13-14 July 2013: Over
the past two weeks, acclimatising to the cold winter again after a month in hot
and humid conditions has been a real struggle. I was just starting to get the
hang of layering up again – just in time for the Eildon tour! It was great to
be back for the second time – and with more than double the number of women
competitors, Blackburn’s continuous support for women’s cycling, more prize
money on offer and iPads up for grabs, the racing was promised to be bigger,
better and lots of fun!
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Stage 1 ITT:
“Let’s see what you
can pull off at this temperature. Make sure you’re well warmed up,” said my coach,
Simon. The challenge was set. 11 degrees or 40 degrees - I was ready for it. From
the gun, I kicked off and quickly found my rhythm. 12km, short, sharp, no room
for error. Focus. Don’t fight the bike. Now just pedal and give everything you
have!
At the turnaround, I
was feeling pretty good. Time to lift the pace. With a slight incline on the
return leg, it was going to be a little harder. I spotted some front markers
and focused on reeling them in, bit by bit. Lift the cadence, put in just a
little bit more. KM to go, time to go wild. And before I knew it, the time
trial was over!
I glanced down at my
Garmin. More than 1.5 minutes quicker than last year – I was stoked! The
electronic timing meant results were up pretty quickly as I made my way to the
hall. A few pats on the back – I had done better than I’d expected and was now
leading the tour! (Many thanks to Alistair Donohue who very kindly lend me his
schmick looking disc and front wheel!)
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| The Time Trial - thanks to Allistair for the wheels! |
Stage 2 Road Race:
Still rapt from the
morning’s results, I was keen for Stage 2 to get underway. From the gun, it was
Attack after Attack after Attack.
The stronger girls of
Sam De Ritter and Shannon Malseed from Holden Cycling and Carley Mckay from
Kelly Cycle Coaching were surely on fire. The girls were keen to get a
breakaway going and holding on to GC meant I was constantly under threat. I attempted to get away on the little lumps,
but again, was quickly closed down. Both Rachel Ward and Simone Alexander were
also keen to not let any breakaways go and joined in the counter-attacks.
After 2 laps of the
pondage loop of attacks and counter attacks, it soon became evident that it was
going to come down to a hill sprint up the dam wall. The girls who were sitting
behind started moving up to the front of the bunch for position. The pace
started backing off. 600m to go at the start of the hill – Tessa launched an
attack and got the jump on the rest of the bunch. Georgina followed closely behind
going round the outside. With the top of the crest in sight, I knew it was too
late – I’d miscalculated the jump. I kicked to get over the top and crossed the
line in 3rd place.
Stage 3 Hillclimb Road Race:
The next morning’s
rain and wet roads did not dampen our spirits. “Please descend carefully:” was
the commissaire’s advise to us with the slick roads and off-camber bends on the
descend.
With 1 pondage loop
before the climb, no one was keen on launching any attacks. The bunch soon
started rolling turns and we got a good pace going. With not long to go before
the hill, the rustle of gels, food wrappers and girls emptying their bottles were
heard throughout the peloton. Time to get as much energy in – the Skyline climb
was not be underestimated!
As soon as we reached
the bottom of the 7km climb, Sam kicked and took off taking Tessa and Georgina
along with her. The km long 9% pinch tore the field apart. As soon as it “flattened”
out a little, Francesca managed to jumped across to the front 3. I could not
quite find the jump but continued pushing on. I had Caroline and Shannon to
work with for a while.
The front 4 were
starting to get a gap on us. Soon Shannon kicked and
took off, though just hanging off the back of the front 4. Caroline and I pushed to hold the 20s gap they had on us, conscious that we could not let the gap
grow any bigger. Tessa who was a GC contender was in the break – and I knew I
had to catch on no matter what. As soon as we reached the top, the girls had
disappeared down the other side of the hill. Time to chase – and chase hard!
I took the descend as
fast as I dared, constantly aware of the wet and twisty roads. Unfortunately, I
could not take Caroline along. I spotted Francesca who had gotten
dropped near the bottom, and knew the girls wouldn’t be too far off. At the
bottom, I spotted them – just 12s ahead. Francesca managed to get onto my
wheel. “When you’re this close, you’ve got to give everything to get back on,
no matter what!” Simon’s advice to us whilst we were watching the Tour de
France the night before. I clicked into the biggest gear I could push and
time-trialled my way across, determined to bridge the gap.
I breathed a sigh of
relieve as soon as I’d caught the girls, though it was short lived. With 6 of
us now in the break, we were keen to stay away, knowing there was still a field
of riders chasing behind. We managed to get a fast rolling pace going and
worked the break. The kms ticked down quickly. After riding solo the year
before from the top of the climb, I was sure glad to have a great bunch of
girls to ride with!!
We worked out that my
GC position was secured – and the contention for 3rd podium place would
come down to the bunch sprint. Sam, Shannon and I managed to scramble a train
together in the final kms launching Shannon for the stage win! I hung on for second with Tessa closely behind.
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| Over Skyline... |
A nice surprise!
I certainly surprised
myself this weekend and stoked to come away with the Tour win! It was a great
boost of confidence psychologically. Thanks to all the girls that made it a
great weekend of racing and congratulations to the other podium winners –
Tessa, Shannon, Sam and Simone. Many thanks also to Blackburn CC together with
CV, and all the volunteers for organising the race. And a huge thanks to my
coach Simon for his tireless support at the race, his words of wisdom and for
continuously pushing me to chase my dreams.
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| With the rest of the winners from the various age-groups |
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| Trophy, jersey and envelope - winning! :) |
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