Northern Combine South Gisborne Loop - C grade

After a week of training, my legs always feel worst on Fridays (my rest day) and heavy for the first few k's. This feeling normally lasts until the first serious attack which raises the heart rate and where you just buckle down in order to not get dropped. The race was held on a 8km loop with included a nice climb which averaged 6% for 1km into a head wind. Fortunately, I felt better on each lap and more comfortable on the climb as my legs loosened up. But today with the pace up and down, there was no real adrenalin pushing me like there was in the Modella handicap the other week. It was almost like interval training looking back over the Garmin data. For photos of the race, click here.

 I am feeling a lot more confident in general and especially in descending, today hitting just over 70km/h with a cross wind. They key is to get in the drops and get sheltered from the wind by other riders where possible. Unfortunately, I hadn't checked my solo drink bottle (I have cut back to one after not using the 2nd one in a few races) which obviously had been sitting in the car for a while and the contents tasted partially fermented, but not in a good way. There were no cramps today or even potential cramps which is great and can be put down to the longer road races and training I have been doing lately.  

Overall, we raced for 2hours and completed the climb 8 times totaling just over 800m of vertical climbing. The bunch was altogether at the base of the final climb but exploded very quickly in the fight for the finish. I had a crack up the last climb making up a lot of places but I couldn't quite catch the leaders finishing in the top 10 still. A great day out and perfect training for the future. Note to self, need to train on more hills and less time on beach road.

Northern Combine Broadford Handicap - 13min bunch

Today was tough. 99kms and my bunch only had a 13min over the scratch guys. The pace was flat out for the first lap with the entire bunch rotating and working well to start with. Unfortunately as early as the first sharp climb people started to vacate our group. By the second lap unfortunately the rotations were inconsistent and becoming less frequent. The pain was starting to show on the group. I personally cramped on multiple occasions (how do you stretch out a quad cramp while riding?) but decided to just keep going.  I was considering pulling out after 2 laps, but we got caught by a large bunch and I was able to sit in and recover a little.

I kept going with the help of a few gels and the finishing was starting to look interesting. Unfortunately my new bunch never managed to catch the rest of the field. Personally I was just happy to have finished with the main bunch. Reviewing my Garmin data, I noticed my average heart rate was 162bpm which probably explains why I was in pain by the end. To date this has been my hardest race. On the way home to assist my recovery, I thought I deserved some fried chicken from the kernel.

Northen Combine - C grade. 4th place

Today's a road race was out near Hanging Rock. To describe it in one word, I would use cold. To use a second word, I would use windy. But I was still glad to race as there was no rain unlike everyone else in Melbourne. As I am still learning, today I learned that I need more clothing in these conditions, long sleeves and a normal bib didn't cut it. Conditions were tough and to top it off, C grade had to race 90kms which is getting past my comfort zone. Additionally, there was 700m of vertical climbing. The racing had two speeds today: super fast & slow. I spent a bit of energy bridging across to a threatening break which was unfortunately shut down but I could feel my legs were starting to cramp and I was thinking finishing with the bunch would be a good outcome.

I have never done too much descending, but today I started to feel a little bit more comfortable and hit just over 73km/h which is my highest speed on my Garmin to date. As we entered the final 10 k's the bunch was tired and the pace was slow enough for me to be in my recovery (E1) zone. As we all turned the second last corner, the pace finally was starting to lift and I started following wheels working my way to the front. At one point I even hit the front of the peloton but I was able to pace myself and not blow up. Hitting the last corner, it was 1km up hill finish. I could feel my legs starting to cramp, but I decided to ignore them and kept myself close to the front. Up the final hill I let loose with everything I had left and passed a few riders which was enough for me to roll come 4th. I was very happy but barely able to ride my bike back to the car.