Noosa Crits at Tri Festival

[fionahills]

First experience of watching live bike races - great fun.

I have never really appreciate how fast they went - but watching on the fence - wooohoooo. no really bad bingles but speed caused lots of early exits - always said I liked to watch on TV cos you saw more but after today would be thrilled to see more top class crits up close -

McEwan seemed super excited to win - nice to see. Women raced hard and fast too - great day.

[ldrcycles]

I did marshalling there last year (exciting experience to move the barriers to let McEwen onto the course ), but couldn't get round there today .

I don't understand what USM are doing with this, there is no publicity for it whatsoever, i tried this morning to find out who was actually starting and couldn't find anything. The only reason i found out about it last year was the local MTB club asked for volunteers.

[DavidI]

Onboard footage of the race from Robbie's bike
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osiNhSwp ... e=g-high-u[/youtube]

[marinmomma]

Wasn't it great? We watched both the races in between outing my bike into transition ready for the following day.
It was even more exciting as the owner of my lbs was racing.
We were down at the turn around point and there was a few spills there but everyone got up which was good to see!
Another great weekend and we will be back in 2013 hopefully to compete again...I'd love to beat my time on the cycle leg!

[fionahills]

how did you go in the tri - i can't run to save my life but seeing everyone getting ready to race was very inspiring -thinking of doing a little TRY atholn soon!!

hope you went well and had a blast

fiona

[marinmomma]

I was in a team entry which is good as I can't run either!
We finished in 2:55, it's was our first Noosa but we all want to come back next year to do it again!
It's a great weekend, our friends kids do the kids Tri on Saturday then we watch the crust and go to the expo before heading out to compete on the Sunday, it's a great atmosphere!

[fionahills]

Congrats - awesome effort -

we did the fun run (shuffle) on the Friday, admired the bikes at the expo and all the really fit people getting ready to race - back on the sat - but I still get a bit lost in Noosa so parked about 5ks out from the course - so at least we got some exercise walking in and out!

I will definitely be there to watch again next year and cheer you all along -

BTW - do you have any idea of your av speed up Gyndier Drive? (the closed hill section) - its my part of my regular practice - would love a good time to aim for - even though would probably be beyond me -

fiona

[marinmomma]

My average speed was 20 ks an hour, it took me 8:30 to do the climb, so I've certainly got some room for improvement there.
We rode it again this morning and probably again tomorrow morning!
Mr MM is keen to take another crack at it tomorrow!
It's a great hill nice and gentle climb not a crazy 9% like Brisbane's Coottha!

[ldrcycles]

As said in your Alpe D'Huez thread, Strava is a lot of fun. MM i think 8:30 is a good effort, i remember when my average going up there was about 17kmh.

Gyndier is a really wonderful thing, having a space like that so close to town that everyone can use, people walking their dogs, mountain bikers, roadies and skateboarders, and everyone gets along really well too IME. It's fantastic for doing hill repeats, i think the best i've done was about 50km of just up and down, up and down .

The best time on Strava for Gyndier is 5:27, my best is 6:29.

[fionahills]

I think 20kph is awesome (thats not much less than my flat average!!!) -

mine barely stays in double figures so I would be jumping up and down to get over 15kph and figured 18kph would be worthy of a new bike!

thanks for sharing -8.30 - woohoo - I now have something to aim for - if you ever find a dead body on the side of the road - with an ugly expression on its face - that will be me trying to make your time

Now 6.29 is just showing off - I am not even going to think about the av.speed of that one -

strava would be my worst nightmare at the moment - for a funny reason it feels safer to confess on here -

at the moment I am trying to get up a two or three times within an hour oh well we all have to start somewhere I guess

its fun though - I love riding on the closed road and its helped me get over being scared of downhills.

fiona

[marinmomma]

Hi Fiona yes just starting somewhere and keep going is good advice.
Strava is good for tracking your own progress, there are segments that I have been riding consistently for over 18 months now and I can see my progress which is very encouraging.
12 months ago I wouldn't have thought it possible that I could ride up some of the hills that I do let alone actually enjoy it and be looking at bigger ones!

[kb]

I figure being pretty slow when I started with Strava just gave me more PRs

[fionahills]

Ok I took the plunge and put it on Strava - only a few rides on there - have not had Garmin long - still not sure what I do with it now it is on there though - its tough being techincally challenged as well as inflicted with OCD - obsessive cycling disorder - it exists! I found it on google

went for my ride with a coach this morning - he was very nice and encouraging - went on a loop that included Gyndier Drive, up around Sunrise and then down eventually to the new crit track - just the one lap by then- I was beat - gave me some good advice about position of my feet, gear changes and what a good training Hr feels like - I have obviously been taking it too easy - usually I can have a nice chat - but most of today too bust pedalling - average speed still only 21.5 over 30 odd kms BUT I felt like I was working much harder - go figure.....

anyway lots of fun and looking forward to next session

[marinmomma]

That's good keep that up and you'll see improvements in no time. Having someone push you out of your comfort zone is good.
The Sunrise Rd loop is lovely to ride, we rode up the hill, did another pb today, then out to Cooroy and back in via Sunrise Rd, just stunning!
We are doing a bigger ride tomorrow to scout out the first half of the Noosa 160 course!!!
I will miss riding up here when we leave on Friday.