Tour of Two Rivers - Giro del Bellbridge

The final stage of the ToTR saw just two of the mighty Valkyries making the 4hr trek out to Albury, due to some scheduling conflicts, but KateM and I were lucky enough that her parents live half way to Albury so we stopped overnight for a home cooked meal and some time in their outdoor hot tub.

We discussed our strategy and tactics in detail and its interesting how much we have learned just over the stages of this tour; so we had a range of strategies, contingency plans and things to avoid to ensure a good result.

My focus, as it has been the whole tour, was on seeing if I have come far enough in training to get ahead of the lovely Jen from Griffith CC after coming so much closer at Coota in Stage 4.

I was feeling reasonably strong and mostly not sore (except for some shoulder and neck weariness from smashing out some roof painting with Cheska) but not being a climber I was realistic going into the race that hills are more Jens forte than mine.

I just hoped there might be some longish, flatter sections where I could use my strengths. My hopes were a bit dashed though when I realised that the start line was basically the foot of the steepest climb (7 or 8% over Talgarno Gap) which wouldn't give me time to warm into the race. I was also pretty concerned that I had neglected to bring any of the 5000 ventolin inhalers I own...

Arriving in Bellbridge to drive to the Bethanga start line though, the hills were completely daunting, and all around us. Driving over the hilltop finish all flagged and ready to go the smooth winding roads through bright green hills looked straight out of the TDF, and I began to get pretty excited about what would be some epic hilltop finishes.

At rego I was pleased to see that the women stalwarts of the ToTR had all turned up including 15 year old future star Elle Irvine, her mum Leanne and of course Jen Massey. Along with Kate and I there was one other local woman racing who looked a heck of a lot fitter (and on a seriously blinged bike) than the rest of us.

We lined up for the start in our combined Men's D/Women's B and C bunch and the old psychological banter started "you're not a climber, these girls are all really light, you'll get dropped on the first hill"

But this time there was another voice. I channelled the wisdom of our coach and heard "pick a good wheel, get away quickly off the line and just get on a good wheel".

So, we rolled away and I got straight on a wheel of one of the d grade blokes we have made friends with over the tour and set off, thankfully he knew I was behind him and kept it manageable, but pretty soon we were at the climb.

All of a sudden the unknown woman took off and attacked straight up the steep section like it was nothing, very quickly gaining a 20m lead on the whole bunch. The blokes initially didn't react until she was really opening up a decent lead so (looking a bit stunned) they had to respond and spat me out the back.

I heard Simon saying don't panic, keep going and we will try and catch them on the descent and so I kept it at a hard but manageable pace and soon enough we were over the crest and starting to move again, and lo and behold - there was Jen, also spat out the back, with a big bloke halfway between us. This is my chance I thought.

He picked up speed to go around her, so, keen to avoid my tactical mistake at Coota where we winded up towing her back into the race, instead of sitting on his wheel, I attacked further around on his right and suddenly we were ahead and she hadn't gotten on.

GO Go Go I screamed at the guy, which to his credit - he did (sometimes being a girl is very useful) and we were smashing it down the hill. Using our TTT skills as soon as I sensed him flagging I got on the front and smashed it then called him up as I tired. It was an epic pace line chase for a good ten kms being just off the bunch and we got within 30m at one point but hit a long climb and couldn't quite get on.

My new impromptu companion was riding an italian Basso bike, and I'm sure I even heard an italian accent on him.
There was a geat moment once I marshalled him to work for me as domestique when he suddenly be came just as excited about our epic chase as me and started yelling just as much as me "Ah-come on. We a gonna chase this bunch down!!! Lets go Lets Go!!!"

So exciting and perfect for a Giro, in the style of the Giro de Italia.

Wanting to stay away I kept us working and taking turns all the way into Bellbridge and around Lake Hume till we started to come around the loop and - on an amazing fast windy descent I suddenly realised I was having the time of my life and WOoHOo I took off!!!

Turning back towards the start line I realised I'd worn my buddy out and I would have to go it alone. Crossing the start line for lap two I felt tired in the legs but surprisingly confident. I knew what I had to do, I knew I could manage Talgarno Gap again and the Long undulation to Bellbridge and just comforted myself that if I managed to stay away for all that - it was only a 2.5km climb equivalent to stromlo. So I pushed on, working to keep the effort up and focusing on a high cadence. I saw another guy from MD dropping out but otherwise I was completely alone and a huge headwind had picked up.

As I approached the final climb my head checks got more frequent. Jen was nowhere in sight but I knew I couldn't out climb her and that shed be working to catch me on the final hill.
Finally it was time and I made the left up the 9-10% start feeling dead but was suddenly buoyed by the sight of another bloke ahead. If I could pass him, that would mean I'd come ahead of three blokes and all but one of the women. So I turned on my stromlo drill focus. Stick to a cadence, stick to a consistent heart rate and keep it steady - only 2.5km to go.

Little by little I edged past him and then it was 1km to go, and then a sharp switchback at 600m for the final pinch.

Worried that he'd chase me I got out of the saddle to open the gap up - which is when I realised I could see the whole valley - and that's when I realised that the rest of the women's field was nowhere in sight.

Reaching the top was a pretty big moment for me, after working so hard to improve through this series and I was especially grateful to the Griffith CC guys for waiting around to cheer the women over the line, as the marshalls had all left and weren't there to record places.

I'm pretty proud of how far I've come. Its been tough, but the view is certainly worth the climb.

Well done to Kate who smashed C grade again and took out the C grade series.
Can't wait till next year.

Uriarra Cotter - fun in the sun (and an impromptu TT)

Today's ride was pretty awesome, for a few reasons;

• For Teagan, Maya and I it was first time for the SFP - Three sisters- Uriarra- Mt Macdonald - Cotter Dam and return ride
• Linda back on the bike (and off the windtrainer!)
• It was just great to be out on a long ride on a perfect morning for riding.

Ingredients:

Perfect late winter day

Sunscreen (dusted off after 5 months at the back of the cupboard)

Awesome teammates - Ches, Anna, Maya, Linda, Teagan, Ange

Supercoach Simon

3 sisters

random bunch of guys with fortuitous flat timing.

Damn good scenery! (the hills, not the guys... okay - the hills and the guys..)

Method:

Setting of from SFP sliiightly after 9am Anna and I set the pace at the front (a little eagerly perhaps) as we headed away from SFP. Maybe it was the nervous excitement about the ride I'd successfully avoided in 3 years of triathlon training?? But I must have pushed too hard or something, either way after 6 or so kilometers I started getting really bad cramps (damn girly bits!! - it's something that happens to my from time to time, and it literally takes my breath, and my legs away - and not in a good way) Thinking that I could not possibly push on for another 50kms with this discomfort, I told Maya what was going on and turned around and starting rolling slowly back towards SFP.

After about 3 or 4 minutes of rolling slowly along, spinning my legs pretty lightly and relaxing, the cramps had completely gone. It was then I though to myself, well, the only way to get better at cycling, is by cycling. Plus it was such a beautiful morning, and I did not want to miss out, or cop out, of finally doing this ride. Going home and missing out on the ride was not an option!

So I turned around and as I picked up the pace I calculated that I had probably lost about a km or so (turns out it was more like 1.8kms) and that I could probably make up some time on the descent into Uriarra as the bunch would wait for the lighter girls, and as far at the climb out - well I just didn't think of that, I figured at worst I would chase them all day and then they would catch me on the way back - if I didn't get lost in the meantime...

So I rode along, pretty carefully down the three sisters - well for me anyway, (fun! can't wait to do it again when the road is that bit more familiar) through Uriarra crossing, and paused for a moment- T intersection! Thank god for road signs, and I dutifully turned left and slowly wound my way up out of the crossing. Despite being eager to catch up, or catch a glimpse of the bunch, I took it pretty easy up out of the crossing, as I had absolutely no idea how long the climb went for. Turns out it's not so bad and I followed the flattening road around to the right and as I picked up the cadence, speed and gears I caught a glimpse of the bunch - maybe they were only just over a kilometer ahead from me now!

The road flattened out and I figured this must be the 'false flat' Rach was talking about. All I was trying to do now was catch glimpses of the bunch, and figure out if I was gaining. Using some of the things I've learnt from the Vmaxxers and Simon, I thought I'd see how high I could sustain my HR, and keep my pace up that way, so I kept it at 85% (according to my Garmin which is at around 155) This I kept up for about 30-35 mins, until I had chased the bunch down. I was also working on 20 pedal strokes in a harder gear, 20 back in the less painful gear, 20 up 20 down, then 30 up and 30 down, gradually working my way up into harder gears, and really making some good speed along the false flat.

I even remembered to eat at the 45min mark. Not my neatest meal but much needed. Gu is my friend:-)

I realised that I was actually gaining on the bunch and this buoyed me along the false flat as I got nearer and nearer. I thought - should I call out?? But to be honest, I wanted to see if I could catch them myself. I finally got a bit of a help when I went past a bunch of guys who had fixed a flat and were just getting back on their bikes, a moment later they passed me and I asked them to tell the bunch ahead that I was trying to catch them, they told me to get on but I told them I couldn't - the leaders seemed to be were flying along! One of their guys didn't ask, he just rolled past me and sat in front, I jumped on his wheel straight away and when he was happy I was there he just told me to yell out when I could go faster - pretty soon we were smoking along!! The last 150m of chase down was great, the bunch had just rolled to a stop around the corner when I showed up after thanking the guys (perhaps I little too profusely but I was a wee bit elated to be back with the group).

After that the ride was great, more new stuff - down Mt Macdonald with Ches and Maya taking the lead and zooming down. After a short break at down at Cotter reserve thingy we headed back up, I took it nice and slow, I just wanted to get back to the top without stopping. I was just so in awe of Linda who was riding ahead of me, her bike was like a rock under her and her cadence didn't falter, meanwhile I was all over the shop, my legs were heavily rolling over, and I was breathing like a freight train! But slow and steady (that was Linda) and laborious and wobbly (that was me) made it to the top in not too bad a fashion, as the uber climbers Anna, Ches, Simon and Tegan took a second wicked turn at the climb (not exactly incentive to get better at the climbing Simon - just my thoughts...) Anywho, then it was time for me and Maya to go back down to the intersection - Siren style, and we belted back down to the T Junction. It did occur to me that we were only just over halfway and still had to climb the three sisters and get home, and smashing or legs probably wasn't the smartest thing.. buuuut -as they say. When you can descend fast - do!

Back on the road the false flat in reverse (with Anna and Ches on the front and me in the bunch- yay!) and the descent into Uriarra crossing was pretty damn good.

The three sisters, not so. Once again focussing on my own speed (9.2kms per hour - is there another term, maybe pace-lack thereof would be more appropriate??) I was about 15m behind Maya as we both made our way up the climbs in our own heads. Maya was a little outspoken about halfway up the second climb, (this is a family forum so I wont repeat it here - needless to say she was not a bit fan of sister number 2 at the time...) and I burst out laughing - not recommended when you are riding uphill, makes it hard to breathe. But we made it and had a break at the top as the bunch regrouped. Another bunch of girls caught up and were pretty keen to hear whether we were training for anything (we looked pretty flash in our Vikings kit) asking us if we would be doing crits etc, (they were totally sizing us up. When we get to A grade - we'll kick their butts!!!)

Riding back to SFP Maya did a great turn on the front and Ches, Anna and Teagan took us home.

Things I learned today:

I love to chase and TT! (Caveat - not up hills!) And actually like pushing myself along by myself mentally and physically (yeah I'm crazy).

Laughing whilst trying to slowly pedal up the second miserly sister is not recommended, you need your energy and breath for pedalling.

Even if you are only doing 9km per hour up the crappy hill, you do get there.

Baked potatoes are a fantastic recovery food!!!

Sorry for the epic post, but I am still buzzing, I had a great day, I'm so glad I went, so glad I turned around when I felt better and made the effort to catch up. I hope that the others had a great ride too and post about it as I'm sure I've missed heaps and I can't wait till the next one.

Climbing Reps - Variation

This morning was an awesome and really fun training session.

Maja showed some great gains on her hill fitness, Anna and Verity were attacking each other on Redhill then sprinting it out in the end, and I put in six efforts - most of which I was pretty proud of including one real attack that managed to surprise our brilliant mentor Brad.

New skills tried today were sprinting up a hill whilst holding the drop bars - thought it would be really shaky but actually wasnt too bad.

For me, after I had such a lame week last week - with bad weather in the first few days and then total lack of motivation the rest of the week (although our Coach did remind me I did pretty well in the ITT on sunday so not all bad), but it felt good to be training properly and with the group again today.

Post training coffee at Double Shot in Deakin was a nice catch up and we all agreed that having people to ride with makes it so much better - the dual effect of friendly company and the competitiveness of thinking "she's doing training, i'd better go too so she doesnt out pace me" are pretty beneficial!!!

There has also been a bit of Secret Janing* although we might have to rename it Secret Veritying, I did extra hill reps on Mon and Tues to make up for last week (which is why Coach is currently threatening to confiscate my bicycle unless I promise to rest on Friday) so I thought I was leading on secret hills, til Verity revealed she was doing secret BLACK MOUNTAIN reps yesterday!!!!

Super hard woman award goes to Verity attacking hills and sprinting with needles in her legs?!?!? Jens Voigt isn't even that hard.

Thanks Brad for writing a training report on Facebook for me to plagiarise.


Note:
Secret Janing*

*The not very secret practice of doing extra hill reps because you are hardcore. Usually involves inviting people along and telling everyone about it afterwards. May result in climbing hills like Lisa Keeling, who is an expert at Secret Windtraining.