Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club

I just entered online at 11.15 am. So much for it selling out in 6 minutes

The price hike has something to do with it not selling as quickly this year.

Ahh, I have never entered before and was surprised at the cost

anyone want to share transport?

I may be a DNS. Been coughing up a lung all day today.

Race report. l started in the second bunch 4 minutes behind the limit bunch. Everyone looked fit and fast. It was very windy at the start and the word in the carpark was that this favoured the scratch bunch as they had more power. As we rode along, I did a fair bit of talking and cajoling our group to work well in a rolling paceline and staying together as a group. Also directing people to ride on the upwind side of the lane when on the front.
Despite this, without any attacks, after 2 laps we were down to just 5 riders. We caught the limit bunch early on lap 3 just before going up Mt Marshall. Now we were front of the race. I got dropped on the climb but worked hard with another guy who was dropped to get back to the bunch. I suddenly had nothing in the legs and my water bottle was scarily empty. I sat in for the rest of lap 3. On lap 4 (WTF? I though it was just 3!) I got dropped again on Mt Marshall but worse this time as someone was attacking off the front. Again I worked with another dropped rider but we couldn't make it back to the bunch. On the next hill he didn't wait and so it was solo time. Did I mention it was very windy? After an interminable slog with no water I saw the first rider from our bunch coming home from the turnaround. I counted the following riders. I was 12th so 7 of the limit bunch had stuck. I recovered a bit on the way home which initially had a tailwind but got passed by two fairly large bunches not far along the return leg. I maybe could have got onto the second one but figured I would have got dropped on the next hill. Just before Mt Marshall, a pair of riders came past and this time I jumped on. Suddenly I found power in my legs again. I stuck on their wheels until the sprint. They turned out to be all that was left of the scratch bunch. So in retrospect I would have done a little less in the first 2 laps knowing it was 4 laps nor 3. But I take some consolation that top of the podium all came from our bunch and I had a part to play in that.

Nice work John. It's been 1 lap too long for a few years now.....

Great report John. Sound like there were some strong riders in your bunch.

Paul

Yes, and one particularly strong one as it turned out