When Plans Go Astray

Race 9 of the winter series should have been fairly straightforward.  With the big boys away the the BenchMark Race there was an opportunity to pick up some extra points.  The course was up 88 Valley and return so there wasn't going to be many places where you could get away and without the big guns splitting up the field you would have to be lucky to make a break that worked.

My initial plan was to try and get away up the 88 Valley climb.  I hoped that if Chris C and a couple of others could get away with me then we would have a chance.  Plan B was to try my luck with the sprint (hopefully with a handy lead-out from Chris).

Henry made a couple of half hearted attacks at the start of the race but was soon brought back.  I rode on the front going up the climb and just increased the pace.  I was soon by myself with only Thomas for company.  We rode past Henry and picked up his escape partner.  I tried to keep the pressure on down the hill and up to the end of the road where the turnaround was.  There was a small group slowly coming across and Thomas gave up.  By the time we had got around the turnaround the group was pretty much all back together.  We lapped out on the return trip and while I contemplated making a run for it I didn't want to risk any potential points if it didn't succeed.

Chris and I had tried to talk about a leadout at the end but in the general race confusion part of our conversation was never completed.  I had planned to move to the front in the last 2 km so we could control the runin to the Ranzau corner.  Chris had taken my movement to the front to mean that we had to get going and so he came up and started leading out.  I was trying to tell him to ease up but its almost impossible to hear anything being said at 46kph.  We came round the corner and he continued.  I had originally planned my launch point but as I came to it I saw that Henry, Gary and Murray had already started.  I struggled to get up to speed and in the end I placed 4th - pretty much where I normally get.  So the opportunity slipped away - mainly because I left my sprint too late.

So the lessons to be learnt are - communicate the plan and don't sprint too late (for me that is).  Chris did a great job, I'm not sure that I could have led out for so long.

I'm now placing 2nd in the series.  The final race finishes at the top of the Aniseed Valley hill so that will be a gut buster.  If I can finish in the top 5 I'll be pretty happy.

Hell of the Top of the South - Race 8

While it was heralded as the Hell of the Top of the South, Race 8 of the winter series gave only a glancing nod to this famous european race.  

The course consisted of multiple laps of the Wakefield, Bridge Valley circuit (about 9.5 km long and scheduled for sealing later in the year).  A grade stayed together until the climb over St Johns hill where I stretched the group out a bit and bought back an early attack by Richie and Gary.  Chris N and George attacked coming into the gravel section and we were all strung out in a long line.  An oncoming car and a gap opened up by a rider in front meant that I was dropped from the front group.  The gravel was quite thick in places and there were numerous punctures which I somehow had managed to avoid.   Chris C had made it into the front group and I tried to close in on them when we got back on the seal but it was too hard.  I picked up by a group containing Henry, Richie, Garry, Grant and a few others.  I had hoped that they might work together to try and chase but they showed little interest.  I rode hard on the front hoping that we might catch them but it was no use.  We passed Chris C twice fixing punctures.  As we came up to him the second time he waved and I threw him a tube.  On the last lap I rested as it was going to come down to a sprint.  Coming along Bird Lane I was at the front but needed to get into a better position.  No one was coming through so as we went around the Bird Lane corner at a good pace I pulled hard to the left and applied the brakes.  The others shot past on the right and I was able to hop onto the back of the group.  The pace now really slowed as everyone started to watch everyone else.  I dropped off the back a little to give myself a run up.  The finish line was in Pictfure Road which was at the end of a short climb.  It was getting closer and as a car came past the group I launched my sprint.  I managed to hold them off and finished first in our group although Henry was very very close.  

I placed 5th overall which wasn't too bad an outcome.

Winter Series Race 7

Well we are into the home straight now for the Winter series with 3 more races to go.  Race 8 took us along the Coastals, through Ruby Bay, over Harleys, into Edwards Road, along Central Road and then back over the Moutere Hill, Waimea West before finally finishing in Ranzau road.  

I'm not really sure what happened for the first third of the race.  Right at the start a small group of us just difted off the front (Rob, Murray, Richie V and myself).  We were soon joined by Aaron and together we made it to the start of Harleys when we were joined by Chris N, Robin, George, Thomas and Dean.  The pace over Harleys was not too bad so the group pretty much stayed together (Richie dropped off).  Down to Edwards Road and along Central Chris, George and Robin played their "let a gap open to force someone else to close it and then attack and complain routine".  At the start of the main climb up Central Chris attacked and was quickly joined by George and Robin.  Looking at the combination and realising what the outcome would be if I joined them I decided to maintain my own pace and soon found myself with only Thomas for company (Thomas climbs really well).  On the downhill run to the Moutere Highway he dropped off so I waited and was joined by Rob and Murray.  The 4 of us rode together with myself doing the bulk of the work.  We could see that we were not going to catch the others but were pretty keen to keep away from the rest of the group.  We all stayed together over the Moutere and took turns into the head wind along Waimea West.  Murray was definitely suffering now.  Rob was looking quite good and it was hard to tell how Thomas felt.

We lost Murray over Burkes Bank.  Rob and I wound it out to try and limit the time losses between us and the front group.  As I had done the bulk of the work Rob had told Thomas to not sprint.  Rob led us out along Ranzau but partway along Thomas took off.  Thankfully he went too early and I was able to get on his wheel and then accelerate past.  I placed 4th which put me into 3rd place overall.  

Chris C was not far back - he had got boxed in at the critical moment and hadn't made it across to the group that caught us.  Henry told me that Chris had ridden on the front for most of the race before riding away at Brightwater - Henry was most impressed.

Benchmark Blunder

I was pretty keen to see how I did at the Nelson Benchmark round.  Things didn't go exactly as planned.  Mike Gane emailed me to ask what happened and my reply below really explains the whole sorry saga - need I say more?

Hi Mike,
Well we had the job of looking after the girls (Bronwyn & Karen). On
the first climb up Old Coach on the first lap Bronwyn dropped her
chain. She got on again and I waited at the top to pull her back to
the group except that even tucked up she couldn't keep up so I had to ease up a couple of times. Finally I realised that she wasn't going to make it back so I carried on to get back on myself.

Just as I was within striking distance of making contact the cars in
the caravan moved over to the left which blocked me off (the
commissionaires were pretty tough on going over the white line so I
couldn't go that way. By the time we got through cemetery corner is
was all over for me. I kept on riding and then on lap 3 got a
puncture. So in the end I placed last but averaged just over 33kph
for the 130km which wasn't too bad.

Karen of course got relegated at the last minutefor being pushed up the hill by David Ayre.

Cycling Nelson 40km Club Champs

As last years holder of this title I decided that I had better turn up and try to defend it.  The weather was overcast but not too cold which was a bonus.  The field was fairly small but there were some good riders there like George and Cameron.   

The initial pace was fairly relaxed although Danial charged off up the first climb but was soon bought back.  I attacked on the climb before Seaton Valley to see if we would thin out the group a bit.  Chris C and Aaron attacked up Seaton and as I wasn't going to chase Chris I just rode tempo and let the gap open.   Murray bought Chris back to the group but Aaron was still out ahead.  The rest of the remaining group didn't seem too interested in chasing him and as he was contesting for a different grade I wasn't going to expend too much energy in chasing.  After the 2nd lap at the top of the Dominion road intersection I increased the pace a little and soon found that I was out on my own.  Chris and Ritchie joined me and we rode together over the Moutere Hill.  We were caught on the run in to the Redwood Road turn off.  George and Cameron attacked and Chris got on their wheel.  I expected that someone would close the gap so I hesitated a bit.  I soon realised that no one was going to react so I bridged across.  

Chris had originally planned to lead me out but as we started in to the sprint George bumped me off his wheel (not really a suprise for anyone who rides with George) .  I was still recovering from the effort in bridging and so I found myself fading.  So Chris crossed the line just ahead of me and became the masters champion.

I was pretty pleased for Chris as he really was the stronger rider and deserved to win plus it sort of kept it in the family.  He is certainly riding well at the moment.

Return to Mt Heslington (Race 6)

The Mt Heslington circuit is always a hard course.  When I left home the temperature was 9 degrees which at the time made my clothing selection fairly straight forward.  Unfortunately by the time I got to Richmond it had dropped to 6 degrees.  Thankfully my handy supermarket bag provided some protection from the elements.

As the race progressed I realised that I was having a hard time with my breathing - often when it gets cold I start to feel really tight in my chest - its ok when the pace is not on but if things get too hard it really starts to cause a problem.

As usual I got in the break but with the increased intensity and my difficulty breathing there was no chance of me staying with it and I drifted back to the main group.

Just like the previous race the main guys doing the work were Chris, Paul, Rob, Murray and myself and we pretty much rode tempo for the rest of the race.  On the last lap I attacked at the fertiliser works and Chris bridged across but the group was not happy to let us go.  We sat in for the remainder of the lap.  In the final sprint there was a huge gap on the left hand side.  I got behind Chris and he led me out to the last 200m.  I managed to hold off Murray who was coming up on the right hand side and placed 5th overall (which seems to be where I'm always finishing).

Chris is riding really strongly at the moment - he certainly improves quickly.