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.