3 Peaks - Final Prep

I have lined up with loads of other cyclists, almost all men, and had my bike checked and registered. I drove to the last climb and did a short 15 minute recon ride. I am snacking throughout the day to keep my carb stores topped up. I have charged all my electronics.

Now I just need to pack my food valet bags, which will be delivered at three spots along the ride. And attend the rider briefing this evening. Then I shall be ready to ride!

The weather forecast is as good as we could hope for. Ten degrees overnight, so it will be a chilly first descent. Then 26 degrees in the valleys and 18 degrees on the peaks, and sunny!

I will be starting around 6:45am Sunday morning (3:45am Perth time!). I hope to finish in around 11 hours, plus or minus 30 min. So I should be done around 7:45pm! (4:45pm Perth time)

I am looking forward to the start!

Pemberton Classic Road Race - 2 March

The day dawned cool and cloudy for Part 2 of the Pemberton Classic, the road race. I was racing in Women's B Grade, and for the road race we were grouped in a peloton with boys under 15s and girls under 17s. Because of the younger categories, we had a neutralised start up to the top of Pump Hill for the first time. So, we started on the edge of town near the Caravan Park, rode west out of town up Pump Hill, stopped at the top, regrouped, and then started our race.

We did one short lap, which was only about 8km, and we all stayed together for that. We had about a dozen women in B Grade, plus about 3 under 17 girls and 2 under 15 boys. We then went through the start-finish line again and back up Pump Hill, this time at race pace.

I started the hill at the back of the group, but I could see that a few of the women near the front were taking off pretty quick, so I got out of the saddle and quickly made my way up to about 4th wheel. It was a pretty hard hill, probably less than 5 min but pushing as hard as I could the whole way. When I got to the top, there was a small group of about 3-4 riders who had broken away down the road ahead of me. This included the super lightweight under 15 boys, and a couple of ladies. I couldn't tell if they were in the women's grade or under 17s - it turned out only one of them was in the women's grade.

I found myself with a nice little posse of three riders: Margo, Jane and myself. We have raced and trained together so we were all happy to work together. However, after I had done about 2-3 turns on the front I realised that I was going to struggle to keep the pace. Margo and Jane were good enough to ease back a bit and keep pulling turns, and let me rest on the back. This was going ok, then another rider or two joined us and sat on the back. I decided it wasn't fair to let Margo and Jane keep doing all the work, so I pulled through and did another turn, and the rest of the group came through and worked as well. Unfortunately for me, I just couldn't keep the pace. I stopped doing turns and sat on the back, but even that was a bit too much. Gaps kept opening between me and the group, and eventually the gap became two bike lengths, and then I was off the group.

I still had more than half the race to go, I think I'd only done about 15km of the 42km race by this point. I figured the rest of the race was going to be on my own, so I just hunkered down in the drops and pushed on at just below time trial pace.

After a while, I heard Nat behind me, telling me to jump on the wheel. She had three other women with her, but after I sat on the back for a minute I could see that the other three women were either not capable or not willing to work. By this stage I was feeling pretty ok, so I came through to the front and worked with Nat.

This was my favourite part of the race, Nat and I were working hard, working together, swapping off turns on the front. It was great to be working with a teammate, even if we weren't in contention for podium positions.

We worked well together, then there was a tough slightly steeper and longer 'undulation'/hill that we had to contend with, and one of the ladies who had been sitting on the back the whole time decided she wanted to breakaway up the hill. We clawed her back and caught our breath, then prepared to start our little group working together again. Nat went to the front and pulled a strong turn. Unfortunately, a bit to strong for me, I just couldn't hold on, so I found myself on my own again.

I was about 12km from the finish at this point, because I remember thinking "its just a commute distance to go". So I just pushed on at almost time trial pace again, not going flat out, but still working hard. I continued in this fashion by myself for the rest of the race, with the obligatory out of the saddle effort to the finish line to please the crowd.

I was happy with my race. I had no expectations prior to the weekend. I decided I just wanted to go down and race, have fun, and what happened. I was really happy to be near the front of the race at the top of Pump Hill. Now if I can only stay at the front until the end of the race .......

The Pemberton Classic was a great event. The road race route was quite scenic, karri trees on the way up Pump Hill, and cows and wineries through the rest of the course. The locals really get on board - there were tons of old painted bikes hanging up outside cafés in town, and there were hay bales with big signs on the course "viva la Pemberton Classic". There were even hay bales arranged in the shape of a teddy bear!

Well done to the organizers and all the sponsors - there were many of them!

Pemberton Classic Criterium - 1 March

The Pemberton Classic started with a criterium up the main street of Pemberton, in the late afternoon on Saturday of the long weekend. It was a hot day, but cooled down to a pleasant temperature by race time.

I raced in women's B Grade, we had a good sized field of about 9 women. The race organizers started 3 different race groups together: B women, C men and under 17 boys. We started all together as one peloton, but spilt up quickly and were quite spread out even after one lap.

Each lap started with a downhill into a right hand corner, then a flat back straight with a tailwind but on a bumpy pot-holed road, then a nasty little climb back up to the start line.

I was riding in touch with a small group with two other women and a couple of under 17 guys. However, with the downhill and uphill each lap the gradient controlled each person's pace and we weren't really able to work together in a bunch.

I finished fifth in Women's B Grade, not far behind 3rd and 4th, who I'd been in touch with for most of the race. I was very happy with this result, as I have not raced many crits lately and I've been training long distances for Three Peaks, which is next weekend!

It was a great atmosphere, terrific watching all the grades racing at dusk through Pemberton. We had a big group of guys and girls from Hall Cycle Training so it was a fun social afternoon.

Yanchep Crit Race Report - 2 February 2014

The ride up to the crit was pretty good, nice tailwind the whole way and I rode up with Katie Joyce so I had company and someone to share the work with. However, I didn't do a specific warmup, which may not have helped my race outcome.

The Commissaires were concerned about the final corner into the sprint finish, so immediately before the race we did a group recon lap of the course. I got dropped on the hill on the recon lap, which I figured wasn't a good start!

We then re-assembled for the race start proper. I made sure I was in the first third of the pack as we hit the hill - and I quickly went backwards through the pack and was spat out the back before the top of the hill. Nasty! That was basically it, I continued racing by myself, not at 100% pace but still working hard to get something out of the event. The corners on the course were great, nice to do something different from Tech Park. After about 15-20min, I caught up with one of the other women who was off the back, she had slowed down a bit, so I slowed my pace a bit to ride with her. We pulled off with 2 laps to go, as we had been lapped and we knew there were four B-grade women in front of us, so we were not competing for the podiums and we didn't want to interfere with the race for the front contenders.

The ride back from the crit was hell. I had been eating and drinking throughout the morning after my race, but by the time they finished the presentations it was 1:30pm and we hadn't had any lunch. So I was running low on energy. And there was a killer south-westerly cross-head wind. Thank goodness Katie was still with me, I got some protection riding basically next to her in the wind shadow, but there were not many places to hide. And I could maintain only about 150 watts, so it was slow going. We averaged 23kph to Jindalee, where we stopped to get some food and replenish our energy stores. I was practically shaking by this stage. We were both hating the wind, the sun, being sand-blasted and the fact that we wouldn't get home until after 4pm. So we phoned a friend and got a lift the rest of the way home!

It was a well-organised event by Northern Beaches Cycling Club, and a great but challenging circuit. Also loads of spot prizes from the sponsors so it was worth hanging around for the presentations! Sponsors included Just Ride It (fixie bike), Goodearth Hotel and Bike Force Joondalup.

Race report - Smashfest Crit Sunday 12 Jan 2014

I got to the race in plenty of time to register, warmup, etc for the B Grade women's race, which had been at 10am the previous week.  Unfortunately, this week the B Grade race was at the same time as the C grade race ... which was about 15 min after I arrived. I registered and went for a quick warmup, but my 5 min warmup wasn't quick enough - the race had started by the time I got back.

After all the effort of getting to the race and mentally and physically preparing, I wanted to race. So, I figured I would do A grade. I had raced C grade the first crit, then B grade for my second race, and now A grade.

It was stinking hot, about 40 degrees, so it was hard to know the best thing to do for a warmup. I needed to warmup my muscles ready to work hard straight off the line, but I didn't want to overheat too much. So my warmup was shorter than normal and I didn't feel that great after warning up. This time I made sure I did my warmup with plenty of time to get to the start line before my race.

There were about 12 women in the A grade race, including two of my fellow Hall Cycling Training riders. Due to the heat, our race duration was reduced to 25 min. Thank goodness. Unsurprisingly, it was a fast hard race, with sprints and attacks several times each lap. I had a good awareness of the race and was able to respond quickly to each sprint. But with the pace and the heat, I didn't know how long I would be able to do that for.

The first five minutes were quiet hard, then I felt okay for the next five minutes or so. I was really glad to still be with the pack after ten minutes. My next goal was to stay with them for 15 min. I almost made it .... But after a couple of attacks in quick succession, it was taking me longer to get back on each time. Then there was an attack while I was still off the back, and that was it.

I lasted 14 min with the bunch. The rest of the race I was on my own, working hard on the start-finish straight into the headwind and trying to recover on the downhill and back straight. The heat was oppressive, my heart rate was really elevated. Thank goodness I had some water with me that I could spray on myself to cool down. It was also easier going at my own pace, without the sprints off the front of the bunch, and taking my own line into corners. I discovered that I was more confident cornering by myself than in the bunch.

I did the last 10 min of the race, counting down until the finish and trying to work hard to stay ahead of the bunch. The group passed me on the last lap, halfway around, and I had a great view of them preparing for the sprint finish.

It was great to do an A grade race, to see the difference between A and B grades, and to realise that I could actually stay with them for half the race. This time last year, I did my first crit ever, women's B Grade, and I had the same result as today - I stayed with them for about 10-15 min. It's really pleasing to see the progress that I've made in a year, which I attribute to the training that I've been doing with Hall Cycle Training and the race experience I've had in the past year. It bodes well for ongoing development for next year!

This was the last race in the Smashfest Crit series. Thanks to Hall Cycle Training and Vic Hotel for sponsoring the women's races, we had A, B and C grade women's events for each race which was a great opportunity for women of every ability to race in their own grade - or to try out every grade like I did!

Smashfest Tech Park Crit - Women's B Grade

I was feeling good on the warmup on the way to the race, but then sat around for two hours before my race started. I was quite nervous about moving up to B Grade and I realised when I got onto the start line that I had too much nervous energy and I really should've done a quick pre-race warmup to settle the nerves. Not a great start to the race, I missed cleating-in and then the pack (of five other riders) got away from me off the start line. Once I got my cleats sorted out it didn't take me too long to catchup with them though.

It was a very surgey race, lots of little sprints off the front and having to sprint to catch up, but then lots of times no-one wanted to work on the front so the pace dropped back down. Having a group of only six people racing there were not a lot of places to hide. Moving up from C grade, I found that my cornering was not as good as it needed to be (more practice required!). Also I had to work hard to chase down the little sprints - I did not have the instant power response that I needed.

However, that didn't hurt me too much in the sprint finish. I started the sprint at the back of the pack, but quickly passed two riders, then one more rider, and I was catching up to the second place rider as we crossed the finish line. Very happy with third place in B grade. The sprint training with Brad Hall on our Wednesday group session this week definitely paid off. Next time I will be more confident and I will continue to work on my cornering and sprinting to do even better.

Thanks to Hall Cycle Training and Vic Hotel for sponsoring the women's race series. Great to see another great turnout of women riders, and special mention to some of the up-and-coming Hall ladies - Conchita with a convincing win in C Grade and Roberta fourth place in C Grade. Kicking ass!

Return to Crit Racing

This morning I did the criterium at Tech Park in Bentley.

I chose to race in C Grade. Many people said I should do B Grade, but as my first race back after TOMR and only my 3rd crit, I was comfortable doing C Grade. I knew I would be one of the stronger riders, and I approached the race with the intention of getting first place.

I was very pleased to see that my cornering practice is paying off. Last time I did this course (a year ago) I was getting dropped on the corners. This time, I was dropping everyone else. After a few laps of having to slow down behind other riders in the corners, I made sure I was on the front for the corners, which meant that I was on the front for about 80% of the race. But I was setting the tempo, cornering well then easing off a little. Hopefully the rest of the field was having to work hard to catch up after the corners!

After 25min we got the signal that there were two laps to go, and one of the SPR girls took off fast. The pack followed. She got a gap of about 30m, but I wasn't too concerned as she was not strong at cornering. After the fast downhill corner, I sprinted up and caught her on the back straight. She looked back and saw me sitting on her wheel. I passed her going through the next corner, and I knew she was tired after her break so I just sprinted from there. Put the power down, got a big gap, gathered my breath, then up a few gears and out of the saddle for the last 200m to the finish line. After a couple of recent sprints where I have been pipped on the line, I wanted to make sure I had this one in the bag.

A new highest max HR as I crossed the finish line and normalised power for the race just below my threshold. It may have looked like I was taking it easy from the sidelines but I was working!

B Grade next time......

Thanks to Brad Hall, who sponsored the prizes for the women's categories. Also thanks to SPR and RCCC for organising at great event.