Justin Morris recently took time away from his Team Type 1-Sanfoi road team to race the Crocodile Trophy with Subaru-MarathonMTB.com, hoping to capitalise on his experience from 2011.
Sunny, Sweet, Sensational Sydney!!! It has been so great to be back in my hometown since mid July and my last blog post. Since then my life has been hectic but fun, the best thing about being back in Australia is without a doubt spending time with me mates and family. Countless hours upon hours have been spent at coffee shops all over the East coast of Australia recently catching up on stories and getting too wired on that good, strong aussie style brew; a welcome change to the slop I had gotten used to at starbucks!
Alas, it has not been all legs back and storytelling back in Australia. I have re enrolled in my university degree in psychology and education. I am edging closer and closer to finishing this degree which has turned into the never ending story with my constant deferrals. However, I really appreciate my area of study, I see a great purpose in what I am dedicating myself to here, and in some ways I look forward to my post cycling career in this field. Putting pen to paper for the essays and exams is a different skill set to that involved in holding the handlebars at 60kph but hopefully I can keep both skills in check. I have also appreciated being able to keep promoting the advocacy message of Team Type1 back here in Australia. In late July I was invited to be the guest speaker at the Narrabri ‘sportsperson’s of the year awards’ in rural NSW. This was a fabulous oppurtunity, I got to meet some really special and talented souls out there in the North West. Narrabri is a hard working town, you can often sense this in the people from such towns. A genuine warmth, down to earthness and appreciation was clearly evident in everyone I met there including my hosts from the local newspaper Ian and Wanda from ‘The Courier’. The sportiest town in Australia has a bright future!
Speaking at diabetes panel event in Sydney. Photo: Edelman Australia.
From Narrabri I was later invited to speak with the people from ACE cycling in Sydney’s centennial park. A group of business executives who love to cycle, this emphasised to me how cycling and sport in general transcends all aspects of society. From cyclists on the cattle stations in Cape York to the cyclists who work for the big banks in Sydney the passion is common through us all and the motivations and desires are often more or less the same. I spoke to the ACE community about how in cycling, learning the skill of adaption is often a key component of success. Racing in so many different environments, the body has to adapt to compete and to survive and often even when you think it can’t- the body and the mind will surprise you and rise to the challenge, especially with the challlenges of diabetes.
Also in Sydney the Australian diabetes community hosted a panel discussion regarding ‘the evolution of diabetes management in Australia’. This was a fantastic event held on the shores of Darling Harbour in Sydney city. I was lucky enough to be invited to be a part of this panel with other diabetes ‘experts’. I spoke of how important it is to treat newly diagnosed diabetics with an empowering mentality rather than a victim mentality. If when we are first diagnosed we are constantly reminded of all the things we can’t do in life, this will set strongly especially in young people’s minds, but an empowerment message focussing on the so many things we can do in life will set us free from a restrictive perspective of our own lives. This was a great night with some inspirational guests and other panellists.
Apart from studying and speaking, the wheels of the bike have still been turning down under. Upon return, the focus has shifted from road to dirt, with the October goal of the world famous Crocodile Trophy in Cape York, QLD. To prepare I was lucky enough to join up with my home team GPM-Wilson Racing to start some of the rounds of the scody cup, Australia’s key domestic road racing series. After racing in USA this year, it is always a shock to come back to Australia to discover how fast and hard the racing here. It is definately on par if not harder than the domestic racing calendar in the USA. I also have been travelling with the Subaru-MarathonMTB.com crew to many of the marathon MTB races which have now sprung up all over Australia. Top 10 results at the Kowalski classic, Flight Centre Epic and Wollombi marathon were all great fun. I have kept on treasuring all my training in Sydney, going east to the beaches, west to the hills and rivers really does make where I live a real riding paradise, it puts a smile on my face every day.
Savouring a good brew takes practice.
I was lining up at the Crocodile Trophy this year with the Subaru-marathonMTB.com Team, last year we won the team’s classification with this team. This year was a real struggle for me, on the first day my derailleur hanger had broken after an overshift causing me to start the tour from last place on Elite classification. Luckily team mate Werner Van Der Merwe from South Africa took the lead in the Masters classification which gave me a good defensive role to play for my team mate, along with Mike Blewitt, whilst also trying every day for a breakaway stage win. The conditions were so rough and to be honest moments of enjoyment were few and far between during these 9 days in the searing heat. The people around me including the wonderful Van Der Merwe’s and the legend crew in the ‘Taj Mahal’ of Tenni’s SKM team kept me relatively sane. Returning home and spinning stories about this race reminded me however that often in things that are really really difficult the happiness is often in the retrospection rather in the actual experience itself, and its OK to struggle!
Teams Podium, after 9 days of outback racing at the Croc Trophy
SBS cycling central did a short feature on my preparation for this race, which is a great way to promote the cause.
From here it is no rest yet, I leave on November 15 for the 8stage Tour of Rwanda in Africa with Team Type1-Sanofi. This trip signifies a big mission for the team which is very important. I will keep updates on facebook and the twitter.
Thanks for reading mates,
Justin/ Mad Dog