Thursday, 11 June 2009

1st Tour de Tweed Coast General Classification

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update.

I won the overall/general classification in the Tour de Tweed Coast (Elite C) over the past long weekend. It was a four day tour stage race. It consisted of an individual time trial, a hilly stage race, a long stage race, and a criterium. I won the ITT on a roadie with no aero bars or aero equipment. I won the next hilly stage race which gave me the yellow leaders jersey. I then had to defend the yellow jersey for the last two stages which I was able to do by countering any attacks and placing second in both the long stage and the final criterium.

It was a great trip away, I learned a lot, had a fun time with the Team Newrad Gateshead guys, and was happy to win my first ever Tour stage race that I entered. Other great results for the team with David Witherden placing 3rd in the GC, 3rd in the crit, and 2nd in the KOM; Brad McDonald placing 3rd in the ITT and 4th in the GC, and Jason Cox placing 6th overall in the GC (all guys in Masters Men B).

Full report to follow, hopefully with some photos.

Cheers and thanks for all the support,
Bevan.

Tuesday, 2 June 2009

Training and Tour De Tweed Coast

Hi Guys,

Training has been coming along nicely. I ramped up the kilometres and intervals last week adding in a few more runs also. I have been testing some compression gear out and this has helped the leg recovery. The Bill Ebeling Handicap was on the weekend at Blackhill and I completed a good long hill session in the morning followed by a good hard ride out to the course. The race was feeling comfortable until I was 'done in' by the Beer Bottle Gremlin along with another cyclist in the same group. Race over in the handicap. I was not alone and saw about 7 others repairing flats also in the first two laps. Team Newrad placed Brad McDonald in 3rd for another podium.

This weekend (June 5th-8th) I am racing the Tour De Tweed Coast with Team Newrad Gateshead. Involved is a ITT, two hill stages, and a criterium. The tour leader at each stage is given a jersey, there is also a jersey for KOM, and individual stage win prizes. Should be a blast. I will go hard in the ITT and try to get a win but unfortunately cannot take the TT bike as we will be using the same roadie for the whole tour. Will just have to give it a bit more to go for the win. It should be a tough stage race with the stages encompassing many hill climbs. They state there is enough flat-rolling hills for the race to not be decided by hill climbers, so we will just have to see how things pan out. This is my first stage/tour race purely for cycling. I am looking forward to the challenge of backing up each day (and racing twice on the Saturday). We have a good team going and will be aiming for some podiums. I think it will be great to see how the team tactics play a part in determining the winners. I will try to update daily during the tour and give some idea of the terrain and challenges faced.

Train safe, race hard,
Bevan.