I really enjoy reading all the race reports so keep 'em coming. I haven't
been racing that long so I'm still picking up a few little things everytime
I race or hear one of these reports. I haven't seen any brisbane reports so
here's mine. The circuit is the 2.4km Lakeside Raceway on the northside of
town. There's an aerial pic here
http://www.lakesideraceway.com/the_track.htm
It's undulating except for the long straight. Heading clockwise you go along
the straight then around the "carousel" then climb up and then down the back
straight under the old dunlop bridge. Down through "Hungry" corner and then
climb sharply up about 22 metres up and around Eastern Loop (bottom left in
the pic) then fly down the hill and around onto the long main straight
again. No tight corners, it's fast wide and flowing. Racing is every sat at
7am, organised by the HPRW club www.hamiltonwheelers.com
I've been racing B grade the last few weeks. I did a few A's at the end of
last year, but found it was a suffer-fest. I either got dropped or just hung
on by my fingertips with my brain oozing out of my head by the end, and I
had absolutely nothing left for the finish - it was like I'd accidentally
selected reverse. The difference was the constant attacks in A grade. You
need to be able to recover very quickly, and if you're not fit, you're
toast! Those fast guys love to make you hurt, right? 🙂 So like some of you
guys have said, I'm learning more and able to try more tactics staying in B
grade for a while.
First week in B I did a lot of work, but it came down to a bunch sprint and
I got third, not strong enough at the end to come around for the win. Then
last week in B, I broke away early with a strong rider, was joined after a
few laps by 4 others. We got a paceline going really fast and smooth and we
pulled a huge lead, completely out of sight (I guess at least a minute).
With 2 laps to go my original break partner jumped from the front just as I
rolled to the back. I got out of the seat and stomped hard but had a
*really* painful calf cramp and couldn't turn the pedals. Managed to stop
without falling off and rubbed it for a bit at the bottom of the hill, then
got going again and wobbled round in pain for a lap and a half to finish a
lonely sixth, still out of sight of the bunch. The cramping really gave me
the [censored] as I thought I'd gotten rid of them last year, and I hadn't even
been working that hard. Maybe it was all the food and beer I had while
riding (slowly) around tassie over the holidays?
So this week I figured I'd do as little as possible, suss out who the strong
riders were, let any 'doomed to failure' breaks go, but be ready in case the
strong guys had a good go. There was a field of around 20 or so riders.
There was only one significant attack with around 10 mins to go that I
jumped on, but it was too obvious and not sharp enough and was caught half a
lap later. I thought we were away and started to get a paceline going asking
telling people to roll off. It was pretty disorganised as it was the week
before, and I know if you want it to work, you've got to start working hard
straight away. So here I am going 'roll off,roll off' and then I looked back
and saw most of the bunch right on our tail. Doh!
Actually I forgot - there was one more attack with 5 minutes to go, we'd
just let C grade go through on their bell lap (yeah embarrassing I know) and
they were halfway round and a few of our stronger guys jumped and went
around them. I guess they thought a small break could get clear in front of
C grade and away, which would be fine if it were just a few riders, but what
happened was the whole of B grade got dragged up the inside of the 2nd last
corner baulking the C graders. When they took off they got yelled at (by me
as well), but when they didn't slow I thought bugger it, I'll have to go
tool and get well clear of C by the finish. I guess proper etiquette is to
stay clear of other grades on their last lap, both for the riders and the
judges on the line. A little unsporting to try and use another pack as a
block I thought but it didn't worry me too much. Anyway no big deal and
sanity was resumed and we slowed to let C grade have a clear run down the
straight.
Going up the hill on the last lap, I was about 4th wheel, everyone was a
getting edgy, and then one guy attacked hard around the outside. I was a
little boxed in on the inside and he got a really good gap on me. I gave it
everything down the hill and along the looooonng straight. I had a gap on
the bunch, but the lead rider was still maybe 75m away. I'd seen 'Million
Dollar Baby', Clint Eastwood's boxing movie the night before (good flick),
and was feeling inspired to push hard, and I saw my highest ever heart rate
of 193. I was going so hard I couldn't help but drop my head - I know you're
not supposed to - I just looked up every 5 seconds to see how close I was
getting. Tried getting out of the seat but my quads were burning and I fell
straight back down. I almost got his wheel but I was just too late to go
around. Meanwhile the bunch was chasing with sprinters jumping from wheel to
wheel. I faded a little from the solo effort and two of them got me by a
wheel so I got 4th - just out of the (paltry by southern standards) money.
So close! It was a great ride by the breakaway rider, that's tough to do
especially on the last lap. And I suppose those pesky wheelsucking sprinters
deserve some credit as well. There's always next week!
Adam