Kurrajong Classic Road Race

Last weekend (Sun 3rd August) was the Kurrajong Classic, one of my favourite races of the year.
This year I was graded into Division 2 ......full of young bucks who aren't quite up to elite level, and all the strong Masters riders from M2 and up. There were only two of us M6 "old timers"in the race, the other being a 56kg climbing demon, Eugene Schilter.

Three laps of a 33km loop including one climb of approx 1.7km length and probably between 7 and 8%. Certainly not particularly long or steep, but there is always a selection made at this point. The rest of the course consists of rollers before a fast 10km run into the finish.

Perfect conditions on the day. Glorious winter sunshine and only a gentle breeze. First lap was quite tame. Eugene rode gently off the front over the climb and everyone seemed happy to let him go.

Second time up the climb and things livened up somewhat. The previous week I travelled out to ride the climb a couple of times and to remind myself of the rest of the lap. The two reps I rode of the climb were 5m 25sec and 5min 34sec at 322w average for the first (up by 18w on last time I trained on it). For interest, I set my watch to time the climb during the race. 4min 29sec on the second lap and 4min 38sec on the last lap! I wish I'd been running the Power tap to see exactly my wattage this time.

I ran the numbers through Analytic Cycling for an estimate, and it threw up something close to 400w! I reckon that's a bit optimistic knowing that my most recent 1min and 5min Power Profile tests were only 468w and 326w respectively. Still, I would never have believed I could get up there a full minute faster than those training reps.

Anyways, we didn't shed as many riders as I would have expected either time up the main hill, so when a break of three got away with less than 10km to go, and the field kinda shut down, it turned into a bunch sprint for 4th.

Had a good position and was following the right wheel as we built up for the final kick, when I was given a huge "hook" from a rider I was going around. Lost all momentum, and probably finished 10th or 12th in the bunch.

Sort of satisfied with my ride, except for the sprint. Was pleased to be able to hang on up the climb.

So apart from Team Time Trial championships in three weeks, that's it for important road races for me until after the World Pursuit in mid October.

Went out on Monday on fairly "heavy" legs intending to just ride some SST, but couldn't resist the urge to check 1 minute power, seeing as mine lags quite considerably behind that seen in the profile of better Pursuiters.

I'd set a target of something like 8 to 8.2 watts per kilo as my target before Worlds, coming off my last result of 468w or 7.2 watts per kilo. Surprise, surprise......494w or 7.7 w/kg.

Really pleased with that. Seems like my 8+w/kg might just be achievable when I devote some time to working on that area.

Oh yeah, last week I picked up my new track frame from Pete Barnard (multiple World Masters Champ and record holder). Very happy with it. Had a shake down run last Friday and it felt smooth and tight. Looking forward to doing some more CdA tests to see what gains there are over my old frame, and a couple of tweaks to my position.

This morning I did 4 x 4min "Team Pursuit" type intervals on the road. Rode at 380-400w for the first 15sec of each minute and 280-300w for the next 45sec for the 4min. Tough work bringing it up towards the 380+ mark at the start of each minute.

Current CTL in WKO+ is 107.4 with TSB at -12.5

Heading to the Zoo Hill at Mosman in the morning for some L5 reps.

Will get some photos up shortly of my new bike, my old bike and the changes I've made to my position since Nationals in April.