Today's race would be my first attendance at a Peel Districts Club event and it generated a similar sense of "Oh my God, I'm such a noob" as I drove down to Dog Hill wondering what this event would be like. Yes, I drove down because I had already put 75kms into my legs with my usual Saturday morning group trundle around the river. I was not the only one as I had passed Mel Robinson giving Paul Foxwell a run for his money along Victoria Ave and she had come down to compete in the C grade event. The question would be how well I would handle having these kilometres in my legs when it came to the crunch.
There was a fleeting moment where I thought I should try my luck with A grade but my lack of experience with these PDCC events had me registering for B grade as an initial "tester". As it turned out, the race commissaire had decided to start A and B grade together but I wasn't sure if that meant we were all racing as one or whether the grading rules applied where riders in one grade were not allowed to take advantage of another grade to gain a lead.
The racing seemed to be well organised in similar fashion to that of West Coast Masters with the same level of concern for rider safety throughout the event. I was impressed with the way the club went about their business and ensuring marshals guarded each intersection throughout the course. Rider temperament was also good although there was one rider in B grade who seemed to get overzealous going about his business during the last lap.
Juniors were released first after which A and B grades were released before the juniors completed their first lap. With about 30 riders in the group, it was pretty easy to hide from the reasonably fresh southerly wind that greeted us as we turned into St Albans Rd and continued through Folly and Young Rds. We were also met with a treacherous corner at Young and Dog Hill Rd as the leading section of Dog Hill Rd had been freshly resurfaced and very loose blue metal had remained on the turn causing a few rear wheels to lose traction. Thankfully, although there were some close calls, everyone managed to stay upright on this corner throughout the event.
Someone must have been busy campaigning the local council in the area to have the best part of Dog Hill Rd resurfaced. From the top of the small rise before the road swings north right through to where the road swings back to the west again, the road had been resurfaced with a nice layer of smooth hotmix which would make for a great build up through the corners before the final sprint to the finish line.
Enough of the course conditions and onto how the race unfolded. Within seconds of being released by the race referee, 4 or 5 of the 8 A grade riders in the field hit the gas and got a break off the front. Two of these riders were from the Dome Coffee team (the only team in A grade) who had fielded 4 riders in total. I recognised one of these as Matt Upton but the others I was not familiar with or perhaps just didn't recognise. The only other A grade riders I did recognise was Jason Cawthorne and Troy Coultard with the latter soon deciding that it would be a good idea not to let the small break get away without him in it and he bridged the gap on his own. None of the B grade riders went with this so I just wasn't sure if it was "etiquette" to stay with the B graders or attempt to rattle a few of them by going with the A graders. I decided to play it safe and stay put.
The A grade break away group stayed away for the first two laps before we managed to work together well enough to bring them back into the fold at the top end of St Albans Rd. Given the wind that persisted from the south, the race was not particularly exciting (even in the A grade bunch) as people were happy to remain in a larger bunch to hide from the head winds. The pace would certainly pick up as we turned onto Dog Hill Rd each time and would not ease up until we turned back onto St Albans Rd and into the wind again.
Shortly after we completed our 3rd lap of 6, the A graders hit the gas once more with all but 4 (including Matt Upton and another Dome rider) getting away. Again, none of the B grade riders appeared to want to go with the charge so once more I remained cautious around race etiquette by staying among them and let the A grade riders go. We would never see the break away riders again as they expanded the gap consistently through the remaining laps. At this stage, I felt I had done more than my fair share on the front, especially into the wind down St Albans Rd and while I felt I had more then enough energy to finish the race and as I tested the legs of other riders, I felt an all too familiar twinge behind both knees and I sat back into the group looking for mid-bunch to prevent any muscle failure.
The B grade bunch remained together for the remaining laps making it very much a B grade race to the finish. With 4 A grade riders still in the group, I was cautious to watch for their attacks in case any B grade riders attempted to go with them. It was not until we approached the start/finish line for the bell lap that an attack came from Matt to reach a sole B grade rider some 50 metres up the road. I noted the acknowledgement between the riders to try and work together to keep the break. I seemed to be the only one who seemed to identify the potential danger of having Matt Upton in a break with another B grade rider and the threat of having three other A grade riders who could bridge the gap at any time and see the break succeed. I was keen to pull the break back and ensured the gap didn't get too large but it seemed no-one wanted to help me out.
As I reached St Albans Rd for the last time and having still received little help in dragging the two riders back, I decided I would complete the chase down on my own and attacked up the small rise. While I did cross the gap unassisted, it seemed to trigger the urgency in the main field and they were on our wheels within a few moments. I needed to recover the matches I had just burned and was happy to fall back to about 8th wheel as we moved along Folly Rd. However, as we turned into Young Rd, the expected attack from the two local PDCC A grade riders in the bunch came leaving just two A graders in the B grade field - again, Matt Upton being one of these so I guess his break attempt had taken its toll.
One B grade rider did attack as we avoided the loose gravel while turning the corner into Dog Hill Rd and he managed to get a good 30 metres on the bunch but this wouldn't be enough and as we crested the small rise and found the hotmix surface, he was back in the fold and I found myself among the front line of riders and the pace was slowly building as we began to make the first of a series of turns before the sprint to the finish.
I was feeling pretty strong at this point and decided to put the other riders to a quick test and took the lead wheel. As expected the bunch were not keen to match this pace but I did have two riders on my wheel. I kept to one side of the road to prevent riders streaming up both sides of me and monitored the two behind me in anticipation of the jump to sprint to the finish. It came as expected as we rounded the final turn and I jumped up out of the saddle to latch onto the first wheel as it came by, but disaster struck and both quad muscles cramped up badly preventing me from being able to hold the wheel and also allowed Peter Carlin (in his HCT kit) to come around me.
I did my best to ignore the muscle pain that the cramps were inflicting and forced myself to stay out of the saddle and continue to push as best I could to try and hold 3rd place. Thankfully the remaining field were not strong enough to take 3rd place away from me and I crossed the line right behind Peter but in a fair amount of pain and I continued up the road to ride the cramp out.
It was an unfortunate end to my race as I felt I was capable of a win. The intensity of the race was nothing I couldn't handle (much like the UWCT qualifier) and having been able to complete a 3.5hr hills ride last Sunday at similar intensity and wattage, I was very disappointed to have experienced this problem yet again, especially given the race lasted just 1 hour and 40 minutes. I must certainly attribute this round of cramping to the earlier 75kms I rode this morning. I should probably avoid doing that again if I intend on racing again on Saturday afternoon.
I will, however, continue on Brad's advice to ride higher intensity, longer distance hills rides to try and condition the legs to dealing with longer hours in the saddle at race intensity. I've also been recommended increasing my magnesium intake which I will take some consultation on before getting too involved in that area.
In the end, I was happy to have been able to hold onto 3rd place at the finish and again, there are good signs that my form is still improving. Once I can sort out this cramping issue, I hope to be able to get some good results for the team. I bow shift my focus and attention to Chidlow next Sunday as we should be riding with an almost full compliment.
Congratulations on a great finish for HCT's Peter Carlin in 2nd place after putting in a strong ride through the second half of the race. I'm not sure exactly how Mel finished up in C grade but she certainly did finish and I look forward to seeing her in action down at Wandi with West Coast Masters.
Thanks for reading.
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