Thule Bright 24 Mountain Bike Race

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After Shane's TT win in Goulburn, we packed up the car, I had an energy drink and trucked back to Bright the same day. It was a lovely drive once we got off the freeway onto the back roads through Yackandandah and Myrtleford to Bright.

We found our Thule crew at the Bright Brewery eating pizza and hydrating for the hot days ahead. The other teams I helped setup were ready and revved up to start. Team Thule | SKCC were a men's team of 6, team Thule | Check out our Racks were a women's team of 6 doing the traditional 24 hr group rides. My team Thule | Kosdown was to arrive the next morning, doing the more casual Esprit de Corps race.

Shane helping to setup the gantry/banner
Thule had setup a base camp on the route from the starting house tent where we settled for the weekend. The BBQ, chairs, heaters, food, esky, and entertainment was setup by the time I arrived at about 9am on Saturday morning.

Part of the setup for the feasts!  Photo: Corinna Brown
We could all register separately to pickup our awesome goody bags and setup for the ride ahead. With the esprit de corps teams they could all head out together or ride solo. This suited a few of my teamies that had lives outside of bikes and could pop in and do a few laps, head off or go sleep through the night and then come back the next day and do a little bit more before enjoying their Sunday!

The SKCC team tent and part of the team getting ready for the next lap
I had a great time chatting to all the teams, letting them know when the food was on for dinner and snacks were out. Claire and I headed out for out first lap around lunch time. I was starving by the time we made it back to camp. The course had some good fire trail but overall was a little technical for me in places, with a few drop-off sections that made me nervous. We made it back in one piece and had a good lunch and hydrated before attacking another lap.

Stuffed after my first lap!

I was glad to finish the second lap and headed straight for the shower, covered in dust and bone dead tired from concentrating so much. Thule put on a BBQ dinner and we chatted away over the details of the course and how we were tracking overall. 

ENDURO Coffee van going 24hrs!

There was a slight miscalculation on the total number of laps online that I popped into the HQ to reconcile before heading to bed. When I woke up in the morning, it was all sorted and we had clocked up about 22hrs of riding with a massive lead on the number of laps over our rivals in the Women's Esprit de corps teams.

Chilling out before dinner. Photo: Corinna Brown

I went out for another lap, but had lost my mojo from the previous day. I'm not sure if it was just that I was a bit stiff and sore, but it was not flowing as well as yesterday. Jenny Enderby finished up her morning lap after I came home and our team finished the day in 1st place for our category!

Winners are GRINNERS!  Women's team of 6 Esprit de Corps.  Photo: Corinna Brown
Half of my team had already headed home by the time the presentations started at 2pm, but we were all so happy with the result! I've posted out mini prize packs to all the ladies to share the love!

All in all, it was a great event, that went pretty smoothly for me. I was well taken care of by my team mates who were happy to ride as much as they wanted. I was well taken care of by Thule with my custom Jersey, egg and bacon bagel for breakfast, trail munchies, and endless drinks to stay hydrated at team camp.

Part of the crazy fire trail you can see from town

I can't wait to see what happens with this event next year, it can only get bigger and better each time.

2013 Tour of the Goldfields

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Finally my target race of the season - Tour of the Goldfields. This one was on the "dream" list at the start of the year. The hope that I could build on last season where I raced my home town tour in B-Grade and aspire to work hard enough to race A-Grade with the big guns!

It's been a bumpy journey, but I made to the start line - just! I'd raced the last 3 weekend straight, had a shiny new bike to play with and on the Monday started with a tickle in the back of the throat. By Thursday I was on antibiotics to try make me better quick-smart! I didn't want to let down my St Kilda Cycling Club team mates:  Liz Doueal, Prue Rothwell and Simone Pierce.

St Kilda Cycling Club - Tour of the Goldfields NRS Team

Stage 1 Criterium 20 laps approx 1hr

 Friday was the Criterium in Victoria Park. The day started off grey and drizzly and it was difficult to stay warm. With 72 riders over 17 teams, and overall NRS lead within striking distance of 2 riders, it was going to be a tough tour.

The drizzle started again on the start line, we waited for 15mins in the chilly Ballarat weather until 3pm ticked over and we were off! The pace was full gas from the start, into the first corner on the damp surface brakes squealed, bikes flew into the gravel side of the road, tyres did 2 wheel slides but everyone stayed upright. Around and around we went, I got dropped into the second group of 6 riders then stuck with the third group of about 10 ladies.

Stage 1 crit racing in the pouring rain. Photo: Kate Healy

About 30mins in the rain started in earnest and when I went around the first corner again, I hit the road hard. Brakes? front tyre? handling? I have no idea what happened. First time I've ever crashed on a corner. First time I've ever got road rash! I got up, checked the bike, got ready to jump back on and keep riding. First time I've ever had to take a lap out in a crit - they held me back till my group came around so I could jump back in the same spot. All good once I got back on the bike we raced around and around again for 15 mins till we were pulled out. Tough day out there, but I was revved up to start the Team Time Trial the next day.

Stage 2 Team Time Trial 20km

 It was again a grey day outside and the wind blowing a bit stronger, but I'd take that option as it was dry. I was a lot more confident and in my element lining up with my St Kilda Cycling Club team mates in this event. While we had not ridden together before, (or even met some of them before the weekend) we were definitely united in wanting to do well. SKCC team coach Stuart McKenzie was on hand to provide pre-race tips and we loaded up Simone with loaner TT bars and helmet. Prue was to be our sacrificial lamb and to help us out as much as possible,  after a ton of work she left it to the three of us to finish it off about 5km from home.

On our way out - I'm at the back

I came home totally toasted after my efforts at trying like hell to hang onto 2 better riders and do a few turns. We came in 11th overall out of the 17 teams!

On our way home

Very happy considering our lack of practice and different levels of abilities. After this, I was feeling a bit stuffed. My cough had started up and we still had a road stage in a few hours.

Stage 3 - Windmill circuit 58km

I was a bit more prepared for this stage than last year where I was dropped in neutral zone when the ladies motor paced off the lead car, but not feeling too good. The first 8kms are deceptively uphill. I was with the main bunch for 7kms when the sprinters kick came for the first sprint of the day. That feeling of falling... of grasping at straws... seeing it all slip through your fingers when something is just out of reach...
BAM! I was out the back and chasing with the sidewind buffeting me, it was like the downhill didn't exist without the bunch protection. A small group of 3 riders came by and I lost touch with them almost as soon as I joined them. So I kept on with my pace, thinking that was the end of the day so soon! In reality there were a few riders that saw the same fate as me last year, and then there were another group of about 20 riders that were caught out when there was a split in the bunch and swept me up before the Queen of the Mountain.
Team mate Simone stringing the bunch out

As we crested and dropped into the headwind descent, a few kilometres up the road we could see the convoy ahead. I could see two riders off the back of the main bunch and didn't think much of it until I realised it was the two NRS series leaders Katrin and Ruth dropping back to our bunch. I saw team mates cycle up beside each of them to chat and try pace the group back up to the leading bunch until they both shook their heads and dropped to the back of our group.
At this point I realised they didn't seem to want to interfere with our racing, (or the lead bunch for that matter) so kept on with rolling my turns. The only interaction was where I moved back out of the rolling turns to eat and was stuck right in the gutter on Kat's wheel without any love - but I guess you'd get that in any other race.

Team mate Liz adding to the hurt

We were nearly home and almost at the back of the convoy to the lead group. A VIS rider was trying to rev up the group to get back faster or join back in with the lead bunch, but we were getting tired. I did one turn too many and then we hit the last hill home and I couldn't keep up with the group anymore. The last few kilometres were a hard solo slog that wiped out all of my energy reserves.
I was dead on my feet packing up the car, driving home, showering and at that point didn't have any intention to race the next day. After dinner, things started to look a little more rosy and possible.

Stage 4 - Finale 83km

 There was a nice 25km circuit of flat-ish roads with a few little pinches, then about 8kms to the finish up Mt Warrenheip. This is a personal favourite mini climb of mine that I held the Strava QOM for some time. It would be annihilated on this day by the top women of Australia.

I woke up with a few aches and a bit of fatigue, but this one thing I love about stage racing... it is also how you recover and how much fight you bring the next day.

It seemed on the start line that more than a few riders had packed up and gone home early, but out on the road we were still a big bunch. We waited a few tense minutes for the start time to tick over, and waited some more to find out the Police were running late for the start to close the roads for us. It was one of the nice novelties to be able to race proper without having to worry about traffic, correct side of the road, what the lines on the road are before passing in the bunch and with such a big bunch on some small country back tracks! We just had to watch out for everything else :)

A few weeks prior I did a course recon with Shane and the wind was howling, the pinchy hills more nasty,  and the weather generally colder. We had light breeze,  and finally some sunshine! I was being super attentive, but kept with the bunch over the first main climb. There was a solo rider off the front that the bunch was happy to leave dangling out for most of the day. On a fast descent there was some commotion in the bunch and I saw the group come tumbling down from the middle. Later I heard only a couple of riders were the worst off but no broken bones!

I moved up to the front for the big dipper and made it over the top with the leaders and didn't get dropped in the sprint around the next corner. I couldn't believe my luck! Either I was having a good day, or they had given up chasing and madly attacking like the last few stages. The second lap I moved up towards the front, waiting for the next few surges to be able to hang on for the next climbs and I went with the bunch, up the main drag of the climb and top 10 rider over the big dipper. One more lap to go, it seemed they were waiting for the last climb to light things up.

Me in the SKCC kit on the left keeping an eye on the leaders

There were a few more attacks in the last lap that I was able to respond to, but like an angry bunch of bees they were still content to swarm before attacking, at one point I was actually on the front of the whole group chatting to another of the VIS riders about my one moment of GLORY! LOL! Then flowed back into the 2nd tier riders before another team attacked.

The right hand turn off the main circuit squeezed the group onto a narrow back road. My error was to move to a good spot to get around the corner, meant being pushed to mid pack or back third of the group as we threaded our way back towards the final climb up Mt Warrenheip, behind Kryal Kastle. I was doing OK until the final kicker hill before the main road affectionately referred to as "the wall" by the riders and was promptly dropped like a sprinter up Mt Ventoux! I scrambled over and flew down the descent "yahoo'ing" to see the main bunch already off in the distance - how did they get away so fast!

By the time I hit the Subaru banner to do the short climb up the mountain, it had already been run and won. I was 3:21 behind the leaders and they were being interviewed by the media at the top!

Overall it was a fantastic experience that I am so happy to have been a part of - thanks to my club SKCC for organising entry for me. My team mates were great riders who I wished that I could help out more during the races. My coach who said that anything is possible to my crazy dream of daring to hope that I could compete on that National level playing field.

Putting our feet up after the tour

In the General Classification I ended up coming 51 out of 72 registered riders and our team 10th. We would have done better if I had not have crashed, been sick and had the lungs to climb, or just been a better rider! It was also an interesting insight of racing mentality and cut throat attitude that you don't really get much of a glimpse of from the racing at my level.


Me and Mt Warrenheip post tour, driving the back roads to pickup my discarded bidon

My 2 cents:
I take it seriously, but with a light hearted attitude. I sit here having had physio for crashing out and landing on my head, patched up and ready to spend another hour "recovery on the bike" today wondering when Cycling as a sport will take on a "duty of care" attitude to it's riders. The officials saw me crash on the corner, but it was Donna Ray-Szalinski that picked me up and put me back in the race. I was not approached afterwards by race organisers to check if I had concussion or could make a sound judgement to get back on the bike for the next day. These days of soccer players crying for medics and AFL getting physio and doctors on field before they get stretchered off - I hope it will only be a matter of time before we have moto ambo/first aid that can keep an eye on riders in the bunch, checks riders out before they get back on the bike and potentially motopace them back into the competition.

I'm in two minds about the "no race" reaction from Kat and Ruth in Stage 3. As a participant in the race and a fan of the sport I wanted to see and be a part of them fighting to the end of each stage. If the top 2 riders of the men's National Road Series from teams like Drapac and Genesis were in the same position, we could predict the outcome of a tooth and nail battle royale each day. 
However I pose a different proposition to those saying that because they used tactics to control the outcome rather than outright power and aggression they should not get media coverage and the same platform as the men.

There are a lot of similarities to men's cycling and therefore why there should be a lot of equality, but at the same time we should be celebrating the differences and nuances that makes women's cycling unique and worth it - maybe even moreso than the predictable outcome of a slugfest death match and while the full story might not have been portrayed in the media, there are lessons and strong female role models in the series that should still be celebrated as well.

My new Specialized Amira from Bike n Bean - climbs hills like a dream!

2013 Australian Masters Time Trial Championships

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We headed to Wangaratta Wednesday and bounced onto Goulburn the next morning to prepare for the Time Trial for the Australian Masters National Championships. This is the last year that it will be held in NSW, next year we will be back in my home town of Ballarat.

Goulburn - home of the big Marino

After my disappointing ride last month, I was ready to make amends and had a great warmup ride the day before the competition. It was blowing a gale, but I rode my competition wheels and stretched into position on the course.

On the road with COFFEE!


The next morning the bad weather had blown away, and left a sunny day with a tailwind on the way out and slight head wind on the way back. I triple checked my equipment on the road and verified it was all setup with the bike checking officials.

I had a good warm up and was the last rider off in my category, so was out and ready to go early. The little bit of tail wind was great! I held a great pace on the way out and had the best return leg yet. I came back 1 min quicker than last year.



I was really happy with the ride, but it was not enough to make the podium. I came in 5th in Australia for my category.

Finishing strong!
Shane had a solid ride and finished in 1st for his category.  A great achievement and 5th consecutive National TT Title.

2013 Australian Masters Games

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The Australian Masters Games is a massive competition for all sports... one of which is Cycling!

It is a friendly, open, well organised event. The Games covers track and road cycling events. I competed in the road race, time trial and criterium over the week.

Time Trial

A new (to me) Time Trial course was on the menu for the day out the back of Meredith. We arrived early before the first rider started to drive the course. It was rolling hills, out and back, single lane roads, and a fast finish.

Holding good form

The calm morning soon whipped up a little wind, a speckle of rain and I was off 30mins after Shane's start. My intention to warm-up on the road soon vanished - preparing everything after unpacking the car took up all my time! There was enough time to do the last tune up on the trainer, then it was time to go up the road to the start line. They were running an extra 5mins late so I practiced my u-turns on the road.

Out the road everything clicked into place. Pacing went well, legs felt good, position on the bike was solid, back to my other helmet so no problems there and wheel choice was perfect.

On a mission

I got sand blasted on the return leg by 4 cattle trucks in a row coming head on along the single lane road. There was NO WAY I could get off the road and no escaping the plumes of red dust that I ate. All part of racing on back roads, I'm sure the rest of the competitors had a similar experience.

A journey
I got back ecstatic that I had exorcised my TT demons from last week and felt prepared for the Australian Masters Championships next week. I had also won GOLD for my category!

Podium Shot


Von, Jo and Dale SKCC TT Medalists

Road Race

My category M1 was combined with all categories up to M4 and reduced to around 63km. So it was going to be a tough day out there! The wind was a little stronger, but the sun was out and we got started rolling turns into the 7km head wind section. There was a big dipper before a long drag to the right hand corner that we would complete 3 circuits on. My gears crunched climbing out of the dipper and I slid back a few spots before the long drag section. We kept the pace on and rolled turns and then attacked before the right hand turn and we had a nice cross wind and about 6 riders left.

Cornering like a pro! Photo: Jo Upton Photography

Rolling turns around the circuit along the side wind and head wind sections, we kept pushing through waiting for the next side wind section and the much anticipated tail wind. There was a moment when the pace dropped and the group lacked cooperation to roll turns so I attacked on the outside and picked up the pace. Deb Richards rolled through for a turn, then Dale Maizels also made it across and contributed to the pace making. When I looked back there was nobody else left and we'd hit the tailwind section.

The route

Flying along with the tail wind we had the first descent and I was not the only one screaming YAHOO! Up the climbs we were pacing and then hitting each other, trying to break up the group again. No avail, we completed the long drag back up to the 2nd lap. Rolling turns and eating and wind and more laps, this time on the tailwind hill section we hit each other again and again. I did a final attack-sprint over the top of the last hill and pushed over the top to the drag up to the final lap, while sitting on Deb's wheel the elastic snapped and I was unable to keep up with the pace.

I was done for the day, but with 1 more lap, the ladies took pity on me or needed help into the headwind section and sat up for me to get back on. I had my last gel and knuckled down to help out as much as I could. We came into the back side wind section and Deb pulled away. I couldn't close it, Dale couldn't close it either. I tried to sprint across and only got half way. Dale made it back up to me and we were in the tailwind section and chasing. We chased all the way home without catching her. When we got to the final hill that dropped down to the finish line, I told Dale to go ahead and rolled back into the finish line, coming in third overall and first in my category.

Windblown podium pic

Criterium

With low entry numbers, our categories were again combined and the race reduced to about 30min plus 2 laps. I was excited to test out the legs on the Geelong Eastern Beach course near the gardens that I'd seen the Bay Crits race on in the past and now it was my turn to give it a go.

Arrows show opposite direction than the way we raced.

As the 10 of us rolled out, Kerrie Baumgartner was in the lead and I was in second wheel. I wanted to be first through the technical right hand corner to stay out of trouble and Kerrie obliged as we hit the head wind section.

I drove the front for the first lap, looked over my shoulder and we were down to 5 riders. Kerrie, Dale Maizels, Renee Nutbean, Jo Riley and myself. We all took turns at different sections, the home straight had a side headwind and the beach section had a great tailwind that gave a little assistance up the kicker of a hill back to the home finishing straight.

Renee, Von, Dale and Jo in the Masters Games Crit

At the 2 laps to go I knew we had to do something different to break up the race. I hit the hill a little differently and pushed over the top to meet the head wind hard. I heard someone on my wheel yell, "Keep going" as I pushed into the red zone, I swapped turns with whomever came over the top with me. It was Kerrie! We'd kept a gap and made some headway from the rest of the ladies on the main straight. This effort had taken its toll on me and I was in "struggle town" by the time we passed the line for 1 lap to go. The ladies were just in sight behind us, so I kept the pace on solo while Kerrie flew up the road and I managed the time gap to finish 2nd across the line and first in my category.

3 beautiful gold medals



I am excited and proud to announce my new personal sponsorship with Specialized and Bike n Bean. In the coming weeks I'll have my new 2014 bike to test out with great anticipation to see the differences between racing on a men's frame and women's specific one.

Bike racing is an amazing sport that I love and have been a part of for years both racing and volunteering. It is fantastic to be recognised as an ambassador for the sport and to receive such generous support. I will post up pics when I get them!!

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