KATE PERRY will continue to enter her name in the Powercor Melbourne to Warrnambool Cycling Classic until her wheels finally cross the finish line at Raglan Parade and a finisher's medal is safely around her neck.
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The Melbourne-based Specialized Women's Racing Team member has two failed attempts at completing the "Warrny" but she is not ready to give up just yet.
"The way the race unfolded in my first year with the men they were on from the start into a very strong head wind and I fell too far back," the 29-year-old said.
"Then my second time last year I stopped for personal reasons about half-way through.
"The challenge for me is to get to the end and until I do that I will keep entering and keep trying as that is the nature of who I am as an athlete."
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Perry, who recently completed the two-day Herald Sun Tour, said a placing at the equally gruelling Grafton to Inverell (228 kilometres) would give her confidence.
"For me, I realised at Grafton, which is a similar race and a one-day classic, that I can do it and that for me it's about intensity," she said.
"You still have to do traditional kilometres on the bike but people think 'oh I have to get lots of ks in legs' but it's ks mixed with intensity and people don't realise how much it plays a part.
"You have to also ride smart - picking where to sit in the bunch, where you are using your energy, how and what you are fueling yourself with.
"This time around I have prepared with a lot more time behind the motorbike to get that intensity and fueling on my longer training rides so in the race I can get to the end and hold my power."
The Brunswick Cycling Club member, a lecturer in exercise science at La Trobe University, hoped completing the Warrny would boost her into another big season on the National Road Series.
"For me my goals are to do better than previously, last year I got third at Grafton and that's a big target for me in the NRS (National Road Series) this time around and I would like to win that," she said.
"Apart from that, my personal goals are to have a consistent season and see how I go in NRS. Hopefully I can get some good stage results and some consistency and get through the season in good form."
Perry is one of 11 women racing in the 104th edition of the classic.
Taryn Heather, Madeline Wright, Kirsty Deacon, Lizzie Stannard, Hannah Geelan, Anne Taylor, Deborah Hennessey, Matilda Raynolds, Ej MacDonald and Georgia Miansarow join her in the peloton.
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