Race Write Up by Jarrad

I wasn’t even liking the thought of this race the week prior. The thought of driving down to Dardanup for a race likely to be wet and 5 total hours of car for 2 hours of wet, cold and inevitable torn skin wasn’t my cup of tea. Nevertheless, Saturday’s fine weather combined with diligent studying of the bureau of meteorology website gave me confidence, and out the door at 0530 it was, followed by my reluctant girlfriend (“You better win for this, else you owe me dinner,” was the early morning quip).

Well, after a long(ish) drive during which i was having hamstring issues, we arrived, hands full of unhealthy, sugary snacks from the truck-stop and all kinds of Red-Power-Energy-ade.

Up with the tent, plenty of dodgy conversation and an awkward change of clothes into kit later, it was time for my usual warm-up. Two trips around the block at something resembling walking pace was enough, thinking that “these races really only start up after 50 kays anyway”, and after brief words with both our team and ‘sister’ team members (futher detail upon application, sister team is still secret) we were off.

Cross winds are always fun, and i’m the kind of rider who prefer’s the wind and the eschelons, however, only 1 kilometer in, this was fairly intense. I know I was sitting on the white line, oncoming traffic and participation riders ‘buzzing’ past sporadically, and sitting in the rear third of the field, this race was ON. Unfortunately for some, the race was OFF, as the single lane road didn’t offer much cover from the wind, and the high pace was enough to see a few off already.

“Train aggressively, race conservatively” was my motto for, well, at least the first lap, and after the first 5 or 10 k’s things settled down and i was happy to sit in, with a few solo attacks riding off the front, including SPR’s Scott B, who seemed keen on soloing for 70-odd km’s. An assessment with Brodie of the SPR contingent showed that we were mostly still there, with Pete latching on after the early fury (mmmmm cold muscles). At least my hamstring pain had gone.

Riding along, the scenery was quite attractive, with the forests and what-not proud in green from the recent rain, anyway, the road began to get a little ‘lumpy’, although the pack stayed pretty much together and seeming to be thinking of the race ahead. My knowledge of the course came from the commentator, who i remember stating “around the round-about and up the hill,” and after 20 kays, finally the round-about was here, and the subsequent, famed, climb.

The peloton seemed content to ride the first half of the climb comfortably, with an earlier break away setting the pace only 15 or so seconds ahead. One thing I’ve learnt is that when things get interesting, get to the front, and so i decided to make my way to the front of the pack. Further up the hill, i got sick of seeing our break-away friend riding solo, and thought it best to lead the group over the top of the climb, which, i must say, ended up being quite sedate.

Down the hill, Scott seemed keen to try his hand at breaking and so i sat up let the others do the work, preferring instead to survey the remainder of the field and speak with Nico about tactics. Plenty tried their hand at attacking the field, i guess forgetting that it’s just as easy for everyone else to ride a bike fast down a hill, but at least it got the field moving.

At the end-of lap turnaround we could see the lone Cycle-mania break rider, who was around 15 seconds ahead and the field was beginning to fragment, unfortunately i think at this stage we lost a few SPR boys as the acceleration after the turn was fairly quick and the cross winds again caused some pain, Brendan, Hughesy (‘The’ SPR sprinter), Pete and Brett amongst others falling to this race of attrition.

It was at this stage that the race got a little messy, which co-incided with my brains idea of ‘lets attack and see what happens’, and so i rode past the chase group and up to the break-away leader. Upon arrival, i could see looking back at the group they weren’t too keen on having the two of us work together, and despite my new-found friends assurances that ‘I’m working for my climber’, we took a couple of turns in futility with the Peloton baring upon us.

Getting sick of riding in the fresh air now, we let a rider go, and let some ‘Crate boys’ do the chasing. This never looked like happening, particularly when they expected Joe (“The Speed from Santiago!!”) to chase his own team-mate, and for the next 5 kays the peloton basically stuffed aroundwith no individual doing any work, and the entire peloton rolling around behind the leading 4 or 5 (of which i seemed to be stuck in).

At this time Brodie made his way up to the front, and after a word or two about saving the legs, my brain gave in again and thought, ‘If Brodie and i can get away, we could work together here!’. This quickly evolved into ‘Maybe i can work hard and take Brodie to the foot of the climb’, and i gave word and was off. Unfortunately this plan meant i was chasing a rider whom i didn’t really want to down, but if i could get the Sexy man to the climb alone, he might be able to solo back down the hill, “You’re not finishing this race now, your legs are stuffed,” were my thoughts at this stage. The rest of the peloton didn’t like my plan, and were pretty sure of not letting me go, and so i was back to where i started, but now after 3 or 4 big efforts on the legs, i was a little worse for wear.

Now riding up to the base of the climb again, my legs were a little rough, and i was sure i was getting dropped here. Teeth-grit and Sunday-style hanging on, i realised that if i can make it over the climb with the bunch, i can ride the down-hill back with the pack, and over i went.

Stu, Brodie, Scott and myself were all that was left of the SPR bunch (with The Speed from Santiago also there, but non SPR), and my body required some recovery, but the next 20 kays were all downhill now. Scott gave it a fair effort at the front, and the attacks were quite limited now, the group realised the inevitable bunch sprint was on it’s way soon.

The lightweight climbers gave i one last punch up the rises, and at this stage, my legs said a lovely ‘hello’ to cramping in the quads, calves and hammy’s, all at the same time. Struggling over the hill i thought, “cramping does not a sprinter make”, and down with the whole second bottle of water to try and alleviate the issue. No luck, but at least the peloton was sucking me along as i tried to fix my legs.

Change positions on the saddle…. still cramps, eat all of your gels…… still cramping, let’s try riding out of the saddle….. ouch, super cramps. Aha!! Ride with your toes pointing down….. no cramping. Yay!!

Staring down the barrel of a sprint, i knew i couldn’t compete on level terms, but with my new ‘ballerina’ riding style, i figured i could still get out of owing my girlfriend dinner with a decent solo ride.

The last of the break riders absorbed, Brodie and Stu were taking turns at the front into the head wind, and things were getting nervous at the back. With around 5-odd km’s to go, i saw that we were approaching the Women’s field with a fair rate of kip…… hmmmmm… ATTACK!!!

Ballerina boy rode around the field and up to Stu, who was sitting in the lead behind the car now stuck behind the women’s service vehicle, and called for him to GO!!! Stu seemed to have burnt his matches, so i rounded the cars and put in what could be hopefully a winning 3 km’s. A quick “Hello ladies” as i went past and it was solo time for hopefully the next 4 minutes (plenty of experience there….), unfortunately, with 1500 to go, it was also cramp time, as the new ‘toes down’ position wasn’t holding off the leg pain enough, and a few riders bridged the gap. 1 km to go, and i was thinking about booking a table somewhere in Leederville, as i had nothing left but pain in my legs, with Joe and plenty of other riders rounding past for the sprint.

In the end i have no idea where i finished, somewhere in the sprint group, but not first, and so i owe one dinner and perhaps an apology for attacking a little over-exuberantly at times. Well done to the SPR C grade team, who cleaned up, and to Matty in A Grade who finished well. Apologies for stuffing up the ladies field sprint by riding past so close to the finish, but well done to the girls too.

Props to all who entered and took part, and also to South West Cycle Club, whom i must say ran one of the best races I’ve taken part in, with excellent facilities, coffee and organisation.

Until next week…..

Jarrad

photos by meg.