This would be my first race at Sandown International Raceway.. typically home to V8 supercars..

Left work early (~5pm) and caught the train to Richmond, waited for a totally packed train to go past and then caught a Pakenham train which was much less full.

I didn’t even have to yuppie-whack to get my bike in!

The howling gale and high heat of mid-day had turned into dark skies and crazy winds.

Arrived at around 6pm, followed another rider to the track, got changed, paid the $10 entry fee and collected a race number.

Headed out onto the track as it started to rain.

“Jesus! How frickin’ insane is this wind?!”

I was almost going backwards on the main straight, I’m sure. Turned the corner and it was better in the crosswind, sharp left and down the back straight was nice and fast until the small rise reduced speed a little.

On through some twisties and then SMACK! POW! the wall of wind just created a reverse gear!

On the second lap I found a wheel to follow and the speed went up a little. It was going to take some time to un-Glenvale and adjust to these new corners at speed.

Completing this lap we rolled up to the start to find the race had been called off due to the shitty weather. Damn! All that fuss for nothing 🙁

Race entry fees would be saved for another day. At least I got to leave work early 🙂

Rode home with Trev C and experience my first Bad Bus Driver (BBD). This cocksmoker insisted on sitting behind us for some time along Springvale Rd. tooting.

“Oh, and where the fsck would you like us to go, dickhead?”.

With two other lanes clear, that he could have used, I did not understand this idiot’s problem. At a set of lights I showed him where the other lanes were and suggested he use them. I gave him the international sign of Peace Love Unity and Respect as he rounded the corner. (I flipped him off and call him nasty names :)).

Other than that little incident, it was a surprisingly nice ride home in the rain.

The best bit?

Getting home and realising the race number was still stuck to my back! 😀

Race Stats:

Distance: 0k

Avg. Spd: 0kph

Swearing: 247rwph (rude words per hour, 220 is hippy average ;))

Scene: Racer boy has just emptied his local Brumby’s bakery and washed the lot down with some Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee. He now prepares his weekly Glenvale race report..

A couple of days off the bike in Mildura meant that I wasn’t sure how today’s race would go. I felt good so I figured that rest was actually a benefit rather than a hinderance. I was also highly motivated, having returned to Melbourne early just to race.

The first 40 minutes went well with quite a few breaks trying to get away and failing. I was sitting comfortably in the bunch (except for one or two chasing efforts – Rickster, lets just say I ‘prefer’ not to chase :)).

D grade had just sprinted so we didn’t have too long to go until we got the ‘3’ laps sign. In prime position for winning the bunch sprint, I noticed two riders off the front on the main straight. In a moment of, uh, boredom, I guess, I decided to be a hero and bridge the gap to the breakaway (of course this was timed for maximum exposure to the crowd! 😀 ).

I made it easily with no one else coming across (wish I could do the same in those sprint training sessions!) and yelled some encouragement to the other riders to get them into attack mode. We started working together. I think Blackburn’s Scott Setford came across after me(?) – we ended up with four guys, anyway.

Swapping turns we are still in front of the bunch with a lap to go. The gap is getting smaller but we might just make it!

Approaching the last corner, just before the apex, we’re caught!

Fark!

I keep the pace up in the hope that some of the bunch sprinters die off before me but I’ve used up too much juice in the break. I’m done.

Debrief:

“Why the hell did you throw away your ‘soon to be’ winning strategy for a breakaway attempt??!!!!!”

With the juice I had left at the end, the sprint could’ve been very good for me.

Share the Love:

A big two-fingered salute to the Brunetti(?) “team” on the Colnagos with the Cosmics. Thanks for chasing us down to set up the sprint for your mate who didn’t win anyway! You wont be getting any favours from me.

Must check those ‘teamwork’ rules.. anyone wanna work for me for a share of the money? 🙂

Mal’s Glenvale Report

$300 in 10c, 20c and 50c isn’t THAT heavy, right? A bit more than 5kg perhaps? Couriers carry more than that all the time, right?

Perhaps not, and if they were to carry so much shrapnel in their bags, they wouldn’t add it onto the normal commute load and carry it 25k to work – on their race bikes!

It was early! I wasn’t thinking straight! :S

Note To Self #47,869,201:

Carrying so much coin to work is a bag is dumb. On a road bike is dumber still. Hitting the typical dodgy Melbourne road repairs with this load and buckling the rear wheel is adding fuel to the stupidity fire – you need help boy!

The thing that counts though, is rain, hail, shine, wheel and spinal damage – the coins made it! 😀

This has been D. Head reporting.

I awoke this morning feeling shabby (apologies to Shabby) and idled along to Glenvale. Warm weather this morning seems to have encouraged extra numbers to appear in C grade. 9am we roll out and right off the bat two riders decide to leave the “safety” of the bunch. The’s no reaction from the rest of the field initially but soon enough a chase commences. After a few laps(?) the field is back together. There seems to be a bunch of riders communicating to each other and working together and when they go, the rest of the field simply doesn’t want to work to chase them.

Another break goes away and this one does some real damage, I think, leaving some riders behind. Some riders manage to bridge the gap, moving up in dribs and drabs, but most of the field are struggling to chase them down. Your’s truly drives the bunch and then looks over for support.. to find.. a bunch totally unwilling to work! Bastards! I resume the chase and eventually it all comes back together with some other riders joining in to chase (thank deity!).

At some point mid-race a guy gets nice and wobbly coming out of the corner and I lock up a nice new ProRace.. doh! (Sorry to the dudes behind me ;-))

Basically the bulk of the race involved me spending too much time in the wind, chasing breaks or repositioning myself – no mistaking it was a hard race!

With one lap to go, people are smashing pedals into the ground in a desperate attempt to maintain their speed through the corners and I’m just waiting for someone to go down near me/onto me/in front of me. I’m too far back and decide to surge up near the front to find a leadout wheel. At the same time as I surge, the peloton gets cagey and riders slow down, waiting for some sucker to go first and provide a wheel to lock onto. Oh crap! Guess which sucker just passed the field? Yeah, muggins here..

It’s too late to mess around, slow down and grab someone’s wheel and I’ve been telling myself all race that I would sprint to the line no matter how far back in the field I was. So, I go for it, sucking in huge gasps of air, clicking up a gear every time my cadence gets high enough to allow it. I see people move up next to me but fade back again. It’s perhaps 200m from the final corner to the finish line..

More people move close but can’t pass. I’m within 10m of the line and I’m not going to slow down! A split second later I spot another movement to my right and BAM! a bunch of four riders sweeps past me to take the first four places, relegating my sorry arse to the non-paying zone again!! Noooo!!! I spoke to the winner and he said the average speed was ~42.5, which is up around B grade averages I think. It definately felt harder!

Debriefing: Even though I missed that elusive win, I was still relatively happy with the race. I did a lot of unnecessary work and didn’t have anyone for a leadout and I still managed a good finish after a hard race. In my mind, that’s okay, I just have to try again for the win. Did some B-graders sneak into C-grade or something?

Stats: To Follow