Bad day at the office...

Since the last time you heard from me, so many things have happened on my visit to New Zealand. First off let me start by saying this is a beautiful country with very friendly people. I would recommend coming here for a vacation to hang out by the ocean, take a hiking trip, take a bike tour, or anything your heart desires. You will see from the pictures I have sent, the city of Wellington, where we are racing, sits in the heart of several bays and the wind never stops. The nickname is Windy Wellington, how original…It is a city of roughly 300,000 with a big city feel but traffic free and everybody here is doing something active.

My first few days were spent riding and walking around the city. I was lucky enough to be staying with the Wholly Bagel sponsor, Charlie and his family. Charlie is an American bloke who has a lovely wife Justine and three very lively kids. They have been wonderful to me. Fed me non-stop and gave me this wonderful king size bed. I am very lucky to be staying with them and they made the transition to New Zealand very easy.

A week ago today, was my first time to really open up my legs. The Wellington Criterium Championships were taking place and I decided it would be a good way to get a few of the Wholly Bagels team together and see how we race. About 15 local girls showed up and WB had 3 riders. The odds were in our favor. Early into the race, I got into a break with a girl from another NZ team. She and I worked hard and kept the break alive and I out sprinted her for the win. It was a great way to start my year off.

Coming off my cloud into reality, the real racing started Wednesday night. 126 of the world’s best riders flooded the streets of Lower Hutt to start the New Zealand Tour. The first stage was a one hour + 3 laps criterium. This race started out very fast from the gun. There was no slowing and everyone was trying to get into the corners first. After several near crashes the peleton settled in. I raced a very smart crit by staying near the front and behind safe riders. There was an 8 man break that got away and stayed away. The wind was the worst I have ridden in and riders were getting blown everywhere. I continued to ride smart and ended up top 20 in the pack. In a small course there isn’t a lot of opportunity to make break and it is very difficult to move to the front. You have to fight and concentrate to keep your position the entire time. I was pleased with that finish and 3 of my other team members finished in the pack as well. It was a very successful 1st stage for the Wholly Bagels team.


Thursday would be a very challenging day that contained 2 stages, a 99km RR and another 1hour + 3 laps criterium. Stage 2 was the 99km stage race from Martinborough to Masterson. This would be a very difficult stage with a climb similar to the Munyiak Wall in US Pro, except this one is longer. I even changed my cassette from a 25 to a 27 after pre-riding this climb. I felt really good at the beginning of this race. The pace was fast and the peleton was full of nervous energy. The speed picked up and I found myself in very good position on the right hand side of the peleton. With 12km under our belt the first wreck occurred a couple riders in front of me. I slammed on the brakes to avoid the girl in front of me and sure enough a second later, I get nailed from the back of the bike and go flying into a ditch with another rider who happens to be my teammate. This wreck happened very quickly and all I could see from the ditch was the peleton flying by. I pick myself up off my teammate along with both of our bikes and try to help her. She is screaming that her hand won’t move and it’s broken. I scream into my radio, OLI GET UP HERE NOW. I AM DOWN AND SO IS PERNELL. After a quick body check, 2.5 minutes and a wheel change I jump on the bike to chase down the peleton. There was only one other girl that was able to continue besides me and she was still way behind me. Luckily this nice car in the convoy gave me a ride for about half a mile and then had to leave me. So here I am about 14km into a 99km race and I am all alone. My team car finally reaches me and tells me to hop in the Wholly Bagels van and to save myself for the World Cup on Sunday. I give my team manager the look of death and say forget it I am going to finish this race. Several team cars pass and they tell me to slow up and let the girl catch on and we can work together. I agree and she and I work are tails off and catch up with one of my teammates that had been popped off the peleton. So she jumps on and then we catch about 4 others. So everything is working well until I get a message on my radio telling me that during my wheel change they gave me a BLOODY 21 gearing, mind you I had put a 27 cog set on to get up the climbs. My team car then tells me I have to change the wheel or I will not make it up the climb, so I pull off. My group leaves me and continues on never looking back. I scream, “WAIT UP” but nothing. So here I am again at 20km all by myself at the very back of the race. With only 79km to go, I decide to bury myself and catch. With 2 climbs leading up to the MOTHER Climb, I pass each rider that left me. They all decide to take the sag van but not me. I catch this one chick at the top of the 2nd climb and we work together for 10km until we reach the base of Kiaruria. I tell her that the decent is brutal and after we reach the top we only have 30km left and we should work together to make the time cut. I tell her to wait for me at the top. I was being nice. I start the climb and never look back. On the way up, I pass the biggest Chinese girl I have ever seen walking her bike up the climb. When I reach the top, I look down and both riders have decided to join the sag wagon. The feed zone was supposed to be at the top of the climb but of course when you are the last racer on the course, there is no feed zone for you. With a _ of a bottle of water left and no food, I decide to put my head down and go hard for the last 30 km, hoping this is just some kind of bad dream I will wake from.

With about 15km left I start gaining some friends. The Wellington Motorcycles Police Force decided to surround me and give me a little parade to the finish. The first sign I see that lets me know I am somewhere near the finish is the 8km to go mark. Being a US rider, we really have no idea what 8 km is, so I put my head down and start burying myself to the finish fighting the biggest head wind I have ever encountered. Finally I cross the line and hear cheering. Apparently all the Commissioners had never seen anything like this before. I was told they were shocked that someone would continue on with that much to go in a race and being left so far behind. The race directors told my team director I would be allowed to start the 1 hour + 3 laps crit that was supposed to start in 1 hour, because I inspired them with my lonely 87km race. I’ll take it how I can get it was my response. There was no way I was coming all the way to NZ and going to end up in the Sweep Van. Once I got to my team camp, I cried a little, more out of sheer pain than anything and then hit the closest café for as much food as I could shove down my throat, probably not a wise decision when I look back on it but I thought I deserved it.
The crit started just like the night before, fast and furious. I found myself feeling remarkably well considering the race I just finished. Half the race goes by and all of the sudden my legs went dead. I couldn’t move them. They felt like bricks and I quickly moved from a very good place in the peleton to the worst place, off the back. At this point I could do no more. I went and sat down on the side of the road. Upset b/c my legs had failed me but more upset b/c I had stopped pedaling.

I got word later that night that I wasn’t allowed to start the TT the next morning and it really made me angry. It is now Fri night and I have had a whole day to let it soak in. I am still a little upset but in retrospect I had a really “BAD DAY AT THE OFFICE” on Thursday but a bad day on the bike is still better than a day at the office! I have an extra day of recovery for the World Cup and a lot of anger built up that needs some channeling. I am hoping/wishing Sunday goes a lot better for me. I know, I know, it’s just racing but I didn’t come all the way to NZ to watch the race go by. Stay tuned and find out how the World Cup race goes on Sunday and how the rest of my trip unfolds.