I was back on the 10th of Jan and after one day at work, i was on the road again, literally. This time, off to RAD-elaide :) A few months ago i was extremellyyyy lucky enough to be offered an opportunity to go with my girlfriend and her family to see the Tour Down Under in Adelaide. Although it was not the best timing straight after NZ, it was an opportunity that i could not let slip and before i knew it i found myself in the car on an early Thursday morning making the drive to the race.
With 4 of us in the large 4wd it was a relatively comfortable 3 and a bit days drive over. Highlights being; playing the worlds longest golf course across the Nullabor with Di and Paige at all the stops, doing a fair bit of driving, the three nights camping in the wilderness (especially the first stop) and the various sugar highs Paige and i experienced when we weren't driving.
With 4 of us in the large 4wd it was a relatively comfortable 3 and a bit days drive over. Highlights being; playing the worlds longest golf course across the Nullabor with Di and Paige at all the stops, doing a fair bit of driving, the three nights camping in the wilderness (especially the first stop) and the various sugar highs Paige and i experienced when we weren't driving.
We finally got there on Sunday, checked into our sweet place and made it down to watch the first Crit. It was so great to be able to watch the worlds best mix it up and gave us a taste of what was to come. Oh and i got to see Lance!! :D
Monday to Friday was just a blur of excitement and the best, best, best times. We managed to get ride every day except the last stage. Each day being different. Tuesday i rode the first stage from start to finish and met up with Bruce and Paige at the end to watch the stage. Wednesday was my favourite day by far with us three, heading out to find the second stage. We had no idea where to go but somehow managed to meet an Adelaide local, who took us on the most amazing ride to get there. This was by far one of my most favourite rides of all time, with the greatest climbs and decents, we all had a blast.
The other high light was Fridays 137k ride through the hills. This was the charity ride, which everyone entered and wore the same jerseys. I rode this with Paige and can honestly say it was the greatest, most enjoyable and one of the hardest rides i have ever done. The best part being the extremely fast and majorly scary 12k decent towards the end. Paige and I got onto the back of some major descenders and held on for dear life, what a rush :) Major props to Paige as well who held her own big time and destroying many of the male riders egos, haha nice work :)
We decided to have Saturday off and got in our own support vehicle with Di and Jane. I was driving and we visited some great towns before heading up to the KOM to see the boys roll through twice. After we hit up a sweet little boutique brewery and some awesome wineries. It was a really really awesome day with the highlight being Paige holding this sign up to all the riders we were passing on the various Adelaide roads, we got so many laughs it was great.
Watching the final stage was great and to see a WA boy Cameron Meyer get up and win was awesome! The next day we were off early in the morning for our three day drive back, not as exciting as the drive over, but still a lot of fun with great people :) A special thanks goes out to Di and Bruce for providing me with the greatest opportunity to go over and for looking after me so well, thank you both so much i appreciate it more than you can imagine. And thank you Paige for being the best person to possibly travel with, i have never laughed so hard in my life, you absolutely made the trip.
This trip and my time away has given me a lot of time to think about where i am now and where i am going with my racing. I am now entering this block of training with a renewed amount of confidence and motivation to head in the direction i want to go - to the top ;)
I cant wait to race Singapore, and i think I'll have a few surprises up my sleeve :). Now back to training and admiring my great new riding tan. Until next time
Markus
