Today registrations for the “2012 ‘3 Peaks’ Challenge” opened for non-Bicycle Victoria members and further to my previous July entry not surprisingly I registered immediately when I was first able this morning; whilst just over 6 months away, today really is the official start of my 3 peaks countdown…
Now, I’m no habitual blogger but over the forthcoming 6 and half months I – a proud father, lawyer & dog owner who lives life still dreaming of one day becoming both a pro-tour cyclist and formula 1 racer – will blog my thoughts, inspirations, motivations and opinions (of which I have a few) for this specific event...
Firstly, can I copy below a video that I find incredibly awe inspiring. It also provides a lovely soundtrack to the rest of the read...
Rapha Rides the Victorian Alps from RAPHA on Vimeo.
Today I haven't anything too profound to say, I'll save that for later, but coming out of winter and looking forward, this gives a little insight as to my level of winter obsessiveness...
Winter preparation
I have hardly had an easy winter off the bike.
don’t believe I have ever consistently been on my bike as much during a cold, dark and wet winter before. Nor have I been as conscious of my winter consumption so as not to fall into the trap of developing a few kgs of "winter insulation". In fact, I am at the same weight as I was in January/February, and thankfully, whilst ordinarily at this time of the year I’m thinking about having to burn off my winter weight gain and returning to a certain level of pre-winter fitness, that is not presently the case. I have never been lighter (85.5kg w/ BMI 22.28) or as fit at the end of a winter, and I am hoping it is a solid base for the spring and summer to come.
Putting aside specifics in what I try to do each week whether on the road or trainer (and we are not talking super-kms here), from a winter preparation perspective, generally speaking I’ve been intent on focusing on the hills and in this regard I am very thankful that I live at their doorstop here in Adelaide.
Making the most of often limited opportunities I try to focus on sucking the marrow out of each ride, building fitness, technique and comfort with my own body. Even the nasty wintry weather in the hills I find educational as I say to myself "it could well be like this in Falls Creek".
I recognise that this may come at the expense of my "enjoying" my rides, and this is certainly true of some rides, but when riding in the company of the CFFRS and TMMLM lads, bar the occasional wild mood swings within the group, there remains a sufficiently abundant amount of fun and appreciation of the beauty of the sunrise and hills. Without becoming too soft - to quote "The Castle" - I never stop appreciating the "serenity" of it all.
From an event perspective I have focussed on BicycleSA’s Grand Slam series. I have found these very good and have been pleasantly-surprised with how well I’ve performed. That being said, whilst competitive and wanting to finish as high up as I can, these events for me are more about self-education; I want to learn more about myself mentally and physically, and I want to use them as opportunities to “practice” (through trial and error, post research) essentially what works well and what doesn’t work so well. Everything for me is mentally logged as either a hit or miss.
For example (and I recognize that this is indeed obsessive), areas of focus have consciously included (but are not limited to):
- Pre-event (ie week) diet and hydration – calorie intake and pre-event nutritional ratio;
- Pre-event sleep;
- Pre-event exercise tapering;
- Event calorie and fluid consumption –amount (cals & mls), form (bars, gels, fluid, snakes…), timing, brand and balance (ie multitasking eating/riding & breathing);
- Event pacing – judging the right amount of requisite effort required when necessary; and
- Event psychology – especially when faced with the unexpected and having to mentally adjust expectations or deal with setbacks whilst on the bike.
Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on my current point of view), last Sunday's GS#4 was a good lesson in the last abovementioned item. I won’t bore with specifics, but as I have since realized the original cause was a small tear in my right ITB which occured prior to the ride. Thankfully I shouldn’t be away from the hills for any more than the week just past.
I say "unfortunately" for obvious reasons, but "fortunately" as it was a healthy reminder (pardon the pun) of the importance of adequate stretching, general muscle care/recovery and mentally dealing with the emotional/psychological set backs. In particularly, at the time my leg gave up last Sunday I was comfortably riding with a group of 3 (we were running about 3rd/4th/5th), but when I was forced to slow and allowed them to go ahead, I felt "broken". Even more so when others were able to ultimately catch up and pass in the final 40km.
I was feeling pretty emotionally demoralised, but in hindsight feel less so knowing that it was a good lesson to have (needed to have (??) and that I still did well to roll into Echunga in about 10th place.
Approach and Expectations
At this stage, I really don’t know how to approach the ‘3 Peaks’ and where “I fit” in the cycling pecking order (for lack of better expression). At one end of the spectrum are those cyclists who I believe will (with no disrespect) enter without the same core fitness as myself and treat the event as purely survival wanting to finish before SAG wagon comes at 13hrs, and at the other end of the spectrum are those riders who are serious riders who have completed the event several times already and whose goal is to beat their time from previous year.
I’d like to think I’ll be somewhere in the middle, though recognize that this question of expectations is significantly premature. I query it of myself because of the unknown, and by asking it, I seek to find reassurance that provided I approach it correctly and continue my event specific preparation I will indeed well finish. I am indeed mindful of not raising the bar of expectations too high, for the fall from high may be too great and to set it too high risks predetermined fail.
Fortunately, we’re still 6 months away and expectations and event specific goals to do not need to be resolved today.
ZZ
P.S. Three Peaks Expense Diary (to date)
- Registration: $250
- Accommodation (2 nights): $280 (Falls Creek Country Club)
- Flights: $205.00
