Welcome to Retro Racer 31
The Trials and Tribulations of an unfit, overweight guy, that decided to take up Retro BMX racing at the age of 43. More »
Knox Thunderdome 2016
Results and images from Knox Thunderdome 2016 held over the weekend of 5th and 6th of November at the home of retro racing Knox BMX track. More »
Victorian State BMX Championships
Friday 18th of November will see the first time that the retro class has officially been added to the Victorian state titles, with 48 entries over 3 classes. More »
Nutrition and Training go hand in hand
Getting your nutrition right is just as important as your training and to be honest I have not quite got it right lately. More »
Welcome to Retro Racer 31
A massive week of retro BMX racing
This week saw me step it up, with a massive week of training and retro BMX racing and quite honestly I can say I am stuffed, but I am very glad that I have done it and can feel the constant improvements every time I race. My week started off on Tuesday night with the secret trainer, dusting off my old road bike and getting it hooked up to the wind trainer, it was all about sprint efforts in short bursts, these were a gut buster and the secret trainer was there right beside me on his bike toughing it out as well, I can tell you by the end of the session we were both feeling it, having given it our all and it was good to see that the secret trainer is human after all and also has limits that he can push himself to, if I can
Rider Bio: Gordon MacRae
Name: Gordon “The Commissioner” MacRae Home Club: Geelong, Victoria. Classes: Retro 30+ Bike: S&M Holmes Best Retro Results: 1st Track Attack Series 2017 1st BSX 2017 1st South Eastern Cash Dash 2012 1st Knox Thunderdome 2012 1st Park Orchards Clash of the Titans 2011 3rd Park Orchards Clash of the Titans 2012 About Me: I was always a kid who enjoyed riding a bike, in fact there weren’t any lengthy periods of time growing up, that I didn’t have some sort of bike to ride around on. In the mid 90’s, I bought a BMX off a mate of mine, and we started riding street, mini ramps, skate parks and dirt jumps. I did try giving flat land a go, (but I sucked at it) and my overweight freestyle bike wasn’t suited to BMX racing, so freestyle is pretty much what I did until about 2004 when 5 knee injuries,
James Tait, I swear tries to kill retro racers
Tonight saw myself back training with the dastardly James Tait for the first time this year, fellow retro racer Michael Herceg was also in attendance and rumor has it that retro racer Brendon Marshall was a no-show after training last week where he was brutalized and too scared to return. Our warmup started with some relay run throughs of side steps, butt kicks, grapevine shuffles and jumping, seriously what is with the jumping lately, last week with the secret trainer and this week with James, I think I may have given him some ideas with my last post, I am definitely going to have to avoid that in future. With Michael and I on opposing teams, it was game on and the grapevines were serious business, I busted out the dance skills from when I was a teen back in the 80s and grapevined shuffled like a champ, Michael was
Rebuilding old bikes, rebuilding old bodies
The last week has been an interesting one, whilst I had planned to step up the number of days I was going to train, I found that I was without a bike, the old Vortex Cruiser has gone through a rebuild and the crank bolt that goes through the chain wheel and into the back of the crank, turns out I had accidentally sent to QLD, when I traded my 180 cranks for 175s, fortunately the bolt was sent back express post and I received it Friday and had my Vortex BMX built just before race time. Tuesday saw me back with the secret trainer, doing further strength training, mixed in with a bit of cardio, whilst I feel the muscles around my knee getting stronger, the training doesn’t get any easier, the weights build up and with the bit of cardio mixed in, I am constantly out of breath
Horrors of a slam ball
Track Attack is last weeks news, so this week saw me back with the secret trainer on Tuesday night, where I was introduced to the horrors of the 20 kg slam ball, which I will talk about in more detail later in the post. My intention for this week was to step up my training to 3 nights, then step it up to 4 nights per week, from next week. How ever my Vortex cruiser is currently going through a rebuild, thus I am bikeless for the week, so the step up in training will begin in earnest next week, back training with the evil one James Tait on Mondays, then Tuesdays and Thursdays with the equally evil secret trainer and Wednesday night gates at Frankston BMX track. How ever I digress, my training as always started with squats on the squat rack with only 5 kg on the bar,
Retro BMX racing season is up and running
The 2017 Retro BMX racing season kicked off this week, with the Track Attack series, 6 race meets over 9 days, it is a brutal welcome back to the race season and is a good spring board towards training for the national titles if you plan on doing them. From a personal point of view I decided to only do the two rounds to get some time back on the bike on a track which was sorely needed, other than a few training sessions I haven’t raced since the Victorian BMX state titles in November of 2016. I really didn’t expect too much as the training I have done recently was more based around strengthening my troublesome knee rather than riding fast. That being said I was still a little disappointed that I didn’t go faster than the recent open meets at Knox and Frankston in November and October of
No more excuses when it comes to nutrition
With the first race of the 2017 Retro BMX racing season completed and about to step up my training in a weeks time, I figured it was time to stop being lazy and start paying attention to my nutrition, more importantly what I am putting into my mouth. Our bodies are like a machine, the better fuel we put in, the better our bodies perform. So with that in mind I thought I write this post and give a few of my ideas to help others out. Working in a produce department at a major supermarket, you would think that I would be eating fresh and healthy fruit and vegetables every day, truth be told I can be just as lazy when it comes to food as anyone else, I do eat a couple of pieces of fruit every day whilst I am at work, but on weekends I don’t