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The Life and Times | Axel's Army
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-09-2015 07:34
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Spoiler Mostly inspired by Karl Hammarling, A Day in the Life and The Comeback but othe stories and also tv shows, etc. will creep in  . Thanks to Crommy, TMM and Mre for their guides.
E0 - Pilot
Why do we love cycling? We select few, who tune in passionately for not just the Tour, the Giro, Roubaix, De Ronde. We who follow from Froome to Garneau, from Cavendish to Brandao. The pain, the passion, the blood, the sweat, the tears?
For me it was always a simple reason: It was bloody fun. Exhilarating to do, and just as great to watch. For the last nine years I have dreamt of standing with the greats, just breathing their air in the peloton. I'm oh so close to achieving my goal. It's been tough, turbulent, exciting, dull, joyous and painful. So how did I get here?
Edited by jandal7 on 21-02-2020 07:47
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-09-2015 07:35
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The Life and Times | Rewind, Relive, Catch Up
Spoiler Season I | Beginnings
Season II | The Will To Win
Season III | The Meteoric Rise of Romeo and the Falcon
Season IV | The Path Less Travelled
Season V | From Wanganui with Love
Season VI | When in Rhône
Season VII | Axel's Army
Edited by jandal7 on 23-04-2020 13:18
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 09-09-2015 07:37
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Can I post??
Well great read!! Can't wait to see where this is heading!!
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 09-09-2015 08:26
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Good Luck! Looks good so far. 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-09-2015 09:07
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World Champion
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Spoiler @jakstar - Yes and cheers, I hope you enjoy!
@trek - Cheers and thanks!
@All/SoM fans (if there is any ) - Sorry if I screwed up on lyrics
Season 1 Episode 1 | First Years
"Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start! To start we begin with Cy Cl Ing, Cy Cl Ing. My first true love just happened to be, Cy Cl Ing, Cy Cl Ing..."
I came into this world on the 26th of September 1995, in Hastings, New Zealand. My mother was a Kiwi, my father Italian. He was a farmer's son, whose family who came to beautiful Aotearoa when he was a late teenager for a new lifestyle and way of doing it. Possibly some kind of fraud or something as well was involved, I don't know. My mother was also from the country, so they meshed perfectly, and it created a good family environment. I had an older brother and all was right in this world.
I was always a small boy, something which worried my parents. As I grew I stayed small but thankfully widened so my chest wasn't all ribs. I was, moreover, a very healthy boy, brought up on the best diet: Food, fun and love. I rode bikes for the first time very early on, ones where I pedaled by pushing my feet on the ground with my older brother every day. He was a year older and as the years went by pushed me to riskier and riskier things on the bike.
Luckily when I slid and tumbled three metres along the path onto some rocks going downhill on a bike I had developed kneecaps. Don't try telling my four-year-old self I was lucky though...
Edited by jandal7 on 17-04-2020 07:38
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 09-09-2015 09:11
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I've fell off my bike a metre onto rocks and still have the scar, (the kneecaps were a bit too high  ) 3m sounds fun 
Nice read though.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 09-09-2015 09:11
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Good read! Nice start to the story. I like how he's a kiwi! haha
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 09-09-2015 19:55
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World Champion
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Spoiler @trek - Thanks and ouch!
@jakstar - Cheers and yeah, NZ is the county I know best, so it's easier to write a Kiwi. His Italian heritage will come into play down the line.
Season 1 Episode 2 | Injury
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!"
I can just about remember the pain, my bloodcurdling screams of agony, and my brother Hayden crying next to me, apologizing over and over again. I was in too much pain to take it in. I just wailed for Mum. Hayden ran off to get her and I was all alone on the rocks.
Turns out I had fractured my tibia and my kneecaps. That's painful for a fully-grown adult in pristine physical shape. The main problem was at this age I couldn't handle crutches. Wheelchair it was, and Hayden took to being my pusher and steerer. It was only the second time when Mum told him not to do it on the hill.
After a while I did recover, but then I turned five and was faced with an even scarier prospect.
Edited by jandal7 on 17-04-2020 07:39
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 09-09-2015 21:28
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Trying to think of what a 5 year old finds scarier then pain.  Nice work though. 
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 10-09-2015 07:57
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World Champion
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trek - Veges, Monsters, dentists, haha. You're gonna find out, and cheers once again
S1/E3 | First Day
"Weak knees palms are sweaty, vomit on his sweater already, mum's spaghetti..."
Some kids look forward to their first day. Of course, I had had kindy before, and what a big kid I thought I was when I started morning kindy at age four! But then came the crash, and after a while despite being naturally bright I was a bit behind on skills with people I didn't know.
Of course, the stories Hayden would tell me didn't help much. Scary teachers, school bullies, everything. He even showed me a big bruise from a fight he'd had. The story about the cane was clearly dispelled, according to Dad that was abolished when he was a boy!
So school wasn't actually that bad in the end. I made friends for life. But the most important in this part of the story is perhaps the one I least expected to make.
Edited by jandal7 on 17-04-2020 07:40
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 10-09-2015 08:15
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A girlfriend?? wife??
Really liking this so far! Great read!!
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| Ad Bot |
Posted on 21-11-2024 11:46
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 10-09-2015 09:12
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Ohhhhhhhh, School,
Really building up to something here. I'm excited.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 11-09-2015 11:06
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World Champion
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jakstar - Good guess, but no, not yet Thanks!
trek - Sorry if this doesn't live up to your expectations then, nothing really big. Maybe. Probably. Probably Not. Definitely. Possibly. Maybe.
S1/E4 | Flame
"How do they do that!?"
He was a sensible person, good at what he did, great with us kids. But most importantly, Mr. Becker was mad about bikes and to be honest that probably distracted him too much.
Before school, sometimes in lessons, he'd be staring at his computer, watching grainy footage of Armstrong, Ullrich, A young Valverde, the like, during it out uphill. Once when I was eight I went up to his desk to ask him for a pencil. He sushed me and beckoned me to watch. Despite my skepticism, thinking it was maths stuff, I turned my eyes to something that would change my life forever.
I was enthralled from the moment I laid eyes on these men with legs of a gladiator and arms that looked like they belonged to the Year Sevens at school, not adults. The look on their face, the way they flew up those mountains like many would on the flat... I'm not sure I believe in love at first sight but here is some concrete proof.
Edited by jandal7 on 17-04-2020 07:40
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 11-09-2015 11:19
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Like this episode! Keep it up J7
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 13-09-2015 05:23
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This is great, I guess he's gojng to be a climber.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 13-09-2015 10:13
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World Champion
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jakstar - Thanks once agin for your kind words and support. As you know it's great as a writer to have other people sharing your enjoyment, especially a more experienced guy like you!
trek - Ditto to what I said to jakstar, you two are the best! Nice guess but obviously I won't divulge that yet
ALL - Creative license was used with Strava mentioned in 2007
S1/E5 | Road
"Gonna make a change, for once in my life. Gonna feel real good..."
At the summer at the end of year six, Mr Becker, who'd become a good family friend after introducing Hayden and the rest of the family to cycling, invited me and Hayden to start joining him and his mates on their warm ups before the rides. For these Strava KoM-Hunters the first 10-15km was their neutral zone, just turning the legs over. We immediately accepted but then as we walked home we looked at each other and realised we would have to buy road bikes to keep up.
Now me and Hayden were crazy about cycling now, but we'd never had the money to buy ourselves road bikes. Emulating our heroes on mountain bikes was good enough for or us children with wild imaginations but we'd often discuss as we lay in our beds at night if, and then when we might be able to get a real road bike each.
Luckily our local bike shop had a 10/10 deal, meaning you have ten months to pay it off, usually in 10% chunks. We both agreed instantly to the deal, spilling our savings (so that's what mum meant with "something bigger... not lollies" ) and condemning ourselves to 10 months hard labour.
Now that could be hard to come by for a farm boy, as usually we did more than the average kids anyway for free. Nevertheless we found odd jobs all around the place, convinced our parents to pay for some of our farm jobs, and we were ready to jump on these shiny new Avantis and give it a whirl.
Edited by jandal7 on 17-04-2020 07:41
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| trekbmc |
Posted on 13-09-2015 10:27
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Every post here has something similar without being quite the same to how I started cycling.
Another great part though.
"What done is, is one." - Benji Naesen
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| Jakstar22 |
Posted on 13-09-2015 10:50
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First bike is always a great story! Riding it for the first time though is where the magic happens!
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| jandal7 |
Posted on 18-09-2015 11:28
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World Champion
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trek - Haha Naturally, quite a few main points here use my life as inspiration as well. Thanks a lot once again!
jakstar - Yep, remember my first ever road bike, thought nothing was cooler in the world than staring at it until I first turned over those pedals
S1/E6 | Fuel
When I am with you, there's no place I'd rather be...
I swung my leg over the frame. My butt felt alien on this strange new kind of saddle but I would soon realize the wonders it would do. We didn't have cleats, but we had straps. I pushed off well but it took me a few goes to strap in! But when I did it was the best feeling in the world. More so than mountain biking, here was something that felt right, it clicked with my legs and my brain. I knew this was what I was meant to do.
I don't believe in fate because it makes me uncomfortable to think my life isn't in my hands. But from Mr Becker showing me the footage, to now effortlessly riding my brand new bike, it felt like it was all meant to be. I looked at Hayden and at the time I was both overjoyed and a bit crushed at what I saw.
He was a complete natural. He was already used to his machine after a kilometre. It was amazing to see him in his element, but I thought I might have had something he didn't. Looking back it was a horrible thought, even though it was just an inkling. But despite my decent sport and academic skills, he was always just better. He convinced me it was the age gap and in a year I'd be that good, probably better, which turned out true (maybe not the better bit...) but at the time I didn't realize it, because he was always that much better.
By the end of the summer their neutral zones was too small, their main rides too big, We tagged along for a while, but soon enough Hayden would have to call home and get a lift after we rode ourselves into the ground. Then one day Dad said he trusted us by ourselves, so long as Hayden was there and we were back at a certain time. Which may not have been the smartest move for a pair of pre-teens...
Edited by jandal7 on 17-04-2020 07:42
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| DiCyc |
Posted on 18-09-2015 11:30
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Good luck |
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