Altoona...

Hey y'all, got some racing news to fill everyone in on, so that is pretty exciting, and i am also excited that i am pumping out a weekly update on the blog, as opposed to the fortnightly/monthly ones of late!
The Tour de Toona we just finished was one of America's premier road tours, rated up there with the California Tour, and Tour de Georgia, so it was good to race in such a high calibre race, as well as get a seven stage tour under the belt - always good for bringing the form along! The tour is based in Altoona, Pennsylvania, a couple of hours east of Pittsburg, on the way to State College, if that means anything to anyone?! Tour de Toona is regarded as the biggest women's race in the States, and they race equal distance to the men, for equal prizemoney (actually more), which is a pretty big deal. The 'downside' to this, is that the women are the feature event, so we have to start before them every day - meaning 5.30 am wake ups in the morning - something i am not used to!
The tour was great, and very hard. Of the seven stages in seven days, stages one through seven were pretty hard (For the people back in Oz, it was similar to the Sun Tour i guess). We had some decent results, and rode pretty well as a team. There were no podiums for us or anything, but we had a couple of top ten stage results with the King boys.
It was nice (if that is the right word to use?) to get some hills in during the race, as there is a shortage of them in Michigan, and we'll be hoping the tour has ridden us into good form for the upcoming races. The mountain goats, who i will refer to as 'hill-billies' for the remainder of the season, are off to the Tour of Utah, where they will do some insanely big climbing days, and the crit team, who we can call the 'dudes' will be racing some big criteriums, like Bank of America in Charlotte, and Elk Grove in Chicago.
In Altoona, Robbie and I stayed with the Woomer family; Scott and Amy, and their daughter Lauren. They were such a great family to stay with, and we had a great time. We were treated so well, and got along so well, so it was actually hard to say goodbye yesterday when we had to leave for Charlotte. Scott was working at the races each day, driving commissaire cars, or the dreaded sag wagon, while Amy and Lauren were working in the rider's tent, handing out the drinks and food to the exhausted racers at the end of every stage. It is people like this who make the races across the country work, and while they have an interest in our riding and how much work we do, it is just as interesting for us riders to see how much work these people put in, as volunteers, just to provide us with races - thanks again to the Woomer family!
The drive to Charlotte, North Carolina began yesterday, and finished yesterday too for that matter. We were in the Vibe, and it was quite a squish for the four 'dudes'! We had to fit into/on the tiny, four cylinder, shoe box: four bikes, eight sets of wheels (race and training), spare tyres and tubes and the like, a luggage bag or two each, food, computers, helmets, pumps, tools, biddons, and a heap more stuff i can't think of right now. The above picture, of the outside of the car makes it look like we had done it well, but the picture below shows the inside, and how squashy it was!
Rich and Teddy are in obvious pain, or something like that, based on their facial expressions, while Robbie seems excited, and me, well i have a camo Axley sunnies shirt, and sunnies on, so you may not be able to see me?! It was quite an experience, and i am glad to have done it - it also great to be back in the South...We went to a dinner in some fairground after one of the Toona stages, so i took Rich for a drive on my choo choo train. Rich was so excited to ride on a train driven by Thomas the Tank Engine, and i couldn't resist the opportunity for a 'classic' blog photo.
Well this week is going to be spent recovering from the tour, and finding the fastest set of sprinting legs i have ever had, to put to use in the Bank of America criterium in Saturday night. It is going to be fun racing in such a big race, and there is going to be more prizemoney on offer here than i think most of us 'dudes' have ever seen, it will be a good time for any of us to do well!

Hope everyone is well back home, or wherever y'all are reading from, and i hope to get some more blog comments now that i am a regular updaterer!!!!

Stay cool dudes, like me...!