Report by Paul.

Usually this time of year I do the half marathon at the City to Surf, but this year due to conflict of schedules I couldn’t make it. But when I saw that the Wandi Masters Classic Race was on and open to anyone 30 then I had an idea. My parents happen to live in Auburn Grove which is a 10 min ride from the race course, so a sleep over was on the cards for me and my kids. It was an opportunity for my kids to get down and watch dad race.

I entered B grade (8 laps for a total of 70 km) but was a bit nervous as the only other B grade race I had done this year had been a West Coast masters race at an undulating Pickering Brook and the Wandi course is flat and fast with it most suitable to the strong power racer, which I’m not. I looked at the race list on Friday and there were only 18 riders in B so there would be absolutely nowhere to hide.

The great thing about this race was that B & D grades didn’t start until 1020am so no early start. So had breakfast with the kids and got my last minute coaching instructions from my 10 year old daughter Georgia – my instructions were to go slow the first lap so I don’t use all my energy and go as fast as I could on the last lap to win…simple.

About an 8km ride to the start to sign-in and then a ½ lap warm up to get a feel for the run into the finish line. The final 2-3km were slightly downhill with a sweeping left-hand bend 500m from the finish, then a straight, flat 500m sprint for the line.

I caught up with Lorraine and a few other riders before the start, with whispers of a few ‘A’ graders slipping into B didn’t settle any nerves I had. The call finally went up and away we rolled…and it started quick! Strung out into single file even before the first turn some 1-2km up the road. The guys were obviously keen as we were doing 42-44km/hr down the back half of the course with an Elite Racing rider already breaking off the front. The rider was eventually pulled back in close to the end of the first lap.

It was evident early on that there were three small teams trying to work over the group and they were watching each other closely, taking turns in making breaks with at least one to two attempted breaks on every lap, but every break was eventually pulled in. Lots of poker being played, in fact it was the most tactical race I have been involved in so far…great fun to be a part of. I kept out of trouble and sat mostly in the front 4-8 riders with the occasional turn on front as I wanted to make sure I at least had a chance to grab a wheel when the big breaks went. With my kids watching on the sidelines at the start/finish line I also made sure I came past a couple of times on front just so they could see dad at the front.

So the final lap came and we were all still pretty much together with only a couple being dropped off the back. It was a real cat and mouse game between the three ‘teams’ and none of them wanted to be on the mobile casino front to take turns as everyone was waiting for the final sprint. My plan was to hang on until the final 500m and if I was fortunate enough to get into a good position I might be lucky to finish in the top half. Most of the guys were bigger and stronger than me so a flat out sprint was not going to be in my favour. Heading up the back straight for the last time I was second wheel and holding the speed at around 40km/hr. The lead guy pulled off and I decided to take a turn on the front but not to put in too much as I thought there would be a kick coming from behind soon. After a minute or so I looked back and realised that there were two of us up front with a gap appearing to the rest of the peloton. I keep up a steady pace and the second guy came around and asked how strong I felt and whether I wanted to make a break…so we did. We pushed up it up to 45km/hr and held it there for a couple of minutes swapping turns and realised we were actually pulling away from the group. They were too worried about watching each other and we now thought we may actually be in with a sniff. So head down with about 3-4km to go, up a couple of inclines which made my legs scream at me, then slightly downhill, all the time swapping turns every 10 seconds and constantly looking back to see whether they were coming…still no sign of them. Into the last left-hand bend and I couldn’t hold the last kick that my fellow rider put in…my legs and lungs were screaming and all the time I had that awful feeling of ‘they are going to catch me just before the line’. But they didn’t and I hung on to take 2nd.

But the real pleasure for me today was being able to race in front of my kids – they think I’m number one no matter where I finish.

On a side note while looking at the race results I also came across the current WA Cycling 2009 Road point tables. We should be very proud as a club to know we have some SPR some riders doing very well.
Female Rider of the Year – Rebecca is currently 2nd, Lorraine 3rd, Anna 5th, Holly 6th, Nicole 7th
Masters Championship Series – Stu Gee is currently 2nd, Michael Bonner 7th
WA Team Championship Series Support/B Grade – South Perth Cycle Club is currently 1st !!