Missed my first alarm clock and literally jumped out of bed half an hour later. Phew - still an hour before the crits - there goes my plan of doing a longer warm-up, oh well. It sure was warm enough today!
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| At the start line (Photo by Adrian Vlok) |
18 mins - whistle blew. Intermediate sprint 1. I was somewhere mid-bunch. Round the 3rd corner - some girls went. Oh crap - no gaps..caught inside. Had to wait till final corner - sprinted - but it was too late - 4th place - just missed out on points. No worries - still another 2 sprints left.
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| The peloton (Photo by Adrian Vlok) |
A rider in another grade crashed. No breaks this time - so everyone was on neutral. It was starting to get really warm - gotta keep the fluids in. Bridie O'Donnell came up and introduced herself - gave a little pointer on taking the corners. Didn't realise my back wheel was swerving a bit wide - had to lean in a little more. Thanks for the tip Bridie!
Funny moment - a silly bird decided to tempt fate by walking in the middle of the bunch. 1 lap - the bunch avoided it. Next lap - it got caught mid bunch, flew up and Amy Bradley screamed. Sorry Amy - I was just behind your wheel and almost fell off my bike laughing. Next lap - revenge! Amy pulled one foot out, chased down and tried to kick the bird. My ribs were starting to hurt from laughing. Ok - back to racing - time to focus again.
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| For you Amy! :) (it's pink too!) |
30 mins - I knew the 2nd sprint was coming up. Moved up - and was neck and neck with 3 others up the front. It almost like a cat and mouse game. Whistle blew. Round the 3rd corner - everyone was waiting. Ok now - go! I jumped - sat down for the final corner - open road to the line. Sprinted. "Is this really happening?" I looked left and saw Nicole Whitburn just passing me - "should I bring in the next kick??" "but this is a points score - there's still more racing - oh crap - there's the line!" 2nd place. Was happy with that.
We both soon eased up and pulled back into the peloton. Really warm now. I was hurting. Face my starting to tense up. Relax! Chased down more breaks - brekkie was starting to come up again - ok, sit tight. Not long more to go. I heard my timer go off - saw the sign - 5min+3 laps. What??!! That's an extra 5 mins of racing! Cusses going through the peloton.
I was starting to lose a bit of focus. A little nudge from Bec Domange - "you need to get up the front". That shook me out of my daze. "Ok cool!" I found my way up.
Focus. Focus. The heat was really starting to get into me. And the longer racing too. 3 laps to go. Not long more. Bell lap. Not too bad a position. Need to move up a little. Coming out of the 3rd corner - ok, now. I committed to swinging right - rider in front was swinging wide too. "Argh! Where did that curb come from??" I had totally forgotten about that extra piece of cement sticking out there. I saw that gap narrow every milisecond. Had to pull back. The sprinters had already started on the left. Crap. Saw a small gap to my left - and another gap. Managed to find my way to the front - but it was too late. Coming out of the last corner, the front sprinters had already gone. It was race over. Finished 6th.
Next up - Men's D Grade. 47 starters. No intermediate sprints for this one. Phew. The temp had hit 31 deg and I was already feeling pretty stuffed from the earlier race. First 15 mins of the race - I was somewhere mid bunch and slowly worked my way up near the front. Lots of riders out there today. Next 15 mins. I was pretty focused on the wheel in front, but with every bit of energy starting to seep out of my system, I found myself lapsing in and out of focus. Come on - shake it off. 10 mins to go - BikeNow rider Tom came up and asked how I was feeling. "About to vomit" was my reply. Sorry Tom, can't do much today - I really was struggling.
Don't give up. Just hang on. Last few laps - I was slowly dropping further and further back. Come on - don't let that gap go. Got to finish with the bunch. Last 2 laps and the pace really lifted. I saw a flurry of colours fly past on my left and right and could almost see the front riders 50m in front. I really had an empty tank and not much left. Just finish it. I was nearly at the back out of the final corner and pretty much just spun my way to the line. Phew!
Hot day - hot racing - had lots of fun in the race and learned heaps out on the course today. Came up with a new theory on my cool down today - H words are a cyclist's biggest challenges - heat, headwind, hills and hunger - and when you overcome them all - you're home!
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