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 readyToireasa 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.
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