National Club Championships 2002

The time trial attracted a field of 30 riders from all over Australia. A number of us are strong at time trialling and with the combination of some overseas racing, I predicted about 8 of us would be strongly contesting the time trial.

The wind picked up throughout the morning and was quite strong by 11am when the first girl started. We were started at 30 second intervals which was great from my perspective as it gave me more riders to chase, as I was one of the last 7 riders to depart.

I had a slight mishap on the start line which certainly kick started my adrenaline. As soon as the rider in front of me had departed, I was called forward and held from the seatpost as I clipped into both pedals. With 20 seconds to go I back pedalled to put my right foot forward and starred down in disbelief as my chain rolled off my big ring, dropping down onto the frame. I quickly unclipped my right foot and clicked down a few gears and turned the crank, but the chain wouldn't grab. One of the officials grabbed the chain with his hand and pulled it back onto the big ring for me. I clipped my right foot in and the starter told me I could go whenever I was ready. I was now in a higher gear than usual and had to really stomp on the pedals to get going. As I didn't get the countdown from 5 seconds to go, I knew I had missed my start and found out afterwards I had missed it by 2 seconds.

It was a cross headwind on the way out, but after my chain incident, I was keen to make up for lost time and I cranked my bike up to 47km/hr from the gun. I knew I couldn't hold this speed for 30km and eventually backed it off to 42km/hr and concentrated on getting my breathing relaxed. I set my sights on the rider in front and caught her by the 3km mark. As soon as I passed her, I looked towards the next rider and drove the pedals down as I hard as I could.

By the half-way point, I had caught 5 riders and hoped I was amongst the leaders. I was using new Zipp wheels that Cameron Brand from Links Cycles had recently purchased and they were so smooth and light. I had a Zipp deep dish carbon front wheel and a Zipp carbon disk back wheel with Continental Competition 19mm singles on both wheels. I soon got the feel of the disk, leaning into the wind on the way out, and driving hard on the return with a cross tailwind.

At the 20km mark, my legs went through a tough patch. My speed dropped to 35km/hr and I was having a lot of trouble getting my speed back up to 40km/hr. I stood up several times and tried to drive on the pedals to pick up my speed. I knew this was costing me valuable seconds and fortunately after the final turn around, I picked up again and was flying home at 49km/hr.

I gave it everything during the final kilometres but ended up missing a podium place by about 17 seconds, crossing the line in 5th place. My goal had been to finish in the top three so I admit to feeling a little disappointed. However, at the same time, I was happy that I had raced my hardest, but wished I had known how close it was and maybe I could have gone 24 seconds faster. Oh well, that's time trialling.

Results:

The road course consisted of 10 laps of a 10km circuit. The majority of the course was slightly undulating, with the exception of two climbs. The first climb with a gradient of 9% was a 400m straight climb. The feedzone was situated on this hill with Bob was positioned at the base of the hill, to feed Emma and I. After this climb, we turned off to the right to tackle a 500m 13% climb that curved around to the right before flattening out on a false flat for another 200m. It was an unforgiving climb that I did in the 39 x 24 gearing for the first 7 laps before dropping to the 39 x 27 gearing for the remaining 3 climbs.

The pace up the climb was fast from the first lap as Claire Baxter (Hawthorn) set a solid pace. I climbed quite easily and sat on her wheel. A number of girls struggled on the climb and I predicted the race would be a natural attrition affair. Unfortunately, most of the girls who got dropped chased and managed to get back to us after the descent, so the peloton remained intact for a number of laps. Baxter continued to attack, however most of her attacks were off the front of the peloton and she didn't succeed in getting a good gap on the field. The pace was aggressive during the ascents on every lap, and gradually the field started to thin out. With 2 laps to go, only 11 girls remained in the lead group.

Over the climb for the last time, 6 of us went hard and got a clear lead on the remainder of the field. This group included Zoe Southwell (NSW), Lorian Graham (QLD), Claire Baxter (VIC), Christine Riakos (NSW) and Natasha Harrigan (NSW). Amongst the 5 girls chasing us included Natalie Bates (NSW), Jennifer Manefield (NSW) and Amy Safe (SA). Our group of 6 weren't working well, and with 2km to go, the girls that had been dropped rejoined us.

The field started to string out in the final kilometre in preparation for a sprint finish. I was sitting about 10th wheel and moved up to 4th wheel as we swept through a sharp left hand corner. The road immediately turned through a sharp right hand corner and then it was a straight drag of 300m to the finish. I kicked hard with about 100m to go and took the lead. With about 30m to go, Manefield edged past me by half a wheel and just before the line Riakos also nudged her tyre in front of mine, leaving me with 3rd position. Results: 1st Jennifer Manefield Paramatta cycling club, NSW 3.07.13 2nd Christine Riakos St George cycling club, NSW same time 3rd Helen Kelly Carnegie Caulfield / KPMG same time

Results:

I woke up feeling really tired and low in energy. I was also more hungry than usual (if that's possible) and ate a huge breakfast to try and fill up the empty spot. I jumped on my bike after breakfast and rolled around the course to check out the tight corners.

The course was set up in the middle of the Mooloolaba Esplanade and was quite technical and fun to ride. The home straight was situated closest to the cafes while the back straight was only metres from the beach. The loop had a small roundabout about 100m after the start/finish line which caused many crashes and pedal scraps. We rode through a closed off car park on the back straight, up a small little climb, into a sharp U turn and back into the home straight.

I did 30 minutes on the rollers and got the soreness out of my legs. As I warmed up and started to feel better. I ate a handful of jelly beans about 10 minutes before the start and hoped a bit of sugar would give me some quick energy.

I got a great start and was in second place behind N.Bates (NSW) going into the roundabout. Bates continued to drive the pace for several laps so I sat comfortably behind her and enjoyed the ride. After 5 laps, when Bates was starting to fatigue I attacked. I got a 10 metre gap but after a lap the peloton caught me, so I sat back in about 5th position and waited for another opportunity.

Lorian Graham (QLD) attacked next and everyone watched her develop a 40 metre lead. The field was indecisive about chasing and soon her lead was out to 150 metres. My teammate, Emma Rickards (Carnegie Caulfield) decided to chase with the rest of field quickly on Emma's wheel. NSW were happy to let Emma do the hard work and they didn't come through and take a turn. Lorian was continuing to put time into us and I decided this was the break I needed to join. I attacked up the home straight and with Emma on the front and not reacting to my move, I immediately got a 30 metre gap. The peloton was disorganised in their chase which helped me develop my lead.

With Lorian driving as hard as she could, it took me 3 or 4 laps to catch her. She immediately waved me through to pull a turn but I told her I needed to sit on her wheel for a few seconds and recover. With NSW now in hot pursuit, Graham and I needed to work hard together. I worked up the back straight whilst Graham took charge on the home straight. We retained a 10 second advantage for several laps and then gradually our lead stretched out to 15 seconds. Emma continued to move to the front to disrupt NSW's chase.

By the 20 minute mark of the race, our lead had stretched out to 25 seconds. Graham and I continued to ride a consistent tempo, while numerous attacks from within the peloton were shut down by other riders. I was wired up and Bob who was in the pits, was giving me feedback on what the peloton was doing and what our time split was.

Bob suggested I attack Graham with 3 laps to go and win solo, however I wasn't sure I could stay away for 3 laps. I had beaten Graham in yesterday's road race, and knew I had a faster sprint, so I decided to go for the sprint in the final lap. In hindsight, I should have attacked her on the back straight, however I waited until after the U turn, not realising I would run out of room. I took the last corner really badly and Graham had 2 metres on me as we headed down the home straight. I took a second to decide which side to sprint, chose the right side of the road and wound up. I drew level with her as we hit the line, but she had edged over the line just 2cm in front of me.

I waited for her to finish her victory salute and then took her hand and graciously congratulated her. After being interviewed by the commentator I struggled with mixed feelings of both disappointment and satisfaction. I was happy that I was on the podium with a 2nd place but the victory would have been so much sweeter.

Liz Williams (Carnegie Caulfield) rode quietly in the peloton and wasn't seen until the final corner, when she lept out to claim 3rd place. Additionally, due to the combined efforts of all our Carnegie club riders, we won the Australian cycling club championship.

I am now off to the Gold Coast to train for a few days before heading to Grafton, NSW, to prepare for the Grafton to Inverell NRS race. Knowing that I have some form at the moment, I am more determined than ever to finish off my season with a good result. Lets see what happens.

Results: