When I was 26, I would jokingly refer to my bike as the CWM (Cross Wind Missile). I'm not 26 anymore...

About Me

My name is Dean Russell and I raced road bikes and some track endurance in the 1990s. I stopped racing in 1999 when I was 26. After almost thirteen years of being a lazy slug I decided to put my sorry backside onto a bike seat and have another crack at racing. This blog chronicles my journey from being completely unfit and overweight to becoming one of the oldest Elite A grade riders in Queensland...and then slipping nicely back into Masters racing.

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Race Report: Ipswich Open Time Trial


Yesterday, my dear readers, was a day to forget. I made a BIG mistake and luck didn't go my way either. Let me tell you the whole boring story.

The race was a 40 km individual time trial on a very tough hilly and windy course. I rode in Elite B and struggled to 9th place in 1:05:21.

I have been waiting on a new time trial frame (a very nice new Giant Composite). It arrived on Thursday and was built up on Friday. I only had a chance to do a measly 10 km on it before the race, which is obviously not enough, and to be honest, quite a stupid thing to do.  I fought with the bike all day (in terms of position) and just couldn't settle. I kept sliding off the front of the seat and by the end had cramping arms due to the new position. I should have raced on my old bike and built the new one up next week. Duh...

Another way to look at it would be that I shouldn't have raced at all. Why? I woke up feeling like shit and I knew I was getting sick. My heart rate was doing funny things in the race, which for me is normally indicative that all is not well. This was another reason I couldn't settle into any kind of decent rhythm.  I was supposed to race the Ipswich Open Road Race today, but have actually pulled out because I am not in 100 % health.

The other exciting thing that happened was that during the race, my SRAM gear changer fell apart in my hand. I managed to get some of the bits back on, and the others, well I just stuffed them into my skinsuit and hoped they wouldn't fall out. This was slightly distracting to say the least.

So there you have it. A shit day all around. I am very disappointed with my time and placing as I feel I have been time trialing strong lately and really thought I had a top 5 finish in me today.

Ah well. Time to recover and get back on the horse...


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