Starting...

It has been just over 3 weeks since I officially joined Lead Out Cycling and I have to say, I am absolutely loving it! I am seeing plenty of personal improvements and I am actually starting to feel like I am a cyclist rather than just a person who rides a bike...


The two things which I have seen the biggest improvement in terms of bike handling skills are:


Riding on the drops
I have only been riding on the drops since about Oct 2015 when I moved from my Wilier (with Campy) to the Liv (Shimano). So since 2008 when I bought my first road bike with Shimano Sora thumb shifters, through to the Wilier in 2010 until 2015, I very rarely would ride on the drops because of the thumb shifting in changing gears and distance from the drops to the brakes.
Riding on the drops has also allowed me to do my sprint efforts more effectively and I am able to push and pull on the pedals with a greater force. I am making a conscious effort to ride as much in the drops as I can, especially in groups and trying to be more comfortable about having my face so close to the wheel of the person in front too.


Descending and cornering
As I have mentioned a million times before, my bike handling skills are not great and because I never rode on my drops, I was never confident in descending and cornering. A flow on effect of riding in the drops is that I am starting to learn about shifting my body's center of gravity and positioning my body better for descents and cornering.
I am continually improving my skills, so much so that I finally cracked the 10min mark coming down the 1-in-20 last Saturday!! I will continue to improve of my confidence but I do want also improve on the 1-in-20 climbs too! My goal is to get < 30min.

Although my climbing strength and endurance are no great, I know that I have plenty of space to improve and I am looking forward to seeing them flourish. This will be easier when I bring my weight down too, the hard part is actually to not lose muscle tone.


I had a bit of a "light bulb" moment this morning during my Team Time Trial training session. I actually seeing myself like I am a real cyclist now....I feel like I am riding in the right position, I am using the right muscles, I am stepping outside of my comfort zone in terms of power, strength and endurance.


The Northern Combine race schedule is yet to be realized and my aim is to enter them and just do it...I can't race them on the Liv as it has disc brakes so I am waiting for the groupset to arrive so I can convert the Wilier with Shimano groupset so I can ride it properly. I have a fair timeframe on the road racing season, I reckon I have about 2 months to train with the Wilier. I am planning on using the Wilier for the Tuesday and Thursday sessions and continue to use the Liv for the hilly rides.

Out of my comfort zone.

On Saturday 4th Feb, I joined Lead Out Cycling for my first hilly ride. It was definitely a milestone for me as I haven't ridden in a group in about 3-4 years. I was so out of my comfort zone and it has become very evident why I haven't been finishing my past events at a reasonable time.


We met at The Basin for a 7am departure. I arrived early to set up my bike etc and we then congregated around the coaches to sort out which group we would be placed in. There was no second guessing which group I belonged to - the bottom one. My aim for the next 12 months is to improve and move to the top of the bottom group or event graduate to the middle one.


The warm up was the climb up 1-in-20. Because we were riding in the group, I actually did my 3rd best time of 29.40 (at 70kg) where as the other 2 times was when I weighed close to 60kg or even less. It was the first time where I was totally out of breath when I reached the top in a very long time.


We then headed towards Devil's elbow way and headed up Churchill Drive and then One Tree Hill Rd. It was the climb up Church Hill which I dropped to the back as the coach (Mark) pointed out that I needed to hold my core and not worry about pace for the moment. We then headed to Sherbrook Rd and came up The Crescent and headed to Sky High. I found the ride up The Crescent soul destroying and actually had a bit of help up, I didn't need it but it was a welcome relief on the legs.

The ride up to SkyHigh was challenging as always, small steep climbs felt like they went on forever but I knew that this was one of the last climbs for the day. We stopped at Sky High for a small break for photos and then it was a descent down 1-in-20.

Always improving!

Good news is that my descents have improved and I achieved another PB on the 1-in-20 descents. I was completely washed out at the end of that ride. I was completely thrown out of my comfort zone. My legs are still throbbing 2 days after the ride and yet to fully recover. I can see the benefits of training with a cycling specific coaching group and the decision to join Lead Out was definitely a big tick in my life!

Getting back into it...

Since we returned back to Melbourne from spending a week in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, I have done 3 Lead Out Cycling sessions.


On Australia Day, I did the skills session at Richmond Blvd. We worked on smooth rolling turns followed by track turns. Rolling turns works when riders are riding two abreast and the riders on the right hand side moves up to the front and then across to the left once they have spent enough time on the front. The speed of the group shouldn't be surging unless you are the last cyclist on the left side and then moving to the right and also the slight surge to move in front of the cyclist on the left when you are riding on top of the group.


Track turns is done when you are in single file and when the lead cyclist has done their turn at the front, then will flick their elbows, move slightly on the left so that the cyclist behind them will overtake on the right. The lead cyclist will then keep riding at the group's speed until they are about 3-4 riders in front of the one which dropped off and then move towards the left, this way you and the line of cyclists behind don't chop off cyclists on the road.


After the training session, I quickly rushed off for a shower and to pick up a cycling cap which I wanted to gift to a friend who was attending the #TowardsZero crit at Albert Park lake. Luckily I met my friends and had enough time to watch a few laps and then the finish. Due to the 2 hour break in between the female and male races, I went and bought coffee beans and then did a few body maintenance things before I headed home.


On the Saturday 28th, it was the long ride with LOC. It was recovery week so the long ride was not too long, only from St Kilda to Mordialloc and then back to St Kilda. During the ride, we did rolling turns  amongst a group of about 7 cyclists which was good to maintain a sensible speed and everyone had a turn at the front. As I didn't need to head to work, I stayed for coffee with the group for the first time.


Then on the 31st Jan, I didn't end up doing the Boat Ramp session as I had a very early start at work but I made it to this morning's Team TT session at Albert Park lake. For this session, we started with a warm up lap around Albert Park lake as a whole group followed by Team TT efforts with groups of 3 or 4. I was in a group with Dave and Cheryl , we all are new to Leadout. For this session, I wanted to work on cycling on the drops and utilising the lower centre of gravity for cornering at speed. I did this successfully so I am happy. I was nervous at first because it was hard to see so early in the morning as we started at 5:45am.


Compared to the Ladybombs sessions, we all took turns at the front so the speed varied based on where we were around the lake as well picking up pace based on who was out the front. As we were in smaller groups, it gave us a chance to do track turns.


This weekend is the first hilly ride for the year at the Dandenongs. I am nervous for this session as it would be the first time riding the hills with LOC. I will report how this session went and what lessons I learnt.