Catch me if you Cam

Catch me if you cam

I haven't written a blog for a while so decided to get back in the groove I'd create a new one, "Catch me if you Cam". What the blogs about is in the name really, it's where you can catch up and what I, Cam, is up to these days. I know I've fallen of the grid over the past twelve months so instead of one of my marathon efforts to bring you all up to date on what I've been up to I've decided to start fresh and just let you know what I'm up to now and going forward. I'll also add a little spice to the new blog posting with some commentary on things I feel I'd like to comment on which is a real luxury of having your own blog, freedom of speech, its awesome!! So here we go with the very first "Catch me if you Cam" blog post.

It's Sunday and for me that means a relaxing day on the sofa watching as much American sport as I can. My priority viewing has become NASCAR as thanks to my friendship with driver Jimmie Johnson I've become quite a fan of his and also the sport. I've had the honor of going along to a few races with Jimmie and sitting in the pit box with the crew chief gives you quite a unique perspective one of Americas most popular sports. most people see it as a bunch of muscle cars going round and round in circles but it's far more exciting than that. Because the lap times are so small and cars so similar in speed and performance all the little 1% factors in a race are what decide the winners from the losers. Obviously the driver has a lot to do with that and these guys really do have a big set of ba!!s to do what they do. The driver prepared to keep there foot on the throttle and get closest to the point of carnage will give themselves the best chance of winning. That's just the start though as then the pit stops often are what elevates of drops a drives sports in such a congested field. Changing 5 wheels nuts and refueling with giant Jerry cans is a far cry from the technology of F1 and V8 Supercars and it's watching this first hand that I truly fell in love with the sport. Without a great team your simply not going to get anywhere in NASCAR and with that the relationship of the driver, crew chief and alls it's staff become so crucial in the success of the team on race day. Having spent a significant amount of time with Jimmie on the push bike and with his team both at the race track and away from it it's no surprise the number 48 lowes Chevvy is on track fro a record 7th sprint cup championships as he currently leads the standings. Jimmie is above an absolute awesome human being and this resonates through with his relationship with his entire crew, they would do anything for him, it's be so cool to see this form of team work and environment you just don't witness on the TV. So please if you are interested in following NASCAR support Jimmie, he's rides bikes so he's a legend!

Back to my Sunday and the reason I love to chill on the couch is it's my day of absolute recovery. I've banged out 35hrs of pretty solid training this week swimming, riding, lifting weights, and a little running so it's my time to absorb the work my body has injured and reboot for a new week. This past week has perhaps been my most enjoyable and satisfying week of training I've ever done. I found a great balance between all the activities I love as I work toward my 1st major goal of the 2017 season, the Individual time trial at the Australian national road championships in ballarat January 5. Over the past couple of years I've enjoyed being what I call an athlete again and basically doing whatever sport I like to find out which one or one's I want to focus on for the remainder of my athletic career. What I enjoy most is riding my bike, well all bikes in fact but particularly my TT bike and road bike. I also love being in the water and swimming has become a great de compress for me following a hard day training or when I've got things on my mind. And last but not least the feeling a get running really gets me out of bed in the morning, I just can't wait to pull the sneakers on for a sunrise jog, sometimes as early as 4:30am I bounding down wilshire blvd en route to Santa Monica beach to see the worlds giant light globe appear over the Hollywood hills, it's just a magic way to start the day. So my sporting future will involve a combination of all those activities which I'm sure is pretty easy for you to figure out what I'll be doing.

Now for a little on what made this week so special. What made me so content myself here on my sofa on Sunday afternoon is the amount of qualities work outs I could get done by complimenting the activities with each other. Monday I split up 2 hard ergo session on the tt and rd bike with a 1hr easy swim with my tower 26 swim squad at pacific palisades high school. The swim not only seemed to remove the fatigue of the morning TT session but also rejuvenate for really challenging afternoon rd bike workout. Tuesday was a day to get the legs spinning and what better way to do that than a Socal group ride! Man I'll tell you what, the dudes around this area lay down some serious wattage and since 2013 when I was first introduced to socal group rides by Taylor Phinney I'm always aboard the pain train! The le grange group that leaves from the starbucks on San vicente and 26th on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning is no exception to that tradition, these guys know how to hustle! Following the morning bunchy it was back to the pool for a solid 90minute workout and this time get a little lactate build up in the arms. Finally I finished the day with my weights circuit and an evening spin class to just let the legs know it's time to get firing a little quicker again.

Wednesday I dedicated to my riding my bike and 7hrs, 210km and 4000m of climbing later I walked into my apartment quite satisfied with my days work. Thursday started with a gentle few km's in the pool to roll out the lingering fatigue from the previous days ride. By the time I climbed out of the pool my aching limbs had forgotten all about the torturous hrs in the Malibu mountains. The afternoon I hit the weight room for some maintenance on my beach body followed by a little cardio just to ensure the hard got a little exercise on the active recovery day. Friday was back to some hours on the bike and following a morning metabolism starter I again was on the dredded bike ergo pounding some strength into my pins. Saturday I like to call super Saturday as I aim to empty whatever is left in the tank ahead of my slumber Sunday. I start the day with the "NOW" group ride with leaves from the Starbucks on Montana at 7:30am. Again this group ride is every bit the socal hammer fest as it blasts it way up the pacific coast HWY (pch) to the petrol station at the end of zuma beach. The group can often see 100+ riders and is just a wonderful way to start a saturday. Following the bunchy I head into the Malibu mountains again for another 4000m of climbing or so and after 8hrs I was content with my week on the bicycle. Not wanting to take that fatigue into my day off rest I dragged myself down to equinox west LA for a couple of easy km's in the pool to roll out the aches and pains, in my opinion the perfect way to end a wonderful week of training. 

I woke up early this morning not to train obviously but to follow the road world championships in Doha. The men's road race was on today and I was as excited as the rest of the cycling world to see if superstar Sagan could retain the world championship or could Aussie bling mathews or Cav upset the seemingly unbeatable Slovak. Alas they couldn't and Peter won yet again. It's impossible not to be excited every time he wins as he does it with so much flair and enthusiasm. Having been teammates with Peter for a few years it's exciting to see someone with so much passion for simply riding his bike have so much success doing it. He just loves riding his bike and I assure you even when the cameras are not on him he's flowing around on one wheel or riding up and down whatever he sees fit on his road bike, he's just born to entertain on his bicycle and to see that translate into such proflific success is just fantastic, great stuff Peter, keep it up, your pushing cycling in an exciting new direction and building an incredible new fan base, your exactly what the sport needs. As much as I would have loved to see bling Mathews in the rainbow jersey no one is more deserving or better fit to carry it on his shoulders for another 12 months.

So that's it for my first installment of "catch me if you cam". Sorry if it's a little boring but I'm a little rusty on the old blog writing. I assure you as I keep this up on a weekly basis my rhythm will return. I'll have some more exciting and insightful things to write about around what I'm doing and what I'm interested in, you'll read about it here 1st!!! 

CJW