2024 Year in Review

2024 the year of not focusing on results.  Wait, didn't I nominate a bunch of time and result driven goals for 2024?  Yes I did, but I don't care about them anymore.

Shortly after I broke my Kinglake PR in February, it got me thinking, when is enough, enough?  Why is it that once we reach a certain goal, we then hunger for more?  Who am I competing with here?  Yes it would be great to post a better time than my mates, but ultimately the only person I am competing against is myself. 

During the year I listened to a TrainerRoad podcast on goal setting and the emphasis was on process goals, rather than outcome goals, which many of mine are.  I have always prided myself on being about the process, but there's no doubt that I have become caught up in the outcomes, because they are a tangible measure of personal success.  

Listening to the Anecdotally Speaking podcast last year, they introduced a story about Joseph Heller (author of Catch 22) being at a party hosted by a billionaire and being asked how does it feel to know that one of these paintings is worth more than you made from writing your books.  Heller replies, I have one thing that the billionaire will never have.  What is that the protagonist asks? Heller replies, "Enough".

I've long been an adherent of avoiding comparisons.  My wife and I have four sons, of which two are twins and we have always treated them as individuals.  I love the fact that they are all so different in their own ways.  When it comes to comparing one to the other, I don't.  Comparison robs the moment of joy.

If I can be healthy and happy in myself, be a good partner to my wife and father to my sons, good son to my mother, be authentic to my friends and colleagues, train as well as I possibly can as time and other responsibilities allows me and feel good (mentally and physically) as a result of that, then that is enough.  And when it comes to cycling, I am going to remember and value the friendships made over the years far more than any victory or PB.  

Process Goals

I've always been very consistent and process driven. Coincidentally, my professional life in IT demands it.  I stick to my routine of going to bed and getting up around the same time each day.  Within the week, I usually limit any training on a Monday to nothing more than an easy commute on the bike if I have to. I'm happy with where my nutrition is at and I've been able to improve my energy consumption on the bike to 100gs of carbs or more per hour during events.

The other component of my training, has been strength training, which I started doing two sessions a week consistently during Covid and then picked it up again between June 2023 and March 2024.  Recently I have resumed it, because I know that if I don't, my muscle mass loss will be greater as I age. 

My training 2024 was based on two A events a year, which are three stage tour events, Mansfield in March and Bright in early December.  Everything else fits into the bucket of contributing towards the success of the goal event, these are B events.  C events such as shorter Crit, CX, track and road races are regular races which replace a workout or form the basis of double hard days to build some volume and intensity, often in a state of mild fatigue.   Within the training cycle, I usually have 3 weeks of intensity and one week with 50% of the previous week's intensity.  If I am too tired to train, then I take time off until I feel ready to resume.

My B+ events were Hell of the West (75km rolling road race with a major climb), Amy's gran fondo and any Handicap Race on the calendar.  

Supplements

Yes, you heard right. Mid year I started taking Creatine after listening to a few podcasts (links below) and reading some research papers about the benefits for cyclists.  I gained a few kilograms and started being competitive in sprint finishes.  My sprint  power numbers from 3-60 seconds are all records from June onwards.  A couple of weeks ago I did my best ever 20min power numbers up Kinglake.  Most of my endurance power numbers are also records.  

Power for Endurance 

Power for Sprint


Date        

Goal/Comment

Result

Achieved

01/01/24

Avg 35km/h at Amy Gillet GF

0.3km/h faster than 2023

 35.62

 15-09-24

01/01/24

Amy Gillet Gran Fondo, Top 10 in Age Group

Went faster than 2023 and finished in 48/230. Enough to qualify for the UCI champs on the same course in Oct 2025.

48/230

01/01/24

Goal for 2024 is to place in a couple of C grade events with NC and B grade events with Northern.

a few 2nd & 3rd places

01/01/24

Win a crit

 NCC C Grade

 14-01-24

01/01/24

No FTP goals this year, so I'm going with a stretch goal to see if I can increase my record FTP by 2% 4.34 w/kg before the Tour of Mansfield in March.


01/01/24  

More hiking.  Hiking is something we both enjoy, so I'm keen to do more of it.

We did several hikes in Tasmania, Kangaroo Island and the Grampians  




 



01/01/24

PR Kinglake with a sub 20min

 19:34

 17-02-24

01/01/24

Ride Victoria's Seven Peaks.

Victoria has some of the best mountains in Australia to climb.  This has been on my list for a while and I'm hoping to tick it off in January while life is a little quieter.

Lake Mountain
Mt Buffalo
Mt Hotham
Falls Creek
Omeo to Dinner Plain
Mt Buller
Mt Baw Baw

Mt Donna Buang 
Tawonga Gap (both sides)
Back of Falls


















1-12-24
30-03-24
31-03-24
31-03-24
17-03-24


10-03-24
30/31-03
30-03-24

01-01-24   

Strength train twice a week.

My focus is on two 30-40 min sessions per week, which are done in the afternoon on the hard riding days. The workout is primarily based on TrainerRoad's strength training for cyclists.

01/01/24

Get out on the mountain bike at least monthly with Mauricio and Andrew.

Apologies to Mauricio and Andrew, this hasn't happened often enough

 

 

01-01-24

Improve sprint power between 1-30 seconds.

During 2024, I recorded my best ever sprint numbers between 3-30 seconds, which was very gratifying.  This was assisted by working on technique and strength training.		Improved sprint times from 3-60 seconds. 

01-01-24  

Do something epic every month

As I get older, I like the idea of setting myself mini-challenges.  It could be a hike, a ride, run or even a swim.  Just one thing which gets me out of my comfort zone. Here's a few that I managed to do.

Nationals Gran Fondo
Tour of Mansfield
Easter Epic/Everest Roam
Freycinet Peninsula Hike
Hell of the West
Dirty Deeds CX
Wagga Wagga Gravel ride
Amy's Gran Fondo
Melbourne gravel & trails loop
Dirty Docker
Tour of Bright









01/01/24

Finish top 10 or top 25% of Masters C or 6 depending on the event.

Rolling this over to apply to a multi-stage race in 2024

5th on GC at Tour of Mansfield

17-03-24

01/01/24

Win a handicap.

2nd fastest at the Lyndsay Smyrk Hcp


01/01/24

Finish Top 20% of field in an ITT

6/22 at ToM




Needless to say that it has been a fun year on and off the bike. Aside from riding, I joined the committee of the Brunswick Cycling Club, where I’ve been a member since 2018. It’s great watching the development of young riders coming through the club. BCC has a lot of emphasis on making it fun for the juniors and no doubt this has rubbed off on many of our young riders who have major progress with their cycling careers.  To see Luke Plapp, Ruby Roseman- Gannon, Sarah Gigante, Graeme Frislie, Keely Bennett, Mitch Docker and Matthew Keenan come back to the club for an Evening with the Stars event, was a massive highlight of the year.

I have become more active on social media, posting race and ride highlights on Instagram and YouTube. This had led to a wider engagement with others and offers some valuable insight into what it takes to win a bike race.

Where to for 2025? Change things up a bit, ride some more gravel events, notably the Seymour Gravelista which is a qualifying event for the 2026 UCI Gravel Fondo at Nannup in WA.  My two A events will be the Benghazi Hcp in April and the UCI Gran Fondo at Lorne in October.  Keep riding, keep on having fun and hopefully keep on improving.  That is enough for me.  Over to you.  What are your cycling goals for 2025?  Please leave a comment.


#trainerroad
#anecdotallyspeaking
#brunswickcc
#semiprocycling
#theneroshow
#therealscienceofsportpodcast
#fasttalkpodcast
#selfrighteouscyclist
Location: Melbourne VIC, Australia

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