Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Fast Ride

Today, I ventured out on the fast ride again, missed Tuesday as I just didnt feel very confident about hanging on but today hung on ok. The main pacesetters were Ben, Dave D, Nige who did a lot of turns early in the ride, and normally he saves himself for later in the ride and Shane who did the first pace setting turn.

There is one hill....err false flat where there is always an attack (usually Ben), I was ready for it today and lost a bike length but got it back!!! woo hoo.....and on the hill (the mountain ...which is about 100metres of hill and the only "hill" on the ride) I wanted to beat Nige but he got me and so he gets the DIARY ENTRY. I had tried to get better position before the "hill" but the combinations of Tonys hard turn, Ben driving up the hill and me not getting as much cover as I would have liked, meant that I had to settle for last on the hill (but still attached to the bunch)....

I am thinking about trying in the sprints, but seriously find that it is hard to know what to do, I need someone to help me, but there isnt anyone who can really.....I will start trying in the sprints soon just trying to hang on to the break might be something..
So I was very happy with my ride, given how nervous I get before them, I was happy to just settle in and be on the bunch the whole time. Tonys attack had me digging for some extra power and the "false flat" leading back to the highway which has had me dropped twice lately, didnt claim a victim today...woo hoo.....very happy about that one.

I took my camera to get some pics of the guys before we set off, and I forgot about it. My computer battery was dead today so I have NO CLUE as to the speed. Tony said we averaged 35+ from start to end which includes a couple of friendly rolling kms at the start and after the final sprint, so I am guessing we were sitting on 40 most of the ride once the pace was on. It is around 30km overall and there were a few attacks today....Will be racing on Sunday and very happy about that I think.....sorry no pics here today but will get some on Sunday....

Have got my work Chrissy break up at my house Friday night and my parents arrive on Sat to stay for a while so that will be fun. I just finished redeocrating that room this week...Life is busy at the moment.....

5 comments:

sarah said...

Well done on your fast ride! It is so satisfying to bridge back when you start to fall off a group :) Glad to hear someone else gets nervous before group rides. I know, they are just group rides, but I'm always so worried I'll fall right off at the beginning or something! Once I get pedaling though, I'm happy as can be! Good luck with your racing this weekend.

Judith said...

Thanks Sarah for your feedback...it is ridiculous how nervous we can get before a ride because we know there is a "hard section", "a difficult intersection" a surge during the ride, or just when one of the strong riders turns up...and you know you are going to have to dig deep and find something!

Megan said...

Hey Judith,
Just found your comment on my blog from November, which shows how often I go there!
But after reading yours, you have inspired me to do more regular updates.
Sorry we never got to meet at the World Masters this or last year, I managed to meet Kerrie and Trudy in our category which was great.
I'll be back next year but move up to the 45-49yr group.
Will look forward to catching up then!
Megan

Judith said...

Thanks Megs, I started this to just vent the frustrations I feel being a female in a male dominated arena.....there is just not enough depth in female riding, esp in the country, we have a club of forty, of which only 4 or 5 are women and we are miles apart in our abilities...so it is racing against guys, which isfantatsic for strength but can leave you feeling a bit empty as you can race your heart out and not place, but know you went well, and this happens over and over again.....

Anonymous said...

Lookinhg forward to the visit

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A place to vent my cycling frustrations and get some motivation to keep training hard