2013 Goals - Racing

I love racing my bike.  I am absolutely terrible at it - but I love it.  My previosu two posts about my training volume & training structure for 2013 are all about enabling me to get better (or 'less worse'!) at racing my bike.

What I really love are road races.  To me, they are 'real' bike racing - longer, harder, hillier, more tactical, and only those that have put the hard work in are competitive at the end.  Not surprisingly, I am not much good at these races - but I love them nonetheless.  They are a much truer measure of how you are progressing as a cyclist.  They are like Test cricket compared to the hit-&-giggle of 20/20 cricket that is club criterium racing.

So in the calendar below, the Open races I'll be targeting will be the road race events.  I'll still do some of the Open crits, but they'll be more about adding some variety, testing myself, plus supporting regional events.

The aim for this year will be to hit one big Open event each month, and one or two club criteriums as well.  I did hardly any racing last year (less than 10 events, from memory) - for 2013, I'd like to make that at least 20 racing days.

The calendar below is a possible/probable style set-up.  The events that I might race are in normal font, whereas the one's I'll most likely try and get to are in bold font.

2013 Cycling Qld Racing Calendar

February

2/3   Toowoomba 2-day (criteriums)
10    Brisbane Blast (criterium at Southbank)
17    Girraween Criterium (at Noosa)

March

3    AUSENCO Sizzling Summer Series 1 (criterium at Crestmead)
10  AUSENCO Sizzling Summer Series 2 (criterium at Crestmead)
17  Banjo's Mt Cotton Kermesse (hilly kermesse)
24  AUSENCO Sizzling Summer Series 2 (criterium at Crestmead)

April

7        Qld Masters Criterium Championships (Noosa)
20/21 Ipswich Open (ITT and Kermesse)
25      ANZAC 25 (criterium at Lakeside Raceway)

May

3-5  Velo Battle on the Border (3-day stage race - ITT, crits and road stages)
12   Towoomba Criterium (support race to NRS Tour)
26   MAP Metropolitan Road Championships  (hilly road race at Mt Alford)

June

16   *** Avanti Classic (80km road handicap at Lowood) ***

                       My A-Race for the year!!

July

14  Toowoomba Open (prologue & road race)
21  Fusion Games (criterium at Newstead)

August

3    Upperlimb.com Cunningham Classic (huge road race, Gatton to Warwick)
18  Charles Coin Memorial (road race at Mulgowie)

September

7/8  Qld Masters Road Championships (ITT & Road Race)
15   Mike Stout Memorial (criterium at Nerang)

October

13   Be Better Psychology Open (criterium at Toowoomba)
20   Northshore Criterium (Riverside Park, Brisbane)

If you click on the link to take you to the full calendar, you can see I've only listed some of the many events on offer this year - but these are the only ones I am realistically able to make it to.  If I can hit at least half-a-dozen of the Opens (specifically, the ones I've bolded), that'll be great for me.

The rest of the year will be made up of club criteriums, a couple of gran fondo style events, and some others - all to be used as training to get me ready for my A-Race for the year in June.