Breaking the curse | Cyclingnews

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Katherine O'Shea rode well from the start.(Image credit: Tony Fetch)

January 14, 2009

For most of the Torq team, the start of the 2008-2009 Australian mountain bike season has been really hectic. It's been an awesome experience flying and driving around Australia attending races as a team; however as is the experience of most athletes, I think most of the team has found it really tricky to cram so much racing and travel (and all the other bits of life) in to such a small time frame!

During this time of year, Mount Beauty (and nearby Bright) is the ideal training area for mountain bikers - there are beautiful alpine climbs for long road rides, endless fireroad trails for off-road adventures, awesome flowing and technical singletrack, and lots of rivers and swimming holes to cool off burning leg muscles! So long as you're armed with some good sunscreen, fly repellent, and a good eye for dodging snoozing snakes on the roads and trails, Mount Beauty is training Nirvana.

The Torq team loves getting one of "our own" on the podium at the races, and in terms of getting our distinctive orange and black skinsuits on to the podium, we've had a really successful start to our season. Katherine O'Shea is currently in shining form, and wrote a race report fresh from her most recent win at the last National Series race held in December at the You Yangs (Victoria). Her diary entry is posted below.

Like just a few others in the Torq team, my form hasn't been so shiny, which is partly why I've been so tardy in posting this entry - my apologies to the cycling community! I've been struggling with ongoing illness, so for the last few months my life has been spent commuting between home and medical appointments. I suppose for me that's the one major trade-off of living in "training Nirvana" - Mount Beauty is a LONG way from the city!

There are now only a few weeks until the National Championships, which is the first major race for 2009. The National Champs are being held at the same venue that will be used for the 2009 cross country UCI World Championships, so this will be a brilliant opportunity for the team to ride the course and also for athletes who will be heading overseas to race World Cups to try and grab some of the UCI points up on offer.

Unfortunately, my view of the spectacular scenery and the 50km of purpose-built mountain bike trails at the You Yangs has been severely tainted by too many crashes and too many tears. In my first encounter riding at the You Yangs – as I was just making the cautious transition from softballing to mountain biking as part of the Dirt Road to London Program – I clipped a handlebar on a tree and was catapulted from my bike, and spent the rest of the race lying in the first aid tent.

About six months later, I had my second encounter with with the You Yangs, this time falling on a technical rocky descent and cutting open my leg and cracking my new carbon frame. After many tears, stitches, and some major repairs to my poor bike, I returned to the You Yangs a few months later to compete in a State Round cross country race. Once again, the hoodoo continued, with a crash on a corner sending me over the handlebars and back through the field from first to last place as I tried to straighten my bars and body.

In the weeks leading up to the race, I forced myself to reassess my "relationship" with the You Yangs, so I spent many hours training on the race course with two of my TORQ teammates Luke Fetch and Paul Weymouth. In addition to me trying to build a special bond with the You Yangs, as a team we were able to break the course down and learn some great lines, of which we were hoping some would give us technical advantages.

It's difficult to describe the weather before and during the You Yangs race - it was simply spectacular! The You Yangs is normally one of the driest places on earth, but during the days and hours leading up to the start of the cross country race, it hailed and rained and stormed like something out of a movie. Standing on the start line on race morning, I was super motivated, even with the horrendous weather. I knew that it was a great advantage to lead up the first technical climb as people would be getting held up on the slippery rocks.

Although the start went as I had hoped, I wasn't expecting the kangaroos mooching about the track on the first descent! The race was really demanding and tough physically; however, my body was working well enough to keep me in the lead. Mentally I was having a great time, and I couldn't wipe the smile from my face as I slipped down the rocky descents. Despite the dumping rain and freezing conditions, I spent the majority of the race laughing to myself mainly because I felt like a little kid again playing in the mud (all I needed was a set of colourful gumboots so I could jump straight into the biggest puddle).

The only UCI-registered mountain bike team in Australia, the TORQ Performance Nutrition team features some of Australia's top racers and future stars, including current national and Oceania Champion Dan McConnell

For 2011-2012, TORQ racers are targeting the Australian Mountain Bike National Series, National Championships and Oceania Continental Championships. The team's top priority is racing Olympic distance cross country events, but it is also mixing things up with some short track, marathon and endurance events - and maybe even some road races.

Some members will head abroad for the World Cups - an important part of Australian national team selection process for the 2011 World Championships. In the past two years, the team has grown to include some new faces with some great results to back them up.

McConnell, who represented Australia at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, is perhaps the team's most well-known member. Mark Fenner, Brenton Jones, Mark Tupalski, Luke Fetch, Robbie Hucker, Jenni King, Katherine O'Shea, Joanna Wall and Becky Mates are also on the roster. Members take turns writing diary entries.