Month: August 2016

The bullet is clenched between my teeth, cold and metallic. It’s time to clamp down. After almost two years of solid riding, and improvement well beyond my expectations, I’ve decided to properly turn my focus towards getting faster on the bike, and am employing the expertise of a coach and a structured routine.

Three months of solid training is my commitment. No ridiculous rides. No hitting Strava segments for the sake of a crown (but let’s be honest, I’ll work this into the training somehow). No destroying myself with no recovery. No beer (that won’t happen either, but I’ll tone it down some). My aim is to transform myself from a cyclist that can perform on occasion, hitting some good numbers, into a cyclist that is race ready and mentally prepared to win.

I expect massive difficulties that will need to be overcome to reach my goals (I won’t go into them yet). I’m basically a rider who has been cycling for 25 years, but had a 23 year taper. It’s really in the last couple of years that I’ve turned my attention fully to wheels, and much of the riding I have done has been inconsistent, random, but above all, interesting and exciting. But with such a broad spectrum of cycling challenges in such a short time, I don’t know how well I will adjust to a structured regime with, “training”, and “recovery”, and “stress scores” and “sleep”! I’m going to attempt to ride smart, and not just like a smart arse.

I’ve decided to take up help from Matt King, a local Darwin rider. Do a google search, and you won’t get a huge amount of hits. But you should discover that Matt was an U23 National TT champion in 2008 (and 2nd in the road race the same year). He is no longer a professional, and is only recently getting into coaching, but I am confident that he will help me improve immensely in three months. And being in Darwin, I have the advantage of regular face-to-face time – something you can’t really get with the modern online coach.

Things kick off this week, and I’m taking it easy until some testing Tuesday morning. Thank fuck I’m still buggered from the combined efforts of the last everesting and The Redback – spinning the legs is about all I feel like doing right now. And before I sign off on this post, it’s worth noting that in early April last year, I was certain I’d maxed out my potential – oh boy, did I learn otherwise…. Suffice to say I’m excited to see where the improvements go.

P.P.

Cold, wet, tacky and fun sums up the last stage of the Redback mountain bike stage race for me. On the fourth day of racing, my strength and fitness finally made a good appearance, and I had by far my best race this time around in Alice Springs.

I’m not sure why, but the course was shortened to about 38km for the stage, but it was still an excellent mix of some incredible single track and fast fire roads. With cool temperatures and storms bringing the most rain I’ve seen in months, conditions were somewhat challenging for those of us acclimatised to warmer weather, but extra grip basically everywhere made a lot of the track super fast.

Another neutral start behind a police car from the Chiefly had the bunch doing a small, slow loop on wet roads, before dropping in fast to a sketchy stretch of dual trail. Many riders were tentative again, meaning I was easily able to place myself close to the front of the bunch.

Within a few hundred metres, however, a split emerged in the field. Not because of a high pace, but because of navigation uncertainties – a few of the lead guys went left, a few right. I chose right, but was quickly corrected and bashed cross country to get to the right fork. Fortunately the front runners sat-up, and I got myself into an even better position than before.

Soon after that, I had a small fall as Courtney Atkinson had a rider stop right in front of him – putting the two of us on our arses. It didn’t really cost either of us anything, and with Matt and Aidan riding through, I was able to get a place back in the line.

More frustrating for me, at perhaps the 4km mark, my seat-clamp loosened off again, tilted the nose of my saddle a few degrees upwards. This has happened in a race before, so I was kicking myself for not checking the tension before the stage, and I was well aware of the time I’d loose sorting it out. I decided to put up with it and deal with it only if the angle became unbearable.

Within 5km of the race start, Matt blasted past Aidan and I, and I soon took off in pursuit of the lead bunch, still within a hundred metres of so. Aidan was looking cold on the bike, and I was hopeful that he’d make a recovery (which he did). Plenty of climbing at the start of the stage sorted me well, and I figured that would be my best chance of a higher placing.

It must have been the 8km mark when I caught back to Matt with James Downing on his wheel. I followed the pair for quite a while, but was feeling really strong on the climbs and wanted to blast ahead. Taking the sensible option, I followed their lines on the flats and downhills, with Matt eventually pulling over to wait for Aidan. James’ wheel was a good one to follow again – not so much because of his pace, but because he was easily finding the course in places I may have lost the way. On the climbs, I’d be right on his wheel, but then drop slightly back on the descents and flats.

Perhaps half way into the race, the two of us caught up to Courtney, sitting on a bit of a rock ledge having lost the track. James found the right line through some quite technical, rocky single track, and we now had a group of 3 for a few kilometres.

Into the drink station, James and Courtney had put a bit of a gap into me. Trying to power through the flat sections of course with the saddle in a sub-optimal position was not ideal. I found myself clawing James back on the climbs, but never close enough to hold his wheel again.

With under 10km to go, Stephen Allegria caught my wheel, and the pair of us rode almost the remainder of the race together. He was trying to make up time to get into 3rd place in the over 40s, and I was trying to catch up in the GC on the same rider, so it made sense to me to try and stay together. Unfortunately, he had a fall on a tricky piece of single track, but was unharmed and managed to overtake me on the long descent towards the finish line.

Cresting any climb now brought a serious chill to the chest, as a now wet jersey clung to your skin. I was tempted to stop to take off my streaky glasses, and my hands were beginning to chill enough to make braking difficult. But with only a few kilometres left, I was prepared to put up with minor discomforts.

The single track in those closing kilometres was incredible. And the rain proved only to make it better, with superior grip on every corner and less lose, sketchy gravel. A tail wind brought me home on the final stretch of fire road into Telegraph Station, and with the thought of gaining some more time, I sprinted to the line solo and into 11th place on the stage, securing 13th overall for the race.

Last Stage

“That was fucking rad!” was the very first thought in my head as I crossed the finish line of stage four – a mass start night lap of that morning’s course.

Us Darwin boys were rugged up more than anyone else on the start line; under jerseys, arm warmers, gillets, and even knee warmers in Bill’s case. Most of the field stuck to the same kits they were wearing through the heat of the day. Six months ago, I might have done the same – fair to say I’m acclimatising to Darwin!

I was nervous about the mass start – but needn’t have been. Slow to clip-in, I was also in too large a gear to get moving with cold legs. But it didn’t matter – the first half kilometre seems to sort out the field easily for the first thirty riders (I’m not sure what was happening further back). I was happy to be sitting pretty in the first fifteen to twenty places, and the pace was very sedate for a 22km ride.

Rounding a bend in the golf course, I spotted Matt make a break for the front, and the pace increased. Not enough to make it too hard to hang on, but enough to start splitting the field, and for the next 2km I found myself leap frogging up the field.

By the time the train of riders had made the single track, it looked like a string of faerie lights twisting around the hills – this is where it pays to get up the front. The front bunch was pulling away, and gaps were opening up with the riders directly in front no longer holding wheels. Working my way past, I could see that catching the front runners would now be far fetched, so settled myself into a good rhythm, with riders neither very close behind or in front.

I let some riders through on the first tricky descent – a mistake, as I found myself catching them over the plains for several kilometres, and would later storm ahead. But the riding was spectacular! Such a cold, clear night allowed a blanket of stars above if you were brave enough to look up, and an enormous, red moon was rising over the horizon.

My riding wasn’t as smooth as the morning, but had more abandon, and I was probably stomping down the descents with more speed. I couldn’t hold the same speeds on the flats either, but with sand traps very difficult to spot, and not wanting to bury a wheel on a loose corner, the sensible thing was to gradually reel in the group of three in front of me.

Catching onto this small group, I was able to conserve some energy and still ride at a good pace. Up and over a little pinch, I could tell I was climbing much stronger, but would not be able to hold them off on a descent. A bit of luck came my way as two of the riders overtook the leader. But they didn’t drop him. So none of them were necessarily any stronger than the others.

As it bunched very close on some fire trail, with a very awkward 130 degree left turn, I took my chance and accelerated past all three of them and kept up a higher pace. Stressed I’d made a mistake, with sand traps now everywhere and three riders lighting me up from behind, I kept grunting through to stay in the lead. And I must have broken two of them, because up sunset climb, only one rider was on my wheel.

Some locals were up the top with a bonfire and beers. I knew they would be offering beers to everyone coming through, so I thought I’d initiate the humour and ask for one. Of course, not wanting to actually stop when I was racing so well, I said I’d come back for it (I didn’t, but opted to drink some with a parma after the race). With the rider still just behind on the loose descent, I almost crashed on one corner, but kept on top of the bike and rode only a little slower than the morning.

A few “whoop-ti-doos” at the bottom of the descent signalled the very fast approach to the finish. Still concerned of being caught, but seeing no one ahead, I buried myself around the golf course, but not so much as to be caught by surprise in a sprint. Fears unfounded, I powered away from the rider one place behind, and could barely make out the exact finish line coming from pitch-black dessert into a lit-up golf course. “Fuck that was rad!”

In a time of 1:00:46s, only two and a half minutes slower than my ITT, I placed 13th on the stage, roughly where I’d expected. A little annoyed I didn’t try and hold the front wheels, but very pleased I’m still in 15th overall and have put in a good gap to 16th. Stage Five will be a longer one at 47km – if I’m truly recovering, I’ll be better suited to a longer day in the sun.

Redback Stage Four

Fast, but not flying.

I had a ball on this afternoon’s stage – a time trial up Anzac Hill in the middle of Alice Springs. Averaging 9% over 350m on a sealed road, it was an uphill sprint, with riders setting off in 30 second intervals. I was quietly looking forward to the stage, having no grand expectations, but I love the idea of the stage. Against the clock. Uphill. Flat-out. Done.

Most riders made little modification to their bikes, as per race rules, but I’d hazard a guess that most ditched all their spare bits n bobs and pumped tyres up to a gazillion psi. Having found out I finished the morning’s stage in 22nd place, I was due to start at exactly 5:39pm. Glen and Bill had already started before me, with Aidan, Matt and Chris behind and in that order.

I’d scouted the climb with Bill yesterday, and loved the winding nature of the ascent, with no clear visibility of the summit. An event staffer held my saddle as I prepared to take-off, and at 5:39 I cranked over a big gear before settling onto the seat for the first 50m of shallower gradient.

Perhaps 100m into the climb, there is a sharp, cambered turn that simultaneously kicks up in steepness, and just before this point I opted to get out of the saddle and push harder. I felt pretty aero off the start, but now it was time to get the bars moving!

Gear selection was probably crucial, and I was satisfied that I’d picked the right one as I banked the corner in  the right lane, and was able to maintain the effort. A crowd was forming further up the climb, but I was busy chewing my stem and urging myself on. It didn’t feel like I was really giving it everything, but it also felt far from slow. Still out of the saddle, and trying to give it more with 50m to go, the crowd now surging, I took a peek at my Garmin to check my time, to discover I was way off KOM pace. Also at this moment, my right foot unfortunately unclipped from the pedal, forcing me back into the saddle and searching for re-entry.

So close to the finish line, but with some sharp, steep corners still to go, I felt forced to stay seated to keep my momentum up and couldn’t stand for a final effort. No matter – I was soon at the finish in a respectable 55 seconds, probably a couple of seconds off what I might have done had a stayed clipped in, and certainly a long way off my potential. But I was satisfied. In the scheme of the event, it made little difference to overall standings, and I was happy to put in a fast time, if not my best.

Matt held the lead with a time of 45 seconds, but soon lost it to a flyer by young Luke Pankhurst of 42 seconds, equally the course record set by Ben Mather a previous year. Most impressive to me was Aidan, giving me a flogging with a time of 52 seconds on his hardtail – awesome redemption for what should have been an amazing time for him this morning had it not been for several flats.

Another individual TT tomorrow morning, but this time on a 20km course of a fairly technical nature. Looking to hit my stride tomorrow, but I know it’ll be a tough course to set a good time.

Anzac Hill Climb