Slow and steady

Back to full time work next week, back to some structured training, back to some normality.

The last 2 weeks have seen my energy levels roller coaster up and down. Trying to juggle some work, rest and recovery and the elusive full night's sleep. There was one day where I couldn't get home and I thought I was going to pass out at work, so I went for a little nap on a couch tucked away in a corner. Then there was the 10hr full night's sleep that was the most awesome feeling to wake up with no pain and feel fully rested.

I was banned by my mum from doing the mother's day walk and relegated to the couch. On the plus side I got to have a "do-over birthday" party with the girls & awesome commuter present from my family.

Fresh gluten free berry cake! I think I ate 1/2 of it myself

You'll see me on FIRE commuting in the morning and night!

My surgery was deemed a success at the post-op visit to the surgeon. After a quick look at the latest X-rays, he unceremoniously ripped off all the bandages, took a million photos of the scar and sent me out the door with an appointment to see the Physio.

It seemed like forever till I could see the Physio, but only 4 days later I was feeling so good that I had forgotten to put my sling on to go to work and rocked up to the offices to get the verdict. No above shoulder activity (or raising the roof) for another 2 weeks. And keep the sling on when out and about.

While I've got my feet up watching all the racing, I've been helping out the team with some new ideas, looking to expand the women's team and something to help out the whole Kosdown Performance Cycling team - nutrition!

It has also been a good time to stop and smell the roses, read my book in the warm autumn sun in the car while following the local racing. Looking back briefly it was nice to feel that while I might have been out there to race at the Metropolitan Championships and the Kew TT, it is also nice to catch up with everyone between races and coffee afterwards. Thanks to all those who said Hi and asked how I was doing. I'm doing fine, but I can see it will be a slow road to try and build back up to race in full force again.

I've been talking about the Wangaratta Club Tour for 12 months to anyone with an ear about how much I enjoyed this last year and how Grace Phang and I had a great battle for placings each stage right up to the point where I had to drop out of the tour to make my flight to France for my first ever international cycling adventure. As this will be 5 weeks post op for me, I have a feeling that the physio is going to laugh at me at my next appointment when I broach the subject and I'll be relegated to swanny duties :( However I encourage everyone else to enter. Not only because it is a great club tour with shorter stages - it's one for any ability and I guarantee you will be welcomed.

Road to Recovery

I have to say that I'm taking each day as it comes. Trying to plan in 1 fun thing outside of the house, getting some good couch time, pottering around the house and getting that personal todo list shortened.

Today is 1 week anniversary of my operation and I woke up ready to vomit. I have no idea why, must be the medication. A lot of the bruising is starting to fade, all of the very light scabs I had have dropped off (ewww!) and I look pretty normal except for the massive dressing covering my shoulder that adds pressure to the top of the operation site and protects it from bumps and rubbing from clothing.

Another weird reaction is my back has come up in large patches of blisters like sunburn. Not sure if its like a road rash from the crash, post op overheating, or something else entirely. On the whole the pain factor is pretty light, and has switched from bone sore to muscle sore feelings. I can't wait to get the OK to see a physiotherapist for my neck, shoulder, hip and arm!

With the shoulder being pinned, it fixes everything in place so you are in alignment, but you just can't load bear. It is recommended to wear the sling to take tension off the shoulder muscles, but you can move it and I've been told to do some specific rehab 3x a day to keep the joints moving and prevent frozen shoulder etc.

That's all good, but when can I get on the bike! I have to distract myself with other things till I get a little better.

Shopping distraction: Re-vamped my couch to become cushion central

Last month I was invited to speak at the Breeze program Women's Cycling and Beginner Social Media Seminar. With my crash occurring one week before the event, I was ready to cancel and feeling pretty disappointed that I wouldn't get to go. Shane talked me out of cancelling, knowing from his post op experience that I would be OK by that time if everything went to plan.

The event was great fun! Though I might be a little biased as it was the first time I'd been out of the house and allowed to run around. It was a full house with 30-40 women flowing in. The session was structured as follows:

Belinda Hayes gave an overview of Social Media that covered the different types used most frequently (Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, linkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, and Blogs) and covered a viral video case study

Monique Hanley spoke on the Breeze program, how they hope to use social media and women's natural networking ability to gain better media attention, setup awesome role models for women in sport and promote the fun and cool things we all do.

Andrew Blake from Dirty Deeds Cyclo Cross spoke on CX & Social Media. How their organisation has been growing women's participation at family friendly events to include kids, mud, dress ups and a whole lot of fun without the need to request a government grant.

Then there was me - an expert blogger and high performing user of social media. I had only kind of partly planned what I was going to talk about and then decided to change it up once I heard what the other speakers had covered.

Eliza, Andrew, Belinda and Me. Photo: Alison McCormack

I tried to cover what the intro stuff meant in the real world. How do I use those sites, what do I use them for, and how my use of social media has progressed. How I use different media to organise rides, races, keep in touch,  and tell my stories. That I'm not a winner but I'm out there EVERY weekend as part of Kosdown Performance Cycling and we have FUN and I love it and want to share that with everyone, that is why I started the blog.

Already it has become popular with 2,338 hits since its inception in January and the support I get from it feeds my enthusiasm. Thanks for your time and attention - I must be doing something right if you keep coming back for more.


While I was couch bound for the weekend, my fab carer decided to hand me over to my parents and slip over the border for the South Australian Time Trial Championships.

TT stealth machine AKA - BATBIKE
It would have been about 12months ago when I built up my Time Trial bike, we did a maaaaasive drive over SA to do their championships in the sun and then drove all the way back to attempt the Mt Donna Buang TT  the next day in the rain. Thank goodness the calendar has changed and the Donna TT is now earlier in the year when it is warmer!

Shane sent me through a message to say that while I couldn't make it this year, my presence was still there in the records. It is also great to see a much larger field, could TT's be gaining popularity?


I've had a lot of time to think about ways to improve with my TT's and the number 1 key factor for me is - more time required in TT position on the TT bike. So when I'm back up and running I'm going to put it out there that I'll be on the Richmond flat boulevard on my TT bike in TT position for some sessions and you're welcome to come along (dates TBC on Facebook/twitter).  Maybe with a few ladies there we can practice some Team TTing. I saw this cute post about TTT's the other day from Rouleur Magazine and it inspired me to get aero, but for now I'll just have to think aero thoughts. I'll be back on the road soon...

Breaking Through


It has finally happened. I'm in my 3rd year of racing my bike and I've been involved in an accident where I've broken my left clavicle - my first ever bone break. I haven't had gravel rash or anything else nasty before. In October 2011 when I was hit by a van, I was lucky to walk away with bruising (pretty severe bruising that felt like break)!

They say it is a reality in cycling... I don't know about that. It was a rider's decision to try make a gap that didn't exist and I came off second best. A decision that did not pay off for the rider, as they were off the back of the peloton after the KOM point when the Commissaire had scraped me off the road and drove me through the bunches to seek medial aid.

My Tour of the South West was cut short to less than 7kms, caused me thousands of dollars in broken bones and medical bills, broken bike, kit and stress. I have every right to be angry initially as there were no repercussions (no fines were dished out despite pointing out the offending rider to the Commissaire), and no follow up from the race organisers (though I hear they are still working through feedback from the other riders on the weekend). But you know what? Sometimes you have to suck it all up and sum it all up with "That's Racing!"
Before, After and Gelato!
This is my hobby. I'm paid to do a corporate desk job that keeps me challenged in many of the usual and a few of the unforeseen ways that bike racing doesn't fulfil. While I might be fortunate enough to win a sash or a medal - it doesn't pay the bills for such an expensive hobby.

Bikes have been a part of my life at some level for a long time and while it has taken a while for me to race in full force, I've been chipping away at it for a few years and can hold my own in club level A-Grade racing. In the last month I have made some exciting gains that I didn't get a chance to unleash on the roads at Tour of the South West. I am really looking forward to this rest and then building on top of this to get stronger, better, smarter, FASTER!

Thanks for the care packages, lollies, flowers and chocolate!!
I am very lucky that I had a clean break of the clavicle and received fairly prompt surgery to pin this in place. I had some savings, insurance and sick leave to make sure there was little stress to get the assistance I needed. I was extremely lucky to have family there to pick me up at the hospital in Warrnambool and a gorgeous husband to take care of the bike, drive home and all the other endless minor details...

My days of waiting for surgery and overnight stay in hospital was a patience game to rest up, catch up on the internet, tv-shows, and movies that friends had recommended. It was also a great to keep in touch with friends and family to keep them in the loop with progress.

Most of all I want to thank you for your continued support in reading my blog, liking my pics, commenting on my status', tweeting me and sharing your cycling lives with me.  Feeling a part of this awesome world wide community of healthy, active and motivated people has kept me in a positive mind-frame.

I know it's only week 1 of a longer journey back to full health, but there's a lot going on along the way.


This Saturday I'll be speaking on a panel about my mini movies, Blog, Twitter, Facebook, E-mail and of course cycling! It will be a great session on Beginner Social Media at the Docklands (good parking, trams etc nearby). I have only a few tickets spare - contact me direct for tickets and click the invite below for more details.

Training the house down

I competed in my first Northern Combine race for the year on Saturday out at Broadford. It was the Brunswick Cycling Club's John Sewell Memorial Handicap. Three laps of a 33km circuit to make it 100km Handicap of hill lovin' fun! Well, that was the idea.

Bike - Ready to roll and race

I took a look at the initial list and didn't know any of the names - so didn't know how to compare myself against these guys. I was in the 22 min group with 10 guys and Carly Williams who I have ridden with before so we would have a good day out. The start line was a little way out of town and up a hill. My team mate Emma Pane had mentioned that I should give myself some time to get out there and that the hill was not nice. She was right and it felt like climbing a shelf to get out of town!

For part of my warm-up I rolled the reverse of the last few kms up to the finish line. Each lap we would ride this massive roller coaster that climbed up and up and up to the top.



I found Carly on the start line and we had a chat about tactics, but with the hills, wind, and calibre of riders we'd be lucky to hang on. The start was downhill tailwind so I was fine rolling turns with the guys on this, then we hit the mini-berg at about 10kms in and I was scrambling to stay with the guys. I'd slipped off the back of the group with 3 others and we clawed our way back to hold on. One guy didn't keep up at this point.

The next section was FAST. I hit 54km/h doing rolling turns and hung on on the skinny straight road with on-coming cars it was a little scary, but everyone was communicating well - shouting out nice and loud and allowing space for riders to go single file. We lost anther guy on this section due to a flat tyre. The next section seemed pretty straight forward on the map (up to climb 3 from the course profile) and I hit my max 5min power for the ride hammering up that climb. These riders were on a mission and rolling the wrong way into the head wind when the course changed directions.

I think it was around hill 4 or 5 that I dropped off the back, never to see that bunch again. There was one Blotto rider that had dropped off the group just in front of me and I chased to catch on, I convinced him to come along for the next lap and then his team mate soon appeared up the road. We refuelled for the next lap on the downhill start section we'd just made it to the mini-berg when the next bunch caught us. I was sitting on the back of the pack at the base when a Cycles Galleria kit (Orange and Black) cut straight in front of me into the tight right hand corner, not holding his line and nearly taking out my front wheel. My two Blotto mates who were on my wheel screamed out at him and I washed off my speed - making the start of the berg that little bit harder. The guys were NOT waiting at the top of this 7% climb and I was off the back again. Puffing like a steam train I tried to close the gap and one of the Blotto guys gives me a push and I'm there, but he's gone. I sit on the back to try recover and call the guys through.


Rolling through the finish line for lap 2 to start with by mate Blotto.  Photo: Michael McRitchie

It wasn't long till we picked up Carly and we travelled along together at the back for a bit, then the road started to go up and the pace went up further, more guys were dropped and soon I was too. Ten kms later and I hear Ben (Emma's boyfriend) call out from behind to jump on. They were coming like a freight train behind me. I caught on mid-pack and then we caught Carly again and we were all punching up the next few climbs. It was getting towards the end of the second lap where I got dropped on another hill, two more bunches came through and I could tell the home stretch was coming up. I look back and I see scratch ripping up the road, as they pass me I hear cheers out from all the guys and James Pane asks if I was ok. It felt like I was standing still as they tinkled up the hill in front of me!

The last lap was lonely. This was the nasty part of the 100km - this was the "training" part of the ride when you're no longer part of the race, no hope for any good things to come, everything hurts, nobody is talking on the road and you've just got to get it done. I passed a few guys, a few sat on my wheel, one guy rolled one turn and the rest was solo right to the line.

Rollin Solo.  Photo: Michael McRitchie

A big thanks to all the guys who hollered out to me on the road, even just to say "Hi Von" from the bunches passing. It made me feel part of the community and not in a hostile bike race where I had no hope of winning. The event ran smoothly from my perspective, even though I finished later than most, I was still greeted on the finish line by the officials.

Big congratulations to my team mates Emma Pane winning first unplaced female and James Pane for coming in 5th in a quality field.

My swanny Manni had me covered when I got back to the car with a fresh beverage and a wet towel to wipe off the salt. I was more than grateful for the chauffeur home after a tough day out.

Cold Sunday morning recovery ride goodness at Top Paddock.


Next weekend is Tour of the Southwest in Warrnambool. I'll be fielding a team in A-Grade Women and looking forward to a nice sleep at the Lady Bay Resort (I won the accommodation prize featured in last week's Cycling Victoria newsletter).


Next month I've been invited to sit on a panel for the Women's Social Media and Cycling Forum. I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog, following my twitter feed, checking out my mini-movies. I've had great feedback so far and would love to hear your thoughts on what you like about my reports that keep you coming back for more.


Sunday 12th May is the Mother's Day Classic where I will be WALKING with my family as part of team "Micich Mafia" to raise funds for breast cancer research. Yes, on Mother's Day with my MUM (who is a breast cancer survivor) we'll be taking steps to save lives by helping fund the best breast cancer research. You can help us too by donating online here. I have to admit, this will be the longest I've walked in a long time and I haven't been doing any training, but if my Mum can do it, I should be fine to finish it ;)


This week I've also recieved official notification that my ride at Amy's Grand Fondo in 2012 has qualified me for a start at the UCI World Cycling Tour which is essentially the UCI World Championships for masters and amateurs. I've won a free ticket and this year it is held in the northern alps of Trento, Italy on 22nd September. I have to admit, this was not on my radar of events but has started to make me consider it with a free entry...

My Hell of the North

I've had it on my race plan since the start of the year and been thinking about this race since my 4th place in D-Grade last year. HELL of the WEST. I had my gear selection and bike was ready to go - but fate or satan chose others for that day - I entered, but did not get a start as the grades had filled up. I think only 9 women managed to get through (much larger than last year).

So I spent the week scouring the internet and discarded the option immediately of doing Baw Baw on Sunday (I haven't been training for that one!), otherwise there was a Geelong or Broadford Seymour Handicap. I checked in with the team mates and the boss said to check out the Seymour one.

After a hard week at work and a tough interval session on Friday, it seemed like a bad idea. BUT - I had new equipment to test out and I was itching to see how it would go.

I have finally saved up all my winnings, bikkies and tatts tickets to purchase a Quarq Elsa. It's the top of the range Quarq, crank based power meter. Back in October 2009 Shane bought me a PowerTap power meter. An extravagant gift for a woman riding about four times a week on a shiny red carbon road bike feeling like a race car. When I put the wheel based power meter on my bike, I found out that I was not even a Toyota Carolla, more like a Datsun 200B.

The great thing about this was that even though I had my commute to work on the bike, my weekend rides, my trips away to ride the mountains, I could measure myself. I used this to look at where I had improved, where I was not working hard enough, how to pace myself, and later when I was doing more kms where I was grinding myself into the ground. Needless to say - I'm a BIG fan of training with power. By the time things had progressed and when I was looking for a coach in April 2011 I had over 2 years of data to show my progression.

I'm now onto my third carbon bike and it's a matte black stealthy racer. I had the Quarq fitted this week and paired up the Garmin 810 (firmware update out this week to fix the power reading & recording issues). I was ready to race!

Black Giant - Quarq enabled.
Shane directed me out to Seymour where I was welcomed warmly by fellow riders who I had raced with out at Coburg Crits and at the Vets Champs in Maryborough. The secret code on their race fixture of "2.00pm Burgess Signs. Locksley via Palm World. 60km" was about to be revealed. I went in to registration at Burgess Signs, they sighted my license and added me to "the book" I was off 12mins from limit - mid pack, three bunches from scratch. I went to roll around on the main road to warm up and get all my Garmin settings working when Shane was urging me from the roadside to get to the start. They mentioned the start was down the road, but it was out the other side of town and down a side road that I would have never found without being human-motorpaced by Shane to the start. Warm-up complete!

I introduced myself to my 3 other riders that I would be working with to the end, and we took off at a cracking pace. It was a grey windy day, the rain looked like it would hold off, but the ominous sounds of thunder had me second guessing until the locals told me it was just the bombs being detonated out at Puckapunyal!
On the start line - ready to roll with the thinker.
Just over 7kms in we turned left and our smooth straight line turns switched to an echelon across the back country roads. The course was mostly flat so we were ripping turns to chase down the bunch in front and to keep those chasing behind us off our tail. We sighted the bunch in front a few kms later and it took another 10kms to reel them in. This was my personal 'hell of the north', I felt shocking and we were only 20kms into a 60km race. We went through Avenel where Shane was out training and snapped a pic of me and at this point I had thoughts of just rolling back to the start - but I couldn't let my fellow racers down - I was last out of the corner, they waited up for me and we made contact with the bunch we'd been chasing for the last 10kms.

My group rolling through Avenel
There is always a little bit of disarray at these times. I made the most of it and sat near the back of the now 10+ strong group to eat a bar, have a drink (very deceptive on a grey day how much to drink) and regroup mentally. I re-joined the turns and we kept rolling out the road, at one point we did a u-turn, went back the way we came and saw the scratch bunch coming for us. This got the guys rolling back to speeds like we were doing near the start of the race, and with the first attacks I'd seen all day. I was scrambling for wheels and trying to hang on, I still was not sure of the way home! At one point we were coming into a little town and I backed off the pace when I got to the front calling out "Do we go left?" and got a response "Someone roll over Veronica, she doesn't know the course". I had a little chuckle and chased onto the wheels going straight.



There were a few hills on the way back. I dangled off the back for a few meters on the main one and clawed my way back to the group. We only had about another 5-8kms left and I was NOT getting left behind now. The guys were looking around and could not see the scratch bunch. We'd worked our way into a bunch sprint and they were jostling for position. While I was feeling horrible, I knew I could finish, but when they kicked for the line I totally missed it and so did most of the other riders as we were strung out along the road when we crossed the finish line.

I came in 9th overall, averaging 36.7km/h. Shane rolled in a few minutes later while I was cooling off and shepherded me back to town and to the car. I was totally toasted. The good thing about the presentations was that it was warm, they had lollies and I bought a can of drink (there were beers there for those peeps wanting de/hydration of the relaxing kind). There were a lot of congratulations all round at the great ride and race from all competitors. I'm really bad at remembering names and it's even harder when riders are out of lycra and helmets - one of my three guys handed me back my entry money as he'd placed in the final sprint and decided to share his prize money around. Too kind!

In future if I miss out on racing in Melbourne or it's raining in the morning, it's an easy decision for me to go and join the afternoon's racing out in Seymour. I'd recommend to give it a try.
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