Friday Night Sprints

Well my personal photographer took some pictures and video for me to share with you.
Here is a video from the week before, but it is all about the same. 

This week a few more people showed up, it made for some faster races as there were more A grade racers and the A and B fields were combined.  We had 4 races on the night and they went really quickly.  This was really good as the mosquitoes were out in full force and every time I sat down they were biting me through my spandex. 

I did well in the elimination race again, finishing 3rd.  We also raced 2 scratch races and a unknown distance scratch race.  I did better in the later races than in the first one.  I seem to get better as the night wears on and my legs get warmed up.   I still have to work on my strategy, I often get caught behind people in the last lap which makes it hard to contend for the finish.  We will be racing on the track through March, so I should have plenty of time to practice.

The Comets: First Scrimmage

Saturday night was the opening day for the Comets. The day started at 2pm when the under-16 team played followed by the under-18 team. At 5:45 the Comets had their first test against Mackay. I arrived at 4:30 to help them get ready. Let me tell you, being in a men's locker room is a new experience for me! Lots of sweaty boys and testosterone permeated the air, not to mention all the heat and mozzies trapped inside the small locker room. I couldn't wait for the game to start, so I could get out and breath some fresh air while watching the game from the sidelines.

The boys took the field in their brand new uniforms sporting the new logo. I got to sit back and try and figure out how the game was played. The boys get 5 downs to score before the ball is turned over if the attempt is unsuccessful. When tackling, they have to hold them down for it to count. To score, they have to purposefully place the ball down on the ground. A goal earns 4 points, followed by a kick that can earn them 2 points. Typically they play in 40 minute halves, but they have a heat rule that the enforced that had them get a drink at 20 minutes. They do have a scrum like rugby union, but I'm still not sure why because it doesn't seem to serve any purpose in this game.

Unfortunately, the Comets lost to Mackay 0-10, but at least Mackay didn't score until the last quarter. Fortunately, there were no injuries to report, just a few sprained muscles. After watching how they take each other down, that was a nice surprise. They pretty much grab a guy behind the back of the knee, lift him up and toss him on his head! So, after checking in on them after the game and finding out they were all ok, I was free to go enjoy the Brisbane Broncos (the Comets' affiliate team) play the Melbourne Storm. This was a National Rugby League pre-season match up. Some of the Comets were actually being trialled as well, so it was fun to see a few guys that I know play as well. The game was a lot quicker and the passing a lot sharper and I had Ronnie, the Comets trainer, explaining the rules to me as the game went. Now that I had a better understanding of the game (and a tinnie of Gold in hand) it was a pretty exciting event!

Swimming

I love swimming when it is raining. It is peaceful to have the raindrops hitting the water around me and on my arms and head. We have been able to do a lot of this lately with all the rain we have been having. Laura is like a fish now, she swims at least everyother day. I try to get to the pool once a week, sometimes I make it twice. Today I finally nailed my flip turns. I think it has something to do with the new goggles I bought. My old ones leaked a lot and I was stopping once a lap to drain the water. With the new goggles I never have to stop, I come to the wall flip, kick off the wall and keep going. Now I just need to develop some endurance.

Sat night at the Track

Things are starting to wind down at the track now. All but one of the A grader's have quit for the season. Most of the people racing are getting ready for Nationals or the states. I however am just out there to have some fun and learn more about track racing. The closest velodrome to our upcoming new home in Charlottesville, VA is in Lehigh Valley, PA. Unless we move back to Long Beach, then there is one just up the road in Carson.

Anyway, the night consisted of a 8 lap scratch race to get the blood moving, a flying 200 meter solo sprint against the clock, a 3 lap match sprint (more on that later), and finally a 15 lap scratch race to finish the evening. Actually to finish the evening we went to Mackers (McDonalds) to grab a hot fudge Sunday to take home. Almost nothing is open in this town past 9PM.
Okay, we will get some video footage of the races up later, but the scratch races were not too exciting, I got beat by faster people. Although in the last one I was pushing the pace out front a bit to try and tire out people. And I actually thought I was going in a good position into the last lap when the guy in front of me just pulled off, which screwed me.

The 200 meter sprint was okay I bested my fastest practice time by 3 hundredths to an okay time of 13.79 secs. This matched me up with the silver fox himself (the nickname for an older racer who is smart and fast). I figured as this was my first race and I would get beat out in the tactics I would just try to out sprint him early. The race usually works by the 2 racers watching each other for 2 laps then sprinting the last lap. I took off with 1.5 laps to go hoping to catch him out, I got a good 10 meter lead on the jump. But I was unable to hold him off, he eventually got into my slipstream, and got to even as we came into the final straight. I went as hard as I could go, but he just edged me out by a wheel length.

Bent Wing Bats

Friday night the skies stayed clear so we were able to venture over to Mount Etna (named after the one in Sicily, but no, not a volcano) to the bat cleft. The bats arrive every November to have their young and depart near the end of February once they are able to fend for themselves. According to our guide, we were hitting it at the perfect time...mums were still there and bubs were starting to venture out in the evenings to test out their wings.

We made the trek up the 1.2k trail to the top gradually with our guide who would stop to give us a bit of the history of the fight to protect the bat cleft and other nearby caves from mining and to point out different plants and insects native to the variable dry rainforest that we were in. She educated on how the different plants would have been used by the aboriginals. One of the tree leaves contained a substance that could be used as soap, another could be used for cooking and others contained poisons used for fishing. There were a number of butterflies along the way. We even saw an Echidna (see below).


Once we made it to the cleft (which was like a vertical crack in a wall of rock) we donned harnesses that would allow us to clip ourselves into the rock face so we could safely lean over the cleft to watch the bats as they departed for the night. It was then that she mentioned the snakes (there wasn't anything about snakes in the brochure)! Two types of python and the brown tree snake hunt bats. Lovely.

Now it was getting dark and the bats were starting to emerge, so one at a time we clipped into the rock and leaned over into the cave. Bats swirled their way up the shaft and out into the night flying right past us and sometimes, especially the less skilled new fliers, into us. They felt like getting brushed by a feather they were so light and soft. Sure enough after only a short time the snakes began to make their way into the opening to hunt for dinner. We had the privilege (ha ha) of seeing a spotted python and a brown tree snake. Lucky me! The spotted python (below) is supposed to be harmless to humans and the brown tree snake was said to prefer bats over people any day, but I was still a little uneasy. I do have to admit it was kind of interesting watching them lunge out from the rock to catch a bat, but as soon at one was remotely close, I was ready to leave.



We travelled much quicker down the hill stopping only now to learn a little about the geology of the region. A number of frogs had come out at this point and we were introduced to a few different varieties. A few wallabies hung out for long enough for us to see them under our flashlights. We also ran into a fair number of moths and spiders as well. By the time we were back to our cars, the mozzies were out in full force...too bad there weren't any bats around now!

Koorana Crocodile Farm

Today we did not have to venture far from Rocky to get to the Koorana Crocodile Farm. This facility has been around since 1981 and started out at a "removal service" for the area. Once the crocodile was protected in Australia, they began flourishing and locals needed a way to get rid of the trouble makers. So that is when the Lever's stepped in to offer their services. Over the years the farm has grown and now they give 2 tours a day to the public. While we were there we were able to see 2 newborn crocs that had just hatched that morning. We also had the opportunity to hold the "runt of the litter" croc that had become a mascot for our tour guide. He only stood up to my knee standing tail to tip of nose! The facility houses a number of saltwater crocs and a pair of alligators (just for comparison). The largest of the crocodiles was over 850kilos.

Jasper

We have a new addition to the family.  My sister had a boy on Jan 19th.  Little Jasper was 8lbs 5oz.

5K of Pain

Today I got around to riding up to the top of Mt. Archer. It is the best climb around here, I have been meaning to ride up there for a while now, but today became the day when I went to the track and no one was there. I guess they were scared away by the threat of rain.
I don't have the official numbers, but I was told that it is 10-11% grade. It was almost exactly 5K from the base to the top. This was one hell of a climb, I am pretty sure I have not climbed a mountain this long at this steady of a grade. When I cycled through Colorado, I defiantly did longer climbs, but never this steep. It was a narrow 2 lane road, reminded me of the roads you see on the tour de france. I knew I was screwed when I clicked into my lowest gear and I was still having trouble turning over the pedals. I wished I had taken off the 11-23 cassette and switched it over to a 11-25 or 11-28 prior to leaving CA, but those are all in a box somewhere in storage.
So I slogged on up the hill, it was the presence of a guy behind me somewhere that kept me going, otherwise I think I may have turned around a few times on the way up. I was sweating so much (I do live in the tropics) that I was having trouble holding on to my wet handle bars. As I neared the top I came into the cloud cover and some rain. It was sort of neat to climb out of the sunshine and into the clouds. I finished in just over 30 min, not bad considering the fastest time up the hill was 24 min (the other cyclist told me this, not verified).
I realized how steep it was on the way back down. The roads were now slick because of the rain so I kept my speed down, I didn't really want any broken bones. My hands actually hurt holding onto the brake levers. I was able to use my new HR monitor for the ride and I averaged 168 on the way up, not bad. I am looking forward to trying the hill again next week. I am going to steal the cassette off Laura's bike first though.

Race Night

I am starting to get the hang of cycling on the track.  Last night was another club race, I raced 4 events in the B grade.  My legs are getting faster when spinning up the pedals and I am learning some of the race tactics.  We raced a scratch race, a 2 lap handicap, an elimination race and finally another scratch.  The handicap was an exercise in pain, I just went for it from the gun as I was almost at the front with the start.  I took the lead quickly and just buried myself.  I was holding a 10 meter lead with 300 meters to go, but at about 150m to go I felt my leg speed coming down, and I was just about out of gas.  In the final corner I was caught and the race blew by me. 
The elimination was my best race, I manage to do pretty well in these races, even though sprinting every lap is painful.  I rode the race from the back and tried to do only as much as I had to to be ahead of the one rider that was eliminated.  One time I was boxed in on the sprint line and had to punch my way up through the center of the group.  After that I made sure I had room to go around up on the outside of the track.  When it got down 3 of us left the sprint was full out and it took a lot out of me, I managed to stay alive for the final lap, but was no competition for the end of the race.
The final scratch race was fun I think we did 18 laps.  I finally felt like I had some power in my legs and I was able to jump on attacks and stay in the race.  I was in poor position for the finish sprint, but I still came out in 5th place.  I am already looking forward to next week.

Adelaide: Day 5

Sunday morning finally arrived. The final day of the Tour was to be a Criterium race through North Adelaide, just on the other side of the river. Conveniently it was across the street from our hotel. After breakfast we grabbed the paper and a coffee and headed to the river bank to check out the set up for the day’s event. The sun was bright and strong so once we got the lay of the land we wandered around looking for some shade to sit and wait. We found a nice patch of grass in the park under a tree not far from the course, so we spread out the paper and read to pass the time.

The race was a 20 lap circuit and there were a number of contenders to take the stage. It took about 2 hours to complete the race and the Sky team pulled ahead to win. We stayed to watch the first of the awards and then went to the bar to award ourselves with a cold James Squire (our new favorite beer).