Feb 22nd, 10.  Jason Allen has made some changes in his life in order to reach his cycling goals and recently he made over his bike with a custom paint job.

Imagine handing over your road bike for a custom paint job without having any idea what the design was going to be.  That's what Jason Allen did when he gave his Cervelo Soloist to Scotty Brown.

"I gave him the frame, he said he would give it back to me in four weeks. I didn't have a clue what was going to happen with it," Kiwi cyclist Jason Allen told RoadCycling.co.nz when he unveiled his new design.

Allen has known Brown since he was a novice and through the years Brown looked after him and many of his bikes through his bike shop Scotty Browns. Allen said he knew it would come back looking crazy.

And crazy it is!

Allen was blown away when he first saw the green skulled design, "I was stoked, I didn't know you could get anywhere near that level of detail on a bike frame!"

"The new paint job is out of this world and Scotty Brown is an absolute legend!!"

It's not just Allen who was impressed as an encounter with a leather clad biker showed.

"I pulled up at a set of lights, and a big bikie pulled up next to me on his Triumph in full leathers, and he had a big smirk on his face, like 'poof in lycra'. Then he looked at my bike, and saw the skulls, he had a big grin on his face and said to me 'sweet ride bro'. The light went green he gave me the thumbs up and took off."

Allen is taking his new paint job overseas next month when he joins Kiwis Jeremy Yates,  Mike Northey, and Patrick Bevin in a team to race the OCBC bank criterium in Singapore.

The event was one of the two big successes of 2009 for Allen, the other was the road nationals where he placed 3rd after being away right out of the blocks.  In the 2009 Singapore event, Allen was 4th, but walked away with US$19,000 after 80km of bike riding. As he says, "That was pretty sweet!"

While Allen still likes road racing, his main focus remains on the track and he has a lofty long term goal to aim for.

At last week's track nationals he ticked off one his goals for the year, to have a solid showing.  His consistency in the omnium events earned him the bronze medal.  Allen's other goal for 2010 is to get back to peak fitness.  He's decided to focus on his cycling and stop trying to do too many things  at once.

Jason Allen shares his plans

Jason Allen at the Track Nationals ©RoadCycling.co.nz

"I stopped working about midway through last year and tried a crash course of intervals, but I hit the first World Cup and Oceanias last year toasted. After finally sorting everything out I had a pretty good December and January training then went solidly at track nationals."

"If I get everything right from now on in, and actually treat my body right, I don't see why I shouldn't be aiming for the Olympics in London, that's obviously the huge goal."

"I love going to track camps and getting stuck into the team pursuit efforts with the fellas, it's mayhem. One of the funniest things I've done in a long time was a sprint training session with Eddy "whopper" Dawkins, I don't think I've ever been that fast on my track bike before, so the drive is still there for sure!"

"Sometimes you gotta have your ups with your downs, I've had a lot of downs lately after that shocker at the World Cup so surely I've gotta go back up, right?"