Bec Doolan... cyclist, of sorts

And, that's a wrap!

2012-02-01T21:57:00.002+11:00

Track Nationals have been run and won and what a week it was in Radelaide!

Here's a day-by-day wrap of the ACT track team's adventure to the SuperDrome.

Racing commenced on Australia Day, and while most good Australians were out celebrating with beers and BBQs, we were sweating it out on the boards. Day 1 saw the first medal to our small team with Catherine "Goat" Culvoner taking silver in the elite women's 500m TT, and posting a 1.5 sec PB! This went some way to making up for the disappointment of the sprinters (Nathan Hart, Danny Ellis and Alex Bird) being disqualified from the team sprint and missing out on riding for the bronze medal. Hot tip, if you see ASADA coming for Catherine, remind her to not have any more to drink! It was a late night with doping control waiting for her samples to be suitably concentrated!!

Day 2 was all about the individual pursuit for the elite women and sprint qualifying for the men. And the PBs continued. Beck Wiasak knocked almost 4 seconds of her IP and just missing out on the bronze ride off, and Alex "Birdman" Bird in the flying 200m. Day 2 was also the day for blistering times by the SA men's team pursuit team and Annette Edmondson.

Session 1 of day 3 saw the girls, Beck Wiasak, Allison Rice and Ailie McDonald, ride themselves into the gold-silver ride off in the team pursuit. Given that the best the girls were expected to do was a possible ride off for bronze, this was extremely exciting (if you don't believe me, ask to see my SMS stream from the session!). Danny and Alex continued to progress through the sprint rounds and we were teased with the possibility of it being Danny v Alex in the gold-silver ride off!

Day 3 session 2 and the television coverage commenced. The girls went out in the TP ride off, knowing that they were going to be caught by the WA girls, but with the challenge to prolong the race until the 2km mark. They got close to reaching this challenge, but fell one lap short! Full credit to the WA girls, I am pretty sure that pursuiting is what they do for fun on the SpeedDome and team's pursuit training is their idea of a fun Saturday night!

Catherine also continued her impressive performance at this year's nats, making it through to a quarter final match up with Anna Meares. Unfortunately, Catherine didn't make it to the ride for gold-silver, and had to settle for a bronze ride off, and I think the full program may have taken it out of her and she finished 4th.

For my money, the performance of the week came in session 2 day 3 with Alex getting the better of a very in form Matt Glaetzer and then going one better and beating Shane Perkins in 2 rounds. You have never heard such a small team make so much noise! If you haven't seen the footage, head over to Cycling Central and check it out!

Tom Clarke was also in action on Day 3 and after winning his U19 kierin heat, rode his way into a bronze medal in the final! Nice work from a fairly new rider to the track!

And as if that wasn't enough, we still had to get through the women's point score. Without a doubt this was the toughest points race I have ever ridden and I know a number of the other girls said the same! The decisive move came with about 40 laps to go with Beck W getting away with Sarah Kent and Annette Edmondson to successfully take the lap. And in doing so, picked herself up a bronze medal! As a team member, there is nothing as rewarding as seeing that happen and knowing you played a small part in the result.

Final day and final session and think we were all happy to see the end of week approaching! TV coverage was continuing as well, which means there are highlights available over on Cycling Central. And thanks to that TV coverage the event order was changed so that people at home could watch a madison and try an understand what was going on- put your hand up if you figured it out!!

The elite women's scratch race was in the middle of the session and as a team we had a loose plan for the last 10 laps of the race. And from all accounts it looked like we might have pulled it off, until Beck and Sorelle came down with 300m to go. Both girls got up after the crash and are largely OK- Beck is missing some skin, has some bruises and I would imagine some splinters. Sorelle has a ruptured tendon/ligament around her shoulder area and last I heard will need surgery. Speedy recovery girls!

Catherine went out and got herself a bronze in the women's kierin behind Anna Meares and Kaarle McCulloch. When she grows up, Catherine is going to be super speedy!

Apparently the men's points race which rounded the week was excellent viewing, but I was hanging with doping control, discussing possible conflicts of interest due to past employers and current colleagues, whilst waiting for the 4 bottles of water to do their thing!!

So there you have it. A small team coming home with a bag full of medals! Nice work team!

Big thanks to the support staff- Glenn Doney, John Forrest, Brian Simpson, Braham Hart, Darren Clarke, Gina Hart, Helen Clarke and Kristy. The week wouldn't have been as smooth with you.

And a massive thanks to the whole team for making my final trip to an elite national champs as an athlete enjoyable and successful!*

I don't have a whole lot of photos- if you were following me on twitter you would have seen some images from the stands at various points through the week. There are some photos here, and I thought I saw Mark Gunter getting around but I haven't seen any other photos. Video highlights are here.

And just to remind the team of the week we had here is the wolf!!

(Explainer: this along with some other classy tunes, is on costant rotation at the SuperDrome!)

*Yes that means exactly what it says, I am going off to pretend to be a grown up.

Wangaratta 2011

2012-01-04T19:39:00.000+11:00

30 December 2011

Bit late, sorry, but better late than never.

Victorian Christmas Carnivals wrapped up in Wangaratta this year. As noted yesterday, it is a big track- 500m, and fairly flat, but also fairly fast. (Sorry no photos- no one got a decent one, if you find a post from racing at Wagga, that is what the Wang track looks like.)

Unfortunately, my top end speed decided it was time to get ready for New Year's and stayed in the back of the car. Of course this meant I could only manage minor places, or that place just off the podium in just about every race! Is there anything more frustrating?!

It may not have helped my cause that their seemed to be a bit of a sprinters flavour to the program! Including horror of horrors, yet another keirin, followed by a second impromptu one at the end of the night instead of a longer race! 3 keirins for me in 2 days, what has the world come to!

Regardless of my above moaning, the night was still a lot of fun. Especially the informal "betting ring" between Dad and Matt, which seemed to be purely based on bike colour or skinsuit design!

Despite not being able to win a wheelrace to save myself, the 4 days were a blast and there was a wad of cash in my wallet for the trip home!

Big thanks to my fam' for the beds to crash in between races and for coming to the races too (that includes you too L & J!). And good job to super soigny, mechanic and chauffeur, Dr Matt!

Shepparton 2011

2011-12-30T13:24:00.002+11:00

29 December 2011

The Shepparton track is what I imagine the Narrabundah track is meant to be like. It is 333m, concrete but unlike 'BundaDome it is relatively smooth and sedate. It does also share the same wind though it seemed!!

There was a big program of racing for the A grade girls on the night- 6 races to get through. The first 3 were largely for the sprinters, including an invitational keirin. Having never raced a keirin before I was grateful for the hot tips from Danny's sister Bec, who jumped in to hold me for the start. They didn't do me much good, although I did manage a 4th.

The early part of the night was a reminder of a couple of things- 1) I am definitely an enduro- short races really aren't my thing and 2) indecision is a kind of Darwininsm on the track! Much of the night was spent 1 position out of the money, until the races got longer. I was pretty happy to finish 2nd in the Omnium Points Score and in the Victorian 5km Championship. (This Omnium is made up of an event at each of the Christmas Carnivals, with points allocated for 1st to 4th, winner is the won with the most points, I think I am in 3rd overall after tonight).

Well done to Shannon McCurley who got me on the line to take the win and to Ruby who picked up third

There is one day of racing to go in Wangaratta. Apparently the track there is 500m! But that is offset by the claim that it is the fastest flat track in Australia!

Bendigo 2011

2011-12-29T14:17:00.001+11:00

28 December 2011

The Bendigo track is big- over 400m- and odd shaped. The track is a big D, with a single straight and an endless bend. Throw in the gusting wind and we were in for a fun night of racing!

Fellow Canberran, and more notably Australian track team member, Danny Ellis was there to dominate the men's A grade racing. At least while the racing was less than 10 laps!

Of course it wouldn't be a Christmas carnival without random running events in the centre. Although that has nothing on the wood chopping that happens at the Tassie carnivals!

It was also nice to catch up with my brother and his family. As for my racing, it wasn't too bad, just lacking a little spark. There's still 2 days to go, so no need to panic.

Thoughts are with the guys who came down in the heat for the 2km wheel, and their bikes which have seen their last rides. Ride safe everyone.

Horsham 2011

2011-12-28T16:10:00.001+11:00

27 December 2011

Xmas carnivals 2011 in Victoria got underway in Horsham. Despite the headwind in the back straight I can't complain about a win and some minor placing for the day!

Like all good Xmas carnivals there is always the long transfer at the end of the day. At least we had the cracking sunset to watch as it was on to Bendigo!

Out and about in Longwood, Vic

2011-12-26T17:29:00.000+11:00

26 December 2011

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T16:59:00.000+11:00

25 December 2011

Dad in his new camping "lounge" and snuggie- he promptly went and put it in his fishing boat!

Post Xmas lunch walk with Ma, Nobby and Matt along the busy streets of Longwood!

Road Trip!!

2011-12-24T16:52:00.000+11:00

24 December 2011

...again! Back to Mum and Dad's for Christmas and to race some more! I am pretty sure it was only a week ago we went this way!!

Barney's at Bookham didn't disappoint as the first stop for coffee, and some excellent white rocky road!

Barney the dog- the cafe motif!

Christmas ride anyone?

2011-12-23T16:52:00.000+11:00

23 December 2011

Definitely the silly season!

Kiss and make up

2011-12-20T16:11:00.000+11:00

Less than a week after the misadventure of the NSW Omnium, it was time to hit the highway for a week in Melbourne for the Vic State titles, followed by the Australian Omnium Champs.

The state titles went off without a hitch. I made the ride off for bronze for the individual pursuit- which I wasn't unhappy about as I have done no specific training for the event! It was never going to result in a medal and the time wasn't going to impress anyone, but it is always nice to get a second ride!

The points race the next day saw me in my element- both competitively and in a mentoring role. I always enjoy being able to help others out in a race. At the moment there are a some ACT girls coming through that have a load of talent, but have limited experience on the boards and in track bunches. It was especially rewarding to see 2 of them get up for gold and silver in the event- nicely done Ailie and Beck :)

After a couple of days hanging out at mum and dad's in Longwood (just north of Melbourne, about 5km off the highway), and spotting koalas on my training rides, it was time to put the race face back on.

The format for the omnium has been revised since it was added to the women's events for the olympics (at the expense of other events, but that is another story). It is now a 2 day event comprising of 6 individual rounds- part of the reason why it was held separately to the rest of the track national champs.

Day 1 started with the flying lap- you can never be unhappy with a PB and it certainly was a great way to start the event! After several hours break, it was back for session two with the points race and the elimination. Despite what the official results say, the points race was actually very successful for me on several levels. The elimination race was another story, a momentay lapse and that was my race over! At the end of the day I was happy to be sitting in 10th position- not a bad place to be. At 1030pm it was time to head back to the cabin, get some food in and try and get some sleep in preparation for the next day.

Image borrowed from here

3km individual pursuit started proceedings and it was with the excitement of this being my final 3km IP that I set about the business. I was up against Beck Wiasak who was sitting in 9th place and is a far superior IP rider than me, and it was no surprise that she didn't waste anytime in catching me. The IP in the omnium is a little different- when you are passed you have to continue riding, but you are to allowed to re-overtake if the person overtook you slows down and you are not allowed to draft (but that is not surprising). And so I found out how frustrating it can be to try and take off speed so as to not be drafting but continue to ride to schedule! I am happy to say that I did manage to do just that and was pleased to ride the time I had set myself (which was very conservative) but I have to wonder what might have happened if I had been the only one on the track.

The final two events after the lunch break were the scratch race and the 500m ITT. The scratch race was probably my best round- tactically and performance-wise. All that was lacking at the end was a little more top end speed, but that is coming. And the 500m was, well thankfully only 500m. I hesitated at the start, an artfact from false starting the week before and being caught in the gate, and subsequently lost precious time.

Overall, I finished 9th, with all the others ahead of me being both considerably younger than me, in addition to being full time athletes. As the nanna of the bunch I can't really complain about that!

The week of racing rounded out with the Melbourne Cup on Wheels on the Saturday night. An awesome night in front of a sell out crowd at DISC. I made the final of the wheel race and did my best to make it on to the podium but it just wasn't to be. The Oz Madison Champs were what everyone was there to see, and Cam Myer and Leigh Howard certainly didn't disappoint, and neither did the rest of the competition!

More photos at http://www.cycling.org.au/?page=45026&format=

Keep Calm and...

2011-12-06T11:08:00.000+11:00

And keep riding!

I went in to the 2011 NSW Omnium knowing it was going to be a tough day, due both to the nature of the event and the competition I was up against. Having won the event last year I had a fair idea what was going to be required to get through the day. Unfortunately things were destined to go against me.

I won't bore you with the details, but everything that could have gone wrong, did. (With the exception of crashing, but thankfully there wasn't any of that!) An assortment of mishaps which I have never experienced before occurred on race day. And before I knew it I had accumulated more points than I knew what to do with and the day couldn't end fast enough.

What made it worse, from my perspective, was that I had 3 really good rounds. The other 3 rounds were such spectacular failures from which nothing could be redeemed.

In fact the biggest highlight of the day was when I handed my number in and they handed me prizemoney from the Clarence St Cup that I had raced the night before!

"The best thing about today is yesterday!"

Having a much better time at the Clarence St Cup the night before

For full size images (and with many thanks to Mark Gunther) click here

And yes we were all star struck with Mark Renshaw ripping up the boards!

That was harder than it looks

2011-11-19T18:20:00.001+11:00

On Saturday 12 November Sue Powell (World Para TT & RR Champ) and I raced the NSW Clubs Team Sprint. Yes, that is as ridiculous as it sounds. I hope I don't have to explain to you why that is ridiculous. I will give you one clue- enduros.

Anyway, what became apparent to us, and since we have done one team sprint we are obviously experts, there is a whole lot more to it than just riding one or two laps as fast as you can. From my perspective as the second rider, there was the timing of the start to ensure I was onto Sue's wheel; then there was the riding of the lap on Sue's wheel; timing as Sue pulling off; and finally finishing off the second lap. I am sure there is even more to it than that, but for the first bash at this event that is enough.

Most of the aforementioned points were OK, what really let me down was the timing of Sue pulling up and me coming through. Thanks to my experience in bunch racing, as Sue started to fade at the end of her lap, instead of starting to move under her, I backed off- oops. The loss of momentum is likely enough to have cost us a second ride in the finals. In a well oiled team, there would be no hesitation, there would be absolute precision in the transition and no time lost.

For Sue and I, it was a "hit and giggle" event, as well as an opportunity to get some precious time on the boards. But it gave us a renewed respect for Anna and Kaarle's domination of the event. The hours to get the timing right. The absolute trust in the other. The precision. They are more than worthy winners of the AIS Team of the Year. Congratulations girls!