South Gisborne - a race of attrition

"In a world of suffering" (Photo by Marisa Farrell)

8.5km loop with a nasty little 1km pinch in the middle - this race was set to be a tough one. Multiple laps of this course - it was going to be a race of attrition.

A nice and sunny day for racing, though a nasty head-wind on the climb signalled a tough day out on the bike.
A strong St Kilda Cycling Club presence was certainly felt across the grades, and I was sure proud to be dawning the club kit that day. Nevertheless, being the only girl in the huge field of men surely brought out the usual nerves.

The race kicked off on a nice pace - and with winds constantly changing directions througout the course, I tried to stay in the middle of the peloton as best as I could. We had the usual cyclist who would attempt to overtake on the wrong side of the road, but the men were certainly more aggressive and constantly yelled at him to get back in. I had managed to ride with one of the guys on a training ride earlier in the week, and tried to stick on his wheel.

About 3 laps in, a solo break tried to get away. It was a fella SKCC rider, and I knew something was amiss when we had 2 guys up the front holding the pace of the peloton. Nevertheless, the pace quickly pushed higher and I was slowly being pushed to the back of the peloton. As we hit the hill on the lap, I felt my back wheel locked, and just could not find the right gears. Jelly legs - arghh..- probably from too much good food from my recent trip to Malaysia. =p

I quickly tried to suck some drink in and started chasing the peloton down. I had one other guy rolling turns with me, and we managed to keep the peloton at 10-15s in sight. Seems small, but with 2 people trying to close a gap on a peloton of more than 15 riders, the battle just got tougher and tougher. Halfway through, it was my turn to pull and I tried kicking in hope of closing the gap before a tight corner. As I approached the corner, I looked behind - oh no, I had just lost my ally. He had pretty much disappeared off the course. To wait, or not to wait...hmm... A couple of head turns, I knew he probably had given up, I had to chase solo.

Hands on drops, head down - I tried to focus on pushing through the headwind. I tried digging in on the climb in hope of making the time, but I was starting to run out of steam. Pretty soon, the peloton in another grade passed me. A couple of riders cheered me on to not give up, but the energy was slowly diminishing and I knew I had to eat something if I was to finish the race. Once the peloton in the higher grade caught my grade, it was pretty much race over as the guys started to push the pace higher.

Well, giving up is never my thing, and with less than 17ks to go, all I had to do was focus on 1 lap at a time. Every corner I turn, I was hoping to catch a glimpse of the bunch - but soon they were no where in sight. I was quickly running out of k's to chase. Ended up finishing just over a minute down. Well, races of attrition on lapped courses are tough - but yet, you certainly come out a much stronger rider.