Farewell D grade! .. apparently..

Final race meeting of the Port Adelaide Cycling Club's winter track series. This was my first full track series, so it has been an utterly massive learning experience.

The title of this post is a reference to being told (repeatedly!) that I'd get moved up to C grade next time.. <gulp!>.

There were a couple of people missing from D grade that have raced in past rounds, but we also had the return of Michelle who is a bit of a gun sprinter. From past races I know that if she starts her sprint before me, the race is as good as lost.

Heart Starter
As usual, the first race of the meeting was a short scratch race to get things into gear. The pace was fairly measured for the most part, with the group staying tightly together until just before the bell lap. I started the sprint a bit earlier than I normally would and managed to hold off a fast finishing Michelle and Meriel.

Heart starter - Strava data

Team Pursuit

Team Pursuit

For this race, D grade was split into 2 groups, with an additional rider Sarah from C grade making up the sixth rider. On the balance of things, it looked like the teams were pretty even, which I think is how the race panned out.

Off the start, my team got away pretty smartly, and for a while looked like we might make short work of it. Things rapidly turned as Miss V's team pulled back their disadvantage. Team work was key here, as there's no point leaving half your team behind!  The race ended up being a competition as to who could protect their slowest rider the best, which I think Miss V's team did much better.

So despite riding pretty smoothly, my team was beaten by Miss V's team by about 4 seconds..  well played

Strava data is interesting on this one as it shows just how consistent our pace was.

Team Pursuit - Strava data

Scratch race
A 15 lap race, which was also pencilled in as contributing points to the series omnium.  Unlike the heartstarter, this one seemed to have a few surges at the front during the course of the race, and a couple of longer turns as people tried to push the pace up a bit.  With about four or five laps to go, Michelle pushed off the front of the group with Meriel in hot pursuit. I had a bit of an effort to jump on from further back in the pack, but managed to get there. The pace backed off slightly until the bell lap, when Michelle bolted off the front and grabbed a decent lead. Meriel and I raced for second with me coming out ahead just slightly.

Scratch Race - Strava data


Elimination Race
I usually enjoy this race, though probably not for any logical reason. I wouldn't say I'm that good at them, and they hurt like hell with the constant sprinting!

The group rolled out and we had three free laps to settle in. For reasons I can't recall, I decided to stay on the front for these laps. I felt ok, so it seemed to be a good idea to be able to set my own pace.

The whistle went for the first elimination lap, and I went pretty much straight away. Heading into the final bend I noticed that Miss V had moved up alongside me on the banking..  not bad! :)  I crossed the line in the lead. Safe for now!

I'd barely got my breath back when the whistle went again..   Once again, I managed to make the cut.

Zoom!

 Rolling around, trying to recharge, and the whistle went again. The sprint started just a bit later than usual, which maybe indicated that everyone was feeling it a bit.  I entered the back straight on the front, by half way down the back straight Michelle went  past at some ridiculous speed. I could see Meriel closing fast. I got out of the saddle and..  well..   nothing.  I think my legs had given
up for the evening. I sat up, feeling pretty disappointed as I watched Michelle and Meriel battle it out for the race.

In hindsight, I probably should have kept pushing. In all likelihood I could have kept the inside line into the next bend and hope like hell that Meriel would tire before the line. Though from what I was seeing, the probability of that happening were similar to being hit by lightening..  5 times in a row..    

Elimination Race - Strava data



A big shout out should go to Lee-Anne for all her work in bringing these race meetings together, as well as the volunteers that come out week after week to make things run smoothly.  Thanks also to my Mum and Ian for coming out to watch, and helping out on the sign in desk :)

So with that, the winter series at the Superdrome finishes and we can look forward to some sun soaked evenings at the Edwardstown outdoor velodrome on friday nights..

Photos shamelessly stolen from Mick Young.

New bike Day!

Wow.

After a lot of discussion, debate, consideration and procrastination I finally manage to purchase my 40th birthday present to myself. Only one year and three months late, but I finally have my very own Pinarello :)

Happy Birthday to me!

This is a day that for a bunch of reasons was a long time in the making, most recently the possibility of further redundancies at work. That said, I figured that if I was going to get one, now was the time.

About a year ago I stepped into Mike Turtur Cycles, with the thought of getting myself a nice birthday present. Despite making it abundantly clear that I was there on a tyre kicking exercise with no intention of purchasing, the guys there were ultra helpful, whipping out sales catalogues and brochures en masse  in an effort to help. Super impressive stuff, and if nothing else made me want to buy a bike there.

This time around I had fairly convinced myself what I wanted and that I was going to buy one. As it turns out, one advantage of waiting the extra year turned out that the new frame would be Di2 specific whereas last years model was not. Apparently sometimes it pays to be indecisive!

So while Miss V was away visiting her sister in Melbourne I wandered over to Mike Turtur Cycles to (once again) ask a few questions. After a little bit of a discussion, I walked away to ponder things further. I headed back in on the Saturday to get measured up, and to work out whether I could get the paint scheme that wanted. As it turned out, the size I needed (ie "midget" or "clown bike" size) was in stock in the Black on Black scheme. Sweet.   A bit more a discussion with Greg Turtur and he suggested that I could bring in my old wheels (Mavic Cosmics) for a free service and they'd set the bike up with them. Very awesome, and an unexpected bonus.

With a day off work today, the plan was to go in for the bike fit and finish the process. I was hoping that the weather would have been nice so that I could have gone for a quick ride on my new steed afterwards, but apparently we're having about 10 years worth of rain today, so that won't be happening.

Very stealth looking from this side!

Wandering into the shop this afternoon for a fit session with Chris Turtur, I was strangely nervous, this being the first time I get to see my Pinarello.  Peeking over the counter, there she was, in all her Cosmic shod glory set up on the trainer waiting for me.   Shit just got real.

First time on the Pinarello

After a brief run down and explanation of the process, we went through a fairly comprehensive fit session, primarily covering cleat positioning, saddle height and position and bar reach. It was interesting comparing the fitting process with others that I have had recently. Bike fits by BMCR, Bike Station and now Mike Turtur Cycles were (I think) very good, with minor differences in approach, but in each case have provided a good demonstration of their knowledge and skills. Ultimately, the fit and position on this bike is closer to that on my Focus cyclocross bike than my Giant road bike, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, and possibly indicates that the frame size on my Giant is larger than I need. Pedalling on the trainer, it felt smooth and my position nicely balanced and relaxed.







I brief run down on the operation of the electronic gear shifters and we were done.  One detail that I hadn't noticed initially was that the bike had an internal battery, nice touch.

Me, looking pretty happy with things

New bike seems happy too.

 












 

PACC Crossfire Cup - Round 4 - 3rd August

Final round of the winter CX series saw us return to the enchanted forest of doom.

Recent rains meant that the surface was fairly damp and slippery, and was overgrown with onion weed and the like, providing a slippery, slimy and somewhat pungent racing surface. Apart from the forest, there were some nice flowing sections, with very few tight bends.

As usual I had signed up for B grade, which seemed to have a nice sized turn out. A work colleague from our Brisbane office (Jeremy) had made the trip down for our work mid-year dinner and brought his bike. Turns out that he's an old hand at CX having organised his own CX series in Kansas since the mid 90's.

Jeremy and I pre-race (photo c/V Riches)

I sat beside the finish line prior to my event and watched some fantastic racing in C grade where there were a few sprint finishes, while simultaneously trying to keep out of the icy wind that was sweeping through the course.

I rolled up to the start area with Jeremy, and sat waiting for the start in the freezing winds which were unbuffered by trees of any sort.

The whistle went and we headed off to the forest for the first time. On arrival we found that the conditions were significantly worse than in practice due to the MTB riders in the previous race chewing up the surface, which meant there was a lot of slipping and sliding. This only got worse as the race progressed. The first lap provided the usual sorting of riders, with the fast guys blasting off to the front while the slower guys like myself slowly filtered to the rear of the field.

Laps 1 and 2,  I was in a 4 way battle, which was sort of nice for once! I was second in line of 3 riders, with a 4th rider hanging out the front. Mid way through the 3rd lap I made a pass stick, but then immediately realised my mistake when I found myself on the front of my group, riding into a pretty fair head wind. I hung on until the forest though and had the next guy in my sights who looked to be slowing a bit. End of the third lap and I was figuring that catching and passing the next guy was a certainty the next lap.

Post crash, and feeling the sting of lost skin
(photo c/V Riches)

Spurred on by a few cheers on the sidelines as I crossed the line,  I pushed harder to try and claw back some more time in the twisty section at the beginning of the forth lap. My talent soon ran out and found myself sliding on my arse on a corner that transitioned from dirt to bitumen. Not a high speed crash but fast enough to steal some skin.

Jumping back on my feet as I watched other riders pass I managed to drop my chain. awesome. Fixed that and set about restoring some pride. I think at this point I was dead last. (amusing aside, this was the first time I'd raced CX with my Continental branded leg warmers..  with the byline "Get the Grip"..  so much for that)

By the end I managed to claw back one more position, in what was a really fun course, but ultimately frustrating race.

Strava data