Now it's about winning

Eddie, Ethan & Sam with World Champ silvers

In past years, New Zealand's fledging team sprint combination used to turn up to competitions to gain international experience. Now they turn up to win.

Cycling Southland's Eddie Dawkins teamed with Auckland's Ethan Mitchell and Sam Webster on Friday to claim this country's best ever result in the Men's Team Sprint at the UCI World track Cycling Championships in Minsk, Belarus.

The trio missed the world title by a miniscule margin (0.049 seconds) to claim silver behind Germany.

12 months ago I watched these three men stand on the podium in person in Melbourne when they won bronze at the 2012 World Championships. They did get a little helping hand from two faster teams who were relegated for various infringements, pushing the Kiwis into a ride for bronze, which they were good enough to win.

This year, they needed no assistance from other teams. They were just faster than them. After qualifying fastest they again lowered their personal best sea-level time in the final ride on Friday, but were beaten on the line by the fast-finishing Germans.

These boys finished fifth and sixth in 210 and 2011, prior to their medal-winning deeds over the last two years. With three world championships before the Rio Olympics and fellow Southlanders Matt Archibald and Tom Beadle adding depth to the squad, the question may well be not if they can win more medals, but how many and what colours will they be.

Yes, that brings expectation and its own pressure. But you only have to bear expectation when you are world class. And these boys are. It has been another hugely proud weekend, watching from afar.

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Early mornings watching internet video from Minsk will this week become long and late nights at the 2013 Age Group Track Championships at Stadium Southland Velodrome.

I wrote last week about the prospects for the five days of competition which begin on Tuesday night from 6:30pm. These championships may not have the big names of the Elites but, more often than not, they deliver more spectacular racing than their championship counterpart.

Large, even fields in the Under 15 and Under 17 ranks augers well for the sport's competitive future. The thing I love about the Age Groups is that you are either watching the champions of tomorrow, or the champions of yesterday. Juniors and Masters racing together is a great mix and with the addition of the Elite and Under 19 omniums, we have riders from eight different decades competing through to Saturday. Should be fun.

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I spent the weekend in central Otago for a mate's wedding (congrats Justin & Nicky) and reaquainted myself with the course that will host the Club Road Nationals in Queenstown in April. This is the biggest national championship event with north of 800 competitors predicted and Speargrass Flat/Malaghans Road will provide a stern test for all of them.

But first, we've got a little overtime to put in at the Velodrome this week. Hope to see you there.

Nick jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive

Giving thanks for those behind the scenes

Club racing at Waianiwa

It's been a hectic start to 2013. So when a rare weekend off presented itself, I travelled to the old home patch of Gore to give Sport Southland a hand at their outstanding MTL Moonshine Trail on Saturday (yes, I too was questioning my sanity when the alarm went off at 6am!)

It was a great event, expertly organised, wonderfully supported by volunteers and entrants and the weather gods even played ball.

It also brought home to me the outstanding job local sporting clubs and organisations do in providing great local events. In a lot of cases we don't consider the huge amount of work put in to deliver what must rank as one of the highest number of events per capita in the country.

This weekend was a great example. While over 400 were taking on the ups and downs of the Moonshine Trail from Dolamore Park, our club road racers were battling strong head and cross winds and on Sunday the first in our SouthPort Criterium Series was raced around Bill Richardson Drive.

Then come the next few weeks. From next Tuesday, Stadium Southland Velodrome plays host to over 200 track cyclists with the annual Age Group Nationals over five days, the Gore to Waikiwi classic and South Island Teams' Time Trial will be held the following weekend and then a large Southland contingent will pursue more national titles at the Club Road Nationals in Queenstown in April. And that's just our sport!
The people who deliver events don't do it for thanks, they do it because they love their sport. But don't under-estimate the difference a quick word of appreciation at the end of the day provides. It's the least we can do to recognise the countless hours and unrivalled passion these people have for all our sports.

While I'm on the topic of the weekend, a deserving congratulations to Matt Zenovich, Neil Familton and Kirstie James for their wins in trying conditions at Waianiwa on Saturday. Zenovich backed up to complete a double in winning A Grade at the SouthPort Crit on Sunday, with series leader jerseys also going to Stu MacDonald (B Grade), Daryl Haggerty (C Grade) and Glen Ferguson (D Grade) along with juniors Tom Sexton, Corbin Strong and Madeleine Gough. A good weekend's work by you all.

Offshore, Eddie Dawkins has safely arrived in Belarus for the World track Cycling Championships which kick off late Wednesday night, New Zealand time. The Men's kilo time trial is on the opening evening of competition (Thursday morning) and although yet to be confirmed, it would surprise if he and Simon van Velthooven don't line up to fill New Zealand's two qualification spots. The Team Sprint then follows on Friday morning. Last year I was lucky enough to watch Eddie stand on a world championship podium in person in Melbourne. We would love nothing better than a repeat performance  to cap what has been a stellar 12 months for the big guy. Rip 'em to shreds Ed!

National champs live up to hype

Steph McKenzie - Photo credit: Dianne Manson

Last week's Elite and U19 Track nationals held at Invercargill's Stadium Southland Velodrome was another outstanding success.

Great racing, great crowds and the great atmosphere which has become a hallmark of the velodrome over recent years, all added up to four great days of racing. Another seven national records fell by the wayside as New Zealand's elite track cyclists continue to raise the bar, year-by-year.

During my days in radio and in my brief sports administration career since, I have been lucky enough to attend plenty of spectacular sporting events but, all biases aside, what I saw last Saturday night will live in my memory for a long time.

Watching Simon van Velthooven, Eddie Dawkins, Matt Archibald and Sam Webster take the final bend four-wide at 70 kilometres an hour in the Men's Keirin  was nothing short of breath-taking. There are plenty of folk who have seen a lot more bike racing than I who rated that final as one of the best they'd seen - a truly world class field, putting on a great show as they hunted down a national title and, perhaps just as importantly, bragging rights over their mates for 12 months.

Southlanders again performed with distinction but now know they have the tough task to retain the National Points Shield with Auckland holding a narrow lead on the Points Table after the first Championships. The shield is awarded at the conclusion of the Age Group Championships which start later this month and it will come down to our squad of junior and masters riders to determine whether the Shield stays in Invercargill for a sixth-successive year.

The good news for Southland is that we have seen the last of Aaron Gate and Simon van Velthooven these championships - their dominance last week a major factor in Auckland's five point lead.

Steph McKenzie continued her rapid recent development, earning her first elite national title in the women's sprint while Natasha Hansen finished strongly to claim a dominant keirin win and lowered both her national 200m record before smashing the Team Sprint mark with McKenzie. Matt Archibald also continued to stake a claim for consistent higher honours and was undoubtedly the unlucky party in the selection for the World Championships, missing out on joining mate Eddie Dawkins in the five-man squad by virtue of Aaron Gate's four gold medals which gave the selectors no option but to take him to ride the endurance events in Minsk.

One of the success of the championship was the inclusion of the Under 19 events alongside the Elite programme. Jeremy Presbury, Liam Aitcheson, Josh Haggerty and Laura Heywood are all good chances at gaining Junior Worlds' selection after the Age Group Champs.

The Age Groups feature, Under-15 and Under 17 grades as well as the Masters age categories and the Elite and Under-19 Omniums. It starts on the night of Tuesday 26 February and then features two sessions per day until Saturday 2 March. Should be a great climax to another huge track season.

Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive

2012 Year in Review - Part 2

After reviewing the first part of the year last week, what better way to send out 2012 than with part two of our Cycling Year in Review.

JUNE
Steph McKenzie is named Southland's Junior Sportsperson of the Year while Eddie Dawkins and Ross Machejefski both earn finalist spots at the ILT Southland Sports Awards.

JULY
Southland District Council's Cherie Champion, Adrian Buddle, Jamie Cunningham and Mark Day take out the 2012 Harrex Group Corporate Pursuit title, Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France and we honour Lyn Randall with Life Membership at our AGM.

AUGUST
Eddie Dawkins earns a top five Olympic result in the Men's Team Sprint while Natasha Hansen features prominently in her Olympic debut and the UCI Juniors Track World Championships are staged in Invercargill. New Zealand win seven silver and three bronze medals and an unprecedented five world record rides are recorded. Brilliantly supported by spectators and the wider Southland community, Cycling Southland delivers the best ever Junior World Champs and stamped the city and our velodrome on the world stage.

SEPTEMBER
Phillipa Gray and Laura Fairweather combine for a full set of Paralympic medals at the London Paralympics. The pair smash the world record in winning gold in the Individual Pursuit after taking bronze in the Time Trial and then completed their set with silver in the road Time Trial. Sophie Williamson rides strongly to just miss a medal in her final race as a junior at the World Road Championships in Holland while Andy McIntyre takes out the Murray McLeay Trophy on Cycling Southland's Memorial Weekend.

OCTOBER
A record field of 189 takes to the roads in our annual Yunca Junior Tour of Southland. The weather gods don't play ball on the Saturday in Te Tipua but the sunshine returned for some exciting climaxes on the final day. At the Velodrome the first track event of the new season shows the unquestionable talent coming through the Junior ranks and stamp Australian Jack Edwards as a freakish talent and a name to watch as a future superstar of the sport.

NOVEMBER
The final PowerNet-sponsored Tour of Southland ends in appropriate fashion with the race lead changing on the final stage of the week long race. Node 4-Subaru's Mike Northey claims a hugely popular victory on the ride to Gala Street. A record 17 Southlanders line up at the Oceania Track Championships in Adelaide. They return with 15 medals including an incredible Southland trifecta with Eddie Dawkins, Cam Karwowski and Matt Dodds finishing 1,2,3 in the Men's kilo.

DECEMBER
James Hargest retain the Secondary School track cycling title by a solitary point, two national records fall at the Southland Track Championships and Jeremy Presbury and Liam Aitcheson are named to ride at the Sydney Youth Olympic Festival in January. Sophie Williamson is named BikeNZ's Emerging Talent while she, Eddie Dawkins and Phillipa Gray all feature in the Halberg Award nominees.

Let's do it all again in 2013. Happy New Year.

Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive

2012 Year in Review - Part 1

As usual, my final columns for the year look back on some of the highlights from the Cycling Southland year.

Each of these deserve more words than this column's word limit can provide, but collectively they add up to one helluva year for the sport in the south. I planned to do a single column, but the sheer volume of performance mean I have had to split this over two. So let's get started

JANUARY
Cycling Southland members Nicky Samuels and James Williamson complete a remarkable double in winning both the elite titles at the Road Nationals in Christchurch. Matt Archibald and Eddie Dawkins earn World Cup bronze in the Team Sprint in Beijing while Cam Karwowski earns the same coloured medal in the Team Pursuit. Canterbury's Dylan Kennett takes out the Gore to Invercargill Road classic.

FEBRUARY
Eddie Dawkins and Natasha Hansen are the star-turns at the Elite Track Nationals in Invercargill winning the trophies for most points by male and female riders while Phillipa Gray and Laura Fairweather give us a taste of things to come by winning bronze at the Para-Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles.

MARCH
Southland again dominates the Age Group Track Championships, earning 144 points to comfortably defend the National Points Shield, 63 points ahead of its closest region. Kylie Young takes out the Gore to Waikiwi classic while Sophie Williamson and Tom Vessey both earn podium finishes at the Oceania Road Championships, hosted in Queenstown. In the space of 48 hours eight Southlanders are named in World championship squads (three for the Elites and five for the Juniors) and just to top off a busy month we hand out 10 Southland road racing titles across various age groups.

APRIL
In what ranks at the top of my personal highlight list, Eddie Dawkins becomes the first man to break the 10 second mark in the Men's Sprint on one of the biggest stages imaginable - the UCI World Championships in Melbourne. Eddie and Matt Archibald finish qualifying in the top 12 in the world. Eddie also earns New Zealand's first World Championship sprint medal, winning bronze in the Team Sprint. I feel very privileged to have watched it from the infield at Hisense Arena. Another 14 titles are handed out at the Southland Time Trial Champs and Eddie Dawkins and Natasha Hansen are named in NZ's Olympic team.

MAY
Sophie Williamson goes back-to-back in winning both the road race and time trial at the Club Road Nationals while Laura Heywood, Jennifer Muhl , Phillipa Gray, Laura Fairweather and Kylie Young also all stand on the medal dais. Tom Scully becomes the first New Zealander to finish in the top three of the prestigious Paris-Roubaix U23 race and somehow I cycle from Queenstown to Invercargill (or most of the way anyway) as part of Westpac's Chopper Appeal.
Until our June to December review next week, from all of us at Cycling Southland, a merry Christmas to you and yours.

Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive

Busy start to 2013 beckons

There's little doubt that 2012 has been a massive year for Cycling Southland, headlined by our hosting of the UCI Juniors Track World Championships in August and by a large number of stand-out performances at national and international by the south's elite and junior riders.
 

Next week, in my final column for the year I will relive the craziness of the last twelve months, but today it is a quick look forward to what the New Year holds.

The first month of the year is chock full of championship racing the Elite Road and Track Championships scheduled. First up, the Elite Road Championships in Christchurch from January 11 to 13. Last year Cycling Southland's James Williamson and Nicky Samuels doubled-up for an unprecedented double in winning both elite men's and women's road racing titles, Southland's first national road title since 1968.

Closer to home, we hit the ground running with our annual ILT New Year Cycling Series. This begins on January 18 and 19 with the traditional New Year Track Carnival starting at 7pm both nights. This event is always a great way to get the year underway and with the Track Nationals to follow just over ten days later it is a crucial build-up event.

The Elite and Under 19 Track Nationals will be held from January 31 to February 3. In recent years, some members of the High Performance squad have had limited campaigns. No so in 2013. The national selectors have been very clear that performances at these nationals will dictate selections for the international campaigns for the remainder of the year. It is the key selection event and we'll get the benefit.

With a pared back international programme in 2013 as the first year in a new Olympic cycle, riders will have precious few competition opportunities to show why they should have a spot in the squad building to Rio in 2016. Next month's Track nationals and the Oceania Championships in Invercargill in November will benefit as the best in the business will have to fire to earn spots in the black skin suit throughout the year.

Last weekend's Southland Track Champs really fired us up for the upcoming championship season. To have over 120 riders racing at our local championships is easily a record and underlines the continued growth in the sport.

A number of new names have earned selection in the Nationals training squads directly on the back of their performances last weekend and the quality of riding, along with depth of talent which is developing across all our age groups from under-15 to Masters is heartening.

The World Championships are to be held in Minsk, Belarus in mid-February and then our Age Group athletes take centre stage from February 26 to March 2.

And just because we would hate for you to think we weren't busy enough, the Club Road nationals - the biggest national cycling championship in number-terms, is this year being held in Queenstown in April.

Better rest up over Christmas then!

Oceania champs kick-start track season

Pieter Bulling in action for New Zealand

The track cycling season begins in earnest this week with a record 17-strong Southland contingent lining up at the Oceania Track Cycling Championships in Adelaide starting Wednesday.

Ten riders will start in New Zealand’s Elite and Under-19 squads while a further seven will ride in Cycling Southland colours over the four day championships which alternate between Australia and Invercargill annually.

As usual, we have had a pretty good view of preparations, outside our office window on Stadium Southland Velodrome and with scaled-back international campaigns scheduled for New Zealand’s track programme this season, the Oceania championships represent one of a limited number of opportunities for riders to impress.

As discussed in this column last week, with a new Olympic cycle beginning post-London, much interest will focus on the next wave of talent stepping into the Elite ranks and at how some of the experienced campaigners will back-up after the Olympics. Southland has riders in both categories.

Eddie Dawkins has quickly become one of the most experienced members of the elite squad and I have little doubt that the big fella will relish any extra leadership responsibility. He’ll have his good mate Matt Archibald alongside him who has certainly found strong training form over the last couple of weeks and will be wanting to send a clear message to the selectors that he is worthy of a world championship ride in February. Natasha Hansen will be hoping she can replicate her form from twelve months ago when she claimed three Oceania titles and a silver from her four starts.

The endurance squad features Sequoia Cooper who will have renewed focus with the strong possibility the Women’s team pursuit will move from three to four riders in Rio in 2016 along with Cameron Karwowski and Pieter Bulling who have both come off impressive European summers and strong PowerNet Tour of Southlands.

The Under-19 New Zealand squad is an early indication of those in the running for trips to Glasgow next August for the 2013 World Juniors. Jeremy Presbury will likely be one of the first names written down after his to fourth placings this year in Invercargill. He will take on the Super-Drome in Adelaide along with Josh Haggerty and first year Under-19s Mike Culling and Laura Heywood.

Meanwhile a further seven riders will wear the Southland skin-suit in Adelaide - Aimee Burns, Steph McKenzie, Bradley Tuhi, Matt Dodds, Karl Watson, first year under-19 Nick Kergozou and a returning Lee Evans who rode last year for Wellington where he is attending university. Of these, McKenzie looms as the strong contender for possible podium finish, showing some excellent training form over recent weeks.

The 2013 Oceania Track Championships in Adelaide begin Wednesday and conclude Saturday. On a local front the next key event is the Southland Track Championships to be held from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 December while the annual ILT New Year Track Carnival will be held on January 18th and 19th, leading in to the Elite and U19 National Championships starting January 31.

Big year leads to big plans

Hillside School learns to ride with Cycling Southland

With the end of the year quickly descending upon us, many organizations like Cycling Southland are in review/preview mode - reviewing the good, the bad and the ugly from the year that’s been and planning for 2013. Fortunately for cycling there has been plenty of good and, aside from some bloke Armstrong, not a lot of ugly.

Whilst the flag-ship events including our recent PowerNet Tour of Southland and the SIT-sponsored UCI Juniors Track World Championships are the big, shiny things most people remember, the work I am most proud of is at the club and entry levels of the sport.

To see the numbers coming through our beginner programmes on the track and road is really heartening. It is a real focus for us in the year ahead with an aim of continuing to make it easier for people to get on a bike with us and then to develop their skills to whatever level they desire.

The corner-stone of this is our soon-to-launch Pedaling Pathway. This is our new road rider education and development programme and for those new to the sport, (and those a little more experienced,) it will provide the skills and knowledge to achieve your cycling goals – whether that is to cycle around the block or to win a national title.

We are also aiming to significantly expand our hugely successful Learn to Ride programme in Southland primary schools. This is a wonderful partnership with Sport Southland and KiwiSport and our good mates at the Southland MTB and BMX clubs and it is at this level where our team is really making a difference.

Over the six weeks of the programme there are kids who have hardly been on a bike who are throwing away trainer wheels and have a new found confidence and a whole heap of fun along the way. We can’t wait to get to more primary schools next year.

Short story is there are some pretty exciting plans to capitalize on the high profile our sport has enjoyed over the past year, so be warned - you can expect to hear plenty more from us to join us for a ride.

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Whilst on the topic of things new, the latest UCI World Cup round in Glasgow this past weekend showed that the four-year changing of the guard which accompanies the Olympic Games cycle has already started.

The most notable examples were in New Zealand’s sole representative in Scotland, 17 year old Dylan Kennett, riding his way to fourth in the Men’s Individual Pursuit on Sunday and Great Britain’s Elinor Barker who, like Kennett, shone brightly at the Junior Worlds in Invercargill in August, partnering with World and Olympic champions Laura Trott and Dani King to win the Women’s Team Pursuit gold on Saturday.

We’ll get a first hand look at the new wave of talent at the Elite and Under-19 Track Nationals at Stadium Southland Velodrome from January 31st. That will be a fitting way to start another new year.

Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive.

Future looks bright after awards night

Junior Boys SportsPerson Josh Carpenter & Nathan Cohen

On Friday night I was fortunate to play host at the annual Southland Secondary School Sports Awards. Southland’s 15 secondary schools recognised their classes of 2012 across a large number of sportsperson, participation, contribution and volunteer categories.

I was struck by a couple of things during the evening. Firstly, the opportunities these youngsters have to participate and perform in a huge number of sports. That’s down to the brilliant work our schools, our sporting clubs and our regional sporting organizations provide for Southlanders.

So often we in sport get caught up in the minute details and day to day struggles of our lives in sport, without stepping back and, even briefly, recognizing the great work that goes on in our province every week of the year.

Friday night provided another example of the role the humble volunteer plays in this picture. There are thousands upon thousands of volunteers who give their time so selflessly – not for money, not for glory but because they are passionate about the kids, their school and their sport.

There is no better example than our just-completed PowerNet Tour of Southland or our recent hosting of the UCI Juniors Track World Championships. Around these two events alone, there were approximately 12,000 hours volunteered. Put it in dollar terms that is a volunteer staff input of close to $250,000 and that’s just during the events themselves, let along the countless hours spent in preparation for large-scale events like these.

In many respects, it’s easier to recognize this contribution around events while the week-to-week contribution can sometimes tend to go unnoticed. However, it is literally the blood that pumps through Southland sport’s veins.

As the end of another year approaches, every sport – including Cycling Southland – owes another huge debt of gratitude to that passionate group of people that keep our organizations going through their unwavering passion and enthusiasm. It was wonderful to see a handful get worthy recognition on Friday night.

Reading out the lists of achievements on an international, national and regional level by those nominated for awards on Friday across a hugely diverse range of sports, proves again what a future Southland sport has.
Like many sports, cycling was well represented with Southland Boys High School’s Josh Carpenter continuing cycling’s fine tradition of a sixth-successive Junior Boys Sports-Person of the Year award. Kate Dunlevey, Jeremy Presbury, Michael Culling and Josh Haggerty were all nominated as senior finalists and they are showing no signs of slowing down.

Presbury, Culling and Haggerty will be joined by Laura Heywood in BikeNZ’s U19 squad for the Oceania Track Champs in Adelaide at the end of this month, while Eddie Dawkins, Matt Archibald, Pieter Bulling, Cam Karwowski, Natasha Hansen and Sequoia Cooper have all made the Elite squad.

Add Culling and Haggerty’s selections in the BikeNZ Road Development squad along with Central Otago’s Liam Aitcheson and Georgia Vessey and there is plenty to look forward to. If Friday night’s awards were a look into the sporting future, ours could not be more promising.

Nick Jeffrey is Cycling Southland's Chief Executive.

Another tour, another long list of thanks

The tour heads to Crown Range. Photo by James Jubb

Cycling Southland’s 2012 PowerNet Tour of Southland is in the books and what a race.

By now you will have read of Mike Northey’s incredible come-from-behind victory over the final 30 kilometres of our seven day race. One of the real joys of working in the sporting sector is getting an up close look at incredible moments like this and being able to witness the drama, the elation and the bitter disappointment that played out between Winton and Invercargill on Saturday afternoon.

So often in road races, the result is more or less locked down and the final stage can be something of an anti-climatic doddle to the line. Not so on Saturday where riders told me afterwards the 79 kilometre final stage was the hardest they have ever ridden. The pace went on right from the start and to quote Jerry Stock, who provided commentary during Cue TV’s wonderful coverage of the event, riders were “kicking stones up struggle street” right from the get-go.

It was a dramatic end to another brilliant event and one which was another huge success. International cycling hasn’t has the best of months with the scars from the Lance Armstrong saga still very fresh. While that represents the worst of cycling, what we witnessed over the past week is the best. We are incredibly thankful for the spectacle we were treated to and the way in which the 2012 Tour field conducted itself on and off the bike.

Thanks goes out to our incredible volunteers, our 2012 media contingent and to our fantastic funders and sponsors who make it all possible. No list is complete without Bruce, Pam and the Ross family. Most won’t realize what an undertaking this event is and how consuming in time and energy it becomes. We owe you all another huge debt of gratitude.

2012 was also notable as PowerNet’s last as major sponsor of the event. Prospects for the future are positive and, as with any change, it provides opportunity, but our first job is to recognize PowerNet’s phenomenal contribution to this iconic Southland event.

I am not over-stating the case to say the event would not be where it is today without PowerNet. Their input has been so much more than a writing of a cheque. Their financial contribution has been significant, but the way in which their team, headed by the incredible Lyn Daly, has embraced the event and made it their own is where our real fortune has been.

The PowerNet name will forever be associated with the Tour of Southland and whatever the future holds for the event and wherever it takes us, it is on the back of their twelve years of outstanding support.

Now the focus returns to the track. Next up are the Oceania Track Championships in Adelaide later this month and, closer to home, the Southland Track Champs are in December, building up to the Track Nationals in late January.

Before then, hopefully, you will forgive us if we take a couple of days off.