Getting the Ball Rolling

So I have been Very slack in updating this blog since I returned from France so I thought I better give an update on what has been going on.

Once I returned home from France I was planning on doing Tour of Southland with a couple of races in Australia to build up to it. That was the plan and what happened next was far from it!

After battling it out training in the final few weeks of New Zealand winter trying to find form that just wasn’t coming I was supposed to fly out to Australia until I got very sick a few days before hand. I had really bad tonsillitis and the flu so decided to pull the pin and take a month off the bike as I thought it was just my body deciding it needed some rest after my first season in Europe.

During that month I lived the normal teenage life hanging out with friends and enjoying the odd beer or two a little too much. After the month was over I was super motivated again and ready to get into the 2014 season and start my build up to Elite Nations in January. After a month or two of training I started to feel worse than I did when I first started riding after the break and could barely ride 20km without cracking. This was really annoying especially when I couldn’t ride 20km without needing to stop to go toilet. I even did a club race and had to pull over and take a toilet stop only 30 km into it!! These were super hard times as I was training as hard as I could but seemed to get worse and worse. During these times it was very depressing, I was thinking about hanging the bike up for good at one point as I was just so frustrated and upset that no matter how hard I would ride I was just getting worse. After this I deciding to go to the doctors as I was 7kgs under my usual race weight and see what was up and get a few blood tests done. After the Pee test I found out I was peeing sugar which is not a good sign so was rushed to Hospital that day and admitted that night as my blood Sugar levels were 46 when they’re supposed to be 5-8.  That night I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes which was a HUGE shock to me and the family.  After 5 days in Hospital and a lot of depressed times thinking why me I was super motivated to get back on the bike and not let this stop me. The day I got home I was back on the bike, all be it 30km max.

Christmas Day With the Family

After a few hard weeks of learning how to manage how to ride with keeping my levels and being confident in riding knowing I wasn’t going to go all funny, I was back into riding and training.

For the 2014 I was fortunate enough to sign with Charter Mason Giant Racing Team. This is an awesome team which provides great development for me and with a good pathway for the future. This is a very professionally run team running the best equipment provided by the best possible sponsors. After training for a month or two starting from scratch after no riding for a good few months it was time for the first race of the year which was Hub Tour.

This is an awesome Tour based in Napier and Hastings where I deciding the get the season started as I didn’t have enough time to prepare for Elite Nationals. I came away with 4^th over all after a very tough tour with many ups and downs. I came into the tour with no racing in the legs so was expecting to be a little flat. I managed to come away with 2^nd in the first stage Time Trail which was an awesome start. First road stage started off well being aggressive and getting in the early move, the race ended in a big bunch sprint. I unfortunately crashed with 200m to go into the grass without any serious injury which was lucky considering we were hitting speeds up to 60km/h. luckily my Lazer Helmet which took all the impact from my head, did and good job keeping all my brains intact and working. That Afternoon we had a Criterium (Lap Race) which was going good making a very promising move holding a good gap on the bunch until an unfortunate incident occurred and the race had to be called off. Last day was a road race with a hill top finish, long story short early break stayed away with a solo winner with myself coming across the line in the following group of 5 behind.  All in all it was an awesome weekend with some bad luck thrown in, but loved the racing and being back riding hard again. Was a very well run tour as always and awesome sunny weather!

1st Stage Time Trial

2nd Stage Road Race

Final Stage Hill Top Finish

After a good week of training it was time for Tour De Ranges which is my local race around a loop I often ride. The ride is a challenging course of 110km of rolling hills and usually quite a bit of wind.  With early hills in the race a group of three slipped away and built an impressive gap. Rolling in the bunch until we hit the coast with 50km remaining the race started to light up averaging about 50km/h along the coast with the bunch breaking and a select group breaking away to chase the leading three. I had a few digs and got away for a little bit with a super strong Ryan Wills but wasn’t going to get away. The group ended up catching the break with 2km to go, it ended up in a bunch sprint where I sprinted to 4^th which was an impressive result for me seeing I usually cannot sprint to save my life. Was pretty cool coming 4^th to the winner Aaron Gate who is a current Olympic medalist and Track World Champion.

Rolling with Team Mate Morgan Smith

Sprint finish

4th Behind Winner Aaron Gate

Next up is Round Taranaki Cycle Challenge and then on to Tour of Manawatu. I will be guest riding for Armstrong Motor Group, looks like we have one of the strongest teams so should be a good week!

Huge thanks to my team Charter Mason Giant Racing Powered by Brennan IT which will by my racing team for 2014.

Keep following me for further updates, as I will be blogging my season and improving this site every day.

Scott