Saturday was the Christmas Classic Criterium at VUT, held by Footscray Cycling Club.  This is a race i have been looking forward to for a while. My training so far has been pretty good and on the morning of the race i was feeling great.

So We rode down to the race, and did a warmup.  Everything was good- getting ready for the start.. the rain began to fall. Everyone started wondering is it on or off… but the wind came back and things soon dried up.

So the Egrade race begins. good turn up of 8 riders including to young guys who looked very very fit.  The race was progressing well for the first 20 minutes. I was feeling really good and when i looked down to the garmin, i saw my heart rate was still fairly low. I must be getting fitter and i was quietly confident of a place in the race.

Then things started going badly, coming around one of the corners had to break very sharply to miss another rider who had braked to avoid a wattle bottle that had dropped on the course.  A bit of a surprise and wake up, but thats ok.  I was still travelling well and then i took a turn at the front.  unfortunately just as i rolled over the front the rider behind me touched my back wheel and bang..  Broken Spoke wrapped around the cassette.  Luckily i didn’t come off the bike and just rolled off onto the gravel.  I flipped the bike over and quickly went to work on removing the remnants of the broken spoke.. All done i flipped the bike over, hoping to get back in the race.. but no good. The wheel was so far out of true that it would not turn a whole revolution.  Game over.. walk back to the spectators area. 

I was a bit disappointed, as i was feeling really good during the race, but it was good to watch the last few bits.

The challenge now will be to get the wheel replaced. I doubt it will happen before xmas, but fingers crossed.

I did enjoy the after race bbq. it was the first time since i started training that i  have eaten a sausage and drank a beer.

Yesterday i had my best result yet..4th!! i was so happy and so nackered. before the start of the race i was sure i was going to do poorly as it was very windy and quite cool. i always struggle in these conditions. but im happy to report that i didnt give up no matter how much it hurt.  i only got dropped form the lead group on the second last lap and i sprinted away from the guy who finished 5th. so happy, im in a world of hurt today but its good pain.  i went for my recovery ride today. managed to hold a good average speed but my legs felt quite heavy.  I will have a swim tonight to try and loosen up some more and then a rest day tomorrow.

bring on the rest.. Really i am so motivated now. i really want a 3rd place or higher! i’m slowly getting faster with more stamina, it takes time-still loosing weight but im definitely the heaviest out there still.  hopefully a couple of the other guys in our division will go up a grade which will help the slower amongst us hang on some more.

Happy happy happy!

Today, i raced in E Grade. It was raining heaps last night but the weather held of in the morning for the race.  The course was shortened as part of the roadway (2 of the fast corners) were covered in water. Luckily the part we raced on was quite dry.  the 2 new corners on the sorteed course were quite sharp which was an interesting experience. I’m not used to trying to corner so fast, so sharply in amongst other riders.  My result, well  came 6th out of 7!! actually the person 7th didnt finish, but thats ok. i Finished about 30 seconds after the winner and even though i was dropped with 3 laps to go, i never got lapped- they were closing on me but!

coming out of the fast corner

I really enjoyed the race. afterwords i was physically wrecked but very happy i finished on the same lap and also i learned so much.  It has spurred me on a lot for my training and i cant wait to get out tomorrow morning for a 3 hour ride.  Hopefully it has stopped raining by then!  On another positive note the weight keeps dropping off and i am now down 5 kg from where i started 1 moth ago.

Time for a bath and massage!!!