Racing in Western Australia sometimes offers no racing at all on any given weekend, while on others there are simply too many options. The latter was true today with Bicycling WA hosting the annual Hell of the North in Lancelin, Peel Districts Cycling Club hosting the Pinjarra Classic and West Coast Masters hosting their Age Division Road Championships in Chidlow. Couple these with quite a few local riders heading to Italy for the UCI World Cycling Tour Final, and numbers would be stretched across all of these events. Plenty of deliberation among the newly renamed Unicorn-Specialized Cycling Team eventually had 5 of the 7 team members heading to Chidlow for the WCM event.
With Craig and Chris Roberts away in Italy, the remaining 5 of the team were initially spread across 4 age divisions with AP and I the only ones in the same division (40-44yo). Fox reported that he had been incorrectly registered in the 35-39yo division and was later correctly moved into the 40-44yo division making us three strong. Pat was a favourite to take out the 45-49yo division although Mark Horn would also be a strong contender, and Singo was a strong favourite in the 50-54yo division. Merissa Cunningham would be the only Pink Unicorn contending for line honours today in the 30-34yo Women's division, however all she had to do was finish. The aim for the day was pretty obvious - pick up as many podium positions as possible.
I had been out to Wongan Hills yesterday (Saturday) to avoid the awful weather that was hanging around all day in the city, but the gale-forced winds out there were not something I had anticipated dealing with the day before a race in the hills. The weather had certainly improved since then and the sky in the city was mostly blue but reasonable cloud cover still loomed over the hills and Chidlow making for a cooler, somewhat windy start.
Our 40-44yo division was to start with just 9 riders for the morning with Jason Rolfe not making an appearance but being substituted with Ian Trayler from team Total Travel who would offer some support for Mike Tapscott. Contenders for the podium in our division would include AP, Fox, myself, Troy Coulthard, Mike Tapscott and George Miller, however you could never discard some of the B grade riders in Brett Looney and John Liso given how well B grade riders have competed in previous combined grade events.
With George Miller in our division, the usual attack from the get-go was more than expected. The instructions before the race were to sit in and not go with anything in the first few laps. Given the number of riders in the group, this would hopefully mean that anyone going for a break would either be alone or in a group of no more than 2 or 3 which would require them to work excessively to maintain any gap. George was left to go by himself until Troy, who was riding in the 35-39yo division, decided that he wanted a part of the break also and chased George down. This shook the nerves of us Unicorn riders as Troy had been known to work hard to keep a break going, but we were banking on him not getting much help from George.
The rest of the group remained at a steady pace and worked harmoniously through the first two and a half laps before bringing the two breakaway riders back. We remained as a group for the next lap before Mike Tapscott went on a bit of a charge on his own and stayed away for a while. When it looked like we would bring him back easily enough, AP indicated to myself and Fox that he would attempt to counter attack in a break of his own when Tappy was brought back in.
We managed to bring him back as we approached the bottom of the longer descent at the back of the course and AP made his move up the moderate climb to the roundabout in Chidlow. Tappy seemed to muster up enough energy to begin chasing AP almost immediately and was able to put about 50m on the main bunch as we crossed the start/finish line for the 3rd time with AP another 75m or so out front of him. This sparked Fox into action which in turn had George hammering on the pedals to go with him. I stuck with George but would not help him to chase Fox down in the hope that AP and Fox would be able to wear down Tappy through the next few laps.
Eventually George either fatigued or noticed my presence and stopped working on the chase. I expect that Troy was on my wheel or not far off it and the slow down in pace sparked his charge as we approached the crest of the hill and he took one of his fellow age division riders with him. The rest of the field had been left behind through the flurry of attacks up the rise which left just George and I on our own as Troy and his companion managed to collect Tappy and Fox to form a group of 4. This was bad news for me if I wanted to grab a podium position as a group of 4 strong riders was going to be hard to catch if they worked together against the two of us. It would get even harder if they were intent on chasing AP down and having him work with them.
I worked hard to maintain a manageable gap but was not getting much help from George who was happy to sit on my wheel and tag along. I was beginning to feel the kilometres I'd put in out at Wongan Hills yesterday and the climb up the back of the course was taking its toll. I signalled George to come around and help but his time on the front was very limited. The 4 riders were still visible ahead of us for the best part of the next lap but I was now beginning to fatigue badly and the gap was slowly increasing with Troy coordinating the effort to keep us away.
We eventually lost sight of the lead group, which by this time was close to bringing AP back to make a total of 5, but it wasn't long before we caught Mike Tapscott cresting the rise mid-way along the back road of the course. Unfortunately for Mike, he had punctured and was making his way back to town with a dead flat front tyre. This immediately changed my game plan as I knew now that George and I would be riding for the final position on the podium.
With Tappy out of the race, it meant 1st and 2nd were guaranteed to be held by a Unicorn-Specialized rider so it very quickly became a tactical race for 3rd as opposed to one of strength and power. I had no reason to ride at the front any longer and began to ease up. If George wanted the podium position, he would have to be the one who would need to work for it. I eased up gradually as opposed to suddenly to give the impression that I was beginning to fatigue and used the climbs during the remaining two laps to build on that impression.
George seemed happy enough to work the on the front and seemed to believe that I was certainly struggling. All the while, I was happily reserving my energy for the final approach to the finish and used the two laps to practise my acting skills. George would be out of the saddle on each climb which, combined with other indicators, showed that he was either beginning to fatigue or he too was practising his acting skills.
The final indication that the race had taken its toll on George was just after we received the bell for the last lap and he opted to allow me sit on the front and set the pace for the final lap. I continued to give the impression that I was suffering and dropped the pace right off as we climbed the hills in an effort to try and make George attack and expel more energy. This worked a number of times with about half the last lap down and I let a small gap form until George fatigued and I would close the gap and come around him again as we descended.
Eventually he would stay on my wheel for the remaining lead up to the roundabout in town where AP and Fox were waiting to see us through to the final sprint to the line. They confirmed that we were racing for 3rd and I could see George's front wheel glued to my back wheel so I knew that I would have to time my jump perfectly to prevent him from getting a jump on me. With about 50m between us and the roundabout behind us, he was still right on my wheel and I let him stay there until about 200m to go where I made my jump and began my final sprint for the line.
It was the final straw for George and with about 50m to go, a quick check under the shoulder showed no sign of his wheel near mine. I maintained the power to within a few metres of the line where I sat back into the saddle, glanced back for a final check and crossed the line for a comfortable 3rd and a clean sweep of the podium for Unicorn-Specialized.
It was mission accomplished for our division but it was only due to the unfortunate puncture suffered by Mike Tapscott that allowed it to happen. My mistake when Troy made his chase to reach Fox and Tappy should have prevented the clean sweep, but punctures happen and races can change in an instant. I certainly don't think Mike deserved the puncture as he had ridden strongly with one of the initial breaks immediately followed up with chasing down AP. It wasn't the end he deserved.
I didn't feel I was struggling through any point of the race other than during our chase of the 5 leaders where I was feeling the previous day's hard ride. I knew I was climbing far better than I have previously either during a race or in training which is a good indicator that my fitness and form are still improving.
With the podium sorted out in our age division, I also quickly found out that Pat took line honours in his division as did Merissa which left Singo to complete his race which had started an hour or so after ours so he was still on course, out front as usual, dictating the pace. With some time still to go, I handed back my numbers and transponder and had a quick yarn with Mark Horn, who had come second behind Pat, before heading back to the finish line to see Singo's final charge for the line. Being the only Unicorn in his division and with no breakaway, he would have to compete in the sprint finish for the line which he did in great fashion to hold second behind Tony Anderson.
Singo's finish rounded off a fantastic day for Unicorn-Specialized with all of our riders managing to get onto the various podiums. The Specialized bikes (including the Venge in her last race before taking up the same Tarmac as the others) performed beautifully, responding to the hill climbs and sprint finishes extremely well. Some tweaking of the Tarmacs throughout the week at Ride Advice and some tweaking of my own on the Venge, had everyone performing at their best.
30-34yo Women
Merissa Cunningham - Gold
40-44yo Men
Paul Foxwell - Gold
Andrew Patterson - Silver
Charlie Gargett - Bronze
44-49yo Men
Pat Hayburn - Gold
50-54yo Men
Chris Singleton - Silver
Full results here.
Many thanks for reading and hope to see you out there.
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