Racing TT's, UCI gran fondo qualifiers and ebay sales

This week has been a good training week..finally!

I  bought a countdown timer from ebay called GymBoss max

for abt $40 which has made intervals much easier to deal with.  Instead of watching a line crawling across my computer monitor from the Catalyst program in my TACX iMagic, I can now watch any thing I choose and the count down watch thingy tells me when to change to another effort or rest.  With  intervals of 4  mins x 1 then 1min  x 12 then 4 mins x 1 a count timer with a good memory is sort of very necessary. 

Balancing that purchase were 3 wheels I sold last week..a Zentis 4 spoke, a Miche disc and a Corima 4 spoke wheel set.  Yay!..the family can eat again!  The first 2 were unwise purchases a coupla years ago and have barely been used.  The Corima wheelset is about 8 years old and the front wheel has been used more than the rear...the  buyers got really good deals and I'm glad to get rid of them making space in my bike room and putting $$ in my pocket.

Next up for sale are the FSA compact cranks (50/34) and well used,

the Fiz;ik Ares K:iumTT saddle of previous post fame  (2 rides only)

and a brand new Dura ace 7900  10 speed right hand side crank only  ..spider and gears..53/39 ( I've got the SRM crank etc  so I didn't need this one).

After last week's issue with comfort, I changed my possie a bit and also reverted back to my previous saddle.  I was also incredibly over generous with the chamois cream.  The net (or perhaps gross!) effect...no comfort issues at all  and with that problem out of the way I now just need to get fit!  This week's race was at the Yarra Boulevard, which is not my favourite course since it exposes my weakness...TT'ing up hill.  The race is 2 laps and although each quarter was slightly  slower than the one before, it wasn't by much.

Actually I did have a mechanical issue with both brake pads refusing to snap back open once applied, so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!!.  I'll be getting them fixed this week. Needless to say there was no PB , but I'm improving.

Next weekend no race and then another TT followed by the 3 day 4 race weekend.

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I've just been updating myself on the UCI World Masters"tour" and its resultant finals races  for the rainbow jersey which are being held in Belgium.  I note with wry amusement that the rules have recently changed to allow for a larger proportion of riders to qualify,  quote follows:

"Granting of participation rights for the UWCT Final
Each UWCT event will grant participation rights for the UWCT Final,  the Amateur World Championships. By the end of each race, the first 25% athletes of each age group, with a minimum of 3 riders per age group, will be awarded with guaranteed entry to the UWCT Final and be able to race for the World Champion title. The winners of the slots will be announced on the UWCT website. This decision was made in consideration to women who often race in small groups, with less than 10 participants per age class, limiting the "25% Best" to one rider. The new system will also benefit elder age groups and increase the competitiveness for the World Champion title." (my bold and underlined)  and  I think it should say.."limiting the best 10%"

Confusion reigns in my brain...is it saying there have to be a min number of 3 riders in the age group for there to be an age group or is it that there will be at least 3 qualifiers in each age group?? I suspect the latter but if the former(and the UCI is well known for this sort of hurdle) can anyone tell me what 25%  of 3 riders is?? 


Checking the same website, 

There have been 3 qualifying rides so far, the ones in Aus and Portugal seem to be pretty straightforward gran fondos, but the New York one was interesting from a qualifying POV.  The ride was  172km long BUT the only time of it that counted towards qualifying was the sum of  the times you posted for the 4 climbs....weird.


The finals courses:

Time trial and quoting again from the same source:

"It will be both for time trial specialists and climbers ........After 9,2 kilometers, riders leave the bikepath on the railroad and discover the very steep climb of Floriheid. The altitude at the bottom is 352 meters. On top after exactly 1 kilometer, altitude has gone up to 462 meters which means the average gradient is 11% with maximum pieces of 20%.   .....On top riders take a deep dive towards Malmédy to join back the old railroad back towards Stavelot. Here riders will cross each other on a 2,5 meter wide road".

Road race: too long to quote but its a 4 loop,110km  course and appears very hilly...there doesn't seem to be any mention of a shorter course for older age groups although the first 68km loop is said to be "not too difficult" so maybe  that will be the parcours for the oldest age grouping, which is 65+

I dunno, but what I'm seeing are tough courses for the younger masters age grades.  I wait with interest to see how many of the qualifiers will attend and who will be going to St Johann either instead of or as well as Belgium.