2017: The Year in Review

It's hard not to sound all tacky and braggy when you write up a blog post like this...but the reality is that I am very satisfied with how 2017 went for me on the bike. As 'shamelessly boastful' as this post will sound, my feeling is one of gratitude over anything else. The main reasons for this positive cycling year are not what you would expect. All the 'standard' things went well; good coaching (thanks Mark!), hard training and a bit of luck here and there. As a 44 year old trying to fit bike racing in around a pretty hectic life, the game changers for me in 2017 were the fact that my health was fantastic (a few sniffles here and there and one badly timed weekend of being sick - more about that later), only one injury to deal with all year (a soft tissue back injury that dragged on for a bit) and another almost trouble free year for my sinuses. With a few short exceptions, the only time I stopped riding my bike this year was when my coach wanted me to and that makes a huge difference!

In terms of the review, I have broken it up into two categories of 'Extremely Happy' and 'Not so Happy'. There were of course other races I was pleased or not pleased with, but these are the ones that stand out for me:

Extremely Happy

I have realised that the 2017 results I am the most happy with are the ones I had to work for. The ones where I left nothing out there and in my mind, four races this year met that criteria more than others (in no particular order):

1st: Australian Championships - Team Pursuit (Open Masters)

Lining up with Andy Patten, Steve Storer and Sheldon Olivier, we became the first Queensland team to ever win this Australian Title. I ended up having to do the last two and a quarter laps in the final and I can't remember hurting that much for a long time.

2nd: World Masters Games - Individual Pursuit (MMAS3, 40-44)

I knew I would need a PB to make the final and guarantee myself a medal. I managed a 3 min 34 sec ride which put me in the gold medal ride, which I would lose later that day to Argentina's German Ariel Lopez. The qualifying ride was absolutely excruciating. 

1st: Queensland Championships - Omnium (MMAS1-4, 30-49)
As defending champion, I desperately wanted to win this. I was pushed hard all day and time after time thought I had nothing left, but managed to come away with the win.

6th: Charles Coin Memorial Road Race (Elite A)

Probably sounds strange to have a 6th place in this list. But as the oldest man in the race, to come away with a 6th, in nearly the strongest Queensland field you could assemble, for 130 km at 43.2 km/h, well yeah I was pretty stoked with that one. 

Not so Happy

So these are the ones that got away. The ones that bugged me for a while afterwards. Funnily enough, both are Individual Time Trials:

2nd: Queensland Championships - Individual Time Trial (MMAS3, 40-44)
This result means that I would never win the Queensland MMAS3 Individual Time Trial Title (5th, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd across 2013 - 2017 and I have gone to MMAS4 now). I was well beaten on the day by NSW's Ben Neppl, but I just didn't fire. I hated the course and the course hated me back.

21st: Australian Championships - Individual Time Trial (MMAS3, 40-44)

Six days earlier I had won the 18 km event at the Tour de Valley Individual Time Trial with one of the best rides I have ever had on a time trial bike. To say my form was good was an understatement. I raced this time trial with the beginnings of a 48 hour bug and finished a very disappointing 21st. 

So all in all, a great year and I am extremely fortunate to be backed by some amazing people. My wife Nadine and my two daughters Megan and Hayley, my coach Mark Brady, Colliers International Racing Team and all team sponsors and SPEEDPLAY Pedals; thank you to all of you for being in my corner, I couldn't do this without you:

2017 Podiums

1st: Queensland Championships - Individual Pursuit (MMAS3, 40-44) 

1st: Australian Championships - Team Pursuit (Open Masters) 

1st: Tour de Valley - Individual Time Trial - 18km - (MMAS, 40-49)

1st: Queensland Championships - Omnium (MMAS1-4, 30-49)

1st: Queensland Championships - Team Pursuit (Elite) 

2nd: Queensland Championships - Points Race (MMAS1-3, 30-44) 

2nd: World Masters Games - Individual Pursuit (MMAS3, 40-44) 

2nd: Cunningham Classic (Masters A) 

2nd: Queensland Championships - Individual Time Trial (MMAS3, 40-44)

3rd: Queensland Championships - Scratch Race (MMAS3, 40-44) 

3rd: Australian Championships - Individual Pursuit (MMAS3, 40-44) 

3rd: World Masters Games - Points Race (MMAS3, 40-44)

Race Report: Queensland Elite Track Championships, 24-25 November 2017

This would be my last set of races for the year. I'm not going to lie...being right at the end of a long year of racing, motivation levels were not high, but I was prepared to put a big effort in for one last weekend. I was entered in the 4km Team Pursuit with Darling Downs Cycling Club alongside Matt Hickey, Matt Locker and Trent West, the 15km Scratch Race and the 4k Individual Pursuit. 

4km Team Pursuit

We qualified with the fastest time of 4 min 39 sec. This of course put us in the gold medal ride-off later that evening. Not a blazingly fast time, but we rode well together and some of our team were on their first ever attempt at a team pursuit so we were pretty happy:

The final was a short time later and again we produced a controlled efort. We were up against the University Cycling Club who had qualified only one second slower than we did. It was close until late in the race when we managed to pull away and take the win by three seconds with a 4 min 37 sec effort. It's always nice to win a Queensland title:

Scratch Race

There were seventeen starters in this event and to say it was fast was an understatement. Five or six of the biggest young talents in Queensland track cycling involved and they absolutely tore it up. The field disintegrated very quickly and there were officially only four finishers. I was pulled out by about a third of the way through and at that point there were only eight riders left. I was actually quite happy with that effort:

I decided at that point to withdraw from the 4km Individual Pursuit the next day. My legs were shattered and my heart just wasn't in it. 

Credit to St.George and Darling Downs Cycling Clubs for the photos I have used in this blog post.

So that's it for 2017! Unfortunately I was forced to miss the Queensland Masters Track Championships as they were moved to a December timeslot this year (due to the Commonwealth Games) and I had already booked and paid for an awesome family vacation at Noosa during that time. Not a worry though, as all of my energy will go into the Australian Masters Track Championships which will be held in Melbourne in early March 2018...right after I have a little rest.