Cold beer and file treads

We're on the road again, this time driving from Sacramento to Las Vegas for Cross Vegas. Yesterday was the inaugural West Sacramento CX Grand Prix, and all three of us had a roll. Pete opened his international racing account in style, Paul put some guys into the tape, and I tried not to eat grass.

California has blown us away. From coffee in San Fran to trails in Tahoe and the friendliest people we've ever met in Sacramento. If you are going to Cross Vegas next year, drop past the West Sac CX Grand Prix. Do it.

This pic is from the Bike Dog Brewery, which hosted the launch today of Squid Bikes. Some of our Sacramento buddies who we met yesterday insisted that we couldn't leave without some jars of home made pickles and jalepeno jelly. I love California.

Enter the Dragon: A mostly true account of China CX

Best auspicious greetings honoured reader! This post be welcoming in heart and hope for longtime forgiveness of not earlier posting. Be that I have faced many adventures and much happiness in past week; no facebook make hard work of updating you my beloved reader. But fear not the iron instagram curtain, for today I write to you from aeroplane on way to USA, where much tweeting is welcome. So it follows, an account of Qiansen Cyclocross, UCI Cat 1 event, Beijing, China.

A lot has happened in the past few weeks, including a new national title, a new team, and the beginning of a new CX adventure. National champs went well, mostly thanks to all the people who provided help, support, and occasionally counselling: the Supercoach, my skills coach Neil Ross, and the A Team of Paul Larkin, John Groves and Steve from Apollo in Adelaide who kept everything running smoothly. As far as I am aware, no marriages were harmed in the post-race celebrations.

Winning national champs led to invitations to a couple of great early-season races: Qiansen Trophy CX in Beijing and Cross Vegas in USA. With work commitments ruling me out for world champs this coming January, these two races offered a great way of draining my annual leave balance whilst also building on my international CX racing experience.  Racing Cross Vegas in the national champ colours happens also to be at the top of my bucket list, by the way (although to be fair, the list also includes Eating My Weight In Salted Caramel and Marrying A Swedish Prince*, so may not be a great reflection of my life goals).

*Could also be a Baron; I haven’t looked too closely into the Swedish nobility nomenclatures.

Last year, I raced Qiansen Cyclocross and broke my wrist with a suspected ACL in the first 5 minutes of the race. I finished 14^th, because it seemed like a good idea at the time and Grover was yelling out from the pits that prize money went down to 15^th. This year, the race was upgraded to a UCI Cat 1 event (one level below World Cup), and apart from more UCI points and a stronger international field, offered the chance of redemption over last year’s disaster. I thought it was a great idea. My parents, who had spent the week after last year’s race driving me between x-ray appointments, were less enthusiastic. Fortunately, the only person I really needed to convince was Paul Larkin, whom I consider to be the World’s Best CX Pit Crew and whose support at world champs and national champs this year has been nothing short of brilliant. Paul, having returned from last year’s Qiansen CX race 6.5kgs lighter after a particularly nasty bout of Beijing’s Revenge, went back on his promise never to set foot in China again and agreed to be part of the adventure.

After having been a road racer for so long, one thing I’m learning about CX racing is the unique demands it places on a rider’s pit crew. On a muddy course, you can be changing bikes twice per lap (every 10 minutes or so), and you rely on your pit crew to catch your bike at speed, blast it clean and fix whatever is broken while you’re out on the course. Even on a good day, mechanics work as hard as the riders to prep equipment and fix bike niggles under pressure. Having a good pit crew that is organised, calm and good at working on the fly is essential. You rely on them not just to fix your bike, but to know which pit position is best, what tyre pressure to run, bounce off ideas for race lines and strategies, and help calm your nerves. Fortunately, not only is Paul one of the best, he is also happy to bring single origin coffee beans and put up with riders with OCD tendencies. So we make a good team.

This year, the Qiansen CX ‘event week’ comprised 2 races: a CX race on the Saturday, followed by a demonstration road race in a neighbouring province on the Monday. The CX course was a repeat of last year: fast, twisty and brutally bumpy, with some technical parts that could bring you unstuck if you lost concentration. To add to the excitement, the event organiser had asked Paul and I and a couple of the other riders to take part in the CX amateur race held a few hours before the elite races. Our job was to stay at the front ahead of the local riders for the opening lap, then peel off and let them finish the race. Apparently last year staying ahead of the local riders was quite easy, but no one had told us that those riders had then spent the next 12 months training the house down on that same course. The result was a very effective pre-race workout and a new job for Paul as a human shield, protecting me from getting T-boned by a couple of enthusiastic locals who hadn’t been briefed on the race script.

The CX race itself went well, with nary a broken bone in sight. I’d chosen a spot on the course right after a hard pinch, where I knew everyone would be knackered, as my point to attack if I needed to. In the first lap, I had chased up to third spot and was behind a French girl, Le Fevre, who had come 4^th at world champs this year. I could hear her breathing hard so attacked hard just before that point and got a small gap. By the next lap she had caught back on, so I did the same thing and managed to drop her. Ellen van Loy, a Belgian who is ranked 6^th in the world, was in a class of her own and won 22 secs ahead of me. I came in 23 secs ahead of former Danish national champion Margariet Kloppenberg who was in 3^rd. I was absolutely stoked – it’s a career best result for me, certainly in CX, and maybe for my whole riding career. All those skills sessions paid off Neil!!

The road race on Monday was fun (especially on a CX bike with road tyres). The 11-hour bus trip was less fun, but still better than a broken wrist or a 6.5kg weight loss program, so Paul and I proclaimed this year’s China trip a success and set sail for USA.

If Northern Californian CX racing is synonymous with file treads and cold beer, Qiansen CX was characterised by SSCs and an oversupply of all-you-can-eat buffets. Of the 5 nights we were there,  there were 4 banquets, one featuring a Chinese version of the Spice Girls miming to traditional Chinese instruments. We felt very welcomed, if slightly overfed, and the hospitality of the event organisers reflected the region’s enthusiasm for growing CX and cycling in China. Next year they are talking of making it a world cup event: if it happens, it will give Aussie riders access to the highest level of racing in the world without having to endure 30 hours of travelling to do it.

Phew! That’s enough for now. I started this post on the plane from Beijing to San Francisco, and now Pete, Paul and I are in a log cabin at Lake Tahoe, getting excited for some CX riding tomorrow on the trails here. Next race: Sacramento GP on 6 Sept, then Cross Vegas on 10 Sept.

Ride Happy.

How to watch CX world champs

For those playing along at home, here's a great article by prowomenscycling.com on how you can follow world champs live. If you have other methods which work well in Australia feel free to add it to the comments below. The race is at 3pm Hoogerheide time on Saturday, which is 1am Sunday in Melbourne. Thanks everyone for the support and well wishes. I'm going on a social media lock down now until after the race, so see you on the other side.

Ride happy.

Fan mail

One thing that cross races seem to have in spades is crazy fans. Mel and I have had our fair share of interest from friendly locals wanting fan cards and photos. Some of the locals we've met have been lovely - sending pictures of the races and coming and chatting to us when we're freezing on wind trainers. Others have been a bit... well, unusual. I got this message on Facebook a few days ago (I've changed the name):

hello Lisa

i am Pieter von Trump from Hoogerheide the Netherlands where you gone ride next weekend but i have a question and i hope i can get a answer on it

i think you get this question a lot more

do you maby have a cyclingjersey for me i am a collector of it and i hope you can give one.(it musn't been a team jersey i can also be a selection jersey)

i hope i hear something soon

kind Regrads Pieter von Trump

I didn't reply, but a couple of days later I got another message, exactly the same. And then today I got a third message, just with a '?' Pieter was most insistent that he have a jersey. I'm not sure how successful his technique is but Mel got exactly the same messages so perhaps it's a finely tuned game plan.

Not wanting to disappoint Pieter, I replied today:

Ssup Pieter

Sorry I haven't replied earlier. I don't have any spare Team Australia jerseys, but I have a jersey I got from Around the Bay In A Day once that might fit you. It's back in Melbourne but you are welcome to pick it up and I can chuck in a Lampre bidon that I found too. 

Here's a cat video I found on You Tube that I thought you might like. Sorry it's not as good as a jersey but it is pretty cute.

Pieter replied straight away:

yeah it was a fun video yeah it is fine but what do you mean with that about that one jersey 

LJ: Around The Bay In A Day is a prestigious one day race held in Melbourne each year. It is quite hard and for some people it takes two days.

Pieter: a oke it's fine when you think i can pick it up is i come Friday to the training, saturday to the race and i can come also maby to the hotel if it is not to far from the hotel

LJ: Oh no the jersey is in Australia. Sorry, I don't have any team jerseys. I need them to wear. But the Around The Bay In A Day jersey is pretty cool. Here's another video though.

Pieter: a oke i understand

I am not sure when Pieter is planning to come to Melbourne for his jersey but perhaps if he has luck with other riders he won't need to. Full high fives for his chutzpah though. Why don't we have passionate fans like this in Australia??

The road to CX worlds

Cyclocross worlds are 3 days away and I still can't really believe I'm here. It's all seemed just a crazy plan for so long now that I almost managed to convince myself that it was. But here we are. After I won nationals, I remember someone asked me whether I'd consider going to world champs and I'm pretty sure I laughed out loud. But then I talked to the Supercoach, and she reminded me that here was a type of racing for which it was possible to train in limited time, and that here was a new challenge that would keep us all happily occupied for the Summer. And so the plan began.

My preparation over the past few months has been really interesting. It's been the product of teamwork between a whole lot of people, both at the VIS and outside, and sharing this will hopefully give you an insight into the amazing people I get to work with. I feel very lucky.

Most of you reading this will be aware that cyclocross is huge in Europe, where kids practically exit the womb riding bikes. At local club races, riders rock up in giant camper vans with their photos plastered all over them. Being a cyclist is not only a legitimate occupation, it's kind of like being an AFL footballer at home. Actually, I feel exactly how a Belgian cyclocross rider would feel if they rocked up to play in an AFL grand final. So, from the beginning, we had our work cut out for us.

Our biggest challenge, though (and there are LOTS) was time. Because I didn't have time to learn to be a complete cyclocross rider, we instead pulled apart the Hoogerheide race course 4 months ago and focused all my preparation solely on tackling that course. It became kind of like a war game, which I love, and it's certainly kept us all challenged. Nick Owen, our physiologist in the cycling program at VIS, tracked down You Tube clips and 3D maps, and together with Supercoach Donna Rae-Szalinski we worked on standing start sprints for the 300m starting straight and stair runs to replicate the 30%, 30m hill on course. Harry Brennan, who is my strength & conditioning coach at VIS, planned a gym program that incorporated a mix of strength work and plyometrics to get better at running over obstacles. In terms of physiology, I've had to change the type of rider I am, from a multi-day tour specialist on the road to a 45-minute CX specialist in the dirt and mud. It's meant having to improve my power and explosiveness, which for me requires a lot of work because it's not my natural skill set.

The second piece of the puzzle was improving my dirt handling. I love mountain biking, but I'm not naturally a technical rider, so I have to work pretty hard on my skills. My cross bike has gone everywhere with me over the past few months! I have a regular MTB crew ride every Wednesday before work, and for the past few months I've been riding my CX bike on the singletrack, chasing the guys on their MTBs. I also raced a couple of stages of Forrest Festival on it which was pretty fun.

The next piece of the puzzle was getting some CX-specific skills. Over Christmas I went to Adelaide and did some skills work with Neil Ross, who is one of the best MTB coaches in Australia, and a CX guru. He designed a skills session that replicated parts of the Hoogerheide course, and we used loose dirt and dry leaves to replicate riding in snow and ice. He also taught me some neat shouldering & blocking techniques which are unique to CX.

In terms of race preparation, I couldn't come over to do a whole world cup season due to work, so instead I did a bit more crit racing and enjoyed being able to train outside in an Australian Summer rather than slog through a European winter on a wind trainer. Mostly it went to plan, although my plan to get a sneaky 45min hit out in the national champs road race went slightly awry. I raced a UCI CX race in China in September, which was a good introduction to the standard I can expect at international level CX racing.

Over here in Bergen op Zoom, I've got a killer support crew consisting of the amazing Pete Young, logistics expert and Head Pirate, and the awesome Paul Larkin, who has come all the way over to be my personal mechanic. These guys do all the hard work and all I have to do is ride my bike. I am super lucky.

So sorry again that this is such a boring post. It's been a fantastic journey over the past few months, and quite an adventure. On Saturday we'll find out what worked and what didn't. I'm excited.

Ride happy.

Cyclocross World Championships: the rise of the Babushka

A long overdue post. We have been in Bergen op Zoom, NED, for around a week now. So far we have clocked up:

• 24hrs of plane travel (and 60kg of bike luggage)
• 2 Belgian CX races (and 1 win!)
• 1 case of food poisoning
• 1 jar Speculoos
• around a million loads of washing
• some new friends in Hoogerheide

I have been meaning to write a post for so long but I've just finished a couple of interviews and I'm sick of telling the same story again. (You can find a much better article here anyway.) So here are some photos.. and all the exciting details will follow later.

Ride happy.

PS - Hi to Donna's ice hockey chicks - and thanks for the cheers!

Winning in Desselberg, Belgium

We ran around 50% of the Desselberg course - muddy as, bro

Australia's first CX team at a world championships

Look out Hoogerheide... the Aussies are coming

2013 Australian CX championships

Phew! Sorry it’s taken me so long to write this up. If it weren’t for the horrendous conditions today at Falls Creek you’d have been waiting another week to read this. So hurray for global warming (anyone? Anyone??). Last week was the 2013 Australian CX championships. You can read more about them here, here and here.

Last year was the first year Australia had run a national CX series, and it was loads of fun. The series generated so much happiness that this year we had not only a national series, but a national championships as well. This meant that not only could we all wear onesies for an extra day in the year, but that we could fight it out for the honour of wearing a national champion's onesie as well. In onesie circles, this is quite something.

My hopes of defending the national series title from last year were curtailed somewhat following [what I optimistically reflect on as] an ambitious estimate of my ability to manage responsibilities. I got run down, sick and missed the first national rounds in Adelaide. Turns out you can't work full time, study, take on corporate governance roles AND train as much as a full time athlete. Who would have thunk it?

Fortunately, the Supercoach is well accustomed to my spectacular form implosions and we put together a plan to aim for the CX national champs instead. Luckily, my neighbours are tolerant of 6am ergo sessions and the Pirate is tolerant of 9pm bedtimes, so the plan started to get traction. And there's nothing quite like the prospect of finishing out the hoop as defending national series champion to incentivise you to work hard. So I worked my ass off, got some race strategy ideas at the Sydney national CX rounds, and sent a few post-ergo hate emails to the Supercoach, which pleased her greatly.

Amongst all this, Apollo in the background were putting together a super-fast CX race weapon - a carbon-framed, disc-braked, race-wheeled machine that was a dramatic step up from the $1,500 rrp model I'd raced the national series on the year before. It was all very hush hush, mostly because none of us really knew whether it in fact existed. Rumour has it that NASA noticed a missing engineer and a shortfall in their carbon supplies one day, and the next day my bike was in production.

It wouldn't be a good race story without an exciting lead-up, and there was excitement aplenty. Because  the bike was super dooper special, it was off getting the rockstar treatment at Apollo's trade shows and it wasn't until 2 nights before the national champs that Apollo Production Manager Murray Fenwick was able to bring it back to Melbourne. VIS supermechanic Ryan 'Diamonds' Moody and John Groves came to the rescue, with a bike build that finished around 11pm on Thursday night and involved multiple trips to the servo for compressed air (but none for ice cream, to Grover's disappointment). I think pretty much everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I won't say I was entirely relaxed during the process, but it may have been the sound of the tubeless tyre exploding off the rim at around 10.30pm that put me on the edge. (As a side note, WELL DONE Grover for suggesting we pump up outside. I am still cleaning sealant off my front door.) The excitement continued the next day with an emergency rescue and some creative mechanicing from Paul at Adrenalin Cycles Ringwood during his lunch hour... and finished on Saturday morning with an offer of a wheel lend and a last-minute race tune from Paul Larkin. It's fair to say, without any exaggeration, that without any of these blokes I'd have been toast. The day belonged to them.

So the bike's first ride was the national champs, and it was pretty freaking awesome. I'm lucky to have guys like Simon and Murray at Apollo who do so much to support VIS riders and to support me personally, and it's a privilege to be able to race such beautiful bikes and to be able to repay their faith with a good ride on Saturday.

On race day, everything seemed to come together, which doesn't often happen in racing. In 2011 I devoted 6 months of my life to trying to win road nationals. I've never worked so hard for anything in my life, and when it didn't work out it was a huge disappointment. This time, my year has been a big year, but not on the bike. It's been a year in which I've been given some awesome opportunities in my career and in sport, and training has become something I fit in where I can. I worked bloody hard, but with the sole purpose that whoever was going to win CX nationals would have to freaking earn it. When I crossed the line I was pretty emotional. It was a response to the stress of the previous week, but also just that I had worked so hard, and been written off by so many people, that to turn it around was immensely satisfying. I don't usually go that crazy, but after the season I'd had, and the build-up leading up to the race, it was impossible not to celebrate.

So thank you - to Apollo for a beautiful race bike (which you too can own for 2014), to Moody, Grover and the Pauls, who each saved my ass on separate occasions, to the Supercoach for being the brains of the operation, and to the people who continue to back me despite their better judgement: VIS, Perfect Pilates, Neo Pro and Swiss Eyewear, health.com.au, and the indomitable peloton of TE.

Ride Happy.

Selection Criteria for Commuter Olympics: Official Announcement

PRESS RELEASE City cyclists today have been buoyed by the news that Cycling Australia has released its official selection criteria for the 2014 Commuter Olympics.

The Cyclone Hubbards, as the team will be known, will comprise 14 of the nation's top commuter cyclists. Hubbard High Performance Manager Harry Halfwheel has high hopes for the contingent:

"The Commuter Olympics is an opportunity for Australia's fastest commuters to thrash it out on the world stage. Cycling to work is certainly still a minority sport in this country, but I've seen enough high-speed bike path crashes to know that we are not short of hubbard talent. While Australia doesn't boast the grass roots commuter development seen in nations like the Netherlands, I am expecting the Cyclone Hubbards to really ignite Australians' passion for racing total strangers down city streets on unroadworthy bikes."

The selection criteria, set out below, sets qualification standards based on technical skills, performance in commuter events, and number of urban Strava segments held by the athlete. Rigorous clothing regulations apply, including minimum standards for high-viz jackets and maximum numbers for zip ties in helmets.

SELECTION CRITERIA: 2014 COMMUTER OLYMPICS - AUSTRALIAN TEAM

(Maximum long team size is twice the qualified quota in UCI ranking system for nations. Only cyclists in the 2014 national long team will be considered for selection to the final 2014 Australian team.)

The selectors will consider the following in determining the 2014 Commuter Oympics national team:

1. Mandatory Events/Requirements

Final team selection (clause 4) will be subject to a cyclist having satisfied conditions below.

• Riders must have competed in at least one of the following during the previous 5 years:
  • Around The Bay in a Day;
  • BRW or Ironman distance triathlon;
  • Any qualification events for the World Cross-Fit Games (one of which must involve a tractor tyre).

In all cases, the rider must have purchased and worn the official event t-shirt on a Casual Friday.

2. Automatic Selections

A maximum of 2 riders who attain top ranking on 2 or more Strava segments within the CBD of their home city will be added to the final team. For the avoidance of doubt, a Strava segment will be considered to lie within the CBD if it falls within a 4km radius of the GPO and contains at least 1 set of traffic lights. The colour of the traffic lights at the time the rider passes through them will not be taken into account at the time of recording the Strava segment.

3. Additional Team Selections

• Selectors will identify the remaining final national team members based on a mixture of talent that may include bike path handling skills, pannier loading aptitude and general panache. Particular regard will be given to a cyclist’s demonstrated ability for overtaking a bunch of commuters sitting stationary at traffic lights just so that they can get first jump when the lights turn green.

• In no specific order of priority, selectors will consider the following factors:
  • Proportion of high-viz wear worn by the individual as a total proportion of their clothing. Particular attention will be given to reflective ankle cuffs;
  • Number of zip ties worn by the rider in their helmet (generally seen around springtime but consideration will be given to riders sporting a helmet echidna all year round);
  • Individual performances in cross-dressing (judged as the wearing of multiple pro team kits simultaneously); and
  • The rider's peripheral vision, demonstrated by their ability to subtly check out the commuters they've just passed through a slight sideways tilt of the head.

3. National Coach's Choice

One position on the final Olympic team will be decided by the National Coach  based on the best pain face demonstrated by a rider on Melbourne's Eastern Freeway bike path travelling:

• in an easterly direction;
• between the hours of 6 and 8pm; and
• on a gradient of no greater than 5%.

4. Selection Schedule

• 21 September: Long team announced by CA
• 30 September: Closing date for appeals against non-selection into the long team
• 2 October: Selectors submit final team selections for endorsement by CA CEO
• 5 October: Final team announced (UCI entry cut-off date)

A long time between drinks

I know it's been ages, and I know you've probably stopped visiting, but I'm back. And so is SKINSUIT SUNDAY! Sorry it's been so long. I've been a bit distracted... there is just so much good stuff going on it's hard to keep up. I bought a couch around 6 weeks ago and I got to sit on it for the first time tonight. Hurrah!

This is just a quick update to say please don't lose hope, Ride Happy will return, and with a sense of humour. But I wanted to give a brief update on what's been going on in the past few months:

• Full time lawyering (I KNOW, just like a real person). I love it. My brain gets a better workout than I do some days, but I still love it.
• Finishing the Company Directors course: (Funny you should mention that. I should be doing my assignment right NOW, in fact. Yet somehow I am here.) I'm doing the Australian Institute of Company Directors course with the help of a Women in Sport Leadership Grant from the Australian Sports Commission. It's a great program. If you are a woman and want to be involved in sport at a leadership level, get on it here.
• Joining the Cycling Australia Athletes Commission: I've just been appointed Chair of the CA AC - the representative body for athletes within Cycling Australia. We have a renewed commission and the new kids on the block are a mix of talent and experience across almost all disciplines: Sid Taberlay, Kate Bates, Alex Carle, Tom Leaper, Carol Cooke, Stu Shaw. What an awesome crew. I am really excited - we have a lot of opportunity to make some great changes to the sport. More news on that later...
• Writing for RIDE magazine: We've been working on a match-fixing and corruption series over the past 12 months (which finished in the current issue) and next issue you can read all about other integrity issues and the Wood Review, which was the review commissioned by the federal government into Cycling Australia at the end of last year. Australia is lucky to have a cycling journal that covers heavy but important issues - the Wood Review is the kind of stuff that is going to shape your sport.
• Doing up my new place: Actually, that's only partly true. I bought a place, then got the awesome Tony the Builder to find people much better than me to fix it up. Everyone came out happy. And now I get to shop at the eye-wateringly expensive Leo's of Kew, where, as my good mate John Boy put it, you go in to buy a piece of cheese and you come out spending $80... on cheese.
• Mountain bike mountain bike mountain bike! Riding the new Apollo Arctec 9 is like eating peanut butter straight from the jar. AMAZING.
• Training... in amongst everything else! We had VIS training camp over the weekend in Western Victoria and I had forgotten how much I missed being around the crew and bleeding from my eyeballs.

OK, past my bedtime. We start the first NRS (national road series) race next weekend - Tour of Mersey Valley in Tas. It will be great to see everyone again. It's been a while since the end of the NRS season and I miss having someone else cook for me the excitement.

A shout out to the people who help me Ride Happy - particularly to Will and Flick from Neo Pro Imports who welcomed their baby son Harry last week! Will sorts me out with Swiss Eye sunnies to make me look trendy.

And a bigger shout out to my Grandma, who passed away last week and who we farewelled in Adelaide on Friday. She was a wonderful lady and rocked a power suit like no one else. I will miss you Grandma.

Ride Happy.

The Good Karma Haircut

On Thursday I got a haircut. My hairdresser is a Japanese gentleman in Ivanhoe named Hiro, who apart from being a great hairdresser is a life drawer, photographer, and gentle lover of life. He reminds me of a small boat, gently rocking in the ocean, buoyed by nature and happy to go wherever the winds take him. Hiro also assures me that his haircuts are unique in that they impart Good Karma. This I love. As it happened, this week I was in particular need of some Good Karma. In no particular order, highlights included being nailed at work, moving house, dealing with a spineless prick, and spending more time than I cared for curled in a foetal position vomiting. Don't get me wrong, my life is generally awesome, but this week was not-in-any-way-pretend-it-was-awesome. With the exception of a lovely dinner with a friend it was absolutely shit. Hiro's haircut came at just the right time.

Hiro's Good Karma kicked in the moment I arrived in Ballarat on Friday night and reconvened with the VIS chicks (@VIS_Chicks, for all you Twitter folk). It is a rare treat for all of us to be around at the same time and national champs is one of those times. The 2013 roster comprises Jo '2nd at NATIONALS!!!' Hogan, Chloe 'The Enforcer' McConville, Kendelle 'Timmy' Hodges, Taryn 'Star Recruit' Heather, Jess 'Jallen' Allen and myself. Led by the Donna 'Supercoach' Rae-Szalinski and Ryan 'Diamonds' Moody, it is a fun crew to be a part of. They always make me laugh and going on tour with them is one of my favourite things in the world.

The decision to race nationals was one made 3 and a half weeks ago when I was caught off-guard during the VIS training camp and there were too many witnesses to back out of it. Actually, it wasn't a decision so much as a case of trickery and entrapment, but that will teach me for taking on a freshly-caffeinated Supercoach. (As you may recall I committed to taking the Summer off racing after  a certain bike race in East Timor...)

And so, following my week riding the porcelain express I arrived at the start line sporting a PB for number of pre-race poos (not good) and a secret stash of toilet paper in my race bag. Things would be fine, I thought, so long as I could do a couple of laps, look after Jo and bow out gracefully. But the thing about road racing is that, much like ordering off a chinese-only menu, you never quite know what you're going to get. When Lucy Coldwell from Holden Racing went off the front in the first 400m I figured I could cover the move early, then I'd have done my bit and could exit the race with a clear conscience. But then we were joined by Jessie McLean from Orica-GreenEdge and Bec Werner from SA Specialized and suddenly all the major teams were represented. So the bunch stopped chasing, and suddenly our gap was out to over 2 mins (we hit 3 mins 14 at one point) and we were 65km into a 106km race, the four of us still out there. And I was shitting myself (fortunately only figuratively).

Knowing my predicament, the rest of the VIS crew were on the job and shortly after I imploded JoJo arrived on the scene leading the bunch up the climb, joined by Taz and McConville. Jo's 2nd place capped off some pretty awesome teamwork by all the girls. You don't always see the full story of a bike race if you're not in it, and behind the results sheet lie strategies, efforts, counter-moves and mind games. Every one of us worked our asses off for one collective purpose. I was pretty stoked to be a part of it.

A few people have asked me why I was smiling during the race.  I was smiling because, after the week I'd had, I thought I'd just be making up numbers today. And because this time last year, I was a full-time athlete, in the form of my life, and having less impact on the race than I was now, working full time and having endured The Week From Hell. As I imploded going up the hill after I'd finished in the break and started going backwards, I heard the commentator on the race radio say, 'Well, I would have expected more from Lisa Jacobs' (both a compliment and an insult, if you know what I mean).  But to me, it was such a nice surprise. Thanks to everyone who cheered, because it made my day. Yes, it would have been nice to have had better legs, but that's about it. And a top chick won (the awesome Gracie Elvin, who survived the AIS Selection Survival Camp and just keeps getting stronger). So there were lots of reasons to smile. It was a great day.

Ride Happy.