No time for vegemite toast so I grabbed one of those Snickers(?) energy bars on the way to Port Melbourne. Very chocolatey, probably not the best thing pre-race but I needed something to eat. I was there quite early, having allowed extra time for my typical ‘where the hell am i’ navigational performance. This early in the morning I could actually concentrate on finding the streets I wanted rather than dodging cars. Nice. Rolled around until registration opened. $15 entry!? WTF?! Glenvale is only $10.. lucky I had a bit extra on me..
The circuit is a fair bit rougher than Glenvale (older roads have warped with industrial traffic I guess) and some sides of the circuit are coned off as single lane only. This wasn’t much of a problem with only 15 or so riders in C grade. I’m pretty sure the numbers are much higher than this normally but many riders were competing in the St. Kilda Festival crits later on the same day. Fine by me.
C grade started quite slow. The race was only 40min+3 (Glenvale is 55min+3) so if it stayed near this pace until the end I was sure I was going to kick arse! 🙂
It didn’t. A few breaks went and for some reason I found myself in them. I wasn’t paying attention. The new surrounds had thrown me a bit. In a small group like this it’s harder to hide so I was driving the breaks I was in and chasing down any others. “Hey, this was supposed to be easy” I was thinking to myself. There was some yelling about doing turns or something but I think we had dropped a few people off the back by that stage so our ‘break’ had become the new ‘peloton’?!
With two laps to go I did my last turn at the front, keeping the pace high, just in case we weren’t alone out there and then slotted back into the field.
One lap to go and I’m in a promising 4th wheel, behind a tall Preston guy. I figure, unless these guys are gun sprinters, I’m set. As we approach the final corner, my eyes widen as I realise the guy directly in front of me has just created a gap between himself and second place. To make matters worse, the guy in second place didn’t hold the wheel in front either and has created a similar gap to the leader. SHIT! This doesn’t happen at Glenvale! What are these guys doing?! I have to go NOW.. no point holding a wheel.
The finishing straight is shorter than Glenvale and with the large gap between 1st and 4th I give it hell, sure my ‘easy win’ is now history. Pass 3rd, pass 2nd, throw for finish line, arrr! If only I had another 5 metres I would’ve caught 1st! Oh well, 2nd is still nice, but I was cut about not dealing quick enough with those gaps forming. Another lesson learned.
$40 into the kitty and I’m off to the St. Kilda Festival crits to watch a bunch of people I know race. The Fitzroy St. hotdog circuit had large numbers of racers so each grade looked a LOT more painful than my race.. okay I’m soft, I’ll admit it! 😛