Wagga Wagga Golden Wheel

Saturday & Sunday 1-2 November
Details and results here: Wagga Cycling Club

Track carnivals are loads of fun- generally lots of racing, racing with the boys and some dollars to win as well. It is a pretty laid back atmosphere with everyone out to have a good time and hopefully take home a bit of coin. The 2007 Wagga Wagga Golden Wheel was my first ever track carnival, so it was nice to head back this year, and thankfully the weather was much kinder. Last year Saturday's program had to be cancelled due to wet weather and Sunday's was drastically reduced to fit in some racing for everyone. This year it was all blue skies, despite the BOM forecasting thunderstorms, and then a bit of wind towards the end of Sunday- good times!

My race line up went something like this:
Saturday: 10 lap moto race, 4 lap handicap, 2 lap handicap, 5 lap Golden Wheel heat, 5 lap Golden Wheel final, 15 lap scratch race
Sunday: 8 lap scratch race, 2 lap handicap, 5 lap Rules Club heat, 5 lap Rules Club final, 10 lap scratch race.
NB: a lap around Wagga is ~420m, it is also a flat track.

Results wise- frustratingly I was often 4th or 5th and just out of the dollars for the smaller races, hmm too much pursuit training and not enough sprinting!! Highlights for Saturday: making it into the final of the Golden Wheel for the second year (one of 2 girls in the final, Megan Dunn was the other) and then finishing just behind the boys that won; placing 3rd in the scratch race (I thought I was second but Carly McCoombe was on the bottom of the track and they gave it to her). Highlights for Sunday: making the final of the Rules Club Wheel race and hanging on for 4th place after the train went through! Hence the podium photo! (More photos in the photo album link on the right.)

All up, it was a fun weekend. Made some finals, rode well, won some dollars and had a good time! Looking back at the number of rides I had, no wonder I was a tired bike rider on Sunday night!

Now the focus has shifted somewhat- Oceania Track Championships are next week! And whilst this is not an even that we have targeted specifically for riding target times in the pursuit, it will give me a good opportunity to see where I am at after all this training. Special thanks to Davina for giving me the nudge to go, hope that she is recovering from her broken wrist and is able to ride in Adelaide. I am starting to get a little excited about it!

One of my best friends is...

a bucket.


Another week and just for something different, more training!! There was also a race on Wednesday night, but I already told you about that. For various reasons this week I ended up on the ergo 3 times this week, that is OK, after the time spent together with my broken wrist, the ergo and I are pretty good mates. This week however, we had to introduce someone new to the relationship, enter bucket. I won't go into too much detail, but the sessions this week have all been hard, hard, hard and when the going gets tough, well, things get a bit anaerobic and a bit lactic and a bit messy. So, a bucket is now one of my mates when I am on the ergo, along with my mp3 player.

But, enough of that. It has been a good week of training and it will be much the same for the next few weeks, but there is a fair bit of racing coming up. Most of the events are in the calendar to the right, but here's a preview:
Nov 1-2: Wagga Wagga Golden Wheel Track Carnival
Nov 9: Tour de Femme
Nov 13-16: Oceania Track Championships, Adelaide.

And now for something completely different.

This is a peanut butter and choc-chip biscuit- possibly one of the tastiest post-ride treats. Here's how you make them:

1. Heat oven to 200C
2. Combine 1 cup of brown sugar, 200g crunchy peanut butter, a teaspoon of bicarb soda and a lightly beaten egg.
3. Stir in 250g dark chocolate chips
4. Roll teaspoonful amounts into small balls and place on a baking tray that has been sprayed with a little oil and lined with baking paper
5. Press lightly with fork
6. Cook for 8-10 minutes until golden

7. Cool and enjoy :)

Don't talk to me about the nutritional value (or lack thereof) of these, I said at the start they are a treat!!

Thanks for reading and have a great week :D

Stromlo Ladies Night- Welcome home Vicki Whitelaw!

Women's A grade Criterium
40 minutes + 2 laps
9 ladies on the line, about 9C and blowing a gale!

OK, so first up for the non-cyclists, here is the wikipedia definition which sums it up pretty well:

"A criterium, or crit, is a type of bike race held on a short course (usually less than 5 km), often run on closed-off city centre streets. Race length can be determined by a total time or a number of laps, in which case the number of remaining laps is calculated as the race progresses. Generally the event's duration (commonly one hour) is shorter than that of a traditional road race. However, the average speed and intensity are appreciably higher. The winner is the first rider to cross the finish line without having been "lapped.""

The purpose of Stromlo Ladies Night was to introduce local women to Crit racing on our purpose built track at Stromlo Forest Park. Despite the atrocious weather there were heaps of women out to have a go, which was great to see. This was a great initiative by Vikings Cycling Club, and hopefully we'll see a few more in future.

On to the race report. Being the "premier" grade they saved us until last . Originally we had been scheduled for 40 minutes + 2 laps, but earlier in the week it became apparent that there wasn't going to be the daylight to go that long, so we were down to 30 minutes + 2 laps. At 7pm we rolled down to the start line, only to realise that the the majority of the girls who normally would race A had stayed home, did I mention it was freezing and windy! So with 9 of us on the start line, it was decided that 20 minutes + 2 laps would be more than enough in the conditions- that worked out to 1 lap per person, + the 2 laps at the end!


The race unfolded like this, Vicki attacked, we went with her, Vicki attacked, we went with her... someone else might have attacked, we covered... you get the idea. Then Susie attacked, we covered and Vicki promptly counter-attacked- nice move Vic. So, Vicki took Chloe Hoskings and Bron Ryan with her and I decided to let that one go. Individually, bad move Bec, but Bron is newly recruited to OnyaBikeBelco, so nice team move Bec ;).The rest of the race involved Jessie McLean, Susie and I rolling around together, while Vicki, Chloe and Bron did the work up the road. In the end, Bron did too much on the front, and Chloe rolled them both. Official results:
1. Chloe Hoskings
2. Vicki Whitelaw
3. Bron Ryan
4. Bec Barwick
5. Susie Boer
6. Jessie McLean
7. Myfanwy Galloway
8. Laura Medley
8. Kathleen Miles

Welcome home Vicki and thanks for shaking up our bike race!

The highlight of the night was watching the twins- Jacqui and Alex- in B in only their second crit having no idea what to do (I shouldn't laugh, that was me 12 months ago really) and coming home with a win and third place!

Photos (top to bottom): Contemplating the weather at the start with Laura; Chloe getting the better of Vicki; Jacqui on the way to her first crit win, Alex took third (this photo from Vikings Photo Album).

Smile :)

(I "borrowed" this from the daily webcomic blog Kitten and Snake.)

Made me smile, hope it does the same for you! Have a great day!

Riverina Championships

10km ITT + 42km RR
Wantabadgery (near Wagga Wagga)
Sunny and Hot!


The focus for these 2 races was obviously the ITT with the RR being a bit of a bonus while we were there. The ITT course at Wantabadgery is perfect for me- false flat, being slightly downhill on the way out and then uphill after the turn around. Running fixed, the only concern was the wind, which seemed to be a head wind both ways- not sure what was going on there!

The race itself was pretty straightforward, I was racing in D grade, since there was only 2 women competing it was against the men or nothing and I was 4th away. The main competition for me was actually the U17 boys that were racing. I had a cracker of a start and remember thinking how much fun this was (hmm, did I mention it was hot? :p). I had passed 2 people in front of me within 2km and picked off another one after the turn around. U-bolts on a fixed wheel are a bit of fun and I certainly lost a bit more time than I would have liked at the turn around, but that didn't seem to worry me too much. The SRM output showed that I finished fast up the "hill" and I certainly felt strong despite the wind. Official time for the 10km was 16:09.07min, which gave me first place (and would have had me in the top 8 of the other 3 grades as well!). I had hoped for a 40kph average, but the wind made that a bit ambitious for me today.



Unfortunately I didn't get as long as I would have liked between the ITT and the RR, but that is the fun of double header racing and you take what you get I suppose. There was about 18 started (I think) and the pace initially was pretty sedate, that was OK I needed to ride the ITT out of my legs before the going got going, unfortunately 6km from the start there is one of the steepest, nastiest little pinches I think I have ever encountered in racing, it just kind of went straight up. This is when I realised that my legs really did a bit longer to recover from the ITT, and slowly the bunch got away from me as they approached the top of the pinch, and with a long fast descent on the other side, all I could do was suck it up and chase! So this became my second TT for the day! (of course I could have just turned around and rolled back to the start as I really wasn't going to catch them, but where would the fun be in that!) So chase I did. And I kept chasing slowly picking up other guys who had been spat out, first one and then another 2. A four person paceline is so much more efficient than just me in the wind! As we covered the last 15km our little time trial team had become about 10, a mix of D and C grade. By the final 1km we had spat a few of those out and the final sprint was the 4 of us that had come together after the KOM. After some poor positioning, I really need to learn how to make others come through and take a turn/get off the front!, I ended up 2nd in our little sprint, which worked out to be 7th overall. Not too unhappy about that at all, given the disaster at the start!


All in all it was a good weekend for Onya Bike Belco- my results here, and also at the Scott 24hr Mountain Biking: first in the Male Musketeers (team of 3) and the Mixed Musketeers, fifth Mixed Team of 4. Nice work everyone!

Training, training, training

As the title suggests, that is about all that has been happening on the bike in recent times (and I figure you probably don't need to hear about that, it is not that interesting!). Though I have to say it has been lots of fun for me- seriously! It is a lot of fun being on the bike, and especially fun, and rewarding, to see improvements.

The last couple of weeks has been all about building strength- hill sessions, track sessions and weight sessions- all with the aim of making me stronger and it is such a buzz to see the results (thanks Pothole). I have gotten faster up Stromlo on a bigger gear each week.

Here is the view I get at the end of my SEs on Stromlo. I do like cycling Canberra.

My pursuit efforts on the track have gotten faster on the massive gear I have been pushing around BundaDome, and the power output is approaching the target average of 400W (thanks for the SRM Tammie).



Photos: Canberra's Velodrome- Bundadome, home of brown snakes, speed bumps and grass growing on the surface (!) and with the recent birthday wishes from the locals!

Weights wise, all my strength exercises are using weights exceeding my body weight (thanks Dean). All in all it is looking promising for a good track season-fingers crossed!

A quick update from last post, I have beaten spring! My asthma has settled down and the season didn't get the better of me! Bec 1- Spring 0.

After all of this we figured it was time to go racing. The race this Sunday will be the Riverina Championships at Wantabadgery (near Wagga Wagga)- first up will be a 10km time trial, which I will do on the weapon which has now been converted for track, so I'll be riding fixed!, followed by a 47km scratch race not long after that. Then there is a well earnt recovery week.

In updates off the bike, wedding plans are coming along well- we had meetings with the Minister and the caterers last week and everything appears to be on track there. I had a job interview last Thursday with the Department of Health and fingers crossed they will give me job! And my thesis is progressing, maybe not as fast as it could but surely!

Next up will be a race report and photos from the weekends racing in the spiffy new Onya Bike Belco kit (thanks Mick)!

Spring loves me, Spring loves me not...

Spring loves me:
The days are getting longer so I don't have to have lights on my bike all the time.
It is getting warmer, so I don't have to look like the Michelin man to keep warm on my bike.
It is windy- but for every head wind there is a tailwind at some point of your ride.
The magpies start swooping, but it is warmer, you don't need your lights to get to and from work, and dodging them increases bike handling skills :P

Spring loves me not:
The flowers are starting to bloom and the place starts to look alive again, but this is where it all goes bad for me... The pollen upsets my asthma and makes it difficult for me to ride my bike :(

It has been week of good solid kilometres, and I'm feeling pretty happy with my effort for the week in fact! This was my first solid week back on the bike for base kilometres since the accident, which, incidentally, was 4 months today. Admittedly we are still finding the right balance of work and rest, but on the whole I am feeling pretty good here on Sunday night after a good number of hours training this week.

The problem however has been my asthma. Normally the pollen and dust and the other spring time enemies don't bother my asthma too much at all, but this year is different. Unfortuately on Saturday's ride there wasn't much I could do to overcome it, I'd taken my puffer but there was not much else to do except just keep tapping at my own pace, which was VERY slow, to get over Mt McDonald. It all settled when I got home and out of the pollen-laden wind, but it was still very frustrating nonetheless- it is an odd feeling when your legs want to go but your lungs just can't! Not surprisingly, it happened again today. Hopefully it will pass soon and I can get on with riding my bike, although until then I think I'll have to stock up on anti-histamines as an extra help to my normal meds.

So, spring loves me not, but it is not going to have its way and I am going to beat it into submission! Stay tuned to see how I go with that one, but 'til then, take care :)

A change is... like a holiday!

So it has been a little quiet here in recent time, probably because there has not been much bike action! Lots of other things doing however!

There was a week off the bike, then a couple of weeks with some easy kilometres, which started well and then went a bit pear-shaped and my motivation to get on a bike got up and left me! In a nutshell a bit of "I just couldn't be bothered"! But don't worry, I'm over that bit now!

The change that I needed came in the form of my mountain bike. I really do love the dirt! I am not the greatest mountain biker, I am pretty strong from all my other training, but I am not so good when it gets technical on the way downhill-not that I let that stop me! Anyway, back to the point, after cutting a lap of Sparrow's Hill track (home of the 2009 Mont 24hr MTB event) on Saturday afternoon and a lap of Stromlo on Sunday (home of the World Cup round the weekend before and various other events), I found the drive to get back on the road and get my km's done! So, it is true what they say about a change!!

And, despite there being not much bike action happening recently, there was plenty of things going on around our house. My mum came to visit which was very nice, especially since I hadn't seen her properly since Christmas. Emma also came to visit and ther was lots of wedding organising achieved, including my dress and one for the bridesmaid (Emma) and my mum! In fact most of the big things are organised for that, so I can sit back and relax on my bike!

Now you know why there hasn't been much posted here! Km's start again on Tuesday, which means that track season is getting closer, and I can't wait!!

Until next time, thanks for reading and have a good day :)

Lessons in keeping the bike upright!

Australian Cycling Grand Prix Time Trial, Ballarat, Vic.
Friday 15th August
27.4km loop course with lots of corners
Raining, windy and cold!

I was so excited about this race! I had learnt my lessons from the disaster a couple of weeks ago, had had a pretty stress-free week at work and had been stomping through my training. And, more than anything else I was going to enjoy this race no matter what! OK, that sounds a little nuts, but I don't think there is really any other way to approach a race.

The flight down to Melbourne was good and uneventful, I even managed to get a little more sleep. A slight hiccup with the rental car saw us end up with a Fairlane Ghia in place of the lost Corolla- we weren't complaining, this thing was plush :) . Unfortunately we had miscalculated how long it would take to get from Melbourne to Learmonth, and were a little later arriving than expected. That was OK, Matt and I are approaching "well oiled machine" status when it comes to pre-race prep. There was a downside though, I had a rather truncated warm-up which was not ideal in the bitter conditions.

After a bit of a wobble down the ramp I was away as number 7, somewhere in the middle of the field. The aim today was to stay relaxed and ride as well as I could. Conditions were tough out on the course. It had stopped raining by the time I started, but there was still that horrid drizzle around that covers your glasses and makes it very hard to see. In hindsight I possibly should have made better use of the tail wind in the first part of the course, and I should have been more conservative in my gearing for the hill about 2/3 of the way through, and maybe I could have been more aggressive in the second half of the course, but it is always easy to say that now, and these are definitely things to remember for the next race. Apart from over-gearing on the hill, the toughest part of this race was the wind. The amount of energy I spent trying to hold my bike vertical was unbelievable. Apart from causing me to almost kiss the road a number of times, the wind made it really difficult for me to find a good rhythm to power home, especially when there were 2 or 3 riders within passing distance! I got one of them, but frustratingly couldn't get the next (the other had a technical problem, and had to withdraw).

At the end of the day I was 6th, which, given the last couple of months, I was pretty happy with. Since this was only the 4th competitive time trial I have done I had no expectations going in to this race, the plan was to have a better ride than NSW titles, and that was what I did. From a development perspective there is plenty to improve, and that is enough to keep me looking forward to the next race and get me through training.

Full results and report can be found at cycling news: well done to Bridie on a sensational ride and the other podium finishers, Stephanie and Davina.

Special thanks to the people behind getting me ready for this event (and all the others)- John Forrest (Pothole), coach and Dean Redzic, strength and conditioning coach. You guys do an awesome job and certainly makes my job on race day a bit easier! Thanks :D

Thanks for reading, catch you next time :)

Puncture repaired!

TVCC Uriarra Scratch Race 37.7km with C Grade Men and a few hills...
Sunday 3rd August

After spending the week feeling sorry for myself after the poor race I had in Gosford and then sucking it up and getting on with it, I headed out for a local club race on Sunday. I had very few expectations going into this race- it was going to be hilly and I have done very little work on the road, let alone in the hills in recent times (I'll let you figure out why that would be the case...) I had hoped that there would be some other A grade women out for the race, but knew the odds were in favour of me being the only one. The race director gave me the option of racing with B grade women or with C grade men, knowing I needed some intensity before the GP Crit in Ballarat next weekend I opted for the C grade men.

The race was pretty straight forward. Team Bike Culture had a guy away and controlled the pace- actually kept the pace down to pedestrian. This cracked me so I had a bit o a dig off the front, didn't get away (never thought I would), but at least lifted the pace so B grade women didn't overtake us! Got reminded of how important it is to a) be near the front for a hairpin turn & b) pay attention so as to not get stuck behind a slow wheel if an attack goes!

In the end I stuck with guys until the climb over Condor, just didn't quite have enough to hang on going up hill- no surprise there! But I was able to keep going without going too far backwards from them- a couple of minutes down on the first bunch, but that is OK. On the whole I was pretty happy with how this all went. I got up and over all the hills pretty comfortably and on the whole managed the changes of pace pretty well, which is really what I wanted from today.

I was a little frustrated by the Team Bike Culture approach. It is all well and good to have your team and be organised to race together, but it makes it a little biased if you are the only team there and you number about 1/3 to 1/2 the bunch! I know their argument will be that others should get themselves organised and that is fair enough. Just to my mind seems a little unnecessary to be the only team for a club race with 16 starters! (Alright, that is my rant as the lone female in the bunch!)

After this weekend's efforts- motorpacing on Saturday and a long 115km with a race in the middle on Sunday- I am feeling more confident that what happened last weekend was really just a bad day and there is nothing to be seriously concerned about. One more hard week of training, followed by some recovery and then off to Ballarat to redeem my TT pride and have a stab at this crit!

Thanks for reading and have a great day!