January 30th Lakes 90

I missed this race last year as it clashed with the first Benchmark race. The weather was great and coupled with an excellent course it made for a very enjoyable day. The start was a mixed grade mass start and with a shortened neutral zone there were attacks right from the start which quickly reduced some of the numbers. I was figuring on helping Rob again as he should have been in better shape than me. There were a number of attacks before the turnoff at Korere and then we started the slow climb towards the Hope Saddle. The pace was being set by about 3 of us - Myself, Tom A and Joel. By the time we got to the climb proper the numbers had been reduced. Up the climb Joel and Tom got slightly ahead with another rider. I was slightly back with Craig Best with Rob and Henry slightly behind us. At the top Craig and I bridged the gap to Tom and Joel and worked with them down the the Kawateri junction. There was a head wind and it was pretty hard work but they were keen to not let Henry come across so that suited me. Climbing back up the the lake there was a cross wind and we were clocking along at a fairly good pace. A couple of the guys were getting tired now and were not so forth coming with taking a turn. Towards the end Tom gapped me off the front. I saw what had happened and just clocked along in time trial mode. A short time later Tom jumped across. We lapped a bit although he was obviously saving himself for a sprint. I told him I wasn't interested so when he finally went in the sprint I let him go. I ended up 2nd with Joel back a bit further in 3rd. It was a good race and a nice day. Tom did a smart move with letting me go so he deserved to win - he is really riding well at the moment.