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. 6th 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!!
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