Stage 8 Wanganui - Kakatahi School
Well bit of a sad start with the news that Rob and Eileen would not be starting. Hopefully he will recover quickly. I caused a bit of an upset by grabbing the hill points on the first climb. Consequently when I launched an attack after the sprint they were not keen to let me go and chased me down. There were words at lunchtime where I learnt two things. Firstly a deal had been on on who would get the KOM jersey and by taking some of the first points I was mucking up their calculations. The other thing that I learnt was that they were suprised that I rode from the back of the group through them and then took the points - oh well.
The Kakatahi school had put on a nice lunch for a donation and also let us use their pool which was a nice.
Stage 9 Kakatahi School - Ohakune
This was quite a hilly stage with a climb early on. After the lunchtime talking too I just rode tempo but when Tom and Lynton accelerated towards the summit I bridged across to them. There was a small moment when they wondered what I would do but I sat up at the top and said "after you" and took points for 3rd place. The descent was a little tricky and we were joined by the usual contenders. I drove the pace for a bit and then set the majority of the tempo on the climb where I was asked to slow down. I visibly slowed for the next summit and let them get their points as agreed. The rest of the terrain was rolling and with about 15km to go there was an attack by Ben Knight. I went to bridge and was joined by one of the MyBike guys. I just kept on riding and eventually the rest of the group came over where I was told that they wanted to make one of the other tour leaders work and chase. It was all getting to political for me so I sat on the back for a bit. When Neil started to pick up the pace to gain some extra time I lapped out with him and did some big turns. Eventually the sprint came and I stayed with Neil and helped drag him to the line. Unfortunately there had been no marshal on the corner when the stage leader came through so he had taken a wrong turning and ended up coming in behind us. He was given the same time as us.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Wellington - Auckland
Stage 3 Masterton - Pahiatua
A slightly overcast day greeted us at the start line. Rob joined an early break so I sat in for a while, joining any attempts to bridge across. A sudden attempt from Tour leader Tom Francis to bring the break back broke a group of us free from the peloton. We caught Rob and the rest of his group and the pace eased. There were a few additional attacks and I joined one just after the mid stage sprint but it was soon shut down. There were a few undulations which split up the group with a final climb before a steep descent into a tight right hander to the finish line. I struggled to get through the climb, avoiding riders who were coming back at the speed that we were going up. I eased slightly on the descent as it was still wet from a passing shower. I finished just off the back of the front group which was just enough to get me a time split which was a shame.
Stage 4 Pahiatua - Palmerston North
After lunch and some further showers we started the course to Palmerston North. As we have mass starts with all riders combined I find this part quite stressful as a large number of riders who have no realistic chance of being near the front all try to move up during the neutral zone and just become obsticals as soon as the race starts. With my less than perfect eyesight this is a real concentration effort on my part. I took every opportunity to move up and was near the front when we started the hill. I wasn't really feeling that flash having used too much energy in the previous stage. So at the start of the climb I was struggling just off the back of the group. The pace slowed slightly as the gradient increased and I started to feel better and soon caught up and was with the main leaders going over the top of the hill. Tom and 2 others had escaped down the other side and as I had no idea what the roads were like I eased just slightly off the back of the group descending to give me a better opportinity to see where we were going. Rob had done the same thing and was just ahead of me coming into a tight left hand corner Rob struggled to reduce his speed and crossed over into the incoming lane and on the edge of the road. I started to scrub as much speed as possible to avoid any chance of runnng into him as he crossed back over into a tight right hander and ended up running into a road sign. He had lost a lot of speed by this point so the impact didnt seem that bad and I carried on to try and rejoin the group we had been with. As the road straightened I could see them just up ahead but faced with a strong headwind I struggled to catch them. With about 10km to go it was a bit of a time trial time for me. A group containing Rob joined me at about the 5km mark but they were not working very well so Rob and I carried on to try and catch up. We ended up losing about 2 minutes and so slipped down the GC rating.
Stage 5 Palmerston North - Hunterville
It was a cold and windy start to stage 5 which suited me fine - well the cold anyway. The usual story of being too far back and on the inside (which although safe is not that useful when the pressure goes on) continued to plague me. An organised attack from 2 teams right from the gun. I eventually managed to get out and took off in pursuit. The whole group was spread out in a single line with gaps forming everywhere and people just pinging off the back. I blew down the side to get past and was steaming along at 52kph with out making any significant inroads. Rob had been further up at the start and I could see that he was still with the group. I found myself with a small group of chasers although most of them seemed to have no idea how to work in a cross wind and refused to be told. For a long time it was just two of us trying to bring the break back which were still in view. A small incident at a round-a-bout didnt really help but it was going to be a losing battle with this group. As the ground got slightly more undulating there was less and less help and found myself riding at the front on my own. Eventually I rode away from the group and off on my own. I caught a couple of other riders and continued to ride at the front to the end where they all sprinted me for 20th or some other ridiculously useless placing. I had lost buckets of time - in fact I havent checked what it was as I would be well out of the running for anything. Still with Rob staying in to the end It could end up being useful for him.
Stage6 - Hunterville - Wanganui
It was pretty hot by now. There were a number of serious road works at the start of the stage so the race was neutralised for 15km. I tried to move up closer to the front for when we were finally racing. When we did start it was a mad dash around some undulating tight narrow roads. I found myself just off the front group but with a small group of chasers we managed to pull them back and caught them before the main climb of the day. I rode from the back of the group through the other riders to join the main leaders on the climb. Rob was hanging just on the back of them so I moved forward to enable me to fall back and help him if required. There was a bit of a cross wind in the run in to Wanganui and I just stayed out of the way and out of trouble. We turned off the highway and down a narrow descent to the finish line. There were some tight corners and it was on one very tight left hander that I saw Rob run wide again. I slowed and saw him run off the road and into a fence. I stopped and along with one of the motorbike support riders picked him up and found his glasses. I paced him back to the finish line and sat him down. He was convinced that he had injured his collar bone so we got an ambulance and he went to hospital. The diagnosis was broken collar bone, cracked ribs and a punctured lung - not a good combination and he will be in hospital for 2 - 3 days. Eileen is going to pull out which is a shame given that she is in the lead by about 12 minutes. So the Nelson Alarms team is unlikely to get a very high placing - but Robs injuries could have been worse!
A slightly overcast day greeted us at the start line. Rob joined an early break so I sat in for a while, joining any attempts to bridge across. A sudden attempt from Tour leader Tom Francis to bring the break back broke a group of us free from the peloton. We caught Rob and the rest of his group and the pace eased. There were a few additional attacks and I joined one just after the mid stage sprint but it was soon shut down. There were a few undulations which split up the group with a final climb before a steep descent into a tight right hander to the finish line. I struggled to get through the climb, avoiding riders who were coming back at the speed that we were going up. I eased slightly on the descent as it was still wet from a passing shower. I finished just off the back of the front group which was just enough to get me a time split which was a shame.
Stage 4 Pahiatua - Palmerston North
After lunch and some further showers we started the course to Palmerston North. As we have mass starts with all riders combined I find this part quite stressful as a large number of riders who have no realistic chance of being near the front all try to move up during the neutral zone and just become obsticals as soon as the race starts. With my less than perfect eyesight this is a real concentration effort on my part. I took every opportunity to move up and was near the front when we started the hill. I wasn't really feeling that flash having used too much energy in the previous stage. So at the start of the climb I was struggling just off the back of the group. The pace slowed slightly as the gradient increased and I started to feel better and soon caught up and was with the main leaders going over the top of the hill. Tom and 2 others had escaped down the other side and as I had no idea what the roads were like I eased just slightly off the back of the group descending to give me a better opportinity to see where we were going. Rob had done the same thing and was just ahead of me coming into a tight left hand corner Rob struggled to reduce his speed and crossed over into the incoming lane and on the edge of the road. I started to scrub as much speed as possible to avoid any chance of runnng into him as he crossed back over into a tight right hander and ended up running into a road sign. He had lost a lot of speed by this point so the impact didnt seem that bad and I carried on to try and rejoin the group we had been with. As the road straightened I could see them just up ahead but faced with a strong headwind I struggled to catch them. With about 10km to go it was a bit of a time trial time for me. A group containing Rob joined me at about the 5km mark but they were not working very well so Rob and I carried on to try and catch up. We ended up losing about 2 minutes and so slipped down the GC rating.
Stage 5 Palmerston North - Hunterville
It was a cold and windy start to stage 5 which suited me fine - well the cold anyway. The usual story of being too far back and on the inside (which although safe is not that useful when the pressure goes on) continued to plague me. An organised attack from 2 teams right from the gun. I eventually managed to get out and took off in pursuit. The whole group was spread out in a single line with gaps forming everywhere and people just pinging off the back. I blew down the side to get past and was steaming along at 52kph with out making any significant inroads. Rob had been further up at the start and I could see that he was still with the group. I found myself with a small group of chasers although most of them seemed to have no idea how to work in a cross wind and refused to be told. For a long time it was just two of us trying to bring the break back which were still in view. A small incident at a round-a-bout didnt really help but it was going to be a losing battle with this group. As the ground got slightly more undulating there was less and less help and found myself riding at the front on my own. Eventually I rode away from the group and off on my own. I caught a couple of other riders and continued to ride at the front to the end where they all sprinted me for 20th or some other ridiculously useless placing. I had lost buckets of time - in fact I havent checked what it was as I would be well out of the running for anything. Still with Rob staying in to the end It could end up being useful for him.
Stage6 - Hunterville - Wanganui
It was pretty hot by now. There were a number of serious road works at the start of the stage so the race was neutralised for 15km. I tried to move up closer to the front for when we were finally racing. When we did start it was a mad dash around some undulating tight narrow roads. I found myself just off the front group but with a small group of chasers we managed to pull them back and caught them before the main climb of the day. I rode from the back of the group through the other riders to join the main leaders on the climb. Rob was hanging just on the back of them so I moved forward to enable me to fall back and help him if required. There was a bit of a cross wind in the run in to Wanganui and I just stayed out of the way and out of trouble. We turned off the highway and down a narrow descent to the finish line. There were some tight corners and it was on one very tight left hander that I saw Rob run wide again. I slowed and saw him run off the road and into a fence. I stopped and along with one of the motorbike support riders picked him up and found his glasses. I paced him back to the finish line and sat him down. He was convinced that he had injured his collar bone so we got an ambulance and he went to hospital. The diagnosis was broken collar bone, cracked ribs and a punctured lung - not a good combination and he will be in hospital for 2 - 3 days. Eileen is going to pull out which is a shame given that she is in the lead by about 12 minutes. So the Nelson Alarms team is unlikely to get a very high placing - but Robs injuries could have been worse!
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Wellington - Auckland Day1
Stage1
Well after all the reports of rain there actually wasnt any. The stage started with a 8km neutral section which with over 140 riders brought its own sort of stress. Finally we were off racing. I had taken every opportunity to move up in the neutral zone so when the pace came on I wasnt too badly placed. A guy dropped his chain on the first small climb which produced a small amount of panic as there was nowhere to go to get around him but I finally managed it and moved back up to the front. When the tandem took off down the road I decided to follow. This broke off a small group and as we started the first climb of the day I was well warmed up. I managed to take the points on the climb and along with an under 30 year rider (Tom Francis) had a good gap. Given we were faced with the main climb of the day we sat up and waited. We started the climb quite quickly and although the gradient is not that great the pressure was on. I tried to follow an acceleration from Tom but unfortunately was unable to continue to match his pace. This proved to be my undoing and I never fully recovered. Without any knowledge on how the climb went, pacing was quite tricky and I ended up placing 5th on the stage (2nd in the 40-50 age group) 46sec down on GC and 16sec down on the age group GC. Rob finished just behind me which was a good result. It was quite blustery riding down the hill and I was pleased to not have deep section wheels.
We had lunch at Featherston where we wilted in the hot summer sun.
Stage2
Stage2 to Masterton was fast and flat with a slight cross wind. The pace was realtively quick but it was exceptionally hot. There was a bit of undulation which split the group up but still in the run in to the line there was a large group of maybe 50 riders. I kept well out of the way and rolled in for bunch time. Eileen was the only female to finish with us and as the female race leader ended up with a huge lead over the rest of her field. Further back in the race there were a couple of crashes. Chris thankfully avoided one that occured just in front of him and the rest of the Nelson crew safely unfortuneately the Watson wagon was not so lucky and ended up having to be trucked to Masterton when the cab filled with smoke.
At the prize giving I was given the climbing jersey to wear - mainly because all of the other contenders were wearing age GC jerseys so while I'm wearing it its not actually mine.
Well after all the reports of rain there actually wasnt any. The stage started with a 8km neutral section which with over 140 riders brought its own sort of stress. Finally we were off racing. I had taken every opportunity to move up in the neutral zone so when the pace came on I wasnt too badly placed. A guy dropped his chain on the first small climb which produced a small amount of panic as there was nowhere to go to get around him but I finally managed it and moved back up to the front. When the tandem took off down the road I decided to follow. This broke off a small group and as we started the first climb of the day I was well warmed up. I managed to take the points on the climb and along with an under 30 year rider (Tom Francis) had a good gap. Given we were faced with the main climb of the day we sat up and waited. We started the climb quite quickly and although the gradient is not that great the pressure was on. I tried to follow an acceleration from Tom but unfortunately was unable to continue to match his pace. This proved to be my undoing and I never fully recovered. Without any knowledge on how the climb went, pacing was quite tricky and I ended up placing 5th on the stage (2nd in the 40-50 age group) 46sec down on GC and 16sec down on the age group GC. Rob finished just behind me which was a good result. It was quite blustery riding down the hill and I was pleased to not have deep section wheels.
We had lunch at Featherston where we wilted in the hot summer sun.
Stage2
Stage2 to Masterton was fast and flat with a slight cross wind. The pace was realtively quick but it was exceptionally hot. There was a bit of undulation which split the group up but still in the run in to the line there was a large group of maybe 50 riders. I kept well out of the way and rolled in for bunch time. Eileen was the only female to finish with us and as the female race leader ended up with a huge lead over the rest of her field. Further back in the race there were a couple of crashes. Chris thankfully avoided one that occured just in front of him and the rest of the Nelson crew safely unfortuneately the Watson wagon was not so lucky and ended up having to be trucked to Masterton when the cab filled with smoke.
At the prize giving I was given the climbing jersey to wear - mainly because all of the other contenders were wearing age GC jerseys so while I'm wearing it its not actually mine.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Naked Bun 23rd May
A cold overcast day saw the start of the Naked Bun. Normally the race has managed to get very good weather but at least it wasn't raining. There were a few attacks along the way to the Neudorf hill. I managed to keep near the front on the climb although a few riders were dropped. As we got to the Baton bridge I managed to slip away with Chris Sharland. We rode well together with Chris just coming round at the end to win the stage. The others were way back.
Stage 2 saw some team work from the AvantiPlus boys. I tried to breakaway several times but was either chased down by Avanti riders or joined by them only to find that they wouldnt work at all. The run in to the finish was the usual hectic fiasco with cars etc. Tom N won the sprint and I finished with Chris to place 2nd overall.
Stage 2 saw some team work from the AvantiPlus boys. I tried to breakaway several times but was either chased down by Avanti riders or joined by them only to find that they wouldnt work at all. The run in to the finish was the usual hectic fiasco with cars etc. Tom N won the sprint and I finished with Chris to place 2nd overall.
TW Heslington 17th April
With a large number of riders away at Benchmark and a strong wind there was a very small A grade which was combined with B to make one race. On the way out to Heslington Cameron and Tom N broke away. I kept the pace up on the first circuit of Heslington in order to keep them in range but along River Tce Rob bridged across which meant I had to as well. A number of the B grade riders caught up again in the head wind but another strong pull up the valley saw them drop off for good. Quite how Rob and I managed to lose the race remains to be seen but I guess we aren't the most aggressive riders. It came down to a sprint which was always going to be our week point. I thought I was in a good position but a sudden gust of wind left me far too over geared. Anyway I ended up 3rd.
Tasman 100 April 10th
This was my first race after the Old Farts Tour. Certainly a week of steady riding didn't really put me in great shape for full on racing.
The A grade group was very small with about 8 or 9 of us. The pace was full on at the start with us reaching up to 50kph on the flat along Appleby. The speed didn't really seem to drop much on our way up the hill. Partway up Robin and Caleb took off - it would be the last that we would see them as they stayed away for the entire time. Rob S pulled out at Upper Moutere with a problem with his wheel. Felix sat on the back saying that he was unwell as the rest of us lapped out. Chris, David and Chris S pulled away on Stanley Brook. I was boxed in on the left so missed catching on although I probably wouldn't have made it anyway. Felix, Dean and I lapped out with one of the young Fords and Joel sitting on. Dean and Joel dropped off on the way to Spooners and I dropped off at the base of the climb.
Cramp was starting to become a problem but I managed to make it up the hill and caught up with Jono who had started in B grade. We rode in together. It was certainly a wakeup call and a hard welcome back to racing.
The A grade group was very small with about 8 or 9 of us. The pace was full on at the start with us reaching up to 50kph on the flat along Appleby. The speed didn't really seem to drop much on our way up the hill. Partway up Robin and Caleb took off - it would be the last that we would see them as they stayed away for the entire time. Rob S pulled out at Upper Moutere with a problem with his wheel. Felix sat on the back saying that he was unwell as the rest of us lapped out. Chris, David and Chris S pulled away on Stanley Brook. I was boxed in on the left so missed catching on although I probably wouldn't have made it anyway. Felix, Dean and I lapped out with one of the young Fords and Joel sitting on. Dean and Joel dropped off on the way to Spooners and I dropped off at the base of the climb.
Cramp was starting to become a problem but I managed to make it up the hill and caught up with Jono who had started in B grade. We rode in together. It was certainly a wakeup call and a hard welcome back to racing.
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