This post was supposed to be posted up when I arrived in Belgium two weeks ago…sooo its going up now. Some things are a little dated. Roubaix was bittersweet, I made the early break but didn’t have the legs to stay with the group to the end. Amazing race, I’d love to do it again. Having a small break at the moment then its time to train for Cascade Tour which is mid July. Will do another post in a few weeks. Enjoy!
It’s been a while since my last blog post and obviously a lot has happened in that time. But I’ll keep it short and sweet, all the good stuff. So after Europe we jumped straight onto the plane back to America, not heading to our US bases but to Boulder for Altitude training for the Tour of Gila. The whole point of this is to adjust to the effects of being 2000m high, dry air/less oxygen etc.
Boulder was an amazing place to train and stay. Usual day consisted of heading to coffee shop at 10, smacking out a few hours in the mountains then enjoying what Boulder had to offer late into the afternoon. We we’re all based at different host houses which made the stay in Boulder that little more interesting. Nate Brown and I were perched up at Neil Henderson’s house. He is the coach of Taylor Phinney and lives with his wife and crazy child ‘Abby’. Boy could she talk for a 5 year old. It was really nice to be back in a home situation though, especially playing with Nails cats and dogs, one big happy Lab! Boulder really has everything, from gypsies to college students. Great food and roads, will definitely be back there one day.
Nate bouncing the kids sky high
Lola Lula and Nate playing
So after two weeks of training it was off to New Mexico for the Tour of the Gila. The tour is based in Silver City(hole…) which has some very rolly terrain. At the moment it looks like Altitude is not my thing, as I really suffered the whole week, but time will only tell! It was very cool arriving to the hotel to check out our racing bikes were decked out in full new Sram Red 2012! Its seriously good gears, some huge improvements have been made, I love it! All the stages I finished mid back or groupetto. My job consisted of getting bottles and protecting Joe from the wind, who was ended up finishing 3rd on GC! But on a positive note besides my suffering it was a great tour for the team. We won the teams classification overall, went 1st and 2nd on the last stage(Lawson and Ian broke away) and Joe finished a huge 3rd on GC taking the Best young riders jersey.
Boulder sunset
The West Coast. California
With another American Tour under my belt, we all headed to Santa Rosa for an easy week so the team could prepare for the Tour of California. I was reserve for this squad, so until the start of the race if any rider was injured or sick I’d start in their place. Luckily, but Unluckily for me, no one could not start so I’ve spent the last week at my new US base in Petaluma, California. A nice little room at my teammates house. The roads around Petaluma are very similar to home and its only a 40minute ride to the coast. The waters a bit chilly at the moment but seeing as I’ll be there all summer, I may have to get my surf on. So instead of being a downer after leaving the boys as they started Cali, I got my motivation to a huge high and knocked out a BIG week in Prep for Paris-Roubaix U23.
Trek Domane. Our race bikes for Roubaix. Extremely smooth, you have to try one!
Our Livestrong Team Edition Domanes and Spare bikes
As I write this I’m on the first leg back to Belg. Just racking up the miles again, so cracked on airports though, counting down til I’m Gold status…Yusss! Roubaix U23 or Paris-Peronne Espoirs is very similar to the Pro version, 18 sections of cobbles, 35ks of them in total, which leads to one word, Brutal! Form has been feeling good so hopefully the legs are perfect on the day. I know our kit will be though. We really do get looked after at BTLS. Trek are hooking us up with the new Domanes, which have no join between the seat tube and top tube/seat stays, instead a rubber insert. This makes them insanely comfortable, especially on rough roads…or cobbles! Will definitely post some photos once we arrive.
A bit of Italian for dinner with the boys. Gavin looking good…
Ryan and his ritual of a mid ride mini coke
After Roubaix its straight back in the air to Ryans House in Petaluma and time for a little bit of a break. It’ll be my first proper break since Christmas time really so will be nice to unwind in the California sun. A bit of surfing, mountain biking and sight seeing to recharge the body. After Roubaix it looks like my next race won’t be until mid-July, being Cascade, where I need to prove I’m good enough to be the teams for Utah/Colorado. Then the plan is to finish the season off with Worlds, but only time will tell!
The townie Ryan and I painted and built up!
Dillon Beach. A bit of guitar, sun and surf
Chur!
Oram
James Oram - NZ Pro Cyclist 
Good on you mate. best of luck for the rest of the season (John) AKA Haydens Dad