National Champs day’s 2 & 3

26/2/13

Day 2 of National Champs weekend saw many of the age group categories on course and battle for National Champion status.  I was super excited to see many of the riders whom I coach perform so well.  These riders continue to impress me with their ability to juggle the high demands of training with full-time work, family life and a little social time!  Leading into the National Champs, I made sure to make the training for these riders as specific as possible so as to not waste any of the limited time available.  I can honestly say that every rider performed above expectation and I felt proud to be their coach!

In the masters women category Jane Ollerenshaw punched out 2 consistently fast laps to finish up on the podium in 2^nd position.  She was rapt to finish ahead of a couple girls’ she has never beaten before.  The result is a testament to her hard work and commitment over the last few months.

Jane Ollerenshaw showing off her silver medal

The master’s men category included the biggest field of the weekend, with 30 of the best 40-50 year olds on the country.  This was certainly one of the most exciting races!  Brett Kellett, Bryce Young and Peter Gibson rode an awesome race to finish 4^th, 5^th and 23^rd respectively.  These guys are all tough-nuts and know how to hurt hard.  I think Brett may have been the only master rider to tackle the infamous hammer-head section.  I reckon Bryce wins the award for most spectacular crash. Peter well and truly ticked off his goal of not getting lapped and was far from finishing last in his first ever National Champs!

Bryce Young, most spectacular crash, picked himself up to finish 5th!

Peter Gibson rode impressively in his first ever Nat Champs

Brett Kellett only just missed the podium in finishing 4th. He is also an avid solestar user!

At the last minute, Nick Bird had to withdraw from racing the Grand-masters event due to work commitments. This was a little disappointing as he was certainly in flying form.  Not to worry, there are plenty more races on the horizon.

Nick Miller came all the way from Tasmania to race in the Veteran male category.  He was a little apprehensive about the technical course, but despite an obvious disadvantage of lack of course practice, he placed a respectable 11^th.

Nick Miller rode strong in the vet men’s category

Being defending national Champion, Holly Harris had the pressure on from the start in the U19’s event.  Holly is one of those riders who can certainly lift to the occasion and knows how to put the power down when it counts.  She had a tough battle with Emily Parkes from team Torq, but won in a sprint finish and can now wear the National Champion jersey for a 2^nd year running! A little further back, Karlee Gibson had her own battle going on for 3rd spot. She managed to ride away, from a local rider, in the 3rd and final lap to stand on the podium also!

Holly Harris, Karlee Gibson 1st and 3rd in U19’s!

The elite men’s field was full of talent, with previous national champions and Olympians. Luke Fetch started the race with no real expectations having recently had some time off the bike.  He rode strong and consistent as he always does and by race end finished an incredible 6^th place, only one spot off podium!  Nick Morgan lined up in his first ever elite National Championship.  He has been going from strength to strength of late and is certainly making a name for himself.  He struggled a little in this race, feeling quite flat, but even so finished up 18^th amongst a quality field.

Luke Fetch looking through the corner

Nick Morgan showing off some skill down Hammer head

So it was a very successful day for PedalLab riders. Now the pressure was on me to perform!

Going into this year’s National Champs as defending champion, was always going to make things a little more stressful than previous years.  While I was determined not to let the pressure get to me, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous during the weeks and days leading in. When nerves start to get the better of me, I like to go back to basics and simply work on the things I am able to control. My preparation over the last couple of weeks was ‘A1’ and I was certainly in the best possible shape I could be for my most important race of the year.

While I liked the technical sections of the Stromlo course, I didn’t like the fact that there was little passing opportunity and I was apprehensive about the starting fire-road section before heading into cardiac climb.  As it turned out, it was in fact the start that probably cost me the race.  I was simply unable to match the power of teammates Bec Henderson and Peta Mullens as they motored on by me into the single track and I had to settle into 5^th wheel behind Row Fry and Tory Thomas.  The pace was slowed considerably up the first major climb, and then down the single track descent.  It wasn’t until halfway through lap 2, that I was able to get past these 2 riders and try to make some in-roads to the now sizeable gap formed b/w me and Peta Mullens’ out front.

I was riding the technical climb and descent quite well but lacked a little power on the short fire-road sections. It was actually more of a ‘punchy’ course than I had anticipated and probably suited the more powerful style rider rather than a hill climber like myself.

It payed to keep the weight well back heading down the infamous ‘hammer-head’

Over the following 3 laps I was unable to close the gap to Peta Mullens.  Peta has certainly shown her talent and versatility over recent months, with wins on the road, and in the marathon, XC and eliminator formats.  She definitely deserved the win, given her hard work over the last year and I am content to have finished 2^nd behind such an accomplished rider.  I can quite honestly say that I put 110% into the race for the entire distance and at the end of the day I couldn’t have done anything more.  I was simply beaten by a better rider.

Elite women podium

It is now time to take a short breather. However not too short, as there are plenty more exciting races on the horizon with the Bike Buller festival, National round 3 in Bright, Oceania Champs in Tasmania and then the National Marathon Champs in Qld.  An exciting couple of months ahead!