1st place for me and my mixed 4's team, unfortunately we were the only team of that kind so cant take any credit for 1st place there.
Awesome course except for the killer hill I now know is also known as heartbreak hill and for good reason, was a toughy, didn't make it up it once but I was not the only one doing the walk of shame so dont feel too bad about it. The course had some pretty tough downhill sections that I have no doubt that if I were still riding my shitty GT I would never had made it down or perhaps would have but would have done it by going over the bars that's for sure, the new bike handles so well, it's amazing the difference it has made, my times were 8 minutes slower than the riders I am usually 15 minutes slower than so I guess if I look at it that way I am 7 minutes faster based on the new bike and I guess the training on the roadie can take some credit for it too.
So the day started off with me rocking up to the race with the new bike to show off to anyone that wanted to see it or otherwise, nobody had any choice in the matter really, I was like a proud parent showing off a new bub, so anyway first pit stop was Duncan, Dave and Rowan, Duncan felt my tire and it was pretty much dead flat and in true Kat style I had no idea about it until he pointed it out, dropped the bike off to Mick and pointed out my flat tyre and pretty much left him to it, I am so spoilt, whenever Croydon Cycleworks have the tent there I don't have to worry about anything, just rock up and race, Mick always makes sure my bike is ready to go, I can do what I do best, socialise, but there was a race on and I was very serious today and wanted to do really well on the new bike, my team consisted of Nick, Jamie Tom and myself, the guys quickly decided that I should do the first lap, yeah thanks guys! this meant that I would probably end up doing the most laps, as it turned out lap times were pretty quick and we all managed 3 laps for the day, so we take off at the start line and head up the fire trail to the first little pinch climb and here we have a huge traffic jam, very slow going here, up the climb and in to a fast downhill section followed another climb back up past the car park and down to a very step downhill run, there are alot of people watching so didn't even hesitate and hit it as fast as I could, was a bit scary but was so stoked that I made it down, my other bike would have not got me down it or might have but would have not pulled me up on the end of it that's for sure, gotta love disk brakes! After here it was off in to some sweet singletrack and that killer climb, first lap here I nearly threw up, I had a conversation with a friend the night before and his voice was in my head the whole time just telling me to go hard, so I pushed as hard as I could until it was just too steep for my wimpy legs and my lungs were just about bursting, I jumped off and walked along with the 20 other riders that were just ahead of me nearly throwing up just trying to breathe, after this section it was on to a fire trail along the dam wall and on to a very sketchy downhill bit, no point trying to do this bit half arsed, just hit Iit and hung on managing to stay upright over the loose rocks down through some more sweet singletrack and over some tough pinch climbs on to another couple of killer hills and then to my favourite part of the track, not too sure if it is so good cos you know you just have to finish this downhill bit then have one last little climb to the finish or if it really is that enjoyable,anyway it is a really fast flowy downhill section with a few little jumps and a whole lotta fun! I completed my first lap in about 38 minutes, not very fast but great for me considering I would usually be about 45 minutes on a track like that, hard to compare as I have not ridden that exact course but just know from what I would usually do compared to the others.
I had a great day and not one crash for the day, would have to be a first for me, although I had a few close calls that really would have hurt had I not managed to keep it together, I loved the course and my teammates were alot of fun, we have a new member to the Croydon Cycleworks team, Jenni King raced in a mixed pair with the very fast Brett Henderson, together they came away with the top spot for today and an awesome effort on both the parts to do as many laps as they did on that course and as quick as they did it.
The day ended with me being roped in to being the trophy giver outer at presentations, not exactly my style but helped out none the less, relaxing at home now before my first day at my new job tomorrow, after having 2 weeks off I am not at all excited about my new job, would love another 2 off! 2 weeks of shopping too so there are some big decisions to be made tonight, what to wear, what to wear????
Well that's enough of my ramblings for one night.
Thankyou's for today
Croydon Cycleworks, Mick Jamison for all his help, my team mates Nick, Jamie and Tom oh and Steve Clausen for letting me take his brand spanking new titanium Baum bike for a spin, very nice bike indeed, although not as good as the Trek Elite 9.7 of course :)
Until next time Happy Biking
Kat
Awesome course except for the killer hill I now know is also known as heartbreak hill and for good reason, was a toughy, didn't make it up it once but I was not the only one doing the walk of shame so dont feel too bad about it. The course had some pretty tough downhill sections that I have no doubt that if I were still riding my shitty GT I would never had made it down or perhaps would have but would have done it by going over the bars that's for sure, the new bike handles so well, it's amazing the difference it has made, my times were 8 minutes slower than the riders I am usually 15 minutes slower than so I guess if I look at it that way I am 7 minutes faster based on the new bike and I guess the training on the roadie can take some credit for it too.
So the day started off with me rocking up to the race with the new bike to show off to anyone that wanted to see it or otherwise, nobody had any choice in the matter really, I was like a proud parent showing off a new bub, so anyway first pit stop was Duncan, Dave and Rowan, Duncan felt my tire and it was pretty much dead flat and in true Kat style I had no idea about it until he pointed it out, dropped the bike off to Mick and pointed out my flat tyre and pretty much left him to it, I am so spoilt, whenever Croydon Cycleworks have the tent there I don't have to worry about anything, just rock up and race, Mick always makes sure my bike is ready to go, I can do what I do best, socialise, but there was a race on and I was very serious today and wanted to do really well on the new bike, my team consisted of Nick, Jamie Tom and myself, the guys quickly decided that I should do the first lap, yeah thanks guys! this meant that I would probably end up doing the most laps, as it turned out lap times were pretty quick and we all managed 3 laps for the day, so we take off at the start line and head up the fire trail to the first little pinch climb and here we have a huge traffic jam, very slow going here, up the climb and in to a fast downhill section followed another climb back up past the car park and down to a very step downhill run, there are alot of people watching so didn't even hesitate and hit it as fast as I could, was a bit scary but was so stoked that I made it down, my other bike would have not got me down it or might have but would have not pulled me up on the end of it that's for sure, gotta love disk brakes! After here it was off in to some sweet singletrack and that killer climb, first lap here I nearly threw up, I had a conversation with a friend the night before and his voice was in my head the whole time just telling me to go hard, so I pushed as hard as I could until it was just too steep for my wimpy legs and my lungs were just about bursting, I jumped off and walked along with the 20 other riders that were just ahead of me nearly throwing up just trying to breathe, after this section it was on to a fire trail along the dam wall and on to a very sketchy downhill bit, no point trying to do this bit half arsed, just hit Iit and hung on managing to stay upright over the loose rocks down through some more sweet singletrack and over some tough pinch climbs on to another couple of killer hills and then to my favourite part of the track, not too sure if it is so good cos you know you just have to finish this downhill bit then have one last little climb to the finish or if it really is that enjoyable,anyway it is a really fast flowy downhill section with a few little jumps and a whole lotta fun! I completed my first lap in about 38 minutes, not very fast but great for me considering I would usually be about 45 minutes on a track like that, hard to compare as I have not ridden that exact course but just know from what I would usually do compared to the others.
I had a great day and not one crash for the day, would have to be a first for me, although I had a few close calls that really would have hurt had I not managed to keep it together, I loved the course and my teammates were alot of fun, we have a new member to the Croydon Cycleworks team, Jenni King raced in a mixed pair with the very fast Brett Henderson, together they came away with the top spot for today and an awesome effort on both the parts to do as many laps as they did on that course and as quick as they did it.
The day ended with me being roped in to being the trophy giver outer at presentations, not exactly my style but helped out none the less, relaxing at home now before my first day at my new job tomorrow, after having 2 weeks off I am not at all excited about my new job, would love another 2 off! 2 weeks of shopping too so there are some big decisions to be made tonight, what to wear, what to wear????
Well that's enough of my ramblings for one night.
Thankyou's for today
Croydon Cycleworks, Mick Jamison for all his help, my team mates Nick, Jamie and Tom oh and Steve Clausen for letting me take his brand spanking new titanium Baum bike for a spin, very nice bike indeed, although not as good as the Trek Elite 9.7 of course :)
Until next time Happy Biking
Kat
1 comment:
Great work, not an easy track to ride on. I had enough trouble just walking up and down the track watching, so yeah good work staying upright the whole race. Shame I didn't hang around to watch the presentation, had to do a runner due to work emergency, would have been good to see your team on the podium. Congrats on the first team victory.
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