A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

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ParkertR
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ParkertR » Sat Jul 06, 2013 10:15 am

mate i love this thread! photos n everything. im thinking of doing the same. haha :) just to motivate myself!

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Re: Building character and being the king!

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:41 pm

This afternoon after finishing work I decide to do a recce of the Noosa Strade Bianche course on the Mercier as it's only about a month away now, and it meant I could finally try to reclaim my KOM for Gyndier Drive at Tinbeerwah to Kabara aged care home at Cooroy. If memory serves me correctly the last time I attempted it I came a cropper halfway and left a good few chunks of flesh on the road :) .

So away I went, over to the starting point at the Noosa Marina in Tewantin, and then off to Gyndier. I thought the segment I was targeting started at the top of Gyndier, so took it very easy going up (turns out it starts from the bottom, bugger!) and then switched on the engine when I got to the top and turned onto Sunrise Rd.

Things went very well, the bike was performing beautifully, the legs, um, tolerably :lol: and I got to Kabara in what I thought would be a pretty good time.

Then it was through Cooroy and up Black Mountain to ride the new gravel sector. There's some beautiful scenery out there and the roads were in great condition, recently graded so lovely and smooth with hardly any of the loose gravel that can make gravel grinding a bit sketchy.


The downhill into Federal on the other hand was sketchy. Not by virtue of the road surface, it was great, but it is VERY steep and it took a lot of effort to keep the speed in check. I don't like the idea of hitting some loose dirt at 40 or 50kmh and doing 50m on my face :).


But i'm here so obviously it worked out fine and after riding under the new highway it was time for the much feared Sankeys Rd.


It actually turned out to be pretty reasonable, yes it's steep but not as bad as it looked from the car, and being sealed on the first section it was just a matter of selecting first gear, getting out of the saddle, and wishing I had a lower first gear :D.

There are 2 or 3 pinches in all and the 2nd one is much harder, slightly steeper than the first and unsealed, so I couldn't just hang over the front wheel like a dog sticking it's head out of a car window (same sort of slobber and noise too!).


The 2nd downhill on Sankeys Rd is another spot to watch, a little bit rough, nothing too crazy but there is a large ditch full of rocks on the left hand side and thanks to me we all know what happens when you get intimate with ditches full of rocks!

The view of Mt Cooroora from the top of Sankeys Road.

Image




The run into Cooran from the top of Jampot Creek Rd is familiar to all those who have done the L'Eroica rides, and then from Cooran it's just follow the main road to Pomona and then Cooroy (for the 'Medio Fondo' that is, the 'Gran Fondo' continues up to Cedar Pocket and then down through Kin Kin but I didn't have enough time for that, luckily...)


I had a muesli bar at the Jampot Creek Rd intersection and was feeling alright til Cooroy and then things started to go a bit skewiff.


As I started onto Cooroy Mt Rd I felt a bit subpar and attributed it to having pushed so hard on the Tinbeerwah to Cooroy leg. A few kms later it became apparent I was well off so I stopped at a creek to refill my water bottle and have a bit of a rest.


Image



By the time I reached Tinbeerwah it was clear I had a good case of la fringale (Italian for "the hunger", it sounds a lot better and more descriptive to me than just "bonking").


I gave it a good go down Gyndier, as I've found in the past that a good downhill can recharge me pretty well in this situation (at least if said downhill is only a little way from the finish and a good feed and lie down) but when I reached the bottom I was in all kinds of bother, faint, pale, sweating, shivering and hollow. Easily the best/worst fringale I've had. I took it veeeery carefully back to my car and then after resting for a sec went off to get enough food to satisfy Mr Creosote.


Said feed plus 2 beers when I got home and I feel fine, I will sleep well tonight!


Aside from the little 'hiccup' at the end the ride went really well, 88km, 1210m! of climbing and no less than 3 KOMs, including my precioussss! I found it terribly amusing that I lost it by 45 seconds, and have reclaimed it by 3 MINUTES 24! :D.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby foo on patrol » Sun Jul 07, 2013 6:04 am

^^ Said feed plus 2 beers when I got home and I feel fine, I will sleep well tonight! ^^

You mean protein drinks Idry, you don't want all the naysayers badgering you now, do ya. :lol:

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:31 am

Yea that new Budweiser protein shake, goes down better than Musashi or Endura :lol: .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:10 pm

Just a quick update as I have to dash to get out to the farm for more work.

Down to Bellthorpe this morning for repeats again, I wanted to do 5 or 6 runs but slept in and have a little bit of a cold threatening so left it at 2 runs so as not to cook myself too much. Took another 20 seconds off my pb :D .

And now that i'm familiar with the descent, it's not as bad as I thought, it definitely needs a very careful approach, especially on the lower sections, but now I now where the bumps/off camber corners are I can relax a bit more and be smoother, it's actually a lot of fun.

On getting back to Coolum I noticed there was a strong southerly blowing, so I fitted the tribars to the oppy and rode to Marcoola to have a crack at the Marcoola-Seaside segment. My legs were pretty knackered from Bellthorpe but I still managed to take 1 second off my pb for 51.4kmh average speed.

And now to cut down some trees :) .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby AndrewW » Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:51 pm

Gj Idrcycles. You still planning on doing the Grafton to Inverell this year?
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Tue Jul 09, 2013 10:08 pm

Hopefully, the Cycling NSW website says it's on in October, but doesn't have any other info, and as it's part of the NRS i'm not sure if there will be individual entry. Apparently the 'cyclosportif' version took place in February, so if that is the one I need to do before Genesys or Budget Forklifts comes calling, it will have to wait for 2014 :) .
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby AndrewW » Wed Jul 10, 2013 7:53 pm

Pretty sure there is individual entry, there is normally A, B and C grades for the October race. My club mates were talking about it, they did it last year in C grade. I'm was thinking about doing it but am being advised not to by anyone that i tell... I only started racing 5 weeks ago, and riding 3 months before that.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Wed Jul 10, 2013 9:35 pm

Not knowing you, I would be inclined to agree with them, 228k is a jolly solid distance anywhere but with all the climbing on that course....

I'm all for taking on a big challenge of course, but I would make sure you've done at least one 200+k ride before entering.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby foo on patrol » Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:30 pm

AndrewW wrote:Pretty sure there is individual entry, there is normally A, B and C grades for the October race. My club mates were talking about it, they did it last year in C grade. I'm was thinking about doing it but am being advised not to by anyone that i tell... I only started racing 5 weeks ago, and riding 3 months before that.
Do not attempt this race if you only started racing 5wks ago. You do not have enough prep for and it will do you more harm than good. :idea: :wink:

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:46 am

Speaking of racing, the local club is having a 2 day stage race this weekend, time trial followed by a criterium Saturday afternoon, then a hillclimb and road race the next morning. The hillclimb is on Gyndier Drive where I've spent many an hour doing repeats so i'm really keen to see what sort of time I can do. In light of that I decided against going on a bunch ride this morning, the cold I have is under control at the moment so i'll rest up to hopefully be good to go on the weekend.


EDIT: and I've been meaning to say thank you for the over 5,000 views this thread is up to (now over 5,200!), cheers everyone! :D
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Re: It's, like, so pro!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Jul 15, 2013 11:02 pm

Stage racing!


The local club had arranged a 2 day stage race, and to my delight the Saturday events were on in the afternoon, after I finished work. So I headed down to Beerwah with the tri-hard bars bolted on to the Oppy for the opening stage, a 4.5km mostly flat time trial.

While the downhill start helped, the cold I have been battling soon made it's presence known, as I felt like I was trying to breath through a screen door (insert "if it's not crimsafe..." joke here). This was not helped by a section of the roughest coarse chip bitumen I have ever had the misfortune to ride, robbing me of at least 10kmh within 50m. I struggled on anyway, staying as aero as possible to make up for my inability to push any power and was pleasantly surprised to average over 40kmh.


After everyone unbolted the tribars we had half an hour to rest while E, D and C grades had their crits (C grade in particular put on a good show) and as the sun was getting low in the sky the combined A/B grade crit kicked off. The first laps were quite sedate, so I decided to give a bit of a kick to warm myself up lest the nippy air get to me. So away I went, got nice and warm and towards the end of the lap sat up ready to drift back to the bunch.


Except for some reason the bunch had decided that a lowly B grader taking off on only the 3rd lap of a 30 minute crit was a serious attack worth chasing, and they were right on me. What felt like only a second after I had slotted back in, they attacked HARD, ticking up to about 50kmh. Unlike a normal B grade crit, they didn't then drop back to 34-36kmh for a while, but after only dropping to 38-40 for half a lap, attacked again. In short order I was out the back and chasing, and in spite of holding a superb pace of between 38-40kmh for lap after lap and passing another dropped rider, they just kept getting further away, and I eventually eased off so I would have something left to tag onto the back when they took the lap.


After they caught me I held on ok until the last few laps when they ramped the pace up too much for me and I came in about 40 seconds back, absolutely cactus. Average speed of 39kmh for 24km.


After a BIG feed and decent sleep it was up early for day 2, starting with a climb up Gyndier Drive at Tinbeerwah.

I was confident heading into this stage thanks to all the hours I've spent doing repeats on Gyndier, and I had my secret weapon on hand in the form of my steel Dawes Shadow single speed. I hadn't accounted for my legs being very sore from the previous day's riding though :).


I gave it a good shot and was happy to record 6:29, while my best is 6:03 it was not long ago that 6:29 was my pb, so to do it the day after a crazy crit and with the lingering effects of a cold is most satisfactory.


Then it was back into the car for the Dawes, and out with the Oppy for the Road Race. 2 laps of the Sunrise loop were in order, and my mission was clear, don't make any silly 'attacks' and just try to stick with the group. The field of 8 set off onto damp but drying roads at a moderate pace to begin with, as we headed for Cooroy an attempt was made to get a paceline going (and I was able to take a turn without any issues) but it soon disintegrated and it ended up with 2 or 3 sitting on the front and the others just sitting behind them (we lost one rider at some stage, I don't know where). I yoyo'd off the back on a couple of the sharp climbs but finished the first lap still with the bunch and feeling pretty good. On the first big climb of the 2nd lap though I got popped off the back along with another rider, I caught and passed him within a k but the group of 5 were out of reach. I kept pushing as best I could to the finish and crossed the line about a minute down, in 1:21 for just less than 50km, averaging about 36.6kmh (i'm told the front group managed an average of just under 40kmh).


So for the overall, I think I would have got 6th or 7th from 10 (results not up yet) and more importantly I rode very well especially considering the cold.


The bad news though, is that my Bryton GPS has lost it again, now refusing to connect to the computer (so no strava dissection for the Sunday races), it's back with the shop and i'll have to wait and see what the distributor says. Regardless of what happens I have lost confidence in the thing, and i'll probably be getting a Garmin 200 soon.


(and if you say "use your phone" scott i'll spam the bejeesus out of you with the strava ride where my wife's phone cut me 50 metres short on one of the steepest climbs in the country :) ).
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby singlespeedscott » Tue Jul 16, 2013 6:44 am

:lol:

Nice riding and write up Lachlan.
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Re: Watch this space!

Postby ldrcycles » Wed Jul 17, 2013 9:47 pm

The latest Strava climbing challenge finishes on Sunday, and thanks to wakatuki, I have a GPS, and a couple of days to get the job done.

Be afraid, be very afraid.
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Re: Aviation style speed metres!

Postby ldrcycles » Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:19 pm

*for anyone who doesn't get that reference, check out the k mart bike thread, good for a laugh :) .




Oh yes that's more like it!

The familiar 3:28am alarm went off and I dragged myself out of bed, through the kitchen (om nom nom) and down to Stanmore for a bit of climbing on Bellthorpe.
That place really is my second home, I just feel so comfortable riding it, well except when it's dark, those are some creepy-ass mountains, I swear I heard a yowie or it might have been a wallaby, same difference, I grew wings!

The legs felt pretty reasonable but I made sure to go at a pace that I could sustain for a few runs, this morning was about clocking up big metres, not segment hunting. The first up-and-down run was dark, the 2nd was foggy at the top and then it alternated between foggy and clear for the rest.
After the 4th run I popped back to the car for a Special K chocolatey bar (they haven't got a lot of calories but they go down well) and then got back into it for another few, the last saw me pretty well out of oomph but I still managed to clear it. On the last run back down the back end gave a bit of a squirm going into 'the bowl' (the top switchback which needs some CRAZY braking going into it) and it turned out to be a puncture, i'm glad it wasn't more sudden, that would have been interesting!

I can't think of a more lovely place to get a flat though, sitting on the edge of the big switchback near The Great Wall, watching the fog drift through the trees and listening to a distant waterfall, heaven.

So the all important numbers, 89km and 4,008m of climbing! Yes my legs are really, really sore!

http://app.strava.com/activities/67908938" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby AndrewW » Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:24 pm

That's an insane ride. Absurd elevation for one trip. Why are you always getting up in the middle of the night? Do you go to bed at 6pm or something? I've always read that sleeping is very important for recovery for athletes. I'm pretty proud of myself if I roll out of bed at 7am for a ride.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:49 pm

:lol: I grew up on a farm so early starts are second nature to me :) . I usually try to be in bed by 9:30 or so.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby singlespeedscott » Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:02 am

ldrcycles wrote::lol: I grew up on a farm so early starts are second nature to me :) . I usually try to be in bed by 9:30 or so.
I am all for early starts but if I've got nothing happening in the day, which was obviously the case for you this day, I just get up at a normal time. 0500-0600 for me, and go for a ride once I take the kids to school.

This way I can go to bed at a reasonable hour and still get in 6-8hrs sleep.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:12 pm

An RDO and nothing happening are two very different things :) . Once I was finished at Bellthorpe it was back to Coolum for a feed and shower, then off to Kin Kin to clear scrub until the light ran out, then back to Coolum to do some frame painting. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything I want, i'd be a happy man if I didn't have to sleep! :D

EDIT: forgot to add this pic from the top of Bellthorpe yesterday morning, the fog was even thicker than this at times.

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Re: Patience...

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:54 pm



Yep, more perfect Sunshine Coast weather :roll:

So no Bellthorpe repeats this afternoon but if I've read correctly the Strava challenge finishes Sunday night, so I should be able to go there tomorrow afternoon on the way back from the Tweed Ride.


And Oh My God, TWEED RIDE TOMORROW!!! :D :D
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Sat Jul 20, 2013 8:20 pm

Ok, so um thanks to Clydesdale scot for pointing it out, the tweed ride is actually NEXT weekend.


Oops.
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Re: Le Vide- The Emptiness

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Jul 21, 2013 9:00 pm

Surely the vast majority of cyclists will have had the spectacularly unpleasant experience of la fringale/hunger-flatting/bonking/whatever else you want to call the sudden complete collapse when your body has no more energy. Well what if your body is just hunky dory, fuelled up fine but you are mentally gone? That's Le Vide, or spirit-flatting.

This morning I decided to sleep in a little and then head down to Bellthorpe after a big breakfast for a few (11 ideally :twisted: ) repeats to knock off the Strava climbing challenge.


The first few repeats went smoothly, though there were quite a few motorbikes (hardly surprising for late Sunday morning) most were considerate, there was little other traffic and the weather was lovely. My legs and lungs felt pretty good, my only concern was getting blisters from wrestling my brifters (which is a reasonable outcome, I've heard extended brifter-wrestling can make you go blind).


But coming down the mountain for the 4th time I was braking hard into the 2nd switchback from the bottom (a slightly less than 90 degree corner at about 12%) when the valve on my front tyre separated from the tube and I lost all the air in very short order.



Image



Yea that looks about right.


Scary as hell but luckily that corner is tight so the speed wasn't too high (35-40 at a guess) and I was able to stand it upright, put my weight on the back wheel and come to a safe stop. One of the first things I did was check the temperature of the rims and they were barely warm to the touch at all so I don't know why it happened. Any ideas?


After popping in a new tube I gingerly made my way back down to the car to gather my nerves and have a little bit of food. After a few minutes I decided there was no way I could get so close and NOT finish the job so I hopped back on the bike and got going again.


The 5th run up was ok, though my run down was quite nervous, but shortly after starting the 6th and last run it became apparent that I had completely cracked emotionally.







I simply didn't have the mental strength to make my body work, even though it was perfectly capable of doing so. In all that last run took over 31 minutes, my slowest ever by a long shot. The run down wasn't too bad though, and just to prove that my body was still fine, I was able to hold 53kmh for an extended period on the flats at the bottom chasing a car that had passed me near the top.


But job done! And it will totally be worth it when I get my hands on that badge!


And people say cyclists are crazy...

http://app.strava.com/activities/68615973" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Built for comfort, not for speed!

Postby ldrcycles » Wed Jul 24, 2013 10:57 pm

Today it was time for a commute on the old Healing as a shakedown prior to the Tweed Ride on the weekend, it's first proper ride in about 40 years.

It's exceptionally comfortable with the enormous 28x1-3/8" wheels and trundles along in a wonderfully smooth manner, but sweet Merckx is it slow! On the flats it's comfortable at about 27kmh (30+ is possible but not really ideal) but throw any sort of rise into the mix and things start to get reeeeeeeallyyy sloooooooowwwww.





After work I headed over to the Noosa Spit to get some photos in the afternoon light, and they came out quite nicely :) .


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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Jul 28, 2013 9:47 pm

Just a quick update as wannabe racer is jolly tired and it's bedtime.

Friday morning before work I did some to-ing and fro-ing around Noosa to do some 'Strava intervals' :) . I took another 6 seconds off my Noosa Woods KOM, which can definitely get better as there are a couple of corners I could take much faster once I work out the right line, did the lookout for the first time and put in a reasonable time, and got 7th on another segment with an average of 46.1kmh.

Then today was the Brisbane Tweed ride, a VERY gentle pace overall but I gave chase when a bloke on a modern Scott passed me on the Ted Smout bridge and led him at 44kmh (for a VERY short time!) On the return leg it was sprint time as there were a few spots I had noted on the way out as being good for photos, so I had to get ahead of the bunch so as not to hold them up. After a few of those we reached the other side of the big bridge and I suddenly realised my front hub had disintegrated :shock: . It was still rolling but had at least an inch of play each way. Luckily Hoffy cycles was on the way and only a few k out so I took it easy to there and it was fixed quickly for only $10 (on a sunday afternoon!)

By the time I got going again the rest of the group were long gone so I made my way back at a comfortable pace and managed to catch up to the group just in time to sprint past to the finish line :D . It was the first time I've ridden on the bike paths out that way and it was very enjoyable, especially the super twisty track through the Boondall Wetlands (though the width of the track is an absolute joke, only a handlebars width each way).


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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 2!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Aug 05, 2013 11:10 pm

A looong time between posts as things have been absolutely crazy lately.

Tuesday I attempted to do the Strade Bianche long course and it did not go well. After waking up 2 hours later than planned I spent nearly an hour looking unsuccessfully for my pump. Eventually I decided to just buy one en route to Noosa, but naturally the first shop I tried wasn't open. The 2nd one delivered though, so I got on the Mercier and headed off, only to get a flat less than 9kms later, before even reaching the dirt! With only 1 spare on me I had to turn tail and head back to the car. At least the rest of the day (spent out at the farm) was productive.

Wednesday I commuted on the old Healing, and being a bit late in the morning I gave her a good bit of wellie and she responded, well, reasonably.

Thursday I had another crack at the White Roads, and i'm starting to get the impression i'm cursed. I got up on time and all was well, until I realised I had left my helmet at home :evil: . So after going back home to retrieve it, then BACK to Noosa away I went. Things went pretty well until the blasted Mercier started it's little autoshifting game again up past Tandur. It got progressively worse until it slipped while I was out of the saddle going up a hill just north of Kin Kin and bucked the rear wheel clean off the ground :shock: . After that it was seated climbing only thank you very much!

Unfortunately that's all to report at the moment, as big things are happening at the farm and the Strade Bianche is only 1 week away (so I decided this morning to start a restoration, smart!)
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