race report by russell

Team c wisely chose the 62 km distance after a few of us we persuaded our brains were bigger than our legs. A good call. I do not think we could of done another lap and kept a smile on our face. So we had a team of 7 that had not ridden together before and only a couple had ridden a sportif event before. We had a bit of a chat about what we were going to do, how we were going to do it and then mainly chucked it out the window at the first call of “ease up” – which was about the 150 metres up the back straight the first time. It took us a couple of laps really to get the right speed so everybody could stay in touch. We are so used to following directly behind a rider casino online or two abreast on our SPR rides I think we have lost the ability to detect the best, most sheltered postion, behind the wheel you are following. Consequently I think a few of the team did more work than necessary as we tried to deal with the changing wind direction.
On Lap Two one of the calls of ease up was more serious and we had to circle round to check out Mike Beecrofts bike – we could see it upside down and thought puncture. But it was a bit more terminal as he had cracked a chain stay at the rear hanger (see photo on Team A blog). We basically gave him the bullet and suggested he take a short cut directly back to the line – no hope of completing the ride. The rest regrouped and carried on.
Special mention of Sandra who was prepared to ride with the grumpy old men of the C team (or at least Nev, Greg and myself qualify for that). It might take her a while to warm up but on the last lap there was no stopping her. If we had done the 78 km she would of been in front the whole lap.
I know its not a competition but our time was 6 out of 46. I think there is likely to be a next time, and if so, with a full complement of 9 riders, no mechanicals and the injection of some youth, we should easily be in the top five and maybe even a podium.
Thanks guys and Sandra, it was a good days ride.