Club Racing

Last Saturday i didn't have training, so i went to Blackburn to race club races. I didn't have my bike so i ended up sharing one of my friends bikes. He had a 93" gear on it. I was racing a in B grade and he was in C grade, which allowed us to swap the bikes over. The events that were on were a scratch race, a kierin and a team pursuit. I managed to place first in all 3 events and secure myself a nice $30. It was a good day out, it's the first time i have competed in the club races for a long time.

Today I lifted heavy things and put them back down again. I, unfortunately, failed my squats. In my bench press i got 1 set but failed both of the others (by just 1 rep!). Following bench, i did Power Cleans. I am currently Power Cleaning the second highest on the board. My goal is to achieve the highest ranking of power cleans in my gym. Following Power cleans i did chin-ups. I did a set of 4 with a 20kg weight belt on and then did 6 pull ups. Weights was good today, a little disappointed with my squats but the rest was good.

State Squad

I have had good news. I got selected for the state squad, this means that i will be racing nationals around march. I'm very excited!

After states i had a few days break. Today was spent and the Blackburn cycling club track for the Australia Day Madison event. I didn't ride but i watched most of the races and cheered friends on.

Following the races I went to weights. There i did squats, press, dead lifts and some pull-ups. I didn't get my squats or my press but i did get my dead lifts.

I wasn't super happy with the weight lifting but the rest of the day was good.

States

I woke up at 6:30 AM, went for a walk and then got all of my gear and packed the car. I started to head down to DISC with my family. We arrived at about 8:30. I set up my bike and and got ready for warmup. Once i had finished my warm up i went over to the straight where i would start my ride. My bike was put into the gate and i got onto it. Once everything was set up, i waited for the countdown. I came out of the gate a fraction too early which wasn't very good as i didn't get the jump out of the gate that i wanted. I got a time of 35.600s I wasn't very happy with this time. It game me a end placing of 4th.

On the second day of states we had match sprints. I qualified with a time of 11.7s. I was pleased with this time as it was an equal PB. The match sprints came after. I was happy with the way i raced them. For most of the races i sat on the front and controlled it. I ended up placing 3rd overall in the sprints, so i am happy with that.

The first day wasn't very good, but the second day was much better.

Rock Climbing

Instead of spending the afternoon in the weights room, we went rock climbing. We got to work the whole body lightly which meant that we are going to fresh over the next few days. Rock climbing is a little bit out of my comfort zone, but i enjoy it as it gets me doing something i'm not used to.

I am excited for states, i have felt small amounts of nerves over the last week during the build up to racing. I am looking forward to states a lot and am hoping to do well.

Full Dress Rehersal

Today was the last training session on the bike before states. Today was a "full dress rehearsal" which meant that we were all in full race gear and with race wheels. My rear wheel turned out to have a problem, so I was training with a powertap rear wheel. On the way home I visited the bike shop and they fixed up the wheel.

Today's training session was probably a little bit more intense than was necessary for tapering but I should be recovered before states as the next couple of days will be very easy.

Early Morning

As a result of my laziness, i didn't write a post last night. However, i have just woken up at 6:30 AM under coaches orders to prepare for having to perform in the morning. I was instructed to do something active, so i went for a walk once i had woken up instead of the suggested "play early morning drums" which i don't think my parents or neighbours would have been terribly pleased about.

To fill you all in, last night was spent in the wights room. The tapering had truly begun as it involved lifting of heavy weights very few times and jumping or even hopping onto the occasional box. After said training session was complete I went and stood in a blue wheelie bin full of very cold water. 11 degrees! After these activites were completed i hung around for a while and chatted with some of my friends who also train there about various things before heading home.

Gate Starts

It's one week away from the Victorian track championships. We have started to taper off in the weights room but we are still working fairly hard on the bike. I was feeling pretty good today considering that i have been sick over the last few days. As a result of sickness I have lost around about 3 kilograms in body weight. My power numbers didn't drop off very much and I was still able to keep my speed up.

Today involved gate starts where we were fiddling around with the order of the team sprint. We did one full team sprint at the end, the decided order felt pretty good but after a hard day of training i was feeling pretty tired during the effort.

Overall today was a good training session.

My Bike

This is my bike. It is a BT Stealth. Full Carbon frame and forks with 3T scato handle bars. When i'm training i use a Power tap rear wheel. When i'm racing i will use both front and rear Shamal's. I am restricted to racing on no bigger than and 82 inch gear.