It’s been nearly 10 months since I’ve updated this blog. I’ve bounced back from my shoulder injury and I’m back to full strength on the race track. It has been a fun year of riding so far with lots of club racing with the odd interstate race thrown in. I’m still riding the trusty Scott Scale 920 with Wolf tooth 1x10, and TLC Cycles in Phillip, ACT are still taking good care of me and ensuring my bike is ready for training and racing. One bike (and two wheelsets) have proved sufficient over the last few years but I feel I need at least one or two more to make the most of the training and racing opportunities here in Canberra. Firstly the road toad, training on the road is essential for getting the long, consistent efforts fused into the quads. Up until now I have done road kilometres on my mtb. But I’m missing out on many rolling bunch rides that are not only good for increasing power output but they are also great for sharing ideas and talking about training and riding technique. Secondly, in 2015 CORC will be running a gravity downhill series and there are also some great interstate gravity series that are already in place. I need to get on an all mountain weapon, possibly a Scott Genius or similar 120mm+ dual suspension fun machine. Having all the money and shed space in the world I would also go for a Scott Spark 700 (650b), to be used for XC racing on tighter more technical courses.
Beep beep beep, the alarm goes off and I’ve woken from a very nice dream, time to get back to reality and to save some money. For the rest of 2014 I want to keep turning up to as many races as I can and source a road bike from somewhere. After being postponed, the Mont 24hr race is coming up in a few months and our team (Smooth Transition) are all looking strong. Hopefully 2015 will be just as exciting with the possibility of racing some new genres and getting involved in the organising of some local racing events.
I have had a great winter for training, incorporating a Tuesday night indoor spin session to the routine, 5 weeks in a row now but just missed one spin session because I had a sore throat. Man that sounds weak when I type it out. Secondly, either by way of racing or training rides I have been getting regular 3hr+ Sunday sessions. Committing to these two sessions each week has mutated my calves into new shapes and my aerobic levels have lifted. I also try and slot in one or two ‘play’ rides in between for recovery and the misguided psychological therapy that my mates offer me on any given ride. I can still only afford 3-5hrs of training per week.
There is only so much racing one can take when riding peers are heckling from the timing tent “Wrong grade Roberts” or “Stop sand bagging mate” or simply a misguided rocket “There goes an A grader!!!”. Actually in thinking about it the only person that has ever heckled me was my friend Trent. But he is a man of honesty who was probably telling me to man up just when I needed it. So a few rounds ago I took the hint, and entered myself into an A grade clubby at a local CORC round at Sparrow Hill. My goal, not to finish last, accomplished 5 laps without my quads exploding, success, and tonnes of fun, done! The result, I came 6th out of 8 riders. I was asked at a BBQ recently, which grade do I race and I nervously said “At the moment, I race A grade” sheepishly looking around to see if anyone heard. Racing A grade has always been in “The Plan”, but now that it has arrived and I’m more humble then I have ever been. It feels a bit strange and I still feel like I’m entering a world where I don’t quite belong or have arrived before my time. The 2-3min gap between me and the finishing time of the pointy end will take me years of training to close up, but that’s cool, I’m here for the long haul.
In A grade I’ll be learning more and getting more cost/benefit with 5 laps instead of 4. But on the flipside and I have committed to racing national level riders and my only chance of a Top 3 finish will be when 3 or less riders turn up. So the goal for club XCO racing now, to finish off the bottom, to hold some really fast riders for a lap or two, to start strong and finish stronger, but in essence I want it to remain fun and enjoyable. The moment the fun is gone I’m out and going back to Bar Bangin B grade. It is going to take some time for me to feel comfortable racing against the depth of riders that turn up to any given CORC XCO club round.
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