After a successful 3 Day Tour, I contested the Club Champs (Yes, still in "B" grade) and was very happy with my 5th place. Hey any of the other placings would have been better, however with the sprinter who managed to slip into the breakaway with us, I knew that I was never in with a show. So, with a quick conversation it was decided that I was going to be the "lead out" man and if he was successful, he would give me some chocolates as a reward.
The course around Granite road is tough at the best of times, throw in a nasty cross wind and the only place you wanted to be was at the pointy end. I stumbled across this by shear luck due to working turns and at one stage having a peak behind me to find that 8 of us had opened up about a 1 minute gap on the field, only due to the wind. We were cuaght by the group due to having to stop for traffic at an intersection. So after this little exercise I decided to organise a few riders to have a go intot he next cross wind to break up the bunch. This worked for me as I thought, less people in the climbs, less attacks that will hurt me.
So by the 45km mark (halfway) a group of 7 of us had dropped the majority of the field and decided that if we were going to be successful, we had to work together. This worked over the remaining climb until 2 more riders fell by the way side and left 5 of us. My biggest challenge was to hang on over the climb and from there I knew that I would finish with the leaders.
I hung tight until the top and then decided to discuss tactics with Matt (sprinter). He was happy to hear this as we both knew he was by far the best sprinter of the 5 of us, being a track rider by nature.
The 5 of us worked well together till around 15km to go when a few small attacks started to happen, my legs were hurting and I knew that for me to get to the finish line I had to dictate the pace and tempo. I told the boys that I would lead them out and they could fight the sprint amoungst themselves, this seemed to settle them down. I went to the front and tempo'd with the wind at a good speed to dissallow any further attacks. Coming into the finish I peeled off with about 400m to go (prob bit early!) but my legs were gone. I watched from a far to see Matty take the chocolates.
See race report below:
B-Grade decided to start today’s race with an unusual display of cordiality, starting at a moderate pace and not causing any mayhem; until the first corner of course! From then on it was a struggle in the crosswinds, with many riders blowing up in the scramble to stay in the safety of the first 8 or so riders and one by one some very out of breath riders fell by the wayside. With the hills looming, the pace rose another notch, and the dreaded Granite Road ascent saw the field pared down to about 10 riders. Surprisingly, after surviving the attacks on the climb, the group split into two on the descent, so by the time riders were returning to climb through the hills once more, the race leaders had made enough ground on the chasers to be clear. The five leaders then settled down to some co-operative riding until they approached the finish, when a few riders tried to make a break for it, but once they approached the line no-one could compete with the unbelievable speed of Matthew Heath’s sprint, taking the race in convincing fashion over Paul Kenny and Scott Pilson. 28 year old Heath, from Tarneit, is returning to cycling after taking a 5 year break from the pressures of cycling, having previously raced in A-grade and having represented Victoria in the Track Nationals. He only returned to cycling after a shoulder injury in a car accident prevented him from going to the gym, and he decided to dust off the bike and found himself enjoying it enough to return to competitive cycling.
1st Matt Heath, 2nd Paul Kenny, 3rd Scott Pilson, 4th Chris Pescott, 5th Xavier Coppock.
So with this, I know that I am starting to find some good legs and look forward to the next few weeks of training before Yeppoon, 8 weeks away.
I have increased my swimming to be consistently punching out 10k + per week and after a little foot injury, have started the road back on the running also.
My weight is a steady 93kgs, only 1/2 kg above Ironman weight. SO all things are positive.
For now...
X-Man
going well - Jessica
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