Just a wee update

Really must update this blog a little more often or I have a massive mission catching up with all that is going on.

Me.

Going through a literature review for my Masters Degree in Sport Science. Also teaching myself Statistics especially mixed linear modelling.

But it has been the riders I work with who are doing amazing things on the bike and certainly deserve some recognition...

Sam Horgan.

Dude is on fire. The return from his horror crash at the Tour of Tasmania last year has been slow and we have made a few changes to the programme to reflect that. His racing calender is chocker with challenging stage races that are part of the National Race Series in Aus riding for his Budget Forklifts team. At the Tour of Gippsland he was 5th and his team-mates won Overall and Sprint classification, and Budget Forklifts won the Teams Classification. Then he scored an impressive victory in the Hokitika Round of the Benchmark Hoomes Elite Cycling Series. As I type he is leading the Tour of the Great South Coast Tour holding a 1:02min lead after 6 of 9 stages.

Sam takes the win in Hokitika (photo, the awesome Bruce Wilson)

Jamie Nicoll.

Jamie competes in the new division of off road racing called Enduro that has been around for a few years but now has it's own World Series. The World Series events are a series of timed runs on mostly downhill tracks but can include some uphill sections and riders have to ride to each timed section. Other events are mass start races like the Megavalache that starts right at the top of Alpe d'Huez and goes through the town where the TdF finishes and on to the bottom. 

Jamie is known as a Privateer for he is one of the few un-sponsored riders in the Pro grades and he rides in the top grade even though he is eligible to ride in the Master's category. This hasn't deterred him from making a big impact on the sport. 

At Megavalanche he qualified 3rd and after a crash in the final ended up 7th. At Mountain of Hell he qualified 1st and backed up in the final taking an awesome victory. He was 15th at round 4 of the Enduro World Series in Colorado when a bug hit him but recovered well to take an awesome 3rd place in round 5 at Crankworx in Whistler. Jamie heads back to Europe soon for the final two rounds of the World Series. 

Mountain of Hell

Maddi Campbell.

A tumultuous year for Maddi. Realising she needed to show she really had her heart set on contending for the World Road Championships she worked hard after Nationals raising money to send herself to the US to get some International racing. Mid June she headed to Colorado and spent a couple of weeks with the AWESOME Joanne Kiesanowski, training with her and learning from her and Multiple World Champion Sarah Hammer what it means to be a World Class Women's cyclist. 

She raced in the open Category at BC Superweek which is a collection of Criteriums and Open races. This years fields were big with 60-80 top Elite women starting in each race and Maddi was on the pointy end of the learning curve having very few crits under her belt let alone with such big numbers. We had a few testy Facebook conversations after the first few but slowly she got the hang of it and was able to make her way to the front and contend for placings.

Maddi then headed to Bend, Oregon to compete in the Cascade Classic. This was a 5 day Elite Stage Race featuring top competition including the recent Women's Giro de Italia winner. She had secured a start for the Colavita Womens Professional Cycling Team which was a huge honour. She found the going tough with some serious climbing on 2 massive stages over 100km with over 30km of climbing on both days in 30degree plus temperatures.  Unfortunately mid way through the Tour a tooth abscess caused her to withdraw on the final stage.

She then headed back to Canada to compete in the U19 racing in Rimouski, Quebec. This was the French speaking part of Canada so like being in a whole new world. She placed 6th in the UCI (1.1) Grand Prix cycliste de Rimouski race and later that night lined up with 2 Canadian and 1 US teammate on the Pinarello Giordana team in the Team TT for the Le Tour de la relève internationale de Rimouski. Canadian Coach Andrew Iler made an excellent offer to get Maddi up for the racing.

Before the Tour started she received the awesome news that she had been selected to represent NZ in the U19 Road Race and Time Trial at the Junior World Road Championships in Italy in September. At the Tour Maddi and her teammate Kelly Catlin (2nd at US U19 Nationals RR) were a 2 women demolition squad after taking 1-2 on stages and finishing that way on GC after 5 days of tough racing.

Maddi spent a few more weeks in Colorado Springs, including a ride up the famous Pikes Peak and had an unfortunate encounter with a Racoon and is now back in town where Coach Ferg is going to do some special work on climbing seeing the course for Worlds in Verona features 5km of uphill on each of the 5 laps!

Harri Rajaniemi.

Harri is a Masters Track Sprinter from Finland. He has been working hard over his winter where the outside temperatures were getting down to -30 and rehabbing after a crash late last year cause damage to his shoulder. The Helsinki track is covered in snow for a lot of the year so not a lot of racing opportunities so a lot of work has been done on the erg, chasing power targets, in the gym, a trip to Lithuania and spending some time on Barcelona Olympic Velodrome while there on business. The results so far have been excellent. 

He took a Bronze medal in the Open Finnish Keirin Championship. He won the Finnish M40 Championships Kilo in a 1:10.92 on a outdoor concrete 400m track much the same as our Denton Park. He then backed up winning the M40 Sprint Title qualifying in a rapid 11.3. He heads on to the European Masters Championships in Wales in September before making a serious bid at the Masters World Champs in Manchester. 

Keirin Racing on the Track in Helsinki

Alice Bennett.

Alice has put in a ton of work in the racing with excellent performances at last years Yunca Tour, TeA Tour, winning the Canterbury U19 Road Title and 5th place in the TT at Road Nationals. This earned her National selection to compete in a NZ team at the Australian U19 Road Nationals. She finished an excellent 11th in the TT and 18th in the Road Race and is now determined to chase victory at the Yunca Tour.

Alice (3rd Kiwi from L) repping the Silver Fern

Greg Potter.

Greg is an U19 Sprinter from Auckland who is making rapid progress. He has invested in a SRM for his track bike and we are building up a store of data as his power tracks upwards. He has been racing well and placed 4th in the Keirin at the Perth GP and rode well in the Sprint Derby at my Track Camp.

Perth Grand Prix

South Island Schools Championships.

These are always a major event on the Junior Racing Calender. What was amazing this year was the weather these poor kids raced in. It was cold and wet on the Saturday for the Individual Times Trials but Sunday was so bad that Winter Worlds was cancelled but the kids fronted up and I didn't see one rider shy away from starting even when faced with rain, hail or sleet!

Wee Hannah braves the hail!

I did a comprehensive report of the racing for the Road Cycling website that covers all the racing. The performances of the riders I work with are easily summed up in photos by the awesome Rickoshay!

Christine demolished the U15 grade in the TT and RR

A Coach Ferg 1-2 in U16 Girls with Sarah an awesome Gold from Phoebe

Josh wins the U16 TT and Silver in RR and TTT 

Olivia obliterated the U17 girls TT and RR

Holly was on a mission winning both U19 TT and RR

Max was unrelenting in pursuit of the U19 RR Gold

Track Camp.

This is the third time I have run this mid winter and we ended up with a large group of riders I work with an a few guests to add some spice to the racing. I ran a series of races for the 15s and 17s, a sprint derby and Keirin for the Elites and a couple of U19 women's 4000m Teams Pursuits. It was an awesome time as always and a big highlight for me as a coach as I get to see all the action unfold first hand. 

Thanks to all the parents that helped especially Lisa Ward, Pegasus Cycling Club for the loan of the club van, Southland Girls High Boarding House and Cycling Southland for their awesome facility. 

While we were down in Invercargill Josh Smith and Phoebe McCaughan were both invited to a week of riding, testing, educational sessions and racing up in the Manawatu at an event organised by Stephen Stannard with assistance from John Rippon and Wayne Girdlestone.

Sophie Tyas.

Sophie was one of the top U19 riders on the World Scene in Downhill last year and has moved into the Pro Elite grade. It has been hard going with such a competitive field but she is making progress towards qualifying for World Cup finals and getting excellent racing in the IXS Downhill events in Europe. She was selected for the NZ to go to World Champs in South Africa but will stay in Europe to focus on the final two World Cup events. 

Jeannie Kuhajek.

Jeannie has had many ups and downs racing on the Pro Women's circuit in the US after surgery early in the year. This hasn't stopped her from making the top step of the podium several times including winning the US American Bicycle Racing Criterium Championship for Pro Women. 

May we live in interesting times indeed! These riders and Mitchell Podmore, Kate Boyd, Hannah Clarke, Rhys Jones, Sam Buckner, Lucy Timmings, Sophie Gray, Pip Keenan and Kate Smith are all racing hard and looking to better themselves as riders. It is a privilege to work with you all. The challenges make me work harder and enjoy my coaching even more. 

NOW GET ON YOUR BIKES AND RIDE!!! 

Moar Success!!!

After the buzz of two successful Track National campaigns it was now time to hit the road. For the juniors this meant regular training sessions to sharpen up on climbing power and close to Nationals climbing speed and sprint speed. Last year I just set the volume of intervals for each rider to perform but on reflection decided to handicap each rep to maintain quality.

U23 and Elite riders worked hard clocking up the miles and punishing themselves on the erg.

Been some really cool new research come to light about benefits of training at various intensities, recovery between efforts and cool downs and appreciating the physiological basis and benefits of this research I have added it to the mix.

The results...

Tour de Perth

Sam Horgan: Second Stage One and Overall Sprint Ace Winner

NZ Club Nationals

GOLD

Christine Lambley: U15 Girls Road Race

SILVER

Sam Horgan: Elite Men's  Time Trail
Maddi Campbell: U19 Woman's Time Trial
Christine Lambley: U15 Girls Time Trial

BRONZE

Sam Horgan: Elite Men's Road Race
Maddi Campbell: U19 Woman's Road Race

Awesome performances also came from Mitchell Podmore in the U23 Road Race in the winning break for over 100km just cracking on the penultimate climb. Alice Bennett in the U19 Woman's Road Race dislodged on the steep climb from the lead group and rode alone to finish 8th most of the race solo with a strong chasing group. Alice also placed 5th in the Time Trial. Phoebe McCaughan 8th in the U17 Girls and Josh Smith 9th in U17 Boys. Both are first years so their performance was very encouraging.

Christine takes GOLD!

Happy Coach, NZ Champ and Trainer Nienke

Now we head into the winter here in NZ. I have riders in Europe and America who are getting set for their racing seasons. We utilised the School Holidays to do daily skills sessions which should pay big dividends in the Winter racing. Schools Cycling starts next week as do Winter Worlds. Night XC racing is also happening Wednesday nights.

I have been getting in some good rides myself hitting the 3hr mark on long rides, trialling hurty interval programmes on myself and nearly close to a CTL of 50 if you understand that side of monitoring training with a power meter.

Wrap up warm but most importantly keep riding. Work done in Winter is a step up the ladder that you don't have to make in Summer when you are wanting to race well!

I am an agent for Quarq Power Meters and can supply these to riders and coaches at very good prices. I don't look to profit from this as I am a big believer in U19s and upwards using these tools to help focus their training and racing (15s and 17s have other stuff they need to learn first). I can also perform calibrations on both SRM and Quarq Power Meters.

The GOLD Rush!!!

Busy busy two months!

Took a group of riders down to the Southland New Year Carnival where we ran track training sessions in conjunction with two nights of good hard racing.

Elite NZ Track Nationals was a huge success. I was Canterbury Team Manager and also coach for the Sprint Team and U19 Women's Teams Pursuit. Results from the crew were awesome...

Gold: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's 500m TT
Gold: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Points Race
Gold: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Team Sprint (with Alice Hay)
Gold: Greg Potter: U19 Men's Team Sprint (with Zac Williams and Chad Elliston)
1st U19 Men's Team Pursuit: Luke Wieblitz and Max Beckert (with Connor Stead and Daniel Neumann)
1st U19 Woman's Teams Pursuit: Holly Edmondston and Maddi Campbell (with Alice Hay)
Silver: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Individual Pursuit
Silver: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Scratch Race
Bronze: Ben Stewart and Angus Lindsay Open Team Sprint (with Hamish Schreurs)
Bronze: Mitchell Podmore Open Teams Pursuit (with Michael Vink, Hamish Schreurs and Chad Adair)

Outstanding performance from Max to place 4th in the U19 Men's Points Race. Maddi improved her 3000m IP by 9 seconds from last year and her 500m TT by 3 seconds!

Holly on the attack with Shannon Grinter (Waikato/BOP) and Maddi on the way to Points Race GOLD!

Greg (top right) takes GOLD in U19m Team Sprint

Canterbury Track Champs was a huge success with many notable performances from the group including a clean sweep of the Titles for Olivia Podmore and Christine Lambley. Max Beckert won the Open Points Race as an U19!

Sophie Tyas took a well earned Bronze medal in Pro Elite Woman's grade in the Downhill event at NZ MTB Champs.

Age Group Track Nationals was again outstanding and we saw numerous riders step on to the podium and step up with their personal performances...

Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls 500m Time Trial
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Sprint
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Scratch Race
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Team Sprint (with Sarah Ownsworth)
Gold: Christine Lambley U15 Girls Scratch Race
Silver: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Points Race
Silver: Lachie McGregor U17 Boys Pursuit
Silver Lachie McGregor U17 Boys Points Race
Silver: Sam Buckner and Rhys Jones U17 Boys Teams Sprint (with Max Jones)
Bronze: Sam Buckner U17 Boys 500m TT
Bronze: Kate Ward U15 Girls Derby

Outstanding rides from Max Beckert who won the Points Race round of the U19 Omnium lapping the field with Reon Sheath, Rhys Jones whose improvements over the year have been fantastic, Josh Smith who rode an excellent 2:28 in the U17b IP as a first year and Phoebe McCaughan who was the only other Cantab (from 6) to join Olivia in the U17g Scratch Race final.

Christine wins GOLD!

Olivia 4 GOLD and 1 SILVER!!! and exhausted Coach

Tour of Canterbury was a great success with Sam Horgan defending his title from last year. Maddi Campbell stepped up to win the Woman's grade.

Canterbury Road Champs took place over two weekends this year and the crew were in fine form with Alice Bennett, Maddi Campbell, Olivia Podmore, Josh Smith and Christine Lambley (making it a clean sweep of Canterbury U15 Girls Titles) all winning Gold Medals.

At the Te Awamutu Tour for Juniors Maddi Campbell and Max Beckert both won stages. Max was unfortunate to have a mechanical in stage 1 and Alice Bennett crashed hard in stage 1. Maddi finished 2nd on GC in U19 Women, Alice 5th, Lachie McGregor was 5th in U17 Boys and Josh Smith 10th and Kate Ward was 4th in U15 Girls.

Max enjoys the WIN at TA stage 3!

Coach losing at snaps to keep Olivia fired up between Sprint rounds!

TA Tour Coaching Process

Looking at the performances at TA Tour I am very satisfied with the Coaching Process we used going into this event. Two years ago when preparing riders (inc Max Beckert) for the Tour of Canberra we did lots of group efforts. Last year we included group efforts but they had less structure and people just a rep target rather than a target for each individual effort.

This year I made each rep a target (as I did on track for each effort for Olivia Podmore and Sam Buckner and others whose times improved out of sight) by running the reps as a small handicap race. From the riders with Power meters I could see the progress they were making and if they were going backwards that they needed a break or some easy days. Riders with Garmins also provided useful data with their times on a set course.

Two years ago at a High Performance Coaching course run by BikeNZ we learnt about Coach Led Racing and I feel the structure of the efforts embodies those principles whether it is in a training session, structuring a track racing session/season or advising riders how to race as I gave the crew very specific instructions on how to attack, when to attack and depending on where they were in the race how hard to attack.

The other useful input was the racing. Last year I felt the Tour of Canterbury was a pivotal event in the build up to TA and this year it proved again that this race gave riders an advantage in their build up. Even if it comes right after Age Group and Omnium Track Nationals it is an important event to race.

Most important is the riders who went to TA were very focused and collaborated with me. For many like Maddi and Alice (who made the biggest improvements in performance from 2012 who were in contact almost daily refining their riding and preparation for the race. Reminds me of 1995 when I was preparing Ewan MacMaster for his 3 month build up to World Champs in Colombia and we would be on the phone (no text, skype or Internet Cafes back then) up to 3 times a day.

Well done team!

Max Beckert sprints to win stage three!

Sarah working hard on her climbing

January Madness

Sitting down in Invercargill before we head to the awesome indoor Velodrome to firstly train and prepare new riders for racing on a first class facility and tonight they all race, many for the first time on a 250m indoor board track.

After coming back from Vineyards it was straight into the Canterbury Track Carnival. Last year was lacking in numbers and six months ago Syd Martin and I thought with the loss of the Grandstand (due to be red stickered post earthquakes) that track let alone the Carnival was not going to happen.

But to Syd's credit and assisted by Bruce Dawe, myself and some new blood on the track committee we got there in the end and put on the best Carnival many (inc some riders who have raced around the World at the highest levels) have ever been part of. We had 5 Olympians in Natasha Hansen, Eddie Dawkins, Simon Van Velthooven, Marc Ryan and Shane Archbold who all showed us why they are World Class and delivered superb performances every time they came to the line.

Bruce Wilson captured the excitement and intensity of the racing from both nights...

Mitchel, Luke and Max duke it out!

Kate and Christine get ready to race!

Olivia was undefeated on both nights!

Shane Archbold and Eddie Dawkins entertain the crowd before and during the racing!

The next weekend was NZ Elite Road Nationals where the Carnival Atmosphere transferred to the tar seal and again New Zealand's Elite Riders showed their class. Roulston, Bennett, Henderson, Bauer, Sergent, Oram, Vink, Kiesanowski, Lowe and many others showed just how strong we are as a Cycling Nation. Sam placed 5th in the Elite Men's TT and 20th in the Road Race while Mitchell went several laps in the Road Race.

Next week Reon (NZ Team) and Sam (Budget Forklifts) ride the NZ Cycle Classic. In two weeks time Maddi, Luke, Max, Ben, Angus, Andrew, Greg and Holly all do battle at NZ Elite/U19 Track Cycling Championships racing for Gold and National Selection to various events. Then there is Canterbury Track Cycling Champs, Age Group and Elite/U19 Omnium Nationals before we focus back on the road for Oceania Champs in Canberra, Tour de Lakes or TeA and focus in on Club Road Nationals.

January 2013 Update

Wow, it's 2013 already, just come back from the Tour de Vineyards in Nelson where I was the Chief Commissaire for the Woman's Grade.

Since getting back from Tasmania it has been a full on time as I got stuck into the Track Season. Good news is Sam Horgan is back on his bike and riding hard after his horrific crash in Tassie.

The Track Season has been rather awesome with great turnouts for the Wed and Sun racing and the level of competition has been excellent. Looking forward to running the Canterbury Track Carnival on the 4th and 5th of January.

Went up to Auckland to present my (proposed) research at the SPRINZ Strength and Conditioning Conference at AUT. Also got a chance to watch two nights of racing at Manukau. Some very good riders there which is more motivation for Canterbury riders to race hard before Nationals. One last hurdle to leap with my Masters research (Ethics Approval) tracking changes in cycling specific fitness with a power meter.

I was the Chief Commissaire for the Benchmark Homes Festival of Cycling which was an awesome event and showcases what a top promoter like Simon Hollander can do for Cycling in Canterbury. It is great to hear that he is coming on board with the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling series and the new addition to this series will be a Master's Grade with their own races to go along side the Men's and Women's races.

Took a group of riders down to the Southland Track Cycling Champs and all performed excellently with a surprise NZ record for Olivia Podmore in the U17 girls 500m Time Trial and we really saw Rhys Jones lift his game riding tactically in the Sprint.

We ran a Mid Season Champs at Denton Park which is something we haven't done since the 80s so it was good to give a lot of riders an opportunity to ride Championship events before they go to Nationals, and for the Age Group riders before they ride Canterbury Champs. Olivia Podmore, among others, smashed out a few Denton Park records.

January is full on with the Track Carnival, NZ Elite Road Nationals, NZ MTB National Series (DH and XC), Southland New Year Track Carnival, NZ Cycle Classic, Waimate Track Carnival and NZ Elite and U19 Track Nationals. Motivation for Africa to get out and race hard!!!

Hamish

2013 Manifesto!

*Who?

Who do you want to be in 2013. The person who wins the race, breaks the National record, becomes World Champion, lowers their time for LeRace, gets invited on to the squad or team, loses 5kg! Decide now, write it down, think big, small goal are not a stimulus for action!

*Why?

 Because who we are is what we repeatedly do! I assume your goals above have deep and personal meaning to you. Only set goals if they will help you to focus and engage properly.

*How?

By focusing on the NOW! 2012 is over. 5 Oceania Titles, 16 NZ Titles, and countless South Island and Canterbury Titles has been reset to 0,0,0 and 0. You must do the same. If things didn't happen for you in 2012 you still do the same. NOW is January so you focus on January, Today is the 2nd so you focus on the second. If you don't do today right you will be behind the eight ball for tomorrow anyway.

*What?

By racing with the appropriate focus and right level of engagement. Only start if you are there to improve your performances. Be a race maker, have a plan and embrace the complexity of racing. You can always learn more but when the race starts you have to work with what you have. Analysis after the race is no good, use the pre-briefs to programme yourself for success!

*When?

NOW!!!