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.

Happy New Year everyone, I hope Christmas treated you well and you enjoyed the festive week and got in a lot of riding. As you may be aware I kind of dropped the ball in terms of blogging taking a two week holiday but you can now expect more frequent blog posts, hopefully twice a week. In the past two weeks much has happened as I completed the Rapha Festive 500 and also raced the Junior’s race in the Bay Crits on Monday. Over the next few days I have pieces on both of those drafted and they’ll both appear on the blog in the coming days.

However during the week we were staying for a night at the house of one of Dad’s college friends at Fairhaven. Fairhaven is situated on the Great Ocean Road midway between Angelsea and Lorne. Until now I’d never had the opportunity to ride along the Great Ocean Road so I leaped up the opportunity too. Over the two days I did two rides one pleasant, one not soo pleasant. The first was to Fairhaven from Torquay and it was in a word horrible. The first half to Angelsea was along what was basically a major highway with lots of traffic. The second half was much nicer as the traffic died down and you were riding along the sea itself but unfortunately there was still a bit of traffic.

My second ride down there was the memorable one as much as anything for the view as for the riding itself. Setting out at 7 to ride the Great Ocean Road was simply stunning. The road from Fairhaven to Lorne was magnificent with rolling hills and not much traffic but when you got to Lorne it was hard not to just sit down and admire the views for hours. The road was built straight into the side of a cliff and where I turned around at Mt Defiance the view over the ocean was just phenomenal. However as with many things pictures speak louder than words and videos are made up of pictures so enjoy this video from the Great Ocean Road Classic.

Rider: Eddy Merckx

As we draw to the end of the Christmas countdown we see that Eddy Merckx was the most victorious cyclist ever with 333 road victories during his career. There is little to say about Eddy Merckx as his palmares are complete barring one race which was Paris-Tours. Fellow Belgian Noel Vantyghem said famously, “Between us, Merckx and I have won everything there is to win, I won Paris-Tours he won the rest.”  Eddy Merckx even has his own joke, I quote from the cyclopedia:

” The tale is told that after the death of a cyclist who tried to beat Merckx for years but was constanty fustrated the pro went to Heaven and was greeted by St Peter. The saint put him in a race on the smoothest velodrome he had ever seen and on the finest Italian frame. All the greats before him where on the start line but he knew he would win. As the line approached, however he felt a wheel coming past, glanced up and saw the face of the cannibal, disconsolate he went to St Peter and said, ‘Eddy isn’t dead yet, what’s he doing here?’
St Peter repiled gravely, ‘That wasn’t Merckx it was god, he likes to pretend he’s Merckx.‘ “

Rapha Festive 500 : Day 2 Mordialloc

Day two of the festive 500 meant for a nice easy ride down Beach Rd enjoying the foggy, humid and warm conditions. Despite the overhead cloud and fog cover there wasn’t a drop of rain and there were plenty of riders out and about this morning enjoying Christmas Eve. Beach Rd is a paticularly good E1 ride as it is for the most part flat and you have plently of options for coffee stops along the way and if you are so inclined which I wasn’t this morning there is the Rickett’s Point climb where you can test your legs.

After yesterdays ride up to the Devil’s Elbow my legs were a tad sore so I just used the ride to roll them over and head towards the 500km. Now after two days of the Festive 500 my total km count is at 134km with 336km to do over the remaining week. Next week I’ve got planned Kinglake, 1/20, Blackrock, Park Orchards and Mt Eliza which will give me 530km. Tomorrow though is a recovery day and for Christmas day my only exercise will be swimming. Merry Christmas all and I hope you all get many great cycling items for Christmas, maybe a Camelbak Podium?

Here is the evidence of my ride this morning http://app.strava.com/rides/2852529. Important to note in the last picture the poor sock height, if you see any other sock height victims make sure to help them change their ways. In this case I have tried so far unsuccessfully.

Today the Rapha Festive 500 begun and to celebrate Dad and I rode a lovely 70.5km through the Melbourne’s East on route to the Dandenongs. Here we climbed the Devil’s Elbow before a lovely ride back down to Hawthorn after stopping in the Basin for coffee. All up we rode 70.5km which means that we still have 429.5km to ride before New Year’s day. This means that according to Strava I’m 14% through the 500km.

As anyone who was in Melbourne today will have noted the weather was fantastic making the riding a little bit more pleasant than it was for our European counterparts. I accidentaly forgot my SD card at home so I had to make do with the single inbuilt photos on my camera so not much evidence today but tomorrow there will be more, I promise. However if you are suspicious of my riding you can, or rather should follow me on Strava and Twitter to keep up to date with my rides. Todays File: http://app.strava.com/rides/2832445

Rider: Rik Van Looy

Trailing only one rider in the battle for most wins ever Rik Van Looy was the first rider to win all five monuments. He also won two world championships but like Rik 1, Rik 2′s influence in grand tours was pretty much non existence. His career truly bridged two generations when he started in 1953 Coppi had just peaked and when he retired in 1970 the Cannibal was already terrorizing rivals.

Rider : Rik Van Steenbergen

Rik was a monster of 1950′s cycling who raced practically non stop and in the process collected a staggering amount of victories. His greatest victories on the road involved five monuments as well as tying the World Championship victory count of three with Alfredo Binda, notice that name keep popping up? In total he claimed 270 victories during road races and time trials but he was a huge track and criterium rider which means that his total victories could be nearer to 1000. While one for the classics the mountains were never in his favour but he did manage to finish 2nd in the 51′ Giro. Rik was also the first of the Belgian riders who would dominate post war cycling.

Rapha Festive 500

Tomorrow the 23rd of December is the first day of the 2011 Rapha Festive 500. The 500 is a challenge to fight the urge to be slack over Christmas and ride instead. The riding is mainly aimed at the northern hemisphere who are in the middle of winter but that doesn’t stop me partaking in the challenge. Laugh all you want but since I started riding I’ve never done 500km in a week. In preperation for the week I mocked up a training program which hopefully will lead me to success. Here is the training program which I hope will give you some inspiration.

Friday: Devil’s Elbow – 70km
Saturday: Mordialloc Return 60km
Sunday: Day off
Monday: Kinglake Return 110km
Tuesday: Blackrock RE 45km
Wednesday: 1/20 from Montrose 80km
Thursday: Park Orchards Loop 50km
Friday: Day Off
Saturday : Two Bays 115km

That totals up to 530km 30km over the required 500km. A bit of variety included which should make for an awesome week of riding. If anybody fancies to join me on one of these ventures either tweet me or send me an email and we can have twice the fun. I’ll blog every day about the great fun I’m having whether just a picture of a bit of a write-up we’ll see how I go.

Happy Thursday!

Rider : Roger de Vlaemnick

Roger de Vlaemnick was one of the only riders who was truly able to challenge Merckx during the classics of the early 1970′s. However racing through the Merckx era meant that Roger de Vlaemnick achievements were even more extraordinary. Monsieur Paris-Roubiax as he was known dominated all the classics and as such he was one of only three riders to win all the monuments of cycling. However despite his strength in the classics he was unable to make an impact on the Tour de France and most notably never won a road world championship. All up though he won a staggering 248 victories with 11 of those being Monuments.

In Australia it is mandatory to wear a helmet which conforms to Australian Standards. Helmets vary greatly throughout both price and function but a good road helmet is a must to enjoy riding. After having a love-hate affair with the Limar Ultralight 104 I moved to a Lazer Genesis after getting it on special from Cecil Walkers. Now it is my helmet of choice and it has a good combination of style, weight and fit. The main selling point of the helmet is the special RollSYS retention system which differs significantly from other manufacturers. I don’t think this is necessarily and better than normal retention systems but given the fit it allows and the great Euro style of the helmet I think it is overall a awesome helmet.

Rider: Mario Cipollini

Mario Cipollini is almost as well known for his rock star image as he was for his racing. He would turn up for races in outrageous kit that could easily been viewed as weird or as is the case below, repulsive. Off the bike he was always immaculately dressed in designer clothing but while he was known for his style, in the final 200m of a bike race he was as potent as anyone. He simply won lots of races and he was the first person to break Alfredo Binda’s 70 year old Giro Stage wins record of 41. He was as pure sprinter as anyone has ever been and in the Tour he would pull out the day of the first mountain stage. He was never one for the classics but he did manage to win Milan-San-Remo once and took out the worlds on the pancake flat course at Zolder. When he finished his career he had a total of 165 victories to his name.