27 March 2012: It’s been a physical and emotional rollercoaster month since the Vic Track Titles. Starting a road program has been…difficult to say the least. Trying to build up saddle time in between a full-time job, moving houses, studying for exams……certainly lots going on..
End of February – Some good form
Saw some pretty yuck cycling weather this week, though the training was starting to pay off with some form starting to show. I was training up for my first hill-climb race at Mt Buller mid-March, and was certainly looking forward to it.
Early March – Crashed!
A wet Sunday morning at the local SKCC crits. Didn’t feel like racing, but did what had to be done. Started off the crit – and with the wet roads and puddles all over the course, everyone was a little cautious. It must have been from a day off just resting, but was surprisingly feeling pretty good in the legs that morning. Ok, so maybe racing wasn’t such a bad idea. 3 laps to go…team-mate Jussy jumped…and I followed. We had 3 bike lengths on the field…and were going to try to Team Time Trial. 2nd corner, Jussy took the corner too hard and slipped. Oh f@*$!!!! I was already in the corner and bang…flew straight over the top…and crashed hard. Collar-bone intact, some skin off the elbows and knees…
Next morning was…..one word…horrible. Got some xrays done…bruised ribs…shoulder bursa inflamed… 6 weeks to full recovery, sore all over. Legs were ok and the first thing I wanted to do was ride. Though REST was all I could do. Managed to get back on the bike 2 days later, though feeling every bump on the road in the ribs wasn’t nice.
First training ride up some hills the following weekend – that wasn’t going well either. The more I thought about the k’s I had to do, the sorrier I felt – and the more I was starting to have 2nd thoughts about cycling.
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| Just before the crash... |
17-18 March – Mansfield/Mt Buller
Mansfield Criterium and Mt Buller road race. Had re-commenced training the week before, got the ok from the physio to race though certainly needed the painkillers. Was surprising at how much form I had lost. It really makes me wonder how the pros at the TdF ride continue riding after they crash – those guys must be made of steel!
Crit was a technical hot-dog circuit – certainly a first. 3 u-turns, all right-handed turns. Was caught behind early in the race – a break went and I couldn’t quite manoeuvre my way through the bunch with the tight circuit. One by one, riders were dropping wheels…nooo….It was a break of 6 that got off the front – did a solo effort chasing them down. Just as I was about to catch them – the front 4 broke away. Already gasping for air I caught the 2 that were left behind – team-mate Marlena and fella HCC ride Liz Hall.
We worked hard together trying to chase the break down. The stronger group of 4 were making things real difficult. The gap eventually got to about 25s. Pretty soon, the more experienced Nic Whitburn and Amy Bradley broke away from the 2, leaving Lauretta Hanson and Claire Stevens for us to chase. Mark Hutchinson was yelling out the gap from the sidelines. 25s, 22s, 23s….18s. So near..yet so far. Each of us were starting to tire, yet I was soon getting the hang of the ‘in the saddle, out of the saddle’ course. 15s...come on!! That sparked a surge in adrenaline…..I dug even harder. 2 laps to go. Way too close…could we bring it together for a 3rd place sprint?? Bell
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| Chasing the break... (Photo by Peta Stewart) |
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| Final minutes of the race - working with Marlena and Liz to chase the break (Photo by Peta Stewart) |
Woke up early the next morning – slightly nervous for my first mountain climb race. Having to line-up for an hour for my race number in the cold didn’t help either. It surely has been a while since my last road race. Not knowing quite what to expect, I had entered into the B grade field. Worked with some girls early on to drive the pace – though some negative racing was certainly felt by us up the front with a number of riders refusing to roll through.
As soon as we hit the bottom of Mt Buller, the peloton split with 5 riders going off the front. I hung on for as long as I could, though the time-off the bike was certainly starting to show and it wasn’t long before I was dropped. One of the men from another grade was about 30m up the road – and I used that as a carrot to pull me up the mountain. About 7ks into the 20k climb, I was really starting to tire. Had a slight headache and legs weren’t feeling good either. Just push on..just push on. 13ks in, some friends who I had dropped earlier on rode past. We had now reached the flat section of the climb and I dug hard trying to catch them. The harder I dug, the worse I felt.
4ks to go..not long more. By this time, I was starting to pedal in squares – slowly making my way up. More riders rode pass. Ok, this doesn’t feel right. No matter what I tried, I just could not push hard. I was slowly but surely fading. 1k to go…more rider stomp pass. I just couldn’t pedal..I nearly cried. My vision was starting to blur, my head was hurting…my legs…I couldn’t feel them. Just don’t stop, don’t fall off the bike. I eventually made my way to the finish line. Saw the van, rolled over…barely making it, before I just collapsed on the ground. Head was spinning. I had completely bonked – absolutely emptied the tank. Certainly wasn’t a nice feeling. All that for a first mountain climb road race. I had forgotten about eating on the bike and didn’t quite drink enough. Well, that certainly was one experience I won’t be forgetting in a while.
24-25 March – Cykel and NAB Showmans Crit
A weekend of Criteriums. Saturday was the Finale of the Cykel Women’s Grand Prix series. My team SKCC/Giant was leading the points series, and we were looking for the win that day. Total Rush had fielded a strong team looking to take the series away from us.
First up, it was the prologue to split the riders into divisions. 1.75km loop around National Boulevard
It was the Kosdown girls and the SKCC Red girls who drove the pace of the peloton that day. Each launching attacks and chasing each other down. It was about half way through when a crash happened at the back of the peloton – taking fella SKCC rider Caitlin Schneller down. Riding pass the crash site and seeing someone on the ground lap after lap certainly wasn’t nice at all. The whistle blew for intermediate sprint. Kosdown rider Beth Canny drove us through the front straight trying to set up their sprinter. Just wait, just wait. The pace was just backing off a tiny bit – I saw the spot I had had marked earlier and jumped. Head down, I drove for line…managing to get about 4-5 bike lengths and took home the intermediate sprint. That’s one for team! A little confidence booster and I was surely pumped with adrenaline now. Immediately after the sprint, the race was put on hold for the ambulance to clear the crash site. I immediately jumped on the rollers to spin out any lactic left in the legs.
We were let off again with 6 laps to go. With 2 individual riders just controlling the pace up the front – I was starting to get jittery. Patience. Patience. No one really wanted to attack – it would have taken a really strong rider to break solo with the wind that day – and everyone was trying to get a spot up the front. Bell
Team-mates Madeleine Pape and Heid Buntrock managed 8th and 9th respectively in Div 1. Total Rush ended up winning the best team of the day. Nevertheless, we managed to gather enough points to take out the overall series win! We were certainly in all smiles.
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| SKCC/Giant team after winning the Cykel Crit Series |
Early Sunday morning – it was off to Castlemaine for the NAB Showmans Crit. With the Victorian junior and masters titles on the same morning, I took the opportunity to watch some of my mates race and cheer them on. An easy road ride out to Harcourt certainly brought back some good old memories of my first road race a year ago – one which certainly was an eye-opener to road racing - looking forward to racing that course again end of May – hopefully much better this time round.
Seeing 2 professional Belgian riders on the start list of the afternoon crit was enough to get me all nervy as I patiently waited for my crit to start. It was pretty cool to have your name called out as we each individually rolled up to the start line.
The circuit proved to be a tricky one with a hill on one side and a long downhill on the other. Not long in, a break of 5 riders formed leaving about 8 of us in the bunch. With the much stronger riders off the front, we were left chasing them down. With lap after lap of the hill, riders in our bunch started dropping off as they begun to tire. The pace was gradually dropping and the break of 5 was slowly closing in to gain a lap on us. I attempted to lift the pace with a number breaks but could not quite get the bunch to work together. With not much form, I couldn’t quite go out solo either. 35 minutes in, the front beak soon lapped us and we were pulled off the course. The 5 in the break were then left battling for a position with the 2 Belgian girls eventually stealing the show.
Next up…
The past month has been a crazy rollercoaster ride. The ups and downs of being a cyclist, with a zillion other things going on off the bike, was certainly felt. The disappointments of losing, satisfaction of winning, standing up again after falling over – that’s just part and parcel of the sport. It’s getting colder and crit racing is almost over as we move into road racing now. Will be heading off to Bright this weekend – certainly looking forward to just focusing on cycling for the week!!
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| Bright!!! =) |
