Podium Practise

Victorian State Track Titles
DISC
19-21 December.

Three days, three events: 10km Scratch Race, Individual Pursuit and 25km Points Race.

Friday: The state titles started very promising with a silver medal in the Elite Women's Scratch Race. Congratulations to Tess Downing who took the gold and whom I couldn't quite get over in our sprint to the line.









Saturday: Whilst the pursuit has been occupying the bulk of my training focus lately, it has been something of a disappointment on race day. I qualified for the bronze medal ride, but was unable to achieve a result. Somewhat frustrating, yes, but not the end of the world.









Sunday: To make up for Saturday's poor showing, I had the Points Race to make things right on Sunday. This was a tough race, made worse by the small bunch putting up a fight when Tess and I, later joined by Chloe McConville, initially refusing to let us catch them! We eventually got there, but it seemed to take forever!! Tess had a clear win going in to the final sprint which I needed to win to claim the silver. Somehow I found something to come over the bunch to take the final sprint and the silver medal! Might have had something to do with my brother, his fiance and my niece along with Matt screaming in the stands and the support in the infield- thanks Pothole, Lyn and Matty :)

So despite Saturday's "failure" (I've told you before I am an over achiever!), it was a pretty successful trip to Melbourne! Full results can be found at Vic Cycling.

Have a very merry Christmas everyone!


















Photos (l to r): Top: Trying to get G'd for the Scratch Race as it got later and later on Friday night- Pothole looking somewhat bored!; Leading the Scratch race; Elite Women Scratch Race Podium (Nicole Whitburn, Tess Downing, myself)
2nd row: Pursuiters everywhere: Alex Carle (4th U19 Women), Myself (4th Elite Women), Matt Miesel-Dennis (Diesel)
Bottom: Points Race Podium (Tess Downing- gold, myself silver, Chloe McConville-bronze couldn't stay); with my niece, CJ.

Playing with fire!

Melbourne Cup on Wheels and Revolution 4
Hisense Arena, Melbourne
Wednesday 17th December

MCOW is the warm up carnival before Revolution at Hisense Arena. And was a good opportunity to get the car legs moving- Matty Meisel-Dennis and I had driven down from Canberra on Tuesday.
Three races in the afternoon session for me- elimination, wheelrace and a scratch race. Knowing that I had tougher races ahead of me in the evening I was probably a little more conservative than I would normally have been. I ended up 4th in both the elimination and scratch race, both times I think as a result of holding back a little, should have given a little more to get a few $ though :) The wheelrace was a bit of a disaster! I am flattered that Peter Tomlinson holds me in such high regard that I got to start of scratch, however with a Malaysian sprinter in front of me with no intention of working together, a big gap to the cover to get to anybody else, plus the front markers close to one another and well organised, Kendelle Hodges and I had nothing and just had to watch the race get away from us! Oh well, you win some, and you don't!

A short break and then it was time to get ready for the evening's fun. Revolution is an entertainment event, it is about putting on a show! And what a show was put on. Apparently there was 5000 spectators! For me and my limited experience, that is huge! The infield was packed with the corporate sponsors having a three course meal at one end and a bar at the other end- not sure that it was the nicest experience for dinner with sweaty smelly bike riders about 1m away dripping sweat as they sat on their rollers! And, with the attraction of seeing Robbie McEwen, Bayden Cooke and Graeme Brown, along with a whole stack of up-and-coming riders, there were a lot of people in the stands as well, in fact the start had to be delayed to get the last of the spectators inside! Needless to say it was a pretty awesome atmosphere!

The elite women's endurance field of about 15 featured Megan Dunn (triple 2008 world junior gold medalist), Belinda Goss, Rochelle Gilmore, Peta Mullens, Tess Downing, Lisa Friend, Jessie McLean, Tiffany Cromwell, Liz Greghouris and me (there were some others, but I don't have the start list). Our two races for the night were both short- 15 lap scratch race and a 30 lap points race (sprints every 5th lap)- and were going to be fast! First up was the scratch race. The start was reasonably routine, everyone rolling through taking their turn, then we got bored and the attacks started. Nothing got away- the race was too short to let anything get away. In the end it came down to a bunch sprint which Megan took out over Tess. Myself, I kind of pedalled out on the last lap and could only manage 8th in the end. Not too unhappy about that though, this was a classy field to be mixing it with.

The points race started around 10pm, just in time for bed!! The pace was still fast as well. The first 2 sprints I was in with the bunch but not far enough towards the front to get any points. Then there was the bit of the race that I was back in the box, I was tired, I was on a bad wheel that I couldn't get around and I was thinking of calling it a night. After a bit of a TTFU conversation with myself, it was decided- I was invited here to race and race I was going to do! Somehow I managed to find some more in me and get on with the bike race! There was 10 laps to go and got back in the main bunch and started following some decent wheels, that made such a difference. Second last sprint, was in a reasonable position to have a go was 5th over the line, damn, not enough for a point! Then we were down to 5 laps to go and the pace stayed on. I managed to time my run at the final sprint pretty well, and just missed out on taking 4th place in that sprint. So whilst I didn't end up with a notable final result, there were a lot of things to take out of this race and a lot of mental toughness developed! Possibly had something to do with racing with flame throwers in the in-field!

We hung around to watch what had been talked up as the event of the night- the men's maddison. And can safely say it didn't disappoint!

This link will take you to the SBS highlights of the MCOW final, won by Josiah Ng of Malaysia. Note the flame throwers in the back-straight :)

Firing on all cylinders requires getting in and out of the box

So after being sick with flu for a week, coughing up a lung everytime I did anything and losing a phenomenal amount of fluid through my sinuses, it was time to get back on the bike. Surprisingly the moto efforts didn't hurt my legs so much as my lungs and after every effort I spent a fair bit of time coughing and spluttering on the grass at BundaDome and hoping that this would go away before I headed to Melbourne.

The Wednesday night crit was more of the same- trying to have a bit of a dig without leaving too much of my lungs on the crit track. Unfortunately for me I missed the break, but Bron Ryan and Bec Henderson from my Onya team were away in it so I was kind of happy to let them go. 6^th at the end of the night and at least one and a half lungs left in my chest! But I was starting to feel a bit healthier on the bike which was a good thing as there was only a week before I hit the boards at Hisense Arena in Melbourne for Revolution 4.

The wind on Saturday made training a non-option at BundaDome due to danger of being flicked off the bike! Which meant back-to-back moto sessions on Sunday and Monday and capped off with the Vikings Monday night ITT. Sunday's session was good, and I was definitely feeling back to full health, which was an awesome feeling. Then Monday's session rolled around and suddenly I was in the box,-at the time it was a pretty big box! The first km of every effort was possibly the worst training I have done in a long time. All I could think was “man this was hard and so better not be a sign of a bad week- surely it could only get better!” I did my best to recover during the day before going out to smash it up at the ITT. By resting I mean, packing all the stuff required to head to Melbourne on Tuesday, and maybe sneaking in a nanna nap!

Before I knew it, it was ITT time and it was blowing a gale! Oh dear, could today get any better! The ITT course is out and back along Uriarra Rd and whilst there are no big hills, it is anything but flat (see profile below- coming soon). As always I was riding fixed gear, and the first 6km was directly into a block headwind that was getting stronger. Yep, day is definitely getting better.. At least it would be a taily on the way back! As expected it was a tough slog out, the wind was getting stronger and at times I was wishing for a derailleur! I caught a few of the people ahead of me before the turn around so that was good for the confidence which the wind had been trying to strip away! Then it was back with the taily which helped me recover a little, though as I approached the last 2kms I was starting to feel the damage that the wind had done on the fixed gear. There were two people left in front of me- Lewis Hopkins who had passed me and was spinning along on his U17 gears and the guy who was first away and I was closing in on him. After passing the front marker, there was a stretch of descent which would have been nice to freewheel down, but instead my legs were spinning at about 130rpm! Kind of fun and kind of hairy! Then over the finish and some heavy braking and back pedalling to try and stop the weapon- always tough on the downhill! In the end, the time was 19'37”, disappointingly a little slower than last time out, but given the box I was in after my morning session and the weather I really can't complain. And it was enough to be fastest female on the day, so no real complaints!

The only way now is out of the box and I am definitely pumped and ready for Revolution. Bring on Wednesday night!!

Sick and it sucks

After managing to dodge the colds and flus of winter, I have come down with one now. It started to hit me Sunday night and has only just started to leave me alone now :( Perhaps the sore throat I had on Saturday morning on the way to the pursuit was a sign of things to come...?

I had hoped to have recovered enough on Wednesday but alas that was not the case. Disappointingly I have withdrawn from Friday's Omnium in Sydney. I think this was the best move given that I have a massive week of racing coming up in Melbourne in two weeks and I want to make sure I am 100% to get back into training on Monday and be ready to hit the boards at DISC flying!

Next on the calendar: local crits and ITTs
17th Dec Revolution round 4 and Melbourne Cup on Wheels
19th-21st Dec Victorian State Titles

Finding my inner pursuiter... I know you are in there!

Alright, I am a little behind with my updates here so bare with me and I'll bring you up to speed.

After getting home from Adelaide somewhat exhausted I went out and posted my first time of the season for the Vikings Monday Night ITT- 19'27" over the undulating 12km course. Not too shabby given my fatigue, but will be aiming to bring that under 19' soon. And on the same day Matt left for his two week work visit to Chile (photo below is the telescope where he will be based).


Wednesday night crits are in full swing and as a bit of a confidence builder I won round 4 (19th Nov) and placed 4th the following week. Here is a link to Greg Long's awesome crit photos. Pretty happy with that really! Wednesdays are usually my heaviest training days so being able to back in the crits is a nice feeling.

Other than that is was bum on saddle and training for NSW Pursuit which was held on Saturday (29th November). Coming into this I was feeling like I was finding some good form and was determined to better the bronze medal I won last year in my first outing in this event. Unfortunately, fate saw things a little differently and 4th was the best I could do.

In a nutshell the day went something like this. I had a good warm up and was mentally well prepared for qualifying. The schedule was set and at first it was looking good, but things started to go pear-shaped at the 2km mark. In the end I missed qualifying for the gold/silver ride by about a second. Bugger.
Mechanic extraordinaire, Reggie, getting the wheels ready

Toireasa Gallagher and I went into the bronze ride with only 100th of a second separating us, so it was going to be close to see who got the medal. Maybe it was Toireasa's experience, my fatigue from being possibly over-geared in the qualifier, whatever, Toireasa got over the line ahead of me. Frustrating, but not as disappointed as I could have been. At the moment, I am determined to ride the time that we have set by the end of the season. I know there is a pursuiter inside, it is just a matter of looking at all the data that we have accumulated and tweaking a few things in training.

The pursuit titles were followed by Clarence St Cup- nothing like a bit of carnival racing to put things right! First up was a keirin... hmm not sure that this will become my next event, but a bit of fun even if I was last over the line! Then a "Miss'n'out" elimination race. The first two laps of this I was kind of sitting in and not doing much, but that was a bit of a dangerous option for me, so the plan changed to dominate on the front. And what a plan that was! As the sprinters fought over not being last over the line behind me I tapped away safely on the front and when the bell went for the last lap picked it up a little more to secure first place. The final two races were the women's wheel race, which I didn't quite have the legs for, and the motorpaced scratch race (think keirin for endurance riders!) finishing in 5th place.


Pothole (coach) and Joel (NSW Scratch Race Bronze medalist), hatching something for later in the evening ;)

Congratulations to Alex Carle for taking silver in the 2km pursuit in her first attempt at the event! And to Joel Stewart for bronze in the NSW Scratch Race.


JW19 2000m pursuit podium: Alex Carle (silver), Megan Dunn (gold), Chloe Geyer (bronze)

Next up- NSW Omnium Titles, Friday 5th December.