Yeah.. you.. C-grader my arse!

Wins C grade and then races B grade straight after.. driving the bunch into the wind.. not a chance in hell he’s a C-grader. Cheat. (self-censored)

–

Ahh.. now that that’s out of the way and a day has passed.. here’s a more detailed race report:

Listen to Megadeth’s “Rust In Peace” for a pre-race psych up.

Ride to Glenvale, arrive way too early (8am) for the 9am start.

Ride around with Mal for a bit and not-so-casually ask if there’s gonna be a B-grader in C-grade again this week. He tells me “No, he’s been bumped up”. Cool I think, I’m back in with a chance.

Ride around some more chatting to people, upping the pace just before the start, so race pace isn’t a shock.

Eat a snake 5min before start.

Wait for the ‘start shuffle’ to happen as everyone finds their position in the bunch.

“I don’t frickin believe it” I think, as I spot the Freedom Machine rider who should be in B-grade!

I thought I’d make use of him and stuck to his back wheel like glue.. well.. like glue that eventually comes unstuck, as after a few laps I lost his wheel on a corner and he took ‘that’ brief oppurtunity to launch his attack – I didn’t see him again.

The rest of the race was a sad example of people unwilling to do any work to catch the break. Why the hell do these people pay money to soft-pedal around the circuit while a break is getting away? Did they not know he was the rider that kicked everyone’s arse the week before and that, no, he wouldn’t just give up and let us reel him in like most other breaks?

It was pathetic – myself, Brian, and maybe another guy and girl were doing big turns at the front. We’d roll off, trashed from riding into a strong headwind, only to find the schmuck behind coasting around like they were riding to the shops for milk.

This happened for quite a while, while I got more and more angry and used more and more energy. Carl was shouting the gap times to us: “20sec”, “22sec”, “25sec”, “30sec”, “25sec” etc. All this while I’m getting more trashed and the bunch is twiddling its thumbs. It would’ve been easier to simply collect their donations at the start and hand them straight over to the place getters. They weren’t racing.

I got so pissed off I actually started yelling at people to work (something I don’t think I’ve ever done) and when that failed I told myself “fuck it” and raced off the front, getting a half lap gap, only to be reeled back in.

“Oh, so you fuckers in the bunch will chase me down but you wont fucking work to get back the winning break! Frickin’ wankers!!”.

I basically give up. There’s only a few minutes to go. NOW these idiots in the bunch start to up the pace!

Shit! 3 laps to go, they’ve already let the break go and now they want to sprint for 4th and 5th! IDIOTS!!!

In the end I was quite a way back after doing ANOTHER turn and my sprint started too far back. Probably 6th in the bunch but it was a half-hearted effort (actually, it seemed like my HRM was reading 180-200bpm for most of the race, so not THAT half-hearted).

I later find out that the initial break was two riders (as I knew) but they were later joined by three more. Probably just after Brian and I had done big turns to start dropping the split – thanks, love your work, losers.

The second placed rider was a.b’s Jazmo who said he struggled to hold FM gyu’s wheel! Two or three of the riders that bridged pulled out with 2 laps to go as well! That’s how hot the pace was in the break.

In the end, I think FM guy actually broke away from the break and won solo – that is not a C-grade rider.

I was furious.. for the second week in a row.. beaten by a cheat.

Freedom Machine cheat then went on to ride in B grade (apparently did the same the week before – how does someone race B AND C grades!!!???) and he wasn’t just sitting in the bunch, this scumbag was driving the bunch into the headwind, AFTER our race!!

I was destroyed. I actually had to get off my bike on the way home because I was cramping up so hard I couldn’t pedal. I rarely have a problem with cramps (high fat, high sugar, high salt diet.. mmm!) but I think the effort on Sunday was a bit much for my body.

I had a rotten post-race hangover for the rest of the day – walking around like I was a zombie, barely able to see, drinking loads of saline to stave off the cramps.. I was a mess. An angry mess.

I was riding back from my LBS. I get tooted from behind. Not a friendly toot but one of those “I’m a driver here me roar” toots from some moron.

I ride on, noting their rego as they turn. Another thing I note is the fact that they just turned into the carpark area behind the shops.

“Oh goody”, I think as I ride further up the street and do a u-turn, sure that I’ll soon be able to kick the mirrors off their Commodore (Note: I wouldn’t actually do that for a toot but I wanted them to know I could).

Sure as shit, the female driver and male passenger are standing at their car – guess they thought I might come back 🙂

“You should be careful who you toot your horn at”, I mention casually, at the same time, glaring like I want to smear their blood over their car.

“You were in the middle of the road”, the slapper replies.

“One, I was not in the middle of the road and two, it doesn’t matter if I was, I’m ALLOWED to be there – you were behind me, you have to wait.”

“He’s right”, says the male passenger.

“I’ve said my bit, now, take care.” I say, calm as fsck, like a serial killer.

With any luck they might not be so willing to hassle the next cyclist they see fearing ‘carpark vengeance’.

10min mark – no water left! 30degC morning.. suffering thanks to Freedom Machine sandbagger who strung field out.

Field rests for a bit mid-race. Not enough for me though.

The crazy start from the sandbagger meant I was just hanging on and had nothing left for sprint. Mid-field finish.

Having no water didn’t help. I might remember to fill up before the next race!

For more detailed (whinging) see aus.bicycle