New South Wales Victorian state round...

Yes that's right, the fifth round of the Victorian state series was held in Albury, NSW! I must say though, it didn't really feel any different. The state series was held in conjunction with the MAC 09 event which encompasses heaps of events over the weekend.  Fellow felt rider and Brother Paul and I decided to race in the road criterium on Saturday evening to warm the legs up for the mtb race on Sunday morning.

ROAD report.

The criterium went well. A good quality field on an excellent course made for exciting racing.  There were plenty of attacks and attempted break aways in the first half of the race but the race was still together by around the half way mark. Sometime shortly after, Paul got off the front with Drapac/Porsche rider Joe Lewis and developed a handy lead over the main field. I didn't want to chase my brother down so instead I remained in the main field covering the moves. In the end Paul held off the main field with Lewis and got outsprinted. How legs that big can be outgunned by legs that small seems completely illogical to me but that's what happened! I rolled in fifth, third in the bunch sprint with a set of loose handlebars. Over tightening carbon scares me...

MTB report

On Sunday I was keen to have a good race. Firstly, I was on a brand new carbon hardtail, the six team. Since I got to borrow Pauls six team for the Tasmania national round I knew that it would be awesome on the climbs AND the descents, super stiff and responsive but smooth at the same time, oooh yeah! Secondly, I knew the track like the back of my hand, and knew that it suited me. Plenty of tight singletrack, heaps of rocks and a long decent.  When the gun went off I was literally backpedalling to get my pedals in the best position for acceleration, that wasn't good. Small fields so it didn't matter too much. At the top of the course there were about 5 or 6 of us still together before the long decent and I was at the back so I put in a huge effort to pass as many people as possible. Luckily I just edged out Cal Britten to get onto second wheel behind Paul because we opened up a good gap by the bottom of the decent. At the end of the second laps big climb Paul gapped me by about 10-15 seconds. Lurking always a few corners in front we duelled until the fifth lap where I closed in on him. I think I went into the last lap (lap 6) just in front but those of you who know Paul know that he doesn't drop a wheel without a fight.  Not surprisingly, he kept close to my wheel until the last part of the climb where I managed to open up a small gap. By the bottom of the decent I had a reasonable gap but in the end it was only just enough, holding Paul off by a mere 6 seconds! A great dual and luckily I won because I really did know the track well!

Thanks NEIL