Race Report: Club Time Trial - 30 June 2013

The Wyreema Time Trial course that we use in Toowoomba is quickly becoming one of my favourites. Profile is here:

It's a 20km (a tiny bit longer actually) out and back. As you can see it's all downhill or flat until the last 6km or so where it all gets difficult. I think it is a hard course to judge right and make sure you have enough fuel in the tank for the last section.

We had a combined club race on this course yesterday and I am very pleased with how things unfolded. I have raced here twice before and this time tried a slightly different strategy. I rode a little easier for the first 14 km (a little under my threshold) and then absolutely hammered the last 6 km. So I ended up doing a PB of 27 min 36 sec (average speed of 43.9 kmh) and winning A grade (don't ask about field size; time trials are not popular in our cycling clubs). This bested the 27 min 50 sec I did in April. I am especially pleased about this as there was definitely some fatigue in my legs as I had just completed the toughest week (in terms of TSS, power users will know what I am talking about) week of the year. 

The good news for me though, is that I managed to set a new masters record on the course. Andy Patten (from Brisbane) set the previous record of 27 min 42 sec last September the week after he returned from winning a silver medal in the world titles (40 - 44 years). This is very encouraging and hopefully a sign of good things to come for me. My next goal here is a sub 27 min which I think is well and truly achievable (especially with fresh legs).

I also want to say a special thank you to the club officials and volunteers who hosted this race. They did a great job and it frustrates me somewhat that so few people in Toowoomba want to race time trials (or anything other than criteriums for that matter). Supporting local racing is really important and I urge all Toowoomba club members (all three clubs) to make ALL club racing a priority. Glenvale is a beautiful circuit and an asset to Toowoomba, but there is more to life than criteriums people. Get behind your clubs!

Race Report: Club Prologue & Criterium - 22 June 2013

A new format was trialed last weekend at club racing. A 1.4km prologue and then a 45 minute + 2 lap criterium. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points awarded to each stage with an overall winner at the end.

For a man with a hefty power dip in his profile at 1 minute (but getting better, I'm working on it), a 1.4 km prologue was never going to be fun. Add to that the fact that I made a complete meal of it (started too hard and exploded 200 m from the finish) and I should be happy to have run 3rd in 1 min 45 sec. 

The criterium was a lot of fun (but very hard) with heaps of attacks and a long breakaway (which involved two of us getting across to an earlier solo break). That break was caught late and there were six of us left in contention for the sprint. I (with very tired legs) managed to pull out a 2nd place. 

I ended up 3rd overall when you add the points up. A new and interesting format and a good day of local racing. 

It's Cold...

Spare a thought in the coming months for the very small handful of Queensland road cyclists who actually live off the coast in the chillier parts of the state. Now I know it's all relative and the guys in Victoria and Tasmania yada yada yada...

But trust me, in Dalby, where I live, it's cold...and it will get colder.

Luckily for me there a small but slightly insane group who like me don't have the luxury of training during the middle of the day AND we want to stay competitive (in either road racing or triathlon) AND we don't want to spend three months of the year on a wind trainer AND we have full-time jobs and families to consider. We HAVE to train in the morning, in the dark...in the cold.

Tuesday is my big mid-week ride. It's a 4.30 am start and I normally squeeze 100 km in before I go off to work. Sometimes, it's -1 degrees when we leave, drops to - 4 degrees and then (thankfully) comes back to a very respectable 0 degrees by 7.30 am. It's great fun! The best part is attempting to do efforts. As you can imagine it takes a bit of work just to get the body moving. If Cycling Queensland ever put on a time trial race at 5 am somewhere in sub-zero temps, bet a few dollars on me. 

To be fair though, winter cycling clothing has come a long way and it does the job pretty well. A standard kit for a sub-zero morning includes:

• Helmet
• Ear covers
• Long-sleeve thermal undershirt
• Long-sleeve thermal jacket
• Vest
• Thermal bib suit
• Long leg warmers
• Shoes
• Winter socks
• Thermal shoe covers
• Gloves

The gloves, the shoe covers and the ear covers, 'psychologically' are the most important things. If hands, feet, and ears are warm, you can almost cope with a few other bits being cold.

So there it is, a red hot attempt at gaining sympathy, and the next time you hop on Strava and complain about how cold your river loop was because it was 9 degrees, just think about me with frozen snot stuck to my face.

Race Report: Queensland Road Team Series (QRTS) - Round 2 (Southern Downs)

The series moved to Stanthorpe and Warwick for the second round of the series.

Stage 1: 33km Team Time Trial

We did pretty well in this and came 10th out of 18 teams. We worked well together as a team and made it to the finish with 5 / 6 riders. It was a tough, hilly and windy course. I felt pretty good and am fairly pleased with how it went.

Stage 2: 120km Road Race

I definitely had a bit of fatigue in my legs from the morning effort but didn't feel too bad. The first 20km was very hard with over half the field being disposed of up a long, draggy climb and some nasty cross winds. I was caught up behind a crash at the 30km point and had to almost completely stop. I quickly chased back to a group of four who had also been caught up. We chased for a solid hour but didn't make contact with the front group (which by that point was down to thirty-one riders). That is where we stayed. I was frustrated and disappointed with this because I was finding it fast, but wasn't really in 'trouble' in terms of staying in that front group. Grr...

Stage 3: 125km Road Race

I thought I had good legs yesterday and I was right. The course today was undulating with some very nasty cross winds on narrow roads. I stayed near the front and positioned myself correctly in terms of  staying out of the gutter. The race had blown to pieces by the end with small groups coming in and a huge bunch of riders exiting. I was in a group of twelve that was sprinting for 25th and I ended up 29th, earning a valuable 18 points for Team TLD. I am very pleased with this ride. I watched some good A grade bike riders blow up on the road today and I was able to keep on going. I think I am starting to get some form...