Racing as training

DBR Tour, or should that be an attempted tour.

When the new world coaching order began, this tour was set as a target to see what I was capable of. At last year's addition I was third on the ITT, Amy Cure topped the podium and Jo Hogan was 2nd. I knew what I was capable on the ITT course.

Unfortunately for the month leading up to the tour I wasn't able to train properly. (See the post below about that). I was acutely aware that I was going to be seriously underdone for the tour.

I had contemplated withdrawing, but you know, sometimes you just can't help yourself. With oral surgery set for the following Thursday I set some strict conditions on myself- in particular any sign that I was getting run down or potentially getting sick, I was out. It wouldn't matter if that meant only doing the ITT, I have to be well on Thursday.

The forecast for the weekend was pretty horrendous. Friday morning looked like this outside my backdoor! Fortunately the sun came out and the wind stayed down (relatively) for the women and the disc wheels could go on!

Given the prep that I'd had, I really can't be unhappy with the time trial I rode. I gave it absolutely everything I had, which all anyone can ask for. I saw some good improvements on the flat and descending sections, but there is a lot of work to do on the climbs. At the end of the day I was a little over a minute down on local champ Allison Rice who took the win, and 15th on the stage.

Not a bad result, but I am trying to stop myself asking, what if I had been fully fit and ready, what would have/could have happened then?

Public Holiday Monday GITT

What is a GITT I hear you ask. A GITT is a Guerrilla Individual Time Trial. If anyone asks, it is just a timed training ride. There is no road approval. There are no marshalls. It is just you, your bike and your stop watch. What differentiates it from a normal training ride is that there is a group of you all trying to smash each other like it was a proper race!!

So that is how I spent my public holiday Monday. There were 4 of us, all keen to set a mark for a time trial along Lake George. The start was down the hill from the lookout- although I did suggest that a 200m start ramp would be kind of fun!- and the finish was 20km down the road, just before Collector. About 2km from the Pie Shop- very important to remember!

Lake George- earlier in the year.

With the amount of wind around (btw, it has been an incredibly windy winter so far), I decided to race in the raw, ie with training wheels etc, not me naked- it is winter remember :p

Simon set of first as this is was brilliant idea. He claimed he was only going to be putting in about 85% (I think most guys say this when they are racing a girl, although most wait until after the race to make such claims so maybe Simon was telling the truth ;) ). I gave him about 45 seconds and headed off. Steve came after me on his maiden ride on his newly acquired TT rig, which was decked out in full carbon bling- disc and tri-spoke. Then Oliver, who was the rawest of all on his roadie.

The problem with "racing" like this is that there is no way of controlling cars on the course. I had two cars in the brake down lane to dodge, actually it was 3 if you count the car that the policeman had pulled over! It is difficult to maintain momentum when you are trying to look behind at a highway with cars travelling at 110ph to see if there was gap to slip into! Not to worry, I don't think it really cost me too much time and I know that we all had to get around the policeman.

For the first half we had a cracking tail wind and I was cruising along at about 50kph without too much trouble. As we got further along the lake, the wind started to move around to be more crosswind and then head-cross for the last bit. I was having trouble holding my bike upright at times and I remember thinking it must have been incredibly difficult for Steve with his disc.

If you are unfamiliar with Lake George, it is pancake flat. Apparently there is 38m of climbing in total! You can see it all here. And it is absolutely perfect for cracking times, including girls beating boys!

Story of the day, I won by 2 seconds! With a time of 26'46 for the ~20km course. My computer told me that was close to an average of 46kph! I reckon I might have even gone a bit faster if my legs hadn't been screaming from 3 pretty heavy training days before hand!

The Daily Pie in Collector was tops! The coffee went down a treat and the cakes and pies were pretty good too!

After the pause, back on the bikes to roll back to the lookout to the cars in full TTT formation. It wasn't until we got to the top that I realised I actually had a slow leak in my rear tyre. I wonder if that had been there from the start...

Happy TTers at the Daily Pie in Collector! (Photo thanks to Simon.)

You can also read Simon's write up here

The straw that (almost) broke the camel

National Individual Time Trial


This is an image of rhinovirus (about 9 billion of these could fit on the head of a pin!). It is one of the viruses responsible for the common cold.

It is amazing how rapidly months of training can come unravelled from something so small.

The signs were there on race day- elevated resting HR, a couple of things not quite right in my warm up etc- and I ignored them all, attributing them to pre-race anxiety and excitement. Afterall, the indications from the days before were that I was in for a cracker.

As I set out on my 27km journey it didn’t take long to realise something really wasn’t right and it was going to be a long day. It took all the mental strength I had to make my legs turn and make the most of what had been dealt to me. I had done the work and I wasn’t going to leave anything on the course. It was going to be tough, I had no power and no speed.

Of course that attitude took a bit of a battering as I was caught on the hill by a fast moving Amanda Spratt and an even faster moving Ruth Corset. I dragged myself over the top of the hill, which is also when I started trying to cough up a lung! And set about re-catching my minute marker (I had passed her around the 15km mark) and putting in a decent final 5 km. That final 5km hurt- a lot, but it was respectable and that was all I wanted. I don’t think I have ever been so relieved to be over the finish line, but I was also incredibly devastated that my ride had been so utterly awful.

Trying to hold myself together I warmed down, packed the car and got out of my wet kit. It wasn’t until I was safely in the Tardis that I allowed myself the tears of bitter disappointment before making my way to mum and dad’s.

It wasn’t long before I became aware of the razorblades in my throat. The signs that I had been ignoring earlier were starting to make sense, and I finally understood what the problem had been... I had a cold.

I am still absolutely gutted from what could have been. The organisers had rated me highly enough to start me 11th from the end and I could barely scrape into 30th! For each person who will judge me on this number there is someone who knows this is an uncharacteristic performance, will ask and will sympathise. In hindsight maybe I should have sat this one out, but it is a long way to travel to DNS and I learnt far more about myself and how tough I can be than I would have otherwise.

And at the end of the day, it is just a bike race. (Thanks Lyn!)

Massive thanks to Brian and MaryAnn Simpson for everything leading up to the event and on race day. Mum for expertly driving the follow car on her first attempt- ie thanks for not running me over!! And Matt for my shiny new disc wheel :) (I will tell you about that some other time)

Oops, I did it again

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!!

Are you faster than...

A triathlete... well, yes. But, I am not faster than myself!!

Vikings ran an autumn time trial series over the same brutal course that we had been using over summer. It was billed as Cyclists vs Triathletes with the intention of increasing numbers at races. I am not sure how successful this aspect was, but it was a nice idea.

I managed to make it to 2 of the 3 races, but as much as I hate to say it, they were somewhat disappointing appearances. The first one out, the inner scientist took over over analysing and holding me back at different parts of the race. The time that week wasn't completely disgraceful, but it was slower than my best times over this course.

My next appearance was at the last installment and unfortunately this happened to be the weekend after the ill-fated Canberra Tour weekend and I was still not 100% recovered from my illness. Needless to say that the time posted this time around was a long off my best. I will also add that rolling away at 8:30 am in late autumn is fraught with peril- the fog from the top of the 3rd sister to the turn around was so thick I couldn't see more than a couple of metres in front of me and for safety's sake washed off a lot of speed on the fastest part of the course.

But, it is not all doom and gloom. I did win the series and laid claim to being faster than a triathlete (is that really something to be proud of??) My name is now engraved on the trophy for the series (I hope the time isn't, I am really unimpressed with it. Maybe they will take my time from pre-Nationals!!) And to top it off I scored a gift voucher to one of the local bike shops. Really can't complain, but... well, the whole over-achiever thing strikes again!

Thanks to Vikings CC for a fun series and TLC cycles for supporting the initiative.

Buninyong- home of the AORCC and...

a polite way to say b#%@$*d.

National TT Championships
6 January 2010

The course used to determine the Australian TT Champ is brutal. The start climbs for ~2.5km, not too steep, but just dragging, dragging, dragging, then it undulates predominantly downhill, then it undulates predominantly uphill, with some extra leg zap before the final very very fast 5km downhill run to the finish. It is 28km, it is exposed and the wind likes to blow, and the roads are rough and dead in many places. But, when the adrenaline is pumping and you have gone over those things in your head for the weeks before hand, race day brings out something special.

With the climb at the start I had been told that this course really wouldn't suit me and not to be too ambitious with my goals for the race. I hadn't raced the course before, but had ridden over it on a previous NTID training camp and I had spent a bit more time on it after the Victorian track titles, so I knew what I was in for. I even lost ~8kg before the race to be more attractive to the course! And, I convinced myself that me and the Buninyong course were compatible.

I would love to be able to tell you that this was my best race of the year, but it wasn't quite. Whilst I am satisfied that I did the best I could do on the day, there are things that can be improved (there always are!). It wasn't a day that I got on the bike and everything was perfect- for the most part I felt good, but I have felt better. It is hard to explain, but I think, dear reader, that if you are in any way competitive you will know what I am trying to say!

(photo from WomensCycling.net)

In the end I finished 10th in the elite women, a result that I am not unhappy with. Looking at the times just above me, if I hadn't had a nufty moment on the left-hander at the railway station it is possible that I might have placed a little further up. Maybe.

I was never expecting to be right at the pointy end, that spot is reserved for Amber Halliday (gold), Bridie O'Donnell (silver), Carly Light (bronze).

But I was pleased to be the first person to cross the line for the day (yes, I caught all the people in front of me), and I was also pretty stoked to stay leader for considerable length of time :)

I have some unfinished business in Buninyong and I reckon that this course and I might be compatible after all :)

Special thanks to the ACTAS support crew- Glenn Doney (head coach), Joel Stewart (mechanic), Susie Boer (mechanic), Sarah (masseuse) & Joel Ryan (chauffeur to the course), and my coach, Pothole.

Congratulations to Alex Carle for taking bronze in the U23 category (and beating me by 28 seconds).

Thanks also to my support vehicle- Al Matthews and Ben Hill- I'm glad I didn't need you guys but I appreciate that you were behind me, and thanks for all your vocal support from the car!

VCC Time Trial Series Race #2

The month passed very quickly, and it was time to face this course again. The start time was an hour earlier than last time to beat the heat. A bit tough for a Sunday, but then again cyclists love early starts, right?!

Another perfect day for TT (despite the earliness), it was still and sunny. Somehow I did end up running late however and had an abbreviated warm up. I am starting to think that a shorter warm up might work better for me actually.

Today was one of those days when I just felt great on the bike. I found my rhythm on the hills quickly and held good power and speed all the way. My only complaint, just one, was the car that was going through the finish line as I was rapidly approaching. There was another competitor in front of him so it wasn’t as if he could have gone anywhere, so I can’t really complain, just meant that I had to slow down before the finish line.

This time around I was 1 min 10 sec faster than last time! And you know what, I reckon I can go still go faster (fingers crossed!!)

VCC Time Trial Series Race #1

It used to be that over summer the VCC would run a time trial every second Monday. The course was 12km, out and back from the entrance to SFP on Uriarra Rd. Last season I would generally do these on a fixed gear and after a pretty big session at the track. They were good training and a good gauge of progress. This season, we have a new format and it is perfect for Nationals preparation. The series is now monthly, it still on Uriarra Rd, but it just shy of 21km (it is advertised as 19km, but I think that is to trick people to come race!!), and the clincher is that it includes two of the three sisters in an out and back format.

I wasn’t sure how well I would perform over this course, but I was going to have a good go at it! Unlike days earlier in the week, there was no wind to speak of, such a nice change for Canberra at this time of the year. It was fairly warm, but not yet hot, all in all pretty good conditions for a TT.

On the whole I am pretty happy with 99% of this race. I managed to find some good rhythm and speed for most of the race, although I did find myself a touch over-geared towards the top of the 3^rd sister just before the KOM mark. I also let myself get distracted by the car that decided he didn’t want to wait for me to go past the T-intersection, but then forgot to accelerate when he turned onto the road! So whilst I did have some awesome speed (approaching 70km/hr coming down the 2^nd sister) I had to wash a whole lot off to avoid running into the back of said car on the uphill before the turn. As a result of all of this I missed the turn cone by about 2m- total beginner error there!

In the end, I was second to Alex (Carle) by 3 seconds, in a time of 34:45, which I was pretty satisfied with. It is a nice bench mark. Now, to go faster next time!