Huskisson Sprint Triathlon

It was a bit of a last minute decision to go race Huskisson two weekends ago but couldn't let the opportunity pass to race close to home and at an awesome place. I have not raced a non-drafting event for quite some time, almost all of my races through the season are draft legal but had been feeling strong on the bike lately so thought I should have a crack.
Left home just after 4am Sunday morning to arrive at Huskisson at 6am which I rode in from the bike turn around for a warm up. Arrived at the event went to registration and then racked my bike in transition. At that time there was not many people as the Enticer race was up first and is usually only a couple of hundred entered in that event. The Enticer was the first race at 7am and my race (Sprint) was at 8am so had a good amount of time for a solid warm up. The course was a 750m swim in Jervis Bay, an undulating 20km cycle out and back and a 5km run out and back along the footpath that runs next to the bay. The weather for my race was perfect, only the slightest breath of wind and air temperature of 20 degrees Celsius.

The U20 males was the first wave off in the Sprint with 34 competitors. The combined field in the sprint was 404 competitors. The race start was a bit delayed but just after 8am we were off racing. I had one of the best starts I have ever had, smashed myself out to the first buoy and already gained a 20m lead. Felt really good throughout the swim, maintained a solid pace and came out of the water with a 30sec lead. The run from swim exit to transition was extremely hard, coming off the beach and then up 50+ steps and then another 100m to bike. Was now out onto the 20km cycle leg, the course was fairly hard, there was no major hills but the constant up and down made it difficult. Felt really strong on the bike, was aiming to average 40km/h for the ride so kept looking down at the computer to make sure I wasn't slowing down at any point. Just after the turn around I was curious as to where 2nd and 3rd place was, it was not until 500m or more after the turn around I saw 2nd and 3rd place riding together. It was a bit of a relief that I had that much of a gap but still kept pushing along to increase the gap. Got off the bike feeling not too bad after how hard I rode and now had to focus on completing this 5k run in a decent time. Felt a little sluggish on the run but still managed to post 3rd fastest time overall in the sprint. Coming into the last 100m 1st was the best feeling and going through the finish banner was awesome in a time of 59:29.

Overall really happy with my race placing 1st in the U20 male by over 3min and 1st outright in the Sprint by over a minute. Would like to thank Murray Mackne from Alltrack Bicycles at Heathcote for getting the Stevens bike tuned to perfection and Troy Fisher at Stevens Bikes-Australia. The Stevens Stratos definitely helped me to post a ride time 2 minutes faster than anyone else in my age group and 2nd fastest time for the day.

Forster Pro Tour Triathlon

The first race for the 2012/13 traithlon season took me up the NSW coast to Forster. I have been up to Forster a few times now to race and love the spot. This race was also round 1 of the Shimano Pro Tour which attracted a very competitive field, including Brabara Riveros' brother Gaspar Riveros who I had been training with alongside the NSWIS (NSW Institute of Sports) Squad a couple of weeks prior to the race. Training down in Wollongong has been awesome the past few weeks as the  NSWIS group has just returned from their trip in Europe along with some 2012 Olympic Triathletes, Erin Densham, Brendan Sexton, Gwen Jorgensen, Sarah Groff and Vendula Frintova. Gaspar Riveros and I drove up on the Friday morning to arrive just after lunch to go for an easy ride for course familiarisation and an easy run afterwards. Weather was extremely hot on Friday with temperatures around 35 degrees Celsius but luckily temperatures for Saturdays race was only about 20.

Race registration was at 5:20am, very early start. We rode out to the race and arrived just after 5:30 to register, rack our bikes and get a warm up done before the 6:50am race start. The Pro Tour event consists of a 750m swim, 20km bike and a 5km run with 22 U23/ELITE males lined up for the start.
The race was underway and I was out to a good start in the first 100m of the swim. Had a good swim, was placed between 4th and 5th position throughout. Transition 1 was not so good as I lost some ground a just missed the front pack on the bike, although I was lucky enough to have 2 other athletes just behind to chase down the front pack. The lead pack consisted of 4 riders, all very strong, it took us 8km and a lot of hard work to catch the leaders but very glad when we joined the group. The lead group now of 7 worked well for the remaining 12km and put more time into the pack of 10+ riders behind us. I came off the bike in 2nd place with the others closely followed, a good T2 led to me coming out on the run still in 2nd. The run course was mainly flat, 2 laps but half of it was on grass which made it a little harder. My run was OK, although I lost a couple of places as I was very fatigued from chasing the front pack in the bike. Still did a good time to put me in 5th place at the finish.

Overall really happy with my first race for the season, it gives me a good indication of where I am at in relation to my competitors and what areas need to be improved on. Finished 5th out of 22 U23/ELITE male competitors with a time of 57:07. Was really pumped to do my first triathlon race on my Stevens Stratos, it was awesome. Had some mini clip-on bars as the course was flat straight out and back and posted the 2nd fastest ride time for the race. Thanks to Stevens Australia and Alltrack Bikes Heathcote for their support.

  

 

Criterium Race

Did not race last weekend as I was on a training camp on the Central Coast which was awesome. Did some solid training and had great weather while I was up there. Drove up to this mornings race as I was doing a run straight after the race so had my run gear in the back of the car ready to put straight on when I got off the bike. Arrived around 7:40am, registered and did a few laps warm up before the race start at 8am. Weather was perfect hardly a breath of wind and wasn't too cold, although only 6 riders turned up to race A Grade. Even though there was only 6 riders, Tirian McManus Junior Track World Championship Gold Medallist turned up to race which was awesome and Joshua Cornish who is also a National Track cyclist. Some stiff competition, looked like it was going to be a good race.

The race consisted of 20mins of track 2 and then 6 laps of track 3 around Sutherland Bike Track. Race started just after 8am and we were off. Fairly easy pace was set for the first few laps but it wasn't long until we started working and the race was on, there was no breakaways throughout the whole 20mins and we were now started on track 3. The bunch worked really well, with everyone taking turns and working hard on the front. The hill on track 3 started to take it's toll on the riders as they pace slowed up a bit and one guy dropped off the back. It was now the last lap and still no breakaways had been made and the pack consisted of 5 guys including myself, going down the back straight we were almost at a stop as everyone was waiting for someone to attack. We past the climb and still nothing, it wasn't until the last little rise before the last corner one of the guys made an attack, Josh was straight on his wheel followed by Tirian, me and then the last guy of our group. The guy who made the attack shattered at the last corner and we lost the guy sitting on my wheel. So it was now down Josh, Tirian and myself, a Triathlete against a national and world champion track cyclist. I gave it my all, Tirian made an attack around Josh with about 50m to go and I sat on his wheel for as long as I could. He passed Josh with about 20m to go and I finished 3rd Just behind them both.
I then did another couple of laps which I then put my run gear on and ran 2k solid off the bike and then 4k easy. Pretty tired after I had finished but it was a good morning out.

It was really good to see some quality Juniors come out to race this morning, pretty happy with my race finishing 3rd. Looking forward to the next race.

Criterium Racing

Had an awesome weekend of riding last week. Was only planning to go up and race on Saturday at Sutherland Cycle Club Criterium but Troy Fisher (Stevens Bikes Australia) asked me to come up on Sunday and race Southern Cross Cycle Club Criterium with him. Made the most of training on the weekend as the weather was perfect, although a little bit of a Southerly wind made it difficult on the ride home from the races.

Sutherland Cycle Club only hold one crit race a month (first Saturday of the month) which brings a lot of good riders to the race. Had planned to meet a group of guys at 6:30am that morning to ride up but slept through my alarm and woke up at 6:50. It was a mad rush as it usually takes me about an 1hr 15 to get there and race start was at 8am. Left home at 7:10 and smashed it all the way up there, I was absolutely buggered but arrived at 8am, to realise everyone was sitting around drinking coffee ready for an 8:30am start. Had about 30mins to rest before I raced at 8:30am in A Grade.
Big turn out, A Grade had about 20-25 riders in the race and some really strong guys. Looked to be a good race. Race started and everyone rolled out at a steady pace, race was 20mins plus 3 laps. It wasn't long until the pace picked and the race was on, everyone worked well throughout the race, only a few sat at the back trying to save themselves for the finish. A few guys got some unfortunate flat tyres but other than that the race was clean. I had positioned myself towards the front of the group the whole race and did quite a few turns on the front. Rode comfortably throughout the race, it wasn't until the final few laps people started attempting attacks. One guy went and I saw he was going to get a good gap on the field with 2 laps to go so I chased after him. When I caught him, we had about a 70m gap which was good but he was dead, nothing left in his tank he just sat up and waited for the group. I was almost going to try and ride the rest myself but knew they would have caught me at the finish, so I sat up and jumped back into the group. I was surprised I still had a bit in me and was able to go for the sprint at the end, finishing 4th.
It was now the ride home, pretty tired but managed to get back home at a decent pace. Ended up with 90km for Saturdays ride.

Met Troy at his house in Helensburg Sunday morning to ride up to the crit. It was a lot easier ride this time, being 15km's less and leaving on time. Cruisy ride up and felt a lot fresher on arrival. Not as many people this time, was only about 10 in A grade but still a fairly strong field.
Pace set during the race was a little slower than Saturday's race but included the longer track which has a steep little hill half way, race was 20min plus 6 laps of the longer track. Found this race alot easier to sit in but was stuck on the front most of the race doing the work. Came down to the last 3 laps and no breakaways yet, one rider attacked on the downhill but no one chased as we thought we would catch him within the next km. By the last lap we had not caught him, smart move he made at a good time. Troy and I were sitting on the front going down the back straight just waiting for someone to attack, up the hill and still no attack. Troy took to the front and I sat behind him, he drove the pack up the rest of the hill and then the attack was made. 4 guys went around, Troy was stuffed but I jumped straight on 4th wheel. One guy cracked, then another,  I was sitting on 2nd wheel and could see the leader not too far in front. The guy sitting behind me went around and I got on his wheel, he had gone to early, I made my attack with about 100m to go and flew past him and almost caught 1st who finished about a second in front.

Great weekend, got up some km's on the bike and had a 4th in A grade in Saturday and a 2nd in A Grade on Sunday, coming away with $20 from Sundays race.

Corporate Cycling Challenge

I had been in contact with Saxo Capital Markets a couple of weeks prior to today about riding in their corporate team for the Annual Financial Review Corporate Cycling Challenge. I was definitely not going to turn down this offer. This morning me and three other rider from Team Saxo went to the Athlete Lab in Circular Quay, Sydney to do an exact race simulation of the course we will be competing on in late October. To make this possible, the Athlete Lab uses Computrainers which take in factors such as the profile of the course (gradients of hills), the riders weight, drafting behind other riders and numerous other factors to make it as real as can be. This was the first time on one of these trainers and was really pumped to give it a go.
There were several other companies also competing throughout the morning to try and post the fastest time. Shane Kelly, Olympic cyclist was also there this morning which was great to see and had a race with the CEO's and myself. We got some tips from the guys at the Athlete Lab before our race and the key was to workout the drafting so all the riders stick together. The final time is calculated when the 4th rider crosses the finish line. The course in which we compete on in October is 2x 6.15km laps around Sydney Olympic Park so we used today to get a bit of course familiarisation and get to know the team mates.

Our race started just after 7am and team Saxo was set to go. The course itself was pretty flat, a few minor hills but overall really fast. It took a bit of time getting use to the trainers as none of us had used one and the drafting factor definitely makes a difference so it was important that we made the most of it. We were off to a good start, our group had formed well and was moving along at a solid pace. It was hard when one of the riders lost the draft as they fell back very quickly and also when some went off the front the pack started to break up a bit. By the second lap we had it sorted and was able to work better as a team. Nearing the end, the last km was all uphill and with the team tiring it was hard to keep together but we managed to keep it fairly tight and completed the 12.3km course in just over 20mins.
About 10min after I had completed my race I was asked to compete with the CEO's of the companies there. Thought I might as well race due to the enjoyment although I was feeling a little tired. There were 8 or 10 riders and it was every man for themselves, although drafting was still turned on so it was going to be a tactical ride. The course was exactly the same, so I was familiar with the profile and ready for a good hit out. The race was on, off to good start, no early breakaways so the everyone sat in for the first few km's. Once the hill came along the group started to break up and a lead packe formed of about 6 riders including myself. A lap had passed and we were working really well, a couple of times some riders attempted at a break but none successful. I just sat in most of the ride and did a couple of turns at the front. It was now down to 2km and everyone was getting nervous, just waiting for that person to attack from behind. Now under a km and still no attacks, I was sitting about 2nd wheel and waiting for about 500m to go. About 400m to go I went, I couldn't hold off any longer. I was closely followed by the rest of the pack, 200m to go I was still in the lead, it wasn't until about 100m to the finish the guys sitting on my wheel got 'slingshotted' around me and I had to settle for 4th. However, I finished with a time of 18:30mins so was really happy with that.

I really enjoyed my morning at the Athlete Lab and being able to use to Computrainers. The staff were great up there, all very helpful and encouraging. I was also able to meet a few new people as well which was good. Very keen to get back up there and try out some different courses, also think Team Saxo is planning a training session up at the Athlete Lab to practise the course so also looking forward to that.

Criterium Race

It was the Southern Cross Cycle Club point score up at Sutherland Cycle Track last Sunday so decided to ride up and have a race. Race start was 8am so left home at 6:15am as it is a pretty solid 35km ride up to Sutherland, weather was fortunately really good, a little cold but no wind and a clear sky. Arrived up at Sutherland about 7:40am and registered myself in A Grade Opens. There wasn't a very big turn out on the day but still some good competition arrived to race.
A Grade had to do 12 laps on track 3 which is about 1.4km a lap and it is a fairly hard course. Only 6 riders lined up for the A Grade start so I didn't look like anyone would be getting much rest when they pulled off the front.

Started just after 8am and we were off. Everyone started easy to form the pack but it wasn't long until pace lining started and the race was on. The pace set was really fast trying to wear out people from the start, it wasn't until about lap 5 people started struggling.
On lap 6 we were heading down the back straight which was all downhill, the pack was not all that tight and as we went down through the dip and up the hill I was placed 2nd wheel and noticed a rider from behind making an attack as I saw his shadow coming up. I reacted straight away and was able to hop on his wheel leaving the rest of the pack behind. We got up to the top straight and looked back and the rest of the riders were about 300m behind so we decided to go together the rest of the race. We put more and more distance into the pack behind as we worked extremely well together. It was now the last lap and caught B Grade who started 30sec behind us. We were not able to get around on the back straight as they were taking up the whole track, it wasn't until the climb we weaved our way past them. I had positioned myself well, I was sitting behind his wheel and with 150m to go I attacked. He had nothing, no reaction and I was able to take 1st in A Grade comfortably.

Very happy with that race, could not have gone any better. Also stoked to get 1st in A Grade as well. Look forward to going up again this weekend to race as prize money is up for grabs but will probably bring out more people and stiffer competition.

Sutherland2Surf 2012

This was my 4th year in a row racing the Sutherland2Surf fun run, however, I was not in the best form this year. I have had only about 2-3 weeks run training after being out for a month with a knee injury and returned home from the training camp in Canberra extremely sick just 2 weeks before but I was determined to go out there and give it all as this is my favourite running race of the year. It was the first time since I started running the Sutherland2Surf that the weather was pretty bad, the rain was fairly heavy and some moderate wind gusts made it a difficult course this year. To my surprise there was still a very big turn out on the day, seeing over 6400 competitors finish the race. I noticed as I was warming up that there was a few good juniors getting around so it looked to be a good race.

Race start was 8am, thanks to my good finish last year I was able to get a seeded bib number so I could start with the top 100 on the front line. Start was pretty hectic, a few guys almost going to the ground but I got a clean start. The road was very wet and some of the corners early on in the race were a bit sketchy. The field stretched out quickly, one guy went himself from the start and had a nice gap between me and about 15 other runners. Around the 5km mark my pack started to split up, a group of 6 or 7 started to pull away as I started to struggle due to the lack of training prior, luckily I had a few guys around me so I could still pace off them. The remaining 3km I was sitting in equal 10th with a fellow U19 competitor, with around a km and a half to go he managed to pull away a bit on the downhill but caught him back up on the uphill. It was now about 700m to go and still equal, I knew I had to do something as it was a downhill finish and he had been making gaps on the downhills so I decided to go, he did not expect it and I was able to get in front by a fair few meters. It was now the last corner and starting the downhill to the finish, I had about a 30m lead and I could hear him closing in. Now about 50m to go, I did not want to turn around in case I lost speed but just went for it as I knew he was close, over the finish and he had not passed me.

I checked the results that night I saw that I had placed equal 10th overall and equal 1st in the U19's. I am pretty happy with my result, ran exactly the same time a last year (36:55) according to my watch but was timed as 37:10. Was hoping to run near 36:30 in this years race but with the weather conditions and the condition I was in, I was really happy to finish with a time of that above and 1st in my age category again