A Grade Crit Adelaide

This is just a quick little video with a few clips thrown together of this evenings A grade crit here in Adelaide. It's nothing special but I just wanted to check out my editing skills and see how my GoPro went.

Enjoy.........

Meeting Freelee and Durianrider + My Week to Come

Today was a pretty awesome day for me, meeting the most amazing people who helped me change my diet and get on the pathway of healthy eating. I bumped into Freelee the Banana Girl and Durianrider at the Santos Tour Village Expo. I must say they were super friendly and I was able to sit down and talk with them for a good amount of time. Freelee also suggested that I start a YouTube channel which has given me more motivation to start vlogging and making videos. I found it kind of weird how I new so much of their lives from YouTube but they new nothing about me. Hopefully we might be able to stay in contact because I think it would be awesome to catch up with them again in the future and maybe even go for a ride with Durianrider once my shoulder is better.

With Durianrider and Freelee

After talking with these guys for around half an hour they recommended a good vegetarian/vegan restaurant for dinner which we went to. For an entré we had these sweet potato spring like rolls which OMG were fantastic and I definitely could have had more than just one and a half.

As well as that we had these gluten nugget things which again were amazing and dipped in a sweet chilli sauce topped it off.

For my main meal I had a noodles and stir fried vegetables. It was something a little different to what I usually have but I loved it.

My main meal for tonight

I have a big week ahead with the Tour Down Under starting tomorrow. Unfortunately we've had to get a car because I can't do any riding. I'm excited to watch some high quality racing over the next week but also disappointed that I have to sit in a car for the next week. I'm keen for what's to come and hopefully I'll be able to meet some more fantastic people along the way.

Sum up of my week + today and the race

Well this week has definitely not been the best that I've had. I started my week off on Monday dislocating my shoulder coming home from work, which put me out of riding here in Adelaide. I don't really think I can describe how I felt when the doctor said that my arm must stay in a sling for two weeks and that my bike can't come with me. I know it's not like the worst thing in the world but it felt like my heart sunk. I'd been looking forward to this for so long and to have this taken away from me in such a short amount of time really sucks.

Stepping forward one week and looking back, I've still had a good week. I know that I can't ride and that sucks the most because I'm constantly surrounded by bikes and people who love bikes and all I can do is watch from the sideline. This has somewhat given me the opportunity to find some new things that I might not have seen if I was out riding. For example this quote which I find absolutely hilarious because it's so true and it would be something that I'd be worried about in the future.

One other interesting thing I found today was at the Santos Tour Village in Victoria Square and it shows what a pro cyclist would eat on an average day to keep their energy up and to stop them losing any weight. It's something that I found interesting because I think it was a lack of eating that caused me to get sick a week before the heading to Adelaide.

An average day of what the a rider would eat.

This afternoon brightened my day I had a big chat with the guys from pioneer about their power metre systems before heading off to watch the start of this years tour down under at the People's Choice Classic which is a 50km criterium around the streets of Adelaide and the second stage of the Santos Women's Tour. I must say that the women's race was super fast and it was awesome to see a local rider from Cairns mixing it up with the big names from around Australia and overseas. I was able to meet the new Australian Champion Peta Mullens and get a quick photo with her.

With Peta Mullens

In the mens race it was an absolute ripper with Marcel Kittel edging out to get the win over the other fast boys. Some fantastic racing and some near misses as always which make things exciting but also very scary as well because I know the feeling of coming off and having to have time off.

The fast boys coming through a tight corner

On an overall it has been a good week. Hopefully next week can be better with a bit more enjoyment than last week tomorrow marks one week since I dislocated my shoulder so lets just hope that I can recover as soon as I can and start riding because seeing all these bigs is driving me insane.

Trendy Bike Shop and Team Presentations

Today was supposed to be a vlog day about my training day but because of the dislocation in my shoulder I can't train. I'm in Adelaide though at this years Tour Down Under which means I can still talk about cycling. Today was a good day because it launched the TDU and all the teams were presented. I was able to get heaps of photos with lots of riders and some of the presentation.

Lotto Soudal- My favourite team

One of the coolest things I think I saw while out today was Jens Voigt's hour record bike which was on display.

Looking down on the top tube on his bike

At the teams presentation I met loads of big names which can be seen in all the photos below.

Mark Renshaw

Heinrich Haussler- New Australian Champion

Michael Rogers

Richie Porte

Marcel Kittel

Cadel Evans

Besides just looking at pro cyclists I found a super trendy little bike shop which sells fixed gear bikes (which I probably shouldn't be looking at because they're the reason I can't ride). Now it's called Treadly Bike Shop and can be found at 10/5 Ebenezer Place and its right behind Rundle Street in the centre of Adelaide.

Looking into the shop.

The bike shop can be found here.

Despite the pain and disappointment of not being able to ride, I'm still having quite a good time in Adelaide and everyday I'm becoming more and more eager to be out on the bike. With loads more cycling and racing to come, there will be loads more blogs and I know I've said it lots but there will be some vlogs as well.

What I ate + Hanging out with Greg Henderson

I was supposed to make a video today about what I ate, but when I sat down at the first cafe I forgot all about it. By the time I was ready for my next meal I didn't think it was worth it, so to make up for it I took some photos and I thought that I should still talk about my diet through a blog.

Breakfast:
I had a late breakfast which was two coffees and a banana muffin. We've found the best coffee shop in the whole of 'wherever I've travelled' and the owner remembered us from last year because we went there so much. I must add that I'm a big fan of bananas and this muffin was one of the tastiest that I've ever eaten. The café is called Red Berry and is located at 2 L'Estrange Street, Adelaide. If you're around the Adelaide area for the Tour Down Under then I recommend that you try this coffee shop, because I guarantee that you've never experienced anything like it.

Only thought to take a photo once it was gone.

Just a map to find the best coffee shop in town

Lunch:
We had a super cheap healthy lunch which consisted of alfalfa and avocado on a ciabatta style bread followed by some bananas and water. Plus pain killers for me because of my shoulder.

Dinner:
For dinner I had a different type of stir fry. This on had rice and was full of vegetables. The use of rice is good for me because it's full of carbs which is what I need because of my choice to be vegetarian, topped off with a vegemite base.

This afternoon we were walking around the city and bumped into a big name cyclist, Greg Henderson. He is Andre Greipel's final lead out man before he is released for the sprint and I thought that I would share this photo and all the photos that I get with any pro's while I'm away because I wont be able to ride. So here's Greg and myself.

Hanging out with Greg Henderson.

How Quickly Things Change.........

I was going to do my first ever tech review today but I had a bit but I had a bit of an accident last night. While coming home from work I had a crash, which landed me in hospital. I ended up with a dislocated right shoulder and I am not allowed to ride for at least the next TWO WEEKS!!!

This accident has put me out of riding and training in Adelaide at the Tour Down Under where I was scheduled to ride with the Lotto Soudal and Trek Factory Racing Pro teams. Needless to say I am DISAPPOINTED!!!!!

The most disappointing part was the fact that I had all last week off to get rid of my cold so I would be in good health for my two weeks in Adelaide, and now I will just be watching from the sidelines.

On a positive note I will have more opportunity to get more interviews, photos and talk with the pro riders. I am hoping to catch up with a few riders such as; Adam Hansen, Marcel Kittel, Caleb Ewen, and other top name riders.

………And of course test some of Adelaide’s top coffee shops.

This will have to do now cause it is hard and slow going typing with one hand so stay tuned for more videos and vlogs over the next couple of weeks.

Recovering in hospital

My Training Week

I made a decision in early December to give away triathlon because I wasn't finding any enjoyment in it any more and because of this decision I wanted a few months where I wasn't on a training program so I was able to train when I wanted. This would allow me to make sure that I'm enjoying training and so I could regain the motivation I need to start winning races.

Since this decision I'm still not on a program and I've just been training when I like and think this has been the best thing because I was averaging 400+ k's a week for a few weeks. Unfortunately I've been sick over the last week so I haven't done anything. This week though I'm heading off to Adelaide so I'm trying as hard as I can to get better so I can clock up some big k's while I'm there. 

So my main plan as far as training for this week is to finish getting better and start smashing out k's in Adelaide. For a while there isn't going to be much of a plan for my week because it's just training as I feel like it.

Proposed Blog Schedule

Over the last week of I have been chopping and changing thinking about some sort of schedule that I want to try and keeping in mind that with school commitments and also my training I may need to drop a post, in saying this if I'm at a particular event then there may be something extra.

Here is what I propose:

Monday: This is the start of my week (yes I know Sunday is first day but it's how I run my training week) so I will have a summary of my training for the week.

Tuesday: 'Tech Shop Tuesday' will be where I am going to do a review of a product or something new that may be coming out.

Wednesday: No Post

Thursday: No Post

Friday: 'My Food Friday' will be a vlog type video about what I eat during the day. (I'm not sure about how this will go when I'm back at school)

Saturday: Training day vlog

Sunday: Short summary of my week

I think that this will be a massive commitment especially with editing videos from vlogs but I think that in order to achieve something you need to have a goal and in 2014 I left the blog in the darkness. So this year I'm taking a massive leap and jumping into the unknown but I think it's worth a shot.

Catching a Cold

After some tough days suffering on the bike, I started to get some good feeling back into my cycling legs and my base was starting to look like it was in good shape. I was enjoying being out on the bike everyday and even if I didn't have a big day I would still go and try find somewhere to ride because I really enjoy the feeling of being free whilst out riding.

On Saturday night after finishing work I came home with a sore throat and went straight to bed. Upon waking up on Sunday morning I felt as though I couldn't get out of bed and after what felt like shoveling in pain killers I went straight back to sleep. For the rest of the day I slept and just laid in bed. Monday was a little better but I was still only able to stay inside and I either had to be seated or lying down, which I  must say was better than the day before. I'm still in recovery mode at the moment but I'm just itching to get back out onto the bike.

I put all this down to doing big k's where I was burning an average of 3000 calories a day and not replacing this let alone eating average daily intake of food. I think this is what has caused me to end up ill and now I just constantly feel hungry. This is something that I'm going to have to work on if I want to continue the big k's especially leading into Adelaide which I head off to next week.

Bring on 2015

2014 was a pretty big year for me. There were countless memories and plenty of learning, which came with it. My goal for 2015 is try and keep regular blogging with video footage from my training, which may include some ‘vlog’ style videos.

Considering it’s been awhile since I last wrote on here there is a lot to catch up on. I made a big decision in early December to stop competing in triathlon, which means I won’t be going away to Hervey Bay for state titles in February. This also means that I won’t be doing as much running, although I don't want to stop that completely I just don't want to do it as seriously. The decision was made when I realised that there was no enjoyment coming from the training and I’m aware that training is not all about enjoyment and having fun but I came to the point where I was only going to train because I was worried that I was going to get a call from coach asking how it had gone.

So I have decided that for the next few months I’m going to enjoy my training and train when I want to. I believe that this will allow me to get hungry again and when I’m ready to start doing some proper sessions my extreme passion will be back and I’ll be itching every second of the day to go out and ride. I think that since this decision was made I’m enjoying too much because last week I rode over 400km and the week before clocking up 560 something kilometres.

That’ll do for my first blog back and I just wanted to let people know of my decision to stop triathlon and focus more on my cycling, which is where I believe my passion has always been.

I have a few photos which finished off my year!

Cairns Criterium Series.

My last triathlon.

Rolling up into the mountains on an early morning ride.

Yorkey's Duathlon Race Report

Last Saturday afternoon at roughly 4:30 in the afternoon just over 12 hours before race start I decided to do the Yorkey's Knob Duathlon after it changed from a triathlon due to stingers in the water. 

I wasn't really keen to race and I woke up wanting to go back to sleep. I got up anyway and decided to give it my best shot knowing that I could potentially get the win. The race start was delayed and that stuffed up warm up which wasn't much as it was. As the start hooter went off I pushed the first 5km as hard as could trying to race as close as I could to my PB time. By the turn around at half way I felt flat and as though I had already used up my energy. I kept pushing knowing that my mate was on my heels and thankfully I was able to break him with about 2km to go. I started to ease up coming into transition knowing that I had a lead. 

As I got onto the bike I got comfortable and for the first time took the first 5km easy. On the way back to the half way turn around I was passed by one of cairns' best iron distance athletes and I knew that if I wanted to win I was going to have to go with him. From this point the pace picked up and we increased our lead over the other competitors. We got off the bike with an average of 37km/h and I knew that the next run was going to be a really quick 2.5km if I wanted to win.

I left transition with Sandy hot on my heels and my leg turn over was super quick. As I got to the turn around I had increased my lead but I was struggling and the pace of the bike ride was starting to catch up. With 500m to go I started to cough and I felt like vomiting but nothing was coming up. I knew that the race was almost over and once I reached the last water station I knew I had the win. I ran up the finish chute and felt so relieved that it was over. As I crossed the line I almost fell over but I was filled with joy that I was able to take my second open win in a matter of weeks. 

I ended up running a 30 second PB in the first 5km to run 17:34. It was such as great race and it gave me confidence going into states which I am currently at. I just qualified for the final in the 800m and 1500m which is on tomorrow and Sunday. Times have been fantastic and an update of that will be up during the next week. 

Yorkey's Knob Duathlon 2014

A video that I put together from yesterday's duathlon that I won. A full race report will be up this week.



Enjoy!

What's happening with me

I haven't really done too much blogging over the past month and this is only due to the fact that I haven't had any races on. I'm now in my completely under the guidance of three coaches and it seems to be working really well. My training has stepped up signifcantly and I'm doing more double days than ever before. So I thought that today I would give a bit of an insight as to what's coming up and some of my goals that have been planned.

State Athletics

Next week I'm off to Brisbane for State Track & Field with my main events being the 800m and 1500m, possibly competing in the 3000m. It has been in the last few weeks that I have been feeling really tired with the increased work load of training. I'm either swimming in the morning and then backing up with the run in the afternoon or I'm riding in the morning followed by a run session later that afternoon. Despite training twice a day I have been able to back up and train just as good in the afternoon. I've been running some really quick times which makes me feel confident knowing that in Brisbane I'll be running on fresh legs, so I'm very interested to see what I'm capable of. I can tell that I'm running good when just yesterday I started my session off with the 2:49 for 1km and then followed it up with 3x 300m running my last in 40 seconds. This puts me in a good frame of mind leading into next week.

Triathlon Season

The triathlon season has begun in Brisbane and while ours draws to a close in the far north training has been increasingly hard. My first triathlon will be in November and this is for selection into the regional team to compete in Hervey Bay next for States. Unfortunately there has been a bit of a mix up between the triathlon club and some other people which means my race will only be an enticer rather than a sprint distance race.

Next on the calendar I might go down and race all schools in Brisbane which is the equivalent to our regional trials except there will be more competition. I can't get selected for a metropolitan team though because I don't go to school down there. If I don't end up going to that I am thinking of going to a draft legal race in Penrith. The idea of travelling south to race is good because it will give me the opportunity to race some of the best athlete giving me a good gauge of how my training has been going in the lead up to States in February.

Cycling

In December one of the local bike shops is sponsoring a three race criterium series. There will be prize money up for grabs so I am putting a bit more training in on the bike to try and be strong enough to contest a few wins at the races. I would like to be able to go well there but I'm a little worried about a rider from the Tablelands. He is super strong and I need to make sure that I can hold his wheel for as long as I can.

Go Troppo Townsville Triathlon

Last weekend I travelled to Townsville for a little hit out to see how my training was going. I didn't have any expectations on myself expect to potentially take out the under 19 category. The conditions on Sunday morning were almost perfect despite the easterly winds coming off the coast. I thought I looked like a little bit of a try hard when I rocked up with my time trial bike and aero helmet but those thoughts soon changed for me.

The announcement of the event having a wetsuit legal swim made me feel super confident because all of the swim training I'd done, I'd been in the wetsuit due to the cold. I got to the start line feeling ready to race along with the other 47 males in the sprint distance. As the hooter went off I aimed to go as hard as I could to the first buoy before settling into my rhythm. The surprising thing was when I got to the first buoy I was in the lead and it didn't feel too hard. I continued pushing the pace at the front and when I came out of the water to go into the second lap I noticed there was a guy on my feet. I jumped back into the water in the lead and managed to stay at the front for the remainder 375m and for the first time ever I exited the water in the lead.

Going on to the bike gave me confidence because it would be my strongest leg although because it's been used as my recovery fort the last few weeks the lack of cycling training made a little worried. I held my lead on the first lap and averaged around the 40km/h mark. I could see that second place was still not gaining nor losing any time so I was hoping that my run could hold him off. The second lap of the bike really hurt and I felt the lack of training starting to kick in. With 5km to go I still had a lead but this is when I started to struggle. I pushed as hard as I could and managed to have a small gap coming off the bike into T2. 

I got through transition quickly and got onto the run. The first 1.25km hurt as I had a stitch but I had opened up the lead again and I could see that 2nd was struggling. I pushed for the remainder of the race continuing to increase my lead was able to finish the race off with a commanding lead taking the overall win.

That would have to be one of my best races that I've ever had leading from start to finish and getting $300 prize money for the win. I took the win with a lead of just under 3mins. I'm still amazed at the fact that I was able to lead out of the water with the swim being my weakest leg. 

Photos from the Go Troppo Triathlon in Townsville

Finish of the race