All posts by toby

Coaching Services Available

Race the Goldfields Cyclassic? Looking for a coach?

It doesn’t matter if you are trying to race at an international level, be competitive in the local criterium series or just beat your friend to the coffee shop, if you want to improve your cycling performance you might need a coach.  I am a Cycling Australia accredited coach and am now available to take on some new athletes.

Like all athletes differ in their abilities, all coaches have different styles.  My coaching style is as follows:

Goal Orientated: Every training planning plan starts with the finish.  What do you want to achieve?

Supportive: When it gets tough, we will discuss what is happening, I will remind you why you are doing it, and motivate you to keep going.

Flexible: If something isn’t working, we’ll change it.  No drama.

What you get:

  • An initial consultation
  • Baseline testing
  • Personalised training program
  • Regular feedback and monitoring
  • 1 face to face Turbo session each week
  • Support via email/phone
  • Access to group training sessions led by Jonathan Bolton and Mathew Upton

Cost:

Current pricing is just $40 per month – absolute bargain.

Group sessions and motorpace sessions attract an additional charge.

Contact:

Email: tobyjbrown@hotmail.com

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UCWT 12 Week Training Program

Are you thinking of racing the UCWT road race, TT or doing the Gran Fondo challenge next year?  Better start getting in shape, its only 13 weeks away!

We start on the 6th of January.

These programs are suitable for NRS level athletes to club riders racing for the first time.  I have only 5 places left on my UCWT coaching program this year.  If you are interested in finding out more please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Communal suffering (and performance improvement) awaits!

Details are on the flyer attached: .UCWT 2014 12 Week

UCWT 2014 12 Week

Tobitech Training – UWCT Packages

UCWT 2014 12 WeekPlaces are now available for the next round of training packages through Tobitech Training.  If you are looking at being competitive at the UCI Masters race this march, then a small investment in the correct training will pay off better than a few thousand dollars worth or carbon bling.  See the attached flyer for more info, but get in contact soon to secure your place.

UCWT 2014 12 Week

Race Report – Tour of East Java 2013 – Toby Brown

Dome Coffees Cycling Team

Tour of East Java 2013

Arrivals

Disembarking off the plane in Surabaya, East Java, was in itself the culmination of many months of hard work, organisation and training.  All of team had been training hard for months to prepare for this event, doing endless kilometres on the bike, hundreds of interval efforts and hours of bikram yoga in an effort to acclimatise for the racing conditions.

The team members selected to race were Mathew Upton, Luke Ellis, Stuart Passmore, myself and Jonathan Bolton who was guest riding from Giant-Satalyst.

The warm embrace of the humidity signalled both a welcome and warning the team as we looked for our driver to start loading our bikes onto the truck to the hotel where we would be based for the entire tour.

Hotel Sinar 1 was home base for all of the teams competing in the tour.  The hotel is pretty simple, with modest rooms, patchy wifi and surprisingly large showers.  Coffee was hard to come by, but the was to be expected so I had packed a plunger of Dome coffee.  Be prepared.

After arriving on our first day the team quickly built up the bikes, and we headed off for a gentle ride to get the legs moving again.  We quickly discovered that getting in a decent training ride was going to be difficult as the roads are generally of poor quality, the traffic very heavy and the temperature high.  We did manage to ride to a small area where the seemed to be some kind of aquaculture going on, and which gave us our first good view of Mt Bromo – the climb that we would be taking on later in the tour.1267302_10151802015389242_498441053_o 1150851_10151885454356563_993263474_n 1234714_10151885452486563_614390521_n 1229950_10151883550381563_42401937_n 1237913_10151883550071563_1887339746_n

Dinner, chicken and rice.

On day two we tried to head off into a different direction in a vain attempt to find somewhere good to ride and be able to stretch the legs.  What we found instead was more traffic, heat and a collection of potholes arranged in a long line surrounded by the occasion squirt of bitumen.  Training ride done after about 25kms and 3 hours, we headed back to the hotel.

Dinner, chicken and rice.

The first stage of the tour kicked off Wednesday morning.  We were about to take on a 180km stage in hot conditions.  We all did our best to hydrate as much as possible before we got to the start line.  Unfortunately we didn’t factor in the 1 hour bus transfer to the start which meant there was a lot of full bladders being relived shortly after arrival.

We milled around at the start for about an hour before we had the opportunity to sign on.  Signing on for my first international race was a bit of thrill and came with a bit of rock star kind of feel about it. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

We lined up on the start line as the pre-race ceremonies continued and waited for the race to start.  At this point it was all questions.  “How fast will we go?”, “How will my legs feel after 180km?”…  All answers were coming – would just have to wait for another 4 hours.

The balloons were cut free signalling the race start, there may have been a gun fired, and we rolled out under heavy police escort through the street of Surabaya.  A neutral zone of 20km allowed plenty of time to relax, stop for a final pee, and have a chat with some of the other competitors.  We struck up a friendship with Pat from team Synergy Baku Cycling Project who was happy to provide us with some last minute tips for the day ahead.

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The racing proper started at kilometre zero as the commaisiare pulled in the flag and stamped on the pedal.  Immediately the action began with the Kazaks, OCBC and Asian teams launching attacks.  I was happy to find my legs were great and I had plenty of power to be able to respond to the moves.  Jonno and I rode near the front, no more than about 15 bikes back for the first 20kms as we were trying to stay safe and in a spot where we could see the road coming.  The start of stage one completely changed my perspective regarding what is possible on a road bike.  Much of the time it felt like we were in the air more than we were on the ground as went over pot hole after pot hole after pot hole.  Passmore appeared as we hit the outskirts of the town and seemed to be taking everything in his stride as the Pro Asian peloton continued to move along in super aggressive mode.

50km after we started things started to settled down.  There was brief pause in the craziness as guys started to feed.  This of course meant things were going mental back in the convoy and I’m sure the first flurry of feeding activity was something our new team manager Travis won’t forget in a long time.

The lull lasted for about 30 minutes before guys started to hit it again.  Unfortunately as I had decided to go back to the car I had a rather dramatic chase to get back to the group.  This included car surfing back through the convoy, and then nearly getting run off the road by the chief commaisaire before reaching the back of the peloton.

The pace stayed pretty constant for the next 50km or so before the chase to bring back the breakaway really got going.  As we turned for home we picked up a strong tailwind and the speed went up to 50km/h.  I was happy to realize that with only 50km left to go this meant we would be back at the finish in an hour.  When we got the gap back to about 1 minute all of the impetus went out of the chase.  Guys started looking at each other and then started attacking the group.  Move after went up the road and the Dome boys were covering them all.  As luck would have it though the one move that didn’t get covered was Anuar Manan from Baku who would ultimately go on to catch the leaders and win the stage.  This is probably one of the mistakes we made on day one – not knowing who was worth going with.  Jonno had burnt matches helping the peloton chase and didn’t have legs left to go with Awang.

The team took control of what was left of the peloton and started to roll through to make the last few kms a bit easier.  I took a final trip to the car for drinks and Travis cooled me down pouring cold water all over me which was simply amazing.  It was unfortunately at this point that I saw Uppers was in the back seat having succumbed to the heat.  It was a same to be losing him early as he would have been handy to have later in the tour.  Still, in his words he felt like he was going to end up in hospital if continued, so it was a wise decision to stop.  A decision I would e reflecting on later in the night.

Once we got back to the hotel we had some dinner, chicken and rice, and I started to feel really bad.  I was nauseas and cold.  I have some experience with dehydration so I knew what I was dealing with.  I started pushing in the fluids as much as I could.  I managed to relax for a while thanks to a good massage, but then started going down hill again.  I just couldn’t get warm and had urinated since we got back.  I kept drinking, but it wasn’t long before I started vomiting.  Needless to say I thought at this point my race was over. There is no point in riding oneself into the hospital.  I decided to decide in the morning.

When the morning came I had managed to get some sleep, but still felt nauseas and tired.  The worst part about being sick was I had not been able to refuel for the next day.  I did feel a bit better however so I decided I would start, ride to the first sprint and then get in the car.  I would do what I could for Jonno without killing myself.IMG_3565 (FILEminimizer) IMG_3576 (FILEminimizer) IMG_3565 (FILEminimizer)(1) IMG_3563 (FILEminimizer)

Stage two started much the same as stage 1.  We had a 10km neutral and then all hell broke loose.  Most of bunch stayed together as Baku controlled the race by setting a high tempo.  Their plan was obviously to get Manan up for the sprint point.  I was feeling good so I wanted to constest the sprint.  My inexperience however meant that I never got close.  I couldn’t really move up fast enough and by the time I knew it we were over the sprint point and I was only about 15th on the road.  Lesson learnt.

I was still feeling good though so I decided to push on.  My new plan was to get Jonno to the bottom of the volcano and then get in the car.  I went back to the car and got some drinks.  Fed Jonno, made sure he ok then decided it was time to have an impact on the race.  I knew I only had about 10km left of my tour so I got on the front of the peloton and started swapping off turns with Buku.  We chased the breakaway hard in an attempt to close the gap before the climb started.  I must admit that swapping off turns at about 50km/h wasn’t easy, but was awesome fun pulling the pelo through the villages with school kids lining the sides of the road.IMG_3736 (FILEminimizer) IMG_3696 (FILEminimizer)

As we approached the bottom of climb it was job done and tour over.  I handed off my bottles and signalled the team car to pull over.  I got in knowing I had done what I had come to do and didn’t kill myself in the process.  I was satisfied with that.

The stage continued to the top of Mt Bromo, which is a hell of a climb and one which would take its toll on the team.  Luke pulled out after 10km of climbing simply unable to continue.  Passmore battled all the way to the finish, which in itself it an achievement, but unfortunately he just missed the time cut.  This left Jonno as the only rider left to continue on the final day.IMG_3360 (FILEminimizer) IMG_3295 (FILEminimizer) IMG_4012 (FILEminimizer) IMG_4016 (FILEminimizer)

Stage three, Sidoarjo – Mojokerto was the shortest stage of the tour and had the latest start time.  Jonno sat in the bunch for whole day until the climb and then put the bit between his teeth and went with leaders.  The climb was savage towards the finish and the actual finish line was on top of a section that would have to be around 20% gradient.  Jonno pushed it to the limited, and I yelled out of the car window as much as possible, and we ended up with a result of 15th on the stage and 16th overall for the tour.

As we start to reflect on what has been it’s pretty easy to see where we could have done things differently.  However we all survived our first tour in Asia and have had a pretty amazing time doing it.

The list of people to thank is endless, but I owe a few people a shout out.  Firstly, Mathew Upton, without whom this never would have happened.  Our thanks to Dome Coffees, and particularly Troy Blizard for the support and opportunity to showcase the Dome brand overseas, Derrin from Vayda Sports for supplying our kit which has been great, and Travis Keen for exceptional job looking after us over here on the tour.

Dinner, chicken and rice. Maybe a beer.

 

Tony Lendrum presents… Cycling in WA

This is an open invitation to all SPR members and friends and family to come and see a photography exhibition featuring cycling in WA from our favourite photographer Tony Lendrum.

We all know Tony – he is the guy sitting on the side of the road, or on the back of a motorbike, freezing his bum off while he takes photos of us racing all over WA.

Tony selflessly gives up his time nearly every weekend to be out and about with his camera, so it’s definitely time we show him some love and support his expo.

All of the photos will be available for purchase on the night and I can give you the hot tip – not only are there some awesome photos of cyclists and cycing in general, but there are also a few SPR riders featured.  So bring your money folks!

All details on the flyer below.

lendrum expo fb nero (Large)

Turbo with Toby – Monday Nights

Winter is coming.  This means less road miles and more hiding under a bridge attempting to keep warm, dry and fit.  Turbo with Toby is back on starting this Monday.

I’ve had a few people ask over the last couple of weeks if this is an open session that anyone can come and enjoy.  The answer is ‘Yes!’, anyone from SPR is welcome to come down and enjoy the sweaty vomitty fun.

Most of the sessions I run revolve around LTHR intervals.  This stands for Lactic Threshold Heart Rate.  We stress the body to a specified level for a pre-determined amount of time.  The underlying training theory being that we are attempting to improve the body’s ability to perform at a high output without producing so much blood lactate that the muscles need to stop working.  Basically we practice riding just below our threshold – as hard as you can without popping.

It all makes sense when you do it.

Other sessions include LTT intervals which stands for Lactate Tolerance Training – in which we deliberately ride over threshold to induce that all to familiar burn, in an attempt to become more familiar with the sensation of ouchy.  We learn to make pain out friend.

To do these workouts it important to establish what your ‘threshold’ is.  For those lucky enough to have a power meter threshold is typically expressed in watts.  Ie – someone may say “My threshold is 250 watts”.  This means that they believe they can produce 250 watts for an entended period of time before blowing up.  No for those of us who don’t run power meters we use heart rate to approximate our threshold.

There is a well established protocol to determine what your lactate threshold heart rate is.  It is basically a time trial effort where you ride as hard as you can for 20 minutes and then average your heart rate.  x 2.

I will be administering this protocol for anyone who is interested in jumping on the Turbo bandwagon this Monday, and the following Monday.  So if you want to be a bit more informed about your own physiology and to train a little smarter this winter then come on down.

Where and When – Under the narrows bridge.  South side. 6pm on Mondays.

What to bring – bike, turbo trainer (ergo/wind trainer etc whatever you call it), shoes, heart rate monitor, towel, water.

Click the link below for a testimonial I extracted during a recent session.

Ballam TTT

 

 

 

Drivers… Start your engines!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Tour de Perth is coming up quickly and we need your help with supplying drivers for the convoy for stage 3 & 4.  That is Saturday the 13th and Sunday the 14th of April.  It’s an awesome opportunity to get involved in a NRS race – be amongst the action without having to sweat!

Dome is supplying 3 Dome cars for the convoy which will be used as Race Official cars for the commissars and judges. Each of these cars needs a driver.  To be eligable to drive a car in a race like this you must have a Cycling Australia race license (either elite or masters).  You also need to be a confident driver as driving around a peleton can take some nerves and a lead foot.

The Dome Coffees Cycling Team is also looking for a driver and a mechanic.  This is also just for stage 3 & 4.  You will be driving a Prado in the convoy and will be doing things like passing bottles and food.  The mechanic will need to be able to change a wheel faster than greased lighting.

If this sounds like a fun weekend to you please leave a comment below outlining your availability and what type of driving you are interesting in – either driving Officals around or driving for the Dome Coffees Team.

You can also get in touch with the Dome Coffees Cycling Team on their facebook page : Dome Coffees Cycling Team

master of the sticky bidon?
master of the sticky bidon?

 

The annual roll through refresher

Chris has asked for some tips on rolling through correctly.  Here is the Rolling Through post from Cycling Tips that we tend to post once a year.  Enjoy.

Rolling Through

 

Whether you’re racing or just in a bunchride, have you ever been a part of a nice smooth paceline and all of a sudden you’re stuck on the front and no one else is rolling-through? You’re stuck there in the wind and for some unknown reason the riders who were nicely rolling turns with you are now just sitting on. Why is this?

There are a few possible reasons:

1. You’re leaving gaps and surging. When you get to the back and it’s your turn to jump in the fast lane you might not be doing it smoothly or possibly not be paying enough attention that it’s your turn. If you need to jump hard to get on the wheel ahead of you this is extremely annoying for the guy behind you. It only takes a few of these before the rider behind you says “forget it” and waits for another wheel. That means you’ll be the last wheel in the fast lane and when you pull off you’ll be left on the front with no one rolling through from behind.

Example: Cadel (BMC Red) is leaving gaps in the fast lane and Renshaw (HTC yellow/black) behind is getting fed up with Cadel’s surging to get on Schleck’s (yellow) wheel. Sooner or later Renshaw will say “f#$@ it…I’m getting off this wheel and waiting for a better one”.

Remedy? Pay attention and make sure you change into the fast lane when it’s your turn and get on the wheel in front smoothly. Don’t let any gaps open so you don’t need to surge.

2. The other mistake that people often make in a paceline is rolling through too hard. You’ll roll past the front rider at a much faster speed than he’s travelling, leave a gap, then force him to close it. This is probably the biggest mistake that people make. This is not the time to flex your muscle. If you do this more than a couple times you’ll find that the riders behind will quit following and hang you out to dry on the front.

Example: Cadel rolls-through hard on Schleck and Renshaw says “f@#$ this”, and pulls off in-between Schleck and Cadel. Cadel is hung out to dry.

Remedy? Rolling through in the fast lane should be smooth and only marginally faster than the slow lane. You then start pulling over ahead of the lead rider just after your back wheel is slightly ahead of his front wheel.  Then you slow down about 1km/hr and let the fast lane come through.

3. To add to the point above, if you don’t slow down after you switch into the slow lane it makes it extremely hard for the rider on the front of the fast lane to roll through ahead of you. If you keep doing this, the riders will eventually just pull over and sit behind.

Example: Cadel rolls-through nicely but keeps the gas on while in front of Schleck. Renshaw needs to do a 1500watt Cav-style lead-out in order to get past Cadel. Reshaw eventually backs off after a couple times of this and says “f#$% this…” and again Cadel is left at the front.

Remedy? When you make your way to the front be sure you slow down  so that guy on the front of the fast lane can easily make their way past you. Only about 1km/hr slower is all it takes. Sometimes I’ll even shift down a gear when I get to the front.

Now, if you’ve made any of these mistakes and you’re now caught at the front and no one is rolling through, whose responsibility is it to get the paceline running smoothly again? Answer: The rider either on second or third wheel behind you.

Example:

Let’s pretend in the photo above that Cadel (BMC red) is messing up the paceline again. He’s having a bad day and is leaving gaps in the fast lane and is now left on the front.

Matty Lloyd on second wheel (in polka dot jersey) is getting yelled at by the guys behind to “Roll Through!”. Even though it wasn’t Lloydy’s fault that Cadel is messing up his turns, it’s up to Lloydy to roll another turn since it’s the least amount of effort out of the bunch for him to do so. Gerro is on 3rd wheel (Sky blue). In order for the bunch to start the paceline again it’s up to Gerro to get on Lloydy’s wheel and others will follow suit.  If Lloydy hadn’t pick up the extra turn, it would have been up to Gerro to roll past Lloydy to get the paceline moving again. Knowing Gerro, as soon as he gets to the front he’ll blow the group to smithereens up the next climb. Nothing wrong with that. Respect.

Now Lloydy will roll to the front, smoothly pull off in front of Cadel, Gerro will do the same, and so on. The paceline has been kickstarted again.

Of course the fact that Cadel was always left at the front in these examples could be nothing more than a lazy guy in behind (perhaps a sprinter like Renshaw) and refused to roll-through!

Go Jonny Go Go!! Wembley Hotel the place to be!

Come on down to the Wembley Hotel this Sunday at 2pm to cheer on Jonny as he sticks it to the pros in the National Road Race in Ballarat.

After extensive research it has been determined that the Wembley Hotel is the most willing to host a bunch of diet coke drinking lycra lovers!

Preso Pete and Jonny’s girlfriend and soigneur extraordinaire Emma will be in the feedzone on the day doing their best to keep Jonny fueled and hydrated.  Perhaps we have an SPR drinking game here in the making – See Peter have a shot? Perhaps not…

Anyway, the Wembley also has a BBQ going from 3pm to 6:30pm, so it sounds like dinner is sorted too!

The Wembley Hotel, 344 Cambridge Street.  2pm Sunday.  Be there!

The telecast is delayed – so don’t be a spoiler and get the results early – come join in the fun.

Jonny on Fire!
Jonny on Fire!

Jonny is also racing the National Crit Championship which is on Thursday 7pm.