Race Report by Shane
Arrived at Pinjarra feeling pretty relaxed – mainly because we don’t have to climb that @#$@% hill
First impressions – Initially thought I was at a wind trainer expo upon approaching the SPR big top. Met Pete and got issued with SPR jersey….(not bad –he did all this while warming up on the bike and maintaining a cadence of 90 rpm – not sure what gear he had on though?)
Noted that race preparation was well underway –talk of lack of miles, distant stares, the occasional nervous laugh, the old bloke who has seen it all before, the new bloke who looks like he just s**t his pants.
Race about to start – intro’s and in depth team meeting (30 second turns – yeah sounds good!)
Off and rolling and nice smooth rotation develops between the team. Next thing – wham- the young guns (durbridge,semple & co) come blasting past at a savage pace and are gone into the distance….
Slowly creep up on our minute markers and finally make the catch at about the 18km mark… We surge by…start to settle down and next thing we are being passed (by the same team) …gets a little messy as we move across and back to avoid drafting, and then finally push forward to go by one more time….all over – they are not coming back this time.
Unfortunately, we lose Julian to the cramp, brought on as he buried a big turn putting the lights out on the team that would not die. We take stock at the turnaround to see if he can ride back on. He waves us on and we start to re-establish a rhythm and slowly make ground on the odd straggler (see a team in the distance with 10km to go) and slowly make ground to the finish. Last ten 10km was smoothly ridden, so much so I stayed pretty much on the bars the entire time, not bad for four blokes who haven’t ridden together before.
Cheers to the boys of masters team B – Julian, Michael & Bruce – a very pleasant ride
Thanks to management of SPR for providing the opportunity to do the TTT. Look forward to teaming up with the crew in the future.
Shame you guys didn’t get to train together, you’ll be ready for the next one now though. Great to see Julian out for his first competitive event. Well done to you all.
Nice write up Shane and cheers for a great TT fellas look forward to next years. All up a great day,terrific turn out of SPR numbers and again thanks to the SPR Team Management.
P.S Shane how do I get the entry fee to you happy to transfer it into your bank account as per Michaels email