Date: 13 June 10
Venue: Wagga Wagga
Conditions: Freezing cold! no winds, dry
Grade: F - 25mins +3 laps
Result: 3rd
Report:
Criterium sunday morning. I was graded in F. 9am start, sign on at 8am. As i was warming up i noticed the grass was frozen. Large frost that morning! It took 45mins to eventually get warm, although the feet and hands were numb until 10mins into a hot shower... It was really cold!
The country boys may well be good at the open road, but they were noticeably slow taking sharp corners! I watched from the rear of the field for the first lap (25mins +3laps). It wasn't very smooth like out at Heffron. Lots of breaking into the corners... I went from the back straight to the front and tested the skills of the others. A few jumped on and we picked up the pace. The pack of 15 held on, so i slowed and jumped in midpack for a few laps. The 2 primes weren't contested and i thought that was strange. No real attacks through the first 20mins, so i had a go and tried to break the bunch. A few strong riders latched on (including the favourite who seemed to be the AIS girl). With 3 laps to go, it was all a bit tame up the front - slowing down the back straight with a nice tailwind. I attacked from midfield and yelled at the two canberra riders to jump on. They didn't but a wagga rider got on my wheel. I inflicted some pain and we broke the field up. The next two laps the wagga guy sucked my wheel, at the bell lap we were still away from the peleton so i dug in and gave it everything. On the final straight the wagga guy took off and i had no chance, so i soft pedaled into the finish beating the peleton in by about 10secs.
On finishing, my result was 3rd as a wagga rider apparently jumped at the start and put half a lap on the field (burglar!!!). He also didn't compete in yesterdays event so he was nice and fresh.
I was feeling like rubbish during the warmup, the knees weren't too good. i was about to pull out and thought i better at least do one lap... Then the competitiveness kicked in! Stoked about the third place finish - with a nice looking envelope and a photo with ronald mcdonald at the end. Very happy about the extra skills i've gained down at Heffron - without that racing i would have stood no chance in either event on the weekend.
oh, and f grade had to wait 5 1/2hrs for the presentation.
dist - 19.3kms
time - 31min 28sec
speed - 36.8km/hr avg (50 max)
cadence - 92 avg (122 max)
heart rate - 168 HR avg (183 max)
n=10 (2013 & 2004 roads,2010 track,2x 2009 foldups,1990 hybrid,1992 trainer,2007 rental,1970's step through,1980's zeus)