NRS Mersey Valley Tour: At the mercy of mother nature

21-21 Apr 2012: 

The much anticipated weekend was finally here! Together with 4 of my SKCC/Giant team-mates, Heidi, Maddy, Marlena and Jussy; and team-manager Gaelene, we headed down to Davenport, Tasmania for the tour. Racing my first national road tour, and this race being my second tour since the northern combine club tour back in June last year – of course I was nervous. The week leading up to the tour, I had done as much homework as I could – studying the course profiles, asking questions of others who had raced there before, getting advice from my coach and DS, and of course, with the help of BikeNow, making sure that my bikes were race-ready and in tip-top condition.

Once settled into our accommodation on Friday, I headed out with team-mate Maddy to do a recce of the TT course and the first hill of Stage 2. We couldn’t help but realise how pretty the countryside and rolling hills of Tassie were – well, at least we had the opportunity to enjoy the sights today – it would be a whole different world of vision come race day!

The view of the bay from our balcony.  :) 

Love the country roads out in Tassie!

Day 1: 21 Apr 2012

Time Trial -15.3km  

The morning kicked off with Stage 1 of the tour – the Time Trial. It was an out and back course, and having done the recce the day before, I was feeling a little more at ease. From the word go, I quickly revved up the gears and tried to settle into a rhythm. With the slight headwind heading out, I was a little distracted and could not quite find the correct gear ratio with the climbing cassette I had on. Click up, click down, click up, click down… ah bugger it….just focus on the effort. Once I hit the turnaround point, I knew it was going to be a real tight one and made sure I didn’t end up in the gravel. The tail-wind coming back gave a little relief and this time I just focused on my cadence. The last 2 humps just before the finish were a pain, and I was surely glad to cross the line. I was fairly happy with my effort that day – there were certainly improvements from the TT at Kew Blvd the week prior. I knew there’s still heaps to improve on and will continue working on that 2:43 gap I had lost. Congrats to Rebecca Wiasak who won the stage in 22:21, managing to hit a max speed of 64.4kmh!!

Stage 2 – 58.3km

A persistent drizzle had started for the afternoon’s stage, though we were certainly lucky that it wasn’t too cold. Today’s stage was a 58km race from Forth to Moina, ending up a steep climb. We were constantly reminded to take extra care especially with the steep descend in the wet towards the later part of the race. After the first few neutral kilometres, riders began jostling for position up front as the first climb was 10ks in. I did not realise that we were allowed to use both sides of the road behind the lead vehicle – certainly something to take note for future races. As soon as we hit the first steep section, it was a flurry of gear changes, riders dodging other riders, and not to mention cusses flying around. It wasn’t long after before I had dropped off from the main peloton – thus spending the next couple of k’s puffing up the climb till the KOM. 

I was stuck in no man’s land, with 1 rider about 200m behind, and another 2 riders, one being my team-mate, about 100m ahead. Chase. I spent the next 6ks or so trying to chase down the 2 riders in front. The 100m seemed so close, yet, 1 vs 2 over the rolling hills in the rain made it pretty difficult, and the gap stayed constant. We eventually hit a flat section, and the 2 riders in front made a wrong turn to the right. Phew. As I rolled up to them, another 5 riders from the front bunch had made a wrong turn too and joined us, thus making 8 of us. We soon started working together rolling turns – though messy at times – it was certainly better than riding alone!

A sharp little pincher just before the downhill – and from there it was every rider for themselves. I took the downhill bit as fast as I could, passing a few riders on the way, in hope of gaining any time I would lose on the climb. The final 5.5km 8.8% climb was…..tough. By this stage, my legs were groaning – probably should have tried to stomach a little more fuel before the climb. As I slowly grinded my way up, I poured out any excess water I had carried for the stage in hopes of making my bike a little lighter. It was certainly a mental game on the climb. As riders passed me, my legs were numb unable to push the gear. And whenever I saw a rider in front within reach, I’d get totally fired up and my revs would increase as I overtook them. 3km to go…2 km to go…..and finally with 1km to go…something clicked, and the pain was no longer there. Instead of the slow grinding I was doing before, I could now spin the gear. Must have been the magnet of the finish line!!! I rolled in to the finish, glad to have completed the stage. It was certainly welcoming to see the rest of my team-mates there and Gaelene in all smiles, welcoming us in and glad to see that all of us had finished safely. I had no idea what had happened up the front, but congrats to Miranda Griffiths for winning the stage that day!

Day 2: 22 Apr 2012

Pre-race warm-up with team-mate Heidi (Photo by Nadine le Mescam) 

   

Before Stage 3 (Photo by Nadine le Mescam) 

Stage 3 – 92.6km

We awoke to a constant drizzle that morning. A quick check of the radar – and we would be expecting between 10-20mm of rain for the race!!! It was sure going to be one wet day on the bike. This morning’s stage was a 92.6km out and back course from Sheffield, with 2x of a 24km loop out at Kimberley. The course distance was also much longer than what I was used to. The first 21kms of the race was mostly flat, had short hills and filled with downhills. Perfect. Knowing that we were allowed to use both sides of the road, I tried to maintain my bunch position. Despite the rain, I was actually having fun and enjoying the race. The moment we turned right at Kimberley, the first sharp climb hit. With the wet roads, my back wheel slipped a couple of times. “Is my wheel punctured?” I heard someone asking. “Man, this hurts!” another one exclaimed. And like the day before, the race was broken up on the climb. A group of 12 or so riders soon formed up the front, and I was left in between with a number of riders trying to chase them down on the flatter sections. We soon got a group of about 6 riders working together – nevertheless a steep section just before the KOM tore us apart. 

It hurts... (Photo by  Nadine le Mescam ) 

After the KOM, I ended up working with one other U19 SA rider to chase the front group down. I had worked with her in the chasing bunch the day before and knew we would form a good duo. As we approached a sharp left hander after a descent, she unfortunately took the corner way too fast, screamed and came down hard. I managed to swerve just in the knick of time. Phew. With an event organiser on a motorbike and a van following us, I knew she would be in save hands and carried on, albeit a little shaken. I was now riding alone. I glanced back a few times to see if any of the others had caught on, but there was totally no one in sight. Only option – ride on. A number of k’s of chasing, taking extra care on the slippery corners, I soon caught up with one other rider. With her team car helping her out, we were paced for a few hundred metres. Nevertheless, I was starting to bonk and could not quite hang on. I eventually dropped back as I saw her make her way to the convoy at the back of the 2^nd chase bunch.  It was probably my biggest mistake that day not digging in that bit deeper where it mattered.

As the bunch started moving further and further, my chances were slipping slowly and painfully away. My only option now was to get some food into the system. I looked down on my computer – another 50km alone in no man’s land – it’s going to be a long day. I eventually made my way back to Kimberley for the 2^nd loop, and a corner marshall motioned for me to stop. “The bunch is about 8mins up the road, would you still like to ride or pull out?” he said. I saw a couple of boys who had pulled out standing beside him, but just the thought of a DNF wasn’t nice. “I’ll ride on unless the sag wagon comes along” I pipped. And so I made my way up the climb for the 2^nd time. Knowing what to expect this time round made things a whole lot better. Ended up having to stop twice to adjust my brakes which had started to rub, other than that, I just pushed on. Hills, rain, wind – nothing really bothered me at this point. Finally I made my way across the finish line – a little tired nonetheless, yet, glad that I had finished the race. Congrats to Lisa Jacobs for winning the stage and the tour overall!! 

Overall, I was glad to have finished my first NRS Tour. Racing against some of the strongest women currently racing on the road in Australia was an eye-opener and a great learning experience, and certainly provides the drive and motivation to train to be a stronger rider. Without doubt, this experience would not have been possible without the support of my team, sponsors and friends. Firstly, my team sponsors SKCC and Giant for providing the opportunity to race. And certainly BikeNow for always looking after all my bicycle needs and getting my bikes into top condition! And my coach, Simon Quick, who’s always there to provide the advice and support after each and every stage of the race. And last but not least, our team manager, Gaelene, who chauffeured us around, cooked for us, and looked after each one of us – having the support of a team manager at a race certainly made a difference!!  

One of the many awesome meals Gaelene cooked for us. :) 

For now, it’s time to set some new goals, and back to training!! :)