and not before time. so good to be back with just [and i mean JUST] enough form to complete the cols ride. i made it up all hills today but not without questions in both my brain, and fitness level. it was as start with 7 riders, me, trieu, churchward, phil, jeff rooney, james [bernard rider] and alicia.
alicia rode both OBR and lapstone then on the descent of mitchells returned home. jeff rode all but decided to ride on and across the plains to home – rather than taking the right up to alpé de heights. james from bernard could have taken the easy option across the plains as well but decided to climb the alpé which was awesome. at age 47 hes a really strong rider. trieu finished and completed all climbs. it was really good to see all his hard work paying off and even better he ended up beating me up warks hill.
^ 3 for $5 – bargin, should have taken that offer up.
for me it was mixed. i don’t think i bonked but last night we went to avalon for lisa’s 40th. my issue was i didn’t really have a complete dinner, just small hand catered for kind of food. still on total detox i only drank water all night but not eating a full meal i think took its toll today. to top it off the alarm didn’t go off so i didn’t get to eat my full breakfast, and what i had i scoffed down whilst getting ready so i didn’t let my food settle properly before leaving. i made it to churchy’s slightly late but stressed.
i had good form and felt stronger than i have a long time. i wanted to make sure trieu made all climbs and trying to keep with trieu’s pace up kurrajong hurt. i realised now i need to keep my own pace to have any chance of consistency on the climbs. it was a great day out though and makes me realise i only need a good couple of weeks and i should be almost back to my best.
the girl had a massive clicking rattle sound that i had at some point completely blocked out until churchward pointed it out. everyone thought it might be the cassette and james confirmed that on one of the stops. i fixed it this afternoon.
for training purposes it was perfect. checking the stats some how i couldn’t have scripted it any better with about 1 hour in every zone.
Z1 – 1:04:33
Z2 – 1:05:04
Z3 – 1:07:08
Z4 – 1:10:37
Z5 – 2:34
with Z5 being redlining it’s even better that i only just hit it as it would have killed me spending any more time there.
KOM’d the flats but funnily it was all of us – taking turns etc – i think me uploading to strava first gave me the KOM.
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there back! having now raced 2 for 2012 thats 2 more than last year already! crits are such a major work out. more than anything you can try at a gym etc with stats like:
Z1 – 2:26
Z2 – 9:56
Z3 – 20:07
Z4 – 24:04
Z5 – 11:39
i pained more the second crit but more to do with the amount of KM’s consumed the week prior and sore legs. the second crit i was also yelled at [apparently - i didn't hear it] for going too fast into the bends, probably more for not using my brakes. aub explained it to me after the race but also admitted he was on my wheel following me.
i finished dead last first race – this week i finished about 10th but didn’t have a good lead in position. as i should know – all finished are dependent on your position coming into the last straight and being as far down as i was i had no chance. even still i don’t think my sprint speed is good at the moment.
i also finished pretty upset after being told about the yelling at me. i find B-Grade erratic as a Grade. two or three times a couple of guys went off the front – i would catch up then there was no working together to keep a break away which i find really pointless. i spoke to churchy about the possibility of moving up to A-Grade just to be challenged but looking at the training metrics now i think B is still pushing me and i am improving from that so next week i will start again in B.
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i’m so lovin’ the bike atm. i just can’t get on it enough. we revisted the entrance only to have the weather turn really shocking every afternoon. in the mornings we crossed to the park and kicked the soccer ball around with the boys for at least an hour both days. me – i punted the bastard as hard as possible so many times i have a very sore right leg.
i still found time and the energy wed afternoon to smash out a ride. i had full intention of a full 100km ride but the weather turned so bad, so bad it was the worst i have ever ridden in. i still had a punt at the return [southbound] wilfred KOM with a 7th overall result. i only spent 5min in Z4 but that was enough. bloody insane ride thinking back to it now
very rare head shot of me. love this women…
so this week we spent as much time as possible at the entrance before having to return home because K is working 3 days. each day [except friday] i was out riding from 6:00am riding the local loop. by the thursday i had extended it to a perfect 60km circuit that is comfortable, feels reasonably safe and most of all enjoyable.
i had a couple of attempts at the KOM on wilfred and moved from 19th overall to 4th. we are returning next week and i am hoping the weather will hold out so i can give it one last proper attempt. im hoping to move into third place overall
on top of the riding i was also going to the beach and swimming, helping the boys catch waves on the boogie board etc so its been a pretty massive week in total. the knee held up really well till friday when i was in the surf – it started to have a smaller ache again but it is more a water issue than bike. holidays have been awesome with the weather being semi kind most days although lots of the mornings it rained so i would return home after the ride filthy dirty
at one point we were tossing around the idea of buying a caravan at norah head… i would still love to
this is my favourite pic from the first weeks break
