UP'S AND DOWN'S quick update from Nik

Up and down’s of cycling highs and low’s that makes it all fun I guess that’s what they say hay……….

After a great block of racing with some good results which I was most excited about the first unplaced female in the bendigo club tour first time I got to race the tour not being sick  .

After a great break it has been hard to get moving aging sickness and injury have just keep rolling on

Chest infection throat infection over all that and now knee injury is the universe trying to tell me something ……..

All I want to do is ride my bike .

I am off to do  a session with my coach in Geelong tomorrow hoping the knee holds out and is now on the up and up :-)

I am excited for the weekend team bcs is heading to wangratta to do some recon of the Sam Miranda courses.

Also some other exciting thing's happened on my my time off new bike thanks @specialized au 

great for all thing's women's cycling 

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/

Preview of the first Victorian Team tour for the year, by Lauretta

This time last year I travelled to Warrnambool for the inaugural Tour of South West. After 2 days and 3 events of tough racing, I came away with the win. Because of that I look back on ToSW fondly and greatly anticipate this year’s event.

This year’s racing uses the same circuit as last year, but in a change from last year, offers individual women’s grades. After last year’s 7 female starters, I must admit I am surprised to see 3 women’s grades with 30 in A grade, 15 in B and 38 in women’s C.

Tour of South West offers 3 stages, a road race, time trial and criterium. For A grade women the road race is 85km, 5 laps of the 17km circuit. The undulating circuit itself would not be overly hard on a calm day, but unfortunately Warrnambool is not known to be calm. The strength and direction of the wind is what will decide the difficulty of the race. Last year it was freezing and blowing a gale which made for extremely tough racing.

Stage 2 is a 12.7km time trial that’s difficulty will once again be determined by the strength of the wind. It starts with a slight downhill and then undulates for around 7km before it reaches the toughest climb of the circuit which is 300m long and has a gradient of 7%. From here is flattens out a little before turning left back onto the finishing straight where there is a gradual incline to the finish.

Sunday’s final stage is a criterium around the Warrnambool cemetery. The 1.2km circuit includes a 300m climb of 7.5%. The climb starts as soon as you turn the first corner after the finishing line meaning there is no roll up to it, but rather a near standing start. This will mean those not strong enough and who miss the jump will be left behind. Although the downhill that follows provides the opportunity to get back on, many repeats will eventually crack even some of the strongest riders.

Hopefully as a team we can get some good results, we have myself, Nik McNamara, Kate Finegan and Jo Wall lining up this weekend for the ToSW.

Planning for the winter

This summer of racing has brought about many firsts. Some of these include the first full summer of racing for our Bendigo women’s team, Building Champion Squad, the first time I got to wear a leaders jersey in the Jayco Bay criteriums, my first trip to Adelaide for the TDU since it has been a UCI event (although I didn’t see any of the races) and my first summer of racing without any coach.

I also used annual leave to take my first non bike related holiday since I got back on the bike 3 years ago; and this brings me to question my cycling….

Its interesting being a female cyclist racing at a national level as we do here in Australia, especially if you aren’t chasing institute recognition or selection, and you know you aren’t really ever going to make much money out of the sport yet definitely have the ability to be competitive both nationally and internationally. You have those moments where you wonder why I’m doing this, what am I achieving. I often have nights when my work friends are heading out for after work drinks, yet I’m heading home to get on the ergo and then go to bed early (sometimes I venture out after ergo, yet the sweat still hasn’t stopped dripping off my face for up to 1 hour after the shower). I also sometimes get up at 5am to be in the office by 6:30am so I can leave work at 3pm to go and do a 4 hour ride mid week (yes that’s right, I ride 4 hours after working an 8 hour day). A lot of Monday mornings I struggle as instead of turning up to work refreshed from the weekend, I’m more tired from travelling and racing all weekend and can barely understand what’s going on in the meetings, I also wonder if my boss will understand its my recovery day; so I need to stay off my legs and can’t make it into her office next door, 20m away, so I will just chat to her on the phone.
But then I have moments like up at Mansfield on the 16th and 17th of March where we had a good team result of myself 2nd and Lauretta 3rd, on the Saturday in the criterium in the town centre. Then on Sunday although the race didn’t suit our team in the slightest both Lauretta and I started the race to the top of Buller from Mansfield. Lauretta put herself in the early break, at least we were represented and she got a good start on the climb. I did a bit of soul searching as I road up the climb on my own after dropping off the final 5 climbers at about the 4km mark, passing some of the break away including Lauretta along the way and “thoroughly enjoying” the steady climb. Now you might be thinking, how does this make you want to keep on racing. But in between these 2 races we found an amazing coffee shop/restaurant in Mansfield, Nicole drove a manual car without me telling her when and which gear to change into (and had to do a hand break start on the steepest part of Mt Buller), we had dinner with my mum and her friends and discovered that pizza dough can be made with flour and Greek yoghurt, as well as many other things that can’t be told outside the circle of truth. (I have since tried this pizza dough recipe and it is soooo easy, and low fat Greek yoghurt CAN be used).
I also after warming up from the freezing tops of Mt Buller, on the drive home analysed why I got dropped from the climbers when I did, then yet stayed about 100m behind them for the next 2km and discussed what I need to work on to get better at this part of my riding, discussed and planned future races and had random conversations the whole drive home with Nicole.
I guess part of loving and continuing to race is fuelled by the knowledge that you can continue to improve, that you can have the most fun experiences with friends, that you can work with team mates to achieve great results, and you can see parts of the countryside you often wouldn’t see.
Yet it also makes me realise that I don’t have to do this, I do it because I love it, and that is why I won’t be riding at all in July as it will be TO COLD and I don’t like the cold riding.
Now to stay up until 1am watching Flanders on T.V and sleep in on a Monday public holiday, maybe I will be refreshed Tuesday this week…. maybe

Round 4 Cykel Events Red Star Coffee Womens Grand Prix

With the last race in the 4 round series being a hot dog in Richmond, and the last crit for the team for the summer season the team was excited. However we were also coming to the realisation that the warmer weather, getting to wear only knicks and jersey with no layers days was coming to an end.

Tayla and Lauretta were already in Melbourne, so  Nik, Kate and Jo set off on the road trip, which was surprisingly tame and uneventful in comparison  to normal, not sure if it was nerves, tiredness or the lack of Tayla in the car.

The day stared with the usual prologue to see what division we all would be riding in. We were all placed In division 1 so after some food and team talk we were ready to race knowing what was required to keep our team in 2^nd place on team GC also keeping Kate in 3^rd on Individual GC .

With Kate and Lauretta forcing the pace early it wasn’t long for a breakaway to form and the bunch was racing in 3 group’s. Kate was off the front with Jenny Macpherson (liv/Giant) and Bridie O'Donnell (Total Rush), Jo and Lauretta in the 2^nd group and Tayla and Nik in the 3^rd group.

 Kate was taking lap points left right and centre and then picked up 2^nd in the sprint, we were able to stay in 2^nd place on teams GC. It also kept Kate in 3^rd in the individual standings, however if she had of done an earlier tally, and had of gone for a few extra points could have moved up to 2nd. Kate also took the laps leader classification for a great result for the day and a fun day out.

Looking back it was a successful series for the BCS team the goals that were set way back in early December were

 To be up there on team’s GC  CHECK 2^ND

To come home with one jersey CHECK Kate laps leader

I am sure I am a bit bias but I think we have one of the best group of girls going around

Well done to all the BCS girls and a big shout out to the Liv/Giant girls for taking out the team classification.

 

Lauretta's Season on the track

Last weekend’s Bendigo Madison saw the conclusion of the Victorian track season, and what a season it was. After being selected for the state team in December, many weeks of hard training and racing followed to ensure I would be competitive at a national level ready to race for February 2013.
One of my favourite weeks was the Victorian Christmas carnivals. As usual, it offered some fantastic racing across all four locations; Horsham, Bendigo, Shepparton and Wangaratta. Over the four days I had a few minor placing's and a couple wins including the Ladies silver Bracelet Wheel race at Shepparton and the Godfrey Family Omnium double elimination at Horsham.
The Mitchelton Bay Cycling Classic (bay crits) followed Christmas carnivals and although not exactly successful, I definitely learned a lot riding in such a quality field. I also got to ride my brand new Specialized Venge road bike for the first time.
Last year I competed in the Santos Women’s Cup in Adelaide and only finished 1 stage, so this year I came into it with the goal of completing at least two. Stage one around the east end of Adelaide was a thrill to race, with a large crowd leaning over the barriers cheering us on. Stage two, Gastro got the better of me, despite this I still started and launched the first attack to then soon be dropped off the back and quickly removed from the race. The final stage at Unley hosted a smaller field due to several riders scratching  but still offered some fast racing. I surprised myself at this stage as I was expecting to have no chance of finishing but during the race I found myself attacking, chasing and holding position. I finished the race mid field and achieved my goal of completing at least two stages. The whole team road these races, and not only was I able to complete these 2 races, but had also helped team mates throughout the series and gained more knowledge in regards to working together as a team.
The highlight of the season for me was competing in my first track nationals as an Elite woman.  The four days of Championship racing was held at Dunc Gray Velodrome in Sydney. The team arrived in Sydney two days before the commencement of racing. Unfortunately as we arrived so did the storms and torrential rain. After three days of being stuck indoors Thursday arrived and with it my first and favourite event, the individual pursuit. Being my first year as an elite woman, all I really wanted was a PB. I achieved this with a time of 3:47.064, bettering my previous time by over 3 seconds and placing me 8^th overall. The following day I had the 100 lap point score; once again I surprised myself and finished in 8th after only losing one lap. My final day of racing offered a 40 lap scratch race, which I finished in 9^th place. Although I didn’t win any medals, It was a surreal experience to be racing with Olympians, world champions and some the best female cyclists Australia has to offer. 8^th and 9^th place may not seem as a major achievement but just to compete in that field, without being absolutely demolished, is a big achievement to me.

After a week off the bike, Ararat and Ballarat Track Carnivals beckoned. At Ararat I won the first handicap of the night and raced hard but with no results for my other three events. At Ballarat, I won the opening scratch race, placed second in the handicap point score and won the Victorian Madison Championship with my partner Toni Abbisogni also from Bendigo . The 50 lap Madison was one of the most enjoyable races I've ridden all year. A timely attack, launched by Toni, resulted in us taking a lap which no other team was able to bring back.
The Austral wheel race was an aggressive and successful night of racing. I placed 3^rd in the Victorian Women’s Scratch race after attacking several times, reducing the main field from 11 to 6. I placed second behind Jessica Mundy in the handicap points after once attacking the field resulting in the bunch splitting.
The final track race for the season boasted a first for women’s racing; a women’s Bendigo Madison. The stellar field included teams from all over Australia making for some tough racing. Once again I partnered with Toni Abbisogni and after 60 laps of fast and hard racing we came in 6^th. Although it destroyed my legs and my body aches from the effort, I loved it and will hopefully be doing it again next year.
It is now time for me to start thinking about the road races, and adapting my body for these changes.