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)

Making my list and checking it twice

(Sorry I did write this well before Christmas but I haven't had a chance to post it.)

NSW Track Championships- Individual Pursuit and Omnium

After the frustration the Points Race the week before I was determined that my remaining events of the NSW track championships would be better.

Whilst a silver medal in the pursuit would be considered a good result for many, for me it was a disappointing night. In short, it wasn’t my evening and my times were disappointing. The biggest achievement of the night was recognizing a number of issues that have probably been present since I started riding the pursuit, but we will have to wait until next season to rectify those.

Three days later it was back to Dunc Gray for the Omnium. With 6 very different events to get through in one day the key to surviving the day was to have my head in the right place and to be organized. Matt, the super soigny, was on hand to ensure I was fed, hydrated and that right gear was on my bike for each event. Supercoach Brian was on hand with race tactics and guidance, and I had my list of things to achieve in each round.

With the above combination, the result was domination of the event. In summary I won the flying lap, the 2km Individual Pursuit, the Points Race and the Scratch race. I was second in the elimination race and 3^rd in the 500m TT. The highlights including getting the flying lap text book accurate, riding schedule for the pursuit and taking complete control of the scratch race. By the time we got to the 500m I had sufficient points buffer that I only had to finish the event to take the gold- which is probably just as well as a) the 500m is my worst event and b) I was starting to get a bit fatigued!

Three events and a complete set of medals from the NSW Track Champs this year. More importantly, a lot of lessons learnt and things to improve.