Candace rides.

My New Wheels Rule.

2009-02-08T17:23:00.006+13:00

After much envious perving of bikes and their bits at race starts, a couple of months ago I decided it was high time my bike got some new wheels. The stock wheelset that came with my bike have proven to be more than durable and have endured countless encounters with potholes and inadvertent offroad excursions, but they certainly aren't anything special in terms of lightness and aerodynamics.

After a bit of net research and some sweet advice from the GCs on Vorb, I decided on some American Classic 420's. I read a lot of reviews and the only faults I could see were issues with riders 70kg+ (the rim lightness has to mean a compromise somewhere!) and comments on inadequate braking surface. At 55 kg and with an increasingly blasé attitude toward my personal safety when it comes to the exhilaration of caning down hills, I figured they were just about perfect for what I wanted - something light for climbing but which would also help me roll faster for longer on the flats and in bunch riding.

They are by far the lightest alloy set (1440g) within their price bracket (~$1000) and with a 34 mm deep rim are much more aero than what I'm accustomed to - but certainly not deep enough to be much of a burden in cross winds.

My maiden ride with them (along with a shiny new chain and cassette) was pretty fragile to say the least, I was climbing pretty gingerly and freaking out at the spokes intermittently pinging (that settled down after the first 2 kms of climbing) upon standing. After 3 laps up and down Reid Road I decided this nervousness was all a bit silly, so I pumped up the decibels on my iPod to drown out any potentially disconcerting clunks and creaks and pings and hauled up the hill and caned down a couple more times and much more recklessly.

That weekend I rode over the course for the Wild West Mountain Cycle Challenge in west Auckland which I am doing next week. I was very pleased with how they felt. I also took them up a lap of Mountain Road, a notorious mother fuck of a hill to climb with portions gracing a grade upward of 17%. I figured if the front wheel can endure that, with as much of my weight as could be possible laboured onto the front half of my bike, then they must be fine.

They have now endured about 1000 kms and a few gnarly potholes with no apparent detrimental effect so my qualms about their fragility have largely been quashed.
The most notable improvements I have found are how much more 'responsive' they feel, especially accelerating out of corners and on pinch climbs, as well as an obvious increase in speed along long flat roads.

Most importantly, they look killer. And I was certainly not oblivious to the riders perving on my hot steed at the last event I did. So yeah, I'm pretty stoked with my new wheels!

Waka-Roc Twin Dams 2009

2009-02-06T18:59:00.005+13:00

125 km | Putaruru and surrounding area
www.wakaroc.co.nz/pagefiles/twindams.html
Time: pending
Category Placing: pending

This was.. interesting. Actually it sucked. The course itself was pretty nice, but me, I sucked.

A spur of the moment decision last night saw me dressing up my wheels in a pair of hardly used Michelin Pro Race tyres. It wasn't till I was doing some last minute embedded glass checking before the race that I noticed a 6-7 mm slash in the front tyre. Faaarrrk! I hastily whipped off the tyre and patched the offending spot with a Park Tool adhesive tube patch on the inside of the tyre, just for safety's sake.

But the tyres ended up being the least of my problems. In fact they roll pretty nice. I think I'm going to use them more often.

So the riding.. The race split into 2 bunches at about the 25 km mark. I was in the second bunch but fairly confident of catching up with a lot of the riders ahead once we got to 'the hills' (which, by the way, were not what they should be according to mapmyride.com. Lies, lies, lies!). As it was, that never happened, but I think there were only one, or two at the most, girls who didn't get dropped from that front bunch.

I rode with mostly the same bunch up until a cluster of small hills that I couldn't resist having some fun on and as per usual left the rest of the bunch somewhere 'back there'. After that I rode solo till I caught up with two girls on another hill and on the descending side we were caught by my old bunch and a couple of other girls who I had passed on the hills earlier. I stayed with them up until the biggest hill of the day (which isn't that big, maybe 2km max albeit quite steep) where I couldn't help but just go (a lot) faster up it. I had it in the back of my mind that I'd go up at the same pace as the bunch but I was finding it much, much harder to go slow and not have any rhythm in my legs, or something!

I managed to keep that group of riders at bay for a lot longer than I had anticipated. It was about this point (I have no idea where I was, it must have been somewhere between 70-90 km) I realised there was no way I was going to be able to comfortably ration the remaining 750ml bottle of fluid I had left (there was no water stops anywhere on the course). I was reluctant to eat anything for fear of further dehydrating myself. Those 2 things were I guess the reason everything went downhill from that point on...

One minute I was feeling pretty damn good at my stellar (possible delusional term of word) breakaway on that hill, the next I was lethargically churning the pedals just to keep from stopping. And not sweating. That freaked me out a bit. After that point, and to the end of the race, things just slowed, and slowed, and slowed. I got passed by what felt like everyone (but lucky for my ego wasn't) and could not think straight at all to the point where I was actually having immense difficulty calculating how many km's to go..! I have pretty much no recollection of the last 20kms, apart from three elite riders who yelled at me for not being far enough left and and salivating at the sight of an old, half full water bottle on the side of the road in my glue-mouth dehydrated state. Fun times.

So yeah. That's the gist of that. Pretty disappointing really. Much hateful vibes toward useless body parts right now. My speedo post-ride reads an average speed of 30 km/h which isn't too bad but could have been so much better! I've never bonked so radically and as spontaneously as that. I don't really know what went so drastically wrong because I've had worse days, much worse days, nutrition/water wise.

One cool thing, post race some riders who were in my bunches told me I was superwoman on the hills and one guy said he'd never seen anyone climb like that. That was a bit rad.. if only my efforts weren't inevitably futile!

Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge 2008

2008-11-29T22:36:00.000+13:00

160 km / Around Lake Taupo
www.cyclechallenge.com
Time: 5:14:46
Category Placing: 41st

Well it’s done and dusted – and I’ve got the best tan lines to prove it!

I was feeling pretty confident going into this race, mainly because having done it last year I knew a bit better what to expect in terms or terrain and pacing myself.

The ordeal really began the Thursday prior, when I hauled myself out of bed at 4.30am and went for an AM ride. Repeat Friday, but minus the ride. I was attempting to adjust my sleeping patterns to make that somewhat elusive sleeping thing easier on Friday night, and getting up at 3am on Saturday to drive to Taupo less of a stress.

Unfortunately it didn’t go quite to plan and I failed to get any sleep at all on Friday so I drove to Taupo on Saturday morning without having slept since 4am Friday. This is exactly what happened last year – next year I won’t be such a cheap-skate and I’ll pay for accommodation in Taupo!

After a 30 min warm up I got into place at the starting gate. I was starting in group 4 which is for estimated finish times of 5.00 to 5.30. My secret goal was sub 5.00 but I assumed that was a bit of a pipe dream – for this year – and I was aiming for under 5.30.

I was running my beloved Schwalbe Stelvio tyres. These tyres are so good – really smooth and fast and beautiful to ride and they handle great on corners, but they also have good puncture resistance which in a long race on less-than-perfect terrain is essential for my mental peace of mind.

The race started at a fairly easy pace; I assumed everyone was being semi cautious at this point with so many riders clustered together. It all felt a little too easy though, so I broke away from my initial bunch in the first 10 kms and rode up till I found a slightly faster group to ride in, but it was a big group, maybe 100 or so riders after a while of picking up stragglers. Being anywhere other than the front of a 50+ bunch is a big lose. You get bombarded with too many surges and irrational riders swerving all over the show. I was amazed at the lack of self-awareness or consideration by many riders - not keeping their line, randomly without warning standing up to stretch and simultaneously decelerating. It's hard and takes a lot of mental concentration when you have no trust in the wheel a few inches in front of you.

Things were going pretty smoothly in the bunch until the first little incline which must be about 100 m or so. I climbed the hill at about double speed as most in my group and kicked up my pace a bit on and over the crest to catch another much smaller bunch I could see up ahead.

Kuratau, the longest hill of the ride, at about the 80km mark, was awesome fun. I remember this hill being utter hell last year so I had consciously paced myself a bit prior to approaching it. No worries at all this year though – legs were still feeling pretty fresh so I do what I know I can now do proficiently and charged up the hill passing at least 100 or so riders (or basically everyone on the hill!) without really exerting myself. Man I am loving hills right now! This might sound stink but I get huge satisfaction/motivation from effortlessly passing riders on hills when I can see they are hurting.. heh heh.

I had a few riders along the way comment on my hill climbing technique and speed which is pretty cool – my daily laps up Reid Road and weekend excursions over the Kaimai hills are really paying dividends now! I've worked hard on my technique too, so it's certainly deserved. It was pretty frustrating how some riders were situated on the road on the climbs - riders of the same slow pace taking up the whole breadth of the road and making it an obstacle course for the likes of myself and other hill demons to get past..

After Kuratau is a 40 km flat section. I had anticipated this to be the hardest part of the course for me because I often struggle to keep good pace over flat terrain for long periods. I initially passed a lot of riders that were going a lot slower (20-25 km/h) but eventually hooked onto a sole rider who was going about 30. I sat on his wheel for a bit then we alternated and took turns on the front. Our little bunch eventually grew to about 20 riders by the time we got to just before Hatepe. It was a really functional group with numerous riders taking turns up front. I was still feeling reasonably fresh and I would have really liked to have pushed the pace a bit more with this group. We were going about 30-35 where we could have been doing 35-40 km/h. I could see my pipe-dream of sub 5 drifting into the ether. I tried a couple of times when I went to the front to push the pace a bit but no-one seemed keen to reciprocate. I figured it was safer to stay in the bunch though, there was a bit of a head wind at this point and I was not confident I could sustain a faster pace solo for the duration required.

A few km’s from Hatepe hill the bunch started to splinter and about four or five of us broke off the front – finally (I assume these riders were playing the same safe card tactic as I was)!

Hatepe was cool, I stood up and sprinted for most of the hill (my last chance to shine for the day). I remember thinking near the top, "How I am still feeling so fresh? I should be feeling toasted by now". At the top of Hatepe I started feeling a bit angry about the whole thing and I really picked up my pace and pretty much went as hard out as I could (Hatepe is the last hill and is about 15 km to the finish line). Halfway down the decent I got caught by about 5 riders who were in my last bunch and we rode together until the last km where everyone splintered and made a mad dash to the finish (I think I was about mid pack).

Overall it was a pretty good ride with no mechanical or hydration issues – despite the scorching 30+ heat. I’m a little (a lot) gutted I didn’t do sub 5. In retrospect I think I was certainly capable of starting with the wave ahead of me (group 3). The pace of the riders around me just wasn’t blistering enough a lot of the time – it felt more like a training ride than a race at times and I still had a decent amount left in the tank come finish. But at the end of the day I still think I made the right move by staying with slightly slower riders rather than initiating a big hero solo effort though.

Scott Cycle For Life 2008

2008-11-09T22:34:00.000+13:00

100 km / Clevedon and surrounding area
www.cycleforlife.co.nz
Time: 3:43:36
Category Place: 1st.

This was a fun little race. It coincided with the more prominent Lake Rotorua race and that's basically the only reason I won my category (but let's not get caught up on small details).

I felt exceptionally mud in the first 20 km, despite a 45 min warm up prior. I got dropped from the leading bunch and didn't put in much effort to catch up; I just lacked the motivation today. I'm a little vague of the route the course but we went up around the Maraetai/Beachlands coast and back through Whitford/Brookby, then out to Hunua and up Ponga Road hill back through to Clevedon (or something like that).

After riding solo for quite sometime I was caught by a few riders out along the Maraetai beach coast and I managed to stay with them. There was a 200 m or so hill in Brookby (I think) that I made some gains on and at this point started to meet up with a lot of riders who must have also been dropped from my first bunch. I stated to find my legs after the hill and picked up the pace somewhat.

There was a long flat/undulating section from about the 40-60 km mark and one other rider and myself slowly combined and reeled in riders to form a bunch of about 30 or so. For at least the first 15 km it was just myself and the other initial rider taking turns at the front. Far out, some people are lazy! Sitting on their laurels at the back of the bunch - it really grates my nerves to be honest! After about 15 km and after been on the front for about 10 minutes (a stupid time for a group this size!) I peeled to the right and slowed down to allow the bunch to pass me and slip into the back. I figured I've well and truly done my time! I suspect a lot of these riders don't regularly ride in bunches or have much experience as there was minimal communication (via hand signalling) of obstacles etc and the bunch was less than considerate of cars trying to get past. I wanted to start yelling, "CAR! LEFT!" etc but I didn't. In retrospect I feel like an idiot for being so passive. Sometimes I get scared of been perceived as condescending in these instances since a lot of riders are so much older than me.

Anyway, notable hill of the day is Ponga Road - this is a bloody gem; I can't wait to get to Auckland and ride it again! I think it was about 3 km but with quite a steep grade in parts. It's a semi-rural residential road so there is minimal traffic too.

As always, I passed lots of riders, stragglers and otherwise, on the hill. As this point, with 10 km to go, I started wondering how far up the front I was - in terms of female riders. I knew a few would have been doing the shorter 70 km ride which peeled off of the 100 km route and I knew I had gone quite far ahead of all the girls who were in my previous bunch on the flats. And I knew none had passed me. It was hardly a very fast ride by my standards so I didn't let myself speculate.

Got to the finish happy to have to not needed to stop at any point or have any mechanical issues.

I think I'll do this ride again next year, I really like the route - I love cycling around Clevedon and out to Kawa Kawa Bay/Okere Point and beyond. It holds special nostalgic meaning for me too, being the area I rode when I conquered my first 100 km ride which is only just over a year ago! I feel pretty stoked to have come along way since then! Not only in terms of speed and power, but also stamina - I remember feeling absolutely shattered after that first long ride and required a very long sleep immediately after. Now it's more like a standard morning exursion to me! It's all being good fun :)

K2 2008

2008-11-01T21:32:00.000+13:00

200km / Tairua to Tairua
www.arcevents.co.nz/k2cycle/content
Time: 7:28:
Category Placing: 10th

Damn, slept through my alarm. Awesome start. I like to be up for at least 3 hours before embarking on these little expeditions. The weather in the morning was exceedingly calm and clear. Seemingly metaphorically reminiscent of the calm before the storm.

2 km’s into the ride we approach the first climb, Pumpkin Hill (240 m), a relatively easy climb on fresh legs. Up the coast toward Whitianga I rode within a bunch of about 15-20 cyclists. This section is all a bit of blur to me now, the pace was pretty intense and there was a strong head wind in parts. I had to work exceptionally hard not to get dropped, but after a period started tagging precariously at the back and inevitably got dropped. DAMN! I rode solo for at least 10 km before reaching Whitianga where I was fortunate to be caught by a very friendly and welcoming bunch of about 10 guys who verbally invited ("hey - slow down and join our bunch!") me to tag onto their bunch. We worked together harmoniously up until the little steep rise out of Whitianga where I (inadvertently) climbed the hill at twice their speed but they again caught up to me about 1.5 km back onto the flat.

This was a predominant theme for all 40-50 km of hills and really showcased my strengths and weaknesses. Within the bunches I rode in, if we were riding up the hills at the same pace, there was no way I could keep up on the flats – and vica versa! Part of this can no doubt be attributed to the fact that the majority of riders were men whom on their own weighed more than myself and my bike combined. Hill climbing is all about your power to weight ratio and technique. Part can also be attributed to my self-perceived weakness on hills which has lead to obsessive hill training for the last 10 months.

I eventually went off the front of the bunch for good after Myundermann’s hill – a relatively short hill but with a steep grade that was made more taxing with the wind against us.

The next section of undulating terrain was probably the hardest point of the race – I rode mostly solo and the wind was heinous! I looked down at my computer a few times and felt pretty demoralized and lethargic at a lacklustre 18-20 km/h! Nevertheless, I wasn’t going keen to try anything heroic with the ominous Whangapoua hill approaching (albeit slowly). By far the hardest hill of the ride, Whangapoua is around 380 m and must be 4-5 km climb.

Whangapoua started off *very* slowly but I was actually feeling pretty good and re-energized near the top. Endorphins? I had to stop at the water station to fill my 2 now empty bottles and that cost around 1.5 mins. Down the windy descent into Coromandel town I started getting the first hints of a blistering headache that in retrospect I believe was due to dehydration.

Felt pretty good over the next two hills leading onto the flat Thames coast. I caught up with 2 guys who over the course of the 30 km coast line turned into a bunch of about 10-15 riders. The pace was pretty good, around 35-40 km/h. I unintentionally pushed the pace too much when I was leading (out of fear of not being able to maintain the pace!) and the group eventually split into strands, but most of those left behind caught up further down the coast anyway. Was possibly a bit too fast for most of us!

Past Thames is the last of the 7 major climbs – Kopu-Hikuai which is 13 km. It’s a fairly steady climb that is not too step in most parts but I was certainly starting to feel the 150km’s in my legs and I didn’t press my pace for fear of blowing up. My headache returned halfway up the climb with double the intensity of the first bout – AAARGGH! - if it hadn’t been that there was only 30 or so km's to go I would have seriously considered pulling out based on how pounded my head felt at that point! I even shed a few tears, just quietly! It was nasty and consuming and I couldn't think straight to save myself. The huge decent was pretty dampened by how bashed my head was feeling. I took the time to just stay steady and safe, drink heaps and try to recover a bit for the last flat 15 (or more?) km's to finish. It was a little tactic that worked in my favour and I managed a pretty good pace to the finish line – despite not been able to shake mental images of my hurting brain being eaten alive by cock-roaches and magpies (!!) and just wanting the whole thing to be over!

I finished with a time well and truly under my tentative goal of sub 8. If it wasn’t for how bad my headache was I feel I could of sliced at least 10 minutes off that effort. Sub 7 next year fo' sure!

Pinarello R4 2008

2008-04-26T20:29:00.000+12:00

90 km / Rotorua to Whakatane
www.r4.co.nz
Time: 2:45:05
Category Placing: 18th

After a 20 min warm up I made my way to the start line. Not really sure of what my finishing time would be but feeling ambitious, I lined up somewhere in the 1^st third of the starters. Strategically next to someone with a shiny SLC-SC for some quick perving.

Within the first 10km, I was fortunate to be in amongst a bunch of about 15 riders that was going at a fast but manageable speed for me, averaging around 30 km/h. There was another bunch about 800 m ahead, going at about the same speed but with about 30-40 riders. At the first (and only) thing resembling a hill, my obsessive hill training over summer paid off nicely and I caught up with the tail end of the first bunch.

The course is predominantly flat, but there is an awesome down hill section at about the 45 km mark which leads down into a gorge. Through the gorge there were some awesome tail winds, at one point the bunch was flying along between 45-55 km/h with very minimal effort. Much fun!

At about the 70 km mark, and just when the rain and wind set in, about 6-7 guys at the front of the bunch really started pushing the pace, from around 30 km/h to around 40 km/h. I hung on (just) for about 5 kms till I got dropped and for the last 15 km’s I rode by myself and my pace slowed significantly, to about 24-26 km/h. I passed 3 other riders who were dropped from that bunch in the last couple of km’s. The other bunch I was originally with must have maintained a much slower pace; glancing down the long straight highway with about 10 km’s to go, the road was completely bare.

Having not ridden this course before, I was unsure what sort of time to expect to achieve but I figured since 90 km’s is a fairly manageable length for me and the course profile is not hilly, I should just go hard out and not worry too much about pacing myself.

My goal time was to go under 3.5 hours. My finish time was 2.45 so I am ecstatic with that! The female winner, Meshy Holt, finished with 2:17.

Overall, it was a really fun, fast race and it was really motivating for me to see how much of an improvement I’ve made since the last race I did, which was Taupo. Particularly in terms of being able to maintain a much faster pace for a much longer period.

I will most likely be back for another stab next year, and hopefully carving a bit more of a dent in that 28 minute time gap!

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge 2007

2007-12-01T22:26:00.000+13:00

160 km / Around Lake Taupo
Time:5:57:30
Category Placing:??

K1 2007

2007-10-27T21:19:00.000+13:00

100 km / Whitianga to Thames
Time:4:22:04
Category placing:28th

My first race ever. Pretty bloody nervous going into this.I was naïvely under the impression that everyone would be out for the win and would be ultra bad ass and competitive. I now know better!

Even though my race didn’t start until 12, I was up at 5am, to leave Whitianga at 6am and get to Thames at 9 am. I was scared of not being able to find a park in Thames, but as it turns out this wasn’t an issue at all. Caught the bus from Thames to Whitianga at 9am. Took an arduous 2.5 hours. After collecting my bike and waiting in the queue for the toilet I had no time to warm up.

I started near the back of the starting line, not really caring, but realise now that this disadvantaged me in terms of being able to catch up to any bunches later on in the race. At the top of the first hill out of Whitianga an unfortunate rider went bailing off the top of the cliff. Another guy in front of me stopped, I stopped too, and asked the guy if he was ok, he replied ‘well he’s moving’ and confirmed that he didn’t need me to stay. Kind of bummed that I had to stop because I had at that point just caught up to a bunch of about 6 that was about 100m in front of me for quite awhile and I had being working hard to catch up to them. Anyway, down the hill caught up with one guy and drafted him for awhile, then I took a turn at the front and another somwehat annoying woman tagged on the back, continually making remarks like ‘gawd doesn’t this bike have any more gears’ etc...

I had a relatively good race, didn’t have to stop for any reason after the first incident, and didn’t run out of water etc. In retrospect I wish I went a bit harder on the hills – at the summit of the last hill I actually thought there was one more big one to come because I didn’t’ feel I was suffering yet! However, the last 30km flat stretch into Thames was painful! Hardest part of the race. I went solo the whole way as the field was so spread out at that point; there was no one within sight either side of me for most of the duration. I went pretty hard for the first 15 or so km’s, doing around 28-30 and thinking I could maintain that. However that was not the case and I ended up getting pretty worn out and slowed to around 20kph for the rest of the ride in the head wind.

At the end I was just glad to finish and not come last in my category! Bloody good fun, great weather, everyone seemed to be in high spirits too. I am psyched for K2 2008!