Rapha 500

So it's that time of the year again... the break between Christmas and New Years where people try to ride 500km over the 8 days.


I had tried to do this challenge on several occasions but had failed. I was triathlon-ing and during this time of the year, we used to do "Hell-Week" which consisted of fitting in 3 disciplines in one day. Living in Melbourne, you will also get some crazy weather conditions so actually doing the riding was not done completely.


Last year I was training for Falls Creek 3 peaks and instead of riding the distances, I was climbing for the elevation and strength. As I am not doing this event in 2017 and just riding for fun, I have decided to commit myself to complete this challenge for the first time.


I won't be scheduling in riding a min of 62.5km a day over the 8 days as I know that I will not be riding everyday during that time. I will most likely do a few double days if the weather is great or do a longer ride if I have no plans.


I also have a birthday in between Christmas and New Years so I am sure that my schedule will depend on how I feel.


Happy Riding XX

http://pages.rapha.cc/feature/festive-500

Plans for 2017 onwards

So….you may be hearing crickets in the background whilst reading this entry….I don’t blame you. I haven’t been blogging as much as my previous years because the current phase of my life is crazy!

I had mentioned before we are moving house and for the last few weeks, I have been doing some sewing for the hobby business, looking for a place to move into, culling my belongings to minimise bringing things to the next house, arranging for removalists, arranging for cleaners and steam cleaners, planning for TDU and throwing out clothes which I no longer fit in *sigh*…

Good news, we found a place, it is closer to the city and we move in on the 9^th December. Our current address is Aspendale which is approx. 35km from the city. The new house is in Hampton East and it is about 11km which is going to be great for commute.

I am really looking forward to it as I am going to make changes to my lifestyle for 2017. I didn’t end up doing any events after Ol’Dirty. I had an entry for “Chase the Dog” but the day ended up being horrific and I actually came down with a bad cold which set me back off the bike for 2 weeks. I then pulled out of “Ride to the Divide” as I had a backache and I pulled out of Giro della Donna due to the lack of training with the house moving thing and also keeping up with my cycling cap orders. I sold my ticket to a friend’s husband and as he is elite cyclist. As the change was done on the day before the event, I ended up getting messages that I had scored the QOM for the day (the actual female who came first was about 20min after Pete’s time) and won top 10 of the finish…..wow! Luckily it was all sorted and the females all were awarded correctly for their placings.

Hobby business wise, it has been great. I had a huge order within November which I needed to finish within 1.5 weeks due to the house-moving thing and also completing custom orders. I am totally obsessed with sewing at the moment as I get to tune out with my audiobooks, destress from work/life and it is a creative outlet for me.

I essentially have not done any events within the last half of this year and I am not going to put myself through any until I get some proper training done. After being dropped in a supposedly easy shop ride last week, I decided that I am going to commit to a training/coaching group, doing more group rides and following a program under the instruction of coaches. I think the only reason why I haven’t signed up to coaching before is that most of them start either too early, not great when you have to travel from Aspendale or they finish too late and with my new field of work, taking a shower at work when everyone has already had an hour’s work will not look great…

I won’t be starting out with them until after my move into the new house and when things settle down with sewing and my work but I am looking forward to setting and achieving new goals in the near future. Some goals I have for cycling include:

• Being more comfortable about riding in groups, this includes being able to keep up with speeds greater than 30km/hr for the entire ride.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  • This is the only way at which I can finish at a reasonable time for Amy’s Gran Fondo and Giro della Donna


• Maintaining my cadence > 60 when climbing for gradients > 5%



• Pushing my power/weight ratio > 2W/kg for the majority of the ride with an average power of > 150W



• Following on from the power/weight ratio, reducing my fat mass down to < 65kg

Triathlon training really didn’t condition me for road racing/riding, not enough time in groups and not enough opportunities at cornering either. In the past, there would be one or two cycling sessions a week (on windtrainers) and then a long ride on the weekend. Not sufficient for road racing.

Things I will need to invest in for 2017:

• Getting a power meter for the purpose of monitoring strength and improvement of power to weight ratios. I was supposed to get it within 2016 but luckily it hasn’t been required



• If I do end up doing proper road racing events then I will need to invest in a non-disc brake, Shimano groupset bike. I can’t reach the brakes and the shifters on my Campagnolo down on the drops and I can’t use my Liv because of disc brakes.



• Paying for cycling coaching. At the moment, I have been in contact with Lead Out and will try out a week or two before I sign up, most likely on a $130/month plan.



• Recovery boots. I rented them for 6 months last year when I was training for 3 Peaks and I found them to be a great help especially for my Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS).

I am pencilling in some big goals for 2017 and 2018. I may visit the goal of Falls Creek Challenge again in 2018, with a bit of guidance and a proper training program I want to be able to tick that event off my bucketlist. I will also be biting the bullet and signing up to some road races over the winter months to learn how to ride at a decent distance in a pack.

I am looking forward to being a fitter, better bike handler and generally healthier version of myself for 2017 onwards. 

 

Slowly getting there

I am started to pick up my cycling since I got back from holidays and post Bicycle Market/getting my online shop happening http://bikelove.cc


There are a few cycling events lined up for the next 3 months or so but we have just received a notification that we have to vacate our rental... which is a pain in the ass as we have only been in our Aspendale place for just over 6 months!!!


I am hoping to get an entry into Chase the Dog which is a predominately off-road/gravel ride in and around Forrest and I will this ride on my CX bike. Fingers crossed that I am able to ride the entire way and it is not as hard as Ol'Dirty. Then I have Ride to the Divide on the 6th November before the Giro della Donna on the 27th November. That will make up my cycling events for 2016.


I have decided to no longer to the Alpine Classic as I am going to head to Adelaide for the TDU - more because I will be having a pop-up market there.


Although the weather has significantly improved over the last few weeks with temps over 10 degrees celcius, the wind has noticeably picked up. It doesn't really bother me too much as I try to do as many of my long rides in the hills as I can. My goal at the moment is to hit 150km a week. Easy if I choose to ride to work as it is a 60km day. A spin class is about 25km and a long hilly ride should be > 50km. I am definitely using Strava to improve on my times both climbing and descending. I can tell with my descents down 1-in-20 that I am much more faster (up to 3 minutes faster) and more confident as I am learning to descend on the drops instead of the hoods.


For the next few weeks, I will be inspecting houses, saving up money for the rental bond and all the BS that comes with moving house.

Bicycle Market & No Cycling

So I have been very very very quiet in the blogging front since Ol’Dirty in Aug 2016 and I had mentioned that the two events I had entered were Amy’s Gran Fondo and Dirty Gran Fondo…well I didn’t end up doing either events.

My hobby business of handmade custom cycling caps and musettes had picked up a tad and I was committed on a pop-up store at the Bicycle Market on the 17^th September. With that in mind, rather than spending an entire weekend away from the sewing machine, I decided to stay in Melbourne, finished off my 21 caps for an order from the US and more for my pop up store.

On Monday 12^th I had finished and posted my US orders (all 21 handmade cycling caps) and then I flew into Perth for work for the next 3 days (no sewing!) With only 2 more days post Perth to make stock for the Bicycle Market, I was up until 2am in the morning on Thursday and Friday night….

The Bicycle Marker was pretty much a swap-meet. There was pretty much only 2-3 stalls out of 50 which sold something new…It wasn’t the ideal market for my goods but I am happy to report that I sold a third of my stock and will be putting the rest of them up on my online shop.

I received positive feedback for my caps and I will need to work on display for the next market opportunity and will be looking at a pop-up at the 2017 TDU.

I decided to stay at home and have a rest and not do the Dirty Gran Fondo. The Canadian didn’t want to put himself through an event like this without having been on a bike in months and it was also a wet day and I couldn’t be bothered dealing with it all….

With the weather picking up during the week, I had committed myself to be on the bike as much as possible. This includes commuting to and from work (I live 35km from work), playing on the track for 30min or so through to a long ride on the weekend.

Ol'Dirty 2016 - Too much walking by me to call it a cycling event....

On 28^th Aug, I participated in my first Ol’Dirty (hosted by Hells500 and Maap). I had never done this event before, only recommended by friends and seeing amazing photos on social media from the previous years as we have always been overseas.

The Canadian and I bought our tickets when he received an invite from friends a few months ago. We decided to buy the VIP ticket seeing as this was our first for this event.

The Canadian had a family emergency and flew back to the Motherland on Friday 26^th so I was doing the event by myself. I tend not to rally up big groups for events like this as I don’t ride at anyone’s pace and if I need to tune out with music, it wouldn’t be awkward.

The alarm went off at 5:30am and I left the house at 6am as the plan was to arrive at Marysville by 8am for a toilet stop, registration and get ready for the 9am start. When I left Melbourne it was not too cold, a comfortable temp of 11 degrees but when I arrived at Marysville, it was a chilly 6 degrees and everyone noticed the difference.

I met up with a few friends from triathlon days and we chatted for a bit before the briefing slightly after 9am.

Al, me and Lisa (pic taken by Reese M)

I knew the first part of the ride was along the main road and this part of the ride was fast and smooth due to the slight descent. Then it was a sharp right turn Eagles Nest Road. It was a shock to the legs with some part of the climb at 15% with the last pinch at 22%. Some (including yours truly) rested at the corner before another ride-able climb. We then went off the fire trail onto a narrow climb with plenty of rocks and fallen debris. I didn’t ride through this section as it was too technical for me until I reached the descent onto Mt Margaret Road.

There was about 2km of pushing my bike up inclines of 15-35% which took forever and it was at this point I really questioned why I was doing this event and how incapable I was of riding it. At about the 15 - 22km, it was a slow climb grinding away on the saddle. I stopped at the top of the climb to put my arm warmers and gloves back on as the temps started to drop and I felt it during the last few ks of the climb.

At the 30km mark, there was another chick who rode passed me at one point and she pointed out the short cut of the ride (Thank you Christie). This route consisted of many fallen trees (95% of the time I had to jump off the bike and carry it over or under the branches) and sharp rocky descents. I surprised myself that I made it out alive and didn’t crash on my face. I descended on the drops which was a big improvement to my bike handling skills 12 months ago.

At the bottom of the descent, I thought I was totally lost. I double and triple checked the map and my phone to make sure that I didn’t need to be air lifted out of the forest. On another note, I had run out of water having only carried one bottle that I filled up my bottle under a flow of water over some rocks I found on the side of the route (very Bear Grylls/Survivor of me).

I found some Hells500 signs and tyre tracks which ensured me that I was not completely lost and when I found myself on the route which joined the normal course together and I was no longer the only cyclist in the middle of nowhere, I was so relieved. This relief was short lived as we were in for more climbing over Cerberus Road which pretty much consisted of me pushing my bike up a climb for about 80% of the 3km climb. A few of the CyclingTips cars went by me and I was handed a diet coke, which I filled up my bottle with and carried the empty can in my pocket for the rest of the ride and a crunchie bar that I ate in the car on the drive home.  

At the end of that climb, there was the lunch stop which allowed the VIP ticket holders with valet parking of their bikes, a robe to wear, champagne, pizza and other drinks. At this point of the day, I was so tired and not feeling positive about the amount of non-riding I had been doing so I decided against stopping and headed straight onto the route back to the finish. The descent was not the smoothest but I am glad my confidence had picked up along the day and didn’t hesitate too much even through some sections with sharp small loose rocks.

The best part of (my) day was Mt Margaret road (bitumen) as I was able to descend straight with no stress about picking a good line, the fear of face planting over rocks or over the cliff and knowing that I am about to hit the Buxton-Marysville road into Marysville. I ended up riding with one of the girls from SKCC (thanks Reese) and we chatted and kept each other company until the end of the ride.

The ride took longer than I had anticipated with my average speed at 10km/hr so I didn’t get to my car until 3:30pm or so. It was a quick pack up of the bike into the car with no wash and then headed straight home with a hot jam donut stop after Black Spur. 

Looking through social media last night, I saw that plenty of people also thought that the day was tough. I initially felt really defeated from the event, similar to the Dirty Gran Fondo 2015 where I came dead last in my category and walked everything which had a gradient more than 1%.

(Not showing my face, totally devastated and broken from the ride)

Not having any interaction with a bike since mid July and travelling through Thailand and Vietnam didn’t help with my lack of bike handling and general fitness either. At the moment, my ass cheeks, back and arms are seriously sore and the thought of another ride like that so soon would turn me off cycling all together.

I need time to digest the event whilst bringing my mind forward on to the next which is Amy’s Gran Fondo. on the 11th Sept. Fingers crossed that I will have a better day on the saddle.

This event brought me out of my comfort zone for sure - about riding the CX bike outside of commuting and just riding in conditions other than bitumen.

Will I do this event again? I guess it really depends on when and where we head off for our 2017 holidays and how much training I can get during the cold months of Melbourne winter. Maybe I will set myself a goal of being able to ride more on the CX bike at high gradients and for longer climbs....time will tell.

For now, I wish for a massage and a hot bath for several hours.

Cycling/Life Update

It has been over a month since my last blog post. Since the Liv Trail ride, I haven’t been on the bike as I went overseas for a little holiday. We were supposed to head to Canada/US again back to the motherland, but due to a few family circumstances, we decided that we will see the family at the end of the year instead.

We ended up travelling to Thailand (Phuket and Bangkok) and Vietnam (Hanoi and Ha Long Bay) over 2.5 weeks. The holiday was amazingly filled with food (mango sticky rice), fresh juices (mango, coconut and watermelon) coupled with plenty of walking and tourist site seeing.   

Looking ahead in my schedule, I have a few events coming up. This Sunday 28^th, I am doing the Ol’Dirty which will be the longest ride on my CX bike (on gravel). The conditions will not be wet so it should be more comfortable than if it was pissing down with rain.

Then I have one more weekend before Amy’s Gran Fondo….which I am slightly worried about as I haven’t been on a bike in 2.5 months.

On the 17^th Sept, I am setting up a Pop Up store at the FYXO Melburn Bicycle Market from 7-11am selling my cycling caps and musettes. Then on Sunday the 18^th, I am going to be doing the Dirty (Medio) Gran Fondo (Gembrook) again - maybe on the CX bike, will see how I fare at Ol'Dirty.  

I haven’t signed up for Around the Bay yet but most likely will or do a long ride that day with a few hundred others. I don't need to stop at the aid stations (never ever liked to stop for long periods or eat too much food).

The Giro della Donna is on the 27^th Nov and I am putting that down as the main event for 2016. I want to do better than last year – both time wise and general bike fitness/confidence riding up and down the hills.

In 2017, I am going to do the Alpine Classic ride again (accommodation booked) but will decide if I am going to do the 200km Buffalo Sunrise or the 130km Falls Creek (same one as last year).

As far as Peaks Challenge, I am not going to do it for 2017. My heart is not into it. I need to feel positive about it before I can sign myself up not only for the event but also the funds and time on the bike. I might look into doing an Everest in 2017 instead.

Safe Cycling XX

Liv (Trail) Ride - Yarra Junction Aquaduct Fun.

On Saturday 9th July, I did a ride with the Liv MTB group. This time, instead of doing any technical mountain bike rides, they did a trail ride which I thought would be good "practice" for using my CX outside of commuting and Melburn Roobaix.


The night before the ride, I experienced another one of my worried-about-things-anxiety attacks. I had not done a ride like this before and wasn't sure how I would go. I was adamant on riding the CX rather than my mountain bike so that added more worries upon existing worries. I didn't end up sleeping much (probably about 2 hours in total) but luckily the ride started at 10am rather than some crazy (road riding) hour.


I woke up at 8am, left the house at 8:30 and arrived at Yarra Junction at 9:45am which gave me plenty of time to get ready. There were only two people who rode CX bikes, myself and one of the ride leaders.


The first part of the ride was along the Warburton Rail trail to Warburton (to Cog Café). It was a very casual pace and Sally and I were chatting along the way. We had a pit stop at Cog for a few minor repairs and then it was off to ride a 1.5km of the Donna Buang road until we hit O'Shannasy aquaduct trail.

The climb up Donna Buang Road was hard. I had to many layers on and was sweating buckets. I haven't ridden up Donna Buang since the Giro della Donna in November. Not sure when I will return to Donna for a proper ride but doing it in the middle of winter is not my cup of tea, maybe around October again...


The aquaduct trail was nice and flat for 99.95% of the route. There were a few tricky pinches and areas where you had to hop off the bike and push/carry the bike through. I really enjoyed the trail and something I will definitely do again. Apart from some slippery puddles, most the route was just covered in twigs and bark.

There was one part of the trail which I had to walk the bike down. It was -20 to -24% and too much gravel for my comfort zone. After that, it was a fast descent down Don Road back to Launching Place where we got back onto the Warburton Rail Trail back to Yarra Junction. We stopped at Amanda's café for lunch to end the day.


The whole ride was about 32km and 2 hours of riding (I had my autopause set and the total time was actually about 2:45).


I was so glad I came on the ride. It was manageable for my level of skills and on the CX bike apart from the sharp (and short) descent where I walked the bike down. If it wasn't for the group, I would not have known about the route.


Overall, great ride and I got to (finally) have a chat with Kathryn for the first time.

CX Ride

On Saturday 9th July, I will be joining a ride out along the Warburton trail with the Liv group. This will be the first ride outside of the Melburn Roobaix on my CX (Betty) Bike.


I am planning on riding the Ol'Dirty on the CX bike so I need some experience on the CX bike as I want to avoid bringing my road bike.


Wish me luck!

Melburn Roobaix 2016 - The Cold One #MelburnRoobaix

On Sunday 26th June, I joined in for my 4th Melburn Roobaix (hosted by Fyxo). If you want some more reports on previous years, you can find them here:


2013 - The First One
2014 - The Wet One
2015 - The (not) Wet One

A Roobaix is not a Roobaix unless a donut (or two) is involved

I had a (sick) cold starting from Monday last week and was off work for about 3 days after that. I didn't end up doing the EllaxMaap ride due to being sick but thought Roobaix ride was not too intense so I should be ok to do this...


What I couldn't account for was that Sunday was soooooooo (temperature) cold...we are talking 2 degrees (with tops of 11) and being outside, riding a bike = my (sick) cold intensified!


So the day started like the previous years where the Canadian and I would park the car in Abbotsford (kinda in between Hawthorn and Brunswick). If I was doing a normal ride, I would have on my long sleeve base layer and maybe a short sleeved jersey with arm warmers. This day required extra layers and the most I had ever worn in my life (of cycling). I had on my Macpac long sleeved base layer, my extra thick long sleeved cycling jersey I bought from Japan, never worn as it is stupidly thick and over that, my new Rapha wind jacket. I wore knee warmers with my knicks, two pairs of socks, wool gloves, my BIKE LOVE cap with ear warmers and my buff.

At Three Bags Full

We arrived around 9am and instead of riding to Hawthorn, we decided to have a coffee at Three Bags Full to warm ourselves up first before the quick ride down to the velodrome.


We arrived just after 9:30am and the line to pick up the musettes were already stretched out alongside the field. As the registration was far more straight forward this year (exchange ticket with musette), the line moved very quickly.

The Canadian and I sussed out the first stop and we ended up riding with large groups to the first stop. It was packed as usual and we answered the first question and then moved on.


What I had noticed with this year's Roobaix route is that it was shorter compared to previous years - less stops and shorter distances. We didn't end up venturing much around North Melbourne/Flemington way and the furthest was Ascot Vale. The route this year did include the trails along the Eastern Freeway which was fun (read: muddy) on the CX bike. I can't imagine how I would have handled it on the roadie.


There were some steep sections after the Eastern Freeway trails - I walked up "the walkway" of Marshall Street which had a gradient of 30-40%. It was impossible for me to ride up that road especially with so many people around...The Canadian rode up the climb and luckily he had a good path in front and around him that he was able to do it.


We stopped for lunch after "The Brewery" stop (Temple Brewery) and had lunch at The B*East. I had a vego slider and the Canadian had a burger and we shared a Poutine together.

Still freezing...

After lunch, it was an adventure towards Ascot Vale, ride along the "drains" (?!) and then the donut stop at Brunswick West where we once again caught up with friends (who work at the bike shop), we then rode together to the last stop before heading towards the Brunswick Velodrome for the finish.

We spent the rest of the time at the finished area chatting with friends, collecting free stuff and handing in our finished manifests. Personally, I felt that due to the finish line not being at the Velodrome (due to repair works), the finished line atmosphere wasn't as good as previous years. The crowds were more spread out amongst the field. I wasn't as engaged in the "voting" process for the costumes, maybe because my sinuses were blocked and I didn't even realize that the draw for the final prize happened.... but I still had a great time and loved the whole day.


My cold has gotten significantly worse after Sunday but it was worth it!!! Can't wait for next year and hopefully the finish line will be back in the Velodrome.

Cycling and Stuff Update

It has been over a month since my last event and I have just been doing a few rides here and there. My next cycling event on the calendar is the Ella x MAAP ride on the 25th June and Melburn Roobaix on the 26th June.

I haven't signed up for Peaks Challenge yet. I am still not committed to it. Although I enjoyed the training, I look back at all the hard work, money spent travelling and paying for accommodation and just not being at home and then stressing out about the ability to meet the 13 hour deadline is not something which I look forward to. So for now, I am going to work on manageable goals in getting stronger on the bike rather putting myself through that realm again until I am ready, both physically and mentally.

I enjoy cycling, don't get me wrong. It is something which I have carried on doing after my stint with triathlon-ing. I have continued with cycling to keep me fit and the impact on my joints has been minimal so that's a benefit.

Looking ahead, after Melburn Roobaix, I have my sights set on Ol'Dirty on the 28th Aug, Amy's Gran Fondo on the 11th Sept (main event), Dirty Gran Fondo Gembrook on the 18th Sept and then I may or may not do Around the Bay in October. I had such a great time last year and the weather was just pure-100% perfect so I just don't want to ruin my experience.

I have changed things around a bit. I am trying out new spin classes to work on strengthening myself on the bike. I am sticking with the Wattbikes but I am mixing things up a bit as different classes use different watt bike types and training types.

Without being too specific:
Class 1 - Often work on technique, we actually look at the pedal efficiency, work on the core. When we work on strength, the cadence is very low and I crank up the fan all the way up to 10 and the magnet to 5-6 and can be pedalling from 50rpm all the day up to 65rpm. We do a few max efforts along the way. The efforts are based on % of max efforts so it will depend on what you determine your max effort is.

Class 2 - They work with the zones based on your MMP test. I attend more KOM classes so during these sessions they work mainly on low cadences and maintaining particular zones. This class has a combination of Wattbike Pro and Wattbike Trainers. I have only used Pro bikes by mistake. The cons about this session is the distance from home. The drive alone is about 40km and the class which I do starts at 5:30am (4am alarm) I really enjoy working within the zones as it is different for everyone.

Class 3 - They only have Wattbike Pro and the difference is within the recovery periods where you want to be able to spin the legs out. I haven't done too many of their sessions. The first session, they instructor based it on W/kg which was hard to maintain for long periods of time especially when your fitness and strength is not quiet there. Everyone had to ride on the same gear and maintain the approx the same cadence so it was hard to maintain especially when the gears of the bike is harder than what I am used to. I am going to attend more of these classes as I feel that I am not part of the main group and therefore, plenty to improve. The location is also great as it is around the corner from work.

I haven't done too many road rides. I just haven't been motivated enough to do them myself as I haven't got a group to do it with and I am not pressured to do it if I am not with a group. If the weather is shit, I stay indoors. I do replace those outdoor rides with spin classes so I am still working on my riding muscles.

Fingers crossed this weekend will have good weather as I would like to complete the Crucifix before the Ella x Maap ride.

Too cold to even smile (4 degrees)

Friends of Tribal Ride (28th May)

The Dirty (Medio) Fondo - Race Report

Today, I completed my 3rd Dirty Gran Fondo at Wandong (4th event if you include Dirty Gran Fondo at Gembrook).

Photo taken by The Canadian at the start

I didn't write too much about the this leading up to it as I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself to do well. I did the same route/distance as last year which was good because it gave me something to compare. The 65km Medio on the mountain bike.

Last year, I came DFL with a time of 5:33. This year, I didn't place DFL and I had an improved (total) time of approx 45min.

The event started much later than last year. Much better as it takes 1 - 1.5 hours to get to Wandong from Melbourne. You are also able to wear what you would ride in for the most of the day rather than worrying about layers. This year, I started the event wearing my short sleeve jersey and bib knicks - no arm warmers, no ear warmers, no knee warmers and no rain jacket. The weather has been kinder to us this year compared to the previous 3. We got to the grounds around 8:30am and it was a mad rush to the toilets (I was busting pretty much from South Melbourne) and to pick up our race numbers before rego closed at 8:45am.

The event started at 9am and I stayed at the back, my usual starting spot for events like these. I rode well through the first 10km, slight climbs through some rocky sections. It was then a fast descent where I decided to practice on my descending skills - being relaxed more through the shoulders and arms, bum off the saddle and use the legs as suspension too. I also trusted my bike that it wouldn't fall into pieces if I rode over rocky and bumpy sections.

I remember one section of the climb where I first hopped off to climb, I am glad to report that this year, I rode up most of the climb to a point where I started spinning through the gravel (it was so steep) and I fell off the bike. Luckily, my hydration backpack broke my fall and I walked away with minor grazes on my elbows and a bruised palm. I wore my long finger gloves so the fall wasn't as bad if I wore no gloves (glad about that last minute decision). I walked my bike up the rest of the climb and had no idea that my chain had come off and was wrapped about the hubs. There was a section of the trail where some guys were shooting bullets into the open field and that was where I decided that I would hop on the bike and it was only then I realised what had happened. I spent about 10min trying to rotate my chain out between the gears and the spokes and the guys ended up helping me - how many guys does it take to get a chain out of trouble, the answer would be 3! It was really stuck! For a moment there, I thought I wouldn't finish the event due to a mechanical.

When the bike was ridable, I thanked them and rode off into more climbs. The gears were playing up due to being misaligned from the handling so it was rattling and shaking throughout. I ploughed through the first feed zone when there was no mechanic available to help and I am not a "food" person as I carried all my nutrition on me. After the first feed zone it was a nice ride through more sheltered tracks with stunning views. Once I got to the 2nd feed zone, I could get someone to help me tune my bike so the gears were aligned with the chain. After this, there was no more rattling but there was a high pitch squealing which I thought  were birds amongst the trees for about 10km before I realised it was actually me.

I remember a few points along the route where I walked up the climbs and I am happy to report that I rode through all of them, every single one!!

Looking at my strava, it looks like there were some good 25% pinches and I felt every single one of them. Luckily the terrain was rough enough that my tyres had a good grip. The final 13km was pretty much downhill and apart from a few tricky sections, I let gravity do its thing. Happy to say that my top speed was 10km/hr higher than last year and so was my average speed was 4km/hr more.

I felt good on the bike but I didn't want to be too complacent. I knew that I wasn't DFL and I knew that I was well under my previous time.

Riding through the presentation 

So happy to finish (or still grinning from the caffeine gels)

Before the start...

According to the actual results, I finished 4:47 which is 45min faster than last year's 5:33.

A few comments/notes:

• Although I trusted my abilities on the bike much better compared to 12 months ago. Some technical sections of the course still had me rattled, especially sections where there were sharp turns. 
• Increase my strength and fitness on the bike so I feel like I am actually racing and not just "riding"
• Without the falling off the bike thing, stopping for 10-15min to get my chain out of the hubs through to getting it tuned at the feed zone, I would like to aim for a respectable time of 4:15-4:30 for next year. 
• I really do need to get on the mountain bike more than the two events I do per year. 
• I would like to do the Dirty Gran Fondo Gembrook on 18 Sept and it is a week after Amy's Gran Fondo (11th Sept 2016). I did both last year and they were also a week apart. 

For the next week, I will do a spin class (most likely on the Tuesday), Albert Park laps if the weather is not shit (otherwise, it will be spin class), most likely another ride into work on the Friday. No long rides this weekend due to some schedules clashing and me having to finish off a billion cycling caps. 

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

7 Peaks - Mt Baw Baw (7/7)

So over the Easter weekend, I completed my 7^th Peak as part of the 7 Peaks Challenge. As you may or may not know, I didn’t end up participating in the Peaks Challenge Falls Creek due to being stupidly sick. I had it pencilled in on the 26^th March to finish off the 7 Peaks Challenge as it is 2 weeks after the Peaks Challenge as tackling Mt Baw Baw straight after Peaks would not be the greatest of ideas.

The day came and I had the Canadian, my friend’s husband (Pete) scheduled in to ride up Mt Baw Baw. Pete is a pretty good cyclist. He rides to work everyday and he races A grade at crits. The Canadian has been having problems with his ankle and he didn’t get a chance to change his cassette on this road bike to be able to tackle Mt Baw Baw well so he ended up riding his mountain bike.

Pete and Dayna rode from Noojee with Dayna riding back to Noojee from Tanjil Bren where we parked (already a pretty big hilly day on the bike). We set off around 9:30am and the day was pretty perfect for the climb.

Once we rode through Big Tree Creek, it was a steady and very very manageable climb – so much so, I was spinning at 75-80rpm which we all know that it meant that we were not really climbing….

The official start for the 7 Peaks Challenge is at the Gantry and this is clearly marked on the side of the road. I saw a car parked there and it appeared that someone was just going to ride the 7 Peaks route without a warm up…

Once I hit the main climb, it was a struggle. The gradient was already above 10% and I was already standing up out of my saddle. I rode for about a few hundred metres or so before the gradient went above 12% for too long for me to be out of the saddle and I had to hop off the bike and walk… When I could, I got back on the bike but before too long, the gradient once again reached too high for me to pedal through out of the saddle. I got back on the bike on the start of Mt Baw Baw road after stopping to read about where abouts I am on the climb and if I have passed the 20% part or not….when I realised that I have not gone through Winch Corner yet….URGH! So I tried as much as I could to ride through it all by not looking up….but the gradient just shot up too high for me to ride through. 

Through this section of the climb, I had about 6 people ride pass me. All were pushing their max. All had sweat, snot, grinding teeth, grunts and just in a world of pain. Some were zig-zagging through the climb and eventually made it up….I walked (4km/hr).

Once I walked passed the stupid part of the climb, I got back on the bike and had 3 km left to ride to the end. I really just wanted it all to end but still had 3km to go, riding at 10%+….when I came around the corner and saw the entrance to Mt Baw Baw resort, I was so happy that it finally finished. The Canadian was waiting for me at the entrance and we stopped for a coffee before the descent.

My 7 Peaks time was 1:36 which placed me waaaaaaay below the Strava leader board but it’s all relative. Pete did it around 34min and the Canadian did it around an hour or so.

I put on both my arm warmers, wind jacket and gloves before we descended. To be dead honest, I didn’t even realise I was descending down steep roads. The disc brakes of my bike is great for that. I kept my speed below 45km/hr as the road conditions were horrendous. I stopped after the creek to take off my layers before the small climb back to Tanjil Bren. All throughout the ride back to the car, I was swearing to myself that I will not be riding up Mt Baw Baw ever again and this sentiment still holds. I don’t know if it was because I am not at 100% health wise (still coughing), over 4 weeks since my last hilly ride up towards Hotham, having an anxiety attack in the car when we got into Tanjil Bren or that mentally I was just not prepared to push through the uncomfortable-ness of the ride…

Mt Baw Baw is by far the hardest of the 7 Peaks to do. It is the only one which I had to hop off the bike to walk (I didn’t even walk up WTF, CRB, Meg…)

Now having done all of the 7 Peaks challenge rides, my personal ranking for the rides are as follows:

1) Mt Baw Baw
2) Mt Hotham*

3) Falls Creek*

4) Mt Buller

5) Lake Mountain*

6) Mt Buffalo*

7) Dinner Plain

*The climbs I have done more than once. 

Out of all 7 rides, my favorite has to be Mt Buffalo. I enjoyed how it was more of a constant climb and I could actually keep my cadence > 65rpm for 95% of the climb. I would do Mt Buffalo again in a heartbeat. 

Will I take on 7 Peaks again next year - the answer will be yes but will leave Mt Baw Baw out...because it is stupid..

Moving forward

It has been a week since my post. I am still coughing up my lung but no longer feeling drowsy or sick. I also haven't touched my climbing bike (Avail) since my last big ass ride up Hotham and not touched my Wilier since taper weekend. I think I may have forgotten how to ride a bike...

Well this week, I am going to ease myself back into it....starting out with CF altitude on Tuesday evening. I have also (already) signed up back to Art of Cycling (AOC) on Thursday 5:30am. The Spinroom is opening up a studio in Albert Park in April, I will see how these sessions are and may do these instead of the 5:30am at AOC. Driving all the way to Spotswood from Aspendale can take its toll especially over the West Gate bridge. I will have to be more prepared with my clothing and nutrition so I will drive to work instead of driving all the way home to get ready for work (what I used to do when I lived 2km from work).

This weekend, I have a few cycling things to do:

Easter Friday - I will be trying out track cycling at Brunswick Velodrome. I am excited, yet a bit scared about this...the whole not having control thing with no braking kinda scares me....but I am however looking forward to riding around and around on the velodrome.

(Easter) Saturday - I have planned (even with a Facebook event) to ride up Mt Baw Baw and tick off my 7th and final peaks climb. Fingers crossed I am able to climb this Peak....all I am asking for is good weather. If the weather is crap-o-la, I will try to do the climb either on the Sunday or Monday. If it can't be done during the Easter holidays, then it will be something I will just have to let go of as the 7 Peaks Challenge must be completed by 31 March.

If I have time over the Easter holidays, I may ride the Dirty Gran Fondo (65km) course on my mtb...

I still need to do some strength/endurance training as I have The Ascent ride on 17 April and this is an event I want to be able to complete comfortably.

----------------------------------

With regards to training events and goals for 2016/2017, I will need to look into them and put them down in writing. I know one is Amy's Gran Fondo - being able to finish this event under 5 hours is my goal. Taking in account a bike with more gears, me with stronger climbing legs and working on my endurance and road racing skills between now and the event in September. I need to move away from triathlon style training and work on getting stronger with a group.

I will also incorporate more commutes to work on the bike as now I live 13km from work instead of 2km.

It just wasn't my time...

So some of you are probably wondering now - what happened after my last post?? Where was the count down to Peaks? How was the day leading up to the big event and how was the actual Peaks Challenge?!

Well, pretty much the day after I wrote my last blog entry, I fell really ill. I only had a cold (no injuries or anything like that) but I was coughing, sneezing and drowsy pretty much from Wednesday morning onwards. I took a day off a few weeks ago as I thought I had a small cold and slept it off but last week, it came back in full-punch-in-the-face-style.

I had planned on still heading up to Falls Creek on Friday morning and seeing how I went whilst my partner would do some mountain biking around the area. After all, I had already paid close to $900 for 4 nights accommodation at Falls Creek already. Come Friday midday, I was still in bed and I hadn't packed my bags or bike yet so we changed our plans to drive up on Saturday morning instead. I pretty much decided on Friday night that I would withdraw from Peaks Challenge and only packed my normal bag (no cycling gear). Come Saturday morning, I was still really sick and was in no state to be in the car for over 5 hours to get to Falls Creek. We then decided to just stay in Melbourne for the long weekend instead. We then picked up our little dog from her Pet Country club (fancy dog kennel) and our little family spent quality time together in between my long naps.

On Sunday in between my sleeps and eating only oranges (all I craved and ate when I was sick), I paid close attention to social media and tracked how my friends were travelling throughout the day. The weather was good for the event (no rain as predicted) but it did get humid and hot after lunch. Most of the people I was following completed the event but all struggled and rated it the hardest thing they have done. This also how it was described from one of my friends who finished an "Everesting" only 2 weeks ago (Donna Buang).

Deep down, I was never confident that I would actually make the cut off time of 13 hours. Comparing my times against the cut offs they had provided, both my climbing and descending speeds are below their averages. I had always planned on keeping my breaks to 2min at each water stop (exc toilet breaks). I would have skipped my lunch break at Dinner Plain as I have never been a "eat lunch" kinda person on my long rides and I consume my calories pretty much on the 30min mark with sometimes a date in between. As I had mentioned before, Peaks Challenge is actually a challenge. It is unlike an Ironman where you can pretty much walk the marathon and make the cut off time of 17 hours. Even for a below average athlete like myself, I finished my (full) Ironman within 13:12, with below average times for all 3 legs and still had plenty of time for photos and smiles. During Peaks, you have no "rest" and it is not an event you can do with no hard training. A cut off time of 13 hours is actually hard to do!

I had plenty of support from friends who mentioned how much I had trained and how I would achieve this goal. It was very humbling to know that people believed that I was ready and some were even heart broken when I told them that I was sick and pulled out of the event. I know that I did put in some major hours on the saddle and most of it was done solo. I know that I have the mental endurance to get myself through the event, I guess my body's ability to climb and descend just need to catch up.

I wouldn't have said that my preparation was ideal. Many people have mentioned that I can be negative about myself but I would also like to point out some background:

• Since 2010, my road bike has Campagnolo group sets. Therefore, I never rode the bike on my drops as I wasn't able to reach the brakes or change gears (Campags have thumb shifters) and to make matters worse, I also have tiny hands. It is only October 2015 that I had a bike with Shimano group sets and I am now able to reach the brakes and change gears on my drops. Descending on the drops is something which I am still learning how to do. 
• Following on from the descending thing - I also have a fear of descending. There are a few factors which play in my hesitation when it comes to descending - my fall in July 2014, my lack of bike skills especially turning, my witness of someone falling off the side of the mountain at Kinglake 2011, I don't have a background in going downhill for any sort of activity - skiing, snowboarding, horse riding etc and just the lack of experience in positioning my body on the bike during descents. 
• Cadence along with a good power output is something which I need to work on. I have never been a high cadence person. I never used to race at 90rpm even during triathlon or time trialling. My comfortable race cadence was around 80rpm. My climbing cadence used to be around 40-50rpm. I used to climb Benwerrin in my large chain ring (no compact), low cadence. I should have been training years ago to ride on the small chain ring and higher cadence. Maintaining a higher cadence whilst also maintaining a good power zone is something which I need to gauge. Riding at a higher cadence = not tire out my muscles. 
• I was moving house early 2016 which meant that critical training sessions was not optimised. I had to (i)Look for a place to move into (ii)Pack the old house (iii) Move into the new house and this took a good 5 weekends out of January and February. 
• My cycling climbing only really started in Oct 2015. Prior to that, I would have only done about 4 rides/year in the "hills" since 2010 when I started triathlon. Hills = Kinglake or the Dandenongs (1-in-20). Due to being a triathlon assistant coach 2012-2015, I was often placed to ride with beginners at Studley Park or Beach Road and I would only be out on group rides at Kinglake or the Dandenongs only 4 times max during the winter months. Even then, I would be one of the slower riders due to lack of strength and experience. Since leaving the whole triathlon thing aside, I have climbed more within a month of February 2016 than I ever did my whole life.

I do have plans on completing this route in 2017. I will either complete it as part of the AUDAX (Alpine Classic weekend) or Peaks Challenge next year. These are a few things that I will need to work on:

• Monitoring my power on the bike. I am going to invest in a power meter in the next few months so I can gauge the power output on the bike especially during my climbs and holding it with a higher cadence. I have worked on this during my spin classes at AOC but it hasn't carried through where is counts, out on the roads and climbing. 
• Strength and Core As much as I have incorporated my s & c sessions during my build for Peaks, moving forward, I will need to tweak the program to something more tailored to cycling. Something which I will need to research into more and consult with Chris. 
• The times which I will need to climb the three peaks will need to be reduced significantly if I am to make the cut off. I need to aim to climb Tawonga Gap within 40min (current PB at 49min) Harrietville - Hotham down to 2:15 (current PB at 2:56!), WTF - Trapyard Gap down to 1:20 (currently 1:45). In between, I need to learn to descend properly and not be scared when my speed goes above 40km/hr (or 25km/hr around corners). 
• I need to incorporate some group rides in my program to be more comfortable about working in groups during the flatter sections in between the climbs. I actually didn't have a plan for this year about this as I knew that I was going to be at the back during the first section of the event (the descent after Falls) and was going to be pretty much by myself anyway.
• The hilly rides during winter need to be at least 3 (quality) hours long. Lets aim to do the Full Crucifix (inc Sky High) in 2016. 
• Aim to achieve PB for all my climbs - 1 in 20, The Wall, Inverness Road, Devil's Elbow, Lake Mountain, Donna Buang, Mt Buffalo, Falls Creek etc

I will leave the blog post here for now regarding Peaks Challenge. There are a few things I have lined up in the next few weeks which I will write about more but for now, I am still recovering from my cold and giving myself a break before I get back on the saddle.