Back in Australia!
// October 9th, 2008 // 9 Comments » // A Day Down Under
Sorry for the delay everyone, it has just been way too long since i last wrote! I think Leigh has commented about 5 times telling me to get on with a new post! I hope i haven’t lost any readers – you will have to comment again just to let me know you guys all still read this!
So i am back in Australia now:
I have been a little bit beached for a while, without internet, and had a frantic time getting ready to take off from the USA, so it has been hard getting everything together to write a new Missing Saddle post!
I had a little bit of luggage to bring back home with me.
Believe it or not, there actually wasn’t a great deal of stuff. Between Keally and i, we had three bags, and two bikes to bring home, and nothing was over the weight limit. That is why i found it a little bit strange that Delta charged us $585 in excess baggage charges. They completely screwed us over, and while it is a long story i don’t need to tell right here, i can only recommend that no one ever uses Delta Airlines again if they can avoid it. Seriously, they were that rude that i wouldn’t even want anyone to be treated like they treated us. I don’t know if i am allowed to talk bad about someone else here, but if they reimburse some of the costs, then i will take down what i wrote!
Before we left for Australia, we got in a quick trip down to Hilton Head, South Carolina, to see Keally’s grandparents. It was nice to get away for a little bit, even though i was sick the whole time we were there!
This view is just a 100 metre walk out of their front door. You can almost see their house just to the left of the photo. Pretty nice way to live the retired life for them, and makes for a pretty cool place to go and visit them!
In their lagoon, a baby alligator has taken up residence. Last time we came to visit them, i found a baby alligator in another nearby lagoon, but this is the first time they have had their own alligator. They are strange things the alligators, this one, while only tiny (maybe two foot long), had a bit of attitude, and any time we went over to the lagoon, it would head straight for us and sort of give us a stare-down, as if to let us know we weren’t welcome.
Just before heading on down to Hilton Head, i notched up my second win in two weeks, winning the Carolina Cup. I was sort of excited about it, but was pretty spent from all of the travelling i had been doing in the previous few days. Anyway, here is a picture of the win; sorry Jonny!:
So the Carolina Cup was the day after the Univest Road Race. There was a lot of drama for me to get up to Pennsylvania for Univest. I was talking with my team mate Boyd on Wednesday night, and it turned out the only way for me to get there was to catch the Greyhound bus up to Greenville from Atlanta, to get to his place. He picked me up, and Thad too, and we drove along and picked up Scotty along the road. We kept driving till a bit after midnight, and got a hotel for the night. The next day we got up and kept driving the rest of the way to get to Souderton for the race. We got in a bit of a ride on some of the race course, then headed to our host houses. We had some great host, but just didn’t get to spend long enough with them!
So we raced in a ridiculously wet Univest, and it was a great experience, i love it when it just buckets rain all day for a race, especially when it isn’t too cold! After the race was over, we went back to the host houses, cleaned up, and got ready to head back to Raleigh, North Carolina. I was pretty bummed, because my good friend Scott Woomer and his wife Amy, and daughter Lauren had travelled out to see me and hang out, but we had to bail on them straight away. Sorry guys!
So we got in to Raleigh at about 2.30 in the morning and had to get a good bit of rest, before heading off to do the Carolina Cup the next day! Luckily i was able to get the win in, because i could feel that in the next days, with all of the travelling in cars and buses, and lack of sleep, that i was about to get sick, and the very day after the Carolina Cup, there i was, sick as a can be!
I also had a win in the stage three criterium at the River Gorge Stage Race two weeks prior to the Univest weekend, so i was able to wind up my season in the USA with a few wins. From what was a frustrating start to the season over there, it ended up pretty well, and after my change across to DLP Racing, i think there was only one weekend i didn’t go to a race, and i was able to knock up four wins, and be a part of some really good team performances. All this on top of meeting another great bunch of guys. It really has been a great year as far as friendships go, i have met two teams full of guys, and they have both been awesome, with some really great guys with whom will stay good friends…
The last weekend in the USA before heading off to Australia, i got to do a race in Asheville, North Carolina. I did the nice drive up on the Saturday, straight to the race course. The race was on a ridiculously hard circuit, and after just a couple of laps, the race was blown apart. I ended up struggling through it, and finished in the second group. My great mate, Jonny Clarke smoked the field, and won quite easily, which meant he shouted my dinner that night, as i stayed at his place that night. The next day we got in a good five hour cruise, and saw some amazing countryside. This is what he gets to train in each day:
So after i got back from a frustrating flight home, i had a few days to settle in, before Keally and i headed on down to Tasmania for the Tour of Tasmania. I had to give Keally one last dose of bicycles before the season ended!
I raced with the Virgin Blue team down in Tassie, and they are a pretty well hooked up team. We had a camper, van, and a car, with the coolest thing being the tellie inside the camper, so we could watch movies between stages, and on the way back to our accommodations!
The week went pretty well for the team, and Bernie and Kempy spent a lot of time wearing various jerseys. Bernie was a machine all week, and eventually won the Sprinter’s Jersey, as well as finishing in the top few on the GC. He also did enough to finish second in the Scody Cup competition, which is the continuation of the old Tattersalls Cup.
Here is a look at the climb we finished on top of on the ninth stage. Pretty brutal way to finish a stage, and my climbing legs definitely weren’t really all that interested in racing up a hill!
Oh well, it made for some great views up on top, and it is always really nice riding up in the hills. So that was Tassie. Too bad i didn’t get to take a few more photos, it really is just a stunning place, and it was great to be back in Australia, and be straight to the wilderness that Tassie provides. There is just something about seeing the ocean, and the eucalyptus trees, and that smell of fresh air!
So i hope this update is enough to put me back in the business. I really do plan on some regular updates from now on, and i will have my camera handy to give the posts a little something extra.
I hope everyone is doing well back in the US, and if you are in Australia, i look forward to catching up with you at some stage soon.
If you didn’t click on the link up the top of the post, please click here!
Buckingham Palace has over six hundred rooms.
