race participation event report by peter.

 

the last cyclo-sportif of the year and after our good showing at the state team time trials, there were a lot of people wanting to put in a couple of good teams.  just like the team time trial, this would start at pinjarra.  unlike the team time trial, this one had a very big hill in it.

the course was one that we had done a few times before and has featured every year since the inception of cyclo-sportif events.  the only flat section is the first (and last) 10kms but there is always a headwind as it is so open.  after that you tackle 10kms of climbing to take you up to dwellingup before it rolls along del park rd where you turn around and head home.  there are a number of climbs both out and back along del park road, so even after you turn around, there are a number of climbs before the long decent.

we had two teams organised thanks to some running around by ryan, lisa and myself.  both were doing the long distance but there was a clear “a” team and “b” team. 

that “a” team had the following riders – ryan, brendan, steve, michael, judd, joseph, julian and david.  (hopefully ryan will get a race report out soon…)

the “b” team had – myself, davina, lisa, mark, alistar, shane, brett, dan and julian (the brothers making their spr racing debut).

we made good time down to pinjarra thanks to the shmick new freeway and by the time i got there, the spr tent was already set up.  a quick move away from the septic outflow and pretty soon we had it surrounded by almost all the teams cars.  it made for a great meeting point made things like sharing pumps and tools a lot easier.

seeing we had some first time racers in our group, the topic of race nutrition & hydration was discussed pre-race.  next thing we see is julian heading off in the car to get some powerade while dan minded the parking spot.  it was interesting to see who ate what over this sort of distance.  there were 56 teams doing the long distance and they were off at 30 sec intervals and we had the unfortunate “honour” of acting as a rabbit for the “a” team as we were starting only 1min ahead of them.  a short warmup and soon we were on the start line.  the game plan was set out.  form a single line and do 30 sec turns at the front.  if you were struggling do shorter turns.  once we hit the hills we had to stay together.  this meant yelling at each other to slow and pushing struggling riders if necessary.

the team that was meant to start 30 sec in front did not show up so we had 1 min to make up on our closest team.  we were off.  davina made sure that we didn’t smash it too much in the first few kms by getting everyone to do shorter turns at a slower pace until we had warmed up.  this was great as i usually rode with the “a” team and had my ring hanging out from the start. 

there was a definite head wind on the way out and we were hoping it didn’t swing around so that we had it on our backs for the return journey.  the road turned left and right a bit so we had to echelon across the road to get the best draft.  the long single file made this a bit hard in places, but we managed to slip through the first 9kms unscathed.  along the way some teams obviously hadn’t read the cyclo charter and tried to hang onto the back as our group came past to get an arm chair ride.  not really cool as this is a timed team event, but we soon dropped them as some of their crew couldn’t hold the pace.

at the 9 ½ km mark the “a” team swept past.  not too bad.  we were still passing teams and were travelling along at a comfortable pace so i wasn’t worried about them. 

they were still in sight when we started the climb and stayed not a large distance ahead for the first half at least.  it was interesting to see how the other teams tackled the climb.  some just totally disintegrated as a group as people did the climbs at their own pace.  we were past by a couple of guys from one team, but looked back to see that the rest of their team were still struggling a long way back.  we were determined to stick together to get the advantage once the road flattened out a bit. 

we crossed two sets of train tracks on the climb and one is just after a 12% section of the hill.  it makes for a tricky decent on the return but no time to worry about that now.

we reached dwellingup with everyone intact and turned left onto del park rd.  the road still climbed upward, but soon we were heading down.  these were the climbs we were going to tackle on the way home, but they felt good now.  mark had been doing some long strong turns on the way out and i asked him how he was feeling.  i was worried that he might burn himself out but he said that he had an easy week and had energy to burn.

the road was constantly up and down but we were picking up lots of teams along the way.  davina was making sure everyone was eating and drinking and alistar commented that he had never eaten so much on a ride before but it felt great. 

we had just came down a very long climb that was the king of the mountain point for the pinjarra classic when we noticed that brett’s rear tyre was going down.  we quickly pulled over to the side and actually got off the road as there were lots of teams following behind.  this gave a couple of us an opportunity to get some more food down while mark, dan and brett seemed to be all trying to change the tyre themselves.  many hands make light work or too many cooks spoil the broth.  the tyre was difficult to get off but soon a new tube was in.  one gas bottle later another tube was then put in.  some initial air from a pump to make sure it was ok before smacking another gas bottle into it.  ok.  we were off again.

a lot of the teams we had passed were now up the road and we started clawing them back.  the constant undulations and twisty roads meant that cars were having difficulty passing riders and seen we were stuck behind a car that couldn’t pass a few struggling riders.  we were bunched up behind it and couldn’t get around either.  this driver really didn’t want to put the foot down but eventually got enough clear air to get around.  it was getting busy as riders were now coming back on the return trip so it was difficult to pass, but we got stuck behind the same driver another two times before they eventually got free.  frustrating for them, but even more so for us as we were on the clock.

on the final climb up to the turn around, i noticed that dan had not done his seat bag up properly after the tyre change.  he stopped at the turn and fixed it while we slowed right down to wait for him.  we were soon off again and enjoying the descent when there was a pop and hiss in front of me and brett’s tyre was down for the count.  as per the “three strikes” rule he told us to leave him and he would get a ride back with the sag wagon.  i’m sure he can add his story to the comments as it took him a long time to get back.

mark was still doing big turns on the front and not seeming to be suffering for it.  the climbs put dan in difficulty and a bit of assistance was needed but the group stayed together well.  on the climb up to the king of the mountains, we got mixed up with a couple of groups that actually integrated with us for the climb.  strangely not their entire group, but just a few of them.  this meant that once we reached the top they all had to sit up and wait for the rest of their group to struggle along.

a few more rolling hills and pretty soon we were on the last climb before dwellingup.  unfortunately it is not just one long decent as it kicks up a couple of times which caused a few gaps.  people were keen to get home but the group still needed to stay together so had to slow to accommodate.

the start of the descent saw davina hit a hidden pothole (i.e repaired but sinking again) that dislodged her drink bottle.  i also hit the hole and thought of smashing carbon forks entered my head as it jolted my bike enough to ring the bell.  however, i then had to make sure i didn’t hit the drink bottle as it skidded across my path.  shane probably had a déjà vu moment as his bottle dislodged on the thursday group ride and jammed in between his spokes and frame causing the back wheel to lock up.  the subsequent skid ripped right through his tyre, tube and started eating into his rims.  not good.  luckily everyone made it through the incident today.

so we were screaming down the hill and as we came around the corner, there was a guy waving a flag (but not very well) so we started to slow.  as we exited the corner we realised that we had to slow real fast.  there was a very large steam train chugging across the road with a number of carriages containing a whole lot of people happily waving at us.  nice.  apparently we were the only team that got held up by the train today.

back into the fray and we continued down the remaining hill to find that the wind had continued from the south and we would actually get a tailwind home.  10 kms to go and it would soon be over. 

we formed into a line again but this time davina jumped on the front and stayed there for about 3 kms punching out around 48km/hr.  we all just held on for dear life but enjoyed the draft while we could.  as she peeled off, we all did short turns before mark and then davina both pulled out some big efforts.  this long/short process continued for a while before dan was really feeling the effects of fatigue and was struggling to hold a wheel.  with about 2 kms to go we formed up as two lines with mark and davina smashing along at the front so we could form the biggest draft window that we could to get the rest of us home.

we held together well and passed a number of teams that were just trying to make it home.  as we passed the 500m to go sign, lisa decided to go for the sprint but went a little too early.  we spat a couple out the back with that final effort, but that didn’t matter as i had the timing band on my leg and as i finished at the front, mine was the only time that mattered.

the “a” team were already at spr central and there was a litter of bike and bodies all around the tent.  some of the guys had a hard time on that team too but a great effort was made by all.  at the end of the day, only lisa and myself were the only two that stayed for lunch as brett was still making his way back with the marshals.  our nine raffle tickets yielded nothing so we then joined the mass exodus back to the freeway.

a great job by the team today and a good introduction to a few riders as to what racing is like.  awesome efforts by mark and davina to drag us around and a good finish to the cyclo-sportif season. 

the 8^th november is the next proper race with the golden spokes event which is a flat circuit around champion lakes.  a good opportunity for those that want to get into the racing scene as there are no hills to make it too hard.