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Right, about time i wrote on here.

I shall start where the last one left off. As you know last week was the Tour of Luxembourg and you now probly will know how that went thanks to dad being great and updating my blog for me while i rested up.
In the end i did hold my gc position on a rather difficult last day. Not so difficult route, actually it was probly the easiest stage of the tour with only hills in the first 60 and last 20km, it was more the fact i had to chase back on 3 times that made it difficult. Which led to me being not where i should have been which was at the front, so when i got back on after the 2nd puncture and coming into the finishing circuits, all hell was breaking loose on a 2km climb before a 2km decent to the finish. I managed to get myself out of trouble a wee bit and ride across to the front group but unfortuatly for me there was a group of 4 or 5 20 sec ahead so there goes any chance of a stage win.
So in the end i held 17th and 6th young rider but more importantly gained a lot of confidence from the week. Now in my head i'm good enough to win races here. This was reinforced at the finish when my director also said he's convinced i can win races here with a bit more time.

So after the tour i had Sunday with ma and pa before they carried on with their adventures. On Sunday we went caving 6km from my town which was quite cool. The New Zealand safety standards would have had a feild day though, It was much like Waitomo except you don't have to wear overalls, helmet or full covered shows. You kinda just stroll into the cave in shorts, shirt and jandals. We also went to a town that i raced through called La Roche, it's where the british and the germans came together in world war 2 which was an awesome town. Spent an hour or so wandering through a 3 storey Musem about the war, which had original cars and bmw motor bikes on display.

After they left early on Monday morning it was time for me to get back to business. As the 10 day between Tour of Luxembourg and Tour of Liege are very important as i recovered and built on the condition i had gained from the tour. I did a couple of easy days then tried to do a pro kermesse. Safe to say my whole team was the same as we were still very tired and ended after 100km, so instead went training for an hour and a bit. The last few days have been good for me and have kept me in pretty good shape. I know have a couple of longer days before Tour of Liege which starts on Thursday. This time it's 5 days long which i look foward to because each day at Tour of Luxembourg i was getting stronger and stronger and by the end was flying. So here's hoping the same will happen at Tour of Liege. The route is a lot more difficult with more climbs which is good for me so i hope i can make some good results there. Will even contest my first Time Trial in 7 months.

So i hope the 10 day turn-around period between the 2 tours brings me up well but physically i'm feeling the best i have since before i broke my back and my head's screwed on at the moment so i hope to make some good results in the next 2 weeks and beyond.

Other than that not much has been happening. You will know the Tour de France started on Saturday and the people here go crazy when that comes on. I was on tour when it started though so i have been finding it a bit difficult to get into it. Maybe when the race hits the mountains it will be better but at the moment it's all too predictable.

The other thing that has decided to come and have a play is the rain. Since the tour started last Wednesday we have only had 3 days without rain, 2 of those being in the tour itself. So it has made training a bit different having to put 5 layers of clothes on again, just like old times in the snow!

While i was with Mum and Dad i also picked up a tourist guide for Belgium so i have a few day trips planned out for when this next tour finishes. Things like go-karting and that sort of stuff!
Should make for some good times.

2 Months and 17 days till i come home too.
Not too long to go so i'm looking foward to getting amongst it while i'm still here.
As long as the rain plays with me and not against me.

Well it's time for me to bugger off and do some practice before the Tour de France comes on Television. Also it's nice weather to do some baking. YEAH I'VE CHANGED! I'm a chef now.

Will write something else later today.

Ryan