I think the majority of the people I know who read this will already know that I've had quite a large(ish) bike crash and have spent a fair amount of time in hospital. Just to clarify all the details I'll run through them below.
On Tuesday 14th April, on a beautiful sunny 25 degree Melbourne day, I set off for a casual ride out to 'Wildwood' - a popular 65km loop just north of the Melbourne Airport. On one of the descents going into the last gorge (where the old bridge is) i came off my bike at high speed, approx. 70 km/h and landed on the right hand side of my body. I have little recollection of the rest of the events until I got to hospital save that I did manage to call Marie and let her know what had happened and that a passerby had called an Ambulance which took me into Royal Melbourne Hospital casualty dept. Upon arrival I was diagnosed with a fractured skull and a broken clavicle. A subsequent scan revealed a blood clot on my brain which required urgent surgery. Following surgery on my brain, I've also had surgery on a broken femur which was diagnosed after 2 painful days, medical staff even had me walking around on it before it was diagnosed!
The list of breaks from the crash sits at - fractured skull, broken clavicle, broken femur, broken rib and clots on the brain and lungs - which eventuated a week after I came in.
I have been in hospital for 16 days now and have just found out that I'll be off to rehabilitation for at least 3 - 4 weeks. I'm pretty happy about this as it the next step to me getting home. Physio sounds as though it will be quite intense both on the neurological side and the orthopaedic side.
I've had a lot of time to think about what has happened, and yes, I shouldn't be around today, but the simple fact remains is I'm here, and best of all I still feel my 'good old self'. A lot of my friends have asked me if this is a 'wake up call' or a 'sign', an 'omen' - call it what you will but the general thrust of the question is whether I'll ride ever again, and/or race competitively again. The answer in short -You BETCHA !
See you all out there, soon - REAL SOON!
Matty
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM - IRONMAN OZ 09 RACE REPORT
Well not quite for the swim anyway! So I think I’ll call this report KaBoom, zoom, zoom.
As noted my training went well right through the summer with new found training buddies Gary Pertot and Rob Taranto. They’re great blokes and very different people how they go about approaching their training. Rob’s a flat out type of bloke who wants to go 100 miles an hour every training session while Gary is very measured and sticks to what his plan says (but can be swayed!). I sort of slotted in between these blokes well, Gary was there taming me when we had the long aerobic stuff and Rob was there pushing me along for the harder sessions. He is very much like another good mate, Geoff Pell (GSP), in the way that he rides, he’s as strong as an Ox and hits hills real hard. On Sunday’s Rapido bunch ride where there are many strong (and smart) riders, Rob is the benchmark of strength. A big positive training with these fellas was picking Gary’s brain about all things Triathlon & cycling as he has a pretty deep knowledge on training methods, recovery etc. The humour was also a big highlight of this years training, it can get pretty tedious at times pushing out the big km’s, but there was always a good yack or plentiful sledging going on. Apart from the persistent ITB trouble on my right knee, we arrived in Port Mac on the Wednesday and I was feeling as though I was in pretty good shape.
Port Mac ’09 will be remembered for the ‘great wet’, the whole Northern Coastal area of NSW copped a ‘1 in 100 years’ dose of rain. All the transition area, check in area and virtually everywhere else around the IM village was under 4 inches of mud due to the construction equipment chopping the ground up and leaving it smelling like a Melbourne footy oval in the middle of winter – stink! It made getting around difficult and was a general pain in the arse right throughout the weekend.
Check in on Saturday went well and I was carbed & electrolyted up to the eyeballs ready for a bigun’.
On race morning I met up with Rob and Gary at Gary’s unit (we were all staying at the Sundowner ) and we trekked on over to the IM Village. Check in was painless and then out to the bike to kit it and wettie up ready for the swim. I saw Marie, Tilly, Tom & Meggie on the way to the swim then GP saw Di, Jenna & Renae so we all had our final good luck wishes then into the water. My positioning was ok, on the outside, closer to the land where the competitors thinned out to avoid the start carnage. It didn’t quite go to plan as I got swam over twice at the very start then got the shit beat out of me over the next 400 metres. At the far turnaround I copped a whack in the goggles that nearly knocked them off and lost my swim cap. The same problem as ’07 happened as my hair was getting in the way making for difficult navigation. This saw me zigzagging all over the joint bouncing off people who were in for a bit off payback and I often copped a smack in the head due to my misguided efforts. This was probably more my fault and most definitely the ‘nude nut’ or ‘chrome dome’ head (the same as Pt Mac ’08) is the way to go here. I exited the water in around 1hrs 09 mins which I was disappointed about, I felt I had swam a lot stronger at swim squad and hadn’t shown my true potential through the muddied waters of the Hastings River. Official Time – 1:08:41, Ave HR (Heart rate): 157 bpm (beats per minute). Swim pace: 1min 48secs/100 metres.
Onto the bike after a slowish 2min 54secs T1, then no great dramas until Lighthouse Drive, which is a small little back road full of crude little road repairs & patches. My only bidon (bottle) cage on the bike, which was carbon fibre snapped then jammed in between my frame & big ring. I lost my bidon of concentrated electrolyte/protein which was full of ELEMENTAL NUTRITION’S finest products (Athletes Advantage and Whey Protein). This had me doing some quick recalculations as I didn’t want to make the same mistake as Hawaii ’08 when my drink went off due to the heat & I had to ditch it. I was now going to rely on Gels, increase my salt tablet intake, cola, and for a flavour change go the occasional Gatorade. It was a good thing I had a new ‘Jetstream’ aero bar mounted bottle on the bike for the first time as this would now have the job of keeping me hydrated through the bike leg.
The roads were wet and very slippery which took a huge edge off your cornering speed and lead to a lot of criterium style sprinting to get the bike back up to speed out of the many corners and bends through town. I quite like the Port bike course, hilly at both ends with a long flat bit in between. Just as you get sick of the hills in town you have the flat of Ocean Drive to look forward to, then when you get sick of rolling along the flat you turn off down Houston Mitchell Dr. or ‘Ghost Rd’ for some more hill action. I was using GSP’s Zipp 999 wheel combination and the whole bike and wheel combo were proving to be very fast and handling the conditions beautifully. There was a slight tail wind into town and the majority of the ride was spent concentrating on staying on top of my gear into it then ‘pushing’ a big gear like crazy going with it. A huge disadvantage with being a poor swimmer is the packs of riders I have to contend with. Yet again drafting was rife within the age group ranks with several large peletons of ‘weak’ riders forming and often encouraging each other to stay together. They were of no inconvenience to me as I was too strong for any of the small appendaged riders to hold onto and simply rode past them then put in an effort when I got to the front so they couldn’t hold my wheel. The laps were ticked off nicely and I enjoyed the whole ride which went pretty much to plan with the only exception being on the last lap on the way out was slow as the legs were starting to feel shot. The support from the crowd was fantastic with Marie, Tom, Tilly & Meggie being their usual vocal selves at Munster St and the Fry, Pertot and WSTC (Tri Mental Edge & ETPA) crews also offering great support. The great thrill here was getting off the bike in under 5hrs. A sub 5hr ride time at any Ironman is the mark of a solid rider and one which a lot of top age groupers gun for, achieving this on the tough Pt. Mac course just makes it that little bit more special. Official time – 4:59:16 secs, Ave HR: 149 bpm, Ave speed: 36.13km/h.
I dropped the bike off, grabbed my run bag then headed through the swamp to the change tent. Extra time was spent drying my feet and getting all the mud off them before putting my socks and runners on giving me a 1min 54sec T2. This probably didn’t help much, as soon as you got out of the change tent there was approx. 60 metres of mud that was 4 inches deep to run through, oh well, I’ll worry about the blisters and chopped up feet tomorrow!
I settled into a comfortable rhythm heading out to Settlement Point then back into town, taking advantage of the flat part of the course to tuck my gels and salt tablets away and set my run up.
I love this run course, flat at one end and hilly at the other, the 3 lapper is great for spectators who duly reward you for your efforts and the volunteer support is absolutely awesome. How the vollies find their energy to continue on all day just astounds me and their levels of help this year was nothing short of sensational. Kilometre markers are a bit scarce on the course which makes doing your timing splits pretty hard, I rely on using my own markers and work off rough splits around them. I’m not too sure how my lap splits were but I feel I got faster every lap. I had no real flat patches and just continued to pick off athletes one by one, hopefully whittling my way down to a respectable placing in both Age Group and Overall. My nutritional plan worked an absolute treat and I even had time to throw in a few of the most awesome tasting cookies around to break up the Gel/Coke routine. The last lap of the run was something that will stick with me forever. I worked out I could do a race PB if I could go a touch quicker, so I put the hammer down, lifted the HR and went for it. The last climbs up past Town, Flynn’s and Oxley Beaches hurt like hell as the HR sailed up past 155 bpm for the first time in hours. My ITB which I hadn’t felt all run was starting to cause me some slight grief, stuff it I thought, I’m nearly home – The old line about ‘pain is temporary’ etc. was running through my mind. I pushed real hard verging on cramp going down the hills then hammered home the last 2 km’s in a touch over 8 minutes to get a sub 3hr 10min marathon time. Wow ! I didn’t have much time for any finish line carry on as I really wanted to get that run PB in as well – I made it !! I felt pumped as I was escorted off to the recovery area. It is a great feeling walking through the tent at that time. There isn’t many athletes that have finished and all the massage staff and catering team are standing around waiting for peak hour in around an hours time, they all turnaround and give you an enormous undivided cheer, I copped a heap of back slaps and hand shakes on a job well done. Chrissie Wellington who had finished about 20 minutes in front of me was sitting down for some tucker and actually took time out to say well done and ask me about my race, the joy on my face must have been pretty obvious and she just kept talking, obviously pretty excited for me – Another buzz !!
Official run time – 3:08:06, Ave HR: 141 bpm, 4min 27secs/km
Overall time: 9hrs 20mins 51secs, 33rd overall, 6th in 35-39 Age Group.
Overall a great race - shit swim, PB on both bike and run, a race PB overall on a tough course after a great training block with some great mates, even another spot for Hawaii if I wanted it! Does this sport get any better ????
Many thanks to Marie, Tilly, Tom & Meggie for their love, support, patience and understanding during training. To my SPONSORS: Rapido Cycles who look after all my bikes & gear, fit me out in the best looking kit and are there at the drop of a hat when I need them, Elemental Nutrition for supplying me with their awesome nutritional products throughout my training block, XOSIZE – thanks for all your help Scotty and to the City of Moonee Valley for their ongoing support.
Cheers,
Matty Lewis – 9 times Ironman.
Rob, GP and I pre race
Port Macquarie cattle yards
Saving it for the 'chute
The Day after - done & dusted !
As noted my training went well right through the summer with new found training buddies Gary Pertot and Rob Taranto. They’re great blokes and very different people how they go about approaching their training. Rob’s a flat out type of bloke who wants to go 100 miles an hour every training session while Gary is very measured and sticks to what his plan says (but can be swayed!). I sort of slotted in between these blokes well, Gary was there taming me when we had the long aerobic stuff and Rob was there pushing me along for the harder sessions. He is very much like another good mate, Geoff Pell (GSP), in the way that he rides, he’s as strong as an Ox and hits hills real hard. On Sunday’s Rapido bunch ride where there are many strong (and smart) riders, Rob is the benchmark of strength. A big positive training with these fellas was picking Gary’s brain about all things Triathlon & cycling as he has a pretty deep knowledge on training methods, recovery etc. The humour was also a big highlight of this years training, it can get pretty tedious at times pushing out the big km’s, but there was always a good yack or plentiful sledging going on. Apart from the persistent ITB trouble on my right knee, we arrived in Port Mac on the Wednesday and I was feeling as though I was in pretty good shape.
Port Mac ’09 will be remembered for the ‘great wet’, the whole Northern Coastal area of NSW copped a ‘1 in 100 years’ dose of rain. All the transition area, check in area and virtually everywhere else around the IM village was under 4 inches of mud due to the construction equipment chopping the ground up and leaving it smelling like a Melbourne footy oval in the middle of winter – stink! It made getting around difficult and was a general pain in the arse right throughout the weekend.
Check in on Saturday went well and I was carbed & electrolyted up to the eyeballs ready for a bigun’.
On race morning I met up with Rob and Gary at Gary’s unit (we were all staying at the Sundowner ) and we trekked on over to the IM Village. Check in was painless and then out to the bike to kit it and wettie up ready for the swim. I saw Marie, Tilly, Tom & Meggie on the way to the swim then GP saw Di, Jenna & Renae so we all had our final good luck wishes then into the water. My positioning was ok, on the outside, closer to the land where the competitors thinned out to avoid the start carnage. It didn’t quite go to plan as I got swam over twice at the very start then got the shit beat out of me over the next 400 metres. At the far turnaround I copped a whack in the goggles that nearly knocked them off and lost my swim cap. The same problem as ’07 happened as my hair was getting in the way making for difficult navigation. This saw me zigzagging all over the joint bouncing off people who were in for a bit off payback and I often copped a smack in the head due to my misguided efforts. This was probably more my fault and most definitely the ‘nude nut’ or ‘chrome dome’ head (the same as Pt Mac ’08) is the way to go here. I exited the water in around 1hrs 09 mins which I was disappointed about, I felt I had swam a lot stronger at swim squad and hadn’t shown my true potential through the muddied waters of the Hastings River. Official Time – 1:08:41, Ave HR (Heart rate): 157 bpm (beats per minute). Swim pace: 1min 48secs/100 metres.
Onto the bike after a slowish 2min 54secs T1, then no great dramas until Lighthouse Drive, which is a small little back road full of crude little road repairs & patches. My only bidon (bottle) cage on the bike, which was carbon fibre snapped then jammed in between my frame & big ring. I lost my bidon of concentrated electrolyte/protein which was full of ELEMENTAL NUTRITION’S finest products (Athletes Advantage and Whey Protein). This had me doing some quick recalculations as I didn’t want to make the same mistake as Hawaii ’08 when my drink went off due to the heat & I had to ditch it. I was now going to rely on Gels, increase my salt tablet intake, cola, and for a flavour change go the occasional Gatorade. It was a good thing I had a new ‘Jetstream’ aero bar mounted bottle on the bike for the first time as this would now have the job of keeping me hydrated through the bike leg.
The roads were wet and very slippery which took a huge edge off your cornering speed and lead to a lot of criterium style sprinting to get the bike back up to speed out of the many corners and bends through town. I quite like the Port bike course, hilly at both ends with a long flat bit in between. Just as you get sick of the hills in town you have the flat of Ocean Drive to look forward to, then when you get sick of rolling along the flat you turn off down Houston Mitchell Dr. or ‘Ghost Rd’ for some more hill action. I was using GSP’s Zipp 999 wheel combination and the whole bike and wheel combo were proving to be very fast and handling the conditions beautifully. There was a slight tail wind into town and the majority of the ride was spent concentrating on staying on top of my gear into it then ‘pushing’ a big gear like crazy going with it. A huge disadvantage with being a poor swimmer is the packs of riders I have to contend with. Yet again drafting was rife within the age group ranks with several large peletons of ‘weak’ riders forming and often encouraging each other to stay together. They were of no inconvenience to me as I was too strong for any of the small appendaged riders to hold onto and simply rode past them then put in an effort when I got to the front so they couldn’t hold my wheel. The laps were ticked off nicely and I enjoyed the whole ride which went pretty much to plan with the only exception being on the last lap on the way out was slow as the legs were starting to feel shot. The support from the crowd was fantastic with Marie, Tom, Tilly & Meggie being their usual vocal selves at Munster St and the Fry, Pertot and WSTC (Tri Mental Edge & ETPA) crews also offering great support. The great thrill here was getting off the bike in under 5hrs. A sub 5hr ride time at any Ironman is the mark of a solid rider and one which a lot of top age groupers gun for, achieving this on the tough Pt. Mac course just makes it that little bit more special. Official time – 4:59:16 secs, Ave HR: 149 bpm, Ave speed: 36.13km/h.
I dropped the bike off, grabbed my run bag then headed through the swamp to the change tent. Extra time was spent drying my feet and getting all the mud off them before putting my socks and runners on giving me a 1min 54sec T2. This probably didn’t help much, as soon as you got out of the change tent there was approx. 60 metres of mud that was 4 inches deep to run through, oh well, I’ll worry about the blisters and chopped up feet tomorrow!
I settled into a comfortable rhythm heading out to Settlement Point then back into town, taking advantage of the flat part of the course to tuck my gels and salt tablets away and set my run up.
I love this run course, flat at one end and hilly at the other, the 3 lapper is great for spectators who duly reward you for your efforts and the volunteer support is absolutely awesome. How the vollies find their energy to continue on all day just astounds me and their levels of help this year was nothing short of sensational. Kilometre markers are a bit scarce on the course which makes doing your timing splits pretty hard, I rely on using my own markers and work off rough splits around them. I’m not too sure how my lap splits were but I feel I got faster every lap. I had no real flat patches and just continued to pick off athletes one by one, hopefully whittling my way down to a respectable placing in both Age Group and Overall. My nutritional plan worked an absolute treat and I even had time to throw in a few of the most awesome tasting cookies around to break up the Gel/Coke routine. The last lap of the run was something that will stick with me forever. I worked out I could do a race PB if I could go a touch quicker, so I put the hammer down, lifted the HR and went for it. The last climbs up past Town, Flynn’s and Oxley Beaches hurt like hell as the HR sailed up past 155 bpm for the first time in hours. My ITB which I hadn’t felt all run was starting to cause me some slight grief, stuff it I thought, I’m nearly home – The old line about ‘pain is temporary’ etc. was running through my mind. I pushed real hard verging on cramp going down the hills then hammered home the last 2 km’s in a touch over 8 minutes to get a sub 3hr 10min marathon time. Wow ! I didn’t have much time for any finish line carry on as I really wanted to get that run PB in as well – I made it !! I felt pumped as I was escorted off to the recovery area. It is a great feeling walking through the tent at that time. There isn’t many athletes that have finished and all the massage staff and catering team are standing around waiting for peak hour in around an hours time, they all turnaround and give you an enormous undivided cheer, I copped a heap of back slaps and hand shakes on a job well done. Chrissie Wellington who had finished about 20 minutes in front of me was sitting down for some tucker and actually took time out to say well done and ask me about my race, the joy on my face must have been pretty obvious and she just kept talking, obviously pretty excited for me – Another buzz !!
Official run time – 3:08:06, Ave HR: 141 bpm, 4min 27secs/km
Overall time: 9hrs 20mins 51secs, 33rd overall, 6th in 35-39 Age Group.
Overall a great race - shit swim, PB on both bike and run, a race PB overall on a tough course after a great training block with some great mates, even another spot for Hawaii if I wanted it! Does this sport get any better ????
Many thanks to Marie, Tilly, Tom & Meggie for their love, support, patience and understanding during training. To my SPONSORS: Rapido Cycles who look after all my bikes & gear, fit me out in the best looking kit and are there at the drop of a hat when I need them, Elemental Nutrition for supplying me with their awesome nutritional products throughout my training block, XOSIZE – thanks for all your help Scotty and to the City of Moonee Valley for their ongoing support.
Cheers,
Matty Lewis – 9 times Ironman.
Rob, GP and I pre race Port Macquarie cattle yards Saving it for the 'chuteThe Day after - done & dusted !Sunday, April 12, 2009
How good is this race ??
Paris Roubaix, fair dinkum it makes your hair stand on end ! All the teams are jostling for position before the Arenberg Forest. The peloton are riding on the footpath, and are all over the joint! Maaskant has crashed and is going like a madman with a few Garmin teammates to get back on the pack before the Arenberg.
Dogs Brekky !!
G'day all,
Kicking back at the moment watching the Paris Roubaix and having a quick squizz at the crap I've typed over the last couple of weeks. I must apologise about the order in which it appears, quite simply a dogs brekky.
Anyway, doesn't matter, youse all know what I mean!! Back to the 'Hell of the North'. My tip is George Hincapie, strewth if any bloke deserves it, it is definitely Hincapie. Also may pay to watch out for Stijn Devolder and Garmin rider Martin Maaskant although he may be a bit knackered being a young fella and having a pretty full spring calendar.
During the adverts (current premature ejaculation - AMI ad !!) I'll proof my race report from Ironman Oz '09 and post her up.
Also while I'm at it I've picked up a new sponsor in XOSIZE. Check them out here - http://www.onlinesportstore.com.au/ if your not keen on the net then pop in & see Scotty & Damian at XOSize in 282 Centre Rd. Bentleigh. They have a great range of running & tri gear and have helped me out with my ITB problems using their 'gait analysis' digital filming technology on a tread mill where they can fit a specific shoe according to your running gait.
Cheers,
Matty - Go George !!
Kicking back at the moment watching the Paris Roubaix and having a quick squizz at the crap I've typed over the last couple of weeks. I must apologise about the order in which it appears, quite simply a dogs brekky.
Anyway, doesn't matter, youse all know what I mean!! Back to the 'Hell of the North'. My tip is George Hincapie, strewth if any bloke deserves it, it is definitely Hincapie. Also may pay to watch out for Stijn Devolder and Garmin rider Martin Maaskant although he may be a bit knackered being a young fella and having a pretty full spring calendar.
During the adverts (current premature ejaculation - AMI ad !!) I'll proof my race report from Ironman Oz '09 and post her up.
Also while I'm at it I've picked up a new sponsor in XOSIZE. Check them out here - http://www.onlinesportstore.com.au/ if your not keen on the net then pop in & see Scotty & Damian at XOSize in 282 Centre Rd. Bentleigh. They have a great range of running & tri gear and have helped me out with my ITB problems using their 'gait analysis' digital filming technology on a tread mill where they can fit a specific shoe according to your running gait.
Cheers,
Matty - Go George !!
April - Race month
Nothing much more to say here other than travel and Ironman!
The trip up went smoothly, we left at 3am on Wednesday 1st and arrived into Port Mac at 4pm after a solid 13 hr drive. Shit it’s wet !! The rain started near Goulburn, continued through Sydney and was torrential from Newcastle all the way to Port Mac. It didn’t ease up until 6am this morning – Thurs 2nd! The Hastings River is flowing quite quickly and there’s a lot of debris floating down although swimming in it isn’t too bad. Rob, Gary and I went for a swim in it this morning and the only real drama apart from poor visibility was the fast flowing current. There are a few rumours about mentioning a possible Duathlon (run/ride/run) due to water quality, which would benefit me greatly, but would be a shame since so much time has been invested into getting my swimming up to speed. It’s a funny atmosphere up here, you’d swear there isn’t a race on except for a stack of Victorians and a few tents around the place. There’s no real spark around the joint – shame, I really love that buzz. Maybe it’s because of the weather. It hasn’t been kind and threatens the 2nd half of our holiday up to the Gold Coast as it’s flooded all the way up. I’ll keep you all in the loop as to what’s happening.
The trip up went smoothly, we left at 3am on Wednesday 1st and arrived into Port Mac at 4pm after a solid 13 hr drive. Shit it’s wet !! The rain started near Goulburn, continued through Sydney and was torrential from Newcastle all the way to Port Mac. It didn’t ease up until 6am this morning – Thurs 2nd! The Hastings River is flowing quite quickly and there’s a lot of debris floating down although swimming in it isn’t too bad. Rob, Gary and I went for a swim in it this morning and the only real drama apart from poor visibility was the fast flowing current. There are a few rumours about mentioning a possible Duathlon (run/ride/run) due to water quality, which would benefit me greatly, but would be a shame since so much time has been invested into getting my swimming up to speed. It’s a funny atmosphere up here, you’d swear there isn’t a race on except for a stack of Victorians and a few tents around the place. There’s no real spark around the joint – shame, I really love that buzz. Maybe it’s because of the weather. It hasn’t been kind and threatens the 2nd half of our holiday up to the Gold Coast as it’s flooded all the way up. I’ll keep you all in the loop as to what’s happening.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Update '09 #2
FEB 09.
The start of February was solely focused on my race directorship role at Geelong 70.3. The 70.3 is simply a Half Ironman Triathlon that has world championship status. WSTC are contracted through IMG, the event managers, to provide race directors in return for a fee that goes back into the club. It’s a worthwhile way of putting something back into the sport and especially WSTC. The race will be probably remembered by not who won it (IM World Champ Craig Alexander and Kiwi chick Sam Warriner) but for the horrific conditions of Black Saturday, the day before the race. The swim team of Gary Pertot, Rotten Ron Geissler, Stevo Fry, Altona LSC vollies & myself had the swim course half setup on the Saturday morning before the most horrific Northerly winds, that were gusting up to 100km/h, picked up and tore the course apart. I was pissed off to say the least, but that would not even rate a mention compared to what was happening around us to our fellow Victorians. In the end we got the course set up by 8:30pm Saturday night and had it finished off in a mad dash before race start on Sunday. The race flowed smoothly and although questioned about the validity of the length of the course, I can rest assured it was correct – 1905 metres in fact, calculated by Gary on his GPS and backed up by a laser measuring device.
The rest of Feb went really well, with rides and runs increasing in tempo and volume. The North Road ride on Thursday mornings was a favourite as was my regular long run to Brimbank Park. I’d dropped my swims back to 2 a week, hoping that the extra session saved could be better spent in the gym trying to put some bulk on. This sounds strange, as we know leading into a big race we all like to go in light and weight work tapers off, but I have a real problem where my body catabolises available muscle mass and I turn into a runt and have resulting power losses on the bike. Towards the end of Feb I felt the first signs of an ITB injury. I had stupidly changed my running shoes ½ way through my training block, my faithful Adidas training shoes had worn out. I was getting bruised heels in them so I had to change them, which is an absolute no-no at that stage of your IM block. The injury is still here and I’ll have to carry it into the race.
The start of February was solely focused on my race directorship role at Geelong 70.3. The 70.3 is simply a Half Ironman Triathlon that has world championship status. WSTC are contracted through IMG, the event managers, to provide race directors in return for a fee that goes back into the club. It’s a worthwhile way of putting something back into the sport and especially WSTC. The race will be probably remembered by not who won it (IM World Champ Craig Alexander and Kiwi chick Sam Warriner) but for the horrific conditions of Black Saturday, the day before the race. The swim team of Gary Pertot, Rotten Ron Geissler, Stevo Fry, Altona LSC vollies & myself had the swim course half setup on the Saturday morning before the most horrific Northerly winds, that were gusting up to 100km/h, picked up and tore the course apart. I was pissed off to say the least, but that would not even rate a mention compared to what was happening around us to our fellow Victorians. In the end we got the course set up by 8:30pm Saturday night and had it finished off in a mad dash before race start on Sunday. The race flowed smoothly and although questioned about the validity of the length of the course, I can rest assured it was correct – 1905 metres in fact, calculated by Gary on his GPS and backed up by a laser measuring device.
The rest of Feb went really well, with rides and runs increasing in tempo and volume. The North Road ride on Thursday mornings was a favourite as was my regular long run to Brimbank Park. I’d dropped my swims back to 2 a week, hoping that the extra session saved could be better spent in the gym trying to put some bulk on. This sounds strange, as we know leading into a big race we all like to go in light and weight work tapers off, but I have a real problem where my body catabolises available muscle mass and I turn into a runt and have resulting power losses on the bike. Towards the end of Feb I felt the first signs of an ITB injury. I had stupidly changed my running shoes ½ way through my training block, my faithful Adidas training shoes had worn out. I was getting bruised heels in them so I had to change them, which is an absolute no-no at that stage of your IM block. The injury is still here and I’ll have to carry it into the race.
March 09
March is all about volume, it’s a month that really sucks when you look at your training schedule. You are constantly tired, your body is fatigued, it is a real chore to get your HR up out of your aerobic zone and everyone’s patience is out the window. Robbie, Gary and I had some rides where we didn’t even sledge because we were too tired, a stark comparison to a month ago. I picked my swimming back up to 3 mornings a week as I was off the boil in that area and needed to get it happening. With running my ITB was still very painful and massage, ice and stretching were carried out whenever possible. Despite this, there were 3 shining lights for March, number 1 being that there is a taper period at the end of the month, number 2 was a real standout training session when I rode up to Echuca for the labour day long weekend. It is a great ride, which is broken into 2 parts. The first part from Home to Heathcote via Lancefield which is all about climbing, especially from Lancefield to Tooborac where it gets very hilly and wears you out, whilst the road from Heathcote to Echuca is flat and dead and really is a mental challenge to keep your cadence up and stay on top of your gear.I averaged 35.5 km/h on the QRoo and felt as strong as an Ox the whole way. I did have a flat spot just before Heathcote, but 2 delightful Apple & Blueberry scrolls from the Heathcote Bakery fixed this. The 3rd bit of excitement came in the form of a Formula One driver by the name of Jenson Button who had contacted WSTC about doing its last club race. Pete Watson swung into PR overdrive and promptly got his physio Mike Collier & JB organised to race. I had a role in that I had to organise bikes and rides for the boys and generally make sure they had the right riding equipment to do some solid training with us. I organised this through Rapido and TREK and before we knew it they were up at Rapido getting fitted up. We (Mitch P, Greer, JB, Mike and a few of Mike’s mates) did the usual ‘Wildwood’ ride on the Monday afternoon before the GP. Then on the Tuesday we met them at Crown Towers then headed off down Beach Rd. This ride was great ! We (same people as Monday’s ride but with Pete Watson, Gregory F, Joe K and Gary Pertot) took it easy down to Mordi then turned around ready for some sprints, the Black Rock roundabout and BP at Elwood being the choice points for the battle of the Mailot Verde. JB & Mike started off tentative but before we knew it we were drafting off trucks and racing flat out. Both fellas rode exceptionally and had great bike handling skills and enjoyed all the usual bunch carry on. It was a great fun couple of days, and when Jenson qualified on pole position then won the Australian ING F1 GP from go to whoa it was pretty exciting and somehow all the WSTC crew and myself thought that we had contributed in some way. Check out the photos below.
Above: Mike and JB at Rapido getting fitted up on some TREK's
Above: The peloton post ride
Above: Some bloke who drives fast and Matty in Rapido kit !Update time ’09
January '09
As promised I’ll put in my ’09 update. Marie’s currently doing her driving stint on the way up to Port Macquarie so no better time than now.
The New Year started off really well. Over the Xmas holidays I set myself a goal of riding 100km’s a day for 10 days in a row. I did this in 2006 before IM New Zealand and although it hurt and I got slower as I progressed, it gave me a great base from which to train off. Robbie Taranto joined in on the 2009 festivities as well and although hampered by bad weather we actually got faster as we went on. It even got to the point that the last few rides were pretty insane, the last ride to Frankston (130 km’s) actually ended up with an average of 36.7km/h ! We definitely got stronger and faster as we progressed through the 10 days.
Training went well throughout January when Team Lewis again set up camp for the Alpine Classic in Bright over the Australia Day long weekend. The camp area was pretty insane with 9 families making the journey from Niddrie to watch the weekend’s festivities. Gary Pertot and Sean Fry were part of the camp and the ride so it was good to have a few fellas around that were off the turps and more content to sit around sipping Gatorades instead.
‘The Alpine’ went really well. I had a goal time of breaking 7hrs for the 200km, 3 minutes quicker than last year. Things started off well, I held onto the front pack over Tawonga Gap then down into the Kiewa Valley. I got dropped on the foot of the climb up to Falls Creek but managed to limit my losses when I teamed up with a few other fellas that had been dropped. With 3 km to go to the summit we still had the lead pack in sight. About 500m before the Falls checkpoint the first fella shot down the hill so I wasn’t far off the front. I had a quick turnaround at the Falls check and started the descent. The TREK was as stable as she comes and an absolute sheer delight to ride. I picked up 5 spots before Mt. Beauty then started to look forward to my arch nemesis – Tawonga Gap – the Kiewa Valley side. I’ve climbed this in previous Alpine’s, whilst training, and also racing and have never been able to climb it well. My legs were good so I hit it as hard as I could. My HR screamed the whole way up and my legs responded amazingly. This is the first time in over a dozen ascents of Tawonga that I’ve really creamed it. Satisfied I hit the descent really hard and caught a few more stragglers from the former leaders group. Another quick turnaround at the Bright checkpoint after loosing valuable time being sent down the wrong streets by volunteers and it was off to Mt. Buffalo. A few quick calculations and it looked as though 7 hrs was very achievable. I worked to Buffalo and half way up it with a chick (Pro) cyclist who was a Pom and training over here with Manchester 2012 in her sights. Jeez she could ride. She had a fantastic Chris Boardman Carbon bike and she was so light and fluttery on her pedals she made it look effortless. I hit a bad patch 7 km’s from the top and was dropped by her. The bad patch was nothing much more than what a gel couldn’t fix, I pressed on still hopeful of breaking the magical 7. I hit the Buffalo checkpoint at 6hrs 8mins 15secs. Its gunna be tight, I knew I had 36 km’s to do in 51mins 45secs. Said a quick G’day to Shane Friend who was riding well within the top 10 at the checkpoint then off I went. I descended hard, bloody hard ! I had 2 dodgy moments, one where I locked up the back brakes and nearly crashed into Greer coming up to the hairpin just after the water stop (aid station 10 km’s from the top). I hit the bottom and powered along the flats of the valley. I had spit and snot flying everywhere, no one to work with, my HR was through the roof but I HAD TO MAKE IT. I pushed hard and a few of the smaller rises saw me go anaerobic which hurt like hell. Still I pushed, hit Bright with 3 minutes to go, I had to go harder, the legs responded, I flew down the finish chute to a massive Rock Star cheer from Team Lewis, then fumbled to get my timing card out, got it stamped AND …………….. 7hrs 00mins 02 seconds………. BUGGER, missed it by 2 seconds – shattered. I couldn’t believe it, an average speed of 27.8km/h and a top speed of 79.6km/h and I missed it by 2 bloody seconds. Oh well, put it behind me, but keep it in mind for the ‘2010 Alpine’. The ‘Alpine’ is always a great day and this one proved yet again that a great event can be had at a really great price of > $100. If you cycle for the pure pleasure of the scenary and the challenge of melting the muscles in your legs, this is for you!
As promised I’ll put in my ’09 update. Marie’s currently doing her driving stint on the way up to Port Macquarie so no better time than now.
The New Year started off really well. Over the Xmas holidays I set myself a goal of riding 100km’s a day for 10 days in a row. I did this in 2006 before IM New Zealand and although it hurt and I got slower as I progressed, it gave me a great base from which to train off. Robbie Taranto joined in on the 2009 festivities as well and although hampered by bad weather we actually got faster as we went on. It even got to the point that the last few rides were pretty insane, the last ride to Frankston (130 km’s) actually ended up with an average of 36.7km/h ! We definitely got stronger and faster as we progressed through the 10 days.
Training went well throughout January when Team Lewis again set up camp for the Alpine Classic in Bright over the Australia Day long weekend. The camp area was pretty insane with 9 families making the journey from Niddrie to watch the weekend’s festivities. Gary Pertot and Sean Fry were part of the camp and the ride so it was good to have a few fellas around that were off the turps and more content to sit around sipping Gatorades instead.
‘The Alpine’ went really well. I had a goal time of breaking 7hrs for the 200km, 3 minutes quicker than last year. Things started off well, I held onto the front pack over Tawonga Gap then down into the Kiewa Valley. I got dropped on the foot of the climb up to Falls Creek but managed to limit my losses when I teamed up with a few other fellas that had been dropped. With 3 km to go to the summit we still had the lead pack in sight. About 500m before the Falls checkpoint the first fella shot down the hill so I wasn’t far off the front. I had a quick turnaround at the Falls check and started the descent. The TREK was as stable as she comes and an absolute sheer delight to ride. I picked up 5 spots before Mt. Beauty then started to look forward to my arch nemesis – Tawonga Gap – the Kiewa Valley side. I’ve climbed this in previous Alpine’s, whilst training, and also racing and have never been able to climb it well. My legs were good so I hit it as hard as I could. My HR screamed the whole way up and my legs responded amazingly. This is the first time in over a dozen ascents of Tawonga that I’ve really creamed it. Satisfied I hit the descent really hard and caught a few more stragglers from the former leaders group. Another quick turnaround at the Bright checkpoint after loosing valuable time being sent down the wrong streets by volunteers and it was off to Mt. Buffalo. A few quick calculations and it looked as though 7 hrs was very achievable. I worked to Buffalo and half way up it with a chick (Pro) cyclist who was a Pom and training over here with Manchester 2012 in her sights. Jeez she could ride. She had a fantastic Chris Boardman Carbon bike and she was so light and fluttery on her pedals she made it look effortless. I hit a bad patch 7 km’s from the top and was dropped by her. The bad patch was nothing much more than what a gel couldn’t fix, I pressed on still hopeful of breaking the magical 7. I hit the Buffalo checkpoint at 6hrs 8mins 15secs. Its gunna be tight, I knew I had 36 km’s to do in 51mins 45secs. Said a quick G’day to Shane Friend who was riding well within the top 10 at the checkpoint then off I went. I descended hard, bloody hard ! I had 2 dodgy moments, one where I locked up the back brakes and nearly crashed into Greer coming up to the hairpin just after the water stop (aid station 10 km’s from the top). I hit the bottom and powered along the flats of the valley. I had spit and snot flying everywhere, no one to work with, my HR was through the roof but I HAD TO MAKE IT. I pushed hard and a few of the smaller rises saw me go anaerobic which hurt like hell. Still I pushed, hit Bright with 3 minutes to go, I had to go harder, the legs responded, I flew down the finish chute to a massive Rock Star cheer from Team Lewis, then fumbled to get my timing card out, got it stamped AND …………….. 7hrs 00mins 02 seconds………. BUGGER, missed it by 2 seconds – shattered. I couldn’t believe it, an average speed of 27.8km/h and a top speed of 79.6km/h and I missed it by 2 bloody seconds. Oh well, put it behind me, but keep it in mind for the ‘2010 Alpine’. The ‘Alpine’ is always a great day and this one proved yet again that a great event can be had at a really great price of > $100. If you cycle for the pure pleasure of the scenary and the challenge of melting the muscles in your legs, this is for you!
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