Attitude TV

If you ain't out riding on Sunday morning then you must be going watch Attitude TV at 9:30am on TV1. This Sunday 29 June 2008 is about Paula's preparation for the Paralympics so tune in.

Training in Invercargill

Last weekend was the final training camp in Invercargill before Paula heads off to the warmer climate of Perth for her pre-Beijing build up. It was a good chance to test run her new dura-ace 160mm track cranks. Those sharp eyed techno weenies out there may well be saying, “aha … but dura ace don’t come in 160mm”, and you’d be right. But these are no ordinary cranks. They are modified 180mm cranks. The hole has been filled in and the crank re-drilled and tapped at 160mm. They work fine too – as long as your guy is careful to drill the hole straight. No problems there though.

Anyway cranks fitted and working ok we got down to it. Two sessions on the indoor boards of Invercargill just a day before the shortest of the year. I seem to remember El Jeffe (http://jeffsbike.blogspot.com/2007/10/report-2-from-sydney-masters-worlds.html) mentioning that this was a fast track because it is artificially heated. Well sorry pal but not in the middle of June its not. We woke up to a frosty morning. The car was covered in ice and when I turned the key the dash lit up with warnings of icy roads. We got to the track and I immediately noticed the temperature was bloody cold which I think is some below 3 or 4 degrees. Even with the nets down and all four netball courts in full swing for the duration of the session it didn’t get much more than a few degrees warmer.

After we’d finished Bruce Ross of Cycling Southland happened to stroll in and said that on frosty mornings they have to keep the air circulating around otherwise condensation forms on the ceiling and it starts raining inside. Unfortunately this keeps the temperature down and the track doesn’t get as fast as Jeff had experienced in the summer. The afternoon session wasn’t much better so we cut it short and went back to the motel to watch the rugby and sky movies. It wasn’t all bad though and Paula did manage some good times considering the conditions. Unfortunately when the netballers are playing we are not allowed to use the derny which means I have to stuff my trousers into my socks and jump on a club bike and pace Paula for her warm up. This isn’t ideal as my fitness isn’t quite at a level where she can get the quality of pacing as she would if I were charging around on the moto.

On our arrival on Friday night I went into the track and witnessed the annual corporate pursuit challenge that they run down there. It’s a very popular event with about 30 teams entered this year. Friday was a seeding round with finals coming up this Sunday. The races are 4 lap Italian pursuits with 4 in each team and must include at least one chick.

The blues

This is my new ride. Its a blue (http://rideblue.com/) and its aluminium! Some might say that this is quite a downgrade from the full carbon beast I'd been riding up until now but its stiff, responsive, fast and above all else it fits me superbly. I couldn't be happier with it. It is equipped with a full 2006 record group and the zipps have a powertap hub threaded into the rear. Both wheels have 28 spokes which suits me fine. All in all its a little heavier than the EMC2 but for a sprinter its fantastic.

I've never really ridden an aluminuim bike before. I went straight from a steel columbus genius frame (with 7 spd superbe pro components) to the full carbon EMC2 (10spd record) after the steel machine got tangled up underneath a car. So after riding the aluminium blue for about 2 weeks now I must say I'm very impressed. It is so well balanced and super stiff under power. Carbon stays, forks and seat pillar still give me a comfortabble ride too. I'm definately a convert. Why spend $2500+ for a top carbon frame when you can get yourself a sizzling aluminium rocket for well under $1000. Truthfully though the EMC is a good bike, it is just too small for me and was doing my back in. Look out for Hayden Richards on it.

This is Keren's blue RC7. Its carbon and its dirty. I guess sponsored riders don't have to clean their bikes. It's a bit small for me to test ride but I did have the privilege of loaning a new RC8 - the latest carbon offering from blue. It has a new fork design and a snazzy paint job. The ride was sweet and it was much lighter than my aluminium model - even with it's chorus groupset. Christian had it kitted up with some open pro wheels too. A damn good choice if you ask me. I didn't quite get around to testing with the powertap nor did I do any big sprints on it which I think Christian is quite relieved about. Keren races on some sharp looking DT Swiss wheels. They are as light as anything and miles better than ksyriums plus they are the best looking wheels around. She won't let me ride them either. Something to do with me being hard on them with my extra 40kg.

Paralympics or bust

Hi everybody. Welcome to my blog. I couldn't resist it any longer.
Some of you will be aware that I have been named as a coach for the NZ Paralympic cycling team to compete at the Paralympic games in Beijing which start in September, about 2 weeks after the Olympic games end. TVNZ will be promoting and covering the Paralympic games on TV1 so stay tuned. We are busy making preparations for the athletes' build-up and the team camp in Perth prior to heading to Beijing in September.