Then after getting a mini rest watching division 2 race, we started with a shortened 45 min plus 3 laps due to the heat, I was keen to get in a break as there were too many teams in the bunch for me to race against, I got in 2 different breaks and then the third one was going with Jo, Nik, Katherine Oshea from Torque, so I knew that was it and pushed that bit harder and got with the break.

You can read the nice race description on the race website, however the main points I remember from the race is when Jo attacked at 5 to go and I was the only one that could stay with her, and then Jo attacking me 3 different times on the last lap, without getting rid of me and I hit the final corner so hard from the front and winning with enough time to raise my arms….Great feeling and First win for 2012, and in the new colours of BCS.. This also means good friend Emma will be eating the worm out of the tequila bottle as she promised as soon as I won my next race she will do this….looking forward to a fun night when that occurs

This last weekend was my third ever mtb race, the Gravity 12 hour event in Bright, Victoria…. I rode it as a women’s pairs team with good friend Melanie Pellas, after riding it in a team of four last year. The venue had changed as last year it was held up a goat track that Mel and I had been lucky to drive up it was that windy and that many ruts in the road, so we were excited and nervous to see the new track.

We left late Friday afternoon after work, so didn’t get to the campsite until a bit after 9pm Friday night so no time to check out the course pre-race, only time to set up tent close to the race start and get some good shut-eye… Race start and Mel got to do the first lap, so I had time to slowly wake up and drink my morning essential coffee before racing (Mel doesn’t drink coffee)

Mel came around after her first lap looking pretty happy and said the course was great and not technical at all and told me to go for it….off I went a bit nervous as I always am on the mtb on a new track, but needed not be the course was amazing flowing corners, tight corners steep climbs, steep down hills, NO ROCKS and the last 3km flying single track….Great work Finish Line Events, Alpine cycling club and everyone who helped out in any way at Gravity 12 hour… So Mel and I decided we would aim for 6 laps each, 16k laps = 96km on the mtb (the most I had ever done prior to this day was 45k but I didn’t remind myself of that until days end)

It was a great day of riding, perfect weather great people and we won the women’s pairs team as well…nice way to finish off a nice day….

After getting back late Saturday night I headed off to race locally in Bendigo, putting myself into A grade men race of pain and won some gloves for first unplaced female……I was the only female but I’ll claim it…

Now for Perth Criteriums in 5 days time, super keen and looking forward to the three days taper prior as my legs are starting to feel heavy now when I’ve done close to 4 hours on the bike in the last 15 days…..

New years was a nice hot night at a friend’s place playing in the pool and only a couple of ciders as the first race of the Jayco Criteriums (apparently fastest criteriums in the world, or so they are advertised as) was on the Sunday 1st January afternoon in Geelong on the waterfront, the well-known Ritchie boulevard hotdog circuit. Every other year I have raced these I have generally finished one race for the series and been really lucky to do that, this year I had a lot higher expectations of myself and was hoping for a top five in one of the stages.

Spencers on Carpenter was our sponsor for this weeks racing and without them I wouldn’t have been able to go and have such a great week of racing, so if you need a coffee in Bendigo make sue you drop into Spencers either on Carpenter St, or their new Roubaix cafe on Queen St.

Race 1, Ritchie boulevard, the hotdog, I got in 2 different breaks throughout the race, missed the major break of the day, that then got anulled after a crash caused a 5 min break in the race, and a restart at 5 laps to go…. Going into the final lap, I was sitting in 6th wheel coming around the first hotdog, feeling really comfortable and going to move up to the top 3 going down the other straight, only for someone to make a sudden movement around the first hotdog, take my front wheel out from me and crash I was on the ground…..First race over, DNF as I didn’t role over the finish line.

Race 2, The botanical gardens. After a nice spin and stretch in the morning, I wasn’t feeling that bad from my crash the previous night. It was a 40+ degree stinking hot Australian summer day, and our race was scheduled for 1:40pm….. this meant keep the fluids up all day. We were sticking ice down our jerseys and I started the race with an extra bidon just to toss water over my head during the race. The first 2 races before ours were won from breaks that took off in the first few laps, so after 3 laps I launched an attack, however no one came with me so I sat off the front for 2 laps solo before being brung back. Then the next break went which I wasn’t in, a few people went over to the break and the bunch brung it all back except for 2 riders, so we were riding for 3rd, I got 7th in the sprint giving me 9th in the race, my first ever top ten at the bay crits, and also pretty happy to finish a tough day, 59 starters, 19 finishers.

http://www.womenscycling.net/2012/Gallery2012/01_BaySeries/02_Race2/pages/page5.html

http://www.onlinepictureproof.com/jxp/albums/events/232263/browse/2/?w=625&h=525

Race 3. Portarlington, the hill and was meant to be raced the opposite direction to normal, however upon the officials riding the course the day before it was decided it was to dangerous to race it in reverse so we were to race it in the normal direction. Another hot day, closer to 38 degrees though so felt cooler than the previous day. Knew it was going to be on from the start as it is a tough circuit and 1 point separated first and second place. I was suffering from the first lap, struggling to hold my position near the front, and pushing through the pain, pushing through the time, looking down and only 10 min of the 45 had surpassed, looking around me and it looked like their were less than 30 of us left already…. the pace didnt slow and there were numerous times I tried to go off the front to bridge to the break, all my moves were getting shut down and countered, I felt like I could never pick the right time to go and was missing everything going… I was also suffering a lot, as was everyone else. The attacks in the final 2 laps put me over the edge and I rolled across the line in 17th position, of the 17 finishers. Happy to get through the day and nearly fainted at the end.

Race 4 was in Williamstown, one of the toughest courses as it is short straights with tight corners, I knew whatever position I came around that final corner would be the position I finished. This was the first day I had a bad start and was on the back of the peloton, any other year I would have stressed out and been unable to get to the front, this year I was just calm and slowly worked my way up to the front. Its amazing the skills you develop, the things you once found hard do become easy. Kim had said before hand to take it easy and really minimise risks, this meant I was being extra cautious in the corners, meaning I was leaving gaps for the first time all week and making it exceptionally hard for myself. I realised this with about 5 laps to go, started taking corners a bit harder and with the bell lap I worked my way up the front, the split happened in the sprint and I left it a bit late to jump onto the sprint of the top 5, finished 8th in the sprint on my final day….12th overall in the series. A fine result and happy to achieved what I did, amazing improvements that all other years I have raced and positive areas I can see I’m moving towards.

2 days of recovery involving physiotherapy for my back that was in a bit of pain from Sunday’s crash, a good session in the pool and some relaxing rides and watching movies on the couch.

Saturday arrived after some not so requested drama’s that unfolded from team RACE, which did make it a bit hard to sleep and cause a little bit of frustration which I tried to ignore leading into the race.

Nationals started, the dreaded Buninyong course, I was excited and nervous at the same time and just wanted to hear that bell for the last lap and finish, my goal was top ten and I thought it was achievable, although yet again the most I had ever lasted was 5 laps I think.

Starting off the first lap the hill felt immensely hard, I look to the front of the bunch and its my fellow team-mate Cait Fraiser driving the bunch, apparently 10 girls pulled out on the first lap due to my powerhouse mother of two team-mate. Looking at my data after the race, the first lap going up the hill was the hardest of my day.

We were going up each lap, we got to lap 5 I was feeling comfortable, lap 6, first lap of feeding I was feeling great, and starting to get excited, an attack went going over the hill and I stayed with it easily. Lap 7 started going through the feed I grabbed a drink and was feeling great, then smash a crash happens, I didn’t come off but I was in the gravel, girls were going everywhere and I stopped and started again but my head exploded do I slow and steady it back on to the bunch or power it, I tried to do both at once, had mind explosion and never got back on…..major rookie mistake. I need to learn to be calmer in these situations, as 5 of the girls that were effected when I was got back on to the bunch. I road around the last 3 laps partly solo, partly with other girls from the crash and finished 31st…… So at least I finished my first Nationals but disappointed with how I dealt with the crash situation and when looking at my data after the race I really could have pushed myself a lot harder and gotten back on that bunch but I didn’t.

A nice week off the bike relaxing this week, finally getting my back sorted out correctly and then to begin training for the up and coming National Road series with some big goals to chase, along with a new team to ride for which will be officially launched in the up and coming weeks.

After taking 2.5weeks off the bike, and 10 days back on the bike very easy I knew I had lost some fitness but thought I would get through the tour with no problems and hopefully a stage podium as a minimum. A first race with an average of 40km/hr with a field of 75 women was definitely not what I expected at all. The first race in Ballarat was a bit of a shock to the system, I was up there for the second sprint but didn’t try to hard and got second, but leading into the final long finishing strait I was in 4th position with 1km to go, and then the pace increased to 60km/hr and kept at that level and a tad faster until we crossed the line, “this wasn’t how I remember National series races from 3 years ago” I thought as I crossed the line in 20th position. Stacey a team-mate from TDT RACE finished in 15th place, and from my 2nd in the 2nd sprint I was in 6th place in GC.

Day 2 was a criterium in the newly developed criterium specific course in Geelong, looking at the course the previous afternoon and after the previous days racing we knew it was to be position, position, position. Yet another fast start saw more than 50% of the girls out of the race after 16 of the 40 laps, luckily my experience of riding in the front in The Netherlands helped out with positioning, as my fitness still didn’t appear to be coming back anytime soon. I crossed the line in 14th position out of the other 33 girls that finished the race, and maintained my 6th on GC.

Day 3 was a teams time trial, and to say our team was unprepared I think would be an understatement, due to unfortunate weather and the schedule of all our riders in the 3 weeks since me arriving back in Australia we had been unable to get together to train as a team for this event. This resulted in us loosing 2 of our 5 riders in the first 1km, then only 2 of us being able to work for the following 12.7km so we didn’t drop our third rider and finished 2 minutes down on the fastest team, and me moving down to 28th position on GC as a result.

Day 4 was Sorrento to Arthurs seat. Now before the tour I had not been too worried about this stage, as although I don’t class myself as a hill climber, I also thought my base fitness would be able to get me through without loosing too much time. However the night before I started thinking that it was going to be a whole lot worse, especially after doing a recon of the course the afternoon before the stage. I had to think positively, but when I woke to blustery winds and the first mid 20′s day in about 4 weeks, positive thoughts were not going through my head. The first 10km, were race at an average of 50km/hr and I was feeling comfortable, then  the first gradual climb of the day came at about the 17km mark, the HR increases and the bunch breaks up, I was in the 2nd bunch on the road of 15 riders, following a bunch of 20 with the rest behind us. Our group did not work so great with each other and when we hit the bottom of Arthurs seat I fell prey to my negative thoughts of climbing and lost 2:30 up the 4km climb to 10 of the girls who I had been with and 5:48 to the stage leader. Another drop in GC and a little disappointment as I realise that this negative climbing talk has to stop, and is really the area I need to work on in my racing.

Day 5, final day I was happy that this 5 days was nearly over, only had to get through a criterium in Lygon St, Melbourne, a mere letter T hotdog course, how hard could this be right. Well considering the rest of the week, very hard. I think my skills got me through and some determination more than anything else, with the final GC winner Lauren Rowney taking it out by seconds on the final sprint and the final 4 laps my heart being in my throat and me begging girls to slow down, another top 20 finish in the final small group that crossed the line.

I’ve established women’s bike racing in Australia has stepped up phenomenally in the last 4 years, and it makes me excited to race hear more often over the up and coming 12 months, I have many areas to work on, as well as confidence in many areas….I have Shipwreck coast in Warnambool in 2 weeks time, my come back race last year where I finished third, and I’m hoping to go 2 better this year, but it being a National Road series race this time around, makes for a possibly tougher race and more competition.

Then the training begins for Nationals and to gain some power, fitness and speed…wish me luck.

Nik McNamara and I were meant to be heading down to race Women’s A grade, followed by Men’s B grade crits in St Kilda this morning, it’s an early morning needing to be out of Bendigo by 5:45am to make it to St Kilda by 7:40am for an 8am start. Getting in the car it was raining and I sent Nik a text saying check the radar before we go to suss out if it was going to be raining as the crits re called off if raining (they are a dry weather racing club). I went into Niks house the radar looked like rain for the next 3 hours, and the club said they would be making a call at 6am, no decision was put up by St Kilda cycling club, so we made the decision not to risk driving down in case they were cancelled. 6:45am we see they have been scheduled to start; bummer; oh well Bendigo was racing at 9am.

After sitting around chatting and drinking coffee  for 45 minutes we got on our bikes to do an hour spin before the crits. We then realised there was a good bunch that normally left at 8am, we raced to where they normally start and it was 2 minutes past 8, we tried chasing for 3km but couldn’t see anyone in the distance, then another 5 minutes into the ride and toilet stop was required (too much coffee).

2km later Nik ran over something on the road (wet roads results in lots of cr#$ on the road) rear wheel puncture…She starts changing, and has 2 gas cylinders, getting mud, grease and dirt all over her lovely white vest. Using the first canister, she had forgotten to undo the valve to pump it up, 2nd cylinder and the tube didn’t seem to gain air. We tried the hand pump and it wasn’t even going up. Time for tube number 3 (looks like a pinched tube, first ever for Nik, there’s a first for everything) and no more canisters and as you can imagine arm strength isn’t high on the list of positives of being a cyclist so attaining anything close to 80 psi is pretty miraculous and took some swapping of roles.

Then Nik discovered the glass was still in the tube of the initial punctured tube and we both tried pulling it out as we didn’t want to littler, but she didn’t want glass in her back pocket (understandably).

It was now 10 to 9am (10 min before Bendigo racing) riding/racing to the start Nik said I had blood on my glasses and face, I couldn’t fell any pain and didn’t know where it had come from until I remembered trying to take the glass out, I had cut my finger.

Arriving at Bendigo crits they were already 3 laps into their race, too late for the third time today. So after chatting again, off we go to the coffee shop to have a break before deciding what to do, after a toasted sandwich and coffee thanks to Spencers cafe, we headed off decided to do another hour before we went home, only for it to start raining on us 500m down the road….Around we turned to head straight home, day over. Extra recovery day before Honda Tour has been decided by the gods for us.

On the Sunday we had a 28k teams time trial, two separate teams, followed by a 45k recovery ride (which yet again turned into 55k). Needless to say the last 30 minutes out on the road we were a quiet bunch of girls riding, ready to go and eat some lunch and shower.

I discovered on the Monday I had done enough to secure the final spot on the team for Holland ladies tour, as well as made some great friends and had an experience of a competitive training weekend that I had never endured before. Its tough knowing that you are competing against friends just for a spot to ride a certain race.

So I race this Saturday in Belgium and then Holland Ladies tour starts next Tuesday through until Sunday, then the next Wednesday I’m back in Australia to have a mini break before I hit the summer season running with team RACE and Geelong Women’s Honda tour to start the season.

Since I last wrote you will not be surprised to know I crashed yet again, I raced in Arendonk, Belgium on 14th of July and was riding quite well after my week and a half of hard training, and to be moving around the outside of the bunch, a girl pushed me sideways which resulted in me being pushed into the gutter and my front wheel hit a aluminium grate quite hard, causing me to go over the handlebars, land on my face with a concussion and woke up in a Belgium hospital with half my face missing and a rather large head ache. Not to happy, but ready to get on with it again, needless to say my 4 races for that week turned into only 2, as I had a day off the bike the next day and thought I would save myself for the UCI 1.2 in Belgium on Sunday 17th, Dwars De Westhook.

We arrived on Sunday before the race in rain and windy conditions and I saw the last 500m of the race was to be cobbles, I was excited but nervous to say the least. The rain stopped until 5 minutes before the start when we were all standing on the start line. The race was one big round of 75km, then 4 small 11km laps going past the finish line each time over the cobbles, there were 2 climbs we went over twice on the big round, no longer than 2km but quite steep and very narrow roads. I was quite nervous at the start with the rain and all my crashes, but it was a slow start to the race due to the wind and rain,then came the first climb and I was in top 20, but a group moved away of 11 and then all 4 girls in the row in front of me slowed up and I had to stop pedalling half way up. Then I didn’t really commit myself to going around them, although I knew it was the move that would stick. So I was in the peloton and then it got tough, the wind picked up, girls were riding hard, and the rain got worse, between the 50-80km mark I think I was chewing my handlebars the whole time, just trying to sit in the top 10 riders so I wasn’t too much in the gutter and was actually getting a small block from the wind. When we started the small laps it started getting messy, people were going up the left and the right of the cobbles and as we went through with 2 to go, a lot of girls were dropping wheels and I went around and chased for 1km to get back to what was left of the peloton, which was about 30 girls, and we swapped off hard,with half a lap to go, 3 girls jumped, I jumped 15 seconds later and stupidly sat myself in no man land trying to get on the back of the 3, in between the 3 and the bunch of 16 that was now left. At 5km I was back in the “peloton” but had burnt myself out and ended up 20 seconds behind the remaining bunch in 29th position. Not a bad result, but would have preferred to sprint for a higher place over the cobbles.

I then found out on the Monday that I had a spot with Batavus ladies cycling in Limousin and we would be leaving Tuesday. We arrived in France in disgusting rainy weather Wednesday lunch time and all had a little spin on our bikes either out on the road or on the trainers and headed to team presentations.

 The first stage was on Thursday and I was to be going for sprint points and all the other girls were to wait & see how they felt for the finish, it was 6  laps of a 20km “flat” circuit, needless to say we still ended up with 1000m of climbing for the day. In all 3 sprints I finished 5th, just outside the points, and then the KOM was straight after, going up it on the final lap after my final sprint, my legs really blew, I had never felt great all day, so I just swapped off with 2 other girls to the finish.  Next day was ITT, to say this is not my strong point would be an understatement, and then I discovered afterwards why I had felt so funny on my bike the last 2 days, somehow my saddle had dropped 10mm and moved to the left about 5mm. One of our girls got 9th in the TT so she was to be our GC rider for the rest of the tour. Saturday was to be a mega day, rolling hills all day with no relent, once again the 4 final small rounds of 11km, looked flat on the profile, but when we hit it, the  whole lap was either up or down on dead roads. The first half of the race I spent being a domestic initially chasing any breaks that looked serious, going back for drinks/food and getting the girls up the front if they were too far up the back, on one climb I got dropped, but got back on quite quickly on the down hill, as I hadn’t burnt my cookies to stay with the bunch. By the time we hit the small rounds I was exhausted and dagged off the back with about 30 other girls. We were only 1 min behind the peloton with 2 laps to go and a fellow Aussie, Lauren Kitchen attacked our group, no one chased and we road slowly home, when I looked at the results, we were 6 min down on leaders by the end, yet Lauren was only 12 seconds down, amazing how much time you can lose so quickly. Final day Sunday my legs were feeling better each day, I said to the girls I wanted to try for a break, especially considering I was no challenge to overall, the first 25km I spent trying to go with many moves, trying to pick what would work and what wouldn’t, I got in a group of 3, but we only lasted 5km and got a maximum of 30 seconds. So I then went back to being domestique, eventually a Russian got away solo. The first few climbs I had been sitting perfectly in top 20 riders and ridden really strongly, but then  I had dropped back for a drink and then we hit a 7km climb before I had time to get back up the front and I was too far back, girls were dropping and I didn’t put in the little extra to get back to the bunch to sit in, yet again I finished the last 30km with a bunch of 20 riders who were not willing to work. But I finished the tour and had a great time.

Not to sure why I was smiling going up this hill, but obviously enjoying myself.

Then I got back to Holland Monday lunch time with a week of post tour criteriums before a holiday in Spain. Tuesday 26th was Stiphout, with a great Aussie contingent of about 8 riders in the race, which is always nice to see. I raced well, but didn’t assert myself strongly enough in the last lap to finish 16th, however felt quite strong throughout and fellow Aussie Amy Cure had her first win so that was great to see. It was also a a positive thought to think this was my last race 2 years ago and I hadn’t been able to finish it, of the 68 starters we had 26 finishers, your typical Dutch criterium ,so it is positive that I can feel so strong in a tough race like this.

Then Acht Van Chaam on Wednesday, when the first lap started something felt not quite right with my handlebars, so I started riding on my hoods instead of the drops. Marianne Vos was in a break with 2 others from the second lap, and that was always going  to last, but with 5 laps to go I got into a break with 4 other riders, 2 from Nederland Bloit and the bunch let us go, I was basically assured a top 8 finish, when in the third last lap coming out of a corner I pulled on my handlebars and they came up with me and cracked. Needless to say I pulled out of the race there and then due to danger, but very disappointed seen as I was riding so well.

Now I have a week off the bike come Monday, I am off to catch up with some fellow Bendigonians in Spain for a relaxing week and hopefully come back 100% refreshed and ready and rearing for my final 5 weeks of racing before I head back to Australia, hopefully my form only continues to get better until I come home.

It started with 3 days down in Luxembourg from last Friday with a team training camp, I think in total there was 32 of us. Luxembourg is a beautiful small country, home to Leopold Trek’s Schleck brothers, and borders France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. We stayed just outside a small Village called Vianden in the north East of the country, right on the border to Germany in beautiful accommodation.

Half of us arrived Friday evening where we got a small ride of 2 hours in due to delays in getting their as a result of Traffic on the way down. Then we got a good 3-5 hours in on Saturday, depending on how much you wanted and all participated in a hill time trial on the Sunday.

The only down fall of the weekend, was a crash on the saturday which ended up with one of the guys in hospital after hitting a tree, he is only in his first year of racing too, not a nice incident to have on the weekend.

But it was an amazingly beautiful place, and we had a very sociable fun night on the Saturday night, at a local hotel owned by a Dutch man where they go every year, & it’s a night that what happens in Luxembourg stays in Luxembourg

Then I got home Sunday night, cleaned clothes, re-packed suitcase and boxed up bike ready to fly off to Switzerland Monday morning.

I was going to Aubonne, a small village 20km from Geneva, on Lake Geneva, at the base of the Swiss Alps  to stay with the Nic and Anthony Peden from Newcastle, friends of friends.

I’m not normally a window seat person, I usually prefer to sit in the isle so I don’t have to annoy people every time I stand up, but flying into Geneva I was very glad I had a window seat, the view was exceptionally beautiful and made me very excited.

I had a nice 30k cruise in the afternoon to flush the weekends training out of my legs and had a walk around Aubonne, acquainted myself with my new house hosts and we discussed and talked up the big ride Anthony was going to take me on in the morning and how big the hills would be. We made it home on Tuesday after 4.5 hours of riding, Ant not looking quite as fresh as me and by the look on his face I could tell I would be riding alone for the next 2 days, which I didn’t mind.

The next 3 days included some climbing and more climbing, each day I did at least 1700m of climbing; to say my legs were starting to feel it would be an understatement. Wednesday afternoon we were talking up again (after a little more wine this time) how tough our ride could be the next day, both Anthony and Nic were going to join me to ride up the Col du Marchiaruz.

                                                                                 I had already done this hill; however Ant had been told the local bike shop boys had gone up it that day using the “Glacier road” which was newly tarred and between 12 – 18% for the last 5km (the normal climb starting from their town is 20k but doesn’t get any steeper than 10% and averages 8%). The plan was to get up at 6am and head out by 6:30 as both Nic and Ant had to be home by 8:45, however I knew this was going to be a tough task considering we had been enjoying our last night together, and been given a bill of 220 Swiss Francs for the 3 of us, need I explain anymore.

I got up to the sound of quietness in our house got ready, no movement from their bed room so I headed out anyway as I was up and would rather go earlier as I had to fly out that night. I headed out to do the climb and when I saw the “Glacier road”,  I thought “that looks mighty steep, and the road surface looks pretty awful to me, gravel, gravel and more gravel”. So instead I decided to go up, over, back over, back up turn around and go home. 3 times over in one day I thought would be a pretty good ride instead, as you can see I looked pretty tired by the end.

Got home feeling tired but pleased with my last week of training and told Nic, I think the boys were pulling our leg about the “nice road” up the Glacier.

Flew back to Germany that night stayed in a nice hotel and treated myself to some SALE shopping in Düsseldorf Friday before coming back to The Netherlands tired and excited to race again soon.

I am currently in the process of trying to get a team to start for either tour in Limousin France or Thuringen Rhundfahrt in Germany in 2 weeks time but will have a race 10th, 13th, 15th and 17th July in Belgium over the next week and will be interesting to see how my legs are feeling now, hopefully I have some more strength in them and a refreshed head.

I also got to be a tourist in Switzerland and checked out the IOC museum, some interesting information and facts, as well as a cool garden as can be seen by these pictures.