4th of July Week

We are back in Michigan this week, after a quick visit to Massachusetts for the Fitchburg Longsjo Classic. The last stop-over in MI was just a day, so it is good to be back here. We are also lucky enough to be graced with the presence of King Karl "Ten Men" Menzies. I must say it really is good to go training with such a star rider, and although he now rides for HealthNet, he is still an alright guy.

Here is a picture of Rich showing off the National Champion jersey, as well as Karl flexing to try and show off the muscles. If they don't look huge it would be because he cramped after flexing too long, while i was struggling to get the camera working!
Fitchburg was another successful race for the team, and we scored our second NRC win of the week, and also the season, with Brian Sheedy winning the opening time trial, and wearing the leaders jersey for the first two stages.
This meant plenty of time spent on the front of the peloton, controlling the race, and chasing back attacks, so while it was great to have the team in the lead, it was also hard work! It was a good experience for us, because we have never had to control a race while holding the overall lead - it also gave me a bit of respect for the teams who are able to do that for a whole tour, i mean, its hard enough just finishing some of these races, and then you realise that there has pretty much been just one team sitting on the front of the race for the whole week! We did it for two days, and that was tough! Unfortunately by stage three, the very hard road race, the other teams had done enough to steal the lead from us and Brian. We got Teddy and the Brentmeister up the road in the break, and they both moved into the top five in the GC for the tour, which was good enough to settle for after losing the leaders jersey. The stage was very tough, and we did ten laps of a hilly course, with a big climb, and then a screaming descent which was awesome - i think the highest speed i reached on the downhill was 108km/h, so that was fun. The one thing that was a bit scary was to think that at that speed, Henk Vogels crashed on that same stretch of road, head first into the guard rail, just three years ago - his helmet saved his life, and after a long time unable to walk, he is back racing again, and even raced the Giro d'Italia last year - not a bad comeback.

One of the best things about racing Fitchburg was that i got to see some of the Aussie dudes on team SouthAustralia.com, and in particular, my good mate, Michael Ford. For the second time in a couple of weeks i have caught up with mates from Australia, about as far from Australia as we can get - although it is a bit different with Fordy seeing as he is here for the cycling too. It was great to catch up though, and we had a good time racing with each other for the first time since January.

Staying in the middle of Massachusetts was an experience, and i think we chose the most humid week in the history of the state to be there! The mozzies were insane too, i have never seen so many (or been bitten by so many)! At night you could be outside, and go to hit one on your arm, and get two or three at the same time - yuck!

The drive home was good to get finished on Monday, it was a very long and uneventful drive, although we did take the short-cut through Canada each way. The border patrol was pretty strict, not a bad thing i suppose, but it was holding us up and ruining our average speed! Driving with Rich and the Brentmeister was good, and we got plenty of talking done! The most exciting thing of the drive home, was seeing the funniest road sign of all time, it read: "Prison area, do not pick up hitch-hikers", can you believe that? What a pisser! I wanted to get a ripper blog photo, standing beside it with the thumb in the air, but unfortunately we only got to see it once, and there was no opportunity to stop for a photo.

Tuesday just gone was the 4th of July, and that is a pretty big deal here in the States (obviously). The vibe around Grand Rapids was a bit like New Years in Australia, just without the drinking or late night. We watched a very impressive fireworks display from an apartment, and that was great, as you may be able to see from the photo Karl took on his phone.

Not too bad for a camera phone, but at the same time doesn't really do justice for how good it really was. The funny thing about this night though, and what was different to New Years in Australia, was that as soon as the fireworks were over (about 10pm), everyone took off home, and Grand Rapids was like a ghost town.

Wednesday night we raced the local Grattan criterium, and it was good for the club team, as we destroyed the opposition teams, and took the first eight placings of the race, which made Bob very happy! After the race, i was outside on the phone that night, and something really exciting happened, well not really, but i caught a mouse. His name is Marty Mouse, and i made him a little house in a shoe box. I think it was injured or something, so once he gets back to health he will be released back into the wild. Pretty exciting stuff going on here at the moment huh?!

Training is going pretty well, and i am starting to feel strong on the bike. This weekend we are heading over to Wisconsin to race in 'Superweek', so that should be a good way to fine-tune some of the hard work, and sharpen me up for the big criteriums coming up in August. It should be a good experience, and its going to be great having so many opportunities to race while we are there - i think there is a race every day... Wicked!

In other news, Heather now has a road bike, so i will be taking her out training this week. She will be out in the full pink outfit, and looking the 'goods'!

One other thing, check out this short video of Bob racing his boat: click here

Anyway dudes, hope all is well, and i will be looking out for your comments... There were nine on the last post, so that is wicked good, and gives me some entertainment each time i read them!

Stay cool dudes

Laters...