Monday, February 20, 2012

Last week and some...

Well it’s been another big week starting last weekend with Clint and Lee-Anne travelling to Geelong to compete at the Olympic distance race to help in their efforts to make the Oz team. Clint had a bike leg that was ok until he laid it down in the wet proving that the combination of a Trek, corner and Triathlete is a recipe for pain J Clint carried on and still recorded a good time but finished about 29th in his age group from memory.
Lee-Anne didn’t have the best race but she did finish 9th in her age group which is a great result and increases her chances of making the Oz team.
Dylan and Brad travelled to Toowoomba to race and had a weekend that was best marked down as good experience. There were some strong teams there that rode with some pretty low tactics and dominated the races they were in.

The Thursday roll this week was a great ride with 12 riders turning out. The pace was a bit firmer this week and it showed with some people dropping off during the ride.

The Saturday ride to the dam was again well supported with about 10 riders in the end making the trip. Michelle is becoming a regular and proving she has a bit of stamina on the bike sitting on a decent pace out there and on the way back. Daryl (‘Dealer’ I’m calling him because he’s starting to deal out some pain J) is a big improver and is one to watch because whatever he’s doing is working. There were plenty of other riders out and about that morning as well which was great to see.
Today was the last round of the Rocky Crit series and the weather was spot on once again, except for the slight headwind down the back straight and the high temperature that caught a few out with tyres popping here and there.
Brad, Dylan and Lew flew the flag for our area in A grade but the big guns from Rocky fired today and dished out some hurt. In saying that it has to be remembered Brad and Dylan probably haven’t recovered 100% from last weekend but they are young so I don’t feel sorry for them J
B grade saw about 25 riders I think take part with Vaughn, Ray and Sandy plus I did notice another M1 shirt in there as well. It was a big group but once again the Rocky riders came away with the goods. C grade was where the action was with about 20 riders starting the race. The instructions were to keep it steady for the first half of the race….clearly this didn’t get through to all the riders with the pace very firm from the get go. My plan was to wait until the end and have a crack at sprinting for the first time instead of trying to win it from a mile out, something that hasn’t worked for me yet….
The race was messy at times which I expected with a lot of riders not calling inside or outside and the inevitable changes of line that took place mid corner as a result. I positioned myself well and was 3rd wheel going into the last lap and was looking at the first corner when a couple of young fellas slipped up the inside. Once again the changes that came about as a result of these actions one way or another resulted in 3 riders going down and the C grade race being called of as a result. I was right next to the riders as they went down and it wasn’t a great feeling to have bikes and people flying through the air and I ended up on the grass to avoid the carnage, lucky there wasn’t a gutter!

1 comment:

Brendan H said...

It was not fun going over the hangers had no where to go pretty much as it all happened right there. I am pretty sure it was the last lap from what is remembered the rest is a bit blurry.