Italy
With the Tour of Qinghai Lake done and dusted, I was tired and very ready for a break. After a whirlwind tour of central Beijing in a day and night with my Subway-Avanti team mate James Williamson it was back to Paris where my bike stayed packed in its box and I instead donned my walking shoes for a couple of days as a tourist.
Paris is both amazing and large and it was always going to be challenging to cover all the sights in such a short time frame. However with the help of Anna’s parents Netty and Kev who are both experienced travellers and who joined me for my tour of Paris, I got a good taste for the city and took in a bike tour of central Paris, an ascent of the Montparnasse Tower, Champs Elysees, Montmartre, Notre Dame and the Rodin Garden. I loved every minute of it, and with so much still to see, i’ll be heading back to Paris for sure.
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Following Paris, I was off to Milan and then on to Montichiari, a small town (populaton 20,000) in the Brescia region and home to amongst other things a castle, a large basilica and a brand new 250m indoor veledrome. Here I joined the New Zealand Junior Track Team who were one week into a three week build up to the Junior World Track Championships being held in town on the new track. My role was that of a mechanic and my jobs included cleaning bikes, changing gears and setting up before every track session, ensuring all gear was ready to go. The team and support staff were awesome and enthusiasm was high. I managed to get out on the bike a few times with the team for an couple of easy rides down to the spectacular Lake Garda as well as a hit out into nearly hills on one ride. I also featured in the infamous Coaches Kilo, borrowing Will’s Felt track bike for a four lap timed effort around the track with minimal warm up. It was a pretty horrible (and slow) experience but it defiantly gave me a new appreciation of just how hard track cycling is, especially as I watched the best juniors in the world take several seconds off my time in the world championships a week later.
The Championships started on the 11 August and our team really excelled. Watching our women’s team sprint smash the world record in qualifying before taking second in the final was awesome and the consistently improving women’s team pursuit were similarly impressive in their event, also taking the silver medal. Lizzy rode a consistent women’s omnium to finish in 4th and while the mens team pursuit were probably a bit disappointed in their 4th place after showing so much promise in training, I am sure the three first year juniors in the team will only improve for next year. After the disappointment of the TP, Piet came out all guns blazing in the points race, lapping the field and eventually finishing fourth after putting it all on the line for the win, tearing off the front of the field with only three laps remaining. He also combined well with Alex for an impressive showing in the madison, with limited experience in the event.
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After all the fun and excitement of the World Championships, it was almost an anti climax to be boarding a train and heading back to my European home in Nice. My French family were all happy to see me again after well over a month on the road and it was nice to finally unpack the suitcase. After a good break I have recommenced training and will now work towards my goals in the New Zealand summer season including Southland and the Elite Nationals. Progress has been slow and it has taken a few days to get back into the swing of it, luckily the weather here is still amazing, definitely motivating me to get out riding every day. I still have a few French races on the calender before I return to New Zealand on the 7th September, but I have no high expectations for them.
Untill then, thanks for reading.
Sam
Link to original article: http://www.samhorgan.com/cycling/back-on-the-bike/
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Original Published: 5:42am Thursday, 26th August 2010 - NZST
