peter clark memorial
race report by chris
with much cajoling several of us had agreed to enter this race, our loose “team” went in with good intentions. things weren’t looking to great; with bruce’s recent form not really up to much due to the little annabelle, peter complaining of flu symptoms, stuart thinking the course wouldn’t suit him and my heavy legs and a sleepless night, ryan was never really going to get much support from us lot. anyway with a nice field of 65 riders there was going to be plenty of places for the rest of us to hide.
so my aim was to complete the race with the bunch and if at all possible give ryan a hand for the finish. i completed the race but was of no real help to ryan unfortunately.
peter was far too professional, warming up on his rollers. i like most of the others would rely on the tried and proven method of using the first 10-15km or so to warm up. my experience in perth has shown me that typically the bunch takes the first lap reasonably steadily and then the fun begins.
things went according to the script and unfortunately for me this usually means i suffer from about a third of the way into the race until the continued surging abates. today it was impressive to see the bunch strung out as we chased breaks, 65 guys hammering along at 50km/h stretched over 100metres.
anyway my legs came good after about the fourth lap when peter made an attack to get onto the back of a couple of guys. he didn’t stay there for long rejoining the bunch a little while later. i maintained my position in the rear of the bunch and figured i’d see how things went on the last couple of laps.
the work done on the front, including a fair portion by our own pool boy, brought the break back. i had already told him don’t go near the front and to save himself for the sprint but i guess he wanted to do a bit of work before we got to that point. after several attempts to get around the bunch but getting foiled each time by the pace of the bunch or the double white lines, i gave up.
i was expecting the pace to pick up on the last lap, particularly over the last climb at the south of the circuit. i prepared my self for one last push with the aim of getting closer to the front of the bunch. mission accomplished i settled in to hear guys crying out that some guy was going to stay away.
at this stage with one corner to go and an uphill sprint finish i didn’t think my position or legs would allow me to accomplish anything flash. as usual though there were the usual bunch of guys who thought they had something but didn’t have anything. so the last 200m were littered with guys rolling for the line. i still had some gas in the tank and like peter had to find a path to the line. i was pretty happy that i had managed to look after myself and have the legs for the sprint. a quick head count of riders in front of me over the line had me in the top 15. no money, but i hadn’t expected to finish.
whilst peter got back on the rollers to spin his legs out i shot the shit with michael and bruce whilst we all enjoyed a coke and a sausage in a bun.
a great event put on by the ndcc and lets hope the numbers continue to improve.
next week, the b grade trophy race.
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
Monday, 14 April 2008
sunday 13th april - darlington & mundaring
ride report by darren.fast forward: le paris brest cafe 9:45am - "so who is going to write the blog"
i guess failing english in yr 12 makes me the most qualified.
rewind carpark: 6:55am i was running just on time as usual - a benefit of living close to the shop.
as i arrived, lindy was pulling her bike out of the car and josie and rob were sitting on the pavement near the stairs. where was everyone else? the day was magnificent with a light easterly wind, but you could sense that the turnout was going to be less than average.
today would see us take on darlington and mundaring weir, if only someone knew the way.
most of us stood around thinking - "is that it" until about 7:05am, rob lifted his sore hungover head for a moment to ask who was going to lead, to which every one replied - "you are!" but alas his gps was left in the last pint he shouldn’t have had the night before.
doug piped up (luckily) "i know the way".
famous last words. doug led the group of eleven on a mission down great eastern hwy, etc. for 17kms, putting in a strong turn into the morning easterly, chewing through a few partners, until he realised (at bushmead rd) that he could sit at the back and just yell directions, which left me at the front to ride the next 5km's to marriott rd.
marriott is one of those nasty climbs that comes out of nowhere and bites hard. i got a little excited and gunned it as the usual sunday mountain goats were either racing at gnangara or snoozing. apart from the first section, it is a nice climb with some flat sections for getting your heart rate back under control. i was first to the regroup point on darlington rd, followed by ben (who was gaining rapidly) and dr marc. we didn’t have long to wait for the others.
the short descent down darlington was uneventful, but having ridden this before i knew that the climb into rycroft is nasty, and whilst tempted to stay in the big ring you need to get into your easy gears before you hit the climb. starting at the back of the climb i could see several quickly realise that they wished they were in a lower gear. the crunch of changing gears at 20rpm seemed to be a common sound and eventually (english) mike couldn’t grind anymore and had to step of and find a more appropriate gear.
by this time i passed a few and saw and ben far ahead. another rush of adrenalin to bridge the gap but ben still managed to hit the glen forrest rd regroup first. at this point rob took the opportunity to have a pit-stop and josie, who was on a "recovery ride", turned for home.
as we ventured onto glen forrest the group noticed a few elderly runners, jogging on the roads around darlington. as we headed up thomas/phillips rd we noticed more people shuffling slowly up the hill. this continued until we hit a road closed sign at mahogany creek, which strangely had a guy holding a stop sign. all was revealed as a guy in grey with a number on his chest, came belting on foot toward us, clearly on a mission followed by a few more greyhounds. we had ridden into the middle of the wamc darlington half-marathon.
we were forced onto the run course and rode carefully in the middle of the double lane road. runners left and right did not stop one turkey in a workmans tray cab trying to pass us at every opportunity. fortunately, this was the only agro we received all day (all the other the rednecks must have been tucked up, warm and cosy in bed).
back onto phillips/mundaring weir rd, i took the opportunity on a slight downhill to overtake the group, only to be passed by ben and todd looking to race to the roundabout. like a red rag to a bull i took off and managed to recapture my pride but destroy my legs.
the run down toward mundaring weir was uneventful, but a little chilly in the shade, with doug, stan and rob showing that they were the most daring. the climb out of mundaring weir is always hard. dr marc, attacked past the weir carpark with stan, ben and myself in tow. i lasted about a kilometre and realised that i hurt myself enough today and it is a long way to kalamunda. by the time i reached the top of the climb the few in front were about 500m ahead. (english) mike joined me through a downhill section, overtook and managed to make up the gap to the lead group (nice work) just before the descent to the hairpin and the final climb to the coffee shop.
sitting down waiting for coffees at the cafe i found out that dr marc took the kom honours in and was first to the cafe. service was very fast, but i couldn’t help noticing that everyone was contemplating caffeine and the hard ride out of mundaring weir. awkward silence for a minute or so led me to exclaim “ahh introverts come out to play”, which broke the silence and got some banter going.
the descent down welshpool rd was always going to be fast with only a slight breeze and very little crosswind. a few cracked 80km/h, with stan taking the honours of being first to the bottom. i managed to find a second wind and paced the group to over 45km/h along welshpool through queens park to the leach hwy lights.
following a brief stop at the rail crossing, ben took off in an attempt to get the bonus sprint points. i chased after him and managed to pass him at the 60k sign. i turned off along berwick but don’t imagine to many made it to the shop.
in summary - an outstanding day for a ride, moderate pace, no rednecks, interesting scenery, fast coffee, easy descents, no real incidents to speak of – where were you !
well done to tom boonen for winning paris-roubaix and keeping me up until well after 1am.
saturday 12th april - freo & cott
ride report by chris
well, my legs felt like crap after a tough couple of weeks training and i was hoping for a nice easy roll around the designated route. the weather was fabulous, a little cool to start but it was clear it was going to warm up.
so formalities out of the way we set off for freo at a steady pace down the hwy. i was on the front and joined by young nick, we chatted about the usual stuff bikes, racing etc. once we hit the river side along by attadale things quickly heated up. the usual kick off came with cade winding things up, he was quickly joined by the rest of the guys (and no i’m not being sexist, there was a distinct lack of the female gender on saturday).
as i mentioned i was looking for an easy one and reminded a few of the guys as they passed to regroup at pt walter. i didn’t have a lot of confidence that they would as once things heat up and the testosterone kicks in you never know what’s going to happen unless someone gets up the front and takes things in hand. this wasn’t going to be me today as i intended to save my legs for sundays peter clark memorial race. so things got a little messy from here on to the café.
i’m pretty sure we dropped a few before we got to pt walter and there were a few of us then struggling along past the left bank hotel. we kept the main bunch in sight but i was personally just limiting the damage and controlling my work rate. a brief regroup was forced by the changing lights but this all went pear shaped once we hit the beach. i’ll never understand why some of the guys want to hammer along the beach, particularly past cottesloe. the scenery is great and since we don’t get down this way often personally i’d rather take it in.
well, i worked harder than i wanted too and chased back onto the front guys dragging a few along with me. once again we regrouped, sort of, as we headed for the blast through dalkieth. now this is where i normally would have a bit of a dig and i managed to control myself for a little while. in the meantime a bunch of guys went off the front and from what i heard afterwards it was only the lights at mounts bay rd that brought the leaders back to what remained of the faster portion of the bunch. i did learn later that for once the pool boy was beaten for the sprint but he claimed to have spent a significant amount of time on the front. little did he know this was going to come back to haunt him in sundays race.
i was with the second bunch and hoping that things would be steady-steady to the finish, keep dreaming chris was the prompt response from the group. nick and i were back on the front again for a while until a tall fella on a trek came by. i figured that would do me and jumped on for the free ride and so things went. i didn’t bother trying to chase as others started to roll through until le kuan began his acceleration. again i grabbed the wheel and off we went, jerard came by and i yelled at le kuan to keep it going. a struggle ensued but it came down to jerard and i pushing into the breeze for the points. we are still awaiting the official judges decision, given jerards no-show for sundays race, i’ll be claiming the moral high ground.
well, my legs felt like crap after a tough couple of weeks training and i was hoping for a nice easy roll around the designated route. the weather was fabulous, a little cool to start but it was clear it was going to warm up.
so formalities out of the way we set off for freo at a steady pace down the hwy. i was on the front and joined by young nick, we chatted about the usual stuff bikes, racing etc. once we hit the river side along by attadale things quickly heated up. the usual kick off came with cade winding things up, he was quickly joined by the rest of the guys (and no i’m not being sexist, there was a distinct lack of the female gender on saturday).
as i mentioned i was looking for an easy one and reminded a few of the guys as they passed to regroup at pt walter. i didn’t have a lot of confidence that they would as once things heat up and the testosterone kicks in you never know what’s going to happen unless someone gets up the front and takes things in hand. this wasn’t going to be me today as i intended to save my legs for sundays peter clark memorial race. so things got a little messy from here on to the café.
i’m pretty sure we dropped a few before we got to pt walter and there were a few of us then struggling along past the left bank hotel. we kept the main bunch in sight but i was personally just limiting the damage and controlling my work rate. a brief regroup was forced by the changing lights but this all went pear shaped once we hit the beach. i’ll never understand why some of the guys want to hammer along the beach, particularly past cottesloe. the scenery is great and since we don’t get down this way often personally i’d rather take it in.
well, i worked harder than i wanted too and chased back onto the front guys dragging a few along with me. once again we regrouped, sort of, as we headed for the blast through dalkieth. now this is where i normally would have a bit of a dig and i managed to control myself for a little while. in the meantime a bunch of guys went off the front and from what i heard afterwards it was only the lights at mounts bay rd that brought the leaders back to what remained of the faster portion of the bunch. i did learn later that for once the pool boy was beaten for the sprint but he claimed to have spent a significant amount of time on the front. little did he know this was going to come back to haunt him in sundays race.
i was with the second bunch and hoping that things would be steady-steady to the finish, keep dreaming chris was the prompt response from the group. nick and i were back on the front again for a while until a tall fella on a trek came by. i figured that would do me and jumped on for the free ride and so things went. i didn’t bother trying to chase as others started to roll through until le kuan began his acceleration. again i grabbed the wheel and off we went, jerard came by and i yelled at le kuan to keep it going. a struggle ensued but it came down to jerard and i pushing into the breeze for the points. we are still awaiting the official judges decision, given jerards no-show for sundays race, i’ll be claiming the moral high ground.
Friday, 11 April 2008
ride routes 12th & 13th april
unfortunately i will not be joining you again this weekend as i have prior commitments on saturday and will be doing the peter clark memorial race on sunday up at gnangara.
saturday 12th april
freo and cott
sunday 13th april
darlington and mundaring weir
saturday 12th april
freo and cott
sunday 13th april
darlington and mundaring weir
Thursday, 10 April 2008
tour de perth support race - stage 03
an interesting day greeted us for stage three. it was kind of wet but kind of wasn’t. there was a fog hanging around kalamunda with a slight drizzle dampening things, but definitely better than yesterday. an unsettled night’s sleep as i kind of had a feeling of what today would bring and it wasn’t going to be pretty. my legs were feeling heavy after the efforts yesterday as they were not used to backing it up.
i registered for the stage, put my wheels in the spares ute and went to warm up. my crank felt a bit funny and on closer inspection, the little bolts that hold it all together had worked loose a bit. good job i spotted that before rolling out. anyway, i briefly saw jerry, mark and todd who were doing the hills challenge that morning too. it goes from kalamunda to mundaring to kalamunda to mundaring to kalamunda and covers 100km. i did it last year and cramped so bad for the entire second half that i had to get off and stretch a number of times.
all the opens and supports would roll out together today and roll under a neutral flag to the start at carmel. this gave us a bit of a warm-up and a preview of the hill to the finish. however, a combination of pre-game nerves and over hydration saw no less than thirty guys stop somewhere along the way to have a pee before the start. i must admit i was guilty of this too.
as we waited for the start, i commented on how hot it was especially compared to the day before. The sun was out and sitting around, you could feel it burn into you. the open men were off first followed by the support men then the open women. i had taken up my usual position at the back of the field and was talking to the open women lined up behind me. josie was wearing the leader’s jersey after making up enough time over davina in the time trial. she was also complaining about the heat, and i said that i was surprised that she hadn’t already cut the arms off her new jersey. she seems to do it to most of her jerseys to stop the tan lines. anyway, the open men were off and we didn’t have long to wait till we rolled out too.
the game plan for me today was just hang on as long as i could and hope that i did not get dropped to embarrassingly early. the first stage was a confidence booster for me so i thought that i may be able to hold on. however, the legs were telling me a different story.
we had rode the course the previous weekend and did three laps around plus welshpool and mundaring weir rd to complete the package. i knew the course well, but it was the pace that i was worried about and how soon the attacks would come. i thought that i would be more worried about the hill to the finish rather than the climb up patterson rd to the observatory. the observatory is a long climb, but with no real steep sections, so you can set yourself a nice pace to the top. the climb to the finish is short and sharp and just steep enough to really hurt. we would have to see which one would be my undoing.
we rolled out at a decent pace and as soon as we were on canning rd a couple of guys decided to break away. as it was a five lap 84km race, i thought that they may be going a little early in the day. they had a bit of a gap but no-one seemed worried as there was no way that they would be able to hang out there all day, not with two climbs per lap.
unfortunately the gap was big enough for a small truck to think that it had enough room to pull out onto the road and travel along in between the break and the main pack. it was one of the trucks that service the orchards in the area so was no surprise when it also turned up patterson rd with us. so now it couldn’t get around the break guys as the road had a couple blind corners and the break guys were now also slowing down.
so we traveled up the first part of the hill behind the truck, before the road straightened out and it could pass the two riders ahead of it. the main field then swallowed them up and continued at a reasonable pace over the rest of the climb. i was not too surprised that the pace was not on early as i think that everyone was just testing their legs and seeing was damage was done by the previous day.
over the top of the climb and then into a fast descent. there were a few guys out sweeping some of the sections were the gravel had washed onto the road, which was a smart idea, as the rain from the previous day had deposited quite a bit of crap. up past hill to the finish line for the first time and again the pace was not too high as i found it manageable and made it to the top in one piece. however, by this time i was wondering if i could even hold on for another four laps.
as we rocketed down towards pickering brook, a few guys tried to go off the front. i wasn’t sure how many as being at the back does have it’s disadvantages. i am pretty sure that there was two groups that had gone and by the time we hit patterson rd again, the pace was on. the field immediately became strung out as guys started to chase the break away bunches. the other disadvantage of being at the back was the fact that there were a lot of riders that i had to get around to find my rhythm. stu and brendan were also caught with me and strangely enough we managed to get away from the guys behind but end up in no-mans land on the climb. stu set a nice pace to the top and brendan and myself managed to hang on till the decent. just before we crested, chris was up there taking pictures of our misfortune. i dropped off a bit on the last bit of the climb and now began to have doubts over my ability to complete three more laps. i managed to bridge back to stu and brendan, but so did a group of about 7 or 8 riders. we now had a decent size group that we could benefit from if we decided to chase.
the hill to the finish was done at a reasonable pace as i don’t think that anyone wanted to be on their own if they got away. darryl one of the wais coaches was doing running commentary at the finish line and commented that we would need to work together if we wanted to catch the guys up the road. this spurred us on a bit and we started to try to get a roll through happening. not everyone wanted to play and some were just looking for a free ride to the end. this made the chase a bit harder, but we managed to catch a few of the others that had been spat out the back of some of the leading groups. there were also a few of the open men ambling along the road quite content to finish their day with a training ride.
we hit patterson rd hill and no one wanted to lead. i went to the front but was soon overtaken by stu who has always been a better climber. the group strung out behind him as he set a rally good pace. he would occasionally pull over to the right and look behind him, but no-one really had enough to come around him so he just continued up over the hill. once at the top, i yelled at chris to “shoot me, shoot me now”. unfortunately he only had a camera with him.
the decent gave a bit of a reprieve, but i now seriously doubted my legs ability to get through two more laps. well two and a half, if you count the fact that we still hadn’t finished the third lap. i told stu but he said that he felt good and if he could do it then so could i. yay. two more laps. my heart wasn’t in it though.
as we tackled the finishline climb for the third time, brendan and i dropped back a bit from the rest of the pack with another guy stuck in between. we managed to push hard once the road flattened out and catch the other guy to get a draft for a sec. we all realized that we had to go hard to catch the others or it would be all over for us. brendan commented on how far the rubber band would stretch before we were totally gone. he stood up and sprinted up the road to manage to get back on, while i resigned myself to the embarrassment of riding be myself for a while.
the other guy didn’t make it back on either and was stuck in between me and the back of the pack. once we hit the patterson rd hill i tried to set myself a decent rhythm to grind my way up the hill. whenever i turned the corners on that hill, i could just see the pack ahead disappearing around the next bend with the other guy still hanging off the back. he looked around a few times, trying to judge whether i would be catching up to him to give him either a hand or some company. unfortunately i would be doing no such thing.
i set myself a goal earlier that i would be happy if i just finished the event. it was always going to be jumping in the deep end with my first race being a three stage tour, but i thought that in now can’t get any worse. sucking down carboshotz and making sure i kept drinking, i made my way up the climb and onto the decent. i managed to pass one of the open men who was having a worse day than me, and also one of the open women.
i now had two goals.
1. finish the damn race
2. don’t get lapped by either the open women on my fourth lap or the open men on the fifth lap.
i plugged away for another lap which was very uneventful. didn’t come across any other riders and saw not a soul either up or down the road. with no human company and no radio the only song that was on permanent repeat in my head was the last one i heard on the radio this morning. mika – big girls. i don’t like that song so much now. i would say that the most embarrassing thing would have to be crossing the line at the end of the fourth lap with quite a crowd there, knowing that i had one more to go.
anyway, with my legs shot, my brain fried and my bike now making crap noises after the crap weather on saturday, i finally rolled over the line. a quick look behind me and i saw no-one so i ducked over to the footpath where stu and chris were. as i got my breath back the open men flew past and continued on their final lap. i only just got my lap in before them. as this stage finished a fair distance from the start, i had to scab some money off chris for pepsi as i really needed sugar and caffine to get me back to the car.
a quick check of the speedo’s and it seemed that stu had put 12 minutes into me over the last two laps. it sounded like a lot, and it probably was, but i was just glad it was over.
in the women’s event, josie had broken away with a girl from queensland and took the stage win and a couple of minute’s advantage, with davina taking the bunch sprint for third. so at least someone had a good stage.
i rode back with stu to kalamunda and headed off to get changed. the opens had a criterium in the afternoon and i was so glad we didn’t as i don’t think my legs would have been able to back it up especially out of the corners every lap. so it was off to chicken treat for a carbo injection before settling down to watched the crit.
with a clear advantage in the open women’s event, it was going to be hard to beat josie for the overall, but davina managed a big sprint at the end to take the stage with mel second and josie third. this wrapped it up for josie, but it was good to see a couple of our sunday regulars taking two stage wins each.
as for my cycling race career, it was a good first attempt and i intend to keep it going with some more events during the year.
i registered for the stage, put my wheels in the spares ute and went to warm up. my crank felt a bit funny and on closer inspection, the little bolts that hold it all together had worked loose a bit. good job i spotted that before rolling out. anyway, i briefly saw jerry, mark and todd who were doing the hills challenge that morning too. it goes from kalamunda to mundaring to kalamunda to mundaring to kalamunda and covers 100km. i did it last year and cramped so bad for the entire second half that i had to get off and stretch a number of times.
all the opens and supports would roll out together today and roll under a neutral flag to the start at carmel. this gave us a bit of a warm-up and a preview of the hill to the finish. however, a combination of pre-game nerves and over hydration saw no less than thirty guys stop somewhere along the way to have a pee before the start. i must admit i was guilty of this too.
as we waited for the start, i commented on how hot it was especially compared to the day before. The sun was out and sitting around, you could feel it burn into you. the open men were off first followed by the support men then the open women. i had taken up my usual position at the back of the field and was talking to the open women lined up behind me. josie was wearing the leader’s jersey after making up enough time over davina in the time trial. she was also complaining about the heat, and i said that i was surprised that she hadn’t already cut the arms off her new jersey. she seems to do it to most of her jerseys to stop the tan lines. anyway, the open men were off and we didn’t have long to wait till we rolled out too.
the game plan for me today was just hang on as long as i could and hope that i did not get dropped to embarrassingly early. the first stage was a confidence booster for me so i thought that i may be able to hold on. however, the legs were telling me a different story.
we had rode the course the previous weekend and did three laps around plus welshpool and mundaring weir rd to complete the package. i knew the course well, but it was the pace that i was worried about and how soon the attacks would come. i thought that i would be more worried about the hill to the finish rather than the climb up patterson rd to the observatory. the observatory is a long climb, but with no real steep sections, so you can set yourself a nice pace to the top. the climb to the finish is short and sharp and just steep enough to really hurt. we would have to see which one would be my undoing.
we rolled out at a decent pace and as soon as we were on canning rd a couple of guys decided to break away. as it was a five lap 84km race, i thought that they may be going a little early in the day. they had a bit of a gap but no-one seemed worried as there was no way that they would be able to hang out there all day, not with two climbs per lap.
unfortunately the gap was big enough for a small truck to think that it had enough room to pull out onto the road and travel along in between the break and the main pack. it was one of the trucks that service the orchards in the area so was no surprise when it also turned up patterson rd with us. so now it couldn’t get around the break guys as the road had a couple blind corners and the break guys were now also slowing down.
so we traveled up the first part of the hill behind the truck, before the road straightened out and it could pass the two riders ahead of it. the main field then swallowed them up and continued at a reasonable pace over the rest of the climb. i was not too surprised that the pace was not on early as i think that everyone was just testing their legs and seeing was damage was done by the previous day.
over the top of the climb and then into a fast descent. there were a few guys out sweeping some of the sections were the gravel had washed onto the road, which was a smart idea, as the rain from the previous day had deposited quite a bit of crap. up past hill to the finish line for the first time and again the pace was not too high as i found it manageable and made it to the top in one piece. however, by this time i was wondering if i could even hold on for another four laps.
as we rocketed down towards pickering brook, a few guys tried to go off the front. i wasn’t sure how many as being at the back does have it’s disadvantages. i am pretty sure that there was two groups that had gone and by the time we hit patterson rd again, the pace was on. the field immediately became strung out as guys started to chase the break away bunches. the other disadvantage of being at the back was the fact that there were a lot of riders that i had to get around to find my rhythm. stu and brendan were also caught with me and strangely enough we managed to get away from the guys behind but end up in no-mans land on the climb. stu set a nice pace to the top and brendan and myself managed to hang on till the decent. just before we crested, chris was up there taking pictures of our misfortune. i dropped off a bit on the last bit of the climb and now began to have doubts over my ability to complete three more laps. i managed to bridge back to stu and brendan, but so did a group of about 7 or 8 riders. we now had a decent size group that we could benefit from if we decided to chase.
the hill to the finish was done at a reasonable pace as i don’t think that anyone wanted to be on their own if they got away. darryl one of the wais coaches was doing running commentary at the finish line and commented that we would need to work together if we wanted to catch the guys up the road. this spurred us on a bit and we started to try to get a roll through happening. not everyone wanted to play and some were just looking for a free ride to the end. this made the chase a bit harder, but we managed to catch a few of the others that had been spat out the back of some of the leading groups. there were also a few of the open men ambling along the road quite content to finish their day with a training ride.
we hit patterson rd hill and no one wanted to lead. i went to the front but was soon overtaken by stu who has always been a better climber. the group strung out behind him as he set a rally good pace. he would occasionally pull over to the right and look behind him, but no-one really had enough to come around him so he just continued up over the hill. once at the top, i yelled at chris to “shoot me, shoot me now”. unfortunately he only had a camera with him.
the decent gave a bit of a reprieve, but i now seriously doubted my legs ability to get through two more laps. well two and a half, if you count the fact that we still hadn’t finished the third lap. i told stu but he said that he felt good and if he could do it then so could i. yay. two more laps. my heart wasn’t in it though.
as we tackled the finishline climb for the third time, brendan and i dropped back a bit from the rest of the pack with another guy stuck in between. we managed to push hard once the road flattened out and catch the other guy to get a draft for a sec. we all realized that we had to go hard to catch the others or it would be all over for us. brendan commented on how far the rubber band would stretch before we were totally gone. he stood up and sprinted up the road to manage to get back on, while i resigned myself to the embarrassment of riding be myself for a while.the other guy didn’t make it back on either and was stuck in between me and the back of the pack. once we hit the patterson rd hill i tried to set myself a decent rhythm to grind my way up the hill. whenever i turned the corners on that hill, i could just see the pack ahead disappearing around the next bend with the other guy still hanging off the back. he looked around a few times, trying to judge whether i would be catching up to him to give him either a hand or some company. unfortunately i would be doing no such thing.
i set myself a goal earlier that i would be happy if i just finished the event. it was always going to be jumping in the deep end with my first race being a three stage tour, but i thought that in now can’t get any worse. sucking down carboshotz and making sure i kept drinking, i made my way up the climb and onto the decent. i managed to pass one of the open men who was having a worse day than me, and also one of the open women.
i now had two goals.
1. finish the damn race
2. don’t get lapped by either the open women on my fourth lap or the open men on the fifth lap.
i plugged away for another lap which was very uneventful. didn’t come across any other riders and saw not a soul either up or down the road. with no human company and no radio the only song that was on permanent repeat in my head was the last one i heard on the radio this morning. mika – big girls. i don’t like that song so much now. i would say that the most embarrassing thing would have to be crossing the line at the end of the fourth lap with quite a crowd there, knowing that i had one more to go.
anyway, with my legs shot, my brain fried and my bike now making crap noises after the crap weather on saturday, i finally rolled over the line. a quick look behind me and i saw no-one so i ducked over to the footpath where stu and chris were. as i got my breath back the open men flew past and continued on their final lap. i only just got my lap in before them. as this stage finished a fair distance from the start, i had to scab some money off chris for pepsi as i really needed sugar and caffine to get me back to the car.
a quick check of the speedo’s and it seemed that stu had put 12 minutes into me over the last two laps. it sounded like a lot, and it probably was, but i was just glad it was over.
in the women’s event, josie had broken away with a girl from queensland and took the stage win and a couple of minute’s advantage, with davina taking the bunch sprint for third. so at least someone had a good stage.
i rode back with stu to kalamunda and headed off to get changed. the opens had a criterium in the afternoon and i was so glad we didn’t as i don’t think my legs would have been able to back it up especially out of the corners every lap. so it was off to chicken treat for a carbo injection before settling down to watched the crit.
with a clear advantage in the open women’s event, it was going to be hard to beat josie for the overall, but davina managed a big sprint at the end to take the stage with mel second and josie third. this wrapped it up for josie, but it was good to see a couple of our sunday regulars taking two stage wins each.
as for my cycling race career, it was a good first attempt and i intend to keep it going with some more events during the year.
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