Weekend Racing - Three Day Tour

Well just got home from a hard three day racing.

Day One - 30km ITT and it was very windy. My computer decided to die at the 10km mark, so I was using the old fashioned way - ride until you feel like you are making too much lactic acid and not clearing it fast enough....keep on top of your gear and just keep going harder. I crossed the line in 47:15 and considering it was 29km I averaged 36.8kph or around 22.1mph (I think). The course was relatively flat and I would have liked a faster average speed, but thewind was mainly a side wind and side-head wind out and side-tail back so not very friendly.

I was wearing my new helmet and looked very fast (I think...didnt get to see myself, but psycholically it helped.) I won the womens TT and the girl who came second had beaten me at Vic champs a couple of years ago and I put 90 seconds on her so I was very happy

Shane rode the fastest man and I was fastest lady and we were leading Mens A and Womens A of the tour. Shane rode 42:30 I think.

Day Two - Criteriums and my least favorite event and Shanes favorite. Well when you race a criterium with a corner called "Carnage Corner" you begin to worry. I started off really well and was cornering well, I even hit my pedal on a corner and skipped my back wheel which didnt really seem to faze me much (it did scare my race though as I automatically had about a 5 bike length lead as everyone had the heebies put up them). Then about half way through the race I lost a couple of bike lengths on the lead two, which is a pain when they break and you just cant go with it, I hate that...need more sprint in my legs and at the end conceded some of my lead, but still over the line in third place (second lady) and overall still going well. Shane had a great crit, his bunch were hammering and he finished third which was awesome. The crit course was the hardest I have ever ridden, it had a 180degree turn around a "roundabout straight into a slight incline so get the gearing right, corner safely and keep going. There were twocrashes on that corner over the day.

Day Three - Road Race with big hills. I might be a time triallist but I am not a hill climber and today to hold my 1 min lead was going to be tough. I must say I managed to hang on to third in the grade and second woman and won a trophy for the weekend. Overall today I rode very well and pushed through the 76kms, Shane had to race 112km and his race included a very nasty about an 11 per cent climb of 1km and he lost his overall lead too.

So my road race was tough and I did put a lot into it but spent a lot of time alone and pushing hard. I was happy I didnt give up and happy I caught about four riders, including two from higher grades that had dropped off their bunch which started 3 minutes before us.

Overall for the weeknd, Shane and I collected 5 stage medals and I won a Trophy for second woman, which was very exciting. Little Dovey our official mascot gets very excited about wearing medals and so he was happy as a Bear in Medals.

Now the real truth was that the women were placed in C grade and there were only three of us at the start. So second is no huge deal, there were about ten C grade riders and I would have been third overall in C grade so I was still very happy. I think the fact that there were not many women was frustrating, but overall I was happy with my mindset for racing and how I raced each day. I am definately getting stronger, but 5km climbs are not my thing......too heavy and there are not enough around here to train on so I just kept plugging on and found a real strength in my riding today.