A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

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ldrcycles
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Jul 22, 2012 10:36 pm

Oh and silly me, forgot to cover the important thing!

Image

And the two of us beforehand

Image

Good times :D .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby foo on patrol » Mon Jul 23, 2012 3:37 am

Nice! 8)

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Re: DAMN IT!

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:27 pm

So the good news is, i did 45k today, felt good, and left a bloke on a fancy TT bike for dead, while on the Mercier.

Bad news is...

Image


Chain slipped off for no apparent reason while i was out of the saddle (not smashing it though, just pedalling smoothly), lost my balance and came down HARD. Nothing serious but very stingy and inconvenient. And i'm at 3979k for the year, so close to the 4000 mark but it will have to wait for at least a few days now :evil: .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby toolonglegs » Tue Jul 24, 2012 5:34 pm

Ouchy alright!.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby durilium » Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:36 pm

Looks like the docs is gonna have to restock after your visit ;). Good news you didn't break anything.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jul 30, 2012 7:42 pm

Finally back on the bike, it's been very annoying seeing the crystal clear weather all week and not being able to ride. Swapped the narrow riser bars on my Repco Preset (or "the $98 bike" as everyone calls it :) ) for some drops i had lying around and did the Coolum to Alexandra Headlands thing. Felt pretty good and really enjoyed the ride, it's been ages since i've ridden the Preset and it was great to remind myself just how well the thing rides.

The only downside was riding along the main road through Maroochy, claiming the hell out of the lane (2 lanes in each direction seperated by concrete and palms).
I see a car at a sidestreet waiting to turn onto the road and keep an eye on them. Next thing i notice a car on the other side of the road has turned into the right turn lane, so i have to watch them too. All of a sudden they have turned and are right in front of me. I grab a handful of brakes, the back wheel slides out and i very clearly see myself smeared all over this idiot's bonnet. Absolutely bloody terrified but luck was on my side, i let go of the brake and stopped sliding, and the slide put me at the right angle to go around the front of the now almost stationary car.

I had a bright front light, not my 900 lumen Magicshine type which was charging but it's miles brighter than any frog type, suffice to say i was plenty visible, the stupid driver must have just assumed i was going walking pace (i was actually sitting on the better part of 38kmh). That's the closest i've ever come to having a crash with a car and i didn't like it at all. Not the best thing for a first ride back after a painful crash (and with my elbow still sporting an open technicolour wound and hurting a bit).

41k and 31.4 average, tolerable given the short gearing, a heap of red lights and the temperature getting decidedly unfriendly towards the end of the ride.

I may have sorted the creaking noise on the Scott by swapping the BB for a 30 year old seperate axle Tange item from a scrapped Malvern Star, if so i will be all over the crits tomorrow night.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Thu Aug 02, 2012 11:20 am

Sadly no crits for me on tuesday (had a plumber round sorting out blocked pipes). Commuted on the Preset yesterday, 52k all up and went very well, given i hadn't had much sleep. Managed to hold her at 45kmh for half a k on the way home, with the 44-16 gearing it was painfully fast spinning.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:01 pm

A bit light on for riding at the moment, partly because my elbow still hasn't healed :evil: and partly due to work induced late nights.

Commuted on the Preset again on saturday, another 52k down and rode tolerably, given i had very little sleep under my belt.

I was thinking about riding this morning but spending some time with my fiancee had to take priority so i headed out this evening while she was at work, Coolum to Kawana Island and back via Buderim, which involved going up this http://www.cycle2max.com/bike-hill-clim ... px?id=1964. It says the average is 10.7% but the maximum would have to be getting into the high teens at least, it was pretty damn steep. Rode the Scott for the first time in quite a while and it felt VERY different after spending so much time on heavy steel bikes, great to have it cooperating for a change too, popping in an old seperate axle Tange BB and some 400EX cranks has finally sorted that clicking noise (and the biopace rings give it maximum street cred points :) ).

Managed to tick along at a good pace for most of the ride, a bit light on when it comes to hills at the moment though. Ballinger Rd would have been a little less unpleasant if i had 1st gear, the derailleur was uncomfortably close to the spokes so had to settle for 42-26, which almost defeated me. The run down into Maroochy more than made up for that discomfort though, and i really enjoyed getting a good ride in. I had a shot at my usual end of ride sprint as i approached Coolum but the chain was skipping a bit between the higher gears which put the frighteners on me after the crash, bit of tweaking to be done.

68.5k at a bit over 30kmh average.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby duds2u » Wed Aug 08, 2012 5:16 pm

You missed a good ride last Sunday. Noosa/Mooloolaba/Noosa via Jones Rd in Buderim. My Brynton said it was 21% somewhere on the way up.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Wed Aug 08, 2012 8:34 pm

Yea i've been trying to get on a sunday ride for weeks but keep sleeping in after working late. I know jones rd well, it's brutal!
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Aug 12, 2012 9:32 pm

I managed to commute on Saturday and it was fairly unpleasant. Had absolutely nothing in the legs, the Saturday morning bunch overtook me near Peregian and try as i might i couldn't hold on to them. The ride home was significantly better but still unsatisfactory. I know what the problem is though, nowhere near enough sleep, and i'm going to take great pleasure in rectifying that :) . Hoping to get in about 100k tomorrow morning and then the crits on tuesday night.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Aug 14, 2012 10:02 pm

The morning ride on monday didn't happen, but i did manage to get in 35k in the evening, just some laps around Noosa and Tewantin, and felt pretty good.

This evening off to the crits at caloundra, my legs felt pretty reasonable but i kept finding myself in bad spots. Tried to get myself up near the front going into the final straight and ended up sitting on the front by myself. I thought i would just keep it at a pace i could deal with and then get on a wheel when someone came up to pass me but when that happened it was a bunch of about 8 and they were going WAY too fast for me to get near them. Ended up 2nd last. But my legs had felt ok so i'm not really disappointed with that, it was just down to inexperience.
Averaged 39.7kmh, jolly hard work, and for once remembered to pop on the HRM, average was 163, max of 194.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:16 pm

Things are definitely moving in the right direction! Commuted on the Scott today and while my legs didn't actually FEEL good, and i was still pretty useless on the hills, overall my average speed is gradually starting to get back up towards tolerable. Best of all, about 5 k from my finish i was caught by the group that goes up and down the coast on saturday mornings. I stuck with them for a k or so until i looked at my watch and realised i was running late for work, so swung out and charged. And charged. And charged. And asked myself WHY WHY?! Sobbed into my Specialized Body Geometry gloves. And then charged a little bit more.

So i managed to stay away from that group for about 3k, sitting in the mid 40s for much of the way, until our paths diverged (i was going over hyah, and they were going over nyah). Now obviously i was digging furiously into my backpack of courage, and finding no courage, went with the crumbs of desperation and blind optimism that were growing mould on the bottom, and equally as obvious, the group was making absolutely no attempt to chase me, but i maintain that it still counts. So i am pretty pleased with having dropped 2 of Australia's best MTB racers (who happened to be in the group, and were probably either on a recovery ride, or still asleep).

After a particularly busy morning at work i was jolly tired and i could see a very long ride back down the coast in my immediate future. Happily my crystal ball was functioning about as well as my gears usually are, and i charged away and rode very well. The legs still felt a bit heavy, but i'm blaming that on the slightly-too-tight BB and the Biopace chainrings i'm running (everyone knows Biopace makes your legs feel heavy).

Tomorrow morning there is a crit in the daytime just a few k from Chez Fiancee, and i'm very much looking forward to doing a race in which i can actually see the course and other competitors. Time for a bit of rest :) .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:20 am

A very tough ride this morning, the crits were held on a U shaped course, with turn around areas at the tops of the U and 2 roundabouts at the bottoms. So that meant 6 acceleration points on every lap, and there was a fair breeze coming from the top, and 2 of my biggest weaknesses are riding into a headwind and repeated accelerations. We started off with 20 in the group, and i was riding reasonably well, and kept up there for the first 35 minutes or so. After that unfortunately the constant kicking out of the corners took it's toll and i got dropped. In spite of my best efforts i ended up last by quite a way. Given the nature of the course, and the fact i still averaged 37.8kmh for the better part of an hour, i'm okay with that. The only way is up!
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby foo on patrol » Sun Aug 19, 2012 1:35 pm

If you include some standing/almost standing starts in your rides, you will see an improvement in this aspect of your riding, inside six weeks mate! :idea:

I have a young bloke that I'm helping out and he has noticed a big difference after six weeks of this! 8)

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Aug 20, 2012 3:15 pm

Thanks for the tip, time for me to find some red lights then! :) .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby JustJames » Mon Aug 20, 2012 9:10 pm

ldrcycles wrote:... obviously i was digging furiously into my backpack of courage, and finding no courage, went with the crumbs of desperation and blind optimism that were growing mould on the bottom...
Great turn of phrase!

If you invented that one, give yourself a pat on the pack.

If you didn't, just say nothing and enjoy the Internet glory.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:26 pm

Well we all know who came up with the term 'suitcase of courage' :) . There is the difference between me and Bike Snob, i can manage a witty post like that every once in a while, he does it EVERY time.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Fri Aug 31, 2012 11:25 pm

A big gap between posts here, and to my great frustration, not a lot to report.

Last week was 28k on the Dawes, this week so far 50k (though that was a lovely ride, and i felt great).
I've been doing a lot of very hard yakka clearing scrub (lantana etc) at the farm to get it ready for the wedding (late next year, it will take some time to clear 150 acres :shock: ), so i could perhaps count that as cross training :) . But then, i'm not interested in training for whatever the hell 'cross' is, i want to train for cycling. That may be able to happen more in the near future though, as i gave the pizza shop my 2 weeks notice this evening. Various reasons but more time for training was a big one.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Sep 03, 2012 8:28 pm

Now that's more like it! 55k around Noosa last night while my better half was at work. Rode around Noosa and Tewantin, then off to Duke Rd in Doonan which i have driven a few times but hadn't ridden. About 2 or 3k of climbing, not constant but a series of tough kicks, and of course the last one was the longest and steepest (at maybe 14-15% at a guess). The first 4 or 5 were reasonably comfortable but my 42-28 granny was no match for the last pinch and i had to climb off 3/4 of the way up, desperately gasping for air. After a little rest and walking the last 80odd mtrs i felt alright again, rode well to Tinbeerwah, then did a couple of runs up Gyndier Drive. Averaged 31.1kmh for the ride which i'm pretty pleased with given the amount of climbing involved.

Was hoping to do a recovery ride of maybe 20k this morning but time pressures meant i had to content with 15 minutes on the trainer, which is still a lot better than nothing. Should be able to get a few more k up tomorrow morning, most likely on the Dawes.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Fri Sep 07, 2012 10:11 pm

Oh what cruel fate, that i should never know the joy of a friendly breeze at my back, but only the brutal soul-crushing embrace of an invisible demon tearing savagely at my face, stripping away at me until nought remains but a bitter burnt out husk. Or, to put it another way, it was a bit breezy this morning and i don't like headwinds :) .

Rode the Dawes last night from Kin Kin to Pomona and back, then to the top of the Kin Kin range and back again, 50k in all. Enjoyed it so much that i did it again this morning. Both times averaged about 32kmh. Had great fun cresting the range with a car coming up behind me, which was comfortably distanced over the next 2k of twisting downhill :) . Rest tomorrow, then the Gold Coast 100 on Sunday. Fitting new Shimano RS80 C24 wheels to see how they feel.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Sep 09, 2012 8:18 pm

Gold Coast 100 today! Just as an intro, this weekend went something like, up at 6am saturday, work til 12, nap for a couple of hours, work til 8:30 then get my stuff and drive to southport, sleep for 4.5hrs then get on the bike. Drive to brisbane, drop off some bikes, drop the fiancee in noosa then back to coolum for something approaching rest. Thank heavens i don't work monday and tuesday!

Now anyone who is a fan of Top Gear will be aware of James May's aversion to running, well he learnt that from my fiancee. So when i'm running 15 mins late the 'choice' is run and get there without her, or be late. Naturally, i was late. Arrived at the start line just as the whistle blew, luckily i had already registered so just popped on the HRM, gave SWMBO a kiss good bye and set off. 10k virtually flat out to get up to the front and then a few red lights (which i'm pleased to say were recognized by almost everyone, good work people) allowed me to rest a bit. I was ticking along pretty well until a poorly timed red light gave the lead bunch of 15-20 a 30 second gap.

Then it was a carbon copy of last year, me pushing as hard as i could for about 40k trying to catch that group and constantly passing blokes who had been spat off. The difference this year is the climbs went MUCH better, particularly the longer ones. Last year i struggled with a 39-32 granny, this year i managed quite ok with 39-28.
Where things differed from last year though is that in that instance i was caught by a big group near Dreamworld and had a super fast run into Southport. This year i was smashed by a headwind the second i reached the top of the course and turned south. Eventually a group of 4 passed me and i managed to hang on to them for some shelter. I felt pretty low just sucking wheel the whole time but i was sure if i took a turn i would be toast and drop off to be stuck in that headwind again. After a while a very nice bloke in a PBK jersey talked me into it and i ended up doing my fair share which felt good. I made a point of letting the 4 cross the line in front of me though.

In the end it was exactly the same time as last year, 3:14, which given the headwind means i must have made up a lot of time in the hills.
A little bit of tightness in the legs but the main issue was my back, very painful indeed. There was a free massage at the finish which i availed myself of but it consisted of the guy finding the most tender spots on each side of my back and then putting every ounce of force he could into it with his thumb. Hurt like billy o but worked suprisingly well, the drive home was ok and i'm feeling pretty good now.

Best moment of the ride for me was about 45-50k in, coming past Highland Reserve State School down a reasonable sort of hille to a big roundabout. 65kmh in, leaning hard over to the left and juuust holding off the roundabout kerbing, then flip it over onto the right and after the apex smash hard and feel the bike squirming and straining as i flew out and up the next hill. Lovely :D .

Just a wee spin tomorrow to recover i think, then maybe something more strenuous on Tuesday. The next goal is the Tour de Tamborine in December, had a great time there last year (and it was my first ride back from the big crash). I probably won't be using the RS80s for that one though, they were incredibly rough on fast coarse chip today, even with lower than normal tyre pressures. Felt pretty good apart from that though. And i finally got myself a GPS yesterday so soon i will be able to prattle on about gradients and metres of climbing. Hooray!

EDIT: trying to see if i can pop in the course profile from the GC100 website http://res.au.eventdirector.net/ROTPK/S ... ofile3.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
hmm, not quite but close enough.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Sep 11, 2012 9:41 pm

A very interesting day today. Slept in and then headed out for what was intended to be a relatively easy ride on the flat coastal roads. I was taking it steady-ish (well ok i wasn't bouncing off the limiter at least :) ), until just after i turned around to head for home and was presented with a bus and a straight flat road. Timed it just right and got on him to sit on 65kmh for nearly 2 ks :D . Unfortunately he turned off (i would have liked to see how much longer i could keep it up) and i eased down til i felt i was barely moving, i was still doing 38 :D . So that was 62k at 30kmh, max HR 199 av 158.

Then when i got home and had eaten and stretched the thought occurred to me that it was tuesday, and the tuesday crits might be on. They were so i headed along to see how my legs would deal with it. The pace was very hard right from the start and i found that i could keep up alright so long as i kept the cadence down a little, spinning was quite uncomfortable. Didn't have too much left for the sprint and wasn't very well positioned but was a long way from last and averaged 40.27kmh. First time i've averaged over 40 there so pretty happy with that :) .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Thu Sep 13, 2012 9:28 pm

Another very nice day, though the 5am start was a bit challenging due to a bitterly cold 9 degrees. Kin Kin to Pomona and back (35k) on the Dawes at an average of just over 32, and felt only reasonable due to the cold.

This evening i repeated the process, and with a more pleasant temperature i felt much better. The only downside was a very strong headwind on the way back, though with no small measure of difficulty i managed to keep above 30kmh through it. Overall took 2:02 off the mornings time. I had a crack at riding the Peugeot i restored a couple of months ago for my brother to ride in the Noosa L'Eroica and turned around within 200 metres, WAAAAY too small for me so it will need to go, better that it actually get ridden than be a wall hanger.

Probably won't be able to get much riding in on the weekend but i'll see what can be done, this is my last weekend of working nights so that should make a positive impact soon.

And holy macaroni, over 7000 views now!
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer.

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Sep 16, 2012 10:11 pm

Prepare yourselves, i'm discovering the world of strava!

http://app.strava.com/activities/22131062" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; (i'm not sure if my account allows people to view stuff, still finding my way round).

Good ride this evening, felt pretty reasonable for the most part though i was up against it a bit on the climb to buderim. 15th from 49 for that segment though so not a bad start. Tomorrow will be just stretching before work (i have to get up early to try and win a vintage Dawes jersey on ebay uk :) ), then riding round noosa in the evening while my lovely is at work.

EDIT: looks like the link does work, and doesn't that elevation profile look pretty :) . If i'm able to get out for a long ride on tuesday i should have a really cool one.
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