Training for the Tour of Bright

It has been three years since I last raced the Victorian Classic and this year will be my first since the Alpine Cycling Club moved stage three to Mt Hotham.

How do I feel about that? Well, a bit nervous really. Nervous but excited because Mt Hotham is considered by many as a world class climb, similar to climbs in the European Alps and the Pyrenees I've been told. And I will be racing it this time.

My final preparation for Bright is about to start, in fact I am a week late as I have been dealing with a virus since our return from Grafton. It makes me think that some of the texts/emails I received were correct on a virus been the possible cause of my DNF.

Anyhow, I decided to have a week off to rest - I barely left the house this weekend - and will do an easy week just to make sure I am "bug" free before starting the high intensity stuff. After discussing the "what I have done" and the "needs" for a race like Bright with Sandra - she has done four of them - I put together my program with two weeks of Build, one week of Peak and the Race week, with a total of 60 hours on the bike.

Naturally, a lot of these hours will be climbing at Medium to High intensity pace. As Sandra mentioned, I have enough kilometers in my legs to last the relatively short stages, what I will need is to be able to ride and climb at, or above my threshold when the hammer comes down. And it will!

The top 10 riders in the Masters 4/5 division finished the Mt Hotham stage in 2 h 09 min, or less, last year. That's just over 16 min slower than the Elite A winner's time. Bloody fast old buggers!

My goal this year is a top 15 at Mt Hotham and top 20 on GC but more importantly, race the Tour of Bright again!