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My training partner today, luigi and his reliable rig jerry!
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The elderly

In australia when our elderly citizens get on in age they have there licence revoked, here in italy they dont take away there licences instead they give them smaller cars assuming that the chaos they cause will be smaller also!! unfortunately even a smart car is bigger than a bike and i seem to often be taking evasive action to avoid the elder patrons of the rd here. Sure is a special place

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Mcflurry, italian style
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Cruisy Time

This past week has flown by, it seems like a lot longer than 7 days ago we were wrapping up catalyuna. The final stage was like all the others, pretty stressful. Rain and a crash 10km in split the peleton and with Basso in the second group I resumed my place on the front and helped the other teams in the same situation close the gap. This was neutralised pretty quick and we enjoyed a nice gentle role into the finish circuits in the down town of barcellona. We were smack bang in the centre, infact we did laps up and down the cities iconic la rumbla. Jess and I enjoyed a few days there in 2006 and it was the highlight of our holiday so although I did not get to have as good a look around as last time was cool to see it again. Last time I was particularly intrigued by the fact you could by an alligator, snake, and a monkey for a home pet at the markets there. Crazy place. The circuits were pretty crazy, they were 5 x 5km with a lot of corners. I assumed my position to what I though was safely mid field and where I could see and ensure I was ready to help my team mates where required. It occurred to while on the circuits that I was not having to fight for the wheel which is a rarity in the final 15km. Having not looked backed through fear of crashing into something I was unaware that the peleton had shrunk considerably from 150+ to 80 riders and I was roleing around with my Team mate Slyvester Smyd in the final 2 positions in the bunch. Anyway it meant after a pretty stressfull week I could enjoy a more relaxed finale to the tour and finished safely in the front group and surprisingly did not feel that tired. This was a good indication to me that the extra work done in training was paying off and the races were not taking so much out of as in previous years. Before I knew it I was in the airport downing a quiet beer and some tappas, could not leave spain without enjoying this speciality. The plane trip home was a bit of a whos who of the cycling world, I was perched next to my team mate Basso, also onboard was Cadel Evans, Michele Scarponi and Nicolas Roche, between those four there was enough horse power to power the airbus jet aircraft we were traveling on. All in all was a good educational week and nice to get my first small tour done in Europe for the season before heading home to get another good block of training done.
I recovered very quickly from catalyuna and after 2 days was keen to get back into it. With 4 weeks till my next race however common sense prevailed and a took a couple of extra easy days on the bike pretty much just cruising around with basso which was nice to do some riding without the stresses of specific training and racing. I also ordered my new golf clubs which I am super excited about arriving this week. I am going to need all the help I can get to keep my 10 handicap this season but I am sure my new titilist golf clubs with atleast give me no excuses on the equipment department. Cycling and golf certainly don’t seem to complement each other, i.e the only time I have to play is when I have easy days so walking around for 4hrs aint really resting but I am just addicted. Also I think its nice to have something else to focus on appart from the bike in a competitive sense, playing golf means my focus changes and I don’t dwell on the difficult times I have on the bike so i will keep enjoying my golf. On Thursday we had another round of climbing testing with our superstar team trainer Paolo Slongo where the sensations I was feeling in the race and post race were confirmed with a nice improvement in my condition. Back to work on Friday with 5hrs on the tt bike and yesterday I did 7hrs nice and relaxed exploring my favourite climbs in the varese region. I nice rest day today watching the moto Gp and a very exciting tour of flanders on the tele and I am ready to get back to work tomorrow.

Cjw

I put my body through a bit of a challenge yesterday, both on and off the bike! Both were very enjoyable.
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Stage 6 Catalyuna

For the last 3 days here in the tour of catalyuna we have been seeing how fast we can cover the first 70km!! well not really but thats how long it has taken for the break to form thanks to the multitude of attacks and strength of the cntroling teams saxo bank, lampre, radio shack, and movistar. Stage 4 was a flying start, yesterday even harder and today raised it to another level. It was so chaotic that after 50km when we hit the first climb the favourites had all formed at the front and attacks came from noe other than contador the race leader, scarponi 2nd, and all the other riders in the top ten. I was fortunately in a good positionabout 5 wheels behind contador so could keep my position in the front of the bunch behind the peleton had shattered and after 70km when 3men finally skipped away only 40riders remaind in the front with 3 groups chasing behind. With almost all the bullets from the big guns fired a cease fire was called and we thankfully rode a nice normal speed to finish and the bunch sprint ensured. My role for the day was firstly to look for a break that would go to the finish and if not which was obvious from the get go was not going to happen today do my usual job of looking after the bassinator and keeping him out of trouble. We seem to have a good system orking now so life in the bunch these past few days has been alot less stressfull for the both of us which is nice. Was nice to get a good hitout in the first 70km today particualy on the climb as appart from when i i have to ride on the front it was the first time in the race that i have felt appart of the action and got the adrenoline pumping. It is always a good mental and physical challenge particually at the protour level and the calibar of stage race riders at this race going flat out and trying to hang in there having no idea when the pressure is going to let up. Being at the front of it always makes life a bit easier as you are literally seeing the front of the race and this always gives you a little lift so all in all it was a very enjoyable day for and nice to open up the old pins on a climb for the first time this year. Not having done a stage race of this level since the giro last year the body quickly forgets how much suffering is involved in this sport but all you can hope each season is to get your body used to it again sooner rather than later. Tomorrow i am sure will be a sprint with the finish on la rumbla right in the heart of barcellona so will be a good day. How long the break will take to form is anyones guess but i think we should see if we can crack the centuary. I am looking forward to good rest on monday

cjw

Catalyuna stage 3 and 4, Stress in the bunch

Yesterdays stage did not quite go off like the firecracker i had for for our liquigas cannondale team. Ivan was very strong and arrived 7th, a handfull of seconds behind a talented spaniard in alberto contador. My role for the day was to simply ensure ivan was in a good position when we hit the final climb and then save my energy for the coming days. The stage started out well enough and i was feeling good and optimistic about contriuting to the day. 2km from the top of the long climb mid race i had to change a broken wheel which turned a very cruisy climb into a very difficult one as all of a sudden i was chasing full gas back to the front armed with everybodies rain jackets for the freezing decent to follow. At these time getting the jackets to your team mates is the only thing on your mind, you can worry about how much energy it takes after the stage. You almost develope an ability to have one eye contcentrating on picking gaps through the 200 riders traveling 60kmph and one eye looking for the sensationally stylish liguigas cannondale jerseys to hand my teammates there warm jackets. I completed this task just in time for the steep techniqual section to begin so while the boy were nicely ruuged up i did not have time to put on my own jacket so was a pretty chilly plunge to the valley below for me. Following this we hit the valley and from then on it was just keeping ivan to the front. Now again having two comes in very handy as while i use one to pick my way through the bunch, i need the otherone to keep an on Ivan and ensure he is on my wheel, if he loses it i have the slow down and find him then start moving forward again. This is a task i am not super great at so am using this race to practice this skill, it is a crucial skill to learn as a domestic specially for the bigger more prestigious nervous races. Anyway by the time we hit the climb and ivan in the front all be it not as far forward as i would have liked as i lost him of my wheel a few hundred meters before we turned onto the climb, i did as i was told and sat up and cruized home. I was a little dirty at myself as i knew with better skills in this area i could have had him in a better position but i am confident i identified where i wanr wrong and today worked hard on getting it right and today our positioning was a huge amount better. I guess it is a learning curve and i also need to develope the trust of ivan that he can follow me in pressure nervous situations in the bunch which in time we will get it right. First i need to show him i can keep the space behind me safe then he will be more comfortable to follow me. Pretty simple stuff i guess but as i have said many times i am a very slow learner. Today was simply about saving energy and recharging from yesterday and ensure that should any important work need to be done later in the race i have the fuel in the tank to do it. This race has certainly been a nasty reminder to the old leg muscles just how hard pro tour racing in europe is but with each day i am becoming more comfortable with the tempo so am looking forward to the final few days here and pais basque in 10days time. After identifying my techniqueal deficiencies yesterday today was much better and our team kept ivan nice and safely protected all day so i certainly feel like i have burnt about half as many calories as the day before, not so much from the efforts of the race but the stress of holding position in the bunch. Practice makes perfect and while i will never ever get anywhere close to perfectly holding position in the bunch, i am atleast for now happy to be improving and contributiing along with my team mates to protecting our leader, Mr Basso.