I love handicap races, I love it how everyone works together to acheive the same goals...to catch limit and ride away from scratch as though you've stolen something! Unlike scratch races, there is less mucking around and different tactics involved in handicaps because if you slow up the slightest bit, scratch will swamp over you like a tidal wave before you know it and there is no point attacking your bunch because you need to work as a team to try and keep your advantage over the other riders.
Anyway, to the race. I started in C grade which was the 2nd bunch out on the road, about 10min back from limit. 7 min after us was B grade than scratch was another 10min back from them, so scratch had given limit 27min head start which may seem like a lot but over 135km of racing...Its nothing really at all. No wonder scratch caught us with just over 40km to go!
Our bunch started off riding pretty solidly, so solidly in fact that it unfortunatley meant i was feeling my lack of proper warm up and it wasn't long before i was sitting on the back of the bunch just trying to hold on! Fortunately it didn't take long for me to ride my legs into it and i was back pulling my fair share of the weight..definitely not the best way to start a very long day in the saddle! Thats another thing i like about handicaps is that it is an excuse for me to ride really hard and fast for as long as i possibly can and see just how far i can push myself and if i find i've pushed myself beyond my limits, i can simply miss a turn to recover and then rejoin the pace line.
Nothing overly excited happened in the race, except for when scratch and block caught us with just over 40km to go, a little bit earlier than we would have liked, but hey it was awesome riding in such a massive pack and trying to maneouver around the bunch proved quite challenging but fun at the same time! Thinking back on our small advantage, we were pretty much doomed to feel the wrath of the scratch markers! From then on it was a bit sketchy. We'd already caught limit and so the whole race ha come together and we had a bunch of around 90 people! Definitely one of the biggest bunches i've been in! At one point i looked down at my speedo and i was free wheeling at over 50km/hr on the flat.. we were flying! There was a lot of bustling in the bunch as some of the less experienced riders were trying to mix it up with the A graders which resulted in one pretty nasty looking crash but fortunately I don't think he was seriously injured...The pack was still togethere when we reached the last climb which was about 1km long and abut 5km from the finish when Michael Matthews from the Canberra Suzuki team attacked, forcing a chase in the bunch. I was two riders behind Chloe Hosking and Vicki Whitelaw, keeping a close eye on them as i was battling them for the title of 1st woman and they went with the attack but the riders between them and myself didn't have the strength to kick with them so i had to kick around them in the wind and didn't have the legs to bridge the last gap. I think it was partly due to the fact that i didn't eat or drink much during the race..thinking back on it, it has to be the reason. I mean i drunk less than 1 bottle and had 2 GUs on a 135km ride... not much. I just got distracted.
Anyway, we reached the summit and I decended by myself as I was caught between groups and the race was really strung out and it wasn't long before a small group caught me but they had bsically thrown in the towel already and i wanted to try minimise my losses as much as possible so opted to ride the rest solo. I'm not too sure how i finished up overall but i didn't finish too far from the back of the first pack. Vicki managed to ride away from Chloe over the top of the climb to pick up first woman and Michael won overall.
Overall, I was pretty happy with how I rode except for what happened in the closing stages of the race, but you learn from your mistakes and next time i'll pay closer attention to what I eat and drink during racing as well as to react quicker to attacks in the bunch and not hang around for the person in front of you to go.
The bike was awesome though, loved it. It was heaven. Made the ride very enjoyable and i totally rate the SRAM. Thanks again Trek and RideShop :D
Next on the agenda is the ACTAS road camp which is held on the 27 Nov-1st Dec. Its gonna be tough. But bring the pain, i can't wait!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The New Bicycle
It's finally here, my new bike! When I got the call up saying it had arrived, I thought they were playing a sick joke on me after they said it wouldn't be arriving t'ill close to Christmas! But it turns out they weren't but I wanted to see it for myself so I rushed over to the shop and sure enough there was a box there with my name written on it. I'm not going to lie, I fought back tears when Tim pulled it out of the box, i'm not quite sure people realise how long i've been waiting for his bike and to me it was an indication that things were going to get better and getting this bike was the first step in the right direction.
I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank James Collins at Trek for looking after me and of course Tim and everyone at the RideShop for all of their support, without their help this sexy looking machine wouldn't have been possible!
So heres the low down on the new bike:
Frame: Trek Madone 6.9pro frameset in the Astana paint job
Groupset: SRAM Red
Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace 10 Speed 165mm 39/52 with SRM Powermeter (well will have the SRM on it once we get it modified to fit the Trek's new BB)
Wheels: Zipp 404
Frame Size: 50cm
Saddle: Selle Italia Diva
Bidon Cages: Elite Carbon
Stem: PRO Vibe 80mm
Bars: Shimano PRO PLT Compact 40cm
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
Will upload personal photos shortly, but here is what it looks like!
I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank James Collins at Trek for looking after me and of course Tim and everyone at the RideShop for all of their support, without their help this sexy looking machine wouldn't have been possible!
So heres the low down on the new bike:
Frame: Trek Madone 6.9pro frameset in the Astana paint job
Groupset: SRAM Red
Crankset: Shimano Dura-Ace 10 Speed 165mm 39/52 with SRM Powermeter (well will have the SRM on it once we get it modified to fit the Trek's new BB)
Wheels: Zipp 404
Frame Size: 50cm
Saddle: Selle Italia Diva
Bidon Cages: Elite Carbon
Stem: PRO Vibe 80mm
Bars: Shimano PRO PLT Compact 40cm
Pedals: Shimano Dura-Ace
Will upload personal photos shortly, but here is what it looks like!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
NSW Crit Champs 18/10/08
After getting back to Canbera relatively late on Thursday night, needless to say that I was not looking forward to a 5am start on Friday morning, but you have to do what you have to do and considering I was due to leave for Sydney with Chloe and her family at 9, I didn't really have much choce as my legs were begging for a recovery ride. It didn't prove to be too painful and riding with the bunch was far more appealing than rding by myself.
So after my ride, I went home and got my things, wandered over to Chloe's and set off to Sydney firstly by passing the polling booths to cast our first ever votes (even though I hate to admit it, I would be lying if I said I played close attention to all of the candidates policies and knew exactly what they were on about rather than voting for however sounded cool and i'd seen on TV.. but hey, got to start somewhere and I promise my fellow Canberran's that I will make a more informed decision in the years to come. I did however get some guidance from Chloe who told me not to vote for certain parties because they were like weird cults...)
We spent most of the say walkng around Darling Harbour to do a spot of shopping (yeah I know, gerat recovery..but I was on a quest to find a formal dress! Sadly to no avail..:( ) Anyway, had a yummy pasta meal and attempted to reduce the damage to my legs caused by a day of shopping with a hot/cold shower, streches and some major Skin time.
I woke up the next day feeling a bit ordinary but didn't let that get to me, you know what some say - You race your best when your feeling horrible? well I was hoping they were right...It was disgustingly hot, over 30 degrees.. at least it didn't take long for us to warm up! The race was held at Sydney Olympic Park and was on an L shaped hot dog circuit which after the first 10min, started to take it's toll on my legs! It was a relatively small field of girls who started but the quality of the riders were definitely not lacking! Fronting up were riders such as Ashlee Ankudinoff, Theresea Gallagher just to name a few. The race was about 35min? and the pressure was on right from the gun. There were numerous attacks being launched, by myself included (god knows why I did that too myself lol, but I do like a challenge) to try and get the sting out of some of the sprinter's legs and slowly the race started to disintergrate. I was starting to struggle but ws still in contact with the 5 other riders who were left when someone ran into my rear wheel, causing a pile up witht eh other 3 riders. Fortunately, no one was badly injured and all took the liberty of hte 1 lap out an re-joined the field. I completed 1 more lap and noticed that my bike didn't feel stable going around the hot dog corners and it felt as though my Zipp rear wheel had taken a bit of a bashing and the last thing I wanted was the race to come down to a sprint finish and my tyre roll off or i cause someone to crash screaming around the last bend so i thought i'd take a visit to the pits and pick up my spare wheel. I stoppped at the pits and they started to fix my wheel when they told me that I had 4 laps remaining so wasn't allowed to pick up my spares (we didn't have a lap board and i looked at the time on my computer and thought it was still OK).. so unfortunately i had to chase back on to the bunch and try and finish the race. I didn't end up making contact with the bunch again, but I did finish, think I picked up about 6th or 7th. Ashlee won in the bunch sprint and completly inihilated the field, it was great to watch, Congrats to her!
So a disappointing race for me, but hey, there is not much I could do...except ride on my dodgy wheel? but I guess we all make mistakes and unfortunatley sometimes learn from them the hard way...
Until next time
take care
xo
So after my ride, I went home and got my things, wandered over to Chloe's and set off to Sydney firstly by passing the polling booths to cast our first ever votes (even though I hate to admit it, I would be lying if I said I played close attention to all of the candidates policies and knew exactly what they were on about rather than voting for however sounded cool and i'd seen on TV.. but hey, got to start somewhere and I promise my fellow Canberran's that I will make a more informed decision in the years to come. I did however get some guidance from Chloe who told me not to vote for certain parties because they were like weird cults...)
We spent most of the say walkng around Darling Harbour to do a spot of shopping (yeah I know, gerat recovery..but I was on a quest to find a formal dress! Sadly to no avail..:( ) Anyway, had a yummy pasta meal and attempted to reduce the damage to my legs caused by a day of shopping with a hot/cold shower, streches and some major Skin time.
I woke up the next day feeling a bit ordinary but didn't let that get to me, you know what some say - You race your best when your feeling horrible? well I was hoping they were right...It was disgustingly hot, over 30 degrees.. at least it didn't take long for us to warm up! The race was held at Sydney Olympic Park and was on an L shaped hot dog circuit which after the first 10min, started to take it's toll on my legs! It was a relatively small field of girls who started but the quality of the riders were definitely not lacking! Fronting up were riders such as Ashlee Ankudinoff, Theresea Gallagher just to name a few. The race was about 35min? and the pressure was on right from the gun. There were numerous attacks being launched, by myself included (god knows why I did that too myself lol, but I do like a challenge) to try and get the sting out of some of the sprinter's legs and slowly the race started to disintergrate. I was starting to struggle but ws still in contact with the 5 other riders who were left when someone ran into my rear wheel, causing a pile up witht eh other 3 riders. Fortunately, no one was badly injured and all took the liberty of hte 1 lap out an re-joined the field. I completed 1 more lap and noticed that my bike didn't feel stable going around the hot dog corners and it felt as though my Zipp rear wheel had taken a bit of a bashing and the last thing I wanted was the race to come down to a sprint finish and my tyre roll off or i cause someone to crash screaming around the last bend so i thought i'd take a visit to the pits and pick up my spare wheel. I stoppped at the pits and they started to fix my wheel when they told me that I had 4 laps remaining so wasn't allowed to pick up my spares (we didn't have a lap board and i looked at the time on my computer and thought it was still OK).. so unfortunately i had to chase back on to the bunch and try and finish the race. I didn't end up making contact with the bunch again, but I did finish, think I picked up about 6th or 7th. Ashlee won in the bunch sprint and completly inihilated the field, it was great to watch, Congrats to her!
So a disappointing race for me, but hey, there is not much I could do...except ride on my dodgy wheel? but I guess we all make mistakes and unfortunatley sometimes learn from them the hard way...
Until next time
take care
xo
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Amy Gillett Cup: Mansfield to Mt Buller 16/10/08
This was a race I’d been looking forward to for a long time. Why might you ask? Well there are a few reasons. Firstly, because it was part of the Amy Gillett Cup, a foundation of which I am a proud supporter because of the work they do for raising road safety awareness for cyclists and secondly, it gave me the opportunity to race up a much talked hill in the Sun Herald Tour, Mt Buller. The Amy Gillett Cup was a support race to the men’s Jayco Sun Herald Tour which meant that we got the opportunity to see the pros battle it out on the climb at the end of our race!
So the race went like this, it was a 46km race with a 16km climb up Mt Buller at the end. 26 or so girls lined up at Mansfield and we cruised at a constant pace and the girls were all having a catch up chat up until we reached the bottom of the climb. The race was going to be a 16km hill climb with the person with the most strength and determination to take final honours. From the entrance gates to the slopes, the pressure was on with a rider from Albury Wodonga setting the pace (I later found out that she was riding in B grade and she doesn’t actually race competitively) and started to cause havoc behind her. I sat in the top 3-4 the whole way up the climb not wanting to miss any decisive moves. That’s the thing I like about racing interstate, it’s that I am not familiar with the ability or racing style with the majority of the girls and so as far as I’m concerned, we are all on a level playing field when it comes to our abilities as cyclists. So the rider from Albury Wodonga was doing a fair bit of damage but there was still a group of about 6-8 of us by the time we reached the half way point. Among the group were riders such as Sarah Kent, Peta Mullens , Tory Thomas and Lisa Jacobs (a strong hill climber with whom I raced against at Wangaratta). With about 3km to go, some of the stronger girls in the lead bunch decided to have a bit of a dig and so there were a few attacks being launched and one made by Lisa saw her, Rebecca Locke (the eventual winner), Sarah and myself go clear. It was hard work bridging across to Lisa and but with around 2km to go and the quality of those riders sent alarm bells ringing, it was definitely going to be the race decider. And so the race was on from there and it was basically a case of who could ride the other people off their wheel. With about 1km to go, Lisa and Sarah had just dropped off the back which left myself and Rebecca to battle it out however unfortunately for me, I popped with less than 500m to go and ended up finishing 2nd about 20sec off the pace.
All in all it was a good race. Although I was pretty annoyed that I didn’t win overall, looking back on the race now I realised that I’d given it everything and gave myself the best chance possible. Unfortunately for me I just didn’t have the legs when it came down to it! But I chased down every attack on the climb when I thought I was slaughtered and I surprised myself, I found that I could take myself to a whole new world of pain and mental strength I never knew I had. I believed in myself, and I didn’t give up. Something which I learnt from a very well respected coach when I was in the States. Its thanks to them that I rode how I did today.
So the race went like this, it was a 46km race with a 16km climb up Mt Buller at the end. 26 or so girls lined up at Mansfield and we cruised at a constant pace and the girls were all having a catch up chat up until we reached the bottom of the climb. The race was going to be a 16km hill climb with the person with the most strength and determination to take final honours. From the entrance gates to the slopes, the pressure was on with a rider from Albury Wodonga setting the pace (I later found out that she was riding in B grade and she doesn’t actually race competitively) and started to cause havoc behind her. I sat in the top 3-4 the whole way up the climb not wanting to miss any decisive moves. That’s the thing I like about racing interstate, it’s that I am not familiar with the ability or racing style with the majority of the girls and so as far as I’m concerned, we are all on a level playing field when it comes to our abilities as cyclists. So the rider from Albury Wodonga was doing a fair bit of damage but there was still a group of about 6-8 of us by the time we reached the half way point. Among the group were riders such as Sarah Kent, Peta Mullens , Tory Thomas and Lisa Jacobs (a strong hill climber with whom I raced against at Wangaratta). With about 3km to go, some of the stronger girls in the lead bunch decided to have a bit of a dig and so there were a few attacks being launched and one made by Lisa saw her, Rebecca Locke (the eventual winner), Sarah and myself go clear. It was hard work bridging across to Lisa and but with around 2km to go and the quality of those riders sent alarm bells ringing, it was definitely going to be the race decider. And so the race was on from there and it was basically a case of who could ride the other people off their wheel. With about 1km to go, Lisa and Sarah had just dropped off the back which left myself and Rebecca to battle it out however unfortunately for me, I popped with less than 500m to go and ended up finishing 2nd about 20sec off the pace.
All in all it was a good race. Although I was pretty annoyed that I didn’t win overall, looking back on the race now I realised that I’d given it everything and gave myself the best chance possible. Unfortunately for me I just didn’t have the legs when it came down to it! But I chased down every attack on the climb when I thought I was slaughtered and I surprised myself, I found that I could take myself to a whole new world of pain and mental strength I never knew I had. I believed in myself, and I didn’t give up. Something which I learnt from a very well respected coach when I was in the States. Its thanks to them that I rode how I did today.
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