My final race of the season is over, my bike is clean and packed in the bag to head home. It wasn't exactly a fairly tail end to a big year, but it feels nice to be on a break for a couple of weeks before the training starts again.
The course at Plymouth was really fast after plenty of nice weather. It had some really quick single track descending that was heaps of fun but nothing that was very tricky. I raced a team relay the night before the race with the TORQ-Kona team and we got 3rd, however i did't have great sensations over my single lap so i was hoping i could get it going a bit better for the main event.
On the first lap it was Oli Beckinsdale that took the lead with a group that included Fletcher and a couple of Czech guys. I was back with Liam Kileen and another guy in a chasing group. I didn't what to start super fast so i was happy back in about 7th place. I was feeling quite good (but not great) and was pulling some consistent lap times when i started to notice a problem where my chain would slip whenever i put any pressure down. It gradually got worse and worse to the extent that on the last lap i had to run the main climbs. Unfortunately it meant that I lost a coupe of positions and I eventually finished in 9th. I was hoping for a podium here, but in the end i was happy to hang onto a top ten consisdering the circumstances (having to go to the pub with Matty Z every night this week probably didn't help either!). There is certainly no point dwelling on it though; it has been a big year, i have learnt a lot and got a lot stronger. I am very keen to rest up and start building again for an even better season next year.
So with no riding to worry about i spent a lovely Sunday with my old pals Rob and Julie who travelled down from Manchester to see me. We took in the picturesque Plymouth waterfront, sampled some of the teriffic fish and chips and took a tour of the historic Plymouth Gin distillery, which included plently of taste testing.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Schladming World Cup
After some wet practice days during the week (and some concerns about the steep off camber grass descents in the rain) the weekend was hot & dry.
The start was not too bad, there was a crash very early that split the bunch up a bit so it all strung out fairly early on. I tried really hard to hold my position and i think did quite a good job to come through in 72nd after the first lap. I hit the hill on the 2nd lap and realised that I had dug a bit too deep on the first lap because i started to hurt. For the next couple of laps i tried to hold the wheels but i lost quite a few spots to be back in 90th after 4 laps. The course had heaps of steep climbing and the descents were really steep but not very technical so they were over quickly. This seemed to take its toll on everyone becasue even though i didn't speed up, i started to pass people. Coming to the end of lap 5 (with 1 to go) i was up to 81st, but the red flag came out and pulled me from the race.
I was a bit disappointed to finish a lap down, but with so much climbing it was always going to be a hard one. After a bit of reflection though, i'm not too sad. It has been a long season that started way back in October last year so being tired is understandable. Also after the bit taper and all the hype surrounding Worlds, it is always going to be hard to get back on the A-game. Having said that though, 81st is actually my best result at a European world cup this year (where the fields are typically the strongest), and it does show a level of progression to be there.
I have just one race to go now, a C1 British National Series round. Hopefully i can resist the temptations that are inherent with staying with mates in London and stay sober enough to pilot my bike around one more track!
The start was not too bad, there was a crash very early that split the bunch up a bit so it all strung out fairly early on. I tried really hard to hold my position and i think did quite a good job to come through in 72nd after the first lap. I hit the hill on the 2nd lap and realised that I had dug a bit too deep on the first lap because i started to hurt. For the next couple of laps i tried to hold the wheels but i lost quite a few spots to be back in 90th after 4 laps. The course had heaps of steep climbing and the descents were really steep but not very technical so they were over quickly. This seemed to take its toll on everyone becasue even though i didn't speed up, i started to pass people. Coming to the end of lap 5 (with 1 to go) i was up to 81st, but the red flag came out and pulled me from the race.
I was a bit disappointed to finish a lap down, but with so much climbing it was always going to be a hard one. After a bit of reflection though, i'm not too sad. It has been a long season that started way back in October last year so being tired is understandable. Also after the bit taper and all the hype surrounding Worlds, it is always going to be hard to get back on the A-game. Having said that though, 81st is actually my best result at a European world cup this year (where the fields are typically the strongest), and it does show a level of progression to be there.
I have just one race to go now, a C1 British National Series round. Hopefully i can resist the temptations that are inherent with staying with mates in London and stay sober enough to pilot my bike around one more track!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Champery World Cup
Hot tube after the race
Lach doing some yoga
Lachy smashing the Via Ferrata
Kat on the Via Ferrata
The field climbing the steep hill on lap 2 (i'm at the back of the bunch)
The Champery World Cup didn’t quite go as planned. The start lap went up a long bitumen climb and was a bit scary with the usual hussle and pile-ups. I was pretty lucky and happened to be on the left when there was a crash on the right, then over on the right when there was a crash on the left. The first descent was a shit fight with so much traffic; in fact most of it was running. I tried really hard to get in a good rythmn but the combination of bumper to bumper traffic and wide open climb made it a really stop/start affair. I felt like i had nothing in my legs. The over night rain had made the track somewhat treacherous with plenty of slippery root sections and I was even having trouble to find some nice flow in the singletrack. I had a few crashes including one pearler which was a full superman over the bunting and a tumble down a steep glassy hill. Lucky Macca saw it so we had something to laugh about after the race.
After battling away for 4 laps I was eventually pulled in 91st place. Lachy and Macca were right behind me and none of us were very impressed with our performances. I think there is some form in in there somewhere, but at the end of the season it seems to be quite tricky to extract it. Perhaps we have been having too much of a holiday to race well? It has been really tough staying in a swiss chalet high up in the mountains. Hopefully we can all turn it around for weekend in Austria.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
World Championships - Canberra
It has been a pretty interesting few weeks since my last update, but some technical IT issues and a bit of race focus has prevented me from writing a blog. Now back in Europe, sitting back in Swiss chalet at Champery I have finally got around to picking up the laptop.
A couple of days after getting the call up for the Aussie team I was into camp at the AIS. Most of the XC squad was there for a 2 week altitude camp which involved living and sleeping in a simulated altitude of 3000m and being subjected to all kinds of scientific experiments as well as testing in the lab and on the race track. The house was pretty cramped with 5 bedrooms, 2 small bathrooms and a kitchen, but the lure of potentially increasing levels of haemoglobin was too good to pass up. I found it a little hard to sleep on the first night, because of the altitude I am told, but I think it had something to do with the oxygen saturation monitor hanging of one arm, an accelerometer on the other wrist and a heart rate monitor all recording my vital signs. The next morning was an early start for a blood test, haemoglobin mass test (or “bong test”), out to the track for some efforts, back to AIS for lunch and then into the recovery centre for a session which involved letting us loose on the spa, the 12 degree plunge pool and “the river”.
Some of the data established during the camp included:
- Lachy Norris won the competition highest haemoglobin levels
- I was the heaviest rider in the house tipping the scales at a massive 73kgs (although Paul Vandy, who arrived in the second week, blew me out of the water with 88kgs!). But when the results came back from the body composition scans, it turned out that I was also the leanest with less than 4 kgs of fat narrowly (95% fat free!) edging out Ben and Cal for the title.
- Hendo was climbing and descending the quickest on the race course
- Haas seemed to have an inability to wash his stubble down the sink after shaving
- Paul Vandy destroyed the progressive max test in the lab lasting for 46 minutes and topping out at 550W. The protocol is a stepped power output starting at 100W and going up by 50W every 5 minutes. He lasted longer than Cadel or Nathan O’Neil could ever manage and about 10minutes longer and 100W harder than the rest of the guys in the camp!
The camp was a really eye opening experience and such a pleasant change from the battling privateer racer lifestyle I have got used to. With a massive focus on a home worlds and a decent chuck of research funding (hence all the experiments) the level of support we received was crazy and it was the perfect way to physically and mentally prepare for the biggest race of the year. A big thanks to all the AIS staff that went over and above to make our stay there so beneficial.
For the week of worlds we moved into apartments at Kingston to join up with the DH, 4X and Trials riders that had flown in for around Australia and the world. The week went really fast despite not having too much to do. The taper is always a funny time because we don’t have to do much training volume so the energy levels are up making it hard to clock up the couch time we’re after.
From the moment we rolled out of Kingston on the ride to the track, the extent of the big day was evident. Motorists, pedestrians and cyclist alike were giving us the odd beep and wishing us good luck. That was just the beginning; warming up on the rollers at the track felt like all eyes were on us. After the rider call up and the now familiar sound of the helicopter buzzing over head we were ready to go, all the hard work was done and now for the fun bit.
The start of the race was every bit as hectic as I had expected. With people chopping everywhere I tried my best to stay clear of any trouble, but in doing so probably lost a few positions. Then about 500m into the race there was a sudden braking in the bunch and the guy right in front of me sent it over the handlebars. I managed to stop before colliding with him but someone bumped into the back of me. When I got going again the realisation of what just happened hit me…..disaster. As a result of the bingle, my rear derailleur was bent and my chain would not stay in any gear. I knew that stopping there would mean that I would be dead last on the first climb so I mushed the pedals up the fireroad to the bottom of cardiac climb but I was certainly near the tail of the field at that stage. The traffic jam allowed me some feeble attempts to bend the derailleur back while trying to run with my bike and not give up too many positions, but I was still unable to put any pressure on the pedals without the chain skipping. I ran the entire climb and dropped into the tech zone where I handed the bike over to Gary, our mechanic, to see if he had any more luck. I stood there trying to relax and I noticed that my friend Michael Broderick was down in the US pit with mechanical problems of his own. Before long the trail motorbike was there meaning that Mick and I were dead last, not exactly the start I was after. When I got going again it was apparent that the problem was not solved, I battled through another lap running the climb once again. I managed to overtake a few back markers but back at the tech zone I handed the bike back over to Gary to have another go. It is really tough to do any work under this sort of pressure because with the leaders doing 17min lap times there isn’t much scope to wait around before you are really on the chopping block to get pulled by the 80% rule. Gary did a great job to straighten it enough to get me a few gears but it seemed like all the guys I had passed had already zoomed by. Back on the bike for the 3rd lap the bike was running pretty roughly but I had accepted that it was as good as it was going to get and I had to make the best of it. When I hit the last pinch on Cardiac climb I made the huge mistake of accidentally shifting into the 34 (the big cog on the back). I really though I had another gear left, but instead I had shifted the bent derailleur into the wheel and jammed the chain between the cassette and the spokes. I had so much trouble trying to clear the chain as it was jammed in there so tight. In the end I had to take out the rear wheel and the penalty was some minutes. This was a really bad situation now, I had lost so much time that I was expecting the lead moto to catch me at any minute. I hadn’t even had a chance to really open it up in front of this massive home crowd and it was looking like my race could be over after 3 short laps. Through the feedzone at the end of lap three and Rosie confirmed my fears when she yelled to me: “move it, this could be your last lap!” In my head, each lap was my last now and a really tried to give it everything. The crowd was amazingly loud, which made it so easy to hurt. I managed to get through 5 laps before the little red flag came out. I was quite disappointed to have not had the race I wanted, but the experience was still awesome. The crowd was like none I have ever experienced. Thanks to everyone that helped to cheer me on, it was terrific.
So after a curry feed and a bit of a bender with the rest of the team, I was packing my bike again to head back the Europe. The Champery world cup is this Sunday, followed by the final round in Shladming, Austria the weekend after. It should be interesting; the course has some fun sections and I’m not really feeling any jetlag so hopefully I a snag a good result to make up for last week.
A couple of days after getting the call up for the Aussie team I was into camp at the AIS. Most of the XC squad was there for a 2 week altitude camp which involved living and sleeping in a simulated altitude of 3000m and being subjected to all kinds of scientific experiments as well as testing in the lab and on the race track. The house was pretty cramped with 5 bedrooms, 2 small bathrooms and a kitchen, but the lure of potentially increasing levels of haemoglobin was too good to pass up. I found it a little hard to sleep on the first night, because of the altitude I am told, but I think it had something to do with the oxygen saturation monitor hanging of one arm, an accelerometer on the other wrist and a heart rate monitor all recording my vital signs. The next morning was an early start for a blood test, haemoglobin mass test (or “bong test”), out to the track for some efforts, back to AIS for lunch and then into the recovery centre for a session which involved letting us loose on the spa, the 12 degree plunge pool and “the river”.
Some of the data established during the camp included:
- Lachy Norris won the competition highest haemoglobin levels
- I was the heaviest rider in the house tipping the scales at a massive 73kgs (although Paul Vandy, who arrived in the second week, blew me out of the water with 88kgs!). But when the results came back from the body composition scans, it turned out that I was also the leanest with less than 4 kgs of fat narrowly (95% fat free!) edging out Ben and Cal for the title.
- Hendo was climbing and descending the quickest on the race course
- Haas seemed to have an inability to wash his stubble down the sink after shaving
- Paul Vandy destroyed the progressive max test in the lab lasting for 46 minutes and topping out at 550W. The protocol is a stepped power output starting at 100W and going up by 50W every 5 minutes. He lasted longer than Cadel or Nathan O’Neil could ever manage and about 10minutes longer and 100W harder than the rest of the guys in the camp!
The camp was a really eye opening experience and such a pleasant change from the battling privateer racer lifestyle I have got used to. With a massive focus on a home worlds and a decent chuck of research funding (hence all the experiments) the level of support we received was crazy and it was the perfect way to physically and mentally prepare for the biggest race of the year. A big thanks to all the AIS staff that went over and above to make our stay there so beneficial.
For the week of worlds we moved into apartments at Kingston to join up with the DH, 4X and Trials riders that had flown in for around Australia and the world. The week went really fast despite not having too much to do. The taper is always a funny time because we don’t have to do much training volume so the energy levels are up making it hard to clock up the couch time we’re after.
From the moment we rolled out of Kingston on the ride to the track, the extent of the big day was evident. Motorists, pedestrians and cyclist alike were giving us the odd beep and wishing us good luck. That was just the beginning; warming up on the rollers at the track felt like all eyes were on us. After the rider call up and the now familiar sound of the helicopter buzzing over head we were ready to go, all the hard work was done and now for the fun bit.
The start of the race was every bit as hectic as I had expected. With people chopping everywhere I tried my best to stay clear of any trouble, but in doing so probably lost a few positions. Then about 500m into the race there was a sudden braking in the bunch and the guy right in front of me sent it over the handlebars. I managed to stop before colliding with him but someone bumped into the back of me. When I got going again the realisation of what just happened hit me…..disaster. As a result of the bingle, my rear derailleur was bent and my chain would not stay in any gear. I knew that stopping there would mean that I would be dead last on the first climb so I mushed the pedals up the fireroad to the bottom of cardiac climb but I was certainly near the tail of the field at that stage. The traffic jam allowed me some feeble attempts to bend the derailleur back while trying to run with my bike and not give up too many positions, but I was still unable to put any pressure on the pedals without the chain skipping. I ran the entire climb and dropped into the tech zone where I handed the bike over to Gary, our mechanic, to see if he had any more luck. I stood there trying to relax and I noticed that my friend Michael Broderick was down in the US pit with mechanical problems of his own. Before long the trail motorbike was there meaning that Mick and I were dead last, not exactly the start I was after. When I got going again it was apparent that the problem was not solved, I battled through another lap running the climb once again. I managed to overtake a few back markers but back at the tech zone I handed the bike back over to Gary to have another go. It is really tough to do any work under this sort of pressure because with the leaders doing 17min lap times there isn’t much scope to wait around before you are really on the chopping block to get pulled by the 80% rule. Gary did a great job to straighten it enough to get me a few gears but it seemed like all the guys I had passed had already zoomed by. Back on the bike for the 3rd lap the bike was running pretty roughly but I had accepted that it was as good as it was going to get and I had to make the best of it. When I hit the last pinch on Cardiac climb I made the huge mistake of accidentally shifting into the 34 (the big cog on the back). I really though I had another gear left, but instead I had shifted the bent derailleur into the wheel and jammed the chain between the cassette and the spokes. I had so much trouble trying to clear the chain as it was jammed in there so tight. In the end I had to take out the rear wheel and the penalty was some minutes. This was a really bad situation now, I had lost so much time that I was expecting the lead moto to catch me at any minute. I hadn’t even had a chance to really open it up in front of this massive home crowd and it was looking like my race could be over after 3 short laps. Through the feedzone at the end of lap three and Rosie confirmed my fears when she yelled to me: “move it, this could be your last lap!” In my head, each lap was my last now and a really tried to give it everything. The crowd was amazingly loud, which made it so easy to hurt. I managed to get through 5 laps before the little red flag came out. I was quite disappointed to have not had the race I wanted, but the experience was still awesome. The crowd was like none I have ever experienced. Thanks to everyone that helped to cheer me on, it was terrific.
So after a curry feed and a bit of a bender with the rest of the team, I was packing my bike again to head back the Europe. The Champery world cup is this Sunday, followed by the final round in Shladming, Austria the weekend after. It should be interesting; the course has some fun sections and I’m not really feeling any jetlag so hopefully I a snag a good result to make up for last week.
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