Today's racing involved a venture back to the SPR/RCCC Summer Series Criteriums and a decision to get back into B grade again after a half respectable effort in Masters A grade last week. I wasn't sure what to expect field-wise given there was quite a bit of racing on over the weekend with a number of riders heading down south for the City of Busselton Criteriums. I expected it would either be a large field involving lots of work or a small field involving lots of work. Either way, it was going to be interesting racing given a hard hit out with Simon early on Saturday morning.
When I arrived at Tech Park, the numbers seemed down on previous races in the series which was not unexpected, but by the time C grade rolled up to the line, their numbers had swollen to a significant field and I began to anticipate B grade to do the same. A few familiar faces began to appear and sign up for the B grade event indicating that there would be riders I could work with, pre-arranged or otherwise. At the registrations desk, AP thought it would be a good idea for me to ride A grade. A fair jest but was quite happy to head out for a warm up with him instead.
I went down to the marshaling area early as I wanted to get a good line position as the numbers were definitely consistent with previous B grade events in the series and I didn't want to end up starting off the back again. I was feeling quite strong considering the intensity of my ride on Saturday morning but would not be able to tell what sort of longer term effect it would have until the intensity of the race picked up.
We were issued the usual warnings about safety on course which I hoped would be heeded better than other days and riders rode with a little less "cut throat" attitudes. I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but this is an area which is adhered to very will with West Coast Masters and from the looks of it, so too in Open/A grade races. We rolled off from the start and the pace was on yet again from the get go.
The initial pace was up over 39km/h for the first few laps but this time I was able to go with it without feeling overwhelmed by the intensity. The legs responded well and it was a good indication that I should be able to complete the race but whether or not I would have enough for the last 2 laps when the pace really heats up would be a case of getting good position and seeing how things unfold.
This was an unusual race and it seemed to drag on with the 5 minute interval notices coming at seemingly far slower periods than in previous races. The race seemed to be unfolding seemingly uneventfully although the pace crept up to 40 km/h and largely held there for the duration with a few laps peaking at 42 km/h. It was not until the 25-30 minute mark of the race that I realised I had not been making any use of my gears.
The fatigue began to appear and given I had felt quite good leading up to this point, I could not figure out why the fatigue was coming on so quickly. It turned out I had completed the first 25-30 minutes of the race in 53/17 and was not changing up to compensate for the incline on Brodie Hall Drive and through the start/finish line. The extra work I was doing in that gear to push up the hill was taking it's toll slowly but surely and I was completely oblivious to it.
I immediately started to work the gears making sure I was changing up and down with the intensity of the climbs and descends. This had an immediate effect on my power efficiency but 30 minutes of fixed-gear racing had already had an affect and I was beginning to struggle to keep position in the front half of the field. From here on, it would be a case of just trying to push through the remaining laps without being dropped and retain as many places in the field as possible during the last few laps.
With about 15 minutes to race before "two to go", the race began to surge a little with attacks coming on most laps as we turned the corner off Sarich Drive and onto Brodie Hall Drive with increases in pace up to 50 km/h up the hill. I had thought that being at the back of the pack during this stage was not going to help but it seemed that no one wanted to keep the hard pace going as we rolled off the top of the hill and into the downhill and flat along Sarich Drive which prevented the accordion effect in and out of the corners.
With just five minutes to race before "two to go", it was evident that I was not in the best of positions or condition. If I wanted to have any chance in this race, I would need to muster what energy I had left and get to the front. I moved my way through the field of riders and squeezed my way into the front half of the field but it took a fair bit of effort to get there as the pace was still pretty high. My time there would be limited, however, as our next approach to the first turn into Sarich Drive saw a number of riders lines being chopped by dangerous riding. This was enough to disturb the line of riders ahead of me which seemed to ripple through the rest of the field and I lost a number of places.
Things did not improve and a few laps later, with only a few minutes to go until the final two laps, I had one rider take the same first corner awkwardly and resulted in him dropping in on me and a number of others quite badly which forced the rider in front of me to mount the new footpath that had been laid on the outside of the course. Some great bike handling saved him but yet again it interrupted the lines of many riders (including my own) and it was beginning to get crazy. I was starting to think it was getting too dangerous and considered pulling out at one stage, but I persisted - with caution.
With a number of riders getting out of control, I had lost my good position in the field and was in the back half of the field once again with just two laps to go. I tried once more to get to the front of the field but the pace had risen well over 40 km/h and I just didn't have it left in the tank to get up on my current position. Scott Ayles was close by so I stuck with him for the last two laps and tried to save whatever position I had.
By the time we rounded the last corner out of Sarich Drive and into Brodie Hall Drive for the last time, the field had ribboned out considerably and there was no hope of getting anywhere near the leaders but I was keen to put in whatever effort I had left to gain as many places as I could before crossing line. It was only a few but I wanted to put the effort in.
My lack of gear use during the first part of the race was clearly enough to deplete my energy reserves early and there is no-one to blame for that except myself. I also need to work on getting ahead of the field to avoid the line chopping that goes on mid-pack to prevent the loss of places. The only way to do this is to keep with the training program and improve my strength and endurance.
Overall, I was reasonably happy with the fact that I could keep with the pace for the majority of this race without being dropped. I have some work to do but look forward to getting amongst it for the State Titles in two weeks.
It would not be prudent of me if I did not mention the events of A grade. A smaller field was down this week with just Trent Derecourt being a rider of note. The race broke apart early and ended up with 5 riders out front, including Trent, a galant Michael Storer and AP. Unfortunately it was not to be AP's day but he certainly put in an effort worthy of mention here. He was the last rider in the race not to be lapped and was saved from elimination but not without a gutsy effort to fend off the leaders. Well done AP, a tough race to say the least so I'm kind of glad I didn't sign in with you.
Thanks for reading.
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