#cycosports

[bigmacsg]

SCF Challenge Oct 19

Another month & another Cycosports Challenge event at National Stadium. This time, the fun is sponsored by the Mavericks and they’ve opted for a more standard criterium approach.

Races were capped at 20 people but due to a miserable signup rate, the Open Masters race starts with only 10. It’s mystifying as people are race fit due to the recent cancellation of Tour de Kepri but many of the big clubs simply haven’t shown up. We end up with a race of 5 Mavs, 3 AWT3 & 1 Anza. Secretly I’m happy as I hate Crits and I think this course would struggle with 20 riders.

The race started moderately fast and I was surprised to see TimTam & Nick Swallow both down the back. I purposely let a GAP go out on lap 3 as I was sitting with Ben and it took awhile before he decided to close it. I seriously thought he was struggling but I it turned out to be a smart act as he bridged easily and immediately attacked the front group - with only Gernot able to follow. The two stayed out the rest of the race and sprinted for the win.

I ended up with Ames, Steve Davidson & myself. The middle group wasn’t far ahead and I attacked on lap 8 to get across. I almost made it but didn’t have quite enough to get over to help Keiichi and so sat up to wait for the other 2.

We then tapped out a rhythm for the next 12 laps to get home. Steve dropped off & I got another GAP on final lap before Ames caught and dropped me at the roundabout.

It was hot as fck but an enjoyable morning and with little hanging around of the other events. Thanks to the Mavs for putting it on but shame that it wasn’t massively supported. With some upcoming travel, I’m missing the rescheduled Kepri & Crit so that’s likely a wrap for 2019 racing (unless I can work some magic on my Christmas holidays).

[bigmacsg]

Tour de Kepri

I did a solid 12 week block of training leading into Kepri. My TrainingPeaks fitness score was the best I’ve ever seen it (peaking at 95) but the legs frankly didn’t feel that special & I was doubtful about the data. A couple of weeks semi-tapering didn’t give me massive confidence in my abilities when we hit the start line.

Stage 1: Criterium 40km

Stage 1 was on great new roads bordering the coast. The loop was a 2.6km beauty with 2 hard hills inside - coupled with coastal wind it was looking like a tough day. The peloton of 70 started fast and - along with many others - I was immediately struggling. I got dropped on the climb in lap 2. They announced at the start that everyone would get the peloton time so I took it easy and rode round gently in the 41 degree heat - even stopping to take phots at one point. Paolo ended up winning the sprint from a 5 man break and so we were suddenly leading GC and team competition.

Stage 2: 135km Bintan Classic

The plan for the day was to prevent any breaks getting out of sight and so the team spent the day policing the front. I did a few stints at the front but my lack of genuine fitness was showing and I spent a lot of time loitering at the back. After a pull to take us into the Red Road, I found it increasingly hard to hold on and popped on some of the earlier hills. This left me with about 55km solo to get home. Sadly things went badly south and I ended up having 2 punctures before the finish. It was not a good day.

A lot of sitting in the heat and then the slow ro-ro boat to Batam left me feeling pretty shitty but a beer and pasta soon put matters right. Was in bed by 8pm and then rudely awakened at 3am by cramp!

Stage 3: Batam 6 Bridges 130km

The legs were better this morning and I felt that I could contribute to our ongoing plan of managing the bunch. Paolo continued to lead GC so we knew there’d be a lot of activity today.

For once, we got the headwind on the way out and this helped to contain the breaks. We still had work to do but not as bad as it could’ve been. I popped around 80km in - in the 2nd of the big hills post turnaround. I hooked up with a 4T2 and Ben Farnsworth and we took it home at a reasonable pace. I ended the day with a 37 avg and no cramps so I’ll take it as a good day.

Paolo finished the sprint in 6th and so we maintained the GC win. We also got 3rd in the Team category so it was a great result for the team.

Good event overall. Logistics needs some minor refinement but I’d absolutely do it again!

[bigmacsg]

Singapore Nationals 2018

In a bizarre but welcome twist, the SG Road Nationals 2018 were held in Batam on the excellent Nongsa circuit.

AW-Treknology3 fielded compact teams in Open (PA, Will, Guillaume, Reuben, Sofiane) and SuperMasters (Hish, Pete & myself). For Supermasters Hish was our protected man with Pete & myself focussed on helping him out.

Supermasters was run with the juniors and ladies race and this proved problematic. As soon as we entered the circuit, we sat up to let the juniors race themselves as the peloton was sketchy with them around. They took off but never really got any distance. We ended up catching them during the trio of 3 big hills. This ended up being a recurring event and really disrupted the rhythm of the race.

I took us up the high hill for laps 1,2,5 and 6 and was TOP 5 for most of the others. It was my first time on a hill with the Emonda and it climbed like a dream.

The race was steadfast and nothing allowed to get away. The constant attrition reduced the pack to about 20 by the end. Hish made his move on the hills of the last lap after Pete strung the pack out. Hish got a GAP but then slid out on the corner afterwards - thankfully bouncing back up.

I attacked and got a gap with 1km to go but I ran into 2 cars and out of steam! I got caught with 500m to go and rolled across the line in about 15th.

In Open, PA attacked from the gun and stayed away with 3 others. Sadly he was edged into 4th in the sprint.

It was a Long day - taking another 8 hours to get home but great riding! Time for a break and some tempo for a while.

[bigmacsg]

National ITT 2018

National ITT is usually my favourite event of the year. Following my rapid exit from ToF, I focussed on this as my next target and put in 4 weeks of proper TT specific training. TraingPeaks numbers were showing my legs were good but mentally I wasn’t nailing the efforts and wasn’t able to push anything beyond high tempo level in the training rides.

A planned 7:01am start meant an early wake up & I got up at an appalling 4:15 to roll up gently with Hish. Registration came with news that the organisation was running late and they were starting 20-30 mins behind schedule.

Given the extra time, I did a longer easier warmup and came back to the start area around 7:15 - thinking I was early and would have time to fix my boot covers and bang a gel. A shouting Lizzie indicated an issue & it rapidly came apparent that the race organisation had made up time and everything was back on schedule. I’d missed my start by 15 mins and was now Disqualified!

A quick discussion and I was told that I could ride for fun if I started in the next 10 seconds so I took off. Might as well get some training if nothing else being the thought.

Given the adhoc start and the stress, I gunned the 1st lap and threw my pacing strategy out of the window. I felt alright but wasn’t really mentally in the game since I knew the race now meant nothing. Lap 2 saw a collapse on the outward leg as I hammered the uturn too much and suffered accordingly. I got it back for the 4th leg and managed to get the timing above recent training levels. Still wasn’t great though and the total time of 48:10 would have got me 6th overall on the day.

Totally my fault for missing the start. Lessons have been learned for the future.

[bigmacsg]

National TTT Championship 2018

I love TTs. The simplicity, the fancy gear and the lack of corners!

We got 3rd in last years blue riband Elite Quad TTT and so we’re hoping to take a few steps up on the podium order. With few in town & Mike focussing on his birthday ride, we were down to 4 suspects - Pierre, Adam, Peter Bennett and myself.

With Bintan concluding in the previous weekend, there was little time for practise and none of us touched our TTT machines till 2 day’s before the race when we did a quick burn up the Coast Road. I loaned Adam my spare Cannondale but the brakes broke & he ended up borrowing another on the eve of the race.

Uncle Pete took control of the tactics and this turned out to be a crucial element as the margin between the TOP 5 teams was tiny.

We all neglected to do the UCI bike test on the Saturday and did it just before the race. This was stupid as we found that every bike was massively illegal! I’m not sure how it was possible as I’d had to do some massive changes to my set up at the last TT - only to find that I was still illegal to the 2.5 inch mark! Some aggresive modification was required and I literally couldnt adjust the bike more.

Elite Quad had 8 teams and standard was Super high. We rolled out 7th in front of good crowds and in great weather.

Pete took us out to Ensure that we didn’t go too fast - but we still hit over 50km/hr on the outward leg. We passed our 1 minute men at the 7km mark and caught maybe 2 more during the race.

1st leg was hard, 2nd leg was steady but 3rd leg was a bit of a struggle. I went from 1 minute turns to only 40 seconds by then. Pete B did a death pull about 2km from the end and then it was up to the 3 of us to bring it home.

Final average of 47.4km was enough for the win - by 9 seconds over a 3 man Mavs team. TWC were a few seconds further back with Matadors in 4th. All the TOP 4 did above a 47 average showing the level of the race.

Pete and I were meant to do the Masters Duo later but decided to skip that and take our medal for beers!

[bigmacsg]

Cycosports URA Criterium | Supermasters

First race of the 2018 season but not much to write about this one. Unlike last year, I’ve decided to peak for a few specific races. As the crits aren’t priority targets, there’s no tapering off for them and I went into this one feeling pretty fatigued.

Woke up at 4.30 & already felt decidedly average. The previous days 115km still feeling heavy in the legs. Did a half hearted warmup in Sentosa and got to the race with enough time for 2 laps but not enough for a desperately needed pre-race dump!

Race started quick and my legs did not. Sat at the back for the first 7 laps as couldn’t contribute much more than that. A dangerous break went on lap 7 and I decided that I’d better do something so tried to bridge on lap 8. Got within 10 meters of them before I exploded. Thankfully Pete Bennett was in there and represented!

I sat up and let the pack consume me for the last lap.

PA celebrated his birthday with a massive Attack and win in Masters so I didn’t feel so bad!

[bigmacsg]

Cycosports Nongsa Classic | Open

Nongsa is the first proper race since the season high in May. I've been struggling for motivation in the offseason with a worrying habit of switching off the 4.45 alarm developing. That said, my form is reasonable particularly on the hills so I rolled up feeling reasonable. The team dominated the registration process. However fate intervened & our 2 prime picks (Pierre & Will) are both out through illness. Taking the starting line today were Adam, Hish, Pete, myself & Guillaume Causse riding as a guest. 

 All hell opened up on the way over & it absolutely pissed down. When a pre-race briefing talks about mudslides then you know it might be a tough day. The rollout was under heavy rain and this continued for the 1st 20kms till we hit the circuit. With a combined peloton of Open & Masters, we had maybe 60 wheels spraying water in my face. The 1st lap felt pretty steady with most nervous on the wet and filthy roads. Somehow I picked up the Strava KoM so it must have been faster than I thought. 

As per normal, it rapidly became attritional with a handful of riders being dropped each time up the climb. My climbing legs were good and I found the hill much easier than previously. I even led the group over the TOP first a couple of times. I also had a few clips off the front but nothing was allowed to go for the whole race. I didn't enjoy the rain and was gutted to see it start to piss down with gusto from lap 5 till the end. My legs popped on the lap 7 climb and I drifted home a minute behind the remaining peloton. Guillaume grabbed 3rd with Hish 4th in the bunch sprint. 

 We then did a mad rush to the nearest ferry terminal for a rapid evacuation home. Within 20 mins of finishing the race, we were already booked on a ferry and made a hasty retreat back to Singa. Amusingly the ferry was massively oversold and we ended up lying in the passageway like filthy, stinking dogs. A good day!

[bigmacsg]

Cycosports URA crit | Supermasters

This race bookended my worst month of training in 5 years. Work, travel, illness and general motivational issues saw me doing less than half my normal efforts for the month. Still, a race is a race and even with shitty form I had to ride.

 Supermasters had about 25 starters - 2 Allied World Kemp, 3 Matadors and 6 Mavs amongst them. It started moderately and we spent the first few laps breaking and closing constantly. 

Ames & Pete Macca got away on Lap 3 and this was followed by Ben Arnott & Stooper about 5 laps later. Behind, we didn’t have the numbers to close the GAP as our group was down to 10 riders - mostly Mavs & Matadors. Pete and myself tried a few digs but mostly for fun rather than with real vigour. 

 I cruised in 11th. Ben 1st, Macca 2nd & Stroops 3rd. 

An enjoyable morning but hard without numbers. An inform PA was a Favourite for Masters. Despite being there for registration, he missed the actual race due to inflamed privates from accidentally putting on Deep Heat instead of Chamois Creme. He ended up spending an hour soaking in the pool to cool them off!