Fun times...
Since the last update, a lot has been going on, and all good stuff too.
Firstly, the team has posted its first NRC win of the year, with Thor Zirbel winning stage one of the Tour de Nez, upstaging all the big guns, and donning the leaders red jersey! Way to go Z-dawg! Tour de Nez was somewhat of a success for the team, and we were always prominent at the front end of the field. The race is held at altitude, about 6000 ft, and the highest we rode to was 7200 ft, making it close to the highest point in Australia! In the Truckee criterium for stage two of the tour, Zirbel was racing the crit of his life, and i was sure he would hold the leaders jersey after the stage, before his tyre blew out on a turn, sending him crashing out of the race. It is amazing how much skin he took off! Hopefully though, he decides to stay upright now, because he has crashed more times this year than anyone ever should, and also the wound care manufacturers machines are in overdrive to try and make enough bandages for him!
Robbie and I came in the top ten in the stage two crit, which was ok for me, and i feel like i am starting to find my legs again - just a few more good races and things will be going good! Truckee is this really cool hippy town, and after the race there was a feed put on for the riders, with a band playing. It was great how this small town got behind the race, and there wa a really good atmosphere and vibe around Truckee.
Glen, always happy to pose for a photo, is hacking into the post race food, while we sat in front of the local band, Frame of Mind. They were really good, and made me think we were at Woodstock or something - all the band had super-long hair, and long beards!
Stage three was a 108 mile road race which started in Tahoe City. Talk about an amazing place - this is one of the most spectacular places i have ever been to. The race was hard, but with the scenery on offer, it was hard to want to bail from the race! We did three laps of a circuit, with a 5 mile climb in it, and also rode along the side of Lake Tahoe, and along some really nice looking river. This was the most perfect back-drop for a race you could imagine - and the nearby mountains also had snow on them too.
This is Lake Tahoe, just down from the finish line, not bad huh? I think i want to live there.
One exciting event during the road race was when we were riding along the water front, a couple on a boat out in the water were keen spectators, and the blonde lady on board found it necessary to show us what she was all about - and she certainly got a heap of loud cheers from the whole peloton! Guess who was the first person to notice what she was doing and pointed it out to the bunch?!
The race was very hard, and by the last time up the climb, there were not too many riders left in the race. Big Thor decided he wanted to make amends for his tumble the night before, and won the bunch sprint into town for 5th place, again upstaging the more fancied big names. It was another great effort for him, especially to bounce back from the crash with a good result like that. Robbie and i also scored points in the omnium from the road race.
Stage four was the final stage, a criterium in downtown Reno. Reno is in Nevada, so there are casinos everywhere. They say Las Vegas is Reno on steroids, so it was good to get an idea of what Vegas might be like. The crit was very tough, and again the field was blown apart. We all stayed upright which was good, considering the number of crashes, and Robbie was able to take 4th in the stage, narrowly avoiding a big crash on the last corner.
Team Priority Health went well for the week, and Zirbel came 7th in GC, Robbie 11th, and get this, myself in 16th! Wicked! Lucky it was a points tour not a time one i guess, but none the less, a good sign i am returning to form.
A kiss of the mullet, that is the Thor Zirbel mullet, mad famous by the man himself, and a real honour for me to actually get that close to it.
Reno has this really nice river running through it, and we crossed this many times in the crit. The amazing thing was this river has man-made rapids in it, with gates to paddle through on a kyack. There a heaps of people paddling down the river all day, then carrying their kyack back upstream to do it again - in the middle of downtown Reno.
After the race was over, one of the sponsors put on a party at his cafe, and it was a really good night. There was a competition for the sexiest rider in the peloton, and while i am sure i would have won, I didn't bother staying around till the end. I thought it was only fair to the rest of the riders that i leave early to make it a fair competition!
The next morning was home to Grand Rapids, where i am now, and glad to be here, even though i am on the road again tomorrow morning again at 6 am! The flights to Reno and back are insane; 4 flights to get there, and 11 hours of flying/stop-over time, and a good run on the return flights meant only 3 flights and 9 hours!
Well that's all the racing news, in other news, after recovering from the long drive home to Grand Rapids from Philadelphia, I was able to have a quiet couple of days at Bob's before I had a couple of visitors.
First to arrive was this awesome hot chick from Athens, Keally (I know i am not supposed to say hot chick here, but it was a request from one!)! You may remember seeing her in a photo from a previous update, but if you don't, here is another photo.
We had heaps of fun, and it was great to be able to have a weekend up at Bob's beach house on Lake Michigan - pretty romantic huh?!
The other visitor was my good mate Ryan from Australia. He is here in the States for the motor car racing, where he works with Australia's Marcos Ambrose (a link to his site coming soon), who races in the trucks section of NASCAR for team Australia. It was great to be able to spend a couple of days with Ryan while we are on the other side of the world.
It's also nice to have someone around who makes me feel small!
This is Ryan's RV that he takes to all the NASCAR races, which he and Marcos's family stay in at the races - it's huge!
Keally was pretty impressed by Ryan and his energy, as those who know him understand what i am talking about. It was also good to be able to show Keally what a real Australian country boy is really like! It was a great week, and good way to refresh the mind. I don't know what i am getting myself into having a girlfriend, but i am sure it is going to be good, especially with a great chick like Keally!
Next on the cards for me is a thirteen hour drive tomorrow morning, beginning at six am, heading to Massachusetts for the Fitchburg Classic, made infamous to Aussies because of Henk Vogels' horrendous crash. It is going to be nice racing at sea level again, and hopefully the week at altitude has given me a boost! We have a good team going, and there are plenty of us in good form, so we will be looking to do well.
Laters dudes...
Firstly, the team has posted its first NRC win of the year, with Thor Zirbel winning stage one of the Tour de Nez, upstaging all the big guns, and donning the leaders red jersey! Way to go Z-dawg! Tour de Nez was somewhat of a success for the team, and we were always prominent at the front end of the field. The race is held at altitude, about 6000 ft, and the highest we rode to was 7200 ft, making it close to the highest point in Australia! In the Truckee criterium for stage two of the tour, Zirbel was racing the crit of his life, and i was sure he would hold the leaders jersey after the stage, before his tyre blew out on a turn, sending him crashing out of the race. It is amazing how much skin he took off! Hopefully though, he decides to stay upright now, because he has crashed more times this year than anyone ever should, and also the wound care manufacturers machines are in overdrive to try and make enough bandages for him!
Robbie and I came in the top ten in the stage two crit, which was ok for me, and i feel like i am starting to find my legs again - just a few more good races and things will be going good! Truckee is this really cool hippy town, and after the race there was a feed put on for the riders, with a band playing. It was great how this small town got behind the race, and there wa a really good atmosphere and vibe around Truckee.
Glen, always happy to pose for a photo, is hacking into the post race food, while we sat in front of the local band, Frame of Mind. They were really good, and made me think we were at Woodstock or something - all the band had super-long hair, and long beards!
Stage three was a 108 mile road race which started in Tahoe City. Talk about an amazing place - this is one of the most spectacular places i have ever been to. The race was hard, but with the scenery on offer, it was hard to want to bail from the race! We did three laps of a circuit, with a 5 mile climb in it, and also rode along the side of Lake Tahoe, and along some really nice looking river. This was the most perfect back-drop for a race you could imagine - and the nearby mountains also had snow on them too.
This is Lake Tahoe, just down from the finish line, not bad huh? I think i want to live there.
One exciting event during the road race was when we were riding along the water front, a couple on a boat out in the water were keen spectators, and the blonde lady on board found it necessary to show us what she was all about - and she certainly got a heap of loud cheers from the whole peloton! Guess who was the first person to notice what she was doing and pointed it out to the bunch?!
The race was very hard, and by the last time up the climb, there were not too many riders left in the race. Big Thor decided he wanted to make amends for his tumble the night before, and won the bunch sprint into town for 5th place, again upstaging the more fancied big names. It was another great effort for him, especially to bounce back from the crash with a good result like that. Robbie and i also scored points in the omnium from the road race.
Stage four was the final stage, a criterium in downtown Reno. Reno is in Nevada, so there are casinos everywhere. They say Las Vegas is Reno on steroids, so it was good to get an idea of what Vegas might be like. The crit was very tough, and again the field was blown apart. We all stayed upright which was good, considering the number of crashes, and Robbie was able to take 4th in the stage, narrowly avoiding a big crash on the last corner.
Team Priority Health went well for the week, and Zirbel came 7th in GC, Robbie 11th, and get this, myself in 16th! Wicked! Lucky it was a points tour not a time one i guess, but none the less, a good sign i am returning to form.
A kiss of the mullet, that is the Thor Zirbel mullet, mad famous by the man himself, and a real honour for me to actually get that close to it.
Reno has this really nice river running through it, and we crossed this many times in the crit. The amazing thing was this river has man-made rapids in it, with gates to paddle through on a kyack. There a heaps of people paddling down the river all day, then carrying their kyack back upstream to do it again - in the middle of downtown Reno.
After the race was over, one of the sponsors put on a party at his cafe, and it was a really good night. There was a competition for the sexiest rider in the peloton, and while i am sure i would have won, I didn't bother staying around till the end. I thought it was only fair to the rest of the riders that i leave early to make it a fair competition!
The next morning was home to Grand Rapids, where i am now, and glad to be here, even though i am on the road again tomorrow morning again at 6 am! The flights to Reno and back are insane; 4 flights to get there, and 11 hours of flying/stop-over time, and a good run on the return flights meant only 3 flights and 9 hours!
Well that's all the racing news, in other news, after recovering from the long drive home to Grand Rapids from Philadelphia, I was able to have a quiet couple of days at Bob's before I had a couple of visitors.
First to arrive was this awesome hot chick from Athens, Keally (I know i am not supposed to say hot chick here, but it was a request from one!)! You may remember seeing her in a photo from a previous update, but if you don't, here is another photo.
We had heaps of fun, and it was great to be able to have a weekend up at Bob's beach house on Lake Michigan - pretty romantic huh?!
The other visitor was my good mate Ryan from Australia. He is here in the States for the motor car racing, where he works with Australia's Marcos Ambrose (a link to his site coming soon), who races in the trucks section of NASCAR for team Australia. It was great to be able to spend a couple of days with Ryan while we are on the other side of the world.
It's also nice to have someone around who makes me feel small!
This is Ryan's RV that he takes to all the NASCAR races, which he and Marcos's family stay in at the races - it's huge!
Keally was pretty impressed by Ryan and his energy, as those who know him understand what i am talking about. It was also good to be able to show Keally what a real Australian country boy is really like! It was a great week, and good way to refresh the mind. I don't know what i am getting myself into having a girlfriend, but i am sure it is going to be good, especially with a great chick like Keally!
Next on the cards for me is a thirteen hour drive tomorrow morning, beginning at six am, heading to Massachusetts for the Fitchburg Classic, made infamous to Aussies because of Henk Vogels' horrendous crash. It is going to be nice racing at sea level again, and hopefully the week at altitude has given me a boost! We have a good team going, and there are plenty of us in good form, so we will be looking to do well.
Laters dudes...
posted by Huck at 7:51 PM
8 Comments:
Great update Tommy! Glad yall did so well in Nevada. Ill be thinking about you when I am there next week, its just too bad I wasnt there last week to see you race. Tahoe is definatly a beautiful place! Good luck with your thirteen hour drive tomorrow... and good luck at the race, keep up the good racing!! Talk to you soon!
XOXOXO
Keally
(just to let everyone know, I approve of being called a "hot chick" by Tommy!)
"Super hot chick", that is!!!!
Huzzleberry, seems everything is going well for you and you are having lots of fun, good to see mate. Im sure a win isnt too far away either. Keep enjoying yourself dude....chat to you soon. *BUS*
PS I had to laugh about the chick on the boat. I can just picture it in my head. I wonder who was the loudest!!!??? hahaha
I can't describe how funny it was to see Tommy 3rd wheel or so, stand up and point out the "big fan" out on the boat on the second lap. We could barely pedal our bikes, we were laughing so hard.
Great photos and update, Tommy!
Thanks for all the comments dudes, wicked!
Huckfactor! Good to hear the form is coming, just goes to show that getting one away can heap lighten the load!pun intended! Keep bagging in the km's of hard work and you'll keep firing! Also it's good to hear your radar is stil in good turn. LSD
Tom we sent the bank statement today at great cost but at great speed!!!
Glad you're having good times and still enjoying yourself. Sounds like the team is going well. Let's hope you all get better and better and become a big force.
God bless, love Mum xxxx
Hi there lion tamer. Was good to see the boys start to get into the winning end of the racing, and I'm sure there is lot's more to come. Although not too sure about the method of getting to the races. Seems quite arduous for finely tuned athletes such as team priority. So congrats to all. I think you should look at the team list 'cause it seems there are some missing from your list on this here blog site - otherwise you have some ringin's! Life is still typically awesome 'up over' in Oz (god's own country as we know) and now that we are past the shortest day, and the winter solstice, we are getting up to 15C on a good day - nearly sunbaking weather. Already got the oil out and ready to rip. And speaking of ripping, I actually went past some riders the other day while I was out putting in the big Ks! Things are starting to swing around that's for sure. Although I did tell the 2 heavyjudies to get better tyres so they could go a bit faster on the slightly uphill run. Always one to offer a friendly sound word of advice to the less fortunate ! Trust Keally is not distracting you from the serious work of becoming an international star! Hang loose mate.
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