Road Race Flowchart.....

It's no secret I love a time trial, crit races are also fun on two wheels, but we're now into road season! In winter, racing cyclists are fed on a diet of long road races, aka scratch races. Where the only tactic is to finish in front of the people you start with. Simple? No. Road racing is complex, add in teams, mates, and seeking in-race revenge on that prick that pulled the field back to your wheel when you went up the road, it can get a little busy. I've come up with a very high-level flowchart of how road racing unfolds, not taken from any coaching book, not made up on the fly, but put together while twiddling my thumbs... in a road race.

This should explain the workings of what happens in a typical club/combine road race, with no focus on result, just lasting the distance. I've got a few more charts for crits, TTs, and commuting, they'll be posted up once I've verified the information they contain is UCI certified.
 

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Supporting the supporters!

Another section I'll add to the blog when applicable, like the random visuals. I'll use this section to mention the people/products/companies who've recently helped me in some way or I've been involved with. The big players get a logo posted up on the right. I'm happy promoting those who get behind me.

BikeForce - Heath Jackson, Marketing Manager from BikeForce roped me into their latest TV ad shoot down in Altona. I was happy to rock up and help out, in my undercover-plain kit. You won't even notice me... except if they use the take where I missed the pedal at the start. Not pro! Thankfully it's a move away from their last memorable ad..... the 7am start was freezing but the breakfast and coffee after was superb!

I got my bike..... I got my bike...... v2.0  aarhhhhhh!!!! :)

Total Rush - Luke McKenzie read about my saddle snapping skills at the Metro champs and has offered me a loaner Specialized Romin saddle to try out for the next few weeks. I also saw the new Shiv TT bike while I was at Total Rush, it looks nice and quick.... but... it didn't follow me home, so I'm still hunting for one of these next-gen TT frames.....

Hell of the West should be a good saddle testing race.

Capilano Honey - Honey Shotz - Emma from Calpilano Marketing & PR is a reader of the blog and has sent me a box of 100(!) Honey Shotz energy gel-thingys. At 7g per shot they're a little inefficient to use on the bike (you need 4 of them for an equivalent carb-hit to a standard gel). But I've still managed to finish half a box of them - They're pure honey so they go well in hot drinks too! A 600g squeeze bottle would be better for in-race energy, if you can stomach that much honey at once. Bzzzzzzzzzz!