The Christmas Special Hell Ride... WINNER!

Welcome to the blog of official 2006 Christmas Special Hell Ride winner, Tommy Nankervis!

What a proud day it was for me too, i am just ecstatic to have won my first Christmas Special, and i hope it is the first of many!

The winner's trophy; there is a lot of hard work behind this, but, it has all been worthwhile!

The week started with a few good training rides, and a descent day on Thursday in the 42 degree celsius heat! I am sure that if i didn't win, the big 200km Thursday in the heat would have been the excuse! That, or the fact my lead out man, Jez Hunt, decided he preferred the comfort of his bed over the wintery morning training (or should i say 'racing') ride!

The winner's flowers!

There were only about 40 people who braved the wet morning weather to do the Christmas Special, but it was good to see the bunch continued to grow as the ride (race) went along. As the finish drew nearer, it became obvious that Greg Henderson was going to be the man to beat, and the pressure was on for me to keep the title this side of the Tasman Sea! I had my lead out train of Anthony Smith, Dan Moore, Matty Wilson, and former title holder Leroy DeLuca do a fantastic job, and got me close enough to the finish to allow me to stay out of trouble and give the sprint of my life. Hendy pulled up alongside me early, and we drag raced for a long way, until i was able to pull clear for the win! I reckon it was the greatest day of my cycling career thus far (although i do have big ambitions)!

Hendy and I were jamming it to the line, and reached 69km/h in the kick, which is quick i think. I would just like to take this opportunity to thank my lead out team, my sponsors, all the riders who attended, and last but not least, my mate Luke, who told Hendy the finish line was the "60 sign" and not the big green one (100m later), as that may have helped out heaps i reckon!!!! Good job Lukey!

After the win, i rewarded myself with some pancakes and maple syrup!

So just to re-cap, little Pete came in third, T-Mobile's Greg Henderson was second, and i took the honours! Ha ha! Sorry Hendy, i just need to talk it up a bit!

Early morning training up the 1:20 climb, or Mountain Hwy, up to Sassafras. It is probably the most popular climb in Melbourne, and hundreds of people would ride up this climb each week. It is 7km long, with a constant gradient, which is great for training. Jez is the rider in the photo, and i had to zoom out, as he reckons his legs aren't ripped enough yet for a close up! In two or three weeks, we are going to put a leg comparison photo up for a reader poll!

Training on Thursday, on the way home from Sorrento. This is a great ride with beach views the whole time. We were also unlucky to have a really smoky day again, which made the views limited, like of the hills we are about to ride to. They are usually crystal clear from this spot, and it is really pretty, still, it looks nice!

Up on the hills in the picture from before. There are a heap of really nice looking houses, with great views out over the bay. Just to the left of the picture, a cliff drops down to the water, which, as well as providing great views, doubles as a cool place to do bombs off into the water!

My good mate Isaac headed off to India this week for a five week holiday, and you can see he is pretty excited about what is ahead of him!

Everything he is taking fits into this bag! I am looking forward to hearing some great stories of his trip.

Thankyou to all of the readers who left comments this week, i appreciate it! It is nice to know people have an interest in what is going on. If anyone has anything they want me to write about, just let me know - there is not a lot going on, so i am happy to write about anything really!

If people want to write in and tell me what they know of the history of the Christmas Special Hell Ride, and the past winners, we can try and create an "honour roll". Someone left a comment in the last post about there being only 27 winners or so in its history, however, i believe DeLuca has won a hand-full, so that really makes the club a bit more exclusive!

Anyway, i just want to wish everyone all the best for a very Merry Christmas, and i hope Santa Claus/Father Christmas visits everyone!

Merry Christmas... Laters...