The RACV Ascent - The Event Report

On Sunday 17th April, I participated in the inaugural The RACV Ascent Womens event. It was organised by Bicycle Network. This event is opened only to women and they had organised some road closure for this event to happen. The closures were mostly partial and only fully closed on some sections where safety of cyclist is concerned. There were still cars along the roads during the event but nothing to worry about or dwell upon.

I haven't done any hilly rides for about 2 months! I have only continued with the Wattbike sessions twice a week and flat road rides but nothing which requires efforts....apart from ticking off Mt Baw Baw which I have nearly erased out of my memory.

The event had been planned to start off at 6:45am and because the road closures started at 6am, I wanted to be able to find a car park and get ready with plenty of time. The alarm was set at 4am and I left the house at 4:45am. I think I arrived there around 5:50am with plenty of time to get my bike ready and visited the toilet twice. The start of the event was at the Cherry Farm on Queens Rd in Wandin. It was freezing that morning and I started with arm warmers, a gilet and gloves but as the sun came out before the start of the event and the gloves quickly came off. I had placed myself in Wave 2 - between 4 - 5 hours. I knew that I wasn't fast enough to finish 100km within 4 hours (with hills) and I don't stop for food so I figured that there was a chance that I would finish under 5 hours.

The first few km of the ride was good but I guess without a warm up and we went into a climb pretty soon, my legs weren't cooperating...I felt like I could not pedal efficiently, my cadence was well below 60rpm and my heart rate was through the roof. My confidence for the day started off low but it slowly increased when I found myself being able to ride the descents fast. I did a cycling session with Tribal Cycling a few weeks ago and got a few tips for descending and cornering. I used these tips during the ride and it really worked! I actually did most of the ride (unless I am climbing) on the drops. The 1-in-20 climb wasn't my fastest. I should have come to do a few training rides before the event but there has been incidences of tacks on those roads and not being a confident descender, it scared me to do rides there. Luckily I didn't get any punctures but there was about a dozen or so riders who did. At the top of the 1-in-20, there was a rest stop but I didn't need to so I kept going. The ride through Sherbrooke Rd was really nice, a route I had never taken before (I will be sure to return).

My fave photo - climbing 1-in-20

Along Kallista-Emerald Rd, the scenery was great and there were a few parts where you could really pick up speed. Then we got to Emerald-Monbulk Rd where someone sprayed graffiti on the roads aiming at the riders of the event - quite homophobic, really unoriginal and just lame. Then it was the lunch stop at the Monbulk football grounds. I wasn't hungry for lunch as it was only around 10:30am so I just filled up my water bottle (having gone through a bottle in 2:45), a quick toilet stop, off goes the arm warmers and then on the bike I went.

The rest of the ride was good. I kept up with my nutrition and hydration plan but my legs were starting to get tired around the 70km mark. Both my quads were starting to "tingle" and I knew that if I was to climb a steep section out of the saddle, they would cramp. I was staying in the saddle as much as I could, even through the small steep pinches which were plenty along this route....then came the wall at about 85km....it was brutal to add a climb (16% according to my Garmin). Due to the cramps, I couldn't ride out of the saddle for more than 1 stroke each side....I didn't look up, I just pushed on until I could feel a bit a relief....

I honestly thought that as my Garmin showed that we had already climbed 1790m and the route info said we would climb 1800m for the 100km route, I thought that was that... but the climbs kept coming...rolling hills that felt like everest.

I final steep climb was along Queens Rd and this was where I saw a few people around me walk their bikes up. I applied the same method as before and just looked on the ground and just pushed on. Just before the turn off into the farm, there were a few sharp descents where I just trusted my bike and just let go of all my fears. As I have mentioned before, if I can see where I am heading, I am more confident at not applying the brakes.

So the last hundred meters onto the finish line was through the gravel road of the farm and this part of the ride reminded me of the gravel sections of the Giro della Donna. I crossed the finish line in 5:30 (riding time of 5:15). I stopped to say hello to a few people and then I went back to the car to head home. I didn't really want to have a bbq as I wasn't hungry. I just bought a fruit smoothie for my drive home and that was that.

Official Route for 100km

Finish Line

 A few comments and thoughts for the event:

• The graffiti on the roads - was it suppose to deter us from the event? What was the reaction you wanted? I think it showed more about the level of maturity of the person(s) more than anything. They even had the graffiti going the wrong way...so lame!
• The tacks - it doesn't just affect the cyclist, it also affects the environment - walkers, dogs, wildlife, cars....
• I didn't try anything new - had my hydration every 15min and had my nutrition every 30min. 
• I should have shed the gloves early and stored them in the car rather than carrying them through all 100km. 
• Will I sign up again - yes!! Fingers crossed they will run this event again. It was truly unique. They ended up with 707 female riders which is amazing. 

The Guilt

I will just go straight into my current situation - I was made redundant the Thursday before the Easter holidays. I have been unemployed since then and actively looking for work. I have had a few meetings with recruitment as well as responding to ads on seek.com.au directly. Every advice friends and family have provided to me - I am already doing...

Even though I have what you term "pro hours", I have not utilised it the (cycling) advantage. 

I have done one pro hours cycling session and it was to ride my loan track bike to reassure that I am not always a nervous wreck when it comes to trying something new. I already mentioned in my last post that I successfully ridden the bike around the track (and even up on the banks) for a total of 10km (20+min). Because I wasn't doing anything in particular, the session wasn't catered to a program of any sorts, it wasn't a long session at all. I think if I was to do it again, I will need to look into a program or something or listen to music/podcast/audiobook so I won't get bored. Before you mention anything about safety, I always make sure that I cycle the track by myself, no one else is actually there, I only have it in my left ear and I actually to keep my eyes opened when I am riding...

Anyways, back to the point of this post. Because I am unemployed at the moment, I feel guilty for not putting 100% of my spare time with job applications. I haven't been out riding my bike during the daylight hours during the week which is a real shame. I haven't used my redundancy pay for a holiday or a bike purchase because I have a great fear of the unknown and holding on to whatever I have left. I think once I am accepted for a role, then I will feel more comfortable and less guilty about spending my "pro hours" on the bike...

Wish me luck!

No Brakes Cycling!

Track cycling is not something which I am exposed to....although I have been to the Brunswick velodrome a dozen or so times (DirtyDeeds CX and Melburn Roobaix) and I knew that it was used for track cycling but I have never experience track racing until I attended the Austral Championships on the 19th Dec 2015. 

Since then, the whole fixed wheel bicycle thing has become something which I have been fascinated about. One of my friends has even bought a track bike and she now races them weekly. I tried out track cycling on Good Friday of 2016 (the day after I was made redundant from my work) with the Melburn Hurt girls at Brunswick. 

My nervous face before I stepped out of the car to try track for the first time. 

I arrived early and got a bike my size ready for the trial. There were plenty of girls there who were trying track. Looking at the girls before me, some successful and some not in the initial "take off" on the bike wasn't great for my confidence. The sensation of not being able to pedal backwards to set the pedal in the correct position, requiring to constantly pedal and having no brakes made me so nervous about my turn on the track that I actually had an anxiety attack. My heart rate was so high and I started to get a bit dizzy that I had to just pull out of the line and just relax a bit. I didn't like how the attention was on me...

I took myself out of the line-up, watched a few more girls take off on the bike and then I rode off at my own pace. I wasn't comfortable about being clipped in on both sides and having someone hold onto my bike to start off but I was more than comfortable doing it on my own with only one shoe clipped in. Luckily I have the ability to pedal off on one leg so I clipped in my left foot when I was comfortable but the whole pedal over the entire crank and no coasting thing took some time to get used to...

I went around the track 4 times before I stopped...now stopping on the track bike is another story. Even though I have done it severe times since then, I have no idea if I am doing it correctly. I slowed down by pedalling slower and actually putting on some force to slow down the bike. I had to stop as the saddle was on a slant and therefore was rubbing into my inner thigh and it was just getting ridiculous. I brought the bike up to the workshop for them to adjust and by the time I got back down to the track, it started to rain and one of the girls fell off the track as it was slippery. The track was then closed. 

Not knowing that the track was only closed temporarily, I took my bike back upstairs and swapped my pedals back and then was told that the track was opened again when the rain stopped. I already had taken off my pedals and so I decided to just call it a day and enjoyed the hot crossed buns and coffee and caught up with my friend Sally who also came to try track. 

Before my nervous breakdown...

Since that day, I have borrowed a track bike off a friend of mine and have successfully ridden the bike and also along the steeper banks of the Edithvale track (around the corner from my house). The bike she has was a better fit for me and I actually rode down on the drops without hesitation. 

I did about 20min (10km) on the bike and called it a day for now. It was quiet warm for autumn (30 degrees). I had to stop at the 4km mark during my ride to ride near my bag to drink water. I have this bike until ANZAC day and then I will need to return it. I will only buy a track bike (they are relatively cheap compared to a road bike) only if I find another job within April. 

Me with Amy's Cinelli track bike at Edithvale Velodrome