Stage 2 - Podium Time!

Well, this was a stage to remember! I think my legs are coming around finally.
Throughout today's wet, wet, wet stage Tom, Jared and me were quite active trying to get into a break but the strong Japan National Team chased down e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g. So after 90 out of 200km I jump with a group and we drilled it hard up that little rise until we finally got about 15 seconds and one Malaysian, one Japanese and a Dutch guy was with me. Coming up to the 2nd intermediate sprint it was Malaysia and me going all out while the others just sat on...:-) I got third in the sprint and somehow that Malaysian guy was well informed and went by us like crazy knowing this was the END! Yes, they canceled the stage 5min later, stopped us, and we had to ride back to where the field was stopped. Reason: Flooding. It's raining like monsoon-like here for 2 days now in a row. So I did only 100 rather than 200km. "I feel betrayed!" :-)
Well, the UCI guys counted only the first 4 guys and that way our Champ-System Team got finally some podium time with me taking a bronze medal, while Tom stood it out with me in the rain taking pictures. I know you only stuck around because of the podium chicks...Thanks anyway!

A few persons/bloggers I like to recognize and say "Hi":
Meine Eltern - fuer Eure Hilfe und Anrufe aus Deutschland
My Fancy - I love you and I will come home sooner or later :-)
Tang/Ivan/Louis/Dave - thanks for getting us down here & helping us in those crazy countries
Tom - teammate and Blogger, check it out here
Jared - well, he's my roommate tonight
Ted - supportive cycling enthusiast from Wisconsin
Brian, Melinda - Thanks for all your comments!
Fast - What's up dude? You need to come to New York sometimes!

Signing off,
Stefan

CHICKENator

Don't mess with me - I'm crunchy, worth $0.60, great post-race food and will make your rice taste better! Thanks Dave for picking up a bag for me!

Stage 1 - riding through the jungle

So today was the first "real" bike racing in terms of distance. 195km from Buntan to Kuantan on wide, open roads with a lot of rollers. It was tough. Coming from the 65 degree F Hong Kong to 90's down here made my head hurt a lot, gave me more crazy tan-lines and an 17th(?) place. Jared and me made it into the break of about 35 guys which formed with 90km to go. Luckily, I had company of recent Asian Games Winner Kam Po Wong (Hong Kong Pro) when briding from the field to the front group. That guy can motor, almost like a german diesel :-) After going 180km on the same highway straight we had a left-right combination with 700m to go and I kinda messed it up because I came around the corner 2nd and there were 500m still to the finish :-( Well, we came in about 4min before the field; still waiting for the official results. Okay gotta turn theat Windows 98 machine off for now, get some food, and some sleep rest for another 200km tomorrow...

Jelajah Malaysia

Made it to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; 4th country so far. Another culture (again): language (malay), religion (islam), massages (...), driving style (kamikaze), and lot of bargains ($10 Nike shoes). Race starts saturday morning with 200km stage...Let's see how it goes.

恭喜發財 (Sun nien fai lok)

Happy New Year to all my friends and readers of this blog. We have 2007 here in Hong Kong since almost 19hours. It was a loooong night! The sunrise told us this morning to head back to the hotel...some of us didn't woke up in the hotel though. We rode our bikes for a bit this afternoon and now we are waiting to go to dinner with our friend Florence in Central HKG. I will try to post some pictures here later since I "crashed" my camera last night somewhere in the subway :-(

Stage 6 and Final - Macau

Okay, it's December 31st over here and we just completed the last stage of the TSCS yesterday afternoon. It was the only stage which featured some rolling hills and a final 2Km climb up to a tower in Macau. The course wasn't too hard so the entire field hit the last climb together and it was a mess going up there through switchbacks passing (?) and being passed (?) by riders. Jared and me did some hard sprint work midway through the race to raise our payout to HKG $300. After that, I finished somewhere in the 40's again while Jared cracked the Top20 once again. That guy looks like a sprinter but he can go fast uphill, too. Wondering what I'm doing wrong? Anyways, now we are chilling in the hotel lobby before we get on a ferry back to Hong Kong where we will spend the next few days before moving on to Malaysia for the next stage race.

Kung Fu Hong Kong Style

Seen and taped in Hong Kong last week...

Stage 5 a.k.a. crashfestival

Stage 5, Zhuhai: So today I was a lucky man and avoided the crashfest which took half the field out w/ 4 laps to go. I just tried to follow the russian train of Omnibike Dynamo Moscow and finished somewhere in the 40's(?). Now I'm standing in line for immigration to get into Macau, the 3rd country on my trip so far.

Stage 4 - Foshan

Today we had about 12 turns on a racecar-like course, sand, water, plastic barriers (which called for crashes) and last but not least a "Russian Gutterfest". I survived the wind and finished in the pack. Jared pulled off our first Top20 so far. It's wrickin' faaast over here. And dirty. You look more like a mine worker than a cyclist after racing 2 hours in China...

The Popo in China...

So this is an example of how safe this place actually is. Every time we come to the race circuit a BUNCH of police or military is already there and they guard our stuff all the time. This guy was in Guangzhou taking care of things were we raced today. After he started taking pics with his phone-cam Tommy B. took this shot. Later, Stefan