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Trip Highlights (other than racing)

Grossglockner pass.

Starting in Zell Am See, Austria (one of our race bases) at 700m above sea level, the pass climbs up and up to 2560m at its highest point. I climbed up the pass twice while we were staying here as part of my training. I got good views on both days which helps on these long training rides.

Long Ride - 200km

While I was in Slovakia, I planned to complete a long endurance ride of 200km. It is longer than I would usually ride of 100 to 120km for endurance rides but I really wanted to have a big day on the bike. So, I rode 207km in a day just to say I’ve done a 200 in Europe. It was on my road bike so is slightly cheating, but it was fun.

Bourg Saint Maurice – Attitude Training

This is the place that we are currently staying at and it is amazing! The town is at 700m, We are staying at 1300m and everywhere you look the mountains just go straight up. The highest peak around us is 3776m which is casually taller than Aoraki Mt Cook and there’s a chairlift to the top!? Mount Blanc is 33km away as the crow flies and that’s 4808m tall. We will be going up there later this week so hopefully we get some good views.

This is our attitude training base so I aim to ride high, sleep low, not that 1300m is low by New Zealand standards.

At 1300m we have 17.3% effective Oxygen versus 20.9% at sea level (eg. Motueka) or 18% less oxygen in every breath. I don’t notice it hanging out at the house but once I start doing max efforts on the bike I get headaches and feel like vomiting.

Every day here and training my acclimatisation increases roughly 50m so basically my red blood cell concentration increases thus

Race Results:

Albstadt World cup and Junior world series:

My first ever junior world series race and on a world cup course! Because I am first year under 19, I have only had one opportunity so far to gain UCI points which are needed to move forward in the start grid.

So, starting with number #116, my two goals were to get a better result than my start number and hopefully a top 100. So, in a field of 180 riders, I was battling around a muddy and slippery course to end up 93rd . Stoked on my first World Cup

Nove Mesto na Morave World cup.

2nd big race, was awesome, after being caught up in traffic during the start lap, I was pushing to make places, I ended up with a front flat tire. I made it to the feed tech zone to get my spare wheel and then fought to the finish to make 92nd from a #118 start number and 160 other riders. Again stoked.

Zadov C1

(C1 is how the UCI classifies races. HC being the highest ranking then C1, C2…)

Czech national cup. This was a very cool race up in a ski field with lots of rocks and loamy sections of trail. I had a good start and kept consistent pace throughout the race and ended up in 16th .

Drozdovo C1

Slovakian national cup.

A very cool race with lots of climbing I made it up to 3rd place in the start lap and held good position until lap 2 where I washed out on a off camber corner and bruised my ribs. I then was suffering to hold a good position for the rest of the race. And after two more laps in pain, I ended up in 7th. My first top 10! This banked me some more valuable UCI points.

Jelenia Gora Poland

I was looking forward to this race but in practice I slipped over when looking at a feature and injured my knee. I wasn’t able to walk properly for 3 days so no racing for me sadly. The courses aren’t just sketchy on the bike but even when walking.

Swiss bike cup Granichen.

Hot. So very hot. With the start in 30 degrees+ heat this was going to be a battle. I was taking tip bottles, electrolyte drinks, tipping ice down my shirt just to keep cool. I was stoked to not get 80%ed as I was struggling in the heat. 47th in the end I believe.

La Thuile Internazionali d’Italia Series

My most recent race in Italy. My first race at altitude and it was a suffer fest. I learnt a lot of how to race at altitude and what I can improve on. It was a really scary course with majority of people taking at least one B-lines but it was a very fun course.

The past 2 months have been truly amazing. I have learnt so much About the European circuit of races and I am really keen to be back here racing for many years to come. I have also loved doing this with fellow Kiwi riders which have made this whole trip that much easier and more enjoyable.

Thank you very much for all of your support in making this happen. It wouldn’t have been possible without your support of me.

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