Tour of Margaret River.
Declan suggested we get a team together for the first Tour of Margaret River.
We needed six riders and had five definite starters .Declan SPR ,Dr Wally, Frank , Will and Nev. Yes Old Buggers for sure.
The sixth rider was becoming a challenge and in the end the organiser put Deco in touch with a rider looking for a team to ride with.
Phil Diesel was his name not sure if that was his real second name but as the weekend went on it could well have been Avgas. We headed down in Wills work van a VW maxi ,the van was great three bikes with the front wheels off stood in the back and our gear this became the team bus.
The format went as follows.
Friday night Stage One a Quiz Night with cycling specific questions.
Saturday
3.7km time trail
One hour break then a 30 km criterium.
Then four hour break with a 16km Team time trial.
Sunday
50 km Road Race then ine tasting and lunch /Presentations.
We rolled up to the quiz night with everyone already seated drinking water, powerade and coffee ,we walked in with our carton of Stellas we got their attention for sure.
We did quite well in the quiz our team knew some amazing things about cycling, I sat back and thought these guys have got to get out more.
Declan won us a bottle wine for his answer regarding a new cycling film,he thought it was Debbie does HTC. Just what we needed more alcohol.
We won and were wearing yellow for the the first road stage.
Its was an early start Saturday morn for a drive to Cowaramup for the time trail.
The wind a easterly was freshing up. The cousre had one slight rise and one small climb .The wind was hardly blowing when the first four riders from our team took off at the alloted time, but when myself and Phil took off it was really howling thru the course.
Thats the way it is I suppose some get it easy others have to work hard. Points were given for ave speed with the top points being 40ks and over. Phil won this stage doing the 3.7k in 5.01.
The rest of us came back to the bus and coughed and coughed, Dr Wally assured us this is normal when you exert yourself then started coughing again. I will not bore with the with the times but just say that Wally and Frank probably the oldest in the event ( well they looked it anyway) did well with over 37.5 km ave speed for the
stage.
The next stage 30k Crit 8 laps with sprint points on three laps.
50 riders in this crit and everyone stayed together for the whole race apart from the sprints were the field broke apart then reformed thank god as the wind was still going. The first ten riders picked up points.
Phil won this stage also but none of the rest of the team could get in the top ten online casino with the only one Wally pretty close. At this stage Phil was now team leader ,mentor and also on the verge of being a life member of SPR.
Back to Marg River for lunch and rest to get ready for the team time trail at Four O”clock.
This stage had been on Wallys mind from the first time he saw the details of each stage ,it went undulating and techincal his concerns were well founded.
When headed off for 4 laps to make 16 ks with a two climbs in each lap plus a climb each time to turn around at the start /finish.
The less said about this stage the better , ( I have included a photo of one of the climbs) we finished two minutes behind the winners and the yellow was gone.
Would SPR be able to regain the yellow in the 50 k road race in the morning. We wanted it bad but first we had to go to the pub to replace lost fluids.
Sunday 8.30 start at Cowaramup. The road race was four laps and took in part of the the first two stages then came back thru the Howard Park winery, to enter the winery it was a tight left hand turn down a hill with willow trees on either side across a stone bridge then a climb up thru the vines to the start/ finish. It was a lovely setting . Apart from that wind.
The race set off with a pace car just to get us on to the main road then the first climb the race just split, Phil had gone with the front group and then another group with Wally and Frank in it ,then Myself, Will and Deco in the last group. We tried to get across to Wals and Franks group but couldn”t ,it was going to be a tough day.
Soon Wal and Frank were gone and Will and I were in a small group of seven a rider from Cowaramup became the leader and we worked as a team rolling thru in short turns, but no way were we going to catch the group in front. The guy from Cowaramup did a lot of work at the front both into and with the wind. Next time more gels will be required. Oh did I mention Phil won the 50 k road race. He had to work extra hard as he had no support from the team.He loved it. The guy is unbelievable and he 45 yrs old and he is a nice guy also. I think I”m in love!
We came fourth overall and although SPR rider won three out the
four stages, it needed to be a team effort to win the six Garmins that were the prizes.
Great weekend of riding. Special mention of Dr Wally and Frank great efforts against younger riders and Declan for completing every stage to help the team pick up more points. Will for also for digging deep when he had too! Me I”am just happy the Colnago did not get scratched in the back of the van.
Wiil I go again next Year? I have to see what Phil is doing.