Tuesday 17 December 2013

2014 BWA 3 and 5 Dams Challenge

Many of you out there in bicycle land ride your bike for many different reasons including commuting to and from work, recreation, health and fitness and some of us are crazy enough to go out there and belt out a race or two. There are also those who love a good challenge and for the last couple of years, Bicycling Western Australia has played host to what has since become a world class event to challenge riders of all capability and interest levels.

The BWA 3 and 5 Dams Challenge is a mass participation event being held on Sunday, April 6th 2014, taking riders through the scenic Perth Hills and taking in up to 5 of the region's reservoirs offering a choice of 150 kilometres or 255 kilometres including up to 2,000 metres of vertical climbing.

Monday 16 December 2013

WCMCC Kewdale Criterium - A Grade :: 15th December, 2013

Well yesterday was certainly one of those not so welcome introductions to racing in Perth's summer heat with on-road temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius. Anyone who raced yesterday, either at Kewdale (WCMCC) or Technology Park (RCCC Summer Crit Series), would've been feeling the heat directly from the Sun and radiating from the road. I think the best thing to do was to keep well hydrated and just keep moving to generate enough air movement past the body to help cool you down. For me, my frustration with this summer's crit series continues with yet another chance gone begging and I only have myself to blame for it.

Monday 25 November 2013

WCMCC Rockingham Criterium - A Grade :: 24th November, 2013

I love the Rockingham Criterium course. It's flat as a pan but still technical enough to keep things interesting. The roads are smooth and wide enough to take a reasonable sized peloton and when the wind blows, it can inflict some pretty serious suffering on smaller groups. I hadn't been down to the Rockingham course since March this year for the WCMCC Age Division Criterium Champs and was looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with the course. As I was swinging by to pick up AP on the way down, I knew that I would have at least one team mate with me and we were pretty sure Pat would be making his way down also ... although we didn't know he was already on his way making the trek down on his Tarmac.

Tuesday 19 November 2013

WCMCC Kewdale Criterium - A Grade :: 17th November, 2013

With just a week since the Tour of Margaret River and a hard week of training, my decision to race today was very much last minute. With most of the Unicorn-Specialized team down at a training camp in Busselton or, in the case of the Fox, taking a break from racing, I wasn't sure if I would be a sole representative of the team so I went with that expectation. Additionally, not having been able to get out for my usual Saturday morning ride, I jumped on the bike early this morning with Simon Verona to get some kilometres in for a warm up before heading to Kewdale for the event. This was probably not the best preparation for a race but at least I would get some race practise in.

Monday 7 October 2013

WCMCC Neerabup Road Race - A Grade :: 6th October, 2013

Welcome back to Neerabup ... and its mad wind! Personally, there was a bit of a monkey on my back in regard to Neerabup with the past two event there seeing me register a DNF. The first one was due to a timing mistake with energy intake (see race report from June 1st, 2013 here) while the second one was just a howler of a windy day where I simply didn't have what was needed on the day. It wasn't even worth the write up. But I was determined to shake the monkey today and make sure I was still on the bike at the end of the last lap - hopefully with enough left to be a little competitive.

Saturday 21 September 2013

The Best of Specialized's S-Works - Tarmac SL4 and Venge

The day of impending change had arrived yesterday and the switch to the new S-Works Tarmac SL4 was made down at Ride Advice and I picked her up just in time for this morning's group ride around the river. There was a mixed level of anxiousness and reluctance with the change as I had just been re-tweaking the Specialized S-Works Venge and she had been performing so well since last Sunday's Age Division Champs at Chidlow, but I was still incredibly keen to feel the differences between the Venge that I had been riding for the last 18 months and this new Tarmac SL4.