A quick call to Pete saw me transported to the start of the Rotoiti - Renwick. It had been some time since I had done this race and my first challenge happened even before the race started. As I went to sign in one of the legs of my glasses broke. The thought of racing with limited visibility didn't really appeal. Thankfully with the assistance of Paul D and an endless supply of insulation tape we managed to create something that while not initially taking the fashion world by storm was hopefully going to hold together until the end.
There had been a rumour that we might be hitting it hard from the start which proved to be completely true. Very quickly the field that had been pretty small to begin with (maybe 20?) was reduced to about 11. I was feeling a bit tired from my escapade the day before so found it all a bit hard until we got to the 60km mark where I started to feel quite good.
The group worked together haphazardly with no real purpose but ended up catching up with the Intermediate group at around the 80km mark. We tried to blow through them but the tandem in the group brought them all back to us. Normally I don't get involved in the sprint and given that I was now shoulder to shoulder with riders from a different race that were eager to mix it up with us just reinforced my intention on keeping out of trouble. As we got towards the end I saw a gap appear in the middle of the pack and said to Grant Jones that I was going to go straight through the middle and did he want a lead out. Just as I was about to go it closed up but I found a space on the right hand side and went for it. Grant was ready for it and we managed to get a good gap on the rest of the group. Grant launched as I faded and managed to make it to the line. He was pretty pleased and there was an element of satisfaction in pulling it off.
The meal back at the pub with Pete, Ritchie and Karl etc was great. They had all had good rides so it was a good day out for all of us.
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