Saturday’s UWCT race was a mix bag of emotions. It is difficult for me to describe the race with a cohesive narrative. The best I can do is list a few of the positives and negatives…

Positive #1 – SPR Support

Every time I came up through the feed zone, even after being dropped, I knew that there would be lots of people in green yelling support, urging me to keep going. There was nothing else like it on the course and goes to show what being in a great cycling family can do!

Negative #1 – My performance

I’ve got plenty of excuses for falling off the pace so badly. Take you pick…

“I was sick during the week” – true

“My brakes were rubbing” – already used that one

“Forgot to shave my legs” – no comment

“I don’t race well when Mercury is in Sagitarius and the humidity is between 25-35%” – Matty W has this one trademarked!

Not matter what excuse I used, there was only one reason why I couldn’t finish with the bunch. The others were just too fast! We had a small group of 20 riders starting. 2 got away early in what proved to be a race winning move. It ment with 18 riders left there wasn’t much space to hide. We did the first 5 laps (Strava segment Goater) averaging 41.3kph; much faster than I’d done on Saturday’s Bonner Laps. Strava says the 35-40s did it almost 6 minutes slower than us. I spent too much energy on those first few laps and paid the price later.

Positive #2 – Left from Rochdale into Stephenson.

The importance of cornering in racing is underestimated, especially on this course. The sweeping left hander at the end of Rochdale is crucial to get right as the hammer gets put down straight away on the incline up to Challenge stadium. I’ve been working on my corners, trying to minimize breaking and holding a good line and it payed off.Going around that corner at 53kph is a great feeling. Pity I was already dropped!

Negative #2 – Cramps

Out of all the ways to drop out of contention, cramps are the most frustrating. At least when you are dropped because of genuine pace, your screaming lungs tell you that you couldn’t go faster. Cramps rob you of that feeling. I started cramping after about lap 5 or 6. Just little ones that I could spin out. Things got really bad just when the heat came on in the kitchen. Going up Waldron for the first time, cramps attacked all parts of both legs and I lost contact with the bunch. Things got worse on every lap. It was so bad that I had to stop up Waldron on the last lap and get off the bike for a spell.

Positive #3 – Finishing

I did a lot of sailing when I was young. One of the old sea dogs told me that when the conditions get tough “if you stick it out and finish, you’ll beat half the fleet home”. I thought lots about pulling out. If there wasn’t the SPR crew to look forward to on each lap I probably would’ve. Seeing Paul Bakker standing on the side of Waldren sealed it for me. He’d cramped too and (very wisely) abandoned. I kept going and ended up finishing ahead of 2 other stragglers. I wanted to cross the finish with my hands triumphantly in the air but I couldn’t manage anything other than a shoulder slump and a shift into the little chain ring. I finished 10^th, about 8 minutes behind the bunch. That sounds better to me than 3^rd last!

It was a great way to experience racing at a level above what I’m used to. It was a chilling insight into how far off A grade pace I am. What would I do next time? I’m not really that sure. It is hard to replicate the intensity, both speed and duration, of that type of racing without getting flogged in A grade for a season. The old adage of “train hard, race conservatively” applies. Next year I’ll spend more of the Saturday Bonner laps flogging myself on the front trying to up the power average. Or maybe I’ll just be there on the side cheering South Perth riders on!