New Team, New Race Series, it's all very exciting!

Well the first round of the Cykelevents Women’s GP has been run and won and the newly formed Total Rush Women’s team were proud to be on the start line!

3/4 of the team with one of the new Bikes - Kelly will be back on deck for the next race!

With the forecast for the day Hot and Windy, it was always guaranteed to be a good days racing, starting with a 1.4km Prologue which then determined the grading for the afternoon Criterium. Best placed from the team was a stomping 3rd from Tanya, with both Carly and Amy finishing in the top 8 of the field, securing all of the team a start in the Div 1 crit later that day. Nicole Whitburn (LIV/Giant) proved it’s not just sprinting she’s a gun at, taking out the prologue win.

The Div 2 race was ran not long after the conclusion of the prologue, so we had the chance to recover from our all out effort and chat with some of the other girls. It made the day great fun being able to set up shop nearby to all our friends and the friendly rivalry was being bantered around!

Cheering on the Div 2 race passed the time quickly, and before we knew it, it was time for us to line up to race on the flat fast course. Only 700m in length with some not too technical corners, and a headwind up the home straight, it was always going to be a tough course to establish a breakaway on, which was demonstrated by the earlier race.

Lining up for the start of the Criterium

The team worked brilliantly together, with a pink jersey being represented in every move off the front, however the other teams were working well too, with everything being brought back together. At the 35 min mark the intermediate sprint lap was called, and the Hawthorn teams World/Aus pursuit champ Meg Marsh jumped on the front for their lead-out to keep the pace high. The sprint was taken by The Goddess of Thunder, without much contest, with Total Rush just finishing out of the points in 5th. Unfortunately there was a crash on the final corner coming in to the sprint, taking out one of the SKCC & RACE team members and neutralizing the race briefly while the peloton regrouped.

The team in action

Most aggressive for the day was definitely Karen Hill in her last race with the SKCC/Giant Women’s team, pinging off the front of the bunch multiple times & proving that not all triathletes have just one gear! In the end however it was apparent the race would be determined by a bunch sprint and after 40 laps of the course, the 3 to go was shown. The teams all started rallying and fighting for position, with Meg Marsh again taking the lead at the start of the Bell Lap and almost succeeding in splitting the peloton down the back straight with the tail wind! Sensing the dropped wheels, Amy tried to get a head start on the bunch in to the final straight, however was overtaken by the sprinters with Nicole taking out a comfortable win ahead of Kate Finegan (RACE) and Madelaine Pape (SKCC/Giant) just getting over the top of Tanya, Amy & Carly who finished 4/5/6 respectively. This puts the team in good stead for the Team Series win, bringing us in 3rd position. With a full team of 5 planned for the remaining 3 races, we should be able to improve the teams standing by the end of the series.

What's a race with a bunch of women and a camera without some shenanigans?

All up a great day out for the first race as a team. Having only picked up the new Specialized Amira Pro’s from Total Rush 24 hours before and ridden about 20km each on them prior to the race, it was a great result, and one that we plan on improving upon over the rest of the series! The bikes ride like a dream, and we all can’t wait to put in some serious km’s on them over the coming summer months.

First race winner, and series leader - Nicole "The Goddess of Thunder" Whitburn (LIV/Giant)

The next race in the series is the 29th January at Casey Fields, hosted by the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club, I hope to see you there – racing of course!


For my results and info go to - http://womensgp.blogspot.com/

Things don't always go to plan.

So this weekend just gone was the annual trek to the Victorian High Country for the Tour of Bright.

The car was packed -

 The (very cool) numbers were picked up and pinned on -

The bike's were all dressed and ready to rumble -

And then I woke up on Race Morning and the illness I'd been trying to hold off all week had completely taken hold.

It's fair to say that I was miserable. I'd been looking forward to racing for weeks, and to end up barely able to roll up to the start of the race to see the girls off was devastating.

I ended up spending the weekend trying not to pass on my germs, and helping out those that were still racing. Along with trying to sleep as much as possible to get better.

It's now almost a week later, and I'm still sick. I've hardly ridden my bike and I'm just trying to stay positive with only 4 weeks left until Nationals.. Fingers crossed I get better soon!

Honda Tour - We did it!

The Honda Hybrid Tour 2011.

10 days before the tour started, I was seriously questioning why on earth I was even racing.

Crits? I’m not a crit rider!

Arthurs Seat? I can’t climb!

TTT – I definitely can’t Time Trial!

So why bother?

Well, a kick up the pants from a good friend, followed by a week of training where everything seemed to click, and 2 days before the tour I was all of a sudden envisioning a decent result.

And what a tour it was! The biggest Tour of the NRS for all the girls who’d been training and racing all winter. 5 days, and whilst they were all short stages, it made for fast and furious racing.

I’m not going to give blow by blows or results, they’re on cycling news & cycling central for you to read about.. Although I will brag about my team a bit, seeing as though we WON!

Stage 1 – 60 sets of fresh legs, nerves & enthusiasm to go well on the first day resulted in silly crashes, followed by poor decisions to let riders take a lap out on a 6k course! I felt good, I had a little air time off the front, unfortunately no one wanted to go with me and they just brought me back, and I finished safely in the bunch.. That was a win in itself! Loren got 3rd and set herself up nicely for the rest of the tour.

Stage 2 – Tight, Twisty, Windy crit in Belmont. Stuffed up the bottom sweeping corner EVERY single time. Expected lots of crashes, but due to the pace the field size was reduced early on. One big ugly crash in the main straight, but everyone mostly ok. Again, managed to keep it upright and finish with the front bunch which was another win for me, and Loren sprinted her way to a win and in to the Red Leaders Jersey! Very happy day. Started me thinking that maybe I’m not as bad at crits as I once thought!

Stage 3 – Team Time Trial. Dreading this day. We were all to give it everything to keep Loren in Red. I was 2nd in the formation, on a Road Bike with no clip ons or Aero gear, with everyone else in my team either on TT bikes with Disks, or at least having clip ons and TT Helmet. I was intimidated, I was scared, I was nervous.. Pulled my first turn and BOOM. Dangling off the back just giving it everything I could to even get on. Tried to recover, couldn’t, these girls are seriously FAST. After a few k, things started to get better, and I knew I had it to start helping out. This was just before the descent to the turn around, so when we hit the hill after the turn around and a wheel was dropped, I went around, felt ok, and knowing I hadn’t helped at all yet, I knew I had to do a turn. Rookie mistake was going around far too fast and hurting the other girls who’d been working their guts out all the way out. In the end, that resulted in there only being 3 of us for the ride back, which meant I could NOT get dropped. We needed 3 for the time. Fair to say I’ve never come closer to puking on a bike as in the final 3k of that TT.

We came 4th by a few seconds. Probably my fault.

We lost the Red Jersey. Probably my fault.

But in the end, these things do happen, it’s a learning experience for me, I didn’t do it on purpose, and we had to move on.

Stage 4 – The Queen Stage - Arthurs Seat. 35k of Tailwind, ripping along, then a couple of k of headwind followed by THAT climb. I felt good again. I didn’t understand it, but I went with it. The first hill – Red Hill – it hadn’t seemed so bad in the car when we pre drove the course. Well, when they’re drilling it on the front up the climb, it’s friggin hard. Managed to just hang on to the back of the front bunch, and after that I knew I’d make it to the climb with them. The attacks went at the bottom, and I waved byebye.. Just wanting to get up as quick as possible. Cheer squads calling out my name at every look out point, and team manager Dave on the SRAM bike at various points on the climb helped a lot! Turns out it was my quickest time up there! 4 days in to a Tour! Happy days. Loren climbed Awesome and rode herself back in to 2nd place.. Only 4 seconds off the lead. The tour was ours for the taking.

Stage 5 – Lygon St Crit. Arriving to rain wasn’t pleasant, but after one last big downpour the sky cleared and things looked good. No pre ride of the course because they were fixing stuff up, and then straight on to the quickest/Hardest Neutral Lap in history. But BOOM. Confidence was up and I made it on the front row.

The last 4 days were forgotten, and I felt fresh. But I was shaking like a leaf. Getting this race right was crucial. And we did. We almost didn’t, but almost doesn’t matter. I repeatedly buried myself beyond where I thought I could go, for the end goal of the team, and I even clung on to finish with the bunch.

Then it was on to the big cup of Gelati that I’d been hanging out for all week, and a big catch up with everyone who’d come out to watch! Tour done and dusted and looking forward to a couple of bike free days!

Thanks to Jarrod from http://jxpphotography.com/ for most of the photo's!

Winners!

Loren Rowney has won the Honda Hybrid Womens Tour for Team Bundaberg Sugar..

Proper report/post to come, but for now - Happy Girls!!!

Getting Diiiiiirty!

Over the past few week’s, I’ve done 2 more Cyclocross (CX) Races. Each time I do one, whilst racing I wonder why on earth I’m putting myself through this again, but afterwards the pain is forgotten, and the fun and atmosphere of the race is all the remains!


First up was the last round of the Dirty Deeds Urban CX Series. After the first race I did, both Nadine and I made the decision that it was time to race with the big boys. This meant we started with A Grade Mens, which were last to go off, and the course had been chopped up by 3 other races previously! This made things super tough, with the parts of the course through the middle of the velodrome unrideable by all except for the lead males, and things were super stinky!

Tips from those coming off from the B grade race were to run the middle, which was where we were starting, so instead of getting ready to pedal off, I had my bike in hand (like that ex triathlete I am), and succeeded in getting a great start, running past several guys who’d gotten themselves bogged straight away! This course was a massive slog.. Running through ankle deep mud, lifting the bike up the biggest run up/embankment of all of the courses, and skidding through the stench of the mudpit out the back, all whilst being heckled by the ‘Hell Krew’. The girls all came out to support, with Domange beating her bongo, and complaints that I was too clean from everyone else. The sun was shining and the spectators had come out in force to make it a great day!

My shoulder took a week to recover from lifting the bike up this damn run up!

After 45 agonizing minutes it was over. Crossed the line first female with fellow SKCC chick Nadine coming in 2nd. Having come in to the series half way through, my 2 wins gave me 3rd in the Aggregate too, so pretty happy with the results!

Got to say, the Brunswick guys put on a great show, and I already can’t wait until next year! This time I might get my own bike, and possible even practice a bit.. Coz it’s fair to say I suck at the technical parts.. Some gym time to work on actually being able to lift the bike might help too!

Links to all the photo’s and race reports from the day can be found here - Dirty Deeds CX

As that was the last DDCX race, and I wasn’t ready for the fun to be over just yet, I decided to push the friendship and keep Steno’s bike just a little bit longer and race the Vic CX Open race yesterday. With just myself and Nadine lining up in A grade again, this time with Nadine not sporting a post SKCC Ball Hangover, things were set to be on. She led through the first couple of laps, clearly outdoing me on the technical parts, until I managed to start getting the hang of things again and with a little tip from the coach on the sidelines, managed to get a gap and pull away.



All smiles (and clean!) before the race!



This was to be the longest I’d raced, 60 minutes on a fairly flat fast, slightly twisty course, with a couple of barriers and only one real mud bath section. I was getting away with not getting too dirty, until a surprise bucket of mud came shooting my way, courtesy of Whitburn. She didn’t get me too bad, although it was cold and icky! Next time round I couldn’t see her, until she stepped out from behind someone on the other side and got me good. She’ll keep.



Before the mud bath

 After racing the Northern Combine Road Race the previous day and spending a fair amount of time chasing the break with Ingrid, my legs were feeling the burn by the 2nd lap and dismounting and remounting were taking their toll. By the half way point I wanted my mummy, by 45 minutes I was just focused on not falling over every time I had to stop for a barrier, but when the bell rang for the final lap everything was ok and I knew I’d done it!

Photo’s from yesterday can be found here - JXP Photography I think all the pain and mud was captured brilliantly!

A big thank you to the guys from DDCX for helping run and commentate the race, and to Cycling Victoria for putting the event on! There’s already a few girls I know of who are planning on getting CX bikes to give me a run for my money next year. Bring it on I say!


** Most photo's stolen from facebook.. thanks! :)

Procrastination Over - Tour of Geelong!

So I’ve been seriously procrastinating on the blogging front.. Got a couple to do, so we’ll start with the Tour of Geelong.


Doubling as an NRS Tour and the Vic State Championships for TT, Road & Crit, it was set to be a big weekend.

The first stage was a 28km TT with no flat bits. TTing not really being my strong point, I wanted to just get through it with my head in a good place! The weather was fantastic with the sun shining, I was riding a shiny fast looking P4 borrowed from a friend, and all was going well until the final climb when I went to hit the small chain ring and dropped my chain! Ouch. Coming to a rapid stop I had to get off to fix it and then get myself going again, in the end basically doing a nice SE effort up the final climb! Not that I was going to challenge the winners, but it’s disappointing to lose over 30 seconds for a silly thing like that. That’ll teach me for riding a bike I’ve only done 30k on before!

Photo thanks to Jules from XOSize

The team did awesome, with 3 in the top 12, so we were set for a big couple of days trying to move up GC.

An amazing, delicious steak and veggies was cooked for me by Dean T, and then his awesome fiancé Jen gave my hair some much needed styling, before heading back to the team base for an early night before Saturdays road stage.

Having pre rode the course the week before, I knew what was in store, and knew where I needed to be and when, and yet I still stuffed it up. Finding myself at the back of the bunch recovering from bridging across to an unsuccessful break, I saw the sign signalling the first descent and knew I was in trouble. Trying to get around dodgy descenders on the tight corners proved impossible, and I found myself gapped off the back of the bunch with another couple of girls. We chased for a while but knew the pace would be on in the bunch, so we decided to save our legs for the next day and just get to the finish. Rolling in I found out that Loren had taken out the stage, best news I’d had all day!

Bit of a failure on my part, but it’s only one if I don’t learn from it! Will be doing my best to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Photo from jxphotography

Out for dinner with the rest of the team, we ended up fuelling up on the best pre race food going around, Pizza! After 10 weeks of no Pizza, it was pretty amazing too. Yum.

The next day’s Crit was a nice leisurely lunch time start, so we went for a bit of a coffee cruise in the morning and then enjoyed some couch time! It went too quick though, and before we knew it, it was time to kit up and hit the road.

With a sprint prime with bonus seconds every second lap, the pace was on from the start. The game plan was to get as much time bonuses as we could for the girls up on GC, so Maddi, Trish and I did as much work leading out and chasing down attacks as we could. End result, another win for Loren! Zoe came in 4th, and Whitburn rounded out our top 3 in 7th. A super successful race!

Photo from jxphotography

Long time no blog

I’ve not had much to write about lately! Just trying to get fit again, been a bit sick, done some racing. Had a meltdown at one, and a heap of fun at another! It’s the way things go when you’re trying to get back in to form.

This last weekend however, was the best weekend I’ve had on the bike in a long time. Had a great day out on Saturday with a great bunch of people, and ticked off my first ever Sorrento return trip.

It was a stunning day (as good as it can get for the coldest month of the year..) and a heap of fun.

There was even some horsing around…

Then I backed that up on Sunday with my first off road adventure. The Dirty Deeds Urban CX Series has been building up a following in Melbourne, and I went along to watch last month. It looked like a tonne of fun, so I set about finding myself a ‘cross bike to borrow so I could get muddy at the next one!

Photo Stolen from Facebook

There was a lot of mud, there were several ‘OH CRAP’ moments thinking I was going to stack it, and there was 40 minutes of PAIN! All for 9.9kms of racing! Running up muddy hills, flying mounts and dismounts, jumping barriers, trying to figure out how the hell to use MTB pedals, it’s all a part of the CX fun.

I’m happy to report I came away with the Womens CX Category Win, but it was a hard fight and I couldn’t let up for a minute. Well done to the other girls racing! Especially SKCC Dev Squad Member Nadine Le Mescam for pushing the pace right from the start, but unfortunately she stacked on the last lap to get overtaken, still got 3rd though which is awesome! We’re definitely in the minority, but hopefully some more will be encouraged to come out and play in the mud.

I’m already keen for the next one, and am hoping I can work on my appalling technical skills to help me go that bit faster. That, plus starting up the front instead of the 2nd back row, I hope will give me a chance at finishing on the same lap as the Men’s B winners. Maybe even try for a top 10!

Big big ups to all of the sponsors, organisors, and everyone involved in putting the race together. A lot of work goes in to the race, the reports, the course!! If it weren't for all these guys the almost 200 strong field couldn't have competed.