Travelling through Australia’s most spectacular Alpine Region, the 235km Three Peaks Challenge provides a course that is so epic it’s comparable to a Tour de France stage with 3 major climbs – Tawonga Gap, Mount Hotham and then Falls Creek via Omeo.

With a reputation second to none, it’s quite an accomplishment to tackle this ride, let alone complete it. But this doesn’t stop several hundred riders taking part every year, rain hail or gail force winds…

Performance Studio trained several riders leading up to the event, with a defined focus on climbing and overall power output – two key elements when it comes to dragging yourself over three mountain passes!

The riders being referred to; Dave E, Larry H, Gavin R and Damian H – all finished the event, and with respectable results to boot!

Performance Studio bases their event specific training around core aspects of the event – whether it be climbing, power or endurance that you’re after, we’ll get you there.

For more information regarding our training, contact us below:

Contact:

Joey Esterhuyzen
joey@velocino.com.au

Below is a short blog from sponsored rider Julian Lam – Julian recently received a sponsorship from Performance Studio and is making the most of the professional coaching input from Rebecca McConnell and Joey Esterhuyzen. Enjoy!

“The fourth race of the XOSIZE Triathlon series was held last Sunday in Sandringham. I entered the ITU Junior race (draft legal) as I needed the practise for the upcoming ITU Youth Australian Championships in Mooloolaba in a few weeks’ time. As Saturday was a scorcher, I was hoping that Sunday would be just as nice, and it turned out it was! My race started at 7:30am and was the first wave of the day which included the Men’s ITU  race. For them it was the Sprint State Championships.

The swim was ‘wetsuit free’, and was very fast from the start. It felt long as it was quite windy on Sunday. I had a strong swim and was just behind the leaders, but the long gruelling run uphill from the beach to transition hurt me quite a bit and I lost vital time and positioning. Coming out of transition bay 1, I was just behind the lead pack of juniors. Jumping onto the bike, even though I tried I couldn’t get on the front pack. Jack Stekelenburg, Matthew Goessler and I made up the second pack and steadily rolled turns. As we turned around and headed back towards Beaumaris the heavy head wind pounded on us. My Wattbike training allowed me to do a longer turns on the front as the other two boys were mainly runners.

Getting off the bike we were a few minutes behind the leaders. After a fast first 1km of the run, I dropped the two boys I rode with and got into a fast rhythm. By the end I finished 6^th and almost caught the last runner of the front pack!  Overall I was very happy with my first ITU race and I look forward to racing in the Australian youth ITU championships, part of the Mooloolaba Multi festival. I’m also just as keen on my next Wattbike session, where I will once again be focusing on my sustainable power! Thanks again to Performance Studio for their ongoing support.”

Performance Studio, in association with Velocino Cycles has recently offered a sponsorship to Julian Lam.

Julian is an up and coming triathlete who trains at the Wattbike Studio upstairs. After some recent strong performances, Julian has earned the admiration and support of everybody here at Velocino.
If you’d like to train with Julian, contact Joey on joey@velocino.com.au to make a booking.

Here’s a recent blog from the young fella himself – about his most recent win.

“Race 4 of the 11/12 Gatorade Tri Sprint series was held at Sandringham last Sunday. This race also held the Victorian Olympic Course Championship and an Active Feet Triathlon, so it was a pretty busy day! The conditions weren’t ideal for a triathlon because of very high winds on the day. This was my first race of 2012 as I took 3 weeks off at the start of the year, to relax a little. I took this race as a training race and didn’t taper for it as I normally would – as I was just trying to get some more racing experience before the ‘All Schools National Champs’ held on 4^th April in Busselton, WA.

The atmosphere is always exciting at Gatorade races because of the number of participants. The ocean swim was relatively choppy and my age group was put in a bad position, 2 minutes behind the Men’s Clydesdales and older age groups. This meant I had to pass 100+ people in the swim, which made it that little more challenging!

I had a strong swim and was a full minute clear of second place and felt great going onto the bike. With a howling tailwind, I flew down to Beaumaris then battled hard back to Sandringham into the headwind. The Wattbike threshold sessions at The Performance Studio in Black Rock really helped here, as I powered into the headwind. Going into the run I had built a 2 minute lead but was starting to feel the pain… The run was quite slow and windy, and the hard weeks training was starting to take its toll. Coming into the finish area, I held on to win by just under two minutes.

This was my first Gatorade triathlon age group (15-19) win! My time also placed me 4^th overall. I was happy with the race but a little disappointed with my run time. For my efforts I picked some new Engine swim equipment and some interest from a variety of possible sponsors. Looking forward to my next Wattbike session on Thursdays and more racing until Busselton.

Thanks to Joey and Bec at Performance Studio, for my new sponsorship deal – If anybody would like to join in these training sessions, get hold of Joey by SMS on 0428 862 963 or joey@velocino.com.au – I reckon he’s got some free sessions up his sleeve somewhere.”