NSW ITT Titles.
Somersby, NSW
Sunday 25 July 2010
About this time last year, this happened. It was time to see whether I could do it again.
Due to work on the Calga course, we were on a new course for this year’s edition. On the profile, it looked to be a cracker- no major climbs and overall downhill. Despite a head cold at the start of the week, I had had an excellent lead up to this event and was feeling reasonably confident. We took a drive over the course on Saturday afternoon and identified that whist there wasn’t any difficult climbs there were a few places that dragged a bit and would require some time out of the saddle.
Race day dawned and revealed perfect TT weather- sunny, but not too hot and no wind. Well, there was no wind while I warmed up but it picked up a little before I started, although in the end it was not enough to trouble me.
The race went according to plan, and was largely a blur! I descended like a demon and took all the technical parts perfectly. The only thing I would have liked to have been better was my climbing, whilst it wasn’t bad, I just didn’t dance as well as I could have over the crests.
If you haven’t figured it out, I successfully defended my title, taking the gold by over a minute! It was a super fast ride, with my average speed well over 40 kph, with maximum speed over 70 kph (yes, I may have been speeding on some parts of the course!!)
After such a cracking ride, the only thing I have to complain about is the traffic on the road! For various reasons I wish the roads had of been closed, or at the very least that there had been more traffic controllers. Please, NSW Cycling if you are reading, you have to do something about that!
Special thanks to Mick and all the guys at Onya Bike Belco and Civic for the tireless support and keeping me decked out, Brian (coach) for excellent guidance, Glenn (ACTAS) for generous equipment loans and Soigny/Mechanic/all-round good guy, Matt! You guys are awesome!!
Jul 28, 2010
Jul 27, 2010
Coming to a blog near you
Stay tuned for...
DBR Tour Day 3
When sport meets politics
and
Oops I did it again
DBR Tour Day 3
When sport meets politics
and
Oops I did it again
Jul 16, 2010
When Cycling Meets Politics...
I know a lot of you would have seen this, but who can get tired of Clarke and Dawe?! For my overseas readers, it is election time in, in case you couldn’t tell!! :p
Click Here
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Jul 10, 2010
DBR Women and Juniors' Tour- Day 3
Road Race #2: SFP to Uriarra Homestead to Coppins Crossing to Camp Sturt and back to SFP ~80 km
Sunday morning 4th July 2010
The final stage of the tour started in very thick fog and hence very limited visibility and it stayed that way for about two thirds of the race. Needless to say the descents into Uriarra Crossing were with trepidation by the bunch!Coupled with the alertness required to navigate the fog, today’s stage was all about position, position, position. Unfortunately, I lapsed a little on this one.
On the way back from the homestead I found myself in a position that I wasn’t happy with, much too far from the front of the bunch. This in turn meant I was too far at the back of the bunch when the split happened up the three sisters. And, the chase was on. Luckily the chase group formed quickly and (mostly) everyone was prepared to work hard. We chased hard and at times it looked promising that we might get there. But, that was not to be. In the end our chase group came in about 2 ½ minutes behind the front bunch.
In the final wash up I was 16th overall, a little lower than I was hoping, but still a result that I am pretty happy with. It was a tough weekend, but I am definitely seeing some major improvements in my climbing and overall tour racing, so I really can’t complain.
Next up, defense of my NSW ITT title, bring it on!
Sunday morning 4th July 2010
The final stage of the tour started in very thick fog and hence very limited visibility and it stayed that way for about two thirds of the race. Needless to say the descents into Uriarra Crossing were with trepidation by the bunch!Coupled with the alertness required to navigate the fog, today’s stage was all about position, position, position. Unfortunately, I lapsed a little on this one.
On the way back from the homestead I found myself in a position that I wasn’t happy with, much too far from the front of the bunch. This in turn meant I was too far at the back of the bunch when the split happened up the three sisters. And, the chase was on. Luckily the chase group formed quickly and (mostly) everyone was prepared to work hard. We chased hard and at times it looked promising that we might get there. But, that was not to be. In the end our chase group came in about 2 ½ minutes behind the front bunch.
In the final wash up I was 16th overall, a little lower than I was hoping, but still a result that I am pretty happy with. It was a tough weekend, but I am definitely seeing some major improvements in my climbing and overall tour racing, so I really can’t complain.
Next up, defense of my NSW ITT title, bring it on!
Jul 9, 2010
DBR Women and Juniors' Tour- Day 2 cont
Criterium
Saturday 3rd July 2010 Afternoon
Prior to the start of the afternoon stage, Brian and I discussed the weather. It would seem that it had been around 0 celcius when we had started the morning stage! Wow, I thought it was warmer than that, but then I am kind of used to training in -5 celcius. We then discussed what the mercury was doing then, at 2pm. It had made it to double digits... it was 10C!!! That settled it, short sleeves it was!
The crit went something like this: pace on, pace off, pace on, pace off, pace on, pace off. It was clear very early on that no one was going to be allowed to get away and so long as you were in a decent spot in the bunch you would get sucked along when the attack was chased. Apart for rolling through my turns accordingly early, I ventured to the front in the second part of the race and tried to lift the speed. I wasn't trying to get away, just to try and flick a few people off the back and thin things out a little.
Pretty sure any effect I, and the others who had tried a similar thing, had was eroded when 2 local roos ventured onto the track with 2 laps to go. Race neutralised until Skippy and friend were out of the way! Anyone dagged previously, back in the bunch. Hmmm. Oh well, that is racing in the bush capital!
As anticipated, it was a bunch sprint. Unfortunately thanks to Skippy I was not in the best position and to do a fair bit of moving through the bunch before the last half lap. In the end, I started my sprint from where I wanted, but just ran out of legs before the finish to roll across in 7th.
It really is all about position, position, position. Never satisified unless there is a posium involved, but I can't be disappointed as I rode the race I planned to race and ticked all the pre-race boxes.
Saturday 3rd July 2010 Afternoon
Prior to the start of the afternoon stage, Brian and I discussed the weather. It would seem that it had been around 0 celcius when we had started the morning stage! Wow, I thought it was warmer than that, but then I am kind of used to training in -5 celcius. We then discussed what the mercury was doing then, at 2pm. It had made it to double digits... it was 10C!!! That settled it, short sleeves it was!
The crit went something like this: pace on, pace off, pace on, pace off, pace on, pace off. It was clear very early on that no one was going to be allowed to get away and so long as you were in a decent spot in the bunch you would get sucked along when the attack was chased. Apart for rolling through my turns accordingly early, I ventured to the front in the second part of the race and tried to lift the speed. I wasn't trying to get away, just to try and flick a few people off the back and thin things out a little.
Pretty sure any effect I, and the others who had tried a similar thing, had was eroded when 2 local roos ventured onto the track with 2 laps to go. Race neutralised until Skippy and friend were out of the way! Anyone dagged previously, back in the bunch. Hmmm. Oh well, that is racing in the bush capital!
As anticipated, it was a bunch sprint. Unfortunately thanks to Skippy I was not in the best position and to do a fair bit of moving through the bunch before the last half lap. In the end, I started my sprint from where I wanted, but just ran out of legs before the finish to roll across in 7th.
It really is all about position, position, position. Never satisified unless there is a posium involved, but I can't be disappointed as I rode the race I planned to race and ticked all the pre-race boxes.
DBR Women and Juniors' Tour- Day 2
Stage 2- 37km Road Race
Saturday 3rd July 2010 Morning
A nice covering of fog was in order for the start of the day, though it had largely lifted by the time we started. A short road stage in the morning had the potential to be fast and furious but with a crit in the afternoon I think most people were content to sit back and wait for someone else to do something.
The first half of the race was pretty uneventful. We were all still largely together after the first u-bolt and heading into Coppins Crossing. Unfortunately this is where I realised that I hadn't adjusted my brakes and that they weren't as responsive as I would have liked for a technical descent into Coppins Crossing in the bunch. I let myself drift to the back of the bunch where I would be a little more comfortable and would have a little more time to react.
At some point after the second u-bolt Amy Cure and Jo Hogan slipped off the front and left the bunch to chase. But in a strange twist they decided not to follow the lead car when it turned right to head for the finishe and instead went left. They ended up coming in about 4 minutes after the bunch.
As for myself, I chased hard and ended up finishing with a small group of others, 24 seconds down. And, the first thing I did when I was done was adjust my brakes!
Saturday 3rd July 2010 Morning
A nice covering of fog was in order for the start of the day, though it had largely lifted by the time we started. A short road stage in the morning had the potential to be fast and furious but with a crit in the afternoon I think most people were content to sit back and wait for someone else to do something.
The first half of the race was pretty uneventful. We were all still largely together after the first u-bolt and heading into Coppins Crossing. Unfortunately this is where I realised that I hadn't adjusted my brakes and that they weren't as responsive as I would have liked for a technical descent into Coppins Crossing in the bunch. I let myself drift to the back of the bunch where I would be a little more comfortable and would have a little more time to react.
At some point after the second u-bolt Amy Cure and Jo Hogan slipped off the front and left the bunch to chase. But in a strange twist they decided not to follow the lead car when it turned right to head for the finishe and instead went left. They ended up coming in about 4 minutes after the bunch.
As for myself, I chased hard and ended up finishing with a small group of others, 24 seconds down. And, the first thing I did when I was done was adjust my brakes!
DBR Women and Juniors' Tour- Day 1
Stage 1: 15km ITT
Friday 2 July 2010
The weather on Friday had been so promising. It was still and the sun was out. The weather man had forecast showers, but they weren't due until late. I figured with a start time of 2:10 I would be safe from rain. How wrong I was. 2 minutes into my warm, I was scrambling to get my bike under cover and wondering if my long sleeve skinnie was going to be enough!
Little did I know that this was just the start of the weather consideration for the weekend!!
But, this weather is all part of the fun of living here and despite it all, I wasn't too troubled by it.
By the time I started it was raining proper and trying to snow. I opted to go with bare legs and a good covering of goanna oil. And I am pleased to say that worked a treat.
I had one of those rides that just felt awesome. If you are a cyclist, and in particular a time trialist, you will understand that. It was one of those rides where the pain is pure pleasure and you get to tick all the boxes. In hindsight there are things that might have been done a little better, but at the time, it all felt right.
I was one of the earlier starters so it was a long wait to find out what the final result was. There were time checks coming from the turn around, but as it is a course that I generally negatively split I wasn't being mentioned much. I was pretty much all packed up and ready to head off when the preliminary results went out- 2nd overall to Amy Cure and 1st elite female! Not a result I was expecting, but happy to take that! However, that was a preliminary result and it wasn't quite right... they had forgotten Jo Hogan who had slotted between myself and Amy. Still on the podium, so not complaining at all!
That was all the motivation I needed to get through the rest of the weekend!
Friday 2 July 2010
The weather on Friday had been so promising. It was still and the sun was out. The weather man had forecast showers, but they weren't due until late. I figured with a start time of 2:10 I would be safe from rain. How wrong I was. 2 minutes into my warm, I was scrambling to get my bike under cover and wondering if my long sleeve skinnie was going to be enough!
Little did I know that this was just the start of the weather consideration for the weekend!!
But, this weather is all part of the fun of living here and despite it all, I wasn't too troubled by it.
By the time I started it was raining proper and trying to snow. I opted to go with bare legs and a good covering of goanna oil. And I am pleased to say that worked a treat.
I had one of those rides that just felt awesome. If you are a cyclist, and in particular a time trialist, you will understand that. It was one of those rides where the pain is pure pleasure and you get to tick all the boxes. In hindsight there are things that might have been done a little better, but at the time, it all felt right.
I was one of the earlier starters so it was a long wait to find out what the final result was. There were time checks coming from the turn around, but as it is a course that I generally negatively split I wasn't being mentioned much. I was pretty much all packed up and ready to head off when the preliminary results went out- 2nd overall to Amy Cure and 1st elite female! Not a result I was expecting, but happy to take that! However, that was a preliminary result and it wasn't quite right... they had forgotten Jo Hogan who had slotted between myself and Amy. Still on the podium, so not complaining at all!
That was all the motivation I needed to get through the rest of the weekend!
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