mwg

… to get back the form you have worked for.

today i raced XC for the first time in while. it was shit loads of fun. i did go out a little to fast at first but settled then rolled with consistency. with it being the first round in the WSMTB club serious and only my second B Grade race i was pretty reserved with my goal. i was hoping to pretty much just roll it around and return home better than second last.

the night before i was at brents place for his son lachlans birthday and i did have to much crap food and 4 beers which will never get you across the line in a respectable position. we also didn’t arrive home till 12.00am and i still had to sort the kids out etc for bed, then look at getting carbo ready.

i rose early and let everyone sleep in as long as they could as i managed to prep everything for the race. both the boys were initially not going to race due to swimming lessons but we decided the night before hand to ditch swimming.
this was their first race on the bigger bikes. Big wheels, 6 gears etc and they love them so much. i was totally blown away by aidan. he was on fire. he was incredibly fast and did a total of 11 laps even after a very late night before hand. he finished second but only after being taken on the second last lap by a boy who would be 1-2years his senior. lachlan was doing great as well so i am so over the moon we did get them the big bikes for XMAS. one of those super proud dad moments.

my race day was great as well. as mentioned, i did hit out a little to fast at first but after the surge i settled and took up a very steady and comfortable pace. i have worked pretty hard over the last two weeks every night on upper body strength, core and stretching with it all paying off today. i am no where near as sore as before in my arms.

my legs aren’t there yet, i need to get back up the alpé with super reps over the next 4 weeks. even still i am strongest when climbing and also later on in the race. i had a massive sprint to the finish and from a behind position did pip the guy on the line. its just good to see my form return and with the recent freelance job now complete i am going to buy a trainer and do a full 2 week VO2 Max booster session.

the garmin 500 once again did make its cost worth while. running the splits myself is great but i just need to remember to turn it on, and off and all will be sweet. i didn’t turn it on so i missed the start and only started it on the climb at the tower. bugga! and with the sprint finish i was so not thinking to turn it off once i had crossed the line.

as far as my results go, i was so happy with my 20.xx min laps. that does position me well in the B Grade riders. its not top 10 yet but breaking down the race now i realise i do have it in me to finish top 10 with not a massive amount effort needed. i didn’t drop the bike, i felt strong and realise exactly where i let 5-6 riders by without real reason today. mechanically – the rear wheel on carbo seems as though it is true now [at last!] after a $35 excursion to blackmans, some lock-tite on the nipples seems to have done the trick.

with the race timing having some issues on the day i have estimated my lap times, – knowing 2 and 3 are accurate from the gramin.

lap 1 – 19:50 [approx]
lap 2 – 20:35
lap 3 – 20:55
lap 4 – 20:16 [approx]

i did get to have a quick glance at the timing results, even though they could be completely wrong, it had me positioned in 14th place. that’s a great result.

crits again on monday. i wasn’t feeling well at all, so much so i made a bit of a phopar and left work 1 hour earlier than i should have. doh!

i arrived for the first time with plenty of time to warm up, which looking back now could have easily been why i placed. after doing a lap and a half we were underway.

i did sit comfortably at the back for the entire race without once taking lead. on the bell however again a small brain seizure occured and i took off. i lead for a long while around the top section of the course but was quickly sucked back into the peleton on the front straight. i did however wrangle my way through and hold a sub 10 position into the bridge.

rounding the first bend i was in about 4th wheel but in a good position. a teschner was in front so i used him as a mild lead out. i sprinted well but by the time i hit the line on both sides i had been passed finishing in 3rd.

i know the earlier attack on the last lap was my biggest downfall.

rather than racing the recent 4hr on sunday i spent the day filming. been wanting to do this for a long time. im happy with the edit but even more happy with the camera and now knowing a full workflow to get great video results.

best to view it in HD over here

i know if i had all the money in the world this would be pretty much my perfect bike. gob smacked.

baums latest creation

its been about 17-19 days of almost hell. well probably a little over exaggerated… but it hasn’t been pretty bad over all. i have been super tired

from the amount of work i have had on. coupled with the amount of rain in that same period i was just spent by the end of this week. the freelance work has hopefully almost finished up and that will let me focus more on resting up. i still plan on upgrading the roadie with the funds from the work.

today was the first time in a while i felt as though everything was under control with enough time to go for a ride. i decided to do the loop and during the rollout conjured up a new name – pensioner loop – aptly named due to its length 55-60km.

i hadn’t done the pensioner for a while so i pretty much knew it was going to be a struggle ascending alpé de heights but i was far from realising how hard it would end up being. i was fine for the rest of the ride with two sprint intervals attempted on castlereagh flats and the results i was super happy with. although the tracked garmin didn’t upload the exact speed i did manage to see it balloon out to 54km / hr so thats a good thing.

but

the alpé took me

big time

i nearly paused twice

and also felt very giddy during the last part

the garmin tells the story and the alpé never lies. i hit the split at the bridge and then again at the KOM pink line. it was a dreadful time of 13min 30sec. at best i can clamber up in 10min 30sec so i was pretty devisted when i got back home – what was left of me.

things will settle down now so it is going to be my new target goal. 10min up the alpé before the dirtworks.

garmin here