Defending Number 19 – CX Nationals Day 2, June 9th 2013

CLP taking the racing line

Day 2 brought stiffness and soreness in the form of a sore back. I suspect I wasn’t the only one and at least one lady retired after a crash on day one, though she still bought her kids out to have a go. Did I mention that CX is for everyone? In addition to the national races in the afternoon, both days had support races which included little crossers, open (any bikes, but recently taken over by really good mountain bikers), C grade men and women and B grade men. CLP was racing the B grade (which seemed to include a lot of riders I had seen in A grade previously) so I had time to take some happy snaps of CLP looking pro!

Lee-Anne - coming or going?

  
This set up also meant that if you were really keen you could race a support race then an elite race, which one (very busy) lady did on both days. Lee-Anne also guided the little crossers around (both days) and ran a free bike skills clinic for kids on the Sunday. So it’s probably fair to say that when she lined up for her last race, the elite women, she was just a little worn out.

They did what?

   

I have to say this was to my advantage as the course for day 2, while having some really nice straights, was incredibly technical. This is not something I’m good at and so I soon found myself at the back of the pack. The one pleasant surprise for the day was that we were going round anti-clockwise, which meant that a particularly nasty corner, which we usually ride the wrong way round, off camber and half way down a hill, was now awesome! We rode it on top of the hill and went the correct way (in my mind), which I had gleefully reported to a mate (who usually sets it up incorrectly) earlier in the day.

Technical difficulties

Anyway, I figured with my back being sore I had little to no hope of being any good, but I soon warmed to the race and when I saw a very tired Lee-Anne not that far in front, I decided to have a crack! Knowing that she is pretty good on the technical side of things, I just tried to keep her in my sights as we twisted back and forward, jumping (or at least attempting to) logs and barriers. I passed her on the back straight going about 30 km/hr on our first lap, but when we came to the twists and turns on the hill, she squeezed back in front of me. I thought she had it in the bag as I lost time over barriers and round corners but in the final twisty section of our second lap I could see she was tiring. I caught her again on the straight, a bit earlier this time and endeavoured to keep in front of her. Lee-Anne almost had me at the hill as I got out of the way of the leader as she lapped me. 

The back straight

We were in close contention until the final twisty section where Lee-Anne graciously conceded second to last place to me after putting in a Herculean effort all weekend. I belted down the back straight and into the finishing corners, noticing as I did, that one of the actual elite women was about to lap me. I thought to myself, what the hell and gave it one last sprint to the line, preventing her from lapping me as I collapsed on the sidelines. I was a bit confused, as I wasn’t sure if the chequered flag was for her, me or both, but there was no way I was doing one more lap! Turns out it was for both of us and so thankfully my courageous defence of number 19 had finally finished. 

Burgers!

I subsequently collapsed in a chair and didn’t move for a while, not even to bemoan my burgerless fate when I overheard Manu mentioning that he had already sold out of burgers! I settled for a sausage and chips before rallying enough to whack an icepack on my back and catch a few happy snaps of the elite men. Have to say I have never seen bikes bounce over a log quite like that before!

Men with flying bikes

Unfortunately my back was too sore to handle packing up (walking to the car was hard enough) so we offered our appologies and headed home. And did I defend number 19? As it turns out, Lee-Anne and I are currently tied for 17^th place and I couldn’t be happier!

For those of you interested in the numbers, here’s the strava file of my race: http://app.strava.com/activities/59164938

And a big thank you CLP for lending me his photos 

Bouncing Bike!

Uncomfortable Bike

Defending Number 19 – CX Nationals Day 1, June 8th 2013

For a lot of people the June long weekend is a time to kick back, relax and enjoy the last long weekend until October. For us it was a time of heart pounding excitement as we both took part in a racing filled weekend. What type of racing would tempt us out in the cold winter air? Cyclocross racing, the most fun you can have on two wheels!

Super Coach chasing down his foes

I’m probably a bit biased, but if it wasn’t for cyclocross I doubt I’d have ever tried other forms of racing. For those of you unacquainted with this sport, I’d suggest having a look on youtube for some videos, but if I had to describe it, it’s like letting a bunch of hyped up 10 year olds race bikes on a course of their dreams. No offense intended to Super Coach (Neil Ross) who designed the courses, but racing cyclocross is just so much fun that it makes me feel like a kid! Then of course they make me race for 45 minutes and I feel every bit my age and then some!

Gemma - it's all her fault!

So, why defending number 19? Well last year was the first time Australia had a national cyclocross competition and some well meaning soul (I’m looking at you Gemma) talked me into having a crack. Making up the numbers so to speak and trying out my new (to me) CX bike. So I had a crack, got lapped after three laps and got pulled and had a nice chat with a few other ladies while we waited for the race to finish. Did it again the next day and what do you know, I have a national ranking! I was number 19 women in CX in Australia in 2012.

 

My number seemed appropriate

With that in mind, it didn’t take much persuading to get me to participate this year and so I lined up this past weekend for two days of racing. However, a couple of things had changed from the previous year. Firstly, the word had gotten out – CX was awesome! Which meant there was a bit more competition (translation – I get less points for coming last). Also, someone had changed the rules on me and instead of getting pulled when I got lapped, I was going to have to race the full 45 minutes! To put this in perspective, I usually race C grade and we go for about 20 minutes before we all agree to fall down in a heap. 45 minutes was going to be tough!

Speeding down the straights

Day 1 was at Mulch Hill, and as much as that terrified me when I first rode it, it’s now a course I love. It had some lovely straights, a little sand, some evil loose dirt and the big pile of mulch (Mulch Hill). I was trying to be sensible so I actually did about a 10km warm up on the course, which almost resulted in me missing the start. A very flustered marshal herded me over with the rest of the ladies and we were ready to start.

Lee-Anne's technical savvy

Thankfully I was starting at the back which meant I didn’t have everyone flying past me and crowding me. I’m not a good bike handler at the best of times and I get a little nervous when I’ve got experts rushing past me. Surprisingly I found myself flying along and it wasn’t long before I was hot on the tail of another PACC chick! Lee-Anne and I had raced together a bit before and I knew we were about the same in overall ability so I tried hard to hang onto her. However her technical savvy and a dirt dive around a tree soon left me in her wake. A fall is always hard to come back from, even if it is only minor and I soon found myself off the back.

See - recovery!

I dialled it back a bit to try and recover as the leaders flew past me, lapping me on my third lap of the course I think. I obviously hadn’t recovered what little technical skills I possessed, as when I went through the evil loose dirt tree section (basically trying to go round a tree when someone has dug up all the dirt) I managed to collect some of the course tape with my bike. Apparently that stuff only has so much stretch and by the time I noticed that it was attached, it snapped. Being a responsible individual I did try yelling at people that there was now a hazard on the course, however given the heavy breathing at the time, I can’t blame them if they were a little confused! 

Eventually I came up on what I hoped was my last lap, having ridden a good 45 minutes, however unbeknownst to me the leaders were on my tail, about to lap me for a second time. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t and I had to ride a lonely last lap (and tell off some elite men who thought it was practice time already) to finish with a time of 56 minutes and 53 seconds (according to my garmin). And I was complaining about 45 minutes!

The stairs were hard work

The rest of the day was spent consuming everything I could lay my hands on, including the last vegie velo burger of the day (thanks Manu!) and watching the elite men race. I had intended to get some pictures but I was buggered, and could only watch in amazement as they bunny hopped the barriers time and time again. I was also entertained by the costumed antics of the spectators on Mulch Hill and was doubly impressed when I realised quite a number of them were women I had just raced against.

I survived!

We hung around to help with the pack up and I have to take my hat off to the people who set up and pack up these events. There was a lot of tape and stakes, all designed to keep us (and the stray pedestrian) relatively safe and possibly even not lost! It makes for a long day and we were well and truly worn out when we finally reached home. Many thanks to CLP who kindly volunteered to give my bike the once over and a bit of a wash.

Gemma at her best

Another PACC lady working hard

For those of you interested in the numbers, here’s the strava file of my race: http://app.strava.com/activities/58938814

Riding in Circles, 22nd May 2013

Riding in circles

A couple of days after we got back from the Outback Odyssey, our local cycling club had decided to hold a track meet. Now common sense would indicate that undertaking high intensity track cycling a couple of days after completing an almost 300km epic mountain bike journey may not have been the best idea. But I’ve been told many times that I lack common sense so I decided to give it a go. CLP however, was definitely out and it was only under sufferance that I agreed to him coming down to take pictures (all pictures included are courtesy of him).

The Competition

Also the competition

This track event was actually part of a series of omniums that were being held over winter. An omnium is a series of track events where you get points for each event that go towards your total. Events can include things like time trials, points races and eliminations. For this omnium we were going to race a heart starter (a scratch race that’s raced first, hence the name), a team time trial, a points race, an elimination and a scratch race. Yep, I’m a sucker for punishment. The points race would be the one that counted toward the omnium series.

The Debutante

Have to say I wasn’t expecting much but it was nice to be out racing with friends. It was a mates first time out racing at the Superdrome (congratulations Rob W) so it was a nice friendly atmosphere for us in   D grade. The heart starter was under way and as usual I struggled to get on the back when the bunch started, everybody seems to start so much faster than me. We rolled around for a few laps with me taking my turns on the front as an opportunity to slow things down. 

D grade looking Pro!

Two laps out from the finish I found myself on the front, which past experience told me is not a good time to be there. I figured I’d go for broke, and took off. I think I caught the rest of the group napping as they didn’t seem to really respond for about half a lap and by that time I was well and truly on my way. Unfortunately a couple of the riders decided they actually wanted to chase me and caught me coming around the final bend, which resulted in me coming third. Not too bad for someone who thought they would be dropped after the first lap!

Next up was the team time trial, which is always interesting when you’ve never ridden with the people in your team before. Same as with the first race I struggled to get on the back. We seemed to get the hang of it after a while, but I think we were a bit worn out from the first race and the other team beat us.

A Grade - more Pro

The main race for the night (at least the one that counted toward the series) was next and given that my chest still felt like it was on fire from the first race I didn’t have high hopes. Still, all that seemed to disappear once we started rolling. There was a little bit of confusion as to which laps were the points laps, so I was figuring I’d just listen for the bell. However I was on the front at 2 laps to go to the first sprint and thought what the hell, let’s try that surprise attack again. This time it worked well (either that or they were as confused as I was about which laps were sprints) and I collected 5 points in the first of three sprints. I went on to collect another 3 points, which resulted in me coming second. I believe that’s my best track result to date!

Rob W doing awesome!

If I wasn’t exhausted before, then I was now and I was looking forward to the elimination race so I could take it easy. I think I wasn’t the only one and there was a bit of a competition as to who could be eliminated first and have the longest break. I didn’t win this, and I think I was eliminated about 3rd to last. Congratulations to Rob W who hung on for 3rd in this race, not bad for his debut.

Still rolling!

Finally we rounded out the night with a scratch race, and though I gave it my best, there wasn’t a lot left in the tank by that point in time and I actually have no idea where I placed. All in all it was a good night with good company. It’s never boring riding in circles!

Outback Odyssey Day 5, May 20th 2013, Back to Adelaide

Well it rained over night so we dawdled over a hot breakfast in the hall in the hopes that we could pack up a dry tent not a wet one. Thankfully it was pretty dry once we got back and even better Wayne and Libby, the people who were giving us a lift back to Burra had come and parked right next to the tent. 

Hungry Sheep (photo from CLP)

After chasing down my raffle prize and the contact number of the person to access our car in Burra we were on our way and spent a delightful couple of hours chatting to Wayne and Libby, another couple from the ride who we hadn’t really had the chance to bump into before. I’d like to say our drive was uneventful, however we encountered some hungry sheep who decided that the side of the road had some very tasty looking grass. Not wanting to begrudge them a bit of tucker, we waited patiently to pass safely through. 

Really Good Flour

We got to Burra in on piece and retrieved our car, wishing the couple good luck in finding a missing pair of cycling glasses. After stacking everything in the car, including the raffle prize, we headed back towards Adelaide. I did however manage to sneak in a gourmet stop on the way home, collecting a bag of Egyptian Gold flour from the Tarlee Mill. The lady at the counter seemed a little baffled by my enthusiasm, but trust me, it’s really good flour.

Bread making urges were strong!

Anyway, we made it back and now I just have to resist my bread making urges long enough to do a pile of washing.