After the buzz of two successful Track National campaigns it was now time to hit the road. For the juniors this meant regular training sessions to sharpen up on climbing power and close to Nationals climbing speed and sprint speed. Last year I just set the volume of intervals for each rider to perform but on reflection decided to handicap each rep to maintain quality.
U23 and Elite riders worked hard clocking up the miles and punishing themselves on the erg.
Been some really cool new research come to light about benefits of training at various intensities, recovery between efforts and cool downs and appreciating the physiological basis and benefits of this research I have added it to the mix.
The results...
Tour de Perth
Sam Horgan: Second Stage One and Overall Sprint Ace Winner
NZ Club Nationals
GOLD
Christine Lambley: U15 Girls Road Race
SILVER
Sam Horgan: Elite Men's Time Trail
Maddi Campbell: U19 Woman's Time Trial
Christine Lambley: U15 Girls Time Trial
BRONZE
Sam Horgan: Elite Men's Road Race
Maddi Campbell: U19 Woman's Road Race
Awesome performances also came from Mitchell Podmore in the U23 Road Race in the winning break for over 100km just cracking on the penultimate climb. Alice Bennett in the U19 Woman's Road Race dislodged on the steep climb from the lead group and rode alone to finish 8th most of the race solo with a strong chasing group. Alice also placed 5th in the Time Trial. Phoebe McCaughan 8th in the U17 Girls and Josh Smith 9th in U17 Boys. Both are first years so their performance was very encouraging.
Christine takes GOLD!
Happy Coach, NZ Champ and Trainer Nienke
Now we head into the winter here in NZ. I have riders in Europe and America who are getting set for their racing seasons. We utilised the School Holidays to do daily skills sessions which should pay big dividends in the Winter racing. Schools Cycling starts next week as do Winter Worlds. Night XC racing is also happening Wednesday nights.
I have been getting in some good rides myself hitting the 3hr mark on long rides, trialling hurty interval programmes on myself and nearly close to a CTL of 50 if you understand that side of monitoring training with a power meter.
Wrap up warm but most importantly keep riding. Work done in Winter is a step up the ladder that you don't have to make in Summer when you are wanting to race well!
I am an agent for Quarq Power Meters and can supply these to riders and coaches at very good prices. I don't look to profit from this as I am a big believer in U19s and upwards using these tools to help focus their training and racing (15s and 17s have other stuff they need to learn first). I can also perform calibrations on both SRM and Quarq Power Meters.
Took a group of riders down to the Southland New Year Carnival where we ran track training sessions in conjunction with two nights of good hard racing.
Elite NZ Track Nationals was a huge success. I was Canterbury Team Manager and also coach for the Sprint Team and U19 Women's Teams Pursuit. Results from the crew were awesome...
Gold: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's 500m TT
Gold: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Points Race
Gold: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Team Sprint (with Alice Hay)
Gold: Greg Potter: U19 Men's Team Sprint (with Zac Williams and Chad Elliston)
1st U19 Men's Team Pursuit: Luke Wieblitz and Max Beckert (with Connor Stead and Daniel Neumann)
1st U19 Woman's Teams Pursuit: Holly Edmondston and Maddi Campbell (with Alice Hay)
Silver: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Individual Pursuit
Silver: Holly Edmondston U19 Woman's Scratch Race
Bronze: Ben Stewart and Angus Lindsay Open Team Sprint (with Hamish Schreurs)
Bronze: Mitchell Podmore Open Teams Pursuit (with Michael Vink, Hamish Schreurs and Chad Adair)
Outstanding performance from Max to place 4th in the U19 Men's Points Race. Maddi improved her 3000m IP by 9 seconds from last year and her 500m TT by 3 seconds!
Holly on the attack with Shannon Grinter (Waikato/BOP) and Maddi on the way to Points Race GOLD!
Greg (top right) takes GOLD in U19m Team Sprint
Canterbury Track Champs was a huge success with many notable performances from the group including a clean sweep of the Titles for Olivia Podmore and Christine Lambley. Max Beckert won the Open Points Race as an U19!
Sophie Tyas took a well earned Bronze medal in Pro Elite Woman's grade in the Downhill event at NZ MTB Champs.
Age Group Track Nationals was again outstanding and we saw numerous riders step on to the podium and step up with their personal performances...
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls 500m Time Trial
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Sprint
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Scratch Race
Gold: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Team Sprint (with Sarah Ownsworth)
Gold: Christine Lambley U15 Girls Scratch Race
Silver: Olivia Podmore U17 Girls Points Race
Silver: Lachie McGregor U17 Boys Pursuit
Silver Lachie McGregor U17 Boys Points Race
Silver: Sam Buckner and Rhys Jones U17 Boys Teams Sprint (with Max Jones)
Bronze: Sam Buckner U17 Boys 500m TT
Bronze: Kate Ward U15 Girls Derby
Outstanding rides from Max Beckert who won the Points Race round of the U19 Omnium lapping the field with Reon Sheath, Rhys Jones whose improvements over the year have been fantastic, Josh Smith who rode an excellent 2:28 in the U17b IP as a first year and Phoebe McCaughan who was the only other Cantab (from 6) to join Olivia in the U17g Scratch Race final.
Christine wins GOLD!
Olivia 4 GOLD and 1 SILVER!!! and exhausted Coach
Tour of Canterbury was a great success with Sam Horgan defending his title from last year. Maddi Campbell stepped up to win the Woman's grade.
Canterbury Road Champs took place over two weekends this year and the crew were in fine form with Alice Bennett, Maddi Campbell, Olivia Podmore, Josh Smith and Christine Lambley (making it a clean sweep of Canterbury U15 Girls Titles) all winning Gold Medals.
At the Te Awamutu Tour for Juniors Maddi Campbell and Max Beckert both won stages. Max was unfortunate to have a mechanical in stage 1 and Alice Bennett crashed hard in stage 1. Maddi finished 2nd on GC in U19 Women, Alice 5th, Lachie McGregor was 5th in U17 Boys and Josh Smith 10th and Kate Ward was 4th in U15 Girls.
Max enjoys the WIN at TA stage 3!
Coach losing at snaps to keep Olivia fired up between Sprint rounds!
Looking at the performances at TA Tour I am very satisfied
with the Coaching Process we used going into this event. Two years ago when
preparing riders (inc Max Beckert) for the Tour of Canberra we did lots of
group efforts. Last year we included group efforts but they had less structure
and people just a rep target rather than a target for each individual effort.
This year I made each rep a target (as I did on track for
each effort for Olivia Podmore and Sam Buckner and others whose times improved
out of sight) by running the reps as a small handicap race. From the riders
with Power meters I could see the progress they were making and if they were
going backwards that they needed a break or some easy days. Riders with Garmins
also provided useful data with their times on a set course.
Two years ago at a High Performance Coaching course run by
BikeNZ we learnt about Coach Led Racing and I feel the structure of the efforts
embodies those principles whether it is in a training session, structuring a
track racing session/season or advising riders how to race as I gave the crew
very specific instructions on how to attack, when to attack and depending on
where they were in the race how hard to attack.
The other useful input was the racing. Last year I felt the Tour
of Canterbury was a pivotal event in the build up to TA and this year it proved
again that this race gave riders an advantage in their build up. Even if it
comes right after Age Group and Omnium Track Nationals it is an important event
to race.
Most important is the riders who went to TA were very
focused and collaborated with me. For many like Maddi and Alice (who made the
biggest improvements in performance from 2012 who were in contact almost daily
refining their riding and preparation for the race. Reminds me of 1995 when I
was preparing Ewan MacMaster for his 3 month build up to World Champs in
Colombia and we would be on the phone (no text, skype or Internet Cafes back
then) up to 3 times a day.
Sitting down in Invercargill before we head to the awesome indoor Velodrome to firstly train and prepare new riders for racing on a first class facility and tonight they all race, many for the first time on a 250m indoor board track.
After coming back from Vineyards it was straight into the Canterbury Track Carnival. Last year was lacking in numbers and six months ago Syd Martin and I thought with the loss of the Grandstand (due to be red stickered post earthquakes) that track let alone the Carnival was not going to happen.
But to Syd's credit and assisted by Bruce Dawe, myself and some new blood on the track committee we got there in the end and put on the best Carnival many (inc some riders who have raced around the World at the highest levels) have ever been part of. We had 5 Olympians in Natasha Hansen, Eddie Dawkins, Simon Van Velthooven, Marc Ryan and Shane Archbold who all showed us why they are World Class and delivered superb performances every time they came to the line.
Bruce Wilson captured the excitement and intensity of the racing from both nights...
Mitchel, Luke and Max duke it out!
Kate and Christine get ready to race!
Olivia was undefeated on both nights!
Shane Archbold and Eddie Dawkins entertain the crowd before and during the racing!
The next weekend was NZ Elite Road Nationals where the Carnival Atmosphere transferred to the tar seal and again New Zealand's Elite Riders showed their class. Roulston, Bennett, Henderson, Bauer, Sergent, Oram, Vink, Kiesanowski, Lowe and many others showed just how strong we are as a Cycling Nation. Sam placed 5th in the Elite Men's TT and 20th in the Road Race while Mitchell went several laps in the Road Race.
Next week Reon (NZ Team) and Sam (Budget Forklifts) ride the NZ Cycle Classic. In two weeks time Maddi, Luke, Max, Ben, Angus, Andrew, Greg and Holly all do battle at NZ Elite/U19 Track Cycling Championships racing for Gold and National Selection to various events. Then there is Canterbury Track Cycling Champs, Age Group and Elite/U19 Omnium Nationals before we focus back on the road for Oceania Champs in Canberra, Tour de Lakes or TeA and focus in on Club Road Nationals.
Wow, it's 2013 already, just come back from the Tour de Vineyards in Nelson where I was the Chief Commissaire for the Woman's Grade.
Since getting back from Tasmania it has been a full on time as I got stuck into the Track Season. Good news is Sam Horgan is back on his bike and riding hard after his horrific crash in Tassie.
The Track Season has been rather awesome with great turnouts for the Wed and Sun racing and the level of competition has been excellent. Looking forward to running the Canterbury Track Carnival on the 4th and 5th of January.
Went up to Auckland to present my (proposed) research at the SPRINZ Strength and Conditioning Conference at AUT. Also got a chance to watch two nights of racing at Manukau. Some very good riders there which is more motivation for Canterbury riders to race hard before Nationals. One last hurdle to leap with my Masters research (Ethics Approval) tracking changes in cycling specific fitness with a power meter.
I was the Chief Commissaire for the Benchmark Homes Festival of Cycling which was an awesome event and showcases what a top promoter like Simon Hollander can do for Cycling in Canterbury. It is great to hear that he is coming on board with the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling series and the new addition to this series will be a Master's Grade with their own races to go along side the Men's and Women's races.
Took a group of riders down to the Southland Track Cycling Champs and all performed excellently with a surprise NZ record for Olivia Podmore in the U17 girls 500m Time Trial and we really saw Rhys Jones lift his game riding tactically in the Sprint.
We ran a Mid Season Champs at Denton Park which is something we haven't done since the 80s so it was good to give a lot of riders an opportunity to ride Championship events before they go to Nationals, and for the Age Group riders before they ride Canterbury Champs. Olivia Podmore, among others, smashed out a few Denton Park records.
January is full on with the Track Carnival, NZ Elite Road Nationals, NZ MTB National Series (DH and XC), Southland New Year Track Carnival, NZ Cycle Classic, Waimate Track Carnival and NZ Elite and U19 Track Nationals. Motivation for Africa to get out and race hard!!!
Who do you want to be in 2013. The person who wins the race, breaks the National record, becomes World Champion, lowers their time for LeRace, gets invited on to the squad or team, loses 5kg! Decide now, write it down, think big, small goal are not a stimulus for action!
*Why?
Because who we are is what we repeatedly do! I assume your goals above have deep and personal meaning to you. Only set goals if they will help you to focus and engage properly.
*How?
By focusing on the NOW! 2012 is over. 5 Oceania Titles, 16 NZ Titles, and countless South Island and Canterbury Titles has been reset to 0,0,0 and 0. You must do the same. If things didn't happen for you in 2012 you still do the same. NOW is January so you focus on January, Today is the 2nd so you focus on the second. If you don't do today right you will be behind the eight ball for tomorrow anyway.
*What?
By racing with the appropriate focus and right level of engagement. Only start if you are there to improve your performances. Be a race maker, have a plan and embrace the complexity of racing. You can always learn more but when the race starts you have to work with what you have. Analysis after the race is no good, use the pre-briefs to programme yourself for success!
Crazy times with a lot on the go.
I was a Commissaire at Junior World Track Cycling Championships. There was a panel of 8 UCI International Commissaire's and I was part of a group of 10 BikeNZ National Commissaire's. My role was assistant finish judge which gave me the best seat in the house to watch the racing and to witness first hand how International Commissaire's operate. I even got to be chief finish judge for the Men's sprint while the others sorted out the highly disputed Women's Keirin final. The big learning point was the difference between a racing incident and any action that could be sanctioned. It was a great opportunity and I thank BikeNZ for selecting me.
The highlight of the event was watching the Colombians carve up the Omnium and the Madison event. Real racers, a huge passion and their coach was an awesome guy, very humble and grateful his team was rewarded for their efforts.
Over the winter I have been trying to fit some riding around my coaching and even started a few races. The racing hasn't gone too well but have done a few good rides to Coffee Culture Sumner for a brew and a bagel. Great news is Greg Thompson and Anthony Chapman have opened Optimal Performance at 66 Wharenui Road where they have a very well set up gym and several LeMond Revolution ergs.
In August I had one of those meetings that become a game changer. I was given the opportunity to manage the Benchmark Homes Cycling Team for the Tour of Southland. Before the meeting I was also asked to manage a team supported by Felt Bicycles to the Tour of Tasmania. At the meeting I was asked to manage the Benchmark Homes Cycling Team for 2013. Initially I accepted and was Men's Team Director at one of the rounds of the Benchmark Homes (these guys put a lot into the sport) Elite Cycling Series.
Then I travelled with Dan Barry, Will Bowman, Hamish Schreurs, James Early, Sam Horgan and Team Masseur Hans Lutters from Hands On Clinic. Via three flights, Christchurch, Auckland, Melbourne starting at 4am we got into Hobart 14 hours later. There we met up with the sixth team member Josh Atkins who was winding down after a big season in the US and Europe, but keen to race.
Hobart is a lovely port based city with Mt Wellington looking down on you from all angles. The start to the Tour was an 18km Team Time Trial to the top of Mt Wellington and we used the day before the start to ride the course from Cascades Brewery to the summit. It was a nice 20 degrees at the base of the climb but by the top at 1200m it was very cold and exposed and there was snow on the side of the road.
Racing started the next day the team excelled to finish 4th out of 22 teams including some very Professional set ups.
At the end of the day Hans got to work on the riders legs while I took care of the laundry and making sure the bikes were clean. Fortunately our accommodation in Hobart and Burnie had a hose handy and the weather wasn't too cold.
Day two of the tour the racing started with a 123km stage from New Norfolk to Lake Pedder. While we were ranked 4th in the convoy my rental vehicle was over 1.6 metre limit and I was shunted to the back behind team vehicle 18. This was mildly annoying but I got to see some amusing sights. Slightly different approach to assisting riders back on after a puncture, crash or mechanical and a lot of riders hanging on to team cars on the climbs out of the sight of commissaires. Despite being at the back I was able to get bottles to all the riders thanks to Annie from Pure Black (the other Kiwi team in the race) who helped me out.
The next day started with a 3 hour drive from Hobart to Westbury going straight through the middle of Tasmania. Aside from getting stopped for speeding it was a comfortable trip. First up was a 30 lap criterium in Westbury with all right hand turns. It was an amazing sight to see 150 riders on a 1km lap as they came out of the top turn into the straight in single file. The guys started far back but Dan and Sam pushed ahead and Dan started clocking up Sprint Ace points.
In the afternoon it was a 100km stage from Hagley to Great Lake. The course profile suggested that there were two Cat 1 climbs in the final 20km but downloading the profile into MapMyRide it looked more like the final 20km was one big arse climb to 1200m. To add to the challenge the wind had picked up and for the first 50km it was nasty crosswinds from all angles. Josh's legs decided it was one race too many in an long season and he climbed in the car with me. James struggled in the crosswinds but Will torched himself to get him back up front. It was crazy times in the support vehicle trying to get past groups to ensure Dan and Sam had support up front.
On the climb, that did go on forever, James crashed early on after a branch blew off a tree and hit a Team Genesys rider but then found his climbing legs and went off in pursuit of the 4 riders who had broken clear early on the climb. Sam did an amazing ride for a big TT rider to foot it with the weedy climbers. James placed 5th on the stage and Sam moved up a few places on GC.
Then another 2 hours of driving to Burnie for the next 4 nights of our time in Tasmania. A nice seaside town that was close to most of the racing.
Next morning was the Ulverstone Criterium held on a tight course with a short sharp climb out of turn 2 and a finish straight beside a school so there was plenty of support. Dan was on fire in this race and took the lead in the Sprint Ace competition. It was also encouraging that James, who struggled in the Westbury Crit, stayed with the bunch for this race.
The afternoon stage from Ulverstone to Penguin showed us a different style of course to the first two road stages. Short and savagely steep climbs were now the order of the day. After 3km of neutralised section it was straight on to the climbs and Sam went on the offensive. After making sure Dan scored points in the Sprint Ace Sam was in every move of the day and came in at the front of the race to move into the top 10 on General Classification. The stage was end of Will's race.
Next day started with a Crit in Burnie on a 800m circuit. James had an early mechanical but we got him back in. Unfortunately Dan was heavily marked by the Search2Retain team who worked Neil Van der Ploeg back into the Sprint Ace jersey but not without a fight from Dan and Hamish who worked hard to combat 6 riders chasing points.
The afternoon stage from Burnie to the CAT Underground Mining (Race Sponsor) facility featured more savage climbs and some equally suicidal descents with a few gravel sections added for extra spice. Hamish suffered two punctures and we decided to employ a prolonged sticky bottle to get him back up to Sam and James in the 2nd group. This earned me a ripping out from the Commissaire but I played dumb, he doesn't need to know I have been a Comm since 1993 and know the rule book inside out.
The break didn't feature any threats to the Drapac team and their GC leader so they shut down the 2nd group which saw Sam drop out of the top 10 on GC.
The final stage was a 12 lap race on a testing 4km loop around Devonport with a mix of fast straights, roundabout, strong sea breeze and some stupidly steep climbs. It was Dan's last chance for the Sprint Ace and he won the first of five but Van der Ploeg was in 2nd and in the 2nd sprint he didn't place. He would have to settle for second in Sprint Ace.
Disaster happened as the race radio announced rider 174 had crashed on the finish line. This was Sam and we let Hans and Josh out to support him but he was still down and it looked bad. He had gone down at speed on his face and Hamish and James had stopped to check he was okay. The race organisers credited all three as having finished the race and thus completing the Tour. Dan went on the attack to try and win the stage and finished with another top ten.
It was a real downer to finish such a great event like that and we were more concerned about getting to the Hospital to check on Sam than reflect on the last six days success. We were still 7th from 22 teams on GC. Dan was 2nd in Sprint Ace and both him Sam and James had earned money in Sprint Ace, King of Mountains and Stage Placings.
Sam had been taken to the Burnie Hospital and we were grateful that his injuries were not more serious. He would be able to fly home with us the next day. Early in the morning we drove to Launceston, said bye to Josh who headed back to Sydney while we made our way back to Christchurch.
It was an awesome time but I did feel guilty not being at Denton Park for the first three nights of Track Racing. With the red stickering of the Grandstand there has been a frantic effort by the Track Committee to make the racing season happen and Syd Martin has been the main man making this happen and I really wanted to be there. I also had riders at the Yunca Tour and Track Carnival. The great thing about track is that I am there to see everything and can give each rider guidance on how to improve.
With that I made the decision to pull back from managing the Benchmark Team for 2013. I will manage the Team for Southland but then will focus on my personal coaching and being part of the team out at Track Racing.
