JONATHAN LOVELOCK

Bit of a Bingle

2013-05-02T08:29:00.001+10:00

On saturday I got back from my training ride to get a call from Huon-Genesys team boss ACJ asking if I wanted to race the Battle on the Border the following week. Pat Shaw was sick and he figured I would be better for the hit out with Tour of Japan coming up. So yes, I said. Yes. Yes. Yes!

Let's race baby!

Then the next morning I trundled out to the 1/20 to do some hard 30 sec efforts whilst cruising away up the 1/20. So yeah, um, anyway, my gears slipped, I managed to kind of 'high side' it, and slap my right hand side onto the road. Hard.

There's lots to write about, and there's lots to say. But I'll keep it simple.

I broke my collarbone and I broke my neck of femur, both on the right hand side. Thankfully surgery was not necessary on the wing, and the leg has gone from screwed, to 'screwed' with 3 Ti additions such that a full recovery looks very probable.

CollarBump Right Hand Side

Either way, I am lucky because it could have been much worse. And I am forever grateful for the friendly passers by who helped me out. The lovely couple who took my bike and even hugged and kissed me whilst I sat in shock! The Ambos were brilliant, as always. My surgeon was great, the nurses were great. My parents are legends, my mates who've supported me are priceless and everyone involved with the Huon-Genesys are incredible.

ACJ running the team is full of nothing but support as are my team mates. I am just a LITTLE bit cut that I can't race with them at the moment... but shit happens.

Snapped like a chicken wing

I even had a call from Rob Eva from SRAM offering to look at my bike to work out what went wrong with my gears. Long story, it doesn't look good for SRAM if a sponsored rider complains his gears slipped and that caused him to have a catastrophic crash. But let me be clear here, this was a case of operator error. NOT equipment failure. My gears on my training bike were not shifting well, and I knew this. I cleaned then, checked the wear of the chain and the cassette, then tuned it up again to what I thought was 'good enough'. I knew they weren't working perfectly but I figured they would be fine. Well. Lesson learnt. Practice tuning your gears. If they seem a bit dodgy, get someone who knows what they are doing to sort it for you....

Now onto the next chapter,

Well I'll keep you updated on my progress but its all hazy at this stage. It just depends how the bones heal. So I could be back training hard in 3 months. Or 6 months. No point getting caught up on arbitrary dates.

Neck of Femur, fractued, but well placed. At least.

Finally, and to be frank, I've kind of lost my blogging 'mojo' per se, in that, I think everyone gets to a point were they feel sick of telling everyone how great they are. I'll be here to fill you in if I have some hilarious stories and still the odd random update (basically what I've been doing for the last year), but for now I am going to focus my journalistic energy on some more formal pieces and just let my legs do the talking once they are back in the swing!

Best Wishes all,

See you on the road. Soon.

Jono

Going to plan

2013-04-18T08:06:00.002+10:00

I like it when things go to plan.

I got my bike ready last night. I filled my bottles. I got my food sorted for the ride. Even got my clothes lined out. Organised to meet my riding partner at 10am. All of this in order to allow a long, luxurious and glorious sleep in. Yet here I am, at 06:30am. Wide awake.

Screw you world!

On the road to Baw Baw

It's never any fun when things don't go to plan.

If you can chat whilst going up Baw Baw you know that you have ample gearing, and, something ain't right...

I had a shocker last weekend at Baw Baw when I woke up from the deepest, and most intense sleep I've had in a while.... at 03:30AM. Not good! Double not good! Still had an ace time on what is just such an awesome course. And thankfully Ben Dyball who was crashing with me from Sydney came home in 2nd so we still had some pocketmoney to add to the bank.

But that's all short term stuff. I am looking at the medium term plan here. And it looks exciting:

1) Tour of Japan
2) AIS Training Camp
3) Tour de Qinghai Lake National Team
4) Tour of Borneo

1) My first big race with the team for the year. Can't wait. Did it last year, it hurt. I wanted to cry. Multiple times. Yet again, this feast of agony and anguish should deliver some good life experiences and I can't wait to go and chase some results with my Huon-Genesys team mates who've started the year off very well..

2) I was lucky enough to get selected to be part of a Cycling Australia National Team to go to the Tour de Qinghai Lake in July. Part of the preparation will be a two week camp in Canberra involving a lot of training and some new altitude training techniues. As far as I am concerned, this is going to be awesome. I am an unashamed bike nerd and wannabe physiology geek. Give me the stats. Give me the data. Let's do it. Only the promise of proper winter weather in Canberra during winter scares me...(a lot)

3) Tour de Qinghai lake, well I written about it before, so have a read, I promise you'll laugh, or just sigh at all the pretty pictures

(c) The Wheeler http://thewheeler.com.au/ I attacked Nath, and we had a two man TT against each other, he caught back up but there was no sprint due to an earlier crash. So equal first it was for both of us at the first Northern Combine race of the year

4) Tour of Borneo. This was a late surprise. I was initially down to open my serious racing account for the season at the Battle on the Border in a couple of weeks but two of the teams upcoming Asian races (Tour of Borneo and Jelajah Malaysia) both had changes of dates. So with some re-jigging it was decided to let me save my bickies for Japan and Qinghai and then jump into Tour of Borneo which now comes in August. To say that this excites me is an understatement. I'm just hoping that everything goes to plan and this stays the case. One thing I learnt last year, however, is that within a busy season there are that many crashes, changes of race dates, people getting sick, etc etc that nothing ever goes exactly to plan. So I'll just play it by ear then!

I've been getting back to good old fashioned climbing weight, unlike, err, other times...

For the meantime, it's off to Mt Macedon to show some more roads to Jurgen . Yep, I too am a bit shocked that 3rd place getter from Tour of Flanders is now basing his build up to the Tour de France from Melbourne... but I think I understand.

You see he lives upstairs from his fathers bakery. The smell and consumption of fresh baked treats just doesn't seem compatible with his target race weight for the Tour. So Melbourne it is...

So if you spot someone decked out in full Lotto-Bellisol kit around Melbourne, give them a yell! But don't shake his right hand, he still has one big arse filthy blister from Paris-Roubaix.. looks like he tried to high five a screw driver... just another reminder that these buggers are tough.

Snowy times up Donna with GPLama should leave me well prepped for Canberra

But mind you, I reckon two weeks in Canberran winter is even tougher... we'll just have to find out.

Ciao!

The Asian Persuasion

2013-04-04T08:39:00.002+11:00

I was writing this elsewhere, and I thought, this needs some form of formal publication, it needs documenting. It needs sharing. Let's be succinct here:

Background: The Tour of Thailand is currently underway in Thailand and it breaks my heart I can't be there racing it. Back in 2009 when my mate Adam Semple rang me up and proposed I buy a plane ticket and come race with Plan B I was hesitant...

... for 3 tenths of a milisecond. And what a tour it was.

Semp won a stage and the KOM and I snuck home with 3rd on GC. I got to meet Wayne Evans who is one of the men that make Plan B (now know as Satalyst Giant Racing) one of the best up and coming teams in the Australasian region. I raced with some great blokes including 'EJ' Wells, Doug 'Repa' Repacholi and Patty Gill. I also met my future Marco Polo team mate and asian stalwart Brad Hall who is back in Thailand as we speak.

Not to mention 15 people crammed into the tray of a ute at 2am trying to find a notorious night club by the name of "U Pop" in the jungle city of Udon-Thani. Ahh the memories. And the not-so memories.

We all took home many things from that tour. Depending on where the final night landed you, however, some folks may have taken home things more tangible than they originally bargained for!

But to the present; I am living vicariously through the twitter and instagram feeds of the lucky competitors who are over there now. Bastards.

Here's why I love racing in Asia;

You can take your snowy Milan San Remo
You can take your twice cooked flacid french pasta dredged in tomato sauce
You can take your dishwater french coffee
You can take your stunning Italian Podium girls (actually, they can stay)
You can take you 12 hours trips on the auto strada
You can take your sh*tty Ibis sweatbox motels

You can stick it!

#Thailand is just a gift that keeps on giving... #view from the #hotel balcony. #lovinglife :-) http://instagram.com/p/XmFzOlBkVz/

Because this is where I want to be.

In the jungle, at the street stalls, jumping potholes and fending off dengue fever. becuase it's awesome.

From the twitter feed of Paul van der Ploeg;

It's a jungle out there! #Thailand... Epic day doing just over 200k in some of the most beautiful… http://instagram.com/p/Xou-B1hkeu/

And for me? Well I've been training hard. And I'll be back in Asia soon. Japan and China await, and plenty of exciting news coming up.

Hope everyone is well, and I'll see you on the road, or at the cafe, or on facebook, or on twitter, or instagram or .....

Postscipt: It is also, abso-freakin-sensational to see Mr Loh get a stage win in stage two. Loh is the stalwart of the Asian Peloton. The Patron. He has been around for a long time. He is always attacking, riddled with panache, and ripe with enthusiasm.

When I joined Marco Polo I couldn't believe how much easier life was, each day Loh would be sitting the 'gate' behind the leading team that was controling the front of the peloton. Now instead of fighting for wheels near the front people just let me slot in behind Loh. It was magic.

2013

2013-01-08T14:18:00.003+11:00

Howdy folks. Been a while.

What can I say? I've been busy don't you worry about that! I've been writing my fingers to death, just not here. So this is brief, and to the point, without the linguistic break dancing that I usually like to dot around the place like a stoned poet with a thesaurus (wait, I just did it again didn't I?)

NEW BIKES OH HELLS YEH !!!!!!!1111ONE!!! ELEVENTY BILLION AWESOME

The Lovelock househould now has an even greater array of carbon, steel and alloy triangles with wheels and all the trimmings. Thank you Avanti, the Corsa is going down a treat.

Our team had an official launch yesterday. It was a nice fun affair. We got to stand around feeling a bit akward in lycra whilst busy people in the AMP building shuffled past and looked on with curiousity.

Then we at salmon. Oh, so much salmon. I've seen enough anoying adds for fish and krill oil in my short life time. Let's just say, you can take your tablets and stick em'. I've got a new approach

And of course some more stuff that is new, shiney and great

I know it's a bit tiring at this time of year when new teams and new riders are bomboarding your social media accounts with a blitzkrieg of pictures and cheesy sponsor plugs. But here's the deal;

We LOVE what we do. We are so, so, so lucky to get the chance to live out our dreams and put off 'real' life for a while. So we are generally thankful and show our appreciation. So don't worry, it'll tone down. But we just want to support those who support us, and we sure as hell hope you want to support them too!

Back on the article front, I've jumped on board at The Roar sports website and have started posting regular articles here. So far there is

What does a cyclists Mad Monday look like?

The National Championships: it's all in the timing

New calendar postion heralds a new beginning for Suntour

I am also going to be doing some semi-regular articles for Wade at Cyclingtips. Here is round one;

Who's found a home, Who's left Hanging?

So it's nationals coming up, and the battle to regrow skin after a recent touchdown at the Williamstown support bay crits

Yet another brilliant pic from Fyxo, you'll have to click through to see the full size pic and remaining blood and gore

And as the brilliant Paul Ambry (who does the sensational cartoon backrgounds for my blog) noted, I even got a chainring behind the ear. How does that happen?

See you all at nationals!

Over, and out.

Blake's Manor

2012-09-17T08:11:00.000+10:00

Situation: Genesys Training Camp; day 6

Weather: Filthy, bordering on horrendous

Motivation levels: Beginning to wane

The saving grace? Blake’s Manor

There were six of us out riding around the windy flats near Deloraine, Tasmania. Nearle, Dyball, Jai, Sammy D, Matt from Launie Homes and myself. About an hour into our ride we saw some pretty horrid looking black clouds coming in over the Tassie highlands. We pulled over and chucked on our rain jackets, extra gloves, head warmers, pretty much anything we could.

It was a smart move.

Five minutes later the scene had certainly changed. Ben Dyball was busy grovelling along in the gravel shoulder after being blown off the road by the increasingly strong wind (like seriously, seriously strong*)

*We are talking 170km/h wind gusts that ripped roofs off houses in Deloraine that night

Then came the hail. Oh the stinging hail. It hurt. A lot!

We cowered amongst a cluttering of trees trying to work out how best to ameliorate this truly shitful situation. The initial equation involved us riding up a climb to the Great Lakes which would see us gain another ~800-1000m of elevation. Given the temperature was hovering around the mid-single digits whilst we huddled, shivered and contemplated the crapulence of our situation; there was no doubt that tackling that climb would result in

1) Snow

2) Hypothermia

3) Insanity

4) A rather low level of satisfaction

5) All of the above. And some.

So to Deloraine we soldiered.

Now on our training camps, and races, accommodation is always a highly variable theme. Given we end up staying in some tourist areas in ‘off peak’ season, or in other areas in ‘on peak’ season; for a given cost, we could be in a caravan park, or a chalet. Sometimes we score some really, really nice spots to stay.

Anyone on the team will happily regale you with tales of Toowoomba. Four people to a space so small it truly was a stretch of the truth to deem it a 'cabin'. All piled on top of each other. Only separated by our own sweat, dysentery and the dirt and sand that was just everywhere.

But fear not, because in stark contrast came our deluxe lodgings at San Remo. This stroke of good luck saw us start Tour of Gippsland in luxury villas with ceilings even higher than our enthusiasm to sleep beneath them.

Needless to say, we were all hoping to score a gem for the night. We were cold, miserable and hungry. Let’s be honest, caravan parks are fine. At that point in time, all we really needed was a warm shower. Heck, we’d have had one in the main street of Deloraine if that was our only option.

But then there came, Blake’s Manor. You. Little. Beauty.

Probably best not to wear our muddy shoes in here...

On arrival it appeared we’d slipped back into the days of ye Olde England. We had arrived in the palatial surrounds of something out of Downton Abbey. Certainly, no complaints here.

Certainly comfortable

But what’ that say you? Free food? Oh, well of course, many motels give you some tea bags and cookies!

Oh no, not just ordinary cookies!

Oh really, do tell?

We started with; fresh baked macadamia cookies. Brilliant. To which we then uncovered some local chocolate truffles. Oh how swell. Nevertheless the local cheese platter went divinely with the flagon of port. But only trumped by the delicious iced cupcakes. Truly satiating.

Anyone for cheese?

But wait, I know you want more;

Local Bacon, six rashers.

Local Eggs, times six.

And a fresh, baked, loaf of bread. And don’t you dare forget the fresh butter and Jam.

Yep. It was a feast. Of glorious proportions.

Here's hoping for warmer weather come Tour of Tasmania...

It equipped us with sufficient nutrients and motivation to tackle the dastardly climb we had avoided. Albeit in the car.

A good night’s sleep, surrounded by an abundance of pillows, teddy bears, tassels and all manner of opulent furnishings left us with the nobility of kings. Until we returned the next day, to our more customary abode of the Hobart Airport Caravan Hotel Caravan Park.

Accommodation on tour or training camp is about taking the ups with the downs. At the end of the day, we are lucky to have someone else organise and pay it all for us. And even luckier, to get to dot around the country and see places we’d never see. Even if it means rain, hail, snow and a lot of washing.

A clear and frosty day up on Mt Wellington, Hobart.

There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Sun on the other side of that grey cloud. And in this case, a hefty dose of fat, sugar with just a sprinkling of alcohol at the end of a despondent day in Deloraine.

Yep, I’ll take the good with the bad, because the good, is just that good.

Jono

Fortnightly Roundup

2012-09-04T08:52:00.002+10:00

Wow, what a busy time it has been!

Since we last spoke I got my full dosing of double stage madness at the Tour of the Greater South Coast. It was wet. I was windy. It was madness. Madness I tell you!

But it was a lot of fun. We worked out arses off and came away with the win.

The South Coast Tour was markedly different from the Tour of Gippsland or the current Tour of the Murray River. Both of those tours are more about accumulating time bonuses continually to build your lead throughout the race. Given the morning crits will have sprints every second lap or thereabouts the oppurtunity lies for a quality sprinter to win 3-4-5-6 or more sprints and go away from each morning stage a good 20 seconds or more in front of their rivals.

But, and yes there is a bit but, you still have to survive the arvo road stage.

At races like Gippo and Murray where it may be easier to control (cross wind pending of course) you can let your lead rider, such as AJ Giacoppo for us, go nuts in the morning, and then sit back a bit more in the arvo.

But at South Coast, with some big and hard arvo road stages, combined with some good bergs and some solid wind, it was a balancing act of sorts. An act that we got right, but only just.

On the 4th stage which to us looked like the true queen road stage we had a solid 100+ kilometres heading in through the southern grampians to finish in Casterton. To those who have raced the Tour of Coleraine in the past, you know how windy, dead and lumpy this area is.

Even with a clear plan to control and mark the right moves we let Darren Lapthorne escape our grasps and he ended up with an awesome solo win. We'd been warned! He was the man to watch, and Drapac were certainly going to throw it all at as.

From my point of view, I had a simple task. I had to try and tag moves, fill gaps etc, if there was a break that did not have the riders we wanted in it, then I had to get my chase on. But you can't chase everything, so it's often much easier to tag on the back and follow moves.

Cue day three. The day of madness.

Forecasts were for gale force winds. Snow in the grampians down to ~700 metres. Sideways rain. Horizontal hail. It. Was. Chaos.

We fronted up at the circuit at Port Fairy. We performed our obligatory get to the start line about 3 hours before the start, just so we could start on the front... and we shivered. It was cold. Miserable. Filthy.

It was a true laugh to be on the start line whingeing my arse off with Jordan Kerby who exclaimed that he was from QLD, he doesn't ride in this shit! (only to go up the road and nearly win the stage!)

Anyhow, we got through that stage OK. We had to work and try to bring back Kerby and the ol' Ox Gordan McCauley but we couldn't do it. But no big losses.

It was the arvo stage that really concerned us. The wind was getting stronger. The rain was setting in.

We had seen the roads we had to race on. There were plenty of potholes (which would come as a mystery surprise under the blankets of water that now covered the road). There would be a ripping cross or tail cross wind. It was going to be an absolute balls to the wall smashfest.

Then came possibly the most memorable moment of my season.

CSV promptly came and informed all the teams that the days racing was cancelled. The police had decided to cancel the stage citing rider safety.

Now here we had and huddle of hardened cyclists, layered up with all sorts of thermal clothing and windstopping devices. Everyong was gripping their caffeine or sugary fix of choice, just mentally preparing for the big afternoon.

Then, like night and day, the grown men were reduced to near tears of happiness. Group hugs. Exclaimations of "Thank f##k for that" and similar were exchanged. Phew! Dodged a bullet there!

The rest of the tour was not quite as dramatic, better weather, more hard racing, and yep, AJ got the win. But it was the solid weather and tumultuous times of the first three days that stick in my mind!

You can have a peak at more NRS highlights over here

Now I am down here in Tassie enjoying a solid training camp. Emphasis on solid.

But more importantly, how good is it to see Joel Pearson on the top step?

This guy is an absolute legend. After I messed myself up in China he really looked after me, especially helping carry me from my wheelchair to the airplane seat on our return flight!

Then about a year later he put me in touch with ACJ, one of the main men behind the Orange Army, and I was lucky enough to get a gig with Genesys. So it's not just good. But great, to see the double warny winner, do stuff like this

Stage 4, Tour of Murray 2012, 'Killer' Pearson just keeps on, keeping on

Over, and out. Time for a brew ride.

Jono

Irony

2012-08-11T18:25:00.001+10:00

Withing 48 hours of my slate clearing über whinge it appears that sweet poetic justice has delt me a cold hard slap in the face

Egg, meet face. Face, meet egg.

I wrote that post from the comfort of knowing I was not racing in the next NRS race, the Tour of the Great South Coast.

Warnambool. Port Fairy. Portland. Casterton. You know it's going to be hard down there.

Having had a team camp in that general vicinity not so long ago, and with the lashing wind and dancing rain still haunting my every waking moment, I took a bit of extra joy in rubbing some salt in the wounds of those racing.

I mean, I had to put a positive spin on not getting a ride, right? Right.

Well. A team mate is sick. My role in keeping the bench warm and hurling criticism from afar is over. I've been thrown into the field ready to tackle an armada of double stages! Oh the delicious irony.

But. In all seriousness. I want to race. This is gonna be one of those 'sweet merciful crap' this is so horrid kind of tours that you just have to be a part of it. Just so you can say, you were a part of it.

Five hard days, a lot of wind. A sizeable amount of rain. And a lot of good bike riders.

Time to go have some fun.

Everyone Hates Double Stages

2012-08-09T21:09:00.003+10:00

Everyone hates double stages.

Of all the over generalised, unqualified, far sweeping and ill considered statements that can be made, I guarantee you beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this statement, is in fact 100% correct

There is nothing that fills a cyclists face with a more puerile expression of hatred than the intermingling of the terms ‘criterium’ and ‘road race’ on the same course mocka.

Just imagine. You’ve had your pre race feed. You’ve had your pre race coffee. You’ve had your pre race shit. You’ve kitted up. You’ve appropriately smeared your groin with chamois cream of choice. You might have heat cream and/or oil on your legs. You might have sunscreen on your face. You are ready. You are motivated. It’s time to race.

You race. You get rained on (sideways rain nonetheless). You get sweaty. You get filthy. You get hungry. You get thirsty. You get tired.

But thankfully, it’s all over. You can get changed. You can get clean. You can get dry. You can get warm. You can get fed.

But wait,
THERE’S ANOTHER GOD DAMMED STAGE STARTING IN 1 HOUR AND 30 MINUTES

The Dilemmas arising are suddenly overwhelming.

If you are lucky and it doesn't rain then it's only the stench of tepid sweat, grease and the bacteria currently copulating in your knicks that need concern you

Do I get changed? Will I get colder by getting naked in the street or will I get warmer by getting dry clothes on? Maybe I’ll just jump in the van and crank the heating. Will I have to perform the ‘standing on shoes whilst changing pants so that my white socks don’t get wet dance’? (Yes, yes you will)

Do I have enough dry kit? Oh no, I forgot my plastic bag, damn, all my clothes to put on after stage 2 will be wet

But chances are you'll be unlucky. If you start the day wet. You end the day wet.

My bike is filthy. The jockey wheels are squeeking. The brake pads are full of grit. My shoes are wet and the only thing lower than my morale is the pressure in that rear tubular I just flatted.

I need to eat, but what do I eat? How much? I don’t want to have a hunger flat, but I sure as hell don’t want to have salad roll reverbs on the first KOM of the afternoon stage.

I need to drink, I sure as hell don’t want to cramp in the arvo stage. But on the other hand, needing to pee when the race gets thrown in the gutter is not much fun either. You think they stop for a 'pisso' in Aussie racing? Good luck with that!

Maybe I’ll just have a coffee, it’ll warm me up and pep me up. But what, no caffeine after midday? Yep, you ain’t gonna sleep tonight boy.

There is no nice way to put it. Double stages suck. You can try and spin it however which way you like, but no one enjoys double stages. They are a given evil. A necessity to surviving as a cyclist in Australia.

As ex-Australian Road Champ, Darren 'Lappers' Lapthorne once said

"I'd prefer riding the Melbourne to Warrnambool 5 days in a row compared to a week of double stages!"

Some people might just call me a whinger.

But that’s the whole point. I am whinging, and god it feels good.

And you. Yes, you.

You know exactly what I’m talking about. Because;

Everyone hates double stages

Studiously avoiding Winter

2012-06-30T18:03:00.003+10:00

Can only last for so long.

It seems a bit of Borneo there, a touch of Japan here, all mixed up with some sprinklings of Queensland over the past 8 or so weeks have kept me hoping that I could just bypass winter.

But no, not to be!

Riding down Punt Rd this morning at 6am it really hit me. This. Is. Winter. Pitch black, wet (although not raining, luckily) and lonely.

It really got all fun and wintery when I stopped for a leak to see that my 'mega' saddle bag had fallen off with my rear light attached. Dayam! How long had I been trundling along down Punt/Beach Rd without a freakin light, in the dark!! Sheeeeeet. Not a great feeling.

Also not great was the fact that I was now short of the three tubes, two levers, ten patches, two CO2 cannisters, insane multi-tool (including a chain breaker and quite possibly a kitchen sink) and spare $20 note that I had travelling along with me in my now gone saddle bag. Bugger. Thankfully Uncle T at Crino sorted me out again so I'm all good for tomorrows trundle

Then the real risk; to keep heading on down to Mt Eliza, on wet roads, without no recourse for a flat tyre? Heeeeelll no! Back home I went. Puncture fairies, Murphy's Law, Jesus, whoever it is up there, was just waiting to smite me should I try my luck.

To be honest with you, the time spent up in QLD & NSW was not really avoiding winter. It was a bit like being at the snow. At the start of the last day of the North Western Tour, I eyed the apparent temperature in Gunnedah to be a shivering -6 degrees. Meanwhile I finished the day sunburnt around my sunglasses such that I now possess an impressive goggle tan. I am still getting asked what the snow was like. Additionally, the resulting red nose and general aroma of "post race haven't showered and have been crammed in the team van for 4 hours goddamit I am stiff and sore where is maccas?" had me hobbling around like a drunk frenchman

Results wise both races were good, but not great. We took Teams GC at the North West Tour but only finished second in Toowoomba. Our new recruit 'Jumpin' Jai Crawford was kicking arse up the pointy end on the hilly stages but was not quite on form to match Marko who is definitely the man to beat when the road points upward. On a personal level I snivelled a couple of top ten GC results so that'll do for now!

Off for some dinner now and of course following that it is time to watch the tour! Time to wear a groove in the couch.

Jono

Tour of Japan, stage 5 madness

2012-05-30T19:01:00.001+10:00

So the tour of is over and in between long bus trips and tasty bento boxes there hasn't been much time to think anything let alone even write anything. So the best most memorable events must get blogged first

So check THIS out.

That is Shawry's garmin/strava file from what was far and away the most ridiculous race of my life. It bordered on insanity.

Rumour has it when Kristian House won the same stage in 2010 for Rapha Condor he said it was the hardest stage of his life and he was glad it was over. Well back then they raced 98k.

We raced 148k!!!! (This point needs a severe and comprehensive exclaiming.)

Have a look at what Wurfy wrote about it

Or maybe peek at the youtube video

And don't miss all the purty pictures that Cycling iQ has posted

Just look at it!

Or maybe just trust me when I say it was ludicrous.

Like a roller coaster ride for road bikes. The course twisted, turned, climbed, dropped, cut back on itself and managed to give everyone motion sickness, whip lash and the urge to cry. You would come out of a corner with G forces throwing the rice in your stomach around like clothes in a washing machine only to whip out, up and around onto 'yet another' climb that not only sapped (these climbs were especially potent 'sappers', one would almost deem them to be 'grippy') all your energy and momentum but every time made you contemplate why on earth you were doing this.

But each lap you would remember why;

-You would pass your soigneurs handing out drinks.
-You would see the time gap to your team mate suffering out in the break (thanks Shawry)
-And you would look back and see your DS bored out of their skull in the team car

After 4 hours I can safely say all riders went through every stage of the emtional cyclist mental scale

1) Apprehension of the extreme fisting your are about to endure
2) Slight excitment whilst pondering the 'epicness' of the ride
3) Denial after the first lap; "Surely they didn't mean 12 whole laps?"
4) Frustration after the 2nd lap; "This is going to be a long day"
5) Contemplating death on the 3rd lap
6) Contemplating death of the 4th lap
7) Laps 5-11: See Laps 3 and 4
8) Lap 12: "Thank you sweet jesus that is over. Someone find me a corner of the bus to die in. Wake me once we get to Tokyo."

The whole day was rather analogous to the famous Milgram experiments

Give a normal person the authority of a UCI endorsed race organisor, and they can convince a bunch of directors to do absurd things to a bunch of cyclists under their control.

Or maybe we wanted to do it? Maybe we are just masochists.

Me?

I just like that fact that I get a tuna sandwich and some free sashimi after the race. How cool is that!

Ultimate Blogging Australia

2012-05-20T19:44:00.000+10:00

Wow it's been a while. But I'm back on my feet!
Since oceanias and queenstown there has been plenty happening

-Tour de India got cancelled so that landed me an extra three weeks training back at home
-This training was highly satisfying. Mostly consisting of the half wheel variety with Mark O'Brien who lives round the corner. He also makes a tasty fish taco. Let it be known

-There was a bit of suffering at Baw Baw with myself playing a team role and the team going 1-2. So that was good. And it didn't snow. Bonus

-Next cab was down to Mersey Valley in Tassie for a week of checking out the course for the Upcoming NRS tour and hanging out with Kane Walker and Blake Hose. On our first day we spent $200 on vegies. A week later, after been stuck in tight in the small cabin, we were all pretty sick of the smell of each others (mostly mine) farts/

-We raced Mersey Valley Tour itself. Nathan Earle was the standout for us with a 2nd on stage two and winning stage 3. Our DS gave us a bollocking for messsing up tactically on the 2nd stage. We deserved it. It also pissed with rain the whole weekend. Then all the results were wrong. Honestly, it's like the only correct result was that of the winner (because Mark O'Brien kicked cleary won..) Anyway apparanely most of that has been sorted

-Then it was off to Borneo. That was were the hot action was at. The only downside to Borneo (like the rest of malaysia) is that once you've seen a palm tree, there isn't much that will exite you when you proceed to spend the next 1000km riding past palm tree after palm tree. My god. It's like groundhog minute. For 360 minutes a day. Despite that we went, well, alright

We got 2-3-5th on GC, won 3 stages, won the KOM and won teams GC. But, we screwed up the first day tactically and that lost us our chance of winning the Tour as we let the eventual winner Michael Torckler from PureBlack get up the road.

Now I find myself hanging out in a tight little hotel room in near Osaka hacing just smashed round a 2.5k prologue.

I must apologise for the lack of bloggery (yep that's a word) but I have been busy writting some features for Ultimate Cycling Australia . One of the articles is a summary of the Interview I got to do with Chris Boardman back before the track world cup and the other is a bit of a thrown together mish mash involving interviews with Dan Macpherson, Steve Bracks, Shane Perkins and Tony Abbott. It's been a busy time!

That's it for now I do believe.

Ciao!

(PS: no editing going on here ;-) )

PPS: anyone interested in following Tour of Japan or any othe Asian racing you should check out Cycling iQ on the net, and on twitter.

Queenstown NZ

2012-03-16T09:02:00.000+11:00

This place is insane.

At present I find myself sitting around conserving energy and consuming carbohydrates in preparation for 35 kilometres of self flagellation in the Oceania time trial championship this afternoon. It should prove to be a tough little affair, although there are only 10 starters for elite men, with ever lasting honour and lactic acid laced agony on the line, it will, like always, good, hard and hopefully fast (for me anyway)

The last two days have seen Campbell Flakemore and myself riding the TT course and spending most of the time in awe of the lakes and hills surrounding Queenstown. This place is so cool.

My quick fire travel review is as follows:

What makes Queenstown cool

-It’s nothing by huge mountains and massive lakes, the whole place is gobsmackingly beautiful

-They filmed Lord of the Rings around here (somewhere on this island anyway)

-The place is a haven for public liability insurance agents: Downhill MTBing, snowsports, white water rafting, speed boating, bungee jumping, canyon jumping, para-sailing, the fun never ends, neither would the premiums

-The place is teeming with tourists, lots of young Americans and Brits and loads of middle aged Japanese/Chinese tourists. It’s a non stop party. I can’t go down the street without chuckling at hearing some dutch or german tourist yelling to their mate “We made a real good trip on the fast boat you think maybe!?” or catching a seppo twang on the end of “It’s was so pumpin’ duuuuuude”

What makes Queenstown a bit shit

-Thanks to the tourist influx, everything is expensive as all hell. $35 kiwi bucks (~$30Aus) for a pizza? Come oonnnn!! Subway for dinner it is….

-In a bizaro-Australian paradox, the drivers are very courteous to bike riders, but it seems pedestrians in the town centre are nothing but target practice. This place needs some pedestrian crossings. Getting across the road is like in South East Asia whereby the only way to break the traffic flow is just to step off the curb and start your way across the road. Except in Asia drivers manage to summon the energy to activate their shoulders and wrists in an effort to turn the steering wheel 5 whole degrees in order to swerve to the left or the right of those crossing the road. In Queenstown it seems there is some sort of natural reaction to swerve and accelerate directly towards whoever is crossing the road. Any utilisation of said designated steering device is just wholly unnecessary. Sure makes for an eventful trip to the shops I’ll tell you what.

Nevertheless, this place really is all about the adventure. Only two days ago, Mr Flakemore and myself having duly sated ourselves with a lap and a bit of the TT course decided to poke our noses up this little road that turned off up through the trees. Surely it would be nothing more than a little jaunt up the side of the hill for 5 minutes? I mean, who wants to climb an Alpine berg on their TT bike? Not me!

Well. 9k at 9% later we topped out at ~1300-1400m at coronet peak ski resort.

“Oh man that road looks steep up ahead”

“Yeh, but it looks like it flattens out round the corner”

“Yeh, we’ll just go another few hundred metres and turn around”

We had that revolving conversation for 45 minutes.

Geez that was hard work. But man it was worth it. If only Flakey wasn’t off doing his TT now I would snatch the photos off his dog and i-Bone to show you all. They’ll be up in the next post.

Well, my mind is racked for now. Time to return to my state of deep relaxation. ..

Till next time.

Business that remains unfinished

2012-02-27T13:44:00.000+11:00

Beep Beep Beep. Damn you alarm clock

Sunday morning wake up. It's hot. It's windy. I want more sleep.

Sunday morning, out at Hurstbridge, Time Trial Showdown No.2. It's still hot. It's still windy. I want more coffee.

Sunday morning, out on the course. It's really hot. It's even windier. I want more power.

Sunday morning, just crossed the finish line. I'm baking in my skin suit. Sweat is stinging my eyes. That guy has again taken the prize.

Sunday lunch time, Big Ms, Cokes, shit talking and relief that the ride is over.

Sunday afternoon. Tired legs, stiff necks and bike seat examined prostates. The day is done, the race is won and Lama and myself retreat from the cool shade of the Smiths Gully General Store to descend back to our cars and back home to recover for the next installment. Donna Buang. This will be a classic, balls to wall sufferfest.

Although I cannot make the next two Coburg TT's, that doesn't stop anyone else from going out. Coburg are doing a sensational job of creating a friendly and inviting atmosphere that is all about fun. Aside from Shane and my good self there is no hostile or overly competitive atmosphere here. Just great people, great fun and great suffering. Bring it on.

Unfinished business.

2012-02-22T06:51:00.000+11:00

Back on the TT Rig.

Back in 2008 I first spoke with one Cameron McKenzie about having a good crack at the U23 TT champs. The first thing he did was grab my TT bike and perform the maneuver now commonly known as 'slamming' that stem and told me get riding. Well, I got riding, and I sure refined all the requisite skills to be a successful solo time trialler:

-Sore neck
-Sore nuts
-Tendency to get into aero tuck, even when riding to uni or the gym
-Increasing tendency to 'half wheel' the shit out of anyone riding next to me
-Marked decrease in social skills.

Alas it was with some misfortune that I missed the U23 nationals that year, and since then, I have not truly rekindle my love for the introverted suffering of a time trial.

Stop Press:

The Fire is Back.

How So? Was it the nationals time trial? Hmmm, nah not so much.

Has it been some of those Beach Rd runs with Mitch, Tannerino, Smax and the TKM boys? Nope, not that.

It's been, in fact, the re-kindling of my ever running TT/Hill Climb duel with the one and only Master of Masters, That Guy Who Everyone Hates But Secretly Wishes They Were As Fast As (me included)

Allow me to elaborate...

...Wildwood is a peculiar place perched just over the back behind Tullamarine airport in Melbourne. Dead roads, baron landscape, there's not much going for it to be fair. At said 'odd' location and at a similarly unusual time (early on a sunday morning); two of Melbourne's truly different subcultures are thrust together in a battle for legitimacy and that last god dam parking space.

Yes it's the Time Trialists and the Plane Spotters. And don't you, for one second, doubt the number of these fuselage focused kinfolk; such are their numbers that there is even a battle between Mr Whippy Vans to see who can steal a glorified parking space and whisk off cone after cone of half melted sub par ice cream.

So imagine the scene;
-2x Mr Whippy Vans
-People sitting round with binoculars, looking at large planes flying in
-Large planes flying in (ie: LOUD NOISES)
-Cyclists tip toeiing around carrything their bikes trying to avoid getting glass in the tyres.
-Various conga lines of cyclists all bent over pinning numbers onto each other backs in a 'I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine' kind of fashion.

Yes, very different.

And hopefully, that obfuscates fact that that guy, beat me by two seconds! Not again! But that wasn't his only victory of late

So fast forward to yesterday evening. I am discussing my deepest thoughts and concerns on the topic of TTing and all things aero with the Guru ; and I spotted a twinkle in his eye. I had a pang of nervousness run over me. I had seen this look before. The look of a man with a dangerous plan. And with the same conviction for a low coefficient of drag and the same lack of empathy for my ensuing agony, he 'Slammed the absolute shit' out of that stem. And now my saddle to bar drop is oh so low.

Time to do some testing, and please, wish me luck!

And to finish, all like minded TTers should check out that guy's very useful TT calender

From Bay Crits to Bunninyong, and All the Fun in Between

2012-01-23T12:11:00.000+11:00

An account through the brain of a sleep and caffeine deprived cyclist is what follows

The Bay Crits...
...were hot. stinking hot! Ripping out a few laps in the individual support race was on the cards and enjoying watching the elite guys get their internal temperatures up to a light simmer in the searing heat capped it all off. Nothing of merit for me. But my goals achieved, legs warmed up, lungs expanded, heart sufficiently stressed.

The National Crit Title...
...AJ Won!! Holy !!#!#$$# You little Rippa!!
Last year in our team it was all "Steele this and Haas that". With the team goal achieved (ie rider development, ie riders moving onward and upward) there was a lot of talk about what Genesys would bring to the table in the sprinting department in 2012. Well, we all knew the quiet lead out maestro known within our team as 'AJ' had what it took to fill the void (not to forget Alex Carver, a new team recruit who will want to take some sprint wins of his own this year). Now the cheeky bugger has gone and won an elite bay crit and a national crit title.

"They're racing as if they're HTC Columbia delivering Mark Cavendish to the line"

As Matt Keenan alluded to whilst commentating the crit; we rode well as a team. Maybe HTC is a bit of a stretch, but hey, nothing wrong with talking it up for the crowd! I got a few good turns on the front chasing a few lone riders and spent some time jumping across to breaks early on. All good. All painful. All fun

'The' Road Race...
...Start. Go Fast. Stop. The End.

Yes the race was fast, so fast it had me gasping for every gram of oxygen. Nick Benz looks similarly unhappy with life...

...Tailwind up the climb. Cross wind across the top. It was ooonnn. I survived for ~7-8 laps with the peleton then got blown away and called it a day to save some beans for the TT

The TT
Sweet merciful crap, that was windy. The race was analogous to performing a 50 minute plank whilst getting buffeted by winds that threw you around like a an ex cricketing star's Mercedes. Far out if I had of been racing with a rego plate I would have been done for drink riding for sure, I was going from left to right, back to left, back to right, back to... Unfortunately in winds like those, with disc wheels and 808 front wheels (Thanks Zipp!) holding a straight line was not possible. It was more like riding in sand, you just had to be firm but also relaxed and just let the wind take you where it was gonna take. I survived, phew.

So the good news is I am back into normal racing and training mode and hopefully I shall find myself better equipped to regale you with some funny stories in between, hopefully...

Getting less Fat. Are you a Loh or a Brad?

2011-10-07T18:51:00.002+11:00

The stages of coming back into form and fitness for my good self generally are

1) Get moving on the bike, yes you're fat but don't worry about it

2) Get moving more, wow you're fat but damn this exercise makes you sooo hungry, surely I can eat lots and the weight will drop?

3) Maintain moving more, oh no, still fat! Dammit, now I have to eat less

And so it goes. The ever revolving circle of weight gain, weight loss...

How different people manage their diets and their weight seem to be entirely personal. Some swear off fatty food forever, others prefer to have small amounts to keep their desires at bay whilst maintain a 24/7 strict control of their diet and others (like myself) adopt an all or nothing approach.

Last year in the Marco Polo team house we wear witness to an ideological stand off.

In the Blue Corner stood Marco Polo stalwart, my Malay/Chinese food mentor and lover off all things tasty Loh Sea Keong.

Mr Loh is Mr Happy

In the Red Corner, Asian racing veteran and anti-fat zealot Brad Hall

Brad and Jono, getting into Qinghai Shape

I first arrived in Geleen with hard established routines with my healthy eating in place. This was completmented by the strict low fat diet of Brad. To quote Brad from various times and places

"Oh no, I don't eat nuts, too much fat"
"Hmm no, deep fried, not for me"

Frankly, I am jealous at his commitment and fortitude, it's really something to behold. His diet is pretty darn sensational, and what's what, it works for him. He does not do fat.

But I was getting mixed messages.

I would look across and see Loh with Red wine and a thick wedge of triple cream brie, and he would just smile and laugh;

"It doesn't matter Jono! You worry too much, whatever makes you happy. I have wine, I have cheese, I have no depression!"

And it sure worked for Loh. He was in for the long haul, he knew how to manage long stints away from home. And he knew what he needed to keep himself going; small doses of the good stuff.

Loh chucking another steak on the barbie

In reflection, I now know I sit the fence between those two. It's all or nothing. I have a split personality, for half the year I am Loh, for half the year I am Brad. I can only get through each period of being Brad because I know the reward of being Loh is not too far around the corner.

Those in attendance at one recent and notably ferocious dumpling session saw Rhys Gillett put away more than a few plates of dumplings. These people bear witness to the success of the All or Nothing approach. He is one skinny MOFO.

All or Nothing, do tell more:
When the time is right, have a few drinks, have some of that tasty cake. Enjoy it. Go nuts. As long as you are aware that all these jolly festivities will have to be worked off. There is no creative Greek accounting here, Goldman Sachs aren't gonna help you hide that blubber off the balance sheet, it's there. You know it's there. You have been warned.

When it's time to get down to business then there's no more messing about, cut the crap, drop the alcohol, get used to being a bit peckish most of the time, and get pedalling. It works for me.

I have one weakness though. One thing that keeps my obsessive compulsive tendencies at bay more than any toenail picking sesh' or any knuckle crack. That's coffee.

What's that you ask, coffee's not unhealthy? What are you on about you nutjob?

Well, long story short, (and aside from delving deep into the positives or negatives of caffeine, although if you feel like bombarding my comments, go nuts...) I ween myself down off coffee coming into big races to maximise the caffeine kick I can utilise during races. Or, moreso, just to get rid of any withdrawals if for whatever reason (god help me) I can't get a coffee before a race.

What this means for me is it's damn hard to be battling the bulge AND dosing down off coffee at the same time. It's very hard.

Yeh Yeh, I hear you all say, tough the **** up.

But no. Stuff ya's all.

And yes it is worth the stress of managing the ebbs and flows of going up and down through BMI categories and various states of caffeine addiction. It's very much worth it. Because food is awesome. And coffee is even awesomer (Yes I did that)

I know what process works for me

Haidar, Loh, Brad, Jono all tucking in

The question is, what works for you?

Big Brother Altitude House- Living with Iron Men and Women

2011-10-04T19:45:00.001+11:00

Time in the altitude house out at VU has come and gone.

There were a number of good things about livin' life in the altitude hotel. Firstly, it's dam motivating being around a bunch of endurance athletes preparing for the Hawaiian Ironman.

Dinner time conversation usually goes like this:

"What did you get up to today Jono?"
"Oh, I've been pretty busy, I went home about 10am, then I snuck off to do some pilates then I got back to do my hour of riding in the heat. You?

"Yeh not too much, just up a touch before 5am to get to swim squad, then back for my hour in the heat on the bike, then to work for 12 hours then I just ran from work to home, to the physio's, then to the gym, then back here and I'm gonna knock off some calf raises then I'll be done.... it's been a cruisey day."

The funny part is you think I'm joking.

Secondly, it's even better being a 'hard working' uni student around a bunch of double timers (that is, full time worker + full time athlete). I certainly appreciate the flexibility in my schedule that's for sure.

Aside from time playing lab rat I've been getting on the bike OUTSIDE (which is freakin sensational)

Take this morning, Beach Road;
-Coffee
-Sun
-No wind
-Good training partner, Mitch aka Dr Moo.
-Coffee

On Sunday, out through Eltham,
-Coffee
-Sun
-Nice hills
-No magpies (got lucky)
-Wicked muffins at Smiths Gully (+ coffee)
-Good chatting with Stalds
-Tagging onto a bunch on the trip home (Who knew, a break away bunch from the 6amers , know there's another bunch of guys who I can train with and have my legs ripped off)

All the things that make cycling great; different training grounds, different training partners, tasty baked goods, copious amounts of coffee and those luuuurvely post exercises endorphins. Like all good things, cycling is addictive.

Perfect

And on a final note I did another interview, this time with Shawry.

Indoors Vs Outdoors

2011-09-10T16:14:00.000+10:00

Riding indoors is not fun. It is
-Sweaty
-Hot
-Irritating
-Tedious

Riding Outdoors is fun. It Is
-Totally Awesome
-Totally fun
-A lot more social
-Exilirating
-Relaxing
-Not quite anagramitcal (I may or may not have made that word up)

So, 10 weeks ago I got chopped up. 10 weeks later I am now going for a ride outside. I can't wait. So, very, excited.

Anywho.... it makes perfect sense that after an extended period of being locked indoors pedalling furiously but going nowhere, that one would stay the heck away from all forms of indoor cycling.

For me, however, I have signed myself up for another two weeks of pure indoor bliss. I'll be stationed out at Vic Uni in Footscray where nights will be spent sleeping at 2500m and days will be spent with an hour back at sea level but with the heat dial racked up to 30 degrees and 80 percent humidity and I'll be trucking away at 70% of VO2. Should be, um, fun. I figured a bit of structure would be good in getting back into the swing. Now I think it might be a bit of a drag! But hey, it'll be easier than Qinghai lake...

So back on the bike means back on the blog. Happy times.

Jono

Round Two

2011-08-09T22:39:00.002+10:00

Is here

Good luck to everyone at tour of Geelong. Stay upright and if you're lucky maybe it won't rain like last year!

Jono

Playing the PR game

2011-08-06T13:46:00.000+10:00

Whilst I am restricted in playing a part on the road with the team I have been keeping my interest in all things orange going with some part time musings over on the team site.

First up is an interview with the recent 5 stage victor (some would say destructor) at the Tour of Gippsland, Steele Von Hoff

And yep, I need some photos to really spruce it up, but whilst using the team monicker I am not as comfortable with blatantly plagiarising as I would if it were just myself!

Enjoy

The Scope of the Matter

2011-07-17T18:17:00.002+10:00

Sitting back watching the tour. Watching some fantastic racing and all I want to do is go and race my bike. But I can't! For at least (quite possibly more) 6-8 weeks I won't be allowed to ride my bike outside. Surgeons orders.

Wait, what?!?

Yep, that's right, in the last few months of laying low I have been chipping my way through some exams and once they were over it was straight down to the Avenue hospital for a quick left hip arthriscope and an excision of a lesion. Nothing like the fresh grafting of bone to brighten up your uni holidays.

Nevertheless, I made sure to utilise the precision that I apply to my training schedule in structuring my surgery;

-Operation: 1st of July
-Tour de France: 2nd of July
-Add in TV downloads from the Coach (thanks coach) and Movies from the raging TT Lama and my couch time has been maximised.

But seriously, where did this come from??!?!

Well, it's been on the cards for a while. Having a few knocks to the ol hips and some naturally shit shaped hips to start with has meant that this was something that was likely to happen one day. Now its done I can get back to riding my bike

So what the hell does it mean?!?

Arthriscope: Key hole surgery, bone grafting/grinding/scraping and cartlidge repair within the hip joint.

Excision of lesions: quick open up at the front of the hip, move some muscle around, a quick chop here, a quick chop there and hey presto, new hip for jono.

So what now?!?!

The progression of recovery is roughly as follows;

- 0-2 weeks: feet up watching the tour
- 2-4 weeks: easy work on the wind trainer, some light rehab exercises, feet generally remain up
- 4-8 weeks: bit harder on the trainer, harder rehab, possibly some light gym
- 8-12 weeks: more gym, more rehab more riding
- 12 weeks+: Possibly cry at the chance of riding outside again

So I am absolutely chomping at the bit do some racing, or even some bunch riding. It's driving me nuts. But for the time being, patience is the key.

Cheers,

Jono

PS: A big, enormous, massive thanks to those (like my sensationally awesome team: Genesys ) who have been patient and allowed me to get myself sorted in a timely manner. And an even bigger thanks to my parents, who continue to wait on me during trying times. If I was a horse, they may have sent me to the glue factory by now. But hey, if bike riding was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing (may have stolen that quote from Davo)

Break in Transmission

2011-05-27T18:11:00.001+10:00

Been a while! Sorry, but alas all my creative talents have been at their wits end trying to put some 'creativity' into essays on enthralling topics such as Industrial Relations in post unification Germany and post Mao China, and the roles of institutional investors in Corporate Governance. Just, so, exciting.

Anyway, what's been going on in super lazy dot points:

I raced Tour of Canberra. I went as expected (not great![at this point in time]). The team went as expected (Freakin awesome!) and thus the team jets off to the next round of the NRS in Toowoomba with Nathan Haas kicken arse and the rest of the guys also putting the boot to the proverbial behind

One thing we did do in Canberra, which was really good was a bit of a fun ride/general mess around and act like kids, with, a bunch of kids. Some of the local sponsors got word round so that when we rocked out to Stromlo Forrest Park the day before the tour started to cut some laps with a bunch of really enthusiastic kids. AJ even got the idea of setting up a tt course for the kids to race each other on, it got heated that's for sure!

Other memorable moments include Shawry having words with a grumpy baggage handler who was throwing bikes around, and getting through three days of racing without any rain.

Coming up in the not too distant future for myself is a period of not too much whilst I navigate my way around some more thrilling exams. And not heaps more. I know, what the heck am I gonna talk about??

Well for starters I am looking at some options to finally (touch wood) nail a few of the issues I have been having with my left hip. The upside to this is, the greatest sports doctor ever to walk the earth (Andrew Garnham), has sorted me out with a more than interesting hip rehab/prehab/general stability regime. Let's just say; Ballet, Dancers. Wow, geez, talk about flexible. My previous round of pilates work had me working in an environment whereby the coefficient of ballet dancers to non ballet dancers was, oh, say, 1:10. But now it's a ratio of Ballet dancers to Jono that's about 100:1. Brilliant.

All for now, stay warm this winter and enjoy the finish to the Giro! (I'll be busy thinking I can Dance.)

Jono

Win some free stuff!

2011-03-18T17:03:00.000+11:00

Ok, long and short

IF you want to win a free pair of compression socks jump onboard with Zensah on facebook and 'like' them. Then follow the prompts. Easy.
http://www.facebook.com/zensahsports

In other news, I must confess, I had my socks on for the return flight from Malaysia (and they did the trick re 'cankles'), but I did have to take them off after a few hours of the flight there as for whatever reason (acclimatisation most likely) the plane was baking hot, so I couldn't hack any extra heat!

Malaysia was good fun albeit a bit flat but unfortunately the reports I wrote for our team website from stages 3-6 all got lost in the wild world of the interweb. Given I have an essay to finish before I head off to oceanias in Shepparton I don't think I'll be catching back up on them unfortunately. I can quickly say the highlights (or lowlights) of our time were

1) Mark O'Brien's golf ball sized saddle sore*. Wow. just wow!

*Before editing this I spelt it 'saddle saw', now that would be a sight to behold...

2) Torrential rain, oh so much rain.

3) Bus transfers before and after stages. Not the most enjoyable, especially given the highly bureacratic nature of the race organisors. 10:00 start, 10k transfer, therefore 7:30 bus. Yeeaahh. Great. Then we get there and sit around for 2 hours then the buses return from the second leg (which we were not informed of) with all the Malaysians smiling thanks to that extra hour of sleep. Reminds me of Cadel's Spanish wheel change last year!

4) 10k neutral sections before stages at 15-20 k per hour. Yep, when you have a 220k stage coming up there is nothing more you look forward to than 30min of neutral. (sarcasm intended)

5) Starbucks. That's right, I went there.

6) Curry. Yum

7) A block of cadbury given to us to lift our spirits pre stage.

8) Lots of space on our flights given the random 3am departures and arrivals.

Now it's back to the essay!

Jono

Malaysia

2011-03-15T11:58:00.000+11:00

Some reports from the race are here, if they are not there yet, they should be soon!

Got the whiff

2011-03-05T20:13:00.001+11:00

Racing in Asia. I love it.

It nearly broke my heart to not be able to race my final two big Chinese races, Tour of China and Tour of Hainan, with Marco Polo at the end of last year. But I was a was a broken, buckled, overly metaphorical wreck.

But alas, with many an hour of rehab work I am back on track, and thanks to Genesys for having some faith and taking me on in my buckled state I am only a week away from a return to the Asian scene!

On the cards for the team is Jelajah Malaysia and the Tour of Korea. Both are going to be fantastic.

Malaysia will be a real shock to the system. Hot and humid, like a punch in the face. But the curries and catch ups with Malaysian friends from Marco Polo will make up for it. I cannot wait! The course is unfortunately flat but given it runs along some coastal roads before making its way south towards Kuala Lumpur I am hoping for some wind to tear it up. Maybe even some success like Marko experienced last year

Korea is going to be similarly fantastic. I can't really put words to how excited I am! I had such a ball racing there last year. The race was so well organised, I mean they even chartered a private flight to transport the entire race after stage one, the food was amazing (anyone say kim chi?) and the racing was really tough. It had everything, wind, rain, snow, mountains, highways, kim chi. Everything.

The only two downsides are that I have to bust my arse being back at full time uni, it's just one big game of catch up but hey that's life. Secondly, the flights start to drag, especially when your flight to Kuala Lumpur depart at 03:30 on Sunday morning! Ouch!

Here is a good recap from our Childrens First Foundation ride a few weeks back and some more talk on WattBike Max power comps, geez there are some good sprinters out there in the Genesys corporate world!

Time to grab a quick nap before heading off to the airport, I think this is going to be a disjointed night for sure!

Jono