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.