Monday, July 6, 2009

An easy Recovery Week, what's next?

In my last post, I wrote that I didn't have any events to aim for this year and that I was just enjoying the riding and racing. Well, that has changed, it had to change! I have now chosen three races for this year, three A races as they call them.

They are races in which I have little chance of finishing with the top riders but I am going to enter them for the experience and the fun. By saying that, I don't mean sitting there and taking easy, just hoping to finish.

The first event is on the 12th 0f September, a 226 km race from Grafton to Inverell (NSW). It is the longest one-day race in Australia (I think!) and one of the toughest. There is a hard 17 km climb after 65 kms and an undulating terrain once you are on top of the Great Dividing Range -altitude 1000+ m. Then, it is kind of down hill all the way to Inverell as the graph shows...
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For this race, I've put together a nine-week training program based primarily on information found in Joe Friel's book. The fact that I have never ridden that distance and only had done 120+ rides a few times will make it interesting, and difficult. I know someone in the club that has raced it more than a dozen times so I will be trying to find out more about the race in the next few weeks.

Then, eight weeks later, I am hoping to race in the World Masters Games in Sydney... and why not? It is going to be a huge event and I don't get a chance to race for the rainbow stripes often. I haven't decided if I will do the crits and the ITT but I aiming for the road race which will be at the Eastern Creek Raceway. That in itself will be something new and exciting.

For the third event, I am planning to return to the Victorian alpine region this year to race my third Tour of Bright. I missed out the last two because of a holiday overseas and my incident with a van last year and didn't get to try the somehow vicious climb to Mt Hotham. But I heard (and read) a bit about it and have enough madness in me to have a go.

In between those three, there are lots of club races, open events and the QLD Championships to keep me busy and the legs turning.


Training

The first week of the training was mostly for recovery from the last few races, including the Scenic Rim the weekend before. I did add a couple of high intensity rides to a total of six sessions (including a session on the rollers).

Time: 10h 50min
Dist: 266.6 km

The training week ended on Sunday with an easy ride with Sandra. She needed to do a couple of hours as well and had asked if we could ride over the Samford Range and the back roads of Highvale . Perfect, but we left home a little late in the afternoon and been a Sunday, the speeding traffic put me off going up the range. We took the dirt track that runs parallel to the old train line and did most of the riding in this beautiful countryside, located just a few kilometers from Brisbane.


Friendly locals


A steep road revisited...


...same road


This week things will get a little harder and the rides a little longer. I am planning to race another club handicap at Elimbah, 50 kms north of Brisbane. I am just hoping to get a bit of rest in the next three weeks as well, Le Tour is on and staying away from the TV till the early hours is not an easy thing to do.

We will see.

4 comments:

Groover said...

Happy to volunteer for soigneur and driver duties for Grafton. The campervan is booked. :-)

Shane said...

ahh yes, well we will know where AMR is over the next 9 weeks .... long slow steady rides to get ready for the gruelling Grafton. good luck in your prep mate

Ant said...

Good to see you signing up for Tour of Bright. Will Sandra be having another crack this year?

One longer road race that comes to mind is the Melb to Warnanbool - 290 odd km - although I think it might be getting shortened because it's too long?

AMR said...

Groover - you will be the best soigneur in the Grafton-Inverell.

Shane - thanks, it will be an experience, I can tell.

Ant - we will be there, for sure. You are right, the M to W is the longest. See you in Bright!

 
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