My winter of contentment.

Before IM Cairns I sat down and mapped out the rest of 2012. My thoughts at the time were finish IM Cairns then stop swimming & running straight away, but continue on with cycling. I had originally planned to do the Northern Combine 3 day tour the week after Cairns (Queens b’day long weekend) but this was knocked on the head as my sister had a baby girl not long before Cairns so the long weekend was probably the only time I’d get to see my new niece for a while. Active recovery was the key word for July, I continued on with base bike miles with the longest ride being 100km’s. The events I had mapped out over the winter period were ‘A’ races – Melbourne to Ballarat, Alf Kimpton memorial at Broadford, Pop Stewart Memorial at Balliang & Brunswick club champs (Masters). Followed by ‘B’ races – Northern Combine ITT champs at Balliang, Vic club TTT champs & Sunbury Trophy race at Pastoria. All these were part of my macro/micro training cycle for my big A+ event, The Melbourne to Warrnambool to be held on Sat. October 13th.

I’ll go through my winters races below and give a brief description how each panned out.

• Northern Combine ITT Champs: 23 June, at Balliang circuit which is just outside Bacchus Marsh, I lined up in Masters 1/2/3 which is basically from 30 to 45 year old age groups, these are measured in the same year increments as Triathlon. It was a sunny but cool & windy day just 3 weeks after Ironman Cairns. The distance was 24km’s (I think) so it was on the rivet the whole way. My time of 34mins 23secs ave speed 41.9km/h was enough to secure 1st spot in Masters 1/2/3.

• Alf Kimpton Memorial Handicap – Broadford : 7 July. I love this race, I have placed 2nd in it previously & with no road racing in my legs for this season saddled up for this years edition off a generous mark of 15 minutes. The race is a 3 lapper which has some solid little climbs, quite luckily I was in a very good group who were quite organised, our task was made easier with the majority of riders in my group all doing their fair share of work. We worked hard to pull in the later groups but on the final lap the 12 & 9 min groups caught us so the group had swelled to approx. 50 riders. The last 10km’s is quite hilly, my legs felt good so I tried a few quick bursts to join in on a few attacks, knowing the pack wouldn’t let us get too far away. Then with 3 km to go I launched a solo effort which no one matched, I didn’t know how many were in front of me so it was just a matter of making sure I didn’t get caught. 2km’s out I passed 2 riders, in the last 300m before the hilltop finish I passed the rider sitting in 4th spot. This is where I finished out of a field of 120ish so I was quite happy about it. BUT, I finished & felt REAL GOOD, on hindsight I should’ve attacked 2 km’s earlier as I reckon the time difference between me & the winner was achievable given how good my legs felt. Oh well, that’s road racing - you live & learn.

• Brunswick Club Champs: 14 July, Another cold and wet day just outside Lancefield on a multi loop circuit where I again raced Masters 1/2/3. A small field assembled for the prestige of being called BCC Champion ’12. The race started well with all riders rolling evenly until we caught the Elite fellas who had stopped for an organised ‘nature break’. We rolled with them for a couple of laps then just before the biggest hill on the course on the last lap with approx. 20km’s to go we started to race. The elite fellas hit the hill REAL, & I mean real hard. I tried to follow but just missed their wheel and tagged on for 5km’s an agonising 50m behind through some seriously undulating terrain. The turn of pace was enough to drop all the Masters 1/2/3 dudes so it was solo time to the end. I ended up winning comfortably with a massive hail storm hitting me which was hard as I had nobody around me to whinge to about it ! Still it was an honour to be called the BCC Masters 1/2/3 RR Champ for ’12.

With Elite BCC club champ Luca Giacomin

• Melbourne to Ballarat: 21 July, This race starts at Rockbank & goes straight up the Western Hwy finishing at Lake Wendouree. It's another handicap race & jeez I love doing these ! I snuck under the radar of the handicapper and saddled up in the 24 minute group. Markers were off 33mins and scratch featured the likes of NRS Pro teams such as Drapac, Genesys, Budget Forklifts etc. My group was super keen until we got to the Pentland Hills just past Bacchus Marsh where the majority of my group of 30 odd riders developed a dislike for doing any work up hill. It was up to 6 of us to do the most of the work with an occasional hanger onner doing the obligatory 1 turn up the front every 5 mins..... SOFT, and not helping us A) win & B) keep away from scratch or later starting groups. We were slowly making up time until around the Gordon turnoff where myself & the half dozen fellas up the front were starting to tire a bit from all the work. A few of the 21 min. group caught us which was great news as it breathed new life into the pack. An even bigger bonus was all round good guy, fellow Rapido rider & solid athlete Brendan O’Loughlin had bridged across and I now had a partner in crime. There was still only 6 to 8 of us doing the hard yards up the front with the rest wheel sucking wheels or ‘hanging on for dear life’. Brendan & I orchestrated an attack with 10km’s to go with 1 other fella which lasted all of 3 km’s as the lazy sods in the pack had decided to work & not let us get away. The frustrating part was we put our effort to bed & retired to the pack, only for them to stop riding again............ The rest was trying to get to the finish line as quickly as possible until about 800m from the finish the Genesys boys flew past us like a V/Line train. It was pretty impressive, there was no chance for the win so they were riding for the fastest time on the day. It turned real messy from here on with a couple of nasty little 90 degree turns and a short sprint to the line which saw the possibility of a top 15 finish fizzle out to 39th out of 260 odd riders thanks to the Scratch riders mentioned above catching us. This is one of the things that frustrates me about road racing – short sightedness by your peers and the lack / willingness to put your balls on the line to ‘race’ to the line for a huge possibility of a win or place. As I said above.... Live & learn

The workers in the 23 minute pack - Melb to Ballarat

Inflicting pain with Brendan O'Loughlin, trying to break away.

• Victorian Club TTT Champs: 22 July, This one is a pretty tuff gig. This year was no different as one of our team members called in sick, so all team plans went out the window and it was a matter of looking after each other as the time for the team is taken by the 3rd out of 4 riders to cross the line. If you have a strong team, generally you’ll all finish together, if not the team will sacrifice your weaker rider at ½ to ¾ distance and roll over the finish with 3 riders. I’m unsure of our time, the TT course which starts at Buninyong is a very tough course and not conducive to fast times – Bummer !!

• Pop Stewart Memorial H’cap – Balliang: 18 Aug, I had a small spell so that I could start punching out some miles for the Warnie, after that it was back into an intensity block so what better way to do it than another handicap ! I saddled up in the 7min group which had several strong riders, notably Brunswick boys Rich McCorkell, Steve Duggan, Jarrod Peck & the eventual winner Nick ‘Spiro’ Edwards. Outside of the Brunswick CC road champs, this is the race the BCC boys most want. It was tough from the start with flooding on the roads, heavy intermittent rain, 3km’s of potholed gravel, a brute of a southerly wind and some gnarly hills. Steve Duggan was quite easily the ‘alpha rider’ in the pack, controlling things & upping the tempo to shell out the weaker riders when they looked like they may hang on for a shot at our glory. Unfortunately he punctured on the 2nd last lap which left the above BCC boys, a St. Kilda CC rider and myself. The last lap was difficult as we caught the markers in the crosswind and had to work real hard to ditch them. The rest of the lap was spent going hard so scratch wouldn’t catch us, at one stage they were only 45 seconds behind. We worked hard to keep them away and once things looked good, the tactics started. I stopped doing turns for a minute with about 4 km’s to go. We were on the dirt road so rolling was quite difficult and once off the dirt it was about 2 km’s to go. I sized Nick up as the probably the strongest looking sprinter in the pack so was very weary of what he was doing. Unfortunately Jarrod rolled around me and had a slow gear change which Nick heard and bolted. He started his sprint with 800m to go, by the time I slowed because of Jarrods mishap then accelerated around into 2nd spot Nick was already 100m up the road. Try as I might I couldn’t reel him in, 2nd it was for me. Fortune favours the brave – Well done Nick !

Racing - Northern Combine style ! Pop Stewart H'cap - on the front

2nd place - Pop Stewart Handicap

• Sunbury Trophy race, Pastoria loop, Kyneton: 8 Sept, A pretty good field assembled up near Kyneton for the Sunbury Trophy race, a 3 lapper on some undulating, typically slow roads with a touch of wind thrown in – very Northern Combine !! The race started with an instantaneous attack by a few fellas, then ½ a lap later a solo rider took off to bridge across. One of the original attackers was caught at the start of lap 2 but there were still 2 riders up the road. We caught another of the attackers 10 minutes later which meant only 1 up the road. Nobody was doing much work, so I took it upon myself to close the gap down. Richard McCorkell must’ve had the same idea as he came thundering past me and it pretty much lit up the B grade peleton. There were a few dummy ‘attacks’ by some weaker riders who had sat back for the majority of the race, these didn’t last long as they couldn’t sustain the pace. We caught the last break away rider with about 10km's to go, he was still trying hard but looked spent, gutsy...... On the preceding laps I worked out where I wanted to attack and throw it on the line for the race win. About 3 km’s out there is a pretty solid hill, it would’ve been pretty predictable to attack at the foot of that hill. 300m before the hill was a good downhill section where I noticed on the first 2 laps riders were relaxing a bit before the 1.5km climb. So it was on this downhill section before the hill where I launched a big attack which caught all but one of the pack napping. I hit the foot of the hill doing 52km/h and carried the speed up until half way up it when things started to burn a bit. I jumped out of my seat to keep my pace up then sat down. David Ransom (StKCC)was the rider who wasn’t napping and he had bridged across. He passed me easily, even giving me a push and telling me to keep up as he passed me. He kept his momentum up all the way to the top where he was about 50m in front. At the crest I looked back and it was safe to say the pack wasn’t going to catch me. It was about 1.5km to go to the finish, a 500m downhill run then a 1km flat. David was still 50m in front of me when we hit the flat but I started to reel him in. I caught him with 400m to go and went straight past him. I was praying that he wasn’t foxing and then latch onto my wheel, but his body language suggested he was spent. I rolled through real hard and a few hundred metres later I crossed the line in 1st place. There was no time for a salute, a ‘Call me maybe’ telephone handpiece with my fingers a la GreenEdge & a lot of other Combine ridersor even a Luca Giacomin piece of brilliance. It was just steamroll all the way to the finish. I was the strongest & this is how I roll – all the way to the line, flat out.

Powering to the line for a B Grade win at the Sunbury Trophy race

• All the above races were of course all part of the BIG PICTURE – The Melbourne to Warrnambool. Many thanks to Rapido Cycles for maintaining and helping out with the bike – a great bunch of blokes, XOSize for equipment and nutritional help, Rudy Project – the best glasses to sit on your face & very comfortable and stylish helmets as well, and also for John Quinn - He got me here.
Also very special thanks to Jo Upton Photography, a very loyal and handy photographer who catches great images of us racing in the Northern Combine.



IM Cairns piccy time !

Swim exit..... Thank god for the Rocket Science Carbon wettie which kept me afloat - 1hrs 9mins >>> Hmmmm

On the bike, post puncture. You can see the green/yellow tape around my draft box behind the seat post, holding it up due to the bump in the tyre from the valve stem. This was part of the race where I was absolutley flying, I'm pretty sure it is around Ellis Beach and I was trying to make up for lost time.

This is typical of the scenary & terrain that you'll encounter along the ride. It has very similar gradients to the Great Ocean Road, the road surface is far better and the tropical foliage obviously makes for an awesome setting. My race number was flapping around here and giving me the irates, I was just trying to tuck it away

Turnaround at Port Douglas. The crowd support here was quite amazing. It had a bit of a Hawi feel about it, a good sized and enthusiastic crowd at the furtherest point of the course.

Probably around the 28km mark along the Esplanade in Cairns. You can see the famous mud flats where the croc was resting in the top photo of my race report. The swim was held further in the background where you can see the boats moored. It was getting quite hot at this time of day, I reckon Dave Dellow would have either finished or been very close to finishing at this point.

Yeah BABY !!!! Ricky Jeffs just let me know that I had won my Age Group. I felt pretty good, the feeling of winning is something that doesn't happen too often but when it does............

You just can't wipe the smile off your face ! There is something intrinsically satisfying about training yourself, then coming up with an Age Group win. Self doubt doesn't enter my equation and I reckon I'm brutally honest with myself and my training performances. Still, just one thing lags in my mind - IF I got a coach, COULD he/she ???? Maybe, just maybe.

IM Cairns 2012 race report.

Hallelujah !! My first race report for a while.......

IM Cairns, what a race, I wouldn’t rate it an overly hard course, but, there are a few bits and pieces that add up to make it a difficult day. First up the swim – this was interesting, a lot of pre race athlete talk regarding the swim centred on the fear factor due to the local marine life which consisted of stingers, crocs and sharks. The sight of boats and jetski’s buzzing busily across the swim course helped ‘add’ to the atmosphere. Apparently this is done to scare the shit out of any ‘wildlife’ that was lurking in the depths - check the image above, this croc was spotted not far from the swim course a week later !! The main concern I had was lack of vision in the water which had a milky coffee like consistency. Vision was low, even lower than Shep’s infamous 70.3 swim course, which made collisions unavoidable and worse still, drafting off feet impossible as you couldn’t even see bubbles in the water.

The road surface also came into effect. It was very changeable, one minute you are riding on smooth as hot mix, the next minute you are dodging pot holes. The heat also came into play. I personally loved it and had no issues, a lot of competitors out there looked to be really struggling with cramp & hydration, hopefully a lot of lessons were learnt. Overall I give the course a massive tick – THIS IS A MUST DO RACE !

My race week started as an expensive one, I rode part of the course on Wednesday and punctured 3 times. These were on race wheels (GSP’s Zipp disc/808 combo – thx again mate !!) and trashing 3 x Conti Competition tubulars was bitter, insult to injury was I had to get a cab back into Cairns from 40km’s away – Ouch. I also got pinged by a speed camera after dropping T2 bags off to Smithfield with Dazzler Knight on the Saturday – 75ish in a 60km zone, I was getting a bit animated in my discussion with Razzle and didn’t see the speed camera – Double ouch. Apart from this it was a fairly entertaining week. I helped out Scotty & Cam at the XOSIZE & Rocket Science Sport marquees at the expo. It was pretty busy there but hopefully I managed to play the ‘bitch’ real well. My wettie sizing and fitting techniques needs a lot of refinement but hopefully I managed to grab a few sales for the boys. I was probably on my feet a bit too much in the days leading up to the race but I quite liked helping the fellas out, Scotty has given me such huge support over time & this was the least I can do to help him out. Special thanks to XOSize & Rocket Science Sports.

After a solid 5 days of drizzly weather, a cloudless sky and next to no wind greeted us all on Sunday the 3rd, absolutely awesome triathlon conditions. I had slept really well and woke up at 4:20am then onto brekky which consisted of 3 x 220g cans of Choccy creamed rice & 3 x English muffins piled high with strawberry jam. I usually feel a bit heavy after this but felt like I could eat more, so I did ! I threw down a few bananas on the walk down to T1 while yakking to Marie & Fiona. ‘Team Lewis’ had a stand in ‘Team Manager’ in Fiona as regular Manager & guru Stevo was given this race off as he was still recovering from a bout of alcohol poisoning from his 2011 Hawaiian IM campaign. Bike kit up went seamlessly, I met back up with the girls & wettie’d up ready for the swim.

The swim course looked well laid out with large buoys at regular intervals. Getting into the water was a challenge as there was only one small gangway to walk across onto a pontoon, then down some steps into the water. The 70.3 race which started 20 mins earlier was bearing down on the last of the IM competitors to get into the water but somehow it managed to sort itself out. I positioned myself ¾ of the way back, preferring to start slow and well....... finish slow..... The start was bizarre, a heap of athletes made a ‘hooter’ like sound and then the front guys started ??? So sheep like I followed. I had a cruisey swim with minimal contact all the way through and just concentrated on keeping comfortable. The murky water made it hard to draft, I managed to grab a look at my time at the ½ way point, it showed 32mins which I was happy with. My pace felt good until the last 800m which felt quite hard. Apparently a bit of a swell had picked up, I didn’t notice this at all, just putting my slower pace down to a lack of swim fitness as I had only done 2 months of squad swimming. Swim time = 1:09:32

T1 is a 400m run and takes a bit of time, I picked up an easy 12-15 spots here as some people dawdled through. I had an OK T1 then set off for the ride in ‘heaven’. The sun was out and could be felt as we headed out of town. I got into rhythm quickly and settled into a pace that was comfortable with my HR at 145-150bpm & speed around 37-39km/h. The first hour went past, downing my usual Choccy Powerbar, choccy gel and full bidon of electrolyte (Infinit). I reached the Port Douglas (PD) turnaround (75km) right on 2 hrs. The road surface in PD was awesome after the previous 8-9km on the Capt’n Cook Hwy which was best described as rugged and patchy. As I turned back onto the Cook Hwy I thought the rear of the bike felt a bit doughy, a quick look down confirmed that the rear was down on pressure. My HR was climbing & speed decreasing as I pushed hard to cover 15km’s back to where I saw a service van on top of a hill called ‘Rex Hill’. I wanted to use him as I thought this would be a safe option as I was only carrying 1 x CO² canister. I didn’t quite make it & had to pull over 2km short as the disc was starting to bottom out on the roads. I quickly recharged the tubular and pushed on to the service vehicle. When I arrived there some old fella was having enormous trouble with his aero bars, he was quite pedantic about a few things and was clearly getting in the way of the mechanic who was working feverishly to get him back out on the course. Whilst waiting I peeled off my rooted tub & started to try to put the new one on but my hands were really sweaty & I struggled. I waited while the mechanic finished off with the silly old coot who still didn’t look to be happy, then he started on my wheel. He got it all fixed up, refilled it with air then put it back on. There was another issue with the tub not being pushed on fully at the valve stem which caused a small bump in the tub that rubbed against the ‘draft box’ behind the seat tube. We had to lift this & tape it up so it didn’t rub against the tyre & slow me down, all up I lost 10mins 38secs, maybe I should’ve just changed the thing myself at the first opportunity – Oh well, live & learn. The rest of the bike went really well, I felt strong all the way through, my nutrition was spot on, downing 2 x gels, 2 x salt tablets and 1 x bidon of High 5 or Coke which was available on course per hour. In fact I finished that strongly I did the last 30km’s which was mostly flat in about 40 minutes. I was cracking along on a great road surface at 45km/h with my HR around 145 bpm. I was wrapt to be able to do this as I was starting to come up to a handful of packs (all legal I thought) and then ride right through them. Bike time = 5:01:55

It wasn’t until I had stopped in T2 to put my runners on that I realised it was quite warm. I started to sweat pretty hard in the steamy tent which made me push to get out as quickly as I could. After 2:15 of playing dress ups I headed out onto the flat run through the cane fields. My first thoughts were that my legs felt pretty awesome and that I could be in with a show for my A/G, all I needed to do was spot up my competitors & chase them down. I really wish race organisers insist on lettered a/g calf markings as trying to sneak a peek at numbers that are in the same sequence as mine on the front of competitors is a real pain. I actually flip my number around at some races at turnaround points if I know it is a close race just to throw my competitors off. I saw Matty Koorey head out of the small 3km loop in Yorkeys Knob and did a split on him which worked out to be an 11 minute deficit. I thought there was one other fella in front of him so at least now I had an idea. I was flying and felt comfortable, I split the first 10km’s in 41:40 and kept the pace up to the 21km where I split in 1hr 24mins. I caught Matty at one of the first aid stations as we hit the Cairns Esplanade, he was looking pretty RS and barring disaster I had this thing wrapped up. I kept my pace up until I hit the first turnaround point located a few hundred metres past the finish line. I couldn’t see anyone of my ‘vintage’ so had to wait until I reached the far turnaround point at the Esplanade to confirm what position I was in. Again the scene was clear, my race then turned to keeping a split on my closest competitor to make sure they weren’t gaining. It was a funny feeling, I sort of switched off, content in the knowledge that I had worked my butt off to get back into the race & was now leading. My pace dropped away and I started to get a bit tardy running through the aid stations, missing drinks etc. Amazingly I kept putting time into the 2nd place 40-44 ag’er. I felt solid and had good form but my mins/km kept blowing out to late 4min km pace. The rest of the run was solid if not unspectacular, a PB was definitely out of the question due to the earlier puncture and I’d lost focus a bit as I was cruising but still putting time into my fellow a/g’ers. The crowd support was pretty amazing, the weather definitely brought out the best in people, it was by far the loudest most vocal crowd that I had come across in all my IM’s. In the end Ricky Jeffs called me across the line saying that I had won my A/G (fist pump time !) and had earnt a Hawaii spot. My marathon time was a 3:14:55 for a total time of 9hrs 32mins 35secs to win my age group by 8 minutes and place 26th overall. I felt good, walked straight through the recovery area to meet Marie & Fee then headed off back to our unit for a clean up. My job was done.............................................................................................................

Some valuable things I learnt from this, my 12th IM are :

• My training time was HEAVILY compromised due to my increased work load. I travelled a lot so had to mix & shorten a lot of my sessions. I kept my intensity higher than I usually do as the hours per week I was punching out was down by as much as 5Hrs in my peak weeks.

• My longest ride was 160km’s x 1, 140km’s x 3 and a heap of 120km’s. I religiously rode on Tuesday and Thursday morning to Mordialloc which is an 86km round trip. I tried to keep my Wattage for these rides above 250 Watts, my PB of 280 Watts with an ave. HR of 146bpm was recorded on a still morning when I was quite fatigued 6 weeks out.

• The majority of my long rides were done in the hills north of the city – Kinglake Mt. Macedon, Humevale, Darraweit. I do enough flat stuff (Beach Rd) during the week & try not to ride there on the weekends due to the poor quality of riders about. I like the high intensity of the hills and feel it conditions my legs and lower back a lot better for TT’ing.

• I did a 1 month stint from week 13 to week 10 where I spent a lot of time on the track. I did this as I was racing the BCC Team Pursuit in the Masters Elite team. We claimed the bronze and I felt the track supplemented my training rather than detracting from it.

• My longest run was 32km’s x 1, followed by 28km’s x 2, then a heap of 20 – 24km runs. The latter being run at or better than 4min/km pace. Every second run was an easier recovery run at a pace of 4:45 – 5:00mins/km. I did no hill repeats this time around due to the timing of these runs in my weekly cycle interfering with work.

• Swimming was done at VU with the usual ETPA squad. I started after IM Melbourne which gave me a 2 month lead in - This was too short. I usually do a 12 week lead in, my shoulder usually starts giving me grief from week 8 in the pool through to week 12. I don’t enjoy this so shortened it this time around. I think I swam comfortably in the race but the trade off of a lack of speed v’s a month of extra pain to go 5 mins quicker – give me the extra month and the pain.........

• My summary of all the above is that my time was spent doing quality over quantity, it very nearly could have got me a PB except for the dreaded puncture.

• My pre race nutrition from 3 days out is near on perfect. I reckon I nailed it this time out. A lot of athletes should put more focus into this.

• Race day nutrition was good. The only bother was High5 – I hate the stuff, it is purely the taste, I went straight to Coke when available on the bike course & had no ill effects. The first hour on the bike was on Infinit which is what I loaded up on for the 3 days before.

• Staying calm when something outside of your control happens to your race is paramount. When I punctured I used the time to grab a drink and eat while the mechanic fixed everything. My HR dropped right down and I even had a small stretch. It all worked as I flew afterwards.



Thanks all for your time !! Train safe, train hard, Matty

PS - I'll post images when I get them.

Hawai'i 2011, Time - 9hrs 17mins 31secs - Personal Best. Position 102/1855 overall. 10th in 40/44 Age Group. Am I happy - you betcha....... BUT.....
If you are ever thinking about getting a fast TT bike, without doubt have a very strong look at the TREK Speed Concept. I keep saying it - these babies are fast !

Running along Ali'i, man it was HOT ! Sit tight while I proof my race report and shorten it. It's currently 5 pages long !! Cheers, Matty

Catch me I'm falling

Gawd, Strewth, Shit, I don't really know what too say other than those prophetic words.... I've entered the dark and dangerous cave that's called exhaustion.
Everything I do physically is a chore and I have to conjour up all my physical & mental strength to punch out a training session. I feel drained, my HR when resting is low - I saw it at 38bpm's today, and when I train it's still darn low - tonight I 'ran' for 1.5hrs and my ave HR was 108bpm. The only thing that gets me up and going is to arrange to meet training partners for a run and/or ride.
I've tried several different methods - increased amounts of road racing, increasing my hill repeat reps, all in an effort to lift my HR and try to eek out some sort of physiological 'gain' from the session. All this seems to do is make me even more tired. So I have succumbed - From now I will lighten off my training load and get more rest to try and restore my energy levels to a similar level to that of pre Port Mac. This is short post as I'm starting to get pretty tired just typing this. I'll work on putting some more detail in my next post.
Until then, train safe, train hard, sleep tight !!
Matty

I can't stand the rain, against my window

Bringing back sweet memories, of the pain. Yep - training through a Melbourne winter for an Ironman in a far off destination (Kona, Hawaii) which is famous for bending people's minds and will due to the inexorable heat. Ya gotta love training through a Melbourne winter though, the rides where you come back soaked to the core, fingers & toes numb yet stinging from the cold, your butt chaffed from all the road grit spraying through your knicks, the grime all over your legs and mud splats on your face. I quite often think of HOT, HOT FOOD out on these rides and usually plan what sort of smorgasboard I'm going to have when I get home. All the time sense and sensability get in the way and it ends up a coffee, protein shake & a bowl of porridge instead of the lashings of bacon, runny yolked eggs, fried mushies and bangers on a couple of thick sour dough chunks of bread, oh well.
The first of my 3 month build up to Kona has gone well, pretty easy. There is ONE reason for this -


Being an absolute cycling nut, I could see there was something different about this years version of le Tour. I thought Cadel had a genuine chance of winning so threw myself into watching as many 'key' stages as I could manage. The down side to this was that my training for Kona would suffer. The thought of Cadel being the first Aussie winner of the Tour and watching it unfold held far more significance to me then getting out on the bike and freezing my butt off at 4:30 in the morning, or going to swim squad and dry wretching at the side of the pool after trying to belt out an impossible amount of 200's in an impossible time. So apply myself to the time honoured Aussie trade of couch potato I did, my thumbs gaining callouses from a remote insted of my feet gaining callouses from running. Although I'm not a real fan I am happy for Evans, but i'm probably happier for Australian Cycling in general. I feel my race licence fee's have somehow contributed to his success. I really hope we can gain some positives from this and use it to promote cycling as a healthy, safe and viable hobby/sport and not just render us as lycra clad wankers whom bogan tradies in V8 utes love to speed past and get as close as possible to knocking us off our bikes. Tolerance & respect is what is needed, sadly these attributes seem to be dwindling in our society.
Well done Cadel, well done Cycling Australia.

IRONMAN OZ 2011

It's long - grab a coffee/beer/Endura etc. and enjoy !

I won my age group! That’s it, it doesn’t get any better. Here I am on Monday morning at 3AM, a little more than 12hrs since I finished and I still can’t wipe the grin off my face. The usual post IM discomfort has descended upon me making for a sleepless night. Sunburn, nicks, cuts, blisters, excess caffeine et al make it pretty hard to sleep, so here I am banging out my race report, this is hot off the press !! I’ll follow my usual race report protocol – training, pre race, race day then any other thoughts.

Training: This took on the familiar Matty Lewis regime of: Swim which is dictated by whatever the VU swim squad coach dishes out (thanks Nick), rides covered by various sessions – 1 long, 1 hard, 1 hill & a couple of recovery sets and running which followed the same format as the ride with high importance placed on recovery runs/walks. Bricks varied in lengths and intensity and were kept to 1 per week.
Training highlights were few and far between this time round due to Melbourne’s crap summer. A that spring to mind though were G-Trains ‘JB’ ride, it was a ride that will stick in my mind forever, the Marysville/Lake Mountain Challenge where Robbie Taranto, Gary Pertot & I turned up only to be greeted by ex Olympian Shane Kelly and crew on their bikes with their mega thighs oiled up glistening in the sun. It was a 160km ride with the first few hours spent at an ave. above 40km/h! I broke away from the pack at the 90km mark and soloed from Alexandra, up Lake Mountain, down into Marysville, then waited 23 mintutes for the 2nd place rider to come in. Running was a steady progression from low km’s / intensity after suffering a stress fracture in my tibia towards the end of 2010, it progressed to a maximum of 2.5hrs of low intensity endurance stuff and 2 hrs of high intensity runs where I could hold 3:45min/km pace at an ave HR of 145 bpm. It felt the way it used to pre accident which was comforting.

Pre Race: We had a tough decision to make about our Pt. Mac. holiday. Tilly is in Yr11 doing VCE subjects, we had to leave her with friends so she could attend school which was pretty sad, her enthusiasm on race day is incredible and was missed.
We set off on ANZAC day which was also a bit wrenching as I missed dawn service, but we had tee’d up to see my Exercise Physiologist, John Quinn who now lives in Sydney and is in charge of the new AFL side, GWS Giants & its Sports Science dept. It was great to see Quinny and along with his wife Nat, made us feel most welcome. We had a chat about my training, injuries and a few other things and it was amazing how positive he is and put my mind at ease on a few little niggling things. A spin out here was he had some guests staying with him who were coaches from the Miami University Seminoles, 2011 American Football College Champions !! We were watching the ANZAC day clash between the Pies & Bombers with Quinny, Marie & I explaining the rules of the game to them along the way, it was piss funny. We arrived in Port on the Tuesday only to be greeted by torrential rain, which was pretty much on and off until Friday. Team Manager Stevo, Fee & Rochelle flew in on Friday to complete the ‘Team Lewis’ picture (minus Tilly of course). Training during the final week was typical taper/preparation type stuff. I trained a bit with Gary P, Sam Stewart, Brett Sniegowski and Christine Jell which was great as it is a pretty social time and great to have a few more experienced people about to throw some ideas around with. A couple of interesting bits was riding the new part of the course, which looked to be fast & included some pretty cool scenary, and trying on the Rocket Science wettie (Thanks Scotty & XOSIZE) for the first time. The wettie felt great and had me comfortably sitting on Brett’s toes for a couple of swims. This gave me great confidence as Brett swam 54 minutes in 2010. My bike and race kit set up went well, a quick trip to the TREK demo centre to get a few bits tightened on the Speed Concept being the only issue here. Carbing and electrolyting up was the usual fair and seemed to work well with no issues to report.

The RACE: I woke at 4:30AM, 10 minutes before my alarm was set after a great nights sleep, I could hear quite a strong wind outside, but no rain, there was a 5% chance of rain for the day with a sunny max. of 23C. I had my usual 1000 calorie brekky, this year consisting of a large tin of Creamed Rice (the norm) on top of Apple & Cinnamon rice cakes, a bowl of Crunchy Nut Corn Flakes and 2 x English muffins smothered in marmalade. Race start was 6:30AM, I had arranged to meet Gary P near the finish chute at 5:40 to walk over. At 6:25 I was fed, suited up, suit juiced up, chipped and ready to rock ‘n roll so Team Lewis Manager (Boss) Stevo and I set off to pick up GP. Pre race stuff ie: pumping tyres, putting the wettie on etc. was all done effortlessly. We had plenty of time up our sleeves so we lined up to go over the timing mat and into the swim start, only then did I start to feel a little nervous. The water temp had dropped a little from earlier in the week, but was still quite warm. The current from the river (not too sure of its name) was pushing us down to the far starting buoy so things were starting to get a little congested where I had seeded myself, BANG, the starting gun went off so I had no time to push back around. The start felt pretty tame. I didn’t get knocked about and settled into a nice rhythm quite quickly. The first lap of the swim went along without a hitch - stroke, glide, pull (all the way through), exit. I felt good and actually worked on keeping a good technique rather than fighting for survival. The 2nd lap got a bit congested as people started to tire and stop or slow. At the top turnaround point one of the board riders stuck the nose of his board out near the buoy & a smacked it with my hand. It was right on top of one of my old footy breaks – yes, there are several !! and hurt quite a bit. I emerged from the water in 1hr 03mins, equivalent to 1m39sec 100’s – I’ll take that, I was pretty happy about it, still thought I could’ve gone under 1hr though….. Onto the bike with a minimum of fuss after a quick T1, and straight into Ports coastal hills. It wasn’t until I hit the Golf Club that I got comfortable & settled into ‘the groove’. The wind I heard lying in bed turned out to be a thumping SW wind, which was a head wind on the way out and ‘the hand of god’ pushing you back into town. My Polar HR monitor had really decided to go on strike, not only did I have no HR as it had broken down earlier in the week, I was now getting no speed reading. Shit, I’ll just have to pull out the white cane and stumble through this, or ‘fly by the seat of my pants’. I decided on being brutally honest with a perceived effort (PE) scale of 1 to 10, trying to keep myself mildly uncomfortable on the bike ie: moderate (not heavy) breathing and a noticeable HR which wasn’t pounding through my chest, I called this ‘6’. This worked well and the usual ride tactic of ‘pick ‘em off and discard them’ came into play. This was THE FIRST race where I feel the draft busters worked their butts off. They seemed to be quite fair, initially warning packs, which 95% of the time dispersed. This is great for racing as it looked as though a lot of people took it upon themselves to race fairly. The only beef I have here is the Penrith Institute of Sport (PIS) fellas. They all say they race for the fun of it, enjoying the company/challenge/mateship/beers etc. BUT, I think this mateship extends to the bike and when they race. To say they are a close knit bunch is right, even closer when it comes to riding with each other during this race. On the start of the 2nd lap the 70.3 race was streaming out, with some Male Pro’s and the top Female Pro’s coming out at the same time as I went past the transition area. I got tangled up a bit with their race as Jo Lawn & Belinda Granger were jockeying for position with a few of the slower male pro’s trying to clear out of the mess. I grabbed a gel and washed it down when Granger & Lawn hammered past me at the Golf Club, it was pretty interesting as the full effects of the head wind aren’t felt until 500m up the road from there, they hit the wind & both seemed to go backwards. My plan for the last out bit was to absolutely hammer it into the wind, running a perceived effort of 8.5 or what I thought would be a touch below sprint race pace. The plan was to get to the turnarounds at Laurieton, re-assess then drop back to my previous level of 6, rehydrate, carb up, enjoy the wind back in and get set for the run. Just after Lake Cathie I had quite a funny experience – I caught up to Caroline Steffen who was leading the chicks, she had a lead out motor bike, one behind her to the left of the road and another, the 3rd, sitting a bit further back in the middle of the road. I road up to the left of the 3rd motorbike (which was a Triathlon Official) and was a little unsure how to effect the overtake. To say I was paranoid was an understatement! I yelled out to the TO if I could pass on the inside of him and he said it was OK, I then said it was going to take me longer than 25 seconds to pass the 2 motorbikes and Caroline, he gave me the thumbs up so off I went. Caroline was pushing a massive gear, I reckon she had a 55 on the front, it was huge! & she was sitting well down the lower half of her cassette on the rear. The rest of the ride went well, save for Matthew Flinders hill where I reckon I looked like a track rider taking off in a pursuit on my 39/23, man it was hard, but the crowd played a huge part here in getting me up & over. I made it to T2 in sub 5hrs – 4hrs 59mins – bloody awesome to break 5 !!
My nutrition worked superbly, it was my usual fair, here is a breakdown of it: 1st hr – bidon of choccy Endura Opti & 1 x coconut Powerbar, 1 x Endura Coffee flavoured gel, 2nd hr – 1 x bidon of my watered down concentrate formula* & 1 x coconut Powerbar & 1 x Endura gel, Hours 3/4/5 1 x bidon of concentrate & 2 x Endura gel. SaltStick Caps are taken at 45 min intervals as well. Pretty much 100 grams CHO in hrs 1&2 then 80 grams CHO in hrs 3/4/5. To explain my term ‘concentrate’, I use a Jetstream on my front bars which is used for hydration throughout the race, I carry a 750ml bidon (which has texta marks dividing it into 4 equal sections) on my down tube which has a concentrated mix of 8 scoops of Choccy Opti and 4 scoops of Raspberry Endura which makes a ‘Chocberry’ concentrate. When I finish the Opti in the 1st hr. I simply squeeze a measured amount from the bidon into the Jetstream then fill the rest with water I pick up from any aid station – a very safe option!
A quick T2 saw me out onto the run course and I was feeling good. I had good stride length, no tightness, no niggles or twitches and settled into getting my chicken wing arms out and getting in the groove. I thought I had come into T2 with possibly 3 x 40-44 AG’ers in front of me. I passed one in T2, didn’t see any others, then I spotted Matt Koorey. He is a pretty well built fella, about 5’8”, light on his feet and was moving real well. I passed him on the way out to the Settlement Pt turnaround on the 1st lap. He stayed close by, he knew we were racing for 1st in A/G. & that is how it remained until the start of the 3rd lap. I went past the finish line at the 21 km mark and fell in a huge hole. I was running along the breakwall with a massive urge to spew, piss and walk. Near Town Beach is an aid station. I thought I’ll go for the leak at a porta loo first, walk to the aid station which is close by, down a heap of Coke and see what happens. I reckon I drank 5 cups of coke, lost about 3 mins then headed off. The hill part was coming up so I waddled up that, went down through town feeling horrible then when I hit the Bowling Club the lights came back on. I knew Matt had passed me at the aid station so now it was a case of finding him, then hunting him down. I caught him on the way out to Settlement Pt on that lap & sat on his shoulder for 2 km’s, he knew I was there and tried a few variations in pace. All of a sudden he darted off to the side of the road before we were about to head back into the houses at Park St. I thought ‘cunning bugger’ as he now wanted me to set the pace, I kept to my perceived effort of 7 and didn’t play any games. I walked every aid station to ensure I got enough fluids in as it was quite warm and continued on with the Coke, a gel every ½ hr and a SaltCap now every ½ hr. At the start of the last lap I did something which I never do, at the start of the Breakwall I looked over my shoulder to see where Matt was. I couldn’t see him. Again at the end of the Breakwall I looked, still I couldn’t see him. Shit! Was all I could think. I put the hammer down, lets really put this beyond doubt and kick him while he is down and struggling. I felt the first twinges of cramp starting, still there was 7-8km’s to go. One massive cramp may loose me a minute, then the subsequent cramps and slowing down meant this race was still finely balanced. I ran past Team Lewis at the bottom of Clarence St & let them know I was in 1st AG place. They had worked it out and yelled heaps of encouragement. Billy Sinclair was on the ball as well, knowing what was going on and his encouraging words were gold. I kept pushing, little twinges getting me in the upper hammy every time I had to jump over a gutter or change direction around a fellow competitor, the course was by now getting quite crowded and the twinges weren’t bad enough to slow me. Over the 2 bridges, down into Settlement Rd. then I hit the turnaround, a sign said 3 km’s to go, surely not I thought. I did a time split at the turnaround to see how far behind Matt was, I passed him after 1min 40sec’s. That’s great, 3min 20secs in front with 3 km to run, Mmmmmmmmm. I turned off Settlement Rd, headed towards the bridges then over to the footpath near Panthers. Here the footpath goes down onto the road, you have to jump over what is quite a high gutter, I did it and twinge……. Not a full blown cramp but the 1st stages of one. I slowed a little and by this point I could look across the Hastings River and see the finish line, I could even hear Mike Reilly. The last cramping ‘event’ I had was running up the slight incline just before the William St. bridge. It was nowhere near as big as the Panthers cramp and I knew then that I had it. I crossed over, then down past the supermarket & transition area, a quick high 5 off Billy who was awesome all day, then into the massive crowd towards the finish chute. I had to work hard to spot Team Lewis, saw them then in my eagerness to get over to them nearly tripped over some finish chute matting. The crowd who were making a lot of racket gasped when I nearly fell, but I laughed so everyone cheered. Hugs and kisses all round for the team, then off down the rest of the chute dishing out about a hundred high 5’s, & across the finish line for Mike Reilly to launch into his immortal lines – ‘Matty Lewis, YOU ARE AN IRONMAN’. A catcher was there ready for me but some how Shane Smith saw me & bolted over with a grin from ear to ear and gave me a hug. Stubbsy followed not long after and he confirmed that I had won my A/G and had finished 14th overall. I went and sat off to the side for a while and got a bit emotional. I had a pre set timeline of events from the past 2 years that I wanted to retrace in my mind over the last couple of km’s of the run. This didn’t happen as cramp and being chased by a gun A/G champ like Matt Koorey put paid to this. I sat there for 5 mintues thinking of 2 yrs and 15 days ago, My life nearly ended, my body was broken, I was told I would suffer brain damage (BJ shut up !!) and the possibility of me ever running again let alone walking without a limp was pretty high. I was bed ridden for 4 weeks, in a wheel chair for 2 months, on crutches for another 3 months and things were looking grim as my pace of physio was to great for what had been set out for me by my Hospital Physio’s and my recovery temporarily slowed. Then along came John Quinn, a man whom I cannot speak highly enough of. I won’t go on about it here, but all who know me know that if given the time I can tell some great stories of how he got me up and going. My family too, strewth, what I’ve put them through. My boss reckons Marie is a Saint, I’d prefer a Magpie but I know exactly what he means, Marie, Tilly, Tom and Meggie are all great support and are quick to ground me when I get ahead of myself . They are what makes me, me. Thanks also to Team Lewis – Stevo, Fee & Rochelle, great supporters and Stevo is the boss when it comes to all things IM and its organisation of the TEAM. GSP – great wheels mate, Training partners Hepps, Gary P & Robbie Tarranto. Scotty Hollow and Team XOSIZE what they do for me is absolutely priceless and Rapido Cycles – Robbie Bell again another great supporter of mine. Finally also thanks to Gregory Farrell and G Train – they know why !!
HAWAII here I come !!!!!!
Matty

Haven't had too much to say !!

So that's why I haven't blogged in a while. I can't remember when it was the last time since I put a TIMELY post in, so I'll give you all the short version of what has happened (chronologically) since Christmas.
X-Mas day - Spent down in Gippsland with the whole family together again for the first time in well........... 5 months. Always good to catch up with them all.
Boxing Day - Drove to Jindabyne via Buchan, Suggan Buggan, over the Snowy river, around near the back of Kosciuszko then Jindabyne. A dirt road that has the most spectacular views of the Snowy River and the Snowy mountains. The next 8 or so days were spent chilling out in Jindabyne, not far from Cooma where I grew up as a kid/teenager, it's sort of my 'spiritual home'. We had a great time with 'Team Lewis' and Jill, Sean and kids, the weather was great and I rode the bike heaps. Rode from Jindy to Thredbo, Perisher, Charlottes Pass all on various occaisons. I hope to add some more details on those rides later.
Quinny - Started back up post Xmas albeit for a few sessions before going in for an op.
Alpine Classic - Rode the 140km ride which was Bright/Tawonga Gap/Bright/Mt Buffalo/ Bright. Did this with good mates Grechy & 'The Gaz' and had a ball. The hip gave me no grief at all, the weather was great and our 'Team' of riders took up nearly 1/4 of the caravan park!
Metal removal !! - Went in for an op on the 3rd Feb to get the 3 monster 110mm long screws taken out of my once sheared femoral neck (femur where it kinks to go up towards your hip socket). I was on crutches for a week and in a touch of pain. Again limited amount of painkillers used, it wasn't that painful compared to the last hour of an Ironman (hehehehehe).
Quinny - again - Back with the GURU. He even took Matty E, JB, Mike C, The Gaz and I for a killer water session the Monday before the Grand Prix. We all know that JB won in Melbourne and Quinny will no doubt put this down to his killer hypoxic workout that nearly drowned myself & the F1 World Champ !!!
Back on the bike, again 5 weeks after the hip op I was given the green light to ride again. No specific goals at hand, just get the hip used to moving without binding up too much. It was great to be back on it.
Ironman Oz, Port Macquarie 2010 - This time as a spectator. Again we stayed at the Sundowner Caravan Pk. 'Team Lewis' also flew up for 5 or so days and it was on !! Fair dinkum it was like an end of season footy trip. I haven't drank that much sice the last West Brunswick Amateur FC EoS trip to the Gold Coast last century, 1999 from memory. I've been told that I'm not allowed to support anymore as I'm too over the top. Nothing to do with the slab of Draught and all the Bundy that Stevo and I drank. It was great to watch the event 'from the other side'. I felt like a prophet at times with people asking me what would be happening next and what would be going through peoples minds throughout different parts of the race etc. My answers were truthful at the start of the day but no doubt would have been sprinkled with a touch of poetic licence as the day wore on and the esky got emptier. Great holiday though with great weather (again) and one which Marie and the kids truely enjoyed.
We bought and sold a house - Our humble little home of 11 years was great before the kids hit their teenage years. Having sprawling lounging spider monkey like teenagers getting in your way is now par for course in the 'Lewis Manor'. A bigger place was needed, found & purchased. The ensuing scramble to get the 'Manor' up to speed was pretty comical. In the end all worked out well and we are still over the moon with the price we got.
Serious plans - serious actions - I passed my next 12 month Sporting plans onto Quinny for his appraisal. I got the double thumbs up from the Guru, so then put those plans into action and as Borat would say - "Great success"

My training is going quite well with a few smaller goals in place before a few half Ironman races towards the end of the year, then Off to Ironman Oz 2011.
I placed 2nd (out of 118) overall in the Northern Combine Alf Kimpton Memorial Handicap which was a 99km road race in Broadford. I raced in C grade but ended up breaking away with the eventual winner. We solo'ed off and I got beaten in a sprint between the two of us by a wheel. I'm by no means disappointed as this far exceeds my expectations and to get home well before the A & B graders made it all the more special. Check the results here -
Next race - My next race is this weekend at Calder park as part of the 'teams challenge'. Hoping to get around and have as much fun as i did in Broadford.

Until next time, train hard, train safe.

Check This !!

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step !!

Back in December last year I dropped by RMH for one of my regular appointments with my Orthopaedic Surgeon. It was hopefully one of my last appointments, my hip got scanned and during my consultation with Dr. Love, he muttered the words that I've been hanging out to hear for a long time - "It's all good, you're right to run"............. So run I did. I took a photo of my first 'running steps' on the beach in Lakes Entrance later that day. It felt awkward, it felt strange. It didn't feel the way I remembered it - effortless, loping, whisking along at a quick pace with my 'chicken wing' arms sticking out. My gait and stride length was cautious, my core even though the strongest it has ever been felt inadequate. All this for just over 30 metres in loose sand.
The emotional feeling though was one of the strongest I have ever felt. I had been waiting for that moment for such a long time, I have been through a lot - from near death, to a hospital bed for a month, a wheel chair for 6 weeks then on crutches for another 2 months. To be able to do what is probably one of the greatest gifts given to me and do it after some professionals predicted that I wouldn't was a feeling of sheer exultance. It wasn't as if I was saying 'stuff you' to them, it was the fact that I was doing something that I have done all my life and to have that taken away from you with no set certainty of getting it back has been at the back of my mind since the crash. Free as a bird, and yep - I teared up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Train safe, Matty

I'm back - well not quite

My first 'race' back since Ironman Oz 09 and although it wasn't the the full '3 legs' it was still racing for which you had to train and prepare for. Shepparton 1/2 Ironman signalled the start of my 'comeback' to triathlon and racing. Not long after this I backed up with 2 legs of the Canberra 1/2 Ironman - the swim and ride. Again a steady progression back to what I truely love doing.
I was always going to race Shep i just had to assemble a team. My neighbours and all round good guys Anthony & his son Patrick helped out and formed the 'Rough Diamonds'.
We had a few hiccups along the way. So many in fact that we nearly didn't get to the start line, Patrick is under age so we had to do a 'dodgy' on his birth date, then Anthony, on the debut ride on his Mega quick Carbon Fibre track bike got his front wheel taken from under him at the DISC indoor velodrome track in Thornbury. Usually falling on an indoor wooden track means only burns & splinters but he fell low side and subsequently broke his collarbone - 6 weeks out from the race! It all came together well and the team ended up finishing the race in 5hrs12mins08secs, finishing 21/48 in the teams section. My swim time was a very leisurely 37:20 while the winged warrior Anthony rode a blistering 2:34:46 on a road bike, his time also included my walk to T1 as I can't run yet!! Patrick finished off well in the heat of the day with a 2:00:01 run.
Onto mid December and it was up to Canberra with Gary 'The Gaz' Pertot and myself to stay with a good mate 'The Legend'. Ledge as he is affectionately known is a great mate who I have known since I was 16 and have lived together in various different batchelor pads all over the inner city area. He now subsides up in Canberra where he works as a policy adviser for the government. It's always a trap going up to see Ledge as he is known for his love of an ale and a late night so you have to be ultra disciplined if you are going to be serious about your race. This was the 5th time I've been up to Canberra for the 1/2 so what better time to rake Ledge into a race than now. I asked him at the start of November if he'd be keen on doing the run leg of the race, with myself doing the swim & bike combo. No worries he said so it was job done.
Only 4 stubbies and a Subway foot long tuna & salad roll on Saturday night was part of the carbo load then it was onto race morning. The Gaz & I started off in the last wave, 30mins behind the pro's so there was a lot of swanning time to be had. It turned out to be good as there was a good bit of time to warm up in the water. The swim went off without a hitch in the vile waters of Lake Burley Griffin. The lake stank like dead cows in a few spots & didn't taste much better, still I swam well (for me) and ended up plodding out a 36:28. The walk to T1 took forever, and that combined with getting my road riding shoes and socks on added probably another 5 mins to my ride time. The ride was probably one of my greatest. Sure it wasn't the quickest but I was consistent, attacked the hills hard, even passed Jason Shortis & Sam Hume on the 2nd lap going through the hills (they were about 10km/h faster on the flats!!). I simply road hard all 3 laps, the looks on peoples faces as I passed them on their TT machines with deep dish carbon wheels etc. was priceless. I rode Top 50 overall and 4th in the Team category, ending up with a 2hr 42min 44sec ride. Legend finished off the race with a 1hr 53min half mara. Afterwards was great with takeaway Turkish pizza’a and plenty of Boags being consumed. The Gaz and I left Canberra on the Monday morning and headed home after a great weekend in the nations capital.