The 2013 State Championships were my first involvement in State Titles racing so my tension this morning was a little understandable. I was racing in my designated grade which I was not going to underestimate given the strength of the field at the Australia Day Criteriums at Technology Park a few of weeks ago. I would have some support from Simon again making two of us representing the Unicorn Brewery/Hall Cycling Team. It was a small field of only 10 which meant nowhere to hide and every attack would need to be covered as I expected little help if a chase down was required.
C Grade were first off this morning and with only 20 minutes of racing (plus two laps) I was hoping for a hard hit out to open up the lungs and put the hurt on some of the riders, but at the same time, I didn't want to over-stretch myself and burn out early given my strength has been a little sub-par for a while. I certainly didn't feel I would be able to hold 42km/h+ for a full 20 minutes on my own so the plan was that I would monitor the field and get a feel for the race and at the 5 minutes (plus two) to go, I would assess whether or not I was up for a hard attack.
I had arrived quite early this morning to get a few warm up laps in so by the time the Commissaire called us to the line, I was ready to go and the legs were warm. I set my focus and my Garmin and concentrated on the job that I needed to do to get to the finish line first. The field ranged from a young Lewis McRae, a familiar Lee Pottharst (I've ridden with at WCMCC) through to a strong looking mountain of a man in Michael Reeves as well as a couple of fellow RCCC riders and some semi-known SPR riders that I had raced against before in this grade.
With the stage set, Gary's commentary in full swing and the inflatable start/finish arch dead still from a lack of wind, we were given the go ahead. With no neutral lap, I went to the front straight away to test the willingness of others to work their way to the front and roll turns. As expected, nothing eventuated and I eventually slowed my pace after a couple of laps to allow others to come around and I was not surprised to see Lee roll past me to take his turn on the front.
The pace was nothing like that of the previous Australia Day Crits at this course and there was very little surging so it was proving easy to conserve energy and I was playing out possible finish scenarios in my head as I gauged the strengths of each rider in the field. No-one seemed interested in attacking and the group pretty much stayed together for the first half of the race with no significant events taking place. Everyone seemed a little tense given the gold medal up for grabs and were behaving themselves nicely in terms of holding lines through the corners.
My heart rate stayed consistently around 150bpm which was not proving too strenuous for me and proved my fitness was well above the level it had been a month or so ago. The only efforts that had to be taken were those coming out of Sarich Way and up the hill to the top of Brodie Hall Drive. The first half of the race was playing out at about 35-37 km/h and at that point, I was considering the timing of an attack a bit earlier.
But something clicked and suddenly the pace was up to 40 km/h and a few half-hearted attacks began to present themselves among some of the riders I didn't know too much about. I put my attack on hold and looked to see how these riders coped with a bit of extra power through the next few laps. I kept with each attack and ensured that no-one got too much of a gap that would have to be pulled back later. I was anticipating a hard attack but it didn't come until the 15 minute mark when Adam Cowcher hit the gas as we crossed the start/finish line.
No-one was keen to let him ride away at this stage of the race and it gave me the sign I was looking for that riders were still fresh enough to prevent a break away - not surprising given the short duration of the race and the easier pace that had been experienced up to the 10 minute mark. I decided at that point that I would refrain from attempting a break and given I had not seen a lot of Simon at this stage, I figured he would have some fuel in the tank to help get to the sprint at the end.
Almost on cue Simon appeared at the front of the field with Lee and Michael Reeves in tow and I moved in behind Simon to be as inconspicuous as possible but in a field of just 10 it was probably a pointless exercise. I had also noted that each time I checked behind me I always had a rider glued to my wheel. With about 17 minutes completed, probably the strongest attack of the day came from the young rider in Lewis McRae. He appeared to be on restricted gears so I assumed given he was not riding JM19 that he was perhaps under 17 years.
Lewis hit the gas as we came out of Sarich Way onto Brodie Hall Drive and opened a gap of about 5 metres without anyone showing any interest in chasing him. This surprised me a little as some of these younger riders can be pretty dangerous if allowed to get a decent gap on the field. I'm sure it wasn't through tired legs that no-one wanted to go with Lewis so I hesitantly rode up the inside of the field to the front and kept Lewis to the 5 metres he had on us. By the time we reached the top of the small climb he was back in the fold and the group was together again. No doubt now that there was going to be a sprint finish and position out of the last corner would still be crucial as it appeared that everyone wanted the race to end in this manner.
With what would be three laps to go I managed to give the entire field a bit of a heart-starter as my left pedal found the tarmac and kicked my back wheel out to the right by about 6 inches. I wobbled through the corner coming out of Sarich Way and I noted and stored a few expletives, one of which I'm sure was issued by Lee who had been on my wheel for the duration of the lap. This hiccup resulted in me losing my place in the bunch and being ushered to the back of the group however the pace stayed up to 40 km/h as we were given the two to go notice.
As usual, everyone wanted the best position leading up to the sprint finish but we were all well behaved and lines were held well through each turn. We were given the bell to signify the last lap but it didn't seem to spark any significant strength-related activity and I was sitting about 5th wheel. Simon was just ahead of me and I remained on his wheel for the stretch along the back of the course to the last corner when I realised Simon (at 4th wheel) was not gaining any ground on the front riders and I was a little out of position for the sprint. A pretty bad mistake given Michael Reeves was at second wheel.
As we came out of the turn and onto Brodie Hall Drive proper, positions hadn't changed and Simon was still not gaining ground and with about 200m to go, I needed to really dig deep to get to the front. Simon, along with Adam Cowcher (RCCC), had dropped to the inside of the course and started fading leaving just two riders, Michael and Grant Stubbs, ahead of me to reel in. I managed to get around Grant but Michael had put some serious power down and was proving a little hard to bring in. He had the inside of the course given his superior position out of the last corner and we crossed the line with literally nothing in it. Another damned photo finish!
Given I felt my sprint lacked my usual power, I was pretty sure that Michael had managed to hold on while he believed that I had just pipped him at the line. The line referees were also still deliberating when we arrived at the Commissaire's tent to claim places and as it turned out, the camera had only managed to pick up the frame just before the line and just after it. In the first frame, Michael was a fraction ahead and in the second frame, I was just ahead so it was clear that we had crossed the line pretty much together but they needed to separate us.
It was not until quite some (agonising) time later that the judges had handed the gold medal decision to Michael based on his position in the preceding photo frame. I graciously shook Michael's hand and congratulated him on his sprint and win and humbly took second place. Interestingly, I was jokingly informed that I had been relegated to second place for violating the sprinter's decree that one must participate in a sprint finish on the drops of the handlebars. I somehow managed to forget this and completed the sprint on the hoods - a rookie mistake that, in combination with misjudging my position, quite possible cost me the race but I give full credit to Michael for his win. He put in a powerful sprint and it was enough to get him to the line first and proved he was the better rider on the day.
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| Photo Finish. Can you pick it? Click to view larger image. |
So after a bit of ribbing from my fellow HCT team mates about my sprinting technique for the morning, I happily accepted my first State Championship medal in second place to Michael. My thoughts quickly turned to Pemberton for a weekend of racing down there. I expect conditions will be somewhat cooler but I don't expect racing to be anywhere near as comfortable as today might have felt.
As for the remaining races for the day, HCT riders (in various teams for the day) managed to bring home four silver medals all up thanks to Brett Stapleton in the master's event, Leonie Burford in A grade women's and a massive effort from Bradeley Hall in the elite men's race. Some exceptional efforts were also given by Andy Williams (6th) and Matt Miller in the elite men's race, Liz Leyden (6th) in support of Leonie in the A grade women's, Anthony Minchin (5th) in B grade, Simon Verona (6th) in C grade and a solid performance from Paul Foxwell (6th) and AP in the master's event.
Many thanks for reading and a big, big thanks to my wonderful family for coming down and showing their support not only for me, but all of the HCT riders taking part this morning. My family's presence at racing is always a great reward. Thanks also to SPR and RCCC for putting on a fantastic day's racing and to those who came down to watch and support all of the riders out there this morning. I'm sure the racing was entertaining for all.
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