Worlds Individual Time Trial day - or wake up Brad day!

So today was the individual time trial. Although not the event I had set myself for, it's always hard not to hold a bit of optimistic hope for a reasonable result, even when your head says it's not going to happen.

Well, the head was right! While my division ran deeper then the two older and younger ones either side of it, the standard generally was super high and my result reflected that. I was 14th in my age group (out of only 15) and about 2 mins off a top 10. So, on the face of it, absolutely smashed!

Some mitigating factors are that I was the only rider in my division not on a specialist TT bike with deep dish or disc wheels, which on the flat into the strong head wind (conditions for the first 9 km of the 25 km loop), was making a huge difference. On the  uphills and particularly on the descents, I was comparable with guys in the top 5 but on the first 9 km section they were doing 4 or 5 km/h faster than I was. I passed 3 guys who started in front of me, all from the division above (older), two of whom were on TT bikes but was passed by 4 guys in my division who started behind me - a bit demoralising!

Looking at my rides since my crash 10 days ago, it is apparent that I am working harder to put out the same power than I was before it. My HR average for the last 10 days is higher for a lower average speed - not the equation you want to see! Part of it is still likely to be jet lag, part of it the effects of the crash, part of it the kilo I put on last week when I really didn't train much at all and part of it probably the 1000m of altitude at the start line today. However, I'm still hopeful of getting my form back to where it was 10 days ago for the road race on Saturday and I will be working towards that in the intervening 48 hours. I will go out this afternoon and roll over the legs for 10 km or so and then do the same for 20 km or so tomorrow morning.

Over the course of my preparing for this trip, people had reminded me that it was the World Championships - even if the location would tend to exclude some people - and this was certainly evident today. A real wake up call! In the end, I will look back on this with a perspective about the journey and the experience being the thing that matters but it's always a bit harder to see that at the time - right now I just want to be 10% healthier, 3 kgs lighter and on form. If I'm lucky, I might need to settle for the last one!

There are other people here too!

Greetings from the home of the enormous speed hump and savage rumble strip.

Well, there are some other people here – how about that? So much for the plan of winning because nobody else shows – I will need to go to Plan B!

Rode with some of the (large) Australian contingent over the whole course yesterday as in the pictures. Lots from WA, a few from the east Coast and one from Singapore (part time Asian Continental team rider, and a rider of substance). Am getting the idea that there are some good guys here (surprise, surprise, as Gomer Pyle would have said!). 

Australians with a random South African or two

Some more Australians

And even more!

The course has two climbs varying between 3 and 7 % both with false flats, one of 7.5 km and one of 9 km, and another one of 4-6% about 4.5 km long - a steady drag. There would not be two consecutive flat kms once out of town, so undulation is the name of the game. I won’t go on about the roads but my God, the roads!!!

Also attached for your viewing pleasure is my foot today after the stack 10 days ago – it doesn’t hurt but it sure is a technicolour extravaganza of bruising and swelling!

 The best news of all is that beer is ridiculously cheap - Peroni stubbies for about A$1.50! Worst news is that I am rationing myself to one a day (not at all in true Australian tradition!).

TT tomorrow, very hilly for a TT course. Guys here with amazing kit for the TT - Cannondale Slice, Specialized Shivs, you name it! We were passed by a guy going full gas yesterday on a flat, downwind section. We were doing a relaxed 35 or so with the breeze, he must have been doing 60+! Full sponsor vehicle behind him, US National Champion jersey with rainbow sleeves. After a brief consultation amongst the boys, the consensus was that he was the real deal. I would have got a photo but I missed the millisecond opportunity as he went passed.

Hot and humid here but great bike tanning weather! I am certainly looking forward to returning to the cooler weather of Ballarat – yeah right! 

Was it John Fogarty who wrote "Baby I'm A Travelling Man"? Well, I know what he means. Longer layovers between flights slow the pace of things (good, for me anyway) but they mean it takes a long time for the journey to finish (less good). Sitting in Johannesburg airport waiting for my final flight to Durban (an hour and a bit) and then a bus to Pietermaritzburg (2 hours or so). That will make it about 33 hours of moving or waiting - long enough I think!

Flights have been good; to Singapore, my first flight on an A380 and on the upper deck is great, lots of room, quiet and it's all new, so it all works! Conversely, after Singapore, on the old 777, tight for room, smelly, and worn . . ...... but the best airline meal I have ever had for breakfast this morning! When I had finished it, I though I should have taken a photo of it, but instead I wolfed it down! Seafood noodles with two prawn dim sum, plump fresh prawns, bok choy, fish pieces, sliced fresh red chillies and a side of pickled jalapeños - just fantastic! It was preceded by fresh fruit salad and followed by a fresh roll and coffee. a real change from the usual dross on a plane.

Anyway, away from the gastronomic and onto the astronomic. On arrival he I saw my bike for the first time since Melbourne and it's OK! I ought not be surprised but I was, given the way things have gone lately. On that note, the road rash is healing well in most places but a couple are still weeping out of the dressings in the most disgusting way! I are ally hoping to get a short ride this afternoon in Pietermaritzburg (just PM from now on, OK?), as I am nearly stir crazy with inactivity. No ride since last Tuesday may yet turn out to be a blessing in disguise. Let's say that motivation is pretty high! I just need to use the engine management system this week to not cook myself with my enthusiasm or getting caught up in the occasion, particularly in the Time Trial on Thursday.

So the plan for the week is as follows:
Today - assemble bike and 1 hr easy if time before dark
Monday - sleep in, stretch, assemble lunch and recce the whole 100 km course in two, slow, parts
Tuesday - ride twice, one 20 km slow recovery and second session being 6 flat out kilo intervals
Wednesday - single recovery roll of 20-25 km
Thursday - steady pre-race warm up session early then slow ride out to the time trial course and compete the ITT (28 km of basically flat terrain)
Friday - easy 20 km recovery
Saturday - pre-race, warm up in the morning and race at 1 pm (9 pm AEST)

More details on the race, and hopefully a bit of colour and movement, rather than just words, in the next installment.

Musings from the day before departure!

Well today is the day before I leave and perhaps a good time for some reflection. Some numbers first:

• Training program duration - just over 8 1/2 months
• Number of sessions completed - 273
• Number sessions missed - 13
• Kilometres ridden - just shy of 11,000
• Meters climbed on the road - 65,000 (and about half again on the trainer!)
• Ave speed- 28.4 km/h
• Ave HR - 117 bpm

It has certainly been a learning journey and has gone almost without a hitch - at least until last weekend!

So, I was racing in the Rob Vernon Memorial Open in Bendigo (108 km Handicap race). I had been handicapped 2 groups back from my Melbourne - Ballarat mark, and was expecting to really struggle. However, it was very rewarding; I raced strongly all day with no problems staying on through the many climbs in the first half of the race. Interestingly, they were similar gradient and frequency to the climbs in South Africa, although shorter. from the high point of the race it was very fast for the last 60 km, with an overall average of 41.1 km/h - a speed I would never have had a hope of riding 9 months ago!

Anyway, we had just past the 1 km to go sign in a group with about 16 or 18 remaining in it, with no hope of getting to the limit group, and with the finish nowhere in sight, when a bozo rode past me on the inside and then cut across to grab a wheel and took my front wheel out from under me! I went down hard, as did three riders behind me. Acres of skin loss, plenty of blood and lots of bike damage. More than hurt, I was both angry at the idiot, but also offended that after all those kms, I had gone down with 800m remaining of 108 km in the last race 6 days before I left! I drove home feeling sore and angry and pretty sorry for myself.

The next day, other than the weeping road rash, I actually felt OK until I took my bike to get serviced/put right. Cracked frame, broken shift lever, broken pedal, knackered rear wheel, broken seat - the list just got bigger and bigger! In the end, it is an insurance claim and I am taking my training bike overseas - super disappointing! I have had the bike for three months and ridden it 9 or 10 times!

Since then, to some degree, it has just got worse and worse. I rode gently Monday night on the trainer to see if I could do Tuesday's session. As that was OK, I went out on Tuesday am and did sprint intervals. Still tired from Sunday so not super fast but went OK. Then my leg and hip swelled up, the grazes got sorer, I haven't really slept much and I haven't ridden since!

So what went so well for so, so long has been really impacted upon by one careless act. I now that 9 months of work will not be harmed by two extra days off but I must confess to some concerns about my ability to ride well in 8 days time given how I feel and the slow repair rate of some of the injuries - it will be interesting!

Anyway, I will post again pretty much daily from now and also include some photos as we go!

So, a month to go!

After nearly 8 months of training, it is now under 4 weeks until the Worlds! I haven't blogged since late April both because I am too slack and because I have struggled to manage work, family, riding and sleeping. It seems to me that one has invariably be short-changed at all times, particularly sleep!
My replacement bike has fitted me better and better with every tweak, every ride and every race and it now feels even better than my long lost Cinelli!
I have raced two big Opens since that last entry and a number of smaller races. Almost all have been handicaps, which are great for training as you go pretty much full gas the whole way. The trajectory of my performances has been a steady upward one, which has been pleasing. I have been able to ride higher and higher average speeds, gradually beating riders who were beating me in February and March. While all that is good, and shows my capacity is significantly increased, the race craft of scratch racing is still where I am going to struggle the most.
At the moment I am aware that I am very tired in a deep way, and really looking forward to travelling in three weeks, as I will have four consecutive days off! The recovery rides are only enough to bounce me back a small amount before the lactic tolerance sessions smash me entirely again. It shows in my lack of top end when I race, and I really need the races to be long, as then everyone else gets down to my level of fatigue and I get no worse - a bizarre set of circumstances! Nonetheless, even this is a good sign!
So, only two weekends of racing before I leave. Both are Opens; the Victorian Masters Championships next weekend is only 60 km but is a hilly course and a scratch event, so good tactical practice, provided the course is not too hilly for me to stay on - beware the anorexic climbers!! The last race before the worlds is in Bendigo, the Rob Vernon Memorial race, about which no one knows anything except that it is 110 km and a handicap, which will be a good one to finish on. However, given it is Bendigo, there will be no hills!
When I leave, the plan is to blog every day, so look out!

Ciao for just a while!

A really good week of training and a positive outlook in terrible weather!

On the back of a solid race last weekend, I've had a cracking week of training this week, despite some awful weather! Nearly 400 km of volume and some real intensity over the week. Two very solid TT intervals sessions on Tuesday and Thursday, two slow recovery rides Monday and Friday, one hard, Wednesday ride with Josh and the young riders and a 130 km ride on Saturday, with 65 km rolling at 29.5 km/h average then a race for the second half in the Ballarat Recreational Team Time Trial - 65 km averaging 35 km/h! Finished the week with the Sunday Mass ride with Josh and three others. 85 km all up, very solid but bent my chain when it dropped off the outside of the big ring, so a really very frustrating ride after that with the skip, skip, skip of the chain punctuating about every third pedal stroke - aaarrggghhh!

Next weekend is a race weekend for me at the Cashin Memorial race in Ballarat, which is another handicap, and I am hoping this is another good race under the belt before the Ballarat Masters. The Masters is a scratch race and competed for in age divisions, so I won't have to race all these 25 to 25 year old hot-shots for a change! Projecting forward, it feels as though I will be in good shape for next weekend, so it will be interesting to see if that is fulfilled in the race.

Light in the tunnel (or perhaps a ghostly apparition)

Well, hard to believe I have not posted for two months! It has been an interesting time, with plenty of ups, downs and in betweens. Since the last post, the strength training phase continued until the end of March, by which time I was a little sick of it. I was also absolutely flattened by the training; I raced poorly again late in March (with no vaccinations the day before to blame it on this time!) and I felt I was unable to bounce back from hard sessions after completing light ones to supposedly recover.

Speaking to the coach about this at the end of March, it became apparent that I was working too hard during the easy sessions, so not recovering as I ought to have been, and then not having the gas to work hard enough in the hard sessions - not enough amplitude between the highs and lows of the training load. In retrospect, I was also sleeping very poorly and for too short a time, so the conclusion is that I was probably over trained, or at least getting that way. Fortunately, the end of March coincided with a trip away for work to Africa for 9 days, so no riding at all for that period. I swam a couple of times but as we were at 6000 ft in Nairobi and surrounds, this was very difficult. Many rests and short sessions due to HR going through the roof  (I am a terrible lap swimmer!).

Hearteningly, just before I left, my training bike was assembled and I returned the Trek to its owner with thanks, I am much more comfortable on this bike (an aluminium-framed Cinelli Experience) as it is the correct size. My race bike is still a week or two away (see picture at top of page) but promises to be really something! I was surprised how much this improved my state of mind, even though I was still physically flat.

So for the new training phase, which began on my return, we have made a number of changes to the program. No more gym, unless I can fit in some second sessions Mondays and Fridays. Instead, I ride around the lake on my fixie at 25 km/h for 20 km! This has had the effect of freshening me unbelievably twice each week - a great initiative, from my perspective! Also, the specific strength training has gone and in its place are MVO2 interval sessions (approx. 6 mins duration and one session per fortnight) and TT intervals (10 to 14 mins duration and 3 sessions per fortnight). Additionally, weekday kms have gone down but weekend kms and intensity have gone up. On race weeks (now fortnightly), ride to race, race and ride home then 120 km on Sunday, make for 200+ km over the weekend. On non race weeks, hard Saturday rides of 75 to 95 km then finishing with 8-12 km of climbing at race pace, then 120 km really hard on the Sunday. So far, I am tolerating this (2 weeks in) with much more resilience than before the break, even though it is much harder in some ways.

So, what is the effect on me? Well yesterday I raced after 9 days off and then 12 days of the new program. It was a flat course, a handicap event and the group (9 riders to start) standard was about the same as the previous two races this season. The difference in my riding was enormous! Riders who had dropped me with ease in my last two outings were dropped in the last third of the event, while I was concerned we weren't travelling quickly enough. I felt strong all day and although my group did not get to the limit group, I felt I was one of the two drivers of the group. Sadly, I flatted with 14 km to go but managed to get the tube changed and inflated in time to pick up the group behind. In the finish I felt good with this (stronger) group and finished third in the sprint, despite going to the line far too early. As I rode home, I mused on the last 8 weeks and certainly feel mentally stronger and more confident for having gone through a difficult patch. I doubt it will be the last!

So all up, some light at the end of the tunnel. There are some scary sessions on the way in the next few weeks but I am approaching everything with real confidence after the break and a good race.