3 Day Tour!

"Leading out the peloton" (Photo by Unknown)

Have been battling off winter colds, and the training is slowly starting to load up. A little late post, but my first tour over the Queen's Bday long weekend is definitely worth a write up.

Had been really looking forward to this tour - The Northern Combine Clubs (NCC) 3 day tour! Getting the training right, the taper right, the eating right - it's still a lot of trial and error at the moment though. After tonnes of emails, we managed to book a place out at Kyneton - an old farm house on one of the race circuits. Brilliant!

Left after work Friday night, and 6 of us were staying at that place. Dark roads meant a couple of wrong turns, before we finally arrived. Place was huge - lots of hallways, no hot water (luckily that fixed itself the next day), and my weekend housemate Shane scaring me with ghost stories of the toilet. Ah well..it was still good to have a place to stay without having to do the daily commute back to Melbourne.


Stage 1: Lancefield (60km)
Having raced on this course a few weeks back, I was feeling pretty confident for the first stage. With a strong field of 23 riders, the Women's B Grade looked set for some good competition. I had 8 other SKCC Development Squad chicks racing with me, so it certainly was great fun. The first 15km saw myself and 3 of my other squad-mates, Von, Nadine and Marlena setting the pace of the bunch. I decided to launch a few attacks to warm up my cold toes, but with a tail wind, most of the peloton stuck together. It wasn't until after the climbs after Newham that the peloton started splitting up. Hearing half the field breathing hard, I dug hard and launced a break right after the KOM. Hands on drops, back fully aero, I rode hard..and was soon flying off downhill. This immediately saw the field split up.

Knowing that I still had 2 more days of racing to do, I sat up and waited - ending up with a 12-rider breakaway. The start of lap 2 was much easier, with no one wanting to launch further attacks. I was happy to sit up in the peloton and discussed tactics with my team-mates. Final 15kms saw the pace increasing again with riders launching attacks, but the peloton always reeled them in. With a downhill finish, I dugged hard again in the last 5ks and ended up carrying a 5 rider break. Alas, I took the lead too early, and was over-geared into the wind, thus ending up losing the sprint at the line settling for 2nd place.

"Battling out the sprint on Day 1" (Photo from 3DT Facebook Page)

Stage 2: Kyneton (6km)
Day 2 from the Kyneton Saleyards. First up: ITT - not really my cup of tea. The clock was running fast that morning. I made sure I was ready way before my start time after witnessing some of the guys missing theirs. I had some new toys to play with - TT bars and a friend had lent me his set of Zipp 404's (thanks Gav!). 3,2,1 - go! I quickly revved into gear and was soon chasing down my 30s rider. A strong cross-tail wind meant it was going to be a fast ride. Thoughts were battling in my head - ouch my leg's are starting to hurt, ouch I hit another bump - forget that, just stay as aero as possible. I soon caught my 30s rider - yess! Alright, now to drive hard for the finish line. And just in a blink it was over. Time to spin out the lactate acid and prep up for stage 3.

"At the start of the ITT" (Photo by Gaelene Snelling)

Stage 3: Kyneton- Sutton Grange (71km)

After fuelling up with food and some rest, it was time for the Kyneton-Sutton Grange out and back loop. There was a strong tailwind on the way out - which was nice for the tired legs. Winning intention today. Being day 2, everyone had already started to know each other, and a few laughs and chatter were going around - which definitely made things a lot more relaxed. As we hit the climbs, the peloton starting splitting apart - I made sure I stuck it out with the front bunch. At the turnaround, we ended up with a 12-rider bunch. Tailwind out, meant the dreaded headwind home. At the KOM, 2 riders started breaking away. I knew they weren't going to ride for each other, and with a strong headwind, I let them off, though never letting them out of sight. 20kms to go - the 10 of us worked together and started reeling them back in. Riders caught, now 12 of us. The last 10ks - things started to get messy with a head and cross wind from the right. No one wanted to pull a turn for too long. Some riders started riding across the white lines.

10kms to go - my team-mates let me through to the front of the peloton to battle out the sprint. Before I knew it, I heard team-mate Von screamed "there's the finish line!!" - it was 6km earlier than expected!! Oh crap, I still had a mouth full of power bar. I was on 2nd wheel - good position with 500m out. All of a sudden, the much bigger yellow jersey rider pulled up on my right, yelled 'piss off" and shoved me hard. What the???? I was forced into the white lines, and with no room to move I had to pull back. Still in a bit of a shock, I didn't stand up, came under into the wind, and ended up in 5th. It was true chaos with riders sprinting on the wrong side of the road. I was pretty dissapointed at losing the sprint and having let my team-mates down. But I knew rules were rules, and that I had played a fair game. Time to get over it quick - I still had 1 more day of racing!

"Ready to go on Day 3" (Photo by Gaelene Snelling)

Day 3: Kyneton-Pastoria (60km)

I awoke to find the prelim results discounting me 20s from my TT time. They had somehow got the timing wrong. No time penalties for riders breaking the white-line rules either. A word with the commisaire said he'll try to get my time back, but no promises. I was starting on 5th in GC. Today's course had 3 laps of the unforgiving 2.5km Bald Hill climb - it truly was a survival of the fittest test. Again, strong winds and a couple of climbs soon saw riders dropping off. Both the KOMs saw the climbers way off the front, with the peloton chasing them down on the downhill stretch. Assuming my protest was not received, I knew I had to launch a solo break for a chance of the podium. In the last 20ks, the final 8-rider break worked together rolling turns. I quickly sculled down Gel #2 in prep for my break - well, it turned out to be a big mistake! Instead of feeling better, I started to feel sick. I knew soloing wasn't going to happen.

A rider from another club came up and offered to ride for me - all I had to do was just focus on the wheel in front! 4km to go - the climbers attacked up Bald Hill. Sick as I was, I jumped onto their wheels. 4-man break into the finish. 50m just before the peak - I got dropped. My legs just refused to move. I dug hard with whatever I had left in me and gave chase on the downhill - ending up finishing 4th. I ended up collapsing in a heap after the finish line - and spewed my guts out. I had people offering me all sorts of things from muesli bars, to more gels, to coke! Thanks guys - but that really were the last things I wanted to see. It turned out to be dehydration from the caffeine - well certainly something to learn for next time!!

Wrap-up:

My first tour - done!! It certainly was great fun - I had made heaps of new friends, and the tour itself was a great learning experience. I took out 4th overall, and was pleasantly surprised at being awarded a Good Sportsmanship Award, which was sponsored by one of the sponsors, Sukkie.

Sure, I was a bit dissapointed at missing out on a podium and not winning a stage. But I have always stucked to my believe - that fair play and competing in the spirit of the competition was more important. And these things will certainly matter at the bigger races in the future.

Tour races are certainly a different game. You go to bed convincing yourself that the next day will be a better day, you wake up wondering if you'll make it through the day's race. It was certainly great to have the encouragement and support of my coach, the SKCC Dev Squad, my friends and some lighter wheels to use courtesy of BikeNow - thanks guys, you're all awesome!!

"With the SKCC chicks that won stages" (Photo by Gaelene Snelling)

One tour down - next tour in 6 months time.