Training Log Archive: Bruce

Event: Bupa Around the Bay 210km
 

14,000 participants in the BUPA Around The Bay festival
1408 finishers in the 210km
I had the 51st fastest time of these finishers. I've got to be happy with that considering that my previous longest ride on a road bike was 30km.

Results

I woke early for breakfast at 4:45am to the sound of wind gusting through the trees outside. This wasn't a good sign. The forecast was for 25-30km/h northerlies, but I had hoped that it would at least start out still. The wind continued to be a feature of the day.

I had prepared my pockets with gels, bananas and bars the night before, so I simply had to put on my sunscreen and remember my water bottles the fridge. My bike had "slept" inside overnight. Anne didn't understand why it deserved special treatment, but it was an early enough start as it was, and I wanted to be prepared.

My warm up was a casual ride in the dark into the city, leaving at 5:20am. It was possibly a new PB for my commute, as there was hardly any traffic except for the odd taxi coming home from a pub or nightclub. There were thousands lined up for the 6am start wave, but I merged in from the side and passed under the start banner at about 6:07am.



The first 30 minutes was under a setting full moon in the west, and involved a lot of bicycle traffic and stops and starts. The morning was filled with the sound of shoes clicking in and out of pedals at every intersection. The first climb was over the Westgate Bridge, and already I was passing hundreds of cyclists. On the decent I started to pick up speed, and I found some groups to join in with. We started to pick up a nice tailwind and got into a good rhythm. Somewhere around Werribee, I latched onto the back of what I called the "tuna boys". This was a group of around 30 led by 6 riders from the John West corporate team. We moved along at 40-42km/hr and the first 50km passed very quickly. I even did a couple of turns at the front.
As the day was going to be warm, I made sure that I started drinking early and often. I soon had the urge to go, but I managed to hold on to the Geelong rest stop. I didn't want to stop any earlier as I would have lost the tuna boys. Most of them also stopped, but they hung around for quite a while, so after a quick banana I set off.

I started to feel some significant cross wind for the first time on the road to Queenscliff. Some of the quicker tuna boys caught me again at traffic lights. I joined in a group of around 12 as we rotated through a double pace line most of the way to the Ferry Terminal. The 9:30 ferry was out of reach, so I relaxed for the last part and arrived at about 9:40am to pick up my 10am ferry sticker.



I enjoyed the chance to get off my bike, go to the toilet and walk around for a few minutes. I then made my way to the ferry and, after a short wait, rested my bike along with several hundred others, in the car level of the ferry. I then headed upstairs and found the last vacant seat in passenger level. This was a great chance to take off my shoes, consume the contents of my provided lunch bag and relax. Lunch included a tuna sandwich, 2 energy bars, an apple and a sports drink. After eating all of this and re-applying some more sunscreen, it was almost time to return to my bike for the arrival at Sorrento. I had a thought for the poor tourists who were on the ferry, who had to put up with hundreds of stinky cyclists on their ferry.



I have no idea how much a ferry is worth, but it's value must have increased by a few million dollars with the hundreds of carbon road bikes on board. The majority of the riders were middle aged men, and most seemed to have an expensive bike, probably over $3000. No one was too worried about locking their bike up. I guess you can't take it too far when you are on a ferry. However, everyone was quick to return to their bikes as the ferry approached Sorrento.



I was a bit stiff for the first 10 minutes after the ferry. I treated this as a warm up. There were small groups of 1s and 2s, but traffic lights helped to quickly form some larger groups again. The ride around the foreshore from Sorrento to Dromana was very pleasant. The sun was making its presence felt after burning off the morning cloud, and the blustery wind that was chopping up the bay hadn't quite made its way around to our faces just yet.



I then embarked on the hilly part of the course over Mt Martha, Mornington and Olivers Hill. The climbs were nothing too serious. I just dropped into a low gear and spun my legs to get up them at a constant pace. I was now started to pass lots of slower cyclists who were doing the Sorrento to Melbourne course.

My top speed of the day was coming down Olivers Hill into Frankston. The warning signs said "Cyclists Slow Down. Seriously!" There was a great view coming down the hill over the bay, with a gradual left hand bend and a the wind of the bay. I just made sure that I was clear of other bikes so that I could take my own line and stay out of trouble. Without pushing hard at all I descended at about 60km/hr.

I then knew that I was in Frankston (without reading any of the signs). It was obvious from the sight of over 100 bikies parked out the front of the BWS liquor store! I half expected to see Sam Newman in the main street filming an episode of Street Talk.

Having previously run a marathon from Frankston to Melbourne, I knew that I was entering the last phase of the ride. If I could run that distance, surely I could get home from here on a bike. But the wind was not going to make my afternoon easy. It felt like 40-50km/hr headwinds from Frankston to Mordiallic and my average speed was now under 30km/hr.
I sat in a pack with the St Kilda cycling club for a while. Then suddenly at Chelsea, they all turned off to the right and crossed the railway. I didn't know what they were doing as this was off the course. Apparently there is another cycling route along Station St which is well known to the regulars and is less exposed to the wind. Unfortunately I was left on my own and had to fight hard for 10 minutes. Eventually I sat up, had a gel, and waited for the next pack as it was only going to drain my remaining energy reserves. Just before Mordiallic the group was waiting at the traffic lights on the right hand side. They may have had a sheltered ride, but at least I didn't lose any ground on them.

My last stop was at the Mordiallic rest area. I took 10 minutes to consume my last banana and wait on the line to refill my drink bottles. The water would be handy as it was getting hotter. I noticed that the St Kilda group took off, so I jumped on my bike and rejoined the group.

There were plenty of traffic lights from Mordiallic to Melbourne and the groups were getting bigger. It felt like the fitter riders were surging when the lights went green to try to shake some of the group. I had to put in big efforts for a minute or two to hang on, but once I was one it was relatively easy. There were many twists and turns from Beaconsfield Pde back to Alexandra Gardens, but whichever way we went, the head wind was still there. This was the same story from everyone who participated on Sunday afternoon, irrespective of which course they rode.

I gave myself a little fist pump as I crossed the line. The time didn't matter, but it was satisfying to complete the circuit. I then settled in to the Superpartners corporate marquee for some drinks, food and a massage.





I felt better than expected after the ride. It was a big day, but I still had enough energy to ride home at a slow pace. I was ready for bed quite early in the evening though.

It was a fun day out, and I'll consider it again next year, depending on how my competition schedule and fitness looks at that time of the year.



Time: 7:06:57
Moving Time: 6:54:04
Elapsed Time: 8:29:08
Avg Speed: 29.1 km/h
Avg Moving Speed: 30.0 km/h

Time Kilometers Avg Speed
Summary 7:06:57.5 206.94 29.1
Melbourne to Queenscliff 3:29:46.6 110.31 31.6
Sorrento to Melbourne 3:37:10.9 96.63 26.7

C • Chelsea deviation 2

C • Fantastic write up 1

Ride home

C • ride 5

Ride in

Event: Sprint Into Spring Race 2 Pipemakers Park
 

Sprint into Spring Race 2
Pipemakers Park
2nd
B Keely 14:53
B Arthur 15:18
A Dodd 16:12

We arrived just before 3pm, and my warm up was very limited. As soon as I started sprinting, my left hamstring felt tight. It got a little better as I went on, but I didn't feel 100%. I concentrated on my route choice and accuracy, and ran quite smootly. I was a little upset with myself that I didn't look closely at the description for 5, so I had to cross the fence from the left instead of coming straight in from the right.
Otherwise, I was very clean.

The map was fun. The one comment I would make is that the I wasn't sure about several walls marked with thin black lines. My understanding is that those are not ISSOM symbols. They should have either been thin grey lines (passable wall) or thick black lines (impassable wall), unless they were marked as passable rockfaces. As it was drawn, I was unclear if they were legal to cross or not. On the ground they were certainly passable, but I went around them just in case.

http://obasen.orientering.se/winsplits/online/en/d...


This is a great series. If you live in Victoria, come along next Saturday afternoon.

C • ISSOM 13