1.2. 3.4.5.6.

1. Mum ignoring Chinese Security to wave the NZ flag in Beijing. 2. The boys with the Oakley Team at Oakley House, Beijing.           3. Julian Dean and I getting a bit of culture at the Forbidden City. 4. Time to chill in Albi at a cafe. 5. Market shopping in France for some good steak. 6.  Mum at her best, still pinning on my numbers for Post Tour Crit. in Quillan as I sign autographs.

7.8.9.10.11.12.

 7.Carlos “so Tim, do you think you’re up to helping me in the mountains at the Tour next year?” Tim “For sure Carlos, can’t you see I’m a mountain goat?”. 8. Crit action in Quillan. 9. Stuey and I hanging at a local tourist spot, Cordes s-Ciel. 10. Time to show the old man a few of the Albi roads. 11. The FDJ crew on the start line at the Eneco Tour. 12. Day 5 fatigue kicking in.

13.14.15.16.17.18.

13. Stage debrief with Sarah and Stuey. 14.  Catching up with Loags and Stuey before stage. 15. Taking a moment in the sun with friends before it gets serious. 16. Now its serious! Me working on the front of the peloton to catch break. 17. TT time.                        18. An interesting TT along a typical Belgium canal.

19.

And now here I sit at work completing the other tasks involved in the life of a professional cyclist……..

Hi all,

Well I’m back again, as per the norm for the last couple months a little over due.  Life has thrown up a lot of interesting new challenges for me lately, I have dealt with some of these well and some not so well.   Beijing came and went that quick that now it doesn’t even feel like it actually happened, as it was only within days of it that I was getting swamped by kids after autographs at a post tour crit, before finding myself strung out in the gutter getting buffeted by cross winds in Belgium almost all in the same breath.

The seven days I spent in the so called “Olympic bubble” were pretty cool, and I really enjoyed the New Zealand company again after already 6months in Europe this year.  The race was a different story, and the best description I can think of is ’silent murder’.  As the peloton battled it out up the 12km climb 7 times with virtually no noise except for the huffing and puffing of the other riders, as the determined Chinese security managed to keep all but 13 spectators off the the course, including my parents who had made the journey to try and see their son compete at the Olympics.  Well, not to be.

Though after returning to my European base here in Albi my parents did get to see me race, well sort of as I lined up in a post tour criterium in Quillan along with the Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre. It was a good night out for all, to get so close to the riders they saw battling it out in this years tour.

Tour of Benelux was up next for me, and after a solid opening prologue things were looking good for me.  Though with one moment of bad placing before a cross wind section I was unaware of, my GC hopes were over.  I battled on through the race looking for breakaway opportunities though not to any avail as the sprinter’s teams kept a good wrap on things all week.

So back home to Albi finally to get some well needed recovery in, and boy has the body appreciated it.  While the body has been getting some rest, my head has been spinning a little as it is that time of year, contract time!  A done deal for some but a real headache for a lot of others, and this year in particular.  As sponsors are coming and going in and out of the sport like its a chess game, there is a  feeling of uncertainty hanging over a lot of riders and teams heads at the moment.  So talk is rampant, but the aim is still to keep the mind on the job of turning the pedals as best I can.   Tour of Poland is my next call of duty, so I will be putting all efforts into turning the pedals with real conviction during my time there.

After these words I will be back on soon to give you all a little visual image of my past months adventures.

Thanks for reading

Tim

Hi all

Sorry it’s taken me a few days to get onto writing here at the Olympics, it’s been pretty full on since arrival and now we are all go tomorrow as the road race kicks of at 11.

So far the build up has gone really well, and the team is in good spirits ahead of tomorrow. We have ridden over the course a couple of times and it is sure going to be a tough race, with a 10km climb every lap and combined with the heat and humidity it won’t be an easy task.

Well sorry its so brief but I am going to get myself into bed and put my feet up as I will be needing all the energy I can gather to do my job for Julian and New Zealand.

A few pics below from the last couple days. 3rd pic is me just getting in a little practice, not sure ill get to do it again on saturday…

Cheers

Tim

It’s been a couple of weeks now since the Olympic Road team was finally named, for me it always give me great pride to be named in a New Zealand team, when you think about pulling on the silver fern and lining up ready to do service for your country.

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has emailed txt and left comments on the site, it is always nice to have that support. I will do everything in my power represent you and the rest of the country proudly.

The Olympics road race brings an interesting challenge for everyone as the strong countries are limited to a max of 5 riders so, controlling the course isn’t to easy. But with the sounds of this course, I’m sure the strongest will prevail.

Now I have two preparation races before leaving for Beijing, the Tour de Wallonie and Classic San Sebastian. Today was the first day of the Tour de Wallonie, and the legs felt pretty good, So I hope the form will continue to come up and on my arrival in Beijing I will be ready for battle in the black strip.

Will be back soon

Tim

From L-R: FDJ team cars lined up, the winding road of the Col du Tourmalet, the remnants of peloton approaches the summit, Tourmalet summit, the grupetto arrives (I don’t always look this happy after a mountain stage honest), the view from our hotel at the Luchon ski station.

(Photos courtesy of personal photographer for the race, Sally Gardner.  Cheers Sally)

Summer has finally arrived! After months of sketchy weather here in Europe as the seasons changed and couldn’t decide what they wanted to do, we have finally got the first real heat or as they call it in French ‘chaleur’ of the year. I definitely welcomed it with open arms as I was over training in my rain jacket, though as the sun really wound up just the day before the 4day Tour Route du Sud it made for some testing conditions to a race with an already testing parcour.

The motivation was high and I was confident in my form that I could really do something during the four days, though I wouldn’t really have too many opportunities due to a mountain time trial, and an epic day in the pyrenees which would really decide the race.

So day 1, first substantial break goes and I made sure I was there, and for a good 30km I thought we would be the days main break. Though it soon became clear to me one of the Italian teams in the race had missed it and they weren’t happy about it so our gap soon diminished, and once again a bombardment of attacks began. Until finally a group of 17 went clear with all team represented and that was that, boof race over thanks for coming. The peloton rolled in 35mins down and thought about the days to come.

Day 2, a 20km mountain time trial, oh yes what a treat! Having had a bit of practice at these at the Giro last I wasn’t too fazed about the day, get from A to B at a good pace but always keep the rev counter out of the red zone and I will be fine, and I did just that finishing 5mins down on the winner.

The Tours most decisive day would be an immensely difficult 185km jaunt from Pierrefitte Nestalas to Luchon Superbagneres via four cols arriving at the Superbagneres ski station at 1800m. With the summit of the most difficult of them all the Col du Tourmalet coming after only 29km of racing it was going to make for a very long day as it wasn’t just the altitude that was rising, the mercury was already above 30degress at 11am on the start line.

Just to give you an idea of this day here’s some stats from my Polar Heartrate monitor. 6hrs 40mins, 185km, 28kph, 4850m of ascension, and 7390 calories (thats the equivalent of 3days calories for a normal male) So you can see this was a big day! I did surprise myself a little and my director too, as the head of the peloton reached the summit of the Tourmalet after the leaders team had set a very hi tempo there was only around 20-25guys left in the group and here I was turning my legs on the back of the bunch as many others suffered long in the distance behind me. It was another little confidence boost for me, and a real sign the Giro had done what I wanted it to do. However not to get too excited, I did end the day in grupetto we around 75% of the field but I did it with a lot more ease than in the past, and with the final day in mind that suited me a lot more.

With another scorcher forecast where it would reach 37degrees in the finish town Castres, it would play into the hands of the smart riders who would always be thinking about hydration. At the end of the day the smartest and strongest rider was my team and room mate Jussi Veikkanen who took the victory in a two up sprint ahead of Nicholas Jalabert. It was a great end to the tour for us and a mid season campaign that had included Tour de Romandie and the Giro with virtually all the same riders.

I ended the tour feeling disappointed not to get a result but happy with the progression I made in the mountains and feeling ready for a good end of season, though not before a well needed week off which I spent half of at the beach to recharge the batteries and let the body recover after what has been a very busy first half of the year.

Next up is a two week stint at altitude in the Pyrenees where I will be staying with triathlete Kris Gemmel, where I hope to build a really good base for the end of season. Then racing begins again with the Tour de Region Wallonie and Classic San Sebastian at the end of the month.

Until next time.

Tim

(Pictures coming soon!)

Roundabouts, traffic islands and barriers, roads more like over sized footpaths, a few cross winds, and you have yourself a day of start stop racing in Holland, as the peloton tried to navigate it’s way around all the obstacles without to many incidents.  Though it was inevitable there would be a few casualties.

With the fairly flat 210km parcour the race was flat out for the first hour until just one dutch rider was let go to catch some TV time for him and his team, though it was short lived as the straight after the feed station the peloton started to fire up and the race was on and didn’t let up until the finish.  It ended in a bunch kick with Gerolerstiner’s Robert Forster taking line honors ahead of his team mate who had lead him out.

Though the race had a lot more interesting feelings and sensations for me as it was my first race since completing my first Grand Tour.  I was concerned how I would fair being only 9days after the Giro and not really knowing how well I had recovered.  It didn’t take long for me to find out though, as after about 20km I launched across a small gap to a breakaway and found myself close the gap quicker than I imagined, the heart rate got into the 190’s and recovered almost as quickly.  To be honest I was just glad to see my heart rate that high as I hadn’t seen that since the first week of the Giro.  It wasn’t all that easy though, as at many stages through the race my legs still felt heavy as did my head and the thought of my bed seemed like a good place to be.

So after a dragged out journey home due to accidents on the motorway, overbooked hotels at Brussels airport and canceled trains back to Albi, I made it home to get in some more good recovery and prepare for my next race “Route du Sud” which starts on Thursday.  This will be a real treat for me as it is the only race of the year in this region, so nice little 2hr drive to the first hotel instead of flying across Europe will be a nice change.

Will be in touch with action from on the road soon.

Cheers

Tim

Well it’s been a week since I crossed the finish line in Milan, and it’s been one very slow one. Up until today it’s felt like I have had a wicked hangover, but I didn’t even get to hang around to party in Milan.

When I finished in Milan, it was off to a hotel near by for shower and bite to eat, waited for another couple of team mates to finish, then we were in the car an off to the airport, before Alberto Contador had even rolled down the start ramp. This shows you it sure is business here, and really no matter what race your doing there is probably another one not far away.

Just to back track a little to the race, and the last two epic days in the Italian Alps. 7.15 and 7.30hrs (well for me anyway)  respectively stages 19 and 20 were two of the toughest of the whole race. Not just the parcour but the weather conditions and the length of the stages made them extremely tough. I was quite nervous heading into them but soon found that there were a lot of other tired guys in the race and as the race got down to business I found myself in a grupetto that was around half the peloton. That definitely didn’t mean we could muck around it just meant a few more pairs of legs to share the work load, and stay clear of the time delay.

I know myself I really had to find something else from inside to finish these stages and the tour, a mental and physical strength and progression that you can only get from this type of event, a Grand Tour. Now I am sure it is something I can keep with me from here on, in my progression as a professional rider.

This week has been a mix of easy recovery rides weather permitting, and a couple of days off too. Next week I am back into with the Dutch Food Valley Classic and then the following week Route du Sud, before taking a well needed mid season spell to freshen up for the end of the season.

Thanks again to all of those who left comments during the Giro, I will endeavor to keep you all interested and informed with the happenings in my world the of the professional peloton.

Back soon

Tim

It’s 5degress celcius, but with drizzling rain and nasty breeze the chill factor can’t be much above zero.  Perched at the 2618m above sea level somewhere deep in the Italian Alps you will find the Passo Gavia, also known as the Cima Coppi.  The penultimate mountain stage of this years Giro would pass over this mammoth Mountain during the 224km parcour also including the famous Mortirolo later in the stage.

So here I was in what would be the days grupetto of around 80 riders all battling to finish the Giro.  I’d just donned a vest, rain jackets, cap under the helmet, and picked up a musette from the team car with biddon of hot tea and some gels for the 50km descent ahead of us.

Then with 500m to go to the summit here are two hard kiwi blokes, frezzing their arses off waving a black flag with the silver fern on it.  I didn’t even have the energy to acknowledge them at the time but, damm fellas big ups.  All I could think was now thats ‘dedication’ if I’ve ever seen it.  Craig an Glen had been following the race with their partners all the way from Palermo to Milan, but this effort really took the cake.

So I would just like to say thanks to all of you including Kyle Rika and Teresa who joined team along the way, you guys really helped make some of those long days seem a lot brighter.

Below is a pick of Kyle, Glen, Craig, Grom (Slipsteam mechanic) and me at our hotel on the second to last night of the tour.

Cheers team.