What a day for cycling! Starting the morning with an incredibly fast paced Open C Grade Criterium at Technology Park, my first race with Team Garland offering fantastic support. Followed this with an additional ride out to South Beach (Fremantle) and back via the Victoria Park leg of the Perth Criteriums - you couldn't ask for a better day on the bike.
The nerves were building as I loaded the bike and gear into the car (yes, it was lazy of me to drive down but I like to ensure I have everything I need for a race and I can't fit it all in my jersey pockets) but these quickly disipated as I rolled into Tech Park and passed all four of my team mates warming up on course. How is the dedication of these guys? Brilliant! It was just as good to see so many of the Garland Crew come down to support us for the race. Thanks to them all for taking the time to come down and offer their support from the sidelines - much appreciated.
Signing on for a day licence, I was alerted to the fact that that my helmet had lost its Australian Standard sticker but the officials were kind to me and could see where it had been and were happy with that but I should rectify the problem if I was intending to ride the State Criterium Championships in two weeks time. I won't be because I still haven't obtained my CA licence so not so much of an issue but I'm not happy that the stickers are not as fast sticking and sweat resistant as all the other ones inside the helmet.
Not much time for a warm up before we were called to the line after the combined D&E grades completed their race. A&B grades were still to be combined due to lack of numbers (Perth Criteriums) so there appeared to be a number of B grade regulars that were not so keen on being smashed up by the Elite riders and dropped down a grade. I was surprised to see Jamie Kirkwood was one of these along with 4 or 5 team mates lining up. I must ask him if anything happened this summer as he had been riding with considerable form mid last year.
With a number of RCCC riders at the line it was likely that the plans we had laid down for the race my not stick based on the aggresiveness this team takes into a race but it would be a good test for the guys as I expected the pace to be up from my previous Open C Grade race a couple of weeks ago. I was sure that Team Garland would be able to hold on and finish among the group but attacks might not be so easily achieved.
With the neutral lap before the start complete, the pace was on from the outset with an attack coming from the inside line of the group and with our first three laps completed, the pace had reached 40km/h and stayed there for the next four laps. Interestingly, the pace did not drop below 39 km/h again for the rest of the race bar the second last lap (read on for details).
As expected, with such a high pace for the race, attacks were not so forthcoming but even though there was some significant surging, the pack was being well behaved and keeping it sensible in terms of riding a safe race. It seems the crashes from last week's event at Landsdale had reminded everone that they should ride their line and keep control when cornering. John Sonego did mention to me that there was one incident mid-race where one rider had tyre trouble and almost dislodged John from his bike by cutting his line.
The RCCC guys were riding well and I kept a tail on Jamie while monitoring his team mate Daniel Teh who appeared to be setting a strong pace. It would be likely that if an attack was going to come from this team, it would be from one of these two. I was riding around 4th or 5th wheel for most of the race which made it difficult to see how well the other Team Garland riders were doing but about mid-race I noticed Dave Ellis had pulled out at the corner coming off Sarich Way onto Brodie Hall Drive. So we were down to four.
Owain and John soon came around the leaders and put some work in at the front. This was a very helpful move not just allowing me to recover a little, but it appeared to put the RCCC guys on edge and they seemed to disperse for a while. With about 12 minutes to go, I noticed they were regrouping and they put two riders (Jamie and one other) on the front as a possible blocking maneuver and I anticipated an impending attack coming around the outside.
Bingo! It came as expected from Daniel Teh heading up the rise to the start/finish line. I was on Jamie Kirkwood's wheel at the time. John and Owain had fallen back off the front and were just in behind me. I was expecting Jamie to go with Daniel but this did not appear to be happening so I jumped and had to make up 10 metres or so to latch onto Daniel's wheel. As we approached the turn into Sarich Way, I noticed that a significant gap had formed and as I came up along side, I encouraged Daniel to work together on extending the lead to which he responded well.
It would mean we would need to maintain the breakaway for around 15 minutes (including the last two laps) so it was always going to be hard work and believe me when I say it hurt like hell but we were intent on trying to keep it until the end of the race. Only time would tell if we would be able to do so and whether or not yesterday's group 1 ride would have an effect on me.
At one stage we appeared to have about 200 metres on the chase group which then seemed to spur a couple of riders to try and chase us down. The guys mentioned that they were doing what they could to block the chase along with the RCCC riders who had formed a line across the front of the main field and this seemed to be working out very well for Daniel and I as we powered on in an attempt to hold the gap.
However, the individual chasers had seemed to help the main field eat into our lead and as the clock on the computer ticked over 30 minutes I was praying for the bell lap but it was not forthcoming and it was another lap before the "2 lap" notice was given. At this point, I had riden a number of laps on the front and it was apparent that Daniel was wearing out. As for me, the legs were fine and had plenty in them but the HR was at a thumping 164-168 bpm and had been for the last 7 laps.
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| Splits for the last 9 laps (breakaway laps) Click to view larger image. |
I was not keen to complete the last two laps on my own (even though I probably could have) and I was not convinced that Daniel wasn't feigning his situation - he was a strong rider and a little difficult to read. I encouraged him to come around and work some more at the front and he was again willing to take his turn. I moved onto his wheel and let him work his way around to the bell and into the last lap. On Sarich Way for the last time, I could now tell for sure that he was suffering with his breathing rate much faster than mine and the pace had slowed to under 39 km/h for the first time since the 7th lap of the race.
The last lap needed to be a powerful one and with such a high pace throughout the race, it was certainly going to hurt in order to keep the main field at bay as they had appeared to gain back some of our lead. As we came off Sarich Way and onto Brodie Hall Drive for the last time, I knew then that I was going to be able to out-sprint Daniel and take line honours - it was just a case of ensuring I did it safely.
With about 150m to go, I came around and put the power on for the sprint to the finish line. Everything seemed to be going in slow motion (like the video of the finish you can view on the SPR website here) but I managed to cross the line well ahead of Daniel for a very satisfying win.
To the credit of my team mates, we managed to finish 1st, 5th (Owain), 6th (John) and 11th (Dale). While it may not quite have gone according to plan, there was so much to take away from the race and I'm sure we all learned an awful lot not only about racing but about our own abilities.
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| HR data for the race. |
C Grade was ridden at a pace that would rival that of the A&B Grade event albeit 10 minutes shorter. My Garmin had recorded 39.2 km/h but this included significant time after crossing the line for the last time before remembering to stop the timer. Going back through the Strava segments analysis, I worked out that the race was completed at an average pace of 40.5 km/h making it some 0.3 km/h faster than last week's Masters B Grade event - a very impressive pace thanks to the B Grade riders coming down.
I owe a great debt of gratitude to the guys for coming down to ride as a team this morning. The experience was far better than any I have previously experienced. I should also note that with every lap we completed, the support and cheers coming from the sideline was a significant help and encouraged me to keep the pace up on the breakaway and fight hard as I could during the last lap to the finish. Many thanks to those who came down to watch.
The general consensus from the team was that we all enjoyed the race tremedously and we are all looking forward to doing it again, be it Open or Masters. It will be a shame not to have Owain with us for the next three months but I'm sure with the enthusiasm he showed before, during and after the race he will have no trouble coming back into the team for some great Road Racing - he will be a massive asset to the team in the hills.
So a fantastic result for the team's first outing and to take a win away for the team and the Garland Crew is completely satisfying. And it goes without saying (once again) that I would not have the form I have at the moment without Brad's coaching so a good win for him too (Brad also managed a 5th place in this afternoon's 2nd race in the Perth Criteriums on the Victoria Park course putting him 6th overall for the series - results here).
Not to be the end of the day's riding...
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