Tour of NZ

Just a quickie because bandwidth here is hard to come by (I think the Palmerston North exchange might have taken offence at my earlier post)... We are 3 stages down out of 5 in the Tour of NZ. Team VIS is going well - Jo 'inaugural Jo Hogan Award recipient' Hogan is sitting 10th on GC, Loren 'Honorary Victorian' Rowney is in the green Sprint Classification jersey, and we have won 1 stage (Loren - stage 2 sprint finish) and come 3rd in another (Loren, again in a sprint finish in today's stage 3!). Special mention to Jess 'Jensy' Voigt and Chloe 'Human Boomerang' McConville for UNBELIEVABLE work in the field. And to Donna and Ryan for keeping us fed, watered and running smoothy.

Highlights so far have included the  awarding of the daily Ride Happy bar award by Donna, Loren's stage win after an epic team effort, and the salty treats Donna bought me. My riding has not been one of those highlights. Neither is the weather - wet and windy. Belgies would love it.

We have some exclusive YouTube footage and action photos but the internet is too feeble to upload them now so you'll just have to wait.

Bring on stage 4 tomorrow!

Tour of NZ

20120221-165344.jpg We have just touched down in Wellington for Tour of NZ, which starts tomorrow. Team VIS comprises Jo 'PRO' Hogan, Chloe 'New Mother' McConville, Jess 'Pride of the West' Allen, Loren 'I signed with HTC but this is my REAL team' Rowney and myself. We are ably led by Donna 'Supercoach' Rae-Szalinski and Ryan 'Frequent Flyer' Moody who will assume mechanical, myo and platypus-handling duties. We are excited.

The Tour of NZ is a 5 day cultural assimilation program run by the NZ Government in an effort to dissuade Australians from invading NZ shores, claiming local celebrities and racehorses as their own, and beating them at rugby. The race is located in Palmerston North, a town so ill-suited to tourism that its main attraction is a rubbish dump named after John Cleese. Teams spend 5 days trying to get out of Palmerston North, ideally to go somewhere where it does not rain for 300 days of the year. There is also some cycling involved.

I'll try to keep you posted on the stages. Tomorrow's prologue is an 8km TT in the evening.

Ride happy.

The Roadie Project

Here's a little video I made for SCODY that I thought you might be interested in. I've mentioned The Roadie Project before, and now seems a good time to bring it up again. Basically, the Roadie Project attempts to answer the age-old question, Can a roadie race on the dirt... and survive? It's a question I'm attempting to answer this year. I am teaming up with Apollo Bicycles who are entrusting me with some of their sweetest MTBs (like this one and this one) which will certainly make me look a lot better than I am. SCODY have made some magnificent Ride Happy kit so that I will be easily identifiable when flying from my bike into the undergrowth. Both these companies need special mention for their continued support of women's cycling. We need more people like you.

I'll put some progress reports here and also on the SCODY blog. Also I've had a few people asking after the Ride Happy kit. At the moment it's a limited run but if there is enough interest I'll ask SCODY if we can make some more. Just put a comment below if you are interested.

Ride Happy.

Wildside

I wanted to make a clever pun out of Wildside for this post title, but CyclingTips beat me to it and, frankly, that was all my comedy options take--- wait, wasn't it in Tasmania? How serendipitous. There is nothing that gladdens the heart of an Adelaide native more than finding another state to pick on. And, given that I have already declared a fondness for Canberra, I have no option but to aim a jibe or two at my Mexican cousins. Start your two-headed-joke counters NOW. Wildside is a 4-day, 7-stage MTB event that starts at Cradle Mountain and finishes in Strahan, a town spelt Stra-HAN but actually pronounced StrORN. That gives you an insight already into the complexity of the Tasmanian mind. Another insight was the delight that Strahan locals took in breaking the world record for the most number of water-skiers towed behind a boat at once. One hundred and forty-eight (although I understand that was a head count only [BANG!]), and it was broken last week. The curious part was that the record they took such pride in breaking WAS THEIR OWN. I don't mean to pick on Tasmanians, but really, somebody should have told them.

The stages were full of sweet singletrack, arm-pumping descents, and trails guaranteed to put a smile on your face. Actually, I have no idea what the trails were like. I was doing support crew. But I read those descriptions on pretty much every MTB race promo flyer I see so I'm sure they were there.

A question... why is 'sweet' the adjective of choice when describing single track? It's not a lolly.

Mountainbikers are a cool bunch. They are very different from roadies. Lots of hairy legs and nary a gold chain to be seen. The good ones are modest. The bad ones are happy. Everyone talked to each other and the feeling of bonhomie wafted around the start line muster like a bad fart on a Winter morning. It was delightful to be a part of.

As I mentioned, I was there to do support crew for the lovely Andy. What I did not mention was that I was THE MOST AWESOME SUPPORT CREW EVER. Andy may not mention that either, if you run into him, so you may have to remind him. I only ate Andy's post-race treats once and we rarely got lost. And I did not see any other support crew deliver fresh dim sims to their charge. So I am pretty confident I was awesome.

Below are a few pictures of the race that tell the story better than I ever could. One thing is for sure, though, and that is that Wildside is a race I would definitely like to do in the future. It's really motivated me to get my MTB moving. Love it.

 

BASE Camp March 2012

Most of you will know by now that I am a big fan of pilates. I go to Marcus Speed's classes at Perfect Pilates in Brunswick as often as I can (which is never as often as I'd like!) Marcus is a cycling guru and his classes are nice and specific for me... none of that 'saluting the sun' malarkey; it's straight into the hard ab-crackers. This is an unashamed plug for a training camp that Marcus is running in Beechworth, VIC on the March long weekend (10-12 March 2012). Why? Because I like to support the people who support me. And also because I think he would run a kick-ass camp.

Here's the lowdown on BASE Camp: For 3 days you get all the cycling and multisport training you can handle, including... wait for it... a follow vehicle for all your rides! So PRO! More details are below, or you can go to his website.

Want to take your riding to the next level?
Or just feel like a weekend getaway?
Then BASE Camp is for you! 3 days of cycling and multisport training in beautiful Beechworth in north-east Victoria.
All rides have full vehicle and mechanical support, as well as feed stations and hydration.
No traffic lights, no traffic, no hassles!
Your investment is only $275, including breakfast and evening meals!
Accommodation is available from $43 per night, or you can organize your own if you’d prefer.
For more information contact Marcus from Speed Cycling Systems on 0413 579867 or by emailing info@speedcyclingsystems.com.au

And, just so you know, Marcus is a really cool guy. His expertise, energy and optimism has helped me through more than one bad injury patch over the years. If his classes are anything to go by, the camp will be awesome.

Tell him Lisa's Mum sent you...

Lisa's Mum presents: Snow Whitey and the 7 Dwarfs (aka her review of the TDU)

Once upon a time there lived a directeur sportif named Snow Whitey. Snow Whitey was a beautiful creature, and could often be seen around town, her mane of blonde hair and curiously prominent ears turning heads at every café. Snow Whitey lived in the kingdom of Garmin with an evil stepmother called Jonathan Vaughters. One day, the evil stepmother decided that Snow Whitey was too beautiful and her blonde mane too glorious to stay in the kingdom of Garmin. The evil stepmother cast Snow Whitey into the woods and hoped that she would be eaten by hungry sprinters.

Luckily, Snow Whitey had excellent survival instincts cultivated from years of being a domestique for local warlord Lance Armstrong. She survived by eating forest berries and using her ears as giant nets to trap flies and small birds. One day while hunting she happened upon a large Jayco caravan owned by a group of merry dwarfs. There were 7 of them, and each had a name: Robbie, Stuey, Gerro, Durbo, Leigh, Cam and Gossy.

The 7 dwarfs ate together, rode together and dressed the same, in little green suits (probably designed for slightly smaller dwarfs, Snow Whitey suspected). Each day they would leave their caravan on their shiny matching bikes, singing, 'Hi ho, hi ho, it's up the road we go,' as they set to work, digging themselves into holes in the hope of finding diamonds.

Snow Whitey was not a dwarf but did enjoy wearing little tight suits too, and so the 7 dwarfs welcomed her as one of their own. Snow Whitey loved the dwarfs, but every day she thought about her evil stepmother and vowed revenge.

One morning at breakfast, Snow Whitey was sipping her espresso and reading the paper when she saw a story about a race going on in the neighbouring kingdom of Adelaide, in which her evil step-mother would be competing.

'Look at this!' Snow Whitey exclaimed. 'It's a bike race in the kingdom of Adelaide! Teams 0f 7 race for 5 days over hundreds of kilometres in 40-degree heat! It's lucky there are 7 of you dwarfs. I will drive in an air-conditioned car behind you.'

The dwarfs looked hesitant, but Snow Whitey assured them that she would look after them and never let them come to any harm from Warnie or troublesome chauffeurs with a history of playing giant animals on morning TV. And so the 7 dwarfs prepared to race. They organised a team training camp where they went golfing and go-karting. They flew around the country wearing matching suits and posed for photos with kangaroos. And, finally, they went to a studio and recorded a team song. At last, they were ready to take on the evil stepmother.

The 7 dwarfs raced hard. They took on giants, convicted dopers and yellow teletubbies on the top of Willunga Hill. By the end of the race, one of the 7 dwarfs was on equal time on GC with another team's dwarf. Luckily, the race director called upon by-law 1.2.11 of the race rules which stated that, where 2 riders were tied on GC for time, and one rider had won a stage, the leader's jersey would be given to whichever rider had professionally pre-recorded a team song in the weeks prior to the tour.

'Phew,' thought Snow Whitey, 'I am glad we did not end up shooting that swimsuit calendar that Robbie McEwen wanted.'

And so the dwarfs won, and Snow Whitey beat her evil stepmother, and they all lived happily ever after.

The end.

Lisa's Mum's guide to the Tour Down Under

Lisa's Mum loves the Tour Down Under, mainly because she has a small crush on Andre Greipel and enjoys seeing Adelaide drivers being forced to be nice to cyclists for a week (hoons in Adelaide are nothing if not economic rationalists; even the dumb ones like a tourist dollar). However, as an Adelaide local, eager to open her arms wide to the greater cycling fraternity in expectation of a passionate embrace (or at least a Euro double-kiss, or a Belgian triple-peck if she happens to chance upon Eddy Merckx), Lisa's Mum feels compelled to provide a short guide to the Tour Down Under to assist visitors and non-cyclists alike:

  • The Tour Down under consists of a series of 3 women's crits run on Sunday, Monday and Thursday respectively. Stars in attendance include the reigning world time trial champion, 3 reigning Australian national champions and local celebrity giant-killer Bec Werner. There is also a support race in which men may participate and feel involved. The support race goes for 5 days because everyone knows that men take longer to do things.
  • Adelaide is a charming city in the south-eastern part of Australia that is renowned for wine, pie-floaters, and the Snowtown 'bodies in the barrels' murders. Actually, the murders never took place in Snowtown.
  • Lance Armstrong is not racing in the Tour Down Under. And despite Adelaide's new Livestrong cancer centre, Livestrong bike path, and the promise of Mike Rann naming his next child 'LiveStrong', it appears he will not be coming back.
  • Replacing Lance as TDU guest of honour is a gentleman called Eddy Merckx. Eddy was the Lance Armstrong of the 70s, except that he won more races and never pretended to like the other riders. Everyone keeps telling him that he is the Don Bradman of cycling, although Don Bradman probably didn't take quite so many drugs in his day. Also, Eddy has no idea who Don Bradman is, so the reference is kind of redundant.
  • Melbourne drivers please be advised that Adelaide does not tolerate any loutish behaviour on the roads, like U-turning at traffic lights or letting people into your lane. An appropriate speed is generally between 10 and 15kph under the speed limit. Under no circumstances should you attempt a hook turn.
  • German drivers, please be advised that the O-Bahn is not the same as an Autobahn. Do not attempt to drive into it.
  • If you are a non-cyclist and see someone in lycra on a bike, please do not ask them if they are racing in the Tour Down Under. They are not.
  • Related to the above: If same cyclist is wearing a bandanna and has tri-bars on their bike, you should instead ask them if they want to buy your super-vitamin-miracle-water that is guaranteed to lift their time over a 40km time trial by at least 83 seconds. Give them a glass of water and charge them $20. (This WORKS!)
  • A related point: Adelaide water is meant to taste like that.
Enjoy your week and Lisa's Mum looks forward to seeing you for scones and tea on Willunga Hill on Saturday.

New bike!

I've just picked up my new MTB from Apollo- an Arctec M. It is a beautiful bike- carbon frame and SRAM XX running gear. Can't wait to try it out! I've said it before, but it is a luxury to have such beautiful equipment to use. We women cyclists may be underpaid and under-acknowledged in media compared to pro men, but we are certainly not left wanting for first-class equipment.

I've got a few plans for MTB enduro racing this year. Let me know if you have recommendations for cool races!

Catch you in Adelaide for TDU!! I love Adelaide this time of year.

Ride Happy

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Lisa's Mum at the Australian Road Cycling Champs 2012

I have just come back from road nationals. Congratulations to Amanda 'Spratty' Spratt and Simon Gerrans for earning the right to wear the green & gold in 2012! My race was horrendous. There is nothing worse than being in the form of your life 3 weeks too early. A tough day at the office at a time when everything needed to go right.

Some of you have been asking where Lisa's Mum has been over the past few months. She is hard at work on her dream of joining the SBS Commentary Team. Check this out: