The Learning Curve Continues

Well what an eventful two weekends of racing it has been with the BCS girls! I have learned so much in just two races and also gained some really good experience!

Last weekend Lauretta, Nik, Tayla and I were racing down at the Phillip Island Grand Prix. Quite novel to be racing at such a unique venue; super-fast surface, picturesque views out to Cape Woolami, and some aggressive women’s racing to boot! It was a teams’ race, with a focus on accumulating points through sprints and KOM’s which ultimately contributed to overall standings in the Team’s Classification.

Experience gained included; trying my hand at leading Lauretta out for a sprint, not my forte, think I just set a nice ‘tempo’ pace leading to the line! And also getting involved in my first convincing break off the front!

Lauretta and I held good position for the race, I positioned myself so that I could react to any moves that went and this paid off. In the latter half of the race I managed to cover a couple of attacks from the LIV Giant girls and the next one made by Sarah Riley seemed to spilt the group; bang we were in a break! I was pretty buggered after covering the earlier attacks and it took me a while to recover, luckily Sarah was doing a great job at driving it into the head winds, and I was able to give her some recovery with my contributions! It was looking like we might be able to hold out for the KOM points, but it was not to be, the girls got organised and reeled us in about 100m from the KOM line!

Meanwhile Lauretta was riding a smart race, sitting in, not working and focusing on the sprints. She picked up valuable points winning one of the intermediates and also placing 4th and 2nd in the other two. To top it off she took out the final sprint finish in an impressive show down between herself and Nic Whitburn. I was impressed with my 6^th place considering my sprinting qualities! Nik and Tayla were not far behind, finishing strongly in the top 20.

We finished what must have been a very close 2^nd on the Team’s Classification, a fantastic result for the team!

This weekend Nik, Kate and I raced the Country Road Championships held at Harcourt. It is always great to race on our local roads, having had the opportunity to train regularly on them and also just as great is the little sleep in and no travel time!

A small field set out for two short 12km loops which saw us all stay together, then one big 56km lap south to Elphinstone then back over the ‘Goose Neck’ and also the dreaded ‘Turdie’! Kate tested her legs for an attack a couple of times, once we hit the old Calder Highway, but nothing seemed to really stick. Then at the 25km mark we passed through Harcourt and set out on the big lap, Kate lit it up again. I was straight on her wheel and also behind me was Vic Luxton-Baine.

We quickly got organised and rolled some hard turns to maximise the gap. We hit the long draggy climbs around Faraday on our absolute limit, but this proved to be an opportunity to extend our lead as the gap was widening, how exciting! From here we rode the remaining 50km at a solid pace, never wanting to relax as we had no idea what the time gaps were to the chasing bunch. 

It was a great experience for me being in a break with team mate Kate, and also really inspiring to see firsthand the determination and intensity she is capable of racing at. She was the strongest of us by far and was relentless with her motoring turns, very nearly on more than one occasion, leaving both Vic and I behind! My confidence was lifted by the clear fact that Kate was backing me all the way and even setting me up for the possibility of winning this race! Her actions were effective in changing my whole mindset and instilling confidence in myself to be able to give it 100%

We knew that if we stayed away up the Turdie we would have it, but it was amazing at how slow I felt I was climbing due to the matches that were burnt establishing and maintaining the break. We were all nervously checking behind, but no bunch showed.

It was near impossible to discuss tactics leading into the sprint finish, in the end Kate said that if I went early she would do her best to hold off Vic. As it happened I just went far too early and couldn’t sustain my effort to the line, Kate came round me and also Vic and I was left to roll over the line in third place!  So a personally a slightly disappointing finish for me but at the same time so much had been gained!

I now look forward to the possibility of racing club championships on a similar course and also our local 3 day club tour!

Kate's story of Tour of the South West

It’s always a bit nerve-racking heading into the first road tour of the year, unsure of your form, competitions form and when you haven’t done the race before unsure how the courses will be.
It was the first Victorian Road Series road tour for 2013 and was kicking off in Warrnambool, initially the team was to be Nik, Lauretta, Jo and myself, however some last-minute difficulties resulted in Jo being unable to attend.
I had read Lauretta’s preview of the race and read race information, and come to the conclusion that personally for the weekend I would like a stage win, and as a team goal to attain one of the 3 jerseys being KOM, sprint or overall. The overall would most likely be determined by the ITT on Saturday afternoon, not being my speciality event, so I didn’t have high hopes of an overall high GC place.
We went out to ride around the courses together Friday afternoon; for both the road race and ITT and discussed how the race had panned out last year for Lauretta as well as how we felt it would pan out this year. We then went home cooked ourselves some amazing pasta and checked the forecast for 40-60km/hr winds on Saturday. I was excited, not to sure how many other people were though.
Woke up Saturday morning to even stronger gusts and road out the nice little 10km to the course, lathered up our legs (love the smell of deep heat) and lined up with the 36 other women for Stage 1.
The race was on fast straight away, with an attack out of the corner onto the road. Our race plan had been to try not to do anything too early as it was 80km and we had sprinters in Lauretta and I so didn’t need to forge a break. The race had split half way through the first lap; just after Nik Whitburn had ripped everyone’s legs off in the first KOM, with 2 Total Rush riders up the road Lauretta and I had made the first chasing group of 8, and Nik the second chasing group of 7 riders. We were swapping off hard into the winds. I went for the sprint points as although the 2 girls were up the road, they were only 100m and I knew they wouldn’t stay away. We caught them by the top of the second time up the KOM so were a front bunch of 10. The next sprint came around and I went for it again and just got 1st ahead of Penny from Total Rush who had won the first sprint.
The next lap was a bit more leisurely as we realised it was going to be a long day in this blustery winds, apparently the gusts had been up to 70km/hr. Coming into the 3rd sprint with 2 to go, I asked Lauretta to lead me out, so I could get maximum points again. Lauretta went from 1.6km out and I won the sprint easily, but we also had a gap on the field and pushed on for a little longer, but the brought it back together over the next 2km. The 4th lap the chasing group behind us caught back on as we were neutralised for 2km when A grade men were passing. This made me a bit antsy going into the 4th sprint; I told Lauretta to rest her legs and went for the sprint on my own. I sat up 2m before the line and nearly got rolled by another rider who had not been in any of the other sprints, my sprint jersey was firmly in my hands.
In the final lap numerous attacks were going, however nothing would stick, no one would work with me as they could see I was sprinting quite well and no one wanted to lose time prior to the ITT.
Coming into 2km to go Bridie O’Donnell attacked. A few girls jumped and I think I was the third to jump and Lauretta was the 2nd; at 1.2km to go Lauretta was suddenly on the front with only myself and Lisa Hanley on here wheel and 200m back to the bunch, I yelled at her to go with all the encouragement I could encouraging every last bit of strength out of her, then at 300m to go I jumped underneath her, jumped clear of Lisa and road to the finish barely able to one arm salute due to the strength of the wind and not wanting to fall!!
We had won stage 1 and had the sprinters jersey well within reach for the tour. I was so ecstatic for our team; it was amazing, and exciting and a blast. However we only had a little over 1.5 hours before we had to go and ITT for 12.7km in this crazy wind. I wasn’t nervous myself and I had no pressure as I had no expectations, however Nik and Lauretta being the ITT riders they are had a little more pressure on themselves, (only what they had put on themselves though)
The girls made the call not to use TT bikes, post race we realised this was the wrong decision, or maybe they were like me and thought about it during our ITT as we saw Nik Whitburn fly past us on her tt rig so smoothly.
We all finished within 15seconds of each other, for me, that was good, for the other 2 not so happy. You could definitely see the difference between people’s bike choices as the top 7 riders had all used a TT bike, and were within 50 seconds of each other, and then it was another 45 seconds or so before the first road bike rider. I was pretty happy to be still in 7th place leading into the final day, and thought I was only 3 points clear of Penny in the sprint jersey (I was actually 9 after just seeing the results haha).
The crit turned left and climbed 300m at 7.5% so was a tough course, and we had woken up to light showers. Luckily the course was dry by the time we had to race, we didn’t have too much of a race plan, Lauretta and I both wanted to make it a tough race, and I also wanted to keep the sprinters jersey as priority one, followed by another stage win as priority 2.
Having 2 aggressive riders on your team, often can be quite a disadvantage, I was off the front after 2 laps, but only ever gained 15 seconds and dangled there for about 5 laps, when they brought me back, I was trying to make it hard up the hill, as was Lauretta. The first whistle came around for the sprint, and Lauretta lead me out perfectly, I sat up just on the line as had it covered. We continued to try to push the race hard, but no one wanted to follow through or maybe they had tired legs, not sure which, it was still a big bunch coming into the 2nd sprint where Lauretta lead me out perfectly again so I had the jersey firmly on my shoulders for the tour. Goal 1 achieved now to try to get the stage.
I for some reason had gone back to my old ways of doing too much work for no reason, I kept trying to get away or force the speed up the hill, but too many of the girls were sitting in and recovering on the downhill. At 2 to go Bridie attacked and got a good gap, I bridged just before the bell, with a smaller bunch on my heals. Then Penny attacked just before the final climb, Lisa followed and I waited glanced over my shoulder and saw read so started giving it all I could thinking Lauretta was on my wheel. Got over the top of the climb completely smashed look over again… AND IT WAS THE WRONG RED. Suddenly 2 other girls including Nik Whitburn jumped around me and I could barely grab their wheel, I couldn’t see Lauretta anywhere.. Woops. I crossed the line in 10th as I had sat up at this stage, and was already laughing at myself (once I had caught my breath). Look better at the rider behind and don’t lead out someone else haha….
All in all, it was a great weekend, thanks to Heather for all her support over the weekend, as well as Warrnambool cycling club, and Cycling Victoria for such a good event.
Check out some great photos here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.470600226345283.1073741840.134038033334839&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.470195316385774.1073741837.134038033334839&type=3

http://pelotoncafe.com.au/2013-tour-of-the-south-west-day-1-photo-gallery/

http://pelotoncafe.com.au/2013-tour-of-the-south-west-stage-3-photo-gallery/