- Posted from my iPhone
Location:Kilvington Dr,Emerald,Australia
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Saturday, June 26, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
D-Day has arrived - 3 Days of nerves, stress and excitment!
OK this post was first written for a forum so it’s a bit sloppy, messy and probably has a few errors in fact. But it gives a pretty good overview of how I went at the 3DT-
I just got home and I’m shagged, so please forgive typos, errors of fact and people I've missed. The long weekend is still a bit of a blur atm.
Saturday - Stage 1 - 56km Road Race
Wet, wet, wet! Rode well within my comfort zone the whole way sticking to my pre 3DT plan. Didn't contest KOM but rode to ensure no one got away (eg- 6-7th but on their wheels). Climbing Dons Rd towards the finish I kept in the top 6 and waited for gaps to work my way forward. As the bunch wound it up for the sprint I went at 95% and found myself in 2nd and with 20mts to go saw a wheel just in the corner on my eye so pushed a little more to claim 2nd. Nice! It turned out that despite my asking the question at the pre race briefing, we WERE getting time bonuses (we were told there was no time bonus) so I'm damn glad I gave it some berries at the finish. Felt UBER pumped with that finish with lots of high fives with Paul! You couldn't wipe the smile off my face that's fer sure!
That night was a lot of bike washing, kit washing and I gave Deryck a hand rebuilding the front end of his bike after he crashed during his race. Thank goodness I took the bike stand as it made things a LOT easier!
Sunday - Stage 2 - 5.5km TT
With myself the second D grader TT starter and Paul after me, it made for interesting chasing for Paul and myself.
I had a perfect start and felt really, REALLY good powering off the line. After about 750mts I had to vocally tell myself to calm down as I was in zone 5.3 and I knew I couldn’t hold that all the way.
The Thursday prior to the 3DT, I was taken by surprise by Neil when he gave me a joint early birthday gift from a whole bunch of my cycling friends- A Garmin 500! This proved very valuable for the TT as I could see how far I had to go, what my HR was and it helped me manage my effort better. I can’t thank these people enough!
Anyway, I settled in but I felt s-l-o-w with the head wind and the ever rising road. But I look ahead and could see the guy ahead getting very slightly closer so that buoyed me on. Then just as I was feeling like I was fading, the bozo in front of my looked back and that was all I needed to HTFU and push on. In fact, looking at my Garmin Data afterwards on the graphs, I can pin point the exact moment where this happened.
I ended up finishing with a 11:34 time and with my car parked just past the TT finish and in the side lane, I kept on rolling down the hill and straight to my car to keep warm. Overall I felt pretty good about that and was now just concentrating on recovery and prep for stage 3.
During the break between stages, I went to the Newham café and chilled out a bit waiting for everyone else to arrive. While sitting there, the Commissioner for our grade (D) came in and told me I took 21 seconds out of the bozo ahead of me which surprised the heck out of me. I knew I had taken a bit out of him but that blew me away. Especially as I had expected that bozo would smash my TT time. Hmm… this is getting interesting! So much for training form hey bozo?
Stage 3 - 60 km - Road Race
It turned out the fastest D grade TT time was 11:00 so I had the 6th fastest TT time. Good, but I was now about 26 seconds down on GC leader in 4th. Happy to be 4th but I knew I had a heck of a task in front of me if I was hoping to climb higher up the rankings.
So off we go and no probs in the bunch. On one of the KOM's, that bozo went after a SKCC rider taking a strong 2nd in that KOM points contest. I was just marking the gap to be safe and found myself riding tempo and closing on 3rd for KOM. Figuring- why not, I clicked up a gear, put in 50 mts of harder effort and took my only one and only single KOM point! LOL Who would-a-thunked it! Go you mountain buffalo! Over the top of the climb I hit the front and heard the bozo yell- "we have a break- GO VIDDY GO!" so it was full pelt down the hill in the 11T with a train behind me. Gravity is my friend 50% of the time. But it only took 3km before the bunch was back on. Ahhh well- we tried.
Rest of the race was just about sticking to my plan. Conserve, conserve, stay with any breaks, do as little work as I could and aim for time bonuses at the end.
Up Dons Rd for the last time I was 2nd/3rd wheel with a strong looking SKCC rider leading the way. I moved up next to him and quietly asked if he had much left in him. “Not much” was the reply so I asked if he could give me a lead out (I think my words were- “if you can give me a lead out and I take the win- the money is yours!). So before I knew it my lead out guy started ramping up! Gah.. too soon… we have 2km to go!. A frantic call of ‘not yet, not yet” and things were back under control. With 1 km to go I said- “Ok now.. ramp it up” and the pace lifted. However 250mts later my lead out guy was done and he pulled off leaving me a loooong way out and on the front. With little option I just put the foot down and tried to out run them all. With 100mts to go I thought I had a chance but in the final 20mts I ran out of gas and was swamped right on the line finishing in a photo for second (see Richard’s pic above with 20mts to go). In the end I was given 3rd place and so still 4th on GC, 16 seconds down on 3rd, 22 secs down on 2nd and 26 down on 1st with just the final stage to go. Gah.. now mega stressed!
There were lots of friends up to watch and cheer which was much appreciated. Thanks all- it was much appreciated! Though finding out about my guttural grunts and groans in the sprint was a bit embarrassing! LOL
Sunday night
I was kinda freaked out. I came into the 3DT with a rough hope I could go top 5 but now it was actually happening and I was pooing myself about it! My back pulled up pretty sore that night and my legs were cramping a bit. My fellow accommodation sharers helped with Gabrielle offering me a magnesium tablets and a drink additive, Deryck gave me a tin of our secret weapon and I spent the evening on the lounge floor, feet up, sipping fluids till I burst with lots of deep heat on my back.
That night's sleep was awful. I couldn't stop thinking about stage 4 and every time I did my heart pounded at 130bpm. I felt sick to my stomach with nerves and I couldn't sleep. Even when I raced motocross as a youngster I don't think I ever got as nervous and stressed like I did that night. *shudder*
Monday - Stage 4 - Road Race
Rolled out on the Newham loop AGAIN. I had all the GC contenders written down on my bars with the time gaps so I knew who to follow and not to worry about. Up Roachford climb a guy 5 seconds behind me on GC attacked so all the GC boys followed closely. We were all watching each other pretty close and you could sense the tension (well, I felt it…).
No one attacked along the flat until we turned to head out to Pastoria loop and up each and every climb, a GC guy would put in a solid dig to try and drop some of the GCers (myself included). But they were all for nothing as we all marked each other closely. On the fast decent before the KOM climb, I was leading the way putting the hammer down pretty hard when bozo came powering around to give me a fast wheel to sit behind. Thanks bozo - perfectly timed but your climbing was pathetic especially for a guy 15 kg lighter than me and not riding with a sore back! LOL!
We hit the KOM climb at the front and I gave it everything I had (which wasn't much given my sore lower back was really killing me by this stage). Half way up, A grade came flyin' past which made things messy. A young kid who was 3rd on GC attacked HARD and flew up the climb while 3 others passed me (I re passed one to cross KOM 4th after thinking I was going to explode 3/4 of the way up). I quickly caught up to 2nd and 3rd and found out the "kid" was waaaay ahead and… sitting in on the back of A grade (big no no!)! A bit of discussion in the bunch and we decided to try and chase him down but sheesh, he was loooong gone (no wonder, he had a 45kph freight train to sit behind)! As we came in to turn to head home (turn right to leave the loop) we couldn't see the kid at all and we figured that he must have missed the turn off (following A grade which had 3 loops to our single loop).
I attacked up the climb out of the loop but to no avail- all the "heads of state" were right there. Bugger! A bit of chatter about "the kid" and given that he was sitting on A, we felt no sympathy for him missing the turn. The kid was freaken strong, fast and aggressive but he paid the price for hitching a ride. A few more half hearted digs by assorted riders over the rolling hills went no where and then it was back on the flat towards home. All the GC boys were up the front 3 wide watching each other. 2km to go and same deal. Lots of tension in the bunch as the meters ticked down.
1km to go and the yellow jersey wearer was trying to push up the left side of me. I was on the left hand most side in second wheel and there really was no room. He tried to get me to "give him room" and I kept telling him to forget it. In the end, he wouldn't give up so I just said- "Mate- if we bump I weigh a LOT more than you; you do the math!" With about 300mts to go the sprint started and I found myself in a crap position. A bit of fighting for wheels and jostling about and with 20mts to go the guy who was 3 seconds behind me on GC passed me just before we crossed the line. FAARKIT!
At the finish there was a bit of confusion between me, and the guy who beat me to the line. I thought he took 4th (4 bonus seconds) and myself in 5th (no bonus seconds). So I figured I got bumped from 4th to 5th by one crappy second. We congratulated each other, shook hands and that was it. 5th. Or so I thought...
With Lisa's race still to come in, I went back to the finish to wait for her while the rest of D went back to their cars at Newham. With it all over, all the pressure and build up and relief and remembering where I was 7 months ago just overwhelmed me and I had to go and have an alone moment on a old tree stump.
I was really happy to-
a) Be able to ride again after laying in hospital pretty freaked out;
b) Be able to race again after the nerve damage never seemed to get any better for months and months;
c) Be able to finish a 3DT after my crap showing last year;
d) To finish top 5 in my return to racing at a tough event like the 3DT.
Presentations
Well, it turned out we got it wrong.
It seems that the guy who was 3 seconds behind me on GC finished 5th (which it turned out got 2 bonus seconds) which meant- 4th overall for Viddy!
Was I happy? Well, the fist pump when my name was called out at presentations probably said it all! :)
Thanks to all the people who helped and encourage me these last 7-8 months. Many times I felt it was beyond me and your kind words and advice got me through the rough times.
Thank you to all the organisers and the volunteers who stood out in the freezing cold on the corners. I don't know if you heard me but I yelled a thank you as I went past every time.
Postscript
After the race weekend I was looking through the pics from photographer Ash Milne (excellent stuff btw) and there IS a pic of my stage 3 finish and I DID get 2nd by an inch! See here (look at pic 41 - Im on the right in the SKCC jersey). It wouldn't have changed anything in the end overall but the extra 3 seconds time bonus sure would have made me less nervous coming into the final stage sprint!
(Photo by Richard S)
Edit- Someone's name has been changed to a more appropriate name given recent events. Fuck you S! Your time will come...
Down to business!
If you’ve been following my blog posts (and if not- where have you been? Sheesh…), you’ll know I’ve been back on the training band wagon and getting my shit together. You’ll also know I was training for a goal race- the Northern Combine Three Day Tour in June.
I had started to introduce some higher paced training rides and some sprint work. I went back to the SKCC Kit ride on Wednesday and after at first finding I was getting dropped (urgh!), I was soon powering all the way to the finish with the bunch and feeling better and better.With my goal race fast approaching, I figured I needed to get a few races under my belt to get back into the swing of it. So I renewed my race license and entered my first return race- The SKCC crit at Albert Park in D-Grade.
I was pretty tense before the race but with a tight course with hot dog turns at both ends of the course, I made sure I was at the pointy end all the way to avoid any potential drama. I even went to the front to see how I felt for a little bit, but mostly I sat in the bunch, trying to relax and overcome my tension of being in the bunch again.
Final lap and I moved up to about 6th at the final corner but I just didn’t have the legs for the sprint so sat up and cruised in mid pack, happy to just get that race out of the way.
Afterwards I was a bit bummed to look at my average speed but after comparing it against other grades; EVERYONE had seemingly low average speeds due to the twin hairpin turns (where you almost came to a dead stop).
I also had to remind myself that this was an Open event where traditionally a lot of riders drop down a grade, so effectively I was racing against a lot of C graders. That made me feel a bit better (I used to race C before my accident).
Next up was my return to road racing with a scratch race at Newham- the location of the 3DT.
Racing in D grade, I just wanted to go out, get a feel for the pace, put in some digs up the climbs to test myself against the bunch and generally to test myself with no real regard for my finishing position. This was a dress rehearsal for my goal race and I was treating it as such.
A training mate Paul was racing with me so we kept an eye out for each other, looking after each other, etc.
Up the first main climb on the first lap I held a steady tempo up and found myself climbing it far easier than I remembered doing it when I raced C last year (this might have been due to the overall pace being slower, or maybe I am stronger- *shrug*).
So up each climb I applied pressure, claiming the imaginary KOM points each time. Yep- feeling good.
Up the final climb with just 4 km to go I lead the way and even though I backed off at the top, no one would come around me. I weaved left and right to shake them but they had no intention of coming around me at this point. As we approached I made the stupid mistake of taking a sip of water only to have a few riders attack as I had the bottle in my hand. Panicked, I started spinning the legs fast to keep in touch and with no time to put my bottle away, I had to give it the old Pro “fling” over the rider next to me (after the race a few said I looked very pro doing that)!
As I came out of the final corner with 1km to go, I was in 4th and on what I took to be a strong rider’s wheel. I urged him on only to have him blow up right in front of me. Bugger! So I pushed ahead with 1st and 2nd out of reach now when a guy came grunting and screaming past me (he was screaming at himself to go harder!). With a climb to the finish and with my legs telling me what they thought of all this shenanigans, I eventually crossed the line a very clear 4th and just a little surprised! Awesome!
Next, my goal race- The Three Day Tour! Eeek!
(Photo by Roger Hammond - That's me in the SKCC jersey out front)
Headwind, new training buddies, 2km of 13% and a monster tailwind!
(Pic- My new training buddy taking a well earned break)
Ok so I’m getting my mojo back somewhat as per my last post. Next on the agenda was another loooong ride out to Mt Macedon for my first climb of this hill.
Lisa was racing this day and with friends also heading out to Gisbourne South, she got a lift with them while I took in my own training ride with plans to drop in to see the end of the race on my way back.I set off in cool weather to start my ride out North into area’s I’ve not ridden before. A steady headwind on the way out kept my pace down but I was mentally prepared for this so it didn’t really bother me.
As I rode past Melb International Airport it felt a bit odd to be out here on a bike at 7am on a Saturday morning but strangely liberating all the same. Riding around the back of the airport and watching the planes take off over my head was interesting but that headwind was getting stronger, with my pace sitting at around mid 20’s at best on a flat road. Hmm, this could take a while!
Descending into Sunbury, a Kangaroo bounced along with my next to the road side fence for a few km. It was as if it was pacing me, occasionally looking over at me and adjusting it’s speed to stay just ahead of me (damn half wheelers!). Very cool and it made me giggle out loud! He he, the mind of the solo road cyclist is easily amused!
Getting to the base of Mt Macedon I suffered a puncture but thankfully I was passing a park so I pulled in and set up in a rotunda to replace the tube. Pulling the spares out of my tool bottle I discovered that my CO2 inflator was missing. CRAP! Thankfully I also carry a emergency micro pump but its strictly an emergency backup. So I settled in for 200 pump strokes (actually I think I counted 300) to get the tyre to an acceptable pressure.
Now there is one problem. I’ve been stuck standing as I fixed my bike getting cold, very cold. So my legs have locked up and are feeling like lead until I can warm then back up (normally takes about 6km). But one problem, I have 1 km till the base of Mt Macedon so this is going to hurt just a tad.
As I round an uphill bend, I see a sign that fills me with dread- “2km of 12%”! So I settle in and just accept the pain in my legs. Finally my legs are starting to warm up again and the road flattens out a bit thankfully. But then it kicks up again, and this time the sign says 2km of 13%. Oh goodie…
I finally make it to the Memorial Cross lookout at the top and its totally encased in cloud with howling wind. As I roll slowly along the final path to the cross, my rear tyre goes flat AGAIN, just as I roll to a stop. So there I am, fixing my second flat, huddling out of the wind behind the cross all alone, watching the wisps of cloud zip past me as I pumped my micro pump another 300 times! LOL
Back ok the road and now without any spare tubes left, I decided I should ride down to Woodend to get some spares. Flying down the mountain was awesome fun. After the initial steep twisty part, the road opened out and I was flying along at 55kph, enjoying the ride.
Now with my spares replenished and with the wind finally at my back, it was time to head homeward. And oh what a wind it was at my back!
Climbing a decent sized hill out of Woodend, it suddenly became aware to me that I was doing 35kph with my HR in zone 2 and I was climbing. WOOT!
As I rode along I found my way onto the Calder Freeway (bikes allowed here) and what a buzz that was!
A huge tail wind and mostly downhill meant I could cruise at 45kph with minimal effort on a really wide, smooth shoulder/emergency lane with no bother from passing cars and trucks. Really good fun!
A stop at Lisa’s road race and they were, or just had finished. So I hung about for a chat, found out Lisa did awesome as well as a few other mates and training buddies and off I went back the way I came, with a blitzing decent into Sunbury hitting 80+ kph. :D
As I rode back through Melbourne towards home, I was still feeling great. Yes I was a bit weary but overall, I still had enough to power up any climbs and sprint off from the lights. I’m getting there. Bit by bit it was all coming back.
A few stats from the ride-
Eventual route- http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Nothcote-Mt-Macedon-Woodend-Loop
• 173.5km's Total distance travelled.
• 26.9kph - Average speed.
• 82kph - Top speed on the downhill into Sunbury with a monster tailwind on my return.
• 2km - According to the sign, there was 2 km of 13% climb up Macedon which was preceded by 2km of 12%! After pushing into a headwind all the way out, this friggin hurt my legs!
• 2 punctures
• 2 Tubes purchased from Woodend cycles which ultimately I didn't need.
• 17kph - the lowest speed I saw while riding out on a flat section of road- such was the strength of the headwind!
• 4 Bottles of water drunk
• 1 Can of Coke.
• 3 Winners bars
• 1 Banana
• 1 Big piece of of home made "Team Garmin" recipe rice snack stuff
• 2.5kg of weight lost during the ride (water no doubt).
• 1 New training buddy – The Sunbury Roo!
• 1 Woman's purse discovered on the road around the back of the Airport
• 1 Pooped viddy!
Regaining my mojo
Last post I hinted at some cool news to report and here it is to bring things up to date to where I am with my riding.
Firstly, since my last actual update I went through a bit of a downer with my riding and life in general really. Work was going crap, I was mega stressed and my training was suffering big time. My left arm numbness was a constant problem and my eating went to the crapper (my typical response to work stress). I was putting on weight and life just was no fun at all. My weight was back up to 98kg’s. FUCK!
So I went back to the drawing board and set down a rough plan for my training. I wanted to race the Northern Combine Three Day Tour if I could so that was my goal event to work towards; it’s always best to have an event to work towards than just train without a focus. So I did lots of base riding on the Richmond Bouli, with very little climbing or intense efforts. Lots of boring, dull, high cadence stuff at a steady pace. Lots of it! I also walked away from some stress jobs and I was starting to feel a bit better.
I did this for about 2 months and I think the backing off in efforts helped my neck/arm tingling and numbness recover. Then I slowly started ramping things up, bit by bit doing more hills at a harder effort and some faster group rides. My weight wasn’t dropping much but I could tell I was putting muscle on as my clothes were getting looser on me.
I started doing LONG training rides on the weekend on my own, riding to places I hadn’t been before and taking in new terrain. I think these did a HEAP to regain my strength, fitness, endurance and self confidence.
One of these rides was a pure ride of exploration (see map here and take note of the route notes along the way). I didn’t really have a plan in place when I left the front door other than to head out Yarra Valley/Kinglake direction. Along the way I would see a road that interested me so I would head off in that direction, not really sure it would take me. I ended up taking a series of ever hillier roads (inc Mt Pleasant Rd) till I spied a bunch of riders strung out ahead of me. Now some would accuse me of being competitive but I like to think of it as giving myself carrots to chase rather than “I must beat YOU” kind of attitude.
Methodically I set about hunting them down, one by one, finally catching the last two just at the base of a killer 13% climb. As I went past them out of the saddle, I knew I had to hold my form all the way up and over the hill for fear that I would look like a dick head if I powered past only to blow up half way. LOL So I grit my teeth and dug deep, pushing my limit the whole way up to the top where a quick glance back saw them no where to be seen. Whew! Now I can flop on the bike and recover down the other side. LOL
A bit later I figured out where I was and I now had a specific road in mind I wanted to explore - Pigeon Bank Rd (a road Jono told me about). So down I went down this “supposed” steep hill.
HOLY FRUCK! This was a monster! Not quite Glenvale Rd steep but it went on and on and my speed kept climbing higher and higher even with my brakes on. I was truly starting to shit myself, hoping it would flatten out as I had no chance of stopping quickly in an emergency and I was worried I might have serious heat build up and have a blow out at 70 kph!
Eventually, after 15 km of never ending up’s and down’s, I found myself at a fork in the road with both directions turning to dirt roads. There was a sign in the middle that said “No Through Road” however, it didn’t indicate which road was a dead end so I stood there, scratching my head not knowing what to do. Finally a local drove up and I asked him which way went to Yarra Glen. “The left road will take you to Yarra Glen mate but that road isn’t made for bikes like that!” he offered helpfully. “I’ll be fine, thanks for the directions” I replied and off I went down the dirt road.
Now, I come from an off road motorcycle background so I feel comfortable on the dirt, what ever the bike I’m riding. But this road was a little bit more than I bargained for, with constant acceleration and braking bumps (you know, those wave type bumps on country roads), lots of loose gravel and rock surface and hills - lots of hills to climb and descend.
As I rode along, a 4WD passed me from behind and 500mts up the road I came upon the driver stopped by the side of the road, the woman waiting for me. She asked where I was going (“Yarra Glen”) and she offered to give me a lift in her car if I wanted. Puzzled I asked her how long this dirt road went for and she thought it was about another 10km. “Well, if they can race on the cobblestones in Northern France, I can do this,” I confidently said and thanked her for her concern. A friendly wave from each of us and off I went. Little did I know what was ahead for me.
As I rode on, the hills got steeper and rougher. I resorted to climbing these steep pitches seated as to do it standing would result in so much wheel spin I was libel to fall over. So, there I was, seated, climbing rough dirt roads trying to weave my way up the smoothest and least rocky path, at a knee popping cadence of about 40 rpm (my usual rpm is 95-ish).
This hurt! A lot! Eventually I came to a fork in the road with a dirt road straight up another painful looking climb, and a nice smooth bitumen road gently down a hill. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to guess which one I took and so, down the smooth made road I rolled, enjoying not having my brain rattled about and being able to focus on the road. But my joy was to be short lived when 3 km down the road this riding nirvana ended in a dead end. So back I went, and up THAT hill I crawled.
Several more km’s of bone rattling dirt later, I found myself on a really steep monster climb (I’d guess 500mts of 18%?) with a really loose base. I tried to ride up it, I really did, but with my cadence now 35 rpm and my speed about 4kph, I had to face facts and get off and walk up the hill. It wasn’t so much the steepness that beat me but the surface I had to try and ride on. Stand up keeping my weight forward to keep the front wheel on the ground and I would wheel spin out of control; or I could lean back for traction but have the front wheel rise up into the air. So for the first time since I was a bit fat oompaloompa on the bike, I had to walk up, all the while hearing Dave T’s voice ringing in my ears “The only time you should walk the bike is when it’s faster than riding!” LOL
Finally I got to the end of the dirt road and rolled into Yarra Glen for a well earned break, tired but feeling very HAF with that satisfied feeling of tackling something a little bit crazy and beating it!
After a break I rode down to Coldstream, Lilydale, Montrose and up Mt Dandenong. I’ve climbed Mt Dandenong from just about every direction before but never this way and after the smashing I had already given my legs in the preceding 90km, this climb hurt. But plod along I did and over the top I rode, descending down the 1:20 with another rest stop at the base and then the final trip home, finishing up with thrashed legs but a happy soul.
That’s it for this post. I’ll save more for the following post (it’s 90% written so it wont be long before it’s posted).
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Blogging on the move
Having recently joined the iPhone set, I'm exploring all the things I can do with the little wonder from those crazy kids at apple.
With my spending so much time out on the bike, 6 days week, I figured posting from out on the road (ok, from the cafe stop) would make for a more up to date blog.
So, here I go with my first test blog post (yeah I know, pretty dull but I do have some cool recent happenings to talk about, trust me!).
- Posted from my iPhone
Location:Northcote
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