PRO Insight from Mitchell Docker
This afternoon I was rolling down beach road just past Sandringham and a very pro looking rider in Skil-Shimano gear rode past. He looked PRO and has a name on the top-tube of his bike that I just couldn't make out. Just past Ricketts Point I pulled up beside him after sucking wheel and said hi.
He was going on a ride down the beach in preparation for racing the Bay Crits tomorrow on a composite team. We chatted down to Mordi and back to St Kilda and I gleaned a few PRO tips and observations from him:
He threw in a few explosive sprints during the ride – way faster than my lags would take me, so I was dropped comprehensively each time, but he let me catch on after. He reckoned that it helped his recovery and his legs felt better when he broke up a recovery ride with a few (6 in this case) quick sprints.
Mitch riding at the front of the breakaway, 2010 Paris Roubaix
We talked about his program for 2011. He'd going to concentrating on the classics and semi-classics – with a particular focus on the semi-classics which will be his best opportunity for a good result as the big guns will be using them as preparation for the major classic races. He admitted that the Paris-Roubaix was the race he was most looking forward to this year, just because it was the big one. He reminded me that he managed to get himself into the initial breakaway in 2010 and held off all the way through and past the Forest of Arenburg before they were caught by the peloton of the favourite's teams. He seemed genuinely excited to be competing in these races, though he did say that the conditions that they rode through in Kerne-Bruxelles-Kerne were crazy. He pulled out at the first feed station as it was just so cold – they rode through driving rain, heavy wind and bitter cold – conditions so bad that Jeremy Hunt was in the leading four and pulled-out in the last 20km because he felt it was unsafe to continue.
He didn't know if his team would receive selection in any of the major tours due to their Pro-Continental status.
I found out amusingly enough that a PRO rider probably doesn't have the correct time on his SRM... The time was still set to Netherlands time, but we managed to work out that 10:50am Netherlands time was actually 2:35pm Australian time. He had to factor in that his SRM was actually 15 minutes fast, which added to the complexity of the mid-ride calculations!
He was pretty pragmatic about the gear he used. He'd used Shimano gear as they are major sponsors of the team and was pretty happy with their products. He was riding the wheels he was going to be racing in the crits tomorrow, just to make sure that they would be trouble-free. He'd just had a new set of tubs glued on yesterday. He did comment that the semi-deep Dura Ace wheels definitely accelerated faster than his training wheels and noticeably so he seemed to think that the stiffness of the carbon rims were a major consideration, rather than their weight. I asked him whether he noticed or thought that guys riding Lightweight wheels seemed to have an advantage, but he seemed to agree that the person riding the bike probably has more to contribute than the gear he uses.
He used to be set-up by his original track coach, John Beasley and now saw Jason Nicholls of IOS. His setup really hasn't changed from Beasley's setup, which was for the track and he did use orthotics in his shoes to keep a straighter pedal stroke, in this case to stop his knees from wandering inwards.
It's true that PRO riders suffer from consuming vast quantities of energy drink and food – he'd just been to the dentist to have a whole lot of work done. It seemed that the combination of a lack of the acidic drink and lack of saliva was the culprit. He actually packed chewing gum in his jersey to try and combat this as the gum kept his body generating saliva. He'd really started to take notice of the dental issues since he had to pay for treatment himself as Mum no longer picked up the tab!
He said that he raced about 3 days a week during the season, which seems a lot and that his average training or recovery ride was a bout 2 hours long. As a result, he'd be spending almost more time racing than training, which wasn't the balance that I assumed a lot of riders had, but that would even out taking into account the off-season and blocks of time when he wasn't racing.
He usually trains up around the hills of Kinglake and Hurstbridge north of the city as he lives up that way. It was only that he had an errand to run down this end of town that he decided to ride Beach Road. Pros make riding opportunities work with their routine!
He seemed pretty relaxed about the Bay Crits in Geelong and was going to drive himself down. His team is being co-ordinated by Dave MacKenzie who is in fact commentating too and so the team organisation is rather “informal”. He said that despite coming from a background in track cycling, he didn't especially like Crit racing as although at first glance the disciplines might seem similar, rider discipline and etiquette was significantly lacking in a crit compared to on the track.
A funny comment he had about teammate Koen de Kort was that Koen was almost more Aussie then he was and spoke with an accent, from the couple of summer's he's spent here in Melbourne with his partner! Should we watch for Koen riding for Australia in the future perhaps?
I was pretty stoked to spend some time with Mitch, he was really genuine and happy to have a chat which was great – I 'm not so sure that he didn't moderate his pace for me too, but we did have a tailwind on the way back, so it was easier to hold his pace on the return from Mordi than on the way down. Another Aussie to look out for in the lead-up to Paris-Roubaix and in the big race itself.
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Rail trail
So way back, sometime in Summer, the girl and I took a little ride down the Lilydale - Warburton rail trail. I saddled up the Dawes and swapped a few parts on my Trek hardtail to make it appropriately lady-sized. T'was a nice day out, but almost ended in tears on the final climb/slob up into Mt Evelyn with more training on hills required for the lady. Even I thought it was tough going: it just kept going up, and up, and up. Not so steep, but relentlessly long.
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more Melburn Roobaix 2010
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Melburn Roobaix 2010
Take a close look at the maroon bike in the middle of the picture, the one with the silver canti brakes and the stylish rider all in black? Recognise the bike or the legs?
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Rolling with the world champ
Twitter finally found a use for itself. Earlier this week, Cadel Evans tweeted that he was going to run a 'social' ride around Kinglake. At first I didn't quite believe it was open to all-comers, but it did turn out that the invitation was open to all. The opportunity to ride with the World Champion was too good to turn down and was a great reason to finally get out to ride the Kinglake climb! The route we took was from Hurstbridge via Arthurs Creek, then up to Kinglake and return. I was certainly very happy to have put my new lower gearing on the Concorde as it was just about perfect up the climb. Perhaps another lower gear would've been nice...
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Castlemaine 6 Hour
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A new challenge
I’ve been building up some rough form of training to aim towards doing some solo 6 hour enduro races. Strictly very non-serious stuff. My training has included commuting to work every day (I’d be doing that anyway) and then doing whatever riding grabs me on the weekend. I have been aiming to do at least 2.5 to 3 hours of riding when I jump on the mountain bike on a Sunday and have also been extending my occasional Saturday afternoon road ride down to Frankston.So all of that ‘training’ was put to the test at the Forrest 6 Hour which was my first solo enduro and probably my longest time spent continuously in the saddle of a mountain bike. The race was going to be an interesting test case on a number of fronts. It’d be interesting (worrying) to see how my knee held up, how my fitness held up and how my hands/back and bum held up.I hooked up with Brad to head on down to the Otways for the weekend. He’d also be riding solo, so we were both going to be taking the same approach to the race and we worked well as a “team” getting organised and preparing.My race plan was to go out slow, find a pace that I didn’t find taxing and hold it for the 6 hours. I had no idea how fast or slow I’d actually be able to ride or how I might compare against other riders, but my primary aim was to protect my knee and keep it happy and by doing that, I’d hopefully be able to finish.The race went well for me. I was typically late for the start, which cost me a good deal of time as unbeknownst to me – I was actually faster than most of the people who I was lined up behind! I spent the first lap in traffic and even portions of the second lap being baulked – and that was even at my “slow and steady” pace!And so I rolled on, and on, and on. The rain held off by and large, with only a few spatters of drizzle. It however cold and damp and the trails were very muddy in places. There were sections that felt like you were being glued to the track it was so tacky and goopy. Sadly Mariners Run was also not immune to the mud either and although it was fun, it wasn’t the blast it might have been.I managed to roll through to finish my 8th lap at 3:54… and being mad, I decided that I could go out and finish a 9th lap! I did manage to finish that lap and I’m glad that I did. It meant that I managed to crack the century and rode 102km or trails in 6 hours 40 minutes! I ended up placing 15th in the Solo (open men) class, which was awesome and a big surprise, especially as it was out of 75 entrants!My knees largely held together, my lower back was sore but it stretched out OK. I kept up with my body’s food demands, and was able to find a steady, managable pace to ride at. Bring on the next event!
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Ready for the daily grind
Time to interupt my posting hiatus. I had intended to post on this blog at the rate of one post a month, but that hasn't happened of late. Not that I wasn't riding - I just wasn't taking photos to be able to post anything pretty. But this weekend I'll be back into it at the Kona 24 Hour. I've chosen a hard road for myself by riding in a pairs team - a serious commitment indeed. Teams of four have been my previous method of participation, but I'd reached a point where I'd done that and it was time for something new. My teamie and I figured that as a pair we could potentially make the race ride a more relaxed and more co-operative event for us. We’re strictly there for the event, not to race. We figured that we'd have the option to ride if we wanted to and rest if we wanted to. We'd also be able to spend time as a 'team' rather than just meeting briefly in transition. In fact, we intend to transition at our campsite, take things at a relaxed pace and have a decent amount of rest between laps. It should be good fun and a real challenge. Let's hope I have enough food, drink and that I can actually eat and drink enough of it to stay energised. I’m also riding a new-improved bike fit that will hopefully benefit my knee. It's still being tweaked, but hopefully I'm on the right track to a good fit. Here's to a weekend of endura, chamois cream, gels, dust and perhaps a little rain. Oh - and to bacon and eggs for breakfast!
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Winter riding :: You Yangs
I'd heard on the grapevine that the new trails built out at the You Yangs were well worth a ride and that the link track between the Stockyards trail and the new trails was also a fun ride. "Rough and rocky", "technical" and "challenging" were words that had been used to describe the link trail, which didin't really enthuse me that much, but the idea of the "flowing" trails at Kurrajong did. I did finally get out west to ride them all for myself and had a great time. Despite arriving solo, I met up with a friend and his riding buddies and my solo ride ended up being a group ride. The Kurrajong trails are great and I'm heading back out there this weekend (weather permitting) to ride the whole lot. The soil out there is quite sandy which meant that the rain of last week had little effect on the trails - they were bone dry and nice and fast. Just my kind of ride. This image pretty much encapsulates the experience - flowing, granular-surfaced trails snaking through the white-trunks of an open woodland. The fact that the soil type keeps the trails dry makes the You Yangs the best option for winter riding. I came back with little more than dust on my bike, no mud.
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Dirt Crits Series Result
My first series tilt at the Dirt Crits ended successfully. I ended up finishing second overall in C Grade and third overall in the combined series. Not bad for a first effort. A few things I learnt over the series were: 1. Go hard at the start and avoid the pile up into the first section of singletrack; 2. Despite thinking I was OK at the techy stuff, it turns out that my dodgy knee and high cadence means that my strength was actually in a straight line. 3. As a result, if I could make it into techy sections in front, I could hold people behind me. 4. Keeping a burst in reserve for the last lap is good, but you can't let people get two far ahead before that time. 5. Sometimes following others will make you go faster than you otherwsie would have ridden. 6. I managed OK for one race on my semi-slick Orriflammes, but my Crossmark tyres are better. 7. Even on a sprint race, a dually allows you to pedal through sections you'd otherwise have to roll on a hardtail.
The pic in this post is of me leading Nigel, one of my key competitors for the series. he beat me in this final race, but I managed to get the better of him overall in the series.
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