The 3rd third...

So there is one-third of the year left to run - the 3rd third, only 4-months to go.  The perfect time to have a think about what I want to try and achieve for September to December 2012.

I am reasonably happy with how I have gone so far in 2012.  As always, I would have liked to have been more consistent with my training mileage and have raced more often - but family life and work-trips take priority over that, so c'est la vie.

So what will be the focus for these last 4 months of 2012?

Road racing season is coming to a close. There are still a couple more races, including the Ipswich Open (which was on my list of 2012 goals at the start of the year) - but looking at my forward calendar it looks like I'll be away for all of them.

And so, I have decided I will be switching my focus onto preparing myself for the upcoming criterium season.  My training and prep will be mainly about getting myself in a position to do well at these shorter, more explosive types of races.

Goal Races

There are a few Open Criteriums that I'd like to try and have a go at in this last part of the year. I'm not sure I'll be able to get to them all, but I'll do my best to arrange the schedule so I can hit at least one or two of them.

1. Northshore Criterium, 21st October, near Hamilton, Brisbane.
2. Be Better Psychology Criterium, 28th October, in Toowoomba, Queensland.
3. Brisbane Blast, 1st-2nd December, a new race in the Brisbane CBD.

I'm also hoping to do well in the Summer Twilight Criterium Series, run at the Nundah criterium track on a few Wednesday afternoons (after work) by the HPRW club.  It's only a 5-minute ride from my workplace, and is a fun mid-week hit-out on the bike.

Mileage

So far this year (as at the end of August), I've racked up 3294km on the bike.  When you split that up, I did 1494km in the first third of the year, then 1800km in the 2nd third - nice to see an upward trend!

I'd really like to make 6000km for the year, which would need me to knock out 2700km for the final third of the year - almost 700km/month.  I'm not sure if that's achievable, but I'm going to give it a red hot go!

My plan is to make 600km/month as my base goal, and try and push a couple of those months up to around 800km.  Of course, I have to be realistic about it - but I'll strive hard to achieve it and see how I go.  No point in having a goal that's 'easy' - I'd rather fall short striving for a difficult goal, than rest on my laurels for reaching something that's too easy...

Training Style

No, not what I'll be wearing on the bike...  ;)

The plan is to get back to incorporating more hard efforts and intervals into my training, after a couple of months of 'just riding' to try and build up some base.  I'm not going to crazy with it, but will do at least two sessions a week (probably integrated into my commutes) where I really try hard to smash the legs.

To help with leg strength, I'm also planning to hit Mt Gravatt for some hill reps roughly once per week or per fortnight.  Not sure how often really, but I'll see how that goes...

Other Training

I bought a 5kg medicine ball, which I have just started using as part of a core strength routine 4-5 time a week.  I'm enjoying doing it, and I feel like its paying some dividends on the bike.  It'll be interesting to see how that progresses over the next few months.

I'm also going to try and do the One Hundred Pushups program.  Not sure if it'll do much to improve my cycling, but this is more about my long-term general health and fitness. My upper body strength has always been pretty ordinary, and I'm hoping this'll give me some half-decent functional strength.

Finally, I'm considering integrating a bit of running into my week.  Not so much for my cycling (although I think it will help), but because my oldest daughter is becoming a keen runner.  It'll be fun to be able to train with her, plus the 'cross-training' can only help me.  What can be better than combining exercise and family time!

Finishing off...

I have probably rambled on longer here than I expected to.  There is plenty in there for me to achieve, but I believe if I can really commit to these goals, plans and ideas, I can have a really strong finish to my year cycling-wise.  It would be great to be able to podium in a club race before the finish of 2012, and I think that's certainly a realistic goal if I can stick with what I have written above.

Naturally, I'll review and rejig all of this after a month or so, as I settle into a routine and figure out what is working and what isn't. 

August 2012 Review

A bit of a better run for August. Still not perfect consistency-wise, but got my mileage up to a much more acceptable level...

Mileage - 530km (year-to-date total - 3294km)
Weight - 78kg (steady)

Not great, but not bad either.  I'd call that a 'par' month.  The key now will be to build on that for September and reap the benefits of two decent months in a row...

Only real disappointment for August was missing out on racing the Charles Coin Memorial.  I was setting myself for it, but unfortunately work & family stuff got in the way and I had to ditch it.  That's OK though - its another one I'll hopefully get to do next year.

I have a few things brewing this month that I'll go into more detail about in later posts.  I purchased a bargain heart rate monitor from Aldi, a Crane Sports branded one for the princely sum of only $20!  Not sure how exactly I'm going to use it yet, but I have a few ideas...  Once I unbox it (I'm not allowed to open it until Father's Day!) and use it a few times, I'll post up a review...

My new HRM - now, what to do with it...

I also picked up a 5kg medicine ball from Southside Fitness for $40.  I've been using one at the work gym to do some core strength work, and it has been paying dividends. So I have bought one for home so I can make it a part of my morning routine. I may not end up with six-pack abs (I think that prospect disappeared in my late teens!!) but hopefully that will further help with my core stability and warding off any back pain on long rides.

Finally, I'm almost finished coming up with a plan and some goals for the last third of the year.  I'm looking to finish the last four months strongly - both in training and racing.  As always, the challenge is  to come up with a plan and goals that will stretch me, but are also realistically achievable - with some luck, I'll get that balance just right!

In the meantime though, it is finally Spring in Australia!! There can be no greater motivation than bright blue skies and weather that is just getting warmer and more pleasant every day...!!  Happy & safe cycling everyone!

Bling City - Eurobike 2012

I have mentioned before that my mantra as C Grade Cyclist is "value for money" over all else.  My bike-related purchases all reside in the low to mid range, and I will scour the specifications and build quality to make sure I extract maximum bang for my cycling buck when it comes time to buy.

But of course, that doesn't mean I don't take the time to drool over top-end gear.  And drool season has officially started, with the first of the 'big two' trade shows starting in Germany - Eurobike!!

"Demo Day" at Eurobike 2012

This is the first opportunity for cycling fans to see the new cycling products coming out for next season, by all the major cycling manufacturers.  You can expect to see the official launch of new groupsets, wheels, bike frames, tyres, and many assorted accessories.

New Sidi shoes - I want, I want, I want!!

Personally, I'm a sucker for wheelsets.  I absolutely love staring at the brand new light-as-a-feather carbon fibre hoops brought out by the different manufacturers.  I have my fantasy budget (or my "if I win the lottery" budget), and carefully study the new product offerings to decide what I'll buy if my numbers come up and I have an unexpected windfall to spend...

Mavic's new Cosmic Carbone SLE - yummy!!

 

This is definitely the time I wish I was a well-respected, reputable cycling journalist - rather than a wannabe cycling fan/blogger - so that I could snaffle myself a press pass and mingle with the crowds at this cycling mecca!

Vuelta a Espana 2012 - preview & predictions

The final Grand Tour for 2012 has just begun - the Tour of Spain, better known as the Vuelta a Espana.

The Vuelta often (and unfairly) lacks some of the following that the Giro and the Tour de France attract.  Perhaps people are 'cycling-weary', especially after a big year on the ProTour that included an Olympics as well.

Nonetheless, this year's Vueta is worth following!  It is very different to this year's Tour de France, in that the Vuelta route is much more for pure climbers.  There will be some interesting battles, and a number of questions will likely be answered...

Who will win?

Alberto Contador (SaxoBank-Tinkoff)

The big story of this year's race is the return of El Pistolero - Alberto Contador - after his suspension for use of clenbuterol.  He is almost an unbackable favourite with the bookmakers.  I believe he will win, but not by the crushing margin many are predicting.

In his favour is the fact he hasn't raced the Giro, Tour, or the Olympics, and will have fresh legs.  I believe this is the key factor that will see him prevail over the likes of Froome and Van den Broek.  Against him is his lack of racing - anyone who has raced before knows there is no substitute for 'race fitness'... 

Expect to see Alberto Contador wearing the red leader's jersey at the conclusion of the Vuelta...

Who will come 2nd & 3rd?

Chris Froome (Team Sky)

Second at least year's Vuelta, after losing valuable time early on trying to sheperd Bradley Wiggins to teh win (sound familiar?).  Second at this year's Tour de France, and arguably could have won himself if given the leeway to do so.  There is no doubt the Kenyan-born Brit has the ability to win a grand tour one day.

I believe he will come second again in this race though, mainly because of his tough Tour de France and Olympics campaigns.  The fresh legs of Contador will be too much for the talented Froome to overcome...

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha)

Another rider with fresh legs, and a grand tour pedigree, is Joaquim 'Purito' Rodriguez. This punchy Spanish climber has podiumed at grand tours before, but has never broken through for the win.

He is not in the same class as Contador, but will challenge Froome hard for 2nd place.  Apart from having fresh legs, Rodriguez's big advantage is his ability to win stages and take advantage of the generous time bonuses on offer at the Vuelta.  This will put him at a huge advantage over Froome...

Close, but not quite...

Jurgen Van den Broek (Lotto-Belisol)

For me, VdB was the big surprise in this year's Tour de France. He showed genuine improvement, and made the big step up in class to show he is capable of winning a grand tour some time soon.  Like Froome though, I don't think he'll be able to back-up after a very tough Tour and will finish just off the podium.

The Rabobank Dilemma

Robert Gesink vs Bauke Mollema

This will be an interesting race within a race.  Rabobank has a 'dual leader' strategy for the Vuelta, giving both Gesink and Mollema freedom to do their best for the overall.

On the one hand you have Gesink, who has promised much as a grand tour contender but has never broken through for an overall podium.  Then you have the 'young gun' Mollema, who is desperate to prove himself as worthy of outright team leader status.

By all accounts, both riders get on well and the team dynamic is very good. So it will be fascinating to see which of these riders prevails as the standout for Rabobank.  It will likely decide team leader status for next year's Tour de France...

Viewing in Australia

SBS Television is showing a handful of stages live this year - do yourself a favour and watch this year's race. It should be a great mountains battle between the key contenders...

Race 6/2012 - Balmoral Club Criterium, Murarrie.

A great start to the month of August training-wise saw me having racked up over 300km in the first 9 days. After having Friday off the bike (as I had to cart a lot of work stuff home for a trip to Sydney at the start of next week), I decided it was time to bust out the brand new club jersey and hit the Saturday morning crits.

After a solid week and a half of steady base-building style riding, I knew I had no 'speed' - but I was hoping my overall fitness would get me through.  The aim was to basically get through the race with the pack, giving me a solid effort at a higher intensity than normal in order to give the legs a bit of a 'change up' as part of my August 'build'.

The hardest part of the day was getting out of bed!  It was a cold morning, with some very fresh (ie. freezing!) south-westerly winds whipping around.  I dragged out my wind-vest for the first time in 3 years, and also had an under-shirt under my jersey, and arm-warmers...

The race had a good-size peloton - around 35 people toed the line for C-Grade.  After a quick race briefing we were racing 40min + 3 laps), we were away. We settled into a steady pace, with two main teams (QSM and Kangaroo Point Cycling Club) looking to control the race.

All went well in the first half of the race, I was able to maintain a midfield position without killing myself. I was feeling god, and was happy with how I felt.

Everything changed just after the mid-way prime sprint though. I had a really tough time from about the 25min mark to about 40min.  It was 15min of total pain for me.  I really struggled, and had to focus hard and put in some big efforts to hold on to the back of the pack.  Not really sure why - if it was the pace, or just a shock to the legs being at that intensity for so long - but it was very hard work.

The pace then dipped, as the two main teams eased up waiting for the 3 laps to go sign to come out.  It didn't arrive until the 45min mark, so I got two easy laps to 'recover'.

This was surprising for me - I recovered very quickly. After those two laps, I felt terrific and ready to get going again!  I guess this was the benefit of my consistent base riding over the last week and a half...

The final three laps went quickly.  I was in a great position on the last lap, and came into the final corner in the front third of the field.  Unfortunately, I had no sprint to unleash (but that will come!) - so I did what I could, and rolled over the line in about 15th place.

All up, a terrific morning of racing. A great confidence build, and told me a lot about how well my training is going - it's certainly encouraged me to keep up my consistency!

Final stats for the race - 50min at 39km/h average.

July 2012 Review

A bit of a write-off month for me. Missed a few weeks due to work & family holiday travel, then struggled to get back into the swing of things for the last quarter of the month...

Mileage - 163km (year-to-date total - 2764km)
Weight - 78kg (steady)

Don't really want to dwell on this 'off month' - no point in any woulda-shoulda-coulda analysis.  I did learn a few lessons though that I will take with me moving forward.

The habit of training

What surprised me most, and caught me off-guard, was how hard I found it to get back into the habit of regular training after the forced month off the bike.

I expected to just resume my usual schedule.  But I was really disorganised, found myself shrugging off some perfect cycling days, and slept-in way too easily.  It goes to show how important it is to have that 'standard routine' ingrained into you, so you just 'get up and go' without thinking about it.

So that's one of my main goals this month - restarting the 'habit'.  I know my fitness and pace will bounce back quickly with that habit and consistency back, so the motivation and reward are both there.  The month has started well cycling-wise, having ridden both days, plus the weather outlook is perfect, so all the stars are aligning...  :)

Racing for the month ahead

The key event this month is the Charles Coin Memorial road race. For me (Division 6 / Masters C), this will be a 72km race (4 x 18km laps) out at Mulgowie, which is south of Laidley, Qld.

Much like the Avanti Classic back in June, I have a shortened preparation for this one.  Learning from that though, I will be trying to get in some much longer rides in prior to the race. 

The keys will be doing the long Sunday club rides for the next two weekends (usually around 80km), and joining some other group rides on each Saturday as well for similar length rides.  I'll fit some faster work in on my weekday commutes to sharpen the legs up as well.

If I can achieve these training goals, I think I can realistically hope to finish with a large part of the peloton come race day.  Not knowing the course, I may be misguided - but that's the goal anyhow.

Hopefully, if all goes to plan, this will be a relatively high-mileage month for me, which will set me up for some good results in the last quarter of the year.

London Olympics Road Race 2012 - preview & predictions

The opening ceremony fireworks are over, the cauldron has been lit, and the 2012 London Olympics have begun!!

One of the first events is the men's cycling road race.  This is one of the toughest races to win (and predict!), and is a highly sought after victory for every rider.

Why is it so tough to predict a winner?

Length - the race is a long, testing 250km.  If you are a sprinter, you still need to have the legs to sprint for the line after a very long day in the saddle.

Course - The main part of the race is a 15km circuit around Box Hill, which they complete 9 times in a row. It has a short, 2.5km climb in it that averages around 5% gradient.  On its own, that's not too bad - but they do this 9 times in a row.  To make it even harder, the roads on this circuit are narrow, windy, and uneven.  It'll be very difficult to hold you rposition, and even harder to make up ground if you drop back or any reason.

Team size - A normal pro team has 7-9 members for each race (depending on the event). The maximum team size in the Olympic event is 5, and only a handful of teams have qualified this many members (notables include Great Britain, Australia, and Germany).  Many teams have only 1 or 2 competitors, most notably Peter Sagan who is the sole representative for Slovakia.  This makes controlling the race very difficult, and only a few teams have the resources to chase down breakaways or split up the peloton.

No race radios - Race radios are banned, so there are no team instructions or status updates being fed straight to the ears of each rider as per usual racing.  This means they won't know who is in the breakaway until it is away, causing huge uncertainty.   Also, if a key tem member is dropped and isn't immediately noticed, they will be gone and too far back to assist.

Competitor calibre - There is a significant number of competitors who aren't at Pro Tour level, but have qualified as their country's sole representative.  These guys will be doing their best to keep up with the Cancellaras, Boonens, and Gilberts - but could they cause problems on the tighter parts of the circuit with possible lesser handling skills?

So what are the race scenarios?

The race will either end with a large breakaway group winning, or a massive bunch finish with the peloton all together.

I believe a large breakaway will escape and the winner will come from that group.  This is chiefly because only two teams want the race to come down to a sprint - Great Britain (for Mark Cavendish) and Germany (for Andre Greipel).

As I mentioned earlier, team size means Great Britain and Germany have only 8 suppport riders between them (the size of only one normal Tour de France team)to control the pace and chase down any breakaways.  No other team will help them, because Greipel & Cavendish are the form sprinters at the moment - why assist them to the line if they'll just beat your team mate?

So all the other teams will be trying to get riders into the breakaway, and then letting Great Britain and Germany do the chasing if they can.

The tight Box Hill circuit will make this harder too - they will need to close any gap in the long 50km drag race to the finish line at Buckingham Palace.

Who will win?

Let's start with who won't win:

• Mark Cavendish (Great Britain) - for the reasons above.  Plus I think the course will be a bit too tough on him.
• Andre Greipel (Germany) - ditto.
• Matthew Goss (Australia) - he will be shadowing Cav and Greipel, and if I am wrong and it does come to a sprint, they'll be too good for him...

Who will win in my 'breakaway' scenario:

• Peter Sagan (Slovakia) - this course is made for him, but he will struggle as the only Slovakian team member.  He won't have any team members to get him waterbottles, etc from the team car, or help him chase back to the main peloton if he punctures.
• Philippe Gilbert (Belgium)- another who likes the hillier course, and has a good size team.  Likely that Tom Boonen will wait for a sprint, while Gilbert will go for the breakaway, so Belgium has both scenarios covered.
• Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway) - my favourite for the race, a strong sprinter who has the legs to get over Box Hill 9 times...
• Fabian Cancellara / Michael Albasini (Switzerland) - similar to Belgium, these guys will both aim to get into breakaways. One of them will succeed...
• Sylvain Chavanel (France) - a classic breakaway rider, but I suspect he fancies himself in the time tiral instead for this Olympics.
• Vincenzo Nibali (Italy) - one of the best bike handlers in the peloton, he'll look to form a break on the tight Box Hill circuit.
• Simon Gerrans / Cadel Evans (Australia) - like the Swiss team, these two will both look to get into the breakaway. First one to get into the successful break will have a great chance, while theother will drop back and then protect Matthew Goss.

Can't wait to see how this pans out. It'll be a tough, exciting, unpredictable race!!