Thirty and a Third

This is me as a 30 year old. Finally.

After pre-birthday parties, team-issued press with racing age for the 31st December 2008, and a fourteen hour difference in time zones, I finally, officially, turned 30 on Thursday.

And for most of it I spent it waiting at an airport to fly from North Carolina, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

But thats not fair. I was able to get a small amount of training in, pack my bike, drive my car to the rental return, and get to the Pittsburgh hotel all in the same day. And then Morgan took me out for dinner. Where to go? The Outback Steakhouse. Of course!

Fearing I would be subjected to celebrating with a Fosters, I was more than pleased to learn of the bottled beer selection from Australia, which included my favourite drink from Launceston:

Morgan also taught me about Australian food and culture, and for the first time, I was able to enjoy the 'classic' Australian dish, the Bloomin' Onion:

If you've ever had fried onion rings, its similar, just the display and presentation leaves the fried onion alltogether and not separated into rings. I was won over on this Aussie food stuff. My country has some fine 'appetizers'!

Birthday cake was another Aussie delicacy: the Thunder from Down Under

Morgan and I were in Pittsburgh to complete an Athlete Day for our major sponsor, Sanofi. It consisted of a very early start, lots of driving, and sitting in doctors offices talking about our 'stuff'. I did enjoy the change of scene, but it was draining, and I had a massive headache by the time I finally got out onto the bike for an afternoon roll. We got two hours in, packed up the bikes again, showered and then hit the airport again. Pittsburgh done in 24 hours.

While at the airport I quickly learnt, and practiced, a 'hike' with Pittsburgh Steelers Franco Harris, known for his 'Immaculate Reception' in the 1972 playoff game against Oakland Raiders. I am sure you remember it. Some part of that game may or may not have looked something like this:

Morgan also got close to the other famous son of Pittsburgh, George Washington.

And we flew onto Baltimore. A late night after a long day.

Saturday dawned and my blood sugar was high. Crap. I was covered in sweat and my resting heart rate wasn't resting. It was pumping. All signs of sickness. I was agitated and annoyed that the morning of my race could start so poorly. I felt sick in the guts that once again things were indicating that I would ride below what I could.

As the pro men were riding Kelly Cup, we were fortunate to have team support, and it was great to once again receive race wheels and not have to stress about making sure the bikes gears were in tune or my tyres pumped. Small things, but they make a big difference to your head space. Instead I could focus more on the actual race. I also had my bike in an ergo and for the first time this season felt like I had done a proper warmup!

The field was a bit smaller than the other big races so far this season, but still large enough to stress about moving up early and into position. This came relatively easy, as did negotiating the corners of the 1mile circuit. All good. I started testing the legs, at first following some moves and keeping the brain switched on for other moves that were going. Colavita Sutter was controlling much of the race, shutting down any effort. Noted. Other teams seemed to just send one rider off at a time, rather than move with a surge. Noted. One girl riding solo (without teammates) seemed to chase everything down regardless of the fact the field was on her tail. Noted. But if no one was attacking, the pace wasn't really on. Noted. I kept the pressure on when I could. My legs felt pretty good and it was no problem to hit out and recover. Noted. It was also great to see that after one attack, Morgan immediately countered. Despite just the two of us, we were riding as a team. Noted.

The information sinking in, and the laps counting down rather quickly meant that a big move would need to go soon or the field would start thinking about a bunch sprint. With Colavita determined to ensure a bunch sprint, any last minute flyers were chased down. And with our radios on, Vasili and Ed our Director Sportif's emplored at us to stay near the front and out of trouble.

With five laps to go, Morgan rolled up to me. The last few laps I hadn't seen her at all, and I had been curious as to a message from Vasili directed to Morgan earlier. I assumed that she'd been struggling, maybe low or something. I asked her if she was okay. She said yes. I asked again. She replied, 'yeah I'm good'. Given my extra curricular efforts off the front, I wasn't so confident in my kick for the end. I said to her, 'okay then. Stick on my wheel and I'll get you to the front'. For the next five laps I moved up, held position, lost a few spots, recovered, made space for me and my rider behind, nudged other riders looking for the wheels I was holding and discouraged them to think about hanging around. The radio feedback from Ed and Vasili continued at us to stay near the front, stay on Colavita, keep out of trouble. Morgan was on my wheel like glue. I was on the right wheel into the last chicane. I head a clash of bikes and a crash behind. We were well clear. Now focus on the finish.

The leadout to the final line was a long uphill drag, and this is where my lack of practice with team racing let me down a bit. Its been a while since I've had a teammate! And I hesitated. I should have gone earlier, but I held back. The Colavita rider kicked just as I started to go. I needed to go earlier than that. Bugger! Morgan jumped clear and the drag was on. I followed behind, still having legs in me. The hill to the finish started to take the speed off the Colavita rider and Morgan. Both were losing pace. But I was too far back to pull back the Colavita rider, so I looked around, checked the scene for trouble, and sat down to roll in for third. Hang on, we just finished 2nd and 3rd! Bloody hell! Wow!

Given it was our first real hitout at genuine team racing, it was a magnificent result.

Team Type 1 were very very excited about the result. Their press release on our team blog is here.

Cyclingnews story is here.

Velonews story is here.

Above: with Morgan after the race
Below: getting a bit warm in Baltimore - no, it wasn't raining in Baltimore!

The team relax after the mens race at the Kelly Cup:

Moving back and forward with the time zones a little, here are a couple of shots back in North Carolina. On the evening before my birthday (while it was officially my birthday in Australia), Bob, Missy and I went out to a fabulous little restaurant in downtown Hillsborough. Good night, food and great chats. And my first taste of Key Lime pie! Not bad at all. I could get used to these desserts methinks.

Some big thunderstorms have been coming through North Carolina. Luckily none have consisted of any tornadoes. I remain deeply petrified of them. The storms create a bit of biffo and resulting damage to trees and stuff, but one of the interesting effects is how it kicks up the pollen in the grass next door: