Aussie Road Champs

All the best to Team Nacional riders, Torq Australia riders and Carson Tully and at Buninyong this weekend.
Rip it up against the pro's, lads!

The new decade and life begins...

What an eventful couple of months it's been for the 'harmony house' (a term we use to remind the kids of the parents desired demeanour in our home, ambitious maybe, but we try) and the most significant event being the birth of our son Domenico Maxwell. At 5 weeks old there is a definite pattern emerging in his character... he's a boob man. (oh ha ha). May his journey be an exciting and healthy one. May he enjoy all that dirt single track and smooth tarmac has to offer whilst pedalling a bicycle. May he experience the zen of the salt water barrel. May his spine shiver when listening to a guitar riff and/or drum beat. Hang on, hang on, they're sounding like my experiences, hmmm. Anyway, whatever floats his boat, his old man will do his best to offer guidance and support and hopefully share the experience with him.

B.o.B. (back on bike).
With the Otway Odyssey drawing nearer I really need to spend some time on the bike to build on some lapsed form if I am to avoid an embarassing and painful experience. So since starting with an early morning trip to the Yangs with brother Deano Bravo on Jan 2nd, I have strung a couple of rides together. Amy's ride last Sunday was fun as always (despite a 'shoulda known better' hunger flat) Where I found myself sitting on the wheel of one R. McEwen for about 20k or so. Ya don't do that every day, well I don't so I was well chuffed as well as making stature comparisons with the fast one.

Off to the Yangers again tomorrow morning for an early one at 6.30am, 3 hours probably, before the heat and a trip down for some waves afterwards.
Ahh the life. I was suppoosed to be working this week???

Rainbow colours on the mid week fatties ride?

Yes that's right, believe it or not, Nicole Cooke, 2008 Olympic and World road champ, on a mountain bike, belting along the Yarra trails with the local motley crue.
Ya don't get that every day... and yes she hooks along on the fat tyres very tidily indeed.
Wow.
And apparently yawl get to see her form at the Kona this weekend too.

Dirt crits

A healthy and formidable turn out last night for the half hour of fat tyre power.
20 or so riders funnelled into the tight single track. Ben was on fire. Great to see a couple of chix.
And an honourable mention to dirt crit virgin Jim who jumped in on the Shogun,
without hesitation, and has vowed to be back for more.

1st Ben R
2nd Russ C
3rd Shaun H

7th for me

Next in 2 weeks

Gravity 12hour - raced and WON!!!

Yep, that's right, the 'Emergency Merkin' team of Tim and I slogged it out in the heat to eventually win by 8mins in the male pairs category and possibly more impressively, 5th place overall against the more widely resourced teams of 3 and 4 riders (and much younger ones also).
A couple of laps pre-race roll around the 10.8k (by my GPS measurement) circuit revealed the same familiar course but sporting the effects of a bushfire some 8 months before. Burnt out bridges, black ash in the dust, more exposed to the sun through lack of foliage and quite a bit of loose gravel on the usual well packed surface. 'Sketchy', I thought, and it was but the track soon packed down.
I got a bad start in the run with the majority of riders in front of me, so I just sat in until I could overtake. Tim took over and showed that we were here to race! by belting out a quick first lap. We tagged each other for the next 12 hours with barely a "nice work", time gaps and "GO!!!" spoken between us for the period. About half way through the day I followed our category leader, the strong Brad Davies, for a lap and eventually we overtook his team and slowly extended the gap.
Tim rode like a pro, the best I've seen him and my times were pretty consistent all day.
We were glad to see the sun disappear for a couple of cooler laps at the end of the day.
Both shelled by the end, but elated at pulling the win.
I couldn't have done it without Torq products to fuel me all day, no cramps, no flat spots and no bonking.

Great race on a great course as usual.
Well done to all of the 600 or so competitors.
Well done to The Spin Room boys on winning their category.
Thanks Tim.

Mountain biking, as much as it takes out of me and hurts at times, I just fucking love it!!! (der...)

Gravity 12 hour - this weekend

After whipping around in the erratic B grade, Kew Blvd, crit last night, there will be no more hard efforts before the Gravity kicks off this Saturday at 9am.
Tim and I are set to take it on as a pair (of idiots), which will no doubt take it's toll by the races end, some time after 9pm that evening.
The weather is expected to be, well... perfect!

Consistant, quick laps that are faster than last years consistant quick laps, is the aim.

A great event on a course I could ride with my eyes closed after having done the last 6 or so years.

Good luck to all, stay upright ay!

Sunday will see a trip over to Bright to ride to Mt Hotham return.
Recovery? I think not.
There's time to recover next week...

Functional Threshold Power test - complete

Why did I feel more nervous about doing this test than racing?
*#^! knows?
It was warm, it was on the trainer, I hadn't done one before, no one else home, was I gunna pass out on a max effort? Why worry? It's just a 'simple test' isn't it?
After following the protocol to the letter/number for warm up, it was BANG! power down!
5mins - yeah, ok
10mins - what only half way?
15mins - ouch, hang in there, whoa feeling a bit...dizzy
20mins - power off, thank ^$*! for that!

That's why I was a bit nervous, scared even, as I won't give up until the task is complete. (maybe that's the problem)
Testardo (stubborn).

Anyways 1st one over, I'll know what I'm in for next time at least.
Does that help? Hmmm...

FTP result? A little better after a month of coaching. I'll wait for Jen's feedback though.

Thanks Jen. I'll get there (damn it!)

The great thing is... I just feeel good on the bike and enjoying it at the moment, MTB and road.

Crits on Sunday, St Kilda or Glenvale.

Gravity 12hour the following w/end, bring it on!

Recovery week

Taking it easy this week with a self administered (max. effort) fitness test at some stage.
Arrrgh...

Triggers out and Gripshift in

Good riddance to the 3x9 Sram triggers I have been using for the past 3 months and welcome back to the trusty 2x9 set-up with Gripshift.
Don't get me started.
Thanks James @ Spoke(n) for the switch back.

Surfcoast 6Hr - wash up

The brothers Kellett teamed up for the first time ever, to ride a pretty consistent race to finish 4th in male pairs and 8th overall. The Anglesea scout camp course and the conditions were excellent. We were beaten by the Apollo and Felt teams who won the the event overall but considering the lack of training that brother Dean does, he rode an awesome one, albeit on a course he's familiar with. Top work Deano! I had a great race too and am feeling good on the bike at the moment. I think Jen's coaching is certainly doing the trick and looking forward to taking some good form into the Gravity in a couple of weeks.

Result: 4th (male pairs)

Over and out now for a recovery spin and giggle around Torquers.

Flat Hill Dirt Crits - Tuesday hitouts in Ivanhoe

Daylight savings fires up a lot o things and one that I've been really hanging out for is the Tuesday dirt crits. I missed the first but rode this Tuesday with a dozen turning out including a few quick young stars, MTB hardmen and I.
The course was run in reverse, no problem (apart from the hole at the top of the small pinch). After 30 minutes of racing I ended up 3rd behind some Van Der Ploeg bloke
and Matt. I'm happy with that but will still try and hunt down (or stay with) the young guns a bit longer next time...

1st Paul,
2nd Matt,
3rd me!

Dirt crits again in 3 weeks...

Jayco Hun Tour - Lygon St support crits

The chance to race with a great bunch of blokes on Carlton streets (closed to traffic) in front of a bit of a crowd was just too much to pass up. Ben at The Power Tool Specialists in Carlton and Sam at The Spin Room invited me to join their motley crue to try and win our Masters B grade race, and that we did! After spending half the race on (and off) the front of the bunch, I tried my best to lead the team into the sprint by burying myself on the last lap. It worked and Ben came away with the win, and the cash!!!
Great fun on a great street circuit that suited me with 3 hairpin corners and 2 fast left handers. A bit sketchy when the we had the light shower and my back rubber slid a few inches sideways on a fast corner, but great fun.

Again next year? You betcha!

Marathon Champs 2009

Hmmm...

I've had better races but was still pleased I stuck it out to finish despite chronic back pain after about 20k into the race. Don't know what triggered it, maybe even trying to move my weighty Kurt Kinetic trainer around at home with disregard to my delicate back, doh!. So to be able to battle on through the race meant getting off the bike every 15 or so k's to do a yoga session on the side of the track. It's not great for you're race time though. And it showed in my 5hrs51min race time. Disappointing.
All the masters of the masters category were there, Wornes, John, McColl, McCrory, Williams and me ol' (friendly) nemesis McGrath. The start was off, as expected, to a solid pace on the undulating fire road. As I kept telling myself to start a little slower, ride my own pace and finish faster for a change, I let go of the lead group a bit.
But after the slippery in places, paddock section the ol' back started to come back to haunt me.
The course was much better than last years with much more single track and less frickn bitumen. Always good for a MTB race. A gold stamp to the organisers for this years course.
Ride, pain, more pain, stretch, repeat, repeat, repeat. (excuses, excuses, excuses)
13th place in Masters - grrrrrrr...

Core exercises for me I think.

Oh well, let's move on....

Next?

Gravity 12hr?

I'm comin' to gitcha.

MTB worlds

The trip to Canberra to ride and watch the racing was as expected, F*%#@'N GREAT!!!
I just couldn't keep off the bike, so I spent pretty much all day, everyday riding. With some spectating thrown in there.
Those blokes and chicks ride fast at that level, real fast (oh really?).
To watch the two mens XC leaders still belting it out at break neck speed at the end of the race was awesome.
Just fantastic to ride Stroms and Sparrow's without it being a race and with mates for a change.
I could nearly move to the nations capital just for the riding, road and MTB (no really).

Can't be fagged writing anymore detail, just to say the trip was well worth the effort.

The test.

It's been a couple of weeks since 'the test' and shall try to remember it as it was.

A 9am Saturday start with Dean (Torq boss), Cam (physiologist) and Jamie (set-up expert) in attendance and after an explanation of the process, a short while to set-up the test bike to my previous bike position they had me getting comfortable with an easy warm up. Easy.
Then mask on, no talking and light resistance applied.... easy.
Take blood for lactate level via pricked finger then increase resistance by 50w, 3 minutes pedaling then repeat, repeat, repeat process until my V02 levels reach their peak then start to drop off. Resistance off, light spin, recover, drink Torq recovery, test completed!
Actually not as painful as I was expecting but no stroll in the park mind you.
The detailed results were forwarded to me, and my new coach Jenni, the next week.
Jen peruses the results and constructs the cunning plan to make me ride faster for longer.
Next I was under the instruction of Jamie to assess/change my current bike/s set-up to create more power, less fatigue and more comfort. First up was my Scott road race bike then the Scapin roadie and finally the Yeti. All bikes are now significantly different to ride and from the riding I have done so far they are more comfortable and I feel somewhat stronger on them. My seat and bars were lifted from my super low euro pro (wank, wank) position and seat moved forward to allow me to power more over the top of my pedal stroke. It so far feels real good!

Now all I have to do is ride it, follow it, eat well, rest well, stay injury free and avoid the pig flu (and any other nasty bugs) and podium here I come..... hopefully.

The process was a wonderful experience and I reckon anyone with enthusiasm about their bikes and racing, at any level, would get a lot out of it.
I certainly did.