Gippsland tour day 4
Stage 7. Bairnsdale Criterium.
Second last day! Since tomorrow is only a crit, the finish line is finally in sight and boy, are the legs thankful! This time Scott and I got up and drove from Sale to Bairnsdale with plenty of time up our sleeves and paid careful attention to the whereabouts of our car keys… We got to the start line early and as a result started mid-field, better than most days. For the first few laps I got the feel for the four left hand corners in the course and soon discovered that the back straight was characteristically windy for Gippsland. Every lap rider not in the top 30 singled out and grovelled in the gutter. I didn’t like this one bit and set out to move up. A few laps later and I was in the good zone, cornering faster and staying relatively out of the wind. Most of the race was spent trying to maintain this approximate position with reasonable success. I noticed that both Scott and I spent way more time near the front than the other crits. Were we becoming better crit riders, or just developing some basic organisational skills? It’s hard to say, but we were definitely happy with the way things were going. With two laps to go I found myself still in the top 20 or 30 riders and on the back straight I heard a familiar voice of James Mowatt behind me yell at me to get them to the front. Without hesitation I put in a big sprint on the back straight and after the corner was right near the front, in the top 10 I would say. Why did I do this? I don’t know, but I was happy to help. Predictably, I blew hard and found myself dropping the wheel. I decided it was time to pull over and signal the next rider through. I didn’t mind this as the signal is quite fun, you just flap your elbows like a chicken and that is what I did. Without doubt, this was my best ridden crit of the tour so I was happy. Scott also thought it went a little better for him.
Stage 8. Bairnsdale to Lakes Entrance. 76km.
Final road stage of the tour and the rumour on the street was that the course was pretty easy. There were plenty of hills, but nothing too long or steep. Loy Yang Power teammate Luke Fetch managed to get himself into a four man break! Sweet, we’ve seen this kind of thing in the tour de France, Scott and I can sit back and let someone else do the chasing work for once… So we tucked ourselves into the main bunch and as usual, worked hard to stay as close to the front as possible. I think I executed this plan fairly well. I spent quite a bit of time on particular wheels that were high up in GC so left it in their capable hands to position both of us in a good spot. On a few hills it got very hard and the field was blown apart into drips and drabs but since no hills were too long it all came back together.
Scott came up to me at one point and asked desperately “Neil, do you have any food or anything?”, “Nah, I don’t have anything either!” Although our official team name was “Loy Yang Power” there is no doubt Scott and I were secretly riding for team “handbag”.
The finish came and it was on top of a particularly steep pinch, probably about 700 meters long. Scott and I were not close to the front and after putting in an effort a bit of an effort for the first half I heard over the loudspeaker that Luke Fetch had got third. Not finding myself any closer to the front I decided at this point to cruise it in. Only one more crit and we’re done! Goooooooood news!
Second last day! Since tomorrow is only a crit, the finish line is finally in sight and boy, are the legs thankful! This time Scott and I got up and drove from Sale to Bairnsdale with plenty of time up our sleeves and paid careful attention to the whereabouts of our car keys… We got to the start line early and as a result started mid-field, better than most days. For the first few laps I got the feel for the four left hand corners in the course and soon discovered that the back straight was characteristically windy for Gippsland. Every lap rider not in the top 30 singled out and grovelled in the gutter. I didn’t like this one bit and set out to move up. A few laps later and I was in the good zone, cornering faster and staying relatively out of the wind. Most of the race was spent trying to maintain this approximate position with reasonable success. I noticed that both Scott and I spent way more time near the front than the other crits. Were we becoming better crit riders, or just developing some basic organisational skills? It’s hard to say, but we were definitely happy with the way things were going. With two laps to go I found myself still in the top 20 or 30 riders and on the back straight I heard a familiar voice of James Mowatt behind me yell at me to get them to the front. Without hesitation I put in a big sprint on the back straight and after the corner was right near the front, in the top 10 I would say. Why did I do this? I don’t know, but I was happy to help. Predictably, I blew hard and found myself dropping the wheel. I decided it was time to pull over and signal the next rider through. I didn’t mind this as the signal is quite fun, you just flap your elbows like a chicken and that is what I did. Without doubt, this was my best ridden crit of the tour so I was happy. Scott also thought it went a little better for him.
Stage 8. Bairnsdale to Lakes Entrance. 76km.
Final road stage of the tour and the rumour on the street was that the course was pretty easy. There were plenty of hills, but nothing too long or steep. Loy Yang Power teammate Luke Fetch managed to get himself into a four man break! Sweet, we’ve seen this kind of thing in the tour de France, Scott and I can sit back and let someone else do the chasing work for once… So we tucked ourselves into the main bunch and as usual, worked hard to stay as close to the front as possible. I think I executed this plan fairly well. I spent quite a bit of time on particular wheels that were high up in GC so left it in their capable hands to position both of us in a good spot. On a few hills it got very hard and the field was blown apart into drips and drabs but since no hills were too long it all came back together.
Scott came up to me at one point and asked desperately “Neil, do you have any food or anything?”, “Nah, I don’t have anything either!” Although our official team name was “Loy Yang Power” there is no doubt Scott and I were secretly riding for team “handbag”.
The finish came and it was on top of a particularly steep pinch, probably about 700 meters long. Scott and I were not close to the front and after putting in an effort a bit of an effort for the first half I heard over the loudspeaker that Luke Fetch had got third. Not finding myself any closer to the front I decided at this point to cruise it in. Only one more crit and we’re done! Goooooooood news!
posted by Scott Liston at 4:26 pm
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