St. Patricks Day or not, long and hard kilometres were the order of the day for the Saturday morning ride this week. I wanted to test myself by completing at least 108kms being the distance of the UWCT Road Race on the 25th of March. I had to be sure that I could complete it by enduring hard climbs and strong sprints over similar distance. Brad had hill climbs set for me anyway so I figured I should make the most of it and emulate a bit of everything that the UWCT Road Race would throw at me. What a morning!!!
I was on the bike at 4:20am and headed straight for Crystal Brook Rd with the intention to get in at least one climb of that road as well as Welshpool Rd followed by a rip around Pickering Brook before heading back to Garland Cycleworks for a smashfest with Group 1 where I would be able to put in some long and hard sprint efforts at the usual locations.
I built up the HR as I made my way out to the base of Crystal Brook Rd and by the time I hit the bottom of the climb it was sitting at about 134 bpm and rising which would allow me to raise it into E3 pretty quickly and make the most of the climb. There was no sign of the dawn at this stage so riding in the dark was certainly a different situation but possibly helped me attain a personal best climb of 4:11 (15.2 km/h) with an average HR of 155 bpm and max HR of 162 bpm - although I could only know this data after I posted it to Strava as I couldn't see the Garmin screen.
I hit the top and immediately turned down Welshpool Rd and rode down to Lewis Rd for a full climb of Welshpool Rd and to Pickering Brook. Again, it was complete darkness which allowed me to monitor the effort I was putting in (from feel) as opposed to what was up ahead. It was not my best effort up the climb but I was more interested in being able to complete the climb in bigger gears (60-70 rpm cadence) to conserve a little more energy for the greater part of the ride yet to come and to keep a consistent pace across the entire ride.
I was feeling great by the time I reached Canning Rd and was ready to get out to Pickering Brook for a lap of the road race circuit. I would be scraping it for time to complete it and get back to Garland's in time for the usual 6:30am departure but this would be my motivation to keep the pace up and make the legs really work. A maximum speed of 84.2 km/h down Welshpool Rd was a little more hair-raising than usual given the gloom of the dawn but I was making good time to reach the shop in time.
I decided to follow Welshpool Rd all the way to the end as opposed to going back up Orrong Rd and I reached the shop with just 5 minutes to spare. I had been on the bike for two hours at this point and still had plenty of strength in the legs and there was no real sign of any fatigue setting in. I refuelled with plenty to eat and drink (isotonic) and was ready to go the pace with Group 1. Of course, John Sonego's presence was felt almost immediately as we departed and he got himself into a strong rhythm to get us up to a burning pace along Riverside Drive and Mounts Bay Rd.
I was keeping pace and doing it easily at this stage and we hit the small climb at The Avenue with just a moderate pace going. John stepped on the gas as he began the climb and I came from mid-pack to get up to the top ahead of him and it was a great test of the legs given the work I had already done. We both continued the pace along Victoria Pde and on to Clarement. As much as my Garmin probably only showed 32 km/h average pace at this point, I'm sure the others had higher readings as they begain the recording from the shop.
John was doing a mammoth amount of work at the front and I felt I should try and releave him of at least some of the pace-making burden and helped him out along Marine Pde through Cottesloe. Al Flanders suggested we should probably begin to share the work on the front a bit and begin a pace line and I was happy to oblige. Emma was still with us and riding quite strongly again although the pace had her and Javan drop back a bit with a small gap appearing as I reached the back of the pace line. I eased up my pace a bit and helped them back into the group.
As we cornered the roundabout into Curtin Ave the group seemed keen to keep the pace going in anticipation of the impending sprint that would occur along Port Beach Rd. This would be the first of three long, flat-ground sprints I was keen to get in as part of this stage of the ride. By the time we reached the end of Curtin Ave and headed into the 90 degree right-hand bend into Port Beach Rd, the guys on the front had already begun to power up. I was second last wheel at this stage and really had some work to do so I cut the right-angle bend a little shorter than usual to gain one or two places and then hit my straps. Al had lead the front riders out to about 50-51 km/h by the time I reached them and I was able to get by them with a blinding pace which probably had me at about 57-58 km/h and increasing.
I ended up averaging the 600m dash on Strava at about 52.1 km/h however this could have been a little more given my earlier start and finish to the sprint (compared to the strave segment). I was very happy with the performance considering the work I had already done and the ability of some of the riders in the group. The burning in the legs was incredible but I was more surprised at how quickly I was able to recover from the effort and keep the pace at the usual average. A very good sign!
I was able to repeat the performance on Burke Drive and again the same burning in the legs was intense and severely noted. This sprint, while always my favourite, was not as fast as the one on Port Beach Rd but still proved that I could perform these efforts on already fatigued legs. The effort was also repeated leading up to the Raffles Hotel which signified the point at which I would need to break off from the group and head home to get to Jordan's cricket game in time. I would dearly have loved to complete the entire ride by continuing through Shelley but family is more important.
I completed 117 km for the morning at an average pace of 33.0 km/h which would indicate that the pace that Group 1 set would have been significant. Simon's Strava recording of the ride showed they completed the entire 65 km course at 35.3 km/h so while this might be short of the sort of pace I would expect in the UWCT Road Race, I am confident I will be able to keep with my age division bunch and possibly even any breakaway that might occur - even if it's my own!
I feel I am in the best form of my short cycling career and the timing could not be better as I taper off the workload a little this week in the lead up to the 25th of March. I'm confident that I can do well in the road race but whether or not it will be enough to finish in the top 25% of the riders and automatically qualify for the World Championship will not be known until the race is done.
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