Australian Master ITT Crit Road racing champs 3rd - 6th Oct

[mikesbytes]

This year they are in Coldburn

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[Strawburger]

Entered the itt only, figure i have just enough fitness not to get dropped

[mikesbytes]

Anyone got accom?

[mikesbytes]

Well, there was 3 DHBC riders in the Aussie ITT champs today;
M2
Joshua
Simon
M5
Mike

I spoke briefly Jos at the start line and he's recovering from sickness, so his time is even more impressive.

Anyway here's my race report.

Anyone who saw me on Saturday morning would know that I was quite crook, so I'm pleased just to have to got to the race, the results are incidental.

Pre-race
I've purchased the Orbea off David, so this time it was my bike and not borrowed. However I don't have wheels, so I'm riding on alloy clinchers, so really just a TT frame. I got the handlebars moved back so it meets UCI measurements and it just made the measurements.... just. Just to make life more interesting I suffered calf cramps during the warmup... oh dear..

Race - out
The course was identical to the NSW champs, with didn't mean a lot to me as I didn't race it, but I had read the reports and knew that the way out was slower than the way back. There was a headwind and initially I seem to cut thru it quite well. I chose to run a lower cadence to what I normally run, I knew I wasn't in the best of condition and I wanted to preserve my legs, then in a similar fashion to Kirrijong the speed just disappeared and I played a battle of grinding to a halt and then building back my speed. Start times were a minute apart and I was hoping to make it to halfway without been overtaken, but that wasn't to be as I was overtaken just before the halfway mark.

Race - back
Interestingly the rider that overtook me was slow up a hill and I ended up overtaking him, which was short lived. Knowing that halfway was actually well past halfway, I let my cadence rise and went for it. I was a bit irritated by a couple of things;
- knees hitting elbows. really need to to review my position and see about those extra 5cm allowed in the rules for some situations.
- speedo kept cutting in and out. I tend to race my speedo, but it didn't want to play ball.

Data - this is the first time I've used a Garmin - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/229495747 A little out, but you get the general idea.

Result
Came 13th out of 15 starters, not a good result, but where I expected to turn up. Comparing the data with 2011 championships, I was about 1.5kph slower, when compared with the other riders.

Results

Simon just before his ITT


Jos just before his ITT

[Strawburger]

Well, my time reflects how I felt, very tired!!!

I had a day to forget. From the start my legs were like jelly. A tailwind out and back would not have helped me. Unfortunately it was a headwind out! My times were slower on both splits (compared to last month).

Looking back through the last week I probably went too hard without a recovery. Plus I'm pretty sure the legs and brain decided they are on the post season holiday.

Thanks for the photos Mike. Hope you are enjoying the sun down in goulburn!

[timyone]

Make sure you ride a certain amount the day before these races

[mikesbytes]

Doesn't seem to be any results posted for today's Woman's crits, so no idea how Joanne went.

Tomorrow the Men's crits, I'm the only DHBC male entrant. I'm still crook, so my goal is hang on and not get dropped. Anything else is a bonus

[mikesbytes]

Looking at yesterdays results I can see Joanne DNS, that means I'm the only DHBC rider to race in the Crit.

I put my heart rate monitor on while in the hotel room and it was giving me readings between 90 and 110, depending on what I was doing, not a good sign, still sick. Unlike last year where I was away on a breakaway, this year was about survival and I needed a tactical race, if they went like greyhounds, I was done for.

After warming up sat on the start line for 8 minutes and still started with a heart rate of 140, there was an immediate attack off the line and the field strung out. My speedo was pissing me off, it was reading 25kph downhill...useless. By the end of lap 1 I was on the rear. On lap 2 the rider in front of me blew, I went around him and chased the bunch, went around another rider and just got back on 3/4 lap later, only to be immediately dropped. I chased hard staying in contact for 2 laps but not getting on. Then I cruised for 4 more laps, in case the bunch slowed up, but it didn't and withdrew, 4th to last I think.

Only 9 out of about 19 riders finished. 1st and 2nd were half lap ahead of 3rd and 4th. 5th to 9th was about 3/4 a lap behind.

My speed data is out, it shows an average speed of 25.5kph. I've made an estimate on distant covered at 9k, which gives me a average speed of 38.5, could be wrong.

Cadence shows that I was focusing on preserving myself and not being gun-ho.

Now heart rate, that is a concern, Started at 140, average of 180 and a peak of 191. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230063477

I'm not unhappy with the outcome, it didn't come as a surprise and I expect a similar outcome tomorrow in the road race.

[Eleri]

That doesn't sound like a good day on the bike! Hope tomorrow goes better.

[mikesbytes]

Saturday 6th October 2012 - Australian Road Racing championships

99.6k

Today finished a chapter in a series of races where I wasn't race fit. I had little expectation going up to the start line, however while my heart rate was high, it wasn't as high as yesterday. Then we sat on the line for 24 minutes as they delayed the start. There was about 45 riders.

The first 4k was neutral and the speed was restricted by the leading car, which took us to the circuit itself.

Lap 1 - 56:08
I was dropped on the very first hill. After a bit of solo riding, I made a decision that I wasn't able to catch the bunch in front of me and I should slow down and pick up the rider behind me and encouraged him to ease up to allow the rider behind us to catch. The 3 of us pressed on, collected another rider and had a go at catching the bunch in front of us, of about 10 riders. By the turn around it was clear that them, they were working hard to catch the main bunch. The return leg gave us more down hill and more importantly a tailwind. We collected another rider and immediately lost another.

Lap 2 - 1:01:38
Turned around and straight into the headwind, it was clear we were gone. One rider was dropped leaving the 3 of us. Then a couple of K later I was dropped and lost about 200mtrs on the other 2 and rode solo for say 10k. Up a long hill, I managed to half the distance, which encouraged me to put a special effort into the next hill, I reeled them in and we are back as 3, not far from the turnaround. Once around the turnaround I was dropped again, leaving me half the race remaining to ride solo. Rode about 5k and got overtaken by another race, then about 5k later they sat up and I reeled them back in. I didn't really want to slow down, so I rode up beside the commissionaires car and asked if it was OK to overtake. As I rode past them I said "I'm not in your race" so they wouldn't see me as an attack in their race. I ended up quite a way in front of them, but as I got closer to the finish line, that race was working hard and I realised they were probably finishing, so I slowed up to let them overtake me.

Lap 3 - 1:08:39
My knee was playing up and I had serious thoughts about not doing the lap, but I decided to press on, but took it easy into the headwind, as can be seen in my data. About halfway into the outward leg a car appeared behind me and I realised that I was the last rider who hadn't DNF'ed, I dubbed the car the swag wagon. This spurred me on a bit and I built speed, the turnaround came and I felt good and found pace, there was also a blown rider about a K in front of me and this gave me something to chase. Then I caught the blown rider, for the wrong reason, he had a flat. The swag wagon stopped for the rider with the flat. I rode on and just before the finish line the swag waggon overtook me with that rider on board, doubly confirming me as the last rider to complete.

I don't know the finish time, but I'm guessing I finished 15 - 20 minutes behind the winner. My average speed was 30.4kph, making it my slowest race, a huge difference between last years championship where I averaged 40.0kph, true this years course is slower. I'm not disappointed, its what I expected recovering from my sickie.

Data;
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230393231 or on strava http://app.strava.com/activities/24131388

[Trouty]

Doesn't seem to be any results posted for today's Woman's crits, so no idea how Joanne went.

Tomorrow the Men's crits, I'm the only DHBC male entrant. I'm still crook, so my goal is hang on and not get dropped. Anything else is a bonus

I came to my senses and withdrew the day before. I figured taking an annual leave day, 2 hours drive, to race for 30 minutes and be dropped on lap 1 was probably not wise. being such a small field of 5, and thrown in with Wmas3, I was way out of my depth, maybe a goal for another year.