Tour of the Goldfields 2014

10:45 pm Unknown 0 Comments

I was proud to join Building Champions Women's Squad for the final round of the National Road Series. My teamies were the same as Amy's Otway Classic: Minda Murray, Nikolina Orlic and Tayla Evans.

This tour is tough! Not just from the terrain, but typically the weather is pretty bad and the racing is brutal for the teams to deal their final blows to re-arrange the final standings on the NRS leader board.

Specialized Amira ready to roll


Stage 1 - Criterium 20 laps around Victoria Park

This was the stage I was losing sleep over the most. I had not been training for crits and was hoping that magic would happen or it would all come together on the day. I rode into the crit circuit with Nikolina and rode a few laps of the course. When it was time to start they sent us around for a recon and I managed to move up mid-pack on the start line.

An angle of the fast section with Mt Warrenheip in the background

Without ceremony we were off and racing. As per previous years it was fast to the first corner, then we all came to a standstill while we filed nicely around and sprinted to the second corner and came to a standstill to neatly turn and go back to the start. The pace ramped up and up to the first intermediate sprint at 14 laps to go and I managed to ride the wave through that milestone.


On the back of the bunch

I didn't see any accidents which was a first for this crit and all in all the crit went pretty well for the team. I didn't quite make the distance of the full 20 laps before my group was pulled off the course, but did measurably better than last year.

The stage was won by Kimberly Wells from Specialized Securitor.  Results


We dropped into the local Women's Bunch ride to celebrate ROCKTOBER Women's Ride Month.


Post by Gove Cycles & Bike Rack Cafe.

Arthur the owner with Nik and Tayla admiring his bike!

Stage 2 - Team Time Trial 20km


The course for the TTT was the same as the one I'd won the Masters National TT Championships on a few weeks prior so it was very fresh in my mind. The wind direction was what I had trained for in the months leading up so I was pretty confident that we would do a good ride.

We had only practiced once that morning riding together in formation, so it was unknown how far we could push each other above threshold. The main time gains would be made up on the way out into the headwind and we didn't want to lose anyone coming back.


Fence starts were a new addition to my skill set!
As team captain for the stage I ran through a few scenarios with the ladies about how we could indicate we were rolling off, or how to work together on the hills before the start and we nailed every aspect of the ride. One thing to work on is the Turn Around and pacing as a unit, but overall this was the best TTT I've ridden. Having evenly matched riders and positive cohesive group was so motivating. I was ecstatic when we got back in and felt that we had given it a good crack.

It was also great to see a few familiar faces of ladies who we'd met at Gove Cycles, out watching our TTT!

Von on the front setting up a good echelon. 

The overall result was 8th and 2:46 from the winning team of Holden Women's Cycling Team. There were 2 other teams that crashed on separate incidents and had riders that withdrew from the race.


Stage 3 - Road Race 56km Windmill Circuit


Over the last few years this stage has been like a criterium to the first sprint and onward to the QOM. With the brutal headwind, the pace was pretty low heading out and I was able to position well out of trouble. I made it over the top of the QOM with the nervous bunch, however the wind was relentless and we were strung out into the descent.

Narrow roads to the QOM
A few riders struggled to keep contact and half the field was unhitched. I struggled to try close the gap and came un-hitched and dropped off the back of the peloton.

Totally spent, I gathered myself for the chase. It was all downhill with a headwind but they were still getting away from me. Before I knew it, the convoy of cars started to stream around me and without much protection from the wind, I couldn't move up and they took off.

The bunch strung out on the back roads

Later a van came past and yelled that there was a bunch behind me so I had a gel, sat up and jumped on the group of 6 or so riders that were rolling turns into the wind.

Further down the road I saw a kangaroo jump alongside the group and cross over and back in front of our little gruppetto before we outran it. 10km on I started to get leg cramps and stopped pedalling. My day was over and it was going to be a long way home solo.

The winner was Davina Summers from Boss Racing in a fast tail wind bunch sprint. Results

 

Stage 4 - 83km Kryal Castle loops to the top of Mt Warrenheip.


I was ready for this stage and hungry for some better results. Last year I was with the bunch to the last 3 km where it started to climb and I knew that it was possible to do the same.

The start was delayed by 30mins due to critical medical support not being available, but eventually we shrugged off our jackets and rolled out from Kryal Castle. The ripping tail wind was fast and I was ready for the rolling attacks where riders launched off the front of the group, soon to be swallowed back up. The pinch at the river crossing was a critical point and I moved right up to the front to give myself a chance to get over the top as there was a left turn and a sprint point a few kms up the road.

The group winding around to Old Melbourne Rd

Into the next lap, the group had whittled down and I felt good after the tail wind section when I noticed Kimberly Wells wind up and take off. I launched off after her with Carly McKay and a rider from Tazzy. We got a gap before the corner and rolled turns for a few kms up the road. I calculated where I wanted to be for the pinch and in the break blowing myself up was not the right place as it was going to get caught by the sprint point.

I dropped back to the peloton and as predicted the break was swallowed up before the sprint. I didn't make it into the final half lap, as I came unstuck in the cross winds again but I did see a few familiar faces from Gove Cycles ladies shop ride watching from the roundabout.

Kimberly and Carly climbing the pinch

Totally delirious, we followed the final kms of the race back to the car park of Kryal Castle. Ruth Corset won the stage in an epic show of strength.  Results




Overall I can see where I need to improve and the massive gap to leap from club, to state, to national and to elite level. Bike riding takes a lot of hard work and it's a good thing that it is so enjoyable to train and socialize when we're not racing.

The awesome crew from Thule have supported my escapades to do the second half of the 2014 NRS and now I get to repay the favour at the Thule Bright 24 festival of Mountain Bike! It's not really going to be work when they have setup a great spot in the centre of Bright with food stalls, outdoor movies, demo bikes and of course the  Bright Brewery!

Warm-up on the TT bike in the Thule kit!

A big thanks also to Building Champions Women's Squad. Nicole McNamara approached me in April to join them as a guest later in the year and then coaxed me to guest ride for a few more NRS races in 2014. It's been a great introduction to teams racing where I have not had to lead and where I could learn so much more than racing for myself. The ladies on the squad have been so welcoming and sharing, it has been a life changing experience to do good, and do it well. I wish them all the best for 2015 and beyond as I really do see them "Building Champions".

Australian Masters Road Championships 2014

10:52 pm Unknown 0 Comments

Most of this second part of the year has been in training for the Master Road National Championships. The preparation was all coming together well, I hadn't got sick over winter or had any crashes or injuries and even better, the race was to be held in my home town of Ballarat. I'd entered all three events (TT, Crit and Road Race) with no real expectations of results as last year I'd come in 5th and 3rd in 2012. It all depended who would ride well on the day.



Shane and I headed down the day before the competition to do the warm up and had a special treat to meet up with Stephen and get some pics for the Courier and TV time on the local news channel. I was really excited, but realistically they were scraping for content as the footy season was over!



We were on the news that night and in the paper the next morning which was nice to see and made a bit of a spectacle of us riding up and back a country lane with nobody watching.

I've made the back page of The Courier - I'm big in Ballarat!
Shane got a bit of a write up inside the Sports section

Time Trial

Everything went to plan on the Time Trial except the forecast of sunny 20 degrees was a drizzly grey/cold morning instead. We found a great warm-up place near the start, got the equipment checked early with no problems, warm-up went to schedule with no hiccups and in no time at all the clock was counting down with me on the ramp.


Mad beats - Time to get a good tune stuck in your head!
It was a familiar ramp with familiar people, but I was not used to be held side-on like I have seen at the track. I was a little timid until Dave Morgan reminded me to look up the road!!!


Ready to roll!
I was off and rolling with the tail wind and everything felt great. The next section was side/head wind and I pushed on through it till the roller hills. I passed one rider through there on a road bike and it added to the motivation for the boring long headwind section to the turn around. I'd practiced it enough to know I had to keep aero and keep the pace on, but when I looked up the road there were cones blocking off the road and the turn-around was sooner than I expected. NO WAY!

A moment of confusion while I made hand signals with the marshal to indicate that this was REALLY the turn? Then it was tailwind after I'd turned around and I could get a mini break for a moment, but the visual reminder that there were riders chasing me and others up the road that wanted to be on the top step of that podium too.


Zippedy do dah! Stay aero!

I passed another rider on the way home on the hills and another rider further along... I think, it was all a blur to get to the final corner. I'd taken the final corner in the aero bars before and had almost made it around when that nasty headwind grabbed my front wheel. I wrenched it back under me and just managed to keep out of the gravel to punch hard on the way home.

Every other time this part was a tailwind. I'm not sure how much I had left at this point. I just wanted to get home NOW. When I realised there was a chance of making it under 30minutes it spurred me on. I finished with everything left on the road and gasping for air like a fish out of water with a time of 28:20.92.


Finale! We're done!
Once I composed myself a little more, I rolled back to the car to get on the wind trainer and cool down. All riders were back for WMAS1 and I'd come in fastest by 12.9 seconds (results) and I was now National TT Champion! WinTV completed a good 5minute interview and about 5 seconds of that has been included on the news that night.



It still doesn't seem real now. I've hung the medal up in my trophy cabinet and drunk the lovely wine from Sam Miranda Winery and the record books can do the rest.

Podium Action - 2nd Leanne Davies, 3rd Erin Kinnealy


Criterium

I was feeling a little rushed when it came down to the time to start the crit. Somehow I'd forgotten to organise lunch and I was on the wind trainer trying to coax the legs into getting all speedy and warmed up while I digested a hasty sandwich from earlier. By the time I rolled up to the start line everyone had signed on and I was trying to work out who the competition was. This time we were racing with Masters 2 in a combined group and were identified by headbands.

We rolled out and it was pretty controlled for the first lap, then attacks surged on from different groups but it made no sense that there were ladies chasing down other grades and keeping the bunch together. I tried a few attacks to raise the pace at different points around the course, but nothing stuck and there was not really anyone keen to keep the pace high. I didn't want to get it to come down to a bunch sprint but I was getting chased by everything that moved.


Sure enough the lead-out started, in the last corner before the finishing straight there was a bad move and one girl ended up riding in the grass and lots of shouting going on. This messed up my front runner chance, but I thought I was in for 3rd until just before the line I saw another headband pop into view and I was 4th overall.

The Results online are about as confusing as the race finish!

Danielle Garden - Bronze Womens Masters 1, Veronica Micich - 4th Womens Masters 1. Criterium @ Victoria Park. PHOTO: ADAM TRAFFORD

 Road Race

There was an extra day of rest before the road race. I always said there was NO WAY I'd ever do the elite nationals as I would be dropped on the first lap. Now this was my chance to ride the same course (3 big loops in this case) and put my money where my mouth was. There was massive expectation to win this race for my grade. I reset my expectations pretty early that this would not be the case, but I desperately wanted to get at least a top ten. We were going to race as a whole group of Masters 1,2 and 3 with no headbands and not in number order.


The start line trying to stay calm before the storm
We rolled out quite civilised and set a good tempo up the climb with Bridie O'Donnell and Jessica Toghill on the front until a rider from QLD rolled to the front and proceeded to rip our legs off. I made it up the first section with the group, but after the left-hand turn I was slipping through the pack. By the time the main climbing group had crested the KOM I could just see their wheels and gasp to CHASE! It seemed like there was nobody behind me, but suddenly on the descent we'd formed a group of 6 and managed to catch them in a few kms of hard work.

I'd burnt a book of matches doing this and started coughing up a lung. It hurt so bad to breathe and tasted like blood. In no time at all we were descending into town and taking on the climb again. I started up the front with Nicole Whitburn and didn't quite make it as far as the previous lap before everything was hurting again and I was going back through the pack. By the time I'd made it over the KOM they were out of sight and I noticed a few familiar faces join me for the chase.

Cresting the top of Bunninyong - yowch!

We had a bigger group chasing this time but we never caught the leaders again. Working together through the back section we nearly got to the follow car again, but lost group motivation. The next time we saw the follow car was heading up the hill again for the final lap.

Our group shattered and I just gave it all I could to keep on the pace and keep up on the final climb. We reformed into an even bigger group rolling consistent turns and started sweeping up riders. I was floored when I saw three riders rolling alone with about 10km to go. They were the Masters 1 race leaders! The lady I trailed 1 point behind to win champion of champions jersey was right there... and I had nothing left.


Early on in the race through town

As I helped make the catch right before the descent I couldn't believe it was going to come down to another bunch sprint for medals. I'd ridden the last section a few times ripping out some great sprints so I knew it was possible. We had a mixed bunch in our group, but I didn't think there were any other podium places left for the other grades, so it was a matter of picking through the finishers to get over the line first.

I was on Lisa Hanley's wheel and let her know. When we rolled in faster and surged on I was out of position and boxed in around MAS2 riders and it was all over, I rolled in for 5th overall. (Results - they divided the results)

It was finally over with a tough course and strong competition where anyone of us could have been the winner if it was up to the gods! I was pretty disappointed, but relieved it was all over and I could just rest. I must have been pretty tired when I got back to my parents place I fell asleep outside on the sun lounge fully kitted up.

My mini mention in Shane's article in the Wimmera Mail Times

Well the training will need to step up next year as I move up to Masters 2 category and they are FAST! Looking forward to that journey and I hope you join me on the adventure.