Tommy Nankervis

Team Training in the Ardennes

// April 24th, 2009 // 13 Comments » // A Day Down Under

Howdy readers,
I have a few things to update everyone on, and a fair bit has been happening. I did wait for a little bit so more people hopefully got to read about Jobie Dajka’s passing. I did my last two races with a black arm band on, in his memory, and will race the rest of the year with a black ribbon under my saddle.

So on a lighter note, on Tuesday, we went to the Ardennes, and did one of the best rides I have ever done. It was just brilliant. I had a ball all day, and was just getting goosebumps all day, thinking about how lucky I am to be able to be riding and racing my bike on the other side of the world!

The ride we did started in a town called Houffalize, and we rode through Belgium, into Germany, and through Luxembourg, on the way back to Belgium. We saw some amazing things, and the roads in Luxembourg were fantastic, nice and smooth, and made the climbs feel easy!

Here are some photos from the ride:

One of the guys on the team forgot his shoes, so he decided to follow us in the car for the day. He did a great job, and took us these great photos from the day.

We hardly saw a car all day either, so it made the training even easier/better.

Nicky Walker and I cruising on the back of the group.
At the end, after our last climb, I went on the attack, and then was chased all the way into Houffalize by two team mates, my roomie Mitch, and Tom, one of the team’s Pommies. We had a great finish to the ride, attacking the hell out of each other, and it was nice to finish up the 200km with a 15 minute blow-out!

Oh, and I won too… Just needed to add that for the other two in case they read this!

So last weekend, or two weekends back, we headed up to Holland for a race, Ronde van Drenthe. It was on Easter Monday, and the day after an amazing Paris-Roubaix. For me the race wasn’t anything great, in terms of results, but was something to write home about.
The race was called a “mini Paris-Roubaix” by some, due to its extented cobbled sections. For me that meant lots of flats. We don’t have any singles to race on yet, so most of the team were left on high pressure tyres. While I didn’t have the most flats on the team – Logan had five – I did have the best story. I punctured, then got back to the bunch and started feeling good. Then on the next cobbled section I flatted again, getting a new wheel, and was chasing back to the bunch again when I puntured a third time. That would not normally be a problem, except that the neutral support had run out of spare wheels with everyone puncturing so much, and the team car being unable to follow the race on the last cobbled section. I was left on the side of the road until all the convoy of the race passed, and ended up having to hitch-hike back to the finish with some spectators!

Here are some photos from the race sent to me by my team mate Matt. They are from the website: http://www.velo-image.com

Looks pretty cool racing across the cobbles, and our Cinelli-Down Under kit looks really cool too. The team website should be up and running in the coming week, and my new-look website should be running too, so I will do a post with all the new stuff, sponsors, links etc.

Here is another thing I wanted to show you, a few photos from a perfectly dry, pro kermesse we did in March. I was reading Ted King’s Missing Saddle page, and read that he was pretty dirty after a race one time, so I thought I would jump on the band-wagon and include a couple of dirty photos too:

Here is a close-up of the legs too:

Well, I hope everyone is going well, and I look forward to showing off my updated website during the week sometime!

Australia’s ex-Prime Minister Bob Hawke, once held the world record time for beer drinking, managing to down 2.5 pints in just 12 seconds.

Rest In Peace Jobie Dajka

// April 14th, 2009 // 4 Comments » // A Day Down Under

Last week, I, as well as most of the cycling world, heard some very sad news. Jobie Dajka, a champion Australian track sprinter was found dead. I knew Jobie pretty well, and when I used to race the sprint events on the track, he was a great idol. It is so sad that he never got to fulfill his dream of racing in the Olympic Games. It was all he lived for, just to go to the Olympics, and he told me many times.

Jobie was an amazing sprinter, and I always thought he would go on to be the best sprinter Australia ever produced, and probably the best the world would ever see. He was unbelievably fast, and so smart with tactics aswell. During Theo Bos’s time at the top of sprinting, the times he didn’t win gold were usually the times when Jobie would eliminate him in the semi or quarter finals.

I think one of the most devastating things for Jobie missing the 2004 Olympics were not just that he didn’t get to go, but seeing guys he knew he would beat, winning the gold medals. It is extremely sad, and I often thought about how different those Olympics would have been, had he been there. Also, it makes me think that he would probably still be dominating now.

I was dumbfounded when I heard the news last week. He was such a superstar, and just a great, friendly, happy guy. He always had time to talk with younger riders, and never thought he was above anyone else, even when he was the World Champion. When the Sydney Olympics were on in 2000, my Dad, grandfather and I all went up to watch the track cycling. One of the days we were there, lining up for tickets, and Jobie was in line next to us, for the 6 hour wait in the sun. We sat next to him all day, and all night at the races. It was the first time I got to meet him, and he was really friendly. He was also extremely astute, and was studying everything all of his heroes did during their warm-ups and preparation, taking notes. In the following years, we got to know each other quite well, as I stayed with him at his and his friend’s house on a number of occasions in Adelaide.

I hope everyone can remember Jobie Dajka for the champion cyclist that he was, and something like this article should be read. He really was totally focussed on being the best he could be, and was just so passionate about cycling and the Olympics.

I really wish Jobie had have won an Olympic Gold, or at the very least, participated in the Olympic Games. It kind of makes me even more sad that he never did. One thing that can never be taken away from him is that he is always going to be a World and Commonwealth Champion.

I hope he rests in peace, even though he never fulfilled the dream he lived for.