china 2 stage 1

The 2nd part of our adventures in china kicked of today with The Tour of China 2. The race was not due to begin until the 18th however yesterday afternoon race organisers decided that 4 days between the races was to much rest and figured it would be a great idea to hold a 6.2km prologue today to kick things of before we have another day off tomorrow to drive 600km and continue the race as planned on the 18th from where ever it is we end up after the rd trip tomorrow!

To be honest i am glad they did through in this extra day as 6.2km of a dead flat circuit and 1 corner, i.e. a turn around so we could go back the way we went out, was about as perfect a stage as possible for me. Perfect in as much as it was not techniqual and also the effort is about as close as it is ever going to be to do the 2km rowing ergometer test i used to love so much from my days in the national rowing team. I have done so many of these efforts that at one time in my youth, dad would make me complete this test every 2nd day for about 2 years!! surfice to say i was pretty confident i would do a solid ride as possible, i was pretty much on auto pilot. This experience however proved to be my downfall as on the rowing machine the fear is always going out to hard and blowing up. When you run out of power on a rowing machine you litterally stop counting down the meters as there is no other element than yourself to keep the machine cranking. For this reason i had over the years of many failed perfromances on the machine developed a full proof strategy in my final years in rowing which rarely saw me fail to attain a PB.

This approach was starting pretty solid for about 100m and pulling 1:28 per 500m splits for this time before i would gradually let the pace rise to my cruising speed of 1:33-1:34 by the time i had rowed 300m. from there i would hold this split easily at first before it would start to get harder to maintain in the final 1000m. From here i would really grit my teeth and fight to hold more 1:33's the 1:34's until i got to the final 300m where i would start to go hell for leather counting it down in 10 stroke increments with the aim of again pulling 1:28's in the final 100m. If all goes to the script as it usually did i would finish up with 6:11-6:12 and be either at the top or very close to it depending on how hard my mate mighty mike mc bryde decided pull on the handle.

Back to today and this full proof plan i felt like i was armed with all the knowledge and perfect plan i could have. Again this proved to be a backfire. I had decided that i could average between 460-480 watts depending on how well my legs felt and needed to be at this pace after my initial 10second accelleration up to speed. This was error 1!! after 10seconds i was only at 51kmph which ended up being merely 1kmph slower than i averaged for the entire effort. Once in my crove hovering around 450 watts i felt great and wanted to push hard but kept saying hold back hold back!! mistake number 2!! at the turnaround at halfway i was barely puffing and thought perfect as i had decided from 3km i would start to build gradually to the line. This was mistake 3, i built nice and gradually very carefull not to push to hard and explode and i did this. With 1km to go i was touching on 480-500 watts and still feeling fresh as i began to wind to the line and finished with a perfect average power as predicted bang on 475 watts. Where i had gone horibly wrong was not thinking like a cyclist and realising it is much easier to push a little harder and reach a higher speed where it is then easy to maintain with less power by tapping out a rythm to hold the speed. It is much had to increase speed with a steady power and you simply get bogged on where you have accellerated to. So while i did exactly as planned i also lost the race bace 3seconds to stefan schumacher and finished in 2nd place again, just like in tour of japan prologue behind my team mate will clark. I am sertain that had i have used a cycling brain as apposed to my useless rowing one when racing a bike, i could have ridden my bike much quicker. Anyway i did not and basically playing it safe meant i was never racing to win but simply not to lose. In the end i was the only loser!!

Fortunately we have an individual Time Trial of 18kn on the second last day so i have the chance to make a mends and this time race like a man and see what happens. Will certainly approach the stage with the attitude that it is better to fly and die than never fly at all!! Will see what happens on saturday!

data

Distance/Time: 6.2km/6'40"
Speed ave: 49.5kmph
Watts Ave/Max: 478/890watts
Heart Rate Ave/Max: 188/201
Cadance Ave: 100

cjw

IMG00588-20120912-1653.jpg

A classic example of our team director showing his competitive spirit in the race to the hotel for the best bike washing position!
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China 1 stage 5

Yet another day of chaos here in the tour of china. With a 6 lane rectangle pancake flat wet rd circuit of 11km x 10 laps there was always 3 things certain!! Ridiculously fast speed, massive crashes, and a crazy chaotic bunch sprint.

All duly transpired which was good on one hand for us as our plan remained unchanged with setting up the sprint for the bundy bullet aaron kemps, and defend the "great chinese rider" jersey for xu gang. Unfortunately the bundy bullet hit the deck in a big pile with 25km remaining which also stopped me in my tracks, fortunately I remained of the tarmac!! On a positive I spent nearly half the race riding full bannanas on the front to keep the field together so was happy to have finished a stage feeling like I had been run over by a truck which is a feeling I actually enjoy. The post race coke always taste's so much better when you have ridden yourself into the ground!! The crash took the edge of aaron so he did not get involved in the chaotic bunch sprint but xu gang successfully defended his "great chinese rider" jersey so that was a big objective met. After the race was stage 2 which involved a 300km transfer to the start city for tomorrow's final stage. These are always a bit of a hoot as its the team managers turn to race each other up the hwy in a bid to get to the hotel 1st so respective team mechanics can get the best possy to work on the bikes!! Yes everything associated with a bike race is a RACE!! That's what happen when the ex bike riders become staff members you end up with a big big group of competitive dudes. So the jostling for position on the hwy at 150kmph was that terrifying that I put on the neck pillow on and went to sleep with the hope that I would wake up safely at the hotel. Arrived safely and found my room which seemed to be a bit stuffy, like it was not use much. I pulled back the curtains and low and behold a bat flew out!! That is unique!! I can honestly say I have never had a bat hide out in my hotel room curtain in all my world travels!!

The adventure continues!!

Race data
Distance: 115km
Time: 2hrs 18min
Speed: 51kmph
Heart rate ave/max: 150/195bpm
Power ave/max: 310/943 watts
Energy burnt: 2427kcal

Cjw
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China 1 stage 4

It was a slippery dippery day here at the tour of china. As I have mentioned before the Rds are not the cleanest in the world with oil, dust, rocks and any other type of general waste that spills from what would be described as poorly serviced vehicles!! Basically it is a film of filth that combined with a light shower of rain becomes an ice skating ring.

On a positive we had a basic plan for the day to keep the peleton together for bunch sprint hoping our bundy bullet could pulverize the other opposition in the bunch gallop. A nice little break went and I planted myself on the front with a few riders from other teams to keep all under control and most importantly keep every body at a safe speed around the slippery corners. All went according to plan and with 5km to the finish the field was all together and the bunch sprint was set up. Only problem we had was now negotiating the final series of corners in the final 2km. Aaron was in perfect shape however once we hit the corners our japanese kamikaze's decided it was crash or win and hit the corners at full speed. Not surprisingly the results were mixed for them with half crashing but half surviving and ultimately winning the stage as crashes and confusion meant they were alone ahead with a pile of chaos behind so congratulations to them, take the risk and be rewarded for it. Our boys were not so aggressive and consequently a few fell while the rest of us were happy to get to the finish and live to fights another day with all our skin intact. Once again never a dull moment racing in china!!!

Cjw 

Distance: 100km
Time: 2hrs 5min
Speed ave: 49kmph
Power ave/max: 285/1070 watts
Heart rate ave/max: 125/185bpm
Energy burnt: 2000kcal

China 1 stage 3

Stage 3 is in the books and ultimately was to the script. A small climb midway dropped a few out the back but still the stage ended in a big dangerous group sprint. The most excitement for me happened on the drive to the start as our mini van fell behind the police escort. Our chinese driver put all his local driving skills into action leaving one thumb permanently planted on the horn using the other fingers for steering and one to change gears. We spent about 20min driving between the footpath, medium strip, bike lane and occasionally ventured into a regular lane!! In the end I could not look, light colors where ignored and after the mad chase we regained contact with the race convoy and my heart rate was able to drop below 200 finally. Funnily enough it never even got that high in the race!!

As for the race no break ever went. I did my best to form a small selection on the climb attacking what felt like 1000 times but could never break the clutches of the field. There was always s head wind and this meant someone could always chase and give others a draft before they then chased and so on and so on for all those on the wheel behind. It just was not happening for me today. To rub insult into injury when I finally broke clear and got a reasonable gap, perhaps 20 seconds, the helicopter decided he should get a close up and got lower and lower until just hovering infront of me which not only almost blew me into the nearest rice paddock but also back to the chasing bunch and instantly my lead was gone and the bunch sprint eventually transpired. There were a few to many crazies in the group for me so I just sat safely out of trouble and happy to wait for another day to go for glory.

Our chinese strongman xu gang retained his lead in the "great chinese rider" competition so all good. The "bundy bullet" our spinter aaron had an easy day in the back groups and will have fresh legs for the next sprint stage we tackle so all in all still going well for the champion system boys here in tour of china 1.

Power data again was high and I am really happy with how I am feeling so will keep attacking!!

Distance 124km
Time: 2hrs 40min, 45kmph average
Average/max power: 322/1062watts
Heart rate average/max: 147/188Bpm
Energy burnt: 3000kcal

Cjw
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China 1 stage 2

another good day here in china for the champ systems lads. The "bundy bullet" (aka aaron kemps from bundaberg QLD) bolted to a great 2nd place in the bunch gallop and our chinese strong man Xu gang maintained his lead in the "great chinese rider competition". Yes that's right, it is not simply the best chinese rider but the GREAT chinese rider!! Never a dull moment in the chinese races.

The race itself went as expected and finished in a bunch sprint. Was 10 x 10km laps and our mission was simply to be involved in any breakaways and ensure the bundy bullet and xu gang were safe and sound in the bunch to save the little legs for when the heat was on in the final km. It was pissing with rain and with the chinese rds not renowned for there cleanliness meant that is was as slippery as a ky jelly and filthy as a pig in mud. Must admit it did not smell much better either. I don't like being in the peleton when its raining, to nervous and dangerous so I did what I always do and attacked as much as possible and fought for the front spots at the odd occasion that I was stuck in the bunch. There were about 300hundred breakaway attempts but none got more than a few seconds away so the constant intensity meant we did the 100km in exactly 2hrs so was short and very sharp. The bundy bullet then came ever so close to the big win so we will all be extra motivated to help him get there in the upcoming stages and of course maintain a strong defense of the "Great Chinese Rider" jersey with xu gang.

Race data again promising and backed up how I feel, very good!!

Distance: 100km
Time: 2hrs
Speed ave: 50kmph
Average/Max power: 347/1044watts (a result of my ants in my pants attacking all day)
Average/Max Heart Rate: 150/195
Energy burnt: 2332Kcal

Cjw

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Tour of china 1 Day 1

Back in china!! And like most of the chinese races it will be another novel adventure. It had been planned to be a 16 day tour however international cycling regulations have meant that the event has been broken down to wait for it!!! Tour of china 1 and Tour of china 2!! The courses of each race have changed about 300 times in the past week so taking it day by day could not be a more fitting way of approaching the event. Roughly it has been broken into two 6-7 days tours with a couple of rest/travel days in between. On the paper we have at the moment it would seem it is as flat as pancake with china 1 characterized by a team time trial and china 2 set to be decided in a penultimate day individual TT. Suffice to say I will be focusing all my efforts on the 2nd tour and specifically the TT.

Being a race in china it will be a very important appointment for our champion system outfit. Following the strong team showing in qinghai lake we are determined to continue the momentum and ideally see if we can finally crack a big win for the season. Certainly plenty of enthusiasm within the 6 dudes we have assembled here.

So stage 1 of china 1 kicked off today with the Team TT and we had a modest showing finishing 5th on the stage. I love these events as it is as close to a rowing race that you can get on a bike. You all start together and you winning time is given by the 5th rider across the finish line. So basically if you ride as an individual and blow your team mates up the result will be terrible. The idea is to stay as smooth as possible and keep everybody together for as long as possible. I have always been a bit of a talker and not surprisingly in my rowing days I would often do the race calls and make the odd encouragement call. I have adopted the same role in the team TT's so as each rider swings off the front having done there turn and is floating back beside the group for a short breather is give them a quick encouragement and pat on the back just as a reminder that we are all in this together and hopfully, all be it for a brief second take there mind of the pain of the effort. It is an event that I really get excited about, I love any excuse to chat!!

By far it was the best TTT we have done this year as far as pacing and working together goes so I was very pleased with that. Our fast man and rd captain aaron kemps did an awesome job setting the pace and our chinese strongman xu gang and myself did our bit to pull as long as possible to give the rest of the guys as fresh as possible. It was the most un technical course I have ever completed, 10km out, around a traffic island and 10km back. Tailwind out and you guessed it block headwind back so was pretty straight forward. The plan was to go out smooth with the wind and then on the return leg xu gang and I would pull longer and harder as the others had a better recovery sitting on the wheel into the wind. We were doing 57-60kmph with wind and on the way back 46-47kmph into the wind. I was doing between 500-550 watts during my pulls to maintain this speed on the way back which indicates how solid the head breeze was. All in all we paced it great and had plenty in the tank for the return into the wind so a good start for the champ system lads as we kick of our september adventure in china.

So onto my data for the day and I am pretty pleased with it and have some added motivation for the race ahead after analyzing it.

TTT data
Distance: 20km
Time: 23:55
Speed Av: 50.3kmph
Av/Max heart rate: 174/195
Av/max power: 407/1050watts
1min power: 540watts (average length of my turn on the front of our team champion system chew chew train!!)
Av Cadence: 100RPM
Energy burnt: 580KCal

Cjw
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