Matty White

January Update

Hi all,

One word describes January in little Adelaide and it is MASSIVE! we have pro cycle teams, world champions, director sportiffs, Lance Armstrong and not to mention every man and his dog who rides a bike over here for a few weeks. It really is unbelievable seeing so many cyclists on the road in Adelaide. I have been training quite hard over the past few weeks and some of my long rides which I do in the Adelaide Hills it is rare to see more than a few cyclists, but the last week there have been TDF size peletons all over the place. Glen my sponsor at TRAK cycles has net been able to keep up with the demand for bikes in January as have a lot of other cycle shops, I am sure they could close up in Adelaide all year and just open in January and still survive!

Lance Armstrong was here for the Tour again which was great as he organised a “twitter”ride at Glenelg, most people would remember the last time he did this in Dublin where it created hysteria with 3000 people. This time the authorities where a little better prepared as 8000 people turned up. There were people on pennyfarthing bikes, little kids on bmx’s, parents with child seats, basically anyone who had a bike could have a chance to ride with the 7 time TDF champion which was great. Unfortunately I was working that day and missed it, there was a few crashes out there so maybe that was a good thing.

From a personal point of view I am ultra pumped to race in Geelong in a few weeks, I have managed to get the spring in my step back after having a 3 week break after Busselton Ironman, the rest was clearly needed not only physically but mentally moreso as the training was starting to wear me down and I was losing the enjoyment. I believe that is the first sign of needing a rest and I took drastic action by hitting the pubs and clubs with friends I have not seen due to training and racing commitments! I had a great time and discovered first hand how an elite triathlete copes with repeated alcohol consumption, the results were not overly encouraging!

I have some great news on the racing front with my work signing off on 6 months special leave to pursue racing at an elite level in the USA, I am really keen on heading over there and have signed up to race the lucrative REV 3 series, and also a heap of 70.3 races from April until October. I will be initially staying in San Diego for 3 weeks before I meet up with Tim Berkel and co in Boulder where we will base ourselves for the season. From a personal point of view it will be great to have other pro athletes to train with as being the sole LD pro in South Australia I train predominantly by myself which can take its toll on a psycological level, when you start yelling out to cows on the side of the road “what are you looking at you fat freak”, not stereotyping cows as fat but they do seem to be predominantly overweight and it gets to me sometimes!

Next stop is Geelong 70.3 in a few weeks and hope to see a heap of SA competitors over there which will be great especially as DArren Pollock from Adelaide Vales announced that MURRAYMAN is back on this year March 14th so lock it in as its a great prep for Port Mac and its one of the friendliest and best organised races around. Word is Luke Bell will be racing this year which will be great for me as I dont get to race Luke that often so hopefully he heals from his latest injuries and is in good form.

I Hope everyone is training well and gearing up for the business end of the season. W
ill check in again soon.

Matty

Compressport

I am pleased to announce that I have a new partner helping me this season covering all my compression needs from head to toe. Compresssport is one of the leaders in compression technology and I am really happy to be on their books as a signature athlete. In Busso this year 10% of all competitors were using this product which states how popular they are amongst not only elites but the majority of LD competitors. So visit www.compressport.com for more info on these products.

On the training front things are strating to wind up, I kicked off my campaign on New Years Day with an easy 3hr spin then a swim, this week has been really hard getting back some sort of condition as I am hitting the ground running due to a big block of racing in February. I am locked in for Ironman 70.3 Geelong and Ironman Malaysia in late Feb so the time spent training now with have a direct reflection on my results at these races, so its time to get the head down and tough it out. Adelaide has been hitting 40 plus degrees last week which makes life tough as the heat is a dry searing heat which seems to burn through 5 layers of skin!

We also have the Tour Down Under kicking off in a few weeks and it is a great time to train around Adelaide with pro teams riding around the hills and beaches, they are more than obliging for cyclists to hang on and if you speak a little euro its great to have a chat with these guys, plus the racing and general atmosphere has a great party feel about it with street parties and fun events.

Matty