Todays Race Report: See last week’s.

Okay, my goal after xmas was to improve positioning during the race. Earlier in the season, I found myself with the strength but I wasn’t in a position to use it. So my aim was to be up near the front when it counted. This means working hard to chase breaks and to ensure I remained at the business end of the field.

I was very satisfied with last week’s race – I fought and maintained a good position all through the race and it was only with 1/3 of a lap remaining that I simply couldn’t hold onto the wheel in front and, hence, failed to figure in the sprint.

The same thing happened this week! Damn! I’m not so happy about it happening twice. I probably did a better job with positioning (even managing to factor in the wind direction) and stayed up front. But, again, on the final lap the pace was too high for me to contest the sprint.

Two corners remained and my newly created “pain is nothing, victory is everything” mantra turned into “why the fsck am I going backwards?!”. I was suffering hard and I felt like, mentally, I was pushing myself harder than usual but I simply couldn’t put more power into the pedals and finally I watched, disheartened, as ‘others’ took the places that count.

I guess it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. My legs were feeling like shit from the start – probably due to sprint training the day before, followed by “holding” all day in the cold wearing only knicks and no shoes. I also managed to miss lunch and ended the day very dehydrated. Didn’t sleep well either, which is unusual for me.

There’s always next week…

Saturday morning, wake up when alarm goes off at 6am. Get out of bed just before 8am 🙂 Wash, dress, ride to ‘drome, arriving at sprint training in typical late fashion.

Wonder where a.b’s Dutch and warwych are hiding..?

I notice on the way there my HR seems elevated. Probably to be expected after 3 weeks of almost no riding.

We do some of the usual exercises, including a 2-on-1 exercise with limited gearing. Chasing Wayne, I hit 175rpm and 205bpm HR!!

Strange considering don’t often get that high in races let alone training drills! Don’t spin that fast in races though I guess..

After training, rode to Carl’s and then back to Hawthorn, where I’d left the car the night before. Drove to the ‘drome and watched Geoff do a 500m TT. Hung around to renew

my licence and watch the state TT champs.

Got home with a headache and sunburn..

Headache gets worse and doesn’t respond to water intake.

Headache really bad now and I’m seriously thinking about spewing. Lie down (and I never lie down..I must be crook).

Wake up when ex-gf comes to check on me. Feeling shithouse – go back to sleep.

Wake up early the next morning feeling okay so I head to Glenvale. I take it very easy getting there and arrive before anyone else. Have over an hour of warmup time before the

race. Ride around, stretch, enter C with $10 donation, ride some more. Whistle blows, head to line. D grade leaves and then C grade is off shortly after. The field is smaller than usual – hopefully the pace will be slow.

My goal for the race was to maintain position near the front.

This was something I haven’t been doing, which was stuffing up my chances of winning the sprint.

50 minutes of racing goes bye. ’13’ on the Bianchi must be strong or stupid as he keeps trying solo breaks (from memory he’s strong). Some dude on a Colnago tries to pass on the inside of turn one and is told in no uncertain terms he’ll be put into the gutter next time (not by me, I didn’t notice him until I was most of the way through that turn).

I’m doing okay and do end up holding a good position for most of the race. As expected, the pace hots up with 3 to go..

I’m still in a good position. 2 to go and someone grounds a pedal on turn 3. No crash and I’m not nearby for once!

Last lap and I’m starting to go black around the edges. I’m almost cooked! ’13’ is out wide on the back straight and I try to hold his wheel as he accelerates past the front runners. Three weeks of heavy drinking and buffet breakfasts ain’t doing me any favours now and I can’t quite hold on. The final corner is a bit sketchy on the inside with riders changing lines mid-corner, so I go wide again, to no avail. The pace of the front runners is such that they drag a few more riders with them and I sit up with 100m to go, spent. Usually I’d be annoyed with this result but I was happy about my positioning and I did have enough power for most of the race. Not bad considering my preparation.

I watched A and B and then rode home, deciding not to watch the Bay crit in order to let my already sun-fried brain have a rest.

ADDENDUM – CCCC’s Race Report

For twenty minutes the C grade bunch set a reasonable pace until Adam Mulford broke from the pack. A few laps later Scott McGee, George Greenall and Michael Thomas joined him but all were brought back by the bunch a lap later. Mulford immediately went on the attack again, with Jason Gelsi, Trent Brown, Joel Rogers, Colin Aitken and Dean Stewart leading the main bunch. They were able to bring Mulford back but were soon attacked by riders Spiros Mouzakis and Nick Groves. With the break looking good Stewart, Wayne Andrew, Stuart ‘the Hippy’ Birnie and Thomas bridged and this lasted for five minutes before the bunch realised the danger and brought them back. An exciting final ten minutes ensued with John Groves, Stuart Jacobsen and Mulford attacking in what seemed to be the break of the day. Working well together the break was clear by half the length of the straight before the main bunch, powered by Aitken, was able to slowly bring them back with one lap to go. The third field sprint of the morning followed with Brown fastest, from Andrew and young Tom Gallagher (Inexa). The women were well down the back of the field for most of the race but Monique Hanley and Melissa Kah sprinted into first and second respectively.