Ravin' on... Racin' Goals

[Trekhawk]

As always great ride report. I felt like I was there with you. Well done.

[RoadRaven]

Loooooong post - apologies in advance, but this was a fun day

Well, my second Team Time Trial has been – and gone… On page 2 in this thread, I described my first TTT last December, which was – if nothing else – a disappointment. It left me feeling frustrated and angry and useless.

However… Saturdays ride was an absolute pleasure (though uncomfortable at times, and intense, but nevertheless a pleasure). A relatively flat loop course… a total of 37.5km in a 3 lap circuitt.

I had approached a couple of other vet women a few weeks ago and they had seemed keen to ride. However, D hadn’t been along to the previous couple of races, and C had been unwell although had felt she should be on track to race. They may not be there to race - ah well, thats ok, and if they turned up we wouldn't make up the required 5, but we figured we could sort that on the day.

The day is a stunning Hawkes Bay day, calm, sunny, mild… spring has arrived. But when we get to the race venue, my compadrees are nowhere to be seen – yet. So I head off on a warm-up (and spend about 10 minutes picking up shattered Steinlagers off the road til a marshall arrives with a broom!). I was feeling a bit hoha at this point – my last TTT left me nothing to anticipate this time, so I was happy to tootle off on my own if no-one else made it.

Get back as the briefing begins, and see C… great, at least two of us can ride together. A bit later, D finds us… excellent, but we aren’t allowed to start til we have 5. So we line up on the side and wait hoping someone else doesn’t have the numbers for a team and together we can make one. A visiitor to the club arrives last minute, this will be her third ride with us (next time she has to join)… she’s a vet and she thinks she is about the grade we 3 ride in… perfect!

After a bit of cajoling, the starter lets our team line up (depsite having only 4 riders, but you need 4 to cross the line, so as long as we work together…)… the count down begins… and D says – sorry to do this to you guys, but I’ve got a flat! So the three of us head off and D walks her bike over the starting line, and we will pick her up on the second lap.

So, we set off, H and I have had a chance to warm up, but C hasn’t, so we ride this at a steady pace with H and I doing a bit more work than C while she finds her legs. I am impressed by how well we work together – I begin to think that this was a good race to come to and how it is nothing like the last TTT. C’s husband and daughter team pass us with words of encouragement. That feels good.

Lap 1 is over, we pick up D and C has found her legs and the pace picks up. A nasty head wind in a couple of places, but we rotate well, take turns according to our strengths and even find time to chat occasionally! Our average is looking good. Half way through the second lap we see a couple of riders who, Tour de France style, have been taken out by a labrador, they are ok, but shout a warning. We are passed by my partner and son's team, they don’t seem to notice us but it doesn't matter, they are intent on not letting the fastest team in the club catch them so I feel good knowing they are all together and not in pieces on the road.

Lap 3, and our pace still hasn’t dropped. We are working so well together. This is so much fun. We still haven’t been passed by everyone and we have passed a couple of teams. We aren’t last, I think to myself – and strangely for me – this doesn’t matter so much. I am enjoying myself so much, our final place doesn’t really concern me.

We dig it in on the final straight, I take it up to 36kph (into the head wind) and then when I start to drop back to 35, D takes over, and as she drops off we approach the finish. We cross the line together, H and C whooping with pleasure… we rocked. We absolutely rocked.

We were the only four woman team, we had only three riders for the first lap and four for the following two (many teams still had five riders when they finished). Yet despite the disadvantage of team size, we still came 17th out of 22 teams and we all felt good about it. We did a very comendable time of 1hour 11mins. Did I say our team ROCKED!!!!?

[SheFly]

Yahoo! That was a FUN race report to read - so much different from your last TTT. And you were kranking at 36 kph . Congrats on a terrific race - in the end, feeling good about what you have done and HAVING FUN are the most important aspects of the race.

Well done.

SheFly

[Trekhawk]

LOL - Your joy is pouring from this ride report. WELL DONE to you and your team.

[RoadRaven]

Thanks girls - It was an absolutely fun day (just in case I wasn't 100per clear )

In that last paragraph I meant to write we were the only all-women team (not four women - though that is true too ).

The fastest team, TeamHub, did an average of 44.52kph in a time of 51:05
My partner & sons team came second with an average of 44 even in 51:41 minutes - they were 1 1/2 minutes behind TeamHub last TTT, so they are catching up!)
Only five teams did it in under an hour.

The slowest time on the day was 1hour 25minutes, so our team (who rocked) came very respectably in the middle of the field with 1hour 11minutes (and I reckon we had the most fun - well... I did anyways)

[RoadRaven]

Not much to report really
The last time I did this out and back course (which was also the first time), I got a flat about 3/4 of the way through
Today I was having trouble using my oxygen and turned back about half-way out... so I have yet to complete this course.

My upper lip (where a moustache would be if I was a man) kept tingling - sensation I haven't had since I first started cycling... a sign of not enough oxygen.
I didn't fancy tackling Coops Hill in oxygen deficit so turned around.

And Spring had the day off today - I know last week I said Spring was here, but today is was raining, the steady breeze was cold and the temp on my speedo read 5'C.

Think I'll try a hard ride tomorrow - I only ended up with 25km under my belt (and my thighs are still cold! )

Wish I'd had the camera today, my partner and two sons who also raced today all wore the yellow jerseys of their grades! Pretty cool.

[Trekhawk]

Not much to report really
The last time I did this out and back course (which was also the first time), I got a flat about 3/4 of the way through
Today I was having trouble using my oxygen and turned back about half-way out... so I have yet to complete this course.

My upper lip (where a moustache would be if I was a man) kept tingling - sensation I haven't had since I first started cycling... a sign of not enough oxygen.
I didn't fancy tackling Coops Hill in oxygen deficit so turned around.

And Spring had the day off today - I know last week I said Spring was here, but today is was raining, the steady breeze was cold and the temp on my speedo read 5'C.

Think I'll try a hard ride tomorrow - I only ended up with 25km under my belt (and my thighs are still cold! )

Wish I'd had the camera today, my partner and two sons who also raced today all wore the yellow jerseys of their grades! Pretty cool.

Sounds like you made the right decision. I hope Spring pops her head up again soon.

[RoadRaven]

On the 14th July we raced around Apley, and we did it again yesterday... on the scale of the other 124 riders there my ride was probably unremarkable... but in relation to me... it rocked.

I shaved a full minute off my July time despite an extremely strong nor'wester on the way out and nasty cross gusts on the downhills. I could have probably got another minute or so because the tail wind back was mighty, but I was towing two other vet women and everytime I got up over 45kph they dropped off. Next time I think I'll just TT it on my own if I am in the same position and go for a PB.

One of the more senior/better riders who was supporting some of the other riders there passed me and slowed down and passed me a few times as he checked on other riders. He came up to me afterwards and told me what he thought I was a very strong rider... that was nice to hear.

Afterwards I sat and waited for my partner to arrive back from marshalling, and chatted with a few other riders. One was telling me how her husband was comparing her to one of her training partners (as in, you're not as strong/fast/quick as her). I sat and listened and thought how very lucky I am to have a partner who believes in my ability so strongly and unquestioningly even though we are poles apart in ability. He has never once told me that I am not good enough, fast enough or should be doing better (or ever given me reason to believe he even thinks this).

He is one of the main reasons I keep turning up to races... cause he knows that just finishing a race can be challenge enough.

Saturday was a good race day... and I wasn't last home either!

[Trekhawk]

On the 14th July we raced around Apley, and we did it again yesterday... on the scale of the other 124 riders there my ride was probably unremarkable... but in relation to me... it rocked.

I shaved a full minute off my July time despite an extremely strong nor'wester on the way out and nasty cross gusts on the downhills. I could have probably got another minute or so because the tail wind back was mighty, but I was towing two other vet women and everytime I got up over 45kph they dropped off. Next time I think I'll just TT it on my own if I am in the same position and go for a PB.

One of the more senior/better riders who was supporting some of the other riders there passed me and slowed down and passed me a few times as he checked on other riders. He came up to me afterwards and told me what he thought I was a very strong rider... that was nice to hear.

Afterwards I sat and waited for my partner to arrive back from marshalling, and chatted with a few other riders. One was telling me how her husband was comparing her to one of her training partners (as in, you're not as strong/fast/quick as her). I sat and listened and thought how very lucky I am to have a partner who believes in my ability so strongly and unquestioningly even though we are poles apart in ability. He has never once told me that I am not good enough, fast enough or should be doing better (or ever given me reason to believe he even thinks this).

He is one of the main reasons I keep turning up to races... cause he knows that just finishing a race can be challenge enough.

Saturday was a good race day... and I wasn't last home either!

Well done Raven!!!
Yes sometimes its good to be reminded just how wonderful your partner is. Obviously from your conversation they are not all like that.
Sounds like you have a gem.

[RoadRaven]

Yeah, I do.
I must have done something right sometime, because I sometimes wonder how he chose me.

Hawk, I have been meaning to ask you how your holiday went... if you have written about it somewhere here and i have missed it can you link me to it?

[Trekhawk]

Hawk, I have been meaning to ask you how your holiday went... if you have written about it somewhere here and i have missed it can you link me to it?

Here it is mate:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=17103
Its pretty brief but it has a few pics.

It was a great holiday just wish we had more time to spend in some of the lovely places we visited.

[RoadRaven]

Well... last race of the winter series yesterday... and it was really good - I got a place!
Woohoo!

I have been eligible for the Lanterne Rouge all winter but today I actually got a place in my grade. There were 16 starters and I came 8th.

I hung on to the handful of leaders (the pace hovered between 34kph and 38kph) for the first 7kms or so... people were dropping off like flies from about 2kms in. Somehow I managed to be in the right place at the right time and was able to stay with them every time the pace went on and a break was made.

My partner has been unwell, so he rode with me today rather than racing in his grade. It was so good to have him there beside me encouraging me along. Having someone tell you you can do it and having that tangible, physical belief in you makes all the difference.
He hasn't ridden with me in a race situation since the start of the year and can see the improvements and says he was impressed with my grit and determination to hang on to the leaders as long as I could.

Once I was spat out the back, I ended up riding with two others who were not in my grade, and boy, I was "on the rivet" for much of this race... although all flat (which I love) the wind was strong and often we were heading into it, or it was blowing us sideways.

My average ended up at only 30kph for the 28km course, but the conditions were tough. I feel very pleased with it (despite having another rider whom we passed say 'I don't ride with cheaters"... like any of the three of us were going to affect the final placings in any of the grades! grrrr... I wish I had registered who it was so I could have had a chat with him afterwards.)

And last week’s race I was very pleased with (despite getting thoroughly trounced). I was dropped on the first hill and arrived last-equal with C (from the TTT). However, we both rode much of this race on our own in difficult windy conditions over a hilly course, and we were only 4 minutes behind the winners of our grade. I thought we did very well.

So... my goal at the start of this series was to ride every race of the 13 scheduled - which I have.
I also wanted to "be competitive" in this grade, and today I proved it is possible... I got placed in the top ten at last.

It was the last race of the series, and I came 12th overall in my grade. There are a total of 38 riders in F grade.
(I was the only one in my grade who turned out for every race over winter... my points are indicative of consistent riding rather than sterling results )

The Spring series has no graded racing for the next 8 weeks - it is made up of interclub age races, club champ age races and events/fun rides and opens. So I will look to the summer series to try and be "up there" in the top ten a little more often.

[Trekhawk]

WOW Raven!!
Sounds like you had a great season. Give you self a big pat on the back for getting to all the races.

I look forward to hearing about your next load of adventures.