Woodend: All about focus!

I woke up on the right side of the bed that morning - body was feeling great, I had a good week of training behind me, I was feeling somewhat confident, and was just really looking forward to the race that day. 

The circuit: Woodend. Some small pinches, nothing too long - great! Getting somewhat lost on the way, not having an idea what the start time was, nor where the start line was - well, a sunny day and meeting some good mates made up for all the morning's hustle. 

All ready for the day's race (Photo by Marisa Farell)

The ride out to the start line made for a great warm up. The race finally kicked off and I was in a group of about 15 or so riders. Unlike the week before, I only had 1 other SKCC ally today. The usual chit-chat to start off, before some early attacks were launched. A solo rider was soon off on his own, but the groupetto held pace always keeping the solo-rider in sight. 

The race course was a little dodgy - with potholes all over the place, and gravel around all the corners. I made a point to keep on the outer side of the peloton to allow room to manouvere. As we started hitting the short climbs - it soon became an attack-lull-attack regime. This week, I was certainly ready for those attacks! 

Going into the 2nd lap, an unexpected rider broke away from the peloton. He slowly drifted away from the group -  Could this be my chance of another duo break?  As we hit a section where there was slight cross-wind, I kicked and managed to jump away from the group. Hands on drops, fully focused on the road in front, I was soon off on a solo chase. Spin, spin, spin. Shut up legs. Spin, spin. 

Pretty soon I caught up with the solo rider, and after sitting on his wheel for a while, I signalled for him to roll turns. Alas, after a couple of minutes, the peloton started coming closer and closer. The wind had gotten the better of us - and we were soon re-grouped with the peloton again.  

The next 25ks saw a few more attacks - and riders not really wanting to pull too long a turn. The pace was increasing, and having done a few attacks up the front, I was starting to tire. "Just focus on the wheel in front..just focus.." An attack would go off - should I jump? No, let someone else jump. Another attack - should I jump? No, be patient. Just focus. 

Finally, with 1km to go, I jumped onto a break. 500m from the finish, there was a nice short pincher. And the pace blew. Riders started attacking - everyone was out of the saddle. All the guys were powering through. I stuck in as long I could, but a bunch of 4 soon gapped about 2 bike lengths in front. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see another rider trying to come over me.

Just focus on finish line! As his front wheel drew an inch in front of mine,  I gave one last kick and sprinted. 100m, 50m..come on...just a bit more. 5th place - yess!! Ah..nothing like the sweet feeling of adrenaline from a sprint. Next race - Team Time Trial!