Davina Summers

Profronde Stiphout- 60k crit

Tuesday 28th July 2010

A post-tour de France criterium, the Swabo girls have been talking about this all week. Obstacle #1: Race is 2 hours drive away, option 1: catch the train, it will cost about 40 Euros (that is expensive!) plus 6 Euros each way for my bike, option 2: borrow the team car and drive a stick on the wrong side of the road. I take option 2 and in a whirl-wind of maps I arrive at the race well early to get the best parking spot right out the front of permanence. I have a little nap and wait for my teammates to arrive and permanence to open.

The course was a rectangle with a dog-leg in it, mostly on bricks and a little longer (about 1.7k around) than most of the courses I had raced on. There was a waitlist for the start for some of the girls that had not pre-registered, with about 80 women on the startline.

It was a battle of the teams to begin with, which is awesome to watch but it takes me the first 40 mins to ride into the race (with my more endurance based training) and then I come to life (so to speak). There were attacks and premes everywhere, Chantel Blaak cleaning up in the premes and being generally very impressive.

With about 10 laps to go, an attack finally stuck, Kate Bates (AIS) and two other team riders (I am still learning who is who, sorry) attacked off the front. If you wanted to be in the running to win the race you had to be in it. Chantel Blaak went at the same time I did, I would like to say that we worked to bridge to the break, but in fact she towed me all the way there, she is a machine. Belinda Goss and another rider also bridged making a break group of 7. I was pretty sure we had most of the dominate teams represented and the bunch would be reluctant/unable to chase. I was sucking big air just to stay with the girls and knowing I would not win the sprint I (tried) to attack with 1 lap to go, at least to give Kate Bates a little break from pulling at the front. Kate did an impressive lead-out for Belinda Goss (AIS) to take the win.

Top 5 Results (Full Results):

1. Belinda Goss (AIS)

2. Annemiek van Vleuten (Nederland Bloeit)

3. Chantal Blaak (leontiel.nl)

4. Arenda Grimberg (Merida)

5. Davina Summers (SwaboLadies)

I caught up with some of my previous Nashua teammates who were also at the race, it was great to see them. The Swabo girls went out for some interesting pub dinner and a night with Andy and Contador (as you do).

July 30th, 2010 | Tags: Holland, Stiphout, SwaboLadies | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

Dwars door de Westhoek

Team Presentation

UCI1.2 Belgium, July 18^th

I managed to find my way to Swift (our cycling club house) with my Leiden road map placed firmly on my handlebars (it is times like these that I wished I had of spent more money on the bigger/better Garmin to get me around). The Team Director; Hans and Stella were picking me up from Swift for the 3 hr trek in the car to the little remote corner of Belgium, known as de Westhoek (it is almost in France). Today we had a UCI 1.2 one day race complete with bergs and small narrow dangerous descents, some wind and some cobbles..err…rocks. A little bit of something for everyone!

I was keen to see fellow Aussie, Miffy Galloway today. It was going to be great to see a smiling Aussie face! The Dutch are really nice, but everyone loves an Australian.

All the usual pre-race prep and team presentation were completed. We had a few SwaboLadies racing today: Guusje Vrehen (NED), Sofie Horik (NED), Stella Blom-Visser (NED), Emily Collins (NZL), Tracy Best (NZL), Davina Summers (AUS), Miffy Galloway (AUS). The field of 140 riders was solid.

The first hill (and biggest) started about 15k in, I was not looking forward to it. I expected that the race would start really fast, but it was fairly steady into the start of the climb and there was a few twitchy wheels. The five climbs were consecutive from about 15k to 50k. We were warned of a narrow and technical descent after the first climb, even still, girls took chances and as expected came off. I remember riding past this one girl who was screaming (in a language that I could not understand), so I am not sure if she was letting us know that she was there (as the path was so narrow) or that she was very badly hurt. Girls started dropping fast, and after the final climb there was 1 girl away solo and we were a bunch of about 60. The pace dropped off a bit allowing about another bunch of about 30 behind to roll back on. I took this opportunity to feed and get some bottles for my teammate in the bunch, Emily.

We approached the circuit part of the race (~9kms round) for 7 laps and the pace was on. Another rider went off the front, I actually thought about going with her, but was actually suffering quite a bit so decided to stay put. I thought both riders away would get pulled back, but they were one each from the two dominate teams and there was not enough incentive for the bunch/remaining teams to chance. The circuit was solid, with a massive cobbled section of about 1km (I thought my bike was going to break every time we went over it and tried my best to work out how to ride on that sort of road, cyclocross or mountain biking is really not my thing) and this cobbled section was the final section for the sprint finish…insane. A few turns into narrow streets/paths and a massive headwind section. It was awesome, love it, in a crazy sort of way.

I did my best to position for the finish, but it is still a work in progress…I finished 18^th in the bunch. A great day of racing with the SwaboLadies. Unfortunately, Miffy had a bad day and crashed hard during the race, we visited her at the First Aid post and she was taken back to Holland for x-rays on her elbow.

Results

I am racing most days, either a race or a training criterium. I will endeavour to write them up some more so everyone can see the craziness I am up to.

tot ziens,

Davina.

July 22nd, 2010 | Tags: Belgium Racing, Dwars door de Westhoek, SwaboLadies | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

So, before I know it, the Giro is over and I am in Holland. I have arranged to race with a Club Team here; SwaboLadies http://www.swaboladies.nl/ Now I have inserted the website more for a pictorial overview (unless your Dutch is better than mine!). Spanish, Italian and now Dutch…I am sticking with Span-glish and still find myself saying “Hola” when I enter a shop. Back to the website, for those of you who know how much I love pink, this team is definitely for me, what is hotter than hot pink and white?

I am staying with a lovely girl my age (Ekaterina; who is a Political Science academic at a nearby university) in a fabulously located (but somewhat tiny) apartment in Leiden. I met with the Team Manager and some of the girls at a training crit last night. I am doing my very best to get well. If not by the end of this week, I am likely to come home. The weather here is not quite as nice as what we had for the Giro (summer sunshine smiling on you all day), but that is okay as there is a serious lack of air-conditioners in Holland…and with my temperature regulation/tolerance not being one of my strong points, a little milder weather will be just fine.

I decided against racing today in Belgium, just want to get healthy. But I was very much in two minds, I do love to race. We have two races on the weekend, a local one here about 50k away Saturday and a UCI1.2 in Belgium on Sunday. The results for the Holland races will be posted on this website: http://wielerpunt.regioproviders.nl/ Down the left hand column are the races, then look for the ones with vrouwen (women) as one of the categories.

I had forgotten the sheer amount of bike here, you think finding a decent bike store would also be easy. For the past 2 days I have ridden around with a map on my handlebars, yesterday I ventured to Noordwijk Aan Zee (for all intensive purposes- the ocean, and kiddies, the beach was nothing compared to Perth beaches). Tomorrow I am planning an outing to the lighthouse at Den Haag.

Resting and eating well…very pleased to be able to send you a massive smile from Holland.

July 15th, 2010 | Tags: Europe Racing, Holland, SwaboLadies | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

Stage 3 (ITT) and beyond- Giro Donne (Giro d’Italia Femminile)

Italy (for the most part), July 2-11 2010

Today I woke feeling pretty darn average, at the time, I thought I was just a little fatigued, but now in hindsight, I can clearly see I was starting to be terribly sick. I will spare you the details of my inability to wear contacts for the day and breath properly, and instead I put on a brave face “talking myself up for the TT”.

(any beyond) The race was only just beginning, and by the day I was feeling more and more terrible. The stages past by in a snotty blur until I could not do it anymore, somewhere through Stage 7. I could not get enough air into my lungs to breath for riding. I was heartbroken…and just broken in general.

The final stages were through beautiful scenery, and the girls were pushed to their limits.

Bizkaia have been fantastic and such fun, well organised and a professional unit (to be expected from a UCI team). I feel honoured to have been able to race with them. You know when you are part of the organisation/gathering, and there is always one table that is having the most fun- that was us for this tour. Once all of the work was done, the support guys would bring ‘Spanish Water’ to the table and drink it all. To the girls, who were awesome, thank you for welcoming me with big cheek kisses and smiles. Learning Span-glish could never be more fun!

July 15th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

Stage 2- Giro Donne (Giro d’Italia Femminile)

Italy (for the most part), July 2-11 2010

I am starting to feel my legs and not that flash in general, seriously, I am only 2 days in. It was 130k, less dodgy than yesterday as it was less technical, but massive crash in the final 1-2k. At least 4 Aussies came down, (Kirsty Braun, Tiff Cromwell, Emma Mackie, Rochelle Gilmore), Emma Pooley got away with some minor scrapes, but her team mate; Sharon Laws- a broken collarbone. I was just behind it off to the left, it happened on the right and sprayed across to the left. I managed to break in time in run into the mess on the ground, step over it and roll to the line.

Nothing much interesting happened during the race, the little hill was almost good to break up the roll of the race. The sprinter teams wanted it come down to a sprint and there was not enough hills/incentive for the other teams to make a break. I thought about it, and one rider did a solo move off the front and she was brought back in when the time was right. Poor girl. I got a little sunburnt and it was 40 degrees, not that I am complaining…I hear that home is really cold.

For the most part, I have an endless supply of Frizzante (Soda Water), they serve it like tap water here…so all along I have just been getting into the European way of doing things… we have been staying in a really nice hotel, with a nice restaurant.

July 15th, 2010 | Tags: Bizkaia Durango, Europe Racing, Giro | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

Giro Donne (Giro d’Italia Femminile)

Italy (for the most part), July 2-11 2010

http://www.girodonne.it/portale/ (if your Italian is good)

Cyclingnews have been posting results (just a little delayed).

Race summary, so you know what I have coming up:

stage 01 – july 02.  59km Flat. biggest climb 71m vertical.

stage 02 – july 03.  130km Flat. 1 climb @60km 158m

stage 03 – july 04.  16.9km TT Flat.

stage 04 – july 05.  90km Flat.

stage 05 – july 06.  122km Lumpy.  6 climbs @ 15km, 35km, 55km, 75km, 95km, 115km. each 100-200m.

stage 06 – july 07.  116km Lumpy. 3 climbs @ 50km, 65km, 80km. each 100-200m.

stage 07 – july 08.  110km Mountains.  2 climbs @ 15km (15km long, up 800m), @ 80km (10km long, up 500m)

stage 08 – july 09.  93km Mountains. 2 climbs @ 0 km (35km long, up 1500m), @ 60km (15km long, up 500m)

stage 09 – july 10.  68km Mountains.  1 climb @ 50km (18km long, up 1300m)

stage 10 – july 11.  115km Flat.

To give you some perspective, a Sunday hills ride in total is about 1100-1300m of climbing, with all of the climbs joined together. Stage 7,8 and 9 are incredible and I think stage 9 is at altitude…

My team:

• Monica (my roommate and translator, she is Mexican, so speaks Spanish and English) crashed twice and DNF in Stage 1, I feel bad for her. She will get to watch us suffer for the next few days.
• Polona (like the meat polony but with a “a” on the end instead of “e”, she is the Slovakian National Champ) she seems strong.
• Cristine (we converse through sign language)
• Ana (she has funky hair and cannot speak or understand a word of English, but through translation seems very cool)
• Ariadna (it is likely that she or Polona will be our GC rider once we hit the mountains).
• Dorleta (she is the sprinter, very funny chick, she greeted me with two big cheek kisses, thank goodness she repeated English in High School)

They are all lots of fun.

For support we have:

Jon (Director Sportif) a very serious, but caring Spanish man.

Denis (they pronounce it Denise), Team Manager

Thillis and Gary for massage (this is their shortened phonetically spelt names as there is no way I can pronounce either of their full names). Thillis is classic European (think Fabio).

Andiot (or similar) as our mechanic, he is a machine.

They are all trying to learn English…which is great, because my Spanish really needs work.

Rach Neylan (who should be here racing, but is not able to be because of injury) has written up a bit of a note on the Giro, apparently there is 15 Aussies completing, this is awesome!

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2010/07/aussie-pro-cyclists-set-to-take-on-the-tour-this-week/ It is also interesting the comments that this post has created from the men.

Stage 1:

First race down. It was pretty tough (perhaps that may have just been my aeroplane legs from flying in only 2 days earlier), there was lots of crashes and sketchiness everywhere, stage 1 jitters perhaps. Thankfully, I stayed upright.

I was the designated sprinter for the finish, by default I think. The rest of the team very much seem to be climbers. Now that I know I did not die, it was really fun. The course was short (60k) but quite technical with lots of corners, more like a circuit race, except the corners kept changing, so once you got the hand of one circuit, we moved to the other.

In the finish, I would have been in the running for about 15-20th (I think, which is not really impressive, I am well aware) when with about 150m to go the girl in front of me sprinted up past the girl in front of her (one was from Lotto, not sure on the other some blue kit from memory), I couldn’t go any faster to go with her (it was all strung out and had been for the past 5kms at least) and then they collided (there was only the two of them and we are stomping they must have locked handlebars or hit something in the road, it was really random as no one else was around, the girls and their bikes went everywhere across the road) I grabbed a handful of brakes and went around it, but by this time had wiped most of my speed off and strung out bunch came flying past one by one. I was also pretty much totally stuffed so then just rolled through the line. I reckon another 30 girls went past me. So, maybe 50th something…

The team is great. Thank goodness I threw in my TT bars for the TT coming up…it will be hard to do well against the teams with full blown TT bikes, aero helmets, disc wheels…it would not have been worth it taking the TT bike, but geez I will miss it. I have been really enjoying doing a couple of TTs of late. Race wheels would really be nice, I do wish I had brought some. Although I would have likely had to pay excess…you should have seen me talk my way out of that the whole way here…impressive I was. But I have hardly packed anything, there is a great deal of wearing the same thing and looking like a feral. As I said to Lisa the other day, international racing is not all glamorous (well for the women anyway).

I’m just taking 1 day at a time…and feeling incredibly honoured to be part of such an amazing race.

July 15th, 2010 | Tags: Bizkaia Durango, Europe Racing, Giro Donne 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

WA State Individual Time Trial Championships- Dardanup 24.1km

Dardanup is about 2 ½ hours drive south of Perth, a long way to go for 24kms, I am aware. I still would have liked to seen more women come out and support this event, making it a better race. The conditions were pretty good, the wind was up and in typical Dardanup style felt like it was coming from you in every direction.

Results (top 5-thanks to ATTA):

Davina Summers 0:18:33 0:18:11   0:36:44

Bec Halliday 0:19:17 0:19:08   0:38:25

Lorraine Schutz 0:19:34 0:19:45   0:39:19

Lisa Wood 0:20:24 0:20:25   0:40:49

Deb Visentin 0:20:49 0:20:34   0:41:23

July 4th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

Canberra Tour May 3-5

So, the background for this tour goes something like:

On the way from work to Monday night training (entries about to close at this point in time): Davina (through speaker phone): randomly ranting about the lack of long hills in Perth, small number of women racing on the weekend etc

Coach: ah, hu…

Davina: actually, there is a NRS race in Canberra next week, the hills are big there, perhaps that would be good to do.

Coach: That would be great, if it can fit in with work. It will be training though, and pretty tough, you will have to mentally prepare for that. At least you will be able to see where you are at. We can talk about using some training goals to focus on.

Davina: There will be some good climbers going, competition should be good. I will work on a plan, see if the entries are still open and let you know. (hang-up).

During the course of the training evening, I started to think it was not such a good idea, in fact perhaps a silly idea as I was going to likely get flogged, without a taper, on such a hilly course…perhaps that would not be very motivating in the middle of my training block. Perhaps I have been training too hard and I cannot think straight (this is highly likely). As it was potentially a bit rash, I seeked a second opinion from someone who is also highly involved in my training, at the end of the session.

Davina: Coach and I are thinking about sending me to Canberra Tour next week for some extra special hill training. What do you think?

Trainer: (long pause) I think that would be really good for you right now.

So in a whirlwind of re-confirming with Coach that it was a good idea, entering and booking some tickets etc, I was now going to NRS- Canberra Tour, next week. YIKES. As expected, it was tough…and the moto for the weekend was; “show me what you have left”. Good training though, well done to Lisa Jacobs (soon to be Europing it with the National Team-wishing her all the best) and Jo Hogan (& team, who put in another strong performance and made the racing).

July 4th, 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off

McDonalds’ Richard’s Bay Circuit Race

Sunday 22^nd March 2010

Owen Botha (Team Owner) is from this region of South Africa, so he was very keen that we support and do well at this race. After an 8 hour drive from home in Pretoria to Richard’s Bay (on the east coast) on Saturday we arrived to be greeted by two of NASHUA junior team (local girls; Danni and Heidi DALTON) and their family.

We woke early on race day to pouring rain and were all a bit concerned about the safety of the race with the technical aspects in the weather. The race course had numerous, newly laid speed humps. Although covered with conveyor belt to ‘soften the blow’, the conveyor belt was slippery due to the rain. Carpet off-cuts would have been a better option.

We started at 6:55am with the Vet men (40+) in a bunch of 70-80 riders. It is always an interesting racing dynamic when the women are racing with the men, a race within a race almost. The Biz Hub team had travelled up from Jo-berg and Mr Price Cycling Team were supporting the race, both teams out numbering us, it was going to be a good race. We had taken the Aussie contingent of the Team (Jessie, Liz and myself), in addition to the two local juniors who were riding up in the elite race for experience.

The course was essentially flat with two small drags on the circuit each time around. The men dictated the moves and pace for the most part. The women put in some good attacking moves on the second lap in an effort to get away, until Biz Hub rider, Catherine Williamson flatted at the front. In the spirit of racing, we eased up to allow her a wheel change.

Less than half a lap later, whilst avoiding the strip speed bumps, I hit a large pot hole and also required a wheel change. Both Catherine and I re-joined the bunch successfully. The race seemed destined for a sprint finish and with the technical, (criterium-like) corners for the finish it would suit us.

With a few kms to go, we were getting organised and into good position with a lead out train. Biz Hub were also doing a similar thing close-by. Some of the men were taking flyers up the side or attempting to push in on the trains, with some of the stronger guys on the front pulling, as they had been all day.

With about 1km to go, with riders understanding the importance of good positioning leading into the finish, the real jostling started and ended a little messy with a couple of the men going down in a crash. Jessie did a great job of positioning and protecting me for the finish and it went exactly as we had planned. I kicked past the final lead-out men, was first into the final right corner and held it until the line. There was a fast-finishing male, coming up behind me, but he had left his run too late and finished second overall.

Special thanks to Cliff and Tracy Stiles (McDonalds Richard’s Bay Owners) for sponsoring the race. Also to James Behrmann and Michelle van Rooyen for the images.

Women’s Results:

1. Davina Summers (NASHUA Ladies Team-AUS)
2. Catherine Williamson (Biz Hub- UK)
3. Isabel Moolman (Mr Price- ZA)

April 13th, 2010 | Tags: McDonalds’ Richard’s Bay Circuit Race, Richards Bay, South Africa 2010 | Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off