Sara Carrigan News

Post Race Reflections

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:36:37 +1000

Today is a day of reflection after the World Time Trial Championships yesterday and I can’t say that I am feeling at all happy or impressed with my result. I was 23rd, which is nowhere near what I was aiming for. I believed that top 10 was a realistic goal and was therefore thinking about top 5. I crossed the line smashed but was crushed when I found out that I had only finished 7th fastest with 20 riders still to finish.

Yes, it was definitely a demanding course but my legs had been good in the last few weeks leading up to the big event and I was feeling happy and confident. So, it was certainly a knife in the guts to have finished way off the pace. The good thing to emerge is that I know what work I now need to do to improve next year and I am super motivated.

The Road Race is on Saturday and it is predominantly the same course as the Time Trial, so we will all sit down together later today and talk about our race plan. So, with the TT behind me, I am keen for Saturday and will let you know how it goes.

Time Trial World Championships

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 13:02:08 +0100

Sara raced the Time Time at the World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany yesterday. Finishing in 23rd position, Sara's time was only 2mins 30secs down on the Gold Medal winning ride, held over the tough and testing 25.1 kilometre course.
A full race report is available on cyclingnews.com

All eyes are now firmly focused Satuday's 133km Road Race. We're all cheering ya Sara!

Send your support to fanmail@saracarrigan.com

The Countdown ..... Begins

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:33:39 +0100

It's official.
The Countdown on saracarrigan.com has begun.

"Great Wall" - Diary Update

Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:14:37 +0100

I have just returned back home to Belgium after being in France for two weeks where we were staying in school accommodation without internet! However, I am now back in the land of the living and last time I wrote was just before I was to contest a 6day tour in Germany called, Thüringen Rundfhart, which translates as the Tour of Thüringen. ‘Thüringen’ is actually a region in the Eastern part of Germany and I must say it has been amazing to witness the transformation of the area since I first competed there in 1999. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and even 10years after its demolishment, there still remained an apparent difference between the East and West. However, with almost another 10years on and with an abundance of money having been poured into the area, the decrepit, toneless buildings and drab, greyness of the area have almost disappeared and the East is now hardly distinguishable from the West.

2005 was the last time I raced the Thüringen Rundfahrt, which was the year that the tragic accident occurred that took the life of our Australian team mate, Amy Gillett and hospitalised five other Australian team-mates. I visited the beautiful stone that has been constructed on the side of the road where Amy was struck down. I quietly remembered her as I placed a flower in her honour alongside the many other fresh pink flowers, which was her choice colour.

Despite the sad memories, the racing went well and I had a great time trial (TT) that helped me gain selection for the World Championships to be held in Stuttgart, Germany in a month’s time. The team was officially announced about 2weeks ago and I will be competing in both the TT and the road race. I went to check out the course in Stuttgart a couple months ago as it has been touted as one of the hardest worlds circuits yet. It will definitely pose a challenge but will be conquered, that’s for sure!

Actually, speaking of sussing courses, I am just so pumped after having seen the course in Beijing and am very grateful that I was given the opportunity to travel and check it out. We (Cadel Evans, Mick Rogers, Oenone Wood, Phil Thaux, and Cameron Meyer) flew business class on the exact flight that we will most probably take next year so as to experiment with how we would be affected by the jet lag. China is 6hrs in front of Europe and 2hrs behind Australia so at one stage there were thoughts of conducting a training camp in Oz before the Games. However, the flights worked really well and none of us suffered too greatly from the flight. It was an ideal time to travel to Beijing as there was a test event for the men over both the road race and TT courses. Not only were we able to ride over the course but we also had the opportunity to walk on the greatest wall in the world, the Great Wall of China, which is where the TT starts and finishes! It is an absolutely amazing construction….how they were able to build it all those 1000’s of years ago is beyond comprehension as it doesn’t wind around the mountains or through the valley, it goes straight up and over! We gathered much data on the course but I won’t reveal too much just yet…

For now, I am concentrating on fine tuning for the upcoming Worlds, which are in just under a month’s time. I have a one day TT this weekend and two days later, a 5day tour in France. This week of racing will provide a great loading block leading into the Worlds.

So, until then, keep smiling,

Sara.

NEWSFLASH ...... Sara 2nd in TT

webguy@saracarrigan.com — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 10:34:42 +0100

Sara finished 2nd overnight in a Time Trail in Italy. Full details and results to follow.

"Livigno"- Diary Update

pr@saracarrigan.com — Wed, 1 Aug 2007 02:44:44 +0100

Being my 7th year here, Livigno feels like my second home. I always feel so focused, happy and relaxed here and training is just the best to rebuild for the second half of the season. It is a small town in the mountains at an altitude of 1870m on the Swiss-Italian border and attracts skiers galore in the winter and many cyclists and shoppers in the summer. Livigno is a tax free province so many avid shoppers travel here to grab a bargain on clothes, electronics, shoes, perfume and petrol, which is only 70cents per litre!

I am telling a slight untruth because I am actually staying at Stelvio this year, which is a ski resort at 2760m, 1000m higher than Livigno. There is not much up here, no shops no Internet, and no TV in the rooms, just awesome views! (photo 1) So, regular trips are made down this beast of a mountain to Livigno to entertain ourselves when we are not so hammered from training. I am up here with the Aussies, who are holding a 3week training camp directed by our country’s top sports scientist, Dave Martin. He organised a research grant to ascertain as to what extent altitude benefits performance and what affects it has on an athlete’s physiology. It was decided to conduct the camp up at Stelvio instead of Livigno because of it being 1000m higher. I definitely know altitude-training works for me because in the past I have always experienced awesome form afterwards. So, I wonder if being at another 1000m higher will heighten my form spike even more? Well one thing for certain is that climbing home up this 25k berg each day is bound to have its own benefits!

Being a lack of oxygen up here, there are a few things to be aware of when first arriving at altitude and these are headaches, nauseas, blood noses, restless sleeping, dehydration and an increase in appetite. Most of these subside after a few days so the first week of training must always be relatively easy to allow the body to adjust to the change. The weather is also something to get used to! Today is a beautiful, sunny 30degree day but the first few days after we arrived, there was a snow blizzard, which I found really quite exciting! (photo 3) Stelvio is one of the few places where it is possible to ski throughout the whole of summer however ironically the mountain is only open in the summer because there is too much snow to remain open in the winter! Check out the differences between these two photos with a just a week separating the time the two were taken!

The Stelvio is a mountain that is well renown and highly respected amongst all cyclists, and many social riders travel afar to conquer this beast. There are 3 ways up the mountain with one side starting in Switzerland. This side is 18k and the other 2 sides are 25k and 22k. During our stay, a Gran Fondo (fun ride) was held up the 22k side of Stelvio. There were over 3000 riders who lined up for a bit of fun as well as hundreds of crazy runners! The unbelievable thing was that one runner reached the top in an hour and half…this is the time it takes me to ride up! It was a really fun day and at the top, everyone was awarded a medal as well as a jersey.

Another cool thing about staying up this little bit higher is the Edelweiss flower. The sweet Italian man at reception gave me a couple of these special flowers and told me that they only grow above 2000m. They are just beautiful; I have never seen a flower like it. (photo 7) I also have to show you this photo of the little utes they use up here in this terrain…(photo 8) The mountains really are nothing like we have in Oz. The narrow roads switch back and forth up towards the sky and the road signs kindly count down these switchbacks as you make your way up climb after climb after climb…there aint much flat when in the mountains! (Photo 9) It is absolutely amazing how so many years ago they were able to build roads over this steep, hungry country and even more amazing to watch the occasional bus perform its 3 point turn around every switchback. To give you a bit of an idea of the profile of the training rides over the past 3weeks, check out one of my Polar Heart Rate files of one of the days. The blue line is speed, the red line is my heart rate and the brown line is the profile.

The training camp has now come to an end and I will test out my ‘new’ legs in Thuringen Rundfahrt, which is a 6day tour in Germany starting Tuesday. I will then travel to China to reconnoitre the Olympic course, which I must say I am very, very excited about! I will let you know how it goes and fill you in on my thoughts of the course, which is apparently supposed to go along/over the ‘Great Wall of China’! The countdown has certainly begun…only 383days to go!

Ciao for now,

Sara

"Oh Canada"- Diary Update

pr@saracarrigan.com — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:29:09 +0100

I arrived back ‘home’ in Belgium yesterday from Canada and after a successful first half of the season, I am now going to enjoy a week’s rest. The racing in Canada with the Aussies went well, relishing in a win on the 2nd last day of the Prince Edward Island Tour. (picture #1)

Our racing first began in Montreal, which is in the French speaking part of Canada in the Quebec province. The French language was really the only thing that resembled any European influence, as the many large cars, wide roads and hefty-sized meal helpings soon reminded me that I was in America. We stayed in the dorms of the ‘University of Montreal’ for the first week, which had much to be desired… The communal showers with thongs were a real treat! However, with our rooms on the 8th floor, we were blessed with wonderful views over the city. (see picture #2) It rained almost every day for the first 10days so by the end of the tour most of the riders had caught the flu or had come down with some sort of sickness.

One of the days was truly amazing where we started with dry roads but the thickest, blackest clouds I had every seen quickly closed in with raging winds and unleashed the most monstrous rain drops, and we were drenched in seconds. The drainage system couldn’t cope with the sudden downpour and I kid you not, we were riding through water that came up to our knees! I wish I had a photo of this, as I didn’t think it would be possible to ride through such a depth of water but our skinny tyres ploughed through the raging torrent and we made it to the finish with surprisingly relatively few crashes.

The day after the Montreal Tour, we travelled from Montreal to Prince Edward Island for the 5day Tour de P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island). The organisers thought it a great idea to transport all the athletes together in buses, but this day was the first day of sun we had seen in Canada since arriving and it was a 15hour trip! With most of the riders coughing and some with a fever it was not a pleasant trip, and nor was it the best way for the legs to recover for the next bout of racing. Even though I was still in good health, my tiredness threshold had been reached, my legs ached and I was experiencing one of those ‘why am I cyclist?’ moments. Nevertheless, we arrived at our hotel on the island at midnight and after a good night’s sleep, I awoke with renewed vigour and enjoyed the beauty of the Island in perfect weather on a lovely 2hour recovery ride to roll the legs out. (see picture #3)

The Island is actually the home of ‘Anne of Green Gables’ so it was really cool to check out the set and enjoy a few of the touristy things. (see pic #4) It was the inaugural year for the Tour de PEI and we were treated like queens with wonderful hotels, huge buffet banquets and a wonderful reception from all the locals. Most of them had never seen a bike race before so they were in absolute awe at the distances and speeds with which we raced.

The bridge that connects that island to the mainland is called the Confederation Bridge and the organisers received permission to close this 14k bridge to traffic for one of our stages, which was a 28k Time Trial. A policeman was telling me that this was something really special because never before have bikes been allowed to cross the bridge. They have a lot of people who ask for dispensation but the answer has always been a negative. Whilst I felt special in being able to race my bike over the bridge, it was one of the hardest time trials I have ever done!

Due to safety reasons, the organisers had plans of cancelling the time trial over the bridge if the winds exceeded 35km/h…well I am certain the wind was well and truly over this speed because we had a raging tail wind for the first 14k, sitting on 60-65km/h to the turn around! This was fun but then of course we had a gruelling block head wind on the way back to the finish, which wasn’t pretty!

However, life on tour is rarely pretty… it is certainly not all ‘beer and skittles’. It exposes the worst and best in each team member as everyone is tried and tested and pushed to the maximum. One day you can be reduced to a blubbering mess wondering how it is possible to even turn one pedal stroke and the next day you can feel like ‘ten men’! Tours are certainly a time of self discovery in pushing what you thought were your limits, to new levels. I always learn a lot about myself in an emotional, mental and physical sense and have found that positivity is the key to both surviving and excelling in tours.

The dynamics of the team is also of paramount importance because everyone rides off the back of each other both in a literal (on the bike) and emotional sense. However, having won, lost or drawn, there is hardly a greater feeling in the world than crossing that finish line on the final day of a grand tour. The feelings of fatigue, strain, exhaustion and vulnerableness are soon overcome with an inner glow of satisfaction, fulfilment, accomplishment, pleasure and wholeness. I usually don’t know whether to cry, laugh or jump for joy so I usually celebrate with all three!

Sara

Sara's Canada Photos Online now.

pr@saracarrigan.com — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:19:09 +0100

Photo's are up from Sara's recent Tours in Canada.

note from the webguy

webguy@saracarrigan.com — Wed, 4 Jul 2007 23:35:10 +0100

Apologies to anyone who received duplicate emails or RSS feeds recently, and for some delayed and undelivered emails to Sara. A few teething problems were experienced with the emails and updates (I of course blame Sara's nomadic occupation and the extra mobile email configuration with which it requires), but hopefully it's all smooth pedaling from here.

For any questions or enquiries, just drop me a line at webguy@saracarrigan.com. And feel free to send through any complaints... ... and I'll forward them to Sara .