Wellington Tour 2007

Stage 7 Pics

2007-01-29T21:16:00.000-08:00

Rolling up to the start of the Petone criterium

Paul on the final podium as winner of the "Most Aggressive Rider" competition

Stage 6, Scorching Bay, 12km ITT & Stage 7, Petone Criterium

2007-01-28T20:23:00.000-08:00

As the days wear on it becomes increasingly difficult to get up and g'd for racing and increasingly easier to enter the realm of negative thought. But the four of us left racing had to be grateful for still being able to race, because being unable to start due to something outside of your control is shit-house!! (Ross's puncture the day before meaning he was a non-starter today).

Robyn our team manager helped us out superbly in preparation for our individual efforts in the time trial - cleaning bikes, arranging different wheels, aero bars and a warm-up takes a substantial amount of time and energy.

The conditions were shifty (turning around the corners in the course would normally result in a fair amount of sideways movement from a strong gust of wind), so it was difficult to 'smash' yourself. I think we were all pretty happy with our results:

Odlin - 6th @ 39 seconds behind the winner, Hayden Roulston's time,
Josh - 33rd @ 1'43 seconds,
Andrew - 53rd @ 2'11 seconds,
and Don - 68th @ 2'45 seconds

If it was hard to get g'd for the tt than it's doubly hard to get bouncing-off-the-walls for a hairpin-inclusive-crit in the afternoon - more redbull and coffee! and so...

Josh loves them, Don's unfortunately sick, Andrew's enjoying having his wah around and I'm neither here nor there. The first twenty minutes is flat out, in which time Josh slides and flats his rear wheel but gets back on after his 2 laps out, Don helps him out with a rear wheel but then drifts back after starting again and Andrew lasts a bit longer than Don.

It's vital in criteriums, and particularly when a hairpin corner is involved, to stay at the front of the bunch if you want to last til the end. I discovered that moving up to the front of the bunch becomes a lot easier when everyone gets worn out. Of course it's a fine line between waiting to fight for a better position and waiting too long for people to wear out and then getting drifted off the main group!

Both Josh and I finished in the 21 riders that finished at the front of the race thus maintaining our top 20 placings on general classification.

A pretty good tour for Petone water -

General Classification
Josh - 18th @ 19:07
Paul - 20th @ 20:27
Don - 47th @ 39:49
Andrew - 55th @ 43:33
Ross - DNF after puncturing stage 5

Teams Classification - 9th @ 54:19 (from 18 teams)

Stage results:
Stage 3 - Josh 3rd
Stage 4 - Paul 9th
Stage 6 - Paul 6th

And the special award I got for being the Tour's Most Aggressive Rider!

And finally - Top Team Manager Award: Ms Robyn Wong (presented a coveted Team Petone 2007 Wairarapa and Wellington cycle classic jersey by an undisclosed double Olympic champion).

Odlin

Stage 6 Pics

2007-01-28T19:43:00.000-08:00

The "team vehicle presented by robynwong.com" was full to bursting

Multi-tasking: a pre-TT leg-rub and working on the tanlines

Odlin gets serious

Josh ready to hit it

Paul cracks the competition with the annual post-TT swim

Final day - quick update

2007-01-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Just a brief recap here as the race is still on ... it's airport time ... yesterday saw Stage 6 and 7, respectively a time-trial and criterium. Paul and Josh again the stand-out riders with Paul pulling a 6th in the TT, Josh managing a harmless stack in the crit but both finishing in the front group. Results coming soon ...

Stage 5 Pics

2007-01-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

Roulston looked relatively untroubled keeping the yellow jersey

Odlin looked focussed enough for another 125km

Stage 5, Masterton - Admirals Hill, 125km

2007-01-26T22:05:00.000-08:00

Today's stage is one dreaded by many, eagerly awaited by a few ... by my reckoning no less than twelve significant climbs with the final two being more than significant. Masterton awoke to a drizzly southerly, and local knowledge meant it was time for rugging up warm and conservative wheel choices with the weather likely to be much worse in the hills.

Hitting the end of the neutral zone and what did I see but Ross Stewart coming backwards with his hand in the air, the worst time possible for a flat. Sure enough it was all 50kph+ to the first climb with groups trying to escape, and Ross with no chance of riding back to the speeding peloton alone and not even a sympathetic motorpace from the neutral service had no choice but to abandon. Tough way for a young guy riding really well to end his race.

Up front it was Aussie David Pell heading off up the road with a few for company including Paul, who found the hills a bit less to his liking and wound up back in the bunch after about 30km. Obviously Pell had a few people worried, riding out to a 5 minute gap after 50km, and the pace in the bunch was enough that all plans for a mid-race attack were put on hold and it became a waiting game. Paul and I passed the time with a game of "Tractor", which he leads 11-9 going into the final day.

Come the feed-zone hill after 80km and it all turned to custard yet again with a couple of riders attacking and splitting the bunch (they shall remain nameless, but shall find their against-all-etiquette attack coming back to bite them at a Counties race this winter) ... to be fair Andrew Paul and myself only had bad positioning to blame as we found ourselves in a chase group and riding flat-out to get back on at the foot of the next hill ... only to be dropped again immediately.

1okm later on the climb of the Kororau (1.8km @ 13%, hurts), our group thinned out to what has since been called the "angry man group" ... the three of us and two others obviously a bit gutted at missing out. Pretty knackered by the time we arrived at the top of Admirals Road I was thankful for Robyn grabbing me as I crossed the line and preventing what was shaping up to be a ungraceful dismount. Happy to discover Josh had found some climbing legs and pulled a top-20 ride, little else known about the results except for David Pell hanging on for the stage win and status quo with Hayden Roulston still in yellow.

A mad rush of washing, eating, packing, driving, eating and unpacking again, and we find ourselves back in Lower Hutt, looking forward to a 12km time-trial and 1-hour criterium tomorrow. Dinner bell is ringing, gotta go ...

Stage 5: Hilly!!

2007-01-26T00:29:00.000-08:00

This should sort the men out from the boys!! Although ironically, it's the men who look more like boys who will likely shine tomorrow ...

Stage 4, Masterton - Pahiatua - Masterton, 158km

2007-01-25T19:36:00.000-08:00

Perfect conditions for bike racing today, still, overcast and around 20 degrees. As the flag dropped on the way out of town, it became obvious who'd had too much sugar on the weetbix at breakfast, with an ultra-rapid start as groups tried to escape the peleton.

As it turned out this didn't take long, and we hit the rolling and windy Wangaehu Valley with a group of about ten just off the front and the rest of the group in single file. Despite repeated attemps by yellow jersey Gordon McCauley to get across, it was another five riders bridging the gap and McCauley stuck back in the bunch, with teammate Hayden Roulston up the road. We had Paul up there, so happy days ... and that as it turns out was pretty much the bike race.

With the stronger teams happy with the group up front, the time gap ballooned out to around ten minutes at the 100km mark. At this point Roulston made his move that resulted in a solo win, and Paul unfortunately dropped his chain and managed to end up in the second part of what was left of the break.

The rest of us had a steady day in the bunch, myself and Ross being close witness to a spectacular crash on a mid-stage descent. I passed the time by interviewing a few people for the blog, Aaron Strong told me that Gordy was throwing a dummy and the Roly was Zookeepers man for the GC, and Richard Speer was reflecting on bike racing being a trade-off between extreme boredom (ie rolling along in the group), or extreme pain (the break). Good call I said. My other observation is that the mullet is well and truely back, it's not just me, there are a lot of flowing locks in the Wellington peloton!!

So that's about that for today. Now it's time to put the feet up, eat, get the legs rubbed, eat, and probably a bit of a nap too I'd imagine. Speaking of legs rubbed, if you were wondering about the apples comment, well you'll just have to talk to Chris Jenner.

Until tomorrow, Don

Stage 3 - Masterton Criterium (1 hour plus 3 laps - 45.2kph average)

2007-01-25T12:06:00.000-08:00

After down time, coffee and red-bull at Solway, we rode off as a team to the criterium. This would have to be the easiest criterium this tour has presented in the four years I've done it - over half the field finished! Not one team dominated although Zookeepers tended to have someone up the road constantly.

The big news is that Joshua rolled through the finish line for 3rd! A brief interview:

Odlin: so how good do you feel?
Josh: I'm happy to have made a podium. Still looking for a win somewhere, happy to have a good start to the tour.
Odlin: so where are you going to go looking?
Josh: there's a lot of options. You never know what's going to happen in a long stage... today, tomorrow, what's happening on the last day? A damn hard crit - you never know...
Odlin: who do you think is going to win the tour?
Josh: Rolly (Hayden Roulston - Zookeepers). Especially if he drives a break-away today.
Odlin: how do you see yourself doing on G.C.?
Josh: I'm sitting 10th (U23). So top 5 U23.
Odlin: finally do you believe in a diet of apples only during rest days is necessary?
Josh: No. 2-minute noodles.

Stage 2, Featherston - Masterton, 120km

2007-01-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

Don here, just a brief update between stages, we're all a bit knackered ... as you can see!! In fact, I think I'm the only bike rider awake at the moment.

Featherston was at it's gale-force best when we arrived this morning, and many a concerned expression could be seen. Personal memories of racing down Lake Road many years ago resurfaced, struggling to stay between the hedges and with my helmet being blown around the side of my head ... fortunately it wasn't really too bad during the very exposed opening 10km, and once past the foot of the lake a southerly change lead to a pretty straightfoward race.

Coming into Martinborough after about 50km a break of eight or so riders headed up the road, with Gordon McCauley emerging victorious in Masterton. Paul should probably take the prize for most agressive, attacking at least five times in the opening 30mins but rewarded with only sore legs ... this time. The largely unintact bunch including all of Team Petone Water rolled in around 90 seconds later ... that time gap is provisional of course ... thus the stage winner takes the yellow jersey and not much has changed.

Time for the evening criterium now, which I suspect will hurt a lot more. But first, time for some of the awesome coffee we recieved in our race packs. I'm not sure where it comes from but when I find out, I'll be sure to mention it ... once I've secured myself a good supply of course!!

Zookeepers Team Bus, just like the ProTour

2007-01-24T18:48:00.000-08:00

Day 1 - 7km Team Time Trial (TTT), Avalon TV Studios, Lower Hutt, Wellington

2007-01-24T00:36:00.000-08:00

Kiaora. A great way to start this tour is with a TTT. It's a far more relaxed (or let's say less nervous) way to kick off the hurt-fest - if you stuff up (invariably you never stuff up but just don't do as well as planned) it can always be put down to a collective stuff-up. Anyway, for me, lining up with 3 hill-climbers for team mates bodes well for this big (time-trial-race-of-preference) boy.

With a little discussion and not quite enough warm-up we were off the mark. Josh started us well with a controlled first effort. I rolled around for the second turn to wind things up. I made the mistake of winding up a bit too much, but there after we maintained a tight pack of five hunting down the finish line.

We finished in the top half of the field (well 9th of 18 teams)! Not bad considering no practice run and not a lot of shared riding between us, and only one and half sets of aero bars, one aero helmet and one disc wheel.

Time now for team meeting and maybe a rub-down. Enjoy today's entry, we'll have far less literary energy to share tomorrow.

Odlin

Ready to rock

2007-01-23T19:01:00.000-08:00

Mr Odlin turned up looking pretty motivated for the teams time trial ...

Stay tuned for updates

2007-01-20T20:52:00.000-08:00

Tour starts on Wednesday!!

Paul Odlin putting the boot in at the 2007 Tour de Vineyards