I've just returned from Sydney where yesterday I had a bike fit session with Steve Hogg whom with his wife Margaret operate Cyclefit ,where they specialise in bike fitting. This is my 3rd visit to them in around 18 months and part of the reason for going this time was to get Steve to check out my position on my new Time Trial bike and to check a couple of things on my road bike. I also have a sister and brother in law who live in Sydney so the added bonus is I get to visit them also.

As I have said before on this blog I'm a relative newcomer to cycling with just over 3 years of reasonably serious riding so I'm not claiming to be an expert I just enjoy writing about my personal experiences.


When I had my initial consultation with Steve in July 2010 I had only been riding for a couple of years and was recovering from a shoulder reconstruction from a mountain bike accident.  
   
Steve is a wealth of knowledge on many subjects and I always leave there with lots to think about and contemplate.
As this is my 3rd visit much of the ground work for my bike fit has been done previously and my subsequent visits are more tune ups, or if I have changed any equipment and want Steve to make sure I havn't altered my position in the process.
During this visit I got my pedal system changed from Shimano to Speedplay, which was a choice I had made, on both bikes and got 2 pairs of shoes set up with the matching Speedplay cleats. One of the things I believe has made the most difference to my cycling which was picked up on my first visit was a leg length discrepancy and now, with spacers fitted under the cleat of the cycling shoe on my shorter leg I feel much more fluent in my pedal stroke. I also believe I am less likely to end up injuring myself in the long term now this has been rectified.Whilst getting a "Bike Fit" is a significant investment I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it to anyone who is having issues regarding the comfort they experience whilst riding. For me I believe it's made a huge difference to the enjoyment I get from riding. 
 

I don't have any pictures of the TT bike and I'll keep the changes under wraps until the next Time Trial event.
Well not really, I just didn't take any photos of it. 

Saturday's race at Dookie was a combine between Shepparton and Wangaratta Cycling club. The race was a 52 km handicap that included 3 laps of a testing course of rolling hills. There were 41 starters which is a pretty good turnout for a club event. On arrival and payment of entry fee the most important thing to find out is what group you'll be riding in. I knew some of the guys in my group and it was with some interest I note Chris Howard would be joining us off limit. Very interesting indeed.

One thing about handicap racing is that it's going to be hard work and Saturday was to be no exception. We started hard and kept it going, Chris Howard doing big turns up the hills and the rest of us contributing where possible.The main contributors to the pace making as I saw it, which was pretty much staring at my head stem, were Chris Howard,Felicity Wardlaw and myself with the rest of the group getting involved on the long flat and downhill sections. 

I finally exploded on the last lap at the base of the steepest climb on the course with my legs refusing to push me up the hill no matter how hard I tried to persuade them otherwise, if I could only just make it over the top with the group I could hang on to the finish. Alas this was not to be and when I finally crawled over the summit (makes it sound like a mountain) I could see my little peloton disappearing into the distance. Bugger, one turn on the front to many,must remember that next time.

As I rolled back toward Dookie the 15 minute group blasted past hoping to catch my escaping limit buddies. However it was to be the "Day of the Limit" rider and the first 5 places went to the limit group. I was disappointed that Chris Howard had to settle for second after doing most of the pace making(and I was also cursing him from keeping the pace so high I exploded) only to be jumped on the line by a Shepparton rider who arguably had "sat on" for big chunks of the race. That's racing however.  Results:

Fastest Time:

Stephen Fairless 1.10.50 

1st Peter McClelland 1.25.40

2nd Chris Howard

3rd Colin Stokes

4th Felicity Wardlaw

5th Stephen O’Brien

6th Andrew Doyle  1.28.01

7th Gavin Frawley

8th Laurie Lyster

9th Matthew Grealy

10th Gifford Crossthwaite

11th A Friend

12th D Devereux

13th Geoff Stevenson

14th Tomarsh Loki  1.29.04

15th Tony Reekman  1.29.30

16th Stephen Fairless  1.30.50

17th Mark Zito

18th Tully Lyster

19th Travis Lindhe

20th Christian McDonald

21st Mark Cook

22nd Raymond Jarratt

*these following riders were all in the bunch with 16th thru 22nd, unsure of exact order:

Ashley Baines

James Boal

Trent Stevenson

James Fox

J Sherlock

T Ryan

Jake Morgan

30th Mark White  1.31.30

31st M Thompson

32nd L Moore

33rd Edward Dalle Nogare

34th Brad Scott  1.33.02

35th G Leed

36th Travis Edwards

37th Paul Lane  1.35.36

38th T Hoare   1.40.00 +

Rhys Lyster DNF

Dean Robinson DNF

As soon as I heard the Amy Gillett Foundation were going to be holding a Gran Fondo with a decent portion on along the Great Ocean Road and the entire route was going to be closed to traffic I couldn't get my entry in quick enough. I was joined by 4 members of the notorious Captain's Crew for this cycling adventure and with our accommodation having a great view over the ocean things were looking good.

It was compulsory to attend a safety briefing and in conjunction with this we collected our rider kits. The briefing was not to long and the highlight for me was when the police officer in charge of road safety for the event had his mobile phone go off during his presentation. He didn't miss a beat said it was his boss calling  and sent the call to voice mail. Once the briefing was over we collected our rider kits as we left.

The weather was kind to us after a little drizzle over night and a brisk wind blowing off the ocean in the early hours of the morning. Riding down to the start line you really I was blown away at the scale of the event and to see all the riders lining up in their starting waves was unbelievable. With Dave McKenzie on the microphone and Phil Anderson making a guest appearance to greet the crowd you could be excused for imagining yourself about to start one of the Grand Tours.

We were all getting restless and wanting to get going as the clock ticked slowly toward 8 am. I could hear something about a koala being announced over the PA, and as it turns out a Koala was apparently wandering around on the road just out of Lorne after consuming one to many Gum leaves delaying the start of this huge event by 10 minutes os so. Only could happen in our wonderful country.

The first 1.5 km was neutralised to allow the bunches of 200 riders to get settled down and organised before the pace hotted up. And hot up it did. I had a few people say to me they didn't think the event would be competitive enough for them and all I can say to that is when my heart rate hit around 180 bpm on the first little climb, the competition was well and truly alive.
We blasted down the Great Ocean Road and when I wasn't completely on the rivet I had to remind myself to soak up the magnificent views and enjoy this opportunity to be on this road with no traffic.

I was happy when we turned off the Great Ocean Road as I knew the KOM climb was about to start. I like climbing and got into a good rhythm for the next 30 mins passing plenty of other riders and getting passed like I was standing still by others.
The decent was great, a little wet but not too dangerous and then the course was a series of rolling hills that could pretty much be ridden over in the big ring. I got in with a few others and we pushed pretty hard to keep the pace up. After one of the small towns that had a comfort stop (I was determined to ride the event without stopping) we were joined by a group of maybe 40-50 riders that kept a good pace all the way to Deans Marsh. Rounding the right hander here it was not long until we going up hill again. The legs were starting to hurt and the "suitcase of courage" was calling for a withdrawal to be forthcoming for the last 10 km which was to be mainly uphill. Plenty of people were really doing it tough now and all I could do was keep pushing as hard as possible knowing the end was almost in sight. Climbing out of the saddle for the last couple of hundred metres and crossing the line spent but feeling content that I had done a good time.After catching my breath it was nice to have a chat with a few people I had rode with during the day. Everyone I spoke to had a great time and were already talking about next years event. I can only imagine how fast it will fill next year.

So many highlights really.
The local people who were sitting out in front of their houses clapping and cheering as we went past. Especially as they would      have been quite inconvenienced by the road closures.
The beautiful scenery.
Closed roads.
Friendly competitors.
Great organisation.
Time spent away with friends.
The elder statesman (The Silver Streak) arriving back at the car
announcing "let's go around again". 

For the record my time was 3h 28min 17sec at an average speed of 31.6kmh
average heart rate 161bpm and cadence of 79 rpm


All results from Amy's Gran Fondo are available here and you also have the option to print out a certificate that gives your ride time,overall placing,age category placing and KOM time. 

On Wednesday's Beechworth ride on the return leg back to Wangaratta around Everton the bunch Captain found himself with a flat tyre. It's one of those things that happen and it's never usually at a good time, I've had people flat right in front of me about 500 metres out from the end of a race just as the speed is really ramping up. Ruins any chance they had of winning after doing all the hard work to be in the mix at the pointy end of the race. In my 3 1/2 years of doing a reasonably serious amount of riding I've had 2 flat tyres out on the road (in the same event) and found my bike in the shed with a flat tyre twice (the best type of flat).

What's the best way to avoid getting a flat? Not ride your bike is probably the only sure fire way of avoiding one. I've tried a few different things,latex tubes,tubeless tyres with sealant and tough Gator skin type tyres.I've experienced flat tyres with all combinations except the Gator skins (touch wood) but I'm sure their time will come. Hopefully not for a long time. I'm currently running Continental GP4000s with Vittoria latex tubes in the wheels I use for special occasions/racing. I've found this combo rolls pretty nicely and the tyres give pretty decent wear for a light racing type tyre. I always try to remember to inspect the tyres on my bikes pretty closely at least once a week but should probably do this before each ride. At least in the country we don't have as many issues with broken glass as our city counterparts. I'm always hearing stories of flat tyres caused by glass from my Melbourne mates who ride Beach road regularly.  

I'm yet to try singles/tubulars whatever you want to call them and feel as though they are not worth the hassle. Saying that lots of people swear by them for racing so it would be good to have a ride on them to see what the fuss is all about. 

Happy cycling this weekend and I hope it's a flat free one for you. I'm off to check my tyres as I'm heading down to Lorne for Amy's Gran Fondo. Just hope I havn't jinxed myself by writing this post.
 

I didn't race this weekend and from what I was told racing was called off due to a very small turnout of riders and very ordinary conditions. I must admit to feeling quite flat this week and I think last weekend's "Race of Truth" had the last laugh. I decided that I would have a slightly easier week of training to allow for good recovery. I'm not sure if I succeeded as this afternoon my legs are feeling  sore after a good 80 km hit out this morning with Wes, of WestEnd BikeHub fame, in the Beechworth hills and coming home into a pretty decent head wind. We did see the local A Graders blast through Beecworth and after a fruitless attempt to catch them along the Beechworth - Wodonga road we settled back to our own pace. I am reliably informed the A Grade bunch clocked up a lazy 140 km on their journey   

I also have to thank Wes for supplying me with what will be part of the Perpetual Trophy for the Mt Buffalo Challenge. Now while we are not getting any new  times coming in I hope this will change as the weather improves or Jake is in the box seat to get the trophy. I also have it on good authority that a group of Melbourne Cyclists known as The Captain's Crew are coming up in November to have a crack at the Challenge.

Last weeks Training.

Mon. 5-9  Gym and stretching 1h 30min
Tues.6-9 Day Off
Wed.7-9 Beechworth Ride 90km 3h 20min
Thurs.8-9 Kew Blvd.  25km        1h
Frid. Day Off
Sat. Gym and stretching  1h 30 min (increased all weights)
Sun. Chilt. Beech. Yack. Chilt. 82 km 3 h 08 min.      

Next weekend I am competing in the first Amy's Gran Fondo held on closed roads with 40 km on the Great Ocean Road.
I've put myself in the 30-35km group which should be perfect and there are a couple of really decent climbs involved.
This will be a very competitive event with the ride timed so it's pretty much going to be a race. I have a couple of members of the Captain's Crew to keep me company during the event, hopefully they give me a nice tow.
Have a look at the course profile @ Cycling Profiles, the ride also has UWCT qualifier status for 2012 World Masters Championships. 

Yesterday the Wangaratta Cycling Club held a 36km (by my bike computer) Individual Time Trial or as the title of this post suggests , The Race of Truth. I have very limited experience in these and I reckon this was only the 3 rd ITT I've ever ridden,competitively at least. This was certainly the longest as I reckon the other 2 were 14km and 10km.

I had just purchased a new TT bike during the week leading up to the event and had managed to ride it twice during the week.
I don't mind admitting to being a little nervous before the start, I had not ridden that well in the previous TT's before this one and was a little worried that with the new bike and the bloody aero helmet things may not change. When I arrived at West End Bike Hub to ride out with Wes his comment of "you'll have to ride fast now with the aero helmet too" didn't help. But at least I wasn't riding a Synapse with aero bars bolted on.

When we arrived at the Start area I was wondering what sort of equipment the other riders would have? Quite a mixture really but I was relieved to see at least a couple of aero helmets and plenty of TT bikes. As always there is plenty of friendly banter going on and people interested in checking out new bikes etc. Tully Lyster had also just bought a brand new Oppy TT bike during the week and we had exchanged some messages on our purchases. We also had a special guest rider competing on the day, Shane Miller , Shane has won just about every ITT in  Masters1 including being the Australian and Victorian champion in this discipline. Check out his blog to see his amazing achievements.  

It seems like the tactics are pretty simple for a race like this, go as fast as you can from start to finish. I read somewhere it's important not to start too hard but I always manage to get this bit wrong and after a couple of kilometers was seriously valve bouncing (to coin a phrase from my petrol head days) luckily the Boweya road magpie whacked me on the back of the new aero helmet to bring me back into the now. I reckon that magpie had the most fun out of everyone during the day but I wouldn't have been surprised if he couldn't catch Shane. 

The is no doubt that the ITT demands you dig deep into "your suitcase of courage" and explore every corner of it leaving nothing to chance that you might have missed a secret compartment somewhere.  

I appear to have become a little sidetracked from the race but I couldn't resist dragging the suitcase out again.

After the visit from the magpie it was on with the business of settling down and riding the rest of the distance without exploding. Over the first rise before the Taminck turn off I managed to have a drink which is easier said than done on a TT bike. Also at this point I was beginning to wonder if my pre race pasta was such a good idea as there seemed like a competition going on between breathing and vomiting,luckily breathing won this time. To make the race of truth that little bit tougher there was a very strong blustery side wind ranging from being a head /tail wind and trying to blow you sideways off the road. By the turn around point I'd managed to pass a couple of riders that started in front of me whilst avoided being overtaken myself, however this was about to change as I now could see the riders coming and they we getting close, not that I mind being passed by the quicker guys but the longer you can hang out the front the better.

The way back was pretty much the same,battling the wind,keeping the speed and heart rate as high as possible. I was gradually passed by several of the faster riders who started behind me and I also managed to pass a couple more myself.
I was very happy to be able to keep the pace up all the way to the finish as there were more than a few times I thought  maybe I hade gone too hard on the way out. It seems that in this sort of a race half the battle is with your mind and the other half your legs. Everyone who competes in a race like this deserves to be congratulated no matter what level they are as it really is a race against yourself and the clock. Even the magpie was sicking of swooping riders on the return leg or I was to delirious to notice. Seeing the cars parked at the finish line in the distance was a beautiful sight and a motivation to push as hard as possible as the pain would soon be over. Some things you do because they are fun at the time and others are more something to look back on with a sense of achievement. ITT's fall into the latter category for me although I'm already wondering how I can go faster. I think it is a little addictive but you could be addicted to much worse than wanting to ride your bike as fast as possible over a certain distance.

My Sigma Rox bike computer had a bit of a spasm or maybe it was operator error who knows but after analysis I've come up with the figures of 36.18km at an average speed of 36.4kmh,av heart rate 170 bpm and ride time of 59 mins 45 secs and no idea what cadence was. I thought to myself before the start if I could average 36 kmh I would be content and I'm happy to have achieved that goal in the conditions. I do have to admit that whilst content with yesterdays ride I want to go faster next time :)
Many thanks to everyone involved in the organising the race and to all those who competed.  Thanks to Allan Thrum for emailing the results through so I can add them to this post. Some really impressive times were recorded in really tough conditions.

  

 Rider                                             Time                   Average             Placing
                                                                                 Speed

                                                                                  kmh
 
Shane Miller                                  47min 18sec           46.47                 1st
Tully Lyster                                   49min 18sec           44.57                 2nd
James Boal                                   50min 27sec           43.68                 3rd
Rhys Lyster                                   51min 12sec           42.82                 4th
Christian McDonald                        52min 16sec           42.00                 5th
Ray Jarrett                                    53min  07sec          41.21                 6th
Jake Morgan                                 55min  35sec           39.71                 7th
Tony Reeckman                            59min 18sec            37.02                 8th
Laurie Lyster                                 59min 21sec            37.02                 9th
Zane Douglas                             1h 1min 05sec            35.80                10th
Bernie Grealy                             1h 03min 53sec           34.67                11th
Than Dempster                           1h 04min 02sec          34.13                12th
Norm Gray                                  1h 08min 49sec         32.12                 13th
Paul Lane                                   1h 09min 33sec         31.65                  14th
Wes Samson (20 km)                    34min 02 sec          35.29