Stage 3- 112km with a big hill and the same hills as the day before. The KOM was on a 500m 15% climb which comes up suddenly. It is flat and fast all the way to the bottom and it doesn't change once you hit it except not flat.
I was tasked with keeping Tim with the Yellow jersey. So I paced for him, chased for him and drove the bunch at as high a speed as I could before Tim gave me some time to recover. Problem is no-one else in the team was in a position to take over so I sat in just behind for 1km and was back into it. We hit the climb at 45km/h and that was me, rapidly heading backwards as I suffered u the KOM. I got over the top just off the back of the main group(lots more behind me though) and motored at over 75km/h down a sketchy descent through light an dark, wet and dry, and off camber corners to catch the main group. After nearly over cooking a couple of corners I resigned myself to not catching the main group solo so waited or some other chasers and pickup some up and formed a nice working Gruppetto. We worked hard to limit the losses and ended up only losing 14min on the leaders.
A nasty crash in the lead group saw another rider going to hospital. The crash the day before saw the worst rider get a rod in his leg. All up agood day and I survived for another day.
Stage 4- 1.1km Criterium around the SALT Village.
This was always going to be a very fast and hard race, so I made sure I was near the front at the start. Sure enough the U/19 started off at a blistering pace with speeds in excess of 55km/h for the first 10mins. As a reult I over cooked myself and was going out the back at a rapid rate. At the 20min mark there was a bad crash with a rider hitting a parked car, which stopped the race. Just as the Coms were stopping the race they pulled me and the 2 other riders up and stopped us first. By the time the rest of the race had stopped they had decided that my group was going to get caught and we were pulled out of the race as lapped riders. When the race was restarted they had 4mins plus 2 laps. Why couldn't my group ride the last 4 minutes and finish the race properly. At least they gave us a finishing time not a DNF.
End result was 30th on GC @ 36min plus some change.
Time to recover and rebuild for the next event.
CIAO
Monday, June 8, 2009
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Tour de Tweed Coast Stage 1 and 2
Stage 1-ITT-8km
Start time-07:37:30
After no warm up and a rushed start due to following another car who got lost, I took off. My main aim was to finish strong and not blow up. Also not to get caught by the rider 30secs behind me.
Well I manged all of the above and stretched the time between me and the following rider(not by much though). End result was an 8km ITT in 13:35. For me, as a non TT specialist, I satisfying result.
Time to get ready for a punishing 66km Road Race.
Stage 2-Road Race-66km
Start Time-1030
After warming up and a change of clothes from my ADCC skinsuit into my HYPE Energy Team kit, I headed off for a coffee. The roadie is setup ready to go and the team is gathering for a shot of HYPE and some coffee and food. The next thing you know a tyre explodes and guess what? Its mine, my rear Zipp tubular blows out the side wall. Probably a saving grace as the 21-11 gear was to big for the course.
We took of with ELite B, MAsters A and U/19 Boys all starting at the same time. 93 riders and a small part of the road to use. The comms were handing out fines for crossing double white lines and the police were doing it too and with a double demerit points this weekend things were a bit tame, until.....
We hit the first of the hills and from there it blew up. I got stalled on the KOM by a touch off wheels which helped in a big way to split the race. From then on in it was a matter of finishing and saving as much time as possible. SO the forming of a gruppetto of those whoi got shed because of crashes and mechanicals was on the cards and we rode a steady tempo to the finish. We came in 18min behind teh winner and survuved to race another day. We did mange a sprint from the gruppetto(which I won) to keep in some form for the Crit in 2 days time.
Anyway rest time. More tomorrow 112km with a lap of todays course plus a KOM on a 500m @ 15% climb. ANother update tomorrow
CIAO
Start time-07:37:30
After no warm up and a rushed start due to following another car who got lost, I took off. My main aim was to finish strong and not blow up. Also not to get caught by the rider 30secs behind me.
Well I manged all of the above and stretched the time between me and the following rider(not by much though). End result was an 8km ITT in 13:35. For me, as a non TT specialist, I satisfying result.
Time to get ready for a punishing 66km Road Race.
Stage 2-Road Race-66km
Start Time-1030
After warming up and a change of clothes from my ADCC skinsuit into my HYPE Energy Team kit, I headed off for a coffee. The roadie is setup ready to go and the team is gathering for a shot of HYPE and some coffee and food. The next thing you know a tyre explodes and guess what? Its mine, my rear Zipp tubular blows out the side wall. Probably a saving grace as the 21-11 gear was to big for the course.
We took of with ELite B, MAsters A and U/19 Boys all starting at the same time. 93 riders and a small part of the road to use. The comms were handing out fines for crossing double white lines and the police were doing it too and with a double demerit points this weekend things were a bit tame, until.....
We hit the first of the hills and from there it blew up. I got stalled on the KOM by a touch off wheels which helped in a big way to split the race. From then on in it was a matter of finishing and saving as much time as possible. SO the forming of a gruppetto of those whoi got shed because of crashes and mechanicals was on the cards and we rode a steady tempo to the finish. We came in 18min behind teh winner and survuved to race another day. We did mange a sprint from the gruppetto(which I won) to keep in some form for the Crit in 2 days time.
Anyway rest time. More tomorrow 112km with a lap of todays course plus a KOM on a 500m @ 15% climb. ANother update tomorrow
CIAO
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Tour de Tweed Coast-2 days to start
Well we are now only 2 sleeps form the start of the Tour de Tweed Coast, the Battle of the Border, Cyclings State of Origin if you will.
Everything is going good. The bags are nearly packed the bikes are right to go. The legs feel good, and my mind is in the right place for where we are right now.
It will be good to have the family down there with me, even if they will only watch the Crit on the last day.
I have seen some names on the start list from some of my old stomping grounds in Newcastle. Curious as to their form, and some inquiries to some of my club mates down that way have not yielded any help, YET.
ANy way will post some stage results and reports daily once in location. I will also let you all know what the Salt Mantra Resort is like as well.
CIAO
Everything is going good. The bags are nearly packed the bikes are right to go. The legs feel good, and my mind is in the right place for where we are right now.
It will be good to have the family down there with me, even if they will only watch the Crit on the last day.
I have seen some names on the start list from some of my old stomping grounds in Newcastle. Curious as to their form, and some inquiries to some of my club mates down that way have not yielded any help, YET.
ANy way will post some stage results and reports daily once in location. I will also let you all know what the Salt Mantra Resort is like as well.
CIAO
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