The last week has been a busy and exciting week for myself and many other kiwi's! As you would have heard Sam Webster from Auckland won 3 world titles at the Junior World Track Champs in Moscow in the week just gone, winning the team sprint along with Ethan Mitchell and Cameron Karwowski! Coming out the next day and winning the Kierin undefeated, then over the last two days of racing he became the the fastest ever kiwi in the flying 200m and winning Gold in the match sprints on the final day! Sam seemed to be unstoppable and became the most successful junior rider in New Zealand ever.
Over here in Kutztown it has also been pretty full on with training, racing and making a day trip to New York! I worked myself pretty hard this week, making the most of training while i'm here. The weather here is very unpredictable and this showed on Wednesday when the sun disappeared and we rode into a huge lightning thunderstorm, but its not like home because its still 20-25degrees which is like having a bath!
Friday night racing was a good night for us 6 young lads who live, train and race together! It was different to most Friday night racing and the prize money was on individual events, and not the overall Omnium points. We pretty much dominated the night, winning almost every sprint prime during the races which were for money, beer and socks (we had to swap the beer for cash because we are all underage!). Shane and Shem got 1st and 2nd in the Super Sprint Elimination, won all the intermediate cash primes and then Shane got 3rd and I got 6th in the final 5mile scratch of the night! All and all a successful night, pocketing a bit of money extra to enjoy the next week...
The atmosphere around the house has got a bit busier as Hayden Godfrey and Josh England have turned up in Kutztown in between some big racing blocks for them. Hayden is living with us and his brother and flatmate are also visiting Kutztown so quite often the lounge is full but it is always good to see some more kiwi faces. Gemma Dudley leaves to go home this week so Shem, Hayden and I have to move out and figure out some accommodation for the final 2 weeks here but it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
While out training this week I have seen many Amish horse and cart's so I thought I would let everyone know a bit about them as we live in an Amish community! The Amish (pronounced Ar-Mish) are known for their simple living style, plain dressing and resistance to many modern technological changes. There are approximately 227,000 Old Order Amish living in USA and they basically live off the land growing products which they sell at places such as farmers markets. We have a farmers market near us every Friday and Saturday and their are heaps of fresh produce such a fruit and vegetables at a price better than supermarkets. They buzz around on their horse and carts on the majority of the roads around here just keeping right so they don't hold up the traffic too much. Generally they are dressed in all black and are friendly enough to wave back when you give them a wave while out riding.
That is pretty much all I know about them, bit of a history lesson for you all out there! Haha... I learnt all of that after leaving school which is pretty impressive I thought.
So congratulations to all those who were at Junior Worlds in Moscow, Ethan Mitchell, Cameron Karwowski and Sam Webster are World Champions in the team sprint, and Sam Webster is also World Champ in the Kierin and Sprints! You legends... Watch out for these names in the future. Will be good catching up with Sam and Eth when I get home as I am good friends with them both so will be good to share stories of our trips overseas!
Stay tuned....
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