Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Patients!

Patients is a little word that has taken some years to become part of my make up. Aslong as i can remember i have always been in a hurry to do things. Unfortunately i am realising now, perhaps a little late, that it has prevented me achieving my chosen endevours to a much higher level. Anyway can dwell on the past and better late than never to realise this i guess?

The reason i have finally come to this realisation is cycling has taught me that you must build the foundations to get where you want to go. Again it has taken 3 years in this sport to realise this but i feel i am starting to get there. It has come about as this season has not begun for me like previous years where i am usually toward the front end of the fields and full of optimism for the year. Things just seem to be a little tuffer in the crucial points of the races where i am usually coming good and i need to be patient to let these sensations return. Luckily in my new team i am able to ride in the role of domestic and help the team leaders to success which allows me slowly build my conditon. Being a professional sport you also are quickly reminded when you have not spercifically prepared for a race when things get hard, you are quickly put in your place and thats how it should be.

For me this year there a couple of good reasons why i am little behind at this point. Firstly my recovery from glangelor was long and has meant i am 3 months behind in my preperation compared to previous years. Secondly when you race every week with only 5 days recovery in between it is impossible to train and do the specifics required to reach your full potential in the races. The most important thing is i accept this and learn to work around it and balance better my recovery, preparation and racing. Although i am only now giving this process to required attention i finally like i am building toward getting the most out of myself in the races. The sensations are good for 90% of the time however i need to patient (for the first time in my life) and put together the process to get there. I hope in the future to be writing a blog about implementing this process and how it worked effectivly for me!

The great thing about this sport is the ones that put in and prepare best will always be the ones up front. There are not many miracles in cycling where major results are achieved with little or now preperation. It is impossible to fox your way around up to 7hrs of intense racing, across mountains, flats, cobbles and brutal winds and come out the strongest. No it is a sport for those committed to the sport and those most commitent and "patient" in there preperation not leaving a stone unturned who will more often than not be the ones the fans come to watch and enjoy the spoils of there success. Back to my problem, it is quite simple, if i want to get to this point in the sport i simply have to patient!

Cameron

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Columbia

Currently I am in the trento region of Italy, just north of Venice in the mountains. Today I begin the giro del trentino. The reason for this blog however is that I have just leant a little about the Columbian culture!

My room mate for the week is one of our star riders Jose serpa. He is an amazing climber and has 3 wins to his credit already this season. It is not his cycling I want to discuss however. Since rooming with him for the past 24hrs I have noticed he spends an unusually large amount of time on the telephone and by this I mean almost constantly. Puzzled by this attraction to the telephone I just raised this with him and his response was very interesting.

It turns out the Jose has 3 wifes in Columbia. No wonder the poor bloke is on the phone 24hrs a day, he deserves a medal for keeping ontop of that situation. In australia most blokes struggle to keep just one wife informed of what's going on let alone multiplying this by 3!

This is what I love about cycling. It is an international sport and the things you learn and experience are often things far removed from the bike. It is a educational sport in its very own unique way!
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Settling In

The last 2 weeks have been very productive for me. I have finally settled into my appartment in monaco and been able to resume a normal recovery from race and training schedules. Added to that, having my own kitchen to prepare my favourite meals and i cant complain about too much at the moment. You may think living in and out of hotels is fantastic and to a certain extent it is great, having your bed made, your washing done and fresh towls is certainly a pleasure after a long day in the saddle, however, it is funny how you miss also doing these things for yourself. I know it may be odd but i love washing my cloaths and cooking my dinner and even on the odd occasion i make my bed and challenge myself to do so at the same standard of the hotel is very enjoyable. Certainly being on the road is good but it does make you appreciate the simple things you get to do when you are home.

My little one bedroom crib in monaco is perfect for me. I have a bakery, coffee shop, small supermarket, and atleast 3 good italian restaurants within 50m of my front door. I live up on the rock near the princes castle so as he loves his sleep he puts a ban on people up there after 10 at night and before 7 in the morning so i always sleep like a log. Perhaps my favourite features of my crib appart from my laundry and kitchen are my nespresso coffee machine and cable tv. Although only 15km from italy it is almost impossible to get a good coffee in monaco so i rely heavily on the easy and user friendly nespresso machine to get me going in the mornings and perk me up in the afternoon. Secondly my cable television could not be any better, ok i dont get home and away which would be nice but i do have eurosport 2 which televises the AFL live every week. I am however going to write a letter to eurosport and ask that they do something about the aussie dude that does the comentary and stick with the regular dudes in aus. You cant beat bruce and denise so i dont see why they silence them and have some monotone dude who does not even know how to pronouce the names of the players, this is my only gripe with the tv. Also as an added touch the V8 supercars are telecast so it truly does feel like australia is a hell of alot closer than it actually is which is nice when in reality you're 20000km from home.

Tassi has a great presence in the principality with 4 riders and one top block nick named "Rock" who works for ducatti. We all catch up regularly and through in another 6 aussie riders and we can almost make the beach feel like bondi in the summer! As for the training well that is simply perfect, sure the traffic 10km either side of monaco in the summer is a little tedious at times but then its plain sailing along the mediteranian or inland toward the alps. The most famous stretches of road close handy include the final stages of milan sanremo (or the city to surf as i reffered to it in a previous blog) and of course a climb by the name of col de la madone or more simply as it is commonly known to many cycling fans around the world "the madone". Yes this is the climb that a certain man by the name of Lance Armstrong uses to test his condition and like the steep slope so much that he named a range of trek bikes after the slope. 12km @ 9% average gradient it is a pretty tuff obstacle on a training ride but also a good training road so i frequent it very often. Basically the area offers an almost perfect training environment but when you combine that with the laid back and super easy going lifestyle for me it is the perfect place to set up camp in europe.

Now i am settled in it time to resume racing!

cameron