A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
- ldrcycles
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:14 am
With the workload this week i haven't been able to line up the massage therapist (one my brother recommended to me), should have no problems getting that to happen next week though.
This morning i rode in to work (the short way, from Coolum) on the Apollo and it is utterly extraordinary. I simply cannot conceive any bike being smoother and faster than this thing, it is BLISS to ride! Put in a great time for the 25k, averaged 34.8kmh . Can't wait to ride back just to feel that incredible ride again. Definitely using it for the bunch ride tomorrow morning, and i'm even contemplating relegating the Scott and using the steely for racing. Happy Days .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:29 pm
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:33 pm
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Thu Jan 26, 2012 3:11 pm
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:22 pm
At one point not long into the ride i was muttering to myself about my shoes being wet from the spray off my front tire, when i rode through a puddle and my entire lower half got drenched, just had to laugh. That and looking down at the gorgeous anodized blue spokes on the front wheel spinning around always makes me feel better. So the ride this morning from Coolum to Mooloolaba and back was 45k at an average of 32.4, most of the ride i was sitting on 34-5, topping at 49 for a sprint near the end (couldn't quite crack 50) but hit a fair few red lights in Maroochy which slowed things down. Really enjoyed it and i'm now looking to do a group ride sunday morning on the Dawes just for giggles.
I took this at Mooloolaba just to show the beautiful Sunshine Coast weather .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby toolonglegs » Sat Jan 28, 2012 1:18 am
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:27 am
So all in all, a great morning.
My Dawes and Cotterpin's Beretto at Noosa Main Beach.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby duds2u » Mon Jan 30, 2012 6:11 pm
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jan 30, 2012 9:20 pm
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby duds2u » Tue Jan 31, 2012 10:07 am
It will be good to have a steely amongst the carbones and 1 alloy (mine)
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Thu Feb 02, 2012 10:04 pm
Tuesday i did the long commute on the steel Apollo, my legs weren't 100% and i really felt the extra weight that bike carries, but rode reasonably well all the same.
Wednesday i had to take the Dawes into the shop to get the BB checked out, so drove.
This morning i got up at 3:30 (yes it hurt) to drive down to Noosa for a group ride. About 15 turned up, only 4 or 5 of whom were on road bikes, the rest on some seriously schmicko TT/tri bikes (BMC Time Machine anyone?) Going to Cooroy i was somewhat surprised at the pace, sitting in the mid 30s? I had been expecting to be on the limiter sitting in the mid to high 40s, so coming into Cooroy i was itching to feel the burn so took off down the hill into town. Well off i went and soon they were out of sight, that's when i realised i didn't actually know which way they were going to go out of town towards the hills, so had to stop and wait for them. Boy did i feel a right pillock.
Hopped back on and went fine up the climb over Black Mountain, through Pomona to Cootharaba, all good on that climb, and in a BIG change from the last Thursday group ride i did, was reasonably confident on the quick downhills that follow (max somewhere around 80).
Going into Boreen Point the group was going very slowly, only 30ish. i was wondering what on earth they were up to, surely people on the aforementioned BMC, a Scott Foil, Addict, super fancy Trek etc wouldn't be out of legs after only 50k, we rounded the last corner before the township at walking pace and ahead i saw another group turning around at the other end of the street. 'Ah ha' says I, 'that must be the turn around point'. So off i went, turned around and see that the group i had been with had turned at the start of the street and had bolted! I took off after them but they were sitting on about mid to high 40s and i couldn't quite get on, as soon as a gap opened up that was it and i rode into Noosa solo.
So 2 big lessons hopefully learned today, one is 'stay with the group' (something i should DEFINITELY know by now ) and two is, pay attention to the other riders, and when they do something weird, THINK about it! I spent the first half of the day kicking myself and rueing my poor judgement, until i was able to accept that i had learned a lesson, and gained valuable experience. Which of course is exactly the reason i went to all that effort to go on a group ride . That and pushing myself, and with 74k at 32.8av with an av HR of 155, i think that is adequately pushed.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Sun Feb 05, 2012 12:27 am
So out of necessity the ride back was at recovery pace, and was actually fairly enjoyable, variable headwind notwithstanding.
Tomorrow morning was to be a ~140k ride with a group but i have to go to brisbane to buy some goats. Now how's that for an excuse! Disappointing though, especially as my ride today has me sitting on 981k for the year so far, just short!
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Mon Feb 06, 2012 10:13 pm
On finishing work this arvo i had another 2 hrs of mowing, and have decided that for the rest of the week i will forgo commuting and instead do dedicated training rides in the mornings (concentrating on hill repeats) and mowing/yard work in the afternoons. I'm expecting this will be a more efficient way of going about things, it will be interesting to see how the week progresses.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:24 pm
On a BIG plus, i got my Dawes back from the shop yesterday arvo, removed the nasty original freewheel and just need to pop on the replacement (as soon as i remember where i put it ). Hoping to get it done tonight for a bit of a spin tomorrow morning.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:59 pm
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby toolonglegs » Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:26 am
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:33 pm
With my Scott getting towards being unrideable due to the godawful noise from the knackered BB (Another week or two and i'll have enough saved to get a new ultegra group, and maybe the RS80s i've been wanting ), it looks like the old Apollo Concorde will have to step into the breech. Tomorrow morning i'm going to try and get some hill repeats in before work (no riding after work as Valentines Day means i MUST spend the evening with my girlfriend, no ifs or buts) which will be fine, after all doesn't the old saying go 'train heavy race light'? What will be interesting is if i will be able to hang onto the Thursday morning bunch with it, hmm.
PS, TLL i've been meaning to ask, after doing the above mentioned bunch ride a couple of times, and noticing that they have a pattern of going reasonably quickly for the first 3/4s of the ride, and absolutely hell for leather for the last, i'm wondering if this is the way most races tend to happen? If so i definitely need a lot more ks in the legs, as by about 80k i'm starting to fade quite a bit.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:10 pm
Very much unsure whether or not to use the Apollo for Thursday morning's ride, partly due to the weight but mostly because of the disconcerting (to say the least) flexing from the forks on fast corners, of which there are a few on that ride. Hmmm.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby toolonglegs » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:45 pm
If you are struggling later in the group ride then you need to raise your ftp, pure and simple. See the struggle as a good thing, group rides are usually too bloody easy and more social than proper training. Once they get too easy then spend all your time on the front. Once you start dropping everyone find a harder group . It is about more k's in the legs... but make sure they are not JRA!!!!.
My club is old school (like most here I am sure)... base k's Dec/Jan/Feb in low gears... then build form once racing starts. That is working fine for me this year as I am struggling a bit in some of the faster rides. But two years ago before I put my back out I found them too slow and would get told off for spending too much time on the front driving hard. They also didn't do enough sprint training... but we have many more younger guys now so town sign sprints are happening more often .
Keep stressing the engine!.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby duds2u » Wed Feb 15, 2012 8:51 pm
After Sundays ride we met up with one one of your Thursday bunch riders (Jezz from Venture Cycles) and if it is any consolation for your backing off, he said it was the fastest time the group had done for the ride.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Wed Feb 15, 2012 9:59 pm
I've been inspired by TLLs words (which would be summed up as HTFU if i read correctly? ) and will be doing tomorrow's ride on the Apollo, never going to know if i don't try .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Thu Feb 16, 2012 10:09 am
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:52 pm
It all worked out perfectly, as i got back to Pomona just on 7, so popped the bike in the car and was then able to get lunch when the supermarket opened, and dawdle down to noosa for work.
Photo from the end of the ride .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby foo on patrol » Fri Feb 17, 2012 9:11 pm
You have got to have some good climbing ability in your legs by now Idrcycle, with that area you live in!
Foo
Goal 6000km
- ldrcycles
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.
Postby ldrcycles » Sun Feb 19, 2012 12:52 am
Well today was bad. Woke up early intending to ride from Coolum to Mooloolaba and back, then through to Noosa for work. I was so tired from the early starts and work this week that i simply couldn't get on the bike for more than an hour, and when i finally did and set off, my legs were capable of working reasonably well, but my head wouldn't do the job of getting them going properly. Not enjoyable at all. And i know better than to let that happen, could see it coming but still didn't do anything to rectify it. Importantly though, it's a lesson learned, and i will get cracking on sorting it out (starting with sleeping in LATE tomorrow morning).
I've also reached a decision with the Scott, i'm going to grab myself a new 105 or Ultegra group for it (depending on finances), i know this frame and know how it will behave, a new frame can wait. So time for some 'sleep repeat sessions' .
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