In the inimitable words of our illustrious leader and coach, "Rarely in cycling does everything just go to plan" - Brad Hall, Personal Blog, Tour de Perth, Stage 3. If I were to sum up today's race in my own words, it would simply be to say that it was a clear demonstration of how, when everyone digs deep and plays their role, good teamwork is impossible to overcome, no matter how good or strong an individual might be. Pickering Brook would be the playing field of some fantastic Masters racing which would see the first race of the season not being won by a break away.
Today's race was going to be a hard one given that Pickering Brook is one of Western Australia's more difficult courses and to compound matters, 6 riders from Eddy Hollands were noted to be climbing Welshpool Rd and looking quite determined. Leading them was Sir Ed himself with Chris Glasby close by. This was a partial representation of the calibre of the day's A grade field and at this stage, I wasn't sure who of the Unicorn Team would be able to make it to Pickering Brook. Doubts were high for AP, our strongest hills rider and unfortunately for him, a week of illness prevented him from being a part of the morning's event. But he was to be the only missing member and we went into the race 6 strong and feeling confident.
I was personally feeling a little depleted in the energy stocks but really wanted to be at Pickering Brook today as I had not been able to make any of the other hills racing with WCM this season and I was keen to find out how I would go keeping up with the A grade regulars on such a course. I was on the tail end of an incredibly taxing 4 straight weeks of training and racing but was still feeling reasonably confident of being able to complete the event.
For the benefit of those who might not have had the experience of riding in a team, I'll attempt to provide a brief explanation before moving on to the race details. I ride as a team domestique and my purpose today was clear. But it needs to be highlighted that the contributions of individuals in a good team should be seen to be
equal across the board. No one rider should be seen to work any harder
than the next and no one rider should work any less than the next. This
is like a Musketeer attitude - all for one, one for all.
Within the team unit, Paul Foxwell was my number one priority and I needed to make sure he was well protected and also putting in extra effort in order to chase down or go with potential attacks (as often as possible) while remaining in control of my charge. This is a role I am still coming to grips with and I know the effort levels needed to get the job done puts my body into a whole new world of pain. I need to be able to keep up with and sometimes lay down more power than arguably one of the strongest riders in the entire A grade field. Not an easy thing to do over and again.
We were all quite calm and collected at the marshaling area before the race and I sensed that every one of us knew they had a role to play and knew exactly what it was. This was a good sign as it demonstrated that our minds were on the job at hand. We all knew that Eddy Hollands was our biggest threat and that our numbers put things in our favour a little, but Sir Ed was never to be underestimated no matter if he had a team or was on his own.
Not long after we were released, a couple of riders attempted a break which included Craig Pennell. By the time we reached the first corner and began to descend toward the Primary School, Craig and his compatriot had put about 30 metres on the main field and two riders made a jump to join them. I immediately followed them out as I figured two Unicorns in a break would be better then one and in a way, would put the rest of the field to the test to see how they would respond to having two Unicorns up the road. As expected, we were brought back in before the turn into Patterson Rd and I get the feeling the entire Unicorn team was monitored like hawks for the rest of the race.
It was, as previously mentioned, Eddy Hollands who needed extra attention today, especially from us if we were going to have any chance of winning this race. He didn't disappoint either and was happily throwing grenades off his back wheel as he blasted attacks up the inclines. He is an incredibly explosive rider when he attacks and to keep on his wheel when he opens up the pain dispenser is not an easy thing to do. But it was the job of our team's workers to cover him and to bring him back into within reach of the main field without Fox having to do any work to go with him or chase him down. This would be where our numbers would be advantageous as we could each take a turn at bringing him back into the field.
Once again, when the group was riding together, the team were ever-present at the front but this time we seemed to be sharing the load a lot better with riders peeling off the front and moving back a few wheels to recover when they'd done a long enough stint. While in recovery mode, we would monitor the likes of Eddy and Chris Glasby to cover their attacks and to ensure that at least one of us went with either of them as they went however there were times where we allowed one of them to go out on their own and would not go with him if no-one else did. This would put him in no-man's land and eventually would fatigue enough to be brought back in without anyone having to expel too much energy to bring him back.
A strong attack was forthcoming from Troy Coulthard which no-one responded to but certainly made a few of us (including myself) a little jumpy as Troy has been known to be able to get into a sole break and keep it successfully. He managed to stay away from the main group for at least a lap of the course but the work ethic of the group today meant that he too was brought back in and didn't seem to offer another attack again for the rest of the race.
Chris Glasby seemed to be one of the most active riders in the field today with he and Eddy attacking and counter attacking in turn. This appeared to be an attempt to try an wear down a few of our chase riders but we began to counter this by refusing to go with them unless others looked to try and bolster their efforts with numbers.
In my book, however, a stand out contributor on the day was Chris Singleton with his tireless efforts on the front of the field and it showed in his Garmin data. He was able to put some serious hurt into the field when he pulled hard turns on any part of the course he chose and when he tired and needed time to recover, he would be replaced with an equally as strong a rider in either Craig, Chris (Roberts), Pat or myself. It would also be a rare occasion where there were not at least one other ride from our team right on Chris' wheel and would roll turns among our team.
Meanwhile, I was still busy making sure that I was helping Paul out as much as I could by either offering him my wheel when needed or by covering the stronger riders in opposing teams. At this stage, Paul was riding a very good race and was also keen to cover his biggest threats, in particular Eddy. There were certainly a number of times where Paul would jump out and go with an attack or instigate one himself on the outside of the group which put the sting in my legs as I tried to go with him and provide him with assistance if he needed it.
By the mid-way point of the race, we had managed to keep to our plan very well with each and every one of us taking turns at the front to control the race and to protect Paul while back in the pack. Attacks continued to come from a few of the usual suspects but none of these ever eventuated into anything noteworthy as the attacks were reeled back in each time.
As we progressed into the last three laps of the race, things had settled a little but the intensity of the race was still at a reasonably high level which was more evident to me as we climbed out of Piesse Gully at the back of the course all the way through to the end of Repatriation Rd each time. On this third last lap I felt quite fatigued and was struggling to maintain contact with Paul and slipped to the back of the field. Thankfully Chris Singleton had fallen back a little also and was able to get in behind me and encourage me to "dig deep" and get back in touch with Paul. It was certainly enough to get me going again and to ride through the intense lactic build up I could feel in my legs until I finally managed to get back to Paul and sit in front of him through the remaining laps.
As we were given the bell and made our way through the cluster of riders from other grades who had finished their race, our entire team instinctively moved to the front of the field and got Paul into a prime position for the remainder of the lap. Chris Singleton was out front followed by myself, Craig and then Paul who was then being well protected by Pat and Chris Roberts preventing others from getting onto his wheel and ready to jump with any attacks that might eventuate or even launch one of their own. The line was well controlled and we spread across the width of the road on the descents to prevent attacks coming unexpectedly.
As we reached the climb out of Piesse Gully for the final time, Chris peeled off the front allowing me to come through for my turn and I pulled as hard as I could through the incline and through to the top before Chris Glasby and Pat Hayburn stormed around in a break attempt (I'm not sure who instigated it) that would eventually see Chris pop allowing Pat to get away on his own. But our control of the front of the field remained with Craig, Paul, and Chris Roberts with Chris Singleton still hovering close by. Our plan was still to deliver Paul to the best position for a final sprint and Pat allowed himself to fall back to the front of the field where he continued his effort ahead of Paul.
By this time, were were on Pickering Brook Rd for the final time and the pace had lifted in anticipation of the sprint to the finish. Eddy had come to the front with Paul sitting right on Pat's wheel. I had spent every last bit of energy I had by this time and lost touch with the front of the group and sat up to watch the sprint unfold. Paul had come around Pat a little early and it wasn't until I saw Eddy come up along side him that Paul really put in a final powerful effort to keep Eddy at bay and took line honours.
There was no doubt that the entire last lap was dominated by the Unicorn team and we were able to control our positions at the front of the field for the duration of the last lap to deliver Paul to the optimum position for the sprint. Regardless of what was thrown at us, we were able to respond while still maintaining level heads and stick to our plan. To finish the race with the win was an outstanding result for all of us and just reward for the hard work we all put in.
It should be noted that while Team Unicorn-Hall worked well together, we were among good company in Mike Pardon and Simon Verona riding for HCT. Simon had willingly elevated himself to A grade after a strong performance last week and was able to demonstrate his ability once again today. Mike was once again a hard worker throughout the race and was rewarded with his 7th place while Simon was just out of the paying places with a very respectable 9th.
The Unicorn women were also well represented today with Emma Molloy winning the D grade event, Merissa Cunningham taking 4th and Natalie Roberts taking 5th. Melissa Robinson had nervously elevated herself to C grade this morning and was able to finish the race strongly just 7 seconds behind the winner. Congratulations to all the girls racing today. It's great to see so many of you competing at West Coast Masters events.
Now I couldn't finish this post without at least posting the most part of Chris Singleton's inspiring summary of the morning's events. This time it went a little something like this:
"We turned up ... then we all did heaps and heaps of stuff, stuffed up heaps of plans, heaped more stuff on and knocked the stuffing out of whomever was left. Paul smashed it & job done."
Seriously, I should hand my keyboard to Singo. Completely and utterly insightful.
Good work and great report Charlie
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