Australia Day Ride

This year I joined the (unofficial) Australia Day Ride up Mt Nebo and then on to Mt Glorious.
Great day out and so many cyclists giving the mountain a go. I was impressed with the general courtesy and skill shown by riders and drivers out on the mountain. I guess there were no commuter wars to contend with, and perhaps there is something about the honest work of climbing that takes the attackfest out of people.... well, most people :)

The koiled kit is doing it's job, with one 24HOA bloke recognising me and having a chat (you went alright for claiming to be a 'fat old guy'...!!). Met some cool new people as part of joining up with UQ cycling club. Nicole here provided an extra level of girl power. Nice one!

I was settled on the way up, but had some fun on the way down trying my best to stay away with Truck and Chris. We had some awesome cat and mouse with a couple of QIC riders. I was introduced to the concept of sprint points on each 60km sign. I swear Truck has them marked into his Garmin. Still scored one (largely by distraction and deception) so I will take that.

I remembered to sit up and take it easy on the split corners - and in case I needed a reminder there was a rider who over cooked it and ended up over the guard rail with a free trip in the ambulance. Shan and Omo offered first aid and assistance - top work guys.

Living at the base of this climb I've really got to make more use of it, it really is a great ride.
Next mission, get Prof out and up to Nebo via the road.

want kits?

The koiled racing kit made an impression in 2010 with many riders and racers alike asking if they could buy it. There were a bunch of disappointed punters when it was explained we'd done team issue only. Good news is this year we are designing kit which we will open up to anyone who wants it!

The top secret design is under wraps while we are working on it, but I can tell you it will be in keeping with our awesome tattoo designs. If you want in on the kit order you need to send your contact details to me at rachel.m.edwards@gmail.com with the subject : Koiled Kit. I will add you to the mailing list and when it's ready you will receive a mail out of order forms.

koiled kit looking sweet on the trail!

the rain

today there were no trails, no pictures, and no gears *
what else to do in the wet but find some equally mad mates and head out for a woefully undergeared road ride on the single speeds in the rain. no point waiting till it leaves, as some are saying it is here until APRIL!!!

puddles, road raging tools and pointless attacks aplenty, followed by awesome coffee at a new favourite (thanks Al).
job done.
* no trails were destroyed in the making of this awesome.

Maintenance

Most punters will tell you of feeling lost, having no direction and generally wondering 'now what' after a big A race.

You might notice something in the macro programming cycle of most programs called 'post competition' or sometimes 'offseason' block. The intent of this area of the program is maintenance. And here is the thing. I suck at this bit. I have a history of taking 2 or 3 months off. Completely. As in, no riding or any other type of exercise at all.

This time around, while I have still experienced the feeling lost thing, I have consciously tried to keep up a few sessions a week. That and I also employed the age-old technique of bike addicts - I have combatted the post big race funk with the big guns - buy a new bike !!!


It has been getting a smashing, including random attacks on ActivCycle Coaching strangers. Best cat and mouse I have had in a while Seriously fun - thanks whoever you are! p.s. you are fast.

So the maintenance weapon of choice is a new custom Ti Road bike from Koiled.
It is based around the geometry of my last bike, tweaked with a bit trademark Shannon curves on the seat stays and the result.... well see below.

The frame itself feels different to my last carbon bike. It is so stable on descents, while being wickedly fast - hit 85km/hr coming down nebo which I a record for me.... and the climbing is just awesome. It is an interesting comparison of frame materials built up to the same geo.... I know everyone has their own point of view, but I am starting to think my vote would now be Ti over carbon. I am hoping this one is at least harder to crack!!!

The other, perhaps more practical, thing I did to avoid the post race funk was to get out and do something new, just for fun. I jumped into rigid Single Speeding and while I am not exactly slick, I still have all my own teeth. I also joined Uni Cycling club and tried my first crit. I liked it. I've also rediscovered a bit of AR drive and coot-tha is getting a work out on foot with good friends kylie and nick, and occassional moonlighting by Prof.

I think this time I can say the post competition aim of 'maintenance' has been achieved.
These will be my guidelines for post comp next year.

- have a plan for that period.
For me I planned ahead for the hook of switching the SS, doing some fun road, and getting out in the bush on foot once a week. In future I should probably add some weights/gym time as for now I do none and this is the time to do it.

- ride to maintain your fitness, but also allow your body, social life and family to recover.
this generally means less sessions, and just doing what you feel like on the day there is no need to load for adaptation. Have FUN!!!!