A grand week!

Ah what a good week of riding last week was.

It all started with my strong rides on the MRR, followed up with a great ride to Mt Eliza again and finished off with a GREAT days racing for both Polkadotlisa and myself on the Sunday.



MRR - Tuesday 4th March
Started with the pack and stuck with them the whole way to the finish. No breakaway with the traffic lights after last weeks hammering I did solo, but this time but I stuck to WAK’s wheel all along Doncaster Rd as the diesel pounded out the pedal strokes. I contemplated trying to go on the front but I don’t think I would have been any good so I just tucked up in close behind and hung on for the ride. Hehe

MRR - Thursday 6th March
At the start I wasn't "feelin' it" and got dropped by about 20mts up Canterbury hill but was soon back on the pack down the other side. PDL was flyin' down the other side and after I passed her, the little bugger came back on me DOWN the hill. Wow... she has really come far in the last few weeks, she can climb, go fast on the flat for long periods, can now go downhill fast and her cornering is pretty good too!

On Maroondah I started to come good with the legs finally getting stronger. Squeaza is with us now and I note how strong she is riding. You GO GIRL! I was back in the pack about 10th wheel but as we crossed Springvale I was starting to work forward (not out of any plan, it just worked out that way). Then with about 200mts to go till Mitcham Rd, I saw Mattyb about 20mts off the front so I pulled out and made a run on him. As I went past I did a classic, look back at him as I went by. Ah, all those long hours of watching the TdF have taught me a few psych out moves! LOL

Along Doncaster I upped the pace into the mid 40's to start with and Matt came up along side me and he looked a bit stuffed. So I kept my cards close to my chest and pushed on forcing the pace upwards. Just as we came to Springvale Rd I was about 3 lengths ahead of him and I "just" made it through while Matt had to stop. As I went through the intersection I waved "goodbye" to the rest and then put my head down in anticipation for the solo ride of pain ahead.

All along Doncaster I was pushing at about 90%, in the 40's most of the way and hitting the low 50's at one point. At the bus depot, a bus pulled out RIGHT in front of me, forcing me to swerve out into the next lane (quick head check) to avoid him. Grrrrrr!

Up Col d'Shoppingtown I was hurting and was expecting to be passed at any stage. In the distance up the hill I could see the taillights of Kathy, Simon (Squeaza's Bro) and Mrs Blybo (sorry- don't know your name). At the very top of the hill I was caught by the lights which seemed to stay red for aaaaagggggeeeesssss and while I was thankful for the rest, I was impatient to keep going as I was aiming for KOM.

Lights change and down the hill I charged, top gear, in the drops, flat out! All green lights so around I turn into Elgar Rd and I’m cranking hard for max speed. Unfortunately I got the red light down Elgar Rd and I lost a ton of time there but I caught the early start group as I turned onto Belmore.

Huff, huff, puff, puff I went, all the while hoping like hell I had enough to get to the top first, but alas half way up, Jim fly’s past with Mattyb hanging on for grim death to Jim, about 20mts back. Matt laughed as he passed me, saying that I was "a bastard for making me hurt so much trying to catch you". As the KOM line was coming up I was expecting a lunge from somebody from behind to beat me but no one was in sight so I did the two hands in the air celebration as my first KOM podium (3rd). HAHA Ah well, small victories!

I caught back up to Matt around the roundabout and put the power down over the last rise. KOV was out of the question with Jim loooooong gone so I settled with 2nd.

Finally caught Jim at Whitehorse Rd intersection and with a bit of a run up on him, I lead the way up KoBump for a while feeling stronger up this hill than I ever have (even changing UP a gear on this hill which normally has e in granny gear!). Jim passed me asking if this was a "comp hill" and Matt passed me again out of the saddle, giving it his all.

Along the flat of Balwyn I gave it one last push and took the lead to get to MRR first! Woohoo!

Over drinks I was so tired I could hardly talk for a while. Just wanted to rest my head on the table. After a rest and a drink or two, PDL and I rode home feeling refreshed and very happy with our rides.


St Kilda to Mt Eliza (plus some extra pootling about) - Saturday 8th March
Nice weather with a few clouds to keep the sun from burning us while the wind was nonexistent and the overall air temp was “just right”. We started with a group of around 16 of us riding down to Black Rock. I stayed out of any sprint but turned up the pace after Black Rock as I ended up on the tail of a merging of what looked like 3 or 4 groups all mixed up. Not wanting to get caught up with any touched wheels, I upped the pace and rode around the lot of them which in hindsight was prob not the smartest thing to do. Ended up on the front and riding at a good fast pace. Then I looked up and “thought” I was about 500mts from Mordi so I really upped the pace hard into the high 40’s, low 50’s. One problem, I still had another 1.5kms to go and I ran out of steam, only to see the rest of the fast riders in the group pass me. DOH!

I had been riding with the front derailer rubbing a bit on the chain and it generally not feeling “right” so a quick fiddle at Mordi to hopefully fix it and onwards we rode. I was sitting towards the back, chatting when our group was broken by a set of lights. The front group slow pedaled to wait for us but Jon and Dez didn’t realise what had happened and didn’t want to ride slow so they went off ahead.

Into Frankston we rolled and I had Commi and his “MUST... BEAT... VIDMAN” comment as he passed me up Hopes Rise still ringing in my ears. So I picked up the pace more than normal or Hopes and just a the hill starts to kick up I jumped out of the saddle to really start cranking the pedals, only to have the chain start jumping about on the rear cassette. “Crunch-grind-clunk-thunk” it went. “Bugger” I thought as it made me loose a ton of momentum, but I kept pushing as hard as I could, even passing a few. But alas, I suddenly heard those familiar words passing me on the right- “MUST... BEAT... VIDMAN”.

We all stopped at Mt Eliza for a bite to eat and drink with plenty of happy chatter going on. These Sat morning group rides are always happy affairs with everyone in good spirits and new riders always welcomed. We had some new riders to the group turn up and I think they really enjoyed the company too (well I hope they did!).

After the break we all set up back and PDL said she was going to try and keep up with me down Olivers Hill. I sped off down the road back to Nepean Hwy and lead the whole way as per usual or a downhill. Down Olivers Hill, a 4wd changed lanes in front of me which forced me to touch the brakes a touch, but I still managed to better my top speed down that hill (and no, I’m not going to incriminate myself in public..LOL).

At the bottom I backed off and looked back, hoping to see PDL close by but I couldn’t see anyone at all. So I freewheeled almost all the way to the visitors center waiting for the rest to catch up.

Back to Mordi we all rode as a tight knit group in the low 30’s. But after the Mordi stop, it was the usual race to Black Rock for some of us with me leading most of the way. The second last uphill did it’s usual trick on me and saw me drop poff the pace and fall back several positions (mind you, we were riding in the high 30’s the whole way) but I surprised myself with my recover and I was soon back up to full speed and I closed down the 75mt gap to re pass Simon, Lisa and Nick. Nick responded when I caught up to him and we raced all the way up the incline to Black Rock with me slowly pulling away from him and taking the sprint by about a bike length. I raised my hands in the air in mock triumph and had a good laugh about it with the rest of the speedy group. Good fun!

We backed off the pace a lot after Black Rock, waiting for the rest to catch up and as I was on the front, I glanced back after a while and seeing several of our group behind me and plenty of other riders back as well, I wrongly assumed we were all on so I picked up the pace to about 32kph and kept rolling forward. As it turned out, the “rest” of the pack behind me were wheel suckers but in my quick head check i thought they were with us.

It wasn’t until we were back to St Kilda that I realized that it was just a group of about 6 of us on the front with the rest waaaay back. Sorry guys and gals. It was not my intention to drop you all. My bad.

W regrouped at the Old Beaconsfield hotel before riding as a group to Mart 130 which is a fantastic cafe located in Albert Park. There I had fantastic corn fritters with bacon, relish and sour cream. Superb!

After lunch, PDL and I wen around to a few bike shopped looking for new sunglasses to replace her broken BBB ones. Eventually found some really nice Shimano ones at Melbourne Bicycle Centre in Prahran and we headed home to make it 125kms for the day.

St Kilda Crits - 9th March
This was my 6th race and PDL’s 3rd but the big difference was we had both been put up grades with me now in D-Grade and PDL now in B-Grade womens (there is only Womens a and B grades).

PDL was up first and she had 6 riders in her grade. This race had sprint points through the race which are like mini races at specific points where they race for cash (first across the line on specified laps wins $$$). PDL was a bit thrown by this at the start but she soon got the idea, taking 3rd in the first sprint and 4th in the second sprint. PDL was looking very calm and relaxed in the race and there was a group of about 8 of us BVers all cheering her on.

Come the final lap and a few of us walked down the finish straight to cheer her on to the finish. Around the final corner and we could see her up powering down the far right hand side. She was pulling AWAY from 3rd and closing in on 1st and finished a VERY strong 2nd. We were all thrilled for her, high five-ing each other and cheering for her. As PDL came around back to the finish after her warm down lap we all cheered and clapped for her and she had a HUGE beaming smile. I grabbed her and gave her a huge hug. Great Stuff! And just remember, she has only been riding since August last year! She will be a champ- no doubt!

Then it was my turn to race. *GULP*!

For me it was a bit intimidating starting in a field of 33 D-grade riders and with about 40 B-graders also on the circuit at the same time it made for a crowded road at times.

I started out with the intention of just finishing in the pack and would have been satisfied with anything more than last. However early on I found myself surrounded by the DeVeer kids and finding them very umm.. errr... how do i put this- "skittish", I decided to just move up and away from them.

The pace was more than I was expecting, steadily above 40kph pretty much from the start and up into the mid 40's for some laps. I was sitting around 5th - 10th for most of the race and was doing OK but definitely working hard and taking any chance to recover where I could.

It’s only recently that I have noticed my improved ability to recover quickly and I was taking every chance to do this with the fast pace taking its toll on me.

Around the middle of the race, up the top of the course where there is a nasty bump across the circuit, I found myself much further to the right than I had been hitting it all race and just before the bump (which was bigger on the RHS), my front wheel skipped off the side of a sizable stone just at the same time I hit the bump, causing me to veer over to the right by 3-ish feet. As soon as that happened I knew I must have pissed someone off and the marshal told me down the next straight to "hold my line as I caused someone to have to brake". I explained what happened and he said "cool no stress." I would have looked back and apologized to the rider behind me but I was somewhat preoccupied at the time (you know, cornering, riding at 43kph in a pack, etc).

Somehow I ended up in second wheel on one lap and i was left thinking "how the heck did I end up here", so I slowed down and sure enough, was back in 7th in no time (they were all pushing pretty hard).

Last lap and I was about 6th up the final straight, into the corner I came around the outside but misjudged my line slightly in relation to the guy's line on my inside and I came a bit close to him (yep, I heard the cursing). However I truly don't believe it was any worse that what I copped through the race myself with riders closing off my line and having to hit the brakes numerous times. A few times I even had to yell to the guy cutting me off "hold your line", but I bare no grudges. It’s just a racing incident. However, having said that, I will make sure to take even more care next time just to be safe.

Anyway, final straight and I was giving it my all in 5th. I was truly expecting to be swallowed up by the riders behind me but surprise-surprise, no one passed me and I finished 5th! I was spurned on in the sprint by hearing the riders in 3rd and 4th both grunting and gasping as they gave it their all about 2 bike lengths ahead of me (off to the right). I even heard one say to himself "FASTER!" hehehe

Afterwards I was impressed to see that I hit 52.3kph in the final sprint! I think in my first race my top speed was the neck snapping speed of 38kph so that’s a HUGE improvement overall!

So I was totally thrilled with my finish. Waaaaaaaay more than I was expecting I was capable of and waaaay more than I was planning. I just kinda got swept along with the top 10 riders and figured I would see how long I could hold on.

Oh yes, almost forgot- RDK came out and had his first race today in E-grade. He sat towards the rear most of the race, moving up to the middle on occasions but when the pace picked up for the last few laps, he was spat out the back and finished off the tail of the bunch. However we were all proud of him giving it a go and gave him a rousing cheer when he crossed the finish line (hands held in the air no less!). Careful mate, they'll disqualify you for that!

After the finish of the racing, a few of us went for a ride down to Brighton to Startline Cycle Fashions with Sara, where she showed some improvement from last week and several bursts of speed up into the high 20’s on occasion. She really seemed to be relishing the improvement and I was glad to see her determination. On the way back (with a slight tailwind), Sara was sailing along at 26-28kph nicely. If she keeps working like this on a regular basis, before she knows it she will be able to ride all the way to Black Rock and back in the mid to high 20’s which is more than respectable.

So all up for the week it was about 350kms. Good stuff!

A grand week!