Tour de Mike

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby MREJ » Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:07 pm

How was Sunday's race Mike? I regretted not signing up for it as well.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue Jul 24, 2012 9:45 am

I've just seen the results.

Nowra 90k road race 22/7/2012

Came 14th outright, 19 seconds behind the winner, who took $1,000. 4th in my age category, 5 seconds behind the age category winner.

My average speed (37.1kph) was faster than the previous days 40k TTT.

But I still came away with nothing....

I'll write up a full report in due course
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:18 pm

mmm... I haven't posted Mudgee, Coota and Kurrajong
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:24 pm

Just notice that my Mudgee race report didn't post

Saturday: Mudgee 90km Mark Dwyer Handicap - 88k (by my measurement)
Disaster
Historically I'd never done well at this race and this year was no different, heading into disaster straight away, dropped by my bunch on 3k from the start, I evaluated what the problem was, took an energy gel and did some maths on what I needed to do, which was make it to the top of the upcoming hill at the 14k mark, so I needed to ride 11k at just the right pace to be caught by the next bunch and I did that perfectly. However about 10k on I lost focus and got dropped by that group. Up the next hill, I powered up trying to get back on and I was gaining, but once I caught, it wasn't the group but some riders dropped by that group. We worked together and picked up another rider, we could see the bunch ahead and weren't loosing distance, but we also weren't gaining. The route turned from North West to South West, straight into a headwind and we were caught by a big group from behind.
Success
The big group was working well and we were gaining of the bunch in front. We made excellent progress into the head wind The route turned to South East as we caught that bunch plus another at the same time, resulting in a big bunch.
Solo
Then I made the next mistake of this race, at about 65k the bunch split and I was near the back, I had broken a cardinal rule of handicap racing, that been that when you catch a bunch, you power straight past it, so not to get trapped by slower riders. I jumped out of my group and powered across the gap to the bunch ahead, but didn't quite make it. A couple of K's later I tried again up a hill, but to no success. So with my energy expended, I pretty much soloed the last 20 k home, coming home 101st on handicap and 87th on time in 2h29m (out of 148 finishers). Continuing my ability to do badly at this particular event.


Sunday: Mudgee Peter van Gent Graded Scratch Race - 84k (by my measurement)

Not wanting to repeat the problems of yesterday, I was keen to be competitive from the start, dressed warmer and took an energy gel before the start. The pace going out wasn't as hot as yesterday and I wasn't having any problems and was able to easily respond to any attacks. 30k in I had a minor mishap, as the road seal suddenly narrowed and 3 riders including myself found ourselves on the dirt, the other 2 managed to get straight back on, but I ended heading into the ditch, but held it together and got back on the road, chased and caught the bunch. At the 70k mark my energy was done and I dropped off the back, riding the 14k solo, to finish 24th out of 29 in 2:22:06, about 3m40s behind the winner.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:26 pm

Cootamundra - Sat 25th August 2012

Sat - DNF. Took a wrong turn at about 80k as the various riders in front of me had done the same. However this made me the most successful DHBC rider as no one else rode that far.

Sun - About 13th. Bunch worked well and by the end of the second lap we knew we would catch the leaders. There was an accident in our bunch and that cut numbers to 11, though a couple of riders got back on. We caught the front bunch with about 15k to go, there were 2 riders off the front. 2 riders and I attacked, going off the bunch and chased the 2 riders. We were caught by the bunch. We turned left and went up the hill, catching the 2 riders. Immediately I attacked again, 3 riders went with me and a 4th rode across the gap. We did about 5k before being caught. Up the next hill the pack split, reducing numbers. 2k to go a rider attacked, I responded and got 3rd wheel. The pace dropped, I attacked off the front, one rider responded but I missed his wheel. 500mtrs to go I was in the bunch but I was spent, came about 13th
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:33 pm

Kurrajong - Sun 23rd Aug 2012

Lap 1
Hill - after rolling towards the front, overtaking plenty of riders at 22kph, my body reminded me that it had been sick and relocated it to 18kph. Riders went past me in drones and I crested the top behind the second bunch.
Chase 1 Formed a group of 4 riders and we chased hard catching the second bunch a couple of K before the left hand turn. My body had been acting strange, sometimes it worked properly and other times it just gave up the ghost.
Chase 2 The bunch was not working well and was a long way behind the front bunch. After a lot of "communication" eventually formed a paceline and then it gained ground hand over fist.

Lap 2
Reunion - As we neared the start finish line, the bunch broke up. About 6 of us went off and jumped the gap, but our effort was unnecessary as the front bunch put on the brakes, meaning that all the dropped riders from our bunch got on.
Hill - Got near the front and felt good, then my body decided to continue its sickie and simply stopped working. At one point I hit 11kph and went over the top as the very last rider.
Ride back - For no apparent reason, suddenly my body felt good and I found good pace, I picked up 2 riders as I went past then the 3 of us worked together and we steadily gathered riders and spat the odd one. One guy hit a pot hole and got a flat and there was a wheel touch, I guy hit my rear wheel but fortunately didn't fall off. We sprinted for the line, but I went a little early and one guy rolled me, so I ended up second in that bunch.

The data shows that I was quite slow on the day, I'm a quicker rider than I was in 2009, but last Sunday's time was much slower
2012 28th 52:07 56:06 -> 1:48:13 (Winning time 1:43:42) - gap 4:29
2011 DNS (Injured in ride for life) (Winning time 1:44:37)
2010 39th 53:10 55:25 -> 1:48:35 (Winning time 1:45:11) - gap 3:24
2009 ??th ??:?? ??:?? -> 1:45:46 (Winning time 1.43.43) - gap 2:03

While the result is not that good, I was rather happy that my knee that had been troubling me didn't play up and for that reason I was happy to have finished.

Congratulations to Strawburger he has been riding his best year yet. Read his race report here

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From left to right: Mikesbytes, James F, Strawburger, Eugene
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Wed Oct 03, 2012 9:09 pm

Wednesday 3rd October 2012 - Australian Individual Time Trails Championships

Anyone who saw me on Saturday morning would know that I was quite crook, so I'm pleased just to have to got to the race, the results are incidental.

Pre-race
I've purchased the Orbea off David, so this time it was my bike and not borrowed. However I don't have wheels, so I'm riding on alloy clinchers, so really just a TT frame. I got the handlebars moved back so it meets UCI measurements and it just made the measurements.... just. Just to make life more interesting I suffered calf cramps during the warmup... oh dear..

Race - out
The course was identical to the NSW champs, with didn't mean a lot to me as I didn't race it, but I had read the reports and knew that the way out was slower than the way back. There was a headwind and initially I seem to cut thru it quite well. I chose to run a lower cadence to what I normally run, I knew I wasn't in the best of condition and I wanted to preserve my legs, then in a similar fashion to Kirrijong the speed just disappeared and I played a battle of grinding to a halt and then building back my speed. Start times were a minute apart and I was hoping to make it to halfway without been overtaken, but that wasn't to be as I was overtaken just before the halfway mark.

Race - back
Interestingly the rider that overtook me was slow up a hill and I ended up overtaking him, which was short lived. Knowing that halfway was actually well past halfway, I let my cadence rise and went for it. I was a bit irritated by a couple of things;
- knees hitting elbows. really need to to review my position and see about those extra 5cm allowed in the rules for some situations.
- speedo kept cutting in and out. I tend to race my speedo, but it didn't want to play ball.

Data - this is the first time I've used a Garmin - http://connect.garmin.com/activity/229495747 A little out, but you get the general idea.

Result
Came 13th out of 15 starters, not a good result, but where I expected to turn up. Comparing the data with 2011 championships, I was about 1.5kph slower, when compared with the other riders.

Results
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Fri Oct 05, 2012 6:47 pm

Friday 5th October 2012 - Australian Criterion Championships

Venue: Marulan Driver Training Centre

I put my heart rate monitor on while in the hotel room and it was giving me readings between 90 and 110, depending on what I was doing, not a good sign, still sick. Unlike last year where I was away on a breakaway, this year was about survival and I needed a tactical race, if they went like greyhounds, I was done for.

After warming up sat on the start line for 8 minutes and still started with a heart rate of 140, there was an immediate attack off the line and the field strung out. My speedo was pissing me off, it was reading 25kph downhill...useless. By the end of lap 1 I was on the rear. On lap 2 the rider in front of me blew, I went around him and chased the bunch, went around another rider and just got back on 3/4 lap later, only to be immediately dropped. I chased hard staying in contact for 2 laps but not getting on. Then I cruised for 4 more laps, in case the bunch slowed up, but it didn't and withdrew, 4th to last I think.

Only 9 out of about 19 riders finished. 1st and 2nd were half lap ahead of 3rd and 4th. 5th to 9th was about 3/4 a lap behind.

My speed data is out, it shows an average speed of 25.5kph. I've made an estimate on distant covered at 9k, which gives me a average speed of 38.5, could be wrong.

Cadence shows that I was focusing on preserving myself and not being gun-ho.

Now heart rate, that is a concern, Started at 140, average of 180 and a peak of 191. http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230063477" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I'm not unhappy with the outcome, it didn't come as a surprise and I expect a similar outcome tomorrow in the road race.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby Ross » Fri Oct 05, 2012 8:32 pm

Maybe you need a break from racing for a couple of weeks so you can regain full health again. I like Joe Friel's motto "Train hard and rest harder"

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby Strawburger » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:16 pm

Didn't realize you were racing today. Bugger about the fitness. Fingers crossed a good nights sleep will fix it.

If you need a hand getting the garmin right I can assist.
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:00 pm

Saturday 6th October 2012 - Australian Road Racing championships

99.6k

Today finished a chapter in a series of races where I wasn't race fit. I had little expectation going up to the start line, however while my heart rate was high, it wasn't as high as yesterday. Then we sat on the line for 24 minutes as they delayed the start. There was about 45 riders.

The first 4k was neutral and the speed was restricted by the leading car, which took us to the circuit itself.

Lap 1 - 56:08
I was dropped on the very first hill. After a bit of solo riding, I made a decision that I wasn't able to catch the bunch in front of me and I should slow down and pick up the rider behind me and encouraged him to ease up to allow the rider behind us to catch. The 3 of us pressed on, collected another rider and had a go at catching the bunch in front of us, of about 10 riders. By the turn around it was clear that them, they were working hard to catch the main bunch. The return leg gave us more down hill and more importantly a tailwind. We collected another rider and immediately lost another.

Lap 2 - 1:01:38
Turned around and straight into the headwind, it was clear we were gone. One rider was dropped leaving the 3 of us. Then a couple of K later I was dropped and lost about 200mtrs on the other 2 and rode solo for say 10k. Up a long hill, I managed to half the distance, which encouraged me to put a special effort into the next hill, I reeled them in and we are back as 3, not far from the turnaround. Once around the turnaround I was dropped again, leaving me half the race remaining to ride solo. Rode about 5k and got overtaken by another race, then about 5k later they sat up and I reeled them back in. I didn't really want to slow down, so I rode up beside the commissionaires car and asked if it was OK to overtake. As I rode past them I said "I'm not in your race" so they wouldn't see me as an attack in their race. I ended up quite a way in front of them, but as I got closer to the finish line, that race was working hard and I realised they were probably finishing, so I slowed up to let them overtake me.

Lap 3 - 1:08:39
My knee was playing up and I had serious thoughts about not doing the lap, but I decided to press on, but took it easy into the headwind, as can be seen in my data. About halfway into the outward leg a car appeared behind me and I realised that I was the last rider who hadn't DNF'ed, I dubbed the car the swag wagon. This spurred me on a bit and I built speed, the turnaround came and I felt good and found pace, there was also a blown rider about a K in front of me and this gave me something to chase. Then I caught the blown rider, for the wrong reason, he had a flat. The swag wagon stopped for the rider with the flat. I rode on and just before the finish line the swag waggon overtook me with that rider on board, doubly confirming me as the last rider to complete.

I don't know the finish time, but I'm guessing I finished 15 - 20 minutes behind the winner. My average speed was 30.4kph, making it my slowest race, a huge difference between last years championship where I averaged 40.0kph, true this years course is slower. I'm not disappointed, its what I expected recovering from my sickie.

Data;
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/230393231 or on strava http://app.strava.com/activities/24131388
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:07 pm

Gordon, Mike and Bigfriendlyvegan at the NSW Metro track championships today

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby bigfriendlyvegan » Sat Mar 30, 2013 10:13 pm

Would that be the Metros that you smashed in the 45+ division? Well done Mike, and well deserved. I knew you could do the endurance stuff, but I never pegged you for a sprinter.

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:03 pm

I've got a sprint, but usually get rolled in the last 100mtrs, coming 3rd or 4th. This time was different. Normally I'd be typically riding M4-5 but this time it was M5-6. None the less it was sweet to win some medals.

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby ft_critical » Sat Mar 30, 2013 11:24 pm

Congratulations Mike. Looking awesome BTW.

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby sogood » Sun Mar 31, 2013 9:23 am

Nice one Mike and congratulations! You young gun! :)

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby Strawburger » Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:07 pm

Looking lean Mike! Awesome results on the weekend.

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby foo on patrol » Sun Mar 31, 2013 7:35 pm

Good to see something go right for you Mike! 8)

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:40 am

Sydney Road Titles - Saturday 06 April 2013

Result: last (unless there were DNF's)

I spent Friday in bed with the flu, but fortunately I was on the improve and decided to front. Considering this my goal was simply to finish. I felt a bit crap warming up so I was hoping for no vicious attacks early on.

Apart from 1/3 of the 1st lap where I was on the front, I sat on the back for the first half of the race keeping an eye on my heart rate and didn't contest the prime.

Then feeling more confident I proceeded with attacks, initiating 2 and participating in another 2. None of the attacks were successful.

With a low average speed of only 38.4 and no enduring attacks, it appeared that all riders were still there for the last lap.

Last lap I managed to get myself stuck at the back along the narrower 'bike path' section of the track, but got my opportunity to squeeze past just at the end going into the right hand corner. 2 riders went off the front and we chased, I had a good position, it was the opportunity I needed and I could smell the finish line but made a mistake letting myself get blocked in going over the bridge and lost a couple of positions

While not the best position, I still had a shot at it then my rear tyre blew going into the twisties at 55kph. Fortunately I managed to hold it together and not crash or take anyone else out. One rider had to grass track to avoid me. I rode to the finish line so not to be an DNF :)

Anyway I met my objective of simply finishing, no doubt helped a little by the slower average pace. Garmin

Was also the first time I've ridden my road bike this year
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby brentono » Mon Apr 08, 2013 9:54 am

Mike
Small steps, mate. Sounds like you made the best of a bad situation, all round.
Starting back is hard for all (take a look at Alberto) but you need the early hard
rides, and suffer, to get back to form, as you know.
All the best
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Wed Apr 10, 2013 9:26 pm

Summer weight target 80kg, Winter weight target 75kg, Current weight 77kg. That means I need to loose 2kg then put on 5kg

What that means is be light for road racing and build power for track racing
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue May 21, 2013 6:51 am

Raced at Cootamundra. Didn't do too well. Was in group 6, 17min off limit, 8min off scratch.

Sat: 52kph pace line to the first hill, fine on the first hill, got over the second hill with the bunch but cooked my legs. Dropped a couple of K's later - 16k. Didn't mix it with the other bunches.

Sun: same handicap, started the same way, smaller bunch 46kph pace line but this time dropped on the second hill 12.5k. Converted it to a training ride

A mate of mine was in the bunch behind limit and took 2 primes on Sunday
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby toolonglegs » Tue May 21, 2013 7:11 am

Those jolly handicaps!

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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Tue May 21, 2013 7:18 am

I think my handicap represents my 2011 form. I'll see how I go at Ken Dinnerval on Sunday and if its the same result, I'll talk to the club handicapper
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Re: Tour de Mike

Postby mikesbytes » Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:52 am

Race Report - Ken Dinnerval May 2013

A bit slow to put up this report, but here it is

While being the furthest back of all the attending DHBC riders, I was feeling good about my handicap, it appeared to me that in group 4, I was 17:30 off limit, 12:30 off scratch was about 4 minutes better than Cootamundra. If the numbers denote ranking then having the lowest number meant that I just made the cut from group 5, a 2.5 minute saving. From the start list I could see riders from my Coota bunch in group 5.

Image

Lap 1

The bunch was scrappy and unorganised riding out the circuit. I decided to sit in and wait for it to sort itself out. Once on the circuit we got into an orderly paceline, counter clockwise, not that it mattered much on direction as not much wind.

Heading towards the hill on the way out, 5 of us broke off the front, 4 Illawarra CC riders and me. Nicholas Triant (St George rider) said that we (the pack) chased us down. I'm not so sure that the break away was that intentional, but it did happen.

Limit came past in the opposite direction at the top of the hill and I could see Dougie was about 20mtrs off the back so I yelled some words of encouragement

I had a strategy for the hill and that was to be on the front when we hit it and that's what I did. It meant that I could take it easy and let myself roll back. I crested in about 6th place, strava showed that I averaged 25.8kph but it didn't feel that hard.

Just before the turnaround on lap 1 I hit a pothole and ping, there was a sound like a spoke breaking. Then the noise stopped. As we slowed for the uturn I could see that I had broken spoke in my front wheel. I stopped and then I made my first mistake;
#1 I stayed on the bike and wrapped the spoke leaning forward and it took too long. I should of got off the bike and wrapped it. That would of been quicker.

Lap 2

I lost about 400mts on my bunch while stopped with the spoke and chased real hard, but I had made my second mistake;
#2 I was experiencing brake rub but hadn't released the front brake. A mistake I didn't discover until after the race.

I chased real hard but only made up say 100 mtrs in several K, it was time to change strategy. I eased a little and got caught by bunch 5, which I noticed had a few dropped riders from my bunch.

I was working harder in that bunch, it seemed to me to not be that different in pace but I was working harder, presumably due to the undiscovered brake rub.
Image

Down the hill I started to think, is it a 16 spoke or 20 spoke wheel, ie 15 or 19 spokes [for the record its a 20 spoke wheel]. I freaked and rolled off the back of the bunch, taking the down hill by myself and rode my way back on once on the flat.

Heading back towards the hill I made my next mistake, I could see that this bunch was about to catch my bunch and I assumed the roll would take me to the front, but the roll stopped and I ended up on the back as the 2 bunches hit the base of the hill, in 2 rows of 2, ie 4 abreast. The car was blasting us with the horn and there was no where to go, I so wanted to feed my way thru but I was stuck on the back. I'm good early in the hill where I can power up, but not so good in the final bit where I actually needed to climb. And that was my undoing, I was on my limits and crested 20 or so metres off the back.

Strava data shoes I climbed at exactly the same average speed 25.8kph, so I'm thinking that brake rub made the difference between staying with the bunch and being dropped.

Image

I buried myself, but the bike just felt heavy (you know why) and I was unable to close the gap, my race was over.

I rode tempo, it was now a training ride. Not much further came upon Dougie, a fellow DHBC rider who was in the limit bunch, who latched on, so I kept an eye on him and gave him encouragement (yelled at him) while keeping the pace down on the hills and I waited for him at the crest of some. Dougie was doing a good job holding me wheel, it was only the hills that were letting him down, he likes his food more than Strawbuger :)

Lap 3

About say 5k into the lap scratch came past so I jumped on, actually in the middle, after about a K I suffered a hamstring cramp and dropped to the back while rectifying it. Sat on the back for say another 5k and got dropped on a small hill.

The thumbs down
Image

For fun I gunned it down hill, this time I was confident with my front wheel, cruised to the school and back and cruised up the hill (ave 17.5kph on Strava) caught another rider on the hill and we had a jolly good chat on the way to the finish.

BTW the finish photo's are pretty cool, have a look at my FB home page.

It was time to don silly hats, have the debriefing and head to waterfall for some healthy nutrition (fish and chips)
Image

If your bored, here's 72 photos -> http://s301.photobucket.com/user/mikesb ... 0Dinnerval If anyone is one and wants the original, then PM me your email address

Oh and the wheel has been rebuilt with 20 new spokes
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