Gippsland tour day 1.
Lakes Oil Gipplsand Tour
The Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland was the first race of the Scody cup, which I think is kind of like the national series of the road season. It was five days long with two stages each day except for final day which just had a criterium.
Re-live the race through the eyes of Scott and I day by day starting from TODAY!
Fellow Felt enduro rider Scott Liston, myself and Luke Fetch from Torq formed an official alliance under the team name “Loy Yang Power”. This was a teams race so it is mandatory that every rider is in a team and so along with another roadie from Melbourne the four of us made up our team. That’s how it looked on paper but in reality we neither looked or acted like one.
Stage one: Traralgon to Boolara 51km Road race.
With the first 20kms of racing neutralised it was a short and flat stage of racing. Within the first kilometre of the actual race (once the neutral car pulled off) Scott was caught up in a crash and was off the back. He fought hard to get back on, but just as he did got shelled out the back to ride the rest of the stage with another unfortunate rider. A sub-optimal start for young Scott.
Having not seen Scott once since lining up at the start of the stage, I was feeling alone and scared for his safety and mine. There were at least three crashes in stage one. The windy conditions ensured it was tough for everyone in the bunch and even split it in two for a few minutes but luckily some riders up the front brought us back on (If I mention a split in the bunch from here on, assume that both Scott and I were in the back half). Before I knew it there was a sharp right hander and the stage was over! Finished safely and in the bunch, mission accomplished. As groups of riders trickled in I was getting more and more certain that Scott had crashed out, but eventually, about half an hour later he rolled in safely with another guy. Phew!
Stage Two: Traralgon South to Yarram 57kms.
A short stage, but with a big climb over mount Tassie smack bang in the middle at least 10km’s long. We soon hit the hill and the pace was on. I found a good rhythm and worked hard to fight my way toward the front of the bunch. I joined Scott and Luke nearer the front and discovered a group of about 10 riders had gone up the road. A few riders attacked and I quickly jumped onto their wheels. When we were reeled in I instinctively counter attacked with images of Contador fresh in my head, hoping to bridge the gap to the leaders. Unfortunately for me, my climbing skills and roadie “instinct” are primitive at best and got me 100m clear of the bunch were I dangled helplessly for a few km’s, burning up precious energy. I was inevitably caught, and climbed the remainder of the ascent near the front of the main bunch, feeling a little more like Cadel Evans than Contador but still happily living dream in my imagination.
I forgot to mention earlier, it was wet. So we hit the descent and two corners in it became obvious that descending in the bunch would be as safe as a game of chess, and equally as slow paced. My legs were cramping already and so I put in a big effort and managed to catch mountain biker/roadie Ben Mather and worked the together on the descent. Near the bottom we had reeled in the break of 9 riders who were about 1:15 clear at the top of the climb! They were also keen chess players! Getting a little too excited, I went straight past the break and into the lead, feeling more like Sam Hill at this point. With about a 30 second lead on the break I hit the first wooden brigde… We were warned at the start of the day that the bridges had gaps but not big enough to fit a wheel through. How bad could they be? So I slowed right down and found out that the bridge was riddled with gaps plenty wide enough for a 23c road tyre. I hit the bridge and frantically tried to dodge the gaps but managed to slot my front wheel into one firmly and went straight over the handle bars.
I quickly got myself up and tried to ride on but learned my front wheel was stuffed and buckled beyond repaired. I now felt really stupid, like Michael Rasmussen or someone who crashes a lot. As I waited for the neutral spare car the break rode past and swore abuse at me! They certainly don’t mind abusing people at road races, quite a rude contrast to the mountain bike scene. But anyway, by the time the wheel was changed the break was long gone and I was expecting the main group to pick me up again, but they didn’t. Instead a group of three rode past and we drove the final 15kms home together.
I felt guilty sitting on for most of it because my legs were cramping badly but I did what I could. The SBS camera crew was filming on the motorbike by our side so I wanted to look good. I’m pretty sure I failed dismally and looked like I was suffering like a dog but hopefully it makes the highlights package. As we sprinted for the finish we were almost swallowed by the bunch holding on by a mere second. A LOT of energy used for a second, a complete rip off.
Sitting 16th in GC with full support of half of our team "Loy Yang Power", maybe a top 10 in GC is possibility!
Check tommorrow for the next day of racing in the exciting lives of Neil and Scott!
The Lakes Oil Tour of Gippsland was the first race of the Scody cup, which I think is kind of like the national series of the road season. It was five days long with two stages each day except for final day which just had a criterium.
Re-live the race through the eyes of Scott and I day by day starting from TODAY!
Fellow Felt enduro rider Scott Liston, myself and Luke Fetch from Torq formed an official alliance under the team name “Loy Yang Power”. This was a teams race so it is mandatory that every rider is in a team and so along with another roadie from Melbourne the four of us made up our team. That’s how it looked on paper but in reality we neither looked or acted like one.
Stage one: Traralgon to Boolara 51km Road race.
With the first 20kms of racing neutralised it was a short and flat stage of racing. Within the first kilometre of the actual race (once the neutral car pulled off) Scott was caught up in a crash and was off the back. He fought hard to get back on, but just as he did got shelled out the back to ride the rest of the stage with another unfortunate rider. A sub-optimal start for young Scott.
Having not seen Scott once since lining up at the start of the stage, I was feeling alone and scared for his safety and mine. There were at least three crashes in stage one. The windy conditions ensured it was tough for everyone in the bunch and even split it in two for a few minutes but luckily some riders up the front brought us back on (If I mention a split in the bunch from here on, assume that both Scott and I were in the back half). Before I knew it there was a sharp right hander and the stage was over! Finished safely and in the bunch, mission accomplished. As groups of riders trickled in I was getting more and more certain that Scott had crashed out, but eventually, about half an hour later he rolled in safely with another guy. Phew!
Stage Two: Traralgon South to Yarram 57kms.
A short stage, but with a big climb over mount Tassie smack bang in the middle at least 10km’s long. We soon hit the hill and the pace was on. I found a good rhythm and worked hard to fight my way toward the front of the bunch. I joined Scott and Luke nearer the front and discovered a group of about 10 riders had gone up the road. A few riders attacked and I quickly jumped onto their wheels. When we were reeled in I instinctively counter attacked with images of Contador fresh in my head, hoping to bridge the gap to the leaders. Unfortunately for me, my climbing skills and roadie “instinct” are primitive at best and got me 100m clear of the bunch were I dangled helplessly for a few km’s, burning up precious energy. I was inevitably caught, and climbed the remainder of the ascent near the front of the main bunch, feeling a little more like Cadel Evans than Contador but still happily living dream in my imagination.
I forgot to mention earlier, it was wet. So we hit the descent and two corners in it became obvious that descending in the bunch would be as safe as a game of chess, and equally as slow paced. My legs were cramping already and so I put in a big effort and managed to catch mountain biker/roadie Ben Mather and worked the together on the descent. Near the bottom we had reeled in the break of 9 riders who were about 1:15 clear at the top of the climb! They were also keen chess players! Getting a little too excited, I went straight past the break and into the lead, feeling more like Sam Hill at this point. With about a 30 second lead on the break I hit the first wooden brigde… We were warned at the start of the day that the bridges had gaps but not big enough to fit a wheel through. How bad could they be? So I slowed right down and found out that the bridge was riddled with gaps plenty wide enough for a 23c road tyre. I hit the bridge and frantically tried to dodge the gaps but managed to slot my front wheel into one firmly and went straight over the handle bars.
I quickly got myself up and tried to ride on but learned my front wheel was stuffed and buckled beyond repaired. I now felt really stupid, like Michael Rasmussen or someone who crashes a lot. As I waited for the neutral spare car the break rode past and swore abuse at me! They certainly don’t mind abusing people at road races, quite a rude contrast to the mountain bike scene. But anyway, by the time the wheel was changed the break was long gone and I was expecting the main group to pick me up again, but they didn’t. Instead a group of three rode past and we drove the final 15kms home together.
I felt guilty sitting on for most of it because my legs were cramping badly but I did what I could. The SBS camera crew was filming on the motorbike by our side so I wanted to look good. I’m pretty sure I failed dismally and looked like I was suffering like a dog but hopefully it makes the highlights package. As we sprinted for the finish we were almost swallowed by the bunch holding on by a mere second. A LOT of energy used for a second, a complete rip off.
Sitting 16th in GC with full support of half of our team "Loy Yang Power", maybe a top 10 in GC is possibility!
Check tommorrow for the next day of racing in the exciting lives of Neil and Scott!
posted by Neil at 11:36 am
2 Comments:
So that guy pictured on the epix blog wasn't the only one...! Pick-a-planks don't look like *any* fun!
Not the only one by a long way! Both Scott and i crashed, i witnessed another and scott saw another couple of different ones also. Not fun at the time but memorable!
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