Vic Metros: Finding that zone...

Sat 26 November: Vic Metros Championships. I had entered both the 500TT and the 3k Individual Pursuit. 500TT – I was looking forward to better my time from the Omnium last week. 3k individual pursuit, the full distance for elite women – hmm.. this was 1k more than what I’ve ever done – a first time and I’ve only had one go at training over the full distance – not sure what to expect – a little nervous.

With juniors right up to masters categories, boys, girls, men, women, the velodrome was buzzing with noise. Plenty of riders, lots of activity going around. Absolutely loved it!

Pushing off the starting gate in the 500TT (Photo by Leanne Cole) 

First up – 500TT. Today I stepped up to the gates with a little more confidence than I had from the weekend before. I knew what I had to do – 500m is not that far – I just had to go hard – real hard – from the gun. Bang. I kicked once, twice. Lifted the back disc wheel up – for a split second I thought my wheel had locked up. Oh cr…kicked – it was fine. Lifted the wheel another time. Hmm….a really really wobbly start – I had to make up for it now. I quickly revved up and focused every bit of effort into the ride. Heard the cheers from my Quickcycle team-mates, heard the bell with 1 to go – I was absolutely pumped. I put all I had into the final lap – looked up as I crossed the finish – 41.5s. Two whole seconds off my attempt last week. I was stoked! Putting it in perspective – it wasn’t that quick a time. Came in 5^th overall out of 7 riders. Yet today, I knew where I could have made up time. I could analyse each bit of my ride – split each bit into its individual blocks – and put it together again. Can’t wait to try out the 500TT at States in 2 weeks!

Next up – 3km pursuit. With only 4 riders in our category, I just needed to qualify for the finals. Jammed my knee right into my bars from the gun – ouch! No time to think – just go. I wasn’t sure what it was – but I just could not quite find a rhythm in the first 4 laps. I was moving up and down between the black and red line – I was wobbling all over the place. I was trying to make up the time lost from the start in the first lap – but it certainly felt like I was trying way too hard – too hard to maintain a steady pace. Alright this has to stop. Lap 5 – a little lactic kicked in – and I focused hard on keeping in control.  The next 4 laps were brilliant – every lap I found Simon standing on the pursuit line – I was finally back on schedule. I was in that zone.  Lap 9 and just like that – I lost it. One minute I was flying, and the next I had nothing in my legs. I was massively down on schedule and again, felt my bike moving all over the place. I was tensing up again. Every lap seemed to take forever – Simon was now shouting for me to lift and increase the pace. The more I tried, the slower I got. I was almost in tears at this point. Something was just not quite right today.  2 laps to go and I knew I had to give everything I had. With 1.5 laps to go – Laine who I was riding against caught me and rode past. Bell lap and I tried to give one final lift to finish it off. And just like that it was done. 4:15. 12s slower than I had aimed for. It took me 2 whole laps before I could finally bring the bike to a stop. I was disappointed – I knew it was my first full distance pursuit, yet, I wanted to do much better. I found out later that my front wheel was flat from a slow leak – so who knows what it really was – nerves, or a mechanical. Whatever it was, I shook it off and was keen for another shot – I now had to ride off for the gold medal.

Grimacing in the pursuit (Photo by Leanne Cole) 

With the massive thunderstorm outdoors, the air in the velodrome was cold – and sleepiness was now starting to sink in. I changed to a bigger gear as I knew my legs were a little tired and I wouldn’t be able to rev as quickly. Somehow this time I was a little more relaxed going into the ride-off. I knew what I had to do. The legs felt heavy from the start. Probably a bit too much gear. With 8 laps to go, I was totally stuffed. Could not spin – just riding along. I tried and tried, but just could not find that pain zone, that TT zone. 6 laps to go - I just had to continue convincing myself not to give up and just ride on. The harder I tried, the harder it got. Heard the bell go, gave it one last effort, and just like that, it was over. Didn’t get caught this time, but I had lost the ride off. Finished in 4:17, 2 seconds down from my earlier effort.

With Gold Medallist Laine Hammond 

A silver medal at the Metros – a reward for the day’s effort. Thanks to Mitch Barry for lending me his aero helmet, Simon for the support and the wheels, and all the parents and other mates who were supporting me. Although a little disappointed at not having rode to my schedule, I knew where I had gone wrong. I was actually trying way too hard! The pursuit is just like swimming – the more you struggle, the more you thrash at the water, the more you drown – it’s when you’re relaxed that you find your streamline and just glide. Watching the likes of world champions Alex Morgan and Jack Cummings pursuiting that day – super aero, super stable, legs just spinning – they’re almost just floating. I certainly hope to try and follow their footsteps. State Titles in 2 weeks – can’t wait to ride the pursuit again!! To find that zone – the zone where you don’t feel a thing, the zone where you’re just floating and letting everything go…