Tommy Nankervis

Oceania Road Race Champion!

// February 16th, 2009 // 13 Comments » // A Day Down Under

So I don’t usually write race reports, but this is a bit different, because I don’t usually win big races! In saying that, I do hope that is all going to change for 2009, and I am thinking this is going to be a breakthrough year for me! I have started on the right track, winning a lot locally, and on Sunday, I won the Oceania Road Race Championship!

On Saturday night, my friend Chris and I headed down to Barwon Heads to stay with Fergus and Hamish McLachlan. Ferg is an U19 Carnegie Caulfield member who I train with sometimes, and his Dad lives down at Barwon Heads, which was not far from the Portarlington start. They put on a great feed for us, and it was nice to have such a short travel to the start the next day.

Going to the race I was pretty nervous, but all the same confident with the way my form is coming along. The races here are tricky to read at the moment though, with all of the Continental teams here in Australia now, and the racing can be very negative. I knew I had to be lucky to get in the break that would stick, so the first part of the race was very hard, making sure I was in every move. I eventually made it across to a pretty good sized break, and before I knew it, we had about 30 seconds. The break had about 20 guys, with 2 Drapac Porsche, 2 Budget Forklifts, 2 VIS, 2 Praties, 2 Kiwis, 2 Panasonic, and a few others. Chris also made the break.

Everyone worked pretty well most of the time, and we built up a decent enough lead. The break started about 30km into a 155km race, so we had a good hard race. Attacks were starting to splinter the break a bit in the closing laps, and the numbers were dwindling. We were down to 9 with 10km to go. Cameron Hughes went solo before the bell, with about 13km to go, and there wasn’t too much co-operation from the group, so I had to bring him back on my own. I knew if I could bring him back, once we turned to have a tailwind, I would be set for the finish.

I had a great run at the line, and started my sprint pretty early, and with about 50 metres to go, was pretty sure I had it won! I would have liked to do a good two-handed salute, but it was a little bit windy for that!

It is great to get a win like this when I have been trying so hard to get a team. I tried so hard to get on an Australian Continental team too, but without any luck, so it was great to be outnumbered in the break, and come through with possibly the biggest win of my career. There are a few people who deserve the most thanks for all the help:
Fitzroy Cycles Carnegie; Bill and everyone there have just been fantastic. Bill makes sure I am on a great bike – Specialized SL2 – and has just been the greatest sponsor for all the years of support he has given me.
Mum and Dad and Keally and the family; for everything!
Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club; Australia’s best club!
Coach Gord Fraser from Carmichael Training Systems
Everyone I forgot to include!

Here is a great picture of the finish. I must say a huge thanks to Jarrod Partridge for finding me and sending me the photos of the race!

So there you have it, I think that is the first time I have done a race report for one of my races. I hope it doesn’t cost me some readers, I pride myself on giving something a little different and entertaining for the readers! By the way, thanks for all the comments on my last post!

The English Channel is two feet higher on the French side, due to centrifugal force.

Long Overdue Update!

// February 11th, 2009 // 12 Comments » // A Day Down Under

Well howdy there readers! I hope you haven’t forgotten about me yet! I have been running around all over the place, and a lot has been going on, as well as still trying to organise something in the way of a racing team for 2009.

There is heaps to talk about, but I will have to keep it somewhat brief, or I will get carried away with some stories, and leave others too short.

Keally and I were lucky enough to get away for a few days up to one of Australia’s most stunning coastal towns, Noosa. Our friends Brad and Bernie, and their cute little kids Bella and Ruben were great hosts, and it was great to be able to get up there and see them for a few days, as well as enjoy some time at the beach, and teach Keally how to surf. She took to it pretty well, after a lot of force!
Keally got a tiny little scratch on her thigh somehow, and was convinced every shark in the Pacific Ocean was going to sense the smell of blood, and come hunting her down! She finally must have agreed, and after getting dumped by one wave, caught the next two all the way to the shore! Great effort!

We were lucky enough to the use of Brad’s scooter to get around in, as well as his cars too. Scooters are so much fun though, and I am missing mine back in Georgia already.

We had such a great time with Brad and co, and it was really great to catch up with him. Unfortunately we didn’t go for a long enough trip, but already have plans to go back for longer next time.
Before we headed off, we went for a walk out through the National Park of Noosa, and all the way out to Hell’s Gates, for anyone who knows the area. We saw the craziest thing. Hell’s Gates is a bit of an inlet into the rock cliff face, and the waves come thumping in there. The cliffs seem like they are about 60+ metres high.
This is what they look like from the top:

So the crazy thing is, as we were walking across the cliff top, we saw these people climbing down to jump into the water. They jumped in, and realised they couldn’t get out the other side! The waves started getting bigger and bigger, and then found they couldn’t get out where they got in. I was filming the whole thing, as I got a cool little video camera for Christmas.
If you look closely, at the edge of the white water in front of the rocks, you can probably see a head there, in the water:

It was looking like it was getting worse and worse, and eventually, after the people in the water started screaming for help, we had to call the police, and get the Coast Guard/Life Savers down there. They came in on jet skis, but were unable to help. Long story short, two were able to get out, and one had to be rescued. We thought we were going to see a drowning, but luckily he survived, and gave us a story to remember for a while! The police were waiting for them at the top once they were all alright.

So it was my birthday a couple of weeks ago. I was lucky to have all the family in Melbourne to share the day, and even had our good friend, and supporter, Barbara, visiting from Athens, GA, USA! It was really good to see Barbara, and hear of all the news and happenings of where we used to live. We had a great time with lots of photos, as those who know Barbara can appreciate, and plenty of laughs!

So here is my beautiful fiancee!

I am sure going to miss Keally, now that she has headed back to the US. She went back for her Dad, Oldie Dave’s 60th birthday – he’s getting on now! Also, at the time of booking her flight, I had been promised a contract in the US, which actually never eventuated. So she is back there now, and we don’t know when we will see each other next; it could be in Australia, it could be in the USA, it could be in Europe, it could be in a month, it could be four. I don’t know where I am going to be racing this year, but I should know in the next week or so, hopefully! Either way, it is pretty hard not knowing what is coming up for the two of us!

So last week Melbourne had a bit of a heat wave. On Wednesday I had to drive Keally to the airport for her flight, so I ended up having to head out in the afternoon. Wednesday was the first day of the heat wave, and you know it might possibly be a little too hot when the temperature guage on the SRM says 56 degrees, celsius!

I know that temperature is the temperature of the road, and definitely a bit higher than the actual temperature, but still, too hot to be training! Which makes it even worse when the next time I checked, it was this:

Crazy huh? I can’t believe my bike computer would ever have seen a temperature that high! The funny thing is, my friends over in the US or Europe right now are training in temperatures that might struggle to reach 56-60 degrees fahrenheit!

So there is a bit of an update for you guys. I hope some people still read this blog! Let me know if you do. I have a couple of posts I have been drafting lately, and the next one is going to be on track cycling, and how it can play a huge part in the development of road and criterium racing.
Speaking of a rider from a track background, check out this guy, Hilton Clarke. Can you believe they give a guy like this a Pro Tour license?

Must have been a good idea for the team, as it looks like he has already been knocking on the door for a good result in Tour de Langkawi…

Couple of other things. Our thoughts are with all of the Victorians affected in any way by the bush fire tragedy. The Carnegie Caulfied Cycling Club donated all of the entry fees, prize money, and other donations from the Sandown Race on Tuesday night, and will contribute $3,508.25 to the bush fire relief fund. Great effort everyone!
Also, I have won the last two Sunday criteriums I raced too, so it is good to know the form is coming along. It will be nice once I know where I am going to race this year, and try and put the form to some good use!
I hope things are going well for everyone! Sorry for the delay between posts!

The sport with the highest ratio of officials to participants, is tennis.