As a cyclist trying to perform at the highest level i am always more than happy to provide a drug test to prove that i am clean and reduce the amount of filthy athletes in sport. Therefore when the testers knocked on my door step at 7.15pm Thursday last week i was more than willing to provide a sample. 

I am a proud member of PureBlack Racing for more than what is done on the bike. There key core values are what make this team amazing to ride for. PureBlack racing wants to be world class and to do this they have gone further than what is required by a Continental cycling team, by promoting clean cycling through an agreement made with Drug Free Sport New Zealand. We are now required to be on a whereabouts program. This means that all of us riders must let the testing agency know where we are each day and give them a one hour window where we must be present at a given location. So when attending a race or simply staying at a friends house after a few too many drinks, i must get the internet and change my whereabouts form and let the agency know where i will be for my one hour window... yes a pain in the ass, but a sacrifice i am willing to make. The team has also put us on the biological passport program, I believe we are the only team of this level in the world to be on this program. The biological passport requires us to have regular blood tests so that an athlete profile can be made, this enables them to see spikes or irregularities in our blood values which would be obtained through taking banned substances.

It took two pump bottles and just over an hour to provide a sample... so naturally i was up all night having to relieve myself after drinking so much so late at night. Although as it turned out, I was the lucky one, they left my house and went straight to his house. He got the knock on the door at 9.15pm!!!

I hope my next test comes as a  blood test.. so much easier to have a needle jabbed in and a small  sample taken. The testers can be out of my house well within half an hour.

The team now heads into a training camp next week in the Hawkes Bay. The camp is based around two races Taupo- Napier and Round the Mountain. It has been a long time between races after my tendinitis.  They will be an integral part of my build up for the Sun Herald tour in Melboune next month.