The race at Cronulla went well with my team mate Ben Kersten getting up for the win. He won a three up sprint against Graeme Brown and Chris Sutton.  It was an awesome result for him.

Well this Sunday is D-Day. Nothing much I can do now except rest up, eat, drink and sleep well.  All I will be doing this week is turning the legs over with some surges and jumps (not too hard) though to keep the legs going.

From my last blog I mentioned the likes of Andre Greipel and Bert Grabsch riding in the race. This actually stirred the pot. A few riders, with Robbie McEwan being the most vocal, objected to overseas riders competing in our National championships. I agree. These two alone could have a major impact on the outcome of the race.  It is no secret here that Michael Rogers is gunning for the title, considering he missed out on it last year (he came second). He is that focussed on winning it he is missing his pet event, the National TT title. He is the defending champ in that event.

Training has been going well since my last blog, punching out some solid sessions. However for some reason I seemed to loose a little of punch after Christmas. Most likely fatigue finally caught up with me. It was really hard to train during the Christmas break as it was really hot and humid plus we had a massive rain cell dumping on us through out the period.

I did manage to complete all but two of my sessions successfully.

The good news is that I reached the training plan goal Peter set which I think was pretty good considering the short time span we had to work in.

As for the race itself I have no idea on how it will pan out. I still don’t know if I should try to get into a break or keep out of sight and mind back in the peleton. Being in the peleton I know that at some point later in the race the pace will certainly be wound up and my thoughts are do I want to be there when it happens? Will I be up to it?

I have done some reading up on the race itself, picking up little tips such as not to waste too much energy on the first part of the climb and to use the downhill section to get into better position, if required, for the climb (get sucked along by other riders trying to get to the front). I also don’t plan on making any moves myself, just follow. Well that could change coming into the pointy end of the race if I am in such a situation that requires an attack or 10.:)

I had a look at the weather and it may have been an advantage for me training in the heat. It looks like it will be fine and 31 degrees. Nice. The humidity won’t be as bad here though. I dare say that the temp may knock some of the southern boys around a bit. There is also predicted some light winds so that should not really impact the race across the top of the course.

I do hope that next time I blog I am able to write that I had a successful race, performing well and getting a good final position.