.Gordon McCauley

New Website

2009-08-25T01:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks to everyone that has followed my adventures on the good old blog.

With my move back to coaching as my job my personal and race Blogs aswell as twitter updates can now be found at

www.gmccoaching.com Once again thanks for your continued support.

Gordy McCauley

A Man and His Van

2009-08-15T01:11:00.000-07:00

It's a special moment when a man gets his 1st van, even more special when you pick that van up for a song.

I bought Ernie the Van a couple of weeks ago as my new cycling van, I'm sick of being cramped up in a car when it's raining outside and I'm turning my body inside out and basically being a contortionist in order to put my bib shorts on.

I picked Ernie up for the bargain price of $3000 NZ (that's about $2000 of your American Dollars or $1500 of you European Dollars)... I even haggled the car salesman down from $4000.

Ernie is a 1992 Toyota Lite Ace van...and he's a 2litre Diesel turbo, so whilst he may not be the fastest ship in the galaxy, he is certainly the most reliable (at the moment anyway) and cheapest.

He fit's 4 bikes and several pairs of wheels with ease.

He's probably not going to get you layed anytime soon, but he does have the distinct advantage of having room enough for a bed should you get lucky.

Today was Ernie's 2nd race and he performed admirably...in fact he's a rock star... It'd be fair to say that he's now one of the family and Man and Van have Bonded.

One for my Peeps

2009-07-29T23:18:00.000-07:00

So today I'm at the Sky TV studio's to be a guest presenter for a show called sportbox (They are covering the TDF this week) and I hear...'Shit...it's Gordon McCauley'.

As it turns out it was these guys from the show 'Crowd Goes Wild'... so being the People's Champion I agreed to have a photo with them for thier office wall.

:) Thanks Fella's

The Big Mans Blog!

2009-07-28T01:21:00.000-07:00

My team-mate Big Jason Allen has launched a new blog http://www.bigjasallen.blogspot.com/ check it out...it's as funny as hell!

Updates

2009-07-27T02:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Fans!

Sorry for my lack of updates of late, but with work,training, coaching, dieting, http://www.brankoscoffee.com/ , and writing daily updates on the TDF for http://www.cyclingnz.com/ the creative blogging juice's just really havent been flowing.

The plan tonight was to post the rest of my 2009 season race programme on the good old blog so you can come out and take turns at whooping my arse, but I'm 'not all that down' on computer stuff, and although I've just got the gist of doing Excell Spreadsheets , I've yet to figure out how to cut and paste that info on to my blog...it comes out looking like a pigs arse!

That said...on the up-side..you won't know where I'm racing so there might be a few less people lining up for a shot at the Title!

You can be rest assured I'll be on the start line of the Auckland Centre TT champs this weekend though, and if you want a shot 'bring it on!'..(Actually I know entries have closed...)

So...I'll get my programme posted asap...cheers

Hunger pangs

2009-07-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

I'm on a diet!
exactly 1 year ago I was 78.8kg, thats 7.8kg more than when I was at my lightest in Europe in 2002, last year I watched what I ate and managed to get down to 73.5kg for southland and nationals and all was well...

This year however I want to get back to my euro racing weight, which is going to be somewhat harder because A: last Wednesday I was 76kg when I when to my nutritionist B: When I was in europe and overweight I would just go out and do 1000km a week for a month and 'Boof' I'm skinny again!

Nowadays however I A: work full-time and can squeeze in 600km on a good week (normally only in summer) B: I've probably screwed my metabolism from all my Yo Yo dieting.

So... I'm on a diet! the problem is that I've overdone it a wee bit and lost 2kg in one week..that might explain my lack of recovery from training...hmmmmmmmmmm no glycogen in the muscles usually ,means no energy hmmmmmmmmmmmm..

Me last Wednesday

And looking fit after training today

I'm a Celebrity!

2009-07-07T00:04:00.000-07:00

So with the Tour de France going on at the moment and with me being one of the few Elite kiwi riders here for the winter (not to mention extremly good looking and photogenic) I've been getting asked to do alot of guest appearances.

1st up was on Saturday night on Radio Sport live..I was on there for an hour with Del Woodford being interveiwed about the Tour and whom I thought would win, I even took some calls from the switch board.

Next week I'm part of the panel of Deaker on Sport live on sky TV for an hour, TDF will be the main topic of discussion, but hopefully I'll get the opportunity to bag on some of the sports I really hate!

A few days after that I'm making a guest appearance at Avanti Plus Mt Eden to help promote their Tour de France evening.

I'm also writing a daily TDF column on http://www.cyclingnz.com/ , aswell as working a full-time job and starting a coffee company http://www.brankoscoffee.com/ ...I also coach 12 people and squeeze 20-25hours a week in on the bike.

This along with dodging the paparazzi hiding in the tree's and on the roof-tops makes for a busy schedule, I'll tell you now it's bloody hard to drag my Avanti Cadent team thru the hedge at the back of our house across the old peoples home front lawn and onto the street to avoid being mobbed by the throngs of Fans and autograph hunters that camp on our street.

I'm thinking of getting a body guard (I wonder if Cadels is looking for work after the tour?)...afterall whats gonna happen when I win the Auckland Centre TT champs in 4 weeks...the bloody country will go nuts for the Peoples Champion.

Another Epic Sunday

2009-07-04T17:50:00.000-07:00

Today started earlier than usual, normally I'm up at 4.45am on Sunday to head out at 5.30am to meet the Sunday Bunchy.

On this Sunday though I was up at 4.00am so I could watch the last hour of the Tour de France.

Feeling full of motivation after watching Cancellara crush everyone and despite the severe storm warning issued by the MET service I headed out in my trusty rain cape to meet Biggse and Matt Hinton for the 32km to the top of Albany hill and my normal Sunday date with the 7.00am Bunch.

To my suprize bith Biggse and Matt were at Pt Chev corner, they must have watched the TDF aswell and were raring to go.

Off up the bike path we headed into the gale force head wind and driving rain with not a complaint..'Game On'!

As started the climb of Albany hill and hour or so later I noticed Biggse had dropped back...ah...saving his legs...at least thats what I thought.

We arrived on time and waited untill Biggse and the bunch showed....ummmmmm only 9-10 people.

Thats when Biggse cracked... 'Bugger you guys...this sucks! I'm going home'... not taking much convincing I agreed so long as we could stop at Eurobake cafe on the way, and as I coach Matt I instantly changed his program so he could join us (which was just aswell...read on), I text Pammie aswell as I knew she was heading out at 7am and suggested she meet us at the cafe.

So we head back the way we have just ridden and just before Eurobake we hear 'So bacon and Eggs for Brekky'... big (or not so big nowadays) Stu Imrie (Stunami) had turned around aswell...now we were 4.. so 4 soggy cyclists trudged into Eurobake and had a cooked Brekky.

Pammie joined us 1 hour later and we headed off...back towards Kumeu Stu turned off and we carried on (feeling a bit guilty by now)...so into the hills we went....Pssssssssssssssssssssssst

Pammie flatted...no probs, I'll change it for her... tyre off,check for glass, new tube in, CO2 attached psssssssssssssssssssssssssst ...F#@&K her doofer for firing the CO2 malfuctions...no probs I'll get mine out of my seat bag... Tube,levers, spare $5 ...CO2...shit! no CO2 Doofer!

'Matt..can you inflate this?'.

So Matt inflats the tyre and off we go....2km later Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssst...Biggse flats!

'Matt...here just cahnge his tyre it's raining and we are all pissed off...and apart from that your the new guy and the only bike mechanic here'...

And so I've just thawed out in the bath whilst eating Chicken potatoe chips.(where else would you eat them?)

Now I've gotta do my TDF race report for http://www.cyclingnz.com/ make sure you check it out!

Gordy

All aboard the pain Train

2009-06-28T21:40:00.001-07:00

It hurts to ride a 51min 40km TT on NZ's (not so) super fast roads! Here's proof.

Things that smell in the night

2009-06-27T18:06:00.000-07:00

So last night Pamela and I had our normal post race pasta meal and Pamela being the awesome cook she is mixed in some tinned fish (smoked fish actually).
Tinned fish is preserved in water and so for a wee treat for our Toy Poodle (buttons) and Brussels Griffon (Teddy)... "very manly names I know".. had some of the fishy water poured on their doggy dinners.
All was well in Chez McCauley for the next hour or so..we were all on the sofa watching telly (no...not the bloody rugby)..untill Pammie accused me of farting!
Now if I fart, I fart load and proud and try to clear the room..I'm proud of the farts I can produce (especially with a large intake of protein to stimulate production)..but this was not me!
I in turn accused Pammie of being a smelly cow and stop trying to put the blame on me..she swore black and blue it wasn't her either.
So after another couple of fart incidents we decided to send Teddy out of the room..and low and behold the stench stopped...so The smallest living creature in our house has the abilty to clear a room..hmmmmm no more Fish Juice for Teddy me thinks!
In other breaking news I managed to win the CMC club 40km TT champs with a 51.24..I'm pretty stoked with that as its a 2 lap course with Hair pin turns at each end.
In 5 weeks we have centre TT champs on the same course...so with some good TT training and a nice day I reckon a sub 51 is on the cards.
Pic is of the offending dog!
Posted by The People's Champion at 17:49

0 comments

A few Random Shots

2009-06-23T00:40:00.000-07:00

So...a few photo's from the weekend for your veiw pleasure...each has a story.

The guys changing the Tyre is Ric Reid, former NZ Olympic cyclist and one of my biggest fans....(see previous post for explanation).

The other little tacker is my Nephew Oliver, who at 22 months calls me 'Gadoo'...which is a huge improvement on 'Dorgon'...thats what my other Nephew Thomas was calling me at a similar age.

The other is the biggest trophee collection I've ever seen..it's Tony McCall's he's a 4x4 racer (or something like that)..he's the husband of one of my customers from work..

Hard day 4 me...Crap Day 4 Ric

2009-06-19T23:53:00.000-07:00

So.. I had organised to meet the infamous Ric Reid at Point Chev cnr at 10.30am so we could ride out to the Mauku Mtn classic.
Its about a 60km ride to Mauku with the start not till 2pm but I made our leaving time early because A: Ric is always running late B: It was a dirty gale force head wind all the way C: there are alot of traffic lights to slow us down D: We could take it easy, maybe grab a coffee along the way and not be too tired to race.

S0... I arrive on time and the phone rings " Gordon...yeah Ric here... I've broken a spoke and gone home to get another wheel..just leaving home now, ride towards me and I'll meet you on the bike path"
Ric lives completly the opposite way from the way we were going, but I dawdled along and meet him 8km later on the bike path...
"No Sweat".. I left early for this very reason (Ric is usually very disorganised).
I turned around with Ric and off we went.... 3km further down the bike path and Pssssssssssssssst, Ric Punctures...Brilliant!
Still no worries he has spares?.... Ok he had spares and a 2inch long Carbon fibre bike pump, now I'm starting to get Ratty...I use my only CO2 and inflate the tyre for him..
Cool..off we go..
200mtrs later Pssssssssssssssssssssssssssst he punctures again " For F%$#k sake!, we start to change the tyre and along comes Ric's flat-mate John Harris..John agrees to go home and get the car so I can carry on riding to the race, now I'm 45 minutes behind schedule.

Off I go riding pretty hard to make up time , Dutiefully stopping at the red lights, and even got motorpaced for 10km behind one of those big cranes that can only go 50kmph.
My moral is further dented with Aaron Strong pulls up beside me in the car because he elected to save his legs and drive out instead of riding as he normally does.

So I make the race ok, and I have a little time to spare as Pammie picked up my race number, stupidly I think I better go and ride the climb (as if 3 times in the race wouldn't be enough)..
Hmmmm perhaps I shouldve put a 25 on?

Ric arrives having driven out aswell and the race starts as usual... being very warmed up I split the feild in the 1st section of cross winds... this is where Ric has another incident.
Ric is on a whell hard in the left gutter when somebody he's following veers off the road into a ditch...naturally Ric follows him into the ditch and punctures again!

So...the race goes on, I go solo feeling great guns and have 40secs 2nd time up the hill on 4 chasers, no probs "its in the bag"...except I'm getting slower and slower and slower (and that was on the flat easy bits)..Yip...blew to bits!

Sam Lindsay and Strongman come up and I'm in the hurt box big time, but I soldier on and try a couple of cheeky attacks untill I really crack... Strongman comes sailing by with 5km to go and I can't do anything...
Sam catchs up and teases me a bit...(I got really ratty and owe you an apologie Sam) I then proceed to have to zig-zag up the climb..."Yip a 25cog would have been good about now"..

So all in all it was an eventfull and frustrating day... At least Pammie kicked some arse and won E grade...the clever cow had asked me to fit a 27 to her bike so she could float up the hills...

"I Hate That"

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

2009-06-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

I'm not accustomed to really cold temperatures in Auckland..

So when I headed out this morning with Pammie to hit the Torture Loop, I wasnt that impressed.

Normally Pammie does the 1st 30-40km then heads for home whilst I soldier on and finish the rest of the loop...not today though.

It was warm enough climbing the Waitakes, but bugger me it was freezing on the way down!

By the time we got to Swanson I was over it!... Hands and feet were numb so it was time to stop and warm up at Redwoods Cafe... The official temperature on the dail at Redwoods was 0degress, meaning it would have been -2 or so on the descent.

Pammie was frozen so warmed here hands up in the oven!...

The other photo is of one of the bridges on the bike path...ice is unusual in Auckland...

I now relinguish my Title of being hard southern man...

2 4 2

2009-06-14T02:22:00.000-07:00

I had two races and two wins over the weekend...sweet,
Now whilst I would normally expect to win or be bloody close to it in the Waterfront TT it was my time I'm stoked with.. 19.26 for 16km, thats the fastest I've gone for 2 years...so it appears that the little bit of extra time I'm spending on the TT rig is paying off.
We had our 1/2 distance champs today, and although I didn't have the best legs in the world I managed a solo win there aswell...Both days were wet and windy and quite frankly pretty crappy.
In other breaking news,Biggse and I are planning a monster training weekend riding to and from Corromandel one weekend in July..it's about 200km each way and last time I did this with Scotty Wilder a great weekend was had by all...
Beer was drunk...war stories were told...and our wifes were generally bored and consumed vast amounts of wine.
Next weekend is the dreaded Mauku Mountain Classic...with a vicious little climb to be ridden 3 times, I'm gonna stick with a 23 cog on the back...but I'm sorely tempted to go for a 25...it's honestly that steep (I'm also a rubbish climber)..
Ok...training wheels are in, lights are on charge and my cycling kits out for tomorrows 6am recvery spin...Laters

Motivation

2009-06-11T00:12:00.000-07:00

I've not been all that motivated to train the last few weeks... but that all changed yesterday morning..
My new batch of Subway-Avanti Champion Systems race gear arrived...
A speedsuit, NZ champ jerseys,shorts and vest...aswell a a NZ champ Thermal Jacket... Pammie got a whole pile of kit aswell, so we've been training our arses off.
In fact I've done rides before and after work for the last 2 days...

In other news, I'm now proud part owner of Branko Coffee ( http://www.brankoscoffee.com/ ), It's coffee by cyclists for cyclists, and you'll be seeing more and more of it in the near future... ( B4 you ask I still have my day job).

This weekend is the Auckland 1/2 distance champs on a course out West of Auckland that I train on 2-3 times a week, so I'll be looking to get a win there if I can.

So... thats my pathetic update... hopefully I'll have more to write about by the end of the weekend... Remember 'if your not 1st...your last'

Eventfull Day

2009-06-05T23:54:00.000-07:00

It started with a 3 hour 45min ride out to the race with Strongman and Stew Imrie... Strongman and I then rode away for 45km in the race and had the sprint to ourselves (fortunatly for me Strongman is a much better climber than sprinter so I won)..
I then watch Pammie just lose her race (but she still goot 2nd) in the sprint and her freind Sharon get 3rd... Onto the presentation... we got our prizes and I proceeded to pull my own number out of the hat to win the cooked Ham raffle.. (Ham cooked by Athol...cheers Athol)
Thats where I am right now...about to eat a cooked Ham!

Whats on the board Miss Ford?

2009-06-03T02:02:00.000-07:00

So whats on the board at the moment?
Well I'm over my head cold/chest infection and after 7 days in a row of 40km coffee rides I'm back!
Work has ramped up a bit aswell so it's all go...
This weekend we have a 50km club race at Aka Aka and its a 90km ish ride out there so with the ride out and race it should be a good day on the bike (I travel home with Pammie in the car).
Sunday will be between 150 and 180km then back to normal training for the week.
The next week is the Auckland 1/2 distance champs held on roads I train on 3-4 times a week, I've never raced around that circuit but I know how broken I can be training around it, so it should be a pretty hard race.
Last but not least, I may have upset one or 2 people in the 'things I hate' post... it's very simple really, if you don't like how (or what) I write, then don't read my blog... most people will tell you I'm a freindly guy and I'm always happy to chat with people etc etc and I think I am... I just object to towing people around out training... maybe if the people were polite enough to at least acknowledge me (like some polite people do and in doing so get towed all day) before they jump on my wheel it wouldn't be so bad... but most don't.
So if it's you thats one of those people that jumps on for a free ride, then don't be suprised if you get blown off my wheel at 50kmph plus...

Things I hate ..part 2

2009-05-31T01:39:00.000-07:00

Further to my latest post..I've thought up some more things... for those that left comments on 'Things I Hate' part 1...thanks... FYI..I'll try to be more polite and wave (would you settle for a nod or an eyebrow raise???).

Ok...onto the things I hate..feel free to comment.

People that don't leave thier own name when posting on Forums and blogs (I had to get that in there)...;)
Crashing in my national champs kit...I've wrecked 2 sets already this year.
Getting sick..especially when I'm creeping anyway and really want to train.
I hate the guys that get caught for doping and cry 'I didn't do it'... sure you didn't...
I hate getting buzzed by motorists.
I hate getting up early on cold days to train...I still do it...so maybe...just maybe ..I like it.
I hate not stopping for coffee on long rides.... or does that mean I love stopping for coffee?

So thats the end of another exciting episode of 'Things I hate'.... maybe this week... I could do a photo essay called 'What the?'

If you have seen anything stupid on your bike (like Farteze the fish n chip shop)...take a photo and email to me gordon@gmccoaching.com and I'll post it here...

Thanks for reading

Things I hate!

2009-05-29T02:20:00.000-07:00

Whilst I'm not doing alot of racing at the moment there isn't a whole lot to write about... so I'm not gonna bore you with stuff from my job...and I'm definatly not going to reveal what we got up to on the Subway-Avanti night out last Saturday..
I thought I'd give you a little incite into things I hate in cycling... I could write a novel on things I hate, so this is just a small list...feel free to leave comments and I'll add to it.

Waving to people.... If I don't know you, I'm not waving to you! I don't wave to every motorist when I'm in the car so I'm not waving to every cyclist.
Wheel suckers... It's NOT your right to sit on me if I pass you out training...piss off! The reason you need to sit on is that you don't train hard enough...toughen up!
Legwarmers... Put them on! if its cold enough to wear shoe covers and a jacket, it's cold enough for leg warmers!
Being Late... if the bunch leaves at 9am...we leave at 9am, I don't care if you puncture on the way...leave earlier just in case or chase.
Gobby Juniors... I was a gobby junior once (now I'm a gobby senior)...show some respect to the older riders (much older in my case)...respect your elders, wether they ride or not.
Punctures...punctures ruin ride's (Don't wait...I'm happy to chase).
Crappy teams... teams that don't honour contracts...excluding Landbouwcredit,Shroeder Iron,Plowman Craven and Subway-Avanti... Team's that flick riders for any part of thier contracts are wankers.
XXL Tee Shirts... have you noticed alot of sponsor's(but not all..including my current sponsors) give thier athletes the XXL Tee Shirts that they can't sell to wear.. why would we want to look daft in XXL Tee shirts?

Ok...thats my rant for a while...maybe my next post will be on things I really really like....

Tough Weekend

2009-05-25T01:03:00.000-07:00

Well it was a bloody hard weekend all round....
Despite our best efforts we couldn't westle the Benchmark Tour form Dan Barry.....
We raced in the coldest conditions I've raced in since Southland last year (infact the tips of my fingers still tingle)...
Then to top it all off I had a wee bit too much to drink and felt terrible yesterday...It's just aswell I only drink once every 6 months.
Whats coming up?... not much really, I'm gonna give the Tour of Taranaki a miss this weekend and ride the waterfront TT, I have a few big TT goals between now and mid next year so it's time to buckle down and start training for them.
besides that, not much has been going on...till next time!

Cycling has a drug problem?????

2009-05-20T13:15:00.000-07:00

Just have a read of this...it was in the New Zealand Herald this morning..

Sport RSS Email Print
Bodybuilders muscle out as dope-test agents arrive
4:00AM Thursday May 21, 2009

The Belgian bodybuilding championships were cancelled after all competitors fled when doping officials showed up.
After a spate of positive doping tests over the past years in Belgium, the championships had been moved just across the Dutch border to Vlissingen.
"They must have felt safe out there," doping official Hans Cooman said.
Still, Cooman and two colleagues got the necessary papers to check the tournament in the Netherlands.
And when they identified themselves just before the event, as the 20 bodybuilders were weighing in and preparing themselves, the testers got the surprise of their lives.
The competitors all just got up and left, preferring to quit the event rather than submit to doping tests. Some grabbed their gear and headed straight out the door. "They must have been flabbergasted," Cooman said.
Bodybuilders usually take months to prepare for such championships.
"I have never seen anything like it and hope never to see anything like it again," Cooman said.
The sport has a history of doping, "and this incident didn't do its reputation any good", he said.
Last year, 22 of 29 tests were positive, either for steroids or for refusing testing.
"This was the first time, though, we turned up in the Netherlands."
Minutes before the start, it left organisers with no option but to tell a few hundred fans - having not seen a single gleaming pose - that there was no point in staying.
Now, Cooman and his colleagues will report the case to the disciplinary committee, which will have to decide whether the athletes can be sanctioned because they refused to be tested.
When contacted, a man at the NABBA Belgium bodybuilding federation refused to discuss the facts and could not explain why the athletes had suddenly rushed off. He refused to give his name.
- AP

Feeling sorry

2009-05-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a wee bit sorry for my team-mate Louis at the moment...the poor buggar is smashed!
We won the 2up TT today, a 2 lap course out near Aka Aka we knocked out 52mins something which I'm pretty happy with considering it was hard to hold the bike on the road sometimes it was so windy.
I felt mint and was pretty motivated to destroy everyone today...afterall it is a TT and I love to TT...
Poor Louis was hanging on for grim death and I probably did 35km plus on the front...a bit of a learning experience for him.
I'm interested in seeing where the worlds TT course in Melbourne will be next year... thats motivating me way more than the Comm Games in India at the moment.
All in all a good day... 180km on the cards for tomorrow.

Average

2009-05-13T22:52:00.000-07:00

So it's been an average week.
I crashed in the club race on Saturday and got nowhere... I felt like a bag of poo's anyway...so crash or not I was destined to go out the arse.

For the most part this week I've been on the Erg... it's been raining everyday and to be honest it's that time of the season...after the last round of the Benchmark tour I'm gonna have a break...and drink some beer!
Pammie and I are planning a few days in the islands this winter aswell...it'll be the 1st time in 23 years I've gone on holiday without my bike.

This weekend is the CMC 2man 40km TT, I'm doing it with my team-mate Louis and we even did a bit of TT training today...I reckon we can smash everyone...I really hope the smart mouth Junior from last weekends race shows up.... Let's see if his legs are as fast as his mouth!

I've laid the gauntlet down now...lets see who's up to the challange

1st Club Race

2009-05-08T15:58:00.000-07:00

I'm just about to ride out to my 1st Counties Manukau Cycling club race for this year.
It's a 75km massed start at Ramarama... So this morning I've clean both mine and Pammies bikes and got all our kit ready to go.
It's about a 50km ride to the race from home so I should clock up a decent ride for the day.
Pammie drives out to the race and I come home with her in the car...weather is pretty shitty...so its rain cape in the pocket...and out the door.
Will twitter results later.

Bit of a catch up

2009-05-04T01:33:00.000-07:00

Well... I've been away working for a couple of weeks and of course had my trusty Avanti Team Cadent with me.

I got to give the new company car a thrash,,,(er... I mean... drove it in...um...nope.... eased it into it's work)
I even got win a round of the Benchy despit

feeling crap all week... (race report can be found at http://www.roadcycling.co.nz/).

So... I'm gonna be on TV again this weekend on Sportbox at 10.30am on Sunday, they are doing a thing on Paris-Nice and Leige Bastonge Leige and have asked me to go to the studio this week and do some filming with school kids riding and alike.

I'm not sure why they have chosen those small fry races to screen... surely the Mauku Mountain Classic similar would be much better????

With the start of my off season looming, I did my 1st run today...11mins all on grass... I'm gonna be in the hurt box tomorrow.

A couple of pics for your viewing pleasure.. Scotty Wilder in the small chainring (now we have photographic proof)... and a cool cafe I found in ChCh

Coffee with Mark

2009-04-28T16:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting at the boardroom cafe with Mark Washington...he's telling me all the Benchmark Team racing tactic's for this weekend.
Er....actually we are discussing how bad my form is...... on the upside I'm extremly talented (and good looking)...so even when I'm creeping I'm still fucking fast and strong!
Thats 3 long blacks I've had today!

Christchurch to Hamner

2009-04-26T16:13:00.000-07:00

So I gridded up in my unfit state for the 130km Christchurch to hamner Handicap race on Saturday.
17 of us on scratch...55 mins to the front... we did it easy (well the 8-10 of us that actually saw the wind all day).
Big Jas pulled off the win... buggered if I know how because he was in the hurt box as much as me all day... (at least he pulled his turns and deserved his result).
The cramp monster got me about 10km from the end and it was all I could do to finish with the group, that will teach me to try and dominate when I'm not really fit enough to be playing that game.
I'm in ChCh all week working and staying with Scotty Wilder...hopefully we can knock up a few good km's this week so I'll be feeling a bit better this week at the 2nd last round of the benchmark Tour.

Make sure you check out the new look Subway-Avanti cycling team web-site...(link on the right)

What The?

2009-04-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

Clearly this dude is pretty pissed off (and justifiably so) that his new fence has been tagged...

I saw this today whilst riding the Form Finder Loop.

Waterfront TT

2009-04-16T13:25:00.000-07:00

Being as I'm not that comfortable on the Road bike at the moment I thought I might aswell do the Waterfront TT in the morning.
So at 7am tomorrow I'll be up for 16km in the hurt box.... I normally can break the 20min barrier down there but with my damaged wing I reckon I'd be happy with anything around the 20.30 mark... whick is a long way off my PB of 18.55...infact I don't reckon I'll ever go that fast again... but hey.... never say never..

Stay Tuned for Reveiws

2009-04-15T03:13:00.000-07:00

My training DVD's have just arrived in the post from www.globalride.net Pammie and I are gonna try them out over the next few weeks and post some feedback on them.
I won't be using them for at least 3 weeks (I'm away on a sales trip) but Pammie plans to start on them tomorrow night.
Now is the ideal time I reckon to start investing in training DVD's/ upgrading the wind trainer etc... with winter about to start it beats going out in the rain at 6am in the dark... if the Globalride DVD's are good then I'll thrash them all winter and come out all guns blazing next spring.... It's game on!

What The????

2009-04-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

I saw this whilst driving to an appointment on the North Shore today...

Honestly...who calls a Fish n Chip shop Farteze?

No Improvement

2009-04-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

Well, my elbow hasn't improved over night, still no flexability and swollen, so I really must have overdone my come back.
So...it's off to the doctors again today to see what I've done to it.

Website

2009-04-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

I've decided I would like to get a proper website built, I already own gordonmccauley.com so if anybody reading can help me out or knows somebody that can can you drop me a line on gordonmccauley@hotmail.com
I'm guessing about 6 pages, and something I can update via a template.

Cheers

I'm Back

2009-04-11T22:25:00.000-07:00

Once again...I'm back!
The last 3 days have been 40,90 and 150km with another 150km plus on the cards for tomorrow.
I'm certainly not feeling 100%, but I'm on my bike (all be it sitting a bit crooked)....

New Cars

2009-04-08T00:58:00.001-07:00

Pammie and I just picked up our brand new Mazda 3's... it's the 1st brand new car I've ever had... although it does look a bit odd when there are 2 cars exactly the same in our driveway.

Progress

2009-04-07T12:23:00.000-07:00

Well I've progressed from nose picking to Bum wiping!
I can straighten my arm a little more today, so hopefully I will be back on my bike by Friday..
None the less I'm going back to work today, Im in the fortunate situation where I actually like my job and want to hit my sales targets each quarter.
My bike seems to be in good nick, and I'll be pick it up this arvo...

Good News

2009-04-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

With a bit of self diagnosis it would appear my elbow is not broken... yesterday I couldn't get my hand close enough to my face to feed myself,
Today I could pick my nose! (If I wanted to)..
Most of the pain is coming from the cuts and gravel rash on the elbow... I would like to be riding again by Friday... I have some legs to rip off!

Crash Results

2009-04-05T13:35:00.000-07:00

So as a result of my weekend stack... I have the following.

Suspected fractured Elbow
No skin on my left shoulder and shoulder blade area
No skin on my left hip
no skin on my left ankle

Equipment

Smashed helmet
both dials on my specialized shoes wrecked
a scratch on my glasses and brake lever

So like any good cyclist I put my body on the line to save my bike....thats it for now, my Doc will check my xrays this arvo and hopefully confirm there is no fracture.

For now it's onto the sofa for the day to watch Westle Mania 25..

Weekend Double

2009-04-01T01:16:00.000-07:00

On Friday morning Pammie and I catch a flight down to Blenheim for the 2nd last round of the NPS, the 'Grape Ride' in Blenheim.
It will be Pammie's 1st ever race in the Elite woman's catagory and should be a good test for her, she seem's be be going well in training and I'm hopefull she will go ok.
For me, we race on the same course and as usual I'll be looking to put the hurt on the feild when I can and hopefully set up one of my team-mates for the win.
On Sunday we shoot across to Nelson for the 4th round of the Benchmark series.It's a hillyish course and I'm looking to put the demons of the last Benchmark race to rest...so I can promise you that I aint gonna let it be a cruise... people are gonna get hurt (Most probably me).
Pammie's not racing on Sunday, but as the race is on the course that is going to be used for the club nationals later in the year it's a good chance for her to have a ride around the course and get a feel for the sort of training she will need to be doing.
I'll endeavor to post some twitter updates as the weekend goes on..

Just a note... My spelling is not always correct...why? I can't be bothered to use spell check, I'm a two finger typist and I don't proof read...

Lights

2009-03-31T19:38:00.001-07:00

In answer to a recent question...here are the lights I use at stupid oclock in the morning, the front one is a Cateye I bought from Avanti Plus and I don't know the brand of the rear light.

The front light I mount under the H/bar, hence the cables..

Welcome Polar

2009-03-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

Just thought I'd chuck a big welcome to my newest partner in Crime Polar Heart Rate moniters..
Kindly supplied to me by Britton Wynyard here in NZ..
Also thanks to Mark from Avanti Plus in Mt Eden for brokering the deal for me!

Richard Branson

2009-03-30T20:32:00.000-07:00

It now official...I'm following Dicky on Twitter...
By now he should have received his invitation to follow the People's Champion aswell!
I'm sure he'll become a devoted follower of my Tweets and of my Blog...and I'm sure it will only add the to lifetime of experience and fun he has already had.
I've read two of his books and I fully recommend them....
Remember if it's not fun...then do something else

So next year when the Virgin empire breaks all records for profit and good service (they go hand in hand), I'm sure Richard will credit gordonmccauley.com for all thier success!

New position

2009-03-30T00:06:00.000-07:00

So I've got my new seat height, 5mm higher than before...I'm waiting for the huge amounts of extra power to kick in and to ride my way into the Tour de France and my Maiden victory...all at 37 years old...bugger it! I might wait untill I'm 40 and really set the world alight!
Hmmmmm nope... reckon another win in a Benchmark race might have to suffice!

Le Race

2009-03-26T16:39:00.000-07:00

I'm set to fly down to ChCh this evening to ride Le Race tomorrow..
For those that don't know, Le Race is probably the hilliest 100km race in NZ and travels from Christchurch to Akoroa (a town settled by the frogs waaaaaaaaaaaay back I believe),
I'm being touted in some pre race reports and a race favorite... I would strongly suggest that you don't bet on me as your likely to lose your money... clearly the people that write these reports have never seen me climb a large hill.
I'll try to tweet how the race went when it's all done and dusted...
Remember: 'To Finish 1st, you must 1st finish'

Duking it Out!

2009-03-24T15:01:00.000-07:00

This is how we settle dispute's on the Subway-Avanti Cycling team... the problem is Haydon always wins.... on the upside....Joe is almost always last!

He really sucks at Swing Ball aswell!

Pammie's got a new bike

2009-03-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

Pammie's got a new full Dura-Ace Specialized Roubaix ... so we are selling her old bike on Trade-Me..

If your keen on a top of the line Colnago CLX then check this link http://www.trademe.co.nz/MyTradeMe/Sell/Current.aspx?source=sidebar

Twitter

2009-03-23T01:11:00.000-07:00

On your right you'll see my Twitter updates from now on... so anytime I can't get to a computer or get online, I'll be able to text smaller updates to my blog...
That should keep the paparazzi happy!!!

In the Box

2009-03-22T01:24:00.000-07:00

Today we had round 3 of the Benchmark series and I had a shocker!
I was in the hurt box the whole day and the best I could scrape up was 7th place to hold the series lead by a couple of points from Dan Barry...at least this year I didn't puncture.
I'm sure plenty of race reports will be written so I'm not gonna write another one cause I'm going to bed................................................So There!

Off to do the Benchy!

2009-03-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

I'm just about to head out to do an early morning spin before I fly down to Christchurch for tomorrow's round 3 of the Benchmark Tour.
Tomorrows race is 160km pan flat and has 17km of gravel thrown in just for fun.
Last year I was in the bunch racing for 2nd (Shane Archibald was really unsociable and had buggered off up the road solo)...I had made it thru all the gravel sections and I flatted with 3km to go...stink!
Hopefully I'll have better luck this year..

Over the last 20 or so years I've done heaps of gravel races....

The most important being the GP Midtbank in Denmark (UCI 1.3 at the time)...at the time I was riding for RDM Flanders and finished 3rd , I also won the sprint and gravel clasements...against such esteemed opposition as Mapei and CSC.. (I managed 7th the year before aswell)
I've ridden the Rutland classic in England 2 years ago where I finished 13th only being caught just before the finish after attacking the front group with 8km to go... the Peter Pan of cycling Malcolm Elliot won...
I've ridden Boulder-Roubaix in Boulder Colorado...where I finished 3rd...I think Chris Baldwin won that year.
I've ridden the cycle surgery gravel race in Dunedin a couple of time's where I was the lucky one not to flat and got the win on both occasions.
A few years ago there was the Hell of the North race in Whangerie where I managed to sneak the win aswell.
So that just leaves the Benchmark race tomorrow where I'm pretty G'd up for a big result!

I've done alot of the Cobbled classics in Europe aswell, like Het-Volk, Gent Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders... but I'll blabber on about them on another day..

Horn's Up!

2009-03-16T23:55:00.000-07:00

I just found this image of me giving it 2 handed 'Horn's up!' salute at the Rev 120....

Now that beats Carlos Sastre's baby dummy in the mouth...!

Not much of anything

2009-03-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Not much of anything is what I've been doing for the last week or two.
I've been working/training/sod all racing and a bit of dog walking... Pammie and I did the 56km Heels and Wheels race where I won and she got 3rd....

The next few weeks should be a bit more exciting with 2 rounds of the Benchmark series, Le Race, and the Graperide coming up.
I'm expecting to get smashed in the hills of Le race but hoping to go well in the other 3 races...

On wednesday night I'm doing a talk on racing at Avanti Plus West Auckland...so come along and I'll try to pass on some tips.....

Thats all of got for you!... (there you go Biggse...your update)

2nd Season

2009-03-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

With racing happening all year round in NZ, I kinda break it down into 2 seasons... summer and winter.
Right now we are coming to the end of the summer season and about to begin the shorter and colder winter race's.
I kinda count the end of the winter season as being the conclusion of the Tour of Southland, and the huge drinking session afterwards.
So it's time for a bit oif a summer recap.
After the Tour of Southland we had the Round Taupo Cycle race, where I once agin managed to finish 2nd... this time to an in form Pete Latham.. After that I started training hard for the TT at the nationals...and everything was going to plan until 2 nights before when I got the worst case of the shits/squirts/craps whatever you like to call it...so I sucked at the TT but managed a win in the big one to make me the only 5 time NZ Elite road champ...cool!
After that...I've kept up the training and managed a win and a 2nd in the Benchmark Tour, and a win in the NPS event the Rev 120.
So far so good.
Next up I've got another Benchmark race, followed by more Benchmarks and the final 2 rounds of the NPS (which incidently even if I won them both I would still only finish 2nd in the series).

Thats when winter really starts...
1st up in winter is the Gallipoli cup, followed by the Tour of Taranaki, then I'm hoping to get across to Superweek in the State's. If I can't get there I would like to ride the Tour of New Calidonia followed by the Suntour in Aussie then my favorite race of all The Tour of Southland.

In between times I'll be working/training and doing as many club races at Counties as I can..

Goals: I would like to win Southland again...simple as that! and most of my year is geared towards that goal...
In between time's I would like to win the Benchmark Tour , after losing by 1 point last year...I reckon it's time I put that to rest.

Right now, I'm trying to get rid of the extra Kg or 2 I've put on in the last couple of weeks... just aswell the next Benchmark race is the Gravel race and it's flat asd a pancake!

Merge like a Zip

2009-03-03T20:33:00.000-08:00

Not a whole lot has happened in the last week, My birthday is next Monday and so Pammie got Sky TV installed for me last friday and paid for the first 6 months for me... so on Saturday instead of going training like I should have I stayed in and watched Sky Documentarys.

So now I'm all 'down' on the evolution of man, the building of Hadrians Wall and I've caught up on all the old Dukes of Hazzard shows I hadn't seen for years.

Something funny did happen whilst I was working down in Tauranga yesterday, I was driving along minding my own business (meaning I was probably talking on the phone, drinking a coke and steering with my knee)... and the dual carraige way I was on went down to one lane.

So like the sign say's I 'merged like a zip' and moved between the cars and into the lane beside me... as I joined the lane I looked in my rear vision mirror to see a cute little old lady in a Match box type car absolutly abusing me, giving me the finger and going mental... she carried on behind me for a couple of km, swearing , pointing at me and road raging....AWESOME!

This was you genuine sweet old lady.... crikey...I'm still in a state of shock

Do try this at home!

2009-02-25T17:11:00.000-08:00

Whilst your sitting there reading my blog....try this:

lift your right foot off the ground and circle it in a clockwise motion.... now with your right hand try to draw the number 6 in the air.....

Immpossible isn't it???

Big Weekend for Subway-Avanti and Team GMC

2009-02-23T00:01:00.000-08:00

It was a huge weekend for the Subway-Avanti team and Team GMC (thats team Mr and Mrs Gordy McCauley).

On Saturday Pammie and I headed to the Rev 120 in Hamilton.. I for the 120km Elite race and Her for the 40km open race.
To cut a long story short I managed to win the 120km (and take the $3000 plus on offer)... whilst Pammie went 4 wins in 4 weeks to win the Chicks section of the 40km race...to top it off she was actually 11th across the line (the girls started thier race with the guys)..
So...after winning 4 races on a row, Mrs McCauley is now entered for the Elite Girls race at the next round of the NPS the Grape Ride in Blenheim... we know it's a huge step up...but it has to be made sooner or later.

After the Rev120, we drove straight back to Auckland so I could catch a flight down to ChCh for Round 2 of the Benchmark Tour... (thanks to my team-mate Eric for accepting the prize on my behalf at the Rev).
The race was on all day...
I won't go into a full race report... you can see that on Joe's blog http://www.joecooper.me/ but I finished 2nd and I'm pretty happy with that...Joe was flying and deserved to win.
Once again...big 'ups' goes out to the Ultimo Team...they missed a couple of breaks and rode like a team should to bring back the group that was away...Good Job!
I also have to say that my old team Benchmark Homes are flying! Dan Barry is a class act as usual...but the guy thats really impressed me is Leon Hextall...he's really stepped it up from last year.... Thats right Leon...I'm taking notes!!! your leash just got a little shorter in the races!!!! :)

Thats it for now kids....'Keep Cool...Till After School'

That's Right! I'm sponsored by Powerbar!

2009-02-19T00:53:00.001-08:00

Bit of TV

2009-02-18T19:53:00.000-08:00

I managed a bit of TV time yesterday on TV1's breakfast show,
Just click the link and scroll along to 2.46 for the People's Champion interveiw...
I'm particulary happy with how Cheesy my laugh was...
http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/breakfasts-bike-work-day-7-19-2492989/video

Quiet

2009-02-17T22:33:00.000-08:00

It's been fairly quiet in terms of riding for me this week...Saturday was 70km easy and Sunday was a day off due to me looking after Pammie at the Bev May Tour.
Monday/Tuesday as normal then today ended up being an easy 40km instead of the normal 100km Torture Route.
This morning Pammie,Myself and the Subway-Avanti Auckland division joined the Big Bike Brekkie and rolled down to the waterfront and met 800 odd other riders for food and fun.
I got a wee bit of TV time on the Breakfast show, and presented some prizes aswell.
Work has been really cool this week, with several new accounts opened and a few cool opportunitys to do some sponsorships coming our way.
Apart from that...not much.
I might do a double ride tomorrow, with 2 hours before work , then the Cyco crit at night, then this weekend it's the REV120 on Saturday where I'm trying to defend last years title, and the 2nd round of the Benchmark series in ChCh the next day....

Victory Lane for Pammie

2009-02-15T00:01:00.000-08:00

We have just got back from the Bev May tour where Pammie set herself up for a fine overall victory in C Grade with a commanding win in the opening TT... she then defended for 3 stages to win her first ever stage race.

I was wheel wagon for the C Grade and Commissaire on the last stage aswell... It was a great way to see the race...and to be honest it was a good,positive attacking race.

Just a few photo's... Pammie in the Blue Leaders jersey, The mighty Nissan all prepped up as wheel wagon, and Pammie in the TT...also a shot of all the jersey winners in their grades.

The only thing I would have to say is that cyclists are bloody demanding on Tour! It's not often I'm on the other end at the races and it's hard work!...also Pammie is gonna have to slow down...there is only room for one massive McCauley ego in our house!

Bev May Tour

2009-02-12T23:15:00.000-08:00

So...I'm here with Pammie in a motel in Cambridge the night before her 1st ever Bev May Womans Tour.
It's about a 2 hour drive so we had some fun counting stuff along the way...here's what we came up with:

People driving and texting - 4
People driving and talking on the phone -3
People picking their nose-2
People biting their nails-1
Hitch hikers-2
People pulled over by the Police-1

Yeah...okay...it would be fair to say that it was a boring drive.....

Guess the Rider!

2009-02-12T11:46:00.001-08:00

This photo just in... guess the rider! Answers on the back of a postcard please!

Also check out this you tube link... its just been sent to me...It's not everbodys cuppa tea...sorry if it offends anybody, but I reckon its funny as hell! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcyNANK5cY<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcyNANK5cY&feature=channel>&feature=channel

Interesting Bunchie

2009-02-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

So... I headed out the door to meet the boys at 5.30am as per usual to head out to the Bunchie (Meets at 7am at the top of Albany hill, approx 32km from where I live)...
As I stepped over my bike noticed the rear tyre was flat...Brilliant! so a rushed tyre change followed and I still made it on time.
We rolled out to meet the bunch and off we went at 7am...boom! straight up to 45kmph and everybody single file..this resulted in me sprinting to the front and dealing out some stern words!...normal bunchie resumed.
20km further on it was 45kmph again and we caught Pammies group (they leave 15mins before us and we normally meet them at the cafe).. Pammie jumped in our group whilst most of the rest of her group was left out the back.
So we hit Helensville hill and all hell broke loose...this resulted in me getting really pissed off and blowing the doors off everyone.
So...onto the cafe...2 long blacks were consumed by myself, then we hit the road back up to where the bunchie starts.. I felt like arse by this stage (Coffee not doing its job) so was happy to ride the front with Biggse so we could keep the group at our pace.
Along the way I got told to 'Get Fucked' by Lynda Goldsack (In the best possible taste) and we saw 2 Lama's getting it on! (Not being familiar with lama mating rituals at least thats what they looked like they doing).
We dropped the girls back at the cars then set off for the ride home... 1st we were almost hit by an Asian chick in a car...she turned infront of us straight after passing us... and Biggse went nuts at her!

A bit further on we got abused and honked at by another Fat bastard who gain nothing from his little hate attack, as he then had to stop for lights a few hundred metres on... once again Biggse stepped up and gave him grief... The fat prick wasn't so brave when Biggse was standing beside his window...in fact he went very quiet!!!

So that was that! (you thought I was building up to something really cool huh?)

Getting the easy bits right!

2009-02-06T20:20:00.000-08:00

I've been busy people watching at races for the last month or 2 and this is what I've come up with...
People are not getting the basics sorted! They pay for the coach.... they buy the expensive bikes/wheels/ power meters and gizmo's but they can't get the basic (And free bits sorted).

Who is to blame?- is it their coach?- maybe the shop they get their stuff from?-maybe their mates? or maybe they just don't listen?

Stuff I've observed:

Numbers: Most people put some investment into TT bikes these days... they have disk wheels, aerobars, skinsuits etc etc... but at least 80% of then don't pin their numbers on properly! C'mon ! A flapping number will cost you time! and it's free to pin down!
Warm-ups- I notice this alot at the waterfront-riders show up with their fancy bikes 5 mins before the start! your 10K bike is worthless because you cost yourself 30-50secs straight off the start line... it's free to get up a little earlier and come down to warm up...even if you don't do a wind trainer warm up...warm up on the road (Its free too)
Pump your tyres up hard! 2 weeks ago I checked another riders tyres..70PSI... 'er I did'nt think to check them was the answer'...this guy was on at least 12K worth of bike!
Turns: Learn to go around a turn fast..it's gonna save you time, Ive caught alot of riders near a turn that have almost made me fall off due to thier wobbling... It costs nothing to practice turning around a cone in the road.

Now thats just a few of the things I've picked up...for those of you guilty of them all I've probably just saved you 1-2mins in a 16km TT.... If your a coach and your riders are guilty of this stuff then perhaps you should be charging less because you just not doing your job properly!

Bit of an Epic...

2009-02-06T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today was a bit of an epic day on the bike...
It started by getting up at 5am this morning and heading down to the waterfront tt.. Pammie and I both did a proper wind trainer warm up and knocked out some OK times, I was creeping however... I did 19.50 for the ride which for most people is a good time, for me however I wasn't happy, this morning was warm with not much wind and should have been a low 19...I just couldn't get going and my heart rate wouldn't go over 160bpm... it sucked!
So after the TT I went home and jumped on my road bike to head out for a 100km hilly ride, it was 30 degrees so took some $$ to fill up on water if I needed to.
After 30km I rode past the end of a road that I've been told turns to gravel, normally I would have carried on but today I turned right and went that way.
After 6km the road did turn to gravel..but naturally 'I know better' and asked a local farmer how far the gravel was and how compact it is... 'It's 8km and a good compact surface son' (In my best farmer accent)...so off I went.
I climbed for 2km up a bitch of a hill then started to descend, compact my arse!!! both bottles bounced out and the horrible spongy rear tyre feeling crept in.... Arse!
So after a tyre change I headed back the way I'd come, I rode straight to the cafe at Kumeu where I bought some water and Coke.
In front of me in the line were 2 of the hugest chicks I've ever seen.... These girls were Morbidly obese... I'm not joking... they would need to book 2 seats each on a plane!
Now normally I wouldn't blog that... but these girls were fucking gross... not just because they were massive but they were Rude...they gave the cafe staff a hard time... they ate more crap food each than I've ever seen anybody eat... ( from what I could see...... 2 mince pies , 1 stuffed sausage, a bowl latte, and a large piece of apple strudle...each!) They ate like pigs... slurping and slopping food down thier fronts...they couldn't even be bothered to put the spoons from their coffee's on the table...they threw them on the table...they swore ... they burped and farted ..... I'M NOT JOKING... I almost vommited...it made me sick to my stomach!
My toddler nephew and neices have infinatly better table manners...
If you lard arse girls are reading this... and I doubt it as youd have to move your fat arses to a computer to do so... then I'm just gonna point out you are going to die... and your gonna kill your self.....sometime soon!

Not much going on

2009-02-05T01:21:00.000-08:00

There's not alot going on in People's Champion town at the moment, Just work and a bit of training...
Tonight at the tank farm crit myself, Mike Northy and Alex Ray lapped the feild...we are the 1st riders to ever do it (naturally I got 3rd out of 3 in the sprint).. I did get excited and do most of the work in the head wind and should've really attacked them... I just wasn't in the mood..I just wanted to ride hard.
Hmmmm... not alot else to say really.

For sale: My Zipp 808 clinchers... $2200... retail is about $5000 so they are a good deal, 3 months old and used maybe 20times.

Facebook

2009-02-03T23:18:00.000-08:00

So I had a facebook account for 2 days!... it sucks!... it fills up my email inbox (I know... I Know you can disable that bit...but then I'd have to log in all the time)... and it sucks up my spare time...of which I have very little.
I'd sooner just update the old blog, and talk to people on VORB when I get the chance...

Gettin my Lean on!

2009-02-02T19:51:00.000-08:00

Brent Backhouse just sent me this , it's from the final crit in the Tour of Wellington... I've got a fair bit of len going on, so it's no wonder I arsed off on the same corner a few laps later...

Back to the Torture Route

2009-02-02T13:42:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow morning at 6am I'll be back riding the Torture Route with my old mate Biggse...
With Holidays now finished, work conferences done and a big bloc of racing out of the way I can get back into my routine.
I was gonna race Twin Dams this weekend, but I did 9 days of racing in 2 weeks so I'm just gonna do some long slow rides (I might throw the waterfront TT in for good measure), then the next week I'm supporting Pammie at the Bev May womans tour...so it'll be nice to have a wee break from racing.
The crit's start at the Viaduct again this Thursday night so I might see ya'll done there..

Team McCauley on form!

2009-02-01T19:14:00.000-08:00

It was a big weekend of racing in the McCauley house hold... I did the Takapuna crit on friday night (where my team-mate Haydon Godfrey won)... the Benchmark Homes 40km TTT on Saturday in ChCh (Where my Subway-Avanti team-mates and I won by 4mins....despite the fact we hung onto our team junior Mike Vinks wheel all the way back from the turn)...and yesterday we had the 1st round of the Benchmark Tour a 140km race near ChCh (I managed to get the win from my team-mate Big Jas)...

My 2 new mates at Nationals.

Whats more important was the beautiful Pamela's weekend... it started at Takapuna Crit on friday night with her freind Joya supporting the team with their Subway racing caps...

Saturday she rode the waterfront TT where me a Big Jas followed her in the car and gave her grief for not pushing a big enough gear the whole way!

Sunday was the Biggy for Pammie tho as she rode the 65km Race part of the SUB series... she kicked arse and won her 1st ever race...Solo! McCauley styles!... she even posted a 'horns up!' salute!!!!

This week it's Twin Dam's on friday...then a few km's over the weekend..

Male model

2009-01-29T01:05:00.000-08:00

Well freinds...now you know!... it's with stunning male model looks

like this that I got my smokin hot wife!!!!

Tour of Wellington part 2

2009-01-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

I was gonna give a stage by stage and blow by blow account of the Tour but you can read about it on the Subway Avanti cycling team site (link to your right).

So instead I thought I'd tell a few off the bike tales from the Tour.

1st-Johnathon Atkinson (Acky)... NZ and Auckland racing wouldn't be the same without Acky!.. he's almost world famous.... for those that don't know him, all I have to say is 'your lucky'.. How much does Acky crack me?...well... I've banned him from talking to me till the end of July!

2nd-Eric's car... On the last day of the tour we came out to the carpark to find my team-mates car completly wrapped in gladwrap (cling film to those from outside of NZ)...not only was the car wrapped but also the bike on the roof... I was not responsible (honest) but I did find it very funny indeed!

3rd-Joe's newspaper article... on the 3rd day of the Tour my team-mate Joe Cooper had an article in the paper (as he should, being Wellington's leading chance of a result)...however Joe being brutally honest had told the paper he was a cyclist so he could avoid getting a real job! This lead to us taking the piss out of Joe for the rest of the week (and probably the rest of the season)... Good one Coop's!

4th- Alex McGregor...this dude cracks me almost as much as Acky... he's not on a talking ban at the moment but he's pretty close...Alex DNFed on the 1st or 2nd day and then proceeded to spent every evening getting drunk and annoying us all... the icing on the cake however was during one of the stage's when Alex was in his team car handing drinks out of the window (and I mean almost all of his body out of the window)...the Tour Police gave him a ticket for not wearing a seat belt...Brilliant!

Thats some of the funny things during the tour... coming up will be the things that really crack me on the Wellington Tour!

Tour of Wellington part 1

2009-01-25T00:53:00.000-08:00

I've just flown back in from the Tour of Welly and have been busy unpacking and getting patched up...(I crashed in the last crit...I also finished 2nd)...

It's late, and I'm wrecked..but here's a pic in the new National champs kit.

Will post some more over the next few days.

Gordy

Tour of Wellington here I come!

2009-01-19T00:57:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow evening after work I fly down to the UCI 2.2 Tour of Wellington.
Our team is the same all conquering 5 from the nationals...
I'm not really a huge fan of the Tour of Welly... why? I hate hills ! and the Tour of Welly has heaps.. it's organised well, we get treated well and it's a great race, I just hate the climbing!
Fortunatly we have a fairly good team of climbers...(barring big Jas and myself), so I have a job to do.
I'm gonna at least get the champions jersey up front because I guess I'm gonna be needed to chase breaks and hopefully ride on the front at some stage to defend yellow.
I'm not taking my lap-top but I'll endeavor to get online somehow each day and post some race reports.
Take care...Gordy

The Blue Stig

2009-01-17T23:59:00.000-08:00

It's official... I'm the blue Stig! (Pammie reckon's I look more like a smurf).

The day driving a V8 race car was awesome... I even managed to set the fastest lap time of the day in the rain (Wet time, the day dried out and times got faster, but I'd used up all my credit by then) .

Anyway...I drove a blue Falcon and beat the guy next to me in the Holden by 7/100's of a second.. (he went faster in the dry later in the day).

A few pic's for you to look at...I'm waiting by the phone for Top Gear and/or an F1 race team to call!

The day I knew I could

2009-01-17T23:38:00.000-08:00

I've just been emailed this picture from Paul Holloway (Subway-Avanti team physio and former racing cyclist).

It's from the national junior TTT champs in Wanganui in 1990 (Long before ITT's and the U23 catagory).. We (Otago)...won with Glen Thomson, Myself, Brendon Hurring and Brett Todd... It was my 1st ever proper nationals and we kicked arse... none of us missed a turn all day!

Glen's Dad Brian was our coach and made us train our nut's off for it!

Brian and his wife Daph organised the $$$$ to get us to Wanganui and I remember another freind of mine Robbie Van der Loo chipping in a few bucks for me and making sure my bike (which was an old school Bosomworth)was running as good as a real pro's bike.

A couple of day's after the TTT we had the road race and Toddy got 3rd...we were all still fizzing because to us it was a team win!

Thats how centre's all rode back then...you had to qualify for nationals and then follow team orders on the day, unlike now when you just show up and do you own thing.

I am the Stig!

2009-01-16T00:41:00.000-08:00

So after the waterfront TT in the morning and then an 80-100km hilly ride on the road bike I'm off to Taupo.
For my last birthday Pammie got me a day learning to drive a V8 Touring car, followed by a few hot laps of the track by myself... I can't wait.
I'll try to get some pics, although it could be a bit problematic getting pic's while I'm behind the wheel.

Coupla photo's

2009-01-15T01:25:00.000-08:00

A couple of Photo's from Nats...

Most of the comments I've heard about nats have been pretty favourable..I have heard a couple of negatives aswell... 1 being I won because of my team... I reckon thats a postive...I agree! without the Subway Avanti team I would not have won.

Wether people like it or not thats the way NZ racing is heading... just look at the rest of the world, at the recent USA champs, Garmin had the numbers at the front and were definatly riding as a team (As they should), they were just beaten by a super form Tyler Hamilton on the day,but it proves the point.

I would like to say however I have won 4 previous title without a team, I also finished 3rd in the GB champs 2 years ago... I do train and can actually ride a bike.

I reckon people should stop banging on about Jules getting beaten so much..there were 80 other guys in the race aswell.... I wouldn't have towed them around all day either.

None the less... what we (Subway-Avanti) did was probably a one off..but I'm proud of the team...3 of us in that break work full-time and train in the dark over the winter... I may never win the title again, but I've got it now (me and my team)...I'll try to do the jersey proud and you can be sure I'll put up a good fight to keep it next year.

TT Photo

2009-01-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

I havent got any photo's yet of the national road or TT champs but I did get emailed this photo of me TTing in the Contact Energy Whangamata Tri..

I was in the team section in the Subway-Avanti team and along with Geoff Hawkesworth (swimmer) and James Kueglar (Runner) we crushed the opposition!

NATIONAL CHAMPION!

2009-01-11T00:02:00.000-08:00

We did it! After crappy TT's from our whole team we backed up with 1st.2nd,3rd.4th and the U23 title at the nationals... I'm fizzing!!!!
I've now got the record for titles...but I really owe it to my team....
More to follow tomorrow...

Off to Nats

2009-01-07T01:32:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow morning I head down to Te Awamutu for the 2009 NZ road and TT champs.
I pick up my team-mate Jason Allen at 9.30am at the airport and it's on the road (about a 1.5hour drive).
The TT is one of the hilliest TT's I've ever seen in NZ, and I would pick Robin Reid,Glen Chadwick and Jeremy Vennel as the favorites (with a wild card Chris Nicholson)... I reckon on the right day I can win... but it depends if Friday is the right day!
In the road race all our pro tour guys are entered Hendy,Roly,Jules and Guddy... aswell as Chaddy, Jeremy Yates, Vennell, Robin Reid as other contenders... I'm gonna need to be on my best game and be up the road to have a chance of winning cause there is alot of sprinting talent in the feild.
I really dont know how my form is as I havent raced since late November, but I've been training hard and I'm feeling ok...so fingers crossed.
I'll post again on Monday.
Gordy

Home a bit Early

2009-01-04T11:44:00.000-08:00

After doing the bike section an a team Tri yesterday we decided to head home.
I am pretty happy with how the ride went (we won the team section and I was fastest cyclist by more than 4mins) and I thought it would be nice to be at home in our own bed for the few days before nationals.
Our holiday/training camp was sweet.. Whangamata is an awesome place and I'm sure that most of the population of Auckland were there.

Whats on the training schedule this week?
Mon-40km recovery ride on the road bike.
Tue-50km hilly ride on TT bike with efforts.
Wed-50km recovery ride road bike.
Thu-40km flat tt bike with 2x3min efforts
Fri- National TT champs.

The main thisng for me this week as it's a taper week is to make sure I don't over eat... so there is gonna be a lot of work stuff and playstation played to try and fill up my time... that reminds me... I need to get some new games...

Gordy

Out of Reach

2008-12-29T01:37:00.001-08:00

I'm gonna be out of reach from tomorrow (30th Dec)... till 12th of Jan, I'm headiing to Whangamata for a pre nationals training camp.. I'm even gonna sneak in a team tri while I'm there... happy new year everybody...smash ya in 09.

Gordy

Tough Times

2008-12-26T23:40:00.000-08:00

It's seem's it's pretty hard to find a pro contract out there at the moment so that makes me glad I decided to take up full-time employment some 15months ago.
Alot of my ex team-mates/freinds have no contract for next year... good riders like Trent Wilson are still without rides (last I heard)... and then there are the Team's that sign riders and then flick them by making them amatuer... and well after the point of the year when it would be possible to find another pro ride.

Thats something I don't miss about being pro.. (Subway-Avanti is a pro regd team but have been really understanding and let me keep my day job)... come Sept/Oct every year...the nervousness of trying to find a new team.It's all good if your Tom Boonen or Thor Husovd or even Matteo Tossato ... you'll normally always get picked up by a team... but for those of us that are not the big superstars of the sport we sometimes race for less than we could earn serving people in a corner shop.

As most of you know I've been thru a few teams...and the main problem is that alot (and not all) of the smaller teams just don't honour their contracts... ie: Bikes that never show up... salary's that don't get paid... One team I ride for even sent me to Croatia to race in Feb with 1 top and 1 pair of shorts (and not even bib shorts) and it was 5degree's everyday.

Thats the part of the sport I don't and will never miss!What do I miss... Seeing the world... cycling has taken me to 32 different country's, I've seen and done some amazing things and made some awesome and life long freindships along the way, like my 2 Swedish team-mates from my time in Italy in 1997..Lars and Andrea's .. We still from time to time exchange emails.. Pat and Frank from Southern California, I consider them to be some of my best mates.

Hell... I've even met my wife thru cycling... (And technically my 1st wife aswell).I consider myself lucky... I've ridden Het-Volk twice, Tour of Flanders, Leige-Bastogne-Leige and won pro Kermesse race's in Belguim against guys like Frank Vandenbrouke and Tom Boonen.. I guess you could say I've been lucky, for the last 22 years I've been living the dream.

Now that I'm not a full-time rider anymore I have the chance to pass on my experience in NZ's 1st ever pro team 'Subway-Avanti' and still be one of the most competative riders in NZ.Cycling has even provided me my job looking after Powerbar and Musashi for Creative Energy here in NZ.. without the profile I've gained and the experience with selling myself to sponsors.. jobs as a rep in bike company's etc... I wouln't have got the job (incidently after a 6 month trial I've just been made full-time)..

So whilst I'm here and having one of those 'moments' (tear in his eye)... I'd just like to thank 'cycling'... it's been a blast so far and the ride is really just beginning.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-24T22:00:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!

I hope Santa has treated you well... he's looked after me this year!!!

Achieved today:

Training 50km (1 coffee stop)
Eaten: Not to much.. I've actually shown restraint with nats coming up.
Drunk: No booze at...once again, nats are coming up.
Gifts received:4 CD's, I DVD set, 1 toilet bag...plenty of Shortbread.
Chores done... only 1, washed the car.

So thats my christmas day... now I'm off to walk the dogs with the beautiful Pammie, then tomorrow it's off down to TeA to have a look at the nationals road and TT course's.

Gordy

One More Day

2008-12-23T00:15:00.000-08:00

Only one more day...then I'm off work till the 12th of Jan... 'Mint"...I'm virtually pro again!
Not much to report today... it was a nice day here in Auckland, I got a hilly 50km ride in on the TT bike this morning and now the weather has completly shit itself tonight....looks like it could be a wet ride around the Torture Route at 6am tomorrow morning... Stink!

Old School

2008-12-18T12:11:00.000-08:00

I just found this on the trade-me old friends site, it's from when I was in form 1 at Macandrew Intermediate... check it out... I'm the good looking rooster beside the teacher on the left...( I was probably beside the teacher because I was in trouble)...

Race Schedule

2008-12-17T19:01:00.000-08:00

I've kinda worked out my schedule untill the start of May... so for all you People's Champion supporters that will no doubt be turning up to races in your droves with Banners..... sign writing on the road etc... this is where I'll be:

Gordon McCauley-Proposed Racing Schedule
Jan-May 2008

January

9th NZ Elite TT Champs
11th NZ Elite Road Champs
21st-24th UCI 2.2 Tour of Wellington
30th Takapuna Crit
31st TTT Christchurch

February

1st Benchmark Tour Round 1
6th Twin Dams Race 120km Waikato
21st Rev 120, Waikato
22nd Benchmark Tour round 2

March

7th Waitomo no whimps challenge or Queenstown to Wanaka return
21st Benchmark Tour round 3
28th Le Race

April

4th Rotorua to Taupo or Grape Ride Blenheim
18th Hamilton to Whangamata or Around lake Brunner

May

5th Auckland Cycle Challenge

New Bike

2008-12-17T12:11:00.000-08:00

I've just gotten back from a 50km spin on my new Avanti Team Cadent (Pic supplied from Avanti Webe site).

It's got the new Dura Ace on it, and 1st impressions are good... the only difference between the one in the pic and mine are the wheels... I roll on Zipps...

New Team

2008-12-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

For those that don't know, I've signed for NZ's 1st ever UCI pro team for 2009... The Subway-Avanti team.
It's a pretty exciting time for NZ cycling and it's great to be in 'our' 1st ever pro team.
The team plans to ride alot of the pro races on the Asian and Aussie circuits aswell as all the big NZ races.
Personally I'm not giving up my job to travel around the Asian races, I'm gonna focus on the NZ races and maybe the odd race in Aussie.

While I'm here I would like to thank Jianni from Colnago NZ (FRF Sports) for releasing me of my obligations to Colnago and thank him for his continued support with Zipp Wheels and Speedplay pedals.

It's hopefully gonna be an awesome 2009!

No Bike Pic's

2008-12-06T23:55:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't get any pic's of my new TT rig up...but thats because I've spent all afternoon toasted after a solid 190km in the sun.
I see Wesley Gough has taken over from me as NZ crit champ...I really should have gone and raced but figured it was a bit of a waste of money getting my sponsors to cough up with travel expenses for a crit that has 2 hair pin turns and the whole NZ track squad riding.
It's up at 5.30am again tomorrow for a light recovery spin...then off to work for the day...
so on that note...I'm gonna hit the Hay!!!
laters

2nd is the new 1st

2008-12-06T08:09:00.000-08:00

Well despite my best efforts to stop blogging, I've found that I'm bored at 5am on a Sunday morning eating my Brekkie and and trying to summons up a poo before I head out the door to the Sunday Bunch.
This year has been a succsesion of 2nd places for me...so it is the new 1st I reckon...

2nd Tour of Southland
2nd Taupo Crit
2nd Round Taupo race
2nd BenchMark Series
2nd Kelvin Hastie Memorial
2nd Club Champs
2nd NZ Club Nationals
2nd Wanganui GP
2nd Round the Mountain...

And the list goes on... maybe mother nature is starting to catch up on me...

Okay I'll blog some good stuff again later today with a pic or 2 of my new TT rig.... I'll probably get 2nd to the top of the hill on the Bunchy today!!!!

No More Posts

2008-11-29T22:19:00.000-08:00

This is my last post on the good old blog,
Thanks to those people who have taken the time to read it and supported me.

With my job I just don't have enough time to work/train and update the blog.

Once again thanks for your support.

Gordy

Guess who's back? Back again?

2008-09-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

The form is back!
I had a really good race last week down at the Benchmark Tour and managed to get the win and extend my lead in the series... its been a few months since a win and it really feels good.
I've also been selected to ride for NZ in the Sun Tour in Aussie next month...not bad for an old fella that works full-time... but I guess results are results it dosent matter what your age is.
Work is going well, and they have been awesome in letting me have the time off for the Sun Tour aswell as the Tour of Southland in November...thanks guys!
Anyway... just a short update, I'm about to ride out to the local club race, its an 80km handicap event (no jokes please), and for the 1st time in 5-6 years I'm being put on scratch by myself, so it looks like an afternoon of timetrialling for me.
Gordy

Not Much going on!

2008-09-13T22:24:00.000-07:00

To be honest..not that much is going on..
I'm basically just working and training, I've managed a couple of 600km weeks in a row now and I can finally feel a wee bit of form creeping in.
I finished 2nd to stretch yesterday in the CMC Club champs, he out sprinted me (which is much better than getting dropped like I did the week before).
I was dissapointed in the Senior mens and womans turn outs, it seems that most Elite men and woman are now too good to support their club at the champs... well I've got news for you all! Your not!... most of you can't win a race in NZ yet you all go overseas thinking your shit hot...and low and behold you win nothing there aswell... perhaps winning (or even starting) the club champs or any club race for that matter would be a good starting place?
Well thats the weekly whinge... see ya

Form is slowly returning

2008-09-12T14:08:00.000-07:00

After my 3rd place at the Auckland 1000, I finished 2nd last week in the Wanganui GP, its a 130km race on a hilly/windy course...so my form is improving (despite Jeremy Yates crushing me in the last 25km).
I'm managing to squeeze in 5-600km a week at the moment and its now only 2kg I need to get rid of till I'm at race weight (I've lost 4.5kg in the last month and a half)..and hey.... if Big Tex can make a comeback at 37 years old.... then The peoples Champion can keep on hammering aswell.
Club champs today, an 80km race, so I'm gonna ride the 40 odd Km's out to the start for some extra Miles in the bank.
Gordy

Solid 3rd

2008-08-31T00:33:00.000-07:00

Today we had the Auckland 1000, its a 140km race on a reasonably hilly circuit south of Auckland, it's also the 1st round of the new NZ national points series.
My new ibike team-mate Karl Murray attacked from the gun and after clipping across with a small group mid way thru the 1st of 8 laps it was all on for the day with 10 of us at the front the bunch were never to be seen again.
I'm too shagged to write a full report, so the bottom line is that Myself,Karl and Eric Drower ended up together at the front with Karl and I giving Eric a good working over, I cracked on the last climb 1km from the finish to get 3rd and Karl pumped Eric in the sprint to win.
My form is slowly improving and my weight is slowly coming down (coincidence???)... I'm reasonably happy with my ride and I'm on target for the Tour of Southland and beyond.
The new Colnago was sweet...I just need that last 10% in my legs and it will be all go!

New Sponsor

2008-08-26T23:35:00.000-07:00

Check out my new rig!

I've signed with Colnago thru to the end of my career...it's fitted with Speedplay pedals and I'll be running Zipp 404's when I race...sweet!

Not Too Bad

2008-08-16T00:35:00.000-07:00

Today I rode the 80km Bruce Kent Memorial race, its a hilly handicap race out at Ramarama..
My sole purpose of the day was to go as hard as I could and make everybody suffer as much as possible... the win was'nt a concern it was all about blasting some form into my legs..
The race went pretty well and I felt I was comfortably the strongest rider on scratch...and as it happened we got thru to the front... I ended up 3 out of 3 in the sprint..but was pretty happy with my ride.
The guy that won was 17 years old and packed a fair sprint... To be fair he did start with a 4 min head start but rode well... he told me with a km to go he was only 17...so I pointed out that as I'm almost 37 he should bloody well be able to beat me...he duely delivered.
The nice thing is that I'm only at about 85% of my best...so more pain is coming some peoples way...
Nice

That settles it!

2008-08-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

So after input from my freinds (all 4 of you) and my Dad, I'm gonna keep racing... as an elite!
I even did a 210km ride on Sunday...'Have some of that legs'...
So.. Pammie and I plan to spend a month in So Cal next year (now that I have a job and some Moolah coming in)... Oh and I am size medium Frank!
Anyway...I'm off to a sales meeting...(How grown up is that???)
Gordy

That Much Closer to stopping, Open Forum

2008-08-08T14:02:00.000-07:00

I went out with pammie riding this morning and got caught in the rain again...so thats 1 ride in 1 and half months where I havent got soaked...whats worse is she punctured aswell.
So that has all but made up my mind to take my vets license do the odd ride (and only on good days) and train for next years Ironman.
I'm NOT retiring from cycling just cutting it back...it will of course mean no Southland or anymore major races...

Anyway...I'm making this an open Forum and I'm interested to hear all your thoughts on this...so leave a comment...of course I'm going to delete stupid comments...so no dickhead comments please.

Gordy