DBR Canberra Tour - one step further!

Phew…10 days, 2 tours, plus hell week in between – it sure has gone by quick! Been hit badly by the winter flu bug, so a little late on the updates.

13-15 July 2012 – DBR Canberra Tour

My second NRS tour for the year – my goal was to do better than the last one in Tassie. With 4 of us from the SKCC/Giant team, Maddy, Heidi, Jussie and myself, together with Sam from LivGiant, we were lucky to have the support of team manager Gaelene and DS Stuart supporting us at the tour. The road trip up was long – countryside and more countryside (some little pranks did keep us occupied for a while)– nonetheless, we were sure glad to arrive in Canberra!

Day 1: 15.5km TT

Gritting my teeth on the TT

A morning recce at the course – and boy, I didn’t realise it was that hilly! And out and back meant that whatever we went up came down so some good news there. Managed to score a back wheel Zipp 808 from Sam who had a spare wheel – thanks heaps buddy! My usual warm-up and I rolled down to the start line. They were checking bike measurements and helmet stickers. Turned out that my TT helmet didn’t have an Australian sticker in it – and I wasn’t allowed to ride! I was fuming, cussing, whatever you name it. Bought from my local bike shop, how could this have happened?? Lucky Stu was at the start line, and he quickly ran to pick up road helmet from the van - I eventually made it to the start – just! It might have been a good thing after all as I certainly was well warmed-up with my heart rate pumping from anger as I took off. The first couple of rollers, a little too excited, and my legs nearly blew off from the lactate. Just spin! I pretty soon found a rhythm and the rest of the ride out felt pretty good. Come to the turnaround, and as the kilometres ticked down, I was starting to lose concentration…again. These periods of mind-lapsing are certainly something I’ll need to work on. Hill after hill, I eventually made it to the final downhill and crossed the finish line. I ended up finishing in 26:56, +3.52 from TT gun Beck Wiasak. Nonetheless, I was pretty happy with the improvement from Tassie. As Stu was tidying up the van – guess what he found in the rubbish bag? My helmet sticker!!! It had gotten stuck to the plastic bag I had put my helmet in. Who knew those new stickers were easily removable. Grrr!!!!!!!

Day 2: 80 km RR

The start of the 2^nd day was fast!! 2 loops out to Uriarra Crossing, with 4 climbs in total. I managed to hang on to the main group to the base of the first climb, and dropped off just as we hit the KOM. Nonetheless, I managed to bridge to a chasing group, and it wasn’t long before we caught the main bunch again. The second major descend came a little sooner than expected and cross-winds strung the bunch out. As I tried to manoeuvre my way through, one after another rider started wobbling in front of me and were pulling off the course from punctured tyres! That certainly did throw me off my nerves a little and by the time I hit the base of the next climb –the bunch had disappeared up it! Turned out some pranksters had thrown tacks on the road! I had burned up more biscuits than expected and I was stuffed by this point of the race. It wasn’t too long before I dropped off from the group I was with, and was soon caught by another group. A refuel at the start of Lap 2, and I was good to go again. The group’s pace was certainly much slower than race pace, but nonetheless, it was certainly better than riding alone. We picked up a couple more girls on the way and with the race no longer in contention, all we wanted was to just finish the race.

Glad to have finished the road race! (Photo by Sulla Schilt)

Day 3: 40km RR and 40min+3 Crit

The only morning start to the tour, and it certainly was a little chilly! Nonetheless, the legs were surprisingly feeling ok this morning and I was keen to get going. Today’s road race was a reverse of the day before’s – but just 1 loop. Phew! A little embarrassing start as I struggled to clip in to my pedals – and just like that I’d gone from a place upfront to mid-field (and they caught it on TV too!). Come to the roundabout, and I’d lost a couple more spots. Everyone was trying to get to the front before the road-works section. It’s these little things that you learn along the way that adds to the learning experience as a rider. The group were soon back together and it was mostly downhill for the first section. The first steep climb of the day, I hung on for as long as I could before the main field attacked leading into the KOM. From there on, I managed to pick up a few riders along to way as we worked together in the chase. We soon caught another group just in front and I was glad to spot team-mate Heidi amongst the group. From here on we worked, and managed to stick together till the end.

The afternoon criterium proved to be fast from the gun. With the winding course and huge group, positioning was the key for the race. I tried going around the outside to get up front in the first few laps, but was swept to the back each time we hit the first left hander. The Boss Construction/ Nutrixion and Suzuki/Trek teams were certainly doing a great job and keeping the pace real high for their sprinters! It wasn’t after a couple of laps before I realised that the best place to move up was through the centre, but by this stage the pace had really picked up. The bell lap came around pretty quickly and once we hit the last corner, I knew it was too late – if you weren’t in the top 6 spots, it was game over – and I rolled through to the finish.

These work boots sure kept me warm and cosy on those chilly Canberra mornings! 

With team-mate Maddy and Heidi and team van Jens - all glad to  finish the tour in 1 piece! :) 

Overall the tour was another great learning experience and I was certainly happy with the steep improvement from the Mersey Valley Tour in Tasmania 2 months prior. It’s one step at a time. I’m already looking forward to next year’s tours – hopefully with a lot more kms and a lot more experience under the belt. Huge thanks to the SKCC/Giant team for providing the opportunity to compete against a high-level playing field, both Stuart and Gaelene for their amazing support at the tour, and my team-mates Heidi, Maddy, Jussy and Sam for the experience!