Let the good time Roll

So the last two weeks have been awesome if you exclude the pretty shit weather that we have had to put up with.  In the last two weeks I've had a one day tour as well as a big French Junior Tour.  Last week was Le Prix du Saugeais a local one day tour. First of was a 10 km uphill time trial which didn't go that great and ended up in 3rd place. That afternoon was a very difficult hilly 90 km road race where I tried to take the time I needed for the win but ended up coming 2nd across the line and a close 10 or so second off the overall win! A good result but not the win I was looking for! 

Along the Road Race 

Finishes 2nd 

After another good week of training and some good rest it was time for Challenge de L'Est Junior Tour. This was a target of mine as it is a big Junior race in France. Our team joined together with another team called CC Etupes which was awesome as they were a cool bunch of guys who we got along with straight away.  After a long drive in the morning the stage started at 3. The stage was 120 km long with a couple of small climbs to mix it up. The weather was just like Auckland with it being super hot one minute then freezing cold and raining the next. The stage started off pretty slow with Chad and Arnaud from our team getting in the early break away that quickly got a gap that stretched out to about 3 minutes at one point. After 20 or so km I set about bridging to the break which I did with 2 others. This ended up being the winning break for the stage and I think everyone knew it so everybody decided to cruise and just tempo it at a comfortable pace with no big attacks or anything. Chad got most of the mountain points up the climb. The pace never got super hard until the last lap up the climb when the break split. Arnaud and I made the split and finished 9 seconds behind a solo winner. I finished the stage 3rd which adds to my list of podiums with not many wins which was starting to get frustrating to say the lest but i was happy as 9 seconds was a small enough gap to pull back.

Breakaway Stage One

 After a good feed and massage that night it was time to hit the sack for a big day chasing the yellow jersey. Day 2 started off with a 15 km Team Time Trial and a 92 km road stage in the afternoon. The weather was super windy with huge cross winds and heaps of head wind. The team trial did not go so great loosing 50 odd seconds to the winning team which put me 4th on overall going into the final stage nearly a minute off the top 3 riders. To say the least I was super disappointing with the time trial as a lot of waiting and slowing down went on throughout the ride. All the boys put there all into it though so that's all I can ask for.

Driving the Team Home

 I decided not to let my anger and disappointment from the time trial get into my head and rather put it to good use in the final stage. The final stage seemed like it was going to be a good one with the wind picking up some more and rain starting to settle in. The race started off with the usual early break away going but thing break contained a rider who was coming 2nd overall. The break was sitting at a gap of 3 minutes for about 50 km with the bunch being pussies in the wind. I disparately wanted to just smack the crap out of the bunch in the cross winds but i thought better of that idea and just waited patiently in the bunch for the right time to have a dabble at going for the win. 20 km to go up the major climb of the race i put everything into an attack with only one rider coming with me with yellow unable to follow. I did the majority of the work catching the break as the rider who was with me had a team mate in the break that was coming 2nd over all. We caught the break 8 km later on the major climb again where I kept the pace high with only 4 of us making it together over the top. Over the top was 2nd overall and his team mate and another rider who was a team mate of the current leader. I could tell the rider who was coming 2nd was rooted so I kept drifting him off then sprinting back to the others. On the 2nd to last time up the big climb I attacked once more and dropped him and his team mate who stayed with him and over the top had about a 30 second gap with 8 km more remaining. I had a rider sit on my wheel all the way to the finish until he knew his team mate had lost the leaders jersey and decided to work if i let him have the win which i agreed to as i was pushing as hard as i could in the head wind (going 25 km h it was pretty bloody strong). I rolled over for 2nd in the stage and was waiting to see the other riders roll in with fingers crossed it was enough! I ended up putting 2 minutes into the next rider across the line and 4 or so minutes into the bunch! This meant i had secured the overall victory!!! 

 I was super stocked with how the last stage played out. By the end of the tour our team had secured 1st and 3rd overall as well as the climber’s jersey thanks to Chad’s efforts in the first stage. Big thanks to the team for an awesome weekend and all working well together!! This finished my latest 2 weeks of racing with 5 stage podiums and a 2nd and a 1st overall! Good two weeks!! This is my biggest win in France to date!

Winning and coming close

So a few weeks have gone by and the same old stuff is going on, training hard, racing every weekend and having a dabble in the kitchen trying to think of some new storms to cook up to keep it interesting. 

After a my last update the weather has seemed to improve a shit load over here and have been riding with no leg warmers or arm warmers which is great to get the summer glow back that I've been missing for the last few months. 

After a hard week of training after my first European win it was time for another Junior race in France which was about 100 km from memory and was pretty bloody hilly. We rode the course before hand and it was pretty hard, but maybe that was the 30+ degree day! So on with the race and it started of pretty slow so i just followed some moves and ended up in an early break which eventually got caught but luckily i have learnt my lesson from previous races and didn't blow my tit in the first few minutes of the race so i had some energy which i then had to use chasing like crazy to a break that had a minute on the bunch and was increasing fast. after about 20-30 km of chasing i finally caught the break which was eventually going to end up staying away for the race. I was pretty rooted from bridging to the break and after a few late digs to try and sneak the solo win it ended up being a bunch sprint or break sprint if that's how its meant to me worded and i rolled in for 4th.

After another week of training and the usual happenings of living in a small French town such as trying to suss  out the bargains at the supermarket and my weekly investigation of weather it’s cheaper to by fruit and veges and the supermarket or fruit and vegetable shop which i'm still undecided on so my next blog update will surely be exciting with maybe a result in this. On a cycling side it was another stunner of a week for training which consisted of a couple 120 km plus days, which was nice. On the Sunday we had our clubs host race which was a big goal for the club to win. It was a race where the senior team was also racing so I was looking forward to mixing it up with them. It was a hard course with no flat just up or down. This was good and bad for me. The good being the down, the bad being the up. Any who i made it in the break that ended up sticking for the race again so was a hard race which i wasn't feeling to flash in, I was told by the team director to work for the older boys who we had in the break so with 3 laps to go I went solo up a hill and stayed away for a lap and a bit which meant our team didn't have to work, I went as hard as i could until I got caught and then dropped but then got back on the break and in the sprint ended up 8th I think and first Junior so got a cup which was a good prize for a hard day in the office. 

This week of training i was actually quite excited about as the Tour Of Romandie was passing by which meant a ride to watch the race was in order. After an hour and a little but of hills we made it to where the race was going past so settled in there waiting patiently. As we saw the race coming up the hill we realized it wasn't actually such a good spot as Chad sat in stinging needles and i almost dropped my card down a drain a few times we ran across a paddock cycling shoes and all to get a good spot. As the race came up team Sky were on the front and Chris Sutton yells out "F****** Kiwis" pretty much made my trip out worth it as-well as seeing kiwi George Bennett racing.

Weekend just passed I had my first tour with the team which i was really looking forward too! Even the change in weather from sunny days to pissing rain couldn't stop my motivation. First stage was a road race of 110 km with a load of hills through out the course. A break went that ended up getting away and long story short i wasn't in it and bunch wasn't interested in chasing so i went on a mission to try and catch it and in the end came 16 seconds short and finished the stage in 8th or so. The accommodation for the race was awesome with food cooked for us which was a nice change from my cooking. Next day was a 10 km time trial which we had to use road bikes for but I chucked a disc on and deep front wheel which was grouse. I ended up winning the time trial by 12 seconds over the next junior. I found out I won while having a shower which I had to cut short to get to the podium which explains my seeexy hair style.  I was going into the last stage coming 2nd by 4 seconds with a steep (20%) last 2 km so the plan was keep it together and I would go give it a nudge or two in the finish. Things didn't go to plan and a break stayed away and had some high overall contenders in it so I ended up coming 5th over all. Close but no cigar I think they say?

Trying to Catch the breakaway first stage

Climb in the time trial

Shower Hair, Not a good look 

Going through one of the many towns which is so cool!!

Just a few things i thought i should add before rapping this novel up:

1. Don't leave writing a blog 3 weeks late it takes a while as I think you might be able to tell as detail is pretty low and by the end of writing this I got quite bored.

2. I kissed by first podium girl which I was so nervous about but think i got it now, watch out.

3. Give us a message on Face book if you watch Short-land Street and we can talk about how much I hate Roimata.

4. Next update will be detailed so don't worry

Thanks,

Scott