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| Here's the only photo I could find from this seasons racing at Kew Boulevard. L-R: Simon, Brendan Canty, Alex Ristovski and Ned Powell. |
Then when my racing licence expired at the end of the calendar year, I was seriously considering not renewing it. Afterall, at $350 per year, they're not cheap. In the end I decided to renew it, figuring that it was good to challenge myself physically by racing, and to give me motivation to keep fit and have a goal to train for. No that I actually did much serious training, just commuting really, a bit of time on the trainer while watching Coursera lectures, and the racing each week - that was about the extent of my training.
So I continued racing the Hawthorn Cycling Club criterium at Kew Boulevard just about every week thoughout the season. I was lacking confidence for the first race, given my lacklustre performance in the road season. However I finished 12th and felt better than expected.
The second race was a different story. Feeling more confident after the previous week, I went out in an early break with my mate Tom Christie, but then completely blew up, went straight to the back of the peloton and just about got dropped. The rest of the race was a real struggle, and only just managed to stay with the bunch, and finished in about 20th position.
The following week I missed the race because I got away from work too late, and the week after the race was sold out. This was unexpected, and I realised that if the races continued to sell out, I'd probably miss most of them because I'm no good at getting to races early. Luckily, however, Hawthorn CC introduced an online entry system at about that time, which meant I could always secure an entry each week - provided I remembered to enter online.
Compiling and looking back at my results now, I did better than I expected. Most of the races were well-attended, most at capacity (40 people) and with a handfull of big hitters most weeks. Although I was missing most of the breaks early in the season, I was still finishing strongly in the bunch sprint, and later in the season I got into some successful breaks, which is where my best results came from. In one of those breaks, on January 21 2015, with Alistair O'Donahue and Alan Iacuane, I led into the final corner and over-cooked it, hit the gutter and fell onto the gravel, though I got my foot down in time and mostly held myself up. Luckily I didn't take out the two guys behind me, and we were so far ahead of the bunch that I still had time to put my chain back on and ride up the hill to finish third.
That wasn't the only crash I had during the season. On November 19, 2014, I overlapped wheels with someone and he moved sideways and I couldn't keep the bike up. I hit the deck and unfortunately took out another couple of guys behind me, which I felt really guilty about. It was a rookie error, and my fault.
The most disappointing race for me was the second last race in the season, on March 18, 2015. This was also the Hawthorn Criterium Championships, and I figured I was in with a chance. I was racing agressively at the start and went out in an early break, but we got caught, and then I actually got dropped from the bunch. This was the first time I'd ever been dropped from the main bunch. I was still determined to finish the race and kept riding, until the bunch lapped me, then I rode around with the bunch to the finish. Only 10 people finished the race though, so I still finished 10th. That meant I was 4th in the Hawthorn Crit Championships, just off the podium.
Below is a table of my results and statistics for the season.
| Date | Result | Elapsed Time | Average Speed | Maximum Speed | Average Cadence | Average Heart Rate | Maximum Heart Rate | Average Power | Maximum Power | Temperature (°C) |
| October 8, 2014 | 12th | 32:53:00 | 43.0 | 67.3 | 95 | 168 | 187 | 291 | 1296 | 17 |
| October 15, 2014 | 20th | 36:40:00 | 42.5 | 61.6 | 94 | - | - | 281 | 1228 | 15 |
| October 22, 2014 | Missed Race | |||||||||
| October 29, 2014 | Sold Out | |||||||||
| November 5, 2014 | 6th | 44:00:00 | 42.0 | 60.5 | 96 | 175 | 196 | 283 | 1197 | 16 |
| November 12, 2014 | Race Cancelled | |||||||||
| November 19, 2014 | 5th | 45:28:00 | 41.2 | 68.4 | 95 | 169 | 199 | 255 | 1345 | 29 |
| November 26, 2014 | 6th | 39:47:00 | 41.9 | 68.4 | 96 | 170 | 194 | 272 | 1182 | 17 |
| December 3, 2014 | Missed Race | |||||||||
| December 10, 2014 | 11th | 36:25:00 | 42.3 | 62.6 | 96 | 169 | 188 | 277 | 1279 | 20 |
| December 17, 2014 | 8th | 19:38:00 | 42.5 | 63.7 | 96 | 171 | 195 | 271 | 1272 | 23 |
| December 24, 2014 | No Racing | |||||||||
| December 31, 2014 | No Racing | |||||||||
| January 7, 2015 | 5th | 32:36:00 | 41.1 | 68.0 | 97 | 185 | 202 | 313 | 1331 | 34 |
| January 14, 2015 | 4th | 41:49:00 | 41.6 | 60.1 | 95 | 175 | 197 | 269 | 1253 | 20 |
| January 21, 2015 | 3rd | 44:25:00 | 41.5 | 66.2 | 98 | 186 | 199 | 312 | 1264 | 34 |
| January 28, 2015 | 4th | 40:03:00 | 41.8 | 60.1 | 99 | 184 | 199 | 317 | 1187 | 24 |
| February 4, 2015 | 3rd | 44:21:00 | 41.7 | 73.8 | 97 | 176 | 197 | 267 | 1185 | 20 |
| February 11, 2015 | 9th | 38:12:00 | 42.3 | 67.0 | 96 | 175 | 194 | 286 | 1274 | 21 |
| February 18, 2015 | Sold Out | |||||||||
| February 25, 2015 | 9th | 37:25:00 | 43.6 | 61.9 | 96 | 182 | 195 | 303 | 1238 | 27 |
| March 4, 2015 | Sold Out | |||||||||
| March 11, 2015 | 10th | 43:08:00 | 43.1 | 64.4 | 96 | 176 | 193 | 287 | 1241 | 21 |
| March 18, 2015 | 10th | 43:32:00 | 42.7 | 64.8 | 96 | 178 | 194 | 304 | 1172 | 22 |
| March 25, 2015 | 8th | 37:31:00 | 43.5 | 70.6 | 96 | 175 | 192 | 289 | 1250 | 19 |
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