Checkin' into Rehab

I haven't been updating the site because I've had some substance abuse problems. I've been hitting the bottle pretty good. I haven't been trainning. Damn Australian Shiraz!

No more! I'm back on the bike and its back to some serious trainning. Some half decent results with very little trainning so its time to keep at it and head back to Canada with some good form.

No. 1 Goal - Have a solid ride in the Windsor Crit.

Well much has happened since I last updated. First of all, my age has reached a pretty large fraction of a century. I've booked my flight home for early august. And I purchased a winning lottery ticket worth over 90million AUS$. Well, I have purchased a ticket. It hasn't officially been chosen yet....

I'm getting pretty excited about returning to Canada. No work. Or very little anyways. And getting back to the old habits. Gonna have to fit some mega riding miles in tthere too but it should be something I can fit into my schedule.

Anywho, its cold as tits. Waking up at 430am sucks! I hope the weather begins warming up again or its going to be a long month!

See you back in the Northern Hemisphere! Back into the future!

Tour de Tweed - A lesson in pain

Tour de Tweed - Battle on the Border. 3 days, 4 stages. Just north of New South Wales. Valleys, hills, cold and wet. Managed to step down a grade for this high profile race. Down to B which also meant we were racing with Masters A. It wasn't stepping down much.

Stage 1 - 8km ITT

Showed up at the race without much time to spare. Also had to deal with all the rego as we missed it the night before. Managed to bang out a 20 minute warm up in freezing cold valley temperatures. Exactly what you are looking to do when you love time trialing as much as I do and haven't pre ridden the course.

Course = SHITTY roads, a bridge which rattled my bones more than anything and train tracks, mid corner!

Well not much to talk about here, finished 28/46. A good TT in my books considering I was one of the first starters and TT's suck. Race of truth? I'm a liar! Lost 2 minutes on the lead rider. 1 minute and a half to the lead 5.

Stage 2 - 66km RR - 4 laps

Well after my impressive show in the TT it was time to step it up a notch. The day warmed up several degrees by our 1030 start. A little nervous as I got shelled bad last week. We also drove down the hill we had to go up. There was a 'Warning' Sign on the side. Caution 10%. And it went on and on! Basically 2 large rollers before 1 long 'berg' which kicked up pretty good as it turns. Just when you thought you got over it. Just to make sure you got slapped in the face good, there is 1 more good kicker after 800m of downhill. It looks like you can use momentum and your big ring, but you can't. It hurts and will pop you from the group. The rest were relatively flat roads. 2 knarly wooden bridges which claimed many water bottles and CS600's.

I managed to get over the hills twice without too much struggle. My weight has been at 78 regularly and I was happy with my perfermance. On lap 3, however, things got different. The 2 rollers before the main climb took much more out of me and 70% up the climb the legs shut off. I was still going up, just not at the pace I needed to be going at. My team mate caught me warning me it was the end of the train but I was unhooked. I tried chasing and it looked like I could of got back on, but I was toast.

My team mate, Julian, got unhooked every lap but managed to pull back on every time. The guy is nearly 20kg heavier than I am. A diesel engine like I've never seen before. He finished in the main group and managed to move up a few spots on GC up to 6th.

I rode the last lap tempo and warmed down properly in the last 10km. Lost 12 minutes.

Could have been worst considering the profile, but I was very dissapointed. 3 bad races in a row.

Stage 3 - 110km RR - Out and Back.

An even colder day. Pretty cool course. Out and Back with 1 Lap of the previous day's course. 1 15% kicker which was supposed to be for 500m but it was easily closer to 1 km.

We rode the first 40kms out to the first big kicker mega fast. Speed never really diping bellow 40 and easily averaging 45. The kicker really hurt the legs. It was steep and long and steep. People went backwards fast so I made sure to try to stick with the lead wheels. I only managed the lead 2nd group but I thought that was it. The field of 100 was shattered and my 2nd group merged with the front just after the descent which also lead us into the lap of yesturday's and right into the hilly section. Legs were screaming riding at the front thinking our group was split. I was too shattered and eyes were too unfocused to realize most of the riders had rejoined. DAMN. I had some serious tunnel vision and another section of mega hills was right there.

I got popped at the exact same point as I had the previous day. Julian rode by me again telling me to hang on and that we would get back on. I dug and dug and dug and managed to roll over the crest close to his wheel. Once he knew I was there, the diesel engine kicked in downhill and we were making back lost ground. CHEEEWWW CHEEEWWW! 'The Big Unit' as he became known to other racers and more importantly the race commentator pulled us back to the lead group. I didn't do much other than a short pull out of a corner.

The same happend as we hit the backside of the 15% hill which wasn't as steep but it was much longer. We both got popped with about 200m to go. If this wasn't a lesson in pain, I dont know what is. Julian passed me again and paced me back on to the lead group. I have no idea how this guy does it but PHUCK. We got back on.

40km back to the finish. Again, managed to find my self too far back in the group of about 30 with 5km. Again managed to weasle my way to a perfect position with just over a 1km to go with next to no effort. About 15 riders back. The fire in my belly grew and this suckers were gonna get smashed. Oh yeah. We were also riding with Juniors. They crashed with 1km to go. They were also riding the front and really messed my stuff up! I somehow managed to find an inside line and came out onto the home stretch untouched. The lead 8 riders got a 20m gap. It was done. I rolled over the line, managed a 3rd in my category. Not my best podium but a win is a win I suppose.

Julian wasn't so lucky. He wasn't able to follow my line and had to where to go but straight over the curb into a massive ditch. He also managed to destroy a Brand New Zipp 808 rear wheel. Anywho, couple thousand australian$$ retail value.

Julian jumped to 4th on GC and I jumped up to 17th on GC with my time bonus.

Stage 4 - Crit

Nothing to say other than another dissapointment. I had NO legs left. Lost 1 minute for the leaders, managed to jump up to 16th on GC. It was fast and pretty technical. Would of been awesome on fresh legs.

The kicker for the weekend. 3rd place in the 'Epic Road Race' - 30 bucks! Never worked so hard for 30$!

A big thanks to Jules for pulling me over the hills. And to Karen and Pete for housing me in a place with an ocean view! The Lamb Shanks and Chicken and Leek Casserol also KICKED ARSE!!

Crits are Cool, Road Race are Rough

First big race weekend. Didn't know what to anticipate other than it wasn't going to be club racing with the boys.

Slapped on the new race wheels.  First impression was AWESOME.  Tubulars rock my world I could feel the aero advantages kicking in at very low speeds.  Handled very well in very tough cross winds and kicked it up a notch above 40kph.  Worth all the money I paid?  Definitely not!  But they are cool, fast and comfortable.  Not to mention dead sexy.

Anywho, back to the crit.

Crit was fast and furious.  45mins+2 laps.  Single file most of the way.  No tough corners made it easy to hang on without much effort.  A big break made it up the road with about 10 minutes to go.  It looked like a threat and I didn't have any team mates to look to.  Got on the front and drove it for about 1/4 a lap.  A little help from 2 others and the big boys up ahead were back.  I, however, was gased!  What the hell was I thinking?  I sat at the back to get my breath back, but the single filing made it slow to find.  Got comfortable again when we got the 2laps to go.  I was basically dead last in the group.  Not sure how I was going to weasle my way to the front on some good wheels!  Stayed at the back until  3/4 of a lap to go when I noticed 3 guys finding a gap on the outside.  Got on them and with 1/2 a lap to go, we were launching passed the sprinters and the tempo setters.  OH YEAH!  This could stick!  And then my group of 3 other all sat up. 

Well, I was already committed so there was only 1 thing to do.  Hope Mr. Hed and Mr. Bonti did a good job designing my wheels because all that laid infront of me was a knarly cross wind and a head wind.  I stayed 10meters ahead of the group the whole time with the train going hard behind me.  Took the last corner solo and headed to the finish in what seemed to be pretty awesome style. 

The sprinters came flying by me with about 50 meters to go.  I finished mid pack.

The road race was less eventful.  Little warm up, hills and massive winds.  The guys went hard form the word go and it only got harder.  I made it up the hill, but interestly enough, getting down the hill with the lead group was equally as hard!  Cross winds made the back echelon the whole way back to the start/finish.  I was gased, and got popped after a single lap (out of 5).  Mega disappointed as my weight has been down and the training has been good.  Only 20 or so finished but I was hoping for a better result.

I clearly don't have enough racing in my legs to keep up with the big shots.  Nearly there, just need a little more umphh and keep my mind in it.

Tweed this weekend.  Bigger hills.  Anyone know how to get better in 4 days?

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