Nicole Justice

This past weekend I had the pleasure of competing in the Mariposa Women’s Stage Race in the beautiful Yosemite Valley. It was a three day event and by the end of the final stage, I was exhausted! I was lucky to have my hubby Lukey accompany me to the stage race. He did a great job driving, preparing ice baths, putting up with my nervousness, and supplying me with food. On Thursday evening, we arrived in Turlock, California. Right off the freeway we found the hotel I had booked. Turns out it was more of an opium den than an actual hotel and we quickly transferred to another establishment before we were involved in a knife fight. After that first adventure, the rest of the trip went smoothly.

On Friday morning, I woke up and did 45 minutes on the trainer. At noon, the time trial began. It was my first time using clip-on TT bars and it felt nice to be in a more aerodynamic position. The course was relatively flat and I felt pretty strong. I ended up getting 9th in the stage, which I wasn’t too happy about but at least I got to test out my saucy skin suit! I am really looking forward to getting a proper time trial bike and helmet. That night, we drove to Groveland and checked into a cute bed and breakfast. After taking an ice bath, Luke and I drove to Yosemite National Park. It was so beautiful and definitely worth the trip!

The next morning, I woke up early and started preparing for stage two, a 12km hill climb. This was the stage I was most looking forward to since I love climbing hills! After 30 minutes on the trainer while listening to Skrillex, I was ready to climb! At 9am, we descended the long and windy mountain and ended up on a bridge overlooking an amazing canyon. However, we weren’t able to enjoy the view for long. Once the whistle was blown, it was on! 1km into the race, Kelly Crowley attacked and I was right on her wheel with one other rider. The three of us broke away from the rest of the field and we didn’t see the peleton again. It was a lot of fun (and painful) and I was happy to finish in 3rd and move up on GC.

After finishing stage two, I took another ice bath and ate a lot of bread. At 2:30, stage three began in a new location an hour outside of Groveland. The sun was shining and my legs felt strong. There were a few attacks that were brought back but with about 40kms to go, Molly Van Houweling from Metromint went off on a solo breakaway and nobody chased her down. In hindsight, I should have given chase. Lesson learned… I lost two minutes on that 90km stage. I ended up finishing in 3rd again and was tired after a long day in the saddle.

Waking up at 6am on Sunday morning was not ideal. I entered stage four in third place on GC and this made me very nervous. Metromint riders dominated the field in numbers and they had a rider sitting 15 seconds behind me. Without team support, I wasn’t sure what was going to go down. I wrote down on my arm the numbers of the riders to watch and tried to pump myself up for the 105km stage. In all honesty, I was really nervous and couldn’t get down my oatmeal… Time for this girl to toughen up! Once the race started, it was pretty evident that everyone was tired. Nobody tried any attacks on the first lap but then on the second lap, Rikke Preisler from Metromint attacked with a girl from Red Racing. Rikke was wearing number 13 and that number was on my arm! Nobody gave chase but when I heard they had a 45 second advantage I bombed up the hills to catch them and half the peleton was dropped in the process. The rest of the race was pretty calm and slow without much action. I contemplated trying to break away to gain back two minutes and finish in first on GC but I wasn’t confident enough to go without teammates and I didn’t want to risk losing a podium spot. I was also feeling the 2,000 meters of climbing in my legs that day… It wasn’t an easy stage! I was happy to finish in second place in stage four and second overall on GC. Yay, finally a podium! It was a great few days and I learned a lot.

I have been enjoying the last couple of easy recovery days and am heading to Tahoe tomorrow for some more altitude training. Woop Woop! Oh, and no big deal BUT I did meet Tom Boonen (world #1) yesterday at the Tour of California! AHHHH!

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The sun is shining in California and I could not be happier. It has been in the eighties and sunny everyday and I’ve been loving my hard training sessions in the beautiful mountains. This past week I have been sleeping ten hours a night, eating a smoothie and gluten free waffles for breakfast every morning, and heading out the door for three to five hours of training. This splendid routine has made me feel a lot stronger. It has been nice staying in one place and doing hard sessions again. After a couple of crazy months, it’s great being back on a consistent training schedule.

My smoothie obsession began thanks to my brother Greg. He makes protein smoothies every morning and night. Unfortunately, I don’t allow myself to have three scoops of ice cream in mine like he does, but they still taste pretty good. I have been loading up on organic berries, yogurt, and hemp protein. Yes, hemp protein. It is rich in iron and hopefully not THC or else I’ll be in big trouble if and when I get drug tested. A smoothie in the morning with waffles and a smoothie after training. Ahh delicious! I have been trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into my diet since I feel like 50% of my diet is comprised of energy gels and sports drinks. I don’t remember seeing these items on the most recent USDA food pyramid.

Enough about smoothies and onto something more exciting. Saturday was the annual Cat’s Hill Criterium in downtown Los Gatos. It was definitely the hardest crit I have ever raced since there was a 23% hill in the middle of the circuit and the roads were filled with cracks, potholes, and asphalt. Despite this, it was great to race in my hometown and I was so happy to have family and friends there cheering me on. Hearing my name being called out when I approached the hill definitely motivated me to climb faster. There was a huge crowd, the sun was shining, and the pain was endless. The entire course was only a mile long but each lap felt like ten miles. The pace was hot from the start with Vanderkitten attacking left and right. It took me awhile to wake up but about halfway into the race, I started feeling good. I was climbing well and feeling strong. Marley, my teammate from Stevens p/b Pactimo, was in a break with three Vanderkittens for much of the race and when the break was brought back, Bridie O’Donnell decided to attack with three laps to go. I chased her down and expended most of my energy in the process. Tricked by my mentor! With two laps to go, everyone was in pain and a good number of the field had dropped out. I didn’t position myself well coming into the final descent and corner and ended up coming in fifth. Jazzy from Vanderkitten took the win and collapsed on the pavement afterwards. Yes, it was tough. Overall, I was happy with how I raced and it was fun going up against all the talented Aussies in the field (two Aussies and one Kiwi on the podium). Vanderkitten raced really well as a team and they deserved the win.

Starting on Friday, I will be competing in the Mariposa Women’s Stage Race near Yosemite. It looks like it is going to be a really fun and challenging race. There are four stages over three days and it kicks off with a TT on Friday afternoon. Luke is coming with me for support which will be great (well, maybe not so great for him since I can get a bit moody after a hard day on the bike). I have had a couple of intense sessions over the last couple of days and will need a but of recovery before heading into Mariposa. Until then, it’s all about the smoothies and Skype sessions with Wazza.

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. First of all, I am now a married woman! Luke and I were married on April 7th in my parents’ backyard. It was a small and beautiful wedding and the weather was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better day!

After a few crazy weeks of wedding planning, bachelorette shenanigans (I won’t go into details) family bocce ball tournaments, and numerous visits to steakhouses, I was ready to get back into proper training mode. Unfortunately, after three days of consistent training I contracted the stomach flu via a dodgy burrito. To make a long story short, I headed into the Sea Otter Classic without much preparation. Oh, that reminds me… I’m staying in California for the summer. Originally, I was supposed to be back in Australia right now but due to a variety of reasons, I will be staying in California for the next couple of months.

The Sea Otter Classic is held every year in beautiful Monterey, California. The atmosphere at the race is awesome, with thousands of people gathering to watch the road cyclists, mountain bikers, and even downhill skateboarders (they wear pretty cool one-piece leather suits) bomb down The Corkscrew at Laguna Seca. The four day stage race was tough but a great learning experience. I came into the race without much preparation and was up against super American teams like NOW/Novartis, Exergy 2012, Primal/Map My Ride, and Vanderkitten. Overall, I was happy with my performance, especially during the road race. I had a few mishaps (jammed Ui2, flat tire down a descent) but overall, it was a fun tour and I learned heaps from racing with such a talented field of riders. Racing in the US is a lot different from the racing I’ve done in Australia. It is more aggressive and I seem to spend a lot more time at threshold… Ouch! The highlights of Sea Otter were probably bombing down The Corkscrew on my new Zipp 404s and hanging out in the Specialized athlete tent!

After Monterey, I drove straight up to Tahoe with my Nana. I spent five days training at altitude and eating tons of home cooked German food. It was a great way to boost my red blood cell count (who knows if this actually happened but I’ll pretend it did). After Tahoe, I felt very refreshed. Sea Otter really wore me down and I needed some quality recovery. There ain’t nothin’ like eating sauerkraut in a snowstorm to make a girl feel better!

After driving home from Tahoe, I had twelve hours until my next race. While at Sea Otter, I met the director of Stevens p/b Pactimo and I was asked if I’d like to race with the team in some of the upcoming US events. The Wente Valley Road Race, which was held yesterday, was my first race with the team. All of the girls on Stevens p/b Pactimo are incredibly friendly women and very talented athletes. I had a lot of fun racing with them yesterday. The course was pretty hard with 1,500m of climbing over 100kms in hot conditions. Once again, we were up against some of the girls from NOW and Exergy2012. The race was action packed from the beginning with two of my teammates getting into a breakaway that lasted until the final lap. In the final 10kms, the leading six riders were all brought back together. It was me, my teammate Heather, Devon and Beth from NOW, Alison from Exergy, and Molly from Metromint. Nobody made a move until we hit the bottom of the final climb and then it was time for pain! I ended up finishing in 4th place right behind Devon, Beth, and Alison. So close to the podium… Ah well, next time. All of the Stevens p/b Pactimo riders finished in the top 10 and we worked really well as a team. It was a great race!

The weather in the Bay Area is supposed to be beautiful this week so I am looking forward to getting some quality training in. I’ll be receiving my training plan for the next six weeks from Coach Wazza today… Woop Woop!

It has been almost a month since my last blog and a lot has happened in that time. I am now writing from my hometown of Los Gatos, California where I am getting married this Saturday! Needless to say, things have been a bit crazy around here but I have really been enjoying my time at home, on and off the bike. Before leaving Melbourne, I had my biggest week ever on the bike. 650kms in 7 days was a lot of fun and pretty painful! The week culminated with a ride up to Kinglake (oh, and climbing the hill 3 times) with the BG lads. 160kms/2,500m was no small feat and I was very happy that Daniel Strauss gave me some of his babka! By the time I landed in California, I was ready for a little bit of time off the bike. Soon after arriving, I jetted off to Mexico with my mum, Nana, and great-aunt for five days of eating fajitas and lying on the beach. It was great hanging out with those awesome women and I was very impressed to see my 75-year-old great-aunt complete an hour long cycling class after just having finished chemo a few months ago. Very inspiring! After arriving home from Mexico, I hopped back onto my bike and managed to get a few training sessions in between my dress fittings. Unfortunately, the weather was not too good and I did a lot of sprinting on the wind trainer while watching Lady Gaga’s live in concert DVD. I managed to get a few good training/dance sessions in and annoy the hell out of my little brother, so I’d call that a success. The weather the past week and a half has been absolutely beautiful and I’ve been able to go on a lot more rides. Last week I did 500kms and enjoyed every minute of riding through the beautiful Northern California hills. Apparently Bridie O’Donnell brought the nice Melbourne weather with her and ever since she landed in SF, the sun has been shining. I can’t emphasize how breathtakingly beautiful it is here. There are endless miles of quiet tree-lined roads, never-ending climbs, and twisting descents. I have a 12km climb that averages almost 6% 3kms down the road from where my parents live… Heaven! Lots of pro women live and train in Northern California and I’ve spotted a few superstars, including Loren Rowney and most of Team Vanderkitten out training. Last Sunday I went on a great ride through the hills with Bridie, Katheryn Mattis, and a few other girls. It was a great ride and cool to go out with a bunch of fit chicks on a lovely Sunday afternoon! Now the chaos is about to begin… Wedding weekend! Although there will only be 35 people in attendance, 1/3rd of the guests will be Australian so you know it’s bound to be a party! The next few days I am going to enjoy spending time with my friends, family, and husband-to-be and let my bike bathe in the warm California sun.

Last week I was absolutely exhausted and enjoyed a couple of days off the bike and a few easy rides. Apparently, I turned into a bear preparing for hibernation. I found myself stockpiling food, eating, sleeping, and not doing too much else. On Friday, Lincoln at Bike Gallery built my new Specialized SL4 Amira with Ui2. Although I loved my previous bike, the SL4 is amazing! Specialized Amiras are women specific bikes and thus, conform perfectly to my shape (long legs, short torso). The matte black paint job is tres cool and so is the Shimano electronic group set. As soon as I saw my new black stallion, I couldn’t wait to go for a ride. A new bike was just what I needed to snap me out of my post-New Zealand funk. I was ready to get off the couch, put a smile on my face, and conquer the Dandedongs. When I awoke the next morning full of enthusiasm, I looked out the window to see black clouds. I rugged up, headed to the hills, and was drenched within 45 minutes. However, I was having so much fun on my new bike, the freezing rain didn’t stop me. I spent four and a half hours in the Dandies and another four hours there with Bridie on Sunday. Although the weather was not ideal, the Dandedongs were absolutely beautiful when enveloped in fog. Very zen. Also, nothing really seems hard after New Zealand so a little rain (aka a lot of rain) wasn’t going to stop me. I had a great weekend of training and I am excited to have a few more solid sessions this week on my new bici before I fly to California on Monday. Thanks Speciailzed!

To put it simply, last week was the hardest week of my life. The Tour of New Zealand was not only physically demanding, but mentally challenging as well. I had to push my body to it’s limits and battle nerves, fear, pain, sadness, and disappointment. I rode through a rain storm with blood dripping down my arm and a cracked helmet, narrowly avoided crashes (and succumbed to one), witnessed girls face down in a ditch with blood covering their faces, descended a hill at 75kph, and felt an indescribable emotion as I crossed the finish line on the last day of the tour. I was exhausted enough from the emotional highs and lows of the week, not to mention the 600 kilometers I rode. In New Zealand, I learned a lot about cycling, teamwork, pain, determination, and life. At certain points during the tour I was so scared and nervous my legs were shaking uncontrollably. The funny thing is, now that I’m home, I cannot wait to race in a tour again. Despite the risks involved in racing, there is nothing quite like the feeling of pushing yourself to the edge and crossing the finish line. I could probably write a thirty page paper about everything that went on last week but I’ll try and keep it concise.

I traveled to New Zealand not knowing what to expect. I have trained hard the past few months and thanks to my coach, Warren McDonald, I was as prepared as I could have been at this point in my cycling development. In addition, thanks to the boys at Bike Gallery, my bike was ready to rock! The tour started on Wednesday evening with an individual time trial. The weather was insane and we raced 7.1 kilometers in a torrential downpour. Everyone was worried about taking the corners, especially the last off canter one. I ended up finishing in 23rd place out of 71 starters and was ecstatic. I could barely see where I was going during the race and took the corners fast but luckily I was able to stay upright and get a good time of 11:23. Unfortunately, my luck would not last.

With 1km left to go of the neutral 15kms at the beginning of stage 2, a crash occurred on a sharp corner in the rain. Four of us went down and my head smacked the pavement hard enough to significantly crack my helmet. The crash happened in slow motion and was totally unavoidable since a girl fell off her bike right in front of me. After I slid across the wet pavement, adrenaline kicked in and I jumped up. I realized I hadn’t broken anything and watched in silence as Jules fixed my bike. I then held onto the team car and was dragged to the start of the race. Unfortunately, the peleton was long gone by that time and I was in a state of panic as Jules paced me behind the team car at breakneck speed. To make a long story short, the commissaire made an error and told the team car to drop me with three girls that had already been dropped from the peleton. As this gentleman apologetically admitted after the race, I should have been paced back up to the convoy. I naively gave chase and was at threshold for an hour before I realized there was no way I would ever catch the peleton unless I installed a motor on my bike. I rode 140kms/1,600m by myself that day and lost all hope for a decent finish in the general classification. As I crossed the finish line, I wanted to cry (okay, I may have cried a little)… It was the hardest ride I’ve ever done and I was dripping blood everywhere and had a huge bump on my head. The adrenaline had worn off and I was in a lot of physical pain. Emotionally, I was an even bigger mess. After a great first day, stage 2 had been an absolute disaster. Luckily I have awesome teammates who were very supportive that night and made me feel better about having such a bad day.

I woke up on Friday with a sore head, neck, shoulder, and hip and wasn’t sure if I should continue the tour. Rachel Neylan, my roommate, told me to toughen up so I ate approximately one million grams of carbohydrates for breakfast and put on my kit. Stage 3 was basically stage 2 in reverse. I was in a mental fog that day and paranoid about crashing again. My worst fear almost happened as a rider plowed into me 15kms into the race, causing three riders behind me to go down. Luckily I was on the drops and was able to maintain my balance but the girls behind me were not so lucky. One girl broke her wrist and another cracked a rib. At this point I was again ready to get off my bike and retire. Witnessing so many crashes and blood had really started to take it’s toll on my mental state. However, despite my queasiness I kept going. The peleton split in two that day and I was with the chase group after we all got dropped on one of the first climbs. I tried to chase the peleton with an Italian rider but as I was slowly learning, once you get dropped, it is very hard to get back on. All day, fifteen of us worked together to battle the insane 45kph crosswinds. It was interesting trying to communicate with the Italian, Japanese, and Chinese riders in the group but somehow we all managed to work together, form an echelon, and roll turns to the finish line at a cracking pace. Stage 3 was one of the toughest stages for me since the wind was absolutely crazy and I was hurting from the previous day’s crash. Luckily, I got a massage from the Italian masseuse that night!

On Saturday, the weather was a lot calmer and I managed to stay with the peleton until the final kilometers. I got dropped earlier in the stage but chased, made it through the convoy, and rejoined the bunch. Drafting from team car to team car at high speeds was exhilarating! Unfortunately I had nothing left for the final 3kms that day. I just didn’t have my normal power and I’ve never been so frustrated. My body wasn’t doing what I knew it was capable of but at least I was making some improvement since the crash. That night I went to bed feeling defeated but woke up the next morning refusing to get dropped!

The final stage of the tour was my best stage. I finished with the peleton (averaging 38kph for 110kms) and did well in the final sprint to come finish 22nd. The pace was hot all day and the climbs were tough. I tried to position myself better than I had the previous days and this seemed to help immensely. The weather was also sunny and calm which definitely made things easier. Although it was a great finish, the stage was not without disaster. I witnessed my teammate, Lucy, crash and Miranda and I almost went down with her. It looked like she’d hit the deck pretty hard and I was shocked to see her make it back up to the peleton with holes in her kit and blood dripping everywhere. Tough chick! As we all crossed the finish line in one piece, everyone looked extremely happy and relieved. I wanted to pump my fists in the air but then I remembered I finished very close to the bottom of the general classification!

When all the results were in for the week, Holden Cycling did better than many people expected. Miranda Griffiths finished 6th, guest rider Rachel Neylan in 12th, and Lucy Coldwell in 22nd. Steph Ives and I were happy to finish the tour and will be back next year to hopefully secure top twenty-fives as well! A big thank you goes out to team manager Jules Knuppel who did it all for us this week… Jules drove the team car, washed our bikes, did our laundry, filled our biddons, cleaned our wounds, and counseled us. Steph’s parents were also extremely helpful! We may not have had our own mechanic or masseuse like the other teams but we were able to survive le tour. I did my best to befriend the mechanics of other teams and got looked after by Marino, my sixty-year-old Italian mate. Saying “ciao” and smiling lots will get you places with the Italians and I am so thankful for all their help, generosity, and humor. The Hotel Coachman also did a great job in supporting the riders. The rooms were nice and they fed us plenty of potatoes.

Everyone will have their own personal version of the tour and my teammates all raced incredibly well. Each one of them had their emotional and physical highs and lows just like me. I will never forget the events of last week and I am really happy to be home in one piece. One of the most important lessons I learned during the tour was to not be so hard on myself. Cycling is an unpredictable and dangerous sport and sometimes you can be extremely unlucky while other times luck will be on your side. Even if you’re feeling great, you can still be brought down in a crash. I’ve learned to keep things in perspective and even thought this tour didn’t go my way as an individual, my team performed very well and we all supported and worked for each other. Cycling is a team sport and everyone has their good and bad days. The important thing is to put the team first and ride for and support each other. I also learned a lot about tactics, positioning, and race strategy and I have so much more to learn. Racing is completely different to training and there is no doubt that my race brain needs some educating. Finally, I realized that there are a lot of extremely talented female cyclists in the world and I am going to need to continue to race and train hard if I want to compete on an international level. Having said that, I also need to invest in time. Knowledge comes with experience and as Wazza always tells me, I need to be patient.

Now I am ready for a few days of rest, recovery, and detox from caffeinated energy gels. Thank you to all those who supported me throughout the tour; your kind words and encouragement were much appreciated. Sorry Wazza for all my frantic Skype calls and e-mails… You’d make a good psychologist. Bridie O’Donnell, you’d make a good psychologist too. I could keep on writing but if you want to hear more stories, just ask me. There is a lot more that happened off the bike!

I have arrived in Palmerston North and it feels good to be here! My bike arrived in one piece and overall, I had an easy trip from Melbourne. Despite attempting to board the wrong flight to Auckland, everything went smoothly. Every team competing in the Women’s Tour of NZ is staying at the same hotel. The Coachman is quite nice and somehow I ended up in a room with two queen beds… Bang! My roommate, Rachel Neylan, placed 3rd at Nationals this year and I am looking forward to learning from her on and off the bike. Rachel races professionally in Europe and is also a physiotherapist. No doubt she’ll be full of good information! We also share the same coach, Wazza McDonald. Tonight all the teams are having dinner together. It’ll be fun to scope out the competition I ran into the Italian team earlier today and they look very professional! The team has at least four coaches/mechanics traveling with them and all the riders were wearing arm and leg warmers in the heat today. Ciao! The Chinese team arrived the same time I did and some of them look as through they’re related to Yao Ming. Tall chiquitas! I am excited and nervous and eating lots of gluten free ginger cookies to carbo load and calm my nerves. Stage 1 is tomorrow… A 7.1km prologue time trial at 6pm. Special thanks to Bike Gallery for prepping my bike for le Tour! Oh, and the rumors are true… There are HEAPS of sheep in New Zealand!

New Zealand is rapidly approaching and in less than a week, I’ll be in the land of sheep! Baaaaa! I had a very intense week of training last week and I ended up riding around 600kms. A trip to the Dandies, a TT session with Bridie O’Donnell, and a team time trial were some of the highlights. The weather in Melbourne has been perfect lately and I’ve been feeling good on the bike. Learning how to time trial from Bridie was an awesome experience. After all, she is the queen of time trialing. Completing a 10km TT down Beach Rd. with her next to me was great motivation to pump out some serious watts. Obviously she wasn’t going her fastest but I definitely was and by the end of the effort, I felt like my legs might explode. After three hours at time trial school, I learned some very valuable lessons and am looking forward to the Tour of New Zealand prologue next Wednesday which is a 7km time trial. While on the subject of time trialing, Team Holden exhibited great teamwork last Sunday at the SKCC criterium circuit. Our team came in second place to the VIS in an eight lap team time trial. I was surprised by how much fun I had during the TTT. Somehow when I’m working with my team, the pain in my legs is masked to a certain degree. I am definitely looking forward to more TTTs in the NRS!

SKCC Newsletter: “The Holden Team led by the small in size but big in talent Miranda Griffiths was determined to give the VIS girls a run for their money. Nicole Justice, Stephanie Ives and Lucy Coldwell made up the team that despite getting off to a slow start came powering home and gained time on the VIS each on the last 4 laps. Miranda went in to overdrive and pulled some monster turns as did new signing Nicole Justice.” 

Last week, I also went and had a sweat test done at the VIS. I cycled in Z4 for 45 minutes in a room that was 32 degrees and 60% humidity. It was pretty horrible. Despite sweating out half of my body weight, it was well worth it. Now I know exactly how much to drink per hour while I’m riding in various conditions. I also found out how many carbohydrates I need to consume next week in NZ and it’s safe to say that I might resemble a potato upon arrival back in Melbourne. This week has gone by quickly and I’ve completed a few smashing rides. On Monday, I went on an easy roll with a few mates through Melbourne and I felt like I was on a city tour. It was lovely! Tuesday was 4.5 hours in the Dandies racing up and down the 1/20 multiple times and yesterday was 4 hours TTing up and down Beach Rd., feeling ze burn! Today I went to the gym to stretch and do core and I hate to say it but I’m extremely happy to have a day off the bike! I haven’t had one in over two weeks. I met with Team Holden’s director, Julien, earlier this morning over coffee to discuss team racing tactics since my knowledge is lacking (lesson one: don’t chase down your own teammate when she is in a break). This afternoon I am off to visit Michael, our team’s sports psychologist. Time to rest up and get my head straight for New Zealand!

To put it simply, training camp kicked my butt. I don’t think I’ve ever been so wiped out and it took me a few days to feel normal again. In the five days following camp, I had two days off and three easy recovery rides. I slept, ate, read, and hit the hit gym for stretching/core/upper body. I also got creative in the kitchen, making some delicious energy bars, gluten free muffins, and fish curry. I honestly was too tired to ride my bike and luckily my coach is a big supporter of me sleeping on the couch. Yay Wazza!

Prior to training camp, I met with a wonderful nutritionist at the Victorian Institute of Sport. She looked over my diet, training, and blood tests and gave me a few helpful pointers. This week I’ve been trying to make a few changes in my day to day eating. The biggest change of all has been reintroducing red meat into my diet. I stopped eating red meat at the age of  twelve when I was traumatized by the movie “Babe” and a trip to Alaska where I bore witness to wild animals roaming the landscape (free range caribou). Without going into too much detail, let’s just say I am now force feeding myself steak twice a week in order to boost the iron in my blood. Sadly, supplements just ain’t enough when you’re cycling 550kms a week (I’m talking about legal supplements). The nutritionist also has me eating every three to four hours throughout the day and every 45 minutes to one hour when I’m on the bike. I have also been instructed to only eat carbohydrates in the morning prior to a ride and while I’m riding. The best news I received was that milk based coffees are not detrimental to cyclists. Maybe I won’t look as cool sipping a latte as opposed to a long black but at least that cup of magic won’t be harming my power output.

When I finally mustered the strength to go for a decent ride, I woke up at 5am on Saturday and headed out with the BG boys to Smiths Gully. It was a very fast ride through the lovely Victorian hills and we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Those of us who went on the ride were too busy breathing to talk for the entire 90kms. My legs felt fresh and I was able to keep up with the boys so the ride went down as a success in my book. Okay fine, maybe I got dropped for a minute on the Clinton’s Rd. climb… Today was another good day on le bicycle as I competed in my first B grade men’s criterium at Glenvale. Once again, the pace was hot and we averaged 42.2kph for over an hour. As I crossed  the line, I was very happy to see Luke was there to pick me up. Riding home into the headwind after spending so many minutes at anaerobic threshold may have sent me over the edge. There were over 70 starters in the B grade race and it was once again a pleasure to race with my Holden teammates. We will be competing in the SKCC Teams Time Trial next Saturday and I am really looking forward to it. I am also looking forward to an easy day on the bike tomorrow followed by a strenuous week of training in preparation for New Zealand!