Yesterday the local club criterium was a combined A and B grade race (45 minutes plus two laps). The field was about 25 with only 4 A graders (two of which happened to be Hayden Brooks and Darren Rolfe). The race broke up early with a group of 10 riding off the front, with little old me in that group. I was stoked, because I was worried about not even being able to stay on the back of this group and here I was off the front in the main split. The sad reality is, I didn't have the legs to stay there and after 25 minutes I exploded (literally; there are still pieces of me all over the circuit). I still feel though, it's a really good sign of things to come. Managed to back it up with a solid 140km training ride the next day as well.
Saturday 18 February 2012
Friday 17 February 2012
Tuesday 14 February 2012
The races so far
B grade Toowoomba club race on the new Toowoomba Criterium Circuit. Epic fail, completing 22 of the 40 minutes in the group. Found this very fast.
B grade masters at the same circuit, in the Toowoomba 2 day Open. I was in the front group of about 25, but a crash on the second last lap sent me off the track and I didn't get back on. Day 2 was a 35 lap event on a longer version of the circuit. I came 5th.
Monday 13 February 2012
Bikes are way better these days
Bikes are just awesome now and so much better value than they were in the 1990s. As mentioned, I'm on a Giant TCR 0 with Di2 electric gears. It retails for $4,000 and I can't believe what a beautiful bike it is for such a reasonable price.
There are some other differences that are a bit odd. Firstly, why are we all wearing long socks yanked up high like we are going to footy training? Secondly, why do we all have our brake levers so high and pointing up like we we deliver for Australia Post? Why? Huh?
What the hell am I thinking?
I quit racing in 1999. I had just come back from the Tour of South China Sea. I had to retire from that race because of illness. In hindsight, I think I had a nasty Asian stomach bug that needed attention from my doctor (but I was 26 so I didn't get it seen to). I also had some recurrent bouts of bronchitis and...my new career as a teacher was starting to take off. Combine all those reasons, and I thought it was time to hang it up.
In September of 2011, for some unknown reason, I thought I would start riding again. I started on my mountain bike, moved to a road bike (I have a lovely new Giant TCR 0) and now it's February 2012 and I'm training four days a week and have had three races so far. I'm racing in Masters B!
So far, I'm loving it, losing weight, getting fit and wondering what the hell I am doing!
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