Gippsland tour day 2.
Stage 3. Criterium at Trafalgar.
The first of four criteriums and from here on, every day starts with one. As usual, there was no game plan for Loy Yang Power other than hanging in there and staying out of trouble. It was fast paced from the start and with 140 riders competing, when you were out the back you really were OUT THE BACK! I’m guessing around 100metres or so from front to back. Sometimes you complete a corner and the leaders have already disappeared around the next corner! I started off around the back end and then fought my way up, drifted back, then fought my up and so it went on. It was a constant struggle to stay up in the bunch. I don’t think I did too well at staying near the front but I’m pretty sure Scott did worse, because I hardly saw him. More importantly though, we kept it “rubber side down” as some people say and got through it unscathed but a little rattled. Near the end of the criterium (I was never sure how many laps we had to go to be honest) I wanted to get near the front to hold more speed around the corners and therefore conserve energy. I overshot my goal position and found myself on first wheel in front of the AIS teams train. A few of them swore at me and asked what the hell I was doing, I replied honestly and said “I don’t know” and promptly dropped back into the depths of the peleton! Scott, Luke and I all got safely across the line in touch with the bunch. Mission accomplished!
Stage 4. Trafalgar to Walhalla 75km.
This stage went pretty well from the start. We all stayed out of trouble and sat in the bunch, a long way back (as usual) and occasionally working hard in the crosswinds but no major dramas. With plenty of hills near the end of the stage that was were the action was going to happen. I found my legs weren’t feeling too good early on in the hills but managed to stay in contact until right near the end. There was a reasonably long descent and then the gradient pitched up and I saw a sign that said 3km. With no speedo I thought maybe this was distance to the top of the hill, KOM points or something? Well I was wrong. As soon as we hit the final climb all the contenders at the front end let loose, causing riders to drop off left all over the place. I was unfortunately very close to the rear end of the field and was following wheels that were getting gapped from the leaders. I put in a big effort to try and get back in what was left of the bunch and was probably about 20m off the back of the bunch when the gradient kicked up yet again. Already being “in the red”, this was bad news. I picked up Scott and a few others and we formed a small group that was working well together, in sight of the next group in front. I put in a big sprint to try and get to the line ASAP and just got pipped for a place somewhere in 30’s or 40’s. Damn! It’s never good to lose a sprint regardless of how insignificant the result is. In the end we fought hard and lost around 40 seconds to the leaders and finished in the third bunch. Not a bad result but we paid the price for riding near the rear end. Not as good as day 1, but respectable.
STAY TUNED!
The first of four criteriums and from here on, every day starts with one. As usual, there was no game plan for Loy Yang Power other than hanging in there and staying out of trouble. It was fast paced from the start and with 140 riders competing, when you were out the back you really were OUT THE BACK! I’m guessing around 100metres or so from front to back. Sometimes you complete a corner and the leaders have already disappeared around the next corner! I started off around the back end and then fought my way up, drifted back, then fought my up and so it went on. It was a constant struggle to stay up in the bunch. I don’t think I did too well at staying near the front but I’m pretty sure Scott did worse, because I hardly saw him. More importantly though, we kept it “rubber side down” as some people say and got through it unscathed but a little rattled. Near the end of the criterium (I was never sure how many laps we had to go to be honest) I wanted to get near the front to hold more speed around the corners and therefore conserve energy. I overshot my goal position and found myself on first wheel in front of the AIS teams train. A few of them swore at me and asked what the hell I was doing, I replied honestly and said “I don’t know” and promptly dropped back into the depths of the peleton! Scott, Luke and I all got safely across the line in touch with the bunch. Mission accomplished!
Stage 4. Trafalgar to Walhalla 75km.
This stage went pretty well from the start. We all stayed out of trouble and sat in the bunch, a long way back (as usual) and occasionally working hard in the crosswinds but no major dramas. With plenty of hills near the end of the stage that was were the action was going to happen. I found my legs weren’t feeling too good early on in the hills but managed to stay in contact until right near the end. There was a reasonably long descent and then the gradient pitched up and I saw a sign that said 3km. With no speedo I thought maybe this was distance to the top of the hill, KOM points or something? Well I was wrong. As soon as we hit the final climb all the contenders at the front end let loose, causing riders to drop off left all over the place. I was unfortunately very close to the rear end of the field and was following wheels that were getting gapped from the leaders. I put in a big effort to try and get back in what was left of the bunch and was probably about 20m off the back of the bunch when the gradient kicked up yet again. Already being “in the red”, this was bad news. I picked up Scott and a few others and we formed a small group that was working well together, in sight of the next group in front. I put in a big sprint to try and get to the line ASAP and just got pipped for a place somewhere in 30’s or 40’s. Damn! It’s never good to lose a sprint regardless of how insignificant the result is. In the end we fought hard and lost around 40 seconds to the leaders and finished in the third bunch. Not a bad result but we paid the price for riding near the rear end. Not as good as day 1, but respectable.
STAY TUNED!
posted by Neil at 10:13 pm
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