Poetry (in motion) part 2 from Serene

This,it is part 2 of the previous blog from Serene, talking to us from down under and still in a concussed state.We hope her a quick recovery and a get well soon. 

The concussed (3 weeks and counting).

And so, the bad luck continues. What more can I say when my bike was one of the six that didn’t turn up at the criterium venue? I was out of GC contention right away after being awarded peloton time for the unfortunate DNS. Fair – but not so fair. 2m2s to 4 girls – with 2nd being a teammie – it was time to shelf away some personal ambitions and help Grace snare the yellow jersey. 

My pleasure, and honour!

“The too-long road stage”

The time-triallist in Grace needed to do her thing, so she duly punctured 20km in. The wheel-bearing road captain, apparently a new niche that Sarah had carved for herself, selflessly gave up her wheel to get Grace going. Meanwhile, I got about my business and captured the full KOM points at the 28km mark. The next 20-25km went by, with me either sitting in the pack or latching onto those purposeful surges by SJ. There was no reason to drive the pace as I waited for Grace to make her comeback. She did, but not quite in time to contest for the intermediate sprint. 

More attacks. Nothing went. 

To be completely honest, I was stuffed. My legs were buggered and I was nauseated. The humidity, the travels, the lack of mileage/intensity from the yesterweeks and the (still) on-going post-concussive syndromes came together and rebelled in earnest. I considered pulling out but I had a job to do. There was only me and Veronica left to help Grace in her bid for glory – you just have that little extra percentage more for a teammate.

Thankful for a 15-20km respite when then yellow jersey wearer had a mechanical. The peloton ambled along at a very sedate pace by the coast, while waiting for her to get it fixed. It didn’t quite happen – tough luck – but that’s bike racing. I was dealt a bad hand the day before too. On that note, my utmost respect to SJ for finishing the stage sans seatpost.

We needed to get the bike race going. Everyone was getting rather restless. 

The rest of the stage was peppered with the classic 1-2 attacks thrown by Grace and me, with #85 and #73 driving the pace otherwise. The former motoring along the flats and bombing the descents; the latter grinding up the climbs. I went for a few solo attempts after finding myself with a good gap atop the rollers but fact was that I was in no shape to do a Tony Martin. Grace wasn’t doing too well with her on/off cramps too so we just readied ourselves for a sprint finish. I was confident we would nail that anyway.

True enough, stage one-two. That bugger was cramping up sprinting towards the finish and was going to take to the comforts of her saddle to power to the line. But I wasn’t going to let that happen with another girl coming quickly behind us. I yelled at her to “GO, GO, GO”, which she did, and I crossed the line jubilant just behind her. Job done. She got all the bonus seconds and I took some of the other. 

One step closer.

“The still way too long 2nd road stage”

A yellow jersey to defend;

A polka dot jersey to protect;

A green jersey to fight for.

We gave green a good go but SJ proved too formidable despite her misfortunes of the previous stage. Classy, aggressive sprinter – she deserved it.

I love dots (and stripes) so obviously the fashionista in me wasn’t going to let the jersey slip away. Full points on both KOMs as per previous stage.

Yellow – the all important one – was still to be played for. We weren’t too sure of the GC time gaps but were rather confident that all Grace needed to do was to finish with the same time as 2nd and 3rd, a good few seconds back, due to Grace’s superiority in sprint finishes.

Long story short, with the strength and unity of the Mavettes, yellow was never quite in doubt. 

Sarah sat at the head of the peloton for a good 90km of the race – tapping out a solid tempo to deter attacks, and even more impressively, upping the pace to snuff out any dangerous moves. Singlehandedly. Superstar. 

I had an armchair ride behind her, “orchestrating” her metronomic riding – I actually thought that she might start hearing my voice in her sleep for the next couple of days. Apart from my voice power, I latched onto a couple of attacks that looked dangerous but really, the Mavettes were always in control. 

Veronica was the water girl of the day. You know, in that sort of weather conditions, it is akin to a lifesaver. Probably she wasn’t feeling as fresh as the day before, but she somehow kept going back and forth the bunch to ensure that our hydration needs were cared for. Top teammie.

Credits to city pictures

Credits to city pictures

10km to go. 

Sarah had just used up her last ounce of energy to set me up for the KOM. She blew up; I blasted onwards and upwards. Managed a good gap but I knew it wasn’t enough to hold off the bunch behind me. Got caught soon after and an attack went. Grace was in tow, as were the other contenders, so the onus was on me to chase it down. I was stuffed but I still had enough in me to snuff it out.

5km to go. I was sitting 2nd wheel. 1km to go, I was still there. Shit. Not the place to be for an uphill finish. But it was alright, I had ridden the last 15km with Grace the day before and we had talked it out. Along the way during the stage, we also rehashed our plans.

500m to go, I found myself in front. I rode tempo and then opened my sprint with about 250m to go. I went as hard as I could but knew right away that the legs weren’t going to power the bike across the finish line first. The road veered right in the last 100m and that was the shortest line. I took a cursory glance to the side and as I had expected, saw Christina coming up on the right, with SJ in tow. I closed that gap “ever-so-slowly” and right on cue, Grace shot out of the dwindled bunch and blasted past me. She got a good gap right away, which SJ couldn’t close before the finish. Me? I faded but still made it across for a podium finish. 

Stage one-three.

Let’s just say it was one hell of a successful weekend.

Yellow jersey.

KOM jersey.

2 stage wins.

2 seconds.

1 third.

Bearing in mind it was the first time 4 of us had ever ridden together in a race, you couldn’t have asked for better teamwork and understanding. This is what bike racing is about – the camaraderie triumphs all.

Credits to http://www.penghubungkepri.org for the photo

Credits to http://www.penghubungkepri.org for the photo

Thank you Serene from the SaddleDrunk Team

Poetry In Motion

This piece of poetry is from Serene,after winning the women KOM jersey at the Tour of Bintan 2014.

Cycling – an individual team sport.

Which allows for the expression of freedom,

Yet intricately bounded by the constraints of external elements.

Such a profound simplistic act,

That captivates the soul and elevates the senses.

A joy, gleaned from a pain.
 

 

Thank you Serene from SD.

 

Tour of Southland,Stage 2

From Daniel Carruthers in Bluff,New Zealand.Photo Credits to Envious Photography.

Bluff Hill and More wind and Cold rain!

Being at the southern most point of the South Island means you are exposed to winds that come howling up from the Arctic, providing a challenging ride for us riders. Racing at the Tour of Southland is no walk in the park and requires you to be at the top of your game to even remain in the peloton. After spending last few years living in China and racing around Asia, I’ve gotten a shock with the level of aggression that occurs within the peloton at Southland. You never get a free ride and its a constant battle for position in the pack. There is a lot of bodily contact and knuckle to knuckle throughout each stage, always have to be on the alert and assert your position. Racing in Asia does not prepare you for the battle that goes on at Southland. 

The Bluff Hill stage is 137km that takes you on a rolling loop from Invercargill and back to Invercargill before shooting out 30km along the exposed coastline to the formidable Bluff Hill that reduces riders to walking it;  the stage culminates with the steep 3km climb that pitches up at least 18% for sustained periods. Its a climb that requires a 28 cassette as a minimum.  I came to the Tour with a couple of objectives, one was to get on the sprint classification board and I opened my account by taking the first sprint of the day once the racing began in Invercargill. I tried to keep going and was joined by a couple more riders but the peloton was not letting us go. I sat up and was re-absorbed into the pack. There was a counter-attack and that was the breakaway for the day. It eventually swelled up to 10 riders and all but three riders were caught during the ascent up Bluff Hill. I felt much better riding in the peloton today - legs felt good and I had good position. Was able to handle the difficult patches without too much difficulty and managed to stay ahead of a late race pile up. I was still in the main peloton when we hit the base of Bluff Hill and it was at this point I rode at my own pace to finish three minutes down on the winner. I finished 51st  and legs are feeling good for the Riverton to Te Anau 150km Stage three.  This stage promises to be very picturesque with lush green pastures dotted with sheep and rustic old buildings fringed by imposing snow capped mountains. 

Survived yet another day at what is possibly one of the toughest road stage races in the world. Stay tuned for Stage 3 action.  

*The pink feathers worn to start of stage 2 was because I finished last in my team for stage 1!

Tour of SouthLand,Stage 1

Daniel Carruthers is keeping us posted from New Zealand, during his racing days down under.

Credit for the photos goes to envious photography.

Stage 2 update

Deep in the Deep South of New Zealand, the Tour of Southland battle is on;  it is a race where all of the top Kiwi riders turn out and a handful of Australians taking on the challenge. The race has a reputation for having plenty of bad weather to dish out at the riders, like crosswinds you’ve never experienced before - ones that would blow you along if you had sails mounted on your bike. Combined with the cold and rain, racing over rough chip seal New Zealand roads makes for a challenging race. Even more challenging when you are riding with some of the most talented riders in the country who know how to ride in the crosswinds.

True to typical Southland weather, the whole stage was buffeted with powerful head and cross-winds. This combined with the aggression of the riders made for a super tense day with riders constantly jockeying for position. You could never stay on the front of the peloton for very long as the pace would speed up and slow down, thus allowing riders from behind to swarm up on the sides and pushing you back. It was a mission in itself to stay up in the top 20-30 positions; which I was doing pretty good with and staying out of trouble. I was going well in the bunch till about the 100km mark, we had just completed the official KOM for the day and it was the calm before the storm that would erupt within the peloton. I was caught out completely. The Avanti team really drilled it once we crested the climb and it was full gas to the right hand corner.  After that turn, it was another crosswind fest but felt 10 times stronger because I was riding in the gutter in full force of the wind. I found myself slowly exploding and no longer able to hold the wheel in front of me. Moreover, it was downhill also! It was my first time getting dropped on a downhill and with riders barreling past me on the left. Even one tried to ram me into the ditch as he flew by. I chased hard, but could not recover enough to keep up the power. Eventually I found myself in a group of 10-riders and we ended up taking the wrong turn after battling block head-wind at 28-30km/h. Fortunately the officials gave us an official finish time as we eventually rolled across the finish in Gore under icy cold rain. It was a wake up call for me. Racing in cross-winds requires good positioning and knowledge of what is to come.  

Presently I am way down the GC in 93rd position from 108 riders as a result of today’s stage, but there are seven more stages to come so plenty of chances to try to salvage something at the 2014 Tour de Southland. If you are a strong elite rider and never raced before in New Zealand, this is the race to do. It won’t be an easy race thats for sure, but it would be an experience of a lifetime as you take in the stunning beauty of New Zealand’s Southland.