Decided to spin the legs out in A Grade at the Yarra Bend crit circuit this morning. Healthy bunch of about 10 of us included some pretty handy riders. So much for warm up laps – try hammering from the go! The early HR readings are presumably erroneous but it certainly was up there particularly at the start – wakey wakey! The seesaw elevation tells the story of this circuit. Just under 1km in length it has a nice 4% section coming just after a sharp left hand bend. It not only gradually wears out the legs but also serves as the sprint to the line.
Yarra Bend Crit Circuit
Most of the race included regular attacks with guys trying out different strategies at different point on the circuit. Too many strong riders in the field though so every effort was quickly shut down. The pace kept pretty much up there for the entire race lapping in about 1:40 min:sec.
It was all I could do to hang in there and a bunch sprint seemed inevitable. I know Quentin’s favourite move is to hammer the back straight and hit the final turn on the front then try to hold it to the line. So when he went past me I jumped onto his wheel and dragged myself towards the leaders. But the guys in front are also now alert to this tactic and jumped him as well so there were about 6 of us bunching up before the turn. I slotted in about 6th position and went for the line. Quentin ran out of puff and I passed him half way up the hill. The four up ahead were beyond the capability of my legs so I finished 5th, about 10 bike lengths back.
Nice way to start the day! Beginning to feel some speed back in the legs after that 250km epic a few weeks ago.
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Laps data