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Comments: Each group was sent off about 20-30 secs apart. There were heaps of teams - there was teams A to Z and then Aa to Zz! There were also some red letters too to make up extra letters (the A-Z and Aa-Zz were black lettering). We were team Aa. Off we went and tried to stick together. We are all actually of similar ability, so whilst I had to work hard to hang on, I was able to for the whole 65K. The course was out & back. Its what I would call undulating for the first half, followed by a short stint of some steep hills, then flattish for the last part before you turn around and come back in reverse. I was able to hang on for most part except on the steep hills and even then I wasn't far behind. We were passed by only about 6-7 teams and we passed two teams. We also managed to hang onto the back of two big packs of men for a while which gave us an excellent draft - thanks teams Jj and Ii! :) We tried to ride in a line and took turns out in front of 5 mins each. When we reached the flattish section at the far end of the course, and when we were coming back into town which was all downhill, we rolled. This approach worked well. It was hot out on the course and initially I didn't drink enough because I was pushing so hard, I felt my energy flagging, I had a gel at the turn around and focused on drinking more on the way back. I got through one 750ml bottle of fluids over the ride which wasn't enough, but I managed to finish OK. If we'd had to ride longer I probably would have suffered. What would you do differently?: Not a lot. I think we did well.  Post race
Warm down: Finished the ride, drank lots of water and then had a lovely lunch at the pub, the cost of which had been included in our entry. The pub is right on the beach so we had a lovely view. We're also having some un-seasonaly warm, sunny weather so we all enjoyed sitting out there. What limited your ability to perform faster: Actually I think we did really well. This is a great speed for me for a hilly/undulating course. I am crap at hills, but I am much better than I used to be and I kept up with the group on all but the steepest hills. Yay me. Like someone on this website says - the only way to get better at riding hills is to ride more hills :) Event comments: This was fun. It helped that we had glorious weather. I just love cycling in general, it doesn't take much to convince me to ride! I'd like to do more Cyclosportif events. I am really pleased that my cycling is now at a level where I can keep up with a team :) Last updated: 2009-05-12 12:00 AM
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Australia
Cyclosportif
25C / 77F
Sunny
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Cyclosportif is a West Australian cycling organisation that organises a series of road races over winter. The idea is to form a team of between 5-9 people and ride as a group. Only one person wears a timing band so you're all meant to cross the finishing line together. I've always wanted to give this a go and was really excited when someone from my cycling group asked if I was interested.
Last night we went to the Triathlon Western Australia awards night and I made a real effort not to drink to much! We were in bed by midnight and I had to get up at 6am in order to make it to Lancelin in time! In retrospect I could have allowed myself 1/2 hour extra sleep but I left earlier than I needed to because I didn't want to be late!
Drove north for 1 hour 20 mins, then stood around chatting to my team mates, had a coffee :)