HELLFIRE CUP DAY 1

As always, it's exciting to see a new race on the calendar. The Cup is a new stage race based out of the scenic rural town of Kellevie, where 'pairs' team up or 'lone wolves' go solo, riding out into the Tassie forests and stunning coastline to complete seven stages across four days. The event centre is quite remote, down rough farmland trails beside a river, with camping encouraged thanks to on-site lunch and dinner included in your entry fee. In short, the AvantiPlus Hellfire Cup is all about the bike, the trails, the mateship, the bush, the party and the local community.

But in February? this year, when the event was initially planned to run, the bush surrounding these beloved trails was sent into turmoil when struck by fires. The event was subsequently cancelled and a years worth of work simply gone. Although shattered by these turn of events, Cup organiser Duncan Giblin and his team went straight back to work, re-building trails and holding fundraisers to bring the event back to its expected glory and the event was rescheduled to November.

So here we are, in a boggy hilltop paddock, with no showers and limited power, after the race headquarters partially flooded due to massive downpours of rain and was forced to relocate to higher ground. The atmosphere is grim as we prepare to race Day 2, on an altered course with a delayed start time. A 40km relay, with each team member completing one lap of the 20km circuit, predominantly fire-road to allow access for emergency services if needed. 

For Jarrod and I, we lead the mixed category after yesterday's stage. It was a 26km dash through the bush with some awesome mud-ridden single track and descents, broken up by some tough fire-road climbing. Despite losing 10seconds on a wrong turn, and me face planting in the mud on the second to last corner, we took the stage out by 41sec over the adventure pairing of Renata Bucher and Jarad Kohlar. It was a close fought race until we hit some sloppy mud and Renata ran off the Usain Bolt! But we pegged them back on the single track mid-race and made a break for it on the wicked descent to take the win in 1:25:19.

2nd - Renata Bucher / Jarad Kohlar  +0.41min

3rd - Jacqui Slack / Ben Allen  +5.42min

4th - Jenni King / Steven Matthews  +6.36min

5th - Myra Moller / Daniel de Groot  +7.14min

6th - Jenny Fay / Michael Crosbie  +10.15min

7th - Mel Ansett / Ben Rendall  +11.07min

8th - Emily Parkes / Tristan Ward  +19.55min

9th - Juliet Plumb / Scott Wilson-Haffenden  +23.01min

10th - Sharon Heap / Les Heap  +23.15min

The afternoon relay stage on Day 1 was cancelled due to the torrential rain and relocation of the campsite, so we spent the time cleaning bikes, kit and refreshing 'BOM' for weather updates. At this moment in time it's NOT raining! Lets pray to god for Duncan's sake that it stays that way :)

NOOSA GRAN PRIX

After a week full of hype, media and plenty of ‘Wiggle’ jokes in my first week as a professional, it was nice to escape with Jarrod to my favourite Aussie holiday destination…Noosa! It was also my first chance to meet up with fellow Wiggles Emily Collins, Lauren Kitchen and team owner Rochelle Gilmore. We all know that pinning a number on in November means different things for different people, and with the girls having come off a European season, Noosa is usually more about beach time and less about pedaling. Regardless, we had a line up on paper that saw three prior champions and a New Zealander united as a force to be reckoned with.

Even Peter Sagan was no match for the Wiggles - kidnapped on the beach!

Our team meeting was a little vague with so many unknowns, so discussions were based around the numbers game of Specialized; 7 riders, vs OGE; 3 riders; vs Wiggle Honda; 4 riders and how we thought the main threats would play the game. We figured that OGE would attempt a break, and that Specialized had cards to play with a break, but were more likely to win the race from a bunch sprint with Kimberley Wells. The nature of the hotdog circuit at this time of year (with such variations in competitors form) lends itself to a break, which has been proven over the last four years. So our theory was to cover the moves, seize any opportunities in a breakaway, and try to leave race favourite Wells behind in the peloton.



Loren Rowney (Specialized) was active all day (Mark Gunter)

The call up to the line was unique. It started with the return to racing for dual Commonwealth Games gold medalist Megan Dunn (Specialized), followed by defending champion Kitchen. Then four National Championships hit the line; Road Race Gracie Elvin (OGE), Time Trial Shara Gillow (OGE), Criterium Champ Wells and MTB Champ me! But when the gun sounded it was Amy Bradley (Specialized) who attacked off the line. It was nullified early, as were most moves throughout the race. NRS winner Katrin Garfoot (QAS) was the first notable break on a solo mission, before Emily Roper (Suzuki Bontrager) tried her luck off the front.



Marked again by the Specialized girls.. (Mark Gunter)

The intermediate sprint was taken out by Louise Kerr (Bike Bug) as the nerves built around the prospect of a break that nobody wanted to miss. Groups of six to eight would roll off the front, with Collins and Kitchen always present, but they were too big and the combination never seemed right. As we were given three to go the race seemed to die, as if everybody was poised for a sprint until Elvin attacked at two to go. The bunch hesitated so I took up the chase, and attacked over the bridge when the timing felt right. Kate Finnegan (Specialized) and Garfoot set chase, but only Garfoot made contact. Then there were two… I led the sprint out but could only manage second behind the in-form Garfoot. Wells had left the peloton behind to claim third.

Podium L-R: Mullens, Garfoot, Wells (Mark Gunter)

My fitness was better than expected, but the transfer back to the tarmac and a new bike in the Colnago C59 had me a little uncomfortable for most of the race; possibly needs some tweeking in position. Although I would have loved to have won my first race as a professional, I was glad to finish on the podium, be back-pain free and have my reputation at Noosa unscathed; three podiums from three starts! A swig of ‘champas’ turned into a great night of celebrations that have me looking forward to the season ahead.

Soaking the new 'dhb' Wiggle clothing! (veloshotz)

Thanks to Wiggle for making it possible for us to support the domestic season, and to ‘dhb’ for kitting me out in orange for the race! Another flawless weekend by MultiSportTri events meant that I could partake in the celebrity breakfast and Legends Tri to complete my mini holiday. So as quickly as I turned to road, I now turn back to the dirt for the Bundanoon Dash and Highland Fling this weekend in New South Wales. It is yet another iconic event on the calendar, and although my form is not quite deserving of a victory, I look forward to putting the kms in the bank for when it counts in 2014!
 

Cheers to Wiggle... here's to 2014!!!

Results: Noosa GP
Press Release: Wiggle Honda

WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE WIGGLE YEAH!

This morning I woke up a different person for two reasons. Firstly, I woke up a professional cyclist for the first time in my life, after having signed for the remainder of 2013 and 2014 with the professional outfit Wiggle Honda. Seconly, I woke up feeling a little seedy from a good night of celebrations, not the best start to my new career...

My phone hasn’t stopped all morning and my twitter followers have skyrocketed! I believe there to be a true correlation between fame and the number of followers you have on twitter, so this is very good news. For my MTB fans, fear not that I will give away my love for the dirt, I will be aiming for Commonwealth Games selection and staying true to my knobby tyres!

 

Press Release: Wiggle Honda

DWELLINGUP 100

There are east coasters, and then there are west coasters. In the world of MTB’ing the two seem worlds apart, so when I was invited to race the DwellingUp100 I was curious to find out what I was missing out on. I went in blind. I had no idea what the terrain was like, the recent weather and even the competition. It was my first time in Western Australia on knobby tyres and as excited as I was to not only race there, but be back racing, I had one question that weighed heavy on my mind…Would my back hold up for 100kms?

I managed to muster up a casual 'two rides a week' with minimal pain, and a few solid days in the final lead up. These hard days, combined with six straight 9-hr days at work saw my back start to weaken again. The pain was stronger and lasted longer, and the flight to Perth only made me more skeptical about my condition. I met up with Target Trek team-mate Brendan Johnston (Trekky) at the airport, and picked up our AUDI A4 (nice choice Tony) – and drove the 1.5hr journey to Dwellingup. This tiny town, with a goggled population of 400, houses a pub, café, corner store, petrol station and holiday park, which not surprisingly is where we stayed. Although people and activities may not be in abundance, passion and character certainly are. The place is just mystical, like a fairytale come to life with 1000+ MTB’ers and supporters.

Trekky and I shouldered by the local Wembley cycles boys on the start line

 

The terrain is unique, with pea gravel, tight single-track, limited climbing and ‘Hell’s Gate’ the highlight acts. I was grateful to have Reece take us on a tour of the track pre-race day, which gave me a chance to suss out my main competitor in Jo Bennett (Giant). Although I had never raced Jo on a MTB, she had been an idol of mine as a triathlete and the word going around was that she was on some good form! When race day arrived it didn't take me long to find out why. As is the norm, I never warm up for XCM so was grateful that the first 15min was raced on road and fire trail at a leisurely speed. When we hit the single-track I put the pressure on, and when Jo passed me at the 15km mark my heart sank a little. Then to make matters worse, as we twisted through the tight tracks my back pain started to kick in..I was in for a long day.

In some pain as I come through the 40km transition area

 

I focused on being smooth as the accelerations were sparking the pain, but struggled to keep pace with Jo. As the roads opened up toward the treacherous descent of Hells Gate people began to scurry to the front so I sprinted to the top and nailed the run down it. Yes! I climbed hard out of the gulley to chase two men for a sit on the fire-trail. I’m not sure if I gapped Jo up the hill or down Hell’s, but I remember turning around to see that she was 50m off the back and I saw my opportunity as the single-track loomed. The next 15kms were torturous as I yo-yoed on and off the wheel of these two men. All the time my back was in excruciating pain. I tried to stretch it but the twisting track was never-ending and I had to compromise pedaling for stretching. The pace was hot and didn't ease until we approached the 40km mark in town with a small margin of 80 seconds on Jo. I forced myself to ease off the pedals and focus on stretching, hydration and riding smooth through the next 30km of trails I was yet to see.
 

At the 70km mark I was starting to hit the wall. A few guys caught me and I feared that soon I would suffer the same fate with Jo closing to less than a minute after I stopped for a bottle re-fill. I was overheating and getting dizzy so I popped my final three gels before the 80km mark in an effort to recover and knowing that I only had Hells Gate, 10km of single track and 5kms of fire-trail to take me home. From Hells gate onward I was back to being hard on the pedals, racing to stay out of sight of Jo, because I knew that if she got a sniff, she would be upon me. I was hard into and out of corners, suspension locked out, sprinting on fire-trail and stretching on the downhill’s to ease the pressure on my back. I was riding desperate, and am lucky to have ridden enough marathons for my body to be comfortable with that feeling. I was so grateful to see the one-kilometer to go sign that I nearly cried.

First-aid only put a Band-Aid on Trekky's elbow...maybe they're on rations?

Tony Tucknott had come back on the lead motorbike to chauffeur me in and I was glad I hadn’t let him down. I finished in 21^st overall after 4h44m of racing, as the lead female, 3:40min ahead of the chasing bulldog Jo Bennett (no resemblance to her lean mean figure). I felt so many emotions afterward. I was ecstatic to win another race (they are all special to me) and I was proud of myself for battling through the pain, but I was shattered physically, and broken to think that this pain might continue. I have to believe that this injury will get better! I couldn't complain to Trekky about it, because he had passed out in the ambulance after a serious crash on the first lap. He broke his shoe and scored himself up pretty bad but somehow managed to get back on and finish. Meanwhile, Reece had won the 40km..again, this kid’s winning ways would bore me if he wasn't our latest recruit for Target Trek MTB Racing.

Reece powers to victory in the 40km as his final race for Wembley Cycles

 

Thanks go to TriEvents for a well-hosted race and to those that jumped on board to support the affiliated Muscular Dystrophy foundation that have nearly tipped $100,000 in fundraising. Thanks to Dave, Pete, Deb, Jimmy and Amanda for volunteering their time over the weekend and most importantly to the man of the moment; Tony Tucknott – thank you! This man and his team (there are just too many to name) have put an immense amount of work into this event; building new tracks, manicuring old ones, two full days of course marking with Dave. I know that this volunteer group exists at most races, but this time it was nice to meet them all and thank them for their time :)

Results: Dwellingup100