McCauley: On what went wrong

Nov 8th, 09. BLOG. Gordon McCauley sums up his last few days at the PowerNet Tour of Southland and writes about his bad day, the stage into Te Anau where he lost 26mins.

McCauley crosses the line in Te Anau well behind the leaders (c)RoadCycling.co.nz

What happened on the way to Te Anau? To be honest I don't know... I was struggling all day when it split at the start and I was way back in the 4th group and had to leap frog from bunch to bunch back up to my teammates in the 2nd group.

I could have finished with the 2nd chase group at 15 minutes but 15mins or 30mins doesn't really matter.

The point was I had let myself and my teammates down after they had all picked themselves off the ground on Monday and carried on racing in support of me.

I needed some time to ride alone and 'cool my jets' a little and do some thinking.

The easy way out would have been to stop racing, make an excuse like 'saving myself for China' and head back up to ChCh with the boys to recover, but I don't quit when the going gets tough.

I had a few beers that night (In fact my 1st beer for 6 months) and gridded up the next day.

The last day is now history and whilst a 8th and 12th place for most wouldn't set the world on fire, for me it was a nice result considering the day before's disaster.

Overall I'm not super happy with the way the Tour worked out, I came to win and only came away with a stage win (which I am happy with)...maybe without the crash on the 1st day things might have been better...with damaged ribs sleeping properly was vitually impossible, but no excuses... I under performed..maybe I'm getting to old for this?...Nah...I'll never be too old!

Gordy