Yesterday, Aidan and I completed the Grafton to Inverell. For Aidan, it was his second go after his first try in 2009 (last year he sat out after his crash at the Melbourne-warrnambool). For me, it was my first time and my longest race by about 70 km. Yes, I was nervous.

The race started at 8 under pretty awesome conditions: Sunny and not a wind in sight. A Grade had about 100 starters, of which about 25 percent were U23. The pace for the first many km was very sensible. I think everyone had at the back of their mind that the race was 228 km ‘short’. That being said, I knew when the KOM sprints were and as we approached the first one (at the 30 km mark) I said ‘what the hell’ and stayed a few wheels from the front. At the top, I got second.

Up until the start of the climb, I kept up with my nutritional plan: Two large bottles of water (one with a bit of coke in as well), two bars (one chocolate – mmm – one vanilla powerbar – hmph) and a significant number of honeyshots. Just before the climb, I got another bottle from the neutral waterstation – useful to cool myself down a bit. It was quite warm.

Unfortunately, Aidan had a flat and quite a slow change right before the climb. He managed to get back to the chief comm. car, but couldn’t quite reach the main bunch. He spent the rest of the race chasing. If I’d known that, I wouldn’t have raced the climb the way I did.

I stayed right at the front throughout the climb. In the first few kms, Lachlam Morton (the guy who’d taken first up the first KOM) set the pace. A few km in, he attacked (yes, from the front) and quickly got a gap. I think a lot of people were tired of the high pace he was setting; nobody initially chased. After a little bit, however, he was joined by Mark Jamieson and they went on to get a 2 minute gap at the top. I must say I regret not going with this move. I was feeling awesome at that point and I could have easily kept up with them. Even two minutes after they went I knew it was a mistake not to have gone with them. As it turned out, Herzo thought the same thing and he went off in pursuit but was eventually reeled back.

For the rest of the climb, I went I into ‘silly mode’, setting the pace on the front and closing down moves. The adrenaline got the better of me. Over the top, I got fourth in the KOM. At this point, there were about 30 riders left in the main bunch, which had also slit slightly. I was in the first group along with Herzo and a few other big names and for 10 km or so after the summit, we had a gap. However, we were brought back before the feed.

Feeding went surprisingly well. Actually, was the first time I’ve EVER taken a feed bag, so I was a bit worried. But I didn’t crash and despite the inevitable attacking through the zone I stayed with the front. I also got third in the next KOM. About 10 km after the feed zone, however, the group split and a group of 7 got away. I was in a second chase group of about the same number of riders and we nearly got back on, but were then caught by the group behind which stuffed the pace up. That group would end up staying away till the finish.

Coming through the second feed at Glen Innes (160 km in), the leaders had a gap of 1.5 minutes. By now, I was moving into unknown territory distance wise, but was still feeling reasonably good. I got my second feed, but ended up only taking the bottles and chucking the rest at a group of local spectators with the message that they could keep it. By now, my nutritional pattern had broken down a bit. Ever since the first feed, I’d been actively participating in either attacks or chases and I didn’t have time to eat enough. Hence, my pockets were still brimming with uneaten food.

Like at the first feed, people attacked through feeding and a Genesis rider rode up the road solo at a furious pace (they didn’t have anyone in the front group). A few km out of town, Michael Cupit attacked and I followed, jumping over the top of him when he eased up. We got a good gap and managed to increase it over the next few hills. We were then joined by Matthey Lloyd and a few others and kept the group behind at bay for a long time. In the last 40 km, Lloyd began going absolutely baserk, riding people off his wheel and making us work extremely hard to keep up. As a result, we caught the Genesis rider and for a while we were 9^th to 15^th on the road.

In the last 10 km, we were unfortunately caught by the group behind, which had a lot of fresher riders in it. On the last hill, a few people put the hammer down and I was popped along with two others. We rode together to the finish and agreed to cross the line in one line, coming in at a tied 28^th place about 4 minutes behind Mark Jamison; the eventual winner and the only rider who had joined Morton on the climb. Damn.

Herzo got 25th and Aidan came in about 10 minutes later with a big group.

I was destroyed, but I think that was deserved. I’m very happy with the way my first 200+ km race went and I feel that if I’d raced a little more maturely and eaten better, I would definitely have been in with a shot to be in the top ten. I had the form, but not necessarily the head. Results-wise, the race was still a success, though: I got third in the KOM competition overall and I think there was only one first-year U23 in front of me. Next year! Bring it on!

The Cunningham classic has traditionally been one of my favorite races of the year. Over the last two years, I’ve raced it as an Under-19 and it’s always been an awesome event. This year, I’ve had to retire from junior racing and so what awaited me was a 167km journey – the longest race I’ve done so far. Is longer always better? Read on to find out.

I should perhaps start up mentioning that I came back from Europe two weeks ago after a four week holiday with my girlfriend. It was awesome and although I didn’t exactly get fat, I feel far worse than I did earlier this year. That being said, I felt good this morning.

Unlike previous years, the weather this year was almost what you can describe as ’summer-like’ – it was actually about 16 degrees when we started. The same certainly couldn’t be said about the conditions last year, which were quite a bit chillier. There was not really any wind at the start, though it picked up slightly as the race wore on.

The Elite A field this year was about 50-strong and as we set off, I think everyone was thinking the same thing – that it was going to be a loong race… the pace in the first 20-30 kms was quite reasonable without being crazy and a break quickly established themselves off the front. They were reeled back by Budget at about the 30 km mark, at which stage the gradient started to pick up. Another break went up the road and hovered about 400 meters in front of the field.

Before the KOM, I made the error of getting somewhat boxed in in the bunch and this, coupled with the fact that I only realized the KOM was coming up at the 1km mark meant that I timed my jump to the break waay too late. As it was, I closed the gap down to about 100 meters by the sprint and averaged 440 watts and 27 kmh, maxing out at 43 kmh and 1200 watts. Damn!

Over the summit, I waited for the group behind (I was busted), which had been reduced to about 25. Up front, about 5 riders were away as we hurtled down the descent. Going up the climb where the feed zone was for all the other grades, a group went off the front. At the time, I was at the back recovering and so my reaction was delayed and I crested the hill solo about 20 meters off the back of the second breakaway group. I was joined by three other riders, but we were not working particularly well together given one guy was sitting on. Hence, we never made it onto the break and rejoined the third and main group shortly afterwards. As it turns out, the first and second groups at this stage formed the decisive breakaway of the day.

Over the course of… well, the rest of the race, my group tried to nail back the break but despite that their lead eventually grew to 4 minutes. Three times I tried to get away from the group and bridge. First up, Herzo was off the front of the group and as he began to be reeled back in, I attacked and bridged up to him. For a while, we extended our lead but after about 10 minutes, we were brought back. Herzo tried unsuccessfully again shortly afterwards, but failed again. With the Great H as an inspiration, I tried again a little later but again it was doomed.

ON the second and final feed, one rider (whom I shall not identify) attacked and gained a gap of 500 meters  before we gradually brought him back. When he was 50 meters off the front, I surged and quickly got a sizable gap. This was at about 32 km from the finish. For the next 25 minutes, I soloed at an average of about 320 Watts and 41 kmh before I was joined by two riders coming up from behind. At this point, I was well and truly smashed and couldn’t do very much more than sit on. I informed the others of this, did as much work as I could and then didn’t contest the sprint, finishing in 9th overall.

I was absolutely destroyed. It wasn’t the hardest race I’ve ever done (in terms of statistics, power etc) but it was still an extremely difficult event.

All in all, I’m very happy with the race. If it wasn’t for a few tactical stuff-ups, I’d likely have been in contention for the KOM and in the main breakaway. Oh well!

Race stats

Distance: 169 km

Time: 4:09

Average Speed: 41 kmh

Max Speed: 67 kmh

Avg Power: 235 Watts

Norm Power: 282 Watts

Max Power: 1205 Watts

Work: 3520 kJ

Avg Cadence: 90

Have fun,

Kristian

Gear choice for the supposedly fierce 12km climb to the finish was sorted. Kristian and I chose 12-25, although Kristian was rethinking this and wanted a 27. Dave failed to find a 27 so found himself a 11-28, Dan rode something made by SRAM and I’m not sure what Aidan and Jamie chose. Daves chain was ’slightly’ worn so it was a little concerning that he was running a brand new cassette but it all seemed to work fine.

By the start it was warm enough to take the newspaper option. The start itself was pushed to 14kms out of town due to some chopped up roads. We rode neutral to that point. There were several punctures during the neutral zone and we waited for them to catch up before the race proper started.

And start it did. In the first hour we covered 45kms, mostly as a result of non stop attempts for a break to go. From my position down the back of the bunch I could see Dan and Dave near the front, Felto trying to get in the break. Jamie was also up there. Kristian and Aidan were a little further back staying out of the wind and trouble. Compared to the previous day, there was minimal wind, with it mostly behind us. The roads were actually in very good condition. I had expected lots of holes due to recent rain.

Game plan was for Dave, Dan and Jamie to be at the front to try and go with dangerous breaks and for the other 3 to hide. I spent a bit of the first hour at the back of the bunch chatting with Frendo, but the surges as breaks went and got caught were a bit much so I moved up a little. I ended up at the front for a while and even bridged across to what would eventually be the break of the day. I latched onto the back of a 10 man group which unfortunately split again with the 2nd half sitting up and the rest of the bunch catching us. From there Kristian and I were blocked in on the left hand side of the road as another group of riders got across from the right hand side of the road. The break ended up with about 17 guys in it.

After the bunch chased for a little while everyone sat up. Most teams had people in the break although KOM and leaders jersey were in the main bunch. This left it pretty much up to us to keep the break in check which was a hard task with only Dan, Dave and Jamie on the front with the occasional help from others but with 17 guys off the front working.

The break soon has 3:25mins. I figured any of the good climbers who wanted to win the stage would have put their teams on the front but it didn’t happen. By the feed zone with 50kms to go they had 5 minutes. The feed zone was in a good spot, on a pretty solid climb. Frendo, kHz and I had just came back through the convoy from a nature stop as we hit the hill so I was actually a little stuffed at this point but the feed zone slowed everyone down for a while so I got to recover. It also allowed me to ride in my usual position of last wheel through the feed zone. Thanks for Murray, Jim and Donna for feed us yet again.

After the feed zone there was a nice pothole which took a few people out, I think Jamie and Bobo hit it but didn’t flat. I also saw someone hit a Kangaroo carcass. Dan was feeling it a bit and slipped back in the bunch and Jamie started cramping on a climb and drifted backwards. At this stage kHz and 3 others ripped off the front in pursuit of the break. The bunch once again didn’t do much chasing. The break must have been getting tired as they made it across near the base of the climb.

Just before the main climb, Dave got back on the front too keep the pace high but keep gapping everyone as they just watched him ride away. We also caught 4 riders who I presumed were the 4 that had gone clear after the feed zone but it turned out not to be. Eventually we hit the main climb and the bunch just exploded. One minute there were probably 60-70 riders, most of which I scooted around just before we got there, and the next there were probably 15 of us. Kristian and Bobo were also at the front. I was focused on not riding so slow that my Garmin stopped (5kph) so didn’t have a chance to look back and see what the carnage looked like.

The climb was tough to say the least, 18-22% ramps with ‘flat’ sections between and they just kept on coming. We’d been climbing for a couple of km’s and based on race distances we still had 9km to go!!. KOM leader Reuben got stuck in the big chainring up the 2nd ramp and fell behind. The climb was so steep he couldn’t get going again. David Melville stopped to help him I think and also couldn’t get going again. I didn’t see him again. I got tailed off on the 2nd or 3rd ramp when Corey Edmed accelerated, so I didn’t try to follow, just rode my own pace. Bobo, Kristian, Frendo, Peter Thompson and a few others were up ahead. Slooooooowly I caught riders, passing Bobo and Frendo and eventually catching Kristian on a steep section after he rode away from me on the flatter sections a few times. We also caught some of the younger riders who started out a bit faster, as well as some of the break. Corey had disappeared by now. Boothy who had probably been driving the break was stopped on the side of the road with cramps. Further back Dave was cruising up the hill in his 28.

By now I’d ridden through what was left of the front bunch, with only Corey and Peter Thompson ahead. I grovelled my way up to PT at the top of the last steep section. He was actually going a fair bit slower than me now but I’d run out of steep road to drop him. Unfortunately most of the actual climbing finished about 6km’s out from the finish. PT and I were caught by 3 others on a downhill section, and then Reuben came charging across with a couple of kms to go bringing with him Frendo, Kristian and Bobo. 8 or so of us came across the downhill finish together but the road wasn’t wide enough to get through and improve position at all.

Unfortunately there were still 8 or 9 of the breakaway ahead of us. Not by much though as Corey came 8th I think. Still with 3 of us in our group I think Budget was the only other team with 3 riders up the hill at that stage, although possibly ZipVit did as well with 1 finshing with us. kHz rode across to the break and then straight out the other side at the start of the climb, winning the race solo.

While the temperature at the top of the mountain was pretty cool there was a nice grass field in the sun to sit in while waiting for presentations.

I think it was another good result for us as a team, we seem to be one of the better teams when it comes to the climbs. Thanks to Jamie, Dan and Dave for sitting on the front for so long.

Until next time,

Ben

After about 40km of ups and downs the course had got rid of quite a few riders and the lead bunch was down to about 60 guys. Unlike the day before there was no interest in letting 30 guys just roll off the front. Several small groups tried and failed to get away at various points. Fellow Uni rider Peter Herzig was very aggressive and featured in several of these attempts. Luckily I started to feel better and better as the stage went on. It was a very similar course to the same stage in 2010 except for a 10km climb which had been removed from last years edition. With that climb missing it was always going to be a less selective course with a larger group coming to the finish. I’m very grateful for the help of my hosts for the weekend with Jason driving to the middle of nowhere to be in the feedzone for me. This was perfect and I took on board two bottles which I certainly needed to get through the last 50km or racing.

The ‘3 sisters’ was the hardest section of the course and included a very tough climb coming with roughly 40km still to race. Here the bunch got smaller again. Several riders went straight out the back as soon as the climb started. It was not super long but enough to hurt lots at the speed we were racing and at this stage of the race. I went just of the back of the lead group here and climbed it at my own pace. With two other guys at the top it didn’t take us long to get back to the front group on the descent. There was a bit of rest for 10km or so before the one remaining hard section, funnily enough, another climb with 20km to go. 50 riders made it over this climb together and this was the group which went to the finish. I was feeling better now than at the start which is a promising sign for the season ahead. With several riders from some of the big teams in this group it was inevitable that it would be a sprint finish and nothing would be let slip off the front. The last couple of kilometers was pretty hectic with guys all trying to move up and get good position while the police were constantly on the horn trying to keep people on the correct side of the road. Not being a sprinter I did not feel any desire to get involved in any of this. I was happy to role across the line 12 seconds after the stage winner. Tour over.

Given the efforts of the day before I was happy with this stage. Had I been more attentive on Stage 2 things could have been better but this is racing. Overall I finished up 35th on GC. As was the case last year it was a good experience and I’m looking forward to and hoping to get some starts at many similar races this year. I’d like to give a huge thanks to Jason, Toni and Tara who took me in for the weekend. Your hospitality was amazing and you were a great help with everything.

Thanks.

Aidan

Stage 2 was a 109km road stage on Saturday morning. By the finish my computer said 115km. When the team came down last year we did this same stage. I also rode the course on Friday so knew exactly what to expect, a very hilly, fast and hard course. It started at the crit circuit and was out and back, then repeat that again. As usual the start was caotic with 115 riders all trying to get near the front. The intelligence of the bunch was highlighted for the first 20km with constant disregard by many to the double white lines we had been told to stay left of. It’s not a full road closure down here like most other NRS events. Like last year and at virtually the same spot the police stopped the race to address this issue again. After being told to stay left for the 27th time most people understood. During that 20km I flatted and despite leaving wheels in the designated area for neutral spares prior to the start Idiscovered there was no neutral spares car. My wheels were exactly where I left them 3 hours later. Big thanks to the BikeBug team car which gave me a wheel. It was shimano but it worked ok and I still had most gears. I was back to the convoy when the race was stopped.

From there not much happened until about 10km after the first turn around. At that point, roughly 40km in a large group just rolled off the front. I was boxed in and could not get out in time to get on this (without crossing a double white line in front of the police moto – not a fine I wanted). I thought the group was too big and would come straight back, not so. After a few more k’s I rode away from the main bunch hoping a few riders would join. That didn’t happen, only one rider joined me. At the halfway mark we were 1km behind the front group and 1km ahead of the main bunch. The next 60km were not much fun as we rode a two man TT to the finish. With only two we were not going to catch the leaders on our own and still thought others might come accross. We did have company for the last 1km but this was far too late! All things considered, after having missed the split this was a reasonable outcome and better than doing nothing back in the bunch for 60km. I haven’t seen the results yet but I’m told we were closer to the front group of 20 or so than the bunch was to us.

Stage 3 was a 20km TT starting 2 hours later. With the tough road stage just discussed already in the legs and a 32 spoke training wheel on the back of my road bike the outcome wasn’t going to be good. I only averaged 37.5km/hr and lost a fair chunk of time. Time to recover for tomorrows final stage. There are no flat roads here and it will be a tough 130km on Sunday.

Bobo. Out.

Wow.

Racing-wise, this event is really something else. It’s very well organised, on good courses and there’s been quite a competitive field. Yesterday, we started off with a 24km flat TT on an out-and-back course, followed by a 90km road race with a mountain-top finish. Today we did a 119km hilly road race on a circuit.

Stage 1

I was never really going to have a chance in the TT and considering that I’ve been focusing on the second stage of the tour for a while, I decided to take it reasonably easy (though I didn’t go that slow). I ended up averaging 300 watts and did a time of about 36 minutes. The winner did it in 30-minutes or something
ridiculous like that…

Stage 2

Before the start of the stage, I had a bit of a scare because of a bit of trouble with support. Having finished the TT, I decided to go for a cool-down and in the meantime my support-guy (who I’d only met earlier that day – but he was really generous with his time and a great guy) decided to drive to Devonport (about 15km away) to pay some bills. He only came back about 30 minutes before the start of the stage, at which point I was pondering the implications of riding a road stage wearing a skin-suit and having half a bottle of water and no food. Luckily I got myself sorted.

The start of the race was dominated by the usual attacking off the front, with a group of three – one Genesis, one Jayco and one guy who had a few other team-mates in the race – eventually getting away. With both big teams being represented in the break, the main field was somewhat neutralised and the gap grew to about 2 minutes by the base of the first of three major climbs for the day. At this stage, the main field was really just cruising and it didn’t look like we were ever going to get near the break. With this in mind, I decided to try to slip off the front once the climb got steeper. It worked, but by the top the main field had responded and I only had a gap of about 20 seconds. However, I kept going at maximum pace and eventually the elastic broke. About 20km later (i don’t know the specific distance – my garmin was low on battery) I caught the break and started working with them to maintain our lead. Unfortunately, my companions weren’t too eager to work (except for the non-pro rider, who by then was getting a bit tired) because both the Genesis and Jayco riders had GC riders in the main group. So I found myself doing a fair bit of the work.

Half-way up the second climb, we got caught by two riders coming up from behind and before the very steep decent coming onto the final climb, I had 5 others with me. Coming down the descent, one rider took some serious risks but myself and the Genesis rider managed to hang on, with the result that we started the climb with about 10 seconds lead over the next group. The final climb was 5km at 9% (!) and I made the decision to push the pace because I didn’t want to get caught by the group behind. We dropped the crazy descender and so it was just me and the Genesis guy. About 2km from the top, however, another Genesis rider – Haas, the guy who had won the TT earlier on – came from behind and flew past us. I didn’t even consider getting on his wheel because he was just going so fast. Instead, I tried not to let him go, letting the gap increase gradually. But, inevitably, I eventually cracked and the Genesis and another guy – who had come up with Haas – came past. Eventually, I came in at 4th, about 50 seconds behind Haas.

I’m very happy with the way that race went – having come across the gap solo, I wouldn’t have had anywhere near as much left in the tank as some of the other riders who came across in a group. So I’m happy
I managed to hang on on the climb.

Stage 3

The third stage consisted of an about 30 km long course, with a 15km ride prior to entering the circuit and ditto between the end of the third lap and the finish. Once again, the beginning was dominated by relentless attacking and eventually a break of 2 or 3 Jayco guys and 2 genesis riders, along with one ‘nobody’ got away. I was just thinking that it would probably be good to get across before the elastic snapped, but before I found the right moment to go, the race was neutralised as we got overtaken by the U19 field which was absolutely flying. They had clearly gone flat-chat since the start but I discovered later on that an administrative error saw them going off 2 minutes behind the Elite field rather than the planned 15 minutes…

Hence, the race went at 20kmh for about 30 minutes, during which time I don’t know what happened to the break. In any case, the organisers eventually stopped the whole race and allowed us to catch up with the break. They then started the race as a handicap, with the break getting a lead of 2:28 once the U19 field had fully passed. Once we got going again, it was once again quite an inconsistent race, with attacks going off the front followed by periods of prolonged coasting. On the final lap, however, the pace went up on the climb (about 3km at 8%) and I went away along with 5 others – two nobodies, 2 genesis and one Jayco. One of the Genesis riders was Haas, the leader of the race, and so the Jayco rider didn’t work with us.

Going up the final climb once we had left the course (4km at about 5%), Haas once again put the pace on and had a gap of about 20 seconds from his team-mate and about the same from him back to me by the top of the climb. At the finish, he was miles ahead and I came across in 8th or 9th a fair way ahead of the rest of the break and ages in front of the main field, which had been taking it easy.

I’m very happy with how the weekend went – results like these are exactly why I came to Tassie. I finished 2nd non-pro rider on both road races so that’s pretty nice as well.
Have fun,
Kristian

Foodworks Teams Series Rnd2 – Finish from UQ Cycle on Vimeo.

Rnd 2 Podium

We had our own little Paris Roubaix today for the second race in the QLD Foodworks Team Series.

It was a dry, 130km road race on some narrow, sketchy roads that were full of potholes and cow-dung.  Most of the course was flat however half way around each lap (2 laps) we came up against a 20% climb that looked like a wall rising out of the fields.  I witnessed some riders getting off and walking and while I tried to laugh, I was almost dead and that made mocking people rather hard.

Mavis, Kristian, Bobo and Ben made it over the climb with the lead group.  Mavis did a fantastic job looking after Kristian in the peleton and used all of his race experience to ensure Kristian got to the end with as much advantage as possible.  Mavis 3.0’s contribution were fantastic and it was great to have him out racing today.

After the second climb the lead group had dwindled but Bobo, Ben and Kristian managed to make the cut.  Two riders were up the road in a break away and it didn’t look like they were going to get caught but with 4km to go Krisitian TT’d away from the chase pack and managed to hold on for third at the finish line.  A fantastic race by all of the guys!

A big thanks to all of our helpers at the race today and good to see a few of the other Uni riders going well.  Neil H was acting as one of the comms so thanks for making the racing possible.

Onwards to the next race!

Words by Dan, Video by Dave

CQ Update, with more results to follow on the CQ website.

Results on CQ website.

Sunday will be round 2, 126km in rolling terrain down at Beudesert, the team is excited and everyone has been training well.

TEAM FOR SUNDAY:
Kristian Juel
Ben Manson
Dave Hanson
Aiden McKenzie
Michael Davis
Dan Felton

A few other Uni riders will be also be racing on the day so there should be some great representation from the club, namely look out for Hertzo, Frendo and Hadleigh Milligan.

The big race of the weekend though is saturdays HPRW vs UNI and I’m sure a few of the boys will be at this also.

Words by Dan, Photos by Kal

Rnd1 TTT – Photo by Kal

Dan in the ITT

During the next few weeks I’ll be updating the website for this year. Expect it to be a little all over the place until I get it all sorted.

Cheers,

Kristian

Arriving early with a day before the race was a deliberate plan. When Kristian and myself went to Tasmania in September we travelled all day the day before the race started, arriving very late at our motel. That was was far from ideal and a stark contrast to the two days Dave and I had to settle in before the Tour of Southland in November. Having this extra day was great. Former Uni hard man Chris Tam, who was in Melbourne last weekend made the trek out to Ballarat for a nice easy ride and some coffee time on Saturday. We did several laps of Lake Wendouree which was used for some rowing events in the 1956 Olympics before riding to Buninyong where the U23 race was just finishing and the Womens race about to begin. The atmosphere was good and gave a taste of what was to come the following day.

As riding the course was not possible that day I went back that night to drive around it. The course starts with 3km of climbing at around 6.5%. It seemed very easy in the car. The climb was straight up, then a left turn, slightly flat for 200m then straight up again. A complete contrast to the descent. There was some flat across the top and a few corners before the fast windy descent back to the start/finish line. It was raining when I took this drive but luckily this did not continue on Sunday.

On race day I woke feeling calm. I had finally had 5 months of consistant training, something unusual for me and can honestly say this was the first time I’ve ever felt well prepared for a bike race. The race started at 11am and was only about 12km from where I was staying. I rode to the circuit with the race wheels (more on those later), feeder (more on him later) and food not far behind in the car. There were people everywhere. The atmosphere was great. 160 riders started the race.

The first lap didn’t seem hard and the 3km climb was filled with people. Apparently it was pretty quick with 20 of those 160 starters losing touch with the Peloton on this first lap. After one lap it was clear the advice I had been given of doing as little as possible and conserving as much as possible was very good and that is what I set about doing. It would be a race of attrition. On lap 2 a break of 6 riders went away. Eventual winner Jack Bobridge bridged across to make that 7 and their lead got to around 3:30 according to the time checks I saw. It was very windy with a headwind up the climb then cross winds before the descent. Thanks very much to Benny for lending me a shallow front wheel which I used and felt was necessary in these conditions. Ironically I started the race wishing I had been able to use my deeper front wheel as it had a brand new tub.

The race seemed to be well controlled by all the big names in the bunch who obviously did not want to give the breakaway too much advantage. I say ‘seemed’ as I did not see much of what was actually happening at the very front. The climb was getting harder each time around as expected but I still felt good and was doing my best to ride a good position in the bunch. The first 6 laps seemed very comfortable. After 6 laps I realized I had a problem with my rear wheel, also a brand new tub. I would find out later the valve extender was not attached properly and was leaking from the gun. Two lessons were learnt the hard way here. I should have discovered this problem long before the race and I should have stopped for a wheel change as soon as I knew I had a problem. I kept riding trying to ignored the problem. This was not a good idea. I lost position on every descent before trying to move up through the bunch again on the climb with  a wheel that was making each climb much harder than it should have been.

On the 10^th lap this backfired as I was dropped from the peloton on the second section of the climb, 500m or so from the top. There were 8 or so other riders with me at this point so again I kept riding. Some of the convoy came past at this point with the other half staying behind us. We were working well and given that we were still in the cars all were confident of getting back on. When I almost decked it through a corner with my half flat tyre I knew it was time to stop. Those guys got back to the bunch before the start / finish. I was not so lucky and when I put my hand up for a wheel change it became clear neautral spares was not one of the cars behind us and had just gone past. Several team cars then sped by before an Ambulance was the only one to stop. Usually I need their help but this time when the doctor asked if I was ok I asked him if he had a rear wheel. He said no and that was my race over on lap 10.

By the time I got back down to the finish I think the riders were now on lap 12. By then the race had split into about 6 different groups with many riders pulling out of the race at different points. The different level between the ProTour riders and the quality domestic riders became evident. It was not nice watching the race unfold after a mechanical. I went there to finish the race. If that was not possible it would have been better to see how many laps I could have got out of my legs. This is bike racing though and there will be another chance. Only 48 riders finished the race. It was a very tough course living up to all stories I had heard of its brutal nature. There are no shortcuts in preparing for 16 laps at Buninyong and congratulations needs to go to all of the 48 guys that did the full 16 laps.

Despite the disappointment it was a great experience and one that can only serve to benefit me in the future. I have to thank Chris again. He came out again on race day to support me. It was really good to hear shouts of Bobo coming from the huge crowd every lap so thanks mate. I’d like to also thank my Dad, he was the feeder. He made this trip possible for me both financially and by helping me while we were away. Thanks Boss.

Next week I leave for NZ to race the Tour of Wellington. I’m hoping for some better luck and will no doubt come back with some stories. Thanks for listening.

BoBo