First race down

Well first race in Belgium for us yesterday, a 111km Kermesse in Otergem. Was about an hours drive away, but the only race on that day and we need some racing in our legs before the U23 Nations Cups start next week - first one is U23 Tour of Flanders on Saturday 9th April (6 days).

Always a bit nervous for your first race of the season, a bit unsure how race form is and how you'll get through the race! There was 267 starters, the sun was out and there was a bit of wind. Pace was on from the start, 19 laps, around 6km a lap, 3 short hills - 1 cobbled, and a bit of crosswind. Long story short, the break went, Cam ended up in the 2nd group and I was in the main bunch which was behind Cam. Happy to get through the first race, the last 2 years in Belgium I haven't finished my first 2-3 races so I'm in a better place than 09' and 10'. I'm lighter, stronger, eating better and training better.

I'm looking forward to the season here, starting with our first big race, U23 Tour of Flanders. 170km over a number of cobbled climbs and a lot of the same course as the ProTour, Tour of Flanders which was on today, we watched it on TV, was an awesome race! Looking forward to it, learning and hopefully coming off the Nations Cups with some good race legs.

Course profile for U23 Flanders, 17 climbs eeek

Ciao

Europe 2011

Last week was super busy, trying to sort out new team bikes, time trial bike, visiting the doctor, chiropractor, massage therapist, photo shoots, packing, and a bit of time in the saddle too! Why so busy? Because I was leaving for Europe on Friday night. Seems I always manage to leave things until the last minute.....

The trip over wasn't too bad at all, AirNZ is always a treat to fly with, and both my bike boxes and my suit case arrived to Brussells when I did, so can't complain... The weather so far has been unreal, clear blue skies during the day, just a mild 2-3 degrees in the morning, takes a while for the day to warm up but its good once it does! Seems like Spring is almost better than Summer. Have settled into the house now, still waking up at weird hours of the morning.

Well into the training now, 3.5hours today and yesterday. First race is this Sunday, back into the Kermesse racing! Not expecting too much at all, should be interesting after the last race I did was Tour of Wellington where I crashed after stage 2 and broke my collarbone...

Looking forward to a good year. Will keep ya posted on the happenings throughout the 6 months we are in Europe.

Cheers

Myron

Road to recovery - Erg and Rocktape

Hey all, my apologies for being so undercover for a while, January was relatively quiet until I broke my collarbone at the Tour of Wellington. Since then I've been waiting, doing rehab, setting up a brace to ride the erg, and plenty of time on the erg!

Fortunately for me the break was no where near as bad as the last time I broke my collarbone. I fell on the left shoulder, (same side as Cape Town 2008) and the collarbone clean broke right next to where it broke last time. I had 10 days off the bike, started slowly on the erg with a harness, 2x a day.

Material sewn up, attached to bike tube. Success

I have Guddy (Tim Gudsell) to thank for this idea. Cheers Guddy

Through my twitter and facebook account, Tony from Rocktape got in touch with me to use their product to support my shoulder. I have used it before at the Melbourne World Cup, it worked well there and I was straight away keen to use it for my collarbone! We got talking, and now Rocktape is my newest sponsor, helping my recovery with my broken collarbone. Rocktape is great for heaps of different injuries, can be used to enhance performance by increasing bloodflow in the muscles! Huge thanks to Tony Stahl at Rocktape, check them out at www.rocktape.com.au .

Press release announcing our new partnership - http://rocktape.com.au/rocktape-welcomes-new-zealand-track-cyclist-myron-simpson/

So now, I don't have to use the harness, the Rocktape supports my shoulder while on the erg, and I have an appointment with the doctor this Thursday to hopefully get the all clear to go on the road! I've been pretty positive about it all, these things happen for a reason, whether we know it or not, and I have a good feeling I'm going to be back on the road by the end of the week.

Stabilisation strip around shoulder, decompression strip over collarbone

Whats next for me? Not 100% sure, going to see how the collarbone is, then go from there. All I know is that I WILL be going to Europe at end of March for a big season on the road...

Will update soon. Cheers

New sponsors - Bianchi, Cervelo, 3T and Reynolds

Would just like to a huge thanks to my new sponsors, Sola Sports. Sola Sports stock Bianchi, Cervelo, 3T, Reynolds, Netti, Dahon Folding bikes, Time, and Serfas.

Already they have hooked me up with some of the top of the line products, including the Bianchi 928, Cervelo P3 for Elite Time Trial Nationals, Reynolds 66 Carbon race wheels, Reynolds Disc, 3T Sphinx Bars - already helped me to my first Elite National Madison Championship title. Loving my Bianchi and can't wait to ride the Cervelo!

Check out the Bianchi and Cervelo pages on Facebook and the other product websites

- Bianchi New Zealand , Bianchi International

- Cervelo New Zealand , Cervelo International

- 3T , Reynolds

Some pics below of my new bikes and equipment.

My awesome new Bianchi 928 with Reynold's 66's

Cervelo P3 and Reynolds Disc getting ready for Elite Nationals

3T Aero Bars

My new wicked Sphinx 3T bars

Again, helped me win Elite Madison Nationals

Some recent media stories and articles

Click on each link below to read/view some recent stories on me that have been in the paper or on the news. Once you've read them, click the back button to come back to my page.

Southland times article 1 - Pre madison nationals

Southland times article 2 - Post madison nationals

3 news story - Post madison nationals

Howick and Pakuranga Times article - Comm Games wrap up

Hopefully more to come in the future!

Melbourne World Cup + Madison Nationals wrap up

She's a big one....

A quick wrap up on the last night of Oceania's in Adelaide before talking about the Melbourne World Cup.

The final night of racing at the Oceania's was the Saturday, with the Team Pursuit and possibly the Madison as well. I was thinking about riding the Madison but didn't confirm it until about 2hrs before the race, as there was a good chance I would be riding it in Melbourne at the WC. The Team Pursuit in Adelaide went well for our first race as a team. The team was me starting, Aaron Gate riding 2nd, Shane Archbold 3rd and Cameron Karwowski 4th. In qualifying we rode 4.10, with Australia, the World Champions, riding 4.06. In the final we went out a bit harder, and rode a 4.08 with the Aussies ride 4.02, we were pretty happy with our first rides together, picking up the Silver in the TP.

I decided to ride the Madisonas there was now 8 teams (at first there was only 3 entry's) and would be a good chance to getsome more racing into the legs before Melbourne. Gatey and I rode together, deciding not to dotoo much and just get some racing in our legs. We were up against Cameron Meyer and Leigh Howard of Australia, the World Champions in the Madison. We had a good crack,rode well picking up some points because the Team Sprint boys go good but couldn't keep up with the World Champs as they got a lap up on us. We picked up the Silver in the Madison. 3 Silver medals at the Oceania Championships in Adelaide.

We flew to Melbourne on Sunday to prepare for the World Cup starting on Thursday. We had a few days training on the Hisense Arena before we raced, trying to get use to the track and riding together in the Team Pursuit. Aaron and I were given the nod to race the Madison on Thursday night, the first night of racing.

There were 13 starters in the 40km Madison, 160laps of the Hisense Velodrome with sprints every 20 laps. We started well, taking out the first sprint, following that the pace was on! From there on, the race was a bit of a blur... All I remember is the Aussie World Champ pair of Leigh Howard and Cam Meyer took a lap, the Dutch pair chased and eventually took a lap. Gatey and I slipped off the front with Hong Kong and pushed the pace. We got over half a lap on the bunch before the Aussie's realised we were about to get a lap, which would have put us into the lead of the race because we had more points than Australia. They hit the bunch and as we got our lap they were off the front going for another lap, which they eventually got and sealed the Gold medal for them. Aaron and I picked up Silver which was our best result to date.

Gatey and I during a change

Podium

NZ 2nd, AUS 1st, NED 3rd

Shane "Novie" Archbold rode the Omnium over the first2 days of racing, Thursday and Friday. We knew he had good form, but the way he rode over the 2 days of racing was incredible. He was consistent, strong, smart and fast! He didn't finish out of the top 5 in 6 different events, and riding to Personal Best times in all 3 timed events to win the Gold.

The Team Pursuit was on Saturday, the last day of racing. The team was Aaron Gate, Cameron Karwowski, Shane Archbold and myself. Shane, Aaron and myself won Bronze at the Beijing World Cup in January in a timeof4.05.We were in the 5th to last heat, and before us the best time was 4.05. The goal was to ride to a 4.04,I started,Aaron rode 2nd, Shane 3rd and Cam 4.

The same order as below, after the firs 3/4 of a lap...

Team Pursuit Melbourne World Cup

Team Pursuit Melbourne World Cup

The ride went well, and we rode to a personal best for all 4 of us, 4 minutes and 4 seconds, top qualifier with 4 teams to go. Great Britain went out extremely hard but blew up, they still managed to ride to a 4.02. Australia, the reigning World Champs rode 4.00 while Russia surprised a few and rode themselves into the Gold/Silver ride with 4.01. We were up against Great Britain in the ride for Bronze.

We knew we would have to step up if we wanted to beat GB, and I knew I had plenty more in the tank for the final... We hit out harder than in the qualifying but knew it would come down to the last 4laps. The Brits went out super hard and had over 2 seconds advantage on us with 6 laps to go! We rode consistently as they blew up, the gap was coming down... Cam dropped with 1km to go, and Gatey opened the throttle and pulled 2 huge laps to finish the ride. We missed out by less than 2tenths of a second...Was unreal to look up at the scoreboard and see 4.01.602, with GB riding 4.01.456. Unfortunately we didn't get the Bronze, but we were all stoked with our time. Australia had a super impressive ride, 3.56... Next goal for me, ride under 4minutes.

Team Pursuit Melbourne World Cup

From Melbourne the whole team flew to Invercargill for a Pre-Cali training camp, the next world cup in Colombia this week. On Tuesday 7th December was the Elite Madison National Champs, and I was again riding with Aaron Gate. The local paper lined us up as "Firm Favourites" (click on the link). The field was strong, with most of the NZ squad riders there. We knew we had to watch Shane and Marc Ryan, Sam Bewley and Jesse Sergent, Wes Gough and Cam Karwowski. The plan was to get the early sprints then follow the others when they tried to take laps.

We started well, winning the first sprint. Following the 2nd sprint, I straight away pushed the pace and I slipped off the front of the field. My legs were feeling good, so we decided to hit the bunch hard and it worked. We strung out the bunch and it was in one's and two's all around the ILT Velodrome. It took just over 20laps but we took a lap on the field... Solo...

Catching some riders just before I caught the bunch

We took the lap early, we still had 100laps of the race to go, a lot could happen... A number of the other teams tried to attack us, but the way we were both riding, it seemed nothing was getting away from us tonight. We were in the box seat and all we had to do was follow and defend, which we did well! It was a fast race, 40km in 44mins, and we came out on top, the only team to lap the field, and we scored the most points! It was our first Elite National title for both Aaron and myself, it felt good!

2010/11 Elite Madison National Champs

An article in the Southland Times the following day "click here".

The next 2 nights was "The Festival of Speed". It was a full Omnium format, with 6 race's over 2 days. I posted 2 Personal Best times, in the 'Flying Lap' and '3km Individual Pursuit', my form was good. I won the flying lap, got 11th in the Scratch race, won the Elimination, got 2nd in the Individual Pursuit, 3rd in the Points Race and then won the Kilo. After the 6 events I finished in 3rd, with the Scratch race really letting me down. Aaron Gate got 1st, Marc Ryan 2nd. Some images from the racing below....

Thats all from me now. At the moment I've got two weeks off the bike, living it up, enjoying the summer and company of my mates. Next stop, Melbourne for the Bay Crits.

Cheers for reading

Myron

First big Tour, now back in Aussie

Tour of Southland finished 3 weeks ago, and I got through my first senior Tour better than I thought I would. After Delhi I had a 10 day block on the road to get the km's in the legs and hoped that I got through Southland not too bad... I rode for PowerNet, the main sponsor of the tour for 10 years.

The team time trial around Queens Park went well, we picked up 5th so we were pretty happy. On the afternoon stage to Bluff I got caught up in the crash 5km from the bottom of Bluff and took some skin off my knee, elbow and hip, but other than that I was alright and made my way up Bluff at my own pace.

Day 2 was the longest single stage in the tour, 165km from Invers to Gore. I sat in the bunch nice, and we got amongst the stage finish with a PowerNet lead out. I didn't know the finish and got a bit caught out 1km from the finish but Tom Scully and Shane Archbold picked up 4th and 5th on the stage, good day for the PowerNet team.

Day 3 was a double day, and probably the hardest day of the tour. In the morning it was a bunch kick and we lined up Scully for the finish. I took him from 900m to go and took Shane to 300m to go and he had Scully on his wheel. Tom got up for another 4th place, Greg Henderson won that stage. The afternoon stage was fast with a lot of cross winds! I rode well up in the bunch and made the front group of 45 on the finish into Winton. There was a group of 3 with about 20 seconds with 2km to go, and I decided if Tom or Shane were to have a go at the bunch kick it was up to me to bring it back. I was on the front from 2km-1km to go but unfortunately both the boys got swamped and Mike Northey took out the stage.

Day 4 was up to the Crown Range, nothing too exciting happened here for me. I rode pretty well and got to within 5km of the stage finish in the bunch before I tinkled up the hill top finish. Day 5 was a shitter, the real Southland weather decided to turn up and for the first time we had rain and wind! It was a chilly 5 degrees at the start in Winton... I rode well but was definitely starting to fatigue as it was day 5! I got to Black Mount in the bunch then cruised up the hill and formed a nice big group of around 25 riders to ride to the finish at Te Anau.

Day 6, the last day! The morning stage into Lumsden was tense, with the yellow jersey only seperated by 3 seconds between Jack Bauer and Hayden Roulston. Into the finish I lined up Shane Archbold with a big turn on the front less than 1km out. Roulston was on Archbold's wheel and jumped past him taking the stage, and also the yellow jersey from Bauer! The final 60km was back into Invercargill and 3 laps around Queens Park. Again it was a bunch kick and it was my job to get Shane near the front with less than 500m to go. Shane was on Hendy's wheel coming out of the last corner with 300m to go but didn't quite have the speed to get over him, but finished up 2nd, and the best result for the PowerNet team so far!

I was happy with my first Tour of Southland, was definitely good training, building the engine, and I was very grateful the weather was good to us!

Last Friday I flew to Perth with Shane and Aaron Gate for the Perth Grand Prix on the track. It was to blow out a few cob webs and get us ready for the Oceania Champs where I am now, in Adelaide. So far I have picked up 2nd in the Elite Men's Omnium, and have the Team Pursuit today!

I'm off to Melbourne on Sunday with a number of the riders here, for the UCI Track Cycling World Cup next week. My mum, brother, sister, grandad, and uncle are all coming over to watch so hopefully I can have a good few days on the track and show them some good racing!

Cheers