Festive 500 in progress and workout tracking

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Summer is a great time to clock up the base kilometres, building endurance, checking out new routes, revisiting old ones and reminiscing about faster segments.

I've been looking for a few ways to track progress and set new challenges and the first challenge for me is completing the Festive 500! The target is 500km between Christmas eve and new years eve.

I started with a few days off the bike due to a small mishap trying to put my bike together and losing part of the seat post clamp in my frame somewhere.

A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on

The day before the challenge we arrived in Horsham in crazy hot heat and did a leg spin in the early evening. This totally shrivelled my hope that it would be easy to clock up the kms on the flat terrain.

Warming up on the Horsham Track - the only action this track will see this Christmas with the Carnival moving to Ballarat instead.

On Day 1 we knocked out 106km in the morning before it got too warm out. I had to get back to work phone calls and I really struggled in the last 20km. It was the first time I had clocked up that distance in months, and was grateful to have Shane nurse and encourage me to the final petrol station outside of town to re-fill bottles and spin easy home.

A small detour in the works to drain a little colour from the landscape

Mt Arapiles - no vert in this hurt

Day 2 was Christmas morning in Horsham and 52km were complete before present opening! I had picked up a new Fondo kit for myself as a present and it was great to ride in something super aero in the head and cross winds. Shane and I shared the load of work and I felt vaguely useful, but it sure took a little while to warm up after such a big day before.

A photo posted by Shane Miller (@gplama) on

Day 3 We had progressed on our regional family tour to Ballarat and it was cold, raining and bloody windy again! Declaring a rest day - there were no complaints. Shane bought a ultrasonic cleaner in the sales and we all got smooth running drive trains :)

Day 4 in Ballarat and it was certainly a good idea to get some vertical ascent. Stephen Lane joined us and we headed out to Buninyong Road Nationals course. I managed a solo lap before catching up with Serene Lee and friends. We rolled 2 laps and showed her the lay of the land, before settling down for coffee. While out and about Peta Mullens was motoring around the course, sharpening up before the big event of Elite Nationals in a few weeks. We rolled back past the Christmas Track Carnival in Sebastopol and that was enough for me in the wind for one day with 73kms in the bank.

Peta looking pro with Shane and I goofing around

I've completed 231kms total and was looking at ways to continue to plan and track this. A basic Strava account tracks the progress to date for a challenge. In past history I have used an excel spreadsheet.

Basic Accounts
I've used Training Peaks over the last year and started to play with Today's Plan to compare the features. The issue I have is that with the basic accounts for these 2 products, is you cannot plan out any future workouts.

With Training Peaks, if you want to alter the planned daily workout (that you or a coach has setup), you can adjust any of the target values. This is not possible in Today's Plan. It reports on what has been executed against the set regime. If you have not purchased a Plan, you cannot setup a target for the day and then upload a ride to see if you have met it. It will just log whatever you have executed.
Also there are no fancy graphs in the basic Training Peaks, only totals for the week.

Premium Accounts
Strava allows you to compare your workout against your previous workout/rides and what the other products don't offer - comparison against other riders. The premium version of Strava allows further breakdown of other riders in your age and weight class, plus all the other goodies that the other players have.

The other main features for these products are - detailed power analysis, future workout planning and adjustment, canned/generic training plans, progress tracking at workout and training plan level.

There are other little unique features that try and differentiate each product, but they are pretty much all equal apart from the price points. I have years of data in Training Peaks, some backlog in Garmin Connect, and patchy coverage in Strava. I haven't worked out which product to use for myself this next year, so I'll keep tracking the remainder of my Festive 500 in Strava.

Progress at snails pace

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Instagram: May have put on a few kg being sick and not riding my bike... All the better to fill out this RAD kit!
Thanks to @petamullens for the kitInsiration. Only in my wildest dreams and about 10yrs younger would I ever get to ride for Wiggle Honda #aussie #champ
But I could still kinda wear it for TTs? #motivation #fitspo

I've been to doctors, specialists, had sinus surgery, gone through a round of infection and am on my 2nd round of antibiotics. I think I am on the mend and promising my Mum to take it slowly.

The funny thing is that now exercise is no longer a habit that I could indulge in and spend ALL my time planning training sessions and the next race... I am at a bit of a loss to what to do!

I've been helping out the BCWS get organised for 2016 and we were tracking along pretty good until Specialized pulled out at the last minute and our major sponsor did not come to the party. I've pushed my social networks to the limits with organising a wine drive that was 2x as successful as last year.

Wine Fundraising Drive

It's still something I feel very passionate about - providing opportunities for women to race at all levels in cycling in Australia. I've about exhausted my limit for helping though for the next few months and need to get back on the bike myself. So for 2016 I will be focusing on my riding again and will not be joining BCWS.

Pack er up! Let's get back riding with Tara Tarmac!

Work has been going pretty well and I'm hoping it will continue to do so next year as organising myself and my bike has not been an issue for me in the past and work is flexible - apart from the travel side of things, but I'm not complaining as winter in Perth was just lovely!

Work session in Kuala Lumpur

I've also been keeping busy participating in a spine study with Deakin University and received a free MRI of my spine, looking forward to seeing the results of this.

Next challenge is also investigating which tracking tool to use for my riding? Strava, Todays Plan, Training Peaks? There are so many options with different benefits and price points.

These are not my numbers, mine are much worse

Next year I will also be part of Bicycle Network's - The RACV Ascent. A women's only premium event for cycling that has setup a 100km gran fondo style event in Melbourne's Dandenongs - closed roads, mad beats, delicious goodies, free RACV Bike Assist for the year and free training sessions to get ready and confident for the day. Sounds like a great initiative to me, I doubt they will get large numbers, so it will be an even better experience this first year to get in when it is not crowded.

https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/the-ascent/


In the mean time I am also looking forward to the Rapha Festive 500 informal challenge this holiday season. Something about publicly committing to the effort makes it worth going out in 40+ degrees to pump out the kms worth it. Or I might be slightly crazy... Bring on 2016!

A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on

Starting Again

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One concept that is pretty familiar to every competitive cyclist is starting again. There are always set-backs to any grand plan and some re-adjustment needs to occur or sometimes you don't quite meet your goal, so it's back to the drawing board to reassess and give it another go. I've observed this in a few occurrences this year.

There have been many failed Everesting attempts that I have read blogs on that have outlined the journey, what they did to prepare, how they went on the attempt, where things started to go wrong and the final decision to pull the pin. Some re-attempt, or try another hill or find another challenge.

I've been involved in and watched massive pile-ups in the National Road Series this year. Coming back from injury is only one part of the equation that is pretty logical, the other part is the mental toughness and psychology behind putting yourself back into race mode, putting yourself back into the danger zone.

This year has been a total rollercoaster for me. Unlike every other year I have raced, I haven't achieved ANYTHING of note on the bike. My biggest victory was a C-Grade Vets win over the guys in Bacchus Marsh. Between, my initial crash in Jan I've been continually sick, so I've focused on work to the point of relocating for 3 months and totally losing all momentum and base I had one the bike.

So, I'm starting again. I've just come out of successful sinus surgery this week. I'll have a few weeks off the bike to recover that I will not fill with work and extra stress and I'm starting from scratch.

I've got all the baggage of winter weight, sickness, failed attempts, crashing, travel and the passage of time to overcome. Not to mention a new home base suburb to find bunch rides to join in Melbourne again!

I haven't set an end goal yet or even my first target, I'm doing that over the next few weeks. But I genuinely do look forward to starting again.
Cycling

Interested in the sport side of cycling?

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At some stage recreational road riders think about dabbling with the sport of cycling. I was asked to present on this subject on panel at a forum in Perth and I thought I'd share my notes so you can gain an insight from my perspective.


From recreation to sport
You know the benefits of cycling, what does pinning a number on mean?

* For me it's about setting a goal (Does the course interest you, would you like to complete a tour, mastering a tough crit track, or set a PB on a TT course).
* It makes every session on the bike relevant and working towards a goal. I have limited time outside of work/family.
* I want to achieve something outside of work/family time and in competing this hits the target of personal satisfaction and achievement.




Making the step from cycling for recreation to competition?
* Find events that suit you (Age based, terrain, race type - eg: criterium).
* Read up on the basics of racing and Race Rules (eg: no crossing the middle line, pin your number on low and visible to the officials, take your license to all events as they can use them as leverage for timing transponders, no drafting in an individual Time Trial).
* Watch videos and read up on race craft (how to use the teams and groups on the road to your benefit in a scratch race, find out course wind/conditions).
* Up-skill with essentials – criterium corners, TT start ramp, getting a bottle from a car, bunny hopping, using the car convoy in a race safely.
* Race etiquette - eg: don't sprint for more than 10th place or overlap wheels.

Criterium Cornering

Why women should race/Motivators?
* Achievement
* Be awesome role models to other women and girls
* It's a great support network and strong camaraderie. Racing women are so encouraging of each other
* The options to travel to unique places and seeing the nature and surrounds
* Teamwork aspect
* Hard work pays off (what you put into it- training, organisation, gear)



Camaraderie, hard work and teamwork wins races

Major barriers to women’s racing and how they can be overcome:
* Recognition in races. Events must have women’s prizes for races held.
* Perception from others that women shouldn’t race or be competitive.
* Women’s events don't matter or are not equal to the men’s races or not competitive enough to showcase.
* Biggest barrier is the lack of entry numbers

Different levels of racing- club, state and national:
* Age (junior, senior open, masters) vs Ability (A, B, C) race groupings.
* Each state has road, TT, and criterium championships.
* Other race events are held around Australia and New Zealand: Masters Games, Oceania championships.
* You don’t need to qualify to enter the Australian National Road Championships (Road race, TT, criterium), however you will typically be racing against elite trade team riders.



Cycling

Zwift Indoor Cycling

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I've been playing around with ZWIFT for the last few months and I've clocked up a few kms, won a few jerseys and generally enjoyed my ergo sessions on both the Kickr and Lemond a lot more.


Shane suggested we sign up for a hot lap at the product launch at Bike Gallery in Melbourne. I was not too keen to sweat it out under the watchful eye of a room of drinking cyclists, but there was a chance at $500 for the fastest lap.

Shane was invited by the creators to meet the night before the event and I was curious to see what they were like, how serious and far along the development of the product they were and how far they wanted to take it. Working in IT, I had a good appreciation for the effort, budget, logistics and magnitude of the task ahead of them. Good Luck!


Seda looking cool while I am half-dead from my hotlap

I was a little late the next day and arrived with the event all in full swing. I got changed and knocked out a PB on the lap by a few minutes. I had not tried to do a full lap before and it was great to do a solid time. Later in the evening, Trek Fondo rider Seda Camgoz completed a great time and piped me for first place.




Shane set the best time for the night and took home a massive cup and a cheque for $500. Surprisingly the Zwift guys asked if Shane could attend the Sydney event to take on the riders in NSW with an expenses paid trip! The answer was YES! Overwhelmed and over tired it was a big day.

That Friday afternoon we travelled up to Sydney for the finals. It was my first visit to the Rapha Cycle Club and they have a lot of stock on the floor and a great setup. I spoke to Matt Keenan when he arrived and was eager to set another time as I had not had a chance to ride that day with working as well.


I ripped out a better time than in Melbourne, but was taken to the cleaners by the Champions in Sydney who I was in awe of their stamina and awesome power! Shane won the men's time and we had a great dinner afterwards with the team before flying out the next morning for normality with his oversize novelty cheque and trophy.

A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on


It was a pretty early one morning when I woke up to do my workout indoors before work and it was with some trepidation I booted up my laptop with the fresh version of Windows 10 I'd set going overnight. I logged in with my fingerprint for the first time ever and the first thing I loaded was Zwift. It ran on first launch! As I sat warming up for the hill session I had planned for on Watopia I had to reflect that it was pretty cool that something we make for work at Microsoft was awesome to play with too!

All in all it has been an awesome rollercoaster ride with the Zwift team, good fun indoor eSports, healthy competition, and constantly changing virtual worlds to ride on. I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Tour of the South West

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Last year I had a ripper ride in B-Grade. This year I was back in A-Grade again and was ready to test the legs again. My training was good right up to the head cold I got in the week leading up and the short sharp stuff was on target.

First Stage was the TT

I did a course recon the day before and remembered exactly what I needed to do. I nailed the pacing, got a PB for power on the course and a better time than last year. Overall in 10th place at the end of the stage. I did not feel well after that, but soldiered on for the afternoon road race.





We got a little held up in town and were late to the start! Literally built the bikes, pumped the tyres and rolled up to the start line. Thank goodness the rain stayed away, the wind was ever present but manageable. I used this session to really test myself at different points. Up the punchy hills, into the corners fast, punching the head wind and moving up the group.  I got a little unhinged from the group in the last headwind section home and grovelled home solo.





The last stage was a hill circuit criterium the next day. I was not feeling the love and Shane had pulled out of his race before the start as it was still pretty wet at that time. Warmup was good and it was interesting watching the riders try and rally the troops to get some momentum and assistance to finish strong overall. I lasted for the first part of the stage and then died a slow death until they pulled me out. Probably not worth sticking around... the best thing about the day was the salted caramel slice and red star coffee in Camperdown on the drive home.

The stage race put me backwards a bit health wise and I was craving some sunshine. I had a work trip lined up for Perth and was excited to see a weather forecast of sunshine lollipops and rainbows at around 25 degrees!

Perth in May

I did a little morning ride the first day to get my bearings, on the Saturday we went out to do a course recon of the Time Trial course for the UCI Worlds. It was such a lovely warm sunny day and it was sooo good to get out and about. It felt a bit naughty to walk into the hotel with a bike up to the room though :)



The next day Shane had lined up a time trial for us to do. I was protesting silently by not taking ANY aero equipment, but regretted it as soon as I rolled up to the start line. It was 4x laps = 20kms that I would have preferred to sit in the sun and enjoy the day ;) In the end I got to have a moment of peace after the race in the sun before the long cycle home.

A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on

Ramping up in April

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In April we had a Cycling Victoria Women's Ride event and I joined the Fondo ladies to complete their hilly course. It was a great morning out and I made a few new contacts and finished up with scones!! My favourite!

A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on

We've been having a pretty wet Autumn and it's been difficult to make the call whether to ride outside. One weekend we had a pretty stormy Saturday and had committed to race the Eureka Vets out at Balliang.  It rained and was windy as hell all the way out there. I warmed up on the trainer under the tennis court shelter as I watched the rain roll in waves and it finished up just as A-Grade rolled out and then rolled out with C-Grade men over the hilly course.

I climbed with the leaders and got dropped on the last few kms back into the finish and came in solo for 3rd! Totally stoked with the podium, I felt I had earned the prize money as it was a very tough ride home.


A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on

From highs, to lows.... the weekend after was ANZAC day and we raced again with Eureka Vets in Ballarat. It was misting rain, freezing cold, ripping headwind circuit course that finished on a hill climb that used to be a part of the Elite National Time Trial out near Learmonth.

I liked the circuit, however everything felt really hard. The headwind was hard, the effort felt hard, and halfway into the first lap of the handicap I got dropped. Into the 2nd lap I realised that I had a slow leaking front flat and I was over the cold and wind. I climbed up the finishing KOM on the rim of the wheel, and waited for Shane to finish.

2015 Veterans Victorian and South Pacific Championships

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Vets Weekend Racing


I'm just getting back into a little racing. Last weekend I went to the outskirts of Bendigo to race with the Central Veterans for a nice 45km race in the warm sun. I was pretty hesitant that I would have enough fitness for B Grade men, but I was able to hang in to the final sprint and managed to come in 5th.


The next day we were in Ballarat with the family and there was a morning Criterium with Eureka Veterans racing and I joined in with the B Grade men again. The legs were a little stiff backing up the racing for the second day, but I tried to keep the pace on and even managed to attack a few times. I was not able to go with the guys in the intermediate sprint, but I was there for the final one and just missed Bob Morely who came down on the front at the last corner. I think I rolled in for 5th before going back to help Bob off the course before A Grade came through.

I had targeted the Maryborough Easter Vets Champs as a good option to get some more targeted racing and a little bit of fun.

Day 1 - Road Race 45km


With all our pre-preparation, Shane and I still made it to the start later than I would have liked. In no time at all I had changed, got on the bike and had a mini roll around to the start line. I'd heard that Slane was coaching a new lady who was going to be racing. I wanted to say Hi and introduce myself to Anna Davis and wondered how I would pick her out... turns out she was in Kosdown kit so it was pretty easy to find her!  We rolled out for the first few kms chatting and swapping notes on the coach.

Anna Davis, Nik McNamara, Von Micich. Photo: South Pacific Veterans Cycling Championships Facebook Page

With age groups combined it was always going to be a race within a race. The group strung out when the first hill came up around 15km into the course and the pace picked up and up! The rolling turns stopped and I was poorly placed to go with the leaders. Leap frogging riders from the other groups and trying to make my way steadily to the front before major gaps formed was unsuccessful. I made it up to Nicole McNamara who had just dropped off the leaders in Anna Davis and Dale Maizels.

We chased on and on for the remainder of the ride, but didn't manage to close the gap. Nicole and I worked together and I rolled across the line in 3rd. A very strong ride by the leaders and foretelling some exciting Time Trial performances to come.

Day 2 - 300m Sprint


There are some days I feel rock solid and other days I'd rather stay in bed. I had entered the 300m sprint as part of all the events of the weekend, but I was not feeling the love when I got out of bed. I had actually been practicing the sprints in the last few weeks and my technique was starting to come together pulling on the bars evenly without any pain now and getting low and aero when spinning up the engine.

My mental game was not strong and I started off too slow and finished off ok, but overall not a contender for fastest female time. Enough to set the winning time for my category, but I was pretty disappointed that it didn't come together on the day after all the practice.



Day 2 - 14.8km Time Trial


The same afternoon was the Time Trial over a pretty flat course. It was the first time I had taken the shiv TT bike out on the road since Tour of Bright. It has been seriously abused indoors on intervals and trips around Zwift Island.

First time trial in my HOT Aussie Champ TT Suit!  Photo: South Pacific Veterans Cycling Championships Facebook Page

It was great to get out and put everything together into the ride. I paced the course perfectly for what I had in the tank and current fitness. A win for my age category. Sometimes I wish you could apply those same things to every race (just apply x2 power please!). The ride of the day was not only Shane's blistering fast time, but also Anna Davis' fastest Female of the day at over 42km/h!

Day 3 - Criterium 20min + 2 laps


Such a SHORT crit on a pretty good course. All the women's grades were together again in this race and I wanted to be near Dale as we have raced closely together and know each others styles. We rolled out easy and before the first lap was completed I was in a break away with Dale and Anna.

I couldn't keep up the pace and dropped off the back of them soon to be picked up into the chasing group of Nik McNamara and Eliza Bergin. To my surprise Dale soon dropped back solo to our group and we had a group of 4 to race on with. At different points in the course we put pressure on, but it was an attack I put in 5mins from the end that snapped off the group with Dale in hot pursuit. She rolled through for a turn of pace and we rolled away with a gap to maintain it to the sprint finish. I'd won my age group, but wondered if I could give my sprint another go after the effort to get away. In the end I tried to jump when Dale went but stuffed up my gears and didn't have enough legs to keep it on to the line.

Day 3 - Recovery Ride in Ballarat


I jumped in the car and had Easter Lunch with the Micich clan in Ballarat. They had stuffed themselves over breakfast, so I got to indulge and over-eat at lunch. Jacob was itching to go for a ride and came downstairs ready to go in a hoodie, which was not going to cut it with the weather that had just rolled into town. The cold wind and threatening drizzle needed a wind-stopper jacket, so he loaned my Tinelli jacket for the afternoon's adventure.

We had a lovely lap of Lake Wendouree, up and down the lookout in town, up Dana St Hill and a lap of the crit course in Victoria Park.


Day 4 - Handicap 60km


The event was not officially part of the championship, however those in the know stay on for this little jewel. We had over 100 starters and I had 11 riders in my bunch starting 22 mins after the limit group and 17mins before Shane in the Scratch bunch.

As with most handicap races there was a lot of talk about staying together, working well as a team, not attacking each other before scratch comes through. It lasted about 15 kms and then turned into every other handicap race.

I knew that Shane would come through like a freight train and take no prisoners, so I just kept rolling turns and hoping like hell we would make it far enough up the road not to be too toasted to keep up with the general bunch that latches onto scratch.

We were caught a few kms before the left hand turn into town and there was no effort made by riders to keep left and allow the scratch bunch to pass safely.
I hung back resigned to back of the bunch and finished up a minute or two behind the mad fast riders knowing I'd had a solid ride and good day out.
Shane finished up with fastest time and Scratch KOM, so shouted Slane and I lunch before heading home. Great day out!

Presentations


South Pacific Sashes for any occasion

Sash Party

Medals for the State Titles

Life on and off the road

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Tara - my new ride for 2015
It's only been a fews weeks post crash and it's been all action stations on many fronts.

The first week was focused on assessing current state, verifying the scans and blood tests by the doctor.

I visited the surgeon who inserted the pin from my original crash to assess the impact of the fracture and bent pin. The good news is that the bend is minor enough not to cause misalignment in the clavicle and we can just let it all heal in place.

Then when all was confirmed to be good to go and heal, a little bit of physiotherapy to get some movement back into my neck, upper back and more mobility after coming to a sudden stop at over 40kmph.

When I setup my bike again for the first indoor session there was some great relief to get my restless legs spinning over, the blood flowing after days on pain killers and anti inflammatory drugs.

In summer it is not that usual for me to smash out an indoor trainer session, but the first few sessions have been an awesome endorphin rush. A frustration and emotional release while pushing the pedals from building up over the summer to get ready for my first race and to have that ruined and everything reset.

I've been dieting still and eating fresh, clean foods, my body was in shock and instantly I have been carrying 3-4kg more than usual making my whole body feeling foreign. I'm looking forward to the days where it all feels easy and the only hurt is the self inflicted push of the legs and burn in the lungs... ahhhhh!

A photo posted by Shane Miller (@gplama) on

In the mean time, I've been travelling for work in the last week and unable to carry bike bags so I managed to line up a session at Hall Cycle Training in Perth. These guys have the setup nailed! I rocked up early in the morning in kit with my shoes and smashed out an interval session on cyclops spin bikes with it all hooked up to a resistance power meter that took no prisoners.

The extra nice feature was the session was all recorded and saved back to my Training Peaks account for my coach to check out.



The next session I booked in for was at the Athlete Lab in Sydney. I had a morning free before work to wander in and see a group session in progress. There were rows of cyclists watching race footage and following an interval session all pre-programmed to their FTP. On the massive full wall projection they had each individual's power/speed/cadence up there so they could look at the numbers and just RIDE!

It was a humid morning, but the 50 million fans kept the air moving for my intro session that was located off to one side of the main stage. I have to admit that it was not my best day, but I struggled through the 5min intervals and felt more refreshed after a shower and ready for the day ahead. The workout files can again be hooked up to Strava or Training Peaks.


I'm not a gym girl and wouldn't know what to do in one, but I'm in my element in a spin room. One thing I noticed that impacted me was bike fit. Setting up the position (if you know how you like to ride) is really important for a good session and also for the long sessions to prevent injury.

I'm back travelling for one more week to some different areas in Sydney so I'll see if I can find some more places to check out and spin it up! In the mean time, enjoy the Summer people and I'll see you out on the roads when i can use my left shifter and breaks :)

A photo posted by v0nm (@v0nm) on

I picked up my new bike from The Ride Cycles - Her name is Tara! Fully equipped 2015 Tarmac with:

- 11 speed Shimano Dura Ace
- 40mm Roval carbon clincher race wheels
- S-Works Quark power meter

I'm looking forward to getting back out on the road soon!
Bike build in progress!! Check out that RAD paintwork!

A few extra essential items
The Ride Cycles putting out their best carpet for Tara's launch

Tara and Von at the BelAir lookout in Adelaide last month

Tara resting in the little ring on the side of Willunga waiting for Ritchie Porte to win the stage of the TDU.

Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race 2015

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First of all - I am so happy to get a start my first 2015 race officially with Building Champions Women's Squad in the inaugural Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race.



I was very excited to ride with our guest and great athlete Rachel Neylan who had been so strong in Ballarat to come second in the National Championships and had competed strongly for our team at the Women's Tour Down Under coming in 5th overall.

It was also great to be back with my regular team mates Minda and Lydia to race along side them and share training stories from the summer.

Fitting in some long training rides and short sharp efforts in preparation for this race, I was looking forward to the awesome gruelling course.

Here are the highlights from GreenEdge:


Unfortunately I got caught up in the crash featured around 2:20 on the video about 13kms into the race. I thought that I could avoid getting caught up in the wheels that were crashing on my right, then I was forced into the grass and I thought that with a bit of CycleCross I'd be ok, until some bikes slid across the grass in front of my front wheel and I got an awesome ramp and air off a pair of Zipp wheels at 41kmph, did an epic flip over the handlebars ending up by the fence.

I picked up the bike, reseated my bottles, checked my wheels and was back on the bike in only 45 seconds. Chasing, chasing, I could see the peloton. I got a mini motor pace and could see the bunch still pulling away. How fast were they racing? My ride was gone in what seemed like an instant and I motored myself along solo to bridge the gap.

Verita Stuart who had been caught up in the crash came past me after Barwon heads and I held her for about a minute then realised I could not go the same pace and we'd lost sight of the bunch. Another 10km or so I did a check on the shoulder and realised it was not so good. The Sag Wagon caught me up and I reluctantly got in the van. My first ever Sag Wagon experience - I was initially angry and then relieved when I started to get nauseous as the waves of pain hit me.

Blue line indicates the original straight line of the pin. Red box shows the new fracture site.

I made it to the finish in time to see my team mate Rachel Neylan being handed the awesome winners trophy and when I jumped the fence to give my team mates a hug I realised how bad my injury really might be. We had some welcome lunch to celebrate Rachel's win that was organised by our sponsors Feelgood Fitness Bendigo. I went home for a shower and to get out of the kit (which did not have a scratch on it) and headed in for the scan to confirm my suspicion that I'd re-broken my left clavicle.

Positive things I noted about the race:
- The team presentation the day before was awesome way to represent the sport, our sponsors and a nice public event. We felt special for those 2 minutes on stage.
- The setup and organisation was the best ever encountered in a race. Separation from the crowds, space to warm up out of the elements without having to pay for the privilege as revenue raising from race organisers.
- Great team entry, accommodation and good amenities for the athletes.
- How lucky we were to race on such prominent main roads I've trained on in high traffic and bad weather over the years.
I've got to take a different path to racing now to what I had planned for this part of the season. A few work trips in February and March with more spin classes than summer deserves, but we will see how I can mix things up for the next quarter instead. 

Thanks for all the well wishes and hits on the site. Over 20k now!! You Rock!



An interview of Rachel with us packing up in the background.

2014 in Review

2:11 pm Unknown 0 Comments

Well if you had have told me what this year had in store for me, I would never have believed it or could have fitted it all in.
  • Started a new job as a Senior Delivery Project Manager for Microsoft Australia.
  • Competed in 41 races (not including stages in Tours)
  • Cycled over 13,000kms 
  • 540 hours on the bike
  • Currently holding 211 Strava QOM's
  • Riding my bike in WA, SA, VIC, ACT, QLD
  • Australian Masters 1 Time Trial Champion
  • Victorian Masters 1 Metro, Road, Time Trial and Criterium Champion
  • St Kilda Cycling Club Time Trial Champion 
  • My first bike review published in RideOn Magazine



Mega thanks to Kosdown Performance Cycling for supporting me for the last three years. Kosmos Samaras is a great supporter of developing racing cyclists and David Downie (the owner of Kosdown) is a great supporter of cycling. Shane Miller has encouraged me to keep pushing boundaries and my fitness goals and Stephen Lane has supported and helped me to achieve them! I'm a big fan of everything these guys do and will be there to cheer them on too.



2015 Plans:


  • Continuing on as a Specialized Women's Ambassador.
  • New Cycling Team - Building Champions Women's Squad. Three of the KPC riders are now on this team (Lauretta, Emma and I)!
  • Spectating at the Road Nationals in Ballarat and Tour Down Under.
  • Racing the National Road Series Races.
  • Racing Victorian Road Series Races.
  • Racing the 2015 Tour of Fiji and learning more about the country.
  • I'd like to extend my riding adventures to Tasmania and Northern Territory for the first time.

Thanks to all my supporters online and on the roadside. I'm looking forward to more cheers and fun this year!

Riding with my BCWS Chicks