Crits x 2

Tuesday's crit was not the best for me..I got spat out the back far too early.  After trying to work out why, I realised 2 things ...firstly the pace was  faster than the previous week and with no let up, secondly I need to learn to corner better as I seemed to be for ever catching up to close the gap that appeared in front of me at each of the 3 major corners on the red circuit we raced both days.

Acknowledgment:Eastern Vets CC for the above map

Alex however had a good time in A grade racing his new bike for the first time and  getting 3rd place, allowing him to pay me back some of what he owes me!!!!


So today,  Wednesday, I decided to do another crit, this one at the Boulie loop (Yarra Boulevard).

The published start time was 10:00 and I thought I'd missed it but  when I finally found the group,  I was "just" in time.  This loop, unlike yesterday's 1.2 km is probably about ~ 900m and has only 2 corners, 1 downhill (the northern one), 1 uphill (the more difficult southern one)  which, with about 22 laps during the 40 something minutes race gave me 44 opportunities to analyse my cornering skills..or lack thereof.  

a part of the graph

I felt much better after the race and was pleased to be told I'd been considered a risk for the uphill sprint finish!   ....next time maybe.......

A temporary change of title and a different sort of training

A temporary  change of title 

while I put in 14 hours/week at the salt mine...ie work...gotta fund the hols OS somehow!   2 half days and 1 day from 0930 to 1600 are doable and only go til the end of January....and it's nice to feel wanted.

I had to turn down 2 other offers...guess there might be a shortage of rehab Physios looking for just a few hours here and there... so maybe,just maybe.... they might be a bit desperate!!!

and  a different sort of training

I'm taking a mini break from doing track work over the holiday season in order to ramp up the amount of endurance road sessions.  My coach doesn't want me to do quite as much top end stuff too soon.  Today's ride was 2 hours over a million undulations to the north  of the Dandenongs.

I've also been doing some rather tedious  general fitness work at a local gym...well to me all gym work is tedious.  2 sessions a week..one for increasing power and strength in my legs and the other one is....boxing!!!  Boxing ...good for cycling??!!  probably not, but it's a bit of fun, it exercises my pathetically weak upper body, is good for core strength, raises a sweat and, as a bonus, if anybody has been annoying me, I can imagine them on the receiving end of my wickedly hard (!!..not) punches.

I am not a bike rider, I am a "cyclist"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47cGzu6-q40&feature=youtu.be

tnx David  of Cycling Inform for alerting me to this via FB 

First crit for quite a whle

   “Know how sublime a thing it is to suffer and be strong”    

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

 Doesn't look very hard, but I was hanging off the back all the time, and was grateful to be there at the end.  I got mini dropped after tangling with another group we were passing and had to first shelter in that slower group going into the wind, then TT  back up to the back of my bunch.

Not a stellar event or performance...but ..since its the longest sustained effort I've made since August, I'll take it as a starting point and will slowly improve.    And as the pix below says.......

they make you get stronger

Forward planning taken to extremes and other stuff

In order to get onto early bird fares, those of us living in God's own country have to plan waaaaay ahead.

So....my plane tickets for 2012 are already booked and paid for and this week or next, depending on when they are posted, I'll have my lease car booked and the deposit paid.  The first 2 weeks of my time in Europe will be another Italian language learning experience and is already booked..no deposit required for this.

Also, in a race to at least get a bed that won't break the bank, I've also booked accommodation for the following: the Masters track nationals in February (Parramatta), the AVCC Easter carnival at Maryborough, the Hume vets  Queen's Birthday weekend 3 day tour at Benalla in June, and the Masters road Nationals at Goulburn in October.  !

You might think that booking  this early  is a bit of overkill but when you are aiming for the budget end of the scale it's the way to go and in fact I was lucky,  I got the last cabins at both Benalla and Maryborough.  Somewhat amazingly, I didn't have to provide a deposit for any except Parramatta where I had to pay the whole amount upfront.  

Other stuff

For the last 4 days I've been wearing an accelerometer as I am taking part as a healthy subject  in a research project on the amount of exercise people with lung cancer do. The  version of accelerometer that I've been given slips into a pocket or a bum bag however it's turned itself off twice, so I'm not sure it's the best version.

Normally I would be somewhat of an outlier for my 10 year age range   but since 2 of the days were "rest" days for me, the 3rd day it poured all day and so my 3 hour mixed pace road ride morphed into a 1 hour sufferfest on the ergo and the 4th day was a gym day, I wont be.  My body composition was also measured  (def an outlier..more muscle than most 60-70 yr olds) and in a couple of weeks I'll be doing a VO2 max test on a bike.  Muscle testing indicated what I already knew..ie that I'm significantly stronger on my right side  except, somewhat strangely, for grip strength.

Back to regular work
Still as a casual, but I'm doing some clinical work  for at least 2 possibly 3 half days a week until the end of January.  Slow stream rehab..not something I've relished when working regularly, but something I'm happy to go with at this stage of my career.

Gym work
is something I find crashingly boring and it doesn't take much for me NOT to attend, but if I'm to get the improvement in my pursuit and TT it's some thing I just HAVE to do...dammit.  I've found a somewhat different gym+ personal trainer nearby.. part a boxing gym, part not, with  never more than 5 people in the "not" part  at any one time.  So far so good.......

Dramas and non dramas

DRAMAS

1. returning from a ride on Beach Road and following a visit to friends in Bon Beach, I couldn't find my SRM PCVI and at $A700 to replace it, I was somewhat upset.  I searched the car 2 or 3 times, checked up that I'd not left it at the friends' place and searched the car/washing machine/driveway and the house AGAIN.  Then the friends went to where I'd parked the car while I was on my ride...still no luck.

The next day after more car searches by me and Alex  I drove via my parking spot (to check again)  to the police station to report it lost prior to putting in an insurance claim.  After I got home I did a final check of the car..with fingers this time rather than eyes and there it was...yet another case of "black on black".  Phew!!!

2. The battery of my HTC Desire smart phone which is part of my Telstra contract and was provided by them has been running down far too quickly since about June. I had tried to get it checked before I went OS at that time but Telstra wants you to make an appointment to see the tech person and with no time for that  I waited and finally started to get it seen to  last week.

Visit 1..went into Telstra Eastland and made an appointment for the next day
Visit 2 tech person said he could do nothing until I had contacted HTC for a test and that HTC could lend me a test battery.

Phone 1 to HTC who had never heard of the test battery thing, but put me onto their tech who got me to do a battery run down test, which I did the next day.  The test showed that after 2 hours with nothing working the battery dropped to 77% of capacity.
Phone 2 to HTC to report the above.  They said..fine...now you have to go back to Telstra and tell them the results and you need to get the tech to do a test..  We'll put it on your data..here's the reference.

Visit 3 to Telstra to make an appointment
Visit 4 tech said there was no ref number but the details were there under my phone number (phew)....he did the test and said ring this Telstra number and they'll provide you with a new battery since this one is clearly faulty..gives me phone number.

Phone 3..ring number...wrong one.   Given another number...phone chick says noooo they dont do that you will have to buy a battery and they can re-imburse me.  Go back to Telstra shop  and they will provide......(I got a bit hot under the collar during this phone call....!)

Visit 5 I refused to get appointment and said something like ....see me now I'm totally pissed off..this is the 5th visit and you are bouncing me around..it's no wonder there are always annoyed people in this shop...etc etc etc. The  tech saw me at once(squeaky wheel syndrome at play here).  Ha!..no batteries in shop...buy online at Telstra accessories and provide the invoice for refund.  He gave me details.  I checked.  No stock until 6/12/2011.

The noise you can hear is my teeth grinding/gnashing

Non dramas

• Earlier on following the comment about the TT I emailed   the Torino World Masters Games re the  road race and it will  NOT be as shown on the web site, but will be " a little up and a little down" and of an appropriate distance for all ages.
• I'm back doing Italian classes, training hard and working 2 days a week max.
• Ben and Melissa are house hunting and we're sorta in on the act a bit.

Cycling Australia's Cyclist of the Year Awards

As a previous 2 time winner of the Female Masters section award...I'm delighted to congratulate Lise Benjamin on winning this year's version.  She looked the goods in Manchester and did us all proud with her podium places there.

Congrats also to my "old" mate Shirley Amy who deservedly was awarded the Victorian Volunteer of the Year. Shirley's work at club level (along with unnamed others, I've no doubt) has brought Castlemaine CC up to the forefront of all the country clubs.  Well done Shirl!  Not just working at club level, she's also been keeping up the fitness and competitive side of things too with good results at the Aus Masters Games held in South Australia during October.

Me?..well I keep posting that I'm over jet lag, but I'm still taking nanna naps at about 4pm......I've tried to get to the track twice but haven't woken up in time.  BUT, today I'm up, I'm also awake and what's more I'm packed and ready to roll!  And at work I've tramsformed from a very quiet person to my more normal level of chit chat and verbal sparring....and it's been commented on!

Follow up on my World Masters Games 2013 (Aug 2nd to Aug 13th) comment in a previous post...this prompted another friend to email the cycling contact and apparently there WILL  be a Time Trial.

Road info so far: parcours of 117km

;

Track info so far:

400m outdoor track..hmm 400m that should be interesting for the 500m TT!

and finally MTB...the pix show an extremely benign area...maybe I could think of entering this too(!) and there's Orienteering too hmmm..spoilt for choice.

Now I have to start scouting out good accommodation before other equally overly/stupidly well organised people snap up the best there is.