Hi all,
Cut & pasted fro my blog: absenthusband.blogspot.com , for your
convenience and reading pleasure!!
Cheers,
Abby
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On Saturday, I headed back to Murrarie for another crack at the
criterium
races which are held by my club, Balmoral.
I left home at 7:15am and rolled into the Murrarie grounds at about
7:40. I saw Lotte and her Paul (Paulie), as well as Paulie's mum,
Lorraine, in the carpark. After some quick hello's I headed over to
register.
It was warmed up pretty quickly, so just before race start, I ditched
my arm & leg warmers, and then headed over to the start. The three of
us moved our way to the front for the briefing, and just after 8am, we
were away!!
My plans for this week were pretty simple.
1. Stay with the peloton until the end and not get dropped;
2. Do this by trying to sit no further back than the middle third of
the
pack;
3. Practice tactics (for the future!!) by trying to move up into the
front third every few laps.
Being an unco idiot, I managed to miss my pedal, so Paulie and Lotte
took
off first. I pushed a bit hard to move towards the front and find them,
and saw Lotte way up ahead in 4th wheel!! Wow - I figured she must be
feeling good this morning, and settled myself at the 'rear of the first
third' (if that makes sense) of the field.
My legs seemed to warm up pretty well, which was encouraging. After two
laps, Lotte dropped back to where I was. She looked pretty knackered -
no
surprise considering how much work she'd been putting in near the
front!! I told her to get in on my wheel and moved forward a bit, but I
don't think she heard me... I saw her on the side of the track at the
20min mark, so I'm not sure when she pulled off.
So the race for me was going well. I felt like I was working hard, but
in a good way rather than a painful way. I was able to move up around
the outside of the pack a few times, and then let myself drop back to
midfield. It was all good!! As we approached the 20min mark, I knew the
prime must be close. I wanted to move upfront - not to contest it, but
to give myself a buffer when the surge came, and not get dropped!! I
looked around for Paulie, and saw that he was already up there, so I
pushed hard and worked my way up to the front third.
My timing was good, because the whistle blew as we crossed the
start/finish, and the leaders picked up the pace. I guy next to me
said, "what the hell does that whistle mean??". Evil Paul wanted to
tell him something stupid ("everyone has to stop, pick up their bikes,
and run for a lap..."😉, but I couldn't think quick enough, so just gave
him a 5sec explanation of the prime. I managed to stay on, which was
great - althugh if the leaders hadn't eased up after crossing the line,
it would have been touch & go!!
For me, the complexion of the race changed markedly after that. My legs
seemed to running out of petrol, and I gradually started struggling
more and more. Poor nutrition pre-race was an issue again - when will I
learn?!
At 30min,after steadily moving backwards, I realised I was in last
wheel.
Not good!! I knew I was working harder back there because of the whole
'rubber band' thing, but I couldn't get myself further up into the
pack. So I just resolved to hold on, keep pushing, focus on technique,
and stay on!!
Occasionally, a small gap would open up between me and the pack, but I
kept working and managed to close it down and tack back on each time. I
felt really proud of myself for holding on like that, but geez it
hurt!! I was very happy to see the "3 laps to go" sign come up...
Near the end of the 2nd lap, I heard everyone ahead of me start
yelling!!
"Hey!! Watch Out!! Steady On!!" I death-gripped the handlebars, and got
ready to take evasive action - I could see nothing up ahead, but was
very
worried someone was going to go down and take the rest of us out with
them!! Paulie told me later that it was just a couple of riders getting
carried away at the end, getting too physical and using their shoulders
to knock people out of the way. Luckily, everyone stayed upright!!
We reached the end of the race, and I drifted off the back as we hit
the
finishing straight. I was relieved that the pain was over, and pleased
that I'd made it to the end with the peloton for the 2nd time. Once
again, many lessons learned, and plenty of positives to go with it.
Paulie once again did very well. Apparently he had a loose cleat though
(I heard him squeaking during the race!!), and so didn't contest the
print. I think Lotte lasted 4-5 laps, but as usual worked her butt off
throughout...
Abby