Well well well, what can I say? One thing I can say is it feels very good being back on the top step!
Since my victory a couple of weeks ago I have done two more races and had two more Victories. One was a stage of a three day tour and the other was a one day race two days ago. I am so happy that my form is back, just in time to finish the season strong!

Race 1:
Last week we had a big 3 day tour in Bretane France called Kreiz Breizh Elite which is a UCI catagory 2.2. For those that dont know anything .2 means any level of team right up to Pro continental (div 2) teams of the host country can start. Any team except pro tour teams. In this race there were a couple of pro teams including Rabobank Continental, Sojasun Continental, Bretane Schullier etc etc.
Stage 1 was a tough 175km stage but it was by far the easiest of the 4 stages. During my warm up I was joking with my team mates that I was going to win the stage as I was feeling really good. For a long time I hadnt felt excited to race but this day I was really looking forward to it.
During the first half the stage nothing alot happened for me. A breakaway of 14 riders was up the road and we had a team mate there so all we had to do was sit in the pelaton and chill out. Teams that didnt have riders in the break, it was their job to chase the break. Unfortuneatly for us our team mate couldnt hack the pace of the breakaway group and got dropped. It was then put on us to help chase. I said to Tom (team sprinter) that it was going to be hard for the team to catch the break so he should save his legs for the sprint and ill help the team chase. We got into the local circuit and we had the break back from 2min30 to 30 seconds. A couple of laps later we had the majority of the break back but there were still 4 riders away at 20seconds. On the last lap going up a small rise I pulled a massive turn to try close the gap that little bit more and when I swung off at the top to let a team mate through for his turn, there was noone there. I had a small gap of 20m so I thought I was going to take advantage of it, Tom was ready to take on the sprint roll so i was going to have a dig. I put my head back down and although my legs were screaming I still felt strong. I closed the 20sec gap to the leaders joining them with just under 2km to go. We didnt have a very big gap on the pelaton so while I was in a rythem I rolled straight to the front for my turn. Inside the last km the break wanted to start playing cat and mouse. Of coarse I wanted my legs to recover for the sprint so I wasnt interesting in being on the front either. Inside 500m to go with not much play time as the pelaton was Bearing down on us, fast! I thought its now or never. Sitting 3rd wheel, the lead rider swung off not wanting to lead the sprint out, he was followed by the rider second wheel which opened the door for me to Launch. With 400m to go I had no choice from that point but to committ. Into the 90deg right hander I had a small gap of 5-10m but with the final 200m being slightly uphill I knew if i stayed in a bigger gear and kept the pedals ticking over I should hold them off. When i crossed the line hands in the air I wasnt sure if I had actually won or not as we were passing lapped riders. I wasnt actually sure if we were the front of the bike race or not. I had to ask our team swanny. But it was all good, I had taken the stage and in doing so took the tour leaders jersey and Sprint ace jersey. Looking at a photo of the finish in the news paper I held that 5-10m gap right to the line.

Stage 2, 3 and 4 were all tough stages, and with the leaders jersey they all had just become harder. Not only for me but for the whole team. Now it didnt matter who was in the break it was still the duty of my team to chase/control the race. I must admit it felt pretty awesome having 4 team mates sitting in front of you chasing a break and all you have to do is sit there and let them do all the work. However the stage turned out to be extremely difficult for me and the team and Defending the jersey wasnt looking very good. I was going so deep on some climbs to stay in contact with the front group but in the end it turned out to be too much. I finished stage 2 in the pelaton but I didnt have enough in me to close the 8sec gap to the leading few riders. However disappointing loosing the jersey was it was always going to happen. The good thing was, I was on cloud 9 and nothing could ruin my tour. I managed to grab a stage of a rather large tour that riders like Phillip Gilbert have won in the past.
Going so deep in stage 2 trying to defend the jersey screwed me for the rest of the tour, I lost 11mins stage 3 and got told to pull out of stage 4 by my team director.

Race 2:
Two days ago I had another big race back here in Belgium called Internatie Reningelst. Only having 2 days recovery between the tour and this race was the reason my director told me to pull out of the final stage. To him, he didnt see the point in me making myself more tired suffering through a stage I was going to get dropped in, when I had a race I could win 3 days later.
After the tour I picked up a small head cold and was really nervous Wednesday afternoon when it got really bad. Race being on Thursday. I really didnt want to disappoint my director. After 9000mg of VitC in 24h I woke up the morning of the race feeling ready to go again.
The race was 172km and although I was feeling ready to go I was nervous I hadnt recovered properly from the tour. After a few laps that worry was gone as I was feeling confident i was the strongest in the race. I might not have been but that feeling boosted my confidence. About half way through the race, a break was gone but the race was still too uncontrolled. People were still attacking rather then getting the whole team to settle down and chase. I dont like uncontrolled racing so I thought it was time to cause some hurt! On a small climb I hit it as hard as I could and didnt look back. I had a feeling I would be marked by a couple of ex team mates or atleast riders from my old team, and I was hoping they were strong enough to follow. Sure enough it worked, I had managed to take a select group of riders with me including 2 of my own team mates. With one already in the break that would make 4 of us when the groups came together. When we came together with the leaders to make 16riders My director told everyone they were riding for me. With the awesome team work the pressure was on for me to deliver. On the last lap, the same climb as before, I again hit it hard and cut the group in half and still managing to keep 1 team mate. In the final KM that team mate (Louis Verelst) pulled a huge turn so none of the breakaway companions could attack successfully. In the last corner 300m to go, the sprinter from my team last year committed to leading out the sprint. I guess in the hope he was stong enough to hold us off. I had none of it and was straight on his wheel. The slightly uphill spirnt suited me perfectly and was able to come over him by 2 or 3 bike lengths. This Win felt the most special. It felt like the win I needed to get my last years reputaion back. Yes my stage win in the tour was my biggest win, but this one to back up that one was what made it so special.

I hope I can keep bringing results like this to table in the hope i can get another contract for 2012.
until next time

Firstly I want to appoligise for my lack of updates. I have had a real run of bad luck, beginning with my appendix, then a couple of crashes (one causing a back injury), and lastly the amount of crappy races due to stomach problems. All this was the reason I haven’t sent any updates as I really really hate talking about bad news. Thats all there has been to report on so I havent sent any updates.

As you may notice I am sending an update now so it must mean I have some good news to tell you all. Well I do!

Starting at the beginning.

I have had a number of people giving me lots of reasons why my season has been so bad. Reasons like…. Im not motivated, I have too many distractions, Im not training properly….. etc etc. However alot of people had forgotten that on the 30th March I was rushed to hospital via ambulance and fast tracked into surgery for a ruptured appendix. Talking to people who have been through that have said it takes at least 12 weeks (depending on who you are) to get over just the surgery. Following that I had to put back on the 8kg I lost in the 10 days I was in hospital. Then I had to build back up to race speed. In that time I also had a crash which gave me a back injury and alot of crappy races due to stomach problems.

Good news is that all of that is behind me. I had my back sorted and found out I was gluten intolerant which has solved the stomach problems.

More good news is that after a few weeks solid training and a week in the hills my form is back and and the results are following. In those weeks I have had a few good reults with some 2nds 3rds 4ths etc but no win. Until this weekend!

Rotorua school of cycling is back.

This weekend was my home town race, the 2 days of Ledegem. For me it was just going to be two solid days racing to top off the mean week training in the Ardennes (belgium hills) but it turned out my form was better than I expected. Wade Mangham, who spent the week in the Ardennes with me and my girlfriend (personal physio) also had better form then he expected. We are both training buddies from back in Roto-vegas so we both knew we would push each other on our mini training camp. During our little training camp things were going so well we constantly joked about how we were going to “Rip that Shit” back in the 2 days of ledegem. Not to our expectations, we did exactly that!

Saturday….. Rain, wind, and muddy, narrow, windy, belgium roads. I told Wade at the start be at the front, Its gona be chaos down in the bunch. On the first lap through a couple of S bends I attacked, wondering if Wade would follow. He didnt, but my team mate did. Me and my team mate rode together for a few laps until we were caught by 2 others guys. We rode with 4 until the pace was too hot for my team mate and we were down to 3. I was feeling good enough that I kept telling myself “Im gona WIN!”. Luck wasnt on my side. 4 Laps to go I punctured and with no team cars or neutral service, normally when you punture the race is over. It was in my head that my race was over until I saw my team mate on the side of the rode who had just pulled out. I asked for his front wheel and began chasing. I chased for a lap before I got the first time check, I was 40 seconds down. A lap later I was back in contact with the 2 leaders, then I realised my tyre was slowly going down again. I hoped it was slow enough that I could finish the race… but it wasnt. I saw Wades team director (also a friend of mine) and hoped he had a spare wheel. He did! I began chasing again, but with only one lap to go I was now racing for 2nd place as the 2 leaders were now separated. I managed to finish 2nd and noticed Wade was chasing 3rd place solo. He didnt quite manage to catch him, but still finished 4th, well ahead of the chasing peleton.

Sunday… Not a lot to say here. Wade and I went into the race with a plan to go blocks inspired by Gordon McCauley in an old tour of Southland DVD we watched that morning. Weather was not much better than yesterday so getting out of the peleton was the best plan we could come up with to avoid crashes. Within the first km Wade attacked and I followed. We stayed away the entire race (120km). After 3 bottles of coke we hit the last lap. On the finish line we had a 2minute 50 sec gap on the chasing group of ten and 5 minutes to the pelaton. The 2 days of Ledegem also had an overall classification which we dominated between the 2 of us. My 2nd and 1st gave me the overall title and Wades 4th and 2nd gave him 2nd overall and also 1st U23.

Thats how we do it in the Rotorua school of cycling.

(Also thanks to the other kiwi boys in the race for their help in the initial stages of the race and also my partner for her bottle juggling, feeding the 2 people in the 2 man break away).

Thats all from me, hope I can bring you more good news in the next few weeks.

Clinton

Hi all,
I would be lying if I told you that I thought it was time to send another update because in fact… my girlfriend has been the one keeping the pressure on for me to send an update on my latest run of bad luck (because I knew how long this would end up and I really didn’t want to write it). Some of you may already know what has happened; actually I would put my money on most of you knowing. Especially the way news spreads these days.
I will start this update from the very beginning including the last race I never told you about……
Over the weekend of the 26th/27th March I was away at a tour in France and with my form at the time, I was hoping for a good result. The first day was a shambles, nothing went right for me. We started the stage with me as team leader but to be competitive in a team’s race you need a whole team strong enough to do the job at hand. In this case I needed a team strong enough and willing enough to chase the 8 man breakaway that we stupidly missed. Since the depth in the team wasn’t there, I had a go at trying to go across to the break when the time gap was only 20seconds. However it was too fast and I didn’t make it. The Break stayed away to the finish and I got 4th in the Bunch sprint. Unfortunate thing was the break was 2 mins up the road so I could kiss my General Classification goodbye.
Day 2 was better; the course was a lot harder so I didn’t have to rely on the team so much. Once we got to the local laps the race really started and the peloton began to splinter big time. It wasn’t a flat lap either. On the last lap there was 11 guys left at the front including myself and I knew the last climb (3km to go) was going to be where it happened. Sure enough too, like clockwork. Our group split on the climb but I knew if I went any deeper then I was going I would blow up. With the last 2km like it was I couldn’t afford for that to happen. 4 guys rolled away, I managed to catch them but… 200m to go is a tad late and I had no sprint left as I was already pretty maxed out. I rolled 1 guy though but had to settle for 4th in the stage. If both days had of gone like that…… well we’ll never know.
This is where the bad luck starts…….
Tuesday the following week I had some testing in Gent. It wasn’t real hard testing; it was more to look at muscle ability and strength through pressure and force tests. Anyway that went well and on paper it looks pretty good! haha but I also did find things I can work on to make me a better rider.
That evening I started to get a bit of a sore gut, the sort where all you need to do is go to the bathroom and it’s sorted….. well that wasn’t the case. By the next morning it was uncomfortable enough that I didn’t get out of bed to eat, I just lay there in a ball. By mid morning there was enough pain and vomiting I asked my host family to call a doctor (they come around home). He told me he thought I was just a bit blocked up in my digestive system. He prescribed me some tablets and drink to help clear things up. That evening I was feeling a lot better, but still a bit worried to eat as I was throwing up anything I ate that day. The following morning I was still in a bit of discomfort but much better than the day before. I even had some Jam toast for breakfast.
10.30AM! I was sitting on my bed, leaning up against the wall talking with Rebecca when all of a sudden it felt like someone was slowly driving a blunt, serrated knife into my gut while at the same time grabbing a handful of intestines in twisting! I ran to the bathroom as I thought the pain was going to cause me to vomit. Within seconds I was collapsed on the floor of the toilet screaming in pain with no feeling in my arms, hands or feet. Rebecca made the call to phone an Ambulance, 25mins waiting for the ambulance seemed like hours.
Once finally in Hospital and loaded with pain killers the doctor told me it’s probably my Appendix and a CTscan will confirm it. One glance at the scan and the doc told me surgery was a must as I was in a very serious condition. I had infection all through my abdomen which concerned the doctor enough to squeeze me into surgery between 2 other patients.
After the surgery the doctor came to see me and told me it was the worst case of appendicitis he has seen and waiting any longer than we did could have been fatal for me. Piecing together what the doc told me and the language barrier, and all my symptoms, it turns out it actually burst. That’s what caused the very serious infection in the rest of my abdominal area. A few days later, still with 2 drain tubes coming out of my abdomen to drain all the infection out, the doctor was concerned I wasn’t recovering like I should have been. Another CT scan was going to determine if I was to go back into surgery, but fortunately it came up clear enough not to re-operate. They just upped the strength of the Antibiotics to the strongest they had.
8 Days in Hospital but now I am feeling normal again, only having pain taking deep breaths and a few other movements. Home now though and at the beginning of this week started riding again. Might take me a little bit to be actually training again but I’m now on the road to be back racing within the next few weeks.

Hey guys

Just to fill everyone in on what’s been happening lately. With all the shit with Pegasus my training over summer wasn’t anywhere close to what I should have been doing. Motivation and moral for training and racing completely went out the window. As maybe a lot of people could tell with my Nationals and tour of Wellington. It was very hard to get my head around being an amateur again once we’d been promised all these great things but once I managed to I was back on track. 5 Weeks ago was when I really began to focus, but there was still a couple of missed training sessions to get in some last minute fishing and diving. Bex and I have been in Europe now for 4 weeks and with nothing to distract me training has been solid. And to make the training that little bit better, its been with the other kiwi boys here. This year I’m racing for a Belgium Amateur team called EFC-Quickstep. It is the feeder team for Quick-step (a feeder team is a team that associated with the pro team, and generally gets looked at first for new Recruits.)

My first race didn’t quite go as planned when I hit a pot hole and got 2 flat tires. After the slowest wheel change ever I was 3 or 4 minutes back. With no motor-pacing it was race over for me. The 2nd race I did was a bit better. 190km with some of the smaller pro teams which made for a fast race averaging 45km/h. I was good for 150km and spent some time in the break away, but when it came to the bunch sprint i either had the legs to move forward in the peloton OR sprint, not both. I ended up moving forward and finished in the front half of the peloton.

My next race was last Sunday. Judging by my last race I knew my racing condition was coming back but as this race was only my 3rd one since i have been here I certainly wasn’t expecting to win it. However for moral purposes it would be nice to get a good result instead of being bunch fill. It was an Interclub which is kind of like a series. This particular one was a circuit race. 11laps of 13km. 151km total. race was called G P Wilfred Peeters, Mol. I wasn’t going into this race with much expectations to win but i was hoping for a good result. As for the race…. Perfect conditions for Belgium. NO wind, sunny, just a little on the cool side. On the 2nd lap we got away with a group of 17 riders and we really had to work to get the time gap out. One of the teams (Soenens) missed the break so they were chasing hard! Fortunately for us every other big team had at least 2 guys in the break so i knew it wouldn’t take long for Soenens to give up the chase. how wrong was I! 7 laps later the time gap was still only 40 seconds and with an average speed of 45.6kmh it was only a matter of time till the chase stopped. Like clock work the following lap the time gap went to 1 min, then 1.25, then 1.50 So i was pretty confident we were staying away. With 3 laps to go after a 170 degree left turn the group split to 8 riders. Me and a team mate, 2 from lotto Davo, 2 from VL technics and 2 others from different teams. Once we were away as the 8 my team mate came to me asking if I think I can win. I said yes! He asked if I had a plan, I said no, but I’m confident I can take all these guys in the sprint.

I knew with 2 from each team it wasn’t going to be a sprint with 8 so I told my team mate to attack with 3km to go. He did, the 2 randoms chased and when he was caught the counter went from a guy from davo. I followed that one and we were away with 3. Myself, 1 from davo and one from VL Technics. The finish was tricky but perfect for me. That 170deg left hand corner I mentioned before was 200m to go. It was a finish all about Horse Power and acceleration, not speed. Each lap I went through the corner in different gears to work out which would be the best and I also worked out you had to be first or second wheel around the turn. I opted for 1st wheel. Then the cheeky shit from davo, hooked it left early and went over the traffic island, I was in the position where I had to commit to the corner properly which gave the guy from davo a 20m advantage in the acceleration out of the corner. It aint over until the fat lady sings and I heard no fat lady. My luck came in when the guy from davo was in a too smaller gear and had to sit down to change to a bigger one. I felt I was coming at him too quickly to not roll him on the line so I kept my head down and came over him with a couple of meters to spare. I rolled him by half a bike length.

First victory for the season and I hope it sets the trend for the rest of the season.

My next race is a 2 day tour in France, so will let you all know how that goes
That’s all from me for now,
Clinton

Well I think it is about that time where I sent an update out. There has been alot going on lately and for those of you that dont know or dont understand, I will explain it all now.

The first lot of good news i have to share is, over the year I have had enough good results to earn myself a stargier with the pro team ‘Radioshack’ (for those that dont know, it is the team of Lance Armstrong). A stargier generally runs from the first of August until the teams last race of the season and is a chance to prove yourself not only to the team you are riding for but also to other teams who may be watching. You get to race with the professionals in professional races for the team of which you are riding the stargier for. In my case I will be riding races with/for Radioshack in the races the team selects me for. Alot of people ask me if we are getting paid a salary during this time, but the answer is no. Its just the chance to show them why they should pay you.

The next lot of good news is, I have already done a race for Radioshack, the Tour of Denmark. It went surprisingly well. I went into the race with no expectations to have good results but to go the race and do what I am asked to do. I know I am pleanty capible of being competitive but being the first race, different/new bikes, new team i just wanted to get settled first. In doing what I had to do I also managed to get some repectable results aswell. Both days I had good results came from doing a job that wasnt working (trying to lead out the team sprinter) so I took it on myself to finish in the best place I could. Ill briefly run through the stages……

Stage 1. 175km. The race was really controlled this day. It was a course that was definately going to be a bunch sprint so Saxo Bank (danish Protour team) let the very first attack go. At one point i think the leading group had 6 or 7 minutes. Later on in the race when Saxo Bank began chasing the skies became darker and darker and I knew for sure we would be getting wet. The heavens didnt dissappoint. It rained so much it was even hard to see the road, it was just water. Coming into the finish curcuits the wet road caused caos and there was crash after crash after crash. Mainly on corners. I was riding good position and managed to stay in front of all of them except the last one. Coming into the last turn i even thought about giving the sprint a go but a crash infront of changed my course of direction and sent me straight over a traffic island on to the otherside of the road. At that point my sprint was over but I was still upright. I finished in the back of the bunch.

Stage 2. 170km. Again a sprinters race. This time the finish was on a bit of a climb but still for the sprinters. It took a little longer today for the break to go and the race to settle down but as they do, it soon speeds up again when its time for the break to come back. Today Sam Bewley, Taylor Phinney and myself tryeid to set the sprint up for Gert Stegmans the team sprinter. Unfortunately he wasnt feeling good enough and we all had nothing left to try for ourselves so we all just finished again in the bunch.

Stage 3. 180km. This time it was a race for the GC (overall) riders. It was too hard for me and I suffered alot. But looking at the results sheet I wasnt the only one. I Lost 14 mins.

Stage 4. 100km. Definately for the sprinters. I spent most of the day looking after Stegmans as todays finish was perfect for him. 400m Slightly uphill. The pelaton had really started chasing and with 15km to go punctured. I thought there was no way I was going to get back to the pelaton but with a very quick wheel change and just taking my time using the convoy of cars I made it back to the pelaton, and straight back to the front to help Stegmans. With 1km to go I came passed him, giving him the oppitunity to get on my wheel. Out of the last turn 400m to go was a crash which opened the door for me to bring Stegmans through. I stayed in the wind to keep the door open for him. 200m to go at full gas I looked under my to see he wasnt there. Now I thought, “its all up to you clinton”. 100m to go my legs were fading so fast more guys started coming around me. I managed to hang on for 11th place. For my first contested Professional bunch sprint i thought it wasnt bad. I wish I knew Stegmans wasnt behind me because I wouldnt have stayed sitting in the wind. But I was doing a job, at 60kmh there isnt much time to be worrying about someone else. Its his problem to make sure he is there. He told me after the race in the last turn 2 Skil Shimano guys pushed him off my wheel and he lost his nerve.

Stage 5. Evening of the previous stage was a 20km Time Trial. I didnt have a real good TT. But after just seeing the set up between my Training TT bike and Race TT bike I know why. They were miles different. All fixed now though I hope.

Stage 6. 185km in the pissing down rain. Today was my worse but best day. It took two and a half hours for them to let a break away go and I was suffering so much. In that 2.5h we averaged 50.2kmh. At one point we passed through the feed zone where no one took a feed as we were do 60kmh strung out in 1 line. No one in their right mind is going to try grab a feed at that speed. The ones who did try didnt succeed. Down the road further when it had all finally settled I was on feeding duty. I had to deliver 5 feed bags (at once) around the pelaton, each containing 2 bottles, 1 can of coke, and food weighting approx 1.5kg each. Then the job got turned to looking after Mathew Buche who was 3rd on GC so we had to make sure he was always in a good position. The local laps for this stage finished on the course for the 2011 world championships so it was a good chance to see and feel what the course is like. I LIKE VERY MUCH! Anyway sprint time came so the jobs got changed again and this time it was setting up a finish for Stegmans. Again a good finish for him, 700m uphill at about 3%. 4km to go I came passed him to bring him right to the front. Then amongst all the pushing and shoving we lost each other. Fortunately for him he managed to stay at the front where I had drifted back a little. In the last turn I just came diving up the inside and exiting the corner me and Stegmans were side by side. However with the way the bunch was moving he couldnt get on my wheel so it became free for me to try what I could. I managed a 4th place in the sprint beating 3 of the worlds best sprinters Tyler Farrar 5th, Mark Renshaw 6th, and Theo Bos 9th. However we were all knock back a place as fellow Kiwi Hayden Roulston held on from his break away attemp to take the stage victory. 5th place in a stage of my very first professional race. Couldnt have finished the tour better.

As far as i know the team was happy with my efforts. I hope i can do more races like that for them

The last lot of good news is the fact I made the Commonwealth Games team for the road race in Delhi in October. I must say I am really happy to be worthy of going, i just thought i would share that all with you incase you hadnt heard already.

Thats all from me

Clinton

Well I think it is about that time where I sent an update out. There has been alot going on lately and for those of you that dont know or dont understand, I will explain it all now.

The first lot of good news i have to share is, over the year I have had enough good results to earn myself a stargier with the pro team ‘Radioshack’ (for those that dont know, it is the team of Lance Armstrong). A stargier generally runs from the first of August until the teams last race of the season and is a chance to prove yourself not only to the team you are riding for but also to other teams who may be watching. You get to race with the professionals in professional races for the team of which you are riding the stargier for. In my case I will be riding races with/for Radioshack in the races the team selects me for. Alot of people ask me if we are getting paid a salary during this time, but the answer is no. Its just the chance to show them why they should pay you.

 The next lot of good news is, I have already done a race for Radioshack, the Tour of Denmark. It went surprisingly well. I went into the race with no expectations to have good results but to go the race and do what I am asked to do. I know I am pleanty capible of being competitive but being the first race, different/new bikes, new team i just wanted to get settled first. In doing what I had to do I also managed to get some repectable results aswell. Both days I had good results came from doing a job that wasnt working (trying to lead out the team sprinter) so I took it on myself to finish in the best place I could. Ill briefly run through the stages……

 Stage 1. 175km. The race was really controlled this day. It was a course that was definately going to be a bunch sprint so Saxo Bank (danish Protour team) let the very first attack go. At one point i think the leading group had 6 or 7 minutes. Later on in the race when Saxo Bank began chasing the skies became darker and darker and I knew for sure we would be getting wet. The heavens didnt dissappoint. It rained so much it was even hard to see the road, it was just water. Coming into the finish curcuits the wet road caused caos and there was crash after crash after crash. Mainly on corners. I was riding good position and managed to stay in front of all of them except the last one. Coming into the last turn i even thought about giving the sprint a go but a crash infront of changed my course of direction and sent me straight over a traffic island on to the otherside of the road. At that point my sprint was over but I was still upright. I finished in the back of the bunch.

 Stage 2. 170km. Again a sprinters race. This time the finish was on a bit of a climb but still for the sprinters. It took a little longer today for the break to go and the race to settle down but as they do, it soon speeds up again when its time for the break to come back. Today Sam Bewley, Taylor Phinney and myself tryeid to set the sprint up for Gert Stegmans the team sprinter. Unfortunately he wasnt feeling good enough and we all had nothing left to try for ourselves so we all just finished again in the bunch.

 Stage 3. 180km. This time it was a race for the GC (overall) riders. It was too hard for me and I suffered alot. But looking at the results sheet I wasnt the only one. I Lost 14 mins.

 Stage 4. 100km. Definately for the sprinters. I spent most of the day looking after Stegmans as todays finish was perfect for him. 400m Slightly uphill. The pelaton had really started chasing and with 15km to go punctured. I thought there was no way I was going to get back to the pelaton but with a very quick wheel change and just taking my time using the convoy of cars I made it back to the pelaton, and straight back to the front to help Stegmans. With 1km to go I came passed him, giving him the oppitunity to get on my wheel. Out of the last turn 400m to go was a crash which opened the door for me to bring Stegmans through. I stayed in the wind to keep the door open for him. 200m to go at full gas I looked under my to see he wasnt there. Now I thought, “its all up to you clinton”. 100m to go my legs were fading so fast more guys started coming around me. I managed to hang on for 11th place. For my first contested Professional bunch sprint i thought it wasnt bad. I wish I knew Stegmans wasnt behind me because I wouldnt have stayed sitting in the wind. But I was doing a job, at 60kmh there isnt much time to be worrying about someone else. Its his problem to make sure he is there. He told me after the race in the last turn 2 Skil Shimano guys pushed him off my wheel and he lost his nerve.

 Stage 5. Evening of the previous stage was a 20km Time Trial. I didnt have a real good TT. But after just seeing the set up between my Training TT bike and Race TT bike I know why. They were miles different. All fixed now though I hope.

 Stage 6. 185km in the pissing down rain. Today was my worse but best day. It took two and a half hours for them to let a break away go and I was suffering so much. In that 2.5h we averaged 50.2kmh. At one point we passed through the feed zone where no one took a feed as we were do 60kmh strung out in 1 line. No one in their right mind is going to try grab a feed at that speed. The ones who did try didnt succeed. Down the road further when it had all finally settled I was on feeding duty. I had to deliver 5 feed bags (at once) around the pelaton, each containing 2 bottles, 1 can of coke, and food weighting approx 1.5kg each. Then the job got turned to looking after Mathew Buche who was 3rd on GC so we had to make sure he was always in a good position. The local laps for this stage finished on the course for the 2011 world championships so it was a good chance to see and feel what the course is like. I LIKE VERY MUCH! Anyway sprint time came so the jobs got changed again and this time it was setting up a finish for Stegmans. Again a good finish for him, 700m uphill at about 3%. 4km to go I came passed him to bring him right to the front. Then amongst all the pushing and shoving we lost each other. Fortunately for him he managed to stay at the front where I had drifted back a little. In the last turn I just came diving up the inside and exiting the corner me and Stegmans were side by side. However with the way the bunch was moving he couldnt get on my wheel so it became free for me to try what I could. I managed a 4th place in the sprint beating 3 of the worlds best sprinters Tyler Farrar 5th, Mark Renshaw 6th, and Theo Bos 9th. However we were all knock back a place as fellow Kiwi Hayden Roulston held on from his break away attemp to take the stage victory. 5th place in a stage of my very first professional race. Couldnt have finished the tour better.

 As far as i know the team was happy with my efforts. I hope i can do more races like that for them

 The last lot of good news is the fact I made the Commonwealth Games team for the road race in Delhi in October. I must say I am really happy to be worthy of going, i just thought i would share that all with you incase you hadnt heard already.

Thats all from me

Hi all.. oh do I have a story for you this time.

Over the last week Wade Mangham also from Rotorua, has been staying with me. He came up here to hang out, train, and race as his team has no races due to the French National Championships being on. He is racing this year for a French team “Blois CAC 41″ and yesterday he showed me why he is in a Division 1 french team.
He came up here at the beginning of last week and we made a plan to do a couple of solid days training and then try win some money doing a couple of kermise races. The training was cool, I showed Wade a couple of the famous cobble climbs like the Coppenberg which surprisingly he enjoyed. I will ask him if he still enjoys them once he has had to race up them. Anyway we made a plan to race Saturday and Sunday. Saturday to give Wade an idea on how the kermises work and the Sunday was going to be the day to earn some money. Everything went to plan and we showed the Belgies what its like attending the Rotorua school of cycling.

Saturday.

113km around a 4.7km lap…. I thought it was going to boring race having to do 30 laps but the coarse was interesting enough, that at speed it made for a very fast race. Well thats what it seemed like anyway. While we were warming up i was trying to point out to Wade who all the Big Dogs were but since there hadnt been a race for a few days they were all showing up. I presume it was hard for Wade to keep track of who was who and I felt that for him to good today he would just have to wing it. I told him before the start that judging by the nature of the lap a small group was going to get away early and then another group was going to get across. I was right… and unfortunately the 2 attacks wade didnt follow were the two that got away.
However the day wasnt over for us…. I was in the first group of 4 that got away and about 6 or 7 laps later the second group of 15 got across. That group just happened to be full with all the hitters. Around and around we went and with 2 laps to go I tried to go solo. I got away but on the last lap I was joined by Sven Vandousselaere who has just recently signed with Lotto. He offered me 200 euro to buy the race off me but I had to turn him down. The 3 races before that were all 2nd place and I couldnt have another one. To me even a 3rd would have been better then another second. I was nervous coming into the finish as I know how fast Sven is. He cooked though and went way too early. About 600m out he tried to get rid of me, but I was all over him like a rash. In the end I put 8 seconds into him in the last 200m. I think he realised he didnt have the legs left and practically gave it to me. For me another Victory to add to the CV.

Sunday.

117km around a 7km coarse. Today was going to be Wades day! 17 laps with a prime every lap, the perfect race to earn some coin. I told Wade this time we need to dictate the race. I knew after winning yesterday everyone would rely on me to close the gaps or they would all follow if I attacked. It was the perfect opportunity to get wade in the break. My plan was to shut everything down in the first few laps to show everyone I was strong and happy to take on that roll. Then because no one knows Wade or knows we are working together I could let him go with a group and everyone would wait for me to chase it. Eventually I would chase it, but when I was, I was going across alone. It took a couple of attempts for it to come together but like in any race, If you keep the pressure on eventually the rubber band will snap.
9 Laps to go Wade was up the road with 4 others. I had a stab made it across to Wades group alone to make 6 guys and judging by the guys in the group I knew he would have the legs to win. I gritted my teeth and rode 2 or 3 laps pulling some big hard turns to get the time gap to go out. Wade was also pulling some very hard turns which impressed the hell out of me. I knew he was strong but never thought he was that strong. After we got out to 1min we calmed down a bit and started to work more effectively as a group. It was an ideal situation for us as my belgium family had bet on wade for the win at the bookies since his odds were so high.
2 laps to go Wade attacked…. I kept rolling with the guys so they wouldnt think we were riding together and when the gap was big enough and I was confident the rest of our breakaway companions couldnt come back, I smacked it across to Wade. We rode hard to the finish putting 1min50 into the other 4 guys and 2min30 into the chasing pelaton. Wade takes the win (for the bets we had on him), and I second It was the perfect day where everyone wins. The plan comes together, Wade gets his first Belgium victory, we make 120euro each, My family makes 120euro off the bookies from a 5 euro bet and Lies gets her flowers. Everyone is over the moon.

And that is how we do it at the Rotorua school of cycling!
I hope in the very near future i will have more exciting stories for you.
Clinton

Well guys I think it is about time for a wee update.

Since my last update it has been a real rollercoaster for me. I took my week break after the race in Hoboken which was well deserved, however when I started back I began having problems with pain in my feet. I took some more time off to try work out what was causing the pain and what I could do about it. I tried a number of things from Orthodic soles to custom fitting my shoes and nothing seemed to work. In the end the problem that was causing the pain was cleat position. I have seen a specialist about that and problem is solved. At that point I hadn’t ridden properly for 2 and a half weeks so it took me a bit to get back in the grove of things.

My first race back was a race with the Professionals, 186km circuit race. With only 4 days solid training I knew I would struggle through it but I also knew that to speed up the process of getting my form back I would have to finish the race. I struggled a lot that day but I still managed to finish in the peloton and ride home afterward.
Following that, I had another race that I knew I would struggle through. This time not only because of the lack of training but because there were a lot of “UP” bits. Unfortunately this time I wasn’t able to finish the race as after 100km I was pretty well cooked. However I do think it also had a lot to do with the fact I didn’t want to be there as I knew before the race even started I was going to get smashed. For those of you who follow cycling the race had a lot of the same climbs as the Amstel Gold Race.

Now this is the point where things started to get positive again. I had been invited on a training camp with the Skil Shimano. A Professional cycling team based in Holland. At first I was a little nervous about how I would be treated by the team being an outsider but after the first day I knew I had nothing to worry about. The team that was there, both riders and staff were very welcoming and actually treated me as though I was already part of the team. In fact a lot of the guys already knew who I was. The training camp was for 4 days Monday through to Thursday but even though it was short it wasn’t easy. I raced Sunday and was told by the team trainer I could have an easy recovery day Monday. However the legs were feeling ok so I decided to tough it out and ride the full 5hours with the team and the 2 lots of 10x10sec sprints. Tuesday was by far the hardest day with 2hours Time Trial training in the morning and 2 hours easy in the afternoon. The TT training went like this…. 30mins warm up, 2min effort, 3mins recovery, 4min effort, 5 mins recovery…… and so on up to 8min effort but then its the same pattern but in reverse. Wednesday was a long 6 hour endurance day with 4 big gear climbs and 6x15sec sprints. Thursday was a hard 3hour day with 6x200m sprints (4 up) and 5x1min max effort hill climbs (whole team racing together). My few days with the team was intense but I was on pace with their top riders so the Director/Coach was very happy with me. FYI the whole reason for the invite to the camp was to meet me and see how well I fit in with the team as my performances this season are good enough in their eyes. Now its just a matter of waiting to see if it comes to anything.

After the camp I took a rest day followed by 2 days racing. 2 kermises back to back in the same town, on the same coarse, starting at the same time and for me with the same result. The first day I was second to my team mate Kevin, and attached is a photo of the finish. For me I could have won the sprint no worries at all but we were splitting the money evenly anyway so it didn’t make much difference to me. And it was just training for me so I wasn’t to fazed.
The second day I was 2nd also, in a very annoying race. However as much as I wanted to win today sometimes it doesn’t work out. On the plus side my 2 second places earned me the win in the end classification for the 2 days.

Anyway I presume you have read enough by now so until the next time something exciting happens that’s all from me

Clinton

Whats up all,

Yesterday (Saturday) I raced another UCI 1.2 (Erprijs Victor De Bruyne – Hoboken) where I had a ride I was not expecting. It took me 2 days to recover after the race a couple of weeks ago in Zellik-Garlmaarden and I again I wasn’t recovered on Thursday after last Sundays victory. I knew it was getting to the time where I needed a small break. On the Thursday I called my team director asking if it was possible to withdrawal from yesterdays race due to being a little too tired. I also wanted the required time with no races to freshen up again. But I was told I had to race this weekend, I didn’t have the choice. Today (Sunday) is the Regional championships and the team didn’t want the first years racing 2 days in a row. And with the lack of older riders I had to race.

I wasn’t happy about the call but I thought I would just get on with it. I knew being a 1.2 the race was likely to be more controlled and the chances of it coming to a bunch kick was extremely high. I thought I will just sit in the back and roll around. Then maybe if I was still there at the finish I would give it a nudge, or at least help set my team mate up for the sprint. After 65km of the 180km the break finally went. About 25 riders. At that point I was at the front from bringing one of my team mates forward. I watched the break go and thought to myself, normally I’d be in that. Then it got the better of me and I tried to get across. By the time I got out of the pelaton on the narrow streets it was to far and moving to fast for me to get there alone. And the legs weren’t feeling great. I went straight back to the back of the pelaton.

Sitting there I had a friend from lambouwkredit say to me, “Clinton, I am very disappointed in you. I was expecting you to close that gap!” An ex team mate also from Lambouwkredit said, “The race isn’t over yet, he’s going to wait till the gap gets to 4 minutes then he will go across”. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Ironicallythats how it happened. After 120km the legs came around and I was feeling good.

Just before the local laps I realised how un organised the pelaton was and the chances of the break sticking was high. So I launched a couple of solid attacks and got away solo. It took me 9km to close the 1min gap (not quite 4 mins). The look on some of the guys faces was priceless when i arrived at the break. Unfortunately for me there was a few strong teams with more then 2 rides in the break. I had 2 team mates there and they did what they could but it wasn’t enough and I couldn’t cover all the attacks. Finally a rider from Qin Cycling got away, stayed away and won by 8 seconds. In the sprint with the rest of us I knew who I should follow and I was right. The problem was I couldn’t get all the way around him. He was quicker then I thought, but I still managed to secure another podium finish with a 3rd.

Pretty good considering I didn’t want to race at all and was trying to get out of it.

Clinton