Jo Hogan: CT Blog

At the beginning of the year I set myself several goals, one of them being the 2010 Victorian State Championships. These three races are held in Geelong and also double as an Australian National Series Race.

I had an early set back when I broke my wrist in a criterium in January but things have been steadily improving since this forced break. While the accident cost me a trip to New Zealand to line up for the 2010 Women's Tour of New Zealand, it reinforced the importance of rest and recovery - an often overlooked aspect of our sport. I definitely came back stronger from having a month off and started building for the long season ahead.

Going into the State Championships I was keen to improve on my results from the previous year - especially my 25th place in the Time Trial. Since receiving a scholarship with the Victorian Institute of Sport I have been lucky enough to have a time trial bike to ride, which makes a massive difference in performance. Combined with another year of training, I was definitely confident that I could ride faster than in 2009.

The course was flat along the beach front in Portarlington and while I prefer a few more lumps and bumps in the road I knew it was going to be a hard course for everyone. This was especially true given the strong headwind on the return leg of the out and back course.

It was definitely hard pushing into the head wind. I remember seeing the 3kms to go sign and thinking surely they have got it wrong! I crossed the line and was uncertain what position I was in. I had my dad following me during the race, doing a lot of aggressive car beeping that definitely made me dig a bit deeper - thanks dad! I managed to take the win, with Kendelle Hodges my teammate coming 4th.

The next hurdle was the State Road Race in Anakie, Geelong.  The course presented itself with sharp climbs and steep descents. The peloton stayed together early in the race, but when we hit the hills it split and I was lucky enough to be in a break with four other girls: Laura Luxford, Anglea McClure, Zoe Watters and Myra Mollar.
We worked seamlessly and stayed together until mid way through the 2nd lap of the 47km circuit. Zoe was riding very strong but unfortunately had a mechanical problem just into the 2nd lap and lost touch with our group. With 15kms to go and a few minutes lead, it was Laura & I left in front. 5kms to go there was a quite steep switch back climb and I found an opportunity to attack. I put my head down and kept going until I crossed the line and was greeted by my excited parents and VIS support crew.

With one race remaining, the State Criterium race, I started to feel a bit more relaxed. The weather on the Sunday for the final race was not in our favour. The course was on the beach front in Geelong's Botanical Gardens.

It was a very windy and wet race, which made conditions quiet unsafe. With 4 laps to go the road was hardly visible and I was happy just sitting in a relatively safe position in the top 1/3 of the bunch. I was happy to finish without crashing; I came 7th across the line, with Jenny McPherson, my former teammate from Prime Estate, taking the win.

Several girls were injured during the course of the weekend, some seriously, and my thoughts are with them. While I know it is tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel, my recovery from the broken wrist I mentioned earlier has taught me that time off the bike is not the end of the world; that if you plan your comeback with a good coach you can exceed your pre-injury levels of performance very quickly.

I still find it hard to believe that I have achieved one of my goals set at the beginning of the year but it has not been without a huge amount of support and encouragement from my amazing coach Stuart McKenzie, the VIS, my good friend and masseur Andy Naylor (who works out of Arena Fitness in Cheltenham, 0430 204 707), my clothing sponsor St. Mel's (http://www.stmeldesign.com) and my friends and family.

 Next stop is the Worlds pre race in Ballarat on September 26th, then the big one, Australian National Road Titles in Jan 2011.