The Plan

Hang on for as long as possible and not get dropped on the hills

The Race

I took off from the start with no warmup and went lactic pretty fast.  At this point I was thinking it might be game over.  However, the pace stayed low.

A counter attack from S. Stiles and P. Whelan 1km before Sthurs saw them ride away as I was third wheel and did not bother chasing.

I spent the next two laps on the front pacing them which was not working too well – the gap was creeping up and the break got out of sight at one point. J. Prestidge kept saying to let them cook.  I had doubts given the time gap expansion.  Still, I was the only one on the front for the first two laps.  I remember Prestidge saying I’d happily time trial all day.  Hmm, yes – as long as it was to my advantage. I was not going to do all the work and get rolled at the end.

Crossing the line at the start of lap three,  G. Parker hit the gas up the main drag.  I suffered much trying successfully to hold his wheel and set a Strava PB for this section of the race, averaging 328 watts for 01:58.  After that, R. Monk, Prestidge and B. Kennnedy all attacked fairly regularly and mostly, I was the chaser (at least as far as I recall).  J. Dastey attacked once with 2 to go along Stuhrs then must have pulled out.  We caught Stiles and Whealan cresting the second hill past Fonterra with a lap to go – they’s sat up. Interestingly, I also recall we caught them after the false flat on the last lap so not sure about things here.

Stiles lead the charge up the main drag on the final lap.  After the false flat, he was looking for others to take the lead.  This turned out to be a mix of me and Parker.

Monk atttacked into the right hander about 2kms into the lap and this saw me gapped.  Not to worry, a little TT burst saw me get back on.  Kennedy then attacked into Sthurs Road.  I thought this was Monk, based on the Drouin Cycles kit.  I gave chase. The bunch reformed.  Monk attacked up the power climb on Sthurs. Sat up.  Attacked again.  I was on him.  We were about 100m off the front past Fonterra and then were caught up the last climb.  Stiles lead the descent and the first bit towards the line.  I got to the front and hit it about 400m out – on the corner before I could see the line.  I was passed by Parker and then G. Tambassis.  Thankfully, my second kick was back and I came over the top of GT to reclaim 2nd  place.

Summary

A good ride given I did not blow myself up “chasing” the break for 2 laps and also as I managed to survive the surge on lap 3 where I went all out to maintain second wheel.

Starting at the front on the hills may have helped me not get dropped as I was not off the back by the tops (though the data also says we were not going fast up them).

My shoes tore skin off 2nd smallest left toe.  Painful.

I forgot to pack gloves.  They must really help wiping sweat from my face as from about 3 laps in, my eyes were being stung and I was wiping my face with my shoulder.  After the sprint, I had to pull over as I could not keep my eyes open..

Thanks to my sponsor, Drouin Cycles.

Stats For The Day

CTL: 93
ATL: 95
TSB: 7

Power Stats

Average pwr: 280W
Normalised Power: 307W
Critical power (CP): 264W 3.28w/kg (75% FTP)

Intensity Factor: 0.99
TSS: 128.8
TRiMP: 167.7