Well here we are again spending Easter in Maryborough.
Day 1 is the 65km Road Race running anti-clockwise around a loop with a gusting Sou-wester making the hilly leg even more difficult than one might wish for. Every year I get dropped on Mt Hooghly so this year I’m saving everything in an attempt to survive past that point.
The course - runs anti-clockwise
More features of the countryside - exposed rolling hills
(click on an image to expand it then browser ‘back’ to return to this page)
As we speed out of town the boys are a bit nervous. Ian McGeoch, the 2010 champ, goes to the front and ups the pace every time it lags. There’s a few surges by the likes of Doug Garley but not really serious attacking. The speedo is rarely getting under 40kph and the HR is having a little trouble adapting. I shamelessly hide from the wind by riding the echelons on the drops and never venture towards the front – leave it to those big strong fellas.
At 15km there’s a little rise and a push goes on to get rid of a few of us sitters. It puts Dave McCormack in difficulty with Ivan Howes who digs out one of his blistering sprints (hitting over 70kph apparently) with Dave on his wheel and they group up – thanks for that insight, Dave. We all survive that one and I hit my max speed (a paltry 52kph) but the HR is impressive (189bpm) as I scramble on heading down the other side. Things then settle down a bit through to Dunolly. Everyone’s saving energy now before we turn left towards the hills and into the block head wind.
20km down and heaps to go. Better move forward a bit and try to stay safe as we work our way over the undulating hills. There’s a lot of shifting positions as everyone is chasing wheels. As we hit the second rise someone tries to jump away and the speedo stays in the 30s and the danger signs are flashing for Mt Hooghly, the next hill. And sure enough there’s a massive push up and over. Somehow I’m still connected and for the first time in the 4 years I’ve raced here the bunch goes over and down ensemble.
Funny how I never noticed that the climb that comes 5km later is significantly bigger than Hooghly. Perhaps that’s because by then I’m usually off the back licking my wounds. This time the strong lads accelerate inexorably and they’re hugging the right hand side of the road. WTF! I decide to stick to the rules and stay left, in the bloody wind. What a dope. The line continues to drive up and over the hill leaving me to wallow in self righteousness but out of the game.
From Mt Hooghly to the point where the HR max's out and I'm dropped
By the time I’ve crested I’m down to 15kph and I can see them riding off into the distance. However the bunch is spread, not line astern and I figure I’m a chance to chase on. I link up with Barney and we start to roll. The gap is reducing but it’s hard labour and Barney is struggling. After 5 hard kilometres we have them within 50 metres and Barney calls it a day. I call on the heart to give me more blood in one last desperate attempt to bridge. They were just there – I could almost touch them – but alas, the next hill arrives and whoosh, they’re on another surge and that’s it, no chance.
I continue to put in the effort, you never know what a bunch might do. Another rider, Errol Schmidt (I think), has been slowly coming up from behind and I ease up a little to link up. Together we set about rolling turns. It’s a long haul and eventually we hit the main road and turn left and with the crosswind now over our right shoulder. Better than a block head but still not much fun on this exposed road but we can at least get the pace up into the mid 30s. On and on we go but with 15km still to chase and no sight of the bunch up ahead our destiny is predictable.
We pick up another dropped soul along the way and the three of us push on towards Maryborough. With a catch now completely out of the question we wonder whether we should be easing up and saving it for another day – well, tomorrow actually. Our little grupetto splits up and I work my way uneventfully through the back blocks and eventually to the finish line. Phew! Another very tough day in the saddle.
I learn that, not surprisingly, Ian McGeogh has won from Frank Donnelly with, I think, David Brown third. Well done to them. Well let’s see how tomorrow pans out. Early start for the 300m sprint with my TT slotted at 2:54pm. Now that should be fun…
The day's stats.
The lumps and bumps
Or you can visit the Garmin site – try the Player function, kind of cool.
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/80693559