Mountains on road and off road - Amy Gillett Gran Fondo 2013

I have been busily gathering individuals to form teams in the background for the Thule Bright 24hr mountain bike race next month. In the mean time I had not managed to get out on the mountain bike at all! Finally on Friday I found my MTB shoes, threw on my helmet and headed straight out the door to work. It was somewhat liberating to be wearing casual clothes and ready to work straight from the street!


Many thanks to my friend Kate who is loaning me her gorgeous bike (red goes faster right?) for training and skills sessions in the lead up. I booked in with the Liv/Giant ladies to join them in the You Yangs on the Saturday a day before the Gran Fondo. It should be a low impact way to spin the legs out before a massive day on the tarmac.

New trails, picking lines and working out how to do it
I had a great time punching up the climbs, flowing along the single track and chickening out on all the technical descents. It was great to be back out on the trails and I got a real appreciation of all the work that has gone into track building in the You Yangs. What a FUN PARK! My next adventure needs to be planned again soon as it was heaps of fun and I need more practice before the big weekend.

Chicks day in the You Yangs - Photo: Jane Ollerenshaw
Keep an eye out for the upcoming Liv/Giant MTB sessions they are planning. I have to thank the ladies for being so supportive and encouraging, the 2 hours flew by.

Amy's Gran Fondo

I picked up our Hydralyte packs from the head office during the week and was excited to see the crew again. They were buzzing with pre-Fondo activity and had more helpers on board.

The HQ busy setting up for the masses

Sunday morning we all got together in our team kit for a big pic and setup for the ride ahead. We'd made plans on how to play out the day with Shane and Stephen from Kosdown Performance Cycling to try and make it up to the start with the National Road Series teams then Shane had to back it off by the climb as his collarbone is still in delicate stage and could come and join me for the rest of the ride.


The start was FAST and FURIOUS! I was in the second wave and noticed those NRS teams who rolled out in the first wave were standing on the side of the road before the timing mats waiting for other riders or team mates in other waves to join them before starting the ride. I didn't have any helpers to wait for, Dale Maizels and I who decided on the start line to ride together for the day were jumping from group to group and the kms flew by when we hit the bottom of the Skenes Creek Climb.

Dale and I getting ready for the start

I hit the bottom of the climb toward the front of the pack and started to climb at their pace which was way too hard for me, then filtered over to the slow lane to tick up the climb at my own pace. Dale joined me and we were picking our way through riders and getting passed by others in a hurry that seemed able to keep up a roaring pace. At some point Shane found us on the climb and settled in to join us for the day. I made it over the top of the climb and lost Dale at one point, but found each other again by Forrest.

Shane and I ready for the big day ahead

There was a water stop there and the bunch we were in peeled off to stop, so I called Shane up to the front to set the (cracking) pace and we forged onwards! The weather was gloriously sunny and there was no headwind that I had last year in the long section before the last climb. Feeling lucky, I had another gel and got ready for the final climb up to the finish line.

About 5km from the finish my calf started to cramp up and I panicked. Shane was out of water and I had less than half a bottle of Hydralyte left. We had to hit the finish line ASAP to make good time and keep ourselves in good nick. Keeping each other motivated, we ticked off the kilometres. When the road flattened out, it was a struggle for me to wind it up and push the pace when the next round of climbing kicked in. It's amazing what your legs put up with! I saw the 1km to go sign and kept pushing to the line to hear the announcers call out my name and then Shane's. 

These photos speak volumes - I had nothing left

Shane stoked at finishing

Congrats while we roll onward to the feed station

I made it to the feed station down the road and quickly filled up the bottles and stuffed in some fruit cake before the descent. Shane was super glad to get another drink and I found Dale again in the crowd before heading back down the final descent into town.

Dale and I at the feed station post race (my mouth full of fruit cake)
After a shower and recovery shake we walked into town to check out the official results and get our free lunch. Sitting in the sun, we met some Adelaide folk who had driven over for the ride and we exchanged stories of Tour Down Under.

My final time ended up being only 1 minute faster than last year and 1 place closer to the podium coming in 4th for my age category. Dale came in 2nd for her category and we both got UCI medals!


I'm delirious! But have a UCI medal :D

There were some ripping times from the Hydralyte team, but somehow our women's team was not registered correctly and we didn't get to contest our place from last year.

A great day out in the sun, awesome course, well supported and good fun ride. My friend Debbie who I rode the course with last month completed the Fondo within her personal goal time too. We both commented at the end of the ride how encouraging so many other competitors were during the day too. I'd definitely love to come back next year.

2013 NSW Masters Championships

This racing weekend has been on the cards for a while. A road trip to NSW to revisit their masters championship races again like last year. Unlike Victoria, they hold all three events back to back and I was keen to test out the same courses and test out the legs before the Masters Nationals next month.

Time Trial

The course is pretty good for the time trial, it has long flat sections, hills, rollers and wind. Any course that has a ridge line of windmills is going to have some wind! We drove up Thursday with the car loaded to the gills with bikes, wheels and bags. A recon of the course from Breadalbane to stretch the legs and then back in the car to Canberra to stay with cycling mates Tim and Jess.
The bike and legs felt good. Same wheels, helmet and setup for race day the next day.

TT Bat Bike ready to go!
Warmup complete, so calm - LET's RIDE!
Race day and I was up to race first in the morning. It was beautiful spring weather and there was pollen everywhere! The car was covered in yellow sticky film and my nose started to run. I forgot to pack hay fever tablets. I had a chat to the coach, got warmed up and in no time at all was ready to start. I rolled to the line to do my official equipment verification and then rode up and down the road to keep moving, when I noticed my gears were out of alignment. Not just a little, a lot and it was too late to change anything with 2 minutes to go.

Trying not to think about the gears on the start line

I got into a gear that I knew would not slip from a standing start and rolled out of the start tent in a slow measured manner, trying to wind it up. On the flat sections of the road it was manageable, but the rolling hills were a nightmare of mashing gears, under power, overpower, and second guessing any changes that might have put me in this position. I'd passed my minute rider, made it to the turn around and noticed the swarm of riders coming for me as I started the home trip back. I was off the pace and my head was in the wrong space. When I got back I was so upset and just wanted to re-do it over, but there are no second chances in at TT.

Nose running like a tap as I passed the finish line

When I saw the result that I came in third for MAS1, I was surprised and a little relieved that perhaps it hadn't gone so poorly after all.

3rd NSW TT Championship

Criterium

 Last year it was blowing a gale, there were multiple crashes, and someone wiped out on the main hairpin in front of me. With trepidation I lined up at the start line and noticed they had altered the course to a slightly bigger turn (instead of the hairpin) on loose gravel surface...

They gave us 1 lap to roll around and then it was a flying start! I had a great starting position, but was soon at the back of the pack trying to negotiate the fast, off cambre corners with the bunch.  After 4 laps a small group had snapped off the front and I was in the chase group. Two of my competition were in the lead group and my group was not interested or strong enough to bridge across to it.

Part of our lil' group
At one stage I found that I could not move up in the bunch so I threw in an attack up the home straight hill that dropped the rest of the Masters 1 riders from my group, and settled back into the rhythm.
Soon our turns were disrupted, I lost focus and next thing I know - I was off the back of the group in no man's land. A few of the lapped riders were pulled from the course and we were only 20mins into the crit! OUCH!

Solo land and sprint cars - they usually race on here!
I had 10mins left of punching out solo laps to secure 3rd place amongst the other groups that were fighting for their placings in their categories.


Masters 1 Criterium Champs - 3rd!

Road Race

 I really enjoyed the Road Race last year. Despite only making 36km with the bunch, I was really happy with my attacks through the first part of the race that helped pull apart the competition and I managed to hang in long enough to secure a 2nd place to Amber Jenkins.

Warming up in the fog. 

This year Amber was very aggressive with a few of the Masters 2 and 3 riders. They attacked and counter attacked through the first quarter of the race. This dropped a few riders, but the core group of at least 10-15 were able to hang on and stay in the bunch. Unlike previous races I was able to climb comfortably with the bunch, not panic and keep the pressure on with the counter attacks. I quietly congratulated myself and celebrated with a gel mid race when I made it further than last year. It's the small things sometime to celebrate on the bike to keep positive, motivated and distracted enough to keep going and forget about what it is you are trying to achieve - the impossible!

Our bunch was neutralised just after the turn around on the last lap. The leaders lost all advantage as the Masters 1 Men bunch came past and the rest of the race was a little slower than the first half with fewer attacks. The finish line comes after a long medium paced climb and I was sure this was where I was going to struggle this year. Instead I found a wheel to sit on and made it up with the bunch, at 1km to go the banners and flags for the finish were in the distance when the first kick came from the group.
I was on a wheel, then I saw the event flags on the side of the road up ahead and jumped from the wheel to kick for the line.... but that wasn't the finish line! That was the turn around point and Amber jumped around me for the last 150m, won the race overall and I rolled in for 5th!

A good learning experience and test for the legs and mind. We had a really good weekend of racing, met and caught up with a lot of great friends and competitors. The drive back to Victoria was a long haul between the two of us, ready for work the next day :)

Bringing home the spoils from NSW

Snow Safari 2013

This winter has been pretty mild. We are now in Spring, but before the last of the snow season had finished up, I had to get up to the slopes at least once. It has been a pretty full schedule of training and racing on the bike, so it was going to be difficult to squeeze in some snow days around it all.

The first few times I had some free days/weekends, the snow base was under 1metre which makes for patchy sad times up at the resorts. In Australia there are fees to get into the resorts, lift tickets are around  $90-$100 a day and on top of that, if you don't have your own gear you have to hire board/ski, lessons are again pricy - all up, it is a pretty expensive hobby.

I've been pretty lucky to meet some great people who organise a snow trip or two each year that they call Snow Safari. I've been going on and off for a few years and they do great deals for such a large group to travel up to Mt Hotham.

There were 2 buses leaving Melbourne. I jumped on at Spencer St and quickly got enthralled by my new iPad. We had a quick dinner at the Ovens Pub and then I promptly fell asleep for till about the last 10km up to Hotham when the bus driver started yelling "It's not that bad!" and I awoke to a world of white. It's the first time the fog has been so bad we could only see the orange line on the side of the road and the flashing lights on top of the orange poles for guidance. Though I knew each twist and turn from training and racing on those roads!

Yael and I ready for Snow - Safari style 

The next morning it was blowing a gale outside and the visibility was intermittent, but I was excited to be up there. It was first run of the season and my companion of the weekend Yael was cautious after taking last season off for hip surgery. I was a little cautious after my shoulder surgery, but dropping into the first run and making the first few turns - it was just like riding a bike - you never forget.

The snow was good and pretty dry for the day, however due to the crazy winds there were only 3 lifts open so it was black run weekend! We'd take Heavenly Valley lift up to the top each time and get our heads ripped off by the wind and ascend into the clouds like Monkey Magic. You could only see a few meters ahead and pick the terrain by the movement of the ski jackets ahead of you if you were lucky, or remembering a few key terrain points from the lift ride up. Once you got a little way down out of the clouds, it was great! Coverage was awesome and there was no ICE!

Sitting on side of a run taking pics just out of the fog line

By the end of the day we ski'd till they closed the lift and we had to go back to the village. It was great to get that last run where there was nobody there, the fences were down and you could pick lines that were your own on the soft snow.

That night we partied like it was 1999 and were in bed by midnight ready for the next day. I had only planned to snowboard for 2 days, so I had to make the most of it. We woke to a clear morning and rolling clouds, there might be some SUN in there! Today was the planned dress up day - so I donned my Zebra onezie over the top of the snow gear and headed out for the day.

Camouflaged with the snow - Zebra ready to snowboard!

After a few test rides on the Summit, we headed back down to Heavenly Valley to find out The Orchard was open! Last year I had some great fun over there and Yael had never been, so we went over with 1/2 the rest of the mountain. The lines were long, the runs were short and patchy. We found some mates out and about and headed back to Heavenly for coffee.

Not so secret Schnapps Bar at the Joyce Brockhoff Hutt - a pioneer in Women's skiing 


There was some junior ski racing on Snake Gully that looked awesome, but pushed the crowds to the other runs and carved up the main runs into moguls faster than expected. This switched the game plan around so we had a late lunch and went back to find the race finished up and we got to ride the race track as it was not chopped up!

That finished the day on a high note for me, we headed back to the Village when they closed the lifts and got ready for another night out. The vibe was gone from the previous night so it was in bed by 10pm and finally a sleep in for me.

Mt Hotham - Breast Cancer Fireworks


Yael sent me a SMS when I was at breakfast at how awesome the fresh groomed morning runs were! I spent the morning packing up, sipping coffee, having a massage, reading my new ebook and a light lunch before lining up for the bus home.

SMS pic from Yael - looks YUMMY!

I had a good weekend away. It would have been better with Shane up and running at full strength with us and always more snow, but there will always be next year!

Snow + Coffee = LOVE!

Sam Miranda Time Trial and Road Race 2013

I have been excited about the Sam Miranda weekend of racing for months. It was a tough race last year when they combined A- Grade women with B and C. This year the A- Grade women had an NRS teams race that I was itching to be a part of - but my fitness is not there yet so I had to be patient and keep riding at my current level. There would be enough fun to be had anyway!

There has been a lot going on with Shane after his crash. His clavicle moved out of alignment and was not healing the best requiring surgery. It was all scheduled for Saturday and I'd be home in time to pick him up. An earlier spot opened up for Friday morning and it threw my weekend out of order. I nearly cancelled everything to stay at home, but my awesome family stepped in and Shane had a harem of Micich women to attend him.


Time Trial


I dropped Shane off at the hospital and started the drive to the TT in Cheshunt, about 30km further down the road from Sam Miranda Winery. It is a beautiful area that was not diminished by the light drizzling rain. When I arrived I drove the course out and saw the little wineries dotted along the 16km road that started to climb slightly in the last 3km. (course profile)


OMG top of the TT course after 3hrs in the car! WooHoo!


It took a few minutes to unpack the car on the muddy ground and setup a warm up spot out in the drizzle. Rego was supposed to open at 12pm, it opened up 30minutes before my start making it difficult to rego and get my warm up done so I'll be ready to hit the line HOT. Thanks to team mate Tully Lyster who registered on my behalf and pinned on my number while I was on the trainer. It made a massive difference in that critical window of time. Great to be part of the KPC team on and off the bike.


The start felt awesome, as I rolled off the ramp - no nerves this time! I got into a good rhythm and could see my 30 sec chick, Jo Riley up the road. I caught her at around 3.5km in and kept the pace going, keeping motivated and punching up every rise. The last section toward the finish flattens out a bit and I remembered to use my gears as Tully flashes past me to take out B-Grade 1st place. It's the finish!!


A good ride! I was really happy to have a warm and dry jacket at the top, thanks to Paul Taggart from Total Rush. The results were going to be published online when all racing was finished and the race organisers could get within mobile reception range. When I saw the times, I knew they were out by approx 30 seconds which would have altered the podium positions. I contacted Cycling Victoria who were already on the job to resolve the timing issues and they corrected those riders affected. I came 2nd by 1 second in the Women's TT.

The sun was shining at Sam Miranda Winery for the presentations for the TT the next morning.




Road Race



It was nice to jump onto the stationary trainer in the sun for a change as I warmed up, a quick change of thermal layers and I was surprised to hear in the bathrooms from Kim Wepasnick that they were thinking of combining the B and C grade start at 11:30, bringing the B-Grade start time forward an extra 10 min earlier. That cut down the warmup even further and I scampered back to the car to get all my food before the new start time! I mentioned the difference to Doug Armstrong at the line, but his notes said both departing at 11:30am.

First 10km of the 102km (ride profile) were just rolling turns, I misread my race notes I'd posted to my top tube and thought there was a sprint, but that was 20km in! Oops, I had stirred up the pace line for a little while :) I came 3rd in the sprint for B-Grade to Anna and Nina.

A little worried about all these hill-climbers, I launched an attack around 33km that split the bunch for a bit, but they came back together just before the first real Queen of the Mountain (QOM). I was in struggle town, but fought my way back to the bunch with Nicky on the descent.

Things really settled down to a cruisy pace on those long straights out to Strade Nero. I slid up the outside of the bunch as I saw Simone lead out Anna for the next sprint at 44km. I was sitting on Anna's wheel and came through 2nd conserving for the final 2 climbs from here on in.

Anna and I were chatting on the front when the road kicked up again around 47km in and I said "I'll chat later" as the climbers started filtering to the front and I started going backwards. I could see them just up the road but I was not closing the distance on the 2nd QOM. Janet Keily passed me over the top and I caught her again on the descent down to the right hand turn. I saw Nicky was still with me as we started to climb.

The Strade Nero was in better condition than last year. Firm packed and a little squishy, you had to pick a good line and STOMP up the grade that just kept pushing back on you. I picked up 2 riders from the lead group, but the lead group were out of sight by the time we crested the top. Janet, Nina and Danae bombed down the hill and I was YAHOOOing as we went. 40+ kms to the finish from here.

The 4 of us rolled sporadic turns trying to work out who was in the lead group until the sprint at 87.2km. There was a bunch of men that came around us a few kms before the sprint. Janet picked up the pace, I jump over her wheel and keep the momentum going, Nina launched past me to the sprint line - we're out of points by this time and the guys have taken off up the road. I look behind and we had dropped Janet and Danae.

Nina and I worked TT turns for the next 10km and we could see the guys bunch still ahead of us and their lead car is behind another bunch. It's OUR lead bunch!!! The car drops out of the gap and we accelerate to jump to the car, it's 5km to go and we can make it back into the race!! I'm excited that we've worked out butts off and it might yet pay off!!

Coming up along side the commissaries' car he shouts something like we can get around the bunch, so Nina and I filter into their pace line, we get sworn at/cheered on by some guys and pop out the front. I take the lead and bridge to our bunch, going past them who look like they are standing still!

There is a combo of swearing and cheers from our ladies group at our appearance, we're about 2km to go and the women's bunch picks up speed and swarms past me. I struggle to hang on and am at the back as we hit the 2nd last corner. I've used up everything to get back to the front and roll in at the back of the men's group that has now mixed in and have possibly lead out the chicks at the front! Oh well, maybe they will change up the start order next time so the finishes are kept separate.

I rolled around to the group puffing on the side of the road, Nina made it to the front and contested the sprint against Anna and Simone! What an achievement, I felt like all our hard work was not for nothing if we were there at the end :) The photo finish had my mate Anna in first!! She also picked up another sprint point on the road taking that jersey too.

When I got back to the car, I had an SMS from Shane couch commentating and confirming he'd seen the online results and I'd came in 5th (still in the prize money). Fantastic result considering over 50km of chasing.

The main tent had a spot to hand back transponders and get a free lunch which was greatly appreciated! The hot food went down a treat and I saw Sam from Hydralyte there who will be at Amy Gillett Grand Fondo too. Just after I said a big thank you and goodbye to Sam from Sam Miranda, the NRS women's race finishes and I jump straight into the car to head back to Shane in Melbourne.

... Things you think about when going max on the bike - why is there a worm on my shoe?

Victorian Masters Road Race and Time Trial Championships

I love that feeling you get the moment you close the car door/front door and step out of the wind after a hard ride. It's all silent, your legs and lungs are tired, your cheeks are pink and starting to tingle from the sweat salt crystals forming and it's all over. I got to experience that twice this weekend at the Vic Masters Championships.

The weather was a pretty big player in the variables this weekend. A massive storm Friday night had blown a tree down in our yard, but not blown itself out by the time we'd driven to Lang Lang. It was blue skies and a pretty steady wind. As per usual the main topic of discussion was "what front wheel will be best for the Time Trial?"

I was assigned #1 and ready to set a good time. My progress has been slow and steady back to some form. I'm not where I was this time last year, but my last 2 Time Trials have been great pacing and pushing the level were I'm at right now.

Low and Aero

Really happy with the warmup and had my gear all ready, I rolled up to the start line as the last rider off. All the nerves settled as I had a chat to the officials and I was racing.  I caught the rider who left 1 min in front of me halfway though the 22km course. But with the way the wind played out, it was only a race to 19kms, with a tailwind home.

That final tail wind straight was not uneventful with only a single lane road, I had a truck laden with fresh veggies from one of the local farms come head on and only veer out of the way about 10m in front of me while I was ripping towards the finish line. I wasn't playing chicken on a TT rig! Further along I had two kids heading the same way on mountain bikes try in vain to "race" me and wobble all over the road that I gave a wide berth with 1km to go.

I crossed the finish line at 52km p/h and saw Shane sitting in the car a little further down. I waved and cooled down to the corner, then turned around to spin back to him. What I noticed when I got closer was the car was now stuck nose deep in the soft edge of the skinny road, totally dug in and obstructing half the road! WTF?!

Thankfully a local stopped and helped tow him out of the ditch a few minutes later. Lesson learnt after all the rain, the shoulders are a bit soggy!

Muddy subie, puffed Von, happy bike

All the hard work paid off with a GOLD in the TT. The official timing were a little out across the board, but the placings were ok and I was definitely a little slower than last year.

It was pretty warm on Sunday and the wind was still blowing, stronger than the day before! It was very reminiscent of last years Vic Masters Road Race, but half the distance.

The course was a beautiful circuit, that I found hard to appreciate. I'd genuinely love to come back to do the course again. Shane's assessment from the profile, that it was going to be dead flat - was not quite the case :)

We went out as a small group whittled down to 6 due to non-starters. Unfortunately they did not start us together with the larger group leaving after us. Finding our feet through the gravel in the driveway, and it was straight into the headwind, then when we turned into the tail wind it was ON!

We lost one rider rolling turns at low 40km p/h, I wished for a little minute the whole race would be like this. However after we turned the corner into the side-head wind and started rolling turns with the five of us, it was not so bad. Over a small lump, I thought that Shane was right about his paper assessment of the course profile, then I saw it. Don't panic! I wasn't sure how my legs were feeling after hammering myself in the TT the day before until we hit the main climb. 2 kms at 5.6% was like a slap in the face.

We'd lost another rider and there were 4 of us now. A slight reshuffle of places on the road and two riders shoot off the front and I'm dangling behind 3rd place. A kind word of encouragement from my competitor did nothing for my legs, and I could not go with them. I kept climbing solo and there were some nice winding green hills, then hit the ridge line and had to drop back into the valley.

At this point I am glad that I was solo as it was the most sketchy dry descent I've ever done with the cross winds trying to whip at my front wheel. I was leaning nose to stem and still getting swept across the road. Then it was flat to the finish and wind in every direction - trying to claw away at each kilometre. It was an interesting experiment of trying to mash away at a heavier gear to get back faster or spin a little more to get a little more balance and control.

At about 4km to go before the delicious tail wind section I lost concentration and my front wheel caught in a gust and slipped out. I felt the whole bike slip sideways in slow motion. As soon as I stopped pedalling I was at a standstill, unclipped mid-air and put my foot on the ground like nothing had happened. Mad ninja skills. A kilometre down the road it almost happened again and I stopped on the side of the road for one second to take stock. Nobody in front of me, nobody behind. I guess I have no choice - finish!

That crazy footage of dutch riders in crosswinds as seen on bigringriding

When the final corner came up I screamed thanks to the marshals and spun from 20 to 42 km p/h and was in HEAVEN! After the final left turn to the finish I felt a bit more like myself and crossed the line having earned every single km that I rode.  I came in first for my category, but I think anyone brave enough to finish deserved a medal.

Looking like I'd been assaulted by the wind, but nicely recovered with a Torq shake

GOLD - hard earned.
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)