Up's and Down's of Basel

Packing up the campervan on Saturday morning I was excited to head to Basel to scout out my first Swiss Cup race and catch up with some kiwi's over here. The whole Neff family and I piled into the van with the camper towing behind for a quick 2 hours up to Basel.

We arrived at the horse racing track to find it full of dirt jumps mixed in with food tents, pump tracks, team trucks and the cross country course. It was huge and it was so cool we were staying right on site with the other campervans. Saturday afternoon saw all the little kids and masters race and was able to have a yarn with some swiss riders in my terrible french. Checking out the course was a piece of cake as it was pretty much mostly road with a wee 50 metre climb and some obstacles inside the Horse track. It was going to be fast laps around 11.30 for the top guys so we were scheduled for 8 laps the next day!

I chucked my tent up just outside the Campervan and had a choice as sleep, the heat on Saturday had shattered me and and was still trying to get rid of a cough I had caught on the plane. In the morning the juniors raced (M.C. Cooper winning by 2+ minutes) followed by the Elite woman (lando finishing 2nd in a fast sprint). Then it was us, up at 2pm.

20 minutes from the start, as I was warming up I popped back to the campervan to pick up a new drink bottle and could hear my phone ringing. It was Dad on the other end, and I thought he was just ringing to wish me luck. Unfortunately this was not the case and instead told me of the passing of my awesome Granny Jessie. She has meant so much to me over the years, Forever I can remember her and Grandfather always leading the whole family into the crazy, outdoor, full on Bradshaw lifestyle that we have grown up with. She was always way too supportive of my dumb adventures and was always encouraging me to keep going further with my biking, and helped me get to the States earlier this year when I was scraping the barrel. I was lucky enough to go and see her just before I left for Europe when she was in hospital with the pancreatic cancer, and she told me to keep chasing my dream and give it everything in Austria this year. I am sorry I cannot be back in New Zealand with the rest of the family but are sure that everyone will be there for one another, and will have to do the best that skype will allow.

With all these thoughts running through my mind I wasn't quite where I should've been for the race but was still fired up for my first European Elite race against the likes of Nino, Absalon and other top Olympians. I was thinking of doing it for granny and had a good start with 3 crazy laps of the Horsetrack before diving off in to the singletrack. I made it out of the arena just missing a few crashes and was able to sit on Christoph Sauser's wheel and pull a few places up the side before it got narrow as. Just as the big Dirk Peters came past me the track narrowed and the guy beside me took me out into the fence as it narrowed to two abreast. I was sweet as and smashed it up the first climb trying to hold on. I sat in the train for the first lap but the jet lag and cough were causing dramas and wasn't able to hold onto the group I was with up the road section the 2nd time around. I was left battling away by myself and was only able to hold on for 5 laps before being pulled. I was pretty gutted with the race, ending up 60th but knew I wasn't going to be flying 5 days off the plane and wasn't 100% there in my head. But I can take away a lot from the amazing expierance lining up against guys I have idolised for years, and come World Champs on the 7th I will have some legs and be motivated to give it my all for Granny.

I must thank the Neff's for putting up with me and taking me along, I had a really great weekend up until about my race and loved the atmosphere of all the racers staying together at the race, NZ XC races would be so cool if it was like that! Now I am back in Thal until Wednesday before me and Dirk head over to Austria to catch the DH World Champs and get set for Worlds at the end of next week!

Cheers,

Tom

Schweiz-land

After 40 hours and quick stops into Sydney, Bangkok, Dubai and Zurich and forgetting to pay for a train ride to Lake Constance, I finally arrived in Thal, my home for the next week. It such a cool little place, right up in the North east corner of Switzerland by the lake and 2 km from the order of Austria. 

Jolanda 'lando' Neff and her family have been stupid enough to give me a bed for the week in their campervan and has been an ideal place to get my feet on the ground on the other side of the world. Their bike shed is just outrageous with at least 17 smoking race bikes plus all the training bikes plus all the 'station' bikes they use to get around everyday jobs with.

I couldn't ask for a better set up but I have still felt pretty shizenhousen since arriving, and have taken awhile to start feeling good on the bike again. The fat ass coughing guy I was sitting on the plane next to for 15 hours has past some of his sickness to me and I'm coughing up a whole bunch of crap after every ride. Yesterday Jolando toke me and Mary and Murray Gray down to Chur, and spent the day downhilling off a 2800 metre mountain. The tracks were insane as they were just hiking tracks and it was good to spend the day handling the bike down some dodgy swiss tracks. 

Tomorrow the whole family and I jump in the Campervan to head over to Basel to race the Swiss Cup on Sunday. It's going to be a tough race to say the least with the Olympic silver medalist Nino Schurter, Julinan Absalon and this handsome as guy called Dirk Peters lining up in the field. I was starting dead last in the 70+ field to make things even tougher but got that sorted and now starting in 30th which I can't complain about. 

I am looking forward to the hit out and catching up with some kiwi's over here, afterwards the plan is to come back to Thal for a few days before heading over to Austria with Dirkuslav on Wednesday,

Tom

Switzerland

After coming back to NZ to finish off a couple of exams it’s time to fly again, this time for Zurich! My trip in the states taught me a huge amount about my riding, it was a massive learning curve. My results were not what I was aiming for but with my limited build up due to illness I did enough to show that I should be in the Worlds team.

With my selection confirmed I was able to get some amazing support from local community grants and trusts to help me get overseas! A huge thanks must go to Foodstuffs South Island Community Trust, Skegg’s Foundation and OUSA. I’m going over to stay with good old Jolando, and will be hitting a swiss cup in Basel on the 26^th, then hopefully a mid week race before heading over to Austria to meet up with the rest of the kiwi’s for the real business of World Champs on the 7^th!

I can’t wait to see what I could do with a proper build up and had a bit of time off after coming back, but was back on the road bike soon enough doing some k’s. I was gutted to have a decent crash and give my bad knee a whack that rejigged a previous knee injury that I had. That coupled with extra tightness from poor technique caused a lot of drama with my knee.

A lot of trips to the Physio and one up to Christchurch to see Anthony Chapman have sorted it out, and are riding pain free again now! I was this close to pulling the plug on the whole thing but some guru advice from Kashi and as always the rents helped me through and made me want it more.

Epic last ride in Dunedin

So now I’m killing time in CHCH airport, waiting to set off for Zurich to somehow end up in Thal, Switzerland at some point in the near future. I’m feeling great on the bike at the moment, putting out bigger numbers than ever and have had a far better build up even with any knee dramas than ever before.

As always I have tried to battle through things by myself but, I would be absolutely no where had not been for some absolute champions. Firstly the lads and ladette’s who I live with, especially AJ for being my personal chauffeur service. Marky mark and jizza at R&R in Dunedin for getting the bad boy ready, Kashi at Black Seal imports, and absolute TC Aaron ‘mcgoober’ Mcgrouther  for letting me smash some roadies on his CX bike, for some perfect ideal world cup training. Scotty Lane for helping get this site a little more professional, watch this space in the future! And ofcourse Mum and Dad as always they are always dumb enough to support me in my riding and can’t thank them enough. There are a ton of people who I have forgotten but you know who you are, catch you later.

Getting on the CX buzz

Word on the street is that Cyclocross is the new black this winter in NZ. Today I jumped on the bandwagon and have to say, had a bloody good time.

For those who don't know what cyclocross is, you take a road bike, chuck some mud tryes on it and go race a 2 km course that has barriers, stairs, mud, logs and whatever other obstacles you can come up with, for about an hour. Fun aye??

Huge cheers to Aaron McGrouther for letting me give his bike a spin. Took it out around Bethunes yesterday for a first spin and loved it! I have taken my road bike down a few MTB tracks before but the slacker head angle and beefer tyres made it a lot more enjoyable on the CX bike.

I was loving the late 3pm start as it had been a late messy one watching the olympics and rode over three mile hill to the course. My knee has been playing up lately with some big miles on the road in build up for World Champs, and had to take a day out on friday to let it rest. The physio's have told me my patella is not tracking correctly on my right knee and is causing irritation and inflammation with every pedal stroke. But the exercises are helping heaps and a change in bike set up has made it a bizzilion times better.

The course set up by the Cycleworld guys was mint with a bit of everything in the 2 kish loop. There was a decent turn out and was loving playing on a new bike. Mcgoober was out there taking photos and had promised to show some moto action during the race.

I had an awesome time out there and was awesome catching up with the real chilled group of dunners riders.

It was a perfect race for training for world cups, getting off and on quickly and smashing yourself up some steep gnarly crap. I felt awesome and was loving putting the hammer down and managed to lap everyone just on the last lap!

Ballet on bikes

For next time gloves could definitely be an option and my own CX bike for next winter could be crucial,
Cheers
Tomo

Watch This Space

After coming back from the States with some valuable lessons learnt, I now know what it is going to take from not just a riding side of things to take it to the best in the world.

In the short term I have been able to get some amazing local support from Foodstuffs SI Community Trust, OUSA and the Skegg's Foundation to make it possible for me to fill my selected spot in the U23 World Championships team which before was financially impossible. So thank you so much to them for supporting me and I am heading to Switzerland on the 20th of August to stay with Jo and build up for the World's on the 7th of September.

In the mean time with some amazing help from Scotty, this site will undergo a more professional look to help boost props and help get my name out there more.

For now it's into the books to finish off missed exams and get training for the big one in September

Windham World Cup

After a tough race at the Mont St-anne World Cup in Canada it was time to drive 700 k’s over the border to Windham NY state. Windhan was another ski town but had recently been devastated by massive floods last winter we were told. It was bit of a hick town but everyone was nice enough and was a mint week leading up to the race with around 30 degree days every day.

We were staying with the rest of the NZ team over here this time, so was good times had on and off the bike. The track itself was the complete opposite to Mont St-anne. It was a twelve minute climb up to the top of the chairlift on a grass slope then back down again. There was nothing technical what so ever and with the start being a kilometre down the road in the centre of town, leading straight into the main climb it was going to be all about climbing well and handling the heat. Usually I wouldn’t rate myself on something with so much climbing and no technical, but Silas has had me out on the road big time lately so was feeling good as soon as I got into my rhythm. With only one race under my belt due to sickness since Oce’s I’d learnt my lesson from last week and was planning on building into the 5 lap race in the heat.

Luckily we were starting at 9am on the Saturday we were first race up and was called up 30th on the grid. I got a good start pulling through gaps up the road well but was hurt from a lack of intensity in my training when the push came for the singletrack. I knew I had a huge base to take me through the race so just settled into my rhythm. I was passing people every lap and caught and past Matt on the third lap to be in first kiwi in the field.

The fast loose descent was getting more and more blown out but was loving it and was making the most of racing the best in the world. By the end of the 5th lap I had made my way to 32nd and was first kiwi in U23’s. I was happy with the race even if the result wasn’t quite what I was aiming for when I started the build up for this trip. I was stoked to feel good in a race and now I know with a proper build up I can really give it a good shot with three more years after this in the Under 23 grade. I realise what it is going to take and are going to have to make some big decisions soon.

The other kiwi’s in the XC were awesome anton smashing again, Nige in 9th and Filmo in eleventh in the Junior men. Amber Johnston had another awesome race to get 3rd in the junor girls with Sam Hope in 7th. Samara had a rough day in 6th (?) while Jolando Neff smashed the rest of the U23 chicks to win again.

For now it’s time to finish off my exams back in Dunedin which should be a laugh, but not before checking out NYC on the way home for some down time away from the bike. It has been an awesome but too short trip, and have learnt so much from the experience about my racing and myself. From the build up in Dunedin to putting it together on the race track, I honestly could not have done it without the support of everybody who has helped me along the way. So thank you to you all and I hope I can give something back in return someday. Especially Paul and Nige Mcdowell for putting up with me and my chat, it was an awesome few weeks cheers you legends.

I am trying to get the coin together to represent NZ at the world champs in September, I have been successful in some attempts and it is looking good, I may be running some fundraising events in your neck of the woods soon so keep an eye out. Until then

Cheers

Tom

Photos Mont-Saint anne