Tomorrow is the day of what I believe will be the hardest race of my life. After that will be 3 more days of the same.
Tomorrow I take to the start line of the Tour de Feminine - Krasna Lipa. UCI 2.2. 180 starters.
Of which every single one I've seen so far looks super skinny, super fit, and tanned!!
Oh and 98% of them don't speak English, so I've not got any idea whatsoever of what's being said. Could make for interesting racing!
Wish me luck...
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
The Czech List
2 hour easy roll through the country side – Czech
4 hour walking tour of Prague – Czech
Eat Pork, Sauerkrat & Dumpings – Czech
Drink ‘Black Beer’ – Czech
Let’s start with the ride:
Magnificent Scenery, only 10 minutes out of Prague and there’s wide open paddocks & reasonably quiet roads. I decided to head in one straight direction, in the hope it would be easy to make my way back. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, it was heaven! I had to make a turn at one of the towns as the road stopped, which I figured was fine, I’d be ok! Went out for about 30k, turned around and it starts drizzling.. As I’m going along, the wind picks up, massive crosswind, rain gets heavier until there are mini rivers on the roads, and then the lightening started. Oh Shit.
I get to the town I think I turned at, turn, nope, Prague the other way. Everything looks different in the rain compared to the sunshine.. I remembered I had a headwind almost the whole way out, so by this point I picked the road that had the tailwind and crossed my fingers. Going through towns I didn’t recognise, signs I couldn’t read, in the pouring rain with Lightening and Thunder clapping over head, I finally got to the end of this road which turns out was about 2k from where I was staying.. Massive smiles and I’m there! Phew.
The lady behind the desk just laughs and shakes her head at me when she sees me dripping wet on the doorstep..
Mental Note – Might be an idea to record the name of the town you turn at...
The rest:
We finished off the tour by going to a local brewery for dinner. Pork, Sauerkraut & Dumplings, a traditional Czech dinner, washed down by the local Black Beer. I could get used to this!
4 hour walking tour of Prague – Czech
Eat Pork, Sauerkrat & Dumpings – Czech
Drink ‘Black Beer’ – Czech
Let’s start with the ride:
Magnificent Scenery, only 10 minutes out of Prague and there’s wide open paddocks & reasonably quiet roads. I decided to head in one straight direction, in the hope it would be easy to make my way back. The sun was out, the birds were chirping, it was heaven! I had to make a turn at one of the towns as the road stopped, which I figured was fine, I’d be ok! Went out for about 30k, turned around and it starts drizzling.. As I’m going along, the wind picks up, massive crosswind, rain gets heavier until there are mini rivers on the roads, and then the lightening started. Oh Shit.
I get to the town I think I turned at, turn, nope, Prague the other way. Everything looks different in the rain compared to the sunshine.. I remembered I had a headwind almost the whole way out, so by this point I picked the road that had the tailwind and crossed my fingers. Going through towns I didn’t recognise, signs I couldn’t read, in the pouring rain with Lightening and Thunder clapping over head, I finally got to the end of this road which turns out was about 2k from where I was staying.. Massive smiles and I’m there! Phew.
The lady behind the desk just laughs and shakes her head at me when she sees me dripping wet on the doorstep..
Mental Note – Might be an idea to record the name of the town you turn at...
The rest:
The son of the Team Manager for Dukla Praha and his girlfriend picked me up at 2 for a 4 hour walking tour of Prague. Prague is an amazing city with so much history. Buildings dating back to the 15th Century, the 4th largest Cathedral in the world, and not to mention all the political issues of the past. Where did I go? Everywhere. There are so many things we saw, so many km’s we covered, and it was all amazing.
287 steps, all going round and round and round..
Ouch! But the view from the top was stunning.
We finished off the tour by going to a local brewery for dinner. Pork, Sauerkraut & Dumplings, a traditional Czech dinner, washed down by the local Black Beer. I could get used to this!Tuesday, July 6, 2010
The weary traveller
My longest every flight, plus layover, plus another flight half that.. 27 hours of travel and I've arrived in Prague!!
From what I've seen so far (not much) it's a friendly city.. Shopping was interesting not knowing what I was getting, but I seem to have done ok.. Being back in Summer and daylight savings is weird! It's 8pm and it's still broad daylight! AND I'm in shorts!
I'm staying at the Dukla Praha team hotel/hostel, which is actually the Army Sporting facility. Simple, clean room, which is all I need! The guys who run it, Mirislov and Milan, are lovely guys, all too willing to help out.. Mirislov is probably even going to get up early and come for a ride with me at 10am tomorrow so I don't get horribly lost!
The only issue is, this team think I'm racing for them, however I"m supposed to be racing for Team Mix Serbia!
They arrive tomorrow evening, so everything should get sorted out then. Regardless, I'm racing in 3 days, and the way my legs feel after all the travel, neither of the teams will want me!!
Although, if I keep forgetting to look the opposite direction for oncoming traffic, it might not be an issue!
My job for the next couple of hours is to just try and stay awake. Almost no sleep in the whole time I travelled, plus being awake all day on the day I left means I'm starting to struggle big time! Lucky I have no Wifi where I"m staying so had to come out in the the beautiful evening to steal some from a neighbour :)
No matter what country you're in, there's always one constant!!
From what I've seen so far (not much) it's a friendly city.. Shopping was interesting not knowing what I was getting, but I seem to have done ok.. Being back in Summer and daylight savings is weird! It's 8pm and it's still broad daylight! AND I'm in shorts!
I'm staying at the Dukla Praha team hotel/hostel, which is actually the Army Sporting facility. Simple, clean room, which is all I need! The guys who run it, Mirislov and Milan, are lovely guys, all too willing to help out.. Mirislov is probably even going to get up early and come for a ride with me at 10am tomorrow so I don't get horribly lost!
The only issue is, this team think I'm racing for them, however I"m supposed to be racing for Team Mix Serbia!
Although, if I keep forgetting to look the opposite direction for oncoming traffic, it might not be an issue!
My job for the next couple of hours is to just try and stay awake. Almost no sleep in the whole time I travelled, plus being awake all day on the day I left means I'm starting to struggle big time! Lucky I have no Wifi where I"m staying so had to come out in the the beautiful evening to steal some from a neighbour :)
No matter what country you're in, there's always one constant!!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Preston Mountain Classic
Arriving in Strath Creek for the Preston Mountain Classic, it was 2 degrees and 'Frosty' according to the Car! We drove in via the finish hill, and it I had thoughts of wanting to turn around and go home! Wow it looked steep.
Nevertheless, we kitted up, warmed up (as best as possible!) and headed for the start line.
The womens race was combined with the Mens Masters. A 69km Handicap from Strath Creek, through Yea, around a loop and then straight through Strath Creek finishing up the monster climb. The profile had it at 1800m @ 8.5%, but there were 13% sections and it didn't look fun at all..
The limit bunch rolled out 28 minutes in front of Scratch, with a few strong girls in the bunch, and that was the last we saw of them. We rolled out at 15 Minutes, with a good portion of the womens field in our bunch. We all worked well together rolling turns until the base of the first real climb, where we all started popping one by one. 3 or 4 guys from our bunch stayed away, and the rest of us regrouped and rolled turns until the 11 minute bunch came along. After that it was pretty much all over, rolled turns when I could, we copped some abuse from the old guys for not pulling enough turns, even though we were from the bunch in front... but it was clear we weren't going to catch the leaders and everyone was pretty stuffed.. Made it through town and headed to the final climb just to finish.. 8 minutes caught us just after the base with Jenny Mac powering on past, Scratch also caught not long after and went past us, but the race had been won 15 minutes earlier.
In the end, the last hill was no where near as scary as first though. It wasn't 'fun', but it wasn't the vicious beast we'd been worried about! Although I guess that might have been a bit different had we been really racing up it!
So a good, if disappointing, hit out for my last race in Aus for 3 months.. The last race I'll do before Krasna Lipa 2.2..
Wow! This time next week I'll be in Europe!!!!
Nevertheless, we kitted up, warmed up (as best as possible!) and headed for the start line.
The womens race was combined with the Mens Masters. A 69km Handicap from Strath Creek, through Yea, around a loop and then straight through Strath Creek finishing up the monster climb. The profile had it at 1800m @ 8.5%, but there were 13% sections and it didn't look fun at all..
The limit bunch rolled out 28 minutes in front of Scratch, with a few strong girls in the bunch, and that was the last we saw of them. We rolled out at 15 Minutes, with a good portion of the womens field in our bunch. We all worked well together rolling turns until the base of the first real climb, where we all started popping one by one. 3 or 4 guys from our bunch stayed away, and the rest of us regrouped and rolled turns until the 11 minute bunch came along. After that it was pretty much all over, rolled turns when I could, we copped some abuse from the old guys for not pulling enough turns, even though we were from the bunch in front... but it was clear we weren't going to catch the leaders and everyone was pretty stuffed.. Made it through town and headed to the final climb just to finish.. 8 minutes caught us just after the base with Jenny Mac powering on past, Scratch also caught not long after and went past us, but the race had been won 15 minutes earlier.
In the end, the last hill was no where near as scary as first though. It wasn't 'fun', but it wasn't the vicious beast we'd been worried about! Although I guess that might have been a bit different had we been really racing up it!
So a good, if disappointing, hit out for my last race in Aus for 3 months.. The last race I'll do before Krasna Lipa 2.2..
Wow! This time next week I'll be in Europe!!!!
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Northern Combine - 3DT
Melbourne is turning on it's first real winter in a long time. It's freezing cold, often wet, and very windy. Not the kind of weather that's conducive to getting in the k's! I've taken the HTFU pill a few times and whilst I was glad I did, I was also thinking I was crazy when some of the bunches have had as few as 6 show up!
But when the race numbers go on, everyone just gets the job done.
For the first time ever, there was to be seperate Womens Grades. Both A & B. There were 13 registered for A, and 23 for B! An amazing turn out for B grade women.
11 started our race, so there weren't too many to do any work, and there was no where to hide!
Saturday was Freezing, it was wet, and yep, a bit windy. I just couldn't get going, rolled turns the first 20 or so k and started struggling a bit. The head was wondering WTF was going on, and the legs weren't being very helpful..
In the end, Jo and Jenny got away and stayed away.. Kendall and Nic were away, we brought them back.. I got away on Kendalls wheel but couldn't hold it and ended up back in the bunch so exhausted I couldn't even pull a turn.. Kendall stayed away solo, and the rest of us rolled in as a bunch, me at the back as promised after not being able to work the last 15k.
Went to the hotel to check in and rest, and ended up depressing myself thinking of how bad I went. I was ready to pack it in and head home. Thankfully Blair was at the same Motel and knocked on the door to tell me we were all going to the pub for dinner. Crappy TV movies followed, then putting the TT bars on the bike for the ITT in the morning.. Time to sleep and forget about the bad day!
Day 2 - double day. 8k ITT (Mostly uphill), again. legs felt shit, did a crap time, but was in a better headspace after a visit to the local bakery in Lancefield for a Pink Iced Jam Donut and an Apple Cake! Too much? probably.. But I think it's part of what saved me for the next day!
The afternoon road race was cold again. It was 3 laps of the same course we'd done 2 times yesterday, so we knew it well..
I started with the deadest legs I think I've had since the week after Canberra. They just wouldn't wake up and I was skipping my fair share of turns which was getting some head shaking from the girls.. after about an hour they started to come alive a bit, but not enough, as yet again the attack on the KOM went over out front and this time due to some dubious team tactics, Kendall was off the front solo and stayed there. Jen and Jo were next to go, and the top 3 were sorted again.
Another pub dinner, this time a bag ass rissotto another crappy TV movie, and off to bed.
Day 3 - decided it was time to bring out the big guns, 4 x crumpets with PB&J.. Feeling rather full I packed up the car and melted the ice off the windscreen (it was 1!!!!! degree!!).. The temp dropped to -2 on the way to the race start, but it was a clear and sunny day which was a plus. I decided to overdo it on the clothes and be warmer and not risk being cold.
Jumped on the rollers for the last time this weekend for a quick warm up, and was surprised that I felt better on the bike than off it. The aches went away and my legs seemed to be turning in circles rather than squares!
Didn't want to get too excited, as it was likely as soon as the pace went up they'd die again.. but the whole first 60-70 minutes I didn't skip a turn and was feeling comfortable.
Jo punctured along the way, and Jen was having dilemas over being nice, and trying to race, in the end not doing too much to make it harder for Jo to get back on.
The first QOM sign came up with 1000m to go, and I knew this is where the move would happen. I tried to stay up the front on Jo and Kendalls wheels, and when they went I tried, but I just didn't quite have enough. Added to the fact my quad was violently letting me know it was about to cramp at any second
So it was the same 6 left again in the bunch, we all worked at getting to the finish as quickly and nicely as we could..
In the end, I had a miserable first 2 days, wanting to quit, not wanting to be there, and just generally questioning why I thought I was any good at this cycling thing, and the 3rd day turning that around and making me remember that it's going to take patience. I've only been doing this for a few months, compared to others being in the sport for years.
It'll just take some time.
But when the race numbers go on, everyone just gets the job done.
For the first time ever, there was to be seperate Womens Grades. Both A & B. There were 13 registered for A, and 23 for B! An amazing turn out for B grade women.
11 started our race, so there weren't too many to do any work, and there was no where to hide!
Saturday was Freezing, it was wet, and yep, a bit windy. I just couldn't get going, rolled turns the first 20 or so k and started struggling a bit. The head was wondering WTF was going on, and the legs weren't being very helpful..
In the end, Jo and Jenny got away and stayed away.. Kendall and Nic were away, we brought them back.. I got away on Kendalls wheel but couldn't hold it and ended up back in the bunch so exhausted I couldn't even pull a turn.. Kendall stayed away solo, and the rest of us rolled in as a bunch, me at the back as promised after not being able to work the last 15k.
Went to the hotel to check in and rest, and ended up depressing myself thinking of how bad I went. I was ready to pack it in and head home. Thankfully Blair was at the same Motel and knocked on the door to tell me we were all going to the pub for dinner. Crappy TV movies followed, then putting the TT bars on the bike for the ITT in the morning.. Time to sleep and forget about the bad day!
Day 2 - double day. 8k ITT (Mostly uphill), again. legs felt shit, did a crap time, but was in a better headspace after a visit to the local bakery in Lancefield for a Pink Iced Jam Donut and an Apple Cake! Too much? probably.. But I think it's part of what saved me for the next day!
The afternoon road race was cold again. It was 3 laps of the same course we'd done 2 times yesterday, so we knew it well..
I started with the deadest legs I think I've had since the week after Canberra. They just wouldn't wake up and I was skipping my fair share of turns which was getting some head shaking from the girls.. after about an hour they started to come alive a bit, but not enough, as yet again the attack on the KOM went over out front and this time due to some dubious team tactics, Kendall was off the front solo and stayed there. Jen and Jo were next to go, and the top 3 were sorted again.
Another pub dinner, this time a bag ass rissotto another crappy TV movie, and off to bed.
Day 3 - decided it was time to bring out the big guns, 4 x crumpets with PB&J.. Feeling rather full I packed up the car and melted the ice off the windscreen (it was 1!!!!! degree!!).. The temp dropped to -2 on the way to the race start, but it was a clear and sunny day which was a plus. I decided to overdo it on the clothes and be warmer and not risk being cold.
Jumped on the rollers for the last time this weekend for a quick warm up, and was surprised that I felt better on the bike than off it. The aches went away and my legs seemed to be turning in circles rather than squares!
Didn't want to get too excited, as it was likely as soon as the pace went up they'd die again.. but the whole first 60-70 minutes I didn't skip a turn and was feeling comfortable.
Jo punctured along the way, and Jen was having dilemas over being nice, and trying to race, in the end not doing too much to make it harder for Jo to get back on.
The first QOM sign came up with 1000m to go, and I knew this is where the move would happen. I tried to stay up the front on Jo and Kendalls wheels, and when they went I tried, but I just didn't quite have enough. Added to the fact my quad was violently letting me know it was about to cramp at any second
So it was the same 6 left again in the bunch, we all worked at getting to the finish as quickly and nicely as we could..
In the end, I had a miserable first 2 days, wanting to quit, not wanting to be there, and just generally questioning why I thought I was any good at this cycling thing, and the 3rd day turning that around and making me remember that it's going to take patience. I've only been doing this for a few months, compared to others being in the sport for years.
It'll just take some time.
Wow
How time flies! It's been 6 weeks since my first NRS and so much has happened..
First off, Canberra.
Beautiful weather, great hilly courses and some tough competition.
It was a great weekend of racing and learning and I had a fantastic time! I finished mid pack both the first 2 days, and then on the 3rd day I was managing to hang on to the pack until a dropped chain on the last QOM 15k from home ended my bunch finish dreams.
After Canberra I had a couple of lackluster weeks.. It took a bit longer to recover than I thought, and the whole first week after I could do barely anything. Raced the Saturday after down in Phillip Island, finishing 6th in the womens Kermesse and first female in the B Grade mens race.. But possibly should have just had the weekend off racing as the next week I was as flat as a tack again!
The next race I did resulted in my first ever REAL bike stack.. the Teschner/SKCC Crit at Albert Park.. I was having a fun race, it was lively, there were attacks, there were chases, there were girls off the front and we wanted them back! I managed to get a couple of metres gap heading out of one of the hot dog corners and got excited.. I hit the next corner hard and in a blonde moment I pedalled. BANG. Hit the deck hard. The Garmin reads 42 -> 0. The whole force was stopped by my poor little chin. A few stitches and I was good as new.. Sore jaw, still, but I finally have some battle scars :)
So the next couple of weeks was pretty flat for me after that, and then headed to Creswick 133k Handicap! I managed to get a start in the Limit bunch, which meant I was in for a bit of an easier first lap warm up, and screamingly fast/hard lap once we were caught by those behind us, and then I got dropped up the climb on the 3rd lap. Managed to get half way through the last lap with a small bunch before Limit/6mins came through and picked us up for a nice ride back in to town in the freezing cold and pouring rain!!
I was the 2nd chick to finish, Jo Hogan stormed around in the 22min bunch and beat most of the guys to the line coming in 9th overall. Turns out no other girls finished the race either, so pretty pleased with my efforts.. Turns out that out of the initial Limit bunch I was 1 of only 2 to finish as well..
That leads us to the weekend just gone.. The Northern Combine 3 Day Tour, ran out of Newham/Lancefield up near Woodend. That's next!
First off, Canberra.
Beautiful weather, great hilly courses and some tough competition.
It was a great weekend of racing and learning and I had a fantastic time! I finished mid pack both the first 2 days, and then on the 3rd day I was managing to hang on to the pack until a dropped chain on the last QOM 15k from home ended my bunch finish dreams.
After Canberra I had a couple of lackluster weeks.. It took a bit longer to recover than I thought, and the whole first week after I could do barely anything. Raced the Saturday after down in Phillip Island, finishing 6th in the womens Kermesse and first female in the B Grade mens race.. But possibly should have just had the weekend off racing as the next week I was as flat as a tack again!
The next race I did resulted in my first ever REAL bike stack.. the Teschner/SKCC Crit at Albert Park.. I was having a fun race, it was lively, there were attacks, there were chases, there were girls off the front and we wanted them back! I managed to get a couple of metres gap heading out of one of the hot dog corners and got excited.. I hit the next corner hard and in a blonde moment I pedalled. BANG. Hit the deck hard. The Garmin reads 42 -> 0. The whole force was stopped by my poor little chin. A few stitches and I was good as new.. Sore jaw, still, but I finally have some battle scars :)
So the next couple of weeks was pretty flat for me after that, and then headed to Creswick 133k Handicap! I managed to get a start in the Limit bunch, which meant I was in for a bit of an easier first lap warm up, and screamingly fast/hard lap once we were caught by those behind us, and then I got dropped up the climb on the 3rd lap. Managed to get half way through the last lap with a small bunch before Limit/6mins came through and picked us up for a nice ride back in to town in the freezing cold and pouring rain!!
I was the 2nd chick to finish, Jo Hogan stormed around in the 22min bunch and beat most of the guys to the line coming in 9th overall. Turns out no other girls finished the race either, so pretty pleased with my efforts.. Turns out that out of the initial Limit bunch I was 1 of only 2 to finish as well..
That leads us to the weekend just gone.. The Northern Combine 3 Day Tour, ran out of Newham/Lancefield up near Woodend. That's next!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Tour of Coleraine 2010
Coleraine/Southern Grampians are around 4 hours from Melbourne, so myself JC & Bridge headed off about 4pm in the Jayco/Mazda team car (Thanks to JT for the loan :) ) We were staying at Bridgets parents place about 45 minutes from Coleraine, so decided just to head straight there and worry about registering in the morning. An uneventful trip, stopped for some supplies including a 24 pack of fresh Anzac Cookies.. More to come on those!!
Arrived to a yummy home cooked pasta meal and the knowledge that I'd have some Country peace and quiet and a king size bed to sleep in for the duration of the weekend! YIPPEE!! We had an early start, so got to bed as soon as we could, and surprisingly slept like a log!
Stage 1 - 72km RR
A super cruisy drive to Coleraine after a big breakfast to prepare for 2 stages, super smooth rego process, 6 visits to the toilet as the nerves set in along with the clouds, and all of a sudden it was only 15 minutes to race start. We went from having heaps of time, to having stuffed around so much that I did a 10 minute warm up and was being called to the race start!
1st lesson of the day - Do a proper warm up!!!
As we were lining up the drizzle started along with the wind and it became apparent it wasn't going to be a fun day. There were just over 20 starters, several of them super strong climbers, so a tough day had just been made tougher!
The nuetral roll out section included the first climb of about 2k out of town, but it wasn't overly nuetral to my non warmed up legs and lungs! The pace was pretty quick, but I used it as my warm up which wasn't ideal but would have to do!
The first KOM hit quick, a reasonably steep quick climb, with Jo Hogan and Lisa Jacobs attacking and staying off the front, quickly joined by Kendelle Hodges. A chase group of 7 including myself formed and continued this way until the last KOM, quickly a few of us were dropped off the back up the final steep pinch of the climb and had a 10k solo ride in to the headwind home.
2nd lesson of the day - If you're not feeling strong, get a bit of rest before the climbs!
Felt good to finish though and ended up with 8th, about 4:30 down on the leaders. Now it was time to rest up for the afternoon crit!
Compression tights on, time to get in some fuel (which in my case included 15, yes 15!, of the Anzac cookies purchased last night.. It was anzac weekend, I had to do it!
Stage 2 - 27km Crit
Learnt my lesson from the morning and did a proper warm up, and the legs felt considerably better than expected after the morning's stage.
So the crit was supposed to be 27kms, however due to running over time with the other grades our race was shortened to about 22k. 12 laps of a fairly fast course with an intermediate sprint @ 8 and 4 laps to go, both sprints were worth a lot in time bonuses, so they were going to be hotly contested. I was hoping to either reel back in some time for myself, or help bridget to make up time as she'd finished in the bunch ahead of me in the morning and was sitting 4th on GC. The way it panned out was super sprinter Bec Domange taking out both sprints, with myself being able to gain 10seconds with a 2nd in one of the sprints, and Bridget going for the early attack and taking out the stage win for Degani!
There was some shuffling of the top GC placings with Jo being able to pick up some bonus seconds to knock Lisa off the top spot and to move in to the yellow jersey. Bec overtook Bridget for 4th Position with all her time bonuses, and pretty much everyone else stayed in the same position.
Now what to do for dinner? With Carmel and Charlie (Bridgets parents) off at a wedding, we didn't feel like cooking, so headed to the National Hotel in Coleraine for a Parma!! Something I usually only have after all the racing is finished, but I figured I'd done 2, so it was deserved!
Back to the farm for some lollies and an early night!
Stage 3 - RR 72kms
With time bonuses on offer for the KOM's and Lisa and Jo being so close on GC, today's stage was always going to be tough over the climbs.
After a proper warm up again (yay!) we set off for another Nuetral climb out of town and then a fairly sedate paced ride out to the base of the first KOM. Things broke up pretty quickly up the steep Douglas Road with about 6 girls ahead and me getting dropped. Damn! Started the chase back on and was joined by super strong MTBer Jessica Douglas and SKCC chick Hannah Vine. The 3 of us worked well together to get back to the bunch... Right in time for the next KOM! Damn! No time to recover from the chase, I went with them as far as I could up yet another steep climb Zig Zag Rd, made it about half way before a steep pinch section made the legs give up. Once over the top, was rejoined by Hannah and Jessica again for the chase. We could see one solo girl up ahead and set about reaching her. Worked well together in to the wind and rolling hills until we all started to get quite tired and Jess put in a big effort and dropped us but reached the other girl up the road. We tried to reach them, but with both of us tiring it wasn't to be. Hannah made the call that she didn't have enough left to roll turns with about 10k to go, so it was time to remember what it was like to be a triathlete, stick my head down, and limit the time losses to the front girls as much as possible.
We rolled in just over 2.5 minutes down on the front pack, which considering the conditions etc I was pretty pleased with.
In the end I stayed 8th on GC, and was about 7 minutes down on the winner Jo with Bridget coming in 5th on GC which was a great effort considering she'd never done a Road Race before, let alone a Tour!
Happy with the weekend. My first real Tour, some good learning experiences and things to take away and work on! Next up, only a few days later.. Tour of Canberra! My first National Road Series Tour.. Time to rest and recover
Arrived to a yummy home cooked pasta meal and the knowledge that I'd have some Country peace and quiet and a king size bed to sleep in for the duration of the weekend! YIPPEE!! We had an early start, so got to bed as soon as we could, and surprisingly slept like a log!
Stage 1 - 72km RR
A super cruisy drive to Coleraine after a big breakfast to prepare for 2 stages, super smooth rego process, 6 visits to the toilet as the nerves set in along with the clouds, and all of a sudden it was only 15 minutes to race start. We went from having heaps of time, to having stuffed around so much that I did a 10 minute warm up and was being called to the race start!
1st lesson of the day - Do a proper warm up!!!
As we were lining up the drizzle started along with the wind and it became apparent it wasn't going to be a fun day. There were just over 20 starters, several of them super strong climbers, so a tough day had just been made tougher!
The nuetral roll out section included the first climb of about 2k out of town, but it wasn't overly nuetral to my non warmed up legs and lungs! The pace was pretty quick, but I used it as my warm up which wasn't ideal but would have to do!
The first KOM hit quick, a reasonably steep quick climb, with Jo Hogan and Lisa Jacobs attacking and staying off the front, quickly joined by Kendelle Hodges. A chase group of 7 including myself formed and continued this way until the last KOM, quickly a few of us were dropped off the back up the final steep pinch of the climb and had a 10k solo ride in to the headwind home.
2nd lesson of the day - If you're not feeling strong, get a bit of rest before the climbs!
Felt good to finish though and ended up with 8th, about 4:30 down on the leaders. Now it was time to rest up for the afternoon crit!
Compression tights on, time to get in some fuel (which in my case included 15, yes 15!, of the Anzac cookies purchased last night.. It was anzac weekend, I had to do it!
Stage 2 - 27km Crit
Learnt my lesson from the morning and did a proper warm up, and the legs felt considerably better than expected after the morning's stage.
So the crit was supposed to be 27kms, however due to running over time with the other grades our race was shortened to about 22k. 12 laps of a fairly fast course with an intermediate sprint @ 8 and 4 laps to go, both sprints were worth a lot in time bonuses, so they were going to be hotly contested. I was hoping to either reel back in some time for myself, or help bridget to make up time as she'd finished in the bunch ahead of me in the morning and was sitting 4th on GC. The way it panned out was super sprinter Bec Domange taking out both sprints, with myself being able to gain 10seconds with a 2nd in one of the sprints, and Bridget going for the early attack and taking out the stage win for Degani!
There was some shuffling of the top GC placings with Jo being able to pick up some bonus seconds to knock Lisa off the top spot and to move in to the yellow jersey. Bec overtook Bridget for 4th Position with all her time bonuses, and pretty much everyone else stayed in the same position.
Now what to do for dinner? With Carmel and Charlie (Bridgets parents) off at a wedding, we didn't feel like cooking, so headed to the National Hotel in Coleraine for a Parma!! Something I usually only have after all the racing is finished, but I figured I'd done 2, so it was deserved!
Back to the farm for some lollies and an early night!
Stage 3 - RR 72kms
With time bonuses on offer for the KOM's and Lisa and Jo being so close on GC, today's stage was always going to be tough over the climbs.
After a proper warm up again (yay!) we set off for another Nuetral climb out of town and then a fairly sedate paced ride out to the base of the first KOM. Things broke up pretty quickly up the steep Douglas Road with about 6 girls ahead and me getting dropped. Damn! Started the chase back on and was joined by super strong MTBer Jessica Douglas and SKCC chick Hannah Vine. The 3 of us worked well together to get back to the bunch... Right in time for the next KOM! Damn! No time to recover from the chase, I went with them as far as I could up yet another steep climb Zig Zag Rd, made it about half way before a steep pinch section made the legs give up. Once over the top, was rejoined by Hannah and Jessica again for the chase. We could see one solo girl up ahead and set about reaching her. Worked well together in to the wind and rolling hills until we all started to get quite tired and Jess put in a big effort and dropped us but reached the other girl up the road. We tried to reach them, but with both of us tiring it wasn't to be. Hannah made the call that she didn't have enough left to roll turns with about 10k to go, so it was time to remember what it was like to be a triathlete, stick my head down, and limit the time losses to the front girls as much as possible.
We rolled in just over 2.5 minutes down on the front pack, which considering the conditions etc I was pretty pleased with.
In the end I stayed 8th on GC, and was about 7 minutes down on the winner Jo with Bridget coming in 5th on GC which was a great effort considering she'd never done a Road Race before, let alone a Tour!
Happy with the weekend. My first real Tour, some good learning experiences and things to take away and work on! Next up, only a few days later.. Tour of Canberra! My first National Road Series Tour.. Time to rest and recover
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