Full credit to Cycling Queensland for introducing the new Queensland Individual Time Trial Series this year. It was a great addition to the calendar and I really hope they continue with it. For me, it was a big focus and would prove to be a bit of a roller coaster of form, weight and health. The series included four rounds:
- Round 1 - Moreton Bay (June)
- Round 2 - Sunshine Coast (July)
- Round 3 - Purga (August)
- Round 4 - Rosevale (September - this round doubled as the Queensland ITT Championships)
For overall points in the series, riders were graded A - D (I was in A grade) and there was also a masters age related time series, where riders were given handicaps in terms of their time. I set myself a goal of a top ten in A grade for the series. To be honest, with some exceptionally strong time trial riders in the older divisions, I didn't take much of an interest in the masters age related time series at all.
Round 1 - Moreton Bay (21 km)
The first round certainly didn't go to plan. I struggled every time the road went skwwards and I ended up riding 30 min 44 sec which put me well down in the placings.
I wasn't very happy with this ride. I had been beaten by riders who I often finished in front of. I completed some analysis of my ride file and could see that (as I suspected) I lost almost all of my time going uphill. That discovery would be the kick in the arse I needed in terms of my diet and weight.
Some background... Since getting fit and racing again in cycling part two (the sequel), I had always raced well in the 85 - 86 kg range. I am not a 'big muscular' guy at all, but at 193 cm tall, there is always going to be some weight there. Since starting track racing two or so years ago, I have consistently been in the gym. This has not put a lot of muscle on me, but I can see the difference and now I find that I am racing well in the 87 - 88 kg range. Well I can tell you that at this particular race I was actually 91 kg. I had been very slack with my diet (especially at work) and had let myself go. It was time to sort this out by eating clean, eating smart and becoming a lean time trialling machine!
As there had only been one round, the placings from Round 1 were obviously where I stood overall in the series:
Some background... Since getting fit and racing again in cycling part two (the sequel), I had always raced well in the 85 - 86 kg range. I am not a 'big muscular' guy at all, but at 193 cm tall, there is always going to be some weight there. Since starting track racing two or so years ago, I have consistently been in the gym. This has not put a lot of muscle on me, but I can see the difference and now I find that I am racing well in the 87 - 88 kg range. Well I can tell you that at this particular race I was actually 91 kg. I had been very slack with my diet (especially at work) and had let myself go. It was time to sort this out by eating clean, eating smart and becoming a lean time trialling machine!
As there had only been one round, the placings from Round 1 were obviously where I stood overall in the series:
Round 2 - Sunshine Coast (30 km)
North Arm was a course that had some very hard hills in it and probably shouldn't have suited me. Fortunately though, at 87 kg I felt like I was flying when the road went upwards and I clocked a 42 min 55 sec ride to put me right up there; a vast improvement!
Round 3 - Purga (20 km)
With good legs and now getting around the place at 83 kg, I was confident that this race was going to go okay. I managed a 27 min 22 sec ride which gave me a PB on the Purga course by well over a minute and was spot on a 44 km / h average speed. I still regard Andy Patten as the best and most consistent masters time trial rider in Queensland. He is a bit of a 'marker' for all of us masters guys and this was the closest I had ever gotten to him in a time trial (10 seconds off). This was looking great with one round to go!
Round 3 - Rosevale (21 km)
This final round of the series would double as the Queensland ITT Championships. We all raced in our age divisions, but our times were transposed back into our relevant grades for points. I was in Masters 4 (45 - 49 years) and was pretty determined to win, after going winless all the way through the Masters 3 (40 - 44 years) division (5th, 3rd, 2nd, 2nd).
They say things are not meant to be easy and on this occasion 'they' were right! If you know me, you know that I have struggled with sinus issues most of my life. I have had surgery previously to address some of these issues. Having said that, over the past few years I have been managing things quite well and have escaped with relatively few problems. So, a little less than three weeks from race day, I started to get a cold. No big deal, minor cold, let's see how it plays out. A few days later it becomes worse and (after having been here so many times before) I know I have two challenges in front of me. Firstly, to not have this cold go to my chest and secondly, to not end up with a sinus infection. Either of those could result in a huge problem for me and my ability to drop watts on a time trial bike. The good news is, the cold stayed off my chest (phew - no coughing). The bad news is, I woke up one morning at 3.30 am with the familiar pain in my face and teeth and knew I had an infection. Off to the GP I go for a course of antibiotics and with ten days until race day, I cross my fingers and hope for the best. Fortunately, because my chest was good, I never actually had a day off the bike at this time. I was sneaking in a forty-five minute spin on Zwift in the warm of the afternoon each day just to keep my legs ticking over. If you have ever had a sinus infection before you will probably be aware that some moderate exercise in the warm of the day can do wonders in terms of clearing your sinuses (I will spare you the gross details).
So I get to five days from race day, with a program carefully designed by long time coach Mark Brady and we are confident we can pull this off. It was time to regather and try to make this happen. My weight was now 82 kg and this was not the time to push that issue any further. Given I had dropped 9 kg since the first round of the series I was happy to proceed as is.
Race day comes and it’s a routine I have been through scores
of times previously. Unfortunately, I did not
have a good day at all. I felt quite strong uphill but struggled to find any decent rhythm otherwise. You could see plain as day in my power numbers and heart rate that all was not right. I finished in second place with a 29 min 17 sec, a scant 3 seconds off the win. I was angry, frustrated and gutted... The last couple of months I had literally been in the time trialling form of my life and now a state title had slipped through my fingers because of a stupid bloody cold. Not happy...
Series wise, I did manage to salvage something and took advantage of a competitor in front of me not racing on the day (sorry Gwynney!) and moved up to 5th overall. Given my original goal of a top ten, I was pretty stoked about this.
9th
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18th
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5th 😀😁
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8th
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The very next day, the Queensland Team Time Trial Titles
were held on almost the same course. Darling Downs Cycling Club entered a team
in the Elite category with included Tom Gough, Matthew Locker, Richard MacAvoy
and me. One young gun and three masters riders. Tom had won the U23
title the day before and managed to win overall in the state series in A grade.
He is a time trialling talent and the challenge for the rest of us was to hang
onto his wheel. We managed to do just that and came away with the win in a time of 1 hr 16 min 25 sec (7 seconds ahead of Team Campos) for the 58 km. Believe it or not, this meant back to back wins for me, as I won this event the last time I rode it, which was in 1998 (only twenty years ago!) I still wasn't feeling 'right' in this race, but managed to get the job done with as much work as I could manage. It was a tough day out.
So there you have it; ups, downs, swings and roundabouts, all standard in the world of bike racing!
So there you have it; ups, downs, swings and roundabouts, all standard in the world of bike racing!
