As the year is coming to a close, I am yet to seal the deal for 2009. One of the worlds biggest bike shows "Interbike" was last week which is where I raced my last race in the US for 2008. Not to mention I placed 4th, but I will talk about that a little later. So I had various meetings with various teams and I have never experienced any quit like this. All the major teams are trying to continue into next year with their current riders in 2008. I know I'm not the only one in the boat but I tell its tough out there. 3 meetings turned out to be very interesting for me and I will have a better indication of my direction by the end of this week (I hope). It will be very nervous time if I head back to Australia without any ink on the dotted line. 

So yes about the race! This criterium was something that is out of the ordinary. They set the race up inside a car parking lot with metal barricades lining the course. The course was that tight and narrow that it made it all most impossible to move up throughout the bunch. My main goal during the race was to stay upright and to never let myself out of top 6th position, which I think I did a pretty good job of. I made a very decisive break away mid race which used a little of the gas in the system but it was something that you have to do because if it sticks, then the race is over. The 90 minute crit felt like 5 hours. I don't know why but because it started at 9.30pm it was a long day to begin with. So the race ended up coming down to a bunch sprint which I placed 4th in. This was a good result to finish the season off, but I will be looking for more results upon my return to Australia.

6 days to go until my return home which I am really looking forward to.

All the best.

Jonathan

Hello all,

I do appologise for the delay in getting this blog out. So much has been going on with cycling, travelling and working that I didn't find to much time spare!

Well, the life as a cyclist at present is not fun times at all. The economy is taking its affect right across the board and sponsors are running scared. You may have read on cyclingnews that Jittery Joe's will no longer be UCI registered for the coming season, which in simple terms, they will be an amatuer team. They will only race on the East coast and not participate in the NRC series or UCI races. Not good news for me as I'm trying to achieve many goals in my cycling career. I have a few irons in the fire for the coming season but nothing is 100% until the dotted line has my signature is on it. Apart from that I only have one more race whilst in America which is the Las Vegas criterium this Thursday. The race is in conjunction with the famous Interbike trade show! I have been to Interbike before working with Teschner bikes, but this year I will be more focused on the race and having a good time, which I don't think will be hard in Las Vegas. In the next few weeks I will have more news and hopefully it will be positive!

Hope all is well where ever you are.

I have booked my return ticket for departing Los Angeles on the 4th of October and arrive on the 6th into Brisbane. I expect everybody to be at the airport with huge banners and signs! Not to mention the ballons...............ha

Jonathan