SG Heslington 12th Dec

With a week of high cadence behind me this was really the last real race for the year. Numbers were better and attacks carried on throughout the race. I felt much better putting in hard turns and starting and joining breaks.

With winner was Tom A with one of his trademark roll off the front attacks but it was pretty close with the rest of us coming through in a bunch sprint.

Maybe I'm back on track?

SG Hope Circuit - 5th November

Having had a month away from racing I was a little apprehensive about my first race on the Hope Circuit. November had been a big training month for me with some good efforts and even though some of them had been like races an actual race was quite a different undertaking.

The field was remarkably small with a number of riders away at the Armstrong Prestige race in Christchurch. We went flat out from the start and I joined an early break with Felix and Tom A. I was suffering a bit with race pace and was slightly relieved that we soon were caught. Tom soon rolled off the front again with Rob in tow. Felix and Dean bridged on the climb and I almost managed to join them but couldn't just do it. I chased with Henry and Murray and we were eventually joined by Rob who has been burnt off with the pace.

With the balance of power not in our favor we were not going to make any real inroads on the others. We rode hard and I actually started to feel better as we carried on. I sprinted out of the last corner hoping that Rob was on my wheel. I glanced back and saw that Murray was a little way behind. The line was quite close now and I actually thought I might make it but Murray came rattling through at the last minute with a great turn of speed.

Welcome back to Racing!

Nationals Road Race - 23rd Oct

Here was my last chance to redeem myself after the TT.
I had identified a couple of riders to keep an eye on. Nigel from Pegasus was trying to wind me up by touting me as the hot favorite. An attack from the TT winner went right from the start. We eventually bought it back but I covered any move that Nigel or Lester made and they covered anything I did. Eventually there was a counter attack from another Christchurch rider after one of my attacks. Nigel let it go and having just finished an attack I let it go as well. We eventually began to chase but it was going to be too late. In the run in for the sprint for the minor placings Nigel put in an early effort. I waited until we got to my usual sprint point on the circuit and then went for it. I managed to hold Nigel and another rider off and placed 2nd but it was very very close. I learned later from Nigel that he was happy to let the other Christchurch rider go as he knew I would cover anything that Nigel did.

So I was outsmarted again - still 2nd isn't too bad for my first attempt at nationals.

Nationals TT - 21st October

Well this is what we had been waiting for - finally. I turned up with enough time and passed the bike scrutineering which was a relief! I did a reasonable warmup and then lined up for my start. It was hot and pretty windy and I had opted to use the disc and the trispoke. The first part of the tt was very fast and with the blustery wind I actually wondered if I was going to stay on the bike. I was doing ok but didn't really feel on top of it. The return trip was a real struggle and certainly wasn't going to result in a stellar performance. In the end I placed 5th with a time of 0:36:31 - slower than what I had done previously. That's just the way it is with TT's some days you are good and others its all just too much.

Wild Coaster 10th October

This was the first time I had entered the Wild Coaster (a race from Greymouth to Westport). We traveled down the day before on a very cold and wet Friday and stayed at the the excellent Neptunes Backpackers.

The following morning it was still cold but with the sun shining and a promising tail wind we registered at the race start and were soon on our way. There were two strong teams that were obviously going to be the main race players. Tasman Glass were well represented (they seem to have a fairly fluid team membership) and a team from Hokitika certainly looked like they meant business.

I decided to try and stick as close to the front as possible to be able to go with any breaks. Attacks started right from the gun with Dean and Keiran making a move. I bridged but it was all soon bought back together again. Another early break was neutralised when we all had to stop for a train. Soon after that a group of about 5 got away. I bridged and was also joined by a few others. As we started the first climb along the coast the group thinned out some more and eventually we were left with about 12 of us consisting of mainly Tasman Glass and Hokitika riders (there were about 3 of us that were not team affiliated). The attacks continued - usually with a team rider and a individual rider and the pace was quite high. Climbing up to Punakaiki we lost a couple of riders.

I finally dropped off with a later climb (the last of the individual riders to go) when another rider allowed a gap to open that I couldn't close in time. I joined a Hokitika rider in the chase of what was left of the pack. He lapped out for a bit but then couldn't come through and I ended up towing him all of the way to Carters Beach. As we hit the coast the wind became a strong side wind and we were joined by Dean and the other 2 individual riders. I managed to beat them in the sprint and ended up placing 7th in a time of 2:51:58 - 5 minutes behind the winners - not too bad and a nice day out.

Centre Club Champs Road Race October 4th

Back to our favorite course yet again!  This time M2 and M3 were sent off together for our standard 96km.   I knew more M3 riders than M2 ones with Tony Catterick, Grant Stirling and Rob Searle being riders worth looking out for.  There aren't many M2 riders around and by the time we got to lap4 there was only 2 of us left along with a handful of M3 riders.  Gerrard van Antwerpen was the only M2 rider left so on the last lap I give it a bit of a push up Old Coach after Rob had set a good pace in the run in to the hill.  At the top of the climb it was only Tony, Grant, Rob and myself left.  

Knowing that Gerrard would try hard to catch back on I drove the pace down to the Cemetery corner and along towards Moutere.  The others were starting to play games and didn't have the same motivation as I was the only M2 rider in the group.  Each time they slowed up I would drive hard down the other side of the lane and they would then sprint to catch up again.  As we got closer to the corner before the line Rob went for a late attack.  Tony closed him down and so I was in 3rd wheel with only Grant behind me.  I attacked in exactly the same place as I had in the previous race in winter and managed to hold them off to win the race and also be 1st M2 rider.

So quite a successful Centre Club Champs with 2 golds - something that I somehow also managed to achieve in 2007.

Center Club Champs TT - 3rd October

Usual deal on the Nationals Course although this time it was not too windy. Did 35:47 which was an average of 41.92 which put me in 1st place hence the Centre Club M2 Champion - wow! (I think there were 3 of us in M2 so there was always going to be a reasonable chance for a placing).

S&G Open Day - 26th September

If I start this entry by saying that it was windy then you will probably guess what comes next. Usual course for the open day and with the wind it was the usual result. Dropped along Appleby, ended up riding with Murray until we were caught by "B" and then had to sit on - not a very good start to the summer!

Continental Tandem Tour (18th - 20th September)

After a 2 year hiatus from the tandem I was back in the saddle again for the Continental Tandem Tour. Basically Mike had told me that I was entered with Dean so there wasn't much discussion about me returning.
With absolutely no preparation we were going to have to wing it. Thankfully (from a competition point of view) Chris and Bob were not racing this time as Chris was sick but there was still some real competition with Tristin and Anja and Vaughn and Mitchell along with a number of other out of towners. We struck problems early on at the Prologue with 2 rims cracking even before we had started. We ended up using the rear wheel of my road bike which was not designed for tandems at all.
The prologue was 6 laps of the Trafalgar park track. We were 2nd to last to race. At the first corner I really doubted that we were going to make it around. Dean later admitted that he was struggling to keep us on the track at the corners. We got the fastest time by 10 sec and averaged 50kph.
Stage 1 was a 13km TT from the Moutere to the Riverside Cafe. We started first which was unusal for a TT and made it hard with no-one to chase. We finished 7 seconds down on Tristian and Anja but 3 seconds ahead of Vaughn and Mitchell.
Stage 2 was a 45km road race. We broke away with the our main competitors and an R&R sponsored team from Massey. In the end it came down to a 3 way sprint which we won easily.
Stage 3 was going to be the hardest for us with a climb over Neudorf and then down the valley to the Mot airport. We came unstuck on Neudorf with a combination of problems. Firstly my handle bars kept twisting around so that when we stood there was nothing that I could brace against to get the power out and secondly my road wheel on the back was showing the reason why tandem wheels are normally 36 spoke not 32 and was rubbing on the frame. T&A & V&M got a small lead on the climb and we had to stop at the top to get the seat sorted out. We chased hard out down the valley but barely saw them again in the twisty valley road. We slipped into time trial mode and just hoped that Vaughn and Mitchell would win the sprint which would still leave us in first place overall. We came across the finish line and could see the others just turning around from their sprint further down the road - so we weren't that far off. Thankfully we were still in first position overall and so had won the tour.

Riding a tandem is quite fun but is also a lot harder that I thought it was going to be.

Tasman Champs TT - 13th September

Well it was a really nice day for a change. As my TT bike is still being constructed I was back to the EMC with clipons - not the most aerodynamic position but not bad. My legs were pretty tired from the day before so I was a bit unsure how things would go. I was also unsure about what to ride. It was a bit breezy and with my tiredness I couldn't decide between using a disk or just sticking with the 404's. In the end I opted for the disc but in hindsight I think the 404's might have been better (the rear is almost 1kg lighter). I started out well but the breeze was turning into a head wind on some sections and a cross wind in others. I caught the guy in front before the turn which was encouraging and watched in awe as Conway Taylor rode past me (thankfully after the turn). I finished in 0:36:33 which wasn't that flash but was good enough to give me first place.

Tasman Road Champs Road Race - 12th September

At this stage I'm getting a little tired of the Woolastons circuit! This time the M1 & M2 riders were together which was a nice change. I attacked on the first climb which meant we lost a couple of riders early on and then put in a number of attacks at different points to further try and thin out the group. There was a crash on one of the middle laps which I narrowly managed to avoid and then Ross attacked with about 3 laps to go. This thinned us out to about 7 riders remaining. Murray dropped off on the last climb. In the sprint Ross went early and was not going to be caught. I just didn't have the pace and got a bit boxed in which was unfortunate so I ended up as the 2nd M2 rider with a rider from Blenheim just beating me at the line. Shankers! (as Sophie would say).

SG Winter Series Race 11

Well here we were at the final race for the series and there was only a single point separating the 2 top riders with David just ahead of Caleb. We all knew it was going to come down to the final climb up Aniseed but an early break from Chris N meant that nothing was ever going to be completely certain. I had briefly joined another earlier break attempt with Chris but that had been brought back. Any attempt from me to bridge over was chased down so I took turns with Dean in keeping the pace high which we waited for the climb. Dean and I brought the break back on the last lap at the last possible moment. On the climb I rode from the back of the group and ended up finishing 5th just behind Tom Ashleigh.
I ended up placing 8th overall - the results show me in 11th position but if you actually add up the numbers I finished 8th. Not bad for an old guy.

SG Race 10 - Mot - Central - Moutere - Ranzau

With race 9 being canceled due the recent heavy rain we were quickly making our way towards the end of the series.  With race 10 Dave made an early break (after Dominion) and was joined by Tom Ashley.  The two soon had a reasonable lead with the remaining riders happy to let them go for a while.  I tried to get away a couple of times along the start of Central road but was soon caught again by the bunch.  A sudden increase in pace along the Central road climb put a few riders on the back foot but it all came back together as we joined back on to the Moutere highway.  It was here that we got the message from Malcolm that Dave and Tom were behind us.  This caused some initial puzzlement as we hadn't actually passed them.  It transpired that they had taken a wrong turn in Mot and had effectively been riding a course of their own making ( and entertaining report on the whole affair can be found here: http://sqwheelers.blogspot.com/2009/08/star-and-garter-winter-series-goes-down.html?zx=db76758523f3e63c

I attacked on the Moutere mainly to see if I could get anyone else interested and also to see if we could thin the bunch out a bit.  There was no response although Dave bridged on the descent but was soon joined by the rest.  Tom Hodges attacked along the end of Waimea and was let go.  We chased a bit from Brightwater but as usual there were a large number who were "saving themselves".  I attacked again along Hope and was joined by Henry who was unable to take a turn.  Once the group caught us I rode on the front to try and keep the pace high for Dave.  Along Ranzau I rode as hard as possible to give him a good lead out.  Thankfully I managed to get 2nd - we were too far off to catch Tom who did really well.

SG Race 8 : Wollastons Circuit 8th Aug

There was a huge turn out for Race 8 of the series as it was held on the Wollastons circuit with a number of riders from Christchurch and Hokitika taking the opportunity to come and ride the course.  It was also good to catch up with some of the riders we had met in Queenstown.

I was moved into Race 2 as it was closer to my National distance (96km).  It was a large field of around 48.  It was a bit of an odd race.  I was expecting some move from Tony Catterick or Brent Harris but it never came.  The climbs didn't seem long enough to get drop anybody and the long downhill section meant that the whole group pretty much stayed together.  I tried to get away in numerous places but it never lasted and it appeared that no-one else was interested in breaking away.  In the end I did my usual lead out and early sprint and was suprised to find myself across the line first - who would have figured that would happen?

SG Race 7 Mot, Ngatimoti, Central, Redwoods

Those of you expecting another account of one of my doomed attacks are sadly going to be disappointed this time.  For a change I sat in and the pace was so relaxed that we were caught by some of the B grade race along the Moutere Highway.  I made a couple of attempts to ease off the front befoe the airport but they were fairly short lived.

As we started along the Mot valley towards Ngatimoti there is a short climb and it was here that I gave it a bit of a nudge to see if anyone was interested.  I was joined by Caleb and we settled down into a good rhythm keeping a steady pace.  Tom Hodges bridged across and the 3 of us set to work. By the Ngatimoti turn off we had a 30sec lead.  At the Central Road turnoff we were out to just over a minute.  It was starting to get harder and I did wonder if I was going to keep up.  Thankfully Caleb and Tom where also beginning to tire so I managed to stick with it.  By the top of Moutere we had dropped back to 30 sec (the times were given to us my Malcolm so its hard to know their accuracy).  Along the flat from the bottom of the hill I did some hard turns - to try and keep the pace over 40kph.  In the end I came 3rd - I led out the sprint as the others had not tried to drop me in the hills and I was more interested in staying away - plus my points for the series is so low it wasn't going to make any difference.  By my calculations we averaged 38kph which is not bad going.

SG Race 6 - Heslington - 25th July

There are 2 circuits that I don't really do that well on. The first is the Wollastons circuit and the 2nd is Heslington. It's not that its too hard or too far - it just doesn't seem to happen for me. After telling myself to wait until lap 5 (of 8) before trying to get away even I was suprised to find myself off the front on Laps 2 and 4. On lap 6 Caleb and Robin got away. I worked to chase them down and was just finishing a long turn with about 50m to go when Chris N bridged across with everyone else. Max and I were dropped. I almost got back on by Telanius bridge but they hit the gas and I finished behind by myself. Max had dropped out and gone home.

Oh well, - maybe next time. Still I felt ok on the bike and its all good training. A large number of the A grade are just sitting in so to put some of the efforts in that I have been and still hang in at the end is pretty good.

SG Winter Race 4 11th July

Race 4 ran from Richmond, Dominion and then 5 laps of the Wollastons Circuit so all up it was going to be pretty long for this time of year.  Given that I had calculated the length before the start you may question the thought process around breaking away in the first 2km and I would be the first to admit that as my breakaway companions dropped off as we reached the Coastals I was wondering about the rationale behind it myself.  I was eventually joined by Dave and we worked up a reasonable lead before being joined by Jono and Caleb on the road to Cemetry corner.

The A grade field was quite large and we were eventually caught as we came back around the Dominion road intersection. My focus at the moment is on increasing my strength and so the end results were not really at the forefront.  Consequently I continued to attack or bridge or chase as the race progressed and spent most of the time either off the front or on the front.  This was bound to have less than ideal consequences in terms of energy conservation and I eventually dropped off the group on the last lap after closing down a breakaway and ended up placing last (although there were others who pulled out).  

For the next race I might actually try and get a better placing.

Brass Nipple 5th July

The Brass Nipple was also the 3rd race for the Winter Series.  The course now starts at Eyebright and goes:  Appleby, River Road, Wai West, Hope, 3 Bros Corner, Appleby, Coastals, Pomona, Marriages, Tasman, Harleys, Moutere, Wai West, Brightwater, Ranzau, Eyebright - its important to know where you are going as some riders found out as we got to the River Road turn off (Including the race organiser who was leading the peloton on a tandem).  

Making the most of the confusion I increased the pace slightly and soon found myself off the front with Henry - not an obvious choice of breakaway partner. 

We worked together and established a reasonable lead and were eventually joined by Max and Jono at the Mapua corner.  Keeping a up a reasonable pace we were then joined by Caleb and Hodges.  This was obviously going to be the key break.  We worked together (apart from Henry who did the usual).  At Tasman Max punctured.  Going up Harleys I found the pace a bit too high and Caleb and Hodges were surging so I dropped off.  Henry was jettisoned before the top of the hill.  I caught him at the top and figured that we had a chance of catching them again on the flat.

Unfortunately Henry got a puncture on the way down so I left him on the Moutere Highway.  A little further along the road I caught Hodges who had been dropped and said that he was going to wait for the peloton who would then catch them.  I wasn't going to hang around and carried on - the peloton hadn't caught me yet and given that I couldnt see Jono and Caleb I didn't think they were going to be caught in a hurry.  I couldnt event see the peloton behind me.  Eventually just before the start of the Moutere hill a small group of about 5 or 6 caught up with me (Hodges wasn't there and had been dropped).  I stayed with them on the hill and then tried to keep the pace high along Waimea West.  They all seemed to be playing some sort of tactical game which at that stage I didn't have time for. 

In Brightwater Felix attacked.  I waited and then bridged across and was then joined by Robin.  The 3 of us worked to distance ourselves from the rest.   I took as many turns as I could although I was feeling a bit tired now.  I did a big turn along Ranzau road.  As we turned towards Eyebright Felix took off.  Robin said that I was more deserving and sat up - so in the end I came 4th.  

Pete also did the race and it was good to see him out on the bike and to catch up with him.

SG 25km TT 4th July

This was our first opportunity to race the Nationals TT course.  The weather was overcast and cool.  I drove to the start and had the wind trainer to warm up on.  I was also using Pauls old disc and had lowered the front of the bike an additional 2cm.  I was also going to try and sit further back to see if that would give me a slightly more aero position.

The rain started just before I began - it was coming down quite heavily.  I tried as hard as I could but just didn't feel quite right with the position.  On the way back I thought I had a flat tyre and actually stopped to check - I didn't which actually annoyed me more.  After that I moved forward on the seat more which I believe gives me more power.  The time wasn't great - 0:37:10 so just over 40kph well down on my time in April.  Still it was a good learning experience.

27th June SGW Winter Series Race 2 - Heslington

7 laps of Heslington is quite a few at any time of year.  Thankfully the weather was not as cool as it had been and there was practically no wind.  This was also the first time that Hannah had done a club race and considering the kids were staying at her Grandfathers house which is on the circuit it was all very handy.

With Tom Nicholson in the leaders position the main protaganists were always going to be Caleb and Jono.  Not fancying myself as a sprinter my plan was to get into a break and so I attacked numerous times and spent more time off the front of the peloton than actually in it (I did at least 2 of the laps by myself).  Unfortunately no-one else really seemed interested apart from Jono who stayed with me for almost a lap.  Caleb and Dave started a couple of attacks but didn't seem to want to commit to them.  In the end the race was won by Tom Ashley who made a last minute break when Dave let him roll off the front.  The sprint was a bit dicey with the afternoon sun and a car coming straight at us.  I was planning on moving up the right hand side but the car stopped that from happening but in the end I placed 9th so actually got an extra point!  I don't think it will be a high score this year!

SGW Winter Series Race 1

Well it was winter series race time again.  The course was Dominion, Moutere, WaiWest, Ranzau - a pretty standard setup.  The first race of the series is always a bit of a lottery.  No-one really knows the form of the other riders and who to look out for and even if they do they often have other motives and events that they are wanting to peak for.

We started out pretty slowly and it wasnt until Dominion where the pressure came on.  I was riding on the front and was holding a pretty resonable pace in order to discourage attacks.  Jono and some others attacked about midway through the climb.  I managed to keep up and we all came over the brow of the hill together.  Caleb, Ashley and I kept the pace going along to the Cemetry corner but we still had quite a large group.  There were a couple of attacks going along the road to Moutere but the next major one came on the Moutere Hill.  Max attacked and then Jono went to bridge and a few us went with him.  I rememeber looking at the speedo and seeing 40kph and thinking that this was pretty fast for going uphill.  We passed Max and continued on.  It was all bought back together again coming down the hill.  Having spent far too much time at the front I didn't react when Caleb, Dave and a couple of others rolled off the front.  We still had a large number of good riders with us so I thought we would catch up easily.  Of course we didn't!  There were very few left that were willing to work and then Robin attacked on Burkes bank having sat in the group for most of the ride.  We got close to closing in on them and it was good training.  I think I came around 11th or 12th - so just out of the points.

Nelson 40 Champs

With a completely different course this year the Nelson 40km Champs showed a completely different personality.  Traditionally the course has been Coastals, Seaton, 2 x Glovers, Moutere Hill, Redwood Valley road.  Generally if you can get away on Seaton you can potentially make is away until the end as there is very little opportunity for a chasing bunch to be able to work together to case you down.  However due to the road works on the Coastal road the course was changed.

This year the course started at the Moutere Hall, down the Moutere Valley, into Edwards Road, up Central road and then around the circuit again before finishing on Old House road.  With the flat 10km stint down to Edwards it was unlikely that anyone would be allowed to get away on the first lap.  The climb up Central is also more of a power climb and isn't steep enough to lose too many people.

Given that Chris C had won the Masters Trophy the year before and I had won it the year before that I figured that it would be good to try and keep it in the Nelson Alarm family. Unfortunately I was the only NA rider available so it was up to me!  So with a vague plan and questionable form I lined up.  It was fast from the start!  I had thought that it might be and the presence of Felix, Caleb, Dave and Grant pretty much ensured that.  We lost some people immediately and there were attacks from the beginning both from myself and the others.  Felix and Caleb got away slightly on the first time around the climb but the small group of us that were left caught them back again along the Moutere Highway.  Turning into Edwards road it was Jonos turn to go.  I was keeping track of the other Masters riders which was now only Henry and Grant.  Henry moved to the front of the group on at the start of the hills and I moved up with him.  Just as we got to the main climb and had caught Jono,  Caleb and Felix attacked.  I was too close to the front and didnt want to tow Henry or anyone else over to them so I had to wait a second to get in a better position before starting my chase.  I managed to get a good gap but it was hard work to maintain it.  Felix and Caleb were about 20m ahead at the top of the hill.  Tom Ashley was not far behind me with the others a little further back.  I came down the hill as fast as I could (77kph - not bad considering the size of the hill) and gave it everything.  I wasn't going to catch Felix and Caleb and in the end came 4th as Tom caught me just before the line.  Still I was the first Masters rider so the Trophy remained in  Nelson Alarms care for another year.

SGW Time Trial (25th April)

Theres not a great deal to be said about the time trial.  It was the Waimea West circuit.  I was last to go out of the 20km riders - my new distance given my advanced years.  I did a time of 0:28:05 which gave me an average speed of 42.73kph - this is the best I've ever done so that was good considering my less than ideal tt position.  I was beaten in the M2 section by a fully kitted Blenheim rider who was 1 second faster - bummer!

SGW 100 (18th April)

Having had the recent success in Queenstown I was hoping for a reasonable result in the SGW 100km race.  The course was slightly different this year with the use of Dominion road instead of the Moutere hill.  Not that it made much difference as there was (as usual) an early attack.  We regrouped at Edwards road but the attacks were to continue thoughout the rest of the race.  I got away with Felix at one point and for about 10km before we were caught.  The decisive attack came just after Tapawera with Dean, Jono and Kieran getting away.  It was won of those attacks that just seemed to roll off.  While we still had Felix, Caleb and Chris N with us along with some others they seemed unwilling or unable to chase.  This pretty much left it to Chris N and myself to try and bring it all back.  Soon Chris and I were by ourselves but were closing in.  The others had reached were now partway up the Spooners climb when Chris and I got to the bottom.  Chris suggested that I wait for him at the top.  We caught Kieran and Jono before the summit so only had Dean left to bring back.  The 3 of us worked along the flat and caught up with Dean just after the old Wai-iti church.  He had caught up with a group of B grade riders.  It now became a game of positioning as we got close to the finish - something I'm never very good at.  In the end Jono broke first.  I was boxed in by some of the B graders  so couldn't react but eventually managed to get out and almost caught Dean on the line.  I placed 4th which was ok but really I was hoping for a slightly better result.

Tour de Lakes (10th - 13th April)

Queenstown is a long way away from Nelson!  After around 9.5 hours driving we finally got there.  The following day Chris and I rode the hill for the final stage - it was steep but a worthwhile exercise.  We picked up Ross from the Airport and made our way to the briefing and prologue.

The prologue was a 5km tt which started with a steep downhill followed by a false flat.  Everyone was out with the disc wheels etc - it was quite impressive.  I placed 11th - 21 seconds behind the winner.  Ross was 2nd and Chris placed 21st.

Day 2 saw our first stage take us to 5 Rivers (80km).  It was fairly cool and overcast.  We were all keen to see who would be making the moves and who was in shape.  The group stayed together as we rode around the undulating road beside the lake.  There were a few attacks but nothing that lasted.  At about the halfway mark we had a bit of a tail wind and there was a big rolling downhill and uphill.  I got a good runup and soon was away by myself.  It certainly wasn't part of our plan (which was to come later) but I figured that while it wasn't too hard to maintain I would just see how long it lasted without killing myself.  I was soon joined by Chris C which made me laugh - of all the people to turn up it was another NA rider!  The group behind didn't seem to be catching up so we kept our pace up.  Our support police car pulled over to let us go past as we had too much of a gap on the group.  Our escapade lasted about 20km before we were joined by one of the sprinters - then they really started to chase as the sprint points were coming up.  They caught us about 2km to the sprint line.  Ross said they had been chasing hard for ages so we weren't doing too badly.  We survived the argy bargy of the sprint and settled back into the group.  The hill points were coming up and with only about 10km left to go after the hill it was our intention to get away there.  We had told Oliver Whalley of our plan and as he was only interested in the hill points he was quite happy to tag along.  We hit the climb (which by Nelson standards wasn't that bad).  I sat on the front and just increased the pace the whole way.  At the top Ollie got the points followed by Ross and myself.  We had two others with us - Chris Brooks and Craig Best.  We worked together on the downhill and the run in to the line.  We could see the others coming and I did some big turns as our plan was to get Ross in Yellow.  He won the sprint followed by Chris B and Ollie I came 5th but hadn't lost any time which was the main thing.  The others were 4 seconds back.  Chris C had got dropped on the hill and was 1:12 down.  This put Ross in yellow and placed me 4th overall.

Stage 2 and the threat of rain and increasing wind loomed.  The stage travelled from 5 Rivers to finish in Manapouri.  It wasn't very hilly but was quite exposed.  The big boys kept the pressure on in the wind to try and split the group.  It was much easier trying to work with them than suffering in the gutter.  KOM points were at around the half way mark.  Any early break went clear to try and pick up the points.  We left it a little late to reel them back in and caught all but one before the line.  Our pressure on the hill split the group and Chris and some others dropped off.  Ross was looking fairly comfortable - it was certainly a stage that suited him.  I had decided to work for Ross.  There were a number of attacks which we were able to bring back.  I kept the pace as high as possible for the last 7km riding on the front to discourage any last minute attacks.  Ross only managed 4th in the sprint with Chris Henderson winning the stage.  The group we had dropped on the hill lost 9 minutes!

Day 3 Stage 3  After a good nights sleep and breakfast at our palatial Possum Lodge accommodation we were ready for another full day.  Stage 3 was a 20km Time Trial from Manapouri to Te Anau.  It's a fairly flat course but is a bit exposed to the wind.  I was still in 4th place overall and so was 4th last to start for our race.  There was a lot of TT gear rolling about and rumours of "Special" tt training that people had been doing.  A number of riders had trained specifically for this tour which made our rather ad hoc approach seem a little out of place.  I was keen to do the best I could and rode as hard as possible.  I managed to catch my minute man about 1km from the end but he had been in my sights for some time.  The support vehicle for the guy behind me kept jumping up in front and timing the difference.  It was a relief to get to the end.  I finished in 0:28:57 which put me in 3rd place!  I had lost 36 sec to the winner Chris Brooks who had won the TT and was now tour leader.  Ross had placed 7th - 1:18 down on Chris B.  This put me in 2nd place overall - 50sec down with Ross at 4th with 1:15.  Things were certainly going to be interesting and I doubted my chances of closing 50 sec.

Stage 4 raced back from Te Anau to 5 Rivers.  There was an early attack from one rider but it was a bit windy so the bunch was happy to just let it go.  When the time gap got to around 4 minutes we started to pick up the pace.  About a third of the way through the stage was the hill points.  Together with Ollie we really picked up the pace and split the group.  Ross had made the cut as had Chris Brooks and about 5 others.  We worked together and with what was now a tail wind sat at around 60kph on the flat (I was looking for an extra gear).  We soon caught the breakaway rider.  John McKenzie who had been 3rd on GC wasn't with us so it was in Chris and my interests to keep things going.  The finish came down to a sprint.  I tried to lead Ross out which didn't quite work and he only managed 3rd.  This also moved him up to 3rd overall.  The chasing group was 1:11 behind with Chris C in another group at 1:54.  On the way back we drove along the finishing approach for the last stage.  We measured the climb and discussed what opportunities there were for making up the 50sec that I needed.  The final climb was around 2km long but to make up 50 sec over such a short distance seemed impossible.

Day 4 Stage 5 - Queenstown to Glenorchy.  We woke to a blustery, cold, rainy morning.  The stage to Glenorchy is far from flat.  Being 50sec down I was pretty keen on just staying with the front runners.  Right from the start we began to lose people.  It wasn't so much from attacks but more due to the steep undulating terrain.  Some initial attacks were quickly chased down by myself and Chris Brooks.  The wind which was quickly turning into a head wind discouraged many more from trying to break away.  Eventually a small group of about 8 of us pulled away from the main field on the KOM climb.  Together we worked to increase our lead over the remaining bunch.  The finish came down to a sprint.  The guys behind us were a further 1:45 back with Chris C in a group further behind at 9:54.  Ross was 2nd on the sprint points overall and would need to win the next sprint to beat Chris Henderson.

Stage 6 - Glenorchy - Moke Lake.  The final stage returned back the way we had come, finishing slightly short of Queenstown at Moke Lake.  Chris and I had ridden the Moke Lake climb on the Friday so we knew how long and steep it was (its a bit like Anniseed but is 2km long and doesn't have the ultra steep pitches).  Still at 50sec behind our plan was to hit the climb before the Moke Lake turn off as hard as possible.  From there it would be only a short downhill to the turn off.  Chris C attacked from the start of the stage...  Well he went to attack but dropped his chain.  We all waited for him to get it back on before he launched his attack again.  It was short lived and we caught him on the first rise about 200m further down the road.  Ross attacked before the sprint points.  There was some confusion about if we were waiting for another rider who was getting a wheel change or not (I didn't think we were but Chris Henderson seemed to think otherwise and expressed his opinion pretty directly).  I think he was just upset at losing the sprint jersey.  The road which had been undulating in the morining seemed almost mountainous during the return trip.  The group thinned out quite quickly.  Chris Brooks dropped his chain on one of the climbs and I managed to convince the rest of the group to wait for him to catch back up.  For a moment I was unsure that they were going to listen to me but eventually they did.  I had been super careful with my gear changes as I could see that any lead could be quickly lost through mechanical misadventure.  There were a couple of attacks but you could see that people were really just waiting for the Moke Lake climb.  Ross attacked on the flat run in to the hill that we were planning to go on.  There was little reaction from the group.  As Ross was 3rd on GC overall I could see that he was hoping to make it over the first hill in order to be with us on the final climb.  I increased my pace and bridged up to Ross taking Ollie in tow.  We had a gap on the group now which was a little suprising.  I kept the pace up coming down the hill to the turn off, trying to get Ollie to pull through and keep the pace up.  Ross was just holding on to the back.  We came into the turn off still with a small lead.  I went straight into the climb as hard as possible with Ross yelling encouragement.  I had thought that Ollie had just been saving himself fro the climb but he almost immediately disappeared.  I kept my pace up and reminded myself that this was the last stage and there was no point saving anything.  As the climb flattened out I dropped down into a harder gear and tried to keep the pressure on alternating between standing and sitting.  The finish line seemed to come up quite quickly and I had thought it was a little further on.  I rode across the line and through the people waiting to warm down.  Now it was just a matter of waiting to see what the outcome would be but I had won the stage which I was pretty happy about and had beaten the KOM holder on the hardest climb (and it was double points).  Ollie finished 2nd 31sec down with Ross in 4th at 40sec.  He had been passed by Ben Hillery who finished with Ollie.  31sec seemed a lot over about 2km.  Chris Brooks came in 1:13 down which meant I had won the stage and won the Tour with a 23sec buffer!  I couldn't believe it.  I went and spoke with Chris B.  He thanked me for getting the guys to stop when he had dropped his chain and congratulated me.  I really just appologised for winning it had been as much a suprise for me as for anyone.  Chris C finished 5:41 down so hadn't lost too much time on that stage.  The 3 of us rode back to the Backpackers.  It had been a good tour.  Both Ross and Chris had enjoyed it.  My Dad had enjoyed the break as well - along with being exposed to a new culture.  The only downside is that it is such a long way away.

Benchmark 4 - Nelson (5th April)

Well another carefully organised and perfectly planned Benchmark Race loomed.  This time the team had dispensed with given me any instructions and in fact didn't tell me about the meeting the night before.  I can't say I was very impressed.

The circuit was the normal Woollastons Estate romp but started at the Moutere Hall.  The weather was fine (which was a bonus) and not too cold.  The whole thing pretty much stayed together.  We lost some people early on but there was quite a large group still there despite the efforts of Benchmark to break things up.

I closed a few gaps for Jeannie who seemed to struggle a bit on the section along the Moutere highway after cemetery corner it was good to be able to do something useful.  Things were looking promising for a change and I thought that I  might actually finish a BM race with the group.  Sadly it wasn't to be.  On the 3rd to last lap Jeannie and Karen had been dropped on the Old Coach road climb.  Chris called me back to help them out - a pointless exercise given that they were the only women left on the course.  Chris and I lapped out trying to get them back onto the group.  This was pretty hard work especially given that the women were not contributing or even giving me space to move back in behind Chris so I ended up having to go to the back and then all the way to the front again.  The peloton had picked up the pace and we weren't really making any progress.  Chris seemed to surge each time he came to the front and in the end I couldnt keep up and dropped from the group.  After a brief recovery I actually managed to get catch up again and immediately came to the front for another turn.  This didn't last long and after a few pulls I was gone for good.

I finished as usual by myself - still at least I completed it.

SG Race - Dominion, Edwards, Central, Moutere, Redwood Valley (21st March)

At last, a real chance for some success.  With the bulk of the big names off at the Benchmark Race there was only about 10 people left in A grade of which 3 were NA riders.

Rob attacked at the start of Dominion but it held together.  I rode off the front further up dominion (actually quite by accident - I had trained up there recently with Ross and we had ridden quite hard) before I knew it there was a bit of a gap between myself and the group.  I carried on and Rob managed to bridge across coming down George Harvey Road - it seemed to take ages for him to get to me.  Once he was there I kept the pace up and we worked together.  Chris C was still back with the others but was busy calculating the times like usual.  We really expected them to catch us before Cemetery corner and were suprised when they didn't.  I had initially expected them to and had then planned to sit in until the hilly end of Central.  The fact that they hadn't caught us meant that we had to keep going.  Rob and I worked pretty well together and by the time we got to Edwards Road we couldn't see the others.  We kept the pace up on all of the uphill sections and eventually came in to Redwood Valley Road together.  It came down to a fair straight-up sprint and I managed to pull clear.

We finished up 5 minutes ahead of the group. 

SG Race - Hope Circuit (14th March)

The bad results continue!  The Hope Circuit was fairly straighforward - Dave attacked early on but it all came together again.  We lost a number of people in some of the early laps - I'm not sure that they knew how fast it was going to be.  Chris attacked with 3 Laps to go.  I had heard him talking with George and had planned to go with 2 Laps to go.  He was sitting at the back of the group and I watched him go up the inside and then get around the corner first.  It was quite impressive to see.

I had to wait to make it around the corner and then rode from the back of the group right off the front to try and get onto Chris - this was up the straight with the hill so it was quite a big effort.  George and I lapped out to try and get Chris back - I think he had 3 others with him who had been closer at the front from the start.  Coming through the finish line straight there was no-one coming through and I ended up doing a big turn when really I should have eased off and forced someone else to come through.  They did in the end but it was too late and I struggled to keep up and finished the race by myself.

On the plus side though, Chris C won the B grade race so for the NA team it wasn't all bad news.

SG Race - Heslington, WaiWest, Stringer, Show Grounds (7th April)

While my last Benchmark race was hardly a stellar result I didn't realise that it was going to be the beginning of a series of not very good races.

Its at times like this when its a good idea to measure success on another scale.  With Chris C, Ashley W and Ross Mac (who was just getting better and better) it was unlikely that I was going to win this race.  Tom H attacked up Heslington and it is here where I managed to do ok.  Given that I ride home over Heslington every day I wasn't in the mood to be left behind, bridged up to him and then rode past.  There were a number of attacks coming back along Waimea West.  Chris C attacked towards the end of the straight with Ross and Tom being the only ones that managed to get on.  Felix and I chased and I got within 3 bike lengths but just couldn't do it.  

A small group of us chased towards the Moutere hill but when it became apparent that a number of riders in the group were not going to work I gave up and drifted off.  It was one of those "why am I doing this?" momements.  I rode in by myself and then rode straight home - not my best work.  I think Chris won.

Benchmark 2 (Feb 22nd)

Round 2 and a chance for improvement from the previous races.  My job this time was to pick up the water bottles - certainly a more realistic target.  Our main focus was to try and get George in the winning move and with the large field and what was going to be a fast pace this wasn't going to be easy.

The start of the race was neutralised over a small hill and then we started up a relatively flat completely straight peice of road (German Road) which rose slightly at the end.  Even on this stretch there was a crash when someone touched wheels.  I picked the biggest guy I could find for some shelter and would ride behind them until I could jump up to another big guy.  

Midway through the rise Jeannie dropped her chain and had to stop.  I'm not sure why she needed to change into the small chain ring as it wasn't very steep and she is a good climber.  Anyway Felix and I stopped.  Felix carried on to help George and I worked to bring Jeannie back to the group which were now speeding down towards the Ashley Gorge.  We were trying to jump from car to car and picked up Tom H along the way.  He helped us and we got back on to the back of the group as they climbed up out of the gorge.  Because there was a double yellow line (and you get disqualified for crossing one if you are caught) we were unable to move up through the pack.  Someone at the front must have turned on the pace because as soon as we caught up the people in front of us were all stretched out as they tried to hold on along the undulations after the river.  So we were dropped again and ended up forming a small group of about 12.  Jeannie said that she needed to catch back on so I did a long hard pull on the front.  When I eased up to allow the next person through there was no one there so I had to wait for Jeannie and the rest of the group to catch up.  I'm not sure what happened as I had made an effort to slowly accellerate and was on the hard left to give the most amount of shelter from the wind which was coming from the left.

Our group spent the rest of the race rolling through.  We eventually picked up some other riders but they were too tired to contribute.  On the climb towards the finish Jeannie dropped her chain again!  With the help of  aBenchmark rider we managed to get her back up the hill and through the group.  She ended up 2nd woman overall which tied her on points for the series - so it wasnt all a waste of time.  George had managed to get 4th so that was pretty good.  One day I will get to do one of these races and finish with the main group!

Tour de Moutere (Feb 14th)

The Tour de Moutere was a completely different course from earlier editions of this race.  We started first with a short 5km TT (Waimea Estate - end of River Road) in which I placed 4th or 5th or 6th - I never did find out as there appeared to be some confusion over the times.  At one point Henry was given a faster time than me even though I had passed him.  I had gone out pretty hard at the start and felt wasted at the end.  I later discovered that I had posted my highest recorded heart rate ever of 188bpm.  The previous highest was 184 a couple of years ago.

Stage 2 went from River Road to the top of Harleys.  Our group broke up over the Moutere with me just missing the front break.  We chased for a while but it was mainly only myself, Dave and Felix contributing.

The final stage went from the Motueka side of Harleys to the Show Grounds.  I was gapped off along Stringer Straight but Chris N while helping chase down a small group that had escaped.  I did my turn and then looked for the next person to come through only to find that there was no one there.  All of a sudden a small group of Chris & Jim etc charged through along the centre of the road.  I couldn't get back on so led in a group of B graders who were happy to sit in and then sprint at the end.  - Nice!

I didn't stop and just carried on home - not my best work!

Lakes 2 Sea (Feb 6th)

Wanting to make up for the previous weeks fiasco I decided to ride to the start of the Lakes 2 Sea.  It was a bit cool in the morning but the forecast was for fine weather and it looked like it was going to be good.  I arrived at the lake with plenty of time and managed to find someone to take my excess gear back down to the finish line.

The race started at a moderate pace.  Given that the first real part is all downhill there were very few attacks - the only successful (initially) being Dean Fulton who disappeared early on in classic Dean style.  A couple of guys tried to bridge but couldn't make it across.  The climb up Kerrs split the group up as expected.  I rode near the front so I could try and respond to any increase in pace which was fairly relaxed.  Even so, we lost a number of people on the climb.  I rounded the top of the hill in 2nd position and took off down the other side with Ashley Whitehead.  We were joined at the bottom by some others and ended up with a group of about 14.  

We caught Dean just before the Golden Downs camp and started to climb up the Reay.  Again the pace put some people in trouble and our group was reduced to 10.  It was down the Wai-iti valley and the run in towards Rabbit Island that the attacks started.  The main protaganists were Ashley and Dave.  Each one was bought back after a short chase.  Coming along River Road Thomas and Dave broke away and quickly gained a small gap.  We chased but with a breeze coming up and being so close to the end - no one wanted to sacrifice themselves to bring them back.  Along the Causeway road we caught Dave.  Thomas was just ahead but a vehicle that seemed confused about what to do got in between the two groups.  Thomas held on for the win with Murray squeezing around the car to take 2nd.  The rest of us had sat up, figuring that it was unsafe to sprint with an undecided car in the rode.  Plus we were not supposed to cross the centre line - something that you had to do in order to pass the car - still with Malcolm  - "rules are just rough guidelines on what might be a good idea if someone else was running and event".

Thats the end of my rant.

Benchmark Race 1 (Feb 1st)

At around 166km the first Benchmark race was going to be hard from the start.  The comissionaire started on a positive note telling us that there would a large number of attritions.  While the morning had started out cooler it soon became apparant that we were in for another hot day.

My role from the team briefing was to case down the breaks for the first 5km (I recently discovered that this wasn't actually my role and that the real message had been lost in translation and that if there were some easy breaks going early then I should be in them - a subtle difference of about 25kph).  I start the race with David, riding on the bumper of the start car.  There was quite a large neutral zone (around 8km) and a large field of around 110 who managed to occupy both lanes of the road.  

Once racing commenced the pace was on from the start with riders sprinting off up the road.  I managed to go with the first 2 attacks but then got swamped and boxed in on the left hand side.  It was pretty chaotic!  We turned at Cust to go towards Summer Hill.  The wind had picked up and so we were now in a cross wind riding on the white line on the wrong side of the road.  A rider swerved into me and I moved further right which pushed a guy 2 bikes behind me off onto the grass.  Looking back I could see that Lana was struggling in the cross wind so I rode further to the left to provide some assistance.  She struggled to keep up and before we knew it a gap had opened up in front and we were dropped.  Tracey Clarke was also dropped so the 3 of us rode together up Summer Hill.

Along German road we picked up 3 more women and a couple of guys.  The guys lasted about 200m before pulling out while the rest of us continued on.  The peloton was still in sight but we weren't going to catch them in the wind.  At Oxford there was a little bit of confusion over where the course went.  Thankfully someone knew what road we were supposed to take as there were very few marshals on the course.  We looped around back to Oxford.  I had used up one bottle now and so had Lana and we still had 90km to go.  I grabbed her bottle and said I would stop at the garage to get some water and then try and catch her up.  I got the water and then rode at about 45kph all the way to Cust before catching them.  The other 3 women had decided to pull out so it was back to Lana, Tracey and me.

We looped back around German road and then headed through the Ashley and on to Loburn.  It was really hot and windy now and Lana was beginning to struggle.  We stopped at the Loburn school to get some water again and then with the help of Traceys navigational skills we managed to make it to the finish.  There was no one actually at the finish line which was hardly suprising given that we were about 58 minutes down on the winner.  

When we got back to the car Malcolm said that he had been concerned about us.  When I asked him why he said it was because we didn't have any water.  He was obviously not concerned enough to actually come and look for us which is what Tracey's Thule team vehicle had done.  

Still the team had some good news - Jeannie had won and Karen placed 3rd.  Even Lana got a point for being 5th in the end.

If you read about my first Benchmark race last year then at least I managed to finish with someone this time!

Time Trial Terror (Benchmark TTT - Jan 31st)

The first Benchmark race for the series was a 40km team time trial.  The results of the TTT didn't actually account for any placing for the series but it did determine where your vehicle was placed in the race convoy.   Not all of the teams entered the TTT but Malcolm was keen to get as much exposure as possible so there we were at the start line.

The team consisted of myself, Dave, Caleb, Keiron, and Gary (who was bought in just for the TT).  It was pretty hot and windy at Sefton and we didn't get any opportunity to warmup or ride as a team beforehand.  We were also last to start as we were the defending team from last year.

Things didn't really go that well from the start.  Firstly the starting riders were not riding close enough to the white line so in the strong cross wind when you came off from your pull you had nowhere to shelter as you were in the gutter.  Being the tallest not the strongest I was buffeting around like a kite.  The heat radiating from the road was really getting me and after about 6 turns it was all getting a bit much.  As we only had 5 riders and the time was based on your 5th rider the team really had to wait for me (other teams had a full set of riders and so could ditch the weakest).  I struggled to hang onto the the back of the others.  Dave was really trying to encourage me but I felt had it.  I emptied what little water I had down the back of my neck which helped a bit.  We got to the turnaround and started back.  There was a little bit of a tail wind but mainly it was too the side.  Keiron would come and do a big pull which would really put me under pressure and then would sit on the back - hes not really known for consistency.  About 3/4 of the way through the TTT I started to feel a bit better and managed to take a couple of turns.  Finally the end was in sight and we crossed the line in 0:57:13 which put us in 2nd place in the Division 2 teams.  Not really too bad considering how slowly they had to go for me.

Dave, Caleb and me rode back to where we were staying which was exciting in itself with Dave crashing into me (thankfully neither of us went down) and then us getting lost.  

I was hoping that the next days race would go a little smoother.

SG Race - Wakefield - Spooners (24th Jan)

It was good to see Hamish front up for what would have to be one of the harder races on the calendar.  The weather was hot - really really hot.  We started out at a moderate pace with only a small number of us driving it along.  Ashley Whitehead broke free up the Spooners climb but stayed only about 50m ahead.  It up the climb that we dropped a number of riders.  You could feel the heat from the sun radiating of the cutting walls as we got close to the steepest part of Spooners.

I just maintained a good pace up the climb and along with Mike, Jim and Mark we broke away from the rest of the group and bridged up to Ashley.  The 5 of us worked together and turned into the road that would take us back towards the Reay.  There was a head wind here and the going was hard.  Ashley would suddenly surge which was making things difficult.  It was during one of these surges just after I had taken a turn where I was dropped along with Mark.  The two of us chased but we weren't really making much ground.  As we got to the Golden Downs turnoff Mark started to fade and his pace dropped.  I towed him up to the Reay figuring that he would be more use to me on the chase in from the top than to try solo.  On the way down we picked up a few B grade riders and managed to occasionally get them to lap through but it was like hearding cats.   It would be successful for about 2km and then someone would want to sit in and not come through.  At Belgrove and down towards Wai-iti we could still see the other 3 and so I started doing some really big turns.  By the time we got closer to Wakefield we were really starting to catch up but it wasn't going to be enough.  I started my sprint early (well at the usual place) just after a car came past.  I had a good lead on the group but was pipped at the line by Grant Jones who had sat it for ages!  Nice payment for leading him out at Renwick!  Gary gave him a hard time about it which was amusing - and saved me from doing it.  Anyway the others were still a bit further back and Grant was in a different grade so in the end I placed 4th.

Hamish came in a little later (we had passed him just at the turnoff after Spooners) and we trundled down the the local swimming hole in the river - nice use of local knowledge.

SG Champs - 17th Jan

The Star & Garter club champs followed the now familar course of Coastals, Seaton, Cemetry Corner, Moutere, Waimea West and finished in Ranzau Road.  One of the keys to doing well in this race is to not get caught out early on - as its a combined mass start.

There was a fairly strong northerly but things held together pretty much until Seaton Valley where  we lost a few.  It was around here that Robin Reid broke away.  As the results are worked out by age there was no reason for me to worry about that.  We lost a few more along the road to moutere but still had a fairly good group of around 14.

It was in the cross wind at the bottom of the hill where things got a little more tricky as finding shelter was a bit difficult.  As we turned to follow the Waimea West straight Dean produced a massive turn of speed and I found myself struggling to hold on.  We were doing about 62kph and there was no way that I was going to do a lap at that pace.  I looked around the group to see what other V2 guys there were.  I think there was only Mark McGinley left so I just had to keep an eye on him.  Chris Nicholson had registered as a Senior so hopefully thats what his grade would be and Rob had just moved up to V3.  Turning back into the wind towards Richmond we worked together to try and bring back Robin but I think several of the guys were thinking about their own placings instead of the over all win.  In the sprint I managed to get just behind Ross and Chris - there was no way that I would get past them but I was the first V2 which made me the new V2 Champ! - not that it means anything!  Rob took out the V3 and Ross took the V1.

Vineyards 2009

Well a new year and a new chance to redeem myself after last years peformance.  This year there was no team structure which meant it was up to the individual to make the race.  Max wasn't riding this year so there was no clear favourite from the SG Club.

Stage 1 saw the race stay together and come down to a bunch sprint which was expected.  Thankfully the pace wasn't too high and I managed to stay with the group.  The sprint was won by Ben Evans.

Stage 2 saw an early break get away before the sprints which consisted of mainly sprinters.  We picked them all up again up Spooners where a small group of about 7 eased away on the climb.  We all worked together down the valley and for a while it looked like we might be in the long haul.  Unfortunately we were joined just at the Korere turn off by a chasing group who had used the following cars to get back.  Going up the valley Henry and Mark broke away.  They were joined by Brad McFarlane after Kikawa.  I chased with Ben Evans Having decided to not go with Brad (probably a mistake in the end!), Darron and a Benchmark rider.  We started to close in but had left it too late.  I placed 4th and was pretty happy to only be 1 minute down.  Brad was now in Yellow.

Stage 3 was my undoing!  Any early break went before the sprints again and this time conisted of Ross, Mark and Brian.  With Brad in the defending position no-one seemed interested in chasing.  We dropped some riders going up the Reay but there was still a fairly large group that worked down the valley until about Stanley Brook.  After that Ben sat in and wouldn't come through.  Darron started missing out turns and it motivated the others to sit in.  With no time gaps to the leaders it was impossible to know what was happening or how much time we were down.  I pulled through quite a bit but at the bottom of the hill we heard that the leaders were over 8 minutes ahead.  I couldn't match the pace of the Darron and Ben at the start of the climb and started slipping back through the group.  I had missed my bottles at Stanley Brook and had been on a water conservation plan since then which possibly didn't help.  It was hard work and eventually I joined a small group of Henry, Ben Thomas and a Benchmark guy just past the Limeworks.  We passed Brad at the caves and Ross a little later but I was pretty toasted.  Mark won the stage and had a 4 minute lead on the rest of the group so he was unlikely to lose this on the final stage.

Stage 4  For a change I didn't feel too worried about this last stage which is usually one that I disklike the most.  The pace wasn't too bad.  Brad and Darron broke away on about the 2nd lap.  I wasn't going to chase them but chased down any move the Ben Evans made to join them.  I was happy to help protect Marks lead - certainly from Ben and it was unlikely that he would lose enough time from Brad and Darron.  At the start of the last climb on the last lap I decided to try and get away and attacked.  I had a handy gap coming along Hill St with only 1 rider coming across (Conway Taylor).  He made it too me and it came down to a sprint for the line with me just managing to hold on by about half a bike length to take 3rd.  I was quite suprised (mainly suprised that I even thought of attempting it).   Overall apart from the meltdown on the Takaka stage the rest of the tour had been ok.  I placed 8th in the end - actually if the timing on the last stage had been done correctly I would have placed 7th - still it was in the top 10 so that wasn't too bad.

13th Dec - Kerrs 4 Stage Tour

This mini tour would be one of my favourites.  Stage 1 started in Richmond and finished at the top of the Reay.  I got in a last minute break with Dean Fulton.  Unfortunately Dean wasn't really that interested in continuing the break.  Being somewhat committed by this stage I towed him to the bottom of Reay's and tried to make it up the hill.  Dean got there first and I was caught by Caleb 3/4 of the way up.  Thankfully I managed to hold off everyone else and so placed 3rd.

The next stage is a time trial from the top of the Reay to the top of Kerrs.  I struggled a bit on this one but managed to place 4th although I was now about 1.5 minutes down.

After a brief lunch we started stage 4 which goes from the bottom of Kerrs, down to Korere and then over Spooners to finish in Belgrove.  There were several attacks some of which I went with but it was unlikely that I would gain 1.5 minutes.  Caleb attacked at and broke away with a small group.  They started to pull out some time on us.  At Kohatu a few of us started to up the pace to chase them down.  I had decided that I might as well help Dean retain the lead and did some big turns.  The pace was quite high and in the rolling terrain leading up to the foot of Spooners we lost a few people.  We caught them just at the base of the hill.  I was pretty tired from my effort but managed to reach the top just behind the leading bunch.  At the end of the stage I still retained my 4th placing but had pulled in some time against Mike Anderson who was 3rd.

The last stage runs from Belgrove to Ranzau.  This stage is a mass start with all the grades combined together which can make for some scarey riding.  My solution to this was to ride on the front and to try and keep the pace high.  This worked pretty well.  I made a last minute attack (mainly to try and get out of the way of the other grades sprinting) which didn't quite make it but was close.

I finished 4th overall and was fairly happy with how things had gone.

Dec 6th - Armstrong Prestidge

My first race for the Start & Garter Tasman Team was not exactly a great example of my work.  My first of many mistakes was to start too far back in the pack - this was partly aided by the fact that there was no visible demartcation between the Elite race and the rest of the riders.  Consequently I discovered later that according to the time across the mat at the start I was 23 seconds down before we even got underway.

While the "Neutral" component of the race was supposed to be riden at a leasurly 30kph for those of us at the back who where trying to move up in the group it was more like 40kph.  This was soon made more difficult when the road (we took up both lanes of the road) narrowed to a single lane and I found myself losing what little gains I had achieved.  The race started fast!  Being so close to the back you found yourself sprinting flat out and then slamming on the breaks to make it around the narrow corners and small round a bouts that pepper the Cashmere road.  I watched a guy hit a dividing barrier and saw him bounce into the oncoming lane with his bike heading in the opposite direction.  I passed a number of people who appeared to be moving backwards at the same speed that I was moving forwards.  Unfortunately I reached the back of the main group just in time to sprint up a small rise - this was the last I saw of them as I was exhausted.

I settled down into my "Survival" pace and caught up with 2 women who sat behind me for a short distance.  We were soon joined by around 8 other women and 1 guy.  This large gaggle of ladies presented me with a tactical problem.  They were riding slower than what I wanted to but knowing that Jeannie was further up the road somewhere I decided that it would be bad form to tow up a goup of competitors to her and so had to adjust to their pace.  As we neared Gebbes pass they all seemed to slow down.  I took this as my queue to split and rode away up the pass.  I was beginning to catch the odd individual now which was a little encouraging but they were certainly few and far between.  The road to Lyttelton is really quite pretty and the weather was great - not that I was supposed to be noticing.  I carried on at a good steady pace.  The climb up to Evans pass was no big deal and the descent was excellent.  There was a bit of a breeze coming now from the sea which slowed my progress back to the finish line.  I placed 103rd out of 140 and finished in 2:13:51.  This made me the slowest SG Rider - something I hope to not repeat next year!

At least I finished in 1 piece - another rider in the social race clipped a sign on the way down the hill and died.  In the light of that 103rd is really an exceptional result.