Catch Up and Criterium Race Report

So, I’ve been quite busy lately and haven’t had a lot of time to post about anything. A fair bit has been going on in terms of road racing and full triathlon training as well as my schoolwork.

Two Sundays ago I raced in the Cairns Cycling Club road race down in Bramston Beach and was able to come away with a 3rd place finish and I am super stoked about that. I rode tactically well and was just unlucky not to finish in 2nd.

Last Sunday saw me race in the Cairns Cycling Club criterium. I really struggled to get out of bed that morning as it was quite cold (13°) and I had become over tired from training that week. I knew that if I had one extra hard day then I was able to sleep all day Monday. There wasn’t a very big field as there was also a mountain bike race on, but the six riders to turn up were not slackers at all and I still knew that it would be a hard race. It was more than difficult to get my legs going even after a ride to the venue as part of a warm up, so I tried to do as little work as possible and conserve my energy. There were a small number of short attacks but I was able to follow all of them and no one was able to get away. Thankfully! As we came down to three laps to go, there were only three riders left including myself. We all started to look at each other, wondering if anyone was going to go early. Shortly into the last lap, one rider attacked and I predicted that this would happen so I was able to quickly shut down his move and follow his wheel. That left two of us until about the last 300m when the other rider caught back up. As he tried to pass I followed his wheel to get a good lead out for the sprint. As we crested the small hill leading into the finish and we could see the finish line, I opened up my sprint. Passing the rider who gave me the lead out, I pushed as hard as I could and was able to take the win by a clear bike length. I was over the moon, after finishing so many A grade races in 2nd, 3rd and 4th; finally being able to get the win was the best feeling.

Taking the win in the criterium on Sunday.

I have been swimming hard as well over the past week and I think that training everyday has left me a little tired. I slept for most of Monday and now I’m feeling much better.

I am heading away next week as my sister is having a baby so I’m trying to do a heap of kilometres on the bike this week as I wont get to ride for a week. I am also still running as I have state cross-country in around four weeks and I’m really hoping to do well there.

Only 3 riders left.