The week didn't start as I was hoping, with my asthma hitting really hard as soon as I arrived home to Dunedin. Its a lot due to the housing, which is often damp and cold. Its a tricky puzzle to understand and probably my biggest weakness in my racing these days. For now I just need to avoid any damp places.. which is not easy when you book accomodation ahead of time! If anyone has any good advice, please let me know! Otherwise its been great to be home.. seeing family again, enjoying the great cafe's and international restaurants.

Moving on up the south island, this weekend's race was in Waipara, a wine growing area in north Canturbury. I'm on the road with the R&R Sports team.. my first ever sponsor and we're still going strong :) Nick Flyger is doing an awesome job of managing the programe, so its almost like being with my trade team. Tom Mckay is wrenching for us, helping me dial in my new Cannon's... then there's around 10 riders in different ages and categories... its so much more fun to hang with others, as so often we're on our own.

The course was miles from civilization... it took me 1.5hrs to ride there from the closest town! But once on the course it was easy to understand why they dragged us out there. The locals had been busy bees building an awesome track full of fun and grunty climbs. Some sections were quite raw, with little sheep tracks that are impossible to get out of! I attacked hard from the start and had the lead going into the first descent, but got caught out by a little lump. I got thrown off balance and landed on a funny angle, rolling my rear tire off the rim. My CO2 adaptor then proceeded to fail and left me standing scratching my head wondering what to do next. Finally I walked back to the start finish, grabbed a spare wheel in the tech zone and re-started 15min behind. I still gave it all I could and made the most of the great track. Frustrating, but better late then later. Now I better go and double check all my tubes and CO2's, as I don't want the same problem this weekend at Nationals.  ¶ 8:44 AM