A km too far....

[Simon Llewellyn]

Last night was the NSW State 1km TT championships. On paper there was something like 10 starts but only 7 of which showed up to race. In my life I have ridden many kilo's and I remember my first ever state title as such. Back then I was young and nervous riding brand new pista's with borrowed TT bars. Brad was my coach and he had prepared me mentally by attempting to give me some race tactics but mid way through he was abruptly interrupted by his father Lionel who said in no short terms sitting back in his chair with his arms folded and not in these exact words; 'you just ride as hard as you can as long as you can till you can't ride any longer.' Which I did, but what I remember most was the post-race slump at the side of the track in which I spectacularly fell to the ground and was unable to stand whilst the world was spinning around me. It took a solid 10 minutes before I could even contemplate getting up. That day I rode a 1:13.47.

This year I would say that my Kilo experience was similar except this time it was not my first ever kilo but my first ride on Dunc Gray since being wiped out at RAW and breaking my other collarbone just 18 months before breaking the first. I had made the decision this time around that I would use a more standard set up to the bike with track bars rather than aerobars, race wheels and an aerohelmet as my other helmet remains cracked. As with any kilo it takes 30 minutes to set up the bike, 30 minutes to drive out to Dunc Gray, 30 minutes to warm up for the event and barely over one minute to ride the event! With a further 30 minutes to properly recover. In the 10 minute warm up on the velodrome I was taken back by how steep Dunc Gray actually is, I relayed my concerns to Tirian and Josh and both agreed that the first time back on the track after a major accident is always a scary experience. The ride itself was a short sharp experience and though it was extremely difficult and my legs just didn't want to turn through the last 500ms I was to finish a full 4 seconds slower than my first attempt; riding a 1:17 which was 2 seconds slower than I had hoped.

Post ride I was just as smashed however. My legs ached, my lungs hurt and I had a sharp headache. The world was spinning and I just wanted to lay back and vegetate for as long as possible. I remember someone quoting a famous rider; 'it doesn't get any easier you just get faster; but I can assure everyone with a bit of time off the bike that it definitely doesn't get any easier just because you ride abit slower...

[timyone]

who won? I know that a newcastle lad came second, and possibly josh cornish 3rd.. I am thinking the first place rider doesnt use facebook

[mikesbytes]

Nice writeup Simon. Every time I go to DGV I find it scary steep for about a dozen laps.

Perhaps atmospheric conditions took those 2 seconds you were after

[patn]

I thought I might tack my report on the end of simon's...

I was in a bit of a grumpy mood when I arrived at dunc gray as it took me over 2hrs to get there from nth Sydney.that airport + m5 traffic is terrible at the best of times, but friday night... Poor lizanne copped my ten minute rant about it.sorry!! I was in the middle of what I felt was a really good warm up, but then it seemed like our ridewas going to happen early cause of some scratchings, so I got off the rollersand headed over to get going. Then the official says that since its a state race they will start it at the scheduled time regardless. So I ended up rolling around a little getting cool instead of staying on the rollers.lesson learnt for next time. they placed some foam barriers at the bottom of the track, which had me worried - oh sh*t this means i actually have to stay on the track.that's a bit much for them to ask of me!?haha...so onto the race.this sounds very stupid but I think I caught out by the 250m track vs 333m tempe which I'm used to.i went out hard as I have been advised, and I think was going quick as I came to the end of the lap.i gave myself more time to move from standing to the aerobars, as this was something I was having big problems with at tempe ( loosing LOTS of speed ).so that went well.i was blowing pretty hard at the end of the second lap, but here I think is when I made my big never to be repeated mistake.the end of the secondlap is a big mental milestone for me at tempe.i know theres is only a short way to go and its time to put it all on the line.so after finishing my second lap,i just hammered it.looking at my cadence on my 94" gears I was flying.I'll sit down and work it out but I think around 70km/hr.maybe more.great right!?So Im coming around the last bend flying, when it hits me...i got another lap to go!i cross the line thinking ' oh wow this hurts'.i get into the second last bend thinking 'great, now my legs aren't turning.how much further to go?'.my big concern on the last corner is sliding off the traffic.i am now going so slow I consider getting off the bike and walking over the line.that might be a few seconds quicker. At last it is over...
So its not like I 'forgot' it was 4 laps, or that I didn't know.that's not it.just somewhere deep down mentally I do two, then I go.so on friday when I finished two I had only done 500m instead of 666m, so I had a lot more gas left in the tank than I usually do.gas that I think I just blew up spectacularly. And boy was the blow up spectacular. Like a barina into a freight train.boom.
Final thoughts...what an awesome event.i love it.so simple, but so hard. I'm going to have a real crack at it next year.well that's the plan.two discs,a bike that isn't too big and a sperm helmut works be give too. It was great having lizanne and simon there too.simon is so chilled it helps calm me down, which I think is good for me. And lizanne brings all the positivity and excitementabout everything. Was great. Geez I ramble on.can someone shut me up please?

[rhys]

Good post Pat and Simon. I like reading things like this.

[jbcow]

I just stumbled across this - good on you both for facing up to the Kilo. I've never been brave enough.