CSU... Fort Collins US Exp. Life in the Rocky Mt. Foothills

Hi Y'all

So i was thinking of doing a we compare and contrast on all things 'kiwi' and all things 'US' in this post. As part of my study abroad experience i have to bash the key board any way. Therefore in no particular order i will give you ladies and lads a few bullet point style remarks. Thanks for tuning in.

Number 1: Coming for the smallest Uni in New Zealand you get to know a lot of students and staff. Coming to a university of 30 odd thousand you soon realise that there is no point in trying to make friends with everybody. Walking down the the main strip at 10 to, is a bit of a battle but you do get get accustom to it.

Number 2. Mexican Food ('Mexican Tucker') is 'on point' (Great). you have the dodgy (maybe not safe) places and you have the places that are great value for the $ as in Chipotle. New Zealand only really specialises in indian curries, Thai, Chinese, Brit/US food, Italian food, and fast-food aka fish & Chips.

Number 3. Culture: With the size of the US, or even CO for that matter there are huge range of cultures and perspectives. Many people like to be heard and can be seen on campus yelling or expressing their freedom of speech. I guess as a New Zealander we don't have as many people that are as open and opinionated as may Americans. Personally i don't mind it and passers by can choose to listen or ignore.

Number 4. Bulk buying is key: If you want to get great value for money you buy in bulk and get huge savings. It is great for families that have room to stock pile toilet paper and body wash and cans of food.

Number 5: People are genuine and nice just like in the land of the long white cloud. Some people maybe more reserved just because of the size of the university and the amount of crazy people. Everyone that i have meet so far at CSU have been extremely nice and that is including my lectures. The only difference to Lincoln is that on average the class sizes are much bigger so if you email your lecturer you will generally get a response from the TA(teaching assistant).

Number 6. As far as the Uni goes it operates much the same as Lincoln apart from the Final Exams here have much less weighting on them. My highest weighting for my final is only 25% of my total grade. Many classes have a we device called an Iclicker and you set it up and vote instantly in class to 'grab' participation points (so if you are not in class and on task you will miss out).

Point Number 7: Altitude  can really be pretty intense so all you can do for the first 4 weeks is take it easy (try not to sprint 2.5miles) and apparently you have to drink more than you would at sea level.

Point 8 would be to make the most of American 'footy' and get amongst the US sporting culture. Try the local beers (which fort collins in famous for). Also get out into the front range and the national parks . The tramping is a lot different to NZ but still pretty magical.

Get to know some US slang (that means not calling your mates or people you meet GC's). You must also support the Denver Broncos because they are at the moment 6-0. No one cares about Rugby its all about 'US Footy' so get amongst that!

Thanks for tuning in.
**If anyone wants to add comments feel free to add to theses points**Cheers

Sportsmanship & my spin on current events.

When i think back to the topical issues of St Bedes rowing & the Aussie cricket team and issues relating to sportsmanship and how individuals perceive sportsmanship. I can't help but relate all of this back to my own experiences playing both rugby/cricket and then onto cycling.

I would consider myself an extremely competitive person. I am not sure if the 'warrior gene' exists but i do know that both my parents were competitive people in their day. Competitiveness is both inherited and developed by the individual athlete.

Parents definitely shape their children depending on their values and beliefs whether the athlete will admit it or not.

Starting with the St Bedes incident. If you are going to 'act the goat' then you as a 16 and 17 year old need to be ready to confront the consequences. Complaining to your parents is not going to cut the mustard. (even if the boys didn't want it blown out of proportion it has). No matter what the boys sporting talent/status or parental wealth taking this kind of issue to high court is utter bullshit. Take it on the chin and move on with a lesson learnt.

Poor Sportsmanship, and definitely would have got no kudos from the national selectors etc etc.

On the issue of the Sportsmanship displayed by the Aussie Cricketers i am split in 2 minds. Yes it may have been over the top sledging. But on the other hand it is their 'backyard' and as a competitor you should be ready for a bit of a psychological rough up…..At the end of the day, once McCullum went early the rest of the team had already lost the psychological battle. (and the Aussie's made sure of that).

I can relate easily enough to this situation, in the past as an up and coming cyclist. I along with many other u19's at the time took my far share of verbal banter (its part of being new on the scene).
 To progress to the top level of most sports you need to be able to take that verbal 'sledge' absorb it and then use it as motivation (this is normally called the top 3 inches). Many athletes will crumble and not enjoy the 'banter'. Whilst other athletes will embrace the battle and enjoy the tussle.

So for all those punters out there that are complaining that the Aussie's came out too aggressively with all the sledging just stop for a second and consider how top level sport operates. (have the arm chair writers been to the top level of any sport?). I am 100% a BlackCaps fan and know how they choose to operate. If I was in the BlackCaps set up and we had them under the pump i am sure i would be having a we dig at the batsmen.

I guess this boils down to the concept of Sportsmanship is very much personal and each athlete deals with psychological matters differently.

Have your say.

K H

New beginnings for 2014…..what is NZ winter like?….arrgghh

I have completely forgotten about this blog for a bit.

But the cycling gig has been thrown on the back burner for a we while….In 2014 i have stepped into life as a Uni student down in the rural settlement of Lincoln. It was a really late decision to come to Uni and put cycling on hold. BUT Its been pretty mint, very easy going so far and a great vibe around campus.
I have defiantly been enjoying the fact that i have no real plans day in day out, and no pressure to jump on the bike for 4-5 hours + etc. (kind of missing the euro summer tho)

Im studying a brand new degree called BAFM which is a bachelor of Agri Business and Food Marketing. There seems to be so many opportunities out there if you make yourself known (its pretty exciting).

I have still been chipping away with the cycling…I have raced the first 2 races in the Benchmark series and scored points in the round 1 (10th)

The 2nd round i was 'sick as a dog' and slightly sluggish. I was happy to make it to the finale and work for Chris and Dan Barry. I am taking a break at the moment and plan on being back in shape for the last 3 benchmarks and all going well the infamous Tour of Southland.

Any way thats a bit of a Sh'arn from frosty Lincoln. Stay tuned for a few wine drinking tips and (curry) cooking advice.

#cheersguys

Peace

K.H

June...

Its been awhile since the last blog post. Reason being i haven't had any good news to bring in. 

I still have no good news really. Last Saturday I crashed hard on a typical training ride with the 2 Tom's. We were pushing the pace a little (single file) and an old man's car pulled out of a Give Way on a side road. I was 3rd wheel and couldn't  get round like the other 2. I had hit the deck nearly without blinking just before ploughing the car at 50kph. 

I was pretty shaken, couldn't breath for a good 10seconds, then all these muppets crowded around. I went to hospital in the ambulance and had X-rays on the elbow because there was a deep hole etc etc and it looked to be cracked. After a bit more waiting around. The Doc came back in and worked his magic with the needle and thread(fishing line stitches). 

*Both Tom's were awesome at scrapping me off the pavement. 

For the moment I am recovering and finishing off the cycle of Antibiotics and a few other painkillers. Just finished building up my new bike because the other one was a bit of a write off. The frame is a little smaller so i should be able to get a bit more of an aggressive position on the bike. 

I have had to sit out yesterdays I.W.T Oetingen (1.2) and Saturdays Omloop Het Neusbald Zottegem (1.2). Which are both cobbled classics that I had been targeting and building up for. 

Im now looking ahead to July's racing and taking this forced break as my mid-season break.

Also looking forward to heading down to Rennes to catch up with the Bro, and Mum & Dad.

Many thanks to everyone thats helped me get through this little rough patch. 

I am also buzzing for Jack Bauer on his first Tour de France, I know how hard he's been working to get himself there. Im sure he's going to lay down his fair share of Curry during July…..

Thanks for Tuning in…

K-rex

Olympias Tour Wrap.

Olympias Tour

Just back from a testing week riding around The Netherlands. 

I came into the New Zealand team with short notice after a number of riders felt sick or injured.

I was excited and amping to be racing such a well known & prestigious tour. 

After waiting around all morning talking smack and drinking weak coffees....

The Race started on Monday evening. with a 3,2 km prologue on the coast near Amsterdam ! 

*The team consisted of a mix of 'road to Rio u23 trackies' (Cam,Hayden,Hamish,Mike)

and 4 european based roadies (Clinton,Alex,Gatey,Myself) we also had the privilege of local & ex tour director Robert Slippens as our D.S (his advice during the week was bloody good).

So the track guys had the prologue in their sights. 

Cam Karwowski had a really strong ride to take 5th on the stage, I did what I could on the road bike (with the clip-on slingshot bars) and even held the hot seat for a while having been one of the early starters. 

Stage 1: 180km with 3x50km circuit to finish with, this stage was always going to be pretty windy as discussed the night before and on the last 50km lap a group slipped away in the X wind and that was race over. I wasn't feeling great all day and was happy to cross the line. 

Stage 2: 

Looking at the map and wind direction this stage was always going to be tough as well. 

I was feeling a lot better in this stage but wasn't in the right place when the hammer went down at the 90km mark, and the split went away. I rolled in with a big group to the finish. 

Stage 3: Was a really wet with a heap of small country roads near the end. I had a couple of digs off the front to try and break the strangle hold that the leaders team had on the bunch. Once onto the finishing circuit Clinton bridged over to a group of 3 and they had a decent gap, but with 2 teams putting in the hard yards at the front of the bunch they were caught with 1 lap to go. In the last lap it was pretty sketchy with a lot of fighting for position in the slippery roads. I tried to help position our sprinters but it was so crazy. 

Stage4: 192km in the hills of the limburg region. The rain started coming down in the neutral section and by this point i knew it was going to be a long day. It was all on right from the start. with the first KoM climb coming after 4.4km I sat in the bunch the best i could and tried not to look down at the computer to often. In the end the pelo kept getting smaller and smaller as the steep hills and rain took its toll. 

Stage 5 ITT: I was pretty smashed from the day before but still wanted to do an ok TT, I was lucky enough to use Clintons TT bike. even though i only set it up just before the start it felt ok and i was keen to lay down a time.

I a bit pissed off i didn't pace myself so well and should have posted a better time, but was looking forward to the last stage. 

Stage 6: The last stage was only 80km and on a 8.3km circuit. Virtually from the start Rabobank u23 team went to the front with all 6 or 7 riders and started lapping out to keep the pace steady as to stop other teams from attacking and disrupting. I was keen to attack, but when the bunch is doing well over 45kph its nearly impossible to get away. In the last lap, the 5 of use found each other and tried to lead out Gatey for for the bunch sprint but we lost each other with 2.5km to go. I ended up being in an awesome spot going under the 1km banner but got caught behind a few guys at 500m from the line. 

So I'm taking a few days rest now after a pretty hectic few weeks. Cheers to everyone that made Olympias such a good tour. 

Kieran

Last weeks race action

Im sitting inside as a tropical rain storm comes down, watching the start of a grueling Giro d'Italia. 

Go the kiwis ! 

Yesterdays stage was pretty impressive with Ryder and Paolini giving it some real gas on the DH to try and distance wiggins and a few other GC contenders in the final run into the finish. 

Any way back on track, it has been awhile since the last blog update and 2 race reports need doing. Also a little bit of drama thrown in the mix for good measure. 

1.2 Hoboken 1st of May

This race was 170km on a really boring circuit (including 4xbigish laps & 6x10km laps), dead flat and a decent amount of road furniture. From the beginning of the race i was having some issues with my chain. The chain was skipping around like a hyperactive kangaroo. I couldn't give it any power out of the corners. So I was forced to just cruise around in the bunch, but that worked out ok because nothing seemed to be getting off the front. 

At the end I found a gear that was trustable and moved up inside the last 2kms. The sprint wasn't dangerous for a change just strung out so i had no chance to really move up enough. 

Ronde van Overjisel (in Holland)

This is the race that had a few problems, on the long 2.5 hour journey to the race i started to feel really bloated and sick. The problem never eased up the whole day and it maybe even got worse in the race. I got 80kms in and then just pulled over. Its never nice to have shitty days like that but you have to deal with it. 

I have put the problem down to a little coffee shot that I had in the activation sesh the day before that may have given me a stomach ulcer. Im not getting too worried & all sorted now so just have to stay away from the real strong brews (for awhile). 

All is looking good for the upcoming weeks. Cheers 

Bit of action and detour in Maschrit(holland)

Add caption: Team before Hoboken (Antwerpen)

Video Blog (vlog) from Paris-Mantes (1.2)

Quick update from yesterdays race. Have a look...