After an extraordinarily dry July, the rain returned to greet the hundred or so soggy riders who braved the elements this morning to do laps of Pickering Brook in honor of the State Masters Road Championships. I have cycled all my life but am very new to the racing world (only got my gold licence 10 days ago). As I am to South Africa next week, however, I thought I better get out and try and learn a bit about race dynamics and tactics. Rode the Pinjarra race last week, which was my first race since the UCI qualifier (which was my first race. Full stop.) I expected this to be a bit different to Pinjarra, where the climb to Dwellingup sorted out the groups. The Pickering Brook circuit has only a few very short hills, much more suited to the sprinters and indeed the race played out much more like the Kings Park circuit in March.

Almost 30 riders registered for the MAS 4-7 category (45yo +) but only a few over 20 were at the starting line at 9.30. SPR were represented by Julian Johnson, Mike Bonner and (I think), Norm MacLeod. 7 laps of the circuit for a total of 55km. The 1^st couple of laps were fairly pedestrian, with the group content to stick together. A guy called Mark Paget made a bit of a break on the 3^rd lap and rode solo for about 5 or 6 kms, with the group content to sit back and watch him from 50 m back. Chris Glasby from Eddy Holland got twitchy on lap 4 and launched a series of attacks that both reeled Mark P in and split the group, with 6 riders (including Mike Bonner and myself) ending up in a breakaway that stayed together till the end (or almost the end – more of that later). Mike as usual did lots of long spells in front with most of the others content to sit back and save some energy in order to chase Chris when he hopped out of the saddle and wound the pace up, which he did on many occasions. The slippery conditions made the corners challenging, especially when there was some pace. I’m not very strong when the bike gets tilted a bit so  had to work a few times to get back after the double left handers at the bottom of Pickering Brook road.

The 6 of us were still all together on the last lap, a bit of cat and mouse was played with no-one willing to work, I did a stint in front leading up to the dip in Repatriation Rd, another rider helped out then Mike took us down the hill across the start line for the last time. The route had a little hook at the end up to Kings Mill Rd, where the group was to turn around  and head back up to the primary school for an uphill finish. Mike put on a bit of a spurt and got 20 m off the front, I sprinted across the gap to join him (without dragging the others) and for a minute we were looking pretty good, tacking turns and hoping by some miracle the others would let us go. Chris G sat back but a couple of the others bridged and we all road up to the turnaround point together, Mike 1^st, me 2^nd wheel.

It was only a gentle climb but I managed to get confused as to what gear I was in. Realised I was in the small chain ring, moved to the big, found it a bit hard, fiddled a bit and changed and….

Dropped my chain.

Bugger.

As some of you may know, I have invested a small (no, a large) fortune on Campag EPS and have had no end of grief from it, with 2 front derailleurs sent back to the factory. It has worked really well for the past few weeks however. I can’t blame todays effort on the gears – this was simple clutziness on the rider’s behalf. Unfortunately I can’t seem to get the EPS chain back on the fly (and don’t worry, I have had plenty of opportunities to practice this over the past 6 weeks) and so had to stop and throw the chain on by hand. Group gone.

Chris G won the sprint, Mike came in a 5^th, a great effort considering he spent 3 ½ hours on the bike yesterday. My 6^th position was exactly what I would have ended up with if I kept my chain on as I can’t sprint so I wasn’t fussed by the result, just annoyed with myself for stuffing up when I was so close. At least I didn’t have the ignominy of trying to sprint and watching the others disappear, which is what happened to me last week at Pinjarra!

To add insult to injury, looked at my Garmin at the end of the ride, it had a very pretty screen with lots of colours on it but no data. Turned itself off and on a few times without any input from me. The computer doesn’t recognise it anymore. Not sure if it is salvageable or not.

Julian & Norm crossed the line shortly after, Julian did lots of work in the 2^nd group and staggered across with a broken cable to his rear derailleur, very strong finish considering he only had 2 gears. Haven’t seen the results but I know Luke & Andy did well in the B grade. The under 45yo Masters didn’t attract enough entrants so those who did register were thrown in the deep end with the A graders – saw a few, including El Prez, suffering a bit because of the pace. Kudos ++ though to the President, as he was the only one I know who rode to the race from home. He was also seen after the race wading back down the bottom of Welshpool in his titanium bike (boat).

Unfortunately Amanda came off her bike – nasty grazes and bruises and maybe some stitches to her elbow but didn’t look like anything too serious. Will make for a quiet week this week but hopefully back to top form for South Africa.

Racing is fun!