Yeppoon Half Ironman - Race Report

Yeppoon would be a great learning curve for me with some great experiences to take away and learn from.



The course is centered in the middle of the Capricorn Resort a really nice backdrop to the event making me very excited about the course. Flat, hopefully minimal wind, and my new Fuji D-6 Pro.

My coach Dean and I arrived early at 10am, and I was very keen to get the bike out and have a ride on the course. Traveling with a new as I am sure you are all aware is a very nerve racking experience, but I am pleased to announce that everything went smoothing so scratches at all.

It didn't take me long to reassemble and set it up with my aero bottle etc ready for a ride and then I was good to go.

Bike ready to go


Me proudly displaying the new weapon!

I am proud to say my bike was the talk of the event! As I registered Dean waited with the bike and many athletes stopped to ask questions and to look it up and down. And yes for all of you wondering, it does ride as well as it looks!

My practice ride on the course went really well. The responsiveness of the bike was incredible. Getting up to 40kph was easy and very quick like you would expect a sports car to do. A lot of people warned me of stiffness that come with the design of TT bikes but I didn't experience any sort of issues with the D6. It literally took me a minute or so to adjust to the weight of the bike, then it just seemed natural.

From the aero position I was able to easily control the bike through the course with slight movements and pressure from my forearms. Honestly if anything this bike was more responsive than my previous ride, and a hell of a lot smoother.

I only rode 15km and for that averaged 36kph with great ease - even into a strong head wind. The D-6 was a machine, and I was actually a little nervous as to how fast I could go with it, I didn't want to push to hard!

Race morning I woke up late, walked to bike down and then prepared back in the room. There was a 1.9km walk to the start down the beach which was a little annoying and starting at 8:37 - wow are you kidding me, in normal races would have less than 45mins of the ride to go at this time!


The long walk to the start

I was one of the last waves to start, and by the time I did the current and turned and rather than assisting, it was holding us back. The swim was fairly uneventful, I didn't feel really good in it, sore shoulders but I think that was from my suit - way to tight I wont be using it again!

Running out I was confident of my position and ended up having the 4th fastest swim of the day - fairly disappointing as I am normally minutes clear of the field, but considering the tide change very good. To put it in perspective I normally swim 23mins or so, this swim was 29mins - so a rough current!


Difficult to see, but me in transition after the swim

5 lap course, 18kms per lap out and back. I got into my groove fairly quickly, made sure to drink and eat properly and was feeling confident as I passed many competitors. After the first lap we were at 35kph, the second 37kph and I was building, feeling very smooth and comfortable on the new bike. I topped out at 46kph on the flats going past people like they were standing still.

I was very cautious on the U turns; it was funny guys caught me and passed just before the turn, then the acceleration of the D6 blew them away and I would drop them very quickly.

By 60km I was leading my age group by a couple of minutes; no one had passed me yet on the course from any age group, I was passing everyone. Then things went wrong.

A great learning experience for everyone; TIGHTEN YOUR HANDLEBARS WELL on reassembly. Of course I didn't, and they dropped down enough for my bottle to rest on my front wheel. I rode like this for at least 10km and finally pulled over and waited for 15mins for a mechanic; ending my chances of finishing high up and the lactate rushed to my legs. At this point I was looking at a 2:25 ride - would have been very fast.

By the end my actual time on the bike had dropped to 2:33 - I rode the last lap on a slowly deflating tire, yes the bike is that smooth that I didnt notice, but I did notice the drop in speed.


Running into transition - yelling not smiling

So the run was eventful, fully lactate legs, cramping - the self inflicted bike issues cost me dearly in fueling my body. At 10km I decided to pull the plug on the race. Having Busselton in December it really wasnt worth pushing through and stressing my body.

So all in all amazing experience, great lessons learnt and WOW the bike. I will be getting a torque wrench so it doesn't happen again, and I am very confident going into my next race at Noosa. To be leading my age group still at 60km was a massive improvement; my last two races I lead from the water and slowly ppl passed me pushing me back to say 20th in my age group. I put it all down to the bike. Look out for my next blog, my review of the D6; you will want to read it, cause this bike is incredible!

Thank again Fuji for the support! Check out the bike for yourself at www.fujibikes.com.au under the specialty section.

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New Sponsor - Fuji Bikes

I'm proud to announce Fuji Bicycles have come on board to support me and I look forward to representing them in all my future races! Cant wait to ride on the new Fuji D-6 PRO - look out for my review on the bike after my Yeppoon Half Ironman!

Once again thanks Fuji for the support! Its great to have a company willing to support an up and coming triathlete!

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Brisbane to Mooloolaba and back - 204kms

The biggest ride of my life - I was going to attempt 200+ km's solo with no support from anyone in a car. To be honest I was very apprehensive, and somewhat scared of the endeavor, mainly due to the thought of being 100+ from home and having to turn around and come back. Needless to say I still did it.

With 3 powerbars and 3 gel shots I started my ride at around 6 in the morning, sunday when there was the least traffic.

To be honest the first 100km went by fairly uneventful. I just got in a zone and rode taking it in 30km blocks/1hour blocks which seemed to make it more achievable in my mind rather than thinking I have to ride for 7hours.

I was very aware of the importance of eating correctly and made sure to have a power bar or gel every hour and drink a lot. At the turn around point I was sitting on around 29.9kph which I was disappointed in, but the ride was more about finishing that the speed.

I wasn't feeling the best, sore legs and was slightly concerned about the ride back. I had a timetable of the trains and kept that in mind as I set out on the return journey after a short stop at one of the coffee shops I work for.

The first 20km of the return journey there was a strong headwind which just kept attacking me, but I kept my head down on the aerobars and focusing on driving my legs hard. I think the most important part of the ride would be the mental side of things and not giving up.

At 150km I was surprised to see my KPH lifting and I had pushed it above 30kph so this drove me on more. I found it easiest to concentrate on segments, ride to Landsborough (around 30km) and all I would do was focus on that and not the entire journey. Once getting to that point I would set a new target.

I guess all that talk of setting small goals along the way to your dream is important really does work. When attempted something so big (really just thinking about it scared me) it would be so easy to let the magnitude of the ride defeat me before even attempting it, that's why it was so important to break it down.

At 180km I had a small headache a sign that I really hadn't eaten enough but I was really near the finish line now and drove even harder. I had one more gel shot and I called ahead for a lift from the 205km mark (I woudl still be 30km from home and couldn't attempted that on no fuel or fluids). My 180 time was around 5:57 - so happy to get it under 6hours but still felt I had more fuel in the take.

To get my average up from 30.2 was going to take a lot of effort over the last 20kms as I had already done 180 at that pace. With the end in sight I put my head down and thought about nothing but driving my legs and hurting more than I ever had before.

I finished in 6:44 an average speed of 30.4 - I was over the moon and exhausted!

I learnt so many things on this ride. About my limits, pushing myself, setting little goals but most importantly fuel and recovery.

Reading articles and from my experience I have learnt on a ride like that I should be having a gel shot/power bar every 15mins or so - around 5000calories or more. I had 1000 - which would explain the massive headache and the 3 foot long subs I had when I was finished.

To recover I ate. As much as I could and then some more. Iced my legs for 3-4hours and stretched. The next day I woke up feeling fine better than I had after previous shorter rides. Eating, Ice, stretching would be key to my training if I was going to continue doing rides such as this one!

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2010 Endeavour Challenge 110km Charity Ride

Its a little hard to find bike races around the place so when this opportunity came up I jumped at the chance! Now I know its a charity ride, and they say its not a race, but I planned on racing and I was sure that others would too!

The morning of the event myself and dean set out very early to make it there on time. It was overcast and raining a little by the time we arrived. What an awesome start to the day

When we arrived we found an open subway so I could fuel up and then I got into my gear ready for the start of the ride. Unfortunately I discovered I left my arm warmers at home, so it could be interesting as no other rider did not have arm warmers on.

The rain for the moment had subsided and I position myself in the front of the pack for the slow start as we departed Toowoomba. It was pretty clear from the start there were going to be a few to race as we quickly lost the majority of the riders forming a pack of around 20 riders.

The pace was hot from the start and before I knew it we had gone through the 45km mark in around 37km an hour. I was sitting at the back of the pack conserving myself not really sure of what the ride would be like.

It was spitting gently as we ride through rolling hills that would continue for the entire 110kms. It was a great experience to ride with a pack and race like cyclists would and it was interesting to note the pack mentality and trying to resist the temptation to attack. We slowly dropped riders until only 8 of us remained. At around 60kms a rider made a break away and I decided to chase it down.

Another rider took off before me and cleared out away from the pack. Coming from the back I built my speed up quickly and shot around the peloton. Unfortunately I did this with quite a lot of pace and before I knew it was I was shooting past the breakaway riders and forming my own.

I decided I was committed so continued the pace for around a Km before hitting a long hill where the pack quickly caught me. And this was the end of my excitement for the day.

By around the 75km mark I was dropped, the rolling hills finally took their toll and I just couldn't maintain the pace of the pack. We were still sitting on around 35kph for the 75km but I was slowing rapidly.

Dean pulled up along side of me in the car for the remainder of the ride, and it really was a struggle. Along the flats I was fine and managed to hit around 36kph but the hills were killing me and dropping my speed significantly.

The pack had stretch to single riders apart from three lead riders. I caught one and another was in my sights over the last 10km but I couldn't catch them.

In the end I was the 5th rider across the line in a time of 3:27:10 a great time and a very fast average speed for me to hold through rolling hills. All in all it was a great training rider and a massive learning curve for me!

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