Finally Flo got somethin' to sho! :)

Two years in the making, these are the first visual manifestations of my Flo wheels! They're currently in the post, and I'll pick them up in Austria in two weeks for the Klagenfurt 5150.

If this is the first time you've come across Flo wheels, get out from that rock and czech 'em out at http://www.flocycling.com/


On a side note, here's my race schedule for the next 2 months...

Klagenfurt 5150 (AUT)- June 10
Berlin 5150 (GER)- July 1
Muncie 70.3 (USA)- July 8

If I'm running low on points for Hy-Vee, I may have to take Muncie out and put New York 5150 in. Otherwise, I'm having another crack at a 70.3 to try and qualify for Las Vegas 70.3 Worlds. Last time I looked, I was ranked 48th in the Vegas PR, which I'm sure will slip below the top 50 (qualifying cut off) soon. I've gotta' get in ya'll!!!

After Muncie, I'll be off to Boulder for my first ever block of atltitude. If you're in Boulder and read this blog, don't be a stranger, give us a shoutout and show me some loops yeah!

I'm also looking for somewhere at sea level to train for 3 or so weeks in August, if you've got suggestions or wanting to help, drop me a line below.

Cheers, and look out for me in Klagenfurt on June 10!

Hurting in Huatulco

I was fortunate enough to get a start in the World Cup in Huatulco two weekends back. I don't do many ITU races these days so I never have enough points to get starts in the good events. Luckily I was accepted into the race a few weeks before and was going to be in the States for St. Anthony's 5150. I booked my flights down to Mexico, packed my drop bars and didn't bring many expectations with me.

Huatulco was a fantastic course. A nice beach start swim around scenic little bay, 8 laps all out on the bike with huge hills and an undulating run. With the hot weather it would guarantee a tough race where only the strongest doggs would prevail! Unfortunately for me, I missed the mark and let my good form from St. Anthony's the week before slip away.

I really tapered into St. A's. It was a focus race for me because it had a little bit of coin & lots of points for Hy-Vee. I did the job there with a 4th place and I recovered really well from the race. Because of the good taper,  I can't even remember feeling sore of tired after the race. The mistake I made in approaching Mexico was that I took another easy week after St. A's to rest up again for Huatulco when I didn't really need it. By race time, I was flat and out of shape!

I really battled all day in the race. I had a poor beach start but caught up the front of the swim quickly only to find some athletes off the front. I was really hurting in the legs from the start and didn't want to use the energy to chase. The race was always going to be about conserving because of the tough conditions. On the second lap of the bike however, I accidentally (and stress accidentally) found myself off the front of the pack, and was soon joined by three other athletes, including Aussie Ryan Bailie (later finishing 10th). We worked well together and by the end of the cycle we had 65 seconds or so on the chase group. I really paid for the work I did in the breakaway though, and labored for the next 40 minutes (seriously) on the run. It really wasn't a pleasing occasion, but with the recurring thoughts of pulling out in the bike & run, I'm pleased I stuck to my guns with the bike break and actually finished the race.

I would like to race in Huatulco again, but will of course arrive with a different approach. I'm probably lucky these are the only pictures I can find of myself from the race. Also a big cheers for the local Mexican supports during the race, it certainly kept me going.

Up next is Klagenfurt 5150 on June 10.

Huatulco Impressions

I'm currently in Huatulco, a small town of about 20,000 in Mexico's South-East coast. A pretty nice place but still with a quirky 3rd world vibe.

I'm competing in the ITU World Cup on Sunday, and it features an 8-lap bike course with about 3000ft of climbing or something crazy throughout the 40km. I didn't come here for a foot race, that's for sure. Hopefully I've still go the juice in my legs to make the ride count! 

This is the picture of the far bike turnaround, about to go back up and down the steep hill

The top of the hil looking back down over the bay

And the rest...



4th in St. Anthony's

Last season I had some good results and some pretty average results. Some were just really shit too. I finished the end of the year somewhat proud of what I had done, but also wondering how I was going to do better in the races that had left me underwhelmed. I came up with the simple solution that I needed to train more, & train smarter. I feel now that I've done that, I can actually compete at a level where I can get noticed. This started with my win in Singapore in March, and has now flowed on with my strongest showing in the 5150 series on the weekend in St. Anthony's.



I arrived into the USA 5 days before the race. Before I flew out, I had just finished a nice but subtly torturous 3 week training block and a short sprint race on the Gold Coast to cap off the training block. When I settled in Florida I gave myself a nice few days of sweet nothing, and felt fully rested for the race on Sunday.


Everyone's heard it on every platform on the netz, but I'll just confirm that St. Anthony's was a ripping field of pro's from all corners of the triathlon world. I knew it would be tough, but I was determined to consolidate my name as a big player, or at the least even somewhat of a player in non-draft scene. There ain't many young guys good at this stuff, but I knew it could be done.


The swim started smooth. I'm not sure why everyone likes to bunch together on the start line, but it's cool because it makes it a bit easier for me. I don't think I got touched the whole swim, and made my way into T1 by myself with a small gap over Cam Dye and 1K in my pocket for the swim prime. I'd already covered some of the cost to my trip from the prime so that was cool. These things for me are still about profit vs. loss (traveling to East Coast America from Oz ain't cheap), but hopefully I'm doing the right things to change that.


I laid down the pace hard on the bike from the mount line, and was touching 50km for the first few minutes but was joined by Cam Dye & Ben Collins a few miles in. When these two guys passed me with a gap to the rest of the field, I knew I was in for a good result if I could ride with them. Cam has won St. A's and podiumed in the past doing exactly what he was doing, and Ben Collins dominated the bike at Hy-Vee last year. To me, these two guys are the best non-draft athletes on the bike at the moment, and maybe even ever (seriously, check out their splits). Now I just read Ben Collins' report saying I didn't work the bike, but why would I/how could I when Cam is the strongest guy in the sport and is leading the race. I've been doing way to much work on the bike to let myself get dropped, so common sense would suggest to ride with the leaders. Deal. We all rode into T2 with low 53 minute splits ....Yeah doggy, this was my race to win!


I got on the asphalt and felt good. I took the lead at 1/2 mile and was holding good form. This is an out and back course, so you only get one opportunity to see your competition. At 5km, I had about 20 seconds lead from my two compatriots, but typically, Ospaly was running through the field and O'Donnell wasn't far behind him. The finish straight is about 1.2km long, and you can see the finish the whole way. I got caught by three guys in this straight and finished 4th. 4th doesn't get you a whole lot of publicity, so I'm a little disappointed I lost the win or the podium finish in the final minutes of the race, but also joyed that things are finally starting to go alright for me. This sport doesn't always reward those who work the hardest, but I think now I'm starting to get towards the better end, and keen to see what's going to happen for the remainder of 2012.


A sincere cheers to all who followed the race and complimented my result, it's nice to get recognition for the dedication that goes into this. And again, respect to Cam and Ben, these guys are slick athletes. When the old bastards all retire, these two names are the next in line. Hopefully I'll be in there too.


I'm off to Mehico now for the Huatulco World Cup. Let's see how I do at draft-legal!

The Easter Epic

Easter Sunday, a day full of epics*

*No guarantee anything found in this post is actually epic



Epic 4AM wake up


Epic flame throwers

Epic panorama

Epic M-dot pool (these guys are really opening themselves to litigation here)

Epic mug

Epic ride home from baloon flight (Hatton Vale - Coominyah - Esk - Coal Creek - Bryden - Dundas - Mt Glorious - Samford Valley then epic complications & DNF)

Epic scenery

Epic illustrations

After 115km of rollers, I hit the Western face of Mount Glorious (epic)

25mins of epic gradient got me near the top

And a double flat on the descent on the Eastern side left me in this valley, 30km from home. With mobile phone coverage having eloped with my tyre pressure, I had to make a nice with cyclist-prejudiced motorists so I could hitch back home. EPIC.

The final resting place

So... if you've gotten this far, I salute you for your undivided attention, but alas duely appologise for any suicidal or self-harming thoughts you may have in the hours/days/weeks following your perusal of this colloquy.

Adventurecyclingregards,


Burg

 

Flo Cycling Interview

For those who haven't come across it yet, I did an interview with independent aero wheel start-ups, Flo Cycling. I will be riding Flo wheels in 2012 for all my non-drafting events and I welcome them as my newest supplier. If you haven't heard or seen these wheels yet, head over to their website to have a look.

....

FLO: You just recently became Singapore 70.3 champion. First, how does it feel and second, walk us through the day.
Josh: Thanks Chris, it feels a little surreal to be a 70.3 champion considering this was only my second 70.3 competition. I was a late entry into the race, entering only 3 weeks prior. During the Australian Summer, a lot of my friends were doing very well in domestic long course races. I have been training really well and knew I had a great long course performance in me too, so just like that, I registered for the Singapore 70.3!

Race day started early, like always. I caught a taxi to race site, and the first thing to do was set up my transition. Being an unknown to this style of racing, I felt there was no pressure on me as all the pros were crammed into the racks setting up their transitions. This made me feel relaxed and ready to set out in the inner mongrel come race time. The heat and humidity in Singapore was going to be the most testing aspect of the race, so I decided to skip a cycle or run warm up, and headed down to the beach for a light swim.
Once the gun went off, there were four of us that cleared out quickly in the swim including myself, Dylan McNeice (NZL), Dennis Vasiliev (RUS) and Christian Kemp (AUS). Dylan, Dennis and I are amongst the best swimmers in the ITU style competition, so I predicted their company, but to have Christian there was a little surprising and intimidating because he was probably the best runner in the field. We swam conservatively and exited the water with a little over a 2 minute lead. Onto the bike, I was on the front from the start and pushed hard to try and abort the plans of the other athletes I swam with. Even though I went through 40km (25miles) on the bike in 55minutes flat, I couldn't drop the guys behind me. The flat course was certianly fast, but probably not challenging enough to be able to drop the weaker cyclists. We remained as a bunch the whole 90km and we put a further 6 minutes into the chase pack. I made sure to keep well hydrated because the run was where the race would be won. Onto the run, I knew Christian Kemp would be the strongest so I set about sticking with him for as long as I could. Surprisingly, I found myself surging on him and dropping him at the 1km mark. The rest of the run was on my own out front, putting further time into those behind and trying to keep hydrated and smooth to avoid getting crushed by the humidity.


Head over to the Flo blog for the full interview!

1st in Singapore 70.3

I flew in and out of Singapore on the weekend for the 70.3, an annual event that has been won by some of the sickest names in the sport these past years (Kris Gemmell, Craig Alexander x2, Simon Thompson). While most big names were absent this year because of IM Melbourne (although Ronnie Schildnecht *first sub8 IM in North America* was set to race but withdrew), I couldn't write anyone off because of my acute misunderstanding of how to actually race a 70.3, let alone the fact that I'm not really training for one.

Ubiquitous in Singapore each year though is enough heat and humidity to make you sweat your own spinal fluid & on occasion a little bone marrow. I've raced and won an ITU Conintental Cup here before, one of the most metally testing races I've yet to do. Natually I was a little anxious but certainly ready to let out the inner mongrel to redeem last weeks travesty in Devonport.

As said, while the start list was missing some big names of the past, it was still lined. Lots of 70.3 regulars, some 70.3 champions and some ITU swimming buffs namely Dylan McNeice & Dennis Vasiliev (I have a good history against this chap, a tuff' Russian who always travels on the express pain train service). Just as ITU swimming & the racing overall has really stepped a level the last half-decade, expect the 70.3 level to do the same with the ITU athletes now starting to make regular appreances. Myself, the aforementioned ITU swimmers & Gold Coast 70.3 champion Christian Kemp easily gapped the chase pack by 2+ mins.

Our party of four really took it to the chasers again with a quick bike. Christian and I did the bulk of the work around the flat fast course while Dylan was forced to pick & mix some turns and the Russ' did the honors for a breif 20seconds or so (with a dirty Brukhankov style grimmace). I knocked out 55minutes flat for the 40km, a time I'm yet to be consistent with around a short course racing (a good portent for the season ahead chaps). When we saw how much time we were putting into the chasers, we backed off a little and went through the second 40km in 56.60. Our final ride split was 2.06.28, a nice reward considering the amount of time I've spent on the bike this year. The cycling data has been made public below...



Christian was easily the strongest runner amongst our group, so I was expecting a tough running duel served cold with a side of laborious mental strain. I put my Garmin on, exited transition just started to run for feel. I went toe to toe with Christian for about 500m before I lost patience and threw out 'holding back' paradigm. I thought for a second that I has just signed my own DNF certificate, but Christian lost my feet straight away and like that I was on my own out front. By the first lap I already had 2minutes or so lead which grew to 5 by the end of the half-marathon, and I jogged my way in to win my first 70.3 in 3hours, 54mins. You can watch a video of my finish below!

Cheers to those who've passed kind words onto me since the race, it means a lot. From here I'll go into a good months block of training and then head Stateside for the first 5150 of the season!

Endurancetriathlonregards,
Burgs

With Belligerence I Ride (+ swim & run)

While this digital edition of 'Burg's abode' has been undoubtedly senile this year, I've been putting in big training miles, with 35hour+ training weeks becoming as ubiquitous the increasing value of my self-indulgent underground vinyl collection. Yet ultimately, we train to race, so I opened up my Olympic Distance season on the weekend down in Tasmania for the Devonport ITU Oceania Champs. I had an unambiguous goal to race as well as I could, knowing I hadn't exactly prepared adequetly for a draft-legal, fast & malovelent affair. I'll spare all excuses and disclose that I posted a big fat acrimonious DNF.

I swam well & normal, coming out second in my choice Rocket Science wetsuit. I've been riding back to back 500km weeks on the bike for 2 months now, so I was expecting to be belligerent & brutal with my tactics, hard and fast establishing a nice lead by T2. Unceremoniously, a combination of things had me up shit creek by 20km into the bike, and I dropped out of the race with lactic acid spilling out my nostrils. A slow start to the season for sure, but it's something which is easily adjusted by bringing some more intensity into my strength based miles.

I'm lining up this weekend in the Singapore 70.3 for some redemption, and will definately be bringing out the belligerence for this race to try and get some early points for Hy-Vee in 2012.

*pictures as always, reproduced without permission*