Race Report - ADF Cycling Championships
1. 60km Road Race
I rocked up to the barracks about half an hour before I needed to be
there, just because I didn't want to get the traffic on the way in. As a
result, I drank about 1.5L of sports drink and water in the hour before
the race and needed to pee. Oops. I couldn't help but notice there were no
other female cyclists standing around. "Oi Greg, where are all the other
cycling chickies?" He laughs and tells me he thinks I'll get a place this
year.
Everyone registers. I had already filled in a form to hand in on the day,
so I write my name on the list first, and end up number 1. So 1 is pinned
on my jersey but that's the only time I was first all day. After the race
brief, we roll up the road a bit, and spin around to the start line. I
hold back a bit from the line, so that others can move in front of me.
Unfortunately, they don't, and I'm still in front. The guys give me [censored]
about it and say it's because I'm wearing the number 1, but I foil there
evil plan to embarrass me, by wheeling around to somewhere near the back.
I find myself next to my coach, and we're in matching squad gear, how
cute. Uh oh, I realise, I'm in the Microsoft "Blue Jersey of Death"...
bound to crash...
We did our first lap nice and cruisy and I had no worries, elastic band
effect and all. Basically cruising along at sub-training pace and doing
small efforts out of each corner. I chatted to Richard (coach) about his
motivation for doing the race... he said it was the same as mine - a nice
long training ride on closed roads. I'm not sure if he was telling the
truth though.
Realising the good riders wouldn't take it easy for too long, I attempted
to move up a bit so I could stay with the lead group or at least if the
group split I would have some other riders with me. Unfortunately "Random
AJ #1" decides to take the corner nice and wide, on the inside, and I have
to take evasive action. Probably not quite as evasive as the action I did
take, but then, I didn't want to crash. So I went wide and slowed a bit
and some more people passed and then the elastic band effect was happening
and I put in a bit but it just didn't work out.
Soon enough I realised that entering a 60km road race with only men in it,
having done no training other than a commute to uni a few days a week was
probably not a good idea. I also figured out that 10 minute efforts
between red lights doesn't count far towards a constant effor that's more
than twice the distance you normally ride in a session... Oh well.
The bunch broke up a bit during laps 3-4, and when I got passed at the
midway point of lap 5, only half the bunch was there. One of the guys
grinned at me and yelled "tag on!" but they got me 100m short of going
into a corner and these guys were cornering in the wet much faster than
me. So I sped up and tried to jump onto a guy's wheel and I stayed with
them for about 1km before dying in the bum on the next hill. I didn't feel
so bad because they were averaging about 40kph over the race.
So I took a while to recover and it wasn't until a couple of laps later
that the next group passed me. I joined them for a bit but they had caught
me just before the hill and I really struggled to stay with them, as they
were doing low 30s up said hill and I only low 20s. I sucked in some more
Enervit and dealt, and kept going. ITT again, I see.
I was shocked when the leaders passed me just before lap 10, and
horrified. It meant that this year I would be triple lapped, not double
lapped. Then I had another think about that and realised that last year's
course was only 13 laps, compared to 15 this year, so I felt a bit better.
Not much better though.
I hadn't seen my coach in either bunch and he had in fact been dropped
from the second group. Some time later I saw him behind me but didn't
recognise him at first. All I saw was a rider that was clearly hurting
from too much effort! He recognised me and decided he needed to lap me,
and went to work on it, passing me up the hill. I have always hated that
hill, I'd much rather do hospital hill (also on base) but that's another
story. On the next lap (or so), I saw him spinning around in the opposite
direction. He had pulled out. Maybe it was a heartilage injury?
The military police (MPs) down at 2CER had found a pen and written a big
"Go 1" and I didn't see much more of the bunches after that. As I finished
my 13th lap, the others who had been dropped but eventually formed a bunch
caught me, and I hung with them for a bit, but then they all split up.
It then rained on me again.
On my 13th lap, it rained, and I had mega-dramas on that one lap. Many
thanks must go to the spectator who so helpfully called out to "keep
going!" Yes, I've cycled 80% of the course, and you tell me not to quit
now, duh!
First, at the Sadlier/Lavarack intersection, a courier refused to stop
when the MPs told him to, resulting in near-collision. Then, at the main
roundabout, one of the MPs decided to put on his raincoat rather than stop
the traffic. No car incidents here; instead, an elderly couple stepped out
as I came out of the roundabout. Eeek! Brakes! Evasive action! Big loss of
speed on the fastest section of the course, dammit! Got to the bottom of
the hill, outside 2CER where the unit is practising their ANZAC Day parade
on the road. As a result, cars have slowed to 10kph to pass them. As you
can imagine, this lap does wonders for both my morale and my finishing
time.
The weather could most accurately be described by the following
instructions: "rain for a bit, then let the sun come out and make it
disgustingly humid for a bit, repeat." Also, being on my own for a large
part of the race, I had been a bit more subject to random drivers pulling
out and sticking to a "safe" (i.e. slow) speed, in front of me, on
downhill sections, etc.
On my last lap, the sun comes out again. Everyone stands and cheers me
across the line. Yay! It's over. I won, or whatever. The male winner got
about 1:29 and I did about 1:57 but it's better than last year and this
time I didn't train for it. I scored free knicks and jersey as well, and
got offered a spot in the team for the Arafura Games (that I'd already
been offered for triathlon).
I don't feel so bad about coming last, because a lot of people pulled out
of the race, my coach included... one of the guys in my squad quit after
the first lap! He blames it on IM OZ and I'm not going to argue that but
really, he could've just cruised it with me!
On a good note, I met a guy who organises the Mont 24hr MTB, I really like
my new pedals, I got two water bottles and new jersey and knicks. But I
didn't waste my time attempting the crit, and neither did half of the men,
because the leaders had been so fast over the 60km.
2. Rest
I went back to my car and found I'd left the headlights on. Oops. Turned
them off. Car didn't start but the central locking was still working,
which is always a good sign. Went to the loo, and when I came back, the
car started. Yay! That's why I love my car (relative to other cars, that
is, not relative to my bike).
I took a shower. We have shared male/female toilets with a sign you slide
to "choose your gender" so no one will come in. Apparently Erica has been
sloppy with putting the sign back once done, so one of my (male) CPLs just
wandered on in while I was starkas. He quickly shut his eyes, apologised
and walked out hanging onto the wall for guidance. Mostly I found this
[censored] funny and paid him out for it later. Ate Subway mmmmmm Subway and
kept drinking lots of Enervit.
3. Crit 30min + 3 laps
As I said I didn't bother with this one but I'll say something about it
anyway. It was meant to be 40min but they decided to change it and I'm not
sure why.
There was supposed to be a neutral lap to start, but one guy decided to
break, and made a huge break. But not enough, and the bunch soon reeled
him in. It served to fully split everyone up though, after the effort of
catching him.
The first few pulled out after 3 laps without being lapped yet, because
the corners were so fast, and it was still wet. Fair enough - that's one
of the reasons I didn't want to do it. Eventually we saw two groups of
three and a few individuals (although I didn't actually witness the
breaks). An individual was hammering around in 4th position for a long
time, which was quite impressive.
The spectators decided to start placing (unfunded) bids on who would win.
Every lap, one particular guy was in the lead when they passed the our
viewing spot. (Said guy happened to be an old friend of mine, and the guy
who won the road race.) So others bid against him as he'd be too stuffed,
and I bid for him, and he won! Yay! Average speed on that was 40kph, on a
small circuit with all 90 degree turns, some with reverse camber. Wow!
4. Recovery
Well, I'm not recovered yet. But I bought a Bi-Lo chocolate mud cake
(mmmm, nicer than in the cafes, rich but light in texture, mmmmm) and so
I'll probably eat a large proportion of that. I'm envisaging a bath at
some time.
Why do I care about recovery? Well, I've got a half marathon to run on
Sunday!
5. Conclusion
If you are going in your first road race any time soon, feel free to
contact me about what not to do 🙂
Tam