 |
| A saving grace, a big ol' country track on my back doorstep |
I'll miss this for two reasons:
Firstly, track racing was the only form of competitive sport where I seemed to have some sort of semi-natural ability at. I would have considered myself a decent rower, but that came through a good chunk of hard work over many years and a lot of attention from super-coach Fradge. Hockey, well I peaked at that when I was about 14 and every year after I seemed to get slower and slower. Cycling was a natural progression after rowing but in a few years of racing crit & road all I had to show was a 1st and 2nd in D a Glenvale. Not too long, however, after pinning a number on at DISC did I put a W on the board. It's no big deal, just Tuesday night racing. But motivation picks up, you move up grades, start getting closer to guys who smashed you previously and start eyeing off bigger races.
Secondly, I will miss hanging out with all my various cycling friends. The Banolians and Brunswickians. They're all really good people and they never fail to be supportive of one another - there's nothing better than after a crap week at work, getting a big smile from Steve Duggan after a couple of hours behind Cam on the moto saying "you're a good wheel Jear" (I realise some might not know what that means but it's good and coming from a good guy).
How to combat this?
Step 1: Find Track
Luckily like most country town, Pirie has a couple of football ovals, cricket pitches, dog track, racetrack, 3-4 various "sportsbars", a chinese restauraunt and... a big 500m long outdoor cycling track (according to Daryl Perkins they used to hold the first carnival of the season here - not so much anymore). Most of the town wouldn't realise what it was as the main footy footy footy oval sits inside it. But it will become my own personal training ground in a few weeks time when the track bike arrives.
I am without a road bike as I sold it before going on holiday. But luckliy my old man isn't riding his (which was basically a mash-up of parts from my old old roadie) so I packed it up and brought it with me. Bonus of having a place to myself is I can put my bike shit wherever I like!
Step 3: Search out new riding/racing crew.
Luckily Pirie has an fairly active, albeit small, group of riders. About a dozen or so but they ride very regularly. So last Saturday at 9am I made my way 5mins down the road (everything in Pirie is 5mins down the road) to the meeting spot.
 |
| Post Magpie attack, my heart rate was 187bpm after having to Kilo TT escape |
I had initially thought that my bike would stack up pretty well in a country town... I was so wrong. As the riders turned up - Ridley Noah DA, Scott DA, Azzuri Di2, Oppy, Kestrel, Van Nicholas titanium etc. I really miss my Damocles.
The ride started out at a steady clip, neat formation and no surging (Saturday is tempo, Sunday is race day). At the end of the ride one of the old boys (I'm the youngest by about 2 decades) said we'd head off for coffee. At last! Finally I'm going to get things back to normal with a Cafe stop. Imagine my suprise when "coffee" actually means everyone rides back to Bronte's house where his wife has prepared some party pies, instant coffee and some cake, and all the old riders who are too old to ride anymore rock up too. Whilst the barista may not have had a sleeve full of tatts and a beard, and the cake wasn't "organic" and cost more than a weeks wage - it was one of the best post ride coffee's ever. The banter is exactly the same: wives/gf's, new bike parts, results from old races and the next race you're preparing for.
Without really asking one of the guys said to me "if your wife will let you out of the house, we're racing tomorrow"...
Sunday morning, my first road race since the 2011 3DT. Unfortunatley no numbers are required but that's due to the fact it's the same dozen or so guys racing (although we did have the inclusion of 14 year old Tommy, almost half my age and therefore completly capable of beating me). The course itself was out-and-back and 50km in distance. Seeing as I hadn't pushed a pedal in anger in over 3 months I wasn't feeling too bad for the most part, but in the last 5km I started to bonk. And, although I'd been shown on the way out, I had no idea where the finish line was. Before I knew it some of the old guys had started winding up and I managed to hold a wheel tight and box another rider in, still not sure of the line I jumped to no-where, almost running out of steam before I'd started. I did manage to get a wheel in-front and before I sat up, the welcome sight of the finish line came into view. I was 1 from 1 in Pirie.
It's not that suprising but after the rides on the weekend and a couple of windtrainers this place is starting to feel a little more comfortable. Next weekend: (small) hills!
No comments:
Post a Comment