WEMBO - Singlespeeding at the 24hour solo world champs.

Many people asked me why I chose to singlespeed at the 2013 WEMBO24 Hour Solo World Champs and almost as many let me know they felt I should be racing elite.  Nice compliment.  I had my reasons.

Enroute to Canberra I pondered my entry choice.  SS24 solo.

This was my forth worlds.  I've raced elite.  I've raced age group.  I went up an age group this year.  Maybe I am in age denial - but I wanted to do something different. I knew there was tough competition.

This year has not been focused riding for me so I also knew I didn't have the form from previous years.  And yet - I knew I wanted to race and be part of the WEMBO patchwork.  Mostly I wanted to push myself, try something crazy.  Expand my capabilities as a cyclist.  Have another experience.

Well holy shit.  Singlespeeding for 24 hours is an "experience".

Here is how it went.
I arrived in Canberra on the Tuesday.  Plenty of time to settle in, sort out gear and pre-ride.  Bear had made good time driving down and met me at the airport - a welcome sight - no taxi!!!  Grateful!

The course was essentially the Scott red and blue lap and already well marked from the previous weekends racing so it wasn't hard.  I had only just got my race bikes built up a couple of weeks prior to the race - so this was some of the first real race pace riding.  Better late than never! Well ok, this is not the way to prepare but for me this year it's what I could manage so roll with it.

On the plus side the stable I had was primo!  The BOO (custom carbon and bamboo with a carbon lefty) got to meet Aussie trails - and handled them like a boss.  My Koiled Ti SimpleJack was so dialed in on the geometry stakes I now believe Shannon is one of the most underrated Bike Designers we have in our country.  That thing is so sweet.

SsimpleJack loving the rocks!

Pre-riding was fairly straight forward.  I knew the course, I've ridden it before.  For the first time I can say there was nothing I felt trepidation about riding - the general consensus is it was a pretty easy course technically.  Still plenty of places to hurt yourself if you lost concentration - but all in all a good start!  No pre-ride at Stromlo is complete without some selfies in the observatory. 



The burnout observatory on Stromlo - so cool, and yet a grim reminder.

Raring to go? My BOO was....

Prerides got done, food smashed, afternoon naps taken.  Got to meet and greet - highlight was getting to see Kelvin - a fellow employee who read a company newsletter and decided if I could, he could - and he did!!! You can read his story here Kelvins WEMBO story

Wasn't long until the rest of the crew rolled in.  Bear, who drove all my gear from Brisbane and back (!!!) was already in attendence.  He rides road with the Masters B crew and now has a bad case of singletrack-itis.  Ha hahahaa - there is no cure ! :)

Stef arrived straight from NSWIS training and managed to eat a whole pizza and two cheeseburgers on her drive- she is a promising track sprinting superstar who does pretty much the polar opposite to what I do on a bike.  Her legs are about as wide as my torso.  Shan also rolled in ready to take his place at the head of the pit team.  He is Koiled, and after Italy considered to be a mandatory part of my 24 hour recipe for success.

Shan spent hours making sure everything was perfect.

Stef needs to work on her killer face.  Far too smiley.

Mostly it was an awesome time with awesome people.  I know the job of support is a tough one.  It is straight up hard work and there is pressure to get it right and make the decisions for your rider.  It is also emotionally tough (understatement) to send your rider out time and again when they are broken.

Thank you.  My crew - you were awesome. Because of you I could race and have my experience.   I hope you got something out of what we did and you all deserve a little piece of the bronze medal! 

 Smashing the Luge Berms.  Fun at first, but hard to hold onto it later in the day!

 The race itself was a bit of a blur.  I rode through the first 10 hours without too many issues but after that I started to feel bad.  Really bad.  Weird bad. A new sort of deep fatigue that I find hard to describe - a new feeling of no energy.  I put it down to my lack of long rides and maybe my cheat fitness through strength training.  Had I changed the metabolic processes in my muscles?  Probably.  I think the majority of my riding was no longer than 2 - 3 hours.  I knew it wasn't enough and I'd have to pay - so I did.  It became clear somewhere in the evening - this was the hardest 24 hour I have ever done.

Top fashion points.  How good is the SUPACAZ tape? 

SS was brutal.  Hardtail was worse.  Every rock, rut and bump was microtearing my muscles and by about half way I hurt quite a lot in my everything.  Knicks and saddles that had been fine on a dually were definitely not fine on a hardtail.  But that's what 24hour riding is.  It is pain and punishment for a seemingly never-ending period and nothing but you and your will to endure.  It's called endurance for a reason.



Shannon and Bear prepping lights for the evening.

Most people won't realise that this was a huge ride for me.  Everything on nothing.  Checking out my strava history I'd been lucky to be getting in more than 100km a week this year.  About 25% of what I was riding on the previous year.  So taking into account I had effectively bought a water pistol to a gun fight, I am super proud of what I managed.  For the record, riding a 24hour solo on no fitness is stupid.


Dinner time - too smashed to eat and it was only 10pm(ish)

lonely midnight hours!

Western Wedgetail, fast and furious.  And rough.

Nearly done....

Pit Boss checking if I know what day it is... sure I do. IT'S RACE DAY.

So somewhere between 11 and 12pm on Sunday I rolled in and stepped off.  I finished behind the amazing Ms Frankie, and the awesome Bec Parkes.  Both these women have my utmost respect.  Having experienced an SS solo ride for myself I can certainly say I see these riders in a new light. 

So what is next?  Not sure.  Lots of road coming up with the Koiled Shebeasts and maybe I can hear bagpipes.  Too soon to say.  But I reckon I will be hearing them through the clicking of a derailleur should I choose to go!!!!  All those roots, shale and mud.... *shudder*

Everyone should take a minute to walk out to their geared duallys and tell them they love them.  I know I have.

State Team Time Trial

I love this race.  It is so different to anything else you do on the road.   Often road is focused on who can make the best short lived allies but inevitably it comes down to everyone for themselves when the white line approaches.   Its a dynamic I struggle with.

The TTT is different.  It is about understanding the best machine that can be made out of the requisite team parts - and making the best effort you can with the riders you have bought together.  I enjoy it.

working together is the path to success - and doing it well take practice!

This year at the last minute I jumped into a team organized by fellow HPRWer Mel Symon.  I love Mel.  Her attitude to racing is top notch.  When everyone starts looking at each other in the bunch Mel will go - more often than not with parting words like 'Stuff it I'll go. I am not scared".... See what I mean?

Mel gathered together a good bunch, with Dyane Hannan and Donna Fyfe rounding out the four.  We managed one group practice before Donna got ill just days out from the race with tonsillitis.  Emma Moloney thankfully stepped in at the last minute allowing us to still race with four.



warming up with a red bull 

On race day we realized we had some tough competition from the GC Cats girls - so much experience with Helen, Sharon and Laurelea.  Race was on!



As we lined up in the midday sun it was hot - well over 30'.  Everyone went into their own quiet space thinking about whatever they think about on the start line.  For me I just breathe and say the count down.  I try not to think about anything other than the process of starting smoothly and not crashing on TT bars in close quarters.

We headed out and I followed Mels instruction to lead us out.  Not having practiced together it was difficult to know how our pacing would be relative to each other so we'd have to work it out on the road!

 

TTTs are hard on your pride.  Some days you grovel at the back and have to miss turns for the greater speed of the group.  Some days you get to ride at the front and provide strength for others - all the while watching their measure of suffering.

Mel realized in the first half the pace was slowing too much for her so called herself off and sent us up the road.  I noted when the Gold Coast girls passed us and counted the time to the turn around.  Off 6 minutes ahead - we needed about 3 mins to hit the turn and be on par.  It was almost that to the second - we were still in this.


Well - all I can say is I am very impressed with Dyane and Emma.  They definitely gave everything they had.  I couldn't have asked for more.  Dyane had just come back from a couple of weeks overseas holidaying in irish pubs and it is was her day to feel the pinch.  Emma seemed to get stronger on the way back and rolled great turns.  In reality we were messy and all over the road - but then we had never ridden together before race day. We didn't talk anywhere near enough - it is impossible to talk too MUCH in one of these things (why is this making me think of Sharyn Smith :) ) - and hearing with a TT helmet on is a black art! I constantly rode off the front like a horrible team mate and proceeded to get angrier and angrier with myself for letting the girls down... which unfortunately makes me ride faster!  We got the calls sorted in the second half and did this less.  This is where some practice time would have come in handy!   Still the point is to make the most of what you got and we did that.

Dyane completely buried herself, Emma was a beast, and Mel made a tough decision for our overall good - and while the gold coast girls ended up quicker - I couldn't be more pleased with being part of the silver team.  It should be noted Mel rode a massive ITT to finish solo just minutes behind us. Thanks ladies!

 

 

 

HPRW Nicol Jackson Womens Series - Round Two ITT

 

Every year HPRW run a fantastic womens race series - and the TT round is my favourite.  They do an awesome job of attracting women, many of whom are first timers - they had 42 women this weekend!  Definitely doing something right.

Personally I was there to race for fitness and fun - and am mostly to get back and being part of it, and being me.  That said old habits die hard, and once on the start line I felt my usual routine kick in.  Concentrate on how to start.  Deep breaths to kill nerves. 



Starting in the first 10 riders - there was no-one to hold us for the start so it was a push off clip in hammer type affair.  Boo!  Much prefer being held when I have TT bars.   Last time I raced this course I did the full 33km - so today was a walk in the park with the 20km out and back in front of me! I love this course, plenty of hills and some rough road. It was a beautiful morning with a great turn out across the grades. A grade had some strong girls - Katrin, Jess, Jemma, Marianne and a good handful of international level triathletes out to try their hand.  Plenty of tough competition.  Now we are talking!

A smile? Clearly not going hard enough.

TTing is really about balancing on the redline - go as hard as you possibly can but don't explode.  It is a knife's edge.  Based on my data I am going to go ahead and claim the knife as my biatch - 99% threshold.  YEAH ! In the pocket!!!!

Hills hurt when you are already on threshold.

Completely unexpected - somehow I rode faster than last year when I was in peak form.  Maybe when we let go and enjoy the ride we get out of our own way?  Food for thought.

As an added bonus, I made it onto the A Grade podium 3rd behind Katrin and Jess. Mostly I loved seeing all my bike riding buddies, talking trash, racing hard and leaving having had a great time!

MAP Metropolitan Championships - Road Race Win

Turned up to the MAP Metropolitan Championships at Mt.Alford after a last minute change of plans.  I'd decided it wouldn't be okay to have my daughter waiting by the road while I raced a lapped course.  Too boring and not safe enough, so no racing for me.  C'est la vie.  We were planning a tandem ride instead :)

Come race day an early phone call changed plans!  Thanks to a very thoughtful Duggan my little offsider, Annabel, was given a better offer than me for the day - bowling and a play date with Sophia.  I can't compete with that, so she headed off bowling and I headed off racing!

The women had been told that they had a separate race.  The Tour of Adelaide had cut the A Grade numbers drastically so we were to combine with women's B Grade.  On the start line we learned we were actually racing in with Masters B men.  Long story short - it was hairy as hell.  By the third lap only a handful of women remained in the bunch, either through pace or discomfort in the tight conditions.  I am guessing it was mostly the latter.

I spent the first two laps staying protected and worked to mark where the girls were in the bunch, easier said than done in these big field races.  I kept myself safe as best I could and followed the steady youdan wheels for a while!

1st A Grade Race, 1st A Grade Win.

Come the last lap the pace lifted.  This time I gave it something on the climbs and found myself reasonably positioned towards the front of the bunch.  As is common in these races we hit the descent and everyone let up resulting in a concertina.  Two dudes lent on each other for no particular reason, and another swerved to get away - into my front wheel.  I went down, though thankfully we were on an incline at the time and the pace wasn't too high.   Blood from elbow, knee and a sore ankle but all I focused on was getting back on my bike and finishing it off.   I put the chain back on, twisted my bars back, and dragged my brakes across - not pretty.  I looked up the road and to my surprise thus far half the bunch still seemed to be missing.  Go Go Go!

Cat and I with our medals.

Cat, one of my favourite FNQ cyclists, travelled down for the race and was on my wheel at the time of the chop.  She managed not to crash but unclipped and hit the top tube hard with her gooch.  We like to call this 'doing a denchy'.  Apparently it is a mandatory tradition for someone to smash a gooch with the top tube at some point in this race - this year was Cats year.  She waited while I sorted myself and we had a repeat of cunningham - though Phil also waited to help drag us the last 9km or so home.  She did an awesome job in what was her first experience with the city Masters B bunch.

We rolled it in and somehow we had stayed ahead of most - with a podium for both of us in our respective categories! Awesome stuff.  Less awesome were the riders still on the road from the second crash which apparently took down a lot of riders, including Jane and Lauren.  Get well soon ladies!

All in all a very successful weekend for Koiled with Shannon Duggan taking out 2nd in the Masters B Crit, myself taking 1st in the A Grade Road Race and Captain BP (Tony Lupton) killing it, TTing away from the break to take a decisive win in Masters B Road Race.  Especially stoked for him and his achievement, knowing how hard he has worked.

Tony enjoying the air on the top step.

Battle on the Border - Tour de Tweed goes my way....

Tour de Tweed is a multiday, staged road tour including road races, crits and TTs.  I have been keen to do one of these for a while and although my riding has been limited the entry was paid.  What do you do?  You RIDE!  So I headed off Thursday with the mighty Koiled crew to cause some havoc and look awesome.


Based in Kingscliff and Murwillumbah - the race region is truly beautiful.  Having grown up mostly in the northern rivers area I always enjoy being back around this part of the world. Long story short - I ended up having a brilliant Tour and came away with a Stage win, a Stage 2nd and stood clear as the overall GC Winner.  Exceeded my expectations!  If you have time here is how it went.....

Kamp Koiled - setting up home base

 
Stage One - Road Race
The hurt.  It has been too long.  Somewhere a few months back I got fit enough that I could race dumb and still pull out a result.  Not anymore.  Not riding my bike was showing. The emotional strain too. I managed a wheel touch on the first steep pinch climb due to a dodgy combo of rollback and keen drafting.  Sorry Nic.  I belted myself to tow her back, angry for the silly mistake and feeling like I needed to make amends.  I managed to get us back on.  I was well cooked by this stage - just in time to hit the KOM.  Around this point I am pretty sure I met my max HR. I had thought I might have a go, but given the belting I had just given myself to bridge it was clear to me I didn't have it.  Rolled over in about 6th.  Once over the KOM it was a reasonable cruise back into town with some rollers along the way.  I rode the front and belted the pace with a small group of other girls.  Gina and I tried to break.  Jane and I tried to break.  Nic and I tried to break.  Probably needed to stop trying to break, this was a lot of work.  Too much really. I shouldnt have been continuously driving the bus, but my MTB brain always squeals 'woooot! lets drive the bus. look at me driving the bus. rawwwr driving the bus is fun!'.  In hindsight I don't think I have ridden dumber in my life. Coming into the final straight I was in the first 3 or 4 riders when I experienced a weird sensation in my legs.  Didn't think too much of it until I stood to explode into the sprint.  Double Leg Cramp.  what.the.hell.  I have never cramped in my life - including times when I have ridden for 8 DAYS STRAIGHT! I was lucky not to lose any time - finishing in 15th, with the bunch on +0 seconds.  This put me 10 seconds off the lead and into a very unhappy place.  Where was my body?  I was clearly racing in one I didn't recognise.   It felt wrong.

I know what was wrong - I forgot to bring my Ritte!  Koiled boys roll it in style.

 Stage Two - the TT
Do or die.  I might not recognise my body, but I still had my mind.  No time bonuses up for grabs here.  Just the straight out race of truth and reward for those who could hurt more.  I knew this was probably my only real chance to ride myself into contention.  I needed to ride faster than everyone else.  I needed to gap them. As I warmed up I concentrated on the job at hand.  Shan set my wheels and moved the transponder to the TT bike.  It was an awkward ride - I couldn't find my rhythm, one gear up too hard, one gear down too spinny - it was ugly and I was fighting it the whole way.  Still I passed a good group of the girls that started in front and no-one had caught me - I hoped I had done enough.

TTing through the canefields.

On my cooldown I heard the announcer calling my time as the best so far.  It held.  I came out of the TT +16 up on the General Classification and received the Leaders Jersey.

Stage Two - TT presentations... Sue on the left, Lauren from MB cycles on the right.

Mention here for 2nd place finisher Sue Powell, she rode with a special carbon leg brace as she has no feeling in her lower leg.  She is one of our top Para-Olympians with both gold and silver medals from London in her collection - and a world champ TTer.  It showed.  Man, I love tough people.  This chick is one of them.  I made a point to seek her out and shake her hand at the end of the Tour and politely ask her story.  Very humbling, very cool.

My first ever leaders jersey - definitely a selfie moment right?

Stage Three - the Crit

Warming Up.  And a jersey full of safety pins.

Game on.  I had the leaders jersey and my plan was to keep it.  I had some awesome advice pretour from one of our most successful queensland cyclists - Simone Grounds.  She had warned me the crit was usually full of tired people taking dumb chances and the job here was to finish upright and lose no time.  I checked the results for 2nd and 3rd race numbers and identified my competition on the start line.  Those wheels must not get away.

Plan was to stay near the front but try and conserve. Get through on 0+ secs and steal time if I could.  With a small steep, twisty circuit this would be easier said than done. 

There were plenty of contacts and words exchanged but the bunch stayed up and I finished in 7th, managing to extend my lead by another 3 seconds.   It was enough.  I would be starting Stage 4 in the leaders jersey.

GC Presentation - Day Two.

Stage Four - Road Race
I headed into the final stage knowing that as long as a break didn't go and I could finish with the bunch I was impossible to beat.  As we rolled out I felt surprisingly calm - probably because I was repeating impossible to beat over and over to myself.  I knew there were technical descents, which always work in my favour given my MTB confidence.  I was starting to feel better - somehow the hard consecutive days of racing were bringing me back to form.  Or at least that is how it felt. Maybe it was just the mental state I had managed to access - who knows? Don't overthink it. As we hit the first climbs it was clear a number of the stronger girls were tired and lacking strength. Yes! No breaks would go today.


As we hit the first descent I got my ass to the front and out of trouble.  I always like to be at the front so I can corner and descend on my terms! I heard what sounded like a puncture in the bunch behind me - but it turns out it was a crash.  I am guessing a pedal strike!  Get well soon Sally Duncombe from MB's who took a bad highside stack - she was having an awesome tour.

Rolling with Sally - Get Well Soon!

The crash shook the peleton badly and made everyone twitchy and nervous.   I talked to a number of the younger girls to help settle them down, I am sure for some of them it was the first crash they had seen.  Anna lost her drink bottle - and Jane Youdan in a display of sportswomanship gave her one of hers.  Nice one Jane, you restored my faith in roadies ;)  The race was then stopped as we lost our medic.  Standing beside the road for 20mins is not the ideal way to complete a road race but it has to be safe. So we waited.

Once we were back underway it was on and as I rolled some turns I paid mind not to fall for Stage One's mistakes.  Do not drive the bus. Do not drive the bus.  I was looking for the roundabout right turn into Salt where I knew I needed to be on the front.  Problem was I hadnt preridden it and there were a bunch of roundabouts in a row. Needless to say I stuffed it up - poor preparation leads to poor performance. We hit it and turned right and I was much further back that I intended.  Oops.  I attacked the left hander and managed to steal up to third coming into the final approach with two tight right handers just behind Faye and Dyane.  Chaos! Faye lost it on the corner and put herself in the gutter while Dy rode clear with a slight gap.  I smashed it up the straight to minimise time finishing second to Dyane - but I knew. I'd done it.  And with a 2nd in the stage too!  Congrats to Dy who was on a great ride.

Stage Four 2nd - with Dyane Hannan (Data3) & Faye Goodyear (Lifecycle).

In the wash up - Battle was meant to be a peak for me this year. An A Race. I had written it on paper.  And I wanted to win.  Despite illness and complete handgrenading of my life it occurs to me that somewhere in there, somehow I still did it. It wasn't the usual controlled, clinical approach I have to racing and preparation and I am hoping not to repeat it. As I now start to turn my attention back to dirt for October a small thought creeps in. I am proud of myself.  WEMBO - let's get this done.

Final GC podium - Dyane Hannan (Data3) and Anna Hull (Racing Kangaroos).

Brisbane Blast.

The QSM Brisbane Blast saw my first real ride in the open Women's A grade, courtesy of a mixed field.  At the moment I am in Base training, coming into the crit with a three week build up in my legs.  I have also started up my Yoga classes at Revive. My strength coach warned me that someone like me doing yoga would be like a heavy metal fan listening to classical music.  He was probably right.  Managed to make myself well sore somewhere in all that restoration and relaxation.  So to the job at hand - Ok brain - don't expect to be nailing my top speed sprint and do expect my legs to be screaming.  Expectations set, now ignore it and ride.

It was a blinder.  With some ex-pros and national champions present it was the deepest quality field I have raced with.  And with A, B and C combined it gave us a field of 30 something girls.  A tight, technical circuit with hard cornering, roundabouts and a hill made for a great course and increased the difficulty.

From the moment the neutral car rolled off, it was full on.  The girls were aggressive, smart and skilled.  Hmmmmmm. Yes - not in B grade any more.  I had to ride my legs off just to stay in the bunch!  As my legs burned I spared a thought for the lower grade girls, though a quick look over my shoulder told me most had been shelled and there was now a fraction of the bunch left racing.  There were a few solo girls and a three teams riding.  My first experience of really seeing these tactics in action.  It was interesting to compare how the different teams worked together.  In between bursts of searing pain I contemplated who was doing it well, and who wasn't as good. 

A break went up the road and most of the field sat up, having a team member up the road.  That left it to the lone wolves to do something about it.  No-one wanted to play and even though I knew a solo rider would not make a dint in lead group I had a couple of digs - mostly because sitting up does not sit well with me.

After a couple of goes Dyane from Data 3 and Jess from QSM joined so we strung it out but the break girls of Sam, Carla and Jasmine had the day sewn up and we were well out of time.  Chapeau girls!

Like most big races there was a little bit of bitchy behaviour.  I guess you can train the legs but you can't teach class.  From my perspective I have respect for those around me and find that kind of attitude distasteful and out of place.  Here we are joined in battle, going hard and yes people want to win.  However you can be fiercely competitive and still be respectful.  Yes there are winners and losers in every race, but there doesn't have to be assholes.  Perplexing.

Still nothing a good dose of mtb DIRT goodness wont flush away!

Rock on :)