The winners group...

Laochemi (translated as “Old Fans Cycling Club”) was established in 2003 for the purpose of promoting cycling and helping to change Chinese perceptions towards fitness and recreation through the organization of large amateur racing events. They have quickly become one of the premier event organizers in China, hosting well organized bike races for both road and mountain bikers.  It appears that Laochemi is an organizer, together with the local government authorities, understand what cyclists need and have the ability to create a safe environment for riders to race. There are many events in China that are sometimes too short (like the Yiwu event I went to), safety and route choices. Despite a later than advertised race start, I found the organization of the Chengdu road race to be top-notch and I was extremely impressed with the massive crowd turnout on the city circuits as well as lining the roads on the way to the French Village of Bailu.  I would highly recommend anyone to take part in any event Laochemi organize. In fact, on June 9th, they are hosting another road cycling race – an International Invitational 120km race, and they wish to attract more foreigners to attend this event. Contact me directly or stay tuned  to my website for further information about this event.

The large crowds present at the end of the race

The Pengzhou City-Bailu Village 65km race

At 7.30am it was still raining when I awoke (after only three hours sleep), it was not raining heavily but the roads were very wet, however as the morning wore on the roads dried up and by the time the 80 odd open category riders lined up at the start-line, it was completely dry. I was looking forward to the opening 4.2km circuits where we would complete six times before racing on a 40km stretch of road to Bailu (a 100 year old French village made by the French themselves!). As soon as the gun went, I went on the attack with the purpose of stringing the field out and hopefully reducing the pack numbers. The 4.2km circuit was nice and wide-open containing two U-turns and six turns, making for some exciting racing in the opening stanzas. The peloton was not keen to let me escape and were intent on killing my momentum. When I was caught, a flurry of counterattacks were made and there was a threatening group of eight riders with a 10 second lead and one solo rider up the road. So I immediately bridged across to them and when I made contact, they all just looked at each other and quit working. I just continued with my momentum and quickly caught the solo rider.  Very quickly we established a 25-30 second gap, but the other rider did not commit 100% to the move, and coupled with a motivated peloton, were were caught after 1.5 laps. Right when we were caught, a big counter attack by one of the Kung Cycling Team riders was launched up the road, he was soon joined by another of his team-mates. For the last two laps of the opening circuits, in front of a large vocal crowd, the Kung duo held on to a reasonable gap. However, some concerted chasing and a series of attacks from other teams created the momentum required to peg back the time gap.

One of the many attacks...

My problems started on lap 4 when my chain started skipping on every revolution (I subsequently discovered that one of my chain links was partially separated – a new KMC chain!). I spent most of the race trying to pedal smoothly and efficiently in order to prevent a complete breakage to give me a fighting chance at the end. Once the chain started playing up, the power that I was outputting drastically went down, but I was still able to respond to moves by the other riders. Just before completing the opening circuits, Zhang Li from the Kung Cycling Team made a well timed attack to join his two team-mates that were dangling up the road. This was a great move in my opinion as it caused some panic in the peloton with gaps opening all over the place. I also put in a hard effort and was able to bridge across. But, as soon as I got there, they started soft pedaling and this again killed what was a promising move.

A counter attack of mine...

It was a long false flat drag into a strong headwind. During this stage of the race, there were many attacks but lack of co-operation between riders. I managed to get away with Zhang Li a couple of times and he was the only rider who was willing to pull through strongly and try to establish an advantage. However, when other riders joined us they would just be passengers and not contribute at all – this killed forward momentum. Many riders would launch their own kamikaze attacks, but would not follow through with co-operation. This pattern of racing ensued for the next 15-20kms, the speeds would reach 45-50km/h into the head winds and then drop down to 25km/h when the attacks were snuffed out. I did try a few attacks of my own, but could not output full power due to the chain skipping all the time under pressure. It was safer for me to try and spin it within the peloton.

The decisive move of the day came when a rider from the Kung Cycling Team leaped frogged out of the peloton over a short climb. He had a 10 second lead cresting the climb and continued to increase his advantage. At this point, the peloton was just over 30 riders and due to a lack of organized chasing by the other teams and some good disrupting of momentum by the other Kung riders, the solo rider just rode away with the race. I would have attempted to bridge across if my chain was not playing up, so I just rode at the back watching the action unfold.

The finale

With 10km remaining, the race headed into the foothills of the mountains on a undulating road beside a river.  The Kung rider was now out of sight and eventually won by over a minute. This left the peloton to fight it out for the minor placings. I just bided my time near the back of the group and following other riders when accelerations were made. I was feeling good, the only thing I was worried about was my chain surviving to the end – it was going rita-tat-tat every time I surged forward in response to the attacks going off the front.

In the final 2km, I had moved up into the top 10 and the pace was on with many riders trying their moves early in the hope to break free. Nothing was working for them. With 1km remaining, I moved up to get behind Zhang Li’s wheel (an ex-pro with very good sprint abilities). He saw me come up but appeared not to be fazed. Some other riders made some surges to which Zhang Li responded by getting on to their wheels with me in tow. With 500m to go, there was a short steep rise for 100m and then it was a slight downhill finish. I was surprised that my chain was still holding out as I was still maintaining position behind Zhang Li and with 300m to go he opened his sprint, which immediately opened a bike length on me, I was able to peg it back some despite the chain issues but had to settle for third position.  Considering the situation, I was very satisfied with my third placing and prevented an all Kung Cycling Team sweep!

During the whole race I had been impressed with the organization of the whole thing. The traffic control was superb, not one stray car or pedestrian came onto the race course. It was a completely safe race on good wide smooth roads.  The 4.2km opening circuits was just like any UCI pro race, with proper barriers erected, good police presence, proper stage and start banners. The crowds were also amazing to see. Both the opening circuits and, especially the finish in the quaint French village was like a sea of people. They needed proper police control to hold the crowds back, otherwise we would have been inundated by thousands of eager Chinese fans.

Race power food?

… actually just kidding, there is in fact a thriving amateur racing scene in China that  anyone can participate in if they can find the races.  I recently read on  CyclingIQ about race events in China and the chances of finding one is slim while visiting on business or leisure. I don’t find this to be 100% accurate as in my opinion, the chances of ‘stumbling’ across a cycling event is, in fact, quite high. The Chinese government, particularly the local provincial governments are very keen to showcase their unique regions for tourism; so they are going out of their way to do promotion and are vigorously inviting foreigners to participate. CyclingIQ also acknowledges there is a thriving amateur race scene, choosing to highlight the Shanghai Trek Series. Cyclists visiting China will be pleased to know that there is a multitude of cycling events to choose from every weekend.

To find these events, one does have to be in the know or have access to the right information to find events. In the context of CyclingIQ, the focus is actually on professional bike racing and this new website (established in September 2011) has done a good job in bringing good coverage of Asia pro-cycling. The pro racing calendar that was put together on CyclingIQ, does fill in a void for English speakers to find pro-level events in China.  Most of interest to me, is the track racing fixtures as this is the most spectator friendly and China does have several world class indoor velodromes that would showcase some of China’s best talented track athletes. It would be interesting to find out more.

‘Stumbling’ across an event is hard anywhere in the world, you just need to have the right information at your finger tips to find these sportive events in China, or, for that matter, anywhere in the world.  The added challenge with China is that just about all of the information is presented in Chinese and quite often scattered, without centralization. So, if you are visiting China at some point this year, and want to discover the racing scene here, then bring your bike and have some fun while you are here on business!

The below photograph is representative of many of the Chinese road race finishes – mass sprints!

A wet race at Taihu Lake - see me on the far left with white/orange bike

CyclingIQ has put together a map and a list of cycling events in China, however this is just the tip of the ice-berg and all of the events with the exception of the Shanghai Trek Series, are open to only Chinese riders and/or foreign Professional riders registered with a UCI cycling team. The National level events are strictly for Chinese only.  Over the years I have been in China, I have witnessed a phenomenal growth in cycling. We are now seeing a plethora of sportive cycling events cropping up all over the vast country and often with very good prize purses for the top 10-20 place-getters.

This coming weekend there are five choices of races, all of which will be well attended by racers (4 road races and 1 mountain bike race). It is possible to do three events with careful planning – one could do the May 11 mountain bike race in Zhejiang then jump on the plane to Chengdu where Luomiche is hosting a 65km road race in a scenic part of Sichuan. To make the May 13 race, you’ll have to leave straight after the Chengdu race to fly to Xinyi, in the northern most area of Jiangsu. Perfectly do-able and it is what many of the top amateur bike racers in China are doing.

May 12 Shanghai Trek Series Round 2

May 13  Xinyi Road Race, Jiangsu Province

May 12 Chengdu road race, Sichuan Province

May 12 Ninghai Mountain Bike race, Zhejiang Province

May 11 Yiwu Road Race – Zhejiang Province

A visual representation of the races for the upcoming weekend

If you are visiting China at anytime soon, whether its for business, leisure or to study, and you also happen to be a cyclist, make sure you bring your bicycle. There are numerous opportunities to race here, contrary to what many believe. However, there is a lack of a central information database that advertises well in advance. The best one to check is www.qqride.com as they list most of the Chinese races as they are announced. Often race organizers don’t have a very long planning time-frame, so its also difficult to plan ahead. You just have to be prepared to find out with short notice.  However, some organizers such as Nordic Ways and Shimano advertise their calendar well in advance and are generally very well run and attended events.

I will attempt to put together a calendar of events so that you can see whats happening and where in China. In meantime, if you have any questions, I will be happy to assist in anyway I can.  Stay tuned to Bikedan in Asia for more updates about cycling in China!

If you are looking for a picturesque mountain bike race combining ancient villages and traditional Chinese countryside, then the Yellow Mountain event is the race that has it all.  The start/finish area is right by the famous Hongcun, where the opening scene of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon is shot.  Many of the old narrow cobblestoned streets of Hongcun are utilized to enhance the cultural feel of the popular region.  The region is also famous for China’s most famous mountain, Yellow Mountain and many Chinese will tell you that if you have been to all of the top five mountains in China and then go to Yellow Mountain, you will never want to go to the other five mountains ever again.

Check out the QQRIDE video of the event. Its all in Chinese with some good footage, not much off-road action, but more focus on pretty girls and the cultural performances! Biketo.com posted a good series of photographs.

This year was the 7^th year that this premier popular mountain bike race has been staged and was the second time that Far Seekers, a Beijing events company, have run it.  They took over from the original organizers, Nordic Ways, to continue putting on the iconic mountain bike race. This year had the new addition of the ‘marathon’ category of three laps making for 66kms of fantastic mountain biking. Just under 100 riders took on the challenge while the biggest field was still in the 44km (two lap) category.

Adventure getting to Yellow Mountain

As I live in Hangzhou, the future site for the newly added World Tour race and one of China’s top tourist cities, it’s not too difficult to reach Yellow Mountain by long-distance bus, which t akes just under three hours to reach Tunxi, but still 60kms from my true destination. I arrived at 8pm, so it was already dark and I did not want to pay the taxi drivers 180rmb to take me so I started riding to Hongcun, much to the disbelief of the hawking drivers. Initially, I was riding on a nice well light bicycle lane for the first 20kms and was cruising along just fine. Then the well-lit road abruptly ended and I found myself riding along the country road with just the full moon for light. I did not have my lights with me and was getting a little anxious for my safety so started to try to hitch. The first person to stop was a private vehicle and he said he would take me to my destination no problem, but when I asked if he wanted money he wanted at least 200rmb. I was shocked and told him that I had ridden halfway in the hope of finding a cheaper ride.  I can converse quite comfortably in Chinese and told him that I would continue riding, but thanks for offering to help. He clearly trying to capitalize on the situation I appeared to be in, as did the several other Chinese I asked further down the road.  Another person was willing to take me 30kms, but told me he wanted 150rmb. No thanks! I did meet a group of guys that were unloading their vehicle earlier and they had offered to take me for a free ride to my destination, so as I was riding along the moonlit road, they appeared and told me to jump in. Perfect, I threw my mountain bike in the back and sat on the floor of the van. It was a free ride all the way to the village of Hongcun and I was kept talking by an endless stream of questions from the young 22 year old that was sitting in the back with me.

I arrived at Hongcun a bit tired, it was now just after 10pm and I had still not had a proper meal. I did have a USANA Nutrimeal Shake on the bus ride to keep me going. The accommodation I was staying in was called Hetang Yuese, a pretty guest house within the ancient village of Hongcun facing the South Lake.  I had one issue though, and that was getting into the village; if you are not a permanent resident you have to buy a ticket to gain entry and all registered racers can gain entry for free with their race entry. The ticket for the village is not cheap.  Since I had come late in the night, the registration was closed for the night and I had to do some fast-talking with the village guards in Chinese to convince them to let me into the village.  After a couple of minutes, they relented and let me go.

Being a popular tourist destination, Hongcun was still busy with Chinese tourists walking the cobblestoned streets and taking evening photographs. There were even some sketch artist still out at this hour. Perhaps the full moon that was out was too alluring that people were out in droves. It did not take me long to find Hetang Yuese – fortunately I can also read Chinese characters and saw the sign as I rode past on the narrow path hugging the lake and the buildings. The guesthouse was really cool, a traditional “siheyuan” that contains a courtyard within the middle flanked on four sides by the buildings.

The Racing

I rolled up at the start/finish line in quite a relaxed mode and did not worry about getting a front row position like I did last year as I could see from the uphill tarseal start will give me some time to move up before hitting the turn on to the gravel section. It was a fast start, but I was able to make it into the top 15 at the turn and then move up into the top eight on the loose gravel section before hitting the first of the single track. Eight of us gapped the field pretty quickly and going through one U-turn, the rider in front of me crashed to the ground by trying to sprint hard after losing momentum; I had to swerve to avoid him. It was now seven riders in a tight group. There was a nice wide river crossing that could be ridden at speed before another U-turn to head back into the village of Hongcun. After exiting the village, we raced as one tight group with the three Triace riders leading the way, the Malaysian Chiru rider, a couple of others and myself. Raced over some undulating single-track through tea-fields, some very steep sections that required some fast momentum to keep rolling and in contact with the leaders. However, for me those short steep climbs were my un-doing; I felt myself about to blow up so I eased off and let the Malaysian rider past me. I knew that I needed to conserve a little for the road climb that was looming.

I was still in contact with the Malaysian rider going up the bike-carry section and when exiting the tea-fields on to the sealed road he was about 15 seconds in front of me and I could still see the four other leaders up the road. However, I had no power and slipped further back. I was soon caught by two fast climbers and hung with them briefly but again I was going to deep into the red-zone this early in the three-lap race.  The next rider to catch me was a rider that was supposed to be attending the Asian games and was wearing the ‘World MTB Champions’ rainbow jersey, he passed me and left me behind pretty quickly. Soon after the rainbow jersey rider passed me, a rider with a GO PRO on his helmet caught me and shook my hand and then powered away!  I was left languishing on the climb. I had slipped from a good 5^th position to be 12^th at the top of the climb.

After riding through the bamboo section, a short climb followed by a nice bamboo shrouded descent, there was a small village to ride through before taking a hard left down some staircases. There was a rider in front of me that I had caught and I asked him to move over so I could lead on the descent, but he would have none of that and rightly so, as he proceeded to disappear again. There was a reason behind this though, instead of a short section of stairs followed by a nice loose twisting downhill, there was newly built starts all the way down the mountain. This was the most painful section for me, what I called the “Bone Rattler”. It was not fun at all riding this section and hardly about mountain biking. I hope that for 2013, the organizers will try to carve a track through the bamboo forest next to the stairs.

Once completing the Bone Rattler, it was a fast ride to emerge out onto a short sealed section through a tunnel to begin what is my favorite section of the entire racecourse. Riding through the tunnel, I had three riders in my cross hairs and was gaining on them so I felt quite confident in catching them through the next off-road section. After turning off the road, back into the tea-fields and bamboo plantations, it was pure fun time riding the twisting technical rocky trails. To ride this section at speed, you need to be reasonably fluid and maintain momentum through the tight sections. The 29er bike I was on was handling them just fine and rolling over the sharp jagged rocks with ease. I soon caught up with the GO PRO rider, as he was riding down a steep technical rocky section, he lost control and summersaulted over the bars. I had wondered if he had done that on purpose for the benefit of the GO PRO camera as the crash looked quite ridiculous. I managed to ease by him without dismounting and continue in pursuit of the two other riders further up the dirt tracks.

I caught one of the riders going through the bamboo forest climb and followed him on the descent and when it flattened out, I motored past him in pursuit of the Rainbow jersey I could see about 30 seconds up. Raced by fields of bright yellow flowers in full bloom and back into the village of Hongcun onto the cobblestones. I finally caught the Rainbow rider crossing over the main bridge out of the village and we rode together to the start/finish line, rotating turns on the front. However he seemed determined to drop me by surging away through the staging area and re-establishing himself a good gap on me. I did not try to surge to catch him but just kept riding at threshold. Sure enough I slowly brought him back through the tea-fields single track and up the bike carry section. We rode together up the road climb. He gapped me again on the gravel steep section before the bamboo forest climb, but I kept contact and I was able to pass the rider on the descent through the bamboo trees to the start of the Bone Rattler (stairs). It was from this point on, I never saw him again and I continued on riding and was feeling good at this point.

In a longer race like this, it’s important to keep on top of your race nutrition by consuming enough fluids, food and energy gels. Doing two laps of this challenging undulating course with one long hill-climb each lap is about what you can do with just two bottles of water and a couple of gels; but by adding the third lap, it makes nutrition doubly crucial. I think it was in this area I was lacking slightly during the race. I did not consume any solid foods during the race, only GU gels (four packets). Prior the race, I had one USANA Nutrimeal shake and three bananas. I did have a fourth banana that I was intending to take with me for the rest, but some monkey in the old village stole a banana from me! I also had bottles filled with REV 3 Surge (a brilliant natural energy drink) and this worked well for the first two laps in combination with three gels. By the time the third lap came around, I was utilizing the water stations and guzzling down what water I could find.  I also timed my final gel to be consumed right before the final water station just before the bamboo forest climb, as I knew I could also consume fluid right on top.

I felt the first twinges of my cramp when doing the short steep power climbs through the tea-fields and really had to concentrate on a smoother pedal stroke and lower gear. I made it through but the road climb took me an eternity to complete. I could feel the cramp in my legs ready to strike me dead at any moment.  It was a combination of seated and out-of-saddle climbing to keep the cramps at bay. So far so good as I crested the top, as I knew that if no one passed me before I reached the bamboo forest, I would be good to hold the position I was in.  The Bone Rattler was just that, it really did shake every bone in my body and I was crying out bloody murder that the course would be run on stairs!

I went through my favorite section of the again for the last time, enjoying every bit of it leading up to the final climb of the day. This is where I almost seized up with cramp, but just barely made it over the top with out this happening. I thought that by standing and not pedaling too much on the downhill would help the legs recover, and they did recover – somewhat. I blasted the flat section by the meandering stream, fields of bright yellow flowers, and back into Hongcun. At this point I was really gunning for the fast finish, but instead my right thigh muscles just locked up on me and I was forced to unclip the right foot and pedal for the last two kilometers with one leg! It was a sorry sight for sure but at least I still maintained my position to finish sixth overall with a time of just over three hours; some 17 minutes behind the Triace professional rider and nine minutes behind the Malaysian Chiru rider.

Photos were courtesy of QQRIDE and Biketo.com

Specialized China kicked off their mountain bike series in Shanghai on April 2nd with a focus on racing 29er bikes. Since Format started with their inaugural 29er specific race in Guangzhou late 2011, the interest in 29er bikes has surged significantly and this has prompted Specialized China to host their own 29er MTB series in the Shanghai region in conjunction with Shanghairace.net.

Representing WTB, I made the train trip from Hangzhou to attend this special race. More than 60 riders from all the categories raced over the very short 1.1km circuit that was largely on a bull-dozed area and over some grassy sections. It was actually quite a technical course, requiring some skill to negotiate at speed. Quite a few riders, obviously not experienced enough to handle the rough stuff, were seen taking some tumbles.

Despite the race being billed as a 29er event, there was only two 29er bikes in the elite category and I was one of the two, riding on the Orbea Alma equipped with WTB Stryker 29er wheels and Nano Race tires. However in the Open category there was quite a few 29ers being ridden. Overall, it is a good start to raise the awareness of the 29er mountain bike and its a great way for Specialized to achieve their goal of increasing 29er sales by 300% in 2012. I envisage, as the series progresses, we will see more and more Chinese riders coming out to race on 29er bikes. The misconception that 29er bikes are just too big for Chinese riders is quickly vanishing and now we are seeing more local shops carrying the larger wheeled bikes. One shop in Hangzhou reportedly sold a dozen 29er bikes in the last two weeks for an average price of 7,000 rub (or just over $1,000USD).

The race  - Check out RACE VIDEO by QQride

It was over before it really began! It was an explosive 28 minutes where my heart rate averaged in the mid 180s for the whole duration, hitting 190bpm in the final lap of the 10 lap race. I had come to Shanghai expecting to race 30kms as that is the distance that was advertised in the race flier. I had a few laps in as a warm-up prior the raced start and had some big chain ring issues that needed adjusting; this actually held up the start by a couple of minutes! I lined up on the front row and when the whistle was sounded, I was off like a bullet. I perfectly clipped into my pedals and surged to the front of the race to establish a very handy 50m lead by the time I reached the U-turn. However, disaster struck, my chain came off and I was unable to get it back on using the gears so I had to jump off and put the chain back on by hand. This cost me at least 50 seconds and I had slipped back to 10th place. I was fuming. After such a brilliant start, I was forced to chase for the whole race and because of the need to regain position, I blew to smithereens and could not maintain the same power as the first two laps. I still steadily caught riders and past them to get myself into third position. Since the race was so short, I knew that my chances of catching the front two riders was quite slim. Two of the riders I caught matched my pace for several laps and used me to draft on the gravel and grassy sections, much to my chagrin. Despite their drafting, they eventually got dropped and I  was able to ride in for third, 1min 10 seconds behind the winner.

The race was won by Hu Hao in 26.55 with Englishman Ed Cork just 14 seconds behind. I was a further 1.10 back with a time of 28.05. You can view my Strava file here for the map and the ride statistics. QQride has some great photographs and a video of the racing. Check it out.

Stay tuned to Bikedan in Asia to witness the 29er revolution in China. Thanks to Specialized for leading the way with putting on the events in this region of China. Format Bikes is also hosting 29er races (strictly only 29ers) in the South China region.  It is hoped that Specialized will put together a 29er only race that will attract mountain bikers from all over China. Ideally this race would be held in a scenic exotic location like Moganshan or some location that features forest, sweet single track and mountain climbs.  As for the Shanghai 29er MTB series, stay tuned for round two and hopefully it will be a longer race too!  If you need further information on the series or general information about the MTB racing scene in China, please do not hesitate to contact me with your questions.

Below photos courtesy of MaJun of QQride.com

Yesterday was my first time on the media motorbike and, frankly, I find it more tiring than bike racing itself. I’d much rather be sitting in the middle of the peloton turning over those pedals. From my experience at other major Tours I have covered in the Asia region that involved the use of media motorbikes, I always feel more physically drained than when I come back from a hard bike race or training ride. However, I did get some nice action shots of the Garmin-Barracuda cycling team riding tempo on the front of the peloton for most of the day.  David Zabriskie is still safely in yellow and is likely to retain it at least till the Genting stage; provided he climbs exceptionally well – but it seems that his team has put their cards with Thomas Danielson to be the performer on the do or die stage that is inevitably going to explode the peloton to fragments.

Guardini, the Italian powerhouse, just seems unbeatable here despite his heavy crash in Oman. In fact his bandages are already off, exposing some pretty looking road rash that is healing quite nicely. The Italian rider is fast closing on Graeme Brown’s record of nine stage wins and it would be a safe bet, baring any crashes, that he will surpass that record for most wins by one rider. The other teams that are in the best position to figure out a way to beat the speedster is the UHCProcycling team and Champion System. Both teams have very good sprinters within their quivers and, provided they use some innovative tactics, they could potentially upstage Guardini but it would require a cunning and bold plan to execute it well.

Stage three was a carbon copy of stage two where an early breakaway gets established, only to get caught by a rampaging peloton in the closing stages. The remnants of the four-man breakaway were swept up on the KOM climb and immediately the Colnago cycling team went on the hard offensive, blasting it over the short climb in their attempt to drop Guardini. But it was a failure and this only served to string out the peloton and desperate chasing ensued. This also result in carnage, riders reported that four separate crashes occurred in that last 10km after the KOM.  Garmin-Barracuda had a scare with Tom Danielson hitting the deck pretty hard just inside 3kms to go and finished seven minutes behind, but was awarded the same time as the leader since it happened within 3kms.  As the riders fatigue towards the end of the long hot stages, coupled with the high speeds of 50km/h plus it just takes a small mistake by one rider to cause a multitude of crashes. There is also a wide gulf of abilities within the peloton with inexperienced riders versus Pro-Contential and World Tour teams.

Later at the press conference, Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) was obviously suffering from the heat put an early end to the meeting; and scattered back to the team car. I had this first hand report, overhearing the Garmin team director saying that Zabriskie was quite funny. He went back to the team car, stripped completely naked, got in and rode all the way back to the hotel in the nude. It was his way of battling the oppressive Malaysian heat.

I still have today’s report that is due on my website but this will be done tomorrow and I will also have a selection of photos up for viewing, once I have fast enough internet to upload photos. Stay tuned to my twitter handle: @Bikedan and also Cam Whiting at @CyclingIQ if you wish to glimpse at behind-the-scenes at the Tour de Langkawi. In addition, I am writing for the UHCProcycling team and Neilpryde Bikes, so my reports and photos can also be viewed there.

Today’s stage was a difficult one for me to report on since I spent the whole time cramped inside a media van that sped all the way to the city of Melaka, and over one hour in front of the peloton. This also put us out of radio contact and we had no clue to what was happening apart from some sporadic Twitter updates when a signal was found.  At least tomorrow, I have secured a media motorcycle spot and this will allow me to follow the race quite closely as the action unfolds.  To add to difficulty of reporting, is the fact that media are all housed in a separate hotel and this makes it difficult for me to connect with the riders from various teams. This is what I do best, connect with the riders during the non-racing times and this is where I can delve deeper into interesting stories, both about rider backgrounds and what actually went on in the middle of the peloton.

I have provided a report for the Neilpryde Bikes website, which should be online sometime early tomorrow. For other reports you can check out Cyclingiq.com’s report by Cam Whiting. Also the official race website contains updates, photos and stories.

In short, an impressive lead-out train by Italian team, Farnese Vini – Selle Italia sent their designated man Andrea Guardini sailing to the line with ease. In fact his two team-mates were already celebrating the win while Guardini still had some sprinting to do to ensure the win. Despite crashing at the Tour of Oman last week and being bandaged up, Guardini had his first win in the bag for 2012. He has won five stages here at the Langkawi race previously and with his strong team line-up he will be looking to repeat more stage wins.

However, the UHC Pro Cycling Team, riding on Neilpryde Diablo’s, is definitely a force to be reckoned with after their showing in the finale. Despite launching their “Blue Train” from quite far back and a tad little late, three riders were able to deliver key sprinter Jake Keough to an excellent position, so good that Keough was still accelerating all the way to the line. It was only the jump by Guardini that prevented a potential UHC Pro Cycling Team win. It is my prediction that we will see more of these exciting American riders that know how to ride field sprints.

David Zabriskie retained his yellow jersey by finishing safely within the peloton. Zabriskie had some funny comments at the post prize giving press conference (below excerpt taking from Cyclingiq.com). He seems to be a rider that has a quirky sense of humor…

David pictured here laughing about his joke...

David Zabriskie:

“I have a question”

Jean-Francois Quenet

“Go ahead David”

David Zabriskie
“Why don’t they give us kisses on the podium?”

Jean-Francois Quenet
“Local culture – it’s a little bit different from the US or Europe”

David Zabriskie
“Oh, I didn’t know. Maybe I thought I was screwing it up. I’m sure my wife probably likes this no kissing business. I’ll probably be alright with it too.  I’ll make her give me all the kisses I missed. How about that? I love you wife. (Gesturing towards Gruzdev) He said he loves his wife too. We don’t know if he’s married. Alright everybody thanks for coming.”

Keep on scrolling for the day’s photo selection.

It was quite unsurprising that David Zabriskie blazed away to victory, winning margin was just over a minute to Drapac’s Adam Phelan.   Zabriskie was excited and wanted to go out fast, and fast he went averaging 49.5km/h on what was a deceptively tough course that looked easy on paper. “I started faster than I should have and that initial effort caught up with me in the end.” says Zabriskie. In preparation for the heat here in Malaysia, he spent time sitting inside saunas to help the body adjust to the warmer conditions. “It now comes down to the hilly stage in Genting and I have a good gap of over one minute which is good for me as it puts me ahead of my key rivals in this race.”

Stay tuned for the Tour de Langkawi updates on my Twitter: Bikedan and tomorrow’s 151km stage to Melaka promises to be a sprinters fest with many ‘sprinter’ teams looking to stamp their authority!

If you wish to read more in-depth reports checkout the following sites for good reports. Keep on scrolling to view a selection of photos I took for the day.

CyclingIQ

CyclingTips

Cyclingtime

Tour de Langkawi

There are seven Pro-Continential teams represented: Androni Giocattoli (AND), Champion System (CSS), Colnago CSF Inox (COG), Farnese Vini (FAR), Rusvelo (RVL), Team Europcar (EUC), and United Healthcare/Neil Pryde (UHC). Nine Continential teams:  Aisan Racing Team (AIS), Azad University Cross Team  (AZC), Drapac Cycling (DPC), MAX Success Sports (MSS), OCBC Singapore (TSI), RTS Racing Team (RTS), Seoul Cycling (SCT), Tabriz Petrochemical Team (TPT), Terengganu Cycling Team (TSG). Three National Teams: Malaysia National Team  (MAS), Indonesia National Team (INA) and the New Zealand National Team  (NZL).

The city of Putrajaya is the new symbol of Le Tour de Langkawi and this is going to be the location of stage one, a 20.3km individual time trial that will surely set the GC order before the real racing even begins. The 17th edition of the Tour is going to be held from February 24 till March 4: 10 action packed days in the tropical heat of Malaysia!  Stage two begins in Putrajaya and ends 151kms later in the historical Dutch village of Melaka. Stage three Ayer Keroh – Parit Sulong (187.6km); Batu Pahat – Muar (169.4km); Ayer Keroh – Pandan Indah (190km); Proton Shah Alam – Genting Highlands (108km); Bentong – Kuantan (205.8km); Pekan – Chukai (100.8km); Kemasik – Kuala Terengganu (165.7km) dan Tasik Kenyir – Kuala Terengganu (114.8km).

Traditionally the Tour de Langkawi had ended with the street criterium in downtown Kuala Lumpur but the final three stages of the  2012 edition will be hosted by the state of Terengganu. The final stage will culminate in the scenic East Coast city of Kuala Terengganu.

LTdL 2012 is organised by the National Sports Council as a mark of continuity to the organisation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports in 2010 and 2011 in collaboration with the Malaysian National Cycling Federation. The race maintains a 2.HC (Hors Classe) status and is recognised and sanctioned by the UCI and UCI Asia Tour.

The rider list is below. As I will be attending the Tour of Langkawi, stay tuned to this site for the updates. I will announce other sites that I will be covering for soon and my twitter Bikedan will be used to provide live-updates of the Tour where possible.

It was impossible to separate us two riders as we lunged for the finish line after 153kms of hard racing in atrocious weather conditions; heavy rain and gusts of winds. Even when you enlarge the high resolution photo, its hard to tell. Most people, given my bike throw, think I might have nabbed it at the line despite the timing chip.  On the day, two weeks ago now, I did not worry about protesting it (nor had the inclination to). It was a fun ride and a good race by the front runners. The fact we finished so close together provided some good entertainment for the audience and a good story in the local Taranaki Daily. American takes out Mountain Race with myself as the first kiwi home. The full results can be viewed online at the official race website.

How the racing unfolded

I had only been in New Zealand for a couple of days and gotten two rides in before the 153km event, including a nice ride in Christchurch and my first exploratory ride in Taranaki out on the Coastal Cycle Way and out Lepperton way. For this month in January my goal was to put in some good base miles for the upcoming season. So the Taranaki event was a perfect long ride with a slight race focus.

The race start was only five minutes bike ride from the Devon Hotel where I was staying and after consuming bananas, cereal, yoghurt as my pre-race meal I turned up with 450 others at the start line. It was threatening to rain as we took off. It was a neutral start to begin with and I was content to just follow wheels and wait for the action to unfold. The 450 rider peloton rode through the city of New Plymouth at a controlled pace. When the racing did begin, it was not hard and fast as I expected it to be. It was quite windy with a constant drizzle coming down. There were the occasional riders going off the front trying their luck in either forming a breakaway or escaping solo. However the peloton was not keen to let them escape from their clutches. Before Okura, I had my first dig jumping across to a young triathlete rider in green that was going pretty strong. He did not last long on my wheel as I pumped hard through the small village of Okura. However, the peloton were steadily pulling me back so I just cruised along at a good steady pace till I was caught.

I rolled along with the bunch quite comfortably up and down the numerous rolling hills in the lead up to Okato. The young guy in green took off again and was putting some good time on the main group with no one reacting. It was not till the final steep climb prior Okato when several riders at the front of the peloton put in a big surge and a gap opened up immediately. I saw this happening and accelerated quickly to the front and spent a few moments to make the bridge across to the five riders up the road. As I connected, I saw that we had a gap and yelled out that we had one. Immediately the six of us start rotating like a well oiled machine and the gap just grew bigger and bigger.  Several minutes later, pro rider Michael Torckler comes across with eight riders in tow. The front group become a 15-man breakaway.

I was doing my fair share of the work, pulling hard into the wind and driving rain but then missed a couple of turns when I noticed half the group were just sitting on. I guess they were already on their limit as eventually most of those riders dropped away after the Opunake turn off. The pace was poured on for a brief section on this road section towards Stratford and this succeeded in reducing the breakaway group to just 10 riders. All of a sudden, we just cruised along and chatted. It was kind’ve fortunate this happened, as my legs were starting to feel it and could have cramped. The easy riding lasted for about 40 minutes before we increased the pace in the push for the finish line back in New Plymouth. Just before Eltham, Torckler’s father punctured and his son stopped to help out. They never caught back on. Once on highway 4 heading into some very strong winds, the group further split up and it was now only seven riders.  Riding through Stratford and up through to Midhurst on the way to Inglewood, the pace was reduced to a snails pace.

Right before Midhurst, the first real attack of the day came from Vaughn Obrien, the American (& eventual winner), this was quickly snuffed out by myself and then I went on the counter-attack that immediately got a decent sized gap. Local strong rider, and last year’s winner, Gregory Marfell put out a powerful attack that launched him up the road. However I saw it coming and was accelerating up to speed as he came past and it took a couple of minutes hard riding to bring him back. The American was interested in keeping it animated but I was keen on rotating hard and fatiguing riders this way.

After passing through Midhurst, I found myself on the front and drifting away. I took the opportunity to ride hard at this point and opened up a sizable gap. I went into time trial mode and hummed along at a decent 45-48km/h for a good couple of minutes. At the point I was about to be caught again, I saw Greg Marfell launching yet another one of his power attacks with the rest of the group scrambling to latch onto his wheel. I responded by accelerating hard to snuff out any forward momentum before he caught me. When the group was about to catch up, I noticed they eased up a bit so I seized another opportunity to try and get away. The attacks I put in were to no avail as I was reeled back in each time.

Going through Egmont Village, it was absolutely belting down with rain and Gregory Marfell made another big attack with one other rider. This forced me to close the gap as the others were just following my wheel. It was a hard effort but it was back together again as we passed by the old rusty spider cobwebbed covered bikes outside the camping ground. It was game on for the last five kilometers as each rider sought to bid for victory.

Coming into New Plymouth, there are two climbs that keep you honest. On the first of the climbs, Marfell smoked it hard over the top and gapped myself and the American. This climb also served to blow up the seven rider group. Going down the descent on the other side, after hard chasing by myself and Obrien we reconnected with the front two riders. Coming to the final climb into the city, Marfell again attacked hard but the group still came back together coming into the city outskirts. From there it was cat and mouse games. I was on the front leading the way, waiting for any moves by the others. With about 1km remaining, Obrien hit it out hard and immediately got a substantial gap before I reacted. I was waiting for Marfell to make his move and it was a little late. I clawed back to Obrien’s wheel just after the final turn. It was there that I should have attacked immediately, but I just sat on his wheel and this allowed him to recover somewhat. I was also not clear where the finish line was and going into the last bend about 400m from the finish line, I hit the front with Obrien on my wheel. It was there that I had no choice but to open my sprint 400m out. I was hoping that I would have dropped the American, but somehow he clung to my wheel and then came at me again and got past me with less than 50m remaining. I had another late surge for the line ending with a desperate bike throw that I thought I had gotten the win. However, the timing chip said otherwise…

Stay tuned for more reports about my Taranaki cycling adventures!

I am about to leave cold Hangzhou, China next week bound for some warmer climates in New Zealand for several weeks and I am looking forward to exploring a ‘forgotten corner’ of New Zealand: Taranaki! The reason its a forgotten part of New Zealand is that its not really on the way to anywhere, its quite off-the-beaten track and the the only real reason to go there is when the National Park Highways slicing through the center of the North Island are closed by snow.

Taranaki Tourism has been doing a very good job at promoting their region and have a very cool website that inspires and excites you to visit. Perhaps after you have been there you might even want to live there – on the Taranaki website there is information about living and working there. Just by browsing the website has me thinking about moving there to live!  Taranaki – a destination ‘like no other’. This is their catch slogan and I’ll be keen to see if it lives up to it…  The website also lists Top 50 must do’s while you are visiting Taranaki, I think we’ll be doing the Goblin Forest and Highway 45 for sure.

Now, as it happens, I am also arriving the day before the big Round the Mountain road cycling event sponsored by Egmont Seafoods (and The Waterfront Hotel) that is open to anyone who has the desire to pedal a bike and enjoy the magnificent views of Mount Egmont, a perfectly shaped volcano reaches for the sky, and then enjoy a surf in the famous Highway 45 spot. That is if you have enough energy left after doing 153kms on the bike.  Last October, the fast boys of New Zealand cycling did the same circuit and zipped around the mountain in a stunningly quick time of 3hrs and 24minutes won by Daniel Barry from the now defunct Pure Black Racing Team. See the top 10 results below. Also check out last year’s report about the Round the Mountain Challenge on Roadcycling. Hopefully this year will see better weather conditions despite being in the middle of the summer!

The Official Hotel Sponsor is The Waterfront Hotel that is located in the middle of New Plymouth’s Central Business District and this is where the after race evening function will be held for riders to share their Round the Mountain experiences.

I wonder how fast the times will be for the individual riders on January 14th? I would be happy with a time close to four hours if I got into a good bunch and everyone worked well together. It’ll also be my first road event on New Zealand soil since 2008 and while it is not a proper race, it will still be fun and no doubt the individual riders will still be going pretty quick.

The Egmont Seafoods Round the Mountain Cycle Ride is actually a fund-raiser for a unique cycling venue in New Zealand – The Cycle Park. It is a fully enclosed Cycle Park that would make for some quite exciting criterium and circuit racing. It is one of its kind in New Zealand and it is expected to be ready for completion in late January 2012. The Taranaki Velodrome Trust has been behind this since 2006 and the dedicated group of cyclists have realized their vision of completing a new velodrome and a closed road circuit.  What is even more exciting is that the venue is being built to UCI specifications so we can expect to see some international cycling events coming Taranaki’s way.  If you are stopping by the region, the Cycle Park happens to be free for all to use.

For the mountain bikers, don’t be disappointed – the Taranaki region is also home to some of New Zealand’s best mountain biking and there are some cool tips for the mountain bikers found on Ground Effect.  If you are looking to meet with other cyclists, the Cycling New Plymouth Club offers a great resource of information and friendly cyclists to meet on their bunch rides.

Thousands of riders will be challenging themselves to ride around the famous Mount Egmont and the route traverses through some prime undulating dairy farm lush green country roads via Kaponga with views of some of the world’s best surfing on a wild west coast. If you look closely on the map, I’ll be staying for the bulk of my time near the small village of Okato (pop. 500) with easy access to the surf beach and good road rides!  For the first couple of days I’ll be staying in the major city of New Plymouth that only has a population of just over 52,000.  If you are planning on doing this event on January 14th and read my article in time, you can get a discount for your stay at the Devon Hotel, they offer some quite classy accommodation and have an awesome buffet (I know this as I have stayed there before when I did the Tour of Taranaki in 2007) and judging by the Marbles Buffet menu, it has gotten better! Just quote “Bikedan in Asia” to receive a discount of their online published rates. If you see this after the event has passed and are headed to New Plymouth, don’t despair as the discount is still open if my website is quoted when making reservations. Enjoy your stay in New Plymouth.

While I am in Taranaki, I’ll be seeking out the best road routes and posting up on Strava for all of you to see. I’ll be writing a series of articles about riding in this ‘forgotten corner’ of New Zealand not to mention an event report on the Egmont Seafoods Round the Mountain Ride.  Fish Guru, Peter Bennett kindly provided me with the images I have displayed in this post, click for larger photos.