Winter weather takes its toll on masters champ

by Pip Read, Australian & World Masters Champion Cyclist

Not sure about you, but I think this is the coldest and wettest winter for some time. I guess, like most of you, cycle training has taken a serious hit what with the cold, the wet, and the act of watching the Tour interrupting my sleep. The wind trainer has been seeing some use and I have even resorted to weight training in the garage with the heater going flat-out.

My club has again entered two women's teams in the winter (why do we do road races in winter?) road season. Unfortunately I missed the first few races as I was travelling, so the first teams' race I competed in was a time trial. The course was quite taxing, hilly and included two laps of the Yarra Boulevard in Melbourne. It was especially difficult for me as our overseas trip and above mentioned excuses did not help my preparation.

Following a short round of emails and text messages between team members it was decided to use time trial bars on road bikes and the other ok'd me to use my brand new TT bike. After a late night session in the workshop it was ready to go, even if I had not yet sat on it yet, at least the measurements were to my preferences. I thought it was a good idea to take the race bike just in case. After a quick ride around the block and an even quicker adjustment to the gears I decided to use the TT bike.

The contest was for teams of three with the second rider home being timed. After a few km's one of our team members was having trouble with the hills, so just after the second turn around we had two of us left. I'm giving credit to my bike because I was surprised at how I was climbing the not too steep but still quite taxing hill. We finished third women's team home so we were happy with the day's racing.

As I've said before this sport of ours would not be held if not for the volunteers to make it all happen, in all sorts of weather! They deserve a huge thank you for all the effort they put in for very little recognition. I've stepped in to the shoes of a volunteer on occasions, as I encourage all riders to do and I again drove the follow car at the Northern Combine race at Broadford just to do my bit.

Unfortunately I had a bit of a mishap after the event that resulted in me hobbling on crutches for a week and still walking with a bit of a limp. The injury happened because of a really stupid thing that I should have not done; running for the toilet I miss judged a concrete step and badly strained my calf muscles to my right leg. Nearly two weeks down the track I'd still got some impressive bruising and yet another excuse to keep me inside near the fire.

I was entered for a time trial recently that was fortunately (for me) cancelled due to inclement weather. I did a recon ride on the circuit on the previous Thursday and the leg was just ok if I peddled with my toes pointing down on my right side. Not a good cycle position for a race!

In another team time trial the weather was very cold and windy. We had three teams entered and it felt rather strange racing with all the winter kit on, two pairs of gloves, a wind vest and under the TT helmet a cap! It was very cold and you could actually see the fog rolling in.

My team started first with three of us working together into the head wind on the first two legs and then a great tail wind to head for home on. If we stopped at one lap that would have suited us just fine. The problem was we were doing two, one of our team was not feeling so well and we tried hard to stay together. As the timing was taken on the second rider home we did split up a little bit on the finish line.

Quite impressive result in the end with my club's three teams finishing first, second and third with less than one minute covering first to third.

The cancelled time trial was rescheduled for the following weekend but due to lack of entries was again cancelled. I'm really not sure what is going to happen with the Masters Time Trial Series this year. Hopefully the next round will go ahead.

Talk soon,

Pip