November 29, 2010

ATS Longbeach Coastal Classic - 2nd for the 3rd time

Longbeach rolled on around again for another year. Even though it is pretty much a flat race, I still quite enjoy it and I have done It every year it has been held. About a week before this race I was feeling really good on the bike and I could feel a big improvement in my fitness. But then a tough week at work with massive sleep loss put me on the back foot. I was struggling to get my training for the day done and I had to revise the week in preparation for Longbeach. Seeing I was feeling very tired I thought a result was unlikely in this race. And to make matters worse I only got 6hrs sleep the night before!
I got to the event venue with good time on race day. After I had registered I went straight to the main river crossing to check out lines. I thought, "I will ride it like a would race it." and burst in at speed. Before I could even get into the water I found myself up on the front wheel after it sunk into the soft gravel. So the decision was made to run it. Race start came along quite fast. So not a lot of waiting around which was great! I didn't want to have a fast start so I could save my energy and I could be a dirty roadie and sit on for a bit. This worked out well, I was on the back of a 5 man group (same top 5 at finish). It was Phill, Kyle, Brad, Anton then me. It all split up pretty soon at the first stream crossing. No one got away from anyone too quickly. It all slowly pulled apart throughout the race. I moved into second early on and held it from there. Kyle had gone off the front and was moving out of sight. Brad was close behind me but slowly dropping. Then Anton caught up to Brad and they started to pull me back in the last few kms. But I held them off to take 2nd overall and first junior. Anton came in 3rd, Brad 4th and Phill 5th. I was very happy and surprised with my result. 2nd seems to be common but unlucky for me. Although there is nothing wrong with coming 2nd. Hopefully I will get a win there one day. My training is working well and the future season is looking bright. We will see how I go on the hills this Saturday at the festival of cycling. Could be a different story.

November 1, 2010

Timaru 12hr - rinding for the Cyclery

I got invited to ride for the Cyclery team (Timaru bike shop) at the Timaru 12hr this year. I was very happy to do this because otherwise I would have been doing the 6hr solo and I would be in so much pain right now. I still had stitches in my hand so my control wasn't great but the course wasn't too technical so I coped all right. I started for the cyclery and my plan was to try and lead into all the single track because I knew that's where I would lose the most time because of my hand. So, I had great start leading all the way to the single track and up the first climb. But seeing I haven't done a lot of intensity training by this stage I was pretty much gone. Anton attacked at the top of the climb and I surprised myself as I stayed on the wheel. But as we slowed up Brad did another sneaky attack and that was the end of me. I lost the wheel so I couldn't draft on the flat section. I got slower and slower throughout the lap but did hold my 4th position. It wasn't the greatest of starts for the team but it put us in 2nd place 12hr team which we held for the rest of the race. The rest of my laps were quite good. Pretty consistent and I started to feel better after the 6hr mark. The first 6hrs took forever and the last went too quick. And at about the 6hr mark one of our riders, Tom, had to stop because of his continuing knee problems. It was a good fun race and we did very well considering the problems we had. Oh,  forgot to mention that Simon got a puncture on our last lap and had to run to the finish, and Cameron burped his tyre on his first lap and had to stop and fill it up. I can now take a lot out of this race and apply it to my training. Thanks to the guys from Timaru and the Cyclery for the great race/weekend!