As the snow keeps falling in Boulder and my next Video Blog is still in the early editing stages, I thought I’d give you guys a proper update on how my past month in Europe panned out. I seriously feel like I have not seen the sun since training camp ended in late February. The Northern Hemisphere, well where I’ve been, is still stuck in winter! Could count the number of days where the temperature has hit double digits on one hand. This has made training and staying healthy a grippy task, but atleast when it comes to racing, everyone has to deal with the below par conditions.
At the start of Liege. Kiwi, Josh Atkins in blue, center.
I’m going to work backwards, as a fair bit has happened since training camp. At the moment I’m with the team in Boulder preparing for the Tour of Gila and California. We arrived a week ago and have had a few days of cabin fever from less than ideal conditions. I’ve been lucky enough to get a few good days of training before the weather turned again, and in good company too. Dion Smith, one of my boys from NZ, is also training in Boulder at the moment, so the rides are just like the old days(granted we’re not old, but we go way back).
Catching up with my cousin Lauren in Barcelona
The boys controlling the front in Portugal, Jasper in Yellow
My month in Europe ended with the U23 Liege Bastogne Liege race in Belgium. For us U23’s it’s a shorter version of the pro race, following a similar route and has the same last 5 or 6 climbs. After a reasonable showing last year, and really loving the course, I was looking forward to at least mixing it at the front of the race. After missing the break, I got on the front at 80K to start pulling it back for the team. Oooofffff….today was not my day. I’d say I did 10K of solo pulling and all of a sudden I was suffering like a dog at a pace I would normally hold all day. So putting my hopes aside, I kept pulling with Tanner until the bottom of La Redoute, a infamous steep climb, and that was my day done. A bit down on my ride, I spun to the finish to hear some news that turned my frown upside down. My teammates Nate and Jasper had ended up 2nd and 3rd respectively. Its always awesome when teammates finish it off, no fun just being another number in the bunch.
Stocking up George’s new apartment. What a mission…
Before Liege I was lucky enough to spend two weeks in Girona at George Bennetts choice digs. Following a ruthless 14 hour drive from Portugal across Spain, I was very happy to be in some good southern hemisphere company. And even though the weather was still arse, It was still about 10 degrees warmer than Belg, so I knew I’d made the right choice of destination to build up for Liege. Girona is somewhat of a Pro mecca. You can’t head out for dinner without bumping in to another rider. And with all of the Kiwi pros based there, I had a very enjoyable two weeks of training.
The small start town for stage 1 in Portugal
Managed to get the train to see my cousin, Lauren, in Barcelona for the day. After a short morning jog along the river, I headed to the station. This was my first run in a while, and once I arrived in Barcelona I knew all about it. My left hip is a little weak and had tightened up real good. So for the rest of the day I hobbled round like an old man. Poor Lauren thought she had ruined my cycling career. But after some stretching, the next day I was fit and nimble like a ballerina.
Where’s the soigneur? Reed at his best
I’ve been lost in translation a few times over in Europe and Spain was no exception. I had a good amount of luck, but still a few ‘getting spain’d’ moments. The bad being, missing the last train, a little miss hap at the carwash (will explain), being taken out my cop whilst riding home. But hey, I managed to get a haircut by only saying Si(yes), so can’t complain. Now about the carwash. Living in an apartment means no space to wash a bike, so George took me to a self service car wash on the way back from a wet ride. Before flying out, I needed to clean my rig, so I headed to the closest wash. Little did I know the spray guns at this place had no triggers….so as I chucked in my euro and pushed start, the gun launched from its holder, flailing around in the air soaking everything. Even flying through a gap in the roof in to the next bay and beating down on some poor guys car. So, after finally finding the stop button, I played the no hablo espanole game with the poor spanish mate and continued to clean my bike…
Alentejo region, Portugal
The start of my Europe excursion kicked off in Portugal. All the Bontrager boys lined up in the 5 day Tour Ao Alentejo, with little to no expectations as to what we could achieve in this unknown territory. Being modest, we completely took control of the race, and shocked a few local teams with how well we worked as a team. All the boys gelled, and everyone’s form was great for so early in the season.
On the up in Boulder, still snowing in late April!
After Jaspers win in stage 2, he took over the yellow jersey, and for the rest of the week we controlled the front. With a few hairy moments, we proved ourselves time and time again. One of my best/worst memories, was flying to the finish with Tanner after he took a spill 5k to go. We averaged 62 km/h on the technical run in, coming in hot for sure. On the final day, a 150k stage, we lapped it out like a team time trial from 20k in, without a glitch. Little did we know, along the cross wind section the bunch was being split to pieces, very satisfying.
The boys before the final stage of Portugal!
So for now, its time to hammer out some final good training sessions, then get back in to racing. I’m interested to see how my body will handle the Tour of Gila. Last year Gila was a bit of a bitch, I really suffered with the altitude. But with the experience from Utah and Colorado last year, I’m looking forward to mixing it up, especially in the time trial. As for California, I’ll be happy to show some pro-teams what I’m capable of. The family are heading over to watch the first few stages, so even more of an incentive to put on a good show.
The sun’s out…one hot day….-5 degrees…ouch.
After Cali its back home for two weeks to reset the body with a little time off the bike. Then it’ll be back to Boulder, to prepare for rest of the season. Will keep you guys posted on the video blog, and the upcoming races,
Thanks for reading,
Chur,
James
James Oram - NZ Pro Cyclist 