Vicki Whitelaw

It’s been a while since my last post. The motivation has been low since Nationals and  it’s always easier to report about the good results and strong performances rather than the lacklustre ones. Unlike 2009 Nationals, this time around didn’t involve a bout of bad luck, instead a case of bad legs. Well, bad legs for the time trial and poor racing tactics for the road race.

I was suffering a low-level virus but nothing really to worry about going into time trial day.  I had ensured a good warm up to face the first climb and all equipment was running smoothly. Dave took pole position in the car behind but given there were no radios for the first time this year, the only real assistance was going to be a wheel or bike change. Fingers crossed – not this time.

However within 2 minutes of commencing, we knew I was in for a bad day. I was all over the place on the bike on the first climb. I couldn’t find a rhythm – in the saddle, out of the saddle, in, out. It just wasn’t clicking. I was attempting to get over the gears and the legs felt like lead. I didn’t dare glance at my cadence – it felt like it was in the 70rpm range. Ridiculous. The bigger gears that I’d attempted in the lead up training to the event just weren’t working for me on the day – instead I was becoming more and more bogged down. There was just no spark and try as I might throughout the race, I couldn’t muster it. I had to keep my mind switched on despite the heaviness in the legs and when riders started passing me – a situation that I had rather not imagined, I just had to keep it together all the way to the line. I finished a disappointing 4th and coped mentally by looking forward to Saturday’s road race.

I had a good game plan for this race and with the support of the ACT girls and Lotto team mates, Rochelle and Josie, I was quietly confident. However when race day dawned and the hot, oppressive conditions that were forecast were realised, we decided to can our original plan, settling with the idea that it was going to be a race of attrition. In doing so, I had transitioned from being aggressive and on the offense to passive and defensive. I kick myself now and have analysed a number of missed opportunities throughout. Gees, I can be a really slow learner. Right, time to move on… learn from the mistakes and train my body and mind for the coming season. I’m over the consistency and ready to embrace inconsistency if this means some great results on the horizon. Goal setting has begun and I’m going to transform my racing this year.

Next up on the calender is the Womens’ tour of New Zealand commencing on February 24th in Wellington. It will be exciting to race with my new team, Lotto.  Qatar will be the first test for Lotto and a good chance to see how Rochelle’s sprint is coming along. I will miss this race in favour of a tour more suited to me in New Zealand.

I’m off to Adelaide next week with Dave for some training in the hills. I have fond memories of my first Nationals in the Adelaide hills and it will be great to ride in this beautiful place amongst the vineyards again.

Ciao,
Vicki

It’s been 3 weeks since my last post and given it’s been packed with training, I’ve had little time or energy to put fingers to keyboard.

The first week involved a 5 day time trialling camp in Geelong with the national team.  From Day 1 until Day 5 intensity was the major ingredient of every session.  My favourite had to be the ergo session that simulated the 2010 World time trial course. We were required to give our all for a gut busting 23km, wearing an aero helmet and a rectal probe (for the gold standard of core body temperature measurement).  Whilst pretty reluctant for this procedure, realising it was in the name of science and was going to provide some valuable info for the Aussie team’s preparation, I gave it a go. It was uncomfortable to begin with and I was very aware of it in warm up as it was constantly being tugged by small movements. However once the testing had begun, there were greater distractions to contend with and the probe was rarely noticed again.

Following this introduction, there were various efforts out on the course. Given the traffic around central Geelong, this was quite tricky at times to map out a smooth uninterrupted run. The course consists of one huge loop that includes the major sights of Geelong. The first half is dominated by 3 nasty climbs that will be sure to deaden the legs for the second (undulating) half of the race. There are some very rough roads as you wind through the Botanic gardens, accompanied by speed bumps and some tight corners. Whilst there are clear indications of speed bump removal, there are currently no plans to resurface the road?!@#

The plan for the last day was an easy 4 hour roll and given the heat, we left early at 7am. We headed out to the Great Ocean Rd, a very beautiful part of the world that I’d love to explore further when the racing days are over and I can do it at a more leisurely pace.  I was riding my brand new Pinarello Montello time trial bike which had been built up by the wonderful guys at DeGrandi Cycle and Sport in Geelong. 

At the camp, we had worked on achieving a mean aero position.  I have elevated the bars slightly compared to the Focus bike and moved the saddle forwards. I am feeling so much happier in this position and am hoping that it translates to some fast time trials. (Just have to train the legs now!) The top tube of my new bike suits me better in length than the Cervelo or the Focus and it means that I can now ride with a more normal head stem length, like a 100mm rather than the ridiculously short and downward sloping stems I’d been using previously.

4 hours on the new bike was a big ask however and my bum took several days to recover! Back in Canberra with 2 new bikes (much to Dave’s delight) means that we now have a grand total of 10 bikes in the garage. He complains that they are breeding and won’t let me go away any more fearing I will come home with yet another. Forget about parking the car in our garage. There are bikes EVERYWHERE, including our fantastic motorbike. Dave has been having some great fun on it, particularly when it comes to turning up the throttle when he motorpaces me. He has plenty of mirrors on it to check my grimaces and will accelerate gleefully when I’m barely hanging on. We plan to put a steel roller on the back for safety purposes. I don’t think it will be that pretty if I slam into his rear wheel when travelling at 80km/hr. In the meantime, the ‘P’ plate is getting plenty of black tyre marks as I use that as a bit of a buffer.
I have also been spending some time on the motorbike and will hopefully attempt to pass my ‘P’ test in February before heading overseas. I love the feeling of riding a motorised bike – not having to pedal is a wonderful thing. I’m gradually gaining my confidence for leaning as I corner and all I need to do now is remember to turn the fuel tank key to ‘on’ so I don’t find myself chugging to a halt on a major road on my way home. 

The sad news since my last post is the death of our gorgeous little dachshund, Fritz. For the last month, he had been living in Wagga with my parents-in-law as Dave and I had been doing so much travelling. He always did have a real ‘oral’ fixation and as a puppy we had a difficult time closing his mouth when he played with us. Not only did he chew things, he tended to ingest them. We thought it only a matter of time that he would require a stomach pumping for ingesting yet another mouthful of woodchips from the garden. Well this time, it seems that he found his way to some lead paint in the garden and well, lead and little 5kg dogs don’t really mix. He came down incredibly sick, with half of his body paralysed from the neural toxicity. He suffered one too many seizures and that was it. Although I’d spent only a year in total of his 2 year life with the little terror, I’d grown pretty fond of him and this last week has been tough as I have all this memories of his crazy antics.

I will miss such cuteness

It’s now a matter of days before 2010. The start of the year is a birthday for me, followed by Nationals, which seem to be occurring earlier with each year. This has meant a strict routine when it comes to festivities over Christmas and the new Year, with the objective of being in top racing form. We managed to get the preparation right for 2009 Nationals and I’m confident things will be similar this time around with a similar build up.

Till next time,

Vicki

The time is really flying by with 2010 season just around the corner.  2009 was not exactly a stellar year for me and I’m not sad to see the back of it.  However, scoring 2 tour wins on the domestic scene in recent weeks has been nice.

Tour of Bright is such a fantastic race.  The organisation runs smoothly making it easy for us riders to race.  The scenery is breathtaking including the view from the top of Mt Hotham.  There are challenging mountain climbs that resemble the monster climbs I have tackled in Europe.  And of course, winning the race is always fun.  :)  I look forward to next year’s edition as it provides a great time to race in the lead up to January when the road racing kicks off again.

2010 will hopefully be a great year for me.  Already it is coming together nicely - I have signed with the Belgian women’s team Lotto.  This is a strong and united team that has been steadily growing for several years now and I’m excited to be a part of it.  Joining fellow Aussies Rochelle Gilmore and Josie Tomic will be 4 South African riders including their current road race champion Lynette Burger, along with American Liz Hatch and a bunch of riders coming from Belgium.  One of the stars of the team is Grace Verbeke who finished of 2009 ranked 13th in the world.  Our race calender is beginning to take shape and it looks like a solid one.  I am happy to each year be increasing the amount of racing I do as I develop further as a road racer.

I travel to Geelong, Victoria at the end of this week for a National time trial camp and I will also be picking up my lovely new bikes supplied to Lotto by our sponsor Pinarello – an FP7 training bike and a Montello time trial bike.  Exciting times!  I will endeavour to keep you posted as more team developments unfold.

Vicki

For the last 2 weeks, I’ve  enjoyed a long overdue holiday with Dave on the south island of New Zealand. After so much time and distance between us this past year, it has been important to be a married couple again.  :)  We’ve also brought along our friend Kat to keep the peace. Having travelled with us in New Zealand three years ago, Kat is a great travel companion as she loves to indulge in similar hiking adventures, following each day with a decent steak.  Deprive her of her daily steak and she starts to get the shakes.  She has had a good influence on me, reminding me to increase my red meat intake as I’ve been rather slack lately and wonder about those iron levels.

Oceania titles 2010 brought us to Invercargill last weekend.  I’d never cycled this far south.  I’ve competed in the womens tour for 2 years on the North island of NZ and experienced “windy Wellington” but I can now say that place doesn’t hold a candle to the weather conditions in Invercargill.  From the day we arrived until the day we left, the wind averaged 30km-50km/hr.  At night it kept us awake as it shook the windows of our hotel and during the day it often blew me off the road. I will NEVER complain about riding in the wind in Canberra again.

I struggled through both the time trial and road race.  Whilst all of the girls who’ve spent a solid time overseas this year were in the same boat regarding form and fitness, I seemed to come up the worst.  Oceanias at this time of the year was always going to be very tough after a 3 week break.  I finished 4th in a dead flat 25km time trial and was significantly off the pace of 3rd.  The road race was hillier but the wind just as brutal and given it was a rectangular shaped circuit completed 6 times, we were belted by the wind from all directions.  With a very small bunch of less than 20 riders there was no where to hide.  An attack by Bridie 30km in to the race was the right idea and this stuck as there was no coordinated chase from the bunch.  I finished 7th in the huge bunch sprint.  C’est la vie.  It’s now time to keep the base fitness kicking along as I look towards December with two cycling camps, the Tour of Bright and some solid local racing.

From Invercargill, it was time to holiday. We’ve spent time in Te Anau, Milford Sound and now Queenstown.  The highlight has definitely been a cruise on Milford Sound.  Given that it rains almost 200 days of the year in Milford, we lucked out in terms of weather – a glorious sunny day that revealed the colours in the waterfalls and rocks beautifully.  Every day has involved hiking – anywhere from a couple of hours up to 6.  Kat and I are true “peak baggers”, preferring to walk the trails that involve a summit and views.  Dave just sighs and follows along. The “Key Summit” trail along Milford Rd was another highlight, offering views along the Hollyford valley and of snow capped mountains 2000m high.

All of this hiking had me truly spent at the end of each day. I chose to relax in a floatation tank at a day spa in central Queenstown.  When I first began my massage career I worked in a clinic Bondi, Sydney which combined massage with floatation tanks.  For those who haven’t experienced these sensational inventions, let me fill you in…  They are the shape of bread boxes with a sliding roof that once closed leaves you in darkness. The floating part is achieved by 50kg of Epsom salts thrown in which gives the water a silky feel and great buoyancy.  After you’ve stuck in some ear plugs, applied vaseline to any skin cuts (absolutely crucial unless you’re prepared for skin burning once inside the tank!) you step into your personal bread box and float away all your worries for an hour.  Bliss!

Lakes, mountains - what more could you ask for?

Dave & I in the same country at the same time!

With scenes like these, I remained in a state of bliss for the next few days in NZ.  It was very hard to get back to reality in Canberra.  I worked a day in the clinic and am currently clocking up the kms on a training camp in Kiama with my state institute team.  This has been on my calender for 3 years now and I’ve found it’s been instrumental for building my fitness into the new season.  I’ve survived the first few days chasing the guys up the climbs and hope to hang in for the remaining 3.  I’ll let you know how that goes!

I’ve been home for over a month now and it’s been fantastic. Sure I love the life of a cyclist in Europe but gees, my quiet life back home in Australia is very nice. Spring in Canberra is a lovely season, if you escape the bombing magpies, viscious winds and the 6am morning rides. For the first three weeks back, I enjoyed frequent cafe time, unstructured exercise and generally just chilling out with friends and family I hadn’t seen for 7 months. I could sure get used to that. I headed back to work very part time as a soft tissue therapist and enjoyed working my brain cells again.

After this 3 week break, it was straight back into training. Well, I skipped the training part and threw myself into the Honda Hybrid Tour for Women. Quite a mouthful but a fantastic tour to get women’s racing really up and going in Australia. With 80-odd girls in this very first year, it will hopefully just continue to get bigger and better. Whilst the stages were very short, the pace was high and the competition strong and it was great to see the local girls riding aggressively and giving us a real challenge.  It certainly kick started my return to training and by the end of 3 days, I was no longer feeling very fresh in the legs.

The following weekend I headed to Sydney for a conference and Dave and I managed some training early in the mornings at the crack of dawn. We were woken every morning by the clip-clop of horses at the Randwick race course, so it made sense to get up and train. With Sydney’s traffic and road system, cycling  can be a real nightmare unless you travel as a group and with cyclists familiar with routes. Our friend Hamish took us to a quiet block at Doll Point for some sprints and intervals. To get there was fortunately off road via a maze of bike paths. Our return was via traffic and together with pushy motorists left me in a bad mood.

The next day we set out to find the 6.30am infamous Coluzzi bunch. Problem was we arrived at 6.29am and they’d already left! So Dave and I set out on a 2 hour negotation of the busiest roads and highways towards Cronulla. Again not an awesome day on the bike. Sunday did make up for it with a 4 hour round trip to Waterfall in the Royal National Park- a common location for Sydney cyclists on the weekends. It was a really pleasant escape from the traffic and had plenty of hills of various gradients.

This past week of training has seen a return to speed training with crit racing,motopacing and a local club road race today. I’m feeling like I’ve put in some solid training this week and there is no rest until Monday, with another long ride planned for Sunday. All this is in preparation for Oceania championships on November 13th-15th in New Zealand. It is going to be difficult to be in supreme condition this early- I can but do my best.  The day after the road race, I’m looking forward to a 10 day holiday on the South Island with Dave. A bit of R and R before training gains momentum for Nationals in January.

Bye,

Vicki