A month late?

The last two or so weeks I have been feeling really good. Like the fittest Ive ever been. Ive been doing relay well in the road crits and the bakery bunch, and on sunday I did 110km+ and felt fine for the whole ride and for the rest of the day. So I feel like Ive peaked a month late for Nationals. But to tell you the truth I dont think my fitness held me back at nationals, it was my skill and a flat tyre.

But moving on, Ive started ACTAS now. Its been pretty good, alot of focus on core strength and Ive come away feeling sore all over after it, but in a good way. I think this will relay help me from getting a tired back, and keep my upper body strong through races. Only problem is I have had to cut back my already short single shift at work.

On sunday, Nicks Annual Fantastic Tour of Honysuckle Creek took place, it was me pete and andy c. It was a beautiful morning and we just cruised out to Naas and then I smashed my self up the hill enjoying a nice long steep climb in the beautiful Namadgi National Park. We stopped up the top and had a munch before coming back down probably the fastest Ive ever gone. That hill is so stupidly steep, I couldn't brake hard enough into the corners, I was having so much fun. Coming back through Tuggeranong and then along Adelaide Ave, we started a team time trial back and I felt great, just powering along.

On the race front, the marathon champs have bee canceled so my next big race is the 24hr solo championships. I will race the under 18s 6+6 hour. I'm keen to do better than last year and hopefully win. I think Ive had a lot more experience, and I'm alot fitter now so I will do well this year. After that, Ill train for the the Canberra Tour. A 2 day road race around Canberra and then at the end of may, Capital Punishment, a 100km mtb race from Sparrow hill to Stromlo.

So that's all for now, catch you all later.

$40 laps

Ill get to the weekend in just a second, But first to last weeks road crit. It was just me and Dave racing last week and not the biggest feild but enough riders for a proper race. 3 riders got away at the start and despite some half assed attempts from a few riders, the bunch didnt catch them. with three laps to go, i got on daves wheel with the intention of staying there until the end. It almost fell apart when someone tried to pass me on the inside of a corner when I was already on the edge of the road with about 4 riders on the outside, our bars and arms were clashing and there was alot of yelling, but we all made it through. By the tme we got to the sprint I had droped of daves wheel but was still at the front of the bunch. I was behind the guy that alomost knocked me of earlier, and couldnt get around him, but ended up taking 8th place, which is the first time I have placed.

Now to the sydney 24hr. It was decided that I would do the first lap which I guess I was cool with. I lined up at the start and it was raining and the track looked muddy. I got a good start and was even leading for a little while and came through as the first ride rider in our catagory. The track was bloody fun. Started with a very steep techy climb then a long fire road section and then some wicked muddy switch backs through a swamp followed by a scary drop down a rocky, slippery gully. the rest of the track was a bit boring for this kind of race but the two bits of single track were bloody fun, worthy of a national round next season perhaps. so by 7pm we were leading by 3 laps but our bikes were fucked and riding at night was going to be a bit full on so we stopped. Luckily, shortly after the race director decided to stop the race until 7am the next day. We started the next day 1 lap up and opened it up to 2 laps by the end of the race. To give you an idea of how bad it was out there though, by my first night lap I needed new front brake pads, in that 1 lap, I managed to almost completly wear them out in a 10km (25 min) lap. But It was a fun weekend anyway and we arnt too tired to ride either. I would like to say thanks to JetBlack for sponsoring us and helping bring down the price of a very expensive race.

Tonight I start the ACTAS program and I dont think I have nayraces for a little while now, so Ill let you all know when somthing cool happens.

Nick

Hot hilly fun

So until this weekend Ive been doing the usualy rides, dirt/road crit, scottsman etc. But yesterday me pete, dave, dapre, nath, ian and dad (sort of) went for a ride to Lake George. it was up early (again) meeting at dickson. we cruised up the federal hwy until the turn off to the old federal hwy. Ive never been a huge fan of the old federal hwy but ive only ever done the first couple of Kms to the top of the first hill, after that it was beautiful. Nice fast smooth road, lots of trees, no cars and some pretty ok climbs and lots of triathletes for some reason. we cruised along having a great time until we got to lake george. we stoped and had a chat and decided that we would just come back the way we came rather than via bungendoor or somthing. The ride back was just as fun, smaching it along the smooth flowing roads.

This morning I decided to ride to the cotter up to the top of the Condor Creek climb back to the cotter and then home via coppins crossing. I didnt remeber how hot it was outside and hoe long the ride was without coppins crossing, which was eventualy cut out. It was another fun ride. I puched myself pretty hard up the bigger climbs and got through about 4 700ml bottles of water. I smashed my self and by the time i passed stromlo on my way home Id had it, i just cruised home feeling very hot, sweaty, and hungry. In total Ive done about 7 hours of riding this weekend, which is a pretty good start to my endurance training.

This week, ive got the road crit on wednsday, the thursday im punishing everyone by setting the track for the dirt crit (a one lap ride to the top of the pines and back), and then the sydney 24hr on the weekend.