Posts Tagged events

4 results.
Jun15

All the wrong kinds of racing

by HYG on June 15, 2012 at 23:08
Posted In: Cycling, Cyclocross

The journey to get to DDCX began at around 4pm.

I raced home from the office.

… Then raced around the house getting ready and stuffing down some dinner.

… Like a swift CX style remount, I tossed my bike up on to its place on the roof of my car.

… And I started to race (at a very legal speed) along the freeway.

… Spitting me out on Alexandra Parade, which can never be described as anything even remotely related to racing (unless you’re talking about racing towards a slow death from inhaling toxic fumes while stuck in a gridlock).

… With time ticking down, I whipped around the perimeter of the velodrome towards the rego desk, where I a line of ~10 people.

Not to matter, I was there and it was well before the 7:00pm start of racing.

10 people, 9, 8, 7…

Then came the announcement “CX class is old out”

WHAT?!?!?!

Not to matter, I’ll race in Open.

6, 5, 4… “Open is now also sold out”

~~*BLEEP*~~

After all of that?

*sigh*

Oh well, at least I had my camera with me to keep me entertained.

More photos…

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May06

Huff and puff – pre-race… nerves?

by HYG on May 6, 2012 at 07:10
Posted In: Events, Running

So it’s now the morning of the Puffing Billy Train race and I’m sitting here waiting to catch a train (a metro one so that I can get to the start line).

The last 12 hours leading up to this event has been rather challenging for me. No, no, it’s not pre-race nerves. I’m not taking this THAT seriously. It’s just that I’ve got myself into a bit of a fuddle regarding clothing.

Now when I’m on the bike, I can generally check the weather, look outside and know precisely what I’m going to wear for a certain ride. On the other hand, with running, having only been doing it properly for a few months, I have absolutely no idea what to wear for the colder times of the year. Not only that, I have absolutely no idea what to wear for a colder event, which I intend on running quite hard.

I think it comes from the fact that I generally am quite bad at running, so I’m pretty precious about not being too cold, as well as not overheating. On the bike, I can generally fake my way through most rides in the odd event that I’m not properly attired.

Running on the other hand… well… things need to be perfect.

Hope this works out…

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Mar29

Huff and puff

by HYG on March 29, 2012 at 22:29
Posted In: Events, Running

So it seems that in a moment of insanity, I’ve signed up to do the Puffing Billy Great Train Race. That’s right… no wheels… no gears… a foot race.

Now I’m under no illusions about actually beating the train, given that it apparently completes the course in just over 50 minutes, but I do intend on trying to set a decent time.

Now I’m largely unconcerned about the distance I already know that I can do the distance, but there is one thing that is playing on my mind.

The hills…

Well no… it’s actually the first hill… the downhill part.

An interesting aspect of the PB run is that it actually starts on a downhill and quite a substantial one at that. Like most people, I really enjoy the feeling of blasting effortlessly down a hill, but the fact that this long and steep downhill is so early in the run absolutely terrifies me. That’s because I’m in the fourth and last group to start.

The slow group.
The newbies.
The plodders.
The over-reachers.

Now I don’t resent the fact that I’ve been classified in this group because I’ve only been running seriously for about a month and I’m not that quick, but I am expecting chaos. I’ve been at the start line of a few too many mass participation sports events and I know that there are always people taking things a little bit too seriously at the blunt end of the field. And that’s when the accidents happen.

The thought of someone stepping on me as we head down the down the first hill scares me. Heck, the thought of someone taking a spill and subsequently wiping me out scares me.

I really hope nothing happens…

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Oct16

Much harder than it looks

by HYG on October 16, 2011 at 22:00
Posted In: Cycling, Road

Today Korea and I tackled the 50km option as part of the Around the Bay in a Day rides. Sure, a 50km ride is actually LESS distance than I will do when I’m commuting. Also, being the Western suburbs, it won’t actually involve climbing Col d’Barkers Road or any of the other eastern suburb climbs.


 Start line chaos

I mean really…

How hard could it be?

Well… as it turns out… very.

Firstly, rather than doing the ride on my road bike, for comfort purposes, I actually rode the Surly. Gearing that’s much more friendly to slower riding and a generally more comfortable position. Of course, it comes with the added “benefit” of 1.5kg of tyres to spin up and a chunky steel MTB frame.

Okay, sure, Lance did say “it’s not about the bike”, but really, it makes quite a big difference when you’re battling 50km/hr headwinds and getting the top layer of your skin stripped off by the sand blowing in off the beach.


 Battling the headwinds through Williamstown

But you know what makes the 50km ride PARTICULARLY difficult in these circumstances?

It’s the complete absence of bunches. I mean there’s abolutely no organisation in the peleton on this ride. The guy on the 20 year old MTB will BURN past you on the flats only to be defeated by the rail overpass, when the older gent on the 6 speed road bike makes his move, only to be hauled in by mum on her hybrid, but not before the three girls on Kmart bikes go for the line.

It’s truly, TRULY terrifying.

And actually VERY hard work.
 
 
 
Meanwhile, Korea had an excellent ride – 70km over the course of the day, which I believe is actually her longest ride ever. Not only that, she quite wisely found a good, clean wheel to follow on both ascents of the Westgate, with the very swirly winds.

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