Tour of Vinyards and New Year

Sorry for the lack of posts lately had some computer diffiuclties. Ive had a good racing schedule of late with a road trip all over the South Island with my girlfriend Holly. We started the trip with a criterium race in Timaru on boxing day. I had just had two days off incuding Christmas after a big block of training with Alex and Greg Henderson. The crit wasnt the best, I felt pretty sluggish and finnished up in 6th. It was a good opener for the next week when I lined up for the Tour of Vinyards in Nelson. The race is a 5 day tour around the region with a variety of stages to suit all abilities.

Prolouge
No tt bike so lost a minute and a half which was expected.
Stage 1
5km circuit race
Got into a break away that was trying to bridge across to the early breakaway.
I worked hard but the group as a whole wasnt working so we didnt catch. I finnished 12th about 2min in front of the bunch.
Stage 2
Richmond to top of Takaka hill 140km
The stage started all fine but gradually the rain set in a we got soaked. Takaka is a monster hill. Very long but only steep at the bottom. Took me 40 odd minutes to climb. I started to hard trying to hold it with the front group but then blew and dropped back to a more manageable pace. Finished 35th lost a bit of time but still 15th overall.
Stage 3
Upper Moutere 110km
This stage was shortened to 110 from 140 which didn't see anyone complaining about as it was another day of rain. After 80km a breakaway finally went with 7 riders. I finished well in 8th after attacking with 1km to go and holding off the bunch.
Stage 4
Hill St circuit 2km
This is a great little street circuit set above Richmond. As the Street name suggests it is hilly and we went up and down it 30 times. It was a battle to hold positions near the front as guys had turns going off the front. In the end 4 guys went away and I finished 7th.

After this stage Holly and I headed back to camp to pack the tent up and head to Christchurch. We get there about 9pm and were keen for some food only for everything to be closed except a Chinese restaurant. We may have been the only non Chinese there but it was still an outstanding meal. We then headed to Hagley park for a live band and some fireworks a fitting way to start the New Year.

Thanks for reading,
Brad