Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club

And the Wagga Wagga Cycling Classic Criterium

Road Race
Criterion

Who's going? Any chance of a lift?

Matt, Glenn, Alex and I will be the Bernard Riders contingent at the race...Unfortunately, this means, my car will be full up.

Oh well, looks like I'm out then

Sorry i couldn't assist with the lift Mike. The wife will be heading down with me to Wagga so the car is full.

No probs mate.

I decided that I didn't want to spend all weekend driving around by myself, so didn't enter

Handicaps are up!

You and Strawburger and in a good position

I'm betting on Glen for the win in his first handicap...Group 7 won't know what hit them!

If he doesnt win the d grade crit, i'm disowning him as friend.

Happy with my grading both days.

Sat road race was feeling great despite my flu. It was a rare day that the bunch i was in actually worked together! We set a good pace without burning anyone out but good enough to catch limit and keep the wolves at bay. Unfortunately for the 2nd year running I had to wave goodbye to the bunch as I picked up a flat just outside Junee (30km in). I quickly put the spare in and madly pumped in the rain with 2 other groups passing and scratch to follow. As scratch was approaching I tested the pressure of the tyre... Flat!!! I screamed out those 4 letter words and looked for assistance from the motorcade. No one stopped, fortunately a dropped limit rider from Vikings stopped and offered me her spare. With the race gone we rolled back at a leisurely pace picking up a few strays experiencing a similar fate.

Sunday and a step up in grade showed me what sort of pace is on offer for the criterium. I found myself at the back but comfortable. As the time elapsed so did the many surges in the pack. I tried getting further up but that generally resulted in riders being dropped behind me thus constantly being near or at the tail. The pace was a lot quicker than i have experienced so attempting to move up was difficult to say the least. With 2 laps to go there was a lull so I got myself mid pack. I held on there and contested the bunch sprint. Didn't get close to a place but walked away satisfied with the achievement of finishing in the bunch!

I've just seen the results for this and see that Glenn King won D grade in the crit! Congratulations and we'll definitely need a race report for that!

Big turn out of over 250 riders and the conditions were a little testing - wet and cold, but luckily no wind. I had a good mark (finally after 20 years of entering) and our bunch worked together well, catching limit at around the 30k mark. The pace increased then and we started shelling the hangers on. The back third of the course was the hardest with 3 climbs before the finish, I got away with three others on the first climb and we tried to grow a gap, unfortunately, scratch reeled us in with about 12k to go. Again, the paced increased and a few more were shelled - the bunch strung out over the last hill, but came back together for a bunch sprint. Had a poor position and rolled across the line somewhere in the pack.

My mate was following in my car which decided to break down on the crest of the last hill. Glenn gave me a lift back once we finished and I was able to get warm. While we waited for the tow, Glenn proceeded to break out a nice bottle of Pinot which we enjoyed by the side of the road watching the rest of the race come through. All in all an excellent days racing! AND Glenn was rewarded for his good deeds by pulling a win in the crits the next day!! A couple of glasses of pinot post race was a much better alternative then Gatorade!!

Matt's race report is on the Bernard Riders website.