A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

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A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Dec 30, 2017 2:33 pm

Yes I'm back again! 2 years after the last wannabe racer thread, it's time to go all in and finally achieve what I've wanted for so long, going to the national TT champs.

The last 2 years have been, let's say, less than ideal. Between a legal matter that ended up in the Supreme Court, and constant illness from overwork and stress, there's been very little riding (a mere 626km for the whole of 2016!) So the first few months of 2018 will be about steady riding, and getting rid of about 20kgs of dad bod.


I'll now be posting here as well as on a Facebook page, unfortunately I was never able to get Sleeping is Weakness to match what I had in my mind, and posting on Weebly was a torturously slow process. Things My Wife Says will live on though :lol: .

Goals for 2018? Oh so many! Number one of course is get back below 80kgs, I'm somewhere around 97 at the moment. Curiously enough, despite my riding fitness being virtually non existent, several hikes I've made into Yabba Gorge have shown that my walking/climbing fitness is somehow well above the average person.

The Kilkivan-Kingaroy, and Brisbane Valley Rail Trails are high on the agenda, I was one of the first to ride the full length of the KKRT (very slowly) and just lost the KOM by over half an hour. I'm very keen to have a crack at some old point to point records such as Brisbane to Kingaroy, though information is hard to come by.

Rest today and tomorrow, then New Year's Day it begins!
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby Daus » Sat Dec 30, 2017 4:59 pm

Looking forward to your posts again- good luck with the training.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby g-boaf » Sat Dec 30, 2017 6:03 pm

Hey - good luck! 8) Looking forward to see how you go.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby you cannot be sirrus » Sat Dec 30, 2017 6:27 pm

Good luck. Will follow this thread with interest.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby find_bruce » Sat Dec 30, 2017 8:11 pm

Did anyone beat Les Cecils 1939 effort of 8 hours 45 minutes for the 150 miles from Kingaroy to Brisbane, beating the mail train ?

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby TheWall » Sat Dec 30, 2017 8:58 pm

Great news! Say Hi when you speed past!! :lol: :D

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ironhanglider » Sat Dec 30, 2017 10:40 pm

find_bruce wrote:Did anyone beat Les Cecils 1939 effort of 8 hours 45 minutes for the 150 miles from Kingaroy to Brisbane, beating the mail train ?
Never mind this modern 1939 stuff. Make Derny Driver an offer too good to refuse and have a go at Sir Hubert Opperman's 100 mile motorpaced record from 1930. Not sure if it is still the record, but it is a pretty good benchmark. 100 miles in 99 3/4 minutes.

Perhaps Foo might know if Caboulture velodrome can handle that speed, but the Annadrome might have an opening after April.

Cheers,

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Dec 31, 2017 10:47 am

find_bruce wrote:Did anyone beat Les Cecils 1939 effort of 8 hours 45 minutes for the 150 miles from Kingaroy to Brisbane, beating the mail train ?
That is actually the first time I've seen a time mentioned, the only other reference I've seen to a Brisbane-Kingaroy (or Kingaroy-Brisbane) record was simply that such a thing existed.

In the same vein, it would be interesting to know if Opperman's 1936 Brisbane-Sydney record of 47h 10m still stands. I only know of that one from finding my father's 1969 edition of "Ampol's Australian Sporting Records". Hobart-Launceston and back in 11h 54m is also mighty tempting.

ironhanglider wrote: Never mind this modern 1939 stuff. Make Derny Driver an offer too good to refuse and have a go at Sir Hubert Opperman's 100 mile motorpaced record from 1930. Not sure if it is still the record, but it is a pretty good benchmark. 100 miles in 99 3/4 minutes.

Perhaps Foo might know if Caboulture velodrome can handle that speed, but the Annadrome might have an opening after April.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby RonK » Sun Dec 31, 2017 12:27 pm

find_bruce wrote:Did anyone beat Les Cecils 1939 effort of 8 hours 45 minutes for the 150 miles from Kingaroy to Brisbane, beating the mail train ?
Impressive ride for sure. Beating the mail train not quite so much since it took an entirely different 100 km longer route.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Dec 31, 2017 1:14 pm

Yes as we well know here, any amateur can beat a steam train :wink:

Toowoomba to Kingaroy is another interesting one, especially as it goes through Cooyar. My grandfather was born there, and every time I visit that place I see why his life's ambition was to get the hell away from Cooyar :lol: .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Dec 31, 2017 3:47 pm

He was a busy fellow that Les Cecil, he also had the Australian 7 day record (1,675 miles), Albury-Sydney (34h 44m 30s), and Melbourne-Albury (13h 10m 45s).


EDIT: Forgot to add a link to the FB page- https://www.facebook.com/LDRcycles/
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jan 01, 2018 10:55 am

A steady 26km on the cyclocross bike this morning. Incredibly hot and humid even at 6:30 which helped to keep my enthusiasm in check :) .

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby Lukeyboy » Tue Jan 02, 2018 6:48 am

RonK wrote:
find_bruce wrote:Did anyone beat Les Cecils 1939 effort of 8 hours 45 minutes for the 150 miles from Kingaroy to Brisbane, beating the mail train ?
Impressive ride for sure. Beating the mail train not quite so much since it took an entirely different 100 km longer route.
Quite easy to beat the mail train of that time due to different speed restrictions, signaling and old alignments (there has since been modifications such as the Gympie realignment bypass, Morayfield-Burpengary realignment, Dakabin-Petrie realignment, Caboolture-Beerburrum realignment and lots other realignments north of Caboolture to Gympie (you can also ride through one of the few railway tunnels in Queensland - the Dularcha railway tunnel was part of the realignment - Just south of Palmwoods - and there is also the tunnel on the soon to be completed BVRT. The tunnel on the Dayboro line is blocked off and has one end closed due to the landfill site on the other side - I think there was also a sink hole/cave in on the northern end not too long ago which is why they made it a prison to get into). Its very easy to match the time of the steam locos due to water stops, signaling and single track but throw a diesel on it and have that mail train on the current alignment/signaling and it will be a very, very different story.

(Some of the realignments on the North Coast Line just south of Gympie. Red is the old one, purple is the new).
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Same with the BBRL and now BVRT its very easy to match the time of the steam loco Yarraman-Wulkuraka but include the Wulkuraka-Central section and you will be struggling as the steam train or any loco will just murder you timewise. IIRC the steam train from Brisbane-Yarraman for the opening had a schedule of 7h30m (including water stops and hanging around for crew changes at Ipswich). 7 hours for the return Yarraman-Central train as it was going down the range. Once traffic increased timetabling with the single track sections meant trains would have had to wait until it was okay to use the following section. The same also applied to the Kingaroy railway line.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby adam0bmx0 » Tue Jan 02, 2018 1:10 pm

Lukeyboy wrote:
RonK wrote:
find_bruce wrote:Did anyone beat Les Cecils 1939 effort of 8 hours 45 minutes for the 150 miles from Kingaroy to Brisbane, beating the mail train ?
Impressive ride for sure. Beating the mail train not quite so much since it took an entirely different 100 km longer route.
Lots of detailed information.
An encyclopedic knowledge of trains from a by-gone era Luke? You should be on Mastermind! (Do you have that in Aus?)

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Jan 02, 2018 4:00 pm

Only time for a short ride this morning, 30km from Kin Kin to Pinbarren and back. I used my wife's phone as it has a better camera, and it came up with a figure of 16.9km at 795kmh! :lol:


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I have wondered a few times about taking on a modern commuter train, if it stops at all stations it might be possible.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby cancan64 » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:51 am

ldrcycles wrote:The Kilkivan-Kingaroy, and Brisbane Valley Rail Trails are high on the agenda, I was one of the first to ride the full length of the KKRT (very slowly) and just lost the KOM by over half an hour.!
My KOM didnt last long, it was smashed a couple of days later but then I was on holidays so stopped at all the towns, and couldnt go past the pubs on the track without a beer and was lugging all my gear for a 2 week stay so a lighter bike with bigger wheels and focused on the KOM I think its still an achievable target... good that your thread is back, always a great read
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby Lukeyboy » Wed Jan 03, 2018 10:14 pm

cancan64 wrote:
ldrcycles wrote:The Kilkivan-Kingaroy, and Brisbane Valley Rail Trails are high on the agenda, I was one of the first to ride the full length of the KKRT (very slowly) and just lost the KOM by over half an hour.!
My KOM didnt last long, it was smashed a couple of days later but then I was on holidays so stopped at all the towns, and couldnt go past the pubs on the track without a beer and was lugging all my gear for a 2 week stay so a lighter bike with bigger wheels and focused on the KOM I think its still an achievable target... good that your thread is back, always a great read
Luke will be riding it soon :P
adam0bmx0 wrote:
Lukeyboy wrote:
RonK wrote: Impressive ride for sure. Beating the mail train not quite so much since it took an entirely different 100 km longer route.
Lots of detailed information.
An encyclopedic knowledge of trains from a by-gone era Luke? You should be on Mastermind! (Do you have that in Aus?)
Not the Australian version but I sometimes see it listed on BBC/UKTV :P I'm from a railway family so I spent my childhood growing up around trains and people that worked in the railways. I remember a few times catching the train with dad on his way to work at Mayne, getting palmed off with grandad at Brunswick Street/Central railway stations for the end of his shift and then catching the train back to his place. Most of my childhood photos are in railway yards or in/under trains :P

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Jan 06, 2018 10:48 pm

I've fallen a bit behind on here, Wednesday was 33kms, then a rest day Thursday followed by 41kms to Boreen Point yesterday.

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As I'm regularly using 3 bikes but only have 1.75 SMP saddles (one is showing it's age) it was time to do some shopping, and rather than getting another Extra I decided to take a punt on the TRK. It's intended for trekking bikes, so more of an upright position, but at $45 it was worth a try, and it turns out to be just as good on the road bike as the Extra, with the benefit of more padding to take the sting out of the coarse chip. 10kms this morning to check I had it at the right angle, then a longer ride in the works tomorrow morning.


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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:20 pm

Week one done, and just over 200kms in the bag, the biggest week for me since June 2015. Very happy with that given I'm just easing back into it, by the end of February I reckon I should be sitting on 400k a week easily.

Headed out this morning for a longer ride, aiming for 85-100 but with plenty of options to cut that distance down if needed. Off to Cooran first up, then out through Coles Creek after admiring the view at the top of the range.


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A storm that clobbered the Atkinson Dam area on Wednesday continued north and dropped some large hail (luckily with no damage) in Kin Kin, it appears Coles Creek copped the brunt of it though as there are still heaps of tree branches down on the side of the road there.

With a warm day in the making I was listening closely to my legs, and after 2 decent climbs what they were saying was not particularly promising. Rather than continue through Cooroy to Tewantin (which would commit me to ~85kms) I hooked a left to go past Pomona to Cootharaba for ~70kms. This turned out to be a great move, as my legs popped at bang on 67kms, leaving me only 5kms to crawl home.

After a nice cold shower it was off to Kenilworth to see a family friend, then lunch at Nana Mcginn's Cafe (diet be damned!)


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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby Kronos » Sun Jan 07, 2018 10:47 pm

Hey mate, I'm on the Sunshine Coast also. I've been doing about the same distance lately, trying to find my form myself at the moment (wherever that is). I've been thinking of taking on Noosa to Maroochydore along the David Low Way but I've been putting it off "because" (that's too damn far damn it). I'll probably get onto it next week. Probably not tomorrow. The body needs rest I've done 200km myself this week.

I wouldn't worry about what you're eating so long as you're maintaining a decent pace, seems I'm back up to holding 28km/hr (but I would much rather something with a 3 in it). So long as your maintaining more calories out then in you will lose weight one way or another. I've never believed in the word diet (eating nothing but celery sticks and raw carrots). You have to get used to eating food that you like if you're going to maintain weight loss. So if you want to eat chips on some days it shouldn't really be a problem.

There is a bunch ride that goes from the Noosaville Bike Store on Gibson Rd. and Raw Energy in Noosaville. I've been slowly working up the courage to join in but there is a lot of fast riders around this town. Riding around Noosa I tend to be dropped as often as someone drops me (if not more so).

Next thing as far as I'm concerned is a hub driven power meter so I can start doing some proper monitoring while I'm out on the bike. I also need to set a reliable course which would help, but I'm not much of a fan of doing the same thing over and over again (the definition of insanity among other things).

Anyway, if you want to ride out some time in the area let me know.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:25 pm

Easy spin this morning for 33kms, stepping up to 50km each morning for the rest of the week to see how that goes.


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And now that I've finally managed to write them down, it's time to list my goals for the year (and a bit beyond).

1. Get to 75kg (started at 96, currently 91.5)
2. 20,000km for the year (should be well within reach)
3. Finally complete an Everesting of Bellthorpe (4th time lucky?)
4. Regain Mt Wolvi and Kilkivan-Kingaroy Rail Trail KOMs
5. Ride my first sub 1hr 40km TT
6. Break the following records-
Kingaroy-Brisbane (8hr 45m, Les Cecil 1939)
Stanthorpe-Brisbane (8h 35m, Opperman 1938. Note, via Toowoomba, which means a 34.4kmh average for 296km!)
Toowoomba-Brisbane (4hr 4m 14s, R. King 1935)
Brisbane-Rockhampton (42h 6m, Alan Fisher 1939. Les Cecil tried and failed to beat that time in 1940)
Innisfail-Cairns is on the list when we take a family holiday up north during winter, at 88kms it should be a good one to start with. That record is 2h 39m 45s by G Ivankovich, sometime around 1950.

Then with all those ticked off, I should be in a pretty good position for the big one-

7. Win National TT Championship.

I realise how tall an order that last one is (as in ~47kmh average speed required :shock: ) but with a proper focus it should be achievable.

Kronos wrote: There is a bunch ride that goes from the Noosaville Bike Store on Gibson Rd. and Raw Energy in Noosaville. I've been slowly working up the courage to join in but there is a lot of fast riders around this town. Riding around Noosa I tend to be dropped as often as someone drops me (if not more so).
I've joined that bunch a few times, but unfortunately riding to someone else's rhythm results in my legs failing me in very short order. Some of the local bunch riders are also their own worst enemies when it comes to road behaviour.

The trick with the coast road is the wind, it can be your best friend or your worst nightmare :) . I'll be hitting it on some longer rides once my legs are back into the swing of things.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby Kronos » Mon Jan 08, 2018 11:34 pm

Definitely and I ride on the David Low Way every other day which results in a brutal headwind more times out of 10.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby RonK » Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:12 am

Hehe - it's good to know you are back on the road again Lachie. You will soon be racing (and beating) trains again I think.

Knowing about your past exploits, I reckon all your goals are achievable. :D Well - perhaps number 7 is a little ambitious, given that Rohan Dennis won it for the third time in succession last weekend. :wink:

Is the IndiPac wheel race still on your todo list?

I had go at doing that loop up through Manumbar/Elginvale and down the Brisbane River road but gave up in the heat. I will try again in cooler weather.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Jan 09, 2018 10:01 pm

The little sod (Winnie) kept me up late last night, so I was late getting on the bike this morning and only had time for the 33k short loop instead of the 50k I wanted. Nearly an hour and a quarter on the bike is still very useful, it all adds up.


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RonK wrote:Hehe - it's good to know you are back on the road again Lachie. You will soon be racing (and beating) trains again I think.

Knowing about your past exploits, I reckon all your goals are achievable. :D Well - perhaps number 7 is a little ambitious, given that Rohan Dennis won it for the third time in succession last weekend. :wink:

Is the IndiPac wheel race still on your todo list?

I had go at doing that loop up through Manumbar/Elginvale and down the Brisbane River road but gave up in the heat. I will try again in cooler weather.
Number 7 is quite ambitious indeed, but worth a shot. Having the mobile number of the only woman to win it 5 times might come in handy :wink: . As much as I would love to do the IPWR, with my family situation I just don't think it's viable. Training for 40k TTs or even 620km inter-city records is a very different kettle of fish to preparing for 4,000k in one go.

The only way I'll explore out west of Jimna at this time of year is in an air conditioned car :) . A very fit XC bloke (Andy Handyside) tried to ride the Kilkivan-Kingaroy AND Brisbane Valley rail trails in one day just after Christmas, he got to Esk (~250km) and was toast.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ironhanglider » Wed Jan 10, 2018 11:00 pm

Your plan involves lots of riding by yourself.

DD says that that is not the way to become a good TT rider.
Derny Driver wrote:I trained and raced triathlons for 3+ years, my dad was a cyclist and I thought I could ride. But when I started racing I got flogged every week in C grade and I could not even finish a crit for the first 6 months. And I was very fit. After sticking at it, listening and learning from people, I eventually made A grade and became 3 times the bike rider I thought I was. Racing will improve your riding in ways you cant even dream of.
If you are happy riding around in your comfort zone then by all means enjoy that. I cant enjoy it. I have no motivation to train unless I have something to train for. I need a weekly race or even something to aim for 6 months down the track to motivate me. I also enjoy the adrenaline rush which racing gives you. Ive driven fast cars and done plenty of exciting things but bike racing tops the lot for me. Puts me on a high for days or weeks.
For eeksl, yes there are time trial races you can enter. But you will be a rubbish time trialler if thats all you ever do. Ive just prepared young Mitch Wright for the National u19 TT tomorrow (he was 3rd last year). We do lots of track work and general road racing. I also lay claim to training a couple of Australian masters TT champions ...again these guys race crits, road races, track as well as TTs. Doing only TTs (because you are scared of accidents?) just makes you slow.
Since then it seems that Mitch Wright has demonstrated that he is a pretty decent TT rider, and not bad at the other disciplines either.

Goal setting is definitely a good plan. I think that people need some smaller markers to hit on the way to the big goals too. Are you going to get an "Aero-fit"? Some tweaking of position to minimise drag would likely be useful.

Cheers,

Cameron

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