Today I won a game of chicken

Today I won a game of chicken.

But it doesn't feel like I won anything.

I was cycling towards La Perouse (1 lane each way).

A vehicle coming the opposite way, overtook another vehicle and completed this move.

Then he decided to change into my lane and head towards me - ie. going the wrong way in my lane.

I was planning to turn left so I held my lane (to get a good turning line and so no cars could overtake me).  There were also no cars behind me.

I eyeballed him and just before we got close, he changed back to the correct lane.

I feel like I held my lane because
1.  the car was not accelerating
2.  there were heaps of people around as witnesses

I think if those 2 things had been different, I may have made a different decision.

Now, it didn't really affect me because when I'm cycling, I turn into an absolute hardarse.

I have developed this because I found when cycling, I feel like I need to focus on staying calm and making measured decisions without panicking.

But in hindsight, this morning was probably a risky move and I'm lucky I didn't get injured.

I know everyone will be like "be careful" and I wish I didn't have stories like this, but it is what it is.

It's good

Most of the time it's great fun.

I really think things are getting better - I think odd incidents for me have dropped from once a fortnight to probably once a month.

One day..

(via www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk)

P.S.  How good is the Sydney weather this week!  :)

I finally worked out how to get my bike to lean against a wall with the back wheel only.  

By "worked out", I mean I did it for the first time and it worked...

Something to do with aiming the front wheel at that particular angle....

First Time Trial (25km)!

So I thought with the Rapha Women's 100 done and dusted, I could have a bit of a break. .

But then Giant Cycling Club Sydney decided to run a club championship time trial at Calga.

I joined Giant Cycling Club Sydney (with a recreational / silver license) since everyone I ride with is part of Giant, I thought it would be fun to participate in events.

The Australian Time Trial Association (ATTA) runs this time trial event every first Sunday of the month from 8am.

They have the little ramp and clock and everything!

$25 for those with licenses or $30 for unlicensed.

The distance we chose was 25km - you ride out 12.5km, turn around and ride back.

And I thought, what a great opportunity to channel Tony Martin and try a time trial!

(via www.gettyimages.com.au)

On the coldest day in Sydney.

It was pretty cold.

A friend was adamant I wouldn't be last.  So I looked up last month's times and saw that the last person had done it in 1 hour.  

I like to have a goal, so if I achieve it, I will feel a sense of achievement on the other side.

So I made my goal to make it in under 1 hour.  That would make it a 25km/hr average, which I thought was a good realistic goal to aim for.

(I love S.M.A.R.T. goals - Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound - I find them so effective!  They take a little while to think of but are much easier in the long run.)

My registration number was 6, so that meant I started at 8:06.  What a logical system!

I asked the man holding my bike for the start whether anyone had fallen off the ramp and he said no.  (I'm allowed 1 irrational thought for every cycling event I do, right?)

So I had googled this event (I never do anything without researching first) and the main points seemed to be:

1. Don't be late to the start.  
2. Don't go too hard at the start.  
3. Save some energy for the big hill at the end.  

Some more tips here - Coach's Corner - Club Time Trial Edition

So,

1. Don't be late to the start.  Tick.
2. Don't go too hard at the start.  Mmmm.
3. Save some energy for the big hill at the end.  Granny gear all the way baby.

5km in, trying to find a good pace, I realised I was in the red zone...  Oops..

Once I recovered, I found a good pace.

Well, as good as one can do on rolling hills going uphill.

It was lovely because my club Giant Cycling Club Sydney are so super friendly and encouraging and everyone doing warmups or heading the other way was yelling encouragement at me!

The turn was really obvious, lots of signs leading up to it and a person holding a road sign.

My time was 31 minutes at the turn and I thought uh oh, I'm behind schedule...

The return trip was much easier (downhill) until The Hill.  

Also, I was much happier knowing I was halfway through!

I thought my very fast friends would catch me, but they didn't.

Probably due to that hill at the end.  It was worse than I thought.

I went into granny gear and "paperboy" as they call it where each pedal makes you veer that direction.

We must have looked like one of those comedy chase scenes where the first group is going to get caught, but then both parties get slowed down by the same obstacle!

The last few kms, I pushed as hard as I could (because I knew there was only a few km to go) and was doing 35km/hr with pain face.

Which paid off because my time was 56 minutes!!!

I achieved my goal!  So I was very happy.

And it was actually really fun to do.  

I always joke that I hate people, so time trialling is good for me haha.  But I just like that it's just you against the clock, no other variables.  (well apart from wind, and terrain, etc).

No other people to hold pace or break you, you have to find your own rhythm / pace and push yourself.

My husband laughed because I went straight home and put all the dates in my calendar for the upcoming time trial events.

I'm looking forward to doing another one when it's not the coldest day in Sydney. .

Road cycling's barrier to entry and Women's Tour de France

Barrier to Entry

So, thinking about it, I am very lucky to have followed in my husband's footsteps with road cycling.

One would say that I wouldn't really have done it if my husband hadn't started first and that would be true.

However, on buying one's first road bike on average fitness, there is not much you can do but ride by yourself.

On average fitness, your speed is probably around 20km/hr and a group ride probably starts at around at least 25km/hr.

I say I am lucky because bought my road bike and was quite prepared with realistic ambitions of group road cycling by my husband's stories of riding with the local group and being dropped on the first few times.

Despite being friends with most of the group now, on my husband's first ride, it appeared either no one realised he had dropped or they knew and they kept riding.  No one stopped or tried to help him back on.

(via kwc.org/cycling/photos)

Hence, our advice to anyone doing a group ride is:

1. Know the route
2. Know how to get home

I really wanted to join the group my husband was riding with because it sounded fun.

So, what I did was use Strava to track my average speed and train on the local group ride routes that my husband taught me until I got up to 25km/hr.  

I worked really hard.  I rode by myself for weeks, pushing myself harder and harder.

Looking like a noob.

Then:

This picture inspires me to remember how far I've come since then!

Now:

But at least I had the information about what to aim for.

I feel like there is bit of a barrier to entry for group road cycling.

The only accessible regular group ride for beginners I could find in around Sydney is the Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club (DHBC) who run a Slowies ride.

"Saturday Slowies is our ride for everyone!

Leaving from outside the Marrick Cafe at 6:30am, this low key bunch ride makes its way through Newtown and Redfern to Centennial Park. All you need to ride Saturday Slowies is a roadworthy bike, a helmet and lights. Too easy ;-) 

Once you arrive in the park, go as hard or as easy as you like. Hit the hills or cruise the flats, but be at the Western (Robertson Rd / Horse) gates by 8:00am to return to Marrickville with the bunch for coffee and breakfast at the wonderful Marrick Cafe. Remember that following two or three rides, we ask that you join the club and obtain a 'Silver' license from Cycling Australia. This ensures that our ride leaders have the comfort of knowing that you are insured and helps to build DHBC as a club.

You will never be left behind on Saturday Slowies: someone will always get you back to the starting point of the ride and help you out if you have a flat or a mechanical"

But I still think there is a gap between buying your first road bike and cycling with other road cyclists.

I think women are a bit luckier in this respect.  As a result of being a male dominated sport, there is a bit more effort involved in encouraging women to gain skills and get into cycling.

I always wonder though, what about helping men too.  It can be intimidating for any beginners.

Perhaps once there is a bit more equality in the world for women, the cycling programs can be about helping everyone!

Women and the Tour de France

(via www.bicycling.com)

La Course by Le Tour de France is on Sunday night.

120 women will race a 90km course through Paris on the last day of the Tour de France ahead of the men's race.

You may not realise:

While this year’s La Course features just one stage for the women, the 1984 Tour de France Féminin nearly mirrored the men’s race, with the only notable difference being the distances raced. The women raced the same 21 days and every mountain pass. Each day, the women would finish roughly 30 minutes before the men. The mileage was shortened on the front end (flat, parade pace sections) to comply with UCI rules regarding women’s racing distances.

(via velonews)

I didn't realise until I read this interesting article a few days ago in the Washington Post about "The Tour de France, again, has no women cyclists".

It mentions the history of the Boston Marathon as a similarly prestigious endurance event that did not allow women for a long time.

Women were not allowed to enter the Boston race officially until 1972, but Roberta "Bobbi" Gibb couldn't wait: In 1966, she became the first woman to run the entire Boston Marathon, but had to hide in the bushes near the start until the race began. 

In 1967, Kathrine Switzer, who had registered as "K. V. Switzer", was the first woman to run with a race number. Switzer finished even though officials tried to physically remove her from the race after she was identified as a woman.

(via dingeengoete.blogspot.com.au)

(P.S.  Tip - be careful reading the online comments around these stories.  A number of sexist, narrow minded people commenting..)

So, with the huge increase and interest in women's cycling at the moment, it'll be interesting to see what will happen over the next few years.

I was thinking about it and it's great that there is access to images and information about women's road cycling starting to appear now.

Despite being obsessive about watching the Tour de France and men's road cycling for years, the lack of available images / information about women's road cycling (similar to most women's sports) probably influenced me a little into assuming it was more of a men's sport only and that women didn't really do it.

Images and stories are so important.  It helps inspire you to think about what could be.

Anna Meares on Instagram

(via www.dailymail.co.uk)

Nettie Edmonson on Instagram

& Amy Cure on Instagram

(via www.facebook.com)

Rapha Women's 100

(via facebook)

The Rapha Women's 100 on Sunday went well!

It was a lot of climbing and I was off the back of the group for a lot of it, but I just sat in my pace / rhythm and the group waiting at the top of the climbs.

Our sweeper was lovely and friendly and had a great sense of humour and didn't make me feel at all bad for not being able to stick with the group (or that they were frustrated with me in any way).

My hydration went well - no headache.

However, my eating plan didn't go so well.  I didn't eat as much as I should have.

I started bonking at about 92km in - my bike hit a hole and I started laughing hysterically.

From then I just started shovelling shot blocks and gatorade in until the end.

(via lohisport.wordpress.com

All in all it was a great event to participate in and I'm really glad I did it.

1. It's a great achievement.
2. It kept me cycling through Winter!

It was great looking at all the #womens100 pictures on Instagram.

It's probably best summed up in an article Kath Bicknell wrote for SBS Cycling Central :

"A community builds. And with it, the perception of riding for women undergoes a dramatic shift. 

It’s no longer so hard to seek out role models, to learn from others, to share stories, to ask advice, to ride to participate rather than race, to be supported, to learn about equipment (designed for needs that might be different from a male majority), to look good, to feel good, to click a hashtag and see thousands of images that show that what you’re doing isn’t unusual at all.

Well done, Rapha. While a large part of the cycling industry are still scratching their heads working out how to get more women on board, the ways you have built momentum are empowering indeed. And you have done so by creating a model that’s not just about women’s participation, it’s about participation full stop.

…As I looked around the crowd on Sunday, I suddenly didn’t feel like an odd-ball at all."

http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/kath-bicknell/blog/129176/well-done-rapha

In other news, I'm giving myself a week off road cycling and I'm going to stay up and watch the rest of the Tour de France!!

Favourite moments of the week so far:

(via www.scmp.com)

(via twitter.com/pelotonmagazine)

Now, to find something to sew my #womens100 badge onto...

Never Say Never

Josie from Life On Two Wheels posted an article recently on How Bicycling Healed My Heart.

http://bikeleague.org/content/how-bicycling-healed-my-heart

I can relate to parts of her story.

She ends with:

"Riding was the one way that I could remind myself that I did have a "can do" attitude and that I could indeed accomplish things. 

For so long, I had told myself "you can't ride a bike," but I proved to myself that concept was wrong." 

Every year, watching the Tour de France and seeing other people with their bikes.  I always thought, I will never be a road cyclist.

If you asked me a year ago, do you think by next year you would be a road cyclist and commuting to work every day and road cycling 3-4 times a week (waking up at 5am)?

I would have said NO WAY, NEVER, ARE YOU CRAZY?

And I would have been wrong.

So now, every time I go to use the word "never" - like, "I will never do that", "I'm never doing that", I have to stop myself.

Because I could very well be wrong!

Trispecific: Back To School (Learning The Fundamentals)

When I was researching how to gain Mental Strength, I was recommended trispecific by a friend.

She said they post a number of articles about the mental side to cycling that I might find useful.

Anyway, they posted a good article today that is especially relevant to me (a beginner cyclist).

I often get quite impatient at wanting to ride like the other cyclists around me who have been cycling all their life.

Everything looks so easy when they do it and their bike handling skills look perfect.

No grimacing on coffee rides.

No bad cornering.

Hands off the handlebars easily.

Looking around and behind comfortably.

Getting out of the saddle comfortably.

But that's the difference between cycling for 7 months vs 20 years..

http://www.trispecific.com/back-to-school/

"If you focus purely on aerobic endurance development and say for a short build period that many athletes do – then you’ll always limit your potential. 

It takes time and effort to lay down effective motorskills. It takes time to recruit as many dormant muscle fibres as possible to help propel you forward quickly and be able to hold that pace as ever increasing levels of fatigue set in.

The key is not to rush the process, focus on the most important things and get bloody consistent.

It’s a long term view!"

I think after the Rapha 100, that will be my goal.  To just keep cycling regularly and form those base skills.

Because I've always loved cycling ever since I was a child, so I believe I'll always enjoy it - regardless of how small or large a role it plays in my life.

So I googled tortoise and rabbit to try and find a picture to round this blog post off and found Oolong the rabbit, who became an internet sensation by balancing things on his head.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/picture-galleries/7147335/Oolong-the-rabbit-that-became-an-internet-hit-by-balancing-things-on-its-head-lives-on.html?image=4 

I love the internet.

My first road race!

Husband: I'm so proud of you jumping in and doing something really hard.
Me: To be honest, I really didn't think it was going to be that hard.

Hehehe.

So today I did my first road race.

Last night we were talking over dinner and I said something along the lines of thinking I'd be in the middle of the pack.

My husband said, I think you should be prepared to come last tomorrow.  The people in the race are a cut above the people we ride with.  Remember that most of the people we ride with (who are stronger cyclists than you) don't even race.

(via www.woodroffe.dorset.sch.uk)

Oh yeah.  Fair point.

I'm really glad he said that because it grounded me and set my expectations a little more realistic.

Comparing yourself to other cyclists' abilities is really dangerous because it's so context specific.  Even if you do the same ride with the same people, it could be completely different due to a variety of factors - weather / how people are feeling / what people want to get out of the ride / etc.

So we woke up around 5am to get ready.

My lovely husband offered to drive me.  He hadn't decided whether to race or not, but was going to pack everything just in case.  He'd planned to ride down to the start with me and then ride up to the finish line and watch me finish.

I was glad because I'm not familiar with the north and can get quite anxious driving up to that area.

Last month, I watched some friends race Cyclocross and found that everyone has a different approach to pre-race jitters.

Today I learnt that I am a whingey, physical pain sort of pre-race jitter person.  Not a hardcore focussed determined person.  Oh well..

(via livingpeacefullywithchildren.com)

As we got closer to Terrey Hills, I just felt so much pain in my stomach.  I ended up clutching my stomach in pain as my husband was driving.

We arrived at Terrey Hills and parked our car.

Me: I think I'm so nervous I'm going to cry.
Husband: Well let's get going so you can cry while you're on your bike. Tears of power.

As a friend commented. "Best. Husband. Ever."

The good thing about getting nervous before a bike ride, I think, is that once you get on the bike, you don't have the energy or mind space to think about anything outside of cycling.

So I was fine once I got on the bike.

We got to the Akuna Bay marina, the start of the race.

It was freezing.

There were about 15 names in Women's C/D grade.  I was first to arrive, so I was given Race number 1.

So the different grades started with a few minutes in between to separate the groups.

We started with the neutralised climb out from Akuna Bay.  The girls at the front said to yell out if the pace needed to be slower.

Going up that first climb was difficult as we were all so cold.  It was definitely not at a comfortable pace for me.

I wasn't sure whether to yell out because I was dropping.  So I didn't.  I thought, if I'm going to drop I'm going to drop and I felt like everyone was more experienced, so perhaps someone else would yell out or notice and slow down.

Me and a few of the other ladies dropped off the back, but Alexi from Manly Warringah who was helping run the race was helping get us back on the group by pushing us back in.

Once we got out of the neutral zone, Alexi spoke to us and said that people were welcome to attack but it might be nice in the interests of being inclusive and being social if they left it until after the turn at West Head.

I tried to stay on, but I lost the group at the Willunga climb about 8km into the race.  (4km after the neutral zone).  Alexi suggested the pivotal point was when everyone got out of the saddle to get that extra power up the climb and I stayed sitting in the saddle.

So there were 2 major things I noticed today that I was lacking skills in that I think are definitely things to work on if I wish to race in the future:

1.  Climbing out of the saddle.

(via www.gettyimages.in)

I only learnt this 2 weeks ago so am still pretty beginner at this.

You get a lot of power, but you also have to know how to transition in and out of this action and which gear to be in.

2.  Climbing hills in the big ring (the front gears).

I'm still not 100% on changing across all my different gears, but am getting more familiar with them.

Because I tend to prepare my gears when I know something is coming up to prevent getting caught in the wrong gear and I also tend to sit in the small ring just in case, my husband suggested that I practice changing gears as much as I can so I can become more familiar with them.

Which is a fair point.

Climbing in the small ring means that you're getting more distance for each pedal stroke.

You have to have the power to be able to turn the pedals in the big ring, but it does keep your momentum up more effectively.


So it was suggested that I don't go all the way to West Head and just turn around to try and catch the group (as there was no point me cycling majority of the full course by myself).

However, when I went to turn and catch the group, another group came up from behind me so it wasn't safe to turn and once I turned, there was a very strong headwind / crosswind.

I ended up just cycling the rest of the way by myself, but I kept reminding myself I was in a race so I should keep pushing.

So I pushed so I felt the burn in my thighs the whole time.

It was interesting seeing the other group pass - the other grades do more laps.

All in all, despite not finishing the course and dropping off the group quite early, it was a great experience, and I was proud and happy to have done it.

I'm not sure if I'll race again.  I feel like it's definitely flagged areas of improvement for me and made me want to train West Head and try and improve my average speed.  As this women's only race was a once off, I'm also not too excited about racing co-ed with much faster D grade riders.

(My average was about 21 km/hr and the group was about 25 km/hr so I'm still a while off, even when taking the speed increase when cycling in a group into account.  I think the mens D grade was about 28 km/hr.)

Thank you to Manly Warringah Cycling Club for organising women's only grades and the Sydney Women's Cycling facebook page for their encouragement.

I saw that my friend had posted a jumping photo after completing a 10km run this morning, and I wanted to do something similar but this was all I could manage:

P.S.  The ride back to the car Terrey Hills was quite tiring!  I chose to go NOT via Akuna Bay, but there was still quite a long climb.

Me: Are you sure this is the easy way out?
Husband: There's no easy way out.

What a life lesson.  :p