I started 2016 in Bright, Victoria. Living on top of a Bright Velo Cafe, in a small box room. One bed, a sink and a cupboard. Pretty basic but I enjoyed my time there. The scenery around Bright was special, perhaps I could have explored it further. It is a great destination for Cycling, running and the town’s main income is through tourism. There must be more cafes per square mile than anywhere else I have been before.
I was lucky enough to be surrounded by good people, everyone always seemed so genuinely interested and helpful. I have to say a big thank you to Wayne, Susan and the rest of the café staff at Bright Velo. Not only did they endure the presence of myself on a daily basis, but they made my time positive to look back on.
Through living on top of the café and in the hotel almost (the hotel rooms are nicer) I met a few interesting people. Two of the many people I met that stood out during my time where Matt and Elyse. They happen to have had a TV series called Search4hurt. The couple where always really there asking me about training, keeping my head on straight, in a subtle way and where likeminded people that I could talk to, which always helps. Genuinely nice people.
After Bright I moved onto the New Zealand Cycle classic, this was a disaster before it even began. Delayed flights and over 36 hours no sleep during my travel, set the scene for the week ahead. I had a good idea as to where I was at before the race, the training coming into it was going well, I started to hit the numbers again and I did train hard into the race. However, the lack of sleep completely took it out of me and I was chasing my tail from stage one. Gruppetto every day. The actual effort required to stay in the race was more than doable but it just goes to show how important recovery is. It was a shame not to be able to get a decent shot at it as such, I was looking forward to the experiences and to getting some good racing in. Albeit it wasn’t all down to the sleep, some errors from myself also cost me in places. Add those together and that makes gruppetto+DNF.
Moving on, from New Zealand I flew to Adelaide, where Jetstar again provided an excellent service by losing my bike, making me miss a connecting flight and not helping me book another. I’ll cash in the good luck I have earnt later in the year. I happened to be able to sort out staying in Adelaide through a couple who were staying at Bright Velo on New years eve. A bit of a yarn on new year’s eve led to me moving in with them for a week or so! For this I have been incredibly grateful. So far in Adelaide training has been progressing well. I am looking forward to racing soon!
As you may have realised, cycling is an expensive sport. If you would like to provide support throughout 2016 please email – [email protected]. Or please use the Donate button on the homepage! I am also currently trying to get hold of a TT bike so if anyone has any info please email me!
Many thanks,
Ben
I was lucky enough to be surrounded by good people, everyone always seemed so genuinely interested and helpful. I have to say a big thank you to Wayne, Susan and the rest of the café staff at Bright Velo. Not only did they endure the presence of myself on a daily basis, but they made my time positive to look back on.
Through living on top of the café and in the hotel almost (the hotel rooms are nicer) I met a few interesting people. Two of the many people I met that stood out during my time where Matt and Elyse. They happen to have had a TV series called Search4hurt. The couple where always really there asking me about training, keeping my head on straight, in a subtle way and where likeminded people that I could talk to, which always helps. Genuinely nice people.
After Bright I moved onto the New Zealand Cycle classic, this was a disaster before it even began. Delayed flights and over 36 hours no sleep during my travel, set the scene for the week ahead. I had a good idea as to where I was at before the race, the training coming into it was going well, I started to hit the numbers again and I did train hard into the race. However, the lack of sleep completely took it out of me and I was chasing my tail from stage one. Gruppetto every day. The actual effort required to stay in the race was more than doable but it just goes to show how important recovery is. It was a shame not to be able to get a decent shot at it as such, I was looking forward to the experiences and to getting some good racing in. Albeit it wasn’t all down to the sleep, some errors from myself also cost me in places. Add those together and that makes gruppetto+DNF.
Moving on, from New Zealand I flew to Adelaide, where Jetstar again provided an excellent service by losing my bike, making me miss a connecting flight and not helping me book another. I’ll cash in the good luck I have earnt later in the year. I happened to be able to sort out staying in Adelaide through a couple who were staying at Bright Velo on New years eve. A bit of a yarn on new year’s eve led to me moving in with them for a week or so! For this I have been incredibly grateful. So far in Adelaide training has been progressing well. I am looking forward to racing soon!
As you may have realised, cycling is an expensive sport. If you would like to provide support throughout 2016 please email – [email protected]. Or please use the Donate button on the homepage! I am also currently trying to get hold of a TT bike so if anyone has any info please email me!
Many thanks,
Ben