as after being dropped, or even just before, I could have rolled into to see our mechanic Doug at the pit. This would have given me a free lap out while Doug fixed my seat. I could then rejoin the race, and hopefully move further up. All good lessons to learn.

I'm now in a host house in near Anniston in Alabama. I'm also near Talladega. So yes, the race will be full of comments like if your not first your last. And yes, i will wake up tomorrow and piss excellance. I'm enjoying my time way down yonder, and hope to see all y'all round.

Walterboro

2008-04-30T20:52:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the second race for me in the South East. The race was in downtown Walterboro, South Carolina. We drove from Atlanta in the morning, and after a lot of turning around and going the wrong way, we finally made it to Walterboro. When we got here, I saw something for the first time in the States: a bomb scare. Well, I have no idea what it was all about, but it delayed the racing somewhat.

The race started late, by which point it was already dark. The course was not very well lit. Some corners were lit up really well, while other parts of the course had little or no lighting at all. This made it difficult to see the road, and pot holes were often hit. The worse pot hole was the one placed right in the apex of a corner, which i think all riders hit several times each during the race. there were a lot of punctures as a result of it, with Inferno racing reporting they suffered from 10.

I didn't have the best race today. I was quite disappointed, and thus am hating writing this report up. I did last longer than at Athens, but still not as long as I should have. I felt better riding at Athens, but lasted longer in Walterboro. So hopefully I'll feel great and do great tomorrow night. It wasn't a good night for me, but Emile did pretty well to finish 7th.

Tomorrow is a crit in Greenwood, South Carolina and I'm hoping will go well.

Tour de Georgia

2008-04-28T20:27:00.000-07:00

After a pretty wild night a racing, and post race celebrations in Athens, we made the trip back to Atlanta to support our boys racing in the last stage of the Tour de Georgia.

The last stage of the tour was a circuit race round Atlanta, and within the circuit was a large number of tents with health and well being promotions. A lot of these tents belonged to the teams in the race, and ours was no exception. The team type 1 tent showed off our products from nuun, omnipod, tour de cure and dex4, as well as having free give aways from our sponsors. The riders who were not racing but were in Atlanta helped out at the booth. It was good fun being at the booth, having lots of fans coming up and asking for signed pictures of the team, or for an autograph on their hat or drink bottles. It was a good way to promote the team, and was nice to have so many people come up to congratulate the work our team has done for diabetes.

It was also great sitting in the booth hearing our well our team was doing in the race. We had done really well the day before putting 4 riders in the top 17 up Brasstown Bald. We ended the race with 4 riders in the top 20 and 3rd overall in the team GC. Not bad considering the strength of the field, with protour teams racing.

Above are photos of our team booth. Left is the two tents with a line of people waiting to spin the wheel, and more people wanting autographs or talking about the omnipod. The photo on the right shows the delight after winning a prize on the spin wheel.

What was also cool was the article in the Colorado daily about Fabio and me. We had each given a phone interview a few days before, and the article read pretty well. It can be found at http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/apr/24/cycling-team-type-1-races-for-diabetes-team-type/ .

My next race is another speed week crit on Wednesday. It's in Walterboro, South Carolina. Thanks to Northwave I have a new set of shoes to rock out in. It will also be good as we have a larger team at the race. Athens was just me and Joe, but this time we'll be joined by our in form sprinter Emile, who I'll be working for and hope to learn a bit from. Also, straight of a good performance in Georgia, Fabio. Should be good times.

Athens Twilight

2008-04-27T14:15:00.000-07:00

Wow!!!

What an amazing night. I have never been to a race like it before. It was insane!!! But first of all, let me start from the beginning.

Friday morning I was booked on a shuttle to DIA to be picked up between 10.30-10.50am. I was a bit worried at 11 when the shuttle hadn't come, so i rung up. Apparently there was no booking for my phone number, name, or address. S***. Luckily the shuttle then pulled up having already gone to the wrong address. At least I got to DIA in time. Though my plane was then late to Chicago, so although i made my connecting flight to Atlanta, by running through a crowded airport pushing people out of the way, dropping the shoulder, to make it just as boarding was closing. Unfortunately my bag didn't make.

I was able to pick up my bag on the way to race after swinging by the airport. That was lucky, otherwise I'd be racing in my teammates spare gear.
The race was due to start at 8.45pm. Being a twilight crit, it was getting to get dark at the start. The start was chaos, as everyone was wanting to get to the front at the start. I did get to the front, but then they changed where we suppose to meet. They started calling riders below number 80 to the line first, but we were 81 and 82, damn it.
The start of the race was crazy. It went full on from the gun. Straight away the race was spread out in a narrow line. 150 riders filling up a whole straight at a time. This was the fastest race I'd ever done. I didn't have the speed for it. I need to get quicker. I found i could hold wheels no problem, but when it came closing gaps or moving up the field, it just wasn't happening. Eventually i fell off the back, after many others had already, and didn't get back on. Bugger.

To let you know about the atmosphere of the race, there were 30,000 spectators. A lot of whom were drunken students. It was one of the biggest nights in Athens. The students were all there wanting to see some crashes, of which they got to see a few. Luckily i missed them, but i did come pretty close.

After i pulled from the race I was, unofficially, the first to down a beer. Although i didn't get podium girls for winning, i was the first to get a photo with two beautiful girls on either side. This was thanks to the good ol' Southern hospitality I've heard about. When walking back to the team car i was pulled up by a friendly local whose flat was above a bar on the course. I was meet with a great reception from the locals in the flat. The other thing I heard about was the beautiful women in Athens. And Athens did live up to its reputation. The girls were gorgeous, and loved my accent. Hell yea. Thanks to all the girls for being so friendly, i hope i can see you all when I'm back for Athens Twilight next year.

So, not such a great race in the crit, but not bad. Good night life in Athens, it was crazy. Especially if you have a kiwi accent. Sorry i don't have any photos. If i can get hold of some I'll put them up.

Peace out all

ANZAC day

2008-04-24T21:31:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is ANZAC day. For those of you who don't know what this, which i guess would be any Americans reading this, it is a national holiday in New Zealand and Australia to commemorate our war veterans. It was the 25th of April 1915 that the ANZACs (Australia and New Zealand Army Corps) landed on the beaches of Gallipoli. In NZ i usually get up for the dawn service. Unfortunately they don't seem to have one here in Boulder. In fact all the dawn parades have probably been already. So i'll just have to commemorate it in my own way. I though singing the great hymn "I vow to thee my country" in the airport tomorrow could be a good way, but it might annoy a few people. If i had the backing of my old choir it would be fine. That's the choir from the KCFTC (King's College **** tramping club). They would definitely sing along.

Anyway, tomorrow is the day that i fly off to Georgia for my first race with Team Type 1. Sort of appropriate for ANZAC day. Not quite the same as going into war for the first time, but a new challenge all the same. Given that Athens twilight is the first race, I could come out of it looking like I've been at war.

Meanwhile in the tour de Georgia, my teammates battle on. It was good to hear that tt1 was one of only two teams to finish the team time trial with all their riders still in it. Was also interesting to hear Chady's comments that Fabio isn't very good draft in a tt. That's something I've found out riding with him.

I'm off in the morning, and although I'm not getting up at dawn, I do still need to pack and tidy the house before I leave. I better get to work.

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:

Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them."

Where there's smoke, there's fire.

2008-04-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

I rode a post a few days ago saying things were heating up. Well now they really are. On the drive back from Colorado Springs after the racing we saw smoke coming from Boulder. As the car approached home on the highway we looked up to see a large amount of smoke coming from near the city. I looked at it to try to work out where abouts it was coming from when i realised that it was pretty close to my house! As the car pulled into the drive i was relieved to see my house still unburnt, but not so happy to see fire trucks and police cars just down the road. The road block started 2 blocks away!
The problem was a small forest fire in the hills just west of pearl st. The strong wind that day was blowing all the smoke straight down pearl and past my house. Although we weren't in any danger, it wasn't that comforting to know that all the neighbours recieved a call saying that "Due to a fire in your area, its is recommended, but not required, that you evacuate." Was nice of them not to let us know!

In better news, I was glad to hear of my roommate Fabio riding well in Georgia. He punctured early but was able to reintergrate the main field and end up 20th. Though this might not be such a good thing, if he gets in a break I promised i'd buy him dinner.

I think i should also explain the lists on the blog post below my photo. Fabio and I have compiled a list of food chains in the US that are not found in New Zealand or Australia. We hope to eat at all of them at least once (a lot of them we in no way intend on eating at more than once). Also is a list of Ben & Jerry's ice cream that i'm making my way through. Interesting flavours, but nothing beats good ol' NZ ice cream.

Though not very good photos, above is fox colorado's photos of events. My house is at the bottom of the photo on the left on the road running up the middle. The photo right shows the scene 50m from my house.

Colorado Springs

2008-04-21T16:52:00.001-07:00

I did enjoy the trip down to Colorado Springs, though the racing wasn't so great. I felt good and was ready to hit the crit, but after some bad luck the last few weeks, i got a bit eager. The only team that had any sort of representation was slipstream, so i thought i'd try to get in a break with one of their riders. On the first lap two riders started to get a gap, including a slipstream rider, so i bridged up. Only problem was after i lapped through the two others just sat up. I looked up to see that i had a gap so kept hitting it. I didn't last very long, and soon as i was caught it just went attack after attack. I didn't recover and got popped out the back before the race settled down. Bugger.

It was pretty disappointing. I didn't have bad legs, i just used them up to quick.

That night i did get a cheap ticket (only $5, sweet) for a buffet dinner and a talk by Greg Lemond. I was pretty excitied, about both the cheap food and listening to a cycling legend. I found Greg's speech on ethics in cycling interesting, but not captivating. The talk was very honest and to the point, but the delivery wasn't great. Full credit to a man that has had an amazing career in cycling, but his public speaking skills were a bit lacking. He made some good points, but didn't quite know how to deliver them.

But I was happy, it's nopt every day you hear a 3 time tour de france winner speak.

I woke up Sunday to what looked like a beautiful sunny day, but stepping outside revealed a strong wind. The course for the road race was just over 20km and featured some hills and strong wind. I was feeling good, and the start of the race was saw a large bunch climb ashort hill before enjoying a long, strainght, and though not that steep, very fats descent due to the roaring tailwind. Hitting speeds of 85kph on the descent, it was a bit dodgy with riders pushing to get to the front for the first corner, which would turn us into a cross wind.

The corner was negotitiated saftley and the bunch was pushing along at 50-60kph when just infront of me a riders hit the deck pretty hard. A chain reaction followed which saw numerous riders goes down, and bike fly in the air. The race was in the left hand gutter at the time, and i swung right to try to get round it. Only problem was that crash spread that way to. With no way of stopping, or avoiding the crash and staying on the road, i was forced to bunny hop the curb (these curbs were quite big as well) onto the grass. At this point i thought i had avoided hitting the ridders, and just had to keep the bike upright till i was back on the road. But no, i saw some rider fall infront of me, his bike flying further off road. I did manage to get round the bike and back on the road, but well behind the race. It wasn't till the next lap that i realised i got back on the road about 30m before a bridge over large casam. That could have been bad!

I got back on the road and looked up to see the race split into 3 different groups all a quite away up the road. I knew the chase would be hard. I got up to speed along side a line of riders trying to chase like i was. I went straight to the front and started giving it everything. I tried to get riders to pull though, but they were all pretty reluctant. I did get a few people rolling through, but ended up doing a large part of the work. I had no choice but to try to get on. As we closed the gap and the 3 groups infront joined to make one, there really was no one pulling through. At least not till we were 15m off the back and they sprinted past me to get back on. Well done guys, good effort! I got on, but popped very soon after.

It wasn't a very successful weekend of racing, but i did have fun hanging out with the Fort Lewis colligete cycling team from Durango. Only a week till Athens, lets hope i'm firing then.

Heating up

2008-04-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

Tempretures are starting to heat up here in Colorado. And as soon as they do my winter kit arrives. Luckily we got a couple of cold days with some snow so i could try it out before summer kicks in. I'm off to the South East for spped week, and i don't think i'll be needing winter stuff down there.

Hopefully I'll be on form when i head south. I've got two more races befofre i start riding thr big crits with the team. A crit on tomorrow and a road race the next day, both in Colorado Springs. I was quite looking forward to both, till i snapped my rear deraileur clean off. But thanks to the combined efforts of three different bike shops it should be up and running for tomorrow.

Also a quick note to Joel Davies and Henry Baker, Happy Birthday back home guys.

Deja Vu

2008-04-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

There are some habits I really need to break. If you read my report from last week's race the koppenburg you might have noticed that i got to the start line late. Well, the same thing happened again this sunday. Riding down to Golden for the Toyko sun Crit, Fabio and I got a bit lost. After doubling round several times we finally got to the rego asthe riders were taking the start. Good stuff.

The other similarity was i didn't manage to finish either race. I started this race feeling absolute rubbish and was almost dropped on the first lap. Why? It was a simple case of not eating enough. A stupid mistake i should never have made. As we reached Golden i was feeling very avergae. After downing almost a full tube of dex4 and a cliff bar i started to feel a bit better, though not much. I then checked my blood to find a reading of 73 mg/dl, or about 4 mmol/L. Not good to start a race at, or good to be at after eating that much.

The race course was a brilliant one, and one I really liked. It was a circle with no tight corners. It had an uphill to the start finish line and downhill on the back straight. Unfortunatlely it wasn't my day, and i was out of it after 30mins. O well, you have those days, and after a hard week riding i can enjoy my rest day today.

In better news i can confirm that i'm flying off to Georgia on ANZAC day (25th April) and will race with the team at the Athens Twilight crit, then a few more crits as part of speedweek in the South East. Should be fun. Watch this space for my results.

My First Athlete Day

2008-04-11T13:04:00.000-07:00

My first athelte and i was pretty excitied. Only i was a bit gutted when, after getting to the hotel at almost midnight, i was told i would have to be in the lobby at 6.20am. I was even to early for the complimentry breakfast: not something i'd usually pass on.

I was working for two days with Brent from Sanofi Aventis. Brent was a great guy to work with and travel around the mid-west with. He educated me on this area of the states and we shared stories and compared the differecnes in our countries.

Brent took me to IHOP for breakfast to meet an endo as our first engagement. IHOP is one place that is on the list of places to eat. Fabio and I have made a list of chain food stores not found at home that we have to eat at once in our time in the US. Brent was pleased when i told him that he was helping me tick IHOP off the list.

After breakfast we went to an endo clinic, before making the drive across the state boarder into the "show me" state Missouri. Here we had lunch in the lunch room of the endo dept of the hospital in Springfield. Below is a picture of me with a doctor. We just chilled out here as people came in to talk to us.

After meeting people at the hospital, we headed off to Cycles Unlimited where i meet the owner, Ashley, a type 1 and big mountain biker. He was interesting to meet, and was very helpful not just in allowing us to use his shop for a talk but also setting up. After a little break at the hotel, we headed back the shop. I spent soem time meeting people with an interest in diabetes and/or cycling who came to hear me speak. I enjoyed meeting people, and even was asked to sign a few autographs. That made me feel pretty special.
I was a bit nrevous when i began my presentation at 7. There were a good number of people, ageing from 5 up. I was a bit concerened that some of the kids might get a wild, or that since i had practised much people might lose a bit of interest. But i was buzzing the whole time as i told my story to an audience that all had their eyes pinned on me as they smiled and nodded along with every word i had to say. After 40min i was done, and asked if their were any questions. I expected one or two maybe, but stood upfront for about 20min answering questions on everything from my pod, my insulin and food regimes during training an dracing to how the team selects riders for races. After this i meet more people there, and i apologise to those who didn't get to talk to me after, i was pretty busy.

Above are photos of me with Ashley, the owner of cycles unlimited: me with Superman, a 5 year old diabetic Trevor: and me with sanofi reps on the left, Brent on my right, and local ADA workers.

After having an awesome time at the presentation, i was rushed away to a very nice dinner, where i talked more about diabetes. This was very interesting, as we talked not just about team type 1, but the diabetic epidemic in general.

The next morning saw another early start, this time leaving the hotel lobby at 5.40am. This wasn't all that pleasant, and i ended up asleep for most of the drive to Jeff City. Breakfast was at another endo clinic. This was pretty similar to the other mettings we had.

We later headed of to Colombia University where i did a slighlty shortened version of my presentation to a room at the learning university. This was interesting, as i talked infront of an audience of nurse educators, dieticians, endos and reps. I was even suggested by one of the dietitians to follow up my PgDipSci in nutrition by becoming a registered dietitian.

That was the last of my engagements. I then drove off to the local airport, which consisted of 3 staff, 1 gate, and 2 vending machines. Decideding i didn't want to stay there long i got on a an earlir flight to my transfer point of Kansas City. This wasn't hard, as the planes there were only going to Kansas City. So I was able to board the small plane, straight away, with the other 4 passenegrs. Talk about ari security, this plane had a cockpit that opened up to the passenegers seat. But i don't think it would be worth hijacking. Even if you took control of the plane, there wouldn't be enough gas to get it to any major city. If you did manage to get it somewhere, it would prob just bounce of the target!

After a long stop over in Kansas City where i waited for my delayed flight i finally made it home to find Fabio waiting for. What a trip.

I'd also like to quickly make mention of my good friend back home Matthew Comery. Happy Birthday mate, have a good one.

Krap at Koppenburg

2008-04-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

On Sunday i went out to race the koppenburg race. I had heard about its reputation and was quite excitited about it.
Unfortunatley this excitiment didn't last long after having huge problems trying to register. To cut a long story short, i finally managed to negogiate the difficult process of entering the race at 2.31pm. The race was due to start at 2.30pm. I then sprinted up to the start line and was till putting my bag at the start finish line when the first riders rolled out. Given the nature of the course and the fact that the gravel/dirt road started after 200m, i was pretty buggered for the race. When we hit the dirt climb for the first time i hadn't managed to move up and got caught behind a crash. My cyclo-cross skills being as poor as they are i took a whileto remount at the top and lost all groups. I chased down several other riders who suffered the same missfortune as me, dragging them up to smaller groups.
Typical colorado racing though, the riders in the back group decide to attack each other. No working together it seems, no matter how much behind you are. I wish i could have won the sprint for 60th (out of 70) really.
I pulled out early as planned and rode home. I was hoping the driver would be a bit late, but the one time you home for that he turns up 15mins early, while i was still in the shower! I did manage to get dressd and out the door, with bike cleaned and packed on time. Though i did almost have a heart attack when i couldn't find my wallet at DIA (thats causei'm an idiot).
After a good dinner at the airport and a quick flight i landed in Arkansas for my first athlete days. I was pleased to see my sweet hotel room with 2 rooms with king bed and ensuite and 3 tvs.

Good to have a night of luxury after a rough day. Up early tomorrow. Will have photos and report from AR/MO soon.

Change of Plans

2008-04-05T16:24:00.000-07:00

Unfortunatley i was unable to find a ride to Golden to race the tt today. But perhaps that wasn't such a bad thing, as i found out the Koppenburg race that was suppose to be last week is on tomorrow.

That will give me a good chance to have a nice hard race before flying to Arkansas.
There is just one problem. The race starts at 2.30 and i'm being picked up at 5pm.
So, in 2 1/2 hours i have to race about 70km, then ride approx 30min back home, shower, dress, clean and pack my bike. Don't think thats going to happen.

So the plan might be that i pull out with a couple of laps to go and smash it back home. It will be like i've raced the whole way, but won't be the best way to get any results. But the tight timeline could provide a bit of fun. I'll apologise now to driver if i keep him waiting a bit.

Wish me luck, for the race and getting back in time.

Just want to race

2008-04-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the race in Boulder was cancelled. I was pretty disappointed. But given the race had a 17% off road climb in it, and it was snowing at the time, maybe this wasn't such a bad thing.

Of course this is made worse by the fact that some riders in the team are racing in California. Not only that, but there getting some good results as well. My room mate left on Tue to race Redlands in California, leaving me at home wanting to race. Which leaves me to the local racing. Saturday is an uphill time trial. Not really a good race for someone pushing almost 80kgs. Then saturday is a crit. Only problem is it finished 20min before i'm being picked up to go to the airport. I thought having an 8pm flight would give me plenty of time to race, but apprantly not!!

At least i've got an awesome time ahead of me in Missouri.

Waiting

2008-03-27T18:04:00.000-07:00

I sat at home this morning looking out the window at the snow fall, just waiting to go out training. I finally gat a break in the late afternoon, but which stage it was too cold and late to do what i had planned. But that's just the way things go sometime.
It's the same with racing. I'm at hope waiting paitently for my first race with the team in Raleigh, NC in April. But that was cancelled. I'm pretty gutted, as i was looking forward to opening up there, but it's not to be.

But every cloud has a silver lining. I won't Be going to NC, but now i get the chance to go to Missouri for an athlete day. For those that don't know what that is, it means i meet a whole lot of sanofi reps, than in the evening i give a presentation to to 200 people in a bike shop about team type 1. I get to talk about racing and diabetes. This is my first, so i'm a bit nervous, but looking forward to it.

Underway

2008-03-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

Did my first race in the US yesterday, which also happened to be my first at altitude. I thought it would be a good idea to try to get across to the move that went earlier, but my lungs weren't agreeing. Though i missed the split, i did manage to roll through with the 'main' group to the end. Not brilliant, but not a bad start.

I raced again today, but was pretty uneventful. Managed to stay upright despite a few crashes, one of which caused a rdier to push me off the road, lucky where there was no curb.

First weekned of racing over, now its time to improve.

Just like home

2008-03-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

Boulder has everything for cyclists. Lots of cyclists around, plenty of hills and flats to train on, heaps of bike shops, cycle lanes and generally cycle friendly traffic. It has everything, including the one thing i wouldn't be seeing as much of after leaving the bottom of the South Island: wind. I felt like i was still at home yesterday when i was riding my 39/25 downhill into a headwind. But then of course there is the fun of riding 75kph on a slight downhill.

Today was the end of my rest, and what better day to finish it than good friday. I'm feeling a lot at this altitude now, but the first effort up this high left the lungs gasping. Hoping to compete in my first race here in the US tomorrow with a crit Greely. Should be tough, but lookign forward to it.

Happy Easter everyone

My new adventure

2008-03-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

Welcome all to my blog. I'm currently sitting in my sweet new house in Boulder, Colorado sucking up the thin air trying to acclimatise. Having a rest day I thought i'd start this up so you can all follow my progress.

I arrived in LAX on 25th feb ready to start my riding career. I spent 9 days at training camp with my team in Buellton, CA after which i was begining to settle in with the American culture, my team mates, and starting to get sick of split pea soup. I did enjoy camp, to the point that I like my team and i'm going to enjoy doing the hard work at races for them.

After camp i relocated myself to Carpinteria, just South of Santa Barbara till our lease started in Boulder. I thought i was rather lucky to be able to live this year with Australian cycling star of the future Fabio Calabria, but was totally blown away by the chance to stay with none other than THE Jesse Anthony. What an opportunity. With Jesse there is never a shortage of good looking women hanging round, unfortunately they had thier eyes to set on him to notice me.

Two weeks lapping up the sunshine in Carp and i was on a plane to Denver via Phoenix and my new home. The new place is amazing. I can't believe we got it. Resting now, will update on progress as it happens.

Peace out