Race report by Dan (Formerly known as DeRosa Dan)
My first race in SPR colours (…..its not easy being Green) since recently moving to Perth from Canberra, and it was looking rather uninviting as dark skies and showers greeted me on the early morning drive South. I had visions of the race ending like Stage 7 of the Gio d’Italia (btw brilliant victory, Cadel), but the clouds parted as I neared Bunbary and the sun was up….perfect bike racing conditions!!
A quick stop at a local cafe for the mandatory pre-race large flat white and blueberry muffin, then it was off to the start line where the SPR boys and girls were already setting up shop. Introduced myself to the SPR crew, conversations about the race and route, changed into kit and did my warm up.
A big SPR contingent for C-Grade (10 out of 32), with mountain goat Ashley favourite to take the win after his performance on the hills ride. Everyone kept mentioning this “big hill” that was after the round about, being absolutely unfamiliar with the area my race plan was to stick myself near the front so that if the pace got too hot up the hills I could still drift back during the climb and stay with the bunch.
C Grade was combined with the U-17’s, and the race got off to a cruisy start with the eager u-17’s charging to the front and the rest of the bunch happy to follow in their draft. Except there was no draft since a crosswind was blowing and crafty riders were riding on the centre white line not wanting to provide an inch of draft to the person behind. A fairly civilised race till the first climb, and as expected the U-17’s shot up the hills. The C Graders were happy to let them go, maintaining a steady rhythm up the climb. The 5 U-17’s didn’t manage to work together after the first climb, and we caught them easily. At the next climb, the U-17’s took off again but this time Ashley, Michael and another SPR rider were hot on their heels and they managed to break away from the bunch maintaining a 150m gap from the bunch. I sat comfortably in the bunch thinking “That’s it! The winning break and SPR riders are in it!! I’ll just sit in the bunch now and cruise home with them.” I sat on 2nd wheel and when guys around me realised that I wasn’t going to help chase my own teammates, they stepped on the gas and worked their arses off to catch the break. Kudos to them, they brought me to within 50m of the spares vehicle which was driving behind the lead bunch. We took a “quick suck” off the spares vehicle then joined up with the break just as we were coming to the turn around.
The race was split apart by this point. 2 U-17 riders had a huge gap on the other 3, and there were about 8 C-Graders left in the lead bunch. At this point Ashley felt it necessary to stretch his hill climbing legs and he set a good pace climbing out of the valley shedding riders till there were only 3 U-17’s, 5 SPR riders and a lone Collie rider left. “Sweet! We’ve got this one in the bag!” I thought. Unfortunately nobody was interested in working to keep the break going. The Collie rider decided to put on his General’s hat and tried to get a paceline going but to no avail. Everyone was just looking around, blaming others for not pulling turns, no doubt thinking about saving their legs for the sprint finish.
Well we should have been thinking about keeping away from the chasing bunch, because with 5 km to the finish a handful of riders managed to work very hard to catch up to us. It was game on at this point, the pace heating up and everyone fighting for a good position. I caught a glimpse of the 1km to go sign on the left before hearing the familiar click click of gears changing and before I knew it we were out of the saddle and sprinting for the finish. I could see Chis and Toby up ahead sprinting for 1st and 2nd, I put in everything I had and jumped past a few riders to claim 3rd. Michael and Ashley followed closely behind in 5th and 8th.
An awesome race!! All the boys in C-grade put in an excellent effort to get the 3 of us to the podium. Hit me up at the coffee shop next time guys, I’ll happily buy the team coffees. Well done to the A and B -graders, and to the ladies as well! Moissive ups to Pete and gang for setting up SPR HQ and providing cold drinks!
Carlos and myself were last seen at the Darnanup Pub enjoying a couple of cold ones……
photos by meg.