VonRider

So I had this bright idea that I could make it across town to do a crit after work during the week all the way out at National Boulevard at Campbellfield. I could take the train right near work and the Upfield station is right around the corner from the circuit. Unfortunately with Melbourne public transport dramas, it didn't turn out to be the best idea.

I hate that anxious powerless wait that you can do nothing about when you're on the train and you are late. It took me back to when I used to have anxiety attacks going to work when my boss would rip through me that my train/tram 1.5hr commute ran late or infreqent to my first job across Melbourne. I had another bright idea to notify the race organisers that I was on my way and I'd be a late entry so I could just pickup a number and RACE. A long shot but it put me at some ease.

I mostly went out there for more leg speed and to see if hanging in with the guys the previous Saturday was a fluke. Made it to the rego desk 5mins before race start, pinned the number on and started to spin around the small loop of the course. No warm-up, let's get stuck into it!

I was surprised how big the field was in Men's B-Grade. We rolled out and settled into a rhythm - it was windy on the downhill finish and that meant the usual rest section was a struggle. A few attacks and an established breakaway of about 6 riders was away 25mins in. At one point I tried to bridge, but the wind was too much and the pack swallowed me up in no time.

Before you knew it was 3 laps to go and I was congratulating myself for making it so far. Just hang on! Concentrating on every move up the road it was show time. The pace picked up for the third last lap, dropped the pace on the second last lap when the bunch realised it was not going to reel in the breakaway then hit the roof. I was hanging on for dear life but got dropped on the rise into the last corner again. Rod Upton gave a word of encouragement as he came around me to join the bunch as they gathered together for a very neat bunch sprint. I was willing my legs to just jump onto the back of the group to cross the finish line but the sprint shattered the group and I rolled in with the mid-pack across the line.

Lots of smiles and grimaces at the end. It was a good race, had to be on your game with the wheels moving around in the wind, but it was fun.

Friday night we got in late to Horsham and I was up early Saturday morning to get the kms in with the local bunches and fit in some family time.

Enjoying the sunshine & tailwind

Only a 40km loop, but again the conditions and skill of the riders made it an interesting morning. I didn't know the route exactly, but felt confident to hang in with the group. Said a few friendly hellos at the start and then we were on from there. Part of the start of the course was the same as the Rifle Butts route from the previous trip, but then we went further out and I started to get a little turned around where everything started looking like where we'd already been. I just relied on calls for turns and kept going. A few riders dropped off, a few riders sat on, and a few riders drove the pace. A rolling hill kick into the sun where you couldn't see was won by a local trackie over the whole bunch. I had to be reminded to roll the right way into the wind as the road snaked around on the way back toward town. Within the last 5kms the pace kicked up towards the 45km/h mark and back into the headwind the bunch was echeloning across the road. I think I rolled one turn and then dropped back to the group and couldn't make my way back in to the group rolling turns. Trying to hide out of the wind was impossible, forced into the gravel. I gave up and rolled back into town with the guy that got popped about 1 minute before me.

Rear of a llama.

After a coffee to restore all that is good in the world, Shane woke up from a sleep in and met me at Cafe Jazz, where we caught up with Mark Pumpa who organised the Horsham Tri. Afterwards Shane and I rolled out for another 40km. It was dry paddocks and blue skies for us. I LOVE a headwind ;) but this time my gorgeous husband was saving my legs for tomorrow's crit. After what seemed like forever, we finally got the tailwind! Past the Longrenong College then out to the radio towers, Shane decided to show me how fast he was averaging for the National TT in Jan and I was hanging on for dear life!

We turned down another road back towards town and there was a white road.

Shane's tribute to Strade Bianche 2013

Something went all wrong because when I was taking selfies, he came back with some spaghetti!

Oh no! What's wrong?!

SRAM is not supposed to make spaghetti!

Rolled back home and had a great dinner and time with the family in Horsham. A BIG happy 60th to Julie! We drove back to Melbourne that night and were ready for race day.

The next morning Shane got up early and went racing TT's and I got a slight sleep in and chauffeured to Casey fields with a massive carload of stuff by Manuella Marasco. I have no idea how we fit everything in her car or why we needed so much stuff for a day trip. We DID use it all though for the Kosdown Performance Cycling women's team at Cykel Women's Grand Prix.

I had a full team of 5 ladies ready to race in the divisions and Stacey ready to go in the Novice category.

Stacey had her third race as part of the series and finished with the bunch in the final sprint. It was awesome to watch the race and to see the massive improvement over the series. It was heaps of fun to cheer her on with family joining in too!

Stacey finishing the prologue

After a prologue that was not quite fast enough, I was in division 2. It was an interesting mix of ladies and I had two team mates in Nonie Carr and Anna Fogarty with me. Nonie set the pace for the first few laps and Anna chased down any breaks while we waited for the bunch to settle and to see how things would play out. There were women who were there just to collect laps leader points who would do no work and just sprint each lap for the finish. There were a good bunch of ladies in Hawthorn pushing the pace and chasing down breaks. There were also a few riders that seemed to be new to B grade or crit racing. While there were no incidents and the ladies in the bunch were mostly giving them a wide berth, hopefully they will gain more experience and confidence.

One of the best skills sessions I have done and will continue to do again (never to old or experienced to brush up on your skills) is SKCC Latte Laps. It's free and you get real time feedback and a COFFEE!! YEAH!

Nonie, 3rd on the laps leader for the day

I had a brilliant lead out for the intermediate sprint where I jumped early before the last corner and ripped past the leaders, held it around the corner and JUST made it to the line. I'm now second in the Core Carbon Intermediate Sprint points to Jenny MacPherson. I could ride myself onto a sweeeeeet set of wheels!

Right after the intermediate sprint after the headwind section there was an aggressive attack as the bunch came past me and I was struggling to get my legs working. I slipped into the second half of the bunch and the wheel in front of me split the bunch in two. It took me a minute to realise what had really happened and that nobody was interested in doing anything about it. So I jumped across and was sitting in "no mans land" for the chase. At one point Danielle Ahern jumped across solo and just as I was starting to fade within reach of the back of the front bunch she helped me bridge.

I was watching the front group start to get agro and vocal and thinking that my team mates were sitting up and waiting for me to cross. What actually happened was nobody wanted to work as the ladies that were trying to score lap leader points were still just fighting it out amongst themselves across the finish line each time and not focussing on staying away. Before I knew it the rest of the bunch was back with us and I had to recover as I was sure we'd get the 3 laps to go soon. Sure enough the next time it was already 2 laps to go... ooooops!

KPC tent city!

Moving up the side of the bunch again and popping in 4th wheel I was interested to sit someone else on the front for the last headwind section. Well, everyone rolled off quick and smart and I was back on the front. Not ideal, Anna came to the front and picked up the pace, then Nonie took over to just about finish off the back straight. Everyone was bunching up and we still had 2 more corners to go. Just before the last corner Anna hits the gas again and distracts the bunch as they take off after her. I keep pace with the front markers and sit on the inside of Carly McCombe out of the wind but she gets a little more kick out of the last corner and takes off for the finish line as I see Emma Jackson on her outside. I can see one more rider come into view as the line finally rolls under my front wheel. 3rd place for division 2.

3rd overall!

Emma Pane represented in Division 1 and did so much work in the race to pull back breaks and attack off the front and hang on into the front group before it all came back together for the final sprint. She finished in with the bunch and had a great day out.

I have really enjoyed the Cykel Crits this year. The final round is only a few weeks away right in Richmond. The circuit will be an uphill hotdog on the boulevard and sure to be spectacular.

There have been a few things progressing on the bike lately.

Start Line filling up

I had the opportunity to do the Ballarat Cycle Classic curtesy of the Eureka Veterans on the 10th of Feb and got in a solid 100km day. After working 15hrs the day before I was toasted by the end! I rolled out with the lead riders and have to admit that I didn't really study the route before we took off. I knew that it was going to head out to Mt Buninyong and beyond to Mt Egerton, but road specifics were a little vague. I made it out the first 25km with the lead riders pushing the pace, but by the time we hit the feed zone where the pro riders smash up the National's course on Mt Buninyong, I was struggling to spin with them, I could still see them crest the KOM, then they were GONE! At this point my knight in shining white K appeared and said, "Need a tow to get back onto the group?"

All smiles in my bright and visible long sleeve jersey - Perfect for Ballarat Weather

Shane chased FAST on the downhill but were no match for the group of 20+ riders. He probably could have bridged solo to them but it was his task not to drop me on this ride. We hit the next climb at Mt Egerton and could see the stragglers that had been dropped from the main group. We didn't see another rider for 30kms on the windy back roads that took us slowly and eventually back to Ballarat. At one point the course over lapped the 50km one and we started seeing more people flowing the same way back into town. By the time I got to the lake I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted from the 100km long ride.

There were 2x free beers for every adult entry...
Somehow I ended up with 4 cards. PARTY's ON ME!

The next weekend away to Horsham was for the yearly Triathlon where Shane competes in a mixed team bringing home the bike leg in speed and style. The Saturday morning I managed to get a HOT, windy training day in again with repeats of Mt Arapiles. In the evening team Tripod won their category again (without any stops for wedding proposals or announcements this time).

Team Tripod wins again!

The next morning I got a taste of my first Veterans Handicap Cycling race with Grampians Vets. It was the first time Shane and I were to compete in a race together, normally we're in different grades, categories and times. Shane and I rolled out to start at 7.30am, it was the only time it was nice and cool for the day. This was a fun 46km Handicap where I had a bit of a head start (6mins) in second scratch to try keep the scratch bunch away.

The official rider board... nice!

As the race unfolded I was with 3 other guys rolling good turns, we caught the next bunch in front of us in the last 10kms and got swept up with Scratch. When I realised they were coming through like a steam train I jumped in with Shane and only 1 other guy Geoff made it into the scratch bunch.

Finally we dropped the rest of the riders, swept past the limit riders (those that started first) and I rolled turns or sat on with the 4 other riders till Shane attacked with 3kms to go for the win. I popped off the back and soloed home for 6th place.

Post Race Smiles - like a sunrise!

Earlier in Feb I picked up a Mountain Bike to start practising my bike handling skills for the Mont 24hr race next month in March. Sometimes it seems to flow and I'm in the groove and I've got it nailed, then I freeze up at the top of a hill or at the bottom of a climb and lose all my momentum.

Is this more machine than I can handle?!

The good thing is that I don't have toe overlap like on my road bike, the bad thing is that it is a little small in the frame size and it feels pretty scary like I'm going to go over the handle bars on any decent descent. So I'm starting on easy trails and stuff that flows, I've checked out the Westgate park nice and slowly, only 1 minor stack over the bars. Shane took me out to some of the trails near home off Kew Boulevard. I found a few in Richmond near the Yarra Boulevard and will keep on looking for some more to practice near home. Seems that people like to let their dogs wander free off leads along these style of paths, which you have to look out for.

There are a few more Criterium races coming up so I managed to convince a few ladies to come along to the Coburg Crits on Saturday 23rd Feb. I registered for mixed C-Grade as I have previously done, then got talked into doing Men's B-Grade by my team mate Emma Pane. I was not really sure what to expect so I just treated it like the rest of the A-Grade Women's races. The pace was high and not too surging which suited me fine. I tried to sit up near the front for the first 20mins of the race to keep out of trouble and go with anything that moved. Not much got away, only 1 or 2 riders and it was all together for the last few laps. 50mins +3 ended up being a little longer. I hope my desperate face and miming to Abby on the side lines got through and we were finally up for the final sprint. I got popped right in the back straight before the final corner as the pace kept cranking up and up! It felt like I was going nowhere once I dropped out of the peloton on the descent into the finish, but I picked past a few stragglers over the line and finished 1st Woman. It was a really good race experience, the wheels were good experienced riders and nobody was doing any dodgy moves so I'd like to see if I could hold in there again and maybe finish somewhere in the final sprint some day.

That evening we scrubbed up and went down to the Cycling Victoria Awards night (categories and nominees).

Ready for the CV awards night!

Shane was nominated for Male Masters Cyclist of the Year for 2012. He's been smashing records and winning anything on a TT bike that he can find for the last few years and it's been so much hard work driven towards this awesome hobby that he gets so much out of. It was great to see him recognised as a nominee from the state body Cycling Victoria at the awards night.

The first thing I noticed when I walked in the door was the platters of oily fried food in stark contrast to the usual roadie diet. The second thing I noticed after I got past the platters intact, was there was a LOT of non-roadie people here, wait a second - a lot of them are kids and families... we're at the combined BMX awards night! I didn't know that BMX was under the same banner, but it was great to hear about their organisation and the wins these guys and girls have been a part of in the last 12 months.

Shane's category came up early in the list and he was a winner!!

Male Masters Cyclist of the Year 2012 - Shane Miller

He gave a short speech that was touched on by the President of CV later in the evening, that Masters Cyclists make up a large part of the CV membership and it's great to see in 2013 that there are more categories and races catering to them.

One of the biggest draw cards for me as an adult learning a new sport and coming into it later in life (than the teenager/elite groups), is that I can compete against women and/or men my own age in age based events. For me that was a road block in my 20's when I saw that if I wanted to race my bike, I'd be up against the best elite women riders and come in 20-30mins off the pace. There WAS no competition! At that time women's racing was so small the numbers were not there to have skill based grading/categories (A/B/C-Grades) that we can see today at CV and club based competition.

I am proud to say that I have seen this evolve over the short few years I have been racing, and am happy to see my peak sporting body grow and evolve with those changes. Cycling in Victoria is GREAT!

I remember the day I bought my first car - not too long ago. It was it's first long drive and I took it along to one of Shane's races. It was out the other side of Melbourne somewhere, and I was going to pick Shane up at the mountain top finish. I wasn't really paying attention to the route and I was concerned about how I was going to find my way to the finish 100kms away with no map provided by Shane or the race organisers!

As Shane was in A-Grade I just tagged onto the convoy up to the finish line and went, "Wow this must be a tough race, there are guys pushing their bikes up the final climb!"

Welcome to my introduction to Mt Baw Baw.

Only looking a little tired and apprehensive before we began

On Sunday I finally gave it my first and almost certainly LAST attempt. I'm not a natural mountain goat, but I do enjoy a nice ride up in the mountains. Baw Baw is something else entirely and not that. Well, to be fair, I only did the last part from Tanjil Bren to the top. I have to thank The Climbing Cyclist who tempted me out as part of the Hells 500 and 7 Peaks Challenge rides. Highly recommend going on their future events. With their no-drop policy I knew I would be in good hands if I got in trouble up the EPIC climb.

We don't normally head out that way for racing or training, so it was a nice change and I even managed to coax Shane along to something that was not a race!

I had fun sitting on the first few riders to roll out on the 4km descent, and then started a comfortable pace on the lower part of the climb. Riding on 5% grade for a 5.5kms, Shane and I were chatting and sharing lollies while we ticked off the kms. A few serious looking riders over took me and then Shane said "Oh, we're here already!" and took off. I yelled at him to have fun and I looked at my Garmin, we'd hit the start of the 10% + section. I hammered away wondering how long it lasted and then remembered, having done all my homework the night before studying the gradients and nuances of the climb. I thought I was prepared.

After 1.4kms I was coooked! I didn't know if I could go slower and stay upright on the bike, but there was no way I was stopping for a breather as there was no starting again. I had a gel at the left turn thinking "I don't think I'll get another chance to eat this". Good thing I did because it got stuck in my pocket and the next part of the climb was HELL! Horse flies were biting me on the butt and for the next 2km guys were weaving across the rd in front of me, sweating buckets, seated didn't help, standing was horrible. 1km from the top Shane drops back down to "talk me up the climb" it was helpful and at the same time I wanted to kill him. I was frustrated I couldn't spin faster or hold my power higher - it was survival.

Recovered and ready for the descent. YAY! WOW that is fast.

I did make it to the top and sure enough felt fine after a cool drink and a light snack. The descent was super fun and fast. Glad I didn't need to pick my way through other riders to get down as the road surface was not the best and you needed all your concentration for it. Here is the official write up from the climbing cyclist (we get a mention).

All I could think about during the drive home was the trifle I was planning on making when I got home for the Kosdown Performance Cycling BBQ that night.

My first attempt at Trifle - All flavours were there.
Need to work on the custard consistency

More crits and fun times to be had this coming weekend to work off the trifle. Another trip to Horsham and Cykel round 3 - the return to Casey Fields.

When I first started following Shane Miller's racing, I'd walk up from the tram stop or ride past the Kew Criterium track and stop to watch a handful of riders dive around a hairpin corner and sprint up an impossible climb over and over again. As things progressed he moved up quickly from D to B grade.

I remember the conversation we had one night when he said "I'd really like to make it to A-grade but it's going to take a LOT of training and effort to get there and maintain all of that!" I'd go watch him race and see the marginal gains each week and cheer the guys on. He's now racing A-grade and maintaining it - something I aspire to do this year.

These days Kew Crits are BOOMING! With over 25 riders in each grade, finish line videos online, a coffee van, and new surface so the hairpin is not a total cheese grater and the bumps in the back fast section have been smoothed out a bit.

Each week the ladies are mixed in with the men to fight it out on the circuit. Last week it was tough windy 35degrees and I managed to talk a few ladies to join me in D-grade. We battled it out and dropped off then the pace picked up at 3 laps to go. Eventually I wore them down to come across the line 1st woman. Results

Out sprinted at the finish, but that's okay - Janet Keily (right) congratulates Von Micich. Photo by M. Vaughan.

I'm just warming up for the criterium season that runs through till about April. I've been very excited that Hawthorn has put on a Women's series at the Kew Crits. Spaced out over the season and with a later time slot it makes it a little easier for everyone to get out of work and to the start line. It also filters out the guys from the racing and with 2 grades on offer you can work your way up on this difficult course. In D-grade mixed, there is always a few junior boys or newbies still learning to hold a line and while they might be as strong as the ladies, it makes for some interesting times on course!

I've competed in B-grade and A-grade in the ladies races and there is a big step up between the two :) The comments from my coach were ringing in my mind last night as I worked my way through the A-grade bunch to get good positioning into the hairpin early in the race.

Von on the front into the hairpin at Kew Crits. Photo by Liz Hall/Gavin Wright.

But it was the attack about 15mins in that popped me off the back just as we crested the long drag to the finish line. The comments from Shane were ringing in my mind last night as I worked at trying to close the gap and I felt it in every fibre that it was going to take a LOT of training and effort to get there.

In the end I found a group of 2 other riders and we worked together into the head wind and up the climb to finish up the race. Things got a little competitive in the final 3 laps and you can see the final sprint to the line here.

It was great to see so many women enjoy the racing and stay for the presentations by HCC, Liv/Giant, and Drapac Professional Cycling. I'm going to do a few more races at Kew this season with the guys and hope to move up and maintain it.