Bay Criterium No 4 – Portarlington – 5th January 2002 Conditions: Sunny, 25ºC Today was a really tough hilly circuit.  It was 1km around with a short sharp hill, after the first corner.  This was followed by a longer uphill drag right along the back straight, before a steep descent and then another gradual incline back to the start / […]

Bay Criterium No 3 (Australian Criterium Championships) – Geelong – 4th January 2002 Conditions: Clear skies, 22ºC Today was a tough 800m hotdog circuit on Eastern Beach, held at dusk.  The hill overlooking the course was packed with interested spectators.  Each end of the circuit had a tight U turn, which unfortunately saw a few crashes in both the men’s […]

Bay Criterium No 2 – Barwon Heads – 3rd January 2002 Conditions: No rain, some sunshine, strong winds, 22ºC The circuit today was a 1.1km square loop.  The start / finish line was about 400m long, and was well situated along a busy cafe lined street in Barwon Heads.  As usual, it had a fairly solid cross headwind to sprint […]

Bay Series Criteriums – Race Reports Rye – Bay Criterium – 2nd January 2002 Conditions: Gusty winds, some sunshine, then rain, 20ºC (welcome to Melbourne) The circuit for day 1 of the Bay series criteriums was held on a 600m loop on the foreshores of Rye.  The course was essentially a hotdog circuit with two relatively tight corners at either […]

Saturday, 12 January 2002   Women’s Road Race – 100km Conditions: 19ºC sunny, cool southerly winds I woke up Saturday morning feeling tired and achy.  I had been awake most of the night sneezing and trying to clear my blocked nostrils.  I was hoping I only had hay fever that can be easily fixed but somehow knew I had just landed […]

Australian Open Road Cycling Championships Thursday, 10 January 2002   Women’s Time Trial – 28km Conditions: 35ºC really hot, northerly winds In the blistering heat, 32 girls arrived at Buninyong to attempt the race of truth.  All states were represented, with the exception of the NT, with both VIC and NSW prominently represented. Each rider started from the top of the […]

Athens Criterium, Georgia, USA – 27 April 2002 – 15th Conditions: light wind, 70F, (about 20C), Time: 7.30pm with hundreds of screaming people lining the course. The forecast for the evening predicted possible showers so it was with relief that the skies remained overcast but dry.  The atmosphere in downtown Athens, a real college town, was truly incredible.  The streets […]

Shelby, North Carolina On 20 April, Petra and I drove 10 hours south to North Carolina to stay with a host family, Rebecca and Tim Plonk, who have two identical 11 year old twins, Nikki and Alex.  The girls are horse crazy and have 2 horses on their grandparents farm.  The grandparents own about 300 acres and grow alfalfa hay […]

Changewater, New Jersey Petra and Brad Ford live in a little town called Changewater in New Jersey, only a half hour from the Pennsylvania border.  It is a small two bedroom two storey wooden house, built about 100 years ago.  The area was established in 1714 where the principle activities were mining and farming. A railway used to operate right […]

Watertown, Boston, Massuchussetts On 10th April I flew to Boston, to live with Julie and Eric Monagle.  My first training ride on 11th was horrific.  There was heavy traffic, potholes, large cracks in the road, and the entire ride was through city traffic with stop signs and traffic lights.  We had two close calls with cars and I decided I […]