Paracycling Nationals 2011

Two more photos this post and more below of the terrific competitors at the Australian Paracycling National Championships this weekend at the Sunshine Coast. Click on any photo to make it larger. There are quite a few different categories in cycling and handcycling. Some of the handcycles are low and fast F1 machines! They may be slow uphills but you won't catch them going downhill. The whole weekend is an inspiration and there is always a great camaraderie and WOW there are wheels everywhere on and off the track.
Some categories didn't have more than one rider this year. You can see in one of the photos the only two tricycles (the rest are handcycles) and behind there were some women waiting to start including Jing from Canberra. I have met her the last two years too. She has one leg but averaged about 28kph!

2011 Paracycling Nationals

Thought I would post some photos of the cycling over the weekend. I raced the last two years on the tandem with vision impaired rider John Wood from Rockhampton Cycling Club. This year we had moved so I just picked him up from the airport and got him to the races and he and Martin Cooper, also of Rockhampton Club rode very creditable times. Unfortunately they did not get a medal as this year there were 6 tandem men which was a great field. Both days in the TT and the Road race they were fourth by about a minute. Considering the pedigree of the first three finishers the team did a fantastic effort. Averaging 40kph over 80klm on an up and down course where John and I did about 28kph last year was just amazing.

This years Benchmark !

I always need something to train for to enjoy my cycling the most. I was just looking at the winter events and thought a 6hr MTB race in June and the Epic again in August might be fun to aim at. In this light I went for my usual short training ride and decided to take some stats on it and note them down. This gives me something to work at bettering over the coming months.
The hill I dubbed Col de McCloud some years ago is in an old farm that has been split up into large acreage blocks. I can do a good climb from the creek to the far ridgeline that looks west and today I was pleased to find a tree that had fallen has been removed so I can ride it all now without footing. This changes sometimes as the steep dirt trail degrades but I am pretty fit now so it should stay rideable. (more power makes slippery climbs easier) There are one or two very short slightly downhill bits but otherwise it is definitely uphill. My granny is 22t front to 25t rear sprocket and this is needed.

Climb distance 2.14klm Total elevation gain 266 metres
Average grade 14% (max 25%)
I rode it twice today but only timed it the second time at 22min 19seconds
It is a grunt in places but it feels good when it stops!
Short postscript.... I do have a 28t granny I saw today (the next day). Don't think I could make it on 25t yet. My first climb the day after the above time was 18min 30sec. It was a cool afternoon about 18deg. This makes a big difference as I found out in Timor last year trying to climb at 35degC in high humidity. It dropped me about 3 gears at least.
....best time ..7th July 17min 10sec 14degC