About Me

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Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand
I am a professional cyclist for Drapac Pro Cycling. An Australian registered Pro Continental team. My hometown is Dunedin in New Zealand. I also study business and event management. Racing my bike around the globe aiming to get to the highest level in the sport.

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Japan!

Konnichiwa!
I got selected for a New Zealand national team to travel to Japan for the Odaiba Cycle Festival.
It was held on the weekend of 3rd and 4th August.

I raced in a U23 criterium (circuit race) , 1 lap time trial and elite criterium in that order.

The Saturday U23 criterium was very hard. I just cooked and over heated in the 30-35deg temperatures after coming from our winter. That afternoon Lauren Ellis won the women's race from an awesome break.

On Sunday morning the time trial went better it was short and sweet and only 800m. I took the win after a good start and good turn.

On Sunday afternoon was the main event the elite men's criterium. The weather was again very hot.
To combat it we had ice cold towels and water during warm up.
Before the race I put soaked my top in the ice bucket and by lap 6 in the race it was dry!

I felt much better during the race and had strong legs. There were many crashes with riders dive bombing the hair pin corner. The last lap was dangerous but I stayed right at the front and made my move around the big sweeper corner with 350m to go. I hit the last corner 1st and powered up the uphill drag to the line to hold 1st place.

Big thanks to our Japanese hosts for a fantastic event. Everything ran smoothly and was well organised.
Other highlights on the trip was a night cruise on Tokyo Harbour. And also a tour around the Tokyo on Monday where we got to go up Tokyo Tower.

Taking the win!


Winter

I'll start by going through the end of Autumn and start of winter which I had the unfortune of 3 bad things all at once.
Got sick for 3 weeks with flu.
Then as I was on way back up had a massive crash and couldn't ride for 4 weeks
To top it off it was time to get my wisdom teeth out another 2 weeks out.

During all this I had the second benchmark in Nelson where I was still injured from crash and pulled out after 80km.
Then before wisdom op I finished 4th in Benchmark Elite Series Kaikoura, no idea how as I had done no riding at all!

U23 Jersey on Podium (looking after it as Toms in Elite Jersey)
So I had some decent time off the bike and lost a huge amount of fitness.
I started back during June with some base miles and some cross racing!

Cross was really fun, I wasn't very competitive though. Lost heaps of time on the super technical circuits.

Whoopsie

Photo




Saturday, March 2, 2013

Benchamrk Homes Series Round 1

What a start to the series. I managed to take the win in a sprint finish after 159km of racing. I was unsure of the form after taking a break after track natonals and O-week at university. Even during the race a didn't feel that flash but I came right in the finale.

Big thanks to the whole team for working for me during the race, and especially Andrew from Fitlab for organising the team and also personally doing 50km on the front to chase the break!

The race started fast with plenty of attacks but settled down after a break of 4 got away. Andrew and Brodie then set about keeping it in check until the other teams started to chase hard. I went with a few attacks after the break was caught. The slog up Germain Rd had the pressure on and most guys were in the red. Jacob, Grayson and I worked hard here to keep it together. Which it did, setting it up nicely for a sprint finish. My speedo wasnt working the whole race so i was unsure of how far to go but I got a strong sense we were close as everyone was twitchy and the pace high. With a km to go I put the gas on coming up the right side of bunch to move from 20th to 5th at the last courner. A couple of guys went and Cam Karwowski them opening up the sprint early. Brad Tuhi was on his wheel and I his as I started my sprint. I went through a gap in the middle of them to power to the finish first.
I also get the bonus of leading the series now.




The next round is in Nelson 7th of April. Before that I have the Tour de Lakes in Queenstown.
All heading towards club road nationals on 18th-21st of April.

Copyright and Thanks to Bruce Wilson Photography for the photos.