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[tomcartercyclist]

I’m currently living in a constant state of mild fatigue. By the end of this week (Sunday 26th August), I’ll have started 10 races over the course of the past 21 days,. I’ve not finished all of them, but the incentive to get up and get around has been there. It’s always disheartening to not finish a race, but I’ve learnt to look at it as part of the bigger picture. Usually there’s a reason behind it and a lesson to be learnt from it. I’ll do a brief cover of each race, what happened, where I’m up to now and what’s in store. Monday, August 6 - The first of a series of three races. They’re individual races, but if you start all three of them, it goes towards an overall classification that puts out extra money, even more incentive. The three races were all 2 hours away with the train, so I’d be leaving home around 11, getting to the race at 1330, racing from 1500 and home by 2030 at the earliest. Monday’s race was the worst. It was scorching hot, and I managed to handle 25km before my stomach started playing up. I dropped back through the bunch, retching as I felt my lunch creeping back up from my stomach. I made it back to the start/finish before lying down and waiting for my stomach to settle as numerous people came over asking if I was okay and needed water. I’ve recently tended to have bircher muesli prior to training and racing, which has been fantastic and I’ve had no qualms with. I’m still not certain, but I have a feeling that maybe the high amount of dairy combined with the heat caused an upset in my stomach. Lesson learnt from this? Try something different pre-race. Wednesday, August 8 - With the lesson learnt from Monday’s race and the weather still warm, I changed my pre-race meal to spaghetti mixed with tomato paste. I felt significantly better in the race and handled it alright. The course had just over a kilometre of cobbles per lap, making up about 15km total, it was a bit brutal on the hands, but eventually you get used to it and learn the right line. The most important thing is never slowing down. Maintaining speed is hard, but easier in the long run, but as soon as you slow down it’s even more of a struggle to get back up to pace. In terms of my build up, I was doing these races to get speed in the legs prior to the big races I had coming up. This race wasn’t a hard race, but it was for me. After having not done any speed work for a while, the first couple of races can be brutal, playing more a mental game with yourself that you’re capable, pain is only temporary and all that. Amazing how much those positive affirmations actually help.

Friday, August 10 - The last of the series of three races, and the best course of the lot. Some nice flowing corners and good speed sections. I was feeling the best I’d felt since I’d got back into racing, still not top form, but well above where I was at on Wednesday. Not much to write about on this one, I missed the break but gave it a couple of efforts to get a chase going, but nothing stuck. Finishing in the bunch and notching up more km’s in the legs.

Sunday, August 12 - I’d planned to do this race, with a fair idea of where it was and getting there on the train, but hadn’t connected the dots in my head - I’d raced there last year and got an absolute kicking. The course is brutal, with no place of respite I knew it was going to be a tough day. I think the cumulation of racing Wednesday/Friday caught up with me, and I was starting to drift further backwards. When your condition’s not great it’s hard. When your condition’s not great and you’re also fatigued, it’s even harder. I ended up pulling out and spending the next two days recuperating. Wednesday, August 15 - A decent level of race in the French-speaking region of Belgium. I expected it to be upwards of 120km, but it only ended up being 95km. A surprise to be sure, but a pleasant one. With guys racing from the team I am doing the stagiaire with, and the staff watching, I wanted to have a good race and see how the legs were performing after the previous weeks racing. I felt amazing, the course was flowing and I couldn’t get enough of it. The break went without any of my teammates in it, so I helped pull turns at the front trying to bring it back, but to no avail. In the last few laps I gave it a couple of digs but wasn’t able to get anywhere, eventually coming in with the peloton. Similar results to the week previous, but significantly better power and feeling in the races, which is a positive.

Sunday, August 19 - I wasn’t supposed to race. I didn’t want to race. The team wanted me to race. I raced. It was a bigger domestic race, a lot of hills and something I didn’t want to do with my first big race planned for Tuesday. I begrudgingly obliged and lined up for 140km with a supposed 1700m climbing. The plan was to go in and ride in the bunch, stay comfortable and conserve myself for Tuesday. I made it 75km before the pace up one of the hills was too hot, and I let myself drift backwards. By the time I’d got back to the start I’d done 100km and 1700m climbing, the guys still racing had another 40km to do, and I think it came to around 2400m climbing. I was happy with what I’d done, thinking I’d be fresh and firing for Tuesday, but Monday morning I got an email from the team. They thought that Tuesday would not be a good race for me because of the hills (significantly less than Sunday) and that they’d put me in two big races Saturday and Sunday instead. I was a bit gutted, but I had done some digging about the course, checking Google maps and Strava showed me that the roads were all quite small, and the climb being quite a pinch on the lap, I was almost grateful not to race. Instead, I would be riding two smaller circuit races Tuesday & Thursday before a weekend of two big 185km races. Tuesday and Thursday would be the exact same 15 laps both days, a real mental challenge spending five and a half hours (234km) on the same 8km loop. Tuesday, August 21 & Thursday, August 23 - They were both ridden fairly similarly, with a break going then me suffering round in the bunch until the finish. No outstanding results, but the power had definitely come a long way from two weeks prior. I finished Tuesday and I was shattered, Thursday was very similar in terms of effort but I felt significantly better, which is a positive. In terms of numbers and how I’d progressed in two weeks, the Wednesday, August 8 race was 2 hours 30, with an average power of 275, normalised power of 314 and I was shattered. Compared to Thursday 23rd, which was 2 hours 52, average of 287, normalised of 337 and a lower average heart rate. Obviously an improvement, and more so because I felt better after finishing too. With all these smaller races behind me, it was time to get into the big races, two back-to-back UCI 1.1 races. The 1.1 is a classification of the level of race. It can be comprised of 50% world tour teams (Team Sky, Etixx-Quickstep, BMC etc.), with the rest of the field made up by pro-continental and continental teams. Both of the races didn’t have any world tour teams starting, but there were a handful of pro-continental teams there to assert their dominance. Saturday, August 25 - The race was Omloop Mandel-Leie-Schelde Meulebeke, and it seemed to go by in about the same time as it takes to say the title. My first race of this calibre and it was eye-opening. It was controlled, everyone racing seemed to belong there, everyone is capable and there’s a fair degree of politeness within the bunch. It was fast, with a 45km/h average, yet in the bunch it wasn’t too challenging. The race was made up of three 30km laps, with a further eight 12km laps. It’s amazing how fast time flies, it seemed like the big laps were over in a flash, and then the small ones also seemed to fly by. In comparison to other small races I’ve done where you’re counting the km’s until you finish, it makes a pleasant change to have a race go by so fast. A small break eventually got away with four guys, but only stuck for about 35km before being pulled back in so that it could line up for a sprint. I was just sat in the middle of the bunch and rolled in there for the finish. In terms of difficulty compared to the smaller races earlier in the week, this race was 4 hours 10, with an average of 243 W and a 285 W normalised, so not as hard, but enough to leave you buggered for the next day...   Sunday, August 26th - Schaal Sels. A revisited course after the gravel and dirt epic of the past three years. The gravel and dirt race has been moved to Sunday 2nd September (possibly one of the races on my programme). So with the new parlours in place, we were lining up for 14 laps of 13.3km around one of the suburbs of Antwerp. It was another 1.1 with not many teams lining up, however the majority were professional, with 6/11 teams being pro-continental. I was one of the last to line up, sitting right at the back, which a lot of people would view as troublesome, yet I somehow ended up in a break after 2km? Not sure how that happened. We stayed away for a lap, which let me realise how tired my legs were, how crazy the course was and that it was going to be a struggle. I hung in for another 60km before being dropped. For saying it was only 13km laps, there were 26 corners and a cobbled section. I believe the organisers had sat down to plan the course and set themselves the challenge of using the maximum amount of corners. It was ambitious lining up for another 185km day, and I don’t think my body has accustomed to that yet, but it’s something I will/would have to get used to. So what’s on from now? I am racing Wednesday, another 1.1 race, Druivenkoers Overijse, 195km (hopefully) of suffering (hopefully not). After that, I’m not quite sure. I can see myself being selected for Antwerp Port Epic on Sunday, an absolutely epic race over gravel, through mud and cornfields. I’ll hopefully give another update in a couple of weeks. Until then I’ll just be racing hard and training easy. T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

It sure has been a while

I’ve only recently discovered Alex Dowsett’s Instagram feed, where he candidly shares his experiences racing in the World Tour. He’s quite an inspiration, not only because he’s alright on a bike, but because of his honesty with how things are going. When times are bad, he can still talk about it and keep a positive attitude. Quite a contrast to myself, who when things start going downhill tries to bury their head in the sand and avoid talking about where I’m at. Maybe some people are more inclined to share those things, whereas I prefer to keep quieter with what I’m doing, but I guess now is a better time than ever to update everyone on where I’m at. Since my last blog in March (or whenever it was) last year, there hasn’t been any major happenings. Putting it bluntly, 2017 was pretty shit once I got to Belgium. I couldn’t seem to find good legs, be competitive in races or even get to the finish in some big races. That’s demoralising, and part of the reason I stop writing when I do. Things go bad in races and you start questioning your own ability, your place in the sport and whether it’s right to be overseas doing what you’re doing. You sit down at the end of your third or fourth race in a row where you’ve not finished and battle with your inner self. Eventually, the season came to an end, I got home and the change of scenery inspires me to get back into it and build up again, with structure and positive influences in your life it becomes easy again. Things go well, I was happy with where I was at, trusting in the process and making the most of my summer at home. Then I came back to Belgium. It started the same way again, some shit races at the start of the season and I’m back to thinking of other plans. I finished a big race with the New Zealand team and as I was sat on the train home, I was seriously considering hanging the bike up, going to England, getting a job and spending the rest of the year there away from everything. I got over it somehow, pulled myself together and got back into my training. Can’t remember quite what it was that spurred it, but I know there are a few people that have been extremely helpful in helping me see the bigger picture and focus on the small things to help achieve the bigger ones. One of these people is Shane McConigly of ‘Create Leap’. We’ve sat down and had good chats about what drives me, what I want to achieve and through this, how to approach my training and races in order to maximise my performance. Before really sitting down and talking with him, I was dubious of what could be achieved through a change in mindset, but it’s definitely helped and I’m feeling a lot better for it. So, for where I’m at now. I moved where I was living in Belgium this year as I wanted to be closer to my team so that they could take me to races instead of me having to catch the train. There was one instance last year where I got up early, spent three hours on trains to get to the race, to crash about 70km in, then have to go three hours home again (and to add insult to injury, I dropped my watch on the platform and smashed the glass on the face). I didn’t want another bar of that, so I moved. I’m now living in Mons, it’s a decent sized city on the Eastern border of Belgium with France. It’s quite a way from a lot of big cities, but it’s significantly better training and I’m a lot happier with my riding situation compared to prior years. After my sub-par races at the start of the season, I got back into it (training, racing and mentally) and had some quality races. There was one in France, which was meant to be around 180km, but after some extra laps added on by the organisers, ended up being a touch of 200. My first race of that distance and I did fairly alright, went top 20 from memory. I was riding well and things were looking up until I hit a patch of bad luck again. It just kind of hits in things you can’t control, a puncture here, a crash mechanical there and the odd crash, all in races and that’s intensity training you can’t get back easily. It put me on the back foot a bit and I had to rebuild from there. It happens I guess, and I managed to have just enough to achieve one of my bigger goals for this season, which was getting the opportunity to ride as a stagiaire for a continental team (a step up in level from what I’ve been racing). A stagiaire ride is an internship, where the team takes you on from 1st August until the end of the season where they see what you’re like in the higher level of competition and whether you’re a viable fit for the team. If they like you, they then go on to offer you a contract for the following season (hopefully). With this to look forward to it’s provided extra motivation for my training. I’ve been trying to get away and train in different places, some for a change, some because they’re nicer than where I live. A change is always good, and new roads can make the training significantly easier. Sure there’s been some incidents along the way, but things are looking more positive (for now), and if there’s one thing I’ve learnt, it’s that things are never always on a high. The goal is to just ride this wave as long as possible, keep doing everything right nutrition/training/sleep/study wise and making the most of the opportunities. I’ve tried to keep this succinct, and sure there are gaping holes of events that have happened (like mum and dad visiting, me crashing two days in a row, an amazing holiday in Cyprus, getting burgled in Brussels and being knocked off my bike by a car) but for now it’s an update and it’s kept me busy on the train for two hours as I travel back from a short but intense training block in Limburg, the hilly region of Holland. I’ve not put any photos on this update, but if you click HERE, it’ll take you to my Instagram, where there’s the odd photo. Hopefully the next update isn’t too far away. T.C.

[tomcartercyclist]

A crucial time in my training, with Morocco fast approaching and wanting to do well, I was dubious of having my surgery prior to leaving, but was stoked when the surgeon, Vaughan Poutawera (VP), told me that after the surgery on the Thursday, I could be riding by Saturday. Saturday came round and I was back out, bit sore in the arm, but nothing that could overshadow a good coffee ride. 

Leaving home is never easy, partly from the emotional perspective leaving mum and dad behind, but mostly from the stress mum puts herself through about me not being fully packed three days (yes, days) before leaving. Hell, she’s lucky if it’s thirty minutes before we’d agreed to leave the house! I’d managed to nail my packing this year, getting everything I wanted to take in my suitcase and bike box whilst still being under the baggage weight limit. With car loaded we were off to Auckland the night before the flight, have a quality ‘last supper’ together before flying out in the morning. Pulling the “I’ve just had surgery” card at check-in, I was bumped up to premium economy for the second leg of my flight, thanks VP!

Arriving in Belgium was a bit of  shock to the system, the ground was white and shorts and tee-shirt definitely wouldn’t have cut it! With my flight getting in mid-morning I was able to build up my bike and get out for an easy spin that afternoon, in what was ‘good’ weather. Sunny, no wind, and with enough layers, avoiding hypothermia. About 500m from the end of my ride my rear derailleur strangely stopped working. It’s strange because if my Di2 battery had died, the front derailleur would have cut out first, however this was still working. The next day I dropped my bike into a local shop, where they upgraded all the firmware throughout the battery, shifters and derailleurs and I was off with a smile, just a small hitch. About 2 days later my battery did go flat though, thinking I’d just neglected to charge it, I plugged it in overnight, and forgot about it. The “oh shit” moment didn’t hit till three days later however, when the battery was flat again. Applying some Google-fu to the problem, led me to the conclusion that there was obviously either a loose connection, or a faulty part, which is covered under the warranty for three years. After some more research, I found out that Shimano have registered ‘service centres’ with staff trained by Shimano, all the spare parts and the ability to replace them on warranty. Within 40 minutes of riding I was at the nearest one and explaining my issue. The mechanic plugged my bike into the computer, checked all the firmware and said there was no issue except potentially the battery being faulty. He told me to come back three days later on the Tuesday when they were open again with my bike receipt so he could call Shimano and check that the European department could cover the warranty as the bike was bought in NZ. He unplugged the system, went to send me on my way, and after the battery being at 50% when he plugged it in, it was now flat. With a shake of the head, he said he’d replace the battery with a new one as long I promised I’d email him with the receipt of my bike, quality guy and exceptional service on the Shimano front!

The time off the bike in Belgium was a lot smoother, I’d had the team presentation, which was a wild ride of “what? what? who’s this? and wait, what?” as the whole presentation was in French (I don’t speak French), then as I was on the stage with the rest of the team being presented, one of the guys was talking, calls a girl up and suddenly he’s on one knee asking her to marry him. A new experience, that’s for sure. The smoothest part of the week was definitely being able to slide round on the frozen pond in the garden wearing quality winter footwear, socks and jandals. It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything truly wintery so seeing snow and ice every day when I woke up was re-igniting my inner child! This didn’t last for long however, as just a week after arriving I was off again, in search of sunshine and bike races in Morocco on my first visit to Africa.

A few day prior to departure I’d received an email from the team with the details of the flight, when I needed to be at the airport, the races, riders and staff that were going. With the rendezvous being Brussels airport, it was there that I properly met the guys I’d be with for the next two weeks. All fairly experienced bike riders, having ridden at high levels in former years. We’d had a few issues checking the bikes in as they had not been paid for prior some were overweight, despite the 32kg weight limit (plus suitcase of 20kg) there was still one rider with the total weight of his bike box at 45kg! Turns out he’d brought enough food in case of the apocalypse. It was during all this that one of the more experienced riders turns to me and says “first race, first problems eh”, what a premonition that was.

Arriving in Agadir, Morocco later that night on the same flight as the Canadian team, where all 12 bikes (ours and theirs) in their bags/boxes were loaded onto the back of a ute with (luckily) raised side panels and a net thrown over for extra safety, reassuring. The next day all are bikes were loaded into the back of a truck and sent on their way, driven down to Laayoune, Western Sahara where our first lot of races were to be. Just after midday we were all loaded on to a bus and taken to the local military base, where after a rigorous security procedure we all boarded a Moroccan military plane, one of the ones with seats parallel to the length of the plane, facing each other and all our suitcases loaded on a tray in the back with (another) net thrown over them. There was no safety briefing, it was dark, it was noisy, the toilet was a bucket, the landing was rough but at least the seats were fairly comfortable. As one of the guys from the English team put it “It’s more comfortable than EasyJet, just missing the tits and lip gloss”. After landing and finally getting a hotel that we were able to stay at (after the one the organisers checked us into turned round at the last minute and said they didn’t want us) it was almost 10pm, and still no bikes. We were due to race the next day, however I wasn’t panicking, as long as mine wasn’t there, it meant no one else’s was either, can’t have a bike race if you’ve got no bikes!

The bikes finally arrived the morning of the race and it was a case of building them, getting kitted up and going to lunch then straight on to team presentation with nary a break in-between. The team presentation was in some kind of local government hall, and after sitting around for too long waiting for a presentation that was too short, we rolled back outside to the start line. I went to change into my big chainring for the start and guess what? The Di2 was on its way out again, I still had use of the rear derailleur but was stuck in the small chainring at the front, “first race, first problems eh”. The countdown was on, the locals were cheering, we were clipped in and into the neutralised start of my first elite UCI race outside of New Zealand. After 4km of neutralised, we were pulled over into a lay-by where all our bikes were to be loaded into a truck and us on to a bus so that we could be taken 40km down the road to the ‘official’ start of the race. Prior to loading my bike, I spoke to the mechanic of the English team after suggestion from one of their riders during the neutralised zone, who managed to adjust the limit screws in my front derailleur, moving it into the big ring, so that at least I’d be in a suitable gear for the day that was due to be all flat. 

Finally getting to the start and cracking into 160km point-to-point race that was all one direction heading south down the coast through the desert. It was a cross/tail wind all day and split in the first 10km. I was in the second group, managing to ride fairly well given I was effectively riding a single speed bike (53x12 all day). It was only as the road started to tilt up ever so slightly that I couldn’t hold on, I needed an easier gear and my battery was now completely flat. If I’d had full use of my gears, I definitely would have been able to stick with that group, which all ended up going top 20, which I was disappointed about. The first group to cross the line averaged 52km/h for the whole day, I finished with an average of 47.7 km/h, definitely the fastest race I’ve ever done! Looking back I couldn’t have done anything about it, after the bikes being delivered I wouldn’t have had time to charge the Di2 enough, was pretty much a case of tough luck. Something’s obviously wrong with the bike, I’m led to believe it’s a loose connection, probably something I’ve knocked when cleaning my bike.

After the race we were all taken to a local building for lunch, which consisted of a dinner plate size bread bun/roll/loaf and four roast chickens, that’s it, no salad, no grains, nothing. Just four roast chickens as the waiter unveiled them with a flourish as he set them down on the table. I’d forgot to bring a spare pair of shorts for post-race, so I was sat in my bibs the whole time. As we discussed the trip back to the hotel over dinner, 160km back the way we came, plus 40km we’d been driven out from the start with a 100km speed limit all the way, we realised it was going to be a couple of hours more before we were back. As one of the last tables to leave dinner, we’d missed out on seats on the bus with most of the other riders too, so had to return in a van, which turned out to be quite the experience. The 100km speed limit went out the window (along with my hearing) as the driver went foot flat all the way back at 140km/h, singing along to Arab music he had blaring, whilst managing to keep up with all his social media at the same time. Who said men couldn’t multitask?

I slept well that night, grateful it wasn’t on a slab in the morgue and that we had a day to recover from the day before. All kitted up with the team, waiting in the lobby to go when I was told we’d be doing a 3 hour ride, having raced the day before, and with a race the next day. I rolled with it, we ended up doing 2:40 in the wind, then back to the hotel and rest for the next day’s race. 

The second race was in the opposite direction to the day prior, heading North and thankfully only 100km, as it was a slow day into the wind. Through poor positioning in moments when the road turned slightly, I ended up out the ass, distanced from the group on two occasions, luckily managing to make my way back both times. Somehow, in a strange turn of events that cycling seems to throw at you, I saw the next bend coming, rode round the outside of the group, and in the space of two minutes, I’d gone from being in the bunch cursing my poor positioning, to suddenly being in the break of the day, with one of my teammates, 14 riders and 48km remaining. For those of you who are numbers based, I’ll expand a bit on what it took to establish the break. After going round the outside of the bunch and making the split, in a cross wind and the group working well together to pull away, I averaged 390 watts (5.6 W/kg) for the first 10 minutes of the split, with an average and max heart rate of 186 and 194 respectively. For the full 48km break, 1 hour 18 mins long, I average 334 watts (7 watts less and 20 mins longer than my nationals TT this year) with average/max heart rate of 178/198 respectively.

The group worked well together until 8km to go. The wind was howling in from the right hand side, I’d just finished a turn, moved over to the right into the wind and the first attack went on the left, leaving me stranded and without anyone to draft off. There was another young rider that got pinged as well, so we put our heads down and worked together, picking up my teammate that had also got dropped a bit further along the ride. It took us five and a half kilometres, eight minutes and 400 watts. With my legs buggered and not far to go, I swung on the back and then tried to work my way around as many people as possible leading into the finish, eventually coming in 8th, with my teammate 7th. A good day for the team and I was happy with the result. All the other guys from the team had a brief break after finishing then hopped back onto their bikes and rode the 100km back to the hotel, tailwind all the way but still a lot with 140km to race the following day. I stuck around, had another sub-par lunch, this time with couscous before cruising back to the hotel on the bus, having dinner and chilling out for the night.

Race three and the worst roads we’d ridden on so far. In comparison to the first day, where 80% of the race was smooth tar seal, the third day was 80% ripped up road, with potholes galore. The race stuck together most of the day, before a slight turn in the road again where crosswinds hit, and the race started to split. I was near the front, in the right place, rolling round in the echelon before eventually getting cut off when I was trying to move back up to the front and because I wasn’t aggressive/assertive (pretty much the same thing) enough, I suddenly found myself off the wheels and again in the second group. None of our riders had made the split, so it was on to the front and working hard trying to pull the break back. It suddenly became apparent however that everyone else seemed happy just sitting on as a handful of riders worked to pull the break back, when they all had things to gain and nothing to lose if they’d worked with us. Frustrating to say the least, but not as frustrating as seeing the 2km to go sign, winding it up for the sprint, getting on the right wheels, still winding up, more, more, more, then realising you’d done 2km and still couldn’t see the finish line. The organisers had put the 2km to go sign about 4.5km out from the finish, which is annoying during a point to point race when you’ve not had chance to ride the finish. “But Tom, you should have been able to tell by the total distance on your Garmin”, good thinking, that'd only work though if the races are the same length they tell you before the start, but none of them ever are. Maybe they’re a kilometre out, maybe five kilometres!

After the race it was bikes in the truck, lunch (more meat, more couscous), off to the air base and back onto the military plane North to Agadir. Landing in Agadir it was already dark, and we were treated to an extra hours transfer inland to Taroudant, where our next set of races were. Going into the hotel room and seeing one double bed was a firm “no” from me, after talking to the receptionist we were told that the ‘couch’ under the stairs was the other bed. I took one for the team and offered to sleep on the couch so the other guy could have the double bed, which eventually worked in my favour. After dinner we were told that it was in fact three to a room. The teammate that was put in with us quickly came to me babbling about “I can’t sleep in the same bed as another guy, it’s against my religion, I can’t do it, it’s against my morals” and other such excuses. Couch was looking like a positive option after all!

Waking up to the bikes in the lobby was a great way to put a smile on my face, albeit my bike missing a bar end. After an easy hour on the bike, a quick shower then we were out for lunch, put on by the race organisers, in an absolutely stunning location, with the best lunch we had the whole time we were there, mainly due to them finishing the meal with a chocolate ice cream cake, can’t go wrong with that! After getting back we were paraded by the front of our hotel on our bikes in team kit, in front of crowds of locals with a marching brass band leading the way. That evening we headed in to town and sat outside at one of the local cafe’s, soaking in the atmosphere and indulging in the culture by trying traditional Moroccan tea, pretty much just mint tea with sugar, it’s fantastic!

Another day off before racing kicks back in tomorrow and I’d woken with a sore throat, not a good sign. It was off on the bikes for two hours with a decent climb in the middle, nothing steep, just nice and gradual as something different to spin the legs out. I spent the rest of the day relaxing with my legs up, catching up on TV shows and prepping my kit for the next days race.

132km, supposedly. 123km according to my Garmin and a communique from the organisers post race saying there’d been a crash further up the road causing the race to be shortened. More likely someone hadn’t done their course research. Not that it mattered anyway, 30km into the race and the break had already gone, our full team was on the front for 15km, working hard with one other team to try and pull it back, but to no avail. 30km out from the finish, the team car pulls up alongside me telling me to go to the front and ride for the team, all whilst I’m sitting on the back, trying to claw my way further up the front, I had nothing. Shortly after I ended up dropping off the bunch and riding in with one of my other teammates who wasn’t having the best day. We were quizzed by the team DS (directeur sportief, part of team management who tells you what to do during the race) after the race about why we didn’t go to the front when we were told, judging by the gesticulations and tone of my teammate, I was pretty sure he was making the same point I would have made, you can’t ride the front when you’re struggling to ride the back!

We had another day off the following day, an easy hour finishing at the coffee stop, where camels were roaming the surrounding streets. Sitting in the sun, talking nonsense and drinking a couple of coffees (or teas) each before begrudgingly heading back to the hotel to get changed for lunch. On a spur of the moment decision, we decided to skip eating lunch at the hotel, and instead started to make our way into town. We’d barely been walking 5 minutes before we were accosted by a local, walking alongside us he began to quiz us where we were from, what we were doing in Morocco, and where we were heading that day. After finding out we were going into town to eat, he turned round, and started running in the opposite direction.One of the Belgies pipes up with “wait eh, two minutes and he's back on a scooter”, sure enough, there he was. He’d pass us, go slightly ahead and wait, ride alongside us for a bit, before taking off up the road again. Eventually making it into town, finding somewhere to eat and our Moroccan friend organising us a horse-drawn ride back to the hotel for around $1.50NZ each. What he got out of the whole ordeal I’m not exactly sure, we all still had our wallets and phones, and he hadn’t pressured us into giving him money. Maybe the Marocs are genuinely friendly people and I’m too pessimistic.

The following day none of us were looking forward to, it was cold, it was wet, it was windy, and my cold had become worse. We were expecting 50 laps of a 2.5 kilometre circuit, however on the start line however, we were told it would actually be 18 laps, so a quick calculation led me to 45km, instead of 125km, not that I was complaining in the grim weather. To say the start was rapid would be an understatement, it was full gas straight from the gun and my legs were not responding at all. One of the first corners was tyre deep in water, it was slippery and there were guys on the front taking crazy risks that I wasn’t prepared to take. It was race over for me fairly quickly, I was struggling physically, and wasn’t riding confidently in the wet. A disappointing race that was over fairly quickly. It was a similar scenario for most of my teammates, with another three pulling out around the same time as me, one puncturing just after the halfway mark and subsequently pulling the pin after missing the break, with the final rider being the only one to finish, in 15th.  We all spent the rest of the day sitting in the hotel lounge and drinking coffee, whilst looking (and feeling) morose.

The last race was meant to be a different course to the first, but due to flooding out on the roads, we were to do the same course as the first day in Taroudant, but with the extra 5km we’d missed before the turn-around when we’d first done it. This day was probably the worst my cold got, I’d been told by the DS to just do my best, ride hard at the start, either help establish a break with a teammate in or pull back anything we didn’t have a rider in, and if I was shattered, I’d be ok to drop off after that. I rode hard from the start, giving it a proper go and ended up feeing alright for the day. I was working on the front when I had to, sitting in when we had a rider in the break. No moves ever lasted long off the front and with 20km to go we were all together with it looking like it would be coming down to a bunch sprint. My team mate soon put an end to that however, attacking off the from with one other, for a thrilling 20km finale. 5km to go and from my vantage point mid-pack we could see them with a slight gap. 3km to go and they were even closer, approaching town and the rest of the team crossing fingers, we had one rider up near the front in case it ended up coming back together, but things were becoming tense. 2km to go and a rider attacks from the peloton, bridging the gap to the lead two riders with 1km to go. Watching, waiting and finally seeing hands in the air, but not the blue sleeves of our team. Turns out he’d got second to the rider that had bridged across, with his breakaway partner third, the first rider from the peloton missing out by half a wheel, it came close! The rider we’d had at the front of the peloton came in 6th, with a result like that, if the lead three had been swamped 100 metres before the line, we’d have still had a rider on the podium.

For second place he got a trophy, traditional Moroccan dress and a huge Moroccan rug, like he’s going to get that back on the plane! Turns out our DS knows someone who lives in Morocco where they can leave it till they come back in April for a tour where they supposedly have a car that they can put it in to drive back to Belgium. Seems an awfully long drive, maybe something was lost in translation!

0430 the next morning and my alarm’s going off, stumbling through the hotel with my bags and into yet another van before heading off to the airport and the return trip to Belgium. After saying our farewells at the airport, I parted with my teammates and went to meet my ride back to my base in Belgium, slightly torn bike box in tow. It’d obviously been thrown around at some point, and it was dented and the zipper was ripped, but my bike luckily came out ok. Unfortunately for one of my teammates that wasn’t the case, it was the bike (pun intended). A bent seat and forks in pieces, a shit way to end a solid two weeks of racing, on a positive note however, at least it was on the way back rather than the way there!

Now I’m off on a two week break, visiting friends and family before returning to Belgium late February to rip back into the training. I’ve got some targets that seem to have been almost thrust upon me, and I definitely want to be able to shoot for them. “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”, so I’ll be back training hard, loading my pistol, aiming, and hoping for the best when I pull the trigger!

T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

Leading with the one and only photo I have from the 2017 National Championships, tucked away in second wheel, and I’m back into the blogs. If this is your first time reading these, there’s a link to subscribe up the top, or just click HERE. With that, I’ll send you an email each time I post a new blog. I’ve also updated the layout this year, linked my Instagram and Twitter, really going hard on that social media!  I did a full write up on my nationals for http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/, I’ll save you a click and copy the full article out below, after a bit of an update on what I’ve been up to the past couple of months. After coming home from Belgium prematurely in August due to a broken elbow requiring surgery as the result of a crash mid-race, I was keen to put the European season behind me. My first year as an under 23 rider and I learnt so much; burnout, nutrition on and off the bike, and handling yet another injury. After the crash, the surgery and returning home 10 days later, I took a complete month off the bike. No riding at all, not even on the stationary trainer. I think the most exercise I did was walking into town and back, even that was a push. Getting back on the bike was a bit of a struggle, but after three and a half months training, I was tearing it up at nationals. I’ve had a strong build up this year, with a bit of racing thrown in, where my performances have never been reflective of my form. I managed a third place at the Dave Logue Classic, after breaking away with two others 70km into the 130km race. Apart from that though, most of my races have been used as solid training sessions, with the day prior usually consisting of a gym session in the morning followed by an interval based session in the afternoon, no rest for the wicked! No with that, here’s my write up on my nationals and the days leading into, directly copied from THIS RoadCyling article. “Tom’s Diary – a candid look at Nationals

I’m not the best rider, I’m not a national champion, hell, I’ve not even walked away from nationals with a medal and bottle of sav.  Instead I’ve come away with some great experience, a sense of achievement and some definite goals for next year.  Here’s a look into the intricacies of my nationals, and all the mundanity that goes with it.

The day before: Thursday, 05/01/2017

The day before the time trial, waking up with the realisation that I’d not charged my Di2 battery on my road bike in a while quickly kicked me into gear, causing me to rack my brain for someone or somewhere that would have a charger. Maybe the battery would have lasted until after Sunday’s road race, but I didn’t want to run that risk. After locating a charger, I headed out on the bike for an hour’s ride with dad, consisting of a handful of efforts during a lap around the time trial course, in order to re-familiarise myself with what I was in for the following day. We were then back to the motel, quickly showered and back out the door, road bike slung over shoulder. Dropping my bike into the saviours that are The Hub Cycle Centre in Hastings for my battery to be charged and then on to Havelock North for lunch at the Black Barn Winery, sans alcohol, sticking to the water to keep hydrated for Friday.Picking my bike and registration up on the way back to Napier, before pinning my number, packing my gear bag and planning my TT.  I wanted to write up a plan for the TT so I didn’t do what I’d done the previous year, starting too fast then blowing spectacularly before the halfway point.

Time Trial: Friday, 06/01/2017

The Time Trial, first race of 2017 in a discipline that isn’t exactly my forte. Going in with the mentality of using it for experience – and as an added challenge – to work on my weaknesses. I’d not spent a huge amount of time on the TT bike, which seems to be crucial to success in the discipline, so didn’t have high hopes. Leaving the motel early to get to the start with plenty of time so that I didn’t have to rush and had time up my sleeve in case something needed changing with my bike. As soon as I arrived at the TT start, I had my bike checked on the jig, to make sure it was UCI legal for the race. I’d changed only one thing since the TT the previous year, and that was the stack under my time trial bars, raising them higher to try and alleviate tightness that I get in my glutes. The commissaries measured the height from the top of my elbow pads to the top of my ‘drop’ bars on the bike and promptly told me that it wasn’t legal, that I had the time trial bars 10cm too high. After toing and froing between my dad, coach and the commissaires, we eventually determined that they’d taken the wrong measurement. The distance between arm pad and drop wasn’t what counted, but the distance between the top of the pad and the top of my time trial bars, which was significantly within the legal measurement, phew!Once I knew all my gear was in order, I started going through the motions of getting ready. Into the skinsuit, onto the trainer, headphones on and slowly warming up half an hour before my start. There’s not really a lot to say about what happened during the TT, I started off slow and wound it up to what I thought I’d be able to hold for the full 40km, which in the end wasn’t enough for a ‘good’ time and to crack the top 10, instead I had to settle for 15th. Considering the training I’d done in terms of designated time trial efforts, I can’t complain. I know what I have to do for next year if I want a good chance at a solid result and I’ve learnt that I definitely ride better with a plan to stick to. Good learning curve, happy that I’d at least given it a go, put it behind me and moved my focus on to Sunday’s road race.Back to the motel to relax and hang out with friends in the evening.

In between race days: Saturday, 07/01/2017

Three a.m and I’m in the bathroom vomiting, remnants of last night’s dinner splatter the porcelain, what a great way to start the weekend. I managed to get back to sleep and eventually wake up at 8, in time to head out on my bike and wish my girlfriend (Amanda Jamieson) luck before the start of the women’s road race. After they’d left, I rode down to Clive and back for an hour’s ride to spin the legs out after the TT and before the road race.  A quick bite to eat after my shower and out on my bike to the city circuit, bottles full in order to keep hydrated.  I made it to the circuit with 5 minutes to spare before the lead women came stomping up Hospital Hill on their first lap.  I stuck around to support Amanda as she battled her way round the course, then made it to the finish in time to watch her take the under 23 national title!  

I don’t think I could’ve been any happier, even if I’d won a national title myself.After the medal ceremony we headed back to my motel, where we hung out for the afternoon, talking nonsense, reading (got a great book on the go) and browsing social media.  Later in the evening some close family friends came round for dinner, they shared fish and chips with my family while I sat eating my standard pre-race meal: brown rice, veggie and chicken stir fry.  After they’d gone, I pinned my numbers on my kit, changed my tyres on my wheels (I train on the same set of wheels I race on, I love them that much) and my bike was ready for the following day.

Road Race: Sunday, 08/01/2017 Race day, waking up at 8, battling through a decent breakfast (weet-bix, banana and toast with marmite and avocado) and taking my time to make sure everything was in order, all my bottles were filled, pockets stashed with food and I was off to the start line.  After signing on, I had a quick yarn with the girlfriend and other mates, and then we were off.I was trying to stay near the front early in the race in case the break went early like it did last year, which I was keen to be in. It didn’t end up going as early, and I ended up sitting around the mid-front of the bunch for the next 60 km, until we turned right at Bayview to come back down to Napier. I knew before the start that this moment was going to be crucial with the crosswinds, so stuck close to the front and readied myself. I made it into town with the front bunch, then managed to somehow still be with them the first time over Hospital Hill, noise from the spectators roaring in my ears and twinges of cramp beginning to gnaw at my hamstrings.I kept sinking bottles of carbohydrates with added electrolytes and began ticking off the laps in my head. 7 more times over the hill, 6, 5, 4, 3, the cramp had subsided and our bunch diminished to a group of 5 under 23’s (and a couple of elites) racing for the final U23 podium spot. I was starting to feel comfortably uncomfortable with the pain in my legs and felt primed for the finale. With 15km remaining, one rider attacked convincingly leaving our group to battle for 4th under 23 in the final kilometres. With 800 metres to go I made a solo dig thinking that I might have been able to take advantage of hesitation in the guys behind and sneak in for fourth. It never worked. I ended up rolling over the line 6th U23 and 20th out of 22 finishers from a field of 80 starters.

I’ve improved on last year, and definitely exceeded what I thought I was capable of given my performances in races leading up to nationals. I’m already looking forward to it again next year but still have more improvements to make before then if I’m to make a real mark on the race.”

Where to from here? This coming Thursday (19th Jan) I’m having the pins and wiring out my arm, quickly followed by leaving for Belgium on Monday (23rd Jan), a month earlier than I’d planned. My team for this year (Naturablue Cycling Team) are competing in six UCI classified (this means they’re invaluable if you do well in terms of exposure) one day races in Morocco, leaving Belgium on the 1st of February. I’ll get to Belgium with a week to spare in order to get used to the time zone, and hopefully do a week on the trainer to stay away from the cold, snow and whatever else may be lurking in the lowlands. After my time in Morocco, I’m having a two week break off the bike, recharging the batteries and getting prepped to start building up again late February for what I’m hoping is going to be a propitious season. Next blog probably won’t follow until post Morocco, or even midway through if all’s going well. Subscribe and I’ll email you when it’s done. T.W.C 

[tomcartercyclist]

With nothing much to write home about, I’ve skipped on the blog for a while, but as I slowly get back into the swing of things and with some big races coming up, it was time for an update. Something different with this blog, trying to theme it with all the gifs from Sesame Street, enjoy.

After signing off on my last blog saying I had back issues and that despite it I was still feeling strong, I thought it’d be the end of my problems after I’d tweaked my bike set-up. Turns out that was minor compared to what was coming. I was still racing, doing ok and enjoying my racing. We’d done the under 23 Scheldeprijs race, which was one big lap of 42km, followed by six laps of 17km for 143km total. Our last six laps were the same as the closing laps the professionals did in their race, which you can watch the last 6km of HERE. The part where the video starts was a solid crosswind just after a stretch of cobbles, the pros make it look easy initially, but if you skip to the 2 minute mark and watch the Bora-Argon rider on the far right (Red helmet, black and red kit) you can see he’s absolutely smashing it in order to keep on the front with the other teams. However if you look one or two wheels back, or further to the left of the screen, you can see how much easier it is for the guys that are sheltered. I’d like to say that’s where I was, nice and happy, but the bunch was strung out, in the gutter, and I was suffering trying to hold wheels. 

There were one or two kermesses after Scheldeprijs until I started to come down with a cold. I took a couple of days off the bike, did some gym work and generally got bored sitting around like this. My cold started coming right, so I decided to race. Looking back on it, that was probably a mistake. It was one of the super cold days we’ve had with extremely temperamental weather. I was too hot after 20km, so tossed my jacket then proceeded to freeze when it dropped from 12 to three degrees in the space of 15 minutes as the hail began to fall. Luckily Cory was in the break, so I didn’t have to do much, which was fantastic as I was riding round with minimal feeling in my fingers which is an extremely strange sensation when you’re relying on your handlebar grip out of corners. Cory managed to get 5th, I rolled in mid-bunch, and then after battling the next couple of days with what I thought were the last of my cold symptoms, I finally went to the doctors. I kind of knew what was coming from the doctor, after googling my symptoms the night before and finding out I either had a sinus infection or a brain tumour. Turns out it was a sinus infection, I’d live to fight another day, after a 10 day course of antibiotics.

I was back to the basics, with longer steady rides instead of intervals and skipping one of the big races we had coming up. The pinnacle of the long rides was a 5 and a half hour day, 175km, solo, with rain, wind, hail, sleet and a minimum temperature of two degrees. With the weather not being the best recently, we are frequently sitting in our room looking up at the skylight to see hail/sleet/snow falling. Seemed to be every morning we’d wake up, open the blind and stick our head out the window to see what we were in for that day. Luckily now it’s turning pretty good and things are looking up.  My first race back post sickness was the other day, I didn’t ride smart at all, but I rode hard to try and see where my legs were at. I managed to be in one or two breaks, but nothing was working cohesively so it fell to bits. I’m happy with where I’m at for now, so will be looking forward to getting into some big races that we have coming up over the next couple of days. That’s all from me for now, catch ya later

T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

Back to Belgium and back in the swing of things. Tomorrow will mark three weeks since I got here, and time has flown by. I’ve only done two races (should’ve been three but will get to that later) so I’ve been doing some solid training most days. Combine that with getting out of bed at 9, riding at 11, being home by 3 or 4 then kicking back till dinner, after which not a lot except eating happens and you could say I’ve been fairly busy. I’m back in the same place and room as last year with just Cory Cannings and I sharing a room and our cooking. I’m going to start from the beginning and try cover all the important and mundane between now and then. New age group this year, new team and a completely new experience. The team, Nieuwe Hoop Tielen is a Belgian domestic team, with sponsors including an ice cream company, I can feel the kg’s coming my way! All my racing from now on will be either purely under 23 riders (born 1994-1997) or under 23 and elite without contract. Elite without contract means anyone of any age can race, as long as they’re not signed to a continental or professional team. This means that in some races, you’re up against guys that are in their physiological prime, with 10 years experience on you. This is nothing new compared to racing in New Zealand, with the racing at home, it’s always been open to whoever and therefore as a younger rider, I’ve already experienced the speeds and intensity of racing with older guys. Putting it into context, the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge elite race, despite having a couple of professional riders turn up, would be a similar level of racing to a standard ‘interclub’ or kermesse in Belgium. Interclubs are bigger races, typically longer in length (150-180km), have a full starting field of 200 riders and require that you be in a team to race them. Kermesses on the other hand are open to anyone with a license, are more frequent and between 100-120km in length. We landed on the 12th March, a bit bleary eyed and tired, but mostly ok. I had this beautiful idea in my head of heading back to where we’re staying, unpacking, maybe doing a quick shopping run, chilling out, napping and getting stuck in the next day. I may as well have been on ‘Jeopardy’ and taken “things that never happened” for $800. Straight from the airport we were taken to the team service course to pick up our team bikes, which were semi-ready, but not set to our sizes. We then waited at the service course for a couple of hours, heads nodding and stomachs rumbling, while the mechanic set our bikes to the sizes that we’d sent through prior to arriving. After a late lunch/dinner stop and watching the finish of one of the Paris-Nice stages on TV, we were finally dropped off, too tired to eat and unpack but with just enough energy to drop into bed. The next day we were out on our new bikes wearing nearly all the clothing we owned. Coming from summer straight into the cold of Belgium was a shock to the system, frequently hitting overnight lows in the negatives and not getting far past 5 degrees at the warmest time of day, it was a bit nippy to say the least. We’d been given old team kit, as the kit for this year had not arrived due to a change of supplier delaying delivery. We’ve got the kit now however, and it’s pretty flash to say the least, we’ll definitely be seen! To the bikes, they’re the Scoperta brand, full carbon, full mechanical Ultegra and the brakes are European, the complete opposite to what I’m used to. Instead of the right brake being front and the left rear, it’s the opposite way around, with the right being rear and left the front. So far this has resulted in 0 crashes between Cory and I, but plenty of skids from over applying the back brake. Receiving the bikes one week out from our first race, Cory gave me the re-assuring words that if I hadn’t got used to it during the week, I’d have 160km to figure it out… The bikes are a very smooth ride, nowhere near as responsive as my Giant TCR, a bike that I look forward to riding whenever I get the chance, which ended up happening quite a bit in the first week. According to Cory, the bikes ride like an older Pinarello, smooth and flowing, but not as aggressive as the bikes we were both used to. With the new bikes dialled in to our position, I found it strange that it started to feel wrong after an hour or so on the bike, and that it seemed to get worse. I eventually found out that the seatpost was slipping down as I rode, so was having to take an allen key with me on my rides to put it up if it did slip down. It eventually got to the point where any minor pothole or ridge would drop the seatpost and I was having to stop every couple of km’s to put it back up. I was getting sick of it by this point, so ignored the common sense of tightening it to the required torque, and cranked the bolt right up. It was at the point when the bolt went from very tight to suddenly looser that I knew I’d probably overdone it. 5km later, there was a ‘ping’, the bolt dropped out, and my seat was left on my top tube, leaving me with a 20km ride home with a bike fit that would’ve only been ideal if I was amputated at the knees. It was back to the TCR as I sourced a new bolt and some carbon paste, then I was off again and ready for my first race of the season. The race started and finished at the far North-East of Belgium by the Dutch border, with the 160km course consisting of a 48km loop into the Netherlands and back, followed by 7 ‘local laps’ of 16km. With it being an interclub race, it was open to under 23 riders and elites without contract, so was a bit strange seeing two guys on the same team at registration who are father and son! The father is an ex-professional, mid-40’s with the son a third year under 23 rider. Going from under 19 racing to under 23 I knew it would be a step up, but an average speed of 47km/h for 160km was a tad higher than I had ever envisioned. It was a good day, with low wind and a flowing course that lent itself to high speeds. I was feeling ok in the bunch, not struggling to keep up but knew that for me to try and attack off the front would be nigh on impossible. I gave it one shot, lasted about a minute before a strung out bunch came rolling back past me and I was back into sucking wheel and trying to stay upright. Talking to some of the guys that are staying with us at the same place who also race, they described the day as ‘carnage’, which was unusual, because there were half as many crashes as a junior race. I was doing well at the whole staying upright thing and was hyping myself up for the finish when 10km out from the finish, a couple of guys in front of me accidentally got cosy with the ground. I think this incident was the first time that I managed to apply my brakes correctly on the new set-up, with more emphasis on the front than the back, but it was too late. As I slowly toppled over the handlebars, falling on my ass next to a couple of other guys, I look up to see Cory skirting around me and the fallen comrades so he could keep cracking to the finish. He quickly checked I was ok, then went on his merry way to chase the bunch. As he was pedalling off into the distance, I got up, brushed myself off, untangled my bike from the pile and set off on my way after him. Using the team cars that were passing me and putting a 5 minute power out that was pretty solid considering I had 150km’s in the legs, I finally managed to latch onto the back of the bunch with 3km to go. Once catching back up, I kept riding through the bunch, had a dig at Cory about not waiting for me, then battled on to the finish. Managing to avoid another crash 200 metres from the line, I finished 61st with the same time as the peloton and 20 seconds behind the 15 man break-away that had been up the road. I finished unscathed, mid-bunch and with the knowledge of how future races may pan out and be ridden. Future races came, future races panned out and future races had me going hard in them. The week after the previous race there was a local kermesse on and I rocked up ready to turn some screws. During the week Cory had come down with an illness and wasn’t racing, so I was left to myself to figure things out. The race was mental from the start, with the first 20km leaving me thinking that if all the races are going to be like this all season, I’m in for one hell of a year. Luckily things calmed down and I was able to position myself closer to the front and watch what was going on. At about one third of the way into the race, a break went and I made sure I was in it. The break wasn’t working together overly well, but I was determined to try and make it work. The break ended up being very similar to a local Thursday night handicap race, with a handful of guys pulling hard turns and rotating steadily. During our little stint off the front, I managed to put out a 20 min power that was 95% of my best 20 min effort and some solid other efforts throughout. The break was to no avail however, and was reeled in with 20km to go. Two guys who were in the break took off just as we were caught, and managed to stay away for the rest of the race whilst I sat in the bunch and rolled into the finish mid-pack for another 60th-something placing. I was pretty cooked by the time the peloton caught us, having burnt all my matches trying to make the break stick, so was happy overall with my performance. To put it into perspective (and assuming all things are equal with my powermeter), my best 10 minute power at this kermesse was 15% greater than my best 10 minute power at nationals at the start of January. I’m definitely feeling strong and if I keep tracking like this, hopefully it will turn into results! After this race, I’d had planned to race on the (Easter) Monday but canned that due to some extreme winds and crazy weather. With another week of training under my belt however, I was back racing on Saturday (today), which was unfortunately short-lived. I ended up pulling out after an hour with a really bad back and have already booked in to see a physio as soon as possible. It really makes me appreciate the significant effect that my massages have at home in keeping me in top shape! If you want to give it a try, give Margie a call on 576 5360. It’s frustrating that I’m having issues when I feel so strong on the bike, but I’ll check over my position and hopefully be able to pull things back together for a strong performance at my next interclub on Wednesday. With the season ramping up and more and more races being available, I’ll hopefully be on my bike and back to the blogs as summer rolls around the corner. T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

New Zealand Cycle Classic, five stages, five days and 690 kilometres. It finished on the 24th of January and it’s now a couple of weeks past that. Mum gets on at me after races to update the blog on what happened because it’s “fresh in peoples minds” and because it’s otherwise forgotten. She’s got a point, sure, but the vast majority of people that read this blog come from the emails I send out through the subscription service (click HERE to subscribe), so forgetfulness and timeliness is less of an issue. When I’m over in Belgium smashing out three races a week, then a weekly update is more essential, but when I’m at home and the racing is less frequent, it’s probably less of an issue. With regard to this blog being timely, yeah sure I could probably bang something out in a day or two, like some riders do, but I feel that it’d lack depth and a lot of personal insight, which I feel differentiates my blog from a lot of others. I’d rather put something out late that I’m proud of, than something rushed that later down the line I wish I’d have added to.

So to the race, New Zealand Cycle Classic. I was invited to join a team under the name of one of the races sponsors, ‘Seasucker’, a company that do vacuum mounts for pretty much everything, including bike racks for your car. The race ran from the 20th to 24th of Jan (Wednesday to Sunday), and I was told I had to be there by midday on the 19th, which would’ve been a bit of a mission leaving at 6am to drive six hours the day before New Zealand’s highest profile stage race, so the travel began on the Monday with a stop overnight in Hawkes Bay and then a cruisy drive down to Masterton the next morning, only to be told I didn’t really need to be there at midday, but instead could’ve been there by 3, oh well, I managed to get a ride in and stock up on food ready for the week ahead.

The general layout of the days whilst we were down there seemed to go as follows:

Breakfast (provided by the hotel) at 0700 and back to the room by 8

Chill out for an hour and start getting ready

Meet outside hotel room with team members at 0915 for warm-up and sign on

Race starts at 1000, suffer for a couple of hours.

Back to the hotel mid-afternoon for a shower, food (our own)

Head out to the laundromat to wash the kit for the next day

Get back in time to watch the finish of Tour Down Under for the day

Dinner and dessert (provided by the hotel) at 1800 and back to the room by 7

Chill out, rest up then sleep till the next morning

Repeat for 5 days straight with marginally more suffering each day!

The meals at the hotel were killer, can’t go wrong with a buffet dinner for a plethora of hungry cyclists!

To the racing, and day one started out very different to what I’d expected. We set off from the hotel for 5km of neutralised before the flag dropped and the speed rocketed up. It was flat out from the get go, with the course being mainly flat, consisting of a ride out, three laps and then back into town. On the way out we were ticking along at 50+km/h, a cruisy speed in the bunch. I was feeling happy with how it was going until part-way round the first lap. We were approaching a left turn and everyone in the bunch seemed fairly chilled out, as we started going round the corner I noticed that JLT-Condor, a continental team from the UK had all gone to the front. It was about two seconds later that I noticed it was a solid cross-wind from the right and about a second after that it was one of those moment as I realised I was too far back and this was about to get really hard. Luckily for me, I wasn’t the only one to be caught out, and the peloton split faster than a Kardashian marriage, so at least I had people to work with. We pedalled hard, we rode fast, we did ALL the suffering and finally got back onto the bunch, right at the bottom of the only climb on the laps. I was stoked that we’d managed to get back on, but this feeling didn’t last long as I had another one of those moments as the front of the bunch rode away once again. It was back to the pedalling fast, heart racing, fast speeds game and we were back on. Just as we caught the bunch, a break of four or five riders escaped off the front, where none of the major teams were represented. The next lap and a half were at a decent tempo with it not being anywhere near as full on as the first lap. With about 30-40km to go, the big teams in the tour started riding the front to pull back the break that was at about three minutes. With the race in the gutter most of the way into town, I was sat behind Alex West, my teammate and probably better sprinter than me as he moved further and further up the bunch. We hadn’t really put a plan into place prior to the stage, and looking back it might’ve been a good idea, as we probably could’ve set him up for a better result. However the nature of our team, and who was in it, lent itself to more individual rather than teams racing. In the end Alex and I ended up coming in 17th and 19th respectively, not bad considering the field.

Stage two was probably the easiest of the tour, with a ride out to Martinborough and nine laps of an eight km circuit, sort of like a Belgian kermesse, but with a 70km prelude. It was fairly steady all the way to the line despite one or two pinches in cross winds, the bunch mostly stayed together and it was lined up for a sprint. With a semi-technical lead in, I was trying to move as far forward as possible and stay there around the corners prior to the finish. I ended up coming in 17th, another top 20 which I was happy about and somehow up to 14th on GC.

Stage three was undoubtedly the hardest stage of the tour for me. 10 laps of 12km with no respite anywhere, a great course to crack you mentally. The course was rectangular shaped with cross winds on both sides and the pace being hot in the short tailwind directly after the crosswind. It was a stage spent in the gutter hoping for some respite or some draft, and that kind of racing takes it out of you both physically and mentally. In the last 25km a group of 14 slipped off the front and took 1:40 out of the peloton. I managed 11th in the bunch sprint for 25th place, my worst result in the tour. The stage was probably made harder because it was a course that did not seem challenging from the outset and I wasn’t expecting it to be as hard as it was. However stage four was expected to be hard because of the hills and length of the stage. My numbers were roughly the stage between stage three and four, however I was absolutely shot after the third, but felt significantly better after the fourth.

The fourth stage was a bit of an epic, with 153km of racing with 2200m of climbing, with a 10km long hilltop finish that gained 400 metres. I knew it was going to be a hard day from the get go, but it turned out way more manageable than the day prior. I kept near the front on the climbs, rode smart in the bunch and tried to conserve myself. It was on the second to last hill, a 2.5km monster at about 8% that had me struggling. The bunch split up, and I was going fairly hard to even stay where I was, putting out slightly below my best 5/6 minute powers. The front guys weren’t too far ahead, and as we crested the top, our group lay down some MAD SPEED and caught the bunch before the bottom of the descent. Because we’d caught on, we were already positioned at the back, and when one of the big teams laid down some crazy power on the lead into the final climb, guys that were really feeling it started pinging and leaving gaps, which put me on the back foot going into the climb as I was already a couple of seconds back on the front group. Looking at it realistically, I was never going to win the climb, but I definitely think being up the front at the bottom would’ve left me in a higher placing by the end. So up we started going, I rode a fairly steady tempo, caught some guys that were dropping and just kept tapping at a suitable pace. The main brunt of the climb was about 20 minutes long, and if you’re numbers inclined (pun intended), my average power was around 5.2 watts/kg for the end of a pretty brutal stage. I ended up crossing the line in 17th, 3:30 down on the winner, and leaving me in 19th on GC and 6th U23 rider with one stage to go.

Stage five did not go to plan. I didn’t really have a plan, but the plan I kind of had didn’t happen. I somehow managed to miss the break of twenty that went, primarily due to one of those ‘wrong place, wrong time’ moments. There were 20 guys off the front, all the big teams had guys in there and the ‘peloton’ was now just cruising along, coffee ride tempo. I was pretty annoyed at this, the fact that I’d missed the break and that I was going to lose my top 20 GC placing because of it. Rather than sit in the bunch and kick myself for the next fortnight after the race, I decided to try and minimise my losses. I hadn’t really thought it through, so when I rolled off the front with 34km to go, I was semi- expecting everyone to jump on my wheel, or at the least only last about 5km. Once I’d been away for about 5km, I had a good look back, and then it hit me, this was going to be a lonely run-in to the finish. I put my head down, rode a steady tempo and just kept chugging to the line, classic ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ style. You can even see my power (pink) and heart rate (red) on the graph in the last photo above from the stage. It rises, levels and stays constant all the way to the end. I knew that it was highly unlikely I’d catch the leaders unless there had been a crash or they’d all sat up, but at least I expected to catch someone, which I never did. From when I left to when I crossed the line, I saw no-one, not in front or behind. As I got closer and closer I started ramping it up a bit and gave myself a good thrashing to the line to try and further minimise all my losses, and it worked! I ended up coming in 22nd on the stage, seven minutes down on the winners, but six minutes in front of the bunch I was with initially. I ended up actually moving up to 18th overall on GC, but down to 9th in the under 23 classification. The winner of the final stage finished 7 seconds behind me on final GC, so every second of my break counted! If I’d come in with the front bunch, I would’ve finished 15th on GC, if I’d have come in with the bunch I was with, I would’ve been all the way down in 26th, so it was definitely worthwhile for the result.

All in all I was pretty happy with my result, I possibly could’ve done better, but I rode extremely conservatively throughout the tour, as I had no idea how my body would’ve held up over the five days of racing in my first elite level tour. I think if I’d ridden less conservatively, I could’ve easily cracked the top 10 GC. To do that, the only thing I’d have had to have changed was making the split on stage three and stage 5, which would’ve catapulted me nine minutes up the leaderboard. But it’s all experience, and as one of the youngest ones in the tour, I’m happy with the overall result and the experience it’s given me. Next year I’ll definitely be aiming for that top 10 or higher, we’ll see.

It’s now only just over three weeks until I leave for Belgium and the borderline freezing cold (literally) temperatures. Before then, I’ve got the Rev Cycle Race, another UCI ranked event this Saturday, followed by some testing at Massey University. Should all be fun! T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

So a bit of an epic time since the last blog post. There’s been a change in the URL as well, which I’m quite proud of. So now if you’re wanting to reference my blog to someone, it’s just my name, my passion and dot com - tomcartercyclist.com. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, but never got around to it because I didn’t know how. Nothing a short Google search and an hours playing can’t teach me though, so we’re up and running!

Following Taupo and the mistakes that were made there, I was off to Wanaka (South Island of New Zealand) for 6 days to a training camp that I’d been invited to. With the offer of some hard training in one of the most beautiful places in New Zealand, I couldn’t really say no. It was a tough couple of days, with a lot of climbing, and a lot of distance. 7 days riding, 590km and 8441 metres climbing. Shortest ride was the 8km club race up Coronet peak with 740m climbing. I knocked out a decent time on the way up, just sitting at a semi-uncomfortable pace but still ticking along nicely. It’s not a climb I’d like to do on a heavy bike, that’s for sure! The descent was even more amazing and the bike was going round the corners like it was on rails, extremely smooth! Longest ride of the week was from Wanaka to somewhere in the middle of nowhere and back, totalling 202km and 2639m climbing. There was some mountain biking thrown in as well, which was great for some variety. I managed not to crash in the terms of hitting the deck, but I definitely strayed from the designated course once or twice! I’m not keen on testing out the impact protection on the new Giant Rev helmet just yet. I loved the riding, it was an excellent week away, great for the body and especially the mind, and I’m already looking at doing something similar early in 2016 before heading back overseas.

Upon getting back, I had a couple of days to prepare for the third round of the Dynamo Team Series in Tokoroa, racing for the Dynamo Invitational Team with teammates in Nick Miller and former omnium world champion and winner of the 2015 Taupo Cycle Challenge from two weeks prior, Aaron Gate. Along with the teamies from the last race in the series, Roman Van Uden and Gordon McCauley. The race went surprisingly well with no set plan or even a team talk prior to the race then somehow ending up with the break of 11 containing 4/5′s of our team. Unfortunately Gordy missed out, but he did a great job of policing the break from the peloton. Things were going excellently, Gate eventually managed to get away with one other, and us other 3 played the group really well to help keep Gate away (though he’s more than likely capable of it sans team). One other got away and was sat inbetween the break and Gate, where he stayed till the finish. I ended up second from the break to take 5th overall, Roman right behind in 6th and Nick Miller in 10th. It was a solid day out and a great experience to be racing in such top quality company, you definitely pick a lot up from guys of their calibre.

Since getting back from Belgium, I’ve not really mentioned what I’ve been doing to fill in the days, other than riding my bike. I’ve been doing some odd jobs, some gardening, some concrete pouring and I’ve recently finished three weeks thinning kiwifruit in a kiwifruit orchard. It wasn’t the job most suited to my height, but it was work and I was grateful of the opportunity to earn some cash. With the thinning completed, I managed to pick up some shifts as a ‘dishy’ at what is probably Tauranga’s best restaurant, Somerest Cottage. I’m also working the odd day at Freewheeling Tours, a bike tours company that runs tours for cruise ship passengers around the Mount Maunganui and Tauranga area which is also quite an enjoyable job! It’s bringing some money in, which always helps. Any more offers of work that anyone has are welcome as I’m not completely flat-out and do have some spare work time.

I have recently started doing some work in the gym, following a slow build up from body weight exercises and it’s definitely a different experience. The whole waiting around thing is a strange feeling, My head tells me to go in, get it done and get out, more like an aerobic exercise, but apparently the recovery component is as important as the actually grunting bit. So in some respects, it’s a bit boring, but it’s also great as some quiet time, not smashing it on the bike worrying about how many watts I’m doing, just switch off, focus on the technique and try gauge how slow the cadence is of the old woman on the exercycle.  It’s great for something different and I’ve joined Jetts as it’s local, I can run to it as a warm up, and the joining fee during December was only $35 with one month free, rather than the standard $138. I’ve got my own programme going on, so was just looking for somewhere to go that’s affordable and I can just get done what I need to without too many gym junkies mocking my 20kg squats, for now! The first planned session I did was probably a tad on the long side, at 2 hours, but I’ve thinned it down a bit now and it’s slightly more manageable. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking for something to mix up your training.

As I was entering Christmas and with nationals looming on the horizon, the efforts on the time trial bike were ramping up, on paper that is, the efforts on the road weren’t going too well and I needed to sort my position ASAP. The last straw was on 22 December, when during training I couldn’t even hold a power on my TT bike that is extremely manageable on my roadie. Maybe it’s the great geometry on the TCR that just agrees with me, but I knew that my position needed looking at on the road bike. I ended up tossing around ideas with the family about who I could see and who would be able to fit me at such late notice as it was either get a fit before nationals or withdraw from the TT, as my result wouldn’t replicate my ability accurately (which it never did ironically, due to other reasons). I was looking for someone with time trial experience, someone wise who knew the game and who was within reach of a day trip. We ended up coming up with Gordon McCauley, a man with many years experience and an excellent time trial rider in his own right, who I knew I’d get a straight answer from, no holds barred. He was extremely accommodating and a day trip was planned. Gordy was great and managed to sort the issues I was having, which was something minor to fix but major in terms of performance detriment as it currently stood. I’d definitely recommend him as someone to sort out bike positioning on something as intricate as a time trial bike, plus he provides great banter during it, which helps!

After Christmas and with mum away in England for a couple of weeks, dad and I ventured down to Hawkes Bay to recon the courses for the elite nationals, which was two weeks away. I am grateful of having the opportunity to go down and look at the courses, but made a mistake in trying to do too much of it in the short time span we were down there, resulting in me becoming ill. A common cold had struck me down with t-7 days until the time trial at nationals, admittedly not a major goal of the year, but one I wanted to do fairly well at. This was less than ideal and not much I could do about it. I took a couple of days off, and had my fingers crossed all week. Unfortunately by the day the time trial rolled around, I was still quite congested through my sinuses, and I was struggling to put power out without my heart rate going through the roof.

So nationals, my first proper elite level race and a good weekend of learning. Summing up the time trial is simple, I was ill, I started too hard and I need to work on glute strength. My result of 12th U23 was ok I suppose, disappointing considering where I could have been and that there were only 13 starters, but I’m proud of myself for getting out there, starting and getting a result under the belt. There was no way I would’ve been on the podium even at peak form, but I feel like at least a top 10 would have been achievable at the minimum had I not been sick. To put it into perspective, my average heart rate for the one hour time trial was 190 bpm, which is on the upper end, whilst my average power was 316 watts, a value that I was holding on the road bike for 2+ hours in Belgium with my heart rate about 20 beats lower. It’s excellent experience for next year and there’s no point beating myself up over it, i didn’t miss out on a podium by milliseconds, it’s only my first year as an U23 rider, I’ve got plenty of time to sort it out and improve.

The road race was a completely different story however and things actually went quite well, despite the result that was on paper. I knew the race was going to be a battle of attrition, one that spanned 180km from an 90km rural circuit, seven challenging 10km laps in the city of Napier plus a closing flat circuit. An early break went and quickly got a 2 minute gap built up. By early break I mean very early, like 3 kilometres into the race early and the gap was at 2 minutes by about the 12km mark. Knowing that I was still a bit under the weather, and facing some top world tour guys, I had to change my tactics from race, to more along the lines of ‘survive’. This meant sitting in early on, making sure I was near the front at crucial points incase the bunch split up and just keeping in the fight. This plan was going excellently out on the rural circuit of the race, we’d already dropped quite a few riders over one of the first major climbs (where I’d stuck near the front and to the plan) and I was feeling pretty comfortable with how things were going. The rural lap concluded with a long straight stretch down the state highway from Bay View to Napier in a gnarly crosswind. As we approached Bay View, along the flats with the wind at our backs, the peloton was strung out in one long line. Sitting behind Jesse Sergent, professional rider for AG2R La Mondiale I thought we were going a bit quick, so took a glance down at my Garmin which was reading 60-65km/h, hauling! Just before we got into Bay View and the turn I was dreading heading into the crosswind, I had three World Tour riders sitting behind me discussing tactics, which I thought were handy to know. So when Sam Bewley (Orica-GreenEDGE), Patrick Bevan (Cannondale Pro Cycling Team) and Jesse Sergent started saying that if it was a cross wind they needed to “smash it” back to Napier, I realised that this dreaded crosswind was going to hurt and I needed to be near the front if I wanted to hang on.

I was near the front, but evidently not near enough. The pace went on and I was sitting about 12th wheel. One rider in front left a gap and I was able to stay hanging on as it was shut down, then another gap was left further up the line, and I wasn’t able to hold onto the powerhouses that were drilling the front. A small group of us that had been pinged formed and began a chase effort. It was short lived as the guys that had taken off sat up when they got into town. We’d hit the city circuit, dropped quite a few on the flat crosswind back to Napier and I was prepping myself for the 7 laps of hell around the city. Lap 1 was alright and I was feeling better than I expected to starting the laps. It was lap 2 that got me however. Paddy Bevan took off up the climb and I just couldn’t hold it. Maybe it was a sub-conscious thing that if I went with them I’d get pinged anyway, but I didn’t stick with them and that’s it. So off they went, most of the big hitters, the pro’s. The group we formed behind was still quite strong, with Greg Henderson with us and it initially being a group of about 8. This group began to swell in size as we picked up more and more guys who had either been dropped from the break or guys that could no longer hang with the big guns that had took off. We were tapping well, and I was feeling pretty alright. Over each 10km lap I was going through about half a litre of fluid per lap, bordering on a drinking problem.

Whilst I’m on the topic of drinking and nutrition, I’ve started using a different brand and I’m absolutely loving it. I’m now using the SiS GO Electrolyte drink in the tropical flavour and it’s the best electrolyte drink I’ve ever used. It’s easy on the stomach, has 36 grams of carbs per serving (500ml bottle) which meets the 30 gram per hour mark plus it tastes amazing, which may be a downside as it’s so easy to go through! I think they’re a great brand from what I’ve experienced and good products deserve their publicity, even though I’m not sponsored by them.

Back to the race and with 35km remaining of the race (two laps of the city circuit + a 13km flat circuit), our group was pulled off. Supposedly we were 10 minutes down on the race leader, and therefore had to be pulled. It’s unfortunate, but rules are rules. It’s a shame it wasn’t applied consistently, as women were being lapped before they were pulled the day prior and they’d suddenly taken a harder stance in the mens race, when there was no risk of us being lapped. There were three U23 riders left in the front breaks, so what was left of us in the ‘peloton’ as it seemed, were racing for at least 4th in the U23 category and 17th out of all starters. Sure, they’re not amazing results, but it would’ve meant a lot for me to have a result on the board as a first year junior. I’m already looking forward to next year and can’t wait to battle it out again. The course is amazing and with another years experience under my belt and some slightly stronger legs, I’m sure it’ll be a more exciting race and result!

My 2015 year is reminiscent of a rollercoaster, it flew by with lots of ups and downs and the queue took a while to get down. Since getting back I’ve had some great support from both Margie Foster, a local masseuse that’s been absolutely fantastic in helping sort out my niggles, coupled with Todd Smythe from Chiropractors on Fraser who has opened my eyes to what some great chiropractic care can do to open up my position on the bike.

Looking forward to the rest of 2016 and two months until I head to Belgium and reuniting with my extended family and support team I have over there, plus meeting the new team and setting up the race programme and layout for the year. Hopefully before then there will be some solid racing, some dedicated training and a whole lot of organising so that everything runs smoothly! Coming up immediately I’ve got the Tour De Ranges and the 5 day New Zealand Cycle Classic, which will be a great challenge against some top guys.

I wouldn’t have been able to achieve everything that has happened over the past couple of weeks and for the whole of 2015 without the support of Giant Bikes and Ride Bikes Tauranga, who have been a significant help in providing me with the premium kit for racing the big boys and becoming one of them. It helps a tonne when you love your bike, enjoy riding it and you can get the most out of your racing and training.

I’d also like to say a massive thank you to Vaughan Poutawera and the guys from Orthopacifix for all their help with any niggles I’ve had and for Vaughn’s continued  backing of me and my goals. It’s worth checking their website out and seeing some of the great stuff they are doing in the wider community. You can find that HERE.

As always a massive thank you to mum and dad for their constant support and encouragement. I highly doubt that I’d have been able to make it through some of the lows of 2015. Without that, I would’ve missed out on the eventual high points which I got to share with them.

Got to dash now - ride time, 12:15pm.

T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

New helmet and hard races have been the order of the past two weeks.

Following the Dave Logue Classic and The Maunga (previous blog), I was invited to join an invitational team for the Dynamo Events Team Championship consisting of 5 time national champion, Gordon McCauley, Roman Van Uden, a continental rider who spends quite a bit of time racing in the middle east and Asia and then there was me, plain old Tom Carter. The race was 115 km’s and ‘flat’ as I was told before the start. It wasn’t hilly but it sure as hell wasn’t flat, more undulating with a couple of nasty pinches. It probably would have been a lovely day out, had it not been blowing a gale and being put through hell by a really strong field, which contained quite a few professional riders and an ex-world tour rider in Hayden Roulston. If you’re a numbers kind of person, here’s the stats: 115km, 1490m climbing, 3 hours, 38.3km/hr average speed, 285 watts average power, a maximum 20 minute power of 353 watts and for the first half hour we averaged 47.2km/h. It was full on! There had been a break up the road for most of the ride, and as a front group of ‘chasers’ formed over one of the climbs, with teammate Van Uden in, I was dropped. I managed to fight my way back to the group and eventually came in with them for a 9th place. I was happy with how things went, and I’m happy with how I’m tracking with my riding. The Dynamo Events race was my first ride with the new Giant Rev helmet courtesy of my sponsors Giant Bikes and Ride Bikes Tauranga. I’d previously been riding in a Lazer Helium, which has vents in the front and isn’t exactly marketed as an ‘aero’ lid. Comparing this to the Rev I didn’t expect a lot of difference. I’d thought that as both had vents that they’d both be similarly vented and I wouldn’t feel any more cooling than I had with the Helium. Only when I put the Rev on and started riding did I realise, I was wrong. The helmet is so well vented and so much cooler than my previous one, the fit is great, the retention system is superb and with the venting it’s going to be amazing for summer. Only drawback I found with it however was with longer hair, I sometimes looked like a quail, that’s been easily solved with scissors and making sure my hair’s all tucked in snug. Giant have done a great job again with their products, and I’m really loving the Rev helmet, it’d easily be the best helmet I’ve ever worn and I’m looking forward to using it over summer!  The week proceeding the Dynamo Events race was Taupo, or The Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge by its full name. A 6:45 am start for the elite race isn’t overly enjoyable, but we got underway in blustery and wet conditions. Taupo is a race with a typical structure, couple of guys get away early on, nothing happens, nothing happens, bit more of nothing happening, peloton splits about halfway round (more or less Turangi), chase group rides hard, catches most guys from early break, strongest early break riders win, peloton riders that missed the chase group come in together. With this in mind, and having missed the chase group in Turangi the past two years, I wanted to better my result. The early break went, and as I wasn’t feeling too flash early on, I didn’t bother to go with it, there was a race plan and I wanted to stick to it. So when we started coming into Turangi and three riders were up the road, I decided to try my hand at getting across. I rolled off the front and got halfway across before realising that I didn’t really have the legs to make it all the way. Luckily, coming up fast behind me was Hayden McCormick, development rider for the Lotto-Soudal team and professional rider next year. Between us we managed to get to the front three, then were slowly joined by previous winner and last years second place in Mike Northey, plus another. A couple of km later a group of 8 came across and that was our party of 15. At this point I realised that I’d made the chase group, I was pretty stoked that I’d managed to pull it off this year!  Things weren’t feeling too flash in the legs at this point with 120km in the legs, but after sinking a gel and scoffing down some carbs, I was ready for Hatepe, the hill that I knew was going to be a pinch point for me. Luckily the gel kicked in by the base and I suffered up and over with the front of our chase group. All was going well until 10km out from the finish when a group of solid riders started pulling away after a fairly qualified and strong rider left a gap and wouldn’t close it. I wasn’t strong enough to bridge it by myself, but no one in the group wanted to work cohesively to pull it back, plus the guys that had left us were all fairly strong. I was rather frustrated about this, and it probably cost me more than just my placing. The front guys that had slipped away ended up catching the remainder of the early break, bar two riders, and were sprinting for third, whilst our bunch came in contending for tenth. It’s not a bad result, placing 12th, because it was a strong field and prize money was paid down to 15th, but I was aiming for a top 10 and once you hit 10th, the prize money went from $100 to $200, all the way up to $1500 for third. Sure, it’s not about the money and I probably wouldn’t have won the sprint for third, but I’m not exactly rolling in it, and one mistake (on my behalf) or inconsiderate move (on anothers), whichever way you want to look at it, cost me a bit. I can’t sit here and blame others however, because as I write this, I have a poster peering down from my wall with the quote “Results - Not Excuses Count. An alibi artist is his own worst enemy.” - Bill Jones. That’s just bike racing. I’m getting stronger every week and I’m learning more with every race I do.  On to the next couple of weeks with more prep for elite nationals, time on the TT bike perfecting set up and power then I’ll be ready for the sufferfest in Hawke’s Bay. The support that Ride Bikes and Giant offer will be extremely helpful in these coming weeks weeks and hopefully I’ll be able to start the year off strongly.  T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

With a new bike and a week of training and racing putting it through its paces, it’s time for a review. My initial reaction from taking the bike through most scenarios imaginable, from slow climbing to fast descending, tight corners and long straights, the bike breeds PURE SPEED. Compared to the TCR of last year, the bike is lighter, feels both stiffer and more responsive, and could probably be summed up as feeling more nimble. The second photo on the blog shows the frame of the 2016 TCR superimposed over that of the previous year, highlighting where Giant have been able to ‘trim the fat’ on a bike that’s probably hitting on 1% body fat! I feel that Giant have done an amazing job with their SLR 0 carbon climbing wheels, they’re light, responsive and a perfect match for the TCR. Coming in at over 100 grams lighter than the Zipp carbon 202 clinchers it’s evident that Giant aren’t just focussing on the frame, but providing a package that allows them to eke out every possible advantage. With my new TCR Advanced SL 1 being supplied with Ultegra Di2, compared to last years Dura-Ace mechanical componentry, it’s quite the change, and one that I’m absolutely loving! I have already managed to make the mistake of running out of battery, which is nowhere near as daunting as I thought it would be. I was an hour into a three and a half hour hilly training ride when my front derailleur stopped working, this was the point I realised I’d messed up by not checking the battery level. However the battery lasted long enough to get me through the remainder of the ride with ample shifting on the rear derailleur. The shifting on the Di2 is amazing, I’d tried it prior to receiving the bike and couldn’t wait to give it a proper test ride under pressure and in different conditions. Biggest benefit would definitely have to be the shifting in the front derailleur, followed by no more mechanical gear tuning, which is a bonus. With the bike covered and my experience with it, here’s how we got to that conclusion: Saturday was the Dave Logue Classic in Taumarunui, a lumpy 114km race that I’d highly recommend! It’s not the easiest race, it’s not the hilliest race and it’s not the biggest race but the course is amazing and it’s challenging to say the least. I lasted about 70km with the lead guys before being pinged with Gordon McCauley, we rode together the rest of the way, picking up a couple of others on the way to the finish, where I managed to come in 5th, 8minutes down on winner Roman Van Uden and second place Michael Torckler. The legs just aren’t fully there yet after two weeks back into it, but I was happy with the result. I managed to back Saturday’s fifth place up with a win in the Maunga Cycle Challenge the following day. It was pouring down with rain and it was another good course, just a shame that it was on the same day as many other races in the upper North Island which limited numbers. About 30km into the race I managed to help split the bunch up a bit and get a break of about 10 riders going. By the end we were down to four in the closing kilometres. I played it cagey coming into the sprint (after pulling my fair share all the way around) and managed to sneak by at the last minute on the inside for the win. Overall I was extremely happy with how the weekend turned out. The legs are coming along nicely and the bike’s a dream! I can’t wait to keep building into it and spending more and more time on it. I can’t thank Victor at RideBikes Tauranga and Giant enough for all their support and sponsorship. T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

So, what’s been going on? I’ve been back about a month and a half now and things are ticking along nicely. After getting back, I took some time off the bike, did a bit of camping and travelling then thought I’d better fit two or three long rides in before doing K2 (183km, 2500m climbing). With about 15 hours of endurance training under the belt, Cory and I set off in a cruisy group 2 on another adventure. Our adventure hadn’t been underway for very long before Cory was thwarted with a puncture. Fixing it was a breezy team effort and by the time Cory had the wheel back in the frame and I’d had my first of many pee stops group 3 were rolling around the corner and we were off again. All was going well until about 15km out from the halfway point where Cory got his second puncture and didn’t have a second spare tube, neither did I as I was riding tubulars. Leaving him by the roadside I took off in hopes of finding someone starting at the halfway point (K1) who would be willing to pick him up. That eventually didn’t work out and his dad ended up doing a lap of the course to pick him up and get him to the finish. I ended up finishing with an official time of two minutes over six hours, but without the puncture stops managed sub six. Luckily I felt significantly better than I expected all the way round and finished fresh as a daisy, looks like my legs were still there! So now I’m into some proper training, no more of the casual “I might ride today, then again I might not” and more of the “I’m gonna ride today!”. The newly found enthusiasm is doubled by the arrival of a new bike! The new look 2016 Giant TCR Advanced and it’s amazing! Will be following up with a review sometime next week. But for now, I’m going to go out and make the most of it! None of this would be possible without the amazing support from Victor and the team at Ride Bikes Tauranga and Giant Bicycles New Zealand. There’s definitely a long list of people that deserve credit for helping me be where I am and for what I’ve achieved this year. A big thank you to Paul Rogers who has coached me through the ups and downs that this year has thrown me. To Vaughan Poutawara and Andy Vane from Orthopacifix New Zealand for their support and guidance. A huge thank you to Jozef Mertens and Karin Maris and my big extended family in Belgium, without whom I’d be a very lost soul in a small but intimidating country! Of course mum and dad deserve a mention as well, who have always supported me unconditionally and whom without I’d be lucky to be in a house, let alone able to race my bike at the level I do.  Where to from here? Hopefully lots of bike riding in good weather with some solid racing and to sort a job out. If you’re local and know of anything going or need a gardener, get in touch!

[tomcartercyclist]

Another big update.  Last blog was after the Geetbets kermesse where I placed fourth, the top two photos are from that race, the finish photo showing how sandwiched I was. Since then I’ve had 5 races and podiumed in two of them, fifth in another, got a good training ride in another and froze my ass off in the fifth.  Geetbets was on the Wednesday, my next race, Herentals was Saturday. I’d done this race last year and managed 4th place and was looking to improve on that, but it didn’t happen. The race started off fast and I was firing, felt really good and eventually formed a break of four about 25km in and we were joined by three others 5km later. These three came across to us and all of a sudden my legs fell to pieces. I sat on the back with my head down for the next 15km and suffered through it. According to Jozef who was standing on the sideline, as we rode by on one of the laps the guys were saying in Dutch to each other that I was probably sitting on the back and going to roll them at the end. With the way I was feeling I was hoping just to make it to the end. My legs were still feeling crap at the 45km mark but by 48km everything had flipped and I was pulling some solid pulls. What had happened to my legs I’m still not entirely sure. It came down to a sprint between the 7 of us at the finish, I was third wheel and sitting pretty. I went to launch my sprint on the left hand side, as I did the guy that was second wheel decided to also go on the left hand side and I had to quickly re-plan as there wasn’t enough room for both of us. I Eased off slightly and started up the right hand side, just as two riders came round me and with the other two in front and to the left of me, these new two in front and to the right, it was a wall in front of me with nowhere to go, so fifth it was. the following Thursday was a local crit, 50km comprised of 34 laps with two U-turns per lap and absolutely rubbish weather conditions. Prior to the race I’d said that I’d be stoked if I finished unscathed. Turns out everyone else was fairly sensible and managed not to cajole me into to pulling some sketchy manoeuvres. A break of two formed about 10km in, which I chased down over the course of a lap and partied along with. We stuck it for the rest of the race and came about 15 seconds shy of lapping the peloton, where each lap was roughly 2:15, we were cranking pretty well. With the three of us I think I’d be able to safely say that I was probably doing 50% of the work, and if I hadn’t we’d have been caught by the chase group that was only 10 seconds behind us by the time we finished. Coming around the last U-bend with 500 metres to the finish I was left on the front so I decided I wasn’t going to let them just take me easily, and started my sprint 250 metres out, dodging the slippery manhole cover on the slight bend into the finish and going hard, but one of my breakaway companions managed to come round me and steal the win. I was lucky enough to hold on for second and as the photo above shows, third place wasn’t too happy about that. I felt good all race, above the waist that is, felt calm and at ease with the peddling, but the legs were stinging a bit. To put it in comparison, I averaged the same power for the hour and a quarter that the race was with 68 U-bends that I did in a 40km TT at the back end of last year with one U-bend, so I was happy. Two days later and I was back racing in hot, sunny conditions. The race turned into a good training ride because it just didn’t go my way. I got in the early break which lasted for 30km, whilst I picked up two primes, but was then pulled back together. After that I missed the following breaks and no-one in the bunch was working as most of them had teammates up the road. So instead of just sitting in and wasting my time, I’d go on the front and do some long pulls, string everything out for a while, recover, then do it all over again. I’d let some riders attack half-heartedly, give them a gap and some hope that they’ll be able to sneak away, then sit on the front and pull it back before they got too far out. As we started our last lap and with no clue how many guys were up the road, I rolled off the front for a solo lap and came in 24th, not my best result but a good training day on a day that just didn’t work out. After that weekend I’d been resting up because I was meant to be racing in a mixed team for a race in the north of Holland, which was eventually canned because the team I was to be riding with had too many riders sick or injured, so instead I raced Saturday and Sunday. Saturday was nearby and once again the weather was less than desirable, it was raining and it was freezing. Whilst warming up I had a merino mesh base layer, arm warmers, my jersey, a long sleeved jacket, a gilet and leg warmers on and was still cold. This was another race that didn’t work out and a break of riders got away that are normally not the strongest, but managed to stay away. No-one in the bunch wanted to chase and whenever I made an attack it was shut down instantly. It eventually came down to a bunch sprint for seventh place and I was 12th, another day that things didn’t go overly well. However Sunday was a completely different story, arm warmers and a warm base layer were still needed but a hill mid-course kept the race heated. I can’t really go into how many of us were ahead of the peloton at any one time as I was always near the front and barely looked round. All I know is that I attacked with three others in the first kilometre, we were joined by eight others about a lap and a half later and things were a bit disjointed. At about halfway I looked over my shoulder and it seemed we had a lot more than 12 guys, but I’m not sure. With about 30km to go there was a solo attack and mad respect for the guy because he managed to stay out the front for the rest of the race to eventually win. On the last lap one rider attacked and got a decent gap to hold on for second and with one kilometre to go I snook off the front, pulled some Voecklers and managed to come in ahead of the chasing group(s) (not entirely sure) to get another podium with third place. Looking ahead, I have an interclub next Sunday which I did last year, all flat and gnarly cobbles so I won’t race Saturday. The following weekend I have two more kermesses then the following Thursday I start the journey home. Not long now and I’m looking forward to a change of scenery again! Will try and write the last blog in the week prior to leaving or on the plane, after all my races are done! T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

Long time no blog!!

I’d say I’ve been busy, but that’d be a lie. Truth is, I’ve not been feeling the vibe, so here’s a big catch up covering the last three weeks to make up for it so it’s a bit longer than usual. If you click on the photos above, they’re all captioned from which race they were.

What’s happened in the meantime:

7 races

2 podiums

5 top 10′s

Mum and dad leaving

A visit from aunties and cousins

1 August - Denderwindeke kermesse and I felt like absolute crap. It was a pretty big field, my legs ached, I wasn’t enjoying it and I was considering just finishing in the bunch. With a break of 5 up the road I’d given up, until the last lap that is. Along a long straight stretch of road with 1.5 laps to go, two riders had attacked and had about 20 seconds on the bunch. Another two riders tried to chase them down but were pulled back by the peloton, where I was sitting fourth wheel. As soon as they were pulled back I launched a counter-attack, pedalled really, really fast and did some cornering that even I was impressed with. I managed to catch those two riders and we worked well on the last lap where we came into the last corner before an 800m uphill drag to the finish. One of the riders from the break had dropped off and we could see him up ahead, so I took off, chased him down and made the terrible mistake of sitting on him for about 2 seconds too long before going for the finish. By this point one of my other chase companions had managed to jump on my wheel and came round me just before the finish, landing me in 6th, which I was happy with considering my early mentality. 2 August - Balen kermesse, this one was a goodie. Early on in the race there was a break of four that went up the road and I noticed one of the guys was super strong from what I’d experienced in previous races so decided to bridge across. I think the gap was about 20-30 seconds and with a crafty attacking manoeuvre away from the bunch I rode steadily across to them in just over a lap, about 6km. When I got there I gave them the look and got stuck in. It came down to a sprint between the five of us and the previously mentioned very strong guy had me. Should I have won? Probably not, he was definitely the strongest there, but I definitely deserved my second place. Could I have done anything to change the result? Possibly, but it’s over now and I’d learnt my lesson. 5 August - Heers kermesse and an adventurous day out. It was a mid-week race about 30km north of Liege and I had no-one to take me so caught the train down to St Truiden earlier than necessary, had a ride around enjoying the decent weather and the sights, had a coffee, ate my lunch then meandered the 10km to the race following the route my Garmin gave me. It was an interesting route choice with a mixture of main roads, residential roads, small farm roads and things that could constitute ‘single track’ but the scenery was amazing and I enjoyed the ride down, nice scenery and all that jazz. The race certainly wasn’t flat with being down that way and directly after the start/finish there was an 800 metre hill that hurt. It was another race where I wasn’t feeling too fab so was going to be content with finishing in the bunch. A break of 4 had gone up the road and all was chugging along nicely until over the hill on the last lap where one rider tried to give it some jandal. Thanks to him I pulled the same move I pulled in Denderwindeke (1 August, above) and when he was caught I took off. I held off the chasing peloton to land another top 5 with 5th place. I picked up my race winnings, meandered back through the meadows (literally) whilst watching the hot air balloons in the distance, got motor-paced back into town by a passing scooter so missed out on some window shopping at the brothels on the main road back to the station, which was quite lucky in fact because I arrived at the station 5 minutes before the train. Had I missed it I would’ve had to have waited another hour for the next train, so thanks motoman! 8 Aug - Huldenburg kermesse, a race I did last year and hated. A race I did this year and enjoyed but only managed an above average result, above average because it’s above the average placing I usually get. There’s a hill in this race as well and at points I was just staring at the wheel in front willing myself to keep pushing till it eased off. On the plus side though, the other side of the course had a -17% downhill through a residential area where we were nailing 90+ km/h. I was trying a new nutritional supplement for the race that I’d seen online. Nutritional supplement makes it sound fancy, but really it was just waffle and jam, it didn’t work and I won’t be trying it again! Back to the race though, long story short I missed a split of 14 riders that went up the road and managed to finish just ahead of what was left of the peloton for 15th. 9 Aug - Nederokkerzeel kermesse, otherwise known as notalotofenergy kermesse. After the previous day and probably the race on Wednesday I wan’t going too good and did just end up finishing in the bunch of this race, more to the back if I’m being honest because I sat up at the finish. Sometimes you have those days, so I just accepted it, got a pack of cards out when I got home and dealt with it. I took the week off racing the following week as I had a kermesse organised by our team on the Saturday and wanted to perform well for that, and perform I did! Two of my aunties and two cousins came over from England on the Thursday night and it was great to see them and spend time with them, unfortunately they left about half an hour before the start of the race. 15 August - Rumst kermesse organised by the parents and team of De Dijlespurters Mechelen, my team. With primes on offer every lap and what I thought was a trophy if you placed top 3, combined with the fact it was a ‘home race’ I wanted to ‘go hunnids’. Race number for the day was 3, so I was told with no pressure whatsoever by my cousin that I had to get third or better. After a week, or more like a month of on average, pretty decent weather, it was really put on for this race, classic Belgian weather. Wet, windy and all the more enjoyable. I formed a break pretty early on which built to a group of 11 riders and we soon put a decent amount of time into the field, causing them eventually to be pulled off with a couple of laps to go. Everyone was working well together and the course suited me pretty well, longish uphill drags into the wind, a nice cross-wind section and some flowing corners to put digs in. I went to contest one or two of the primes but realised that it was going to require too much effort to get them and learning from previous races, I wasn’t going to waste my energy. Coming into two laps to go we passed the start/finish line and the corner immediately after the line threw me a curve ball, as I was swooping ride I felt my back wheel start to slide, thought “this is how it ends” but managed to pull it back and tried to throw it out my mind. That lap I took a dig on one of the corners halfway round the lap but was quickly shut down, which probably turned out for the best looking back on it. Coming into the last lap and one of the guys from a team with three riders in the break went for the prime and I realised it was make or break time. I was considering performing that as a prime sprint is great cover for a surprise breakaway. So quickly moving up from 4th wheel, I railed it through my previously precarious pinch where I put a lot of faith in my bike which delivered unbelievably, and seeing the gap he had, took off after him on the slight uphill cross-wind drag. My lead up to the corner and the ace cornering was good enough to  put a decent enough gap into the peloton and with the watt bombs I was dropping the group was struggling to catch me. We reached the top corner of the straight and by this point I’d caught my breakaway buddy, lovely guy. I sat on the front for most of the 8km lap, tried to get him to roll through a couple of times but he gave me the “I’ll let you win” line. I finally did get him to do two or three short pulls of about 20 seconds before I got back on the front and continued hammering it. Coming into the finale I was on the front and flicked my elbow at him to come through with 500m to go to see if he was going to let me win, he started rolling through, on the opposite side of the road, looked directly into my eyes and started sprinting. As he started going I mentally gave him the look that it wasn’t a very nice thing to do, but it didn’t matter anyway, he’d gone too soon and I was having none of it. I gained on him fast and came hurling round him to take my first win in Belgium, I was stoked! By the looks of all my supporters, they were too. It wasn’t just all the supporters in Belgium that help out either. Along with Jozef, Karin and my team family here,it’s all my English family, friends back in New Zealand and parents that back me when I’m home that have an incredible influence on my ability and riding style. Exhibit A, if Victor from Ride Bikes hadn’t tried to sell me on the idea of disc brakes, I might have done less cornering at high speed on my calliper brakes to prove him wrong, which would’ve given me less faith in the corner that mattered! Thanks for that and everything else Victor! It turned out on the podium that there weren’t actually trophies for first, second and third, but instead for first and for first rider from the Dijlespurters team, double trophy time! It also meant that I got two sets of flowers and a little bit of extra bonus money from the team, which was lovely. My data for the last lap was pretty gnarly and I know there’S a few of you That ReAd this that will know where to find those VAlues! I didn’t race Sunday as I woke up that morning with really bad pain in my knee and instead went to watch the Eneco tour which finished on the Muur van Geraadsbergen, a good day out! Which brings us to last nights race and the latest race... 19 August - Geetbets kermesse where I messed up the finish and missed out on another win or at the least a podium. It was another race where I was feeling a bit bored and breaks were going and coming back, until the last lap where four guys were up the road, five of us rode across, we all worked together and it came down to a nine man sprint with an 11 second advantage on the bunch. I went way too early, kind of. If I’d left it another 50 metres I’d have been on the podium, another 100 and I’d have possibly won, but that wasn’t the case and I ended up fourth instead. That’s bike racing however and I definitely won’t be making that mistake again anytime soon. As I was doing my post-race self-debrief in the campervan shower I realised that

I’m on really good form at the moment and

I should have won that race but

I deserved the fourth for my efforts through the race

So heading into this weekend I’m hoping that this good form will carry on for a while and I can make the most of it. I’ve started to be asked more and more often when I go home, with the weather as good as it is at the moment I’m stoked to say it’s not yet. Truth is, I’ve only got five more race weekends left so NZ better start picking its weather game up a bit or I’ll have to have an Asian vacation on the way back! T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

In regards to having an issue with my knee and going to see a physio, I finished my last blog post with the line “hopefully it’s not too bad and I can start building some solid form”, well... He informed me I have a tendonitis and that it can be healed in a week or three months and it’s one of those ‘wait and see’ issues, great. So with that, he stuck some needles in the back of my thigh whilst my face did something like this then gave me a massage and sent me on my way to England with a prescription of ibuprofen and icing. I’d taken my bike to England but on arriving and starting to build my bike, I came to realise that my seat and seat clamp were missing. Long story, but I’d packed everything in the bike box, however a family member decided they’d remove it and pack it in their case, which they then forgot to do, not naming names... So it was on to my uncles 7 speed full alloy roady with the reflectors still on the wheels, good training!  Luckily I put the seat down slightly on his bike and I was no longer having issues with my knee, so when dad and I turned up to the local club run and I started shredding, some jimmies started to become rustled. I was yelled at to learn how to roll through properly, to remove those bloody reflectors and to take the plastic spoke guard from between my spokes and cassette and put it in the trash. All of which I just responded to with the look. So that was an eventful day out and a good trip to England! Oh, and in-between the riding I saw some family members so that was kind of nice! It was good being back with mum and dad both for the first time in 11 years and to have a proper family gathering, something that’s not overly common in NZ. Mum and dad flew back to Belgium on the Tuesday with my bike and I returned on the Wednesday with dads, he’s built mine up meaning it was ready to ride that night for a local kermesse and my last race with Cory. I managed to get in the early break and excluding the fact that it was 45 instead of 5 laps, THIS ARTICLE gives a sum up of how it went. What’s not explained in there is how bad my leg was getting, as I can not lower my seat on my bike without trimming the seatpost, I was starting to feel twinges in my knee once again, slowly worsening throughout the race. I finished, I finished second and that’s ok but I do think I was held back by my injury. No biggie though, next time! Next time however didn’t happen, Saturdays race was cut short by my knee playing havoc with me even worse than the day prior and resulted in me pulling out with 20km left to race, not ideal! The morning of the race was spent saying goodbye to Cory and wishing him safe travels. It’s been a great three months with him and in retrospect I don’t think there’s anyone else I’d rather have had come over with me.  With how my injury was I skipped racing Sunday and have spent the week just doing long pain-free km’s, icing, stretching and taking my pills in the hopes that I can ‘go hunnids’ this weekend.  This morning I rode in the backseat of a luggage packed car with mum and dad to Brussels airport and saw them off. It’s been a great month with them here and I’m sad to seem them go. It has felt like a whirlwind of a visit and now only leaves me with two months solo till I’m home. The support’s been amazing from them with how the season’s been going so far and I think it’s put mum’s mind at rest as to how I’m going to fare for the next two months after seeing my room and that I am actually capable of cooking for myself! I recently did a catch up with roadcycling.co.nz about my season so far and you can find that HERE. Hoping my knee pulls together soon and that I can get going, fingers crossed!  T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

So, I finished the interclub, that’s about all I can say about it really as we all know what happens at interclubs, bad luck!  I’ll give a brief summary as there’s not really much to write home about and I’d be wasting your time if I elaborated. Mum and dad arrived the day of the Team Time Trial and with them there and the fact that I’d been really looking forward to this race, by the time the start of the tour rolled around, I was rearing to go. Stage 1 Team Time Trial - We just weren’t fast enough, plain and simple. 

Stage 2 Road Race - I was vomiting in my mouth the first half of the race due to, more than likely, the unexpected heat wave that hit Belgium. I don’t handle the heat overly well, and going from 25 degrees to nudging on 40 within one week wasn’t ideal. By the time it’d started to cool down and my legs kicked in, the break was gone and my race was toast.

Stage 3 Road Race - I was the first puncture of the day, and instead of being given a 14-25 cassete under 19 cassette, I was given a 16-25 under 17 cassette on the spare wheel. This meant I was “spinning like a ninny” for the rest of the race, especially in the lovely tailwind parts where we were ticking along at 60km/h. At the end of the stage I was thinking to myself that bad things happen and to just get over it. Stage 4 Time Trial - Plain and simple, I was 30 seconds too slow. My average power needed to be about 4% more and my cornering more proficient. Stage 5 Road Race - I got caught up in a crash, chased back onto the bunch, was sitting pretty, and then I got another puncture, where I had to change bikes to a bike that was about two sizes too small (as seen in the photos above). At this point I was annoyed and totally over the whole weekend of racing. I finished that stage with an aching back and palms from the positioning on the bike. So that was the end of that, I was happy it was over but disappointed that it had all turned to shit when I wanted it to go well. With that over, we spent the week with mum and dad, went and saw the start of stage four of the Tour de France in Seraing down by Liege followed by a bit of riding with dad and concluded with two kermesse races this weekend. Both Saturday and Sunday we raced nearby with slightly better luck than the previous weekend.  Saturday saw another Belgian ‘heat wave’ and me with dead legs until halfway. Cory was suffering from sickness again and by the time my legs kicked in at 40km there was already a break of nine up the road followed by a group of seven chasing and Cory had to resign to the side-line. So with fresh legs and the determination to make the most out of it I helped form another group of seven to lay chase. We caught the other group of seven up the road, worked well together, then I put a bit of an effort in and whittled it down to six of us. With 13km to go I rode away again by myself and tried going after the front nine. i didn’t catch them, they were too far gone, but I did manage to catch and drop two of the riders that had dropped from that bunch, landing me an 8th place overall. Sunday was slightly better, with Cory sticking it for the full race but me suffering some kind of knee injury that I’m seeing a physio about on Tuesday. Prior to the start, Cory told me he was attacking from the gun and attack from the gun is exactly what he did. We’d no sooner started than another decent rider attacked, Cory chased him, I waited till 3 more guys had joined him before going with the next chase so that he wasn’t overly outnumbered. Within the first 3km, we’d got ten guys together, rolled through together and worked well pretty much until the line. It was boring to say the least, and with three laps to go I tried to liven things up, but my knee wasn’t haven’t a bar of it and I felt like I was only able to run on 80% on my right, dominant leg. The pace got gnarly within the last three kilometres and I managed to slip away with two others thanks to some killer teamwork from Cory, but it wasn’t to be, getting swamped on the line and overall placing 5th, with Cory coming in just off the back in 10th. I’ve seen sheets of printer paper that have been darker than Corys face post-race, so with his sickness he did a killer job out there! We’re waiting now on the diagnosis the physio delivers on my knee and we’ll go off that, hopefully it’s not too bad and I can start building some solid form. Till then I’ll just keep working! T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

So, it’s nearly been a month since my last blog, and it will have been a month between my last blog and when I next race, time for an update! What’s been happening with the crew?

Spent a lot of time on the wind trainer

Sat my first actual university exam

Got back on the road on the 12th June

Got sick again

Christian went home 

Finished Breaking Bad

Tried to race and had to pull out after 12km

We started Game of Thrones

Raced, placed 6th, won four primes and came away with €85 - $140 NZ

Raced and got my first podium of the year

So, after sweating it out on the wind trainer for two sessions a day of an hour each when the weather was good and I’d much rather have been on the road, I finally thought my arm could probably hold up under the pressures of the road. I thought I’d better take it steady at first, and sure, the first ride was sore, but the arm seemed to only get better in leaps and bounds from then. After seeing the doc at the hospital, listening attentively to what he had to say and being told I can do everything normally again my arm seems to have improved in leaps and bounds, and now, one month post incident I feel pretty much back to normal. Now I can race without discomfort, extreme movements are a bit sore but I’m going to pull through, don’t worry. Whilst I was off I sat my uni paper which I’d been studying before I left and while I was here. Leaving home at 5:30 in the morning to beat the traffic and get a parking spot in Brussels to then wait three hours before a three hour exam wasn’t as fun as it could’ve been, but better safe than sorry and I’m just grateful I didn’t have to catch the train and risk taking the wrong one, like Cory and I did on one of our adventures.  With my bone healing and things looking up, I managed to get sick again, this time with some sort of sinus infection. I never bothered with going to the doctors this time and just waited it out with some sinus tablets and tissues. As I was slowly getting better, I decided to make my comeback, a race in Liege on the 20th, just a kermesse with nothing big at stake, I just wanted to see where I was at. The legs were there, but with a burning sensation in my throat, I decided it was probably a smart idea to pull the plug before I made myself worse. Sure, I probably could’ve ridden through it and survived, but I wanted to get better quickly, and this race wasn’t going to do that, so I decided to pull the plug. By the Wednesday I was feeling much better, so Cory and I decided to go and race in Ravels, a town right on the border of Belgium and Holland. This was the first race I did last year when I came over and I was looking to improve on my 8th place. We caught the train most of the way there, rode 8km from the station to the race and got ourselves ready to rumble. The race is 20 laps of a 4km-ish circuit, with 10 euro up for grabs for the first rider over the line each lap. Within about 2km there was a break up the road, and it eventually ended up with 3 off the front. At the halfway mark I’d decided that if I was going to do any good, I’d need to be out the front so left the peloton behind with a group of four others and we rode across to the break. Once we’d caught them and formed our final eight, I probably should’ve got two primes to cover my train and registration costs, then rested up for the finish, but I was having too much fun and lost myself the race because of it. I ended up getting four primes and tried for another two with about an 80% effort. After the finish when I was handing my number in I was told that there was a classification for the rider who won the most primes, an extra 40 euro and because there’d been four of us tied for it, they split the money between the four of us. If I’d had known that before I probably would’ve tried harder, but my Dutch isn’t that good yet unfortunately. With four primes under my belt, I was a bit cooked coming into the finish and only ended up sixth. Sure, it’s an okay result but I’ve learnt that I probably should’ve prioritised a decent result over ending up like this when I handed my number in. I’ll learn. The funniest part of the day however came post-race, we knew that we wouldn’t be able to catch the train home because the race finished at half eight and the last train left at 9, we wouldn’t have made it. After picking up our prize money and getting warm jackets on, it was back on the bike for 50km home, getting back at 11 with a totally cracked Cory and no door key. Due to a mis understanding we thought there’d be one left out for us, turns out this wasn’t the case and we had to call out to 14 year old daughter of the woman that runs the place, scaring her in the process. But hey, we got in ate cereal and slept like babies, a pretty good night out by our standards.  Our next race was Sunday, a race I missed last year due to sickness where Sean Bird had placed fourth and I’d been gutted that I’d missed out. A big break went early with about 20 guys in it, Cory tried to bridge at one point to no avail while I just slowly worked my way round the bunch doing a pull every so often and making sure the gap didn’t get too big. With just over half the race done, the big break was pulled back and immediately after two guys were up the road. With two more friends, I decided that we’d go join them and ruin the party. We got across to them and the five of us were working reasonably ok together and were going to stay away. On the last lap however I saw two riders coming across to us and the other four seemed to ease up for them, I have no clue why. I kept rolling through and when I pulled off and started to go backwards one of our new friends rolled through, I was minding my own till I realised who it was, CORY! He looked at me and gave me ‘the look’. The look that shouts “I’m cooked to perfection but I’m gonna burn this chicken to help you!”. So he smashed it hard and with one rider getting away slightly before the finish and it coming down to a sprint to catch him, I was sitting in a potential fifth place. I wasn’t having any of that, so coming up to the line I passed the fellow in front, upping me to a virtual fourth, then, upon noticing the guy in front had sat up, I put the power down and started to come around him. He looked sideways, saw me coming and tried to sprint but I was going too fast, I’d rolled him. Remember, what do we say to people who think they can sit up before the line?  That’s the first podium of the year and hopefully more will follow, but for now it’s rest ahead of the big tour next weekend (four days, five stages) and the arrival of my parents, which I need plenty of time to prepare for because there’s cleaning to be done! I’ll try and keep the blogs regular now that I’m back racing. Thanks for everyone’s support, it’s been a rollercoaster of the past two months but what goes down must come up, or something like that. T.W.C

[tomcartercyclist]

People have been wishing me luck since I left and since I got here and it seems that it’s really not working. So the weekend and preceding days kind of went like this: Good, very good, miserable, bad, bad, ok, very bad, very good. So a bit of an emotional rollercoaster, which is ironic because I was on a rollercoaster on Saturday. We weren’t racing Saturday as there were no races nearby, so our team manager and his family dropped off a massive hamper of chocolates and goodies before picking us up and taking us out for lunch which mum had kindly organised from all the way back home. After our hunger was sufficiently sated (the first good), we were back in the car and I had no idea where we going. When we pulled into Bobbejaanland, a theme park in Belgium all three of us sitting in the back looked at each other like this. This was the first very good. We had an amazing day, despite being told for one ride that we wouldn’t get wet and I ended up coming out absolutely drenched after explicitly stating that I didn’t do wet.  Sunday we raced and this is where the miserable and bad came in. Miserable started when we arrived and it began to rain. I’m used to racing in the rain now, chuck some embrocation on your legs to keep the water off and stay warm, have a decent base layer, arm warmers and accept your fate. The racing was the first bad part, fairly negative, guys chasing everything down and then when one rider got up the road, his teammates just sat on the front, slowed everyone down and got in the way of chase efforts. There was a 100 metre section of the course that was cobbled with a footpath running along the edge. As you came around the corner onto the cobbles, there was a culvert to ride up onto the path. We were about 60km in when I rode onto the path via the culvert and the fellow next to me decided he also wanted to be on the footpath, despite missing the culvert. It was, at maximum, a five centimetre lip that he had to mount, and if he’d had some patience maybe he wouldn’t have messed up. But he lacked patience and most obviously, bike skill. He clipped the culvert as he tried to come up, fell into me, I swerved into the bushes that we were riding parallel to, my handlebars dug in on the left hand side and I was thrown over the front of the bike. I landed on my elbow and knew at once that I wouldn’t be finishing the race, so after giving a more profuse version of this to the kid that took me out, I waited for the ambulance, returned back to the start and watched from the medics tent as Cory and Christian finished. Cory in 10th, Christian not far behind in the bunch kick. This was the second bad. After talking to my mum on the way back to our accommodation and being advised that if I can push the joint and it doesn’t hurt, there’s no need to put anyone out and go to the hospital, just go home and see how it is the following day, so that’s whatI did, because mothers are always right. Monday I was still fairly sore, not enough to warrant pain meds, so Cory and I were up early and on the wrong train to Oudenaarde. Coincidentally we were an hour late because of this, so were the people we were meeting because they also missed their first train, so everything turned out better than expected. We were meeting Daniel Molyneux and his teammate Morgan Smith, Daniel rides with our club back home, and is in Belgium with his teammates from his Subaru Albion team. They’ve come over from Ireland where they raced the An Post Ras with some of the same luck I’ve been having. It was great to catch up with Daniel but unfortunately as it was a Monday, the Tour of Flanders museum and alot of other places were closed, so we sat round for the rest of the day, ate pastries and talked nonsense before catching the late train back. That was a good/ok day. The next day I woke up to a big ‘18′ sign above my bed from Christian as it was my birthday. The morning consisted of opening a couple of presents and a load of cards from Belgians who’d sent them me, but I’m not entirely sure I know them and from family in the UK who, without naming names, one managed to leave the pen in the card before they sealed and sent it! This was followed by the eventual trip to the hospital as my elbow wasn’t feeling better. Cory came alog for the ride and even promised me lunch at the end for my birthday, which was bloody amazing! I know where I’m going next time I’m there! After my x-ray I was told that I’ve fractured the ulna right where the humerus has pounded into the joint as I landed on my forearm. I was then informed that I’ll have to be put in a cast or sling, with a rumoured 30 degree day on Friday and an exam to write next weekend, the guy probably saw that my reaction to this wasn’t overly positive. He then told me he’d go check with an orthopaedic surgeon as to his opinion, so I was then on to a CT scan, followed by a consultation with the orthopaedic surgeon before leaving with a special birthday present from a Belgian hospital of a sling and a CD of pictures of my bones, something for the ladies. This means two weeks in a sling and on the turbo, supporting the boys at races and making sure everything heals nicely. That ended the very bad day and I’m starting to cross everything for the end of my bad luck. That night I was treated to dinner and a surprise party from a load of my teammates and their parents. There was lots of cake and lots of calories and even after seeing my weight the next day and knowing I can’t ride, I have no regrets! Sven Nys heard it was my birthday as well, so after racing a pro kermesse against Greg van Avermaet, Nike Terpstra, Greg Henderson and a load of other pro’s, he came to his sisters cafe for drinks and wished me happy birthday, not too shabby! A big thank you to you everyone that came along and for looking after me! It was a good night and I’m grateful of everything everyone has done for me. So, where does this leave me now? With a bit more spare time, a university exam and probably fewer blogs in the meantime. I’ll try keep everyone updated as to how I’m progressing in about a weeks time, but until then spare a prayer for the kid having to bear the wind trainer whilst the weather’s picking up! T.W.C