Monday 22 October 2007

A QUARTER OF A BAY…IN A DAY

My travelling was once again done on the Friday after TAFE. I was to spend the weekend with my parents in East Melbourne on a fold out couch and was pleased to have the Saturday morning free to do some early kilometres. It started poorly when I arrived at Black Rock at 6am to discover the bunch doesn’t leave until 7am! That afternoon, the second of two Portfolio Partner Women’s criterium’s was to be staged in Melbourne in conjunction with the Jayco Herald Sun Tour Time Trial. A massive field of 40 showed to race, with 6, including myself, chasing on the opening lap after missing the start! … From then on I struggled. Nevertheless I found myself on the attack and with a lap to go I buried myself to get away, and then I continued to bury myself just to finish in the main bunch! Rochelle Gilmore (NSWIS/Menikini) took the stage in a bunch kick, with Berry (VIS) in second and Jenny Macpherson (CCCC) third.

On Sunday a promotional ride to be run in conjunction with the Portfolio Partner’s Bay in a Day saw me treated to coffee with Rochelle Gilmore, Olivia Gollan and Belinda Goss in Sorrento. Liz had driven us from the city at 6am in a hope to join with a bunch of willing female cyclists, a general invitation had been sent out to join with us. To our dismay we rode away at 8am with just the four of us, it seems that not one of the 15,000 cyclists taking part were interested! It didn’t take long for the four of us to develop a large bunch of cyclists…on mountain bikes…with camelbacks…and standard shoes… Not all seemed lost, until Belinda got in the support vehicle after 40kms and then I blew a tyre after 70kms, catching the train home and consequently missing the final stage of the Herald Sun Tour! I was in bed by 8pm and awake again at 10pm to watch the tour highlights, but I couldn’t even keep my eyes open for that, feeling the effects of a big weekend.

Wednesday 17 October 2007

RIDE TO WORK DAY

A very misleading title as I didn’t even ride to work today! I woke early to meet my colleagues at the bike shop at 6am for a free egg and bacon breakfast at Vic Roads to fill the stomach for the day ahead. John Kitwood, manager of my bike shop Mallard Cycles, was riding for the first time. In fairly game style he decided to utilize the ease of cleats and as predicted decked it on the roundabout when forced to stop! As promised, the past week has been tiring with training and work taking place everyday. It didn’t take long for me to get used to waking early, dressing in lycra, eating out of a pocket, then showering for a mere 5 minutes before running to the bus stop as I‘ve failed to continue driving! With a week of training under the belt and some hopeful form Mum and I decided to make the trek to Bendigo on the weekend for the opening stage of the Jayco Herald Sun Tour.

A Saturday morning ride with the international male competitors had Berry and I complaining about the repetitiveness of their very sleazy and never original pick up lines! A women’s criterium was hosted on the Sunday thanks to Portfolio Partner’s and a small field of 19 fronted for the 20km race. I went out in the morning with Kate Bates and after trying to convince her to compete; I tested the course out myself, a small climb enough to make the race interesting. A few early attacks were unsuccessful until Jenny Machperson (Carnegie) broke clear with no reaction from the bunch. I tried my best to bridge the gap while taking caution on the tram tracks in an attempt to fulfil my two goals; be aggressive and stay upright! Pipa Read (St Kilda) escaped on the final lap to hold off Berry (VIS) who came home to win the bunch kick. I rolled in for 7th, very observant of the lack of power and speed in my legs!

Sunday 7 October 2007

ON HOLIDAYS

It almost seems stupid to say that as every day seems a holiday to me at the moment. Tomorrow however, that shall all change as I believe I am finally over two weeks of sickness where a cold and stomach bug saw me confined to my bed. A busy week of school expo’s, meetings with my coach Liz Taylor (with her new baby girl Ruby!) and local soccer and football grand finals seemed to run me down. Celebrations with friends have given me more happy snaps but I fear that my next photo may have to be in lycra! To find some motivation I’ve started to scrapbook the Junior World Championships from last year and am reading, for probably the fourth time, the series of Lance Armstrong novels. I know it’s corny but I love him!

Today was a busy one in terms of sport, not for me but for the state. I was jealous of the 250 cyclists that helped to kick-off the CCCC criterium season! But then there were those enjoying the weather for the Melbourne Marathon, the country Criterium Championships, the local Morwell-Glenmaggie and the boys across the Bass concluding the Tour of Tasmania. With new sponsors on board at the VIS in ‘Santini’ clothing apparel and ‘Lazer’ helmets, Leigh Howard and Richard England certainly looked the part when, between them, they raced to victory in 5 of 10 stages! I found a compromise and spent the day counting down laps at Bathurst and with my scheduled week to come I think I was in need of the rest. It seems I’ll be approaching my first races of the season in poor form!