Race Report: Mt Taranaki Cycle Challenge 2013

I finished 12th today out of 1,100 starters at the Mt Taranaki Cycle Challenge. I'm very happy with this result, particularly because I was a little disappointed with my race last weekend at Tour de Ranges. I finished with the leading group of 13 cyclists in 3hrs, 40mins and 59 seconds. We covered 147km at an average speed of 39.8kph.

I had not competed in this event before, so I wasn't sure what to expect this morning. From the course profile, the 148km route looked mostly flat to undulating. And, I didn't know who was going to show up: pros, former pros, almost pros, and pros-in-the-making.

Who Produces the Most PROs?

As you might expect, Italy supplies the most professional cyclists to the UCI's WorldTour this year; 66 to be exact. France, Belgium, and The Netherlands follow closely with 54, 53, and 51, WorldTour cyclists, respectively. But Italy and France also have relatively large populations. And Belgium and The Netherlands aren't too small either. So, which country produces the most PROs on a per capita basis?

Above is a chart based on UCI and Wikipedia data showing that Luxembourg produces the most PROs by quite a stretch once we look at the data on a per capita basis. Luxembourg's tiny population of just 500,000 sent 5 PROs to the WorldTour this year (10 PROs per million).  

Race Report: SRAM Tour de Ranges 2013

Today was my first race since riding three cyclosportifs in France and Italy in 2011. I've been looking forward to this event for a while as the SRAM TdR is really the first race of the season. 

I recon'd the ride with Camila 10 days ago, and after speaking with several friends who have raced this event previously, I was pretty sure I knew how the race would unfold. I was completely wrong.

Recon Ride: SRAM Tour de Ranges

Today, I reconnoitered the SRAM Tour de Ranges route. The race is next Saturday, January 19th in the Hunua Ranges just south of Auckland. Camila and I drove to the start in Clevedon this morning and then I rode the 110km course.