19-21 Oct 2012: The
last and final round of the NRS. With not enough riders to field a team, I had
to fill in despite some really really poor road form. Nonetheless, it was great
fun to get together with the SKCC Giant team to race together again and feel
spoilt as a full time athlete – well for the 3 days at least! Jussy and I were
joined by Claire Stevens guest riding for us.
The Friday saw the
start of the Stage 1 Criterium at Victoria Park. I was pretty keen to start –
after all, the crit was one of my favourite events! From the gun, it was full
on!! Slamming the brakes as we approached the first corner, I found myself
riding at full steam. Every time I managed to wiggle my way to the front, we’d
approach a corner, a poof, I’d be popped way to the back. I was almost ready to
vomit!! And within 3 laps when the whistle for the intermediate sprint went, my
race was over. Gee – I must be in a really bad shape. I rolled around with Von for a while – and it
was only then I realised the inevitable, the back brake callipers had gotten
stuck, and I had been riding with brakes on the whole time!!!! At this point,
it was way too late to take a mechanical lap out and we eventually got pulled
out of the course. I was rather disappointed to say the least – but oh well,
lesson learnt for next time! I managed to watch the rest of the crit and it was
certainly really impressed by Ashlee Ankudinoff’s solo victory to the line!
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| Robocop!! (Photo by Shane Miller) |
We had 2 stages on the
Saturday – a TTT in the morning and a road stage in the arvo. TT’s hurt, but
somehow ironically, the fun of TTT’s takes that pain away! We were first off,
and with only 3 riders, we had to finish, and finish as a team. The ride out
was a little slower, but with a ‘pro-style’ turnaround that we had been
practising a little earlier on, we managed to lift the pace significantly for
the ride home. Despite finishing bottom of the ladder of the teams
classification, we had ridden well together and were happy with our efforts.
The afternoon’s stage
took a while to start and an afternoon nap in the shade was all I could think
of! An early attack by the VIS caught a lot of us by surprise and we were chewing
bars in the gutter a mere 5kms in. I was spinning out on the 50-14 gear ratio I
had and was soon dropped in no time. Lucky I had 3 others to share the ride
with – Josie from Total Rush, Hannah from Specialized SA and team-mate Claire –
and we started working turns. Somehow, the 60kms felt like the longest race I
had ever done! The lack of road km’s in recent weeks of track training was
certainly showing. Nonetheless, the chicks were in good and high spirits and we
managed to finish the stage together.
Sunday – 99kms, 3 laps
of a circuit. Yes, I was certainly nervous – I think the last time I saw that
number on my Garmin was back in July! Despite the strong winds, we were
certainly lucky to have some nice sunshine. The peloton stayed together for
about 25kms before things got wild after a sharp hairpin. Again, the slight
downhill, gutter action – and I was popped to the back again. I chased for a
while to pick up a few riders along the way and we eventually got into a group
of 6 riders – the Kosdown crew of Von and Emma, Hannah from Specialized SA, Vic
from Torq and Steph from Holden. 40kms in and the break was now long gone. We
were eventually joined by team-mate Claire. Vic and Steph left us with 1 lap to
go. The k’s eventually ticked by and we managed to finish the ride together.
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| Everyone in smiles and glad to finish the tour! (Photo by Shane Miller) |
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| Part of the team in its early days w DS Stu Mc and team manager Super G |
Last road race for a
while now – and certainly looking forward to focusing on the track this summer –
officially a trackie for now!
