Cycling for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

I have 11 more sleeps until Around the Bay. This is not the first time I have entered ATB but fingers crossed, it will be my first time participating in the actual event. The first time I entered, I think I decided to pull out during to some life-stresses with a previous relationship. The second time I entered the event, I was struck down with a really bad cold the day before and didn’t leave the bed for 3 days after. 

I decided to enter the 210km anti-clockwise. I have always ridden on Beach Rd, all the way from Port Melbourne through to Arthurs Seat (as my furthest away from the city) yet my longest distance has been 160km during Ironman training and 180km during the actual event. The ride will be different and I won’t be caught up in the “race” of the ride which is what some will do especially leading up to events such as Tour of Bright and even Busselton Ironman (same weekend). Personally, I just don’t want to be out on the road for the whole day so I will do my best to stay motivated and finish the whole 210km (or as close to it as possible). The iPod will be brought out at one point. 

Since the #dirtygranfondo on the 20^th Sept, I have been on top of my cycling training with 2 spin classes per week, one being in altitude chamber and then a hilly road ride on Saturday. We usually cover 2.5 – 3 hours out at the Dandenongs but this time around, I did 4 hours instead covering just under 70km. 

Last week at SkyHigh - matchy matchy

Riding out in the hills not only increases my strength on the bike but helps with my descents and being more comfortable tackling them. Currently, on the scale of 1 being “I will not ride down this hill at all, someone call me a cab” through to 10 “I love riding down hills, no brakes at all even on a gradient > 25%”, I am around a 4, maybe a 3 on a bad day...I don’t mind riding down a hill if I can see ahead (dead straight) with good road surfaces. Most descents are windy roads and because I am not great at turning, I tend to brake to a manageable speed to turn before my heart jumps out of my chest or before I feel an anxiety attack coming around to vomit. I find friends who ski, snowboard or ride horses love descents!

I am hoping that with some minor adjustments of the new bike with the brakes closer to the drops, I am able to descend on the drops which I have been told give better control with a lower centre of gravity....who knows! I know that others make up their riding times along those descents and I can’t be holding back, otherwise, I will be out around Falls Creek forever. 

Over the long weekend, I will be riding down to Sorrento and back (~150km or so) to just spend time on the saddle. This will be my longest ride before ATB next weekend of 210km. Then on Sunday, as part of my recovery ride, I will ride down to support and watch the SKCC Summer Crits. I have signed up for Latte Laps on the 18^th October to gain some skills. You won’t be seeing me race crits anytime soon though. 

I am absolutely loving the whole “cycling” lifestyle. I don’t miss packing 3 bags a night I am loving one training session a day and I am seeing benefits of being less stressful now that I have one thing to concentrate on. 

158 Days until 3 Peaks.

#DirtyGranFondo Gembrook - Race Report

Yesterday, 20^th September, I participated in the #dirtygranfondo event at Gembrook. I did a similar event earlier this year at Wondong organised by the Bill Hill Events. 

This year, I invited my friend Dale to do this event with me as we are both training for 3 Peaks and have lined up a few training sessions and events leading up to the event in March. I did Amy’s Gran Fondo last weekend and thought that this one would compliment my hill climbing training as well as mixing things up a tad. 

Post AGF, I did CF Altitude class at Melbourne Altitude Training for the first time on Tuesday 15^th. I am still getting use to the Wattbikes and probably won’t understand the whole peak angle thing for now...strength work on Wednesday and a standard spin class at GESAC on Thursday morning (done with heavy legs). 

I had a sneak peak at my new bike (my Liv Avail Advanced SL 0) on Friday night and have named it Valerie. The seat post needs to be cut and the bits and pieces of the bike needs to be put together. I was going to ride it on Saturday but the bike is not yet ready so I ended up just riding the Wilier. On Saturday, I wanted to spin my legs out rather than not doing anything the day before the Dirty Gran Fondo. Even when I am only riding 50km on Sunday, I needed to also do something on the Saturday. Instead of riding in a bunch and getting caught up in the speed and intensity, I had a small sleep in and did a 55km ride sans arm warmers, vest etc and savoured the sunshine. After the ride, I had a small nap, cleaned my TT to sell and prepared material for cycling caps. 

For Sunday, I had planned on leaving the house at 8am to arrive in Gembrook by 9am (about an hour’s drive from our house). We ended up leaving at 8:30 and arrived by 9:30am. It was a rush to registration to collect our number plates, toilet stop and prepared ourselves for the ride. I spotted Dale and we chatted before the event started. 

My aim for the day was to ride up as much of the climbs as I could (avoid walking the bike which was what I did quite a bit for at Wondong) and to gain confidence at the descents. Originally, I was going to ride the CX bike but opted out and rode the MTB instead as Dale was riding hers and more so I don’t think my bike skills are good enough to get through the event. 

I felt comfortable the entire way through the course. I actually enjoyed the climbs and happy to report that I did not walk my bike once! I didn’t even get on the granny gears whilst climbing apart from one or two sharp pinches. I got stung by a bee at about 40km mark on my shoulders. I reacted with a high pitch yelp but didn’t fall off the bike. Currently, I have localised swelling on my shoulders but nothing too drastic. 

I didn’t do as well as I had hoped descents. I am too busy trying to look out in front of me, recognising the terrains, watching for bumps and snakes to comfortably ride at high speeds. Dale on the other hand, flew down the hills with a huge smile on her face! Dale and I have different set of skills and levels of comfort on the bike. I waited for her on top of climbs and she waited for me at the bottom of descents. 

We both finished the ride around 3:47. We didn’t want to race the event and was pretty happy at the end to have finished. We both had a great day. 

My nutrition was on point. I had my first gel at 1 hour and the rest was every 45min. I didn’t feel tired or drained the entire route. Not sure how I would be feeling if I did the 75km. The feed zone (50km only had 1) had oreos, oranges and water provided. I had about 2 oreo biscuits and filled up my camelbak. I wiped my face with the paper towels they provided as the sweat was stinging my eyes along the climb towards the feedzone. 

Overall, I had a great day. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. I did sweat buckets but I wasn't dehydrated.

The next Dirty Gran Fondo is on the 15th May 2016. I am going to wait until next year to sign up as I will have a better idea of which event to enter - 65km or 90km? CX or MTB....

The Change

Prior to my holidays, I had a bit of a think about my main goal event which is 3 Peaks (13^th March 2016). Between now and then, I had Challenge Shepparton as another “A Race” at which I was going to aim to finish this event under 6 hours. I had a bit of a funk in my training as I was stressed about my half marathon and juggling between trying to fit at least 2 sessions of running along with trying to increase my swimming sessions along with cycling and strength work. It was all getting a bit too much and my love for the sport started to strain.

More to life than triathlon - this photo was taken during my holidays in Japan.

Leading up to Shepparton, I would need to spend more time on the TT bike riding flat Beach Road and riding longer distances at a fast pace. I find this counterproductive towards 3 Peaks. I have been training and racing triathlon since 2008 and I have never attempted 3 Peaks before.  The fear of unknown along with using logical thinking, I decided to withdraw from triathlon training and concentrate on cycling for the next 6 months leading to 3 peaks. No more swimming and running “training” sessions. If I do run or swim, they will compliment my 3 peaks training in a way that they will be enjoyable and not damaging to my body.

I made the official decision on my flight back to Australia on the last day of my holidays (whilst in Singapore).  A weight has definitely been lifted off my shoulders after I confirmed my cancellation of my Shepparton entry. My programming of training sessions with just cycling and strength work is much manageable and enjoyable. 

As soon as I returned to Australia, I sold off a few things which I no longer wanted to hold onto such as a tri suit I bought in hopes that I was going to fit into it before Challenge Shepparton (Soas Racing Kit), my expensive Blueseventy Helix wetsuit that I bought before Challenge Shepparton last year (which I never fell in love with and still wore my Rocket Science during Challenge Melbourne) and have lined up my TT bike to be sold within the next few weeks. I will take some time over the weekend to also sell off some triathlon specific equipment which is deemed useless for cycling such as a front mount hydration system, my rear hydration mount system, my triathlon specific cycling shoes, tri kits, caps, old wetsuits etc...the money collected from selling off my triathlon specific equipment will be going towards a Thermomix and my new bike! 

So I am buying a Liv Avail Advanced SL 0 (2015). This bike will be better suited for endurance and hill climbing. It has Dura-Ace Di2 groupset with compact crank and an 11-28 cassette. The Wilier which I have had since 2010 has 11-23 cassette and standard cranks. I am currently working on increasing my cadence especially during my spin classes, much better for hill climbing for such a long period of time. 

With regards to triathlon, I am parking it aside. I am not stressed about the future and if I am going to return to the sport or not. It doesn’t define who I am so I am not worried about losing my identity. There are so many things out there to experience beyond triathlon. I am glad that I have a new goal to aim towards, something unknown for me and something which is more aligned with my interests (cycling industry).

Amy's Gran Fondo - My Report

So yesterday, I completed my first Amy's Gran Fondo. It was a long and eventful day...

I stayed with the folks in Geelong on Saturday night so the drive into Lorne on Sunday morning took just over an hour. I had to be there in time for the 7am briefing and my stress of not being able to get a car park for a mass participated event, the plan was to arrive into Lorne at 6:30am. The drive into Lorne wasn't too bad. The roadworks along the way was just a reduction in speed which added about 10min onto the total trip. I drove passed Foodworks in Lorne and saw that the carpark was completely empty and so I decided to drive closer to the Mantra to see if there are any spots left for parking and sure enough, there were plenty and only cost me $5.

I walked over to the Mantra for the briefing and that finished around 7:30am, then it was a crowded line-up for race pack pick ups before running over to the car to get all my stuff ready to meet the Bayside group at Foodworks at 8am.

The only photo I have from the event.

My last ride on a bike was on the 22^nd August, a 55km spin on Beach Rd between Mordialloc and Port Melbourne. It was the day before my Sandy Point half marathon and I have been away on holidays for 2 weeks after that. I had all intentions of doing a few spin classes before Amy’s Gran Fondo but as always, I got really sick as soon as I arrived home. I had caught a (mini) flu and was in bed for 4 days straight. At the peak of my illness, my muscles hurt so much that I couldn’t roll over in bed and had to get my partner to help me out for a toilet break. I haven’t felt this sick in a while, lost 3kg over 4 days but mainly due to being dehydrated and the lack of appetite.

I wasn’t physically prepared to do this ride but I knew that I needed to just get out there. I decided against writing about it as I knew that logically that it would have been better if I gave my body more time to rest than to put myself out on the Great Ocean Road, over 120km, post holidays and being bed-ridden. I guess I was more mentally ready for this ride more than my fitness capabilities. My aim for the day was just to enjoy riding on the closed roads and to strengthen my little legs on those hill climbs.

I started my ride with one of the ladies I knew from my old tri squad. She has excelled before my eyes due to time spent on spin classes and being accountable with the wattbikes. I tried to keep up but couldn’t and I felt bad that she needed to slow down and wait for me at every slight incline or descent. I told her to go her own way before our climb up Skenes Creek and I knew that she would be hours ahead of me at the end.

Being sick meant that I was constantly blowing my nose and coughing over 4-5 days, this resulted in being dehydrated before the ride. It was forecasted to be a warm day so I decided to forgo the undershirt and just wore my knicks and jersey. No gloves, no arm warmers. I still wore my merino socks under my cycling socks as my feet have always been cold during my rides but this was too much and those wool socks were removed halfway up Skenes Creek. I did all I could to stay cool but I was parched. I had already finished half of one of my bidons before the start of the ride and I noticed that I was sipping my hydration more than usual once we got going. I had one bidon of hydration left for Skenes Creek and was rationing the entire ride up.

There was an incident half way up the Skenes Creek climb and we were asked to slow down for paramedics to attend to a cyclist. I decided soon after that I needed to remove my woolie socks and heard the chopper overhead and realised that they must have blocked off cyclist and no one had ridden passed me for about 15min or so. I checked my phone to see where abouts I was along Skenes Creek Rd so I could further ration out my hydration. I thought the aid station was at the end of the KOM climb and finished by bidon then but realised that it is another 5km away. I was a bit taken back that I am completely empty and have to get to the next aid station as soon as I could, luckily it was mostly downhill.

The first aid station was crowded and I am guessing that there would have been a bunch of cyclists who would have agreed to wait for their mates at this aid station. I wasn’t sure if the rest of the bunch were asked to turn around and ride back or wait for the chopper to leave before they could proceed. I asked around for electrolytes but was advised that it was not available and they only had water. I drank an entire bidon of water within a minute before I filled it up again along with my second bidon for the rest of my ride. The ride between the Skenes through to the Forrest Aid station was great and I gained more confidence on the descents and actually enjoyed the speed (more confidently for left turns than right). I only stopped for a banana at Forrest and topped up my water bottle so the stop was a quick one. I took out my iPod after the Forrest stop after negotiating with myself that I was only allowed to do this on the last half of the ride. I completely forgot about it after Forrest and stopped along the course to pull out the iPod and the motivation did help for the rest of the day.

When I reached the aid station at Benwerrin, there had no water left (!!!) and was advised that the water truck was at least 15min away. Luckily, there was a convenient store close by and I bought a Gatorade and emptied it into my bidon in preparation for my climb up Deans Marsh road towards the finish line.

I stopped my Garmin in the store as it kept beeping at me. Due to the exhaustion and urgency of finishing the last 10km of this day, I forgot about turning my Garmin back on and lost all my data along the Benwerrin climb, through the finished line and only noticed that my distance wasn’t increasing from 97km with only 5km left of the descent down to Lorne.

The climb up Deans Marsh (the non-Lorne side) was good. My legs cramped the entire way up but I just dealt with it for the whole way. With every pedal down, the quads cramped, luckily it wasn’t the calves. When there were false flats, I pedalled single legged and gave the free leg a bit of a shake out. My cramps during this event is most likely due to muscles being tired. When I reached the finish line, I didn’t stick around for too long, I really wanted to just get to the car so I just continued onto the descent.

I haven’t descended down to Lorne along Deans Marsh Road in over a year and luckily it was a dry day and I could get down comfortably.

When I reached my car, I couldn’t open the boot which meant that my car keys were not near the car. My heart sank when I realised that I had dropped my keys along the course and I was stuck in Lorne. I called my partner as the only solution is that he would drive all the way from Cheltenham to Lorne with the spare set so I could access the car and get home. Other solution was to sign up for roadside assistance so I could access the car but won’t be able to start it to drive back to Geelong before heading back to Mentone.

I headed to the Event Village to report my missing car keys as well as resting for about 30min before I headed back to the car to lie down on the grass for a further 30min. My mind started to recover from the exhaustive ride and that was when I decided to make use of the time I had in between by heading to a cafe and grabbing some coffee and a bite of real food. Luckily some cyclists recognised me (from wearing the Fondo kit) and they stuck around and chatted to me, kept me company and gave me a jumper to keep me warm until my partner came to drop off the spare (a 2.5 hour drive from home).

Stats from my ride: My total time over the (timed 110km) distance was 6:09.16 and I was placed 49 out of 54 for females riding the recreational category of Females 35-39. My KOM was 1:10.33 which included being slowed down by the ambulance and stopping in between to remove my socks. My total elevation etc was not accurate as my Garmin was paused.  
I was pretty dehydrated and didn’t visit the bathroom until 11:30pm that day when I finally reached home. Legs were throbbing from the ride and had difficulty sleeping.

I enjoyed the ride and looking forward to doing this event again next year. I will aim to finish under 5 hours - I have to work hard to improve by more than an hour but this is do-able considering that I was sick prior to the event and I took my time throughout the course. 25% of the people within my recreational category rode under 5 hours. The age group category is different and they raced the event, something I am not interested in especially seeing so many crashes along the way. I will be more prepared for the ride and will carry electrolyte powder or tablets. Nutrition was on point, mixing my personal homemade solution along with store-bought gels. I will change my strategy to consume every 30min instead of 45min due to the increase of intensity and distance. I am happy that this event hasn’t put me off my bike. My Garmin 910xt finally died and won’t be able to use it again after I uploaded my data as the power button finally caved. No to worry, I am getting my Garmin 520 to be used for my cycling training from now on.

Photos from the Amy's Gran Fondo will be uploaded by the photography company next week. I know I got a few photos as a few media motorbikes stopped specifically for me as I was wearing the Fondo kit and I was out on my own the last half of the Skenes Creek climb. I will see how I look before I purchase them and share them on this site.

Looking Ahead - October

Today is the 15th of September - the middle of the month already and this post is long overdue. I have returned from a holiday (Japan and Singapore) and was bed ridden for a week due to a virus. There have been drastic changes in my training and I will go into it more in the next few posts. 

Events:

11^th October – Around the Bay 210km. I wanted to do a long ride as part of my training towards 3 Peaks so for the first time since I moved to Melbourne, I will be participating in Around the Bay. The logistics of the day will be sorted out soon as I am trying to avoid the crowd and would like to be home early. This may mean that I might have to start my Around the Bay at 4am from my house instead of the official start time and place in the city and just finish home on the way into the city from Sorrento. The event is not officially timed and it is not a race. I just want to spend a long day on the saddle.   

23^rd to 25^th – Bright Training Camp with Bayside Tri Club. I don’t have too much to talk about here now until I know more information about the itinerary and my abilities.