This is a fantastic time to be a cycling enthusiast in Australia. This weekend the Jayco Herald Sun Tour begins and I hope you’re as excited as I am. This is gonna be a great upcoming week for both CT and yourselves.
Why am I so excited you ask?
Well I’ve landed a gig with Rapha as team “Lacky”. For those of you who don’t know what a Lacky is, it’s one or two steps below the Swany. Bottom of the barrel. The only thing lower is being an unpaid domestic pro rider. My responsibilities will entail odd jobs like driving a car, checking the team into the hotel, bringing their bags into their rooms, and probably passing the odd waterbottle. I’ll have a shot at directing a few attacks over the race radio if I get my hands on it, but let’s keep that hush for now.
What this also means is that I’ll be bringing you the inside scoop from behind the scenes. I’ll be taking photos, video and blogging you tips from the PROs at the end of every day. I can’t wait. This will be an awesome chance to give you guys a peek behind the curtains of the second largest race in Australia with some of the best teams in the world.
Feel free to relay any questions on to me for anyone on the Rapha team and I’ll get you the answers. If you have questions for some of the big guns like Bradley Wiggins I’ll take a stab at getting those answered as well. I encourage you to get right into this and go watch some of the stages if you get a chance.
Here’s the schedule (and website)
Sun 11 October Preface – Ballarat – Criterium
Mon 12 October Stage 1 – Ballarat to Ballarat
Tue 13 October Stage 2 – Colac to Warrnambool
Wed 14 October Stage 3 – Warrnambool to Apollo Bay
Thu 15 October Stage 4 – Anglesea to Barwon Heads
Fri 16 October Stage 5 – Geelong – Individual Time Trial
Sat 17 October Stage 6 - Melbourne – Circuit Race on Lygon St
There are 15 teams competing including big PRO outfits like Garmin Slipstream, Bissell Pro Cycling, Rock Racing, Rapha Condor, Fly V and Prime Estate.
I’m tipping that Wiggins will take the overall if he’s not over it at this time of the season, but Kristian House has shown that he can beat the best of them and has a strong team behind him. The Fly V guys will be looking to make a big statement as after Sulzburger took the Tour of Tassie. Should be an exciting week!
I’ll be pushing the boundaries on twitter so don’t forget to follow me. Guest tweets, play by play action, twitpics, etc straight to your dashboard. Watch out @LanceArmstrong…I’ll show you what tweeting a bike race is all about.
Have a great weekend, ride hard and come home safe.
