Well after finishing the Track World Championships in Poland at the end of March I have been taking some time off the bike. I have not had a break from training for almost 18 months.
The track worlds was not the results I was looking for (7th Omnium and 8th Scratch Race) but then it is the world champs and is not supposed to be easy! Still I enjoyed the lead-up and the year to date has been pretty good to me. Next up a group of us from The Subway Avanti Cycling Team are heading to Allentown Pennsylvania to race the track season at the Trexlertown Velodrome. I look forward to it.

I picked up Gordy and Joe from the airport on Saturday night after they raced the Rev 120 in Hamilton that day. Gordy pulled off the win with the other Subway Avanti guys having some issues with Joe and Louis crashing and Eric puncturing late in the race. Some info here.
Sunday round two on the Benchmark was nice weather with some more wind then usual which made the racing pretty honest. Joe and I went up the road early and had the whole bunch panic chase us for a while. Eventually after some good gutter action a large break of 15 plus got away. Gordy and Joe were present and amazingly the two of them managed to slip the field with 10km go go so it was the Subway Avanti two up TT to the finish. Joe finished up 1st and Gordy 2nd. Full race review here.

This weekend is the second round of the Benchmark racing series. After the first round The Subway Avanti Team has the teams competition and also has the overall lead with Gordy McCauley. The teams goal is pretty simple, retain the teams competition and get Gordy some more points for the overall.

The Subway Avanti Team did a fantastic job helping me win the North Shore Criterium. Check out the news clip . Photo of Gordy leading me out and Gordy and I after the race.

Beijing World Cup

Some photos from the recent Beijing Track World Cup where i won the Scratch race.

This morning I was thinking about how many years I had been coming to Nelson to race this summer tour and realised that this was the 13th time I had raced it! Old!
Anyway the Subway Avanti Team was keen to knock up the stage and had lots of goes on the challenging Hill street circuit in Richmond. Unfortunately the team ended up coming up a bit short at the end after missing the break. We finished up the tour with Eric Drower winning KOM, me with sprint ACE and 1st stage and Joe Cooper 4th overall on GC. Next race for the team is elite nationals. Ill be in Beijing by then and watching eagerly for results. Hg
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This is always a deciding stage in this tour with the challenging 15 km Takaka hill climb finish. Not really my cup of tea but with two Subway Avanti riders well placed on gc capable of challenging for the tour I was pretty keen to see a favorable break. After sealing the sprint competition up for the tour a group of about seven with Eric Drower and myself found ourselves off the front. Everyone worked pretty well with the lone team mate of Yates who was gc leader also lending a helping hand! After a long day in the saddle and forcing the other teams to chase us all day we hit Takaka Hill with about 1 min on the main field. I was done but Eric pulled out a fantastic effort to stay away for most of the climb until Yates come past alone just ahead of the chasers. Yates eventually won the stage, Cooper within 30 second and Drower thereabouts as well. A good team showing today and Eric Drower as a consolation nicked poor Coopers KOM jersey off him. Tomorrow is the last stage then I'm off home to chch before flying out for the Beijing training camp in invercargill the best day. Busy times ahead.
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So far the Subway Avanti Team is going pretty well in the Tour de Vineyards in Nelson. I won the first stage and Joe Cooper took the KOM jersey. The second stage went ok, I increased my sprint ace lead and Joe added some more KOM points with Eric Drower also nabbing some kom points. At the finish Drower, Cooper and young Patrick Williamson were in the front group with a number of the team just behind in the main bunch which has us in a good position for the 3rd and always decisive 15km Takaka hill finish tomorrow. Until then.


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It’s been such a long time since I have undated my blog! Ill endeavor to work on that! The last few weeks have been very busy for me getting in the training I need to do stay on track for Beijing World Cup and World Champs in March. I have also been sorting out a few niggling injuries which I carried over from Southland Tour, maybe it’s old age! I have spent the last week in Southland at a power camp with the NZ track team where we were able to do some wind tunnel testing and specialized bike setup which was very interesting and beneficial.
The Subway Avanti Team for 2009 has taken shape nicely and the full squad for 09 should be named any day now. Greg Hume and I have been putting in some hours to get the UCI paperwork in and plan for 2009.

More regular updates to come…..