What Now ?

For the last 6 months our training has been focused on the World's race in London. The 3 Trail Running races and the Hazelwood Triathlon in the leadup were all designed to prepare us for the London Sprint Triathlon. After a 2 week break of no training (I did sneak in 2 runs), our focus is now directed at the Challenge Melbourne, Half Ironman race in February. Personally I will also be aiming to set a PB at the St Kilda Olympic Distance event in January (3 weeks before Challenge Melbourne).

Ignoring all the work we did before London, we are now back in a base training phase. Lots of easy paced sessions as we build up mileage. The next 6 weeks will be fairly unstructured as we train more by feel. I'll aim to run most (if not all) days and the distance of each run will be determined by how I feel at the time. Hopefully this will enable me to build my run mileage back to up to around 60km per week - this approach worked well in April, May and June. However this time I will also try to get in some more bike mileage (much easier now the days are getting longer and warmer).

Elaine will probably remain at 3 runs a week, but concentrate on building bike mileage and more importantly getting in consistent weeks of training. Some people get in 1 or 2 weeks of huge training then disappear for a month. The real benefits of training are only seen after consistent weeks of good training. Once you build momentum into your training the results start to appear.

At the moment we have identified 3 leadup Triathlons before Challenge Melbourne:
  Noosa, Olympic Distance (1500/40/10)
  Elwood Gatorade, Sprint Distance (500/20/5)
  St Kilda Gatorade, Olympic Distance (1500/40/10)

Noosa is probably the most iconic race in Australia (and very well known world wide). We are treating this race as more of a Bucket-List event (and QLD holiday), looking to enjoy the atmosphere rather than expecting a good result. So we won't do any Olympic Distance specific training in the lead-up. Instead we'll race off what we get done in the base training phase.

In the past we've tended to avoid the Gatorade Triathlon series, but have changed our minds this year. XOSIZE has pulled out as naming sponsor of the other Triathlon Series (now called Team-Up TriSeries) meaning we will no longer receive free entries. Race 1 of the Team-Up series is a week after Noosa and Race 3 is a week after St Kilda so their events simply don't fit into our race calendar very well (we need more than 1 week to recover from an Olympic Distance triathlon). However race 4 of the Team-Up series has been designated as our Club Championships, so we will probably make an effort to do that race (3 weeks after Challenge Melbourne).

However the Gatorade series organisers are still doing things that annoy us (almost as a way of reminding us why we have avoided their races in the past). Both Triathlon Series are offering a 10% discount on entry for all members of our triathlon club. The Team-Up Series offers this discount for the Series and Individual races, but Gatorade only offers it for Individual races. Guess who is no longer signing up for the Gatorade Series entry. Seems a pretty silly strategy to me, and it means Elaine and I will probably not bother entering the last 3 Gatorade races.

We are also planning several special ride events (all before Xmas):
  Bayside Bright Camp - 3 days of riding over mountains
  Kinglake Ride - 115km ride, 2 big hills
  Bayside KOM (King Of the Mountain) - 52km very hilly ride in the Dandenongs
  Ben Griffen Classic - 120km ride with KOMs and Sprint Points

Post Race Thoughts

It's now been 10 days since the race. Elaine and I have since wandered around London and holidayed in Iceland. The break has been fantastic (Elaine keeps telling me special time outs with loved ones is very important).

Sipping wine in a cafe at Heathrow (with free WiFi) waiting for our plane departure back to Melbourne, it is probably a good time to reflect back upon the race and the event as a whole. I've already documented some of my race leadup issues in previous blog posts, so I won't bore you with these again. And other than frustration with one particular travel company (that supposedly looks after triathletes), there were really no other issues.

I glossed over it in my original race report, but the support during the race was unbelievable. It was pouring rain to the level of almost nil visibility, but still most of the course was lined by spectators. On the bike I couldn't really discern individual supporters, but I could definitely hear chants of 'Go Aussie !!!', and I continually heard it from a large percentage of the course. Once on the run the rain had eased a bit and I could actually see the Australian supporters cheering me on. I didn't know any of them, but seeing me in the Australian uniform was enough to send them off on a cheer louder than any other country. We have our surnames on our uniforms and numerous supporters yelled 'Go McNamara !!!' or just 'Go Macca !!!'. I don't think it was any coincidence that this was my fastest ever run off the bike. In fact the areas of the run where the support was strongest was where I was quickest. With so many people cheering you on, it is almost impossible not to go faster.

My race report contained a detailed account of my event. In summary, the swim went OK, the bike leg was significantly limited by the conditions and my run leg was excellent (possibly aided by the slower bike leg) - I finished 25th in my age group and 2nd Aussie in my age group. I believe perfect bike conditions would have seen me jump around 10 positions (ie. 15th place) and if I had of been able to hold the good draft on the swim it would have given me an extra 5 places and scored me a 10 top and most probably first Aussie (both of which were my pre-race aims). With the dust now settled, I'm pretty happy with my efforts. I may have been pushed off the good toes in the swim, but I didn't panic, my swim time was still reasonable and I used almost no energy. I held back a lot on the bike, especially the first lap, but I finished the race without crashing. Reports I've heard are over 50 competitors crashed and 20 ended up in hospital. So I think my caution was well warranted. And of course finally we are left with my best ever run off the bike. The main focus of my pre-race training was the run and I always had a target of a sub 19 minute run. There were plenty of times I thought this target may have been ludricous, but I kept faith in my training and the result happened. Overall I'm very happy and now very excited about what the rest of the season holds.

London, Age Group, Sprint Triathlon, World Championships

Pre-Race

The race organisers had setup a bag compound to store your gear while you raced. But you could only use the bag handed out during registration which was way too small to carry half the stuff needed. With transition only open between 6:30 and 7:30am and our waves not starting till 10:10am and 11:20am, we had enough time to setup our transition and then go back to our apartment where we dropped off stuff like the pump and picked up more gear like our wetsuits.

We used the London hire bikes to travel between our apartment and the race site. They were a GodSend, not only saving us lots of valuable time, but also protecting our feet that were still sore from so much walking over the previous days. Having such a late race start, we decided it would be wise to have a pre-race coffee to ward off the caffeine withdrawal headaches. So we popped into a nice cafe on the way back to the race site. It conveniently had a hire bike rack right outside, unfortunately the coffee was pretty average.

Once back at the race site the earlier waves were already underway, so we popped over to the transition to see where we would have to run. People can tell you stuff, but it is much easier to remember after watching other triathletes navigate their way through. Then it was time for me to put on my wetsuit and move to the swim start assembly area.

I've made a fair few complaints about different aspects of this event. But the actual running of the race was unbelievably well done - by far the best race organisation I've ever seen. All swimmers were corralled into groups 30 minutes before race start and slowly moved through the different staging areas until it was their time to move onto the pontoon.

We were moved onto the pontoon in single file and lined up against a numbered starting square where we sat dangling our legs in the lake waiting for the race start. I leant down to wash my goggles in the water and the nose piece came apart - very disconcerting with only about 2 minutes left before the gun went off. Luckily I was able to fit it back together, but I lacked a little faith that it would hold for the entire swim, especially if it got whacked by another competitor.

Swim

The swim leg was always going to be vital in me having a good race, it was all about damage control and limiting how far ahead the other competitors got before the bike leg. I actually got a great start and was swimming in the lead pack comfortably on another swimmers toes. Then there was a bit of argy bargy with other swimmers fighting for the same pair of toes and not wanting to loose my goggles I moved sideways and lost the draft. A gap formed almost instantly and continued to grow, my easy ride for a fast swim leg was now gone and I'd have to settle for whatever other toes I could find.

The rest of the swim leg was pretty uneventful. I switched between a few different swimmers toes, suffered the occasional whack from nearby competitors, but generally had a pretty cruisey swim leg. I possibly could have swam faster without drafting, but not much faster and it would have used up a lot more energy. At 12m21s for 750 metres, not the fast draft assisted swim I wanted, but not a bad swim either.

Transition One

Exiting the water, I took off my goggles but still couldn't see properly. At first I thought my eyes must be really sore and couldn't focus on anything, but then I realised it was pouring rain and visibility was very poor.

The grass in transition was quickly becoming mud and I tread carefully so as not to slide over, as many others were doing. Once at my bike everything went well, except it took me a little while to get my race belt on. Other competitors put it under their wetsuits, but I was afraid it would get stuck or tear when quickly getting the wetsuit off. Elaine forgot to put her's on and had to run back (around 300m) to retrieve it before heading out on the bike (as a result her T1 time is very slow).

Bike

As mentioned earlier, it was pouring rain, visibility was very poor and the roads were extremely slippery. The bike course contained numerous speed humps each lap, some gentle and a couple a little on the nasty side. Without having ridden the course beforehand I was unfamiliar with the severity and location of these speed humps. It was very disconcerting riding almost blind wondering when one of these obstacles was going to suddenly appear.

I was also very fearful of the corners. I had already seen people crash that morning, then on the first lap a rider crashed right in front of me. Definitely a day to take the corners very slowly. Unfortunately in addition to the 4 hairpin U-turns there were an addition 26 corners that were very dangerous in the wet.

My first 5km was very slow averaging just 36kph. As I grew in confidence, so did my pace and my average for the next 4 splits were all over 39kph. But the story of the bike leg was passing other competitors on the straights and then getting caught and passed back on the corners - very frustrating.

Overall my average for the bike leg was 38.3kph. Disappointing considering I averaged over 40 kph for every Sprint Triathlon last season (including a best 41.5kph avg). But it would have been a helluva lot worse if I crashed, as so many others did.

Transition Two

As I hopped off the bike my legs felt good and I passed numerous competitors as I ran through transition. My feet were very muddy and for some reason they banned towels in transition, but I figured the mud would just cushion my feet in the shoes.

Run

My calf muscles felt tight at the start which is not unusual, but as normal they loosen up within the first kilometre. I found myself running fairly comfortably at my target pace. Everything seemed to be leading towards a good run leg.

Analysing my run data after the race, I slowed slightly on the far side of the Serpentine when running down Rotten Row on both laps. It is a very gradual uphill, but I suspect it may have been a slight headwind as well. Other than this section I held a pretty much constant pace until the last kilometre when I was able to push to the line.

My official run split is 18m29s for 5km. The run was definitely full distance, but the timing mat was situated a fair way into the run, so the distance of the split is only 4.9km. Either way it would have still been under 19 minutes which was my pre-race aim, so very happy with my run split. Although it was probably helped by the slower bike leg.

Overall

I finished in 25th place in my Age Group out of 107 finishers (there would have been numerous DNFs who crashed on the bike). And I was the 2nd Australian home in my Age Group out of 13.

I figured I would not be able to control factors in the swim or the bike. So the only pre-race time goal I set was to run sub 19 minutes for the run which I achieved. My second aim was to be first Australian home in my age group which I failed by being 2nd. And finally, it was more of a wish than a goal, I was dreaming of finishing top 10.

The conditions conspired against me. In the dry the bike course would have been very fast. And being long at 22.5km would have definitely played to my favour. However the rain and very slippery conditions completely nullified the advantage of my strength on the bike.  Without the rain I think I would have been closer to 15th place in my age group and touch and go whether I couldn't have beaten the other Aussie.

Elaine finished 50th in her Age Group and 5th out of 7 Australians. She's a little disappointed she couldn't go faster, but considering the lack of training she did extremely well. Our friend Martin had a great race and came 18th (and 2nd Aussie) in his Age Group.

One Sleep To Go

After skipping the planned morning ride due to rain, we had a little rest before heading out in search of a good coffee (a very rare find in London). Other members of the Australian Team had recommended a cafe in Soho - a long way from our apartment. We headed off on what was scheduled to be a 45 minute bus ride (on a double decker). However London traffic meant we spent most of the time stationery. After 30 minutes of not travelling very far we decided to get off and go to Harrods instead, surely they'd have to make good coffee. We found a nice little cafe area and were shocked to see a standard cappuccino was 4 and a half pounds ($7.70 AUD). But we were desperate for a good coffee and at that price it must be magnificent. The coffee itself was pretty good, by far the best since we'd left Melbourne. But on paying we discovered there was an additional 1 pound 30 pence service fee, so the 2 coffees (regular size) ended up costing us $17.70 AUD. I would not have expected to pay that much for 2 glasses of champagne.

Once we'd recovered from the shock of the coffee bill, we headed back to the main Team Hotel for the Race Briefing. Unfortunately they went over all the details that were already very clear and could not answer the questions we wanted to know. My race starts at 10:10am and Elaine's starts at 11:20am, but it seems transition will only be opened from 6:30 to 7:30am. So we have to arrive at the race venue over 3 hours (4 for Elaine) before our race starts. There was confusion about this rule in some of the wording, but we couldn't get an answer to confirm the situation. Our friend Martin who is also racing the Sprint starts around 11:00am, so he has the same issue. Looks like we're all in for an early morning start.

While at the main Team Hotel we picked up our bikes that had been left overnight for the mechanic to check over. Anthony from CBD Cycles performs the Team Mechanic duties every year and without fail he is definitely the standout achiever of the whole organisation. He checks over 400 bikes, answers 4 million questions and resolves 1,000 disasters in about 3 days. Nothing is a problem and he always has a smile on his face. Everybody always walks away feeling a little calmer after a meeting with Anthony.

Riding back to our apartment was so much better than walking. This confirmed the need to organise the hire bikes for all future commuting to and from the race site. Once back home we had lunch before riding our bikes to the Race Venue to check our bikes into transition.

The transition area is huge and the routes we have to run are a bit complex. Hopefully tomorrow we'll run the right way (and be able to find our bikes). Having such late wave starts means we'll get a chance to watch the earlier competitors navigate transition which should make it easier to understand. After racking our bikes we headed over to the grandstand and watched the Elite Male Under 23 race which gave us a good preview of where the swim course goes.

On the way home (after another coffee), we signed up to use the London hire bike. The bikes themselves are very basic, quite heavy and often not in the best working order. But again riding back to our apartment was a 1,000 times better than having to walk. And now that we've worked out how to hire the bikes it should be easier to use them tomorrow morning.

Settling in Pre-Race

Tuesday afternoon I had my first swim in the Serpentine. A small section is fenced off creating a sort of swimming pool (100m by 25m) which is known as the Lido. This is the only area of the Serpentine that Age Group athletes are allowed to swim (I have no idea why we aren't allowed to swim in main part of the lake where we'll be racing). At 16 degrees celsius, the water is definitely cold and is quite a shock when you first put your face under. However once started and warmed up it actually feels quite good. And I mentally went to a much better place once I knew I was getting back to some quality training before the event.

Wednesday morning Elaine and I went for an easy run through Hyde Park. They were setting up for the Aquathlon and we couldn't run on parts of the run course, so I checked out some of the bike course instead. There were strict instructions that no athlete was to ride on the course. However on both Tuesday and Wednesday morning the bike course was filled with athletes getting in some familiarisation. There was so much opportunity for the race organisers to allocate time on Wednesday for bike familiarisation. Instead they simply put a total ban - so some people obeyed and missed out whilst others just ignored the ban.

In general I have been extremely disappointed with the Race Organiser's attitude towards the Age Group competitors. The longer distance races organised by companies like WTC and Challenge really look after the Age Groupers. Without the Elites, we would still have all the Age Groupers racing, but without the Age Groupers there would be no Elites. This is a short course race organised by the ITU. Most of their events only have the Elite Races. It is only the World Championship Grand Final that includes the Age Group World Championships. As a result it is obvious that we are just a major hassle despite the fact we are their number one (if not only) customer and in this particular instance funding a large part of the event.

After our run we had a massage and then I went for another swim in the Lido, all before lunch. We had to cram everything in early before Triathlon Australia had organised a Team BBQ in the afternoon and we needed to be at the main Team Hotel by 2pm. The Team BBQ would then be followed by the Opening Ceremony in Trafalgar Square and the Parade of Nations.

Our hotel is over 3km from the Race Site. In the last 2 days we have made 4 trips to the race site, 2 trips to the team hotel (about 2km away) and another unfortunate detour due to a mistake from me (7km). So we have walked 39km in the last 48 hours. The exact opposite of what you would want to do in the lead up to a race - It is no wonder that our feet are killing us. With this in mind, standing around at a BBQ for 3 hours followed by catching the Tube and then standing around at an Opening Ceremony for another 3 hours was way more than our feet, legs and back could cope with.

After the Team BBQ (before Trafalgar Sq) we all gathered in Gibson Hall (photo below) to listen to a few speeches. At least this gave some people a chance to sit down (not obvious in the photo, but most people including me still had to stand).

Standing out in the open at Trafalgar Square getting very wet in the steady rain, time dragging on with nothing happening other than some DJ trying to rev up the crowd, we decided enough was enough and headed home. I suspect over a 3rd of the athletes left early, a lot of them much earlier than us. We were told the speeches and Parade of Nations finally happened around 8:30pm, we'd been at Trafalgar Square since 6:30pm.

A ride was organised this morning leaving from the main Team Hotel at 7am. Elaine and I decided to join in on this ride, would be the first time on our bikes in 10 days. However once outside we discovered it was raining and made the decision to give the ride a miss.

Our feet are still wrecked from the all the walking (and standing around), so we'll probably skip any training today (which goes against my usual pre-race routine). At 3pm we need to check our bikes into transition, so another lengthy commute, but I'm keen to investigate using the hire bikes dotted all over the city and give my feet a rest. These bikes should also come in very handy on race day as well.

Ready or Not

It is Tuesday in London and our races are late morning Friday, so not long now. It has been a very busy week and a half, so there has not been much time to think about the race. But now that we are settled in our London apartment with our bikes finally unpacked and reassembled the event is beginning to feel very close.

Last week was quite hectic with packing, organising last minute trip details and trying to finish off tasks at work before disappearing for a few weeks. On Monday I commuted to and from work by bike to get in a bit of extra training, Tuesday morning we swam and Tuesday night we did a run intervals sessions at the Sandringham Athletics track. My shoulder had been improving slightly but was still too sore to do the full swim session (or put in any real efforts). With my knee still not 100% I skipped a hard ride on Wednesday morning and also skipped the Wednesday night swim due to my shoulder (and the fact we needed more time to pack). The plan was to get in a last run on Thursday, but we were both caught up at work and missed this session as well. After 2 days of no training I managed to swim Friday morning and then get in an easy 7km run before we headed off to the airport (Elaine was too nervous and excited to train). No where near the last week of training I was planning before flying out, especially when we were going to miss a weekend of training due to the flying out early.

Thursday lunchtime I had my last massage. Of particular concern was my shoulder. They worked on this area so hard I now have a nasty bruise to show for their effort (it was a very painful massage). Throughout the flight my shoulder and knee ached on and off. I think the awkward sleeping position was not great for my shoulder, but it was feeling a bit better by the time we landed in Heathrow.

It is not wise to do hard training sessions the 2 or 3 days before and after a long haul flight. Ideally you would have an easy swim and run session each day and otherwise relax. High on the list of things not to do on the first 2 days after a long flight would be to take a long drive across the country. Saturday and Sunday were spent travelling to Nottingham, Northampton, Oxfordshire and then the Cotswolds. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing time catching up with Elaine's relatives and friends, just unfortunate about the amount of driving required to get there (not to mention the very dodgy GPS device provided by the car rental company).

The first two photos are of Nigel's house (an old friend of Elaine's) in Northampton. The bottom photo is the Manor House we stayed at on Sunday night.

Now back in London the situation does not feel a lot better. We need to go to race registration, bike mechanic check up, bike checkin (to transition), Team BBQ, Team dinner, Opening Ceremony and Parade of Nations. We also need to sort out transport for our bikes back to Melbourne (I'm told this involves filling out a 4 page form). All this happens on Wednesday and Thursday before our race on Friday morning - pretty much the exact opposite of a relaxing lead-in to the race with a couple of easy training sessions.

All Packed and Ready to Go

This week was mostly spent packing. The combination of bike, race gear and warm clothes for our post race holiday in Iceland meant fitting into luggage weight requirements was always going to be a very big struggle. We bought new bike boxes which are 5kgs lighter than our old ones. At $199 each, we actually saved money because 5kg of excess baggage costs $250. Plus the new bike boxes are much better and far easier to get bikes into. You can see my bike disassembled and packed in the photo on the right. In this configuration it only weighed 20kg, but I managed to squeeze in another 6.5kg of gear into the box including bike shoes, runners, wetsuit and a lot of the warm clothes for Iceland. This allowed me to get my other bag down to 8.5kg which meant we still have to purchase an extra 5kg of excess baggage (but at least we didn't have to buy 10kg each).

Those more mathematically minded would have noticed I was right on the limit of 35kg (standard 30kg + 5kg excess). Elaine's baggage was very similar, although she has less in her bike box and more in other bag. Knowing we were right on the limit, I tried to put as many heavy objects in my carry-on bag, including the bike pedals. At 7kg, my carry-on is nearly as heavy as my checked-in bag. It was a nervous time as they weighed our bags at check-in. I kept a sneaky hand on the bike boxes as they were being weighed to try and hide a few grams. It must have worked as they were passed without question saving us a fair bit of money because excess baggage costs even more when you have to pay at check-in. You can see our baggage in the photo on the left (our carry-on bags are not shown in the photo).

We are sitting in one of the airport cafes as I write this. Powerpoints and Free Wifi, why can't all cafes have this. Having checked in, snuck in under baggage weight requirements, passed through security and passport control we can now relax. The only stressful aspect left is our luggage arriving with us at London.

Bayside Classic 2013

Last Friday I cut my swim session short due to a very sore shoulder. That combined with a persistent knee injury that has been causing me grief over the last few weeks did not fill me with confidence coming into the Bayside Triathlon Club's ride event known as the Bayside Classic.

The event is not an official race, but rather a club ride with designated Sprint Points and King of the Mountains (KOM) as well as an overall winner at the finish line. There are 3 of these events each year (with different titles) and you can follow the links to see how I fared in the last 4 such rides: Ronde de Bayside (Autumn Classic) May 2013, Ben Griffin Classic Dec 2012, Bayside Classic Aug 2012. In summary, I do reasonably well in the King of the Mountains, struggle in the Sprints and never actually make it to the finish line.

The Bayside Classic version starts at the Clocktower and travels all the way to top of Arthur's Seat (very steep 3km climb) in Dromana. In total 120km with 4 KOMs, 4 Intermediate Sprints and a final Sprint finish back in Beaumaris. Not wanting to get up extra early and drive to Beaumaris, I started from my house in Seaford and rode back towards Beaumaris until I saw the peleton approaching. I joined the group in Aspendale. One of my biggest competitors from the previous events, Tom, had just secured his Professional Triathlon Licence and was preparing for his first Pro race in the Gold Coast. I noticed he wasn't part of the group and some of my confidence was starting to creep back.

The first Sprint is in Seaford just before we reach Frankston. I had no strategy for the Sprint (and I wonder why I never do well), but I thought I had positioned myself well on the riight side of the pack two wheels from the front. The rider in front did not look like someone who would be a serious contender, however my thinking was I could jump onto the wheel of anyone good that went past.

Clint made the early jump, but he found a gap on the left down the inside. Most of the serious contenders had been sitting on Clint's wheel and were now charging off after him, whilst I was still stuck on the outside. I stayed in the draft hoping the rider in front would join in the charge, but he wasn't really up to it and I soon realised any further action was just a waste of effort. Despite appearing to charge too early, Clint was simply too strong for everyone else and comfortably won the first Sprint (I didn't notice who got the minor placings).

Next was the Oliver's Hill KOM. A very short (about 600m) but very steep hill as you head out of Frankston towards Mt Eliza. After the peleton regrouped I moved up towards the front and sat behind Ray in about 3rd wheel. Again I had no plan, but I figured Ray was probably my biggest threat so I decided to keep an eye on him. About 200m before the hill starts, Young Martin raced passed making a solo charge at the KOM. I immediately jumped onto his wheel and sat on him as we pulled a nice gap on everyone else. I was pretty confident of being able to outride Martin up the hill, but was very happy for him to do all the early work. Less than halfway up Martin showed the first signs of struggling, so I moved to the front and Martin slotted in behind me. I was feeling pretty good at this stage thinking this was going to be the easiest KOM ever, when another rider from the group (who I don't know) sped past like I was standing still. I knew the early speed before the hill had sapped some of our energy and slowed the second half of our ascent, but I've never seen anyone go up Oliver's Hill as fast as this new Mystery Rider. I continued to push, but Young Martin dropped away. The Mystery Rider won the KOM (4 points), I took second (2 points) another rider pipped Martin for 3rd (1 point).

I knew it wasn't my best effort up Oliver's Hill, but my legs now felt completely spent. Strava shows it as my 2nd best time, so it was a better effort than I probably realised, but I was certainly feeling the aftermath. The next KOM was Balcombe Hill and gratefully this was another 20kms away, so a bit of time to try and recuperate. The peleton stopped for a touch on the other side of Mt Eliza just so the group could re-form back together. Riding through Mornington I caught up with Jen and even though it was her first proper group ride with the club, she looked like she was going extremely well. She does a lot of mileage on the bike, including riding to work several times a week and it shows in her riding ability.

In previous events I have tried to gap the field early with a charge at Balcombe Hill, but it has never worked very well, so I decided I would play it cool this time. Ray took the lead with Clint on his wheel followed by me. The early pace was pretty comfortable, so much so that I yelled at Ray to try and go faster. Balcombe Hill is about 3km long with a small false flat in the middle. The second half is not quite as steep as the first, but you need to save energy in the first half to find the speed at the end. About halfway up the first section Ray started to apply some effort and pulled a gap on Clint. I immediately passed Clint and rode back onto Ray's wheel. In hindsight I think Clint deliberately let the gap appear because he wanted me in front.

Ray completely misjudged his effort and blew up as soon as we reached the false flat forcing me to take the lead, something I was not planning to do until much later. Now on the slightly less steep section, I held a good tempo pace as I tried to put a gap on the riders behind. I could hear another rider sitting right behind me and judging by the level of puffing, he was suffering less than me. I just assumed it was the Mystery Rider from Oliver's Hill and he would fly past at any minute, so I was already focussing on riding for 2nd place. With about 500m to go the rider behind made his move, but it was Andrew on his new bike (he had taken his old bike into Cyclespeed for a service and walked out with a shiny new one - happens a lot). Andrew effortlessly put a good gap on me and I instantly knew I was no chance of reigning him in. I couldn't hear anyone behind me, so I figured I was still good for 2nd place. Then for the 2nd time in the day, another rider flew past. This time it was Clint making a huge charge for the line. By this stage Andrew had a good gap and I didn't give Clint a chance, but he caught Andrew metres before the finish and took the KOM (4 points). Andrew was second (2 points) and I was third (1 point). According to Strava this was my equal 2nd best effort up this climb.

Now I was really wrecked. Luckily the group took it very easy and I limped along near the back of the pack. The next Sprint was on Boundary Rd not far from the base of Arthur's Seat. I was very happy to sit back and take no part whatsoever. In fact I didn't even bother looking to see who won (probably Clint).

A disused Chair lift is situated at the bottom of Arthur's Seat and cyclists often meet in its carpark. We starting hearing reports that someone had crashed near where the Sprint was, so Clint got us all to wait while he worked out what had happened. Everyone seemed pretty happy to get some extra rest and it also gave all the slower riders a chance to rejoin the group.

I strategically positioned myself for the restart, but did too well and found myself leading the climb up Arthur's Seat. There were 10 or so riders behind me, but I could tell Griff was sitting right on my wheel. This is a tough climb and going too hard early will almost certainly mean dying before the end. So rather than try and inflict pain on my pursuers, I simply found a comfortable rhythm and grinded my way up the hill. The riders behind slowly dropped off one by one, but Griff held firm never letting me build a gap. Then at the half way mark he took the lead and very slowly started to pull away. The gap never really got that big and I just concentrated on holding my rhythm. A little further on and there were only 3 riders left in the hunt. Griff had a 20 metre gap to me and Andrew (on his new bike) was another 20 metres or so adrift. I hadn't given Andrew's new bike a good look, but I knew he usually rode with a compact crank and the steepness of the climb would definitely be playing to his advantage. However I also knew that the gradient drops off a little in the last 500m and if he hadn't passed me before that, I would be too strong once his advantage had disappeared. By the time we reached the slightly less steep section, Griff's lead was closer to 50m. I started applying the power, but so was Griff. At least I was holding off Andrew. In the last 100m Griff appeared to be struggling and I was closing the gap quickly, but the finish line appeared too soon and Griff took the KOM (4 points). Speaking to him later, he said he eased off once he realised I was too far behind to catch him. I took second (2 points) and Andrew took 3rd (1 point) with a large gap to fourth place.

The Arthur's Seat Strava segment I usually look at starts at the gate which is before the Carpark. Having waited several minutes, this segment was not going to reflect my actual climbing time, but luckily there are numerous other segments for the climb, some which start after the carpark. Despite feeling absolute crap after my Oliver's and Balcombe Hill efforts, I recorded my fastest Strava time up Oliver's Hill. I don't know if this is my fastest time ever, because I only have 4 attempts (out of about 20) recorded on Strava.

With three 2nd places and a 3rd I was now leading the King of the Mountains classification. However with 4 points for 1st place, a win for Griff, Clint or the Mystery Rider on the last KOM would take the title off me.

The plan was for everyone to ride to Mornington and re-group at Main St. Being well ahead of most people up the climb had its advantages, because I could slowly cruise the 20km into Mornington. The Mt Martha twisties along the Esplanade is one of my favourite cycling roads and I usually ride this section as fast as I can. On this occasional I crept along putting in just enough effort to get myself up each of the hills (the headwind didn't help).

The ride back down Arthur's Seat was quite slippery from overnight rain. I rode down very slowly as I offered encouragement to those still climbing. Unfortunately Hayley (one of the star Triathletes in the club) had a fairly bad crash on one of the corners and ended up in Frankston Hospital. I believe she is fine now, but will probably need to buy a new helmet. Mick also crashed on the decent (last corner), but survived the incident with only a few scrapes and bruises.

After a short wait at Mornington we headed towards the last KOM of the ride - Beleura Hill. At only 800m long it is a very short hill, but it has a nasty pinch in the middle that must be around 20% gradient. As we headed off, Darren started to pull a gap on the rest of the field so I immediately rode up to his wheel. He didn't seem to be going very fast, but I wanted to conserve as much energy as I could before I hit the steepest section. I kept waiting for him to launch an attack, but I suspect he was never really intending to contest the KOM and was just riding tempo as the easiest way to ascend the hill. I couldn't wait any longer and eventually had to make the jump. I had a gap to the group but nowhere near as big as I would have liked. As I hit the pinch I changed down gears to try and spin up, but this is when both Griff and Andrew charged out of the pack. I sprinted up the steep pinch as fast as I could, but in hindsight I should have been in a harder gear. Griff took the lead as we turned the corner and I jumped onto his wheel. He was unable to pull a gap on me, but I was also unable to pass. So Griff got another KOM (4 points), I got yet another 2nd place (2 points) and Andrew came 3rd (1 point). According the Strava, this was my 2nd best effort up Beleura Hill.

With his win on the final climb Griff pipped me for the King of the Mountain title with a total of 8 points, I came 2nd (7 points) with Clint, the Mystery Rider and Andrew all on 4 points in equal 3rd.

The next 15kms back to Frankston was a major struggle, however I wasn't alone. The main peleton was a fraction of its original size with lots of riders having hit the wall. The rest of us were limping back at a very leisurely pace. Halfway back, Clint caught up to Young Martin and myself and signalled for us to sit on his wheel as he gave us a draft back (it was headwind all the way to Frankston). We were flying along when we caught up to James and Leah. I had to laugh when he gave the same drafting signal to them. This was Leah's first real group ride so I imagine she would be feeling absolutely shattered by this stage and Clint was suggesting she jump on our wheel as we sped past down a hill at over 50kph.

We regrouped at the Frankston BP service station before heading off again. The next Sprint starts just after the BP and the lead group managed to get the jump on the rest of us out of the service station. I sat on Clint's wheel as he tried to close the gap, but we didn't catch back up until after the Sprint had finished. Completely disinterested by this stage, I have no idea who won.

At this point we were less than 5km from my home as I was completely spent. Clint had earlier asked me if I was going to continue to the finish at which time I said 'depends how I feel'. Well now I knew exactly how I felt and I was definitely dropping out.

Overall I was a bit disappointed not to take out the King of the Mountains. But looking at my Strava results, they weren't too bad. And I've never been in this kind of form in August/September before. So I'm not at my peak, but I'm not too far off it either.