RR: Balliang Northern Combine 1/04/2006. Long report, recalled as best I could.
I entered B grade in my second road race. I was expecting to race around 75kms maybe a little more... We were told it was 4 laps of around 20kms, but they weren't sure of the exact distance, along with 1.5kms of dirt road.. The circuit ended up being around 25.7kms, so it was going to be a long afternoon.
There was a good showing of familiar HCCers in B grade: MatM, Paulie, TimW, CamC, Stew, Jono. We were started with a small field of A graders (5?). I expected to see A grade and maybe some B graders sail off into the distance, and surely enough within the first 5kms the bunch split. There were a few looks around to see if there was to be any reaction, I asked Paulie if we wanted them back. I think I heard something in the positive, so I went to work pulling them in. No time to look around, I think we were all there on the small climbs heading south into the wind. Knowing Jono was saving himself for Coleraine, I kept him out of the wind up one of the short climbs. Looking around to see if I was in the right spot, he thought I wanted the wheel he was on, and called it mine (cheers!).
The only major climb was right after the left turn heading east. 500m @ 6.8%, which gradually got steeper. Made sure I was around the front and may have even done a turn on the front up the hill (all a blur now). The other HCCers pulled through near the top, looks like we were all still there. A side wind from hell down to the 'dirt road'. We all cautiously entered the gravel section. The road was hard pack with no potholes, small grey stones, and some BIG grey stones! There were two lines to take, left or right, with some nasty wash-up of stones that made 23mm tyres feel like they were 1mm wide! The bunch somehow kept the pace high, with some of us going off the back thinking "eeek, this'll be _really_ good for our $$+ carbon beauties!" I find a rhythm and catch Paulie and Mat, the rest of the bunch were 30m+ up the 'dirt'. While watching Paulies wheel my bike goes right.. Lesson quickly learnt, "my line" becomes "wherever the bike takes me" when not riding in one of the less-stoned lines. Paulie sees me sail into the grass.... After a few shouts of "ohhhhh [censored] I'm gone, I'm gone" things stabilise and I manage to MTB style the thing back onto into a hard pack line.
Finally onto the road again... Race status - 40mins 24kms A/B bunch looks to be intact about 100m up the road, two chasers 50m off, Paulie and I 30m off the chasers, Mat somewhere just behind, and Jono punctured. Paulie and I work together to pull in the chasers. I try calling out to them to hold up as four chasing will be much better than two, no reply. The hammer was down and they probably didn't hear me anyways. We get them a few kms later and they are both spent.
Lap 2: The main bunch is spitting riders off the back who are joining our little bunch. A quick health check of everyone, not looking good. The wind and the dirt road has taken its toll. Someone calls "short turns" which lasts a few 100m. I found myself on the front with a rider 200m up the road, and the front bunch another 200m from him. Move of the day, or what I'll call "this wont make me any friends", I make a break off the front. No plans of what I'll do, but given there were a few people hurting something is bound to happen. A few minutes later I bridge to our international trackie mate from Hong Kong, Chi Yin. I give him the thumbs up, and we worked on the "B grade bridge" to the front runners. We catch them at the start at the bottom of the small hills, three A graders, who were all watching our chase and knew we were on the way. They must have known we were both too honest to simply sit on for the ride.
Chi and I started working with the bunch, pulling turns with the 'big guys'. A thought crossed my mind about the ethics of working with other grades, but I thought the worst they could do was disqualify us (the chase car was right on our wheel) and I'd simply end up getting some more racing time under my belt. Up the main climb, two of the A graders blast off. Chi, Phil Indivino, and I were left to gather our legs and work on pulling them back in. We work well in the side wind and get back on. A few short climbs later before the dirt road, Chi pops off the back. Onto the dirt and the three of them blast off on me.
Race status - 1hr36min 44km, I'm 100m off the back of the front three and the chase car is chasing me! The dirt section was getting easier with the other grades/riders 'sweeping' it up. Cranking away for another 4-5kms I grab back onto the front three. I'm greeted with smiles and looks of 'hey, nice work!'.. Left turn onto the start/finish and third wheel lays his bike down on the road, we look at each other... I sit up and wait for him, the other two do the same. I was expecting A grade to be hard-core-sheep-station-racing-ice-cold attitude. But no, it was with a bunch who worked really well and had respect for each other. The case car pulls the rider back to us. No major injuries, but he was cursing how stupid he was for going down.
Lap 3: 1km or so after the start/finish I'm loosing touch with the front two, I get an encouragement push from behind. I get back on, only to see the guy who pushed me, the same guy that came down, turn around and pull out. I didn't catch this guys name, but if I ever have the privilege of riding with him again, my wheel is his anytime.
Three of us left. Phil, me, and another guy who I didn't get the name of. 'Unnamed' was strong, _really_ strong. As soon as we hit the main climb he was gone. Phil and I ground away and started working on what was the impossible, he was 300m gone and still going. Having nothing to lose if Phil wanted to drop me, I was more than happy to work the cross wind with him. He returned the favour and while we didn't pull him back in, we didn't lose any more time to him. A few 100m from the dirt, Phil curses, his front wheel is going down. I join in the cursing, then ask him if he can make it back to the start to grab another wheel. He tells me to go.. I thank him for his work, and take off.
Race status - 1hr42min 68.5kms done, 34.5kms to go, one rider off 300m up the road, no idea of time gaps of any chasers. Head down, crank away.
Lap 4: Crossing the start/finish I get the 'one to go', and words of encouragement from BigMat who was now the official photographer for the day. With the final 8kms benefiting from a nice tail wind, I knew I only had to drive hard for another 30-35mins. The rider ahead was still visible, but there was no chance I'd make the gap alone. About 2kms into the south bound inclines, he pulls off to the side of the road. I meet him with "Phil punctured, you ok?", I get a head shake but he was still standing up, so it wasn't terminal. I ask if he is coming, no reply, off I head. Grinding into the wind I spot a baby llama having a munch on some grass on the side of the road. I have a chuckle... anything to take my mind off the wind and the final climb. Not knowing the time gaps I'm keeping a lookout from the top of the climb for any chasers, I cant see any, but I know they'll be there somewhere. Onto the dirt one last time, c'mon tyres don't puncture now. Back onto the road my speed is down, even with the tail wind. Rolling onto the home straight, I take a few more glances behind me, arh yes.. no bunch sprint!.. Greeted by some of the stayers and BigMat with his camera. I'm spent. $60 for the B win, Phil took the A grade 'win' 😉 Not sure if any other A graders finished? Conditions and the course (and the distance) caught out everyone I think, and I was simply lucky.
A few things to mention that I'll put in list form:
- The HCC turn out! Awesome, and we cleaned up! 🙂
- Corner marshals and officials - great work - I'll be out there on a Sat I'm not racing.
- The speed of A grade - these guys literally blew me away, and I thought I was a climber!?
- I was lucky through attrition, Chi's willingness/ability to work, and simply hanging on for the last lap. Not to mention the Baw Baw Classic and Coleraine next weekend that would have thinned out the numbers.
- 20mins isn't really 20mins when the chasers had to stop and change a flat!
Approx Lap times:
Lap 1 - 42:20
Lap 2 - 42:00
Lap 3 - 43:15
Lap 4 - 47:06
Total time: 2hrs 54mins 41 secs.
Average Speed: 35.4
Distance: 103kms
Backed up with a 90km BR today with max efforts on all TT and non TT sections... bring on the working week, these weekends are killing me! :eek:
cheers,
GPLama
