I haven't blogged for a while so I will cover a few things in one hit...
Dalby Triathlon - 23 March 2014
This is always a fun day out and a good chance to fly the 'Dalby State High School' flag as a part of our school team. We entered the Open Teams Event and the Business House Challenge. We won them both which was a great result.
In the Open Teams I did the 20km in 28 min 03 sec, which I am pretty happy with given that the course had four U-turns and eight roundabouts to got through. I also had to take my foot off the gas a few times because of the heavy bike traffic. All in all, I'm pleased with that time.
In the Business House Challenge I covered the 6.5 km in 9 minutes flat. Again, the course had two U-turns and four roundabouts and I had an unfortunate incident where I had to jam my brakes on to avoid going up the back of the lead car, which had slowed down in front of me in the middle of a roundabout.
Toowoomba Ride the Range - 30 March 2014
This charity ride was held in wet and treacherous conditions on a very tough course. It was a great ride in terms of training but by the end of it I was just so wet that all I wanted to do was get off my bike and get into the car. There were also some more 'interesting' moments trying to stay safe in the wet with a lot of inexperienced riders (which I guess is standard on a charity ride). In any case, despite the weather and crash risks I'm still glad that I did it.
Toowoomba Club Race - 6 April 2014
This race just straight up annoyed me. It was at the Bunker's Hill course (which I had never ridden before). It was six laps of 9.5 km. I attacked at four laps to go and was joined by Trent West. We established a good lead and I thought we were safe. James Orchard and Matthew Simonelli worked very well together and got across to us with one to go. I hate getting caught! James attacked with about 5 km to go and I made an error in judgment. Trent is a strong sprinter (best chance to win a gallop of the four of us) and Matthew was the only non-Team TLD rider there. I thought they both had a lot to lose and that they would chase. I was wrong. James rode away and had a good win and I came in 4th. I didn't have the best of legs this day and in the end I was pretty pleased with how I went given the heavy training block I was buried in.
MMAS (40 - 44 years) State Criterium Titles - 13 April 2014
This 35 minutes plus 3 lap race was held on a very wet afternoon at the Nundah Circuit in Brisbane. It was going to take a miracle for it not to end in a bunch sprint but I was not going to be left wondering. I rode an extremely aggressive race and did what I could to get away and then stay there. With a 45.1 kmh average speed, staying away was always going to be a significant challenge. It ended in a bunch sprint which I was near the back of.
Coach Dewort gave me a taper for this race to have a really good hit out and see how my form was. Despite the lack of a result, the news on my form is good. I set new 20 minute and 30 minute average power records and managed a normalised power of well over 400w for the 38 minute race. My best power numbers ever. This is a good sign and I am looking forward to seeing how the season progresses.
What's coming up? Just about to hit a very busy period of racing - Queensland Road Team Series (QRTS) Round 2, Ipswich Open, Battle on the Border and then Tour of Toowoomba (although the TLD Team for this is yet to be finalised). Looking forward to the next few months of racing very much.
