So it's always a challenge if your routine (a rather precious thing for roadies) is interrupted by rain/hail/travel for work etc - but that's hopefully where you'll notice the difference from having committed to a certain level of training for a target race.
I am in Brisbane overnight so no bike available but since we are 8 weeks out from Tour of Bright, there is no way I can skip sessions as the one thing I have struggled with in the last few weeks is consistency.
So, after some googling and phoning around, I found a gym nearby with spin bikes that were free so I could use the whole room, and I thought I would try a tempo session that Coach Simon had given me.
I started on the spin bike and it just felt so wrong, the seat was uncomfortable, I was too hot and sweaty and the general "not-a-real-bike-ness" of it just kinda sucked so I struggled in the first 15 minutes to do anything useful. I also found that without a cadence meter (on a spin bike as opposed to the kind with the screens) I was a bit psyched out by not being able to measure performance the way I am used to. I did however have my garmin that I had remembered to pack along with HR sensor so at least I could record and follow the drill.
I did go and try the "exercise bike" for all of a minute but was actually unable to even sit on the thing - it had some kind of bizrre built in suspension in the seatpost for the oversized ginormous padded saddle, which had the nose pointed so far down you actually slid off if you were trying to pedal!!! How can people use these things!!
So I went back to the spin bike which is at least a bit closer and decided to harden the f**k up.
Note - always bring decent shoes if you are going to give this a go - I've just pedalled two hours in soft dunlop volleys and my feet are a little bit in agony.
Anyway, the session called for 3x20 minute efforts in a very specific and narrow HR range (between 162-168 bpm) on a stationary bike, with ten minute recoverys in between and Simon had said if I did it right the HR file would look like flat plateaus. It was a new form of torture but I think you'll agree from the HR image here - I nailed it!
Kinda proud I was able to keep my HR in such a set zone.
Afterwards I even stretched properly - something I don't normally do, and did a 1 minute plank just for fun! So I guess the moral is - where there's a will there's a way.
Plus I think the guy at the gym was kinda impressed when he asked me what event I was training for ;)
I've been thinking about posting something about this for a while, and its funny that although my day job is all about social and emotional wellbeing, suicide reduction, reducing stigma around mental health and mental health policy advice, I actually most of the time avoid talking about this sort of stuff personally.
The video above is a live version of a great Michael Franti song - called Pray for Grace. It's got some great lyrics that have been stuck in my head lately, starting with 'Why must I feel like this today?' and talks about dealing with living a life that has shades of grey in it or living in a haze, and just finding grace by taking a breath and reminding yourself that everything is going to be okay.
It rings pretty true for me because i have lived with some fairly dark shades of grey for quite some time now, i usually call it bike-xiety because its riding my bike that actually keeps me well. There's a whole story behind it, and a range of things that happen for me that i wont go into detail about here, but it does mean that on top of my exercise induced asthma, i sometimes get quite physical panic attacks and today (as has happened once or twice before) I had both multiple asthma attacks and a panic attack that lasted for the whole hour I was attempting a 12km climb of Corin.
I was feeling pretty awful just generally in the morning and normally it's a good ride that actually makes me feel better - which, incidentally is why I am always riding such big kilometres - but this morning a few other random factors came into play and instead of settling into the ride, I went lactic trying to climb the first pinch out of the carpark with my back brake locked on, and rather than getting past it my bike-xiety and my asthma joined forces. When we got to the Corin turn off, before we even started the 12km of climbing I was pretty close to losing it and waited for the bunch to start climbing so they wouldnt see me if i burst in to tears.
And then I started to climb. When you're mind is panicking, it means your heart rate is higher than it should be, regardless of any hills and then the effort of climbing on top just sends it through the roof. By the time I hit the bottom of Billy Billy creek I was already done for and losing the battle against my head which had been saying for 20km that I shouldn't have come, couldn't make it even to do one Corin rep and what the hell was I doing training with a much stronger group I was clearly not in their league blah blah blah....
With that sort of anti-motivation, internal dialogue going on I didn't stand a chance and half way up my asthma was tipping me over the edge and I unclipped, stopped and had to sit down on the side of the road just to breathe and sob.
Being a caring bunch, shortly some riders appeared over the hill repping back for me and I couldn't even answer what was wrong. I got back on and with my lungs rasping struggled to the top - feeling like a failure that everyone else had come out for multiple reps and I couldn't even do one properly. (and its that kind of defeatist bullshit thinking that normally I use cycling to get rid of).
We stopped at the top for a bit and i could barely talk to anyone, its always impossible for me to talk about these things and shortly we set off on the descent. Lisa was kind enough to roll slowly with me - being in the kind of jumpy state where you might burst into tears at any minute is *not* a safe way to descend, but we had to get down. I did take one risk though today, and that was to actually explain to Lisa what was going on and I think in hindsight that must have helped.
Anyway, we got back to the start and I was pretty much toast but didn't want to stop the group from doing the training they had come for, so they set off on rep number two and I said I'd just roll around a bit and then crawl back the 15km back to the Tharwa carpark.
I gave myself permission at that point not to be as good as everyone else and put some tunes on my headphones figuring I'd just ride along in slow motion until they came back again.
I rode along for a while, until a funny thing happened. The grace kicked in. See, I'm not really a god/religion type of person, but I am a firm believer in the ability of riding a bike to be good for your whole body, including your mind. Next thing I knew Paddy appeared beside me, and there's nothing quite as good as having a buddy to ride with. He said we were pretty close to Gibraltar falls, which we thought was roughly halfway so I made that the goal and thought if I could just get there it would be 1.5 Corins which wasn't so bad.
We made it to Gibraltar turn off which is just below a crest and, not being an ambi turner I continued to the crest where some downhill was just ahead. Rationalising that you can't stop if there's downhill in front of you I rolled a little bit further, to the next little hill where I felt like I had a little bit to get up it and we continued on this way with the theory that we'd surely run into the others soon.
I was a bit surprised then to find myself at the bottom of Billy Billy again as I hadn't planned on getting that far and I knew that being there meant I should probably make another attempt to get up with out stopping. I was pretty nervous that I wouldn't make it, but with a good buddy next to me I thought maybe there was a small chance I could do it.
I slowed right down on the approach, and focused on my breathing and heart rate, consciously trying to recover before the incline.
As soon as it started to rise I just focused right on my front wheel. I thought- I know I might stop and its a hard hill but I'll try for slow and steady and I wont look up ahead so the length doesn't psyche me out again. Paddy stayed right with me to his credit (its actually pretty hard to climb slowly with someone if its not your right rhythm) and on we went. I didn't even dare look up to see if I could pass the point where I had stopped the first time, but eventually I knew I had passed it, and then suddenly there was Brad and Lisa descending and cheering because they thought there was no way I'd go all the way up Corin a second time - and then next thing we knew we were over the KOM line and it was starting to rain, but I didn't want to stop.
It's this point in cycling that I love - where it brings you to a place where you are completely in the moment - there's no failure, there's no anxiety, there's no worrying about the things you haven't done right, there's no yesterday and you aren't thinking about tomorrow or later tonight or even coffee - its just breathing and pedalling, right here, right now, keep going because you are nearly there.
We made it all the way to the top of Corin, completing a second full rep when the first time round my head had me convinced I'd never be capable of that.
So for me, this is why I cycle - its the best way of looking after myself, it teaches me that when I think I can, I probably can, that I am capable of great, surprising and inspiring things and that I have great friends who will ride in the rain with me. My version of grace.
The other reason I wanted to post this is because this week in Australia it's mental health week, and something I always think is important is to remove stigma from feeling lame, because feeling lame is actually part of the human spectrum and its the fear about it that actually makes it ten times worse than it really is. Plus, I'm pretty sure everybody experiences shades of grey to varying degrees, and I wanted to share this experience with you, I'm pretty proud of my two Corin reps today.
This morning a pretty large bunch of Sirens, Valkyries and Vikings set off for the regular Sunday training ride known as the PROD (Permitted Ride of Delight) and what a delight it was!
We thought that given the epic results of late including Dees 4th place and 1st female at Coota, Lisa's 2nd place at GCC, and my first top ten finish, not to mention the Vikings taking out the Interclub trophy over Goulburn, Bankstown and CCC - we'd better make it a celebration, and what better place than the Siren's new sponsor, Siren Bar and Restaurant in Goulburn.
There were two groups according to speed, with Eleanora, Linda and Leonie rolling together in a nice evenly matched group, and Lisa, AngeB and I riding Valko-Maxx styles with Bosworth, Braddles, Mr T, Sir Callahan, Draft Porter, Club Captain Drew, Mr Larkin, and muffin-enthusiast Oliver for company.
Everyone had read the forecast and packed at least one layer too many so there was an ongoing strip tease on the way out.
Once we got to the Tulip Farm the sprints started and there were some splits on the hills, with a regroup at the top of washing machine.
The bunch picked up a nice fast pace down to Lake G, and Leonie pushed her group to the top of Shingle before turning.
The Valko-Maxx bunch, on the way back from Lake G made a left at Shingle hll rd, and continued on to Tallagandra Lane.
About 3/4 of the way along Tallagandra, whilst climbing a hill, not working particularly hard (HR was about 165 which is E1 for me) I started to feel a bit fuzzy and think it would be a good idea to sit down by he side of the road and have a nap. Recognising the early warning sign of a bonk coming on, i whipped out a vanilla power gel (mmmmm nom nom nom) and was shortly ok to keep going.
We turned onto Mulligans Flat for about 500m of dirt which wasn't too concerning, and by the time we got into Gungahlin, everyone was talking about food and coffee.
Arriving at Siren Bar, we lined our bikes up like a parade along the side of the bar and pulled some tables together for a fantastic breakfast (big thanks to Siren for squeezing us in on a busy Father's Day Sunday) and breakfast and coffee soon rolled into beer o'clock!!
The food was great and the staff really looked after us even though they were pretty slammed.
Everyone was a bit achy getting back on again, but soon we were rolling into town, and back towards the city, rounding out with 101km for me by the time I got home, and something like 60km for Leonie's group. I am SUPER impressed that it was Leonie pushing the bunch to get up Shingle Hill and get those extra efforts in, and then make it to Siren Bar un-mentored. Well done girls, its awesome that you pushed yourselves, but also - a really big step forward in terms of your development as riders that you ran your own ride and followed a route yourselves. You are officially all independent roadie racers now and your progress over the last few months is kinda mind-bogglingly impressive.
It was beautiful weather, fantastic company, a great bunch and pace and one of those rides that reminds you why you love riding your bike so much.
Thanks guys, after a pretty bat-crazy week - that was exactly what I needed.
Looking forward to repeating the Siren variation again soon! Can't wait till we have our new Siren kit to wear to Siren!!!
Great training session this morning, Valkyries who showed up for the Norman included: Rach, Anna, Ches and Tegan and joined up with a small group of Vikings to form one Normanbunch.
There was no rain during the ride, and the pace was moderate - making for an excellent bunch ride where no-one got dropped and most people were riding fairly comfortably. The benefit of a small group meant that we could easily amend the Red Hill route to exclude Red Hill, making for a fairly flat ride.
There was some concern on the way bak when we passed under Adelaide Ave, and heading into Yarralumla approacuing a small roundabout which is notorious for speeding traffic which appears out of nowhere - Ches found herself lying her bike down in front of a truck.
Fortnuately, she had braked enough that she wasnt going very fast and was up in an instant - apologising to the extremley shocked looking truck driver. Ches' official new Vikings title is Public Relations Officer. No injuries other than a sore hip/thigh and she rode all the way back to the Pickle for breakkie and coffee.
Apart from the off, it was a great training ride.
Lessons from this morning include:
-just because its raining in Tuggeranong, does not mean it is raining in the city
-approach intersections slowly and with caution - especially in the rain when braking is less effective
-"hammer the rivet" whenever possible
-turn up to training consistently or new Valkyries like Tegan will blitz you!!!
-slightly soggy Normans are often the best ones because the bunch is small, the pace and route are easy, you get to ride with people you normally wouldn't, you get to know the route, and you don't get dropped.
Wednesday's training session on the program called for a rec ride, of 20-30 minutes, however there was some mild confusion with thursdays sesssion which was planned for a longer 30-60 minute session.
At any rate, 3 Valkyries and a Vmaxx showed up at 6am in the city for a ride heading north, including
Brad, me, Anna and Verity making her return to form.
Given the balmy temperatures of 5 degrees I busted out the summer bibnix, with a long sleeve thermal, jersey and arm warmers. Kind of cool to be getting back into summer kit - I find I ride better without all the thick winter layers on.
We formed a nice bunch and got moving without working too hard, practicing some high cadence and explaining the sprint drills from yesterdays session.
There was enough energy for some chatting but once we hit the Federal Hwy Verity made up her missing sprints and shortly after the hill Anna turned to head back, dutifully following the program!
Rach and Verity continued on with Brad and enjoyed a spectacular sunrise all the way to the Tulip Farm turn, where we turned to head back into town.
The light rain started once we were back on Northbourne and it was about then that a niggling numbness in my hands started to hurt a bit and get quite annoying.
Popular opinion was that my arm warmers, over the top of a thermal were the culprit so each traffic light saw an arm being peeled off - which gave Brad the idea of commuter strip tease and the suggestion that we'd better get to the Pickle quickly before I ran out of removeable layers.
We made it to the pickle without breaking decency laws, enjoyed a coffee and headed off to work - pleased with ourselves that we had a really enjoyable, good session before the rain really set in.
This morning’s sprint session was fantastic!! It was so good to have so many people to train with!
Attendees
Cheska, Anna, Cherrie, Jane, Rach, Ange, Liz, Tegan and Maja
Most of the group met at ANU and rode over to OPH however I met the girls there.I think I was a little late and missed the first drill however when I arrived we paired up and did a few loops working on bike bending around OPH – basically being in a hard gear and slowing down to the point of nearly stopping before pushing out a standing sprint in the drops.We then rode up to federation mall where we did 3 by 10s (again in the drops) up the incline and recovered the rest of the loop (10 revolutions in standing attack sprint, 10 seated sprint and the final 10 out of the saddle again).This was lots of fun as we did it in pairs however I noticed my loss of power as the reps went on! We then headed out to Mugga Way and did some bunch riding.I found myself at the front and Rach was by my side keen to control the pace with little sprints every now and then – I held in for a few but it got me a little unstuck and I dropped off on the last little ascent of Mugga way.Needless to say, the descent back to Deakin shops was a lot of fun with some friendly sprinting rivalry between Liz and Ange – great to watch!
We met up with the Vmaxxers at double shot and ended the session with a well earned breakfast and (for the first time for me) a few stretches!
Was a really great session today – thanks so much to everyone!Was one of those sessions that got me really pumped!
Awesome coached session today at Stromlo Forest Park, with Simon unveiling his new look, post thesis!
Valkyries present were:
Anna, Francesca, Tegan, Rach and Liz.
We learned some valuable new sprinting drills which both gave us better technique and also had us working at a high intensity in short intervals.
We practiced one legged pedalling for a smooth stroke, rapid easy gear pedalling for cadence and speed, jump start Bike Benders for strength and kick, and then 'tenner sprint drills which had everyone working at their peak.
We then combined these techniques with our best Cavendish and Renshaw impersonations and ran lead out trains, repeatedly imitating the final two laps of a crit race.
Excellent session and thanks to Simon for the great on the bike coaching! I really felt my technique improve by the end and was surprised how much i was yanking on the bike in the sprint position.
Leonie, Eleanora and I toughed out the freezing conditions this morning to take on Mugga Way. The fog was thick, which created a somewhat eerie atmosphere, particularly when heading over Commonwealth Avenue bridge. Unfortunately the fog left us damp which made us all soooo cold. It was -3 when we started riding, and apparently the temp increased while we were out although I didn't feel it at all. I've ridden in colder conditions than this morning, but I can honestly not remember ever being as cold as I was this morning. Just in case anyone was wondering, it's definitely Winter! Brrrrr!!!
We cruised down Adelaide Ave to Hopetoun Circuit, and then up Mugga Way. It was both Leonie and Eleanora's first times up Mugga Way and they both excelled, rolling through the undulations and then getting some climbing practice in when the gradient went up (not to mention some descending practice on the return journey, with Eleanora commenting when we got to the bottom of Mugga that she'd barely touched her brakes and was right down on her drops for most of the descent). We then headed down into Deakin and then up around the embassies before returning to the ANU for well deserved coffees.
Big high 5 to Leonie and Eleanora for not only making it out in the freezing conditions, but for completing their first Mugga Ways. Go team!
Sundays training session was a difficult one for me, the weeks total kms were at a reasonable 250km target and after the race on Saturday I was pretty shattered.
I made the mistake of thinking the ride from Dickson to SFP would be a good warmup but i reality by the time I arrived with honorary Valkyrie Paddy for company - I felt shattered.
Sunday was actually the first day in a long time where I've actually really truly had sore legs - as opposed to just feeling a bit soft), and that's a good thing, because I hope it means that the sprinting on Red Hill really translated into something...I guess we will see this weekend.
Verity, Ches, Anna and I were the Valkyries present for this coached session, and helping us out were Coach Simon, World Champion Sue Powell (fyi - having World Champions at your training is pretty friggin ace), Alex, Paddy and maybe others but my memory fails me right at the minute...
We practiced holding form and 'Chase the Rabbit' with Paddy as the rabbit. I bonked on the first lap but Ches and Anna were in fine form.
The session was mercifully short, and finished with some lead out sprints - on each lap it was one of the Valkyries turn to sprint and i drew the card for the last lap. This suited me well as I barely hung on for all the laps prior - but:
A funny thing happens when the end is in sight. Rounding the top corner I suddenly remembered that based on average results in the last 8 weeks of training and racing - I had th potential to put up a pace the other girls couldnt sustain (give or take their ability to follow their lead out riders wheel).
So as we rounded the corner I started yelling to Alex, Up, Go GO GO GO, each time he increased the pace, I called again (which led to a few surprised looking head checks from him - he seemed to be saying "More Speed? For Real??"
I'm pretty sure I even yelled to him "Go, the other girls can't hold on". (sorry ladies).
We managed to break away with a decent lead, but Paddy (leading out Verity and Ches) was quick to respond and my undoing was Collarbone Corner.
At this much faster pace, I didnt start wide enough and s left a giant gap for Paddy to pull Ches through in front of us.
I wasnt giving up though - I was absolutely determined that the last 8 weeks of training and being ahead of Ches (friendly rivalry in a squad is SO BENEFICIAL), and indeed the months of training since February when Ches was concentragin on Rowing weren't going to be defeated in a crit sprint.
So I hun on and as we rounded the last corner in to the sprint straight, she was a few metres ahead - but this is where I remembered my first (and only other) crit race ever, where someone pipped me in the last two metres and I'd had no idea, so I screamed past Alex (poor use of a lead out guy at this point) and HAMMERED it up the straight.
Paddy, doing a casual headcheck spotted my attack and yelled to Ches to push it which she did - I caught her at the line but she made it across the line first with my wheel in line with about the middle of her bike.
It was an awesome sprint.
Things learned:
Always sprint the whole thing, you never know when a surprise attack is coming
Ride behind your lead out guy rather than next to him when it really counts (d'oh)
When you think you've got nothing, throw down the hammer
Having a squad makes training awesome, the encouragement, the friends and the rivalry.
Having a really awesome and supportive Club like Vikings RULES because great riders turn up to help us at practice.
Following Saturday's ITT we headed back to SFP for some crit training. After the ITT and the ride back to SFP I really felt like I had nothing left in the tank, but knowing I would get a lot out of it just tried to keep going.
We started with some skills drills, and were split into pairs with the great guys who volunteered to help us out. We rode next to our partner with one hand on their shoulder, shoved them a bit, and practiced leaning into them. Unfortunately that's where Linda came off her bike, but thankfully she was okish, and is hopefully on the mend.
From there we moved onto some laps of the crit track, practicing cornering and taking good lines, stealing wheels, keeping on the wheel in front (which I struggled with as my legs were telling me to its too hard, just take a break) and just getting used to people riding around us and gradually taking corners faster and faster. I think that by the end we were all much more confident on the track...and had made some good attacks.
Thanks Simon for the great coaching and to all the guys that came and gave us tips, encouraged and motivated us.
I was well and truly done at the end of the session.
We had a great ride Thursday morning, with Gribbles, Maja and Leonie it was a nice small group. We started with a couple of warm up laps around OPH. Then Gribbles introduced us to "Skin the Rabbit?", or was it "Chase the Rabbit?", well lets just say there were rabbits involved and not the Hungry Jacks kind!
As it turns out I really like skinning (or chasing) rabbits. Okay so you know when to make the jump but the competition with each other is fun and it'd been a while since I'd gotten out of the saddle for a sprint.....
After warming our legs up on this Chris then kindly showed us where the hell Federation Mall is! I personally was clueless that it was the circuit between Old and New Parliament House. I now have a love hate relationship with it. Again I enjoyed getting out of the saddle and sprinting (for me!) up towards NPH, meeting Chris and Maja at the top for a recovery then cruising down the easy side. The next time up I pushed to see if I could beat my last effort and was happy to just sneak past it. This was hard, but fun!
I think by the time we were finished everyone had gotten something out of the morning. It catered to all abilities but also covered the social part of riding together. We had a good debrief at the Purple Pickle where we all decided we would repeat that session again in a heart beat, it was great fun. So much so that I'm proposing we repeat it Tuesday morning!
Awesome fun this morning, motorpacing at an undisclosed location. I'd never tried motorpacing before so i wasn't sure what to expect but it actually felt really safe.
We got some great practice at taking good lines through corners following the bike and picked up some nice speeds. It was so much fun that I was still buzzing once i got to work.
Yay for bikes.
Slight downside was getting a flat tyre on the way back towards work, fortunately Brad was my knight in shining lycra and came back to rescue me. Thanks Brad, if you hadn't i'd have been there for 40 minutes since I am so bad at changing tyres.
This morning we were lucky to have Simon Niemeyer motorpace with us. We stuck to the SFP crit track and began by each of us having a turn of following Simon for a couple of laps. I found it a really great experience, you quickly learnt where your weaknesses on the track were, for me the gap between us widened around corners.
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.
Firstly before I start - apologies for the delay in this write-up, it has been a mad week/weekend and secondly congratulations to all the Valkyries who braved the cold on Sunday and posted some great times (and speeds!) at the ITT!!!
Ok, on with the blogging...
The beginning of last week was pretty terrible for training, both bike running and so I must admit to not being overly devastated that the planned Mt Ainslie CR's on Tuesday were cancelled late on Monday night as armageddon approached. Wednesday morning I felt similar relief, though I did manage to get out for a cold, (but fortunately sheltered from the wind) run around the lake on Wednesday night. I will be a very happy woman with not-so-sore hips as of 4 July when my half marathon running madness is over and I can concentrate on the bike.
Thursday morning was much nicer and as I had packed my bike in the car on Wednesday night, I had no excuses not to get up, get dressed (how cold was it going to be tearing down the hill? - assuming I could get up it in the first place..) and get out the door.
Driving to cycling in the wee hours of any given morning I always find myself peering at other motorists, checking to see if they too have their bike in or on the back of the car and are rugged up in their winter gear as we all make our way to our different meeting places. It's kind of a solidarity thing, as if we are all in on some big fantastic secret, why else would be be up 2 hours before sunrise in the freezing cold of another Canberra winter?
But I digress..
Arriving at the base of Mt Ainslie I was not thinking about the task ahead, I have always said 'I can't climb hills' 'I'm too big to ride up hills' and other such things and I didn't want to psych myself out. So I was just thinking about getting all my kit on, and going over to the others who were gathered in the dark.
And then we were off, Rob was riding with me and I was just concentrating on keeping a nice steady pace as the road started to wend it's way up, already Anna and Brad were about 50m in front and working their way up the road nicely. But I didn't let that worry me, I had never done this before, and I didn't even know how far we had to go, or really what the road was like. Today was not a day to worry about cadence or my speed and I had left my Garmin in the car anyway besides I knew my heart rate was up - I could feel it pounding in my chest.
I was about halfway up when I started apologising to Rob who was still patiently riding next to me, "I don't think I can do this", "I'm sorry for being so slow'", "I'm sorry for apologising so much" I said, as my legs just felt like lead, and what was worse, (I think) was that I had no real idea of how far I had to go, or what was ahead, or if it was easier or harder. I think it flattened out for a little bit and I was able to keep going, still apologising profusely for being so slow and despite my insistence that he take off and ride with the others, Rob still rode beside me. He kindly pointed out that plenty of Vikings don't make it to the top on their first time... I think I may have apologised for that too.
Then we hit the uber-steep bit just before the end, but I didn't know it was the end at that stage and about half-way up here was where it ended for me. I said to Rob that he should go on, and that I just couldn't keep riding. I unclipped and started walking up the rest of the way. As I neared the bend at the top (was it??) of the uber steep bit I noticed a yellow 50kmph sign tucked away in the scrub. I kept walking, and when I got around the bend I saw up ahead, a 40kmph sign, and then the road flattened out. I had almost made it, had I just gotten past the 50kmph sign and around the corner, I would have seen the end - damn! I kept walking to the top, meeting the others who had finished their recovery and were just starting their way down. I hopped back on my bike and followed them down the hill.
Time for round two.
This time I kept up with Anna and when I again reached the uber-steep part, I was going so slowly that when I stood up out of the saddle for a couple of seconds, my rear wheel slipped with the force of my pedalling - whoops - I really was going slow, but I was still going. I started negotiating with myself - 'if you just make it to the 50kmph sign, that's further than last time' and I passed the sign. 'okay, you're not dead yet - just make it to the 40kmph sign and you're there' and I passed the sign and I was there. I was so happy and proud and grateful to the guys who knew that I could make it, even when I didn't.
So I want to say thank you to Anna and the V-Mobile guys who were so patient with me and for not slapping me on the back of the helmet for all the apologising I was doing. I learnt a valuable lesson for future new rides, particularly hill climbs - I need to have either driven or walked them, or (if in a race) ridden them, so I know the milestones, and I can count them down. If I do this, I know I can make it without giving up on myself, even when my legs are screaming at me to stop. I was on such a high for the rest of Thursday, I never thought I could ride my bike up Mt Ainslie, after all, I'm way too heavy and I can't climb hills - or so I thought.
And so this coming Wednesday at 05:30am as I make my way to the base of Red Hill, and I see other cyclists heading into town, and all the motorists with their bikes on their cars at that crazy hour, I know why we are all there, because the feeling when you climb that hill for the first, or fifth or fiftieth time, is just so worth it.
Thursday morning was team time trial practice for the Valkyrie ‘skillez’ group (as dubbed by Simon). It was a good turn out – the three fabulous helpers (as mentioned in the previous post), Eleanora, Linda H, Cherrie, Leonie and me.
After meeting at the ANU we rode off to OPH as a bunch to practice our team time trial skills, but at an intersection in Civic, one of the girls got stuck at a set of red lights with two of the V-Mobile boys. I was keen to stop and wait for them, and mentioned that to Cherrie, who signalled that to the rest of the bunch. But Milto, thinking it was just the boys we’d left behind, called out to just keep riding and that they would catch up. I wasn’t sure about this, but just went with it, and we kept riding to OPH. Eventually we all met up at OPH, but I learnt a critical lesson about being in a bunch from this experience. Being assertive and confident in your calls when you’re in a bunch is really important. If you are unsure about a decision that someone else has made – speak up! What I should have done is spoken out and made it clear that we were going to pull into the carpark and wait for them. I think for a bunch to be safe and comfortable, all its members need to be confident enough to speak up.
Once at OPH we did some drills set out by Simon. We rode twice round the circuit as a bunch, getting used to riding together and doing some one-handed drills. Then we pulled back in, split into two groups and did some TTT practice.We focused on: spacing to the wheel in front, being smooth (with use of brakes and general bike control) and pulling off the front clearly (calling out and using the elbow to signal). In the later laps we practiced using the drops.
Overall, it was a good session – it gave us the opportunity to reinforce important skills and get comfortable riding together as a bunch.
Okay, so I've been a bit slow on the blogging. Sorry Rach, been a bit busy organising the Vollies for the DBR Tour... ;)
We had a good turn out this morning, enough to split into two groups once we got to Old Parliament House to start our drills. We had wonderful support and guidance from Chris K, Andrew Thaller and Michael Milton.
I was happy that I improved my sklls at jumping on the end of the train this morning, although there is still some work to be done. I also felt more comfortable and capable this morning, not running out of puff until the last lap.
I'm looking forward to Wagga on Sunday. I'm just going to treat it like a training ride so I don't get too nervous about it all. If nothing else it will be a social event so should be great.
Planning on a ride Tuesday morning with Linda H and Megan so let us know if you would like to join us for a slow, social ride around the city.
So the morning started well, I got out of bed easily (strange, but it is getting easier), it was a pretty warm morning and it was still – especially compared to the gale on Stromlo on Tuesday morning!!
Having completed 3 repeats of Stromlo on Tuesday, staying in the saddle the whole time and being chuffed I made it once let alone three times I was pretty confident this morning would be just as manageable… I was also convinced that since it was a lot shorter than Stromlo it was most likely going to be easier which is why we were down to do 6 repeats and not 3……. hmmmm.
Only three of us rolled up the hill at 6am, incidentally just as Tony Abbott was finishing his last repeat, and the other Valkyries arrived a little later. My recovering quads noticed straight away that the hill pinched up very quickly and before I new it I was dropping gears to try keep my cadence right… until I couldn’t drop them any further! Hats off to you girls that managed a harder gear! I welcomed the ‘flat section’ at the turn off half way up the mountain – didn’t feel all that flat to me! And before I knew it the hill pinched up again. I had some time out of the saddle during the last straight before the top, not sure how much it helped though! I was stoked to get there– and the view was well and truly worth it – its been a long time since I’d been up red hill at night. Brad took us around a little loop at the top of Red Hill as a bit of a recovery before we rolled back down the mountain. I’m looking forward to joining the v-mobile boys for their descending skills session on Saturday morning because it was a quick and tight descent, and sure enough, there were pedestrians and bikes everywhere.
My second lap was an effort. Had to stop on the flat at the turn off this time – surprising what a little rest does – but unfortunately was out of the saddle for the most of the ride up to the top and had to recruit every muscle and bit of heart I had… It was hard!! We passed Rach and Cheska on the way down – both in fine form I must say – and I’m sure there were other Valkyries but I called it a day there. Not sure I went home with one rep left… maybe a half… but either way, I’m stoked with my effort - sure I have a bit to go but am certain it wont be nearly as hard next time; and fingers crossed, next time I’ll be punching out three.
Saturday was day eight of my life as a member of the Valkyries squad and it was time for my first time trial effort. And what a great time to do it - I'm as unfit as I've ever been so I can only improve.
I got to Stromlo Forest Park in plenty of time to do a few warm up laps around the crit track. I expected there would be other Valkyries doing the same thing but instead I was all alone. At 9.25 I rode up to the gate expecting to see someone there but still I was alone. I have to admit it was about this time that I started to doubt myself. Had I gone to the right place? Did I get the time right? Then I spotted Simon. He was as perplexed as me at the lack of starters and we just agreed to carry on when Francesca and Anna turned up. Yay, some company!
Simon took us down to the track to do some drills. The first was one legged pedalling. I had heard of this before but I hadn't realised how difficult it would be. Not just the coordination element but the pain factor - my thigh started to burn almost instantly! The second drill was fast pedalling. We put the bike in the lowest gear and tried to pedal without bouncing - without much success. More practice is definitely needed.
And then it was time for the time trial. Francesca and Anna went off first and after some nerves over Simon holding the bike for my start, I was off too. Up until this point, my only experience of time trials was watching Fabian Cancellara cruising along some lovely cobbled streets or similar at about 60 kms an hour. Mine was not like that. I struggled badly on all of those hills. Luckily the saturday morning riders where very friendly as they overtook me. Waiting at the six km mark was a cheering Anna and Francesca - thanks guys. We were met by Simon half way along the ride back to the gate. And he was kind enough to give me a little push up the hills so I could keep up with the other girls. I could have used the help during the trial :)
We made it back to the gate and then came the bad news. We had to do it all again! My legs were very tired and not surprisingly my time was slower the second time around. We were even slower on the way back riding into a horrible headwind. It was about then that I was thankful I hadn't ridden from home and I was very happy to put the bike in the car and head home for a nice warm shower.
Thanks again to Simon for the session and thank you to Anna and Francesca who were happy to keep at a pace I could handle.
Today definitely felt like the workout it was intended to be; my brief report:
Up at 4:55 (I must be insane)
Got every single red light along Northbourne, so i was heading into town swearing at each intersection - apologies to Tom Behrens who (it turns out) was behind me.
Rolled away from the City with LindaR and Verity at 5:33 and formed a single line out to Stromlo, with some nice pace along Adelaide Ave. Felt smooth and safe, thanks Ladies.
Arrived at Stromlo to find a bit of a party there were so many of us there -
Valkyries:
Rach
Verity
LindaR
Lisa
Maja
Anna
Angie
Liz
Jane
Mentors:
Brad
Rob
We all got in our big gears for the climbs, I was convinced Lisa was in her small ring she was climbing so fast - but alas, she was in fact in the big ring.
I then comforted myself that she probably has compact gearing, but no win there either as she's on full size cogs just like me :(
Felt pretty proud of myself climbing the whole thing, in the saddle in my big ring - haven't done that before.
I think most of us got three reps in, including Maja - huge effort on your first time climbing Stromlo so well done (and look out Lisa!!).
The descents felt SUPER sketchy thanks to a brutal cross wind and big gusts on some of the corners. Tried to work on good lines, but some 4WD morons were driving up the center line so I took it pretty easy. Tried to practice not reacting when leaning into a corner and suddenly a big gust of wind blows you upright. Not Fun.
Thanks to the blokes for coming out, and DaveP for getting us back to the City, I was feeling pretty tired and sketchy on the way back so it was nice to have you and Verity for company.
Excuse me now while i go sleep under my desk.
Quick Stats:
Time: 2:39 on the bike
Calories: 960
Hill reps: 3
