16-17 March 2013: Sure has been a while since December. A short break in early January after the track season, before I spent the last couple of weeks just building up the base fitness again. Finally, the first road race of the season! Seems like ages since last October.
Kicked off the weekend with the Mansfield Crit. T-shaped loop in the centre of town – 3 right-hand u-turns plus 2 left-hand corners – certainly extremely technical! And there were some very strong contenders from the Hawthorn Cycling Club (HCC) in the field. On the gun, I immediately tried setting a high tempo to string out the field. 35 minutes was a short race, and any slight drop of wheel will cause a split in the bunch on this course. The HCC girls were keen to work up the pace as well, and we soon began working turns to keep the tempo.
Unfortunately, a crash in the A-grade field neutralised the race for a couple of laps. With not long to go, the tempo was up high again once the race re-commenced. Manuela and Deborah (HCC) were really driving the pace up front. 3 laps to go, and I found myself sitting 5th wheel. Slightly too far back than I’d hoped, but with a number of the girls dive-bombing the corners, it was impossible to make up position. Bell-lap – couldn’t move up. Final u-turn with 350m to go – the front 4 kicked and were spread right across the road. Spotted a gutter on the right at the roundabout – that’s a line – perfect! (Thanks James Dunn – I was laughing when he mentioned that he would ride through the roundabout if he had too!) Kicked once, sat, and kicked again with everything I had. And I had just won my first open race!! I was absolutely over the moon.
Unfortunately, a crash in the A-grade field neutralised the race for a couple of laps. With not long to go, the tempo was up high again once the race re-commenced. Manuela and Deborah (HCC) were really driving the pace up front. 3 laps to go, and I found myself sitting 5th wheel. Slightly too far back than I’d hoped, but with a number of the girls dive-bombing the corners, it was impossible to make up position. Bell-lap – couldn’t move up. Final u-turn with 350m to go – the front 4 kicked and were spread right across the road. Spotted a gutter on the right at the roundabout – that’s a line – perfect! (Thanks James Dunn – I was laughing when he mentioned that he would ride through the roundabout if he had too!) Kicked once, sat, and kicked again with everything I had. And I had just won my first open race!! I was absolutely over the moon.
Day 2 was the road race up Buller. The cold air was a bummer, and my nose was bleeding again from sinus infections. Nonetheless, I was keen to see what the prior months of hard work had to offer! They had combined B and C Grades, and the cross-winds from Mansfield to the base made for a really slow race out. A couple of km’s from the base, just as I was fumbling around with arm-warmers, a break of 5 had managed to get up the road. 20s, turned to 30s, to 45s, and they were quickly making up ground!! Cross-winds – oh crap! I immediately moved up the front and tried working the pace to bring the break back. Surely with a peloton twice the size, we could have brought them back. Nonetheless, 1 or 2 would pull through, and the rest were content sitting in. Tried as I could to get a rolling train, no one really wanted to do much. 1.5km before the base, I was getting rather annoyed – both at the peloton and for missing that key break!
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| Sprinting for the line (Photo by Jo Upton)
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As soon as we hit the base, I went full gas. The break now had 1:30 on us. The steep first section immediately caused a split, and soon, it was just Verita on my wheel. As she was contending for C grade, I was happy to continue driving the steep section till we were clearly out of sight from the bunch. The words of Graham Seers "Just like a pursuit - don't let go of the gears. It's only pain!" just kept playing over and over again in my head. I kept pushing on. Once the road flattened out a little, Verita took over on the front. And boy, this little climber was surely going! She was really spinning the compacts, and to keep up, I was pushing a rather large gear. Breathing hard, I hung on. Halfway up, we soon spotted one of the girls, Jen, from the front break, and just as Verita got out of the saddle on a steep sweeper, I failed to respond. It was inevitable that she would soon get away, and aware of not going too deep into the red, I tried to catch my breath. Verita had now disappeared around a bend. I eventually caught Jen, and as I rode past, she assured me that there was only one B-grader up the front and I was sitting in 2nd place. Sweet!
I had Jen to ride with for a while, but aware there was still a whole peloton looming behind, I increased tempo was soon on my own. With 5ks still to go and with no more bunnies in sight to chase, it was a mental game to just keep going. I was struggling to keep warm now, and efforts were really getting harder. And it was this very section of the mountain where I had bonked so badly last year, that everyone rode past like I stood still. Not this time. I pushed on. After what seemed like forever, I eventually made it to the finish line!! I was stoked with a 7min PB on the hill, and hanging on for 2nd place was a bonus!
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| Made the podium this year! (Photo by Gavin Wright) |
Achieving little goals has been a great reward for the past few months of hard work. The learning journey continues as I keep working and striving. Big thanks to James Dunn for having me stay at the family farm and supporting me throughout the weekend – I had heaps of fun there! Thanks to CV, the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club, and all the volunteers for another brilliant organisation of the race. And my coach, Simon and the Quickcycle crew, for all their support and constantly pushing me to discover new limits.
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| Enjoying the views post race |
Congratulations on a top weekend. "It's only pain" - love that!
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