I’d been laid low by a migraine on Thursday and Friday so had enforced time off the bike. Due to that, I went for a little hoon on my MTB yesterday along the paths near home. That was not much of a concern as on Tuesday, I’d incorporated a peak session consisting of some standing starts and some +FTP sessions at 3-4 minutes.
This year, there were 10 entries for the Masters 1-3 group. Up from four in 2014. I’d entered last year and the flu took me out of the equation. Last year 12 riders contested this event – 2 were elite. Continue reading →
Sit on the front until the climb. Drift to the back. If dropped, time trial back. Stay near rider 210 as he has the same ITT ability as me. I’d woken at 3am this morning and could hardly walk. Sore glues, thighs and calves. Must be symptoms of having two days off the bike.
I worked out who was A, B or C grade prior to the race so knew I’d probably not come last, or ride by my self after the hill. Continue reading →
Not get caught, do turns. If caught, not get dropped.
The Race
Three of us in today’s 5 minute bunch. We worked well and were caught up the second hill soon after a milk tanker passed us on lap one (at around 0:10:57). Crossing the line at the end of lap one, our time was 0:12:58, a little slow for this course. Continue reading →
This morning, after I eventually found the place somewhere in Caribbean Park, I watched round 5 of the state CX series. That got me excited about Warragul’s CS race so I headed on down there. As with all CX races, the plan is to ride around at my limit and get a good workout. Besides cleaning it, the bike had not been touched since my last race.
The Race
I was first out of the blocks. This was unexpected and felt a little strange as normally I’m one of the first off the back. Having about seven in the race probably helped here. About half way through lap one, a rider in Chilli kit flew past me (Darrin McNair?). Rather than let him go, I stuck to him before taking the high line around the eastern end of the velodrome. Time wise, there was not much difference, and I’m pretty sure I had to work harder than along the gravel alternate line. Looking at the watts, 300-400 along the top here. On the other laps (when power was working), I was doing around 200 watts along the road.
Heading over the logs/barriers for the first time, Chilli dropped his chain and I was back in the lead. At about the same spot as lap one, on lap two Shane Stiles hooned past me on his mountain bike, making it look easy. After passing the club rooms, I was back in the lead. I think he was toying with me.
Over the barriers for the second time, I tried to bunny hop the big log and landed hard, causing my handlebars to move. Pushing down on them got them back into place.
I started to feel a little tired on lap three, riding around the western end of the velodrome. I did not lose the lead until the barriers on lap four, where I dropped my chain. By the time I got going again, I was down into third position. Now SS and Matt Parkinson were both in front of me. Here I used my time trial skills to chase them down and got onto the back of them passing the club rooms about 3/4 of a lap later.
I’m not sure what happened at the start of lap five, over the barriers, as Matt dropped out of sight and I was back into second. SS on his MTB had no issues at all maintaining speed over the barriers. Here was where the race was definitely won and lost. Those who could jump the logs would spent less time slowing and then speeding up again (like what I did on all but about three of the laps).
SS hit the gas on lap five and was far out of sight until the start of lap 6, where I almost caught him before the barriers. Shortly into lap 6, Matt passed me again and I must have given chase as lap six was to be my fastest for the day (02:27.15), despite my legs feeling tired (probably because they were feeling tired).
At about this stage, I figured out the small gate out of the velodrome, when taken at an angle to the gate was the best line – no front wheel slip and one could keep the speed up due to that.
Entering lap seven, Matt’s superior bunny hopping skills saw him pull away as I struggled over the large log.
At the start of lap eight, I passed the only female in the village, Michelle Scurr. Nothing much of note happened on lap nine. On lap ten, I passed Jason Tubnor, speeding up and sprinting past him in what would be demoralising fashion if this were a fancy pants race with high stakes.
On lap 11, I botched the log again, so took the time to throw a dropped water bottle from the course before continuing on.
Nothing of note happened on lap twelve, thirteen and fourteen. Just before the start of lap fifteen, I passed MS again. She must have been slowing a little. Probably to be expected given she came forth on the morning’s state CX race held at Caribbean Park.
Half way through lap fifteen, SS overtook me again. It looks like the western bank of the velodrome was the most popular point to pass me.
Entering lap sixteen, I passed Jason T again. He was bent over his bike tending to a dropped chain. Curse the big log!
Lap seventeen was the bell lap.
Summary:
Being the front rider was a strange feeling. Being able to back off a little certainly was a nice change to chase, chase, chase. In a rare occurrence, I only got passed once. Probably pretty good last time I rode this course, Matt passed me twice. This time he only finished about half a lap ahead.
Today the ground was drier – both on the grass and through the paddock. This made it easier to keep the speed up around corners and meant as long as I kept the cadence high through the bumpy sections, my thighs did not burn.
This morning I woke up with a bad headache and blocked sinuses. It looks like the cold or flu that had made it rounds at home and work had finally hit. Being a crazed cyclist (and also pre arranging to take a Brunswick and a Blackburn cyclist along to the race), I kitted up and headed on over to the race. Continue reading →
