D
DeF
Guest
Hello Fellow Wheelers.
Got back from Adelaide yesterday after two weeks of cycling
focussed holiday. Got to see lots of TdU and did a couple of
races myself. The Adelaide hills are a fantastic place to ride
a bike. Of course, I'm biased as I grew up there. Saw lots of
riders.
The TdU is very easy to follow. The crowds were pretty small,
even the last stage in Adelaide (a crit which finishes opposite
the festival centre) was lightly attended. We got a viewing
position right by the finish line. Lots of good viewing places
throughout the hills - a good day out on the bike to follow
the race.
My two races: First, a criterium in Anguston in the Barossa. I
got put in too higher grade (by about two grades) and got
dropped after 1.5 laps. There was a *very* nasty hill on the
circuit that killed me. I lasted about 25 minutes before getting
lapped. I dropped out and saved myself for the 35km ride to
Mt Pleasant where my lift home was waiting for me.
Second, was much more "fun". 56km handicap circuit from
Yankalilla. I was sent off in the middle of the field with
about 15 other riders. On the first flat section of the course,
we straight away got into a nice roll-over doing around 42-45.
This lasted for about 10kms when the hills started. This is where
we caught the first of the riders that where sent of before us. They
called out things like "well, that's us gone, good luck fellahs".
If I could speak, I would have said thanks. These small
hills sorted out the group which broke up a bit but I managed
to stay with the leaders (down to around 8 riders). Then we
hit the real hill - about 5km of up and the day was heating up.
All formation and rhythm was gone - it was each rider against
the hill. My heart rate shot up to 175bpm and stayed there for
longer that I thought it could. After that, I got into a bit
of rhythm along the top of the range. Picked up a few "passengers"
as I passed them. Managed to latch onto a couple of faster
groups but sometimes got dropped up the hills. Towards the end,
there was a very steep descent (a rider at the start who had
driven the course the previous day warned me about it). I hit
81.3kph down this hill. A couple more undulations and we're
back to the start - ride time 1:43, average speed 33kph. I
finished about 10 minutes behind the winner (I think) in the
second of two large groups. I was utterly stuffed, the hardest
ride I've done. My legs were pretty sore for a day or two - not
something that usually happens, even for the TTs or crits I've done.
Obviously I'm not trying hard enough. Maybe next year.
Cheers,
Duncan.
--
e-mail: [email protected]
To reply, you'll have to remove finger.
Got back from Adelaide yesterday after two weeks of cycling
focussed holiday. Got to see lots of TdU and did a couple of
races myself. The Adelaide hills are a fantastic place to ride
a bike. Of course, I'm biased as I grew up there. Saw lots of
riders.
The TdU is very easy to follow. The crowds were pretty small,
even the last stage in Adelaide (a crit which finishes opposite
the festival centre) was lightly attended. We got a viewing
position right by the finish line. Lots of good viewing places
throughout the hills - a good day out on the bike to follow
the race.
My two races: First, a criterium in Anguston in the Barossa. I
got put in too higher grade (by about two grades) and got
dropped after 1.5 laps. There was a *very* nasty hill on the
circuit that killed me. I lasted about 25 minutes before getting
lapped. I dropped out and saved myself for the 35km ride to
Mt Pleasant where my lift home was waiting for me.
Second, was much more "fun". 56km handicap circuit from
Yankalilla. I was sent off in the middle of the field with
about 15 other riders. On the first flat section of the course,
we straight away got into a nice roll-over doing around 42-45.
This lasted for about 10kms when the hills started. This is where
we caught the first of the riders that where sent of before us. They
called out things like "well, that's us gone, good luck fellahs".
If I could speak, I would have said thanks. These small
hills sorted out the group which broke up a bit but I managed
to stay with the leaders (down to around 8 riders). Then we
hit the real hill - about 5km of up and the day was heating up.
All formation and rhythm was gone - it was each rider against
the hill. My heart rate shot up to 175bpm and stayed there for
longer that I thought it could. After that, I got into a bit
of rhythm along the top of the range. Picked up a few "passengers"
as I passed them. Managed to latch onto a couple of faster
groups but sometimes got dropped up the hills. Towards the end,
there was a very steep descent (a rider at the start who had
driven the course the previous day warned me about it). I hit
81.3kph down this hill. A couple more undulations and we're
back to the start - ride time 1:43, average speed 33kph. I
finished about 10 minutes behind the winner (I think) in the
second of two large groups. I was utterly stuffed, the hardest
ride I've done. My legs were pretty sore for a day or two - not
something that usually happens, even for the TTs or crits I've done.
Obviously I'm not trying hard enough. Maybe next year.
Cheers,
Duncan.
--
e-mail: [email protected]
To reply, you'll have to remove finger.
