NZ Season wrap up

So far this season has been my most successful to date.
This is a pretty massive post but hopefully sums everything up well.

Here is a selection of races I have taken part in.

I started with the Tour of Southland in November with the Powernet team.
They were fantastic sponsors, looking after everything for the week.
My best result was 2nd after an all day break on stage 3.

 Breakaway time, Just before I went off the front for the last 20km.






I then went to China for a couple of tours there.
Tour of Fozhou UCI 2.2
Tour of Poyang Lake

I had a great time over in China with a great group of guys from Norway on the Unaas People 4 You team.
I could write a few blogs on the crazy time over there. 

Thanks to Emil Unaas for inviting me over for Poyang.
Also thanks to Daniel Curruthers for inviting me for the first tour.

In between times I hung out in Hong Kong which is a pretty chaotic city. Loved it though.

Best result 3rd on Mountain Stage in Tour of Poyang lake

 

Not really sure how I got up on a mountain stage but what ever. Sprinters can climb!

L-R Me, Olav, Jonas, Herman, Sander, Turmold

 
 On the front with the boys, drink time before the climb.


After I came back I got pretty sick for a week, due to pollution and lots of traveling.

 Then it was onto Elite Road National Champs. The last couple of weeks trained through some pretty bad weather but made it through.

On the day it was a tough race. I got dropped with cramp on the second last time up the climb then got pulled out whilst actually 5th under 23. Go figure.

I then refocused on the track to make a push for Track nationals.

On the way there I won the 84th Gore to Invercargill race
 


Over the next 6 weeks I did some hard yards in training. Not many long rides but still good for 2nd in the first Benchmark Homes race that I won the year before. Sprint finish again this year.





The week later at the new Avantidrome in Cambridge I managed to come out with my first national senior title in the scratch race.

 

In the Madison with Jase Allen

I then had a big base building 2 weeks for the upcoming domestic races.

Results were as follows.

1st Place R&R Sport Tour

 

3rd place Benchmark 2 Hokitika


 After Hoki with Alex team mate that won and the Colombia Strava sensation Carlos

Tour de Lakes 2nd place on GC by 1 sec to Alex McGregor.

I rode a very good tour as evidenced by the stage placings below. I rode one of the best races I have ever ridden in the last stage shutting down everyone from breaking away only to just miss the win after Alex put in a better climb to the finish. Another ride I was very pleased about was the Time Trial where I won by 3seconds from Alex. I put more emphasis on this in training and it was nice to get a result.

1st Sprint Ace, 1st Prologue, 2nd Stage 1, 1st Stage 3 Time Trial, 3rd Stage 4, 1st Stage 5, 3rd Stage 6

 



Bit stuffed on the final climb.

Club National Championships, 1st Under 23 Road Race, 2nd U23 Time Trial
I had a pretty bad time trial. Never really felt good.
More than made up for it with Gold in the road race. I went out front in the break making everyone work behind then recovered and made a few moves once caught. I then won with a pretty good sprint. Was second overall in the race to my team mate Alex up the road taking the elite men title ( I was under 23).



Benchark Round 3 Hanmer Springs to Kaikoura. 4th Place
After this round I am now in the series lead.




Big thanks to everyone that has helped me have this awesome season. Firstly Holly for putting up with me training and racing all the time. To Dad at Spincity Cycles for all the work on my bikes he does and advice that I sometimes follow... Also to all my extended family and friends for their support.
Big thanks my team Calder Stewart and Bruce for organising everything in the Benchmark series.
Also thanks to training partner and team mate Carlos for all his help in training and racing.


Now its time for a break before I am heading over to the USA for some racing.
In other news I will also finish my commerce degree at Otago University after this semester, finally!

Thanks for reading.
Brad

Japan!

Konnichiwa!
I got selected for a New Zealand national team to travel to Japan for the Odaiba Cycle Festival.
It was held on the weekend of 3rd and 4th August.

I raced in a U23 criterium (circuit race) , 1 lap time trial and elite criterium in that order.

The Saturday U23 criterium was very hard. I just cooked and over heated in the 30-35deg temperatures after coming from our winter. That afternoon Lauren Ellis won the women's race from an awesome break.

On Sunday morning the time trial went better it was short and sweet and only 800m. I took the win after a good start and good turn.

On Sunday afternoon was the main event the elite men's criterium. The weather was again very hot.
To combat it we had ice cold towels and water during warm up.
Before the race I put soaked my top in the ice bucket and by lap 6 in the race it was dry!

I felt much better during the race and had strong legs. There were many crashes with riders dive bombing the hair pin corner. The last lap was dangerous but I stayed right at the front and made my move around the big sweeper corner with 350m to go. I hit the last corner 1st and powered up the uphill drag to the line to hold 1st place.

Big thanks to our Japanese hosts for a fantastic event. Everything ran smoothly and was well organised.
Other highlights on the trip was a night cruise on Tokyo Harbour. And also a tour around the Tokyo on Monday where we got to go up Tokyo Tower.

Taking the win!

Outside Disneyland

Winter

I'll start by going through the end of Autumn and start of winter which I had the unfortune of 3 bad things all at once.
Got sick for 3 weeks with flu.
Then as I was on way back up had a massive crash and couldn't ride for 4 weeks
To top it off it was time to get my wisdom teeth out another 2 weeks out.

During all this I had the second benchmark in Nelson where I was still injured from crash and pulled out after 80km.
Then before wisdom op I finished 4th in Benchmark Elite Series Kaikoura, no idea how as I had done no riding at all!

U23 Jersey on Podium (looking after it as Toms in Elite Jersey)

So I had some decent time off the bike and lost a huge amount of fitness.
I started back during June with some base miles and some cross racing!

Cross was really fun, I wasn't very competitive though. Lost heaps of time on the super technical circuits.

Whoopsie

Benchamrk Homes Series Round 1

What a start to the series. I managed to take the win in a sprint finish after 159km of racing. I was unsure of the form after taking a break after track natonals and O-week at university. Even during the race a didn't feel that flash but I came right in the finale.

Big thanks to the whole team for working for me during the race, and especially Andrew from Fitlab for organising the team and also personally doing 50km on the front to chase the break!

The race started fast with plenty of attacks but settled down after a break of 4 got away. Andrew and Brodie then set about keeping it in check until the other teams started to chase hard. I went with a few attacks after the break was caught. The slog up Germain Rd had the pressure on and most guys were in the red. Jacob, Grayson and I worked hard here to keep it together. Which it did, setting it up nicely for a sprint finish. My speedo wasnt working the whole race so i was unsure of how far to go but I got a strong sense we were close as everyone was twitchy and the pace high. With a km to go I put the gas on coming up the right side of bunch to move from 20th to 5th at the last courner. A couple of guys went and Cam Karwowski them opening up the sprint early. Brad Tuhi was on his wheel and I his as I started my sprint. I went through a gap in the middle of them to power to the finish first.
I also get the bonus of leading the series now.

The next round is in Nelson 7th of April. Before that I have the Tour de Lakes in Queenstown.
All heading towards club road nationals on 18th-21st of April.

Copyright and Thanks to Bruce Wilson Photography for the photos.

First 3 Days

I haven't had much time to update the blog but I will take the time to repost the odt articles I am writing.

Day 3 Invercargill to Bluff (138km)

25th on stage, 25th Overall Leader Mike Northey, Node 4

Carnage is the best way to describe today’s stage. I had 2 punctures, the first at 15km then another at 50km which made it difficult chasing back on. There was a massive crash after Winton involving 40 riders which I just avoided. I was about 1cm from running over Hayden Roulston’s leg. On the run back to Bluff the wind was blowing strong seaside and there were more crashes and punctures. I avoided all of these but missed the move with Roulston and Heath Blackgrove. We then started the notoriously steep Bluff hill and it was tough. For the climb I had special low gearing but because of my puncture I had normal big gearing. Patrick Bevin (yellow jersey) and I climbed together in pursuit of the leaders but we could not close the gap finishing 3 minutes down. Next up is a double day of 148km, Riverton to Tuatapere first then onto Te Anau.

Day 2 Invercargill to Lumsden 160km
Stage Result 9th, Overall 46th at 23secondsStage winner and yellow jersey Patrick Bevin

The first road stage of the tour. We started inside the velodrome in Invercargill. After a fast start with many sprints the speed settled down when a breakaway was allowed off the front. The day had only light winds so everyone stayed together. The main contender’s teams chased all day, catching the break with 10km to go. The pace over 60 km/h to the finish with many close calls. With the help of my Olphert-Mackenzie Craik team mates I powered up the front to finish 9th.I was happy with this but know with better positioning I can go even better. During the stage I burnt through 10520 Kilojoules when added with normal body activity of 8700Kj equals 19220Kj or 15 big macs burgers. So before the next stage I need to replace all of this. Next up is 140km with the notoriously steep Bluff Hill, guaranteed to be hard.

Tour Dairy Day 1-Prolouge

The first day of the tour, months of preparation have come down to today the start of my biggest week of the year. The route takes in just under 1000km. We take in all the towns in Southland as well as Te Anau and Queesntown. Our team has 5 riders from the South Island with one from Wellington. Our support is a team manager, mechanic, cook and physio so we get well looked after. Today we had the first stage a lung busting 4km team time trial. Our team rode really strong in the wind to finish 12th out of 22. Last year's winning team Powernet took the win from Hayden Roulston's Calder Stelwart team in second which should just be the start of an exciting battle between thoose teams. Next up we have 160km from Invercargill to Lumsden which will suit me.

October Racing

Its been a busy last few weeks
Recent results in my last 2 races have been-

Nelson Benchmark Round 6 - 1st
Kelvin Hastie Memorial 130km- 1st
Oxford Benchmark Round 7 (final)- 8th with 1st U23 overall classification

They all went really well. In Nelson I managed to take the win, my first Benchmark series win.
It was a good race around a circuit with rolling hills. I got into a breakaway which worked well together to stay off the front. With 5km to go I attacked then Brad Tuhi came across and we worked together to the finish where I out sprinted him for the win.

 Final sprint in the rain


Reta Trotman also got up for the win so it was a great weekend for Cycling Otago Team. Especially after the stress of nearly not making the start with a change in rules from the organiser. Some Nelson imports were brought in as team mates and we set off the make a point which we did.






The next weekend I had the Kelvin Hastie Memorial Otago's biggest one day race.
Kelvin was a talented cyclist that won the first Tour of Southland.

I had a big week training so came into the race tired but on the day I felt great and managed to take the win with a solo attack with 1km to go.










Video of Kelvin Hastie finish

Next up was the final round of the Benchmark Series in Christchurch. I went into the race as the leading Under 23 rider and my aim was to secure this. I'm pleased to report I secured the title win an 8th place after 155km of racing. Big thanks to all the Cycling Otago team mates this year, especially Scott Thomas for the help in the last race. Also a huge thanks to Chris Henderson for helping organise everyone, paying for fuel and lending his van. Also to Ken Lasenby for being the race manager each race. Racing wouldn't be possible without these guys so a big thanks is in order.





Podium with Paul Jesson, NZ Tour de France cyclist and Paralympian medallist
Read about Paul Jesson here

Benchmark Home Series final winners. Benchmark Homes team classification, Me Under23 overall, Mark Spessot masters overall, Robin Reid men overall, Karen Fulton women overall

Scott and I in the bunch


Also thanks to Bruce Wilson Photography for the great photos check out his work here
https://www.facebook.com/brucewilsonphotographynz

Baldwin St, Dunedin

The worlds steppest street is located in Dunedin.

I currentley have the fastest time on Strava, I don't normally put rides on strava but it can be a fun motivational tool. I rode all they way up too, no stopping to walk!
http://www.strava.com/segments/baldwin-street-686663