The last two weeks of racing have given us some great results and racing but also some serious moments where riders are unleashing some completely unexpected tactics. Firstly in Roubaix we had Boonen pretending to do a Cancellara and now we have Wiggins doing a Mark Cavendish. As spectators we grow acustomed to seeing races go down in a certain way and riders behaving the way we expect them too. However in these two ocassions both riders made me stop and stare and look at them in different ways appreciating them more than I did before.

This last week Wiggins has added a win in the Overall at the Tour of Romandie to his March win of Paris-Nice. This year I have been a lot more appreciative of Wiggins as he appears to be far more aggressive then in previous years. This paticulary came out in Stage 1 of Romandie when Wiggins won the stage from a bunch sprint. When I heard that Wiggins had won a sprint I was really quite shocked. One of arguably less exciting riders in the peloton had gone out and given us something to cheer about. However on reflection Wiggins winning a sprint from a whittled down peloton shouldn’t be too much of a surprise given that he was the World Madison Champion at one stage with a certain Mark Cavendish. So while not expected it is still exciting to see a Wiggo prepared to take risks. Team Sky have also done a superb job with Wiggins’ National Champs kit and it is probably my favourite kit in the peloton.

Boonen was just in a leauge above at Roubaix but his style of victory really suprised me, he risked everything by launching such a daring attack yet he managed to pull it off in the style of Spartacus himself. Boonen’s panache was what we want to see in races riders not hedging there bets in the final climb, mountain, berg, metres or sector;  we want to see them take risks and bring back the energy into racing. I never thought I’d use Wiggins and Panache in the same sentence but now I am and I’ll happily accept the consequences. There may be trouble in paradise but maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all?

My first road race of the season was without a doubt a disaster. With a lack of fitness I went into the Alpe d’Buffalo already with my excuses and come the finish my result was exactly what I deserved, atrocious. It was after a slack summer the wake up call I needed and with a big training camp in Eildon straight after Buffalo I got going quickly. When I realised that last Saturday I had the opportunity to race at Northern Combine I leapt at the opportunity. This time I’d started to get some solid training in following Eildon and I came in with an improved frame of mind. I knew the course profile suited me with a hard hill finishing two km’s from the end. Now all I had to do was race the race with no excuses and 110% effort.

The race itself was 60km consisting of three laps around a 20km loop out at Kyenton. The first lap started typically at a relatively sedentary and come the only real hill on the course towards the end it was obvious how decisive it would be in the last lap. The second lap continued on in a similar pattern with a cruisy pace with nobody really trying to get away. When we hit the bell lap still there was no action and coming up to the first rolling hill the group was still 40 strong. When we reached the bottom of the climb I was about 4th wheel and I decided halfway up to lift the pace and move to the front and try to shell out a few riders. As I moved to the front I realised how good I was feeling and I decided to keep going and by the top of the hill had a 30m gap. I decided for the meanwhile to not give it 100% but to just ride tempo and see what happened.

The group caught me after about 2km after I had sat up deciding to save my matches for the final climb.As I rolled back I noticed that the group had shrunk and was now only 20 riders strong. Happy with my work I tried to now conserve as much energy for the finish and stay at the front being vigilant. Clearly everyone had the same idea as me and despite a little attack the group stayed together till the climb. Quickly riders started to get dropped on the climb and a Sunbury rider tried to go off the front and had about a twenty metre lead. I attacked the group and by the top off the hill I was five metres behind the Sunbury rider and 50m in front of a chase group of 4. On my junior gearing the descent being fast and straight was made challenging on my 48 x 16 but I managed to catch up to the Sunbury rider and we were in the lead till the final straight at 300m to go. Two riders went rushing past and already spinning at 140rpm I couldn’t make the leap. The next two riders went past and I leaped on, now sprinting for 3rd. One of the riders moved towards the left and seemed to run out of gas so now I had one rider to get past in order to podium. As I prepared to move round him he moved to the left and I went blasting up the middle of the road and took the lead with 50m to go and coming to the finished comfortably took third.

Reflecting back on the race it was as much the mental attitude as the physical condition which provided the improved results. This was again proved the next day when despite racing the day before I set a new PB up the 1:20 riding with the Bike Gallery guys. A great way to cap off a great weekend of riding.

I love racing but recently in the past couple of months since Christmas I’ve raced far too much given my season objectives. My main season objectives are in July and I’ve been racing my heart out trying to do as much racing as possible. However as anybody would tell you right now my energies should be spent Base training in order to achieve peak performance later. Today I had possibly my worst race performance wise ever.

In a big D Grade field at St Kilda I got shelled out within the first 10km and despite chasing hard for 10 minutes the bunch got further ahead every lap and it was not even like the average speed was that high, being only 39km/h as opposed to the 41 or 42km/h speeds of late. Just last week I wrote about how despite feeling great I was thwarted by tactics and bad decision making. However this week I was just nowhere to be seen. However after a chat with Dad I will settle down and start preparing properly for the road season and hopefully get some results among others a road race win.

However even though my race didn’t go quite as planned the sun was shining and the conditions were somewhat nicer than last week’s killer winds making it still an OK day. As I get into the rinse and repeat cycle that is school expect more frequent posts and commentary on the Melbourne cycling scene.

I love racing crits, particularly if I get a coffee somewhere along the way. However despite my love of crits and the fact that I have ridden 15+ crits this year I’m still without a result better than 4th in D Grade. While there is nothing wrong with fourth and the fact that I profited $40 I’m always so close yet so far. This week has been a case in point. After a few tough days of training I had two days of rest on Monday and Tuesday. Then on Wednesday I raced down at Kew and despite having good legs ended up fiinishing 9th, shaking my head knowing I could have done better.

At Kew the reason for my failure was completely self inflicted, I underestimated how hard it would be too move up in the last two laps and when I was in 15th place a km to go I was stuck and when around the bendy descent on the back side of the course the rider infront dropped the wheel I only just managed to reach the main group heading into the final corner and by then it was too late. The worst part of the race though was the fact that I was flying up the hill sprint and had I been in a better position I could have possibly placed instead of coming 9th.

Today though I raced down at Glenvale for a change and in a tough day of racing with lots of wind I finished 6th. However as often is the case the final score does not reflect the race itself. After the ten minute neutral section I attacked straight away and gained 50m before an accident in B grade neutralised the race and I was caught. Then as soon as the race started I attacked and gained a bit of ground before being brought back.Then after about 500m the counter attack was launched and I got on someone who had tried to follow before they had sat up and when I tried to bridge across I was stuffed.

I tired to pull back the break but there was little cooperation in the bunch and I spent a quarter of the race on the front in an effort to try and get the group to chase. After half an hour of chasing we came round a corner to find three of the four breakaway riders sprawled across the road after a crash halting the breakaway after an almost certain victory. Now though my legs were pretty tired and I did the best I could to conserve energy for the sprint but when it came the tank was decidedly empty.

This week despite having great legs all went pear shaped but two impoprtant lessons were learnt, one about positioning and another about spending too much energy chasing, Anyway tomorrow is another week and another couple of races, Sandown here I come!

Victory!!!

Yesterday while most Australians enjoyed a day filled with a barbeque, sun and for some the beach, I and many others were at the annual Australia Day Madison run by Blackburn Cycling Club. From 10-4 there were four madisons and three support races run over six grades making for an action packed day of racing at the East Burwood velodrome. The big event of the day was the A Grade Madison itself comprised of a 75 lap madison, a 150 lap madison, a elimination and a motorpace. After those four races and over 75km of Madison racing the Eastern FM team of Tom Leaper and Brent Nelson triumphed convincingly after taking two laps over the field in the two Madison as well as pretty much all the sprints along the way.

The B Grade madison was also a hotly contested affair this time one madison run over 75 laps. The outcome of this madison was very close in the end however the Charter Mason team of Aaron and Haydn Eynaud won after taking a lap midway. The junior team of Michael Stringer and Ben Andrews showed some great effort to finish with the bunch and riding in a very fast competitive field on 82″ gears which makes any racing a challenge.

However the C Grade Madison was the race which I was racing in as Team Trigon with my partner James Tickner. It was the first madison for both of us so we were both excited and nervous about how it would play out. The race started off with the first 10 laps of 60 at a hard speed. However at 50 to go there was the first intermediate sprint when I was in the bunch and we got second. Immediately after the bunch split up with the Quickcycle team launching an attack and before I knew it we were out in front with the team from Bikes De Ver. However after a few laps they started to weaken and we opened a small gap which lap by lap started to increase. Over the course of about 10 laps we managed to lap them and at 21 to go we were back in the bunch and the leaders of the race. Now a lap up I was inclined to sit in the bunch and just make sure De Ver didn’t get away from us but James Tickner had other ideas and soon we were off the front again. We ended up finishing three quaters of a lap ahead of the bunch and were the winners both on points and laps of the C Grade Australia Day Madison.

The Australia Day Madison was without a doubt one of the hardest but most enjoyable events I’ve ever raced in. The great weather and the great club atmosphere as well as the great racing just added to the day itself. It was a day which I will look back on with great memories as the day I won my first Madison and celebrated Australia Day 2012. One of the other riders in our race Grace Phang also did a report of the race. She raced in C Grade with Chloe Baggs as part of Team Quickcycle and they finished third and they initiated the attacking in the race. Here is her report. I’d like to thank Blackburn Cycling Club first and foremost for running such a great event, the other racers who put on a show and made for such a great day and I’d also like to thank Trigon Bicycles Australia who sponsored James and myself to race in the madison.

With no fencing the past two Saturdays, today included I’ve had the opportunity to both days race track at the Blackburn Outdoor velodrome. On both ocassions I’ve been successful and last Saturday I won D Grade and this Saturday I won C Grade. Both days I have phenomenally enjoyed myself and the unique atmosphere of club track racing. It is with this enjoyment factor that I question why track racing is regarded as somewhat inferior and they struggle to get 50 people out on the track when they are getting that many per grade at crits whether it is Sandown, Glenvale or St Kilda.

However today is not the day for a rant on why many people are so inclined to race crits but so few turn up to race on the track despite the fact that many of Australia’s greatest champions are from a track background. Anyway I thoroughly enjoy the track racing I get to do and despite the fact that coffee isn’t always available, GASP!!! It’s a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

One of the great strengths of track racing is the variety of events you can participate in and the last two weeks are a perfect testament to that. Last week we started off with a scratch race before moving to a progressive points race and then a motorpace to finish off. This selection of races would favour an all round rider with the progressive points being one more for an enduro while the motorpace more favours a sprinter. Today’s racing though was more sprint focused with a scratch race, handicap and a keirin. The variety alone of these races makes track racing a winner and the great social atmosphere of the track just adds to the racing.

Now though I have to finish the post with a plug to the Australia Day Madison run by Blackburn Cycling Club which is funnily enough on Australia Day.  Throughout the day there will be three madisons : A Grade, B Grade which I will be participating in and a women’s madison as well as a series of support events for grades A through F. It promises to be a great day with a Carnival aspect and even if you decide not to race it will be a terrific day of racing to watch. If you want some more details of the days racing here is the flyer.

Yep, you read it right the title of this posts it the dreaded T word and yes your fears have been confirmed the word really does say triathalons. Worse of all is yet to come though, the reason the post title is the t word is because I have competed in two triathlons over the last two weeks. However don’t fret quite yet the as they were not proper triathlons.

The first was the first XOSize Tri at Brighton Beach on the 6th of November. I cheated though as I only did the bike leg of the Tri as I entered as a team with two of my mates from school. We flew the flag racing as Team Ganache in honour of the chocolate sauce of the same name. Last year we did the mini team tri and ended up being the team victors. However as we were all over 14 now, we were eligible for the sprint tri which featured a 600m swim, 20km ride and a 5km run. Liam Cook our swimmer through flew his leg despite not swimming for a few months and as I saw him fly up to the stairs to the transition I readied myself for the 20km ride. The ride itself was immensely fustrating. As I had no warm up my legs were sluggish so I basically struggled through the 20km ride in E3 unable to lift any higher. However Jack Nichols the runner of Team Ganache made up for my rubbish ride and he destroyed the run. While we couldn’t repeat our victorious race of last year we were all happy with how the team did.

The second tri was on Saturday and was slightly less orthodox. It started with a manic ride and urban commute from Hawthorn to the boat sheds in Albert Park. This ride was made slightly more difficult by let’s say adverse weather conditions in other words a bit (read lot) of rain. Upon arrival to the boat shed it was a matter of getting the single sculls in the water and getting rowing as quickly as possible as to not get wet standing around. The sculls we were in are best described as skinny and for all of us there it was the first time in them. After getting in the boat I pulled away from the sheds but after only 20m disaster struck as I lost balance and I fell out of the boat. Here I encountered the third element of the tri the swim, unfortunately my weakest element. I quickly headed back to the pier and got back on my horse or in this case boat and set out to complete the rest of the rowing leg. I managed to slowly and with many near misses get 7/8ths of the way round the lake before after almost colliding with another rower have another swim. This time though I was a bit further away from the pier so I flipped the boat back over and rowed back to the sheds.

So now as you may have realised neither of the tri were actually proper triathalons but both were nice expereinces and something to enjoy. The one thing I will add about the XOSize tri is that I thought that in general it had a horrible atmosphere, despite the closed road and impeccable marshaling I would much rather go to a club TT. The difference was that while anyone who organises or is involved with Cycling races in Victoria is there for the love of the sport while the triathlon is much more of a pure money making activity. Anyway the importance is that while the title was misleading I promise to you my loyal readers that I will never become a triathlete and till the day I die I will have sleeves on my jersey and my socks will be more than 10cm high.  I promise.

The Jayco Herald Sun Tour was a great week of racing but the last day of racing wasn’t quite what it could be. The numbers were lower then they could have been, I believe that part of the reasons for these low numbers was the amount of cycling happening that day. As well as the Herald Sun Tour there was “The Round the bay in a day.”  This meant that a huge amount of people who would have otherwise gone to watch the Herald Sun Tour finale where still riding the round the bay. This is where much of the problem lies, the lack of a distinct cooperation between USM Events, Cycling Victoria and Bicycling Victoria. This weekend two massive cycling events took place but looking at the calender for next week there is nothing.

I’m sure all three organisations had reasons for placing their events on any given day but surely it would have been beneficial for all of them to not have there events clashing. I would have considered riding the Around the Bay but the fact that it clashed with the VSCC Final ruled it out for me. My main point with this article though is that I and every person reading this blog I assume is passionate about cycling, the fact that the three organisations couldn’t better oraganise the dates of their events is a shame. Ultimately the real loser isn’t any of the companies but the cyclists of Melbourne. Cycling is clearly on the rise in Melbourne but people need to better plan their events if they really want cycling to take off in Melbourne.

In many ways its ironic that my first crit of the summer was wet and cold. Last Sunday I raced for the first time this summer in the St Kilda crits. I started the D grade crit in horrible wet and damp conditions as you went round the corners you could just feel your bike slipping and sliding on the wet tarmac. I rode the first half of the crit before pulling out deciding that it wasn’t worth it. To add to the bad weather my legs were destroyed after a tough day of riding on saturday, a 70km group ride and then State teams pursuit training. My legs were saying no and given the nasty conditions decided that it was best for me if I pulled out.

The positive though is that the weather can only get better from here, my training is going great and after a couple of months of solid base training I can already feel the increase in endurance that I’m going through. Now though it’s time to start racing. Since I’ve got the miles in my legs its now time to raise the intensity and hopefully come January I’ll be flying. Anyhow that’s the plan.

Last Sunday was the final TT of my season. It was the annual 1:20 individual time trial run by Blackburn Cycling club. The sun was shining and the weather was great and the conditions were perfect to set good times. Unfortunately I came home in 18:47 a full 40 seconds slower than last year. As soon as I started my ride I knew that I was going to do a slow time. I struggled through the whole ride and as soon as I finished I turned around and started to think about what had gone wrong.

Now five days after the race I have reflected on what I could have done to help improve my race and in my mind three things played a part in my poor race.

1. The weeks before the race:
   The biggest factor I think in my slower time was the training I’ve been doing in the past month. Following the conclusion of my road season after States I had a transition period where I took two whole weeks of the bike. While I missed riding during that period I think it was great and it gave me a renewed lust for the bike. Following the rest I started my Base training in preparation for the track season. The best racing results will never appear in base training especially in a short, sharp effort like a time trial.

   My mistake though was in regard to rest days. While I had many slower recovery days on the bike for three weeks I didn’t have a single day off the bike. Some days due to school I had less time on the bike so I compensated by doing some riding on designated recovery days. This would have had a big effect on my training as even on the easy days I was stillexercising and not letting my body fully recover.

2. The day before the race:
   On Saturday before the race my training load was high. In the morning I had 30km E1 on the road where I was just spinning the legs over more than anything else. The damage was done not in that ride though but I my training in the afternoon.

   The training that I did that afternoon was probably the most strenuous session I have ever done. It was part of Teams Pursuit training and the training involved 30min motorpacing behind the bike before doing 3 x 3km Team Pursuits with each pursuit getting harder and faster. I knew I had an important race on the next day but given that it was the first training session I was eager to make a good impression.I let myself train to hard when I needed to speak to the coach and tell him that I wanted to take it slightly easier in preparation for the race.

3. The day of the race:
   So my training in the lead up to the race hadn’t been perfectly aimed for this race but now I had the got to the race I messed up the thing that I should have at least got right, that being the warm-up. I had felt I mastered my warm-up regime after the Eildon Tour. I had a disappointing time trial and I spoke with my coach that night he said that I should as soon as I wake up do a thirty minute turbo to warm up my legs and get the blood flowing. It worked spectacularly well, I ended up being in the breakaway and had my best ever race. I neglected to do a pre-start on sunday though and I think the results really showed that.

After properly analysing my race I know my mistakes and what I could do to correct them. My only regret now is that I wish I learnt this earlier and then this post might have been slightly different.