End of the year

Its the end of the year, everythings starting to finish and its party time. Last night raced the last road crit for the year, talk about edgy. There was extra prize money so everyone was mad keen to place well and everyone was just all over the shop yelling at each other and what not. I was having a greta time, felt good, no strugle at all just hammering arounf stromlo crit track and figuring out my plan for the sprint. coming into the sprint theres a right hand corner then a left hand corner. I decided to take the inside of the right corner and then accelerate on the far outside of the last corner. The guy in front did the same and I was hammering it and accelerating alot faster than the bunch. I had about 10 meters to make up but I could have done it, had the guy in front of me not violently wobbled all over the place causing me to swerve of onto the grass, finishing in about 3rd last place, I was so angry, I realy think I could have done it, but it was a fun night anyway. Pete got 5th and Dave got 3rd, our best finish so far, so we went out and had some pizza as a celebration.
Tonight, Im racing the mtb crit which is a hill climb tonight as another Xmas special. Im going to try and do well but im probably racing Dylan Cooper and Ben henderson so I wont be disappointed if Im not there first.

Ive been training pretty hard since ive been on holidays (with the exception of last weekend which was too wet and windy). Im feeling alot stronger now, but I realy need to work on my climbing. I never thought Id have to say that but its true. So Im going to bust out some more hill climbs throughout the week and get back my inner mountain goat.
So im down the coast next week, probably with the roadie and then back to Canberra on the 27th for PHD which is going to go off and then after new years, party time is over and it becomes hammer time.

Any way have fun over xmas and new years, dont be safe and Ill catchya later kids.

Getting back on track

Ive been doing alot of thinking about what my goals are and what my strengths are. Illinbah left me in a bad state of mind, It was going to be my big race where Id make a name for myself, and it didnt happen. I went for a few rides last week and felt realy crapy, realt slow up the hills, and just weak in the crits. This was not how I felt before Illinbah and my cold. Ive decided that ive hit a bit of a dip at the moment and I just need to push myself out of it and get strog for National champs in january. This means im not going to race you yangs or anything other than crits till then. Im also not going to be on the mountain bike much for the rest of the year. My plan for the rest of the year is to just get as strong as i can by doing hard fast rides with flat fast sections, undulating rough sections and somegood climbs. Im not going to be over doing it either, I dont want to get sick again. I have no set days for riding just not riding on tuesday, crit on wednsday and thrusday and bunch ride on sat morning. I am already starting to feel stronger again, but still not there. Over Xmas my family is going down the south coast for a week. Ive been looking on bikley and the road rides look a little bit boring, but from what i can tell the XC tracks are few and far between, so im not sure which bike to take. I might have achat to Brendan Johnston see what he reckons, he lives down there, so id say he knows all the roads and xc tracks.
So thats where things are at for now, tell me if you know of any good roads or XC tracks between batemans bay and moruya.
Bye
Nick

Illinbah

Lets start by saying, it didnt go to plan. My preperation was terrible, I hurt my knee, i got sick 2 weeks before and I had to do alot of school work. I was feeling pretty good until I got sick and since ive just felt weak and empty. It didnt help that we drove there from canberra in a day and a half which was pretty full on. The track was probably the best track Ive ever raced, realy steep climb and a steep gripy descent. After my practise laps I knew i could handle the track very well I just needed somthing extra to get me up that climb that I would usualy roll up easily. Race day was warm humid, and the track was in good condition, damp but not wet, just perfect. However, an hour before my race the anouncer says, theres a huge storm coming over from the other side of the hill. We looked over and saw this huge black cloud coming over the hill. We decided that it will probbaly come a bit later but we put mud tyres on just incase. I went back to the tent to grab my ipod for my warm up. As i was getting out of the tent it started to get realy windy and started raining (within seconds). I decided not to take the ipod incae it got soaked. I started my musicless warm up and the rain started to realy come down. I thought I should go make sure the race is still on, I went down to the event hub and everyone was trying to stay dry under a tent which was blowing away. I warmed up by back pedaling under the CORC tent. it was delayed by 30 mins but we raced. The rain had stoped but that made no difference, the track would be horribly muddy (especialy since Elite had done 2 laps in the rain). I got a shit house start to what can only be described as a shit fight. We all just slid around fall over trying to get into our positions. I got held back on the first climb as there wernt many passing opertunities. I managed to catch and pass a few guys at the start of the second lap. However everything turned to shit on the start of the climb when I got chain suck. this persisted for every climb for the rest of the race. By the last race it was so bad that it was quicker to run/walk up the hill rather than constantly get of and try and fix my mangled chain. The main descent was full on aswell. It was going straight down the steeest part of the hill and was increadibly muddy. I ended up walking the corners at the bottom of it. I ended up in a very very disapointing 10th place. I know i could have beaten the four in front of me if I had had not problems, and mabey a few more. The drive home gave me alot of time to think about what had gone wrong and weather I would have done as well as I would have like if I had had not problems or if it was dry. Ive never felt so shit after a race.

My plan now is to try and get as fast as I can for national champs. If I do well I will try and race Buller and Ocianas. If Im just not on the pase, then I will consentrate on becoming a good marathon rider, something I would persue later anyway.

In the short term, Im going to keep training and race the road and dirt crits which are both good training.

Catchya

Almost there

well last week (10th-14th) I had a realy good week of training with my brother and felt realy strong and fast. Well turns out I may have pushed it a bit too much. Ive been sick all week studying. I got a cold last sunday which was relay that bad but by mid week i was farked, sleeping all day and blowing my nose more than you can believe. Its now saturday and I did intend on going for an easy ride at O'connor Ridge, but its very very windy, spraying rain occasionaly and about 10 degrees outside. So might give the ride a miss unless it looks like it will dry up a bit. I think if i can get on the bike this weekend and a get about 3-5 more rides in by thursday I will be right for Nationals, but this is a good way to come into the series.

On the school front, Ive finished classes for the year and have had two days of exams and two more to go (1 per day for me). So I have a bit of time to ride If i feel up to it. My plan for the moment is to go for an easy roll today just to maintain fitness and skill, the tomorow go for a road ride up some of the mountains in canberra (again not killing myself) then just mtb rides on the steep switchbacks at Majura and finish it of with a road crit on wedsday night. Then thursday me and dad are driving up to QLD and will get there middayish on friday so we can go for an easy ride around the track to just figgure out lines and keep the legs rolling.

As I mentioned, Im racing the road crits now (I havent actualy started myself). My brother and his friends who I ride with have made a team to race B grade in. One of them knows a guy from token and got them to sponsor us, and so im hopeing this will result in bigger things if you know what I mean. Im looking forward to the crits for a few reasons, its relay good training, I think it will be realy fun trying different stratergys and they pey the top 20% of the feild (apparently).

So thats whats going on. The rains stopped now, so I might get my bike ready and go for a ride.
Bye!

Rough in the Highlands

Last saturday was a miserably cold winday and wet day and i was on my way to the highland fling. Bundanoon was no better than Canberra. It didnt help that ive lost my sleeping bag and i had to use an old one that only went up to the bottom of my chest so I had a very cold and unsettled sleep. Sunday morning, I woke up to the sounds of bikes riding past my tent at about 6 in the morning. After taking a piss i cooked some oats for breakfast and got ready for the race. I managed to jump into the fron row at the start as i was only racing with open and 100milers. I got a good start and cruised at the front of the front bunch for a few kms. The race started with a few hills and I tryed to make a gap, but all of a sudden we were on fast flat fire roads and then on farm padocks (sp?). After about 15km on flat bumpy grass i had almost had it and got to transition well behind the other riders and feeling like shit. The 2nd stage of the race was pretty hilly and i felt good and waqs making up time. There was along section of single track where i caught a guy and in an attempt to loose him I cracked. As i slowly made my way up halfway hill, Craig Gordan came flying past which pissed me of that he could do this half an hour faster than me. I started to push my self harder as two other guys and shaun lewis passed me. From here I started to come up again and relay picked up my pase. Unfortunantly I was too far behind. I ended up in 5th oin open, pretty disapointing. But mabey its just cause ive been training for nationals.

On sunday night my brother Peter got home from Europe where he road his bike from Paris to Madrid through the alps and pyranees. This is realy good because i have someone to train with. Petes just a bit better than me, I good enough to train with him but he will always finish a race infront of me. So we went for a ride on tuesday morning and punished eachother for about 2 hours and I felt relay good. so things are looking good for nationals.

So Im now about to go and race one of the club crits at stromlo. Ill be putting a big effort of training and homework this weekend and next week is my last week of hard training before Illinbah. Im realy looking forward to it as I feel strong like i can win, stronger than I ever have before.

Catchya

All the little things

well as I mentioned in my last post, I went for a long ride to tidbinbilla a few weeks ago. What i didnt mention was that i hit my knee on my stem while climbing. This wasnt a problem until I went for a ride a few days later and it started to realy hurt. It was so bad that i couldnt bend my knee with out being in alot of pain. I tried riding a few times and it was realy weird. When I was cruising, it realy hurt, but when i raced or did an effort it was fine. So anyway, I went to the doctor on wednsday and he said take some neurofen 3 times a day for 4 days and put a compression band round my knee, and its feeling almost back to normal now.

I started CORCs summer crits last thursday night and raced A grade. It may have been my knee (dont think it was though) but I did realy badly. I got an ok start in 3rd or 4th place but continued to dop back to about 8th. I then raced the ACT road champs support race on staurday morning. I was racing with Elite wemon and Masters men. I thought I would nail them all, But halfway through the lap there was climb and two guys and one of the women got away, btu i quickly caught them. They decided that makeing a huge gap on the people we were racing was not enough and we had to try and catch Elite men who started 5 minutes ahead. We didnt catch them but we made up alot of time. So anyway these guys killed me on the flats and on the last lap i tried to make a break away and one guy just sat on my tail and i asked if he wanted to try and open the gap up and he said he had no need to he wasnt racing any of us, so we got caught. It came down to a sprint and I was the one being nailed. So after this my spirtits werent high. But on tuesday, corc ran a 3 stage crit at stromlo. I was too late for the first but raced the 2nd race. After leading for a bit, i got an easy 3rd racing against some serious riders. This gave me alot of confidence again.

On the nationals front, the first round was last weekend. Brendan won followed by Trento Day, Michael Baker and then James Peacock. The rest of the feild was a bit behind. The results were a bit of a surprise, but since have been faster than Michael throught most of the club races this year I feel that I can place 2nd, and mabey even challenge Brendan. Some more good news was that my dad told me he will take me up to the 2nd round at Illinbah as I have explained the significance of these races and that i could do pretty well.

So Im now getting ready top race the fling this sunday, dont know how I will go. I have been doing more XC training than marathon training the last few months. But who knows, it could be a good thing. My dad is going down to melbourne to see my brother and his new family so Ed Hood has offered to give me a lift which is great.

After sunday, its going to have to be full on training to get fit for Illinbah, I relay want to win or at leats get second. Ill catch up wth you all next week.

School will be the death of me!

Its my third week back at school now and this term is rough, we have 6 weeks to do the work we usualy do in in 10, so its all a bit full on. Last week nearly destroyed me, I started a physics assingment (which was two assinment in one) a bit too late and had a few late night in an attempt to hand it in on time. This resulted on absalutly no training last week. It doesnt help that after the scott I went out too hard and wrecked myself for a few days. I still have 3 more assingments left and then tests but im a bit more organised now.

Im pretty focused on my first national round at Illinbah. I think the track is the kin fof track i can win on mainly cause of the steep switch backs on the climb which is what I love. Getting there is going to be a bit tough though (if anyone wants to give me a lift from the gold coast to Illinbah on the thursday or firday before let me know =)). I also have the Highland Fling on in two weeks which im realy looking forward too. dont know how well I will go but I did about 105km on my own on sunday arvo with a head wind on the way home which was a bit anoying. Here is a photo i got.

Unfortunantly the road doesnt go all the way to the top but it does go a fair way up, but still not a significant climb.

So my plans for now are start racing the Dirt Crits each thursday night and mabey a few road crits, get a podium at the Highland Fling and find my way to Illinbah to try and podium there aswell.

See ya round like a record.

24 hours later

Well for another year its all over. Sat morning I was tierd and not in the mood for sorting an argument about a lap system let alone racing a 24hr. Glen had the first lap but was held up a bit by the solo riders. I was now up for the second lap, riding up the long hill and a steep techy downhill, just what I like. I felt smooth but not very fast, but I got a 37min 30sec lap. This was one of the fastest laps by any of the riders heading intot this years nationals series in under 19s. This comfortable but fast pace stayed with me for another 7 laps and our junior team of 5 got 3rd in the Teams of 6 catagory. I came away from the race feeling realy good. Not too tired, not too sore and and very happy with my lap times and our 3rd place.

I am now working towards winning Open Men in the Highland Fling and winning my first national round for the season at Illinbah. But ths will be a very busy 6 weeks at school so Im going to to have to get organised to fit training in.

Before i go i would like to thank CORC for putting on a great event and supporting our team, and also my team. In particular Tim Smyth for all the work you did to get us going, but Glen Tom and Dan all did a realy good job aswell.

Babys, Physios and Lights

well, i started holidays last week and i was set to put in a big effort of training for the holidays. The holidays started of with a road crit around the Sutton driver training track. I entered B grade and i was racing Michael Baker and Brenden Johnston, two mountain bike riders of the same age as myself. it was a tough race, going up and down realy short steep pinches. Brenden Ddminated most of the race and we made a bit of a gap but i wasnt to keen to break away too early and we got caught again. I tried to catch Brendan as him and two other riders as they broke away in the finish strait but made my move too late and finished 4th. My plans to ride my legs off took a turn when last monday my brother and his partner gave birth to two boys and i am now an uncle. Me and my parents went down to Melbourne to see them for the week which was a bit of a disruption, but well worth it. I did take my roadie with me and did a bit of training at Albert park (which was heaps fun and fast) and the brunswick velodrome.

As some of you may know, the Scott 24hr is on this weekend and like last year, im on a CORC junior team. However, last years painfull experience of a 3 man junior team will not be repeated, this year im in a team of 6. I went for a ride with a few of my team mates on sunday night to talk about the race, ride the track and test our lights. it was a fun ride until darkness came over and i remember why i like riding during the day so much more. So as you may have picked up, i'm not the biggest fan of 24hr races. Why? you may ask, well while i consider myself to be a fairly good endurance rider, 24hrs is very different. the two thinsg that i dont like are: a) the lack of sleep, i need alot of sleep each night and suffer if i dont get it, and b) riding in a team, it takes me a about a lap to warm up in a race and doing one or two laps at a time doesnt realy suit me that much. but im sure i will have a good time, especialy in a team of 6.

I may not have mentioned, but i have been accepted into CORC's ACTAS junior talent development program. To sum it up, we will go to the ACTAS gym twice a week and do weighst and stuff to help develop our muscles for riding. Before we can start though, we need a muscular screening. so this morning i went to a physio who got me to bend over, strech and whole heap of other things. The results showed that my left leg is about 1cm longer than my right (all i could think about when he said this was me walking in circles trying to follow a strait line) and the im very inflexable which may be holding me back. this can be solved by streching and doing some exercises he gave me. This to me is great news, it means that if i do these exersises i will have more powerful legs. So i can realy gain something out of this program.

So anyway, i best be getting ready for work. Ill update you all after the 24hr this weekend.
Nick

First post!!!

Well folks, this is my first post so i should tell you about what sort of races im training for. At the moment my focus is on mountain bikeing where my prfered formats are marathons (100km) and olympic format (xc). there isnt much room for 17 year olds in marathons so i guess im trying to do well in my xc races for now. At the moment, im doing a bit of training for the Scott 24hr in october, but my main focus is on the highland fling in november and then the nationals series in summer. im going to tray and win open in the fling as i came 4th in open in the angry doctor a few weeks ago. the first race of the nationals series that i will be in will be at Illinbah which as far as i can tell is steep, wet and slow so im going to try and win there as i think its the best track for me.
My trainig for now is focused on getting faster. I have a lot of endurance but im being left behind at the start. so im starting interval training and the bakery ride (a group ride in canberra) on my roadie to help improve my speed and will start to work on improving my cornering and decending.
Also, I have been selected for the CORC ACTAS talent development program which will involved going to a gym twice a week to develop muscles and stuff.

Anyway, i need to study, so ill get back to you all later.