News - Cyclosport NZ specialising in bike events and world class cycle coaching

Final UK Race - Hillingden

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 00:00:00 -1100

After four weeks and seventeen race days, the UK programme has proved to be very successful. The final race this evening (Tuesday 17 July) again proved to be a fast and furious affair around the Hillingden Circuit.

The UK series of circuit races are excellent, the opportunity to race most midweek days in addition to weekends is a great form of training.

We depart for Colorado Springs tomorrow, Wednesday 18th for Altitude Training prior to the Junior Worlds.

Kowalski Tour Canberra

Thu, 07 Jul 2016 00:00:00 -1100

Canberra was a really good experience, the races were tough but I think I learnt a lot. The TT was hard, we had a stiff head wind on the way out and it wasn't noticeably better on the way back! The wind, combined with the rolling course meant that I had trouble finding a good rhythm. The result wasn't too bad conidering how I felt I went, although I know I have a long way to go! The first road race was slow to begin with until we reached the first decent at Uriarra crossing. The decent was pretty good, everyone took it slowly and we could smell brakes! They did hit it hard out of it up the first KOM, and I was pleased to get over the top in the first third of the bunch. I spent the next km chasing hard to catch up as we had become stretched out over the top of the hill, but the leaders slowed right back and almost everyone caught back on. We stayed together until after the next decent, when the pace was just too quick up the last hill before the turn, around the 28km mark. I rode with one other women almost back to the Uriarra Homestead when we were caught by a bunch of about 10 others. We all stayed together back out to the turn for the second time, and then all the way home to Stromlo. It was a very hard race, the general pace was quick and I wasn't so much dropped as the leaders just rode away gradually spitting riders out the back. Sunday was a similar start to Saturday, but we turned left at the Homestead down a long 5km descent and then up a fairly long steep KOM climb. The bunch split up this climb and I rode most of the rest of the hilly race with a small bunch of about 10 riders, including two of my Kiwi team mates, Emily and Sequoia. After we got out of the hills and back onto the main road in the last 20km, we rode hard to actch the bunch ahead of us and succeeded in doing so down the descent into Uriarra crossing and up the other side. It was on this last long ascent that I lost the bunch. Overall, I enjoyed the trip, and also enjoyed racing with some very experienced riders. I finished 25th overall, 2 seconds behind Emily! I think we all worked very hard though. The races seemed to follow a similar pattern to NZ races, from what I could tell before I lost the leaders, although I'm sure they became much more interesting near the end. The pace was just a lot quicker than I'm used to, and the hills came constantly without a break.

Grand Prix Des Dames - Blackpool

Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:00:00 -1100

The last race in the UK section of Rachel's build up was a national series circuit race held around a 1.5 mile ( approx 2km) course on Blackpool's promenade in bright sunshine but a blustery wind.

The race was fast and furious with the tail wind but sluggish battling back up into the wind. Two intermediate sprints were won in style by Rachel, the race commentator, multiple world pursuit champion Tony Doyle commented that his money was on the NZ Junior for the final sprint, as was mine. A slight tactical error consigned Rachel to the runner up spot as a fast finishing senior rider came through for the win. An excellent performance from Rachel who has learnt a considerable amount from the time spent racing in the UK.

Gordon McCauley took out the elite men's race the evening before.

Rachel's Racing Roundup

Sun, 07 Jul 2013 00:00:00 -1100

This past week has been quite a week for firsts, first puncture in a race and a first crash in a circuit race.

On Tuesday Rachel rode a circuit race at Hillingden just outside of London against a strong 1st and 2nd cat riders field. The fast and furious racing is proving very beneficial, both in skill and confidence.

On Wednesday night was the Guildford City Centre Circuit race over a very tight course. The 1km course included a very sharp cobbled climb. A puncuture after ten minutes of racing resulted in a first DNF for Rachel. The main race of the evening, the Elite Men's race was won by Gordon McCauley. It was good to catch up with him for a quick chat before we all rushed off.

After a drive up north, the Thursday night race was held on a 1.5km purpose built course in Preston. The rain held off long enough for the 40km race to be held. Rachel was a dominate rider throughout until the final lap, a small group of lapped riders got tangled up in the hard charging scratch bunch. Rachel went down along with about 6-7 other riders. A new experience for Rachel was the headlong dive into stinging nettles. A bruised face, slightly sore knee and numerous stinging nettles was the total damage. A lucky escape.

CycloSport Training Camp set for July

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -1100

K2 (Cyclo Sportive Training Camp July 2011

Tue, 01 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -1100

K2 / K1 / 150 / Cyclo Sportive events: If you are planning on participating in K2/K1/K150 and/or Cyclo Sportive (Fun Rides) events in 2011, attendance on the Masterton based Training Camp is for you.

Learn the latest in training techniques, event nutrition, planning your training and participate in supported long group rides with like minded people. All included in the two night/two day training camp. See the Training Camp page for full details.

New Science in Sport website launched

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 00:00:00 -1100

Leopard - Trek Cycling Team to use SIS products

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:00:00 -1100

LEOPARD-TREK

Press Release

Science in Sport

11.01.2011

LEOPARD-TREK gets an energy boost from SIS

Recognizing that hydration and recovery is equally as important to a cyclist as

superior and diligent training methods, LEOPRAD-TREK has joined forces with

Science in Sport (SIS) to help their riders gain that competitive edge even in the

quieter moments of the race day.

“I tell the riders every day that the way they rest their bodies and allow themselves

to recuperate is every bit as important as riding their bikes hard,” Team Manager

Kim Andersen explained. “With a product like SIS, we can be sure that the riders

are drinking the right things during the training sessions and races, and that they

will have the right energy boost in their post-race cool downs.” SIS will provide its

full range of energy, hydration and recovery products to the team, including isotonic

energy gel Go Gel, energy drinks GO, PSP22 as well as the recovery drink Rego.

General Manager Brian Nygaard is extremely pleased to have added this sponsor to

the team: “We take very seriously what nutrition our riders take; the products that

SIS will provide us with perfectly fit our needs. I believe that our riders will feel the

benefit of fueling their bodies so effectively.”

Peter Slater from Science in Sport is equally pleased. “Effective sports nutrition

plays an integral role in professional cycling; it is testament to our philosophy and

product range that we continue to receive requests from professional riders for

nutritional support. Working with riders from LEOPARD-TREK will help us continue

to develop our range of energy, recovery and hydration products as well as ensuring

the riders have the most scientifically advanced products on the market for racing,

recovery and training,” he said. “It’s our policy to work closely with all our athletes

and their support network to help improve performance. We are hopeful and

confident this partnership will help produce even more success.”

Team CycloSport gears up for 2011

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 00:00:00 -1100

Team CycloSport is gearing up for the 2011 with a slightly changed line-up. Long serving team member Jess Jolly is taking time out to attend Teachers Training College in 2011. Jess will be sadly missed by all team members. A great team player and an asset to any team. I have enjoyed coaching Jess for the four years. We will still enjoy Jess's company at key events as a valued helper.

A new member to the team is 19 year Corrinne Smit, a student at Otago. It did not take me long to decide to invite Corrinne into the team, after the first six months coaching her, the talent was clear to see.

Corrinne joins Tracy, Emma, Emily and Serena (for key events) and Laura to complete the line up.

K1 last weekend saw the team in action since returning from Europe, a very strong finish saw Emma finishing 4th overall and 1st U23, and well supported by Tracy, Emily and Corrinne.

Kiwi tackles the Simpson Desert powered by SIS

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -1100

Hi Eddie,

Back in one piece (well almost as feel like I’ve lost half my lungs coughing up the dust) after finishing 5^th which is way above my target, so happy!

Thanks so much for the use of the cooling jacket which definitely helped my recoveries, although this year temperatures were a little cooler, probably 35 max on day 3. The various potions worked a treat, particularly the Nocte… really gets the dreams going!

A quick summary of the race….

Also check out www.desertchallenge.org for race report…

Due to flooding around Birdsville the race was changed from the Simpson Desert to the Ann Beadell Highway. The “highway” was built by Len Beadell and his team in the late 1950's and early 1960's and was named after his wife, Anne. It runs East/West from Cooper Pedi towards Perth. Very little was known about the conditions as it crosses prohibited access defense land where the Poms conducted the nuclear bomb tests in 1953.

The course was an out and back, 293 km each way – see map. The original intention was to ride though the epi-centre of the test sites (red diversion below) however after some thought gave it a miss; there would have been 40 cars stirring up radioactive dust (low level but still radioactive!) for the riders to inhale. The red bit was tacked on the end which took us out towards the WA border.

Conditions were quite different from the Simpson Desert. Instead of sand and heat we experienced cooler conditions and corrugations. This led to a faster pace (avg. speed 18-20km on many stages which took the sweep vehicle at 12km/hour out of the equation for me), however riding the fixed frame fat bike (ideal in sand!) all bumps were absorbed thorough arse, spine, teeth and brain – if any exists…
My strategy was simple; the few people who knew a little about the track said there were sand dunes about 200km out; so plan was to keep my powder dry and attack then. This meant adhering to a strict discipline of maintaining a heart rate about 120 bpm and not get sucked in to chasing the “hares” on full suspension bikes which were more suited to the rough conditions.
The corrugations were endless and got worse as we progressed! Generally, the only way to avoid them consisted of a narrow 4” strip along the edge of the track. Quite often you had to chose between riding through an overhanging tree (and scrubbing off more skin) or diverting back into the “arse numbing” corrugations… I took the tree option every time! Many of the support vehicles suffered all sorts of damage, dropping gas tanks, breaking fuel lines, power steering…
The scenery out there was spectacular, particularly the wild flowers and prolific bird life… we had a couple of wedge tail eagles hover above us for a couple of hours, guess they could see I was near to becoming dinner for them.
After 3-4 stages the field split into two; the top six (two Aussies, A Pom, A Slovakian, John and a guy from Greenland) competing for the podium and the others having their individual battles with the sweep. I was lying 4^th equal riding with last year’s winner who was riding a fat bike and planned to attack in the dunes.
As predicted we reached the dunes on day 3 and attacked with plenty of fuel in the tank. It only took about half a dozen dunes to break the young guys on skinny tyres and hit the front. Unfortunately the dunes didn’t last long enough and once we hit the corrugations we were relegated back to 4^th equal position; and could think of a plan B!
By that stage we had turned around and knew exactly what was in store for us over the next two days… corrugations (in reverse order for a bit of variety) with a head wind for added effect. For me it now was just a matter of hanging on, protect 4/5^th position and 100% distance record. It’s at this stage your performance is more mental than physical; essentially a matter of staying positive, sometimes difficult in the face of endless corrugations, head wind and a bit of heat (abt 35ish) by that stage. One strategy I found particular useful to get me through a particularly tough bit was to think of Norma Plumber (Aussie Netball coach); just one look of her “spitting” into the microphone raises the hair and gets the rage going!
In the end I finished 5^th,6 minutes behind 4^th position who went all out to defend his U40 age group position from an attack by the Slovakian rider who also made my life a misery during the last two days; In the end I managed to hold him out… and earned a couple of beers in the process.
Will I go back? Well, one thing is for sure, I’ll never go back to that bloody highway… just too hard on the body. I achieved what I set out to achieve; a 100% finish and a credible performance… however it wasn’t the real deal…The Simpson desert! So let’s see… J