Training Log Archive: Shep

Easy run on the ridges in a thunderstorm. real nice to be out running, my quads a a bit sore from racing up them hills in bright but!

rolled down to bright for the warm up.

bright - harrietville - mt hotham. the pace was pretty subdued for the first 28km or so into harrietville, with a bit of excitement at the 2 sprint points. andy dapre made sure pete, kez and i always had someone taking the wind for us and we all hit the climb in good positions. i planned to just ride my own pace up the hill again, but had a lot more company this time. we were maybe 10 after the forst solid 10km of climbing and there were a few attacks in the flatter 10km section in the middle of the climb, but nothing too serious - i think just trying to split the bunch up a bit, the serious bit of the climb was still to come... when we hit the real climbs i was feeling pretty ordinary, the legs were heavy and i wasnt sure i could keep it going. i got a small break up CRB hill (1.1km at 10%) towards the first KOM point but another bloke came up at the last minute and we crossed the line together. after that was a few km of more relaxed climbing, then a short descent and then the real solid diamantina rise up to the top. my legs came good about 1/4 of the way up and then it was just me and another bloke. i got a descent gap to him and went over the top in front and then tried to keep it in the last km or so downhill in hotham heights. i got a bit of a surprise hitting some dirt road (roadworks) doing 60km/h in fog! i didnt hear them mention that at the start... but made it through and hit the line in front to take the stage, KOM and GC wins... sweet. prob should have been riding b grade with greeny (not that c grade was easy - i had to fight hard for it!).

C • i thought you had to race b... 7

C • awesome must be like winnin... 7

cruised back to bright from mt hotham, with an extended stop at bellas in harrietville for a few coffees and coke. but not in the same cup.

Event: Tour of Bright
 

into bright for the start of the race, plus back to bright from germantown afterwards.

bright - ovens - rosewhite gap - tawonga - tawonga gap - germantown. 80-odd blokes riding c-grade, started off cruising the slightly downhill 26km's to ovens , then saw a few blokes from b-grade (who started 5 mins ahead of us) on the ground with some people holding a towel on one fellas head which had blood pissing out of it... not a real pleasant sight. the pace stayed pretty easy up through happy valley and i cranked it up rosewhite gap to try and spread the field a bit. i let the other guys take the KOM points at the top as i knew we were only half way and the tough climb was yet to come. the bunch came back together at the bottom and we rolled up the kiewa valley, with a sprint at tawonga (which i kept out of), to some fresh water bottles and we got stuck straight into the climb (500m in 7km) up tawonga gap. i just planned to tap out a solid rhythm and i was soon on the front with a line of blokes behind me, and every hairpin i looked back and there was a few less on my wheel. the sun was beating down and i think we were all struggling, so at about halfway there was 3 of us, and with 1km to go to the top i smacked it and got over the summit with a decent gap and held it in the 10km or so down (there was a few stacks on the descent apparently) to the finish...

what awesome fun...

C • Well done 9

time trial warm up/down...

Time Trial, from Bright up to the end of the road past Wandiligong and back. Pretty nasty lumpy course with about 150m of climb in it... i was still feeling pretty stuffed from hammering up tawonga and i had the hotham climb in the back of my mind so i didnt give it everything, but close to it. of course i dont own a TT bike or gay bars so i was always behind the 8 ball but kept it respectable, lost 1.30 to the best guys in c grade, and 3 to the a grade riders. this race was f*cken horrible, just ride your guts out till it hurts then ride some more...

rolled around the long way to gus' with prosseri, robw and hoggggster.

C • Fåraherden verkar sugen! 2

drove down to bright then had a bit of a cruise around wandiligong with handsome pete.

shortened version (back along barton hwy) with kez, bit of a recovery ride. finished at deli kevin rudd where the man-woman made us an awesome espresso. she may look like a man but she is a cracker barista.

cruising around north lyneham ridge with the frwd unit to map the point features up there.

ride out to stromlo and back for crit.

road crit on circuit at stromlo. rode pretty aggressively up the front. the team plan was for me to get into a breakaway and/or keep the pace of the race high. it started raining as we started so the bunch was always going to be slow through the last lot of corners into the finish and it would be a advantage to be out the front. i got clear a couple of times, always with greeny, but the other guys that came with me didnt do much work, despite greeny yelling that we should work together to stay in on the front... we got pulled back in every time. by the last lap i was spent and it was pissing down so i hung off the back and avoided any potential crashes - having seen a big one in the girls race and heard about some nasty stacks in both c and d grade earlier in the evening...

C • Crit 3

raced down to phillip with kez for the hour of power. pumped around with the bunch, missed a few turns along lady denman but kept it together better than last time, 5 of us left at the top of hindmarsh! espresso at double shot looked the goods but didnt cut it.