Update

Hello everyone,

I hope this update reaches you well.

I have done a fair bit of racing over the last 2 weeks so I won't go into too much detail but just that the form has come good at just the right time with Franco Belge just around the corner!

I have done 5 or 6 races' I did G.P Wallonie last Wednesday, 205km through the ardennes which was a good race for me. Last year I made it 120km, this year I made it to the finish. It was a crazy race with a lot of crashes. One of which occured in the last 20km and blocked the road therefore splitting the peloton and it never came back together.. It was a bummer because I was back getting a bidon from the car and it was the first time I had been to the back of the bunch the whole race.

Then on Friday I had a criterium. 70km round a 2km course. I was in the early move where after a few laps we were joined by 10 riders to form a group of 13. We went away eventually taking a lap.. I lined it up for the sprint after some unsuccessful attacks towards the end of the race. I left my run late and ended up 4th which I was happy with.



Saturday I went to the ardennes with Tom and Clinton and we ended with almost 6 hours so that was a good day training.

Monday I was pinning on a number again, this time in a pro kermis. I was in the early moves again but nothing stuck and eventually it came down to a bunch kick. Just about went through unscathed but that wouldn't be Belgium would it! I took a flying bike to my arm when a rider crashed in the last km. Ever had a chainring go between your fingers.. I can tell you it isn't the most enjoyable thing along with my bruised forearm, but like all good things we must move on..



Tuesday was another pro kermis. A group of 40 went clear early and just kept going away. We had no car in the convoy and when my team mate punctured I was more than happy to give him my wheel so I could head back for an early shower as the racing and lack of recovery has began to take its toll on my legs.

For now, i'll be racing again on the weekend then linig up in Franco Belge on the 1st of October. The race goes through to the 4th and has some of the biggest names in cycling lining up, including 4 kiwis which will be cool.

I then just have paris - tours on the 11th October and flying out on 14th.

Until then,
Thanks for reading,
Ryan

Kortemark Koers

I went to Kortemark Koers with the intention of not finishing.
I went there after a hard race the day before just to find a little bit more rhythem before some bigger races.

It went as well as a race you plan on not finishing can go.

Sensations were good although it wasn't the nicest weather I have raced in.
It was one of, if not, the windiest day I have ever had on a bike.

2 times my front wheel was lifted from under me and thrown 10-15cm before remounting with the road. Was rather scary. I was out of the race no longer than 5minutes before torrential rain started bucketing down. It was really good timing.



Suppose to be lining up in Leuven on Sunday for a UCI 1.1, but havn't seen selections yet although have mutual selection from director.

Team for tour of southland has also been confirmed and I can now release the names of the riders who will be flying the share the road flag with me.

We have 3 returning riders and 2 new recruits.

Roman van Uden, Matt Gilbert and Myself are the returning riders with Karl Murray and my lotto-bodysol team mate Romain Fondard joining us.

It's going to be a very strong and competitive team. Everybody coming off fairly successful seasons.


Team Time Trial Stage 1 Tour of Southland 2008

Roman took a huge win at the Tour of Gila this year, he has good sprint with a knack of getting in the break aways.

Matt, Ex pro, enough said. Big strong bike rider with a lot of experience!

Karl, Tour of Southland stage winner, 2x (?) green jersey for best sprinter at the Tour of Southland, Ex pro. Brings a lot of power to the team. He has raced in france for a few years so has the ability to be able to attack constantly.

Romain, our frenchman, where to start, 4th place finisher at cyclo cross world championships, winner of G.P Waregen where he outsprinted none other than Tyler Farrar, Stage winner in Kreiz Breizh, 6th in Druivenkoers-overijse UCI 1.1, 10th G.P Stad Zottegem UCI 1.1. He is well rounded, packs a good sprint and knows cross winds like the back of his hand. Coming from a cyclo cross background should be used to the aweful weather southland will no doubt put on for us as always.


End of the Tour of Southland 2008

So i'm looking forward to this years tour and training really hard. It's a race I can do well in and I will be chasing a good GC result and the Under 23 jersey.

Thats all for now,
Will fill you in with info as it comes.

Ryan

Geraadsbergen Koers / Grammont Course

Heres a quick update on how the race went yesterday.

It was my first race since the tour mi-aout in France almost a month ago so I
wasn't expecting too much of myself. Lined up with 233 other starters on a hard
wee 10km circuit to be done 17 times. The parcour included a 1km cobbled climb each lap which made positioning pretty important.

We caught the remaining 5 riders from the break with 600m to go so it ended in a mass sprint. I finished safely in the peloton which was more than I expected so training has been paying off which is motivating.



I'm about to get myself organised to pin on a number again today in the Kortemark Koers. It's raining and windy and will probably be missrable.

Only planning on riding half of the race.

Just to get into race rhythem and find a bit more race legs before a UCI 1.1 race this weekend.



Will update after race.

Ryan

News

I'm still here. Been waiting for the day where I would have motivation to just let my fingers do the typing and not have to think too much about it.

It's been a re-building period over the last month. Going from having my best condition ever at the Ronde de L'Oise and Romsee to not being able to ride for more than an hour without my foot flaring up just goes to show you how much over a roller coaster journey this sport can be. It's not only mentally frustrating but it also mentally fatigues you. Such is life.

The last month has gone well. Since the tour really, I've found a shoe thats not giving me any greif at all which is good and I have also been to see a specialist who said it's not something he's used to seeing. Basically he told me that it's not a physically injury, but a bio-mechanical injury which means it's either a nerve, tendon or tissue flaring up when pressure is applied for extended periods of time.



I have got back into a good routine over the last 3 weeks which has seen me putting in the proper training days, 3, 4, 6 hour rides and I can feel myself getting back on top of it all.

I still have time to get some results which is the main thing. I have 44 days left of the season, starting tomorrow with Geraadsbergen koers followed the next day by Kotemark Koers. Both will be hard, Geraadsbergen with the cobbles and Kortemark with the wind and rain thats forecast but i'm excited to be pinning a number on again as it's been a couple of weeks since I last raced. Actually since the tour mi-aout. so it has been a while.

That could go 1 of 2 ways, it's either going to snap me into condition or i'm going to be fresh and raring to go. Time will tell.



I think nows also a good time to reveal my summer plans. I will be arriving home 16th of October and soon after making the trip down to invercargill for the Tour of Southland. I have linked up with the Share the Road team again this year and my good friend and Lotto-Bodysol team mate, Romain Fondard, will be making the journey down under for the Tour. We are pretty excited to go there this year. I have never gone to the Tour 100% and this year I want to give it a real go as long as i'm not too fatigued from a long european season.

Official team release to come within the next few weeks.



I will be back in Christchurch over the summer too. I thought about Whakatane but the roads just bore me to death now and doing the pre-season block solo isn't too much fun, so i'll head down to chch and prepare for the Nationals which will also be held there.

At this stage i'm looking at coming back over beginning over Febuary for a month long training camp in the south of France before the season proper gets going. I think this will make for a better prepared season. The other big difference next year is instead of trying to be consistant all season, i'm going to have target peaks. So i'll peak for hand full of races in a bid to make the next step in my career. More on that in a later post. Watch this space.

Here is the link to an interview I did for www.roadcycling.co.nz last week.

http://roadcycling.co.nz/TeamTalk/season-roundup-ryan-wills.html

So from here, the hard work continues and the results will hopefully follow.

Thanks for reading and i'll try and keep you all a bit more in the loop!

Ryan



The boys with Bernard Hinault at Tour de Bretagne.

Quick Update

Hello everyone,

Just thought I would drop a quick update and fill you up to date about what has been happening over the last couple of weeks.

Training has been well putting in some long rides over the last couple of weeks. 5-6hour days which has been good for my condition. I felt well and truely back at my best as I headed away to France for a 4 day tour. However I guess it wasn't meant to be as my foot gradually got worse over the days and by the 3rd stage it was an unbearable pain which led to me abandoning the race.

From here I am working out what to do next. The new shoes don't seem to be helping all that much and I am booked in to see the specialist on the 28/08 which will consist of analysis and custom soles/shoes. SO for the next 2 weeks i'll just be trying to deal with it as best I can and hopefully it just comes right. I race again next Wednesday at overijse, a UCI 1.1 ranked race.

Will keep you updated with proceedings as they come.

Ryan

The last month

The last month has flown by, between racing, foot appointments and training there hasn't been time do much else.

After Romsee I got tendonitis in my foot, so have had to change shoes/pedals, and have a fair bit of work done on it.

Between this, racing every 2nd or 3rd day, add to that a day day tour and thats the last months in a nutshell.

Races have been fairly average, I had 4 falls in 5 stages at the Tour of Liege, Nothing serious, but by the end of the tour I was pretty over it.

I'm coming right though, have a tour in 10 days time in france, which i'm looking forward to. With racing so much I didn't have time to put in the long rides. I couldn't get anything over 3 hours in, so at the moment, i'm just putting miles into my legs.

Also, a couple of months ago I got the domain for www.ryan-wills.com, and have been trying to get that up and running. hopefully it's up soon, will let you know.

So as you can see, I have been super busy. I will try and get up some pics and another post before I head off to the tour.

Sorry this has been short but I can't really elaborate on the races as they are not worth the time they take to read. Generally it's just rained for the races, start ride and see what happens.

Will keep you updated, hopefully over all injuries for the rest of the year.

Until next time,

Ryan

Hang in there

An update is on the way. Busy times.

Twitter

Have added twitter to my blog, its on the right side under photo. see what im up to day to day.

Romsee - Stavelot - Romsee UCI 1.12

Romsee - Stavelot - Romsee, heart of the ardennes, taking in all the major climbs. 4-5km long, 8 catogorized climbs plus the rest. Hilliest race i'll do all year.

I had good legs on Sunday but was uncertain how my climbing legs were. Well that was answered pretty quick when after 5km on the first climb a big group jumped away, I rode across pretty easy, I thought there was another group off the front so proceeded to ride away with 2 guys on my wheel to chase the front.. IF someone had only told me we were the front. I figured pretty qucikly anyway after we were shown the first time check of 20sec on the chalk board the motorbike carries. Not wanting to be up there I preceeded to soft pedal my turns hoping the catch would come soon, 8km later we were back in the bunch. I believed I would be able to follow over the climbs so I was happy to hold back and go with the natural selection which happened 55km into the race. On the pretty exposed climb the cross wind hit and 20 of us split off the front, I was sitting pretty 5th wheel behind the beveren led peloton. There were still 10 guys up the road by 40 seconds.

Off the decent and onto the next set of climbs it proceeded to split. I was pretty safe, It kept like this until the finishing circuits, 3x10km.

I was still strong, I may have been paying too much attention to the rider who won on Sunday. He goes good and was a good wheel to follow, obviously hes strong, but in the process let a couple of his beveren team mates slip ahead with 3 other guys.

Situation coming into the last lap was 5 guys in front with 30 seconds, me with a group of 7 chasers, then a group of 4 with sundays winner and 2 of his team mates.

We were looking pretty good racing for 6th, I wasn't backing my sprint but it would suit me more than other finishes would being up hill for the last 2km. with 5km to go there was some cat and mouse going on, I saw the group of 4 coming across but didn't want them to catch so tried to attack out of the group. I got a nice gap, just holding at 10-15seconds. At 1km to go the group of 4 caught us, at 200metres to go I was passed by the group, I was pretty well spent. I lost 7 seconds to the group in the last 200metres and settled for 15th place.

I was happy as only 29 finished the whole course. I had a goal of a top 20 and I achieved it, I was strong and followed a lot of attacks, I am happy with my progress and can only keep building on it. Staying injury free is a good thing too!

My director was super happy and like l'oise finished best from my team. Was good that my team mate also took the mountains prize for the day!

Next up for me will be some low key races until the second half of the season kicks off. Normally I would take a bit of a break, but I had a month off when I compressed the 2 vertabrae early this year so my plan is to go right through till southland. Hopefully arriving there with good form and not too tired.

The tour of luxembourg has been cancelled due to lack of money so bit bummed but life goes on.

Hope everyone is well.
Ryan

Fleche Ardennias

Fleche Ardennais, the 3rd round of the Lotto Top Competition where I was making my debut. The reason I am only making my debut now after 18months is that it's a competition for the belgian riders, and being kiwi means I'm not eligible for points towards the overall ranking. Going into the race we had fabio in 4th place in the classement and 3rd on the teams classement.

It's quite a hilly race and suits me pretty well. I left home on Sunday morning with the sun shining. How it can change in 2 hours. When Romain and I arrived in Herve for the start it was pissing with rain, wasn't too bad, that was until we started raining. My director said to me, this is a good race for you Ryan, don't do anything silly and wait for the selection. 3km into the race, 200 riders, worst weather I have ever been in, (yes worse than stage 4 of southland!), I was already riding off the front doing the something silly I wasn't meant to be doing, but if thats what I had to do to get warm then thats what I was going to do. It wasn't all bad though, as long as I was up the road, Fabio and the boys were safe in the bunch and when the natural selection was made I was already up the road ready to ride for Fabio.

There was 4 of us in the break, Myself, the french junior world champion from last year, 1 rider from beveren 2000 and a pom from scott cycling team. (actually funny cause later found out it was the pom who lives with the kiwi track team over here).

We worked well together for 80-90km, then the selection came across and just as I thought Fabio was there. So I rode as hard as I could for Fabio as I knew he was strong and we put time into the chasers. We hit the next climb and I was frozen, couldn't feel a thing, job was done, I wasn't going to ride the finishing circuits for the sake of finishing. I got to the bus and straight into the warm showers, Romain suffered a crash, knew it would be dodgy in a 200 man bunch in that weather. Safer off the front :)

Actually only 20 riders did the whole course. Fabio was our only finisher, but finished strong, 3rd place! Moved into 3rd on classement, but we dropped to 5th on teams. Seeking revenge after the most horrible day. I was dissapointed not to finish but my director was happy with me, and looking back now, I can see I did a good job for Fabio and was happy just to get to where I did.

I have good legs and looking forward to Tuesday and some better weather.

Ryan.

Tour de l'Oise UCI 2.2

It's been a long time since this race, well atleast it feels like a long time.

It was a 4 day tour, held 3 weeks ago. Now it's not for a lack of trying to update my blog but more the fact I havn't really had time. I finished this tour and was straight into some other races but the report for them will go up soon.

It was a pretty hard tour, well on paper. The feild was as good as at the tour of bretagne. My fitness has been getting better over the last month and I have been enjoying riding a lot more, have a new massuse who is in the know with a lot of teams and who has a lot of belief in me.

So the tour itself. 4 days, first stage was on the Thursday, 120km starting at 4pm. I went into the tour with an open mind. Better fitness than Bretagne and now I could take it day by day and just grow in confidence.

15km into the stage, 15 guys got up the road, unfortunately we had no one in the move but luckily neither did 2 other strong teams, beveren 2000 and roubaix - metropole. Roubaix chased for 50 odd km before they lost fire power, beveren took over, I joined in with 1 team mate. We had the gap at 40seconds for a long time, I was getting frustrated as my team mates wern't riding the front and general classification was going out the door. I said to my director after I wasn't happy that the team wasn't riding. We are a continental team and should have been showing that we are strong, well apparently we wern't as strong as I thought and my team mates were pretty tapped. I finished in the bunch, 1 minute down on the break.

Stage 2, 180km. Again I was feeling good. Again a break of 15 odd got away and again we missed it along with beveren 2000. Another day on the front and another day I was happy to finish, we lost 20seconds to the break at the end I think. I finish in the bunch. Normally this tour should be hard, as there are 6-8 hills each stage with no decent after except open paddocks and feilds so if the wind was blowing and the race was harder things would have been different, unfortunately the wind didn't blow for the first 3 days, hence the big bunch finishes.

Stage 3, 180km. Fast stage, lots of climbing, but again quite easy. Another big bunch finish, no break stayed today. Didn't have to ride the front, got to chill, stay out of trouble and look forward to the last stage.

Stage 4, 170km. Finally the wind started to blow and the race got hard. So hard infact I went in the break in the first 10km, we were caught by 30km and I was dropped by 40km, spent the next 15km in the cars chasing with 10 others. Got back on and started to find some legs and they just got better and better and better. A group of 7 got away on the last climb and held us off by 10sec over last 5km. I was in the chase group of 25ish. I don't think many more than 50 of 120 finished the day.

Overall 33rd, same time as 20th and only a handfull of seconds off 15th, from 15th upward it was mostly guys who had took time on the first and second stage, had the wind been blowing and the race been hard on the first 3 days I think the gc wouldn't have been so close but I am happy with where I am and happy to get through a hard day, it was maxing at 32 degrees!

Next up is Fleche Ardennais on Sunday and Romsee - Stevelot - Romsee on Tuesday. 2 of the biggest classics Belgium has each year. Held in the ardenne hills, they should be 2 races suited to me.

Until then,
Ryan

The goings on..

So yesterday I had a race in the town of Gits (home to my eldest belgian sibling), it didn't go good at all but will get into detail soon. First the week following Tour of Belgium.

I had an easier day on Monday following the tour. I wasn't so tired which was good and was able to jump straight into time on bike. A lot of things changed this week, training 50watts higher than I was before the tour and training for longer, already had 6 and 7 hour rides this week which was good, specially with the inceased tempo. Already seeing improvements in power.

So fair to say I had a very long week, but I suspect this to become the normal from now on. I'm ready to step up and reach my potential.

Now for the race, started well, Clinton and I escaped the peloton on the first lap, I took the first prime. Had a new p.b for 20min and 30min power. Then 1hour 17min into the race it turned pear shaped. We were riding in the right hand gutter, with wind coming from left to right, I was on the right side of the wheel in front, when the rider hit a orange refector pole in the road, obviously on the right side of the wheel on the right side of the road I was left with no where to go, I threw in a bunny hop over the guy slidding but mid bunny hop I coped his bike to my left knee and go put off course, through a dirt garden and ended up-right leaning on a fence, a lot of swelling was enough of a concern to shut it down (as I leave for france on thursday), the bad news was I couldn't walk straight all night, Iced and anti-flamed and today its not as bad, was able to ride 45min on rollers comfortably.

Next lap Clinton comes to a stop, hes broken his wheel. So that was the day done. ALthough we came away with 1 prime each, I was left filthy.

There are the positives that i'm hitting my straps now though so I look forward to mixing it up in france. I love racing there. Good breakfasts, free internet and late starts, so nice sleep in's, good for us who love late nights and late mornings! The coffee isn't too bad either!!

Leave you with a quote I found today.

'Happy are those who dream dreams and arre ready to pay the price to make them come true'

'if you can imagine it, you can achieve it! if you can dream it, you can become it'

make of them what you will.

Tour of Belgium UCI 2.HC Stage 3, 4 and 5 wrap up

Heres the following update that I have been to tired to put up.

Lucky I kept the race book so I can remember where we went.
It's a hard life!! but seriously we went so many places it's hard to remember them all.

Stage 3, Knokke-Heist - Temse, 190km.
Mostly flat stage but with a twist of 3 or 4 cobble sections thrown in there.
I won't go into too much detail as it was a pretty uneventful stage. I rode good position, carried water bottles, went fast (surprisingly) on the cobbles and finished strong in the peloton. The thing that hurt the most that day was finishing, straight into the cars for a 2.5hr drive down the country to Liege for the 4th stage.
We didn't get to the hotel and massaged/dinner until late, and we had an early start.

Stage 4, Fleron to Fleron, Wow, what a day.
Just to give you an insight, 190km, 12 catagorized climbs, plus the rest that wern't but should have been! Not one flat part to the day.

The climbs.
23.1km Cote d'Oneux, 2800m @ 6.4%
49.7km L'Ancienne Barriere, 4800m @ 4.7%
67.6km Cote de Spineux, 3100m @ 6.3%
76.2km Stockeu, 2300m @ 9.9%
79km Haute Levee, 3600m @ 5.6%
97.3km Cote de la Gleize, 2800m @ 4.6%
101.9km Cote de la Vecquee, 6200m @ 5.3%
122.9km Cote de la Redoute, 1700m @ 9.9%
129.6km Thier du Hornay, 1100m @ 6.3%
146.5km Cote du Foret, 2800m @ 5.5%
169.9km Cote du Foret, 2800m @ 5.5%

Then there were the rest, and all of this in 29Degree heat!
All made for a very very hard day, 9 drink bottles and still lost 3kg.
Also lost my legs!

Luckily they got found before the time trial the next day!

5.5hours in the saddle. Carried water bottles for first 100km then was in grupetto for the rest of the afternoon, lucky I found some aussie counterparts to talk to. Could have been pretty boring otherwise. I went through a set of legs, set of brake pads, a bottom bracket and a lot of water. All in a days work.
Lost 25minutes, but time didn't mean a thing, job was done and I made it to the finish in one piece.

Stage 5, Herzele, 16.8km Time Trial.
Last day, full gas, what more could you want.
Pre rode the course, it was very good, long straights, fast decents, not so many corners to accelerate out of.
I left the start house at 1.36pm, rode as hard as I could and felt strong.
Averaged 45km/h, still lost 2 min to the winner. Just goes to show how fast those guys can go. Winner averaged 48km/h. I ended the stage in 73rd place.

So all in all, it was a very good week. I tired to get into some moves, didn't happen. I went in with the goal of just finishing and doing my job. I did that so pretty happy with how it all went.


I have 9 days until I start another tour. This time the Tour de L'oise in France, from the 11th - 14th June. It's a 2.2 tour so I expect it to be the same level as Bretagne, but I have come off this last tour flying so will be looking to build on that in the next week.

I will race on Sunday too, 2km away from here. All the Belgian family coming out to watch. Hope to do something for them!

Until then,

Ryan

Tour of Belgium UCI 2.HC Stage 1 and 2

Just a quick update of the first couple of stages.

Stage 1, I think it was 190km or something, Tervuren - Tervuren.

So much for a flat stage, there were some steep wee climbs in there.
It was pretty hard for me, I got pretty good at motor pacing. I had more
flat tyres in the stage than i've had all year. I did manage a chat
to Robbie McEwen during lunch though, he was telling me about how he won
the tour of wellington in 1994, I was telling him how I was 6 years old
then. Ended up too far back and missed a split in the last 3km, lost 1 min 24 sec.

I did learn something though, to catch back up in the last 30km you have to be
doing atleast 80km/h behind the car. That was pretty scary, especially on these
roads.

Stage 2, 200km, Buggenhout - Knokke Heist.
No problems for me today. Did it easy. First hour was fast until break was away,
then it was lunch time. Toilet stop, whatever you want to do at 28km/h. After 15min or so Katusha had to set tempo for most of the day as they had the leader in Ivanov.
Then 70km to go the sprinters teams come to the front to bring the break back and it's race on. Silence with Belgian Champion Roelandts, Rabobank with Brown, Katusha with Napolitano, De Haes and McEwen, Vanscansoleil with Bozic, LPR with Ongarato, Quickstep with Weylandt, Skil-Shimano with Van Hummel, the list goes on. So it's pretty much a bloc (full gas) for the rest of the race. One thing I did learn today though is that when you hit the front you do whatever you can to stay there, because there's no coming back from the back if you drift. I rode 53x12 at 100ish rpm for the last 2 hours and we covered over 100km. Crazy stuff!

I have a new respect for those professional sprinters. They have some big balls to ride those sprints. I don't yet have the nerve for that. Well not so much the nerve it would be ok if I had the power to sustain the position.

There was a huge crash that happened on the finish line, it was a crazy circuit, so much road furniture, a crash was going to happen somewhere. 3km earlier I was also following McEwen when he jumped the curb and rode into the stop sign. Yesterday he was telling me about this years Tour de France and today he's lying on the road side, broken knee, career in doubt, thoughts are definately with him tonight.

Other than that not much, i'm about to sleep. Later start tomorrow though which is nice.

Will try and update tomorrow night.

We have another flat stage, only 170km this time. cobble sections though.
Should be cool.

Ryan

The week that was.

Another week down, another race done and another race to look forward to!

Just got through a big block of training finished off with a weekend of races.

Yesterday I raced in Aartrijk, Elite and U23, 120km with 121 starters.
It was a funny race, a break never went away which made for a lot of attacking and chasing. Although I was able to make all the moves.

We pulled a little group away on the last lap, around 15 riders. 1 guy escaped in the last 800m, we counter attacked at the same time, but we never closed the gap. He held 5 seconds at the finish. I was content with 8th, finished strongly. Also 1st u23.

Finished a big week of training today. Just had word that I will be lining up Wednesday in the Tour of Belgium. This was the biggest race I did last year, 2.1 ranking, but it's been promoted to 2.HC ranking with more protour teams so it's going to be a very hard race, I will target 1 or 2 days to try and slip into the break if I have the legs.

Will try and update throughout the week. I'm sure there will be some stories to be told!

Thanks for reading,
Ryan

Special Thanks!

I forgot to mention a special thanks.

It goes to the owners of the local bike shop here in Roeselare who came to watch me race on Sunday. Braving the windy conditions!

So just wanted to say thanks as I know they read this :)

It was nice and motivating seeing them out on the course!

Ryan

Weekend Wrap

Pretty amazing what a couple of days or even one night can do to you..

The back pain I was feeling seemed to ease and now completely gone.

I decided I had better get in a couple of races over the weekend as I hadn't raced since Bretagne tour and there were 2 under 23 races on pretty close so I went and pinned on a number.

Saturday - Teilt. Also lining up was Clinton, who is coming into some good form 2 weeks out from his season objective, U23 Paris - Roubaix.. A race with cobbles, made for big monsters like him :) (just joking about the monster part)

Anyway, he attacked in the 1st KM of the race. Took a few guys with him I think, not 100% sure, I followed whatever guys were trying to go across.. Not much happened and I finished 33rd, but more importantly back into racing rhythem. Clinton took the victory which was awesome!

Sunday - Pittem. Most of the guys from Saturday plus some more lined up on Sunday also, as the course for Sunday was 5km from Saturdays course and run by the same organisation.



It was windy as hell, Clinton said, follow me, we are going to break this on the first lap. I didn't quite get his wheel and ended up riding across at the beginning of 2nd lap (of 16 laps). We had maybe 20-30 guys in the front but after 2 laps it was down to 11 riders. Clinton and myself, a rider from beveren 2000, which is quickstep feeder team, 4 guys from Lithuanian national team, and a couple of other random dudes. So obviously with Lithuania having 4 guys out of 11 it was up to them to keep the move away.



About half way through the race it split again and now we were left with 7 in front for the remainder of the race. With 3 laps to go I saw most of the guys in break were pedalling squares and obviously feeling it a bit. Then I heard Clinton say "I don't know if I have another 2 laps in me!" so I thought there must be a few sets of tired legs.



Beginning the 2nd to last lap, around almost a hair pin corner I decided to throw down a test attack, and drove it through the corner, taking 50m straight away, then the gap was growing, 2 guys managed to work their way across to me so we had 3 out front coming into 1 lap to go. They are well known for their sprint ability, I am not known for mine!



I did what I could to get rid of them through the cross wind sections and up the slight incline on the course but together they were able to bring me back. Then out of no where, here comes Clinton, this was good for us as it would be game on again and if I couldn't get away, he could take the sprint. So I sat on the back of the 2 others for a couple of KM while Clinton came across.



He got across, I attacked with 1km to go coming into the main road of the start/finish line, they chased, caught me and Clinton won the sprint. I came in 4th with the next 2 at 1min 40 and the bunch at 4min 50.

So first and fourth for the day was pretty cool. Specially when it's with one of your good mates and training buddy!

As for me, I am pain free for the moment and my condition is obviously still pretty good from Bretagne, so this week will be about building a bit more before the Tour of Belgium starting next Wednesday. My first race with the protour for the year.

Hope everyone is well.

Ryan

Update..

Well I thought i'd better give a short update as I havn't been in touch with the world lately. Not for a lack of trying though, just a lot of things have been happening so my head has been else where.

Havn't been racing since tour of bretagne, even though I should have been.

I've planned to then something will prevent me so it hasn't happened yet.

I was spose to be racing a tour this weekend in the hills but thats been flicked and the show must go on..

I have been having a lot of problems with my back where I compressed the T12 and L1 vertabrae earlier in the year. It's a big fault of my own, I probably shouldn't have ridden track nationals and been in such a rush to get back on my back but it was the start of the season and I didn't want to waste my winters training so now am paying for the impaitence.

Have been having treatment on it, needles and so on and it seems to help a little bit but the big problem I think is it just hasn't had the time to heal itself. They say 12 weeks rest for this injury, it's just under 12 weeks now, I think I had 4 off after track nationals and 1 before.

In saying that the season still has a long way to go as we are only in may so there is still plenty of time left to get back to 100%, although the sooner the better.

I still have to look to Tour of Belgium starting on 27th May, ranking 2.HC, so going to be some big hitter teams there. I will look to target one stage and try for a break or something. The exposure I got after the Tour of Bretagne was really good so i'll look for some more of that.

I will ride some kirmis courses between now and then too to get back into racing rhythem as it's been 2 weeks since Bretagne.

Nothing else has really been happening, found a cool local cafe hangout so been spending some time there, will get some pics of it. It resembles a kiwi style cafe and takes away the home sickness when inside. Also it's giro time so afternoons are always pretty occupied with tv.

Will report back with some news, hopefully good news that i've got a result in a race or even that my backs pain free, that would be nice but until then take care.

Tour de Bretagne. UCI 2.2

I will keep this one pretty casual, and apologise in advance for any mistakes/grammer errors etc.. I have had 4 hours sleep since the race finished.

Got home at 3am after a 9 odd hour car drive home from france. Then spent most of the morning on phone, didn't sleep till midday.

I did the preview before the tour. Well the profiles couldn't have been more different to what I saw. Well the altitude measurements they posted.

We thought 4 of the 6 road stages would be bunch sprints, but these hills were ensuring there was only going to be one bunch sprint this week.



For me the tour was base building for the season, we set 2 goals before the tour, get in an escape one day and finish the race.

Underestimating the calibre of the feild I jumped across to one guy 5km into the first stage, we were joined by 3 more riders, before the u23 belgian champion dropped off and went back to the peloton.
So 4 of us set out to try and cheat the peloton of victory while picking up intermediate prizes along the way.
I was feeling ok, relaxed, but knowing I had a big week ahead of me I didn't want to push to hard. So I was trying to keep smooth and steady all day. I won an intermediate and mountain prime, 2nd in 2 mountain primes and 4th in another intermediate sprint (didn't know why they were attacking me haha)



I ended up getting caught with about 15km to ride, while the other 3 were still out front until 10km to go. It was successful for me as I was presented with the jersey of the combine classement, intermediate and mountain primes combined. I felt like I took another step in the right direction and things will come together for the rest of the season. Still have a lot of big races to go.



Stage 2 was hard for me as I still had tired legs from day before. I did what I could and fought with everything but got run off the back of a small peloton with 2 finishing circuits to go. Things were bad this stage, I had a news paper go through my rear derailler and went off roading amongst other things. Each stage finished with 5x5km finishing circuits, and each finishing circuit had a climb of 800-1000m at 15%, so much for bunch sprints and easy finishing circuits. I got to the finish 12 minutes down.



Stage 3, the worst day i've faced on a bike, Imagine stage 4 of the tour of southland, and double it in length. It was horrible. I had layers and layers of clothes on, and for the first time in my life, raced in leg warmers.
I was still real tired from first 2 days. I crawled in with a group and lost a lot of time again, but that didn't matter. All I had to do was get through the tour and do what I could. Unfortunately lost 2 team mates on this stage.



Stage 4, Started out as bad as day 3, but cleared pretty well for the start and was drizzle most of day. I had found some legs by now, I was riding in the front, following moves as we headed towards the finishing circuit. It had a 1km climb to the finish. Which was quite difficult. I made it throw to 1 lap to go and couldn't get round a split the 2nd last time up to the finish, and rolled in 1min behind the winner and 45 sec behind peloton. So was a better day for me.



Stage 5, Again had good legs, and for the first time a stage that was easy enough for the sprinters. Unfortunately they were cheated as the last rider of the early break held them off by a matter of metres. So they settled for 2nd, we had Romain, My room mate for the week, up there in 6th. I finished last wheel in the bunch in 60th place after pulling out a 'look ma, no hands' stunt over a bump in the road. Was very lucky not to go down.



Stage 6 was a time trial. I thought I could go ok on this stage. I was coming better everyday, but the course again was very different to the profile. Within metres of coming out of the start house it was 4km up hill and then rolling for the next couple of kilometres before another 2x 2km climbs. Think I would have been faster on my road bike. I was lacking a lot of power on climbs but that will come in next few weeks. I was 41st on stage. Ended up with 3 hours total on bike, so much for easy day.





The last stage. Again like every other day, the team with all the ex-pros from credit agricole made the race hard, pulling moves away. I was good again and was able to follow some, none of them sticking. I rode in the front until the finishing circuits, where I missed split again, not that I could have made it, I was so tired, and got in 6minutes down. Romain was 4th on the stage which was another good result for him.



It was quite seriously the hardest race i've ever done, with most days the first 2 hours in excess of 320watts.

So now I have some power work to do, but I have a good racing base for rest of season. Looking forward to it. Still hoping Soren will be over soon too, refresh my head a bit mid season.



I think the next race for me will be a 3 day, 4 stage tour in 2 weeks time. Le tryptique ardennais.

Now i'm going to catch up on some sleep. Have an easier week of training this week.

Until next time.

Tour de Bretagne. UCI 2.2

The next race for me is 'le tour de bretagne' starting this Saturday. It's a 7 day stage race in the brittany region of France I believe. Not an easy tour at all either.

A little bit of a preview.. it's the 43rd edition of the race and probably has been won by some big names before.

Stage 1 or as they say in french 'etape' is 159km from Nantes - Vallet
Must be hard because they have given us 5hours to complete the course!

Stage 2 is from Treffieux - Fougères and covers 153km. It is a hill top finish, so i'm guessing most of the stage is rolling to hilly.

Stage 3 is between Fougères - Saint-Cast Le Guildo. It is 161km and looks to be pretty rolling again.

Stage 4 goes from Matignon - Perros Guirec and is 156km. Some of these stages are starting to look pretty damn hard! It's a false flat up hill finish!!

Stage 5 is between Saint-Brieuc - Ploeren. 170km in length and looks to be on the coast. If it's windy this could be where the race is won. Look for fireworks on this stage.

Stage 6 will go between Douarnenez - Douarnenez and is 24km. Yes you read right, it's the day of the time trial. Rolling terrain, 50m being the biggest difference.

Stage 7, The final day between Douarnenez - Quimperlé will be interesting with a difficult last 3km. Maybe the break will stay away. Depends how close it is at the top of the classification I guess.

So i'm going to be riding the hardest race of my career next week. I have no ambition except to gain experience, get through it and help our leader Romain. He's a great guy. Lots can be learnt from him.

Anyway that's what I will be up to for the next week. Tripping it around France, probably with wind and rain if last year is anything to go by, but already we have had a better April than previous years.. tomorrow is suppose to be mid twenties. As is rest of week.

After this tour, who knows, but one thing will be for sure.. If I get through it, it's going to be a good base to run the rest of the year off.

http://www.tourdebretagne.fr/

Liege -Bastogne - Liege

Woke up to darkish skies in the ardennes for the start of the U23 Liege - Bastogne - Liege. A race I really like.

Lining up in Bastogne for the departure of the 2009 edition wasn't much fun as it wasn't much more than 8 degrees with a heap of fog and mist surrounding the area, but as always it was the same for everyone so I wasn't really too bothered. The plan for me was to get over the climbs and coming into the final go with some moves to try and get away with a handful of riders.


The Start

The race started well, a smallish 20km loop around Bastogne back through the start and out onto the course proper. It was a pretty fast first hour covering 48km, I was good just sitting in the wheels until we hit the first climb of the day where I was able to move up to the front and control the pace a little bit.


Leading peloton over the Côte de HOUFFALIZE

Over the top of the next climb, Côte de WANNE, there was an attack which was well represented which included myself and a team mate. There were maybe 15 in the group by the time 2 groups joined on the decent with all the big teams represented so i'm not sure why the move didn't stick but anyway it was all back together a little while later.

For the next while it was resonably hard, and I had really bad legs so it felt like I was pedalling 1 legged most of the time. I found a rhythem on the 3rd catogorized climb of the day, about the 8th climb in total!, the Côte du ROSIER.



I know this climb really well as it was my close to home last year so I have ridden it numerous times at training and race pace. I went over with a front group but it all came back together down through the valley to the next climb, the Côte de LA VECQUEE. I had a bit of trouble on this climb, I hit the bottom in good position but dropped my chain and by the time I got going again I was at the back and trying to get back to the front. I caught the front again on the decent but a group had already gone off the front. We started picking up riders that were dropping off the front.

Next up was the climb Côte de LA REDOUTE, famous in Belgium as this is where the fire works always happen! It's a steep one. 23% for 2.2km.



I was going well and had made the split of 5 over the top of the climb, for the next 12km or so I had to go really deep to make the junction to the 2nd group on the road, with just 7 up ahead of us.



I was starting to find some legs after 3.5 hours of racing and started to cover some moves trying to get across to the front group. I got away with one other rider as we headed toward the last hard climb, the Côte SAINT-NICOLAS not far behind the front.


Looking down on the climb, yes it's steep!

Over the top of the climb with 10km to go all was good. There were still 7 in front with me and 1 other in the gap with the peloton behind. And thats where it all went pear-shaped. Forgetting to eat over the last 50km, and with 8km to ride I found myself on the worst hunger flat and simply ran out of legs.


The pro's going over the Côte SAINT-NICOLAS

I got caught and dropped by 3 groups on the run into the finish. I had completely run dry. I lost 7 and a half minutes in the final 8km of the race. Finishing in 90th place. Something I was a little dissapointed with as it had looked like a good result could be on, not saying I would have won but a top 20 was within reach.

But as you do, things happen and it's something I will learn from and move on from. I should have probly known better but with wet roads, a lot happening, eating just slipped my mind and I paid for it at the end of the day.

Something thats since been pointed out to me is that it's a huge race for the U23 so just to finish is an achievement and something I can build on next year, also this time last year I hadn't even finished a race.. Now i've finished my first 3!

I still have another year to go back and give it another crack, and I still believe it's a race I can win. I took a lot away from the race and I have a better idea of how it will unfold next year.

Thanks for reading and hopefully the next post has a better result with it.

Tweedaagse van de Gaverstreek

I have finally found a quiet moment to get a race report up from the weekend.

I raced the Tweedaagse van de Gaverstreek. Being my first race of the real season and having so much time off my bike in recent months due to injuries etc.. I was unsure as to how my condition was.

The course was 3 stages in 2 days (see previous post) so was going to be interesting to see if I could back up days. The course was full of cobbles and wind with a couple of little hills and roads thrown in for good measure. No easy task but with objectives fast approaching I had to get some condition in my legs and to do that just get through the tour as best I could.

The first day started out not too bad. 158km stage, I felt good, but being my first race back in europe I was a little nervous back in the big pelotons so just had to get a feel for it again. In this race with the wind and cobbles you always have to be in the front as usually it will split to pieces in the cross winds.

The race hit the Kwaremont, a cobbled climb with quite a gradient and it split. I was on the wrong side of the split and tried to ride across with a team mate, we didn't quite make it and spent the next 60km riding the front on the chase bunch with about 80 other guys. No problem for me. I was just there for training to begin with. So this is where we ended, I think I was something in the 130's on the results but I made it through.

Sunday morning was an 8km tt. I was up early, 9.20 start. I went as well as I could to give our leaders Fabio and Romain something to aim for. I started fast, built for a bit and then held it till the end, finishing with a time of 10minutes 12 seconds. Which was the fastest time so far. I stayed in the lead for an hour or so before 33 guys decided they wanted to go faster. Ended 34th. Fabio with a 10.02 moved into 5th place on classification.

The last stage was 130km, more wind and cobbles but this time with a 2-3km climb and thankfully no cobbles. We hit the bottom of the climb after 20km and I took Fabio with me to the front and settled into a rhythem. Stringing out the peloton. On the decent it was all back together but a few of the guys feeling the racing taking it's toll. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty lactic at this point too. I was in the front as we turned left into the cross wind, riding well but got hooked and overshot the turn. Ended up at the back, rode round a lot of guys, got dropped, rode back all in the space of 10km. I got back into position as the peloton starting getting smaller. And again the race started spliting, me and 2 team mates were in the 2nd group but after 5km were able to ride back across the gap. It was a shit fight to the finishing circuits, 3 laps of 6km. The break still had 2minutes as we hit the circuits and were threatening our place on classification. I got the word to hit the front again with another team mate, unfortunatly he decided after 3 pulls it was too hard or he wasn't ready to sacrifice himself, I duno. So I was left alone of the front with the 2 remaining riders of the leader's team. 2 laps to go it was down to 1 min 18 seconds. I was pretty smashed by this point and was really having to hurt myself. 1 lap to go and it was 40 seconds to the front. With 3km to go we had the break back in. It was then time to set up for the sprint. So again I dragged my sorry ass to the head, pulled again before drifting back in the last 500m. Finishing the stage in the 50's but more importantly finishing in the front, with good condition coming and doing what was asked of me.

As Fabio said, we might not have won the race but we were the strongest team in the race and had a few things gone our way we could have just as easily won it. But thats bike racing. Everyone was happy and the team worked really well and got on really well together. It's a bit cool when i'm starting to understand more french too. Not feeling so out of the loop.

So now I am in a training camp for this weekend. The first objective for the season, Liege - Bastogne - Liege under 23. A race which would normally suit my riding. I will be after a big result. I know I have good enough form, just have to pull it all together come Saturday.

Will get some pics from the weekend when they become available.

Thats all for now, and I will be back with a report from Liege.

Quick Friday morning update

Just a quick update to let everyone know i'm still alive and doing well.

Training has been good this weekend, especially yesterday. That was super hard!

It's 10am and already 18.3 degrees out, so we have a nice weekend on the horizon.

This weekend I am pinning on a number for the first proper race of the season.
It's a 2 day tour called the tweedaagse van de gaverstreek, or roughly translated two days of the gaverstreek.

The race is only about 15km from my home here so I have ridden the roads before.

A bit of info for the race..

Saturday:
Stage 1 - 158km, 140km big loop with 3x6km finishing circuits I think.

Sunday:
Stage 2 - 8km time trial

Stage 3 - 128km, mostly the same roads as the first stage.

After the weekend I am going on a training camp for the week until Liege - Bastogne - Liege. I will be back home for a week then I think I will be in France for a 7 day tour the following week. The Tour de Bretagne.

So I am going to be a busy boy over the next few weeks but definately right back into the swing of everything.

Will try and get a post up over the weekend or you can follow me on www.twitter.com (username: RyanPCW) which will have updates all the time.

Well the last week has been pretty busy. I'm right back into the swing of life here and so far so good.

In the past 7 days I have covered a fair few miles on the bike, been caught by some website riding the course of the Tour de Flanders, picked a spot to watch 2 pro races and missed them both times and broken a bike..

It's almost been a month since I arrived in Belgium and I finally got my first full week of training in. I woke up on Tuesday with no pain in my back and it has since stayed away which is encouraging.

I was on my bike almost 25 hours trying to get what form I can before the 18th and the first goal of the season, the under 23 Liege - Bastogne - Liege. The one-day classic that tackles the same steep climbs that was my hunting ground for a lot of last year while I was living in the ardennes. I know the course, the key points, the rest is just hoping I have the legs and the luck.

On Thursday Clinton and I went and had a look over the course for the Tour of Flanders which he will be racing this weekend. Would like to be on the start line to help him as I know the roads and the level of racing well but due to commitments later in the week I will be skipping this years edition.
I ended up with 6.5 hours on the bike that day and because the pros were to be racing over those roads the following Sunday there were a number of media people taking pictures of the key climbs and getting all the pre race condition.

One website caught me out on the course..



On Saturday I pinned on numbers for the first time. There were 204 starters, a lot of chaos and my legs didn't like it too much. Just lacking the high intensity stuff but it will come with a few more races. I ended up dropped after around 80km. Not too worried though, I just needed to get that one out of the way.

Not much else has been happening, except for breaking another bike and now trying to get that sorted. Getting a bit frustrating.

Today has been a nice rest, well except for 30min on the rollers this morning.
So have just been watching Prison Break episodes all day.

Thats all for now

From bad to worse

The last week has thrown its ups and downs at me. I had a good weekend back on the bike then my back was sore again so a couple of easier days to recover then a couple of solid days and more back problems.

I'm going through one of those stages where nothing seems to be going right and for every step I make forward I go 2 back.. Thursday I headed out with Clinton, pissing with rain, cold and windy, after 2.5hrs I crashed on a slippery wooden bridge. It wasn't so bad just frustrating. Then Saturday I was out with Logan and we had some mis-comminication going round a corner and we were both pulling ourselves back up of the road. This time I wasn't so lucky, with some gravel rash and ripping of clothing, thank god I had my winter gloves on because had it not been for those my hands would be in a state of mess!

I still feel like shit on my bike. Like I don't have any power and am dragging an anchor everywhere I go. I'm hanging out to get back on the other bike I have coming.

I always hate this time of year. When you wake up and it's raining, you goto sleep and it's raining, repeating this process everyday for a couple of weeks on end. The temperature barely gets into double figures on a good day and I have to wear 5 layers of clothing and a scarf just to keep a little bit warm. On the positive, i'm the lightest i've ever been for this time of the year.

So i'm hoping all this shit gets over and done with cause i've kinda had enough of it. Although it's now been 3 crashes, and they say they come in 3's so heres hoping thats all there is for the next year!

Will report back in a couple of days!

Ryan

Team Presentation 2009

I travelled down to the Wallonion part of Belgium on Thursday for the presentation of Team Lotto-Bodysol. I left home early so I had plenty of time to find my way. After 100km I found myself stuck in a traffic jam on the ring road of brussels. This lasted upward of 40min. I was starting to stress a little bit as the gps said I was 10 minutes late, then 15 minutes late, then finally on my way again. Not long after I recognised a car coming up behind me. It was my team mate and his dad. So I jumped in behind and for a while they thought I was some crazy guy following them. That was until they recognised me then there was a lot of laughing and waving going on. We got there on time thanks to them.

The presentation was held in an old Hotel built in 1873. This was purely for the media so I think there were about 20 people on hand to see the presentation and take photos and do what they do.



The protocol is pretty simple. First you recieve your bike and then the kit for the year. After this is done it's almost like a game of dress up where everyone tries on the casual clothing. We are then introduced one by one to the on lookers after a little bit of socializing with the team and catching up on a winter apart.



So when we are introduced to everyone, they ask a few questions.. for me it was when did you arrive back in Belgium? Your condition is very good after a wonderful season in New Zealand with 2 victories, were you happy with the level of racing and tell us about the win in Tour of Wellington.. and your objectives for the season? thankfully for me they asked in english, I forgot to practice mon francais pour le occasion!



After the team is introduced they talk to the staff for a little bit, along with a special guest from our big brother team. This time the lucky man was Dirk De Wolf, director at Silence-Lotto.



Once all this is done it's time for some pictures! They were nice enough to make it quick as it was freezing, it barely touched 8 degrees!



Then by the time this is done we have been there for a few hours so everyones getting hungry.. That calls for lunch, but not before getting out of the team kit.



Then after everything is said and done and all the little things taken care of I hoped in the car and travelled back home. Luckily no traffic jams this time.

I spent friday putting my bike together, itching to get back on it. I went for my first ride yesterday.. and again today with Clinton who is back living not far down the road.

I have just got my programme of racing for the year and there are some good races for me. Also a lot of racing with the protour which are always good and bring a lot of stories.



Now another story.. earlier in the week Roger and Jennys son Jereon asked if I would like to goto the football with him on Saturday night. I thought yeah it would be cool experiencing it.. Football is huge here.. Belgians like 4 things.. Cycling, Football, Frites and Beer. or more like BEER! Little did I know at the time what I was getting myself into!

I got picked up at 2.30, we went down to the square and had a couple of beers in the afternoon sun. We then went to another pub, the pub of football. From here we caught the bus down to Brussels for the game. I was told it was going to be a funny bus trip. Everyone puts in 10euro for beer on the bus.. 20 or 25 crates of it!! and don't worry between 16 odd people it got finished off pretty good! We arrived at the stadium and the whole bus was in chant for the home team. The team we support, Andernecht! The purple gorilla! They were playing neighbours Antwerpen so it was a big game. It was amazing inside the stadium. 70,000 capacity and it was chocker!!

There were a few moments when the ref made wrong decisions and by the noise of the crowd I thought there was going to be a riot! Luckily enough we won 2-0 to goto the top of the Division 1 league. Sorry didn't get any pictures. Camera is flat.

We were in the part of the stand behind the goal standing in amongst all the drunken supporters who were giving the opposing goal keeper death!

After the match it was back on the bus for the trip home. It's about an hour. For 30 minutes they chanted the night away. Then they were all pretty much asleep by the time we arrived back in Roeselare. I got home around 12, while the others were rumoured to still be at it around 6am, with some getting home at 9am!

It was definately an experience and plans are already being made to goto the next game if I'm not too busy with racing and things.

Thats enough for me tonight. Still trying to get the position sorted on my bike. Should come right in a couple of days!



I will be back with more stories in a couple of days. Looks like I will do my first race, a 3 day tour beginning 3rd April.

Until next time.

Exclusive Interview with www.roadcycling.co.nz

http://roadcycling.co.nz/TeamTalk/where-in-the-world-is-ryan-wills-kiwi-pro-cyclist.html

This one you don't need to translate!

Team Presentation

Here is the media coverage from the presentation of the team yesterday.

http://www.velowallon.be/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=13032

You will have to translate it from french to english but something to read.

New Bike

Have just had word that my team bike will be here this week.

Just in time for my return to the bicycle!

I will collect it along with all the cycling kit and other things at the presentation this Thursday.

The bike looks something like this (in slightly different colours. Team grey I believe)



It will be finished off with Campagnolo Record components and off course the concor saddle. Famous in Belgium.

A new year, a new team name and finally a new post!

I would like to welcome you all back after what has been a great off-season.

I endevoured to write something on here during the off-season but my fingers never got round to touching the keyboard. It wasn't for a lack of thought though.

Firstly I would like to say it's great to have everyone back following my goings on in the european peloton for the 2009 season.

The team has under gone a name change for 2009 and will now be known as Lotto-Bodysol with a number of other sponsors coming on board.

I will go back to November and update you on my off-season.

It started well, I took 3 weeks off the bike as of my last race in Belgium and picked it up again one week out from the Tour of Southland. The tour was good for me and I was always there or there-abouts for most of the week but I just didn't have that little bit extra I needed to pick up solid results although I did go into the top 10 on a couple of stages and was always in contention for the Under 23 jersey for most of the week. I ended the Tour around 12th place from memory.

The week after was a race I was excited for because it was my home race and it's rare that you get a feild of this quality for a race in your home town. The race was 100km journey between Rotorua-Ohope and was held on the 16th November. The extra motivation of home town racing kicked in as I out-sprinted my break away companian in a 2 up sprint to take the victory which was a nice way to end the 2008 season.



After this I had another 3 weeks off the bike as I spent time reflecting on a hard year and what the future may hold.

After a month of base work and long slow days in the saddle I was back in action on New Years day with the Tour de Vineyards in Nelson. I like this tour as the stages arn't super long with the longest stage being 130km and the shortest stage 70km so getting racing legs doesn't become much of a problem.

Usually I go well in this race and it doubles as a good build up race for the national champs usually held a week or ten days after this 4 day tour finishes.

The first stage was a relitively quiet one for me but a lot of other riders feeling the nervousness of the first stage which made for some eratic riding through-out the stage and almost the result of a cancelled stage mid-way as a lot of riders were riding into on coming traffic. I finished safely in the bunch after a couple of late efforts to get the sneaky win.

The second stage is always hard. No matter how good my condition is, I always struggle with the 100km of false flat. I made all the splits and finished the stage in the front group of 20-25 staying within touch of the leaders on the general classification.

The third stage is the deciding factor of the tour as it finishes up Takaka hill, which is the longest sealed hill climb in NZ, summiting after 15 or 16km of climbing.
I had the form to do something so I looked after myself nicely in the bunch and waited for the climb to the finish. I was good for most of the climb but got shelled about half way up which is normal as most of the race are in the middle of their season and i'm just starting mine. I finished around 6th or 7th place but that wasn't a concern, I was just happy to be racing my bike again.

The last stage was much like the first a shorter (70km) circuit race, which brings the public out as the race passes by every 10-12minutes. I was again comfortably riding within myself and finished the stage in 8th after having a go in the sprint.
I ended the race in about the same spot on Classifiacation.



Next up for me was the national champs. It's hard having the champs so early in the year when I only have 5000km in my legs instead of 10,000km that I would have later on in the year but never the less I deal with it and move on.
Usually I could get by with 5000km because i'm what they call a big day rider which means I can find something extra within myself on big occasions such as national champs.

First up on the friday afternoon was the 40km Time Trial. I considered myself a big shot at taking the title and starting second to last the rankings saw it that way too. I left the starting gate and settled into a rhythem. At the 20km turn a round I was 9 seconds up on second place and 30-odd back to third.



I had a good run on the way back catching the six riders who started in front of me so I thought I was going well. I got to the finish and had posted the second fastest time, 4 seconds slower one of the first starters. Altough dissapointed to be beaten by so little I also took the positives out of it knowing I was coming into some good form with the Tour of Wellington in mind. So 2nd place was not so bad although it could have just as easily been a national title.





Next up on the Sunday was the 180km road race. Not much to say as it was probly the easiest race I have ever done but I tried to make a race of it to no-avail. It seemed to me that as I was wearing my team kit everytime I moved the rest of the feild wouldn't let me go and when someone else attacked the rest of the feild looked to me to give chase, eventually I ended up waiting till the last lap and riding across a 90 second gap to the leading under 23 riders only to be caught with around 8km remaining and settling for a peloton finish. I wasn't keen to get involved in the wet sprint with the big season ahead. The under 23 title went to a rider of the subway avanti cycling team who got to sit in the comfort of the bunch all day because he had 4 team mates in the break. He came to the front with 3km to go and pulled out the "freddy fresh legs" and out sprinted the feild. oh the advantages of being in the only team in the race! I still feel cheated.



Trying to form a break with the hitters up the courses only climb.


Next up I headed to the Trust House Tour of Wellington, which is one of two pro races in New Zealand. The other being the Tour of Southland. Along with the race come UCI points which go towards world rankings. I was riding with some good friends in the Mercedes-Benz team. the 5 day 7 stage tour is mostly based in the Wairarapa with the final stage being a 1 hour circuit race in down town Wellington.

We started good in the team time trial finishing mid feild (10 out of 22 teams) but not losing too much time. The second stage had a decisive climb with 30km to go and would cause all sorts of havic. It was decided Shem and I would try to get over with the leaders and see what we could do. The racing was fast up until the climb and I had forgotten to eat most of the day which made me 'bonk' and lose a big chunk of time (12 minutes) before the end of the day.

So I became water boy for the next few stages.

I wanted to take something out of the race as I had good form. Stage 4 presented the opportunity. I tried to go for an early break but missed the one that stuck so I told myself, save energy your going with 1km to go. I did this for most of the 120km stage. With the remnants of the early break being pulled in with 6km to go, there was a counter-attack with 2 guys going away. four km to go and it was back together with the counter-attack back in the bunch, budget forklifts had a 4 man lead out train going for their sprinter. There was a bit of confusion when the counter-attack was caught and the bunch slowed slightly. I took the opportunity with 3-4km remaining to have a go, I knew it would be the move to stay away as I immediatly took 20seconds on the chasing bunch. I went passed the 2km to go sign still with a big lead, my morale took a hit when the 1km to go sign wasn't coming (turns out there wasn't one). I came around a left hand turn with 400m to go and knew then I was just about to take my first pro victory.



Talking to the media post race.

The rest of the tour was for me helping Shem defend a top 15 place on General Classification.



It was a good week and it was quite ironic, two years ago we had the same team and same sponsor and we took a victory on the same piece of road that I took my victory on so it was a nice high for the week.

The next week I did the first round of the Benchmark series. 150km of dead roads!
To cut it short, I rode a tactically smart race and ended up in the final with 2 subway avanti team mates who worked me over good. Although I was going the best out of us two against one was always going to win. So I ended up third but took consilation by being presented the first Under 23 leaders jersey.

For the next month I put in some good training down in Christchurch (and thanks to the Adairs for putting up with me for so long and everything you did for me while I was there. Through the highs of wellington and the benchmark and the low's of the accident!)

Now the accident. While training on the track for the nationals I had a wee tumble and not really thinking much of it, I had a sore back for the next two weeks leading into nationals. Pretty much nationals went like shit but I did take away the experience I was there to gain in the first place. I got back to Christchurch the next day and had an x ray to find I had compression fractures of the T12 and L1 vertabrae in my lower back. So I havn't been on my bike since but I will start back up this weekend. Also a big thanks to Soren for putting up with my complaining of a sore back for 3 weeks. Perhaps should have listened to you and gone for an x ray the day it happened!!

So now I am sitting back in Belgium pondering the season ahead. I have presentation on Thursday and then it will be balls to the wall for the next 6 months as I try to pick up some more wins.

So sorry this has been long but thats my off-season in a nut shell.

Until the next entry,
Ryan