Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving. ~Albert Einstein

while having my time off, i went to muse on sunday night here at the westpac arena, and all i can say is holy shit. it was by far the coolest concert ive ever been to in my life, the whole thing was just mind-blowing. i can see now why they are voted the best live act this year of any band, there was just so much stuff going on across the stage from the lights, and the lead singer is absolutely phenominal. definately if you can ever go watch these guys its worth it. was a perfect end to a good relaxing week off the bike really, apart from the ringing in my ears after the concert hah

well theres not much to say from oceanias really, had a good madison, good points race, great scratch race, okish tp and an ave ip i guess, and didnt make the team. pretty gutted but what can you do. im now going to the LA world cup so had a big week off the bike, and got on the hammer a bit which was good, and now back into it training again.
so now im home ill do the armstrong prestige races this weekend which will be good, then ive decided crit nats may as well be done as well, and tour de vinyards for the first time in a few years. ive heard only 5 people are on the start line so far in the elite mens grade!!! which is a bit nuts considering a national title is up for grabs really. we will see. ive also start working with the trainwell group, so dr d. marsh (martian)will now be casting his eye over my srm data etc which will be good, and cory williams will look after all my managment type stuff which will be good. also a huge thanks to will at cervelo for sorting out a kick ass deal for the next wee while which keeps me on the quickest bikes about.

yep, i came to the stunning conclusion today after the battle truck sucked up 3 litres of oil today it was time for a new motor. well, not new, but second hand. i lost 3 litres of oil in about 200km which is actually rather impressive really, most of it ended up in the cooling system, which really isnt that flash, a lot went out the exhaust and is currently spread all over the west coast and up the back of the truck. it also now smokes like a bastard under load, so much so i cant really see out the back window overtaking or climbing hills. i was going to play round and put a new head and oil cooler and all that jazz, but in the end i got a motor from this guy at a garage for 1500 bucks with only 100,000 km on the dial, which is pretty bloody good really, so the engine should go in on about the 10th of dec. so the battle truck lives on!! brilliant.
i was half thinking about going up for the crit nats as my form is still good, but flights are 500bucks!!! so i gave that the big fat flag, as id rather have an engine in the truck than another race in the legs. i must be getting old, priorities are getting all messed up haha

well its been a while
i did the tour of southland for the first day, then packed to get myself in a bit better shape for the oceania track champs. i went into the tour bloody cooked, and was tired with a cough, so bailed on the first road stage when it was pissing with rain and hailing, i just couldnt get any sicker otherwise i would have been in deep poos for the track next week, so thats what happened for any questions being asked out there. ill write a bigger report tomorrow, im knackered, i went on holiday for a few days up into wanaka, milford sound and the like, and its pretty much knackered the battle truck. ive pretty much got to the point now where more oil is going out the exhaust than staying in the engine-so tomorrow will be spent mucking round pretending to be a diesel mechanic again, talking to proper mechanics that know whats happening. im positive the head is cracked, the oil cooler is about to die-its leaking alot and could have whats termed in the business “a catastrophic failure” at any moment and dump all 6 litres of engine oil onto the road and seize the engine up on the spot, which wouldnt be great haha, so ill give it the oceanias and battle truck report tomorrow when im not so pooped from driving and nursing the truck home. also got a new plan, not doing the next world cups, now going to LA in january which should be good times.

yeah ive finally done it, im cooked.
training has been ok this week, lot of erg, few hours on the road, not to bad, but today i was a wreck, so its time to back off and look forward to kicking off southland tour on monday
im riding with the ascott park team, and we will be really well looked after,
riding with
clinton avery, tom hanover, alex meenhorst, and my old mate “noddy”- brendon sharrot
i went to junior worlds way back with noddy, so its good to have him on the team
also just renewed everything with cervelo, so im stoked, on their mint bikes for another year and couldnt be happier, and also got sponsored by performo, which is an altitude training company, but ill post more on that later!
off to eat and sleep!