Travis and Cameron’s Race Program

travis — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:01:39 +0000

Hi All

I thought I would let you all know our race program up until about mid September. I leave tomorrow for the Tour of Denmark which is run over 5 days and Cam is already at the Tour of Poland which started a couple of days ago.

So our race program is:

1st – 7th August – Tour of Poland (Cameron)

4th – 8th August – Tour of Denmark (Travis)

17th – 24th August – Eneco Tour (Travis and Cameron)

11th – 18th September – Tour of Britain

After the Tour of Britain is yet to be confirmed for the both of us as there is still selections for the Worlds and Commonwealth Games to be made so once these teams are announced we will have a better idea of our race program after Britian.

Hopefully you will see my name up the top in Denmark this week!

Trav

1st half of the season done and dusted!

travis — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 19:49:16 +0000

Hi Everyone

My apologies for not having written for a while. I would love to give an excuse but really I have just been too lazy during racing and between races to write a post. So once again I am sorry.

Well my first half of the season has gone a lot better than I could have anticipated. I had initially thought if I could get some good experience and get stronger through this year that would be great. I am very pleased with how I have performed and have managed to get some good results. Specifically they are:

2nd – Bayern Rundfahrt Stage 6

4th – Bayern Rundfahrt Stage 5

5th – GP Nobilli (1.1 in Italy)

In getting these results I have realised that maybe I can set my goals and standards a bit higher than just gaining experience. In all honesty these are not ProTour races but were HC categorised races which have approximately 6 – 8 ProTour teams, a few Pro Continental teams and a few Continental teams. So still by no means easy! For my first year Pro it has still been a more successful first half of the season even if they are not ProTour races.

As for the experience side of things it has been really awesome getting to race alongside and learn from some great guys and riders I can look up to. Two particular moments which I really enjoyed and got a lot from was being Christian Vande Velde’s personal domestique on the last day of the Tour of Romandie because it was only Christian and I over the top of the first Cat 1 climb (you may remember me writing about this). This was something, that for a Neo – Pro, is pretty special!

The other race was Delta Tour in Holland as myself and the team managed to work and help Tyler Farrar out to win overall in the tour. One of the great things with this was even though for Tyler it may have been a smaller win than he is used to, he still was very thankful and grateful for all the help everyone in the team did for him and he seemed as happy as if he had won a stage of a ‘grandy’.

I now have a couple more days training and then I have a week off the bike to relax. I am looking forward to this a lot as I am off to Italy on Monday to see my girlfriend, Genna, and her family. We both then come back to my place in Girona and will be hitting up the beach, going to Barcelona for the weekend and keeping my mind off the bike! Trust me this has been a long time coming! I have not seen Gen for about 4 months and have been looking forward to seeing her again for a long time. It is one of the things as a Pro Cyclist that unfortunately we have to sacrafice seeing and spending time with our girlfriends, friend’s and family.

My next race is Tour of Brixia from the 21st – 25th of June. Get to climb some nice mountains!

Until then!

Trav

Bayern Rundfahrt – Stage 2

travis — Thu, 27 May 2010 19:35:19 +0000

Well…Stage 2 was about as exciting as Stage 1. Not very.

It was a very fast and dangerous start with a lot of attacks. The break got away today after about 30km of racing and the bunch came to its usual nature stop and relaxing. We pretty much rolled around with the break not getting any more than 3 minutes. So the break were basically playing the ‘cat and mouse’ game with the peleton.

The major climb for the day was a 1.5km very steep climb with 30km to go. This split the peleton up a bit but there was some good decent after and then on to the finishing circuits which we had to complete 2 laps. I got over the climb in ok position and then once it started to come back I had some decent legs so I was going with a few moves.

However Team HTC – Columbia had the bunch in control getting ready to set up their sprinter and my mate Leigh Howard. Our team do not have a ‘true’ sprinter here, however, Martijn Maaskant is pretty handy in the sprint so we were trying to get him set up for the finish. While I was trying to find Martijn I managed to get right on the wheel of Leigh Howard with 1km to go but then it got very squeezy and I lost it. Dam! Martijn managed to run a creditable 4th for Garmin – Transitions and myself in the top 25. So not too bad a day. My legs felt better again today so hoping they just keep getting better! 180km Stage tomorrow is supposed to be relatively hard so lets see how I go!

Cheers

Trav

Bayern Rundfahrt – Stage 1

travis — Wed, 26 May 2010 16:23:41 +0000

Hi Everyone

I am now currently at my second tour for the year. It is Bayern Rundfahrt which is a 5 day 2.HC tour in Germany. I have been looking forward to this tour a lot as I have been training for the past 3 and a half weeks after the Tour of Romandie.

Today’s stage was 190km over fairly flat terrain. The break went away after only about 20km, so the next 140km was literally just rolling along. The race didnt start to get hard until about 35km to go when we went up a pretty gradual 8 – 10km climb. It was surprisingly hard for a climb that wasn’t very steep. There were a few attacks but over all not too bad.

We finished with 2 laps of a short course and it was a bit ridiculous. It had a lot of crazy downhill into sharp corners and a cobbled finish. Nevertheless I managed to finish I think in the top 30 or so, so not such a bad day.

Tomorrows stage is 200km and a little bit hillier so looking forward to it!

Until then!

Trav

Giro d’Italia Stage 12 – Half way, get on the front.

cameron — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:50:45 +0000

We are now half way through the Giro for 2010. I have been hearing that it has been one of the most exciting tours in history to watch. From mud to rain to crashes and everything else. Throw in some good Aussie performances and 5 different leaders of the tour I can see why it must be good on TV. The peloton however has been battered and bashed by the extreme weather and racing conditions for the first half of this years race. Many riders have already pulled out and with the huge mountains still to come it is going to test even the toughest of riders.

Todays stage was sunny. Thank you Lord. After yesterdays epic race the bunch rolled off at a very slow pace and were all contend to have an easy start to the day. 3 riders escaped early and were let go to 10 minutes before we started to ride tempo and reel them in. The job was left to our team to chase the leaders. We have the fastest guy in the peloton and so it is our responsibility to bring the race to a sprint.

This was Jacks last stage so he was sent to the front very early to ride tempo and chase to front guys. I was added to that chase with 60km to go and so Jack and I drove the bunch as hard as we could until the final climb of the day at 15km to go. We did our job well and brought back the break but unfortunately a strong group of climbers escaped on the final climb to ruin the sprinters day.

Unlucky for us. On a good note I showed the form is there and I am feeling better. I am hoping to get in a break away before the Giro’s end.

Ciao

Cam

Giro d’Italia Stage 11 – Epic Stories

cameron — Fri, 21 May 2010 18:49:32 +0000

This was a day that I’m sure most of us will not forget. 270km from when we first stepped on the bike to getting off at the bus on the other end of the stage. 7 and half hours in the saddle in which 7 of them were spent in the rain. Three mountain passes with down hills that dropped to around 5 degrees. Give me some long fingered gloves, some leg warmers, arm warmers, jackets. Just give me everything you have in the car. What a day. To have 2000km in your legs already and then do a race like that is something I wish for none of you to experience. Our race meeting before the stage was simple. Our director said “Good Luck”.

A huge day also in the shake up of the tour. 56 guys split off the front and big favourites like Cadel and Vino were not present. Congrats to Richie Porte who now wears the leaders jersey. Unbelievable. What a story that is.

Should be a sprint tomorrow in the sun so fingers crossed that Tyler is up amongst the winners again.

See ya

Cam

Giro d’Italia Stage 10 – Farrar Wins Again!

cameron — Thu, 20 May 2010 20:53:36 +0000

What a sprint win for the team. A perfect team race and a finish that should be shown when teaching young riders how to lead out your sprinter. Julian Dean was amazing in the last 500 meters and nearly took the stage win himself. He held on for third with Tyler taking his second stage win of this years Giro with ease. The whole team rode fantastic today and the result was first class.

I was a bit sore today from my crash yesterday and my arm looked like a heavy weight boxers and if you know me im not that well built. Every bump hurt but i finished the stage and hopefully the swelling and pain will calm down over the next few days. Tomorrow is the longest stage of this years tour so a good night sleep will be needed.

Good Night

Cam

Giro d’Italia Stage 9 – Crash and floods!

cameron — Thu, 20 May 2010 09:58:16 +0000

My Giro just won’t get better. This is one tough tour and crashing does not help. Another day in the wet which has been the story of this Giro. Every day brings new elements but one thing that has been constant is the rain. It was a flat stage that ended in a sprint. Tyler having another good ride placing third. With 60km to go I went around a corner in the middle of the peloton when I hit a pot hole and my front wheel came out from underneath me. I went straight over the handlebars and landed on my helmet breaking it in four places and taking most impact also on my arm and shoulder.

It took a few minutes of checking my shoulder and calming down before getting a bike change and continuing on with the stage. I sat behind my team car for the next 55km trying to make time cut and not be eliminated from the race due to being to far behind. I made it back with a couple km to go to the last group on the road. The next two days are very long stages with a 230km then a 262km. This is going to hurt.

Ciao

Cam

Giro d’Italia Stage 8 – First Mountain Top

cameron — Mon, 17 May 2010 17:14:54 +0000

Well I am on the massage table finally after a post stage transfer of 2 hours. This is a good time for me to introduce to you my soigneur (french term for a person who takes care of) for the entire Giro this year, Sandra Ni Hodnae. Sandra is responsible for keeping my body in one piece during the race. An hour massage each night along with preparing drinks, race food, hotel meals and the list goes on. It is a very hard job and one I think ill stick to turning the pedals.

While we are talking about some of the staff we have on our team I thought I would let you know just how many staff members we have looking after us here at the Giro. We have:
* 2 x Directors
* 4 x Soigneur
* 3 x Mechanics
* 1 x Physio
* 1 x Doctor
* 1 x Bus Driver
* 1 x Chiro
* 1 x Chef
* 1 x Scientist
TOTAL STAFF = 15
TOTAL RIDERS = 9 ( now 8 minus Christian)

As you can see we are well looked after in all avenues.

Now to Stage 8. 192km with our first mountain top finish. A pretty stress free stage for our team as we all tried to save as much energy as possible for the two sprint stages to come. It was a fast start to the race with a few hills in the first 40km. The bunch split in two but came back together at the 70km mark. The peloton then rode a good pace to the bottom of the last climb before the big climbers let loose and we rode nice and easy to the finish (as easy as you can up a 15km mountain)

It should be a sunny day for stage 9 which will be a nice change. I’m sure you will see Argyle on the front most of the day and then look out for our sprint train with Tyler hungry for another stage win.

Until tomorrow. Bye

Cam

Giro d’Italia Stage 7 – MUD!

cameron — Sun, 16 May 2010 18:43:53 +0000

That is the only word that comes to my mind when I think about what we had just gone through in this stage. I’m sure on TV it was one of the best ever stages to watch but I assure you their was not much smiling going on out on the bike. Dirt for dinner anybody?

The stage was 222km long and it did not stop raining the entire time. The first 85km was spent at no less of an average then 50km/hr and the last 100 was spent full gas also. The mud road sections had hills in it as steep as 16% and so with all this it made for one of the toughest non mountain stages I have ever done.

David had an awesome ride finishing 11th on the stage and moved into third on the overall classification.

My average power for the 5 and half hours was 250 watts at 69kg so it for sure was a solid day.

Tomorrow is the first mountain top finish.

Cam

Cameron in a muddy stage 7