Training and racing: 1030 km and a bike fit later...

One thousand and thirty kilometers, that's what I have ridden since my last post, three weeks ago. Less than a third of the kms the riders in the Tour de France raced. And lets not go into average speeds, course profiles, etc... I also did lots of TV viewing in a couple of those weeks, setting up an odd sleeping pattern to be able to watch most of the stages and also work and do everything else that is part of our day to day lives.

In the three weeks, I have been building up the kms and have been having a lot of fun on the bike. They were weeks 4, 5 and 6 of the twelve weeks program for my first Grafton to Inverell race. I managed to fit in four races with satisfactory results, with the exception of the Jon Brooks Memorial where I punctured 12.4 km from the start and didn't finish, shortening my week by 80 kms, or a couple of hours.

Week 4 - 199.8 km/7h59min
Week 5 - 365.0 km/14h17min
Week 6 - 464.8 km/16h24min

This week is a recovery week and I chose to take two days off the bike as I am treating a small injury on my right leg, caused by some bad cramping while racing on Saturday. The race was the Cunningham Classic, well known for strong cross winds and 845 m of climbing, the course taking the riders over the Cunningham's Gap and from Gatton to Warwick.

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I planned for a conservative race after the KOM as I had decided to ride back the 96 kms, adding some needed kms to the legs. This approach really had to be put in place as the person with my extra drink bottle didn't make it to the feed station... Another challenge, racing the remaining 45 km with 500 ml of water, my recipe for cramping.

The ride back was a valuable test, and having done it by myself gave me the confidence I needed to believe I can finish the Grafton to Inverell race in September. There are a few more weeks to go and lots more training, with at least another three 180+ km rides ahead.

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In between now and then, we will have the HPRW ITT and Road Race Championship and a few club races. I won't be racing the 2009 State Championships as the budget for racing has been made a little tighter this year.

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Bike Fit

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Because of some physical issues I am having and with the intention of getting a more efficient position on the bike, of course, I had a professional bike fit done. By professional, I mean the bike fit was done by someone who is a specialist on the subject.

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As I expected, the major changes were on seat height and crankarm length. After a bit of research, I am now the owner of a set of 170 mm long carbon cranks. I have been a big fan of the Ultegra set, advocating that no cyclists at an amateur level would need anything of a higher level (crankset or group set, as a matter of fact) but found the carbon set for the same price on the net. Why not, I thought.

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New saddle was the next recommendation but that will have to wait as this is becoming an expensive business again... Is anyone interested in sponsoring a masters level cyclist?

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Next week, I will be testing the new carbon crankset and will have the last changes made on the bike. Looking forward to come back here and report on some amazing speed gains...

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Ciao for now!