Stage 6

Finally got some internet. So can get to write a few stories and post em up. But in the meantime, you can have a look at the last pictures, on the final stage. And there is some great action captured, at least it helped me take my mind of the race for a few seconds here and there.

And if you have not heard the news, WE WON, we won the final stage, and won the tour, great news.
But you have to wait for a day or so, until I get organised. But it was a real great tour for the boys, and great to work with the men for a change, it was fun.


My shot of the tour, with Andre winning by a few inches, but even better is the whole team in the background with their arms in the air. It was a fantatic feeling when he got over the line

TDU photos up

Got a bit of time to post some photo's of the first three stages. More titles loaded soon, and a few more stages.

Stage #1
Stage #2
Stage #3
Stage #4

And todays stage #5 just off the press.

Tour Down Under Classic Race

The boys lined up, just before the start.

First up for the Tour Down Under extravaganza (as the local media have been saying all week) was a criterium in the newish town of Glenelg. Built near the sea, and looking much like the Gold Coast was ten years ago, with high-rise apartments sprouting up everywhere. This seemed to be the place that most of the local bunch riders hangout both before and after their rides. We had been there a few times before, as the team were finishing their training here most days with coffee and checking out some of the local wildlife. The cool thing about this tour, is the local councils have gone to so much trouble organising the race, and the surrounds for the riders. They had a set of tram tracks, right down one of the main streets into the café area. The day before the race, we were scoping out the circuit, I was a bit worried about the tracks, more for the tyres, seeing if there was any good lines we could take. Halfway thought the day, the council arrived, with a shit load of trucks ready to reseal the road, with about 100mm of new tarmac. And what a job, you couldn’t even tell the tracks were there (and they removed it overnight again for, the first tram at 8am).

And the big man himself, Andre

The Classic is an hour long criterium, about 50 km long, so they started late in the evening about 7.30pm for the spectators to line the streets. But we had to arrive at 4pm for some reason. We left en-mass for the start, with a full police escort back and front. The sun was still up, and the temperature was a killer in the sun. But they had a nice little area for us to hang out for a few hours until the race started. Each team had to present themselves for the public and press to get a good look. It was a pain in the ass, waiting, waiting, and then we were on stage. Phil Leggit, and Paul Sherwin were here for the week, (Phil was here for the whole month, so had hooked up with him at the Jayco Crits and Nationals), so we got the hell plug when the team was on stage. We had a few victories already to brag about, and he did it so well.

Rabon on attack, giving everything he has

The crowd was pretty lean when we arrived, and it was not looking like it was going to reach 20,000, let alone the 50,000 they were expecting. By the time the race had started, it was five deep in places, so things were starting to get noisy. The race was underway, and the speed of the peloton was exciting, I was expecting to see the bunch bust into a few pieces, but it stayed together for the whole race. There was the odd breakaway, but they came to nothing. Rabobank putting a good show on the front for the last few laps. Even our boys had a few goes to breakaway, but to no avail. They raced a few more laps, round and around, but it was altogether. In the final straight there was a mean head wind, and form the last corner it was about 500m to the finish. The team rounded the corner, with a few of the boys on the front, but a few other teams had the same idea, and the sprint was on. They sprinted hard, but not fast enough for our guy Andre Greipel, and he took the win a few meters clear of the rest of them. And what a sprint, he managed to hold on long enough, but I thought he was going to blow, but I was wrong. What a machine, and a great day for the team. The first win, for the trip down under, and the fifth win for me, nice.

Andre in the sprint on the big screen, and what a win

And some more pictures for your viewing.

Bikes of the TDU #4

Team Gerolsteiner's Specialized SL2 for the season

That's very nice, with a bit of white trim, sets off the frame well.

The cockpit information center.

And the bike belongs to Carlo
A close up of the graphics on the front end.

Bikes of the TDU #3

Todays bikes come from the Astana Team, of course it's just a plain bike while they wait for their new seasons colours. No Discovery branding anywhere on the bike, but I was expecting it. The new colours arrive in few weeks, more of the light blue and Yellow you already now from the flag, and jersey. Big change is moving to Sram 'Red' for the season. But they look pretty sweet all the same.

The new Trek, in old colours.

Sram SRM carbon cranks.

Just love that Red

The team line up for the week

The very nice Aeolus 6.0 Bontrager wheels

Bikes of the TDU #2

A great lineup of Cannondale Super Six's, traing wheels in, ready for some action.

Opp's looks like they still use they own cranks, they haven't changed much in shape for years. But I am sure they have updated the internals a bit since then.

Just love that seat lug, with some nice contact with the rear stays.

A new set of decals on the machine, add a good look to the overall colour scheme.

Looking great, with not too much green and blue this season.

And their team lineup for the week.

Bikes of the TDU #1

CAISSE D'EPARGNE'S Pinarello's

The new Prince's, all lined up and ready to take their riders out for a spin.

Such a nice set of forks, hard to see, but there are some very nice ribs, running the length of the fork.

And the rear stays, looking just as sexy. All that red looks pretty swish, even the bottle cages match.

Special edition coloured Campag Record shifters, nice

Just love the shape of that head tube. With lots of carbon showing.

Nice colour combinations, with the bars, stem and frame all looking great together.

And the riders lineup for the week.

Tour Down Under Previews

It's almost that time of year, for the Tour Down Under. Things are starting to hot up around Adelaide, and I don't mean the weather. With most of the Pro teams arriving en-masse, there is plenty to look at. Most of the teams are on their new bikes for the season, and I will try and get some shots loaded in the next few days of some of the bikes they will be racing on for this season. And maybe even a few of the mechanics in their pits for the next two weeks. I am sure there will be something for all of you. Keep watching, and if you are here watching for the week, watch out for Kangaroos, they are pretty crazy on the bike.

Australian Men's Road Race

After the Women’s Road race, I had a bit of a mission to collect four of the Men’s bikes, scattered around the town of Ballarat. Normally we stay in the same hotel, and normally I have the team truck to work out of, but no luck this week, I was slumming it for a change. I was stuck with being pickup and delivery boy, as well as team wrench for the week. Ballarat was a pretty easy town to navigate around, which makes a change for me, as I normally need a GPS to find my way around the living room. I think it’s being in the southern hemisphere, my internal navigation system works, and my north is pointing the right way up. So after all the bikes were in my hands, the hard work started. I had four riding in the morning, Adam Hansen, the new Aussie TT champ, Michael Rodgers, Scott Davis, and a ringer from my own country New Zealand. Greg Henderson, was here to give the boys some help for the race, just before he flew out to LA for another Track World Cup series.

Hey it's Kiwi Greg Henderson, here to give the boy's some help, he can win, but not gain the title.

I set to work, finally I had a few deadlines, something that I enjoy working with, without a little bit of stress, things are way too easy. As mentioned, the bikes the team were riding this week, were their home bikes, so they needed some serious work to bring it up to my usual standard. But they were looking good by the time I finished. Now for the late night delivery, all the Men were riding to the start the next day, and I think they felt more comfortable going to sleep, looking at their rides. Suppose working with me for the first time, may have made them a little nervous, I think I was more nervous than them. The start was at 11.00 am, just early enough to miss out on some of the heat predicted for the day. With a full field of just over 100 starters, it was going to be fun for the team. Using the same course as the Women and U23 used the day before, the difference was the Men were racing 160km. With temperatures predicted in the mid thirties (‘C), there would be some serious carnage when the sun hit midday. Let’s hope the riders are prepared for it.

Hey it's Adam Hansen (left), and Michael Rodgers, hanging out before the start.

The weather had changed to some very overcast conditions, and by the time I was working on the last bike, (Scott was staying in the same hotel, so I took the opportunity to work on his bike when the sun was up, (at least I could see what I was doing), there was some light rain coming down, and it was cold as. In the Melbourne region, there has been some serious drought for the last few years, so I was surprised with the rain. Things would change in the race with wet roads. I freaked a little, as the riders were not concerned about not having carbon brake pads in their bikes, I was, as with a bit of rain, stopping safely was not that easy. I drove the few km’s to the race, by the time I arrived, the slight drizzle of rain had stopped, and there was still dust on the road with not a single bit of rain present, very strange. By the time the start was called, the sun was up, and it was starting to get hot. The team was relaxed, it’s always nice to see elite men on the start line though, hanging out, waiting for the gun. But the race was about to start, so I had to look serious for a while. I did not have to follow the race for the day, it was for the State teams only, and I had palmed my wheels off to the various cars following the race. I was bottle bitch for the day, hanging out on the hill feeding the riders.

Waiting for the start, can you pick our riders out? Too easy eh.

The race was off, and right from the gun the speed was high. By the time they came past us on the hill for the first time, there was a small break happening, with one of the lads, Scotty in it. Greg was on the front of the bunch keeping control, chasing down the various attacks. By the third lap past us, they had a great gap of about 5 mins, they were working well together, keeping the bunch at bay. A few more laps, the break was still away, with a time gap reaching the maximum for the day, of almost 7 mins. The bunch was starting to splinter, with quite a few of them dropping off the back every time they came past the feed zone. The break stayed away for at least 120km’s, with a few riders trying to breach the gap, Willy Walker (pretty popular here), and a few others, hanging 100m in front of the bunch, not going anywhere fast. But there was some reaction from the bunch, time for the break to be reeled in.

The second lap break, hey it's Scotty in there, nice start.

While not following the race, things were happening out on the course that I couldn’t see, but the break dropped was dropping a few with two laps to go. By this time, I spotted a machine on the road, not a bike this time, but a rider looking pretty cut, just cruising up the hill, leaving the chasing bunch who were closing fast on Scotty and the others. Matthew Lloyd was the man, and close behind him was our own Adam Hansen, chasing the break down with a winning look in his eyes. I never saw his eyes following in the TT, but now I can recognise a driven man, looking for the double jersey. By the time they came past the finish line for the bell lap, Matthew Lloyd had now passed Scotty, who was now joined by Adam. It looked pretty cool, the two highroad boys, powering through the finish chute. Matt had a 50 sec advantage over the two by now, and there was one other rider hanging around, Rory Sutherland. Scotty was nailed by this stage, unfortunately 150km out the front was taking its toll, but he was towing Adam as far as he could.


The winer for the day, Matthew Lloyd, cruising on the second to last lap.

By the time we saw the first rider in the distance, I could see a red jersey, it was not Adam or Scotty, damn it. Matt Lloyd took the win, but just as I was thinking it was all over for us, I spied two riders in the distance, one of them had a black kit on. As they reached close to the finish, the sprint was on, I instantly recognised Adam chasing Rory Sutherland, it was close as they sprinted to the line, Rory was is front most of the sprint, and not ever seeing Adam sprinting, I had no idea what he was capable of. The race was on for second place, it was so close looking through the camera, I had to check the image, (think they call that a photo finish), and it looked good, Adam for a Silver medal. And by the looks of things, scraped in by a couple of centimetres. Almost 75% of the field pulled out of the race, the heat getting to them, Mick and Greg were in there unfortunately.

Team timetrail from, Scotty, and then Adam hanging on.

A very successful Aussie champs for the team, and every colour medal you can win, and a double Gold. Bronze for Alexis in the Women’s TT, Gold for Adam in the Men’s TT. Gold for Oneone in the Women’s road race, and Silver for Adam in the men’s race. It’s a shame they have to wear the National Jersey’s now instead of the cool black ones, but it will sure look good at the races. I was pretty stoked with their efforts, and with my own work of course. Nice to know the riders appreciate my work, with the thanks I got, but I was more than happy working for them, especially with results like this.

The sprint for second place, congrats Adam, nice sprint by the way.

And some more pics over here.

Australian Women's Road Race

I had one day between races to get ready for the Women’s road race. Which was plenty of time to recharge the body, and sort out the two bikes I had racing in the morning. With ten laps of a nice little 10.5km course, it was going to be a little bit of fun, especially if the weather was as hot as it has been like the rest of the week. This was the biggest field of Elite Women that Australia had ever seen at the nationals. Most of them were the young up and coming riders, which is sweet for the future of the sport here. The course was using the same climb out of the start/finish area as TT course, but it went a bit further up, and then a real long, not as steep grovel to the top of the course for another few km’s. Then it was all down hill to the finish, almost 5km in total, so there was a bit of time for recovery, but not if the speed was high.

Hey it's Oneone, on the way to the start line.

I only had two riders, but as usual, there were a few other calls and visits from other riders, having a bit of trouble with their bikes. And my usual habit of not saying no, gave me a bit more work to stop the boredom. Both Oneone and Alexis were racing today, with the other Aussie in the team, Kate, heading off with the National Track Team to LA, for another World Cup series. It was nice to be able to sort a few issues with the two bikes, now that I had a bit of time up my sleeve. I was hanging out with the VIS (Victorian Institute of Sport) at the Bay Crits, and was giving them a bit of help, also if they needed at all the National races as well. They had no mechanic for the week, so was nice to help the girls with the odd problems they were encountering. Plus I get to ride in the race caravan, helping not only my girls, but also anyone else in the VIS.

Hey isn't that Alexis on the left, she's talking to Katie Mactier

The U23 boy’s were on the course when we arrived, and not knowing any of the riders, I watched the sprint finish, who knows who won. It then got me into race mode for the afternoon. The heat was starting to increase, with a high of 35’c just around the corner, I was glad we had some air conditioning during the race, otherwise it would have been unbearable. The girls were ready, looking good in their Team Highroad racing kit, I wondered how hot it would be in the sun today. The transition is almost complete, with the new bikes on the way, our colours were starting to look fantastic for the season. The black and silver shirts would match the bikes, and we would again, stand out as much as the magenta did in the peloton. The bikes were ready, the girls were ready, the start was about to happen, and that means half my job out of the way for the day, hope there is no crashes. The race was off, soon we would find the new Aussie champ for the season, and what a blast having the national colours on your back for the year. Just a shame that it’s such a boring shirt, now where near as cool as the New Zealand colours (black, with a huge silver fern on it), but I an a bit biased.

Righto, 102km to go, I want a clean race, and no fighting

The race started pretty slow, so slow, we almost fell asleep in the following car. But the heat was a killer, just opening the window to give friends shit, was almost too much heat. There was a break of about five riders right from the very first climb, I didn’t know any of the group bar one, Spratty (world famous in Europe). The four seemed to stay away for the first five laps or so, swapping a few riders out occasionally. The race radio was pretty bad, there was plenty of information up to the halfway point. Then it was like they forgot about us in the race, or they had run out of things to say after talking crap all morning. But there was some action in the race, the bunch just busted up as usual on the hill, but it never recovered. There were girls getting dropped all over the show, with the main bunch in two groups. Apparently there was quite a bit of action happening on the front, but we couldn’t see a thing. We passed the second bunch, and in it was a few good names, Gilmore, Gollan, and Nat Bates were the ones I could recognise. The first bunch had about 15-20 riders, of which there were quite a few attacks off the front. By this time, more than half the field had pulled out of the race, looks like they might need a little bit more training.

Up the hill for the third time, with the small group away.

Through the Aussie countryside, watch out for Kangaroos

With two laps to go, there was a few more attacks, Oneone was going with anything busting out. And finally it worked, with four of them up the road it was getting exciting. Not too long and there was two, Oneone and Sharon Laws, but with 15km to go, Sara Carrigan made her move to the front. Oneone got this info from her State team, she freaked and put the hammer down. The gap was 13 seconds to Sara, then about 25 secs to the first bunch. Alexis was in the second bunch, but was a bit fried like the rest of that bunch. They worked like hell to get away, and it worked. Sara didn’t stop though, and kept the pace on all the way to the finish. Victory for Oneone, her second Aussie title, but the best one I have seen. She was elated, so was the young girl in second place, with Sara coming in at third a 15 or 20 seconds behind them. What a blast, I was rapped for her, and of course pretty happy for myself. All the hard work seems like nothing in comparison, to the effort she had put into the race. And the bike didn’t miss a beat, of course. This being the third medal at these Nationals, and the second Gold for the team, bringing the wins for my work for the year to four, nice.

There she is, Oneone, Team Highroad's new Australian Champion

And a few more pics, somewhere here. Next up the Men’s Road Race.

Aussie Men's Elite TT

With the Women’s Timetrail out of the way, and a rider on the podium, I was pretty stoked. It’s always nice after working on the bikes, when it’s followed with a great result. I only had one rider, Adam Hanson, for the Men’s TT. So that means only one bike to work on. Right away you have to show some restraint when working on it, as it can turn nasty real quick. The big problem is that you have so much time, it’s easy to go too far with the servicing, ending up with something breaking. Or worse, that little job you thought you had turns into a nightmare in a matter of hours. You can only do so much with a machine, and then it’s hands off, put it down and go find something else to do for the rest of the night.

Adam's TT machine for the day, looking very fast, even before he starts.

Working with the Men, is taking a while to get them sussed. Knowing nothing about the way they race, their personalities, their pre-race stature, etc. I also know where they are coming from, who is this Benny guy, what’s his work like, can I trust him. Or course I go to the utmost effort to try and instil confidence in them ASAP. The last thing I need is them sitting on that start line, wondering if the bike is going to make the whole race in one piece. A few SMS messages the night before the race from Adam, and I thought he was stressing bad. I did my best to show him there was going to be no problems, right from the start. I would see how he was the next day.

Out on the road, pedaling away.

When Adam arrived I had the whole show organised, bike looking pretty spiffing, and shiny and clean. He started to warm up, and was looking pretty relaxed. He was focused and ready, as he had been around the course many times, in the days leading up to the start. I was very confident with the bike, and I think he forgot about it until the start. We drew like 6th seed, so there was most of the field of about 40. on the road before we started. I had no idea how he would go, but his name was bandied about the mechanics as a good favourite, even top five. By the time we started, he was warmed up and ready. Sitting on the start, he seemed far too relaxed, but that I now found out is one of his trademarks.

He was off, and climbed the first hill not 200m from the start with a nice easy pedal stroke. The Men’s course was a bit different than the Women’s the day before, a total of 39km. He had caught the first rider in front by the time we had reached the top of the first hill. Poor guy, destroyed even before he had got into it. And it never stopped. He passed a total of six riders in the end. Most of them had started way in front of him, what a good bit of incentive for Adam. But he seemed to be having a few problems sitting on the bike. Moving his ass around, trying to take pressure of his bits and pieces, and it continued throughout the race. All I was thinking was the time he was loosing, as he stopped pedalling and adjusted himself. I almost freaked, when on the biggest downhill of the day, at speeds of around 80km/hr, he was out of his saddle, standing up, with one hand on the bars, trying to sort out his skinsuit (remember this was the temporary suit). He hit a bit on the road, wobbled, and almost binned it, I stopped breathing for a minute or two. But relaxed as he tucked into the aero position, and rode out the hill as fast as he could.

Welcome to the new Australian TT Champ, 2nd (left) Rory Sutherland, 3rd Ben Day.

With no race radio, we had no idea where he was placed, as he sprinted down the finish chute. Fastest time for the day, but there was five more to come in. I waited, waited, and then we heard it. The fastest time of the day, and the winner is, you guessed it, Adam. Sweet, we yelled to ourselves in celebration. A gold medal, another win for the Team Highroad, nice. 2nd place went to Rory Sutherland 0.56 secs behind, and 3rd Ben Day 1.13 behind. And of course the bike ran pretty sweet, what else were you expecting. Adam was elated as you can imagine, and his smile never left his face the whole afternoon. I celebrated by cleaning a few bikes, and getting ready for the Women’s Road race in a day’s time.

And I would just like to thank my mechanic, my bike was the cleanest out there today...

More TT photos around here.

Team Site Now Live

Time for you to go and have a look at the Team's new website. Must have gone live last night some time. And I must say it's looking pretty swish, and there's more to come as well.

I have also updated some of the teams links, for those that have websites. This you will find on the right some where. And as you expect, just like the rest of us, the sites are non-existent, or infrequently updated.

So go and have a look around, it can only get better.

Australian Women's Timetrail

After tossing and turning all night, I awoke to another beautiful day. I always find it hard to sleep when it’s 28’c at midnight. And to top it off, the hotel I am staying at, put me in a room above most of the fridge units for the pub next door. So opening a window at night, was a deafening experience, and the air conditioning was just as loud, so I was made the most of it and enjoyed the early morning. Before too long, the sun was up, and so was the temperature, only about 32’c, and climbing. The wind was starting to blow, and I finally figured out where the heat was coming from. In NZ, the country is so skinny, that we get a sea breeze from all points on the compass, cooling you down with every breath. Here in Ballarat (about 100km inland from Melbourne), when the wind blows, it comes form the huge hot center, the wind may have taken days to reach me, heating up along the way. My mind is telling me there is a cooling wind blowing, but my skin is telling me that the wind is drying me out and taking whatever energy I thought I had left. Oh well, I keep cool by telling myself, half of the team is up to their ears in snow, I am still in a better place.

Alexis, ready for the start, with her race face on.

So the bikes were sweet, all two of them. Kind of nice spending a few hours, fettling, polishing and tuning two bikes, instead of ten or so I normally have for a TT. But the bikes sure needed it, not to hassle the last mechanics who worked on the bikes, but you can read between the lines in this case. The under 23 boys were out on the course when we arrived, and I just managed to see them standing on the podium, they were looking wasted. Both from the heat, and the effort they had put in, the Women had the prime time, middle of the day to contend with, it was going to be hot out there today, with temperatures around 40’c. The riders for the day were, Oneone and Alexis, both of them capable of an excellent TT, and both of them deffinately in the top ten. With 28km for the race, things were going to be tough right from the start. The course started with a nasty climb, it sounded bad, but those with the right training should have no real trouble.

At the halfway point, 14km to go.

I was to tail Alexis in the car, Oneone had her state team to look after her. Alexis was about the tenth seed, and we had a few good riders in front of her. I gave my usual instructions, stay safe, ride hard and make sure you catch at least two riders in front of you. It seemed to work, as she caught the first rider by the time we reached the top of the hill. The course continued in almost a square like fashion, but it seemed like it went slightly up for about 24km out of the 28. And the best thing is the wind was blowing just enough to make the pain never go away. Alexis was looking good on the bike, the first climb seemed to drag on for ages, but the plan was to take it easy. There was then a slight false flat for the next 20km. A couple more riders caught, which is the best thing when your on the road. A few more corners, a railway crossing, and then a bit of a nice descent. In fact, the last 5km were almost all downhill, I am sure that she was looking forward to it, just as much as we were. The last little roller, Alexis was out of the seat like a champ, giving it everything she had before the big down. And what a blast, I had made sure I had got the 11 working (for those non-cyclists, it’s like a car having two more gears past the 5th gear). With a top speed of 78km/hr, she was flying, I had all my fingers crossed, hoping she was not going to bounce off the road. But she survived, and stomped her way to the finish.

Oneone looking strong, 100m before the finish.

The announcer spat out her time, giving her the fastest so far, 41.55, but there were a few more riders to come in. And most of them were better time-trailists. We waited, and the last few blasted through the finish. And it was good, a fantastic result, Bronze medal, loosing to 2nd place getter and old Olympic Champion Sara Carrigan by a tiny 0.01 seconds, with first place not too far away, Bridie O'Donnell on 41.41. Oneone’s race was not so good, right from the start, she could not get her focus. On the start, while holding her upright, they counted down the last ten seconds. On second number five, they decided to let her go, she tried to balance, but lost her footing. With three more riders to go (they leave at 1 minute intervals), they gave her some time out, started her last. I was wondering why she was late coming in, seems she couldn’t get going. She was still looking good through the finish, sitting well, flying.

From left,2nd Sara Carrigan, 1st Bridie O'Donnell and third Alexis.

More TT pics here. Next up the Men’s TT, with my only rider, Adam Hansen.