For those that got outside in the early mornings last week - kudos to you all for braving the less than ordinary conditions. I've been loving the beautiful weather here in Perth over summer so much that making the switch to winter has not been one I want to do but of course it does mean Road Race season! I'm really looking forward to my first race of the season but a little more patience is required to ensure I get everything back in shape before rising to the challenge. The weather this past week has certainly helped and I expect that I'm one of the minority when it came to getting out there amongst the conditions.
I was looking forward to putting the knees through the paces of a group session so this was a good opportunity as it would not be as gruelling as the regular Tuesday sessions with some of the more advanced riders. Brad ran us through some of the techniques required to help preserve energy during a race which had us ride out along Riverton Drive to Shelley and back again. After a bit of a review we were off for a second ride out and back, this time with Brad lifting the tempo toward the last half of the return leg to the point where we each dropped off the line one at a time until it was just Brad and I at the end. I expect this was a good chance for Brad to see where each of us were physically and I was surprised to still be with Brad at the end. The knees held up very well and I was ready to take on the rest of the week ensuring the rehabilitation was near complete before getting back on the program.
Tuesday and Thursday had me riding with the early Bell Tower crew for quick jaunts around the river riding through Nedlands, Claremont, Fremantle and Como before heading home. On the Tuesday run, I managed a couple of significant efforts up the short hills to test the knees including a quick jump up Gairloch Street which I managed to complete in just 11 seconds. Looking at the effort on Strava, I was just 1 second short of taking the KOM for the segment and when someone managed to achieve this on Wednesday (my day off), it seemed to spur on some spirited commentary on Strava and a challenge was laid down to take Gairloch in 9 seconds or less. I felt it was possible but would be really challenging to also try and take The Avenue Climb segment as well.
So Thursday saw a number of us make such attempts and while we all seemed to get PRs on each challenge, we also managed to screw up some aspect of each climb which had us fall just short of each segment KOM. For mine, I seemed to enter the corner into Gairloch reasonably well but bounced too much up the hill and lost a little too much traction with the tarmac, while the attempt to sprint the Avenue Climb resulted in too weak an effort leading into it and not having enough pace at the beginning. Next chance I get I will try to correct these issues which just may help to get there.
While most mornings during the week were acceptable riding conditions, things turned very ordinary very quickly on Friday morning for a ride out through Canningvale with the SPR Friday crew. The impending weather kept numbers to just 5 riders and we used each other as much as we could to find shelter from the conditions but by the time we got to Manning Rd, then heavens opened up on us and we were thoroughly drenched. This wet trend stayed with me all the way along Kent St where I almost forgot to have a crack at the hill climb to the top. I had remembered just in time but the start was not going to be as quick as it could have been. I still managed to equal Shannon's time to take a shared KOM for the segment.
The week's rehabilitation was excellent and the knees held up beautifully. It was the perfect finish to the process and would have me well prepared to take on the weekend's efforts with the Garland Crew.
No comments:
Post a Comment