NSW masters Crit and road race report

Road cycling & upcoming rides
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Trouty
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Postby Trouty » 08 Sep 2012, 16:28

Road race is on tomorrow but I'm hoping people will post up their experiences and or results on this thread. I have no idea how most of the boys went this weekend so looking forward to reading those.

Woman's Crit
I must say Eleri's Wmas 5 race was one of the best races I have seen her ride. The crit track is quite a technical one with lots of winding turns that need to be controlled, but not too much or you find yourself being spat out the back pretty quickly. WMAS5 and up were all thrown in together. Early in the race 5 riders separated from the rest of the bunch quite substantially. Eleri was the 5th rider and several times she lost contact, but eventually she kept at it and got back in. She stayed with that lead bunch almost the whole race. On the last laps the 3 lead riders (1 from her division and 2 from a different division), broke away slightly, with Eleri crossing the line not long after to secure her first silver NSW masters medal. Well done Eleri.

Wmas1 through to 4 were all thrown in together, so for me it was a sufferfest /time trial..batting in a race way above my wieght. The officials asked the girls to do a neutral 1st lap, but the neutral lap for wmas1 to 3 resulted in dropping plenty of woman from all the grades. I stayed with them for possibly 3, 4 or 5..... Who knows I was redlining by then? I'm sure the lead bunch lapped me twice, so I basically did the rest of the ecscruitiating race alone, as did many other girls. Lucky as the wind was really strong on one of the corners, and I think if anyone was next to me I would have taken them out every time we passed that spot. Anyway I secured a very painful 3rd in my division, so at least a medal. But I think it was far more painful than the rain, hail and wind of yesterday's race.

Road race tomorrow and it looks like the winds aren't going way. Hopefully the boys post up there races.

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 08 Sep 2012, 16:54

Thanks Jo! Crazy winds here in the southern highlands. I think there is a reason they have lots of wind farms here! I really like this course but the wind made it really hard, gusty and like Jo says, it hits you on the corners ... sometimes. So it's hard to get a good line.

I was really happy with my ride. A fair bit faster than last year and I was pleased that I managed to get back on the lead bunch after dropping back a couple of times. Helped along by Crafty's encouragement!

Peter T
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Postby Peter T » 08 Sep 2012, 18:01

Sounds bloody amazing. Good luck tomorrow.

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Trouty
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Postby Trouty » 09 Sep 2012, 17:50

Finally spotted some other DHBC'rs today for the final Road Race, in John and Wallman. I believe Wallman got 8th in his division, John was still sick and had to exit the last lap, and unfortunately MIke Austin got a flat right before the end. Peter O'Sullivan also had some bad luck with his micro chip coming off in the first part of the race and he had to abandon. It was a shame as Sunday was the only day with great riding conditions.

Eleri - did well to snag a final Bronze today, and again showed excellent persistence and just how much her fitness has lifted. She fell off the bunch several times, only to claw her way back and make contact. They didn't shake her again till the sprint. SO a silver and a bronze for her - a nice medal haul for her first State Road Title - woohoo.

With gorgeous riding conditions - even though I only got a 6th, it was the most fun I had all weekend and the race I most enjoyed. With the top 5 dropping me early on, I worked with another girl for 3 laps, and we just had a great hit out / pace line. The last quarter I left her and time trialled all the way home. Legs ached, but I felt I worked hard and I am pretty happy with the position given the girls I was up against. Happy with a bronze, a 4th and a 6th for the weekend. Looking forward to next year.
Last edited by Trouty on 10 Sep 2012, 21:59, edited 2 times in total.

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 09 Sep 2012, 18:41

Actually, 2nd State Masters. I believe I came last in everything last year in differently dismal conditions (no hail and the wind wasn't as bad).

I was really pleased with my Road Race today - weather was really nice, lots of women to race and the course was pretty good. I was in Women's Masters 5 and up all in together.

I got dropped 3 times in all, the first time after I did my only stint on the front - just as Matt Wallman passed me in the lead Masters 1 bunch and yelled hello. Looking good at that point, not so good a bit down the road where I ran out of puff and pulled off and then couldn't get back on the bunch. Actually it took 6 kms to get back according to someone in the Commissaire's car who had to write all that stuff down.

I was really pleased when I got back on after a really long hard ride in no-man's land. The bunch was a bit surprised to see me! Not surprisingly I was a bit stuffed so cruised on the back for another 20kms or so when I dropped off again on the long hill along with another woman in WM6. We worked together and only took a km or so to get back on that time. Still stayed on while the leaders played silly buggers, sprinting for 100m and then slowing right down. Couldn't work out the point of that one. Anyway they didn't shake anyone till the final km when it all got a bit too hard for me when they upped the pace on the final up-hill finish. I had intended to finish with the bunch (and in my head, contest the sprint) but ... reality bit. :-)

Finished 100 or so metres in 7th place overall but 3rd in Women's Masters 5. Pretty pleased with that! Last year I came 2nd last of the women who finished. I don't know how Trouty can forget last year!! It was a benchmark in awful riding conditions.

And when I rather ungraciously complained to John Nguyen about Goulburn weather and saying I didn't want to come here ever again, he did remind me that I had come away with 2 medals!

John Mason was there too, finding out that MMAS5 is quite competitive!

Good to see a bunch of DHBC people there turning up for various races over the weekend.

And on the way home, Jo and I dropped into the Greengrocer Cafe in Goulburn for a quick bit and ran into the Boltons on the way back from the National Youth road titles in Canberra so we all had a late lunch together and swapped racing stories.

Strawburger
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Postby Strawburger » 09 Sep 2012, 20:20

Congratulations everyone on the great results!

Report

Friday: aim was to finish 2nd last or better. Ended up mid pack!

Sunday: aim was to finish first lap with another dropped rider around me. Ended up holding in for 3 and a half laps and only 4 mins down on first place with 14 other riders! Made sure I crossed the finish line with a couple of others behind me to ensure I didn't get last place!!!

I can safely say this was my best performance ever even though I was in excruciating pain for 3hrs.

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 09 Sep 2012, 20:58

Update - Matt Wallman got 6th not 8th according to the results!

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 09 Sep 2012, 21:55

Excellent riding

Eleri
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Postby Eleri » 10 Sep 2012, 06:33

Yeah Mike - where were you?

wallman
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Postby wallman » 10 Sep 2012, 09:49

I really enjoyed that race, it was a good course, a good bunch and very quiet roads which helps. Lots of attacking made the 120 km fly by in a tick over 3 hrs! It was always going to be difficult to get a result with a big SUVelo group plus one super-strong rider from Vic who'd lapped the field solo in the crit on Saturday but we gave it a decent shake. I was in a large break of 10 or so on the first lap but SUVelo chased hard and a few of the guys sat up which ended the excursion. 2nd lap was quiet but heading out on the 3rd the moves started to look more serious up those 4-5% drags. John had the misfortune to be going slightly backwards when the race split in half while I managed to be the last across to the break which stayed away for the remainder. Really suffered to stay in touch on the 4th lap at the same point where the break had formed but just kept in the wheels. Then pretty much immediately the winning break of 2 went and there was nothing I could do. The chase group worked occasionally but a couple of clubs had guys sitting in while others had pairs of riders so I couldn't commit too much. Was sitting nicely at the bottom of that final 2 kms but it's a tough uphill drag and I didn't have the kick I'd have liked in the sprint. Still pretty happy with 6th in a fairly tough race. If there's any sort of crosswind at Nationals that course will be a killer.

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 10 Sep 2012, 12:06

Yeah Mike - where were you?
Forgot to enter

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Trouty
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Postby Trouty » 10 Sep 2012, 17:00

Congratulations everyone on the great results!

Report

Friday: aim was to finish 2nd last or better. Ended up mid pack!

Sunday: aim was to finish first lap with another dropped rider around me. Ended up holding in for 3 and a half laps and only 4 mins down on first place with 14 other riders! Made sure I crossed the finish line with a couple of others behind me to ensure I didn't get last place!!!

I can safely say this was my best performance ever even though I was in excruciating pain for 3hrs.
Congrats Strawburger - well done and I hope you are back next year. Maybe next year you will finish front pack?

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Trouty
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Postby Trouty » 10 Sep 2012, 17:03

I really enjoyed that race, it was a good course, a good bunch and very quiet roads which helps. Lots of attacking made the 120 km fly by in a tick over 3 hrs! It was always going to be difficult to get a result with a big SUVelo group plus one super-strong rider from Vic who'd lapped the field solo in the crit on Saturday but we gave it a decent shake. I was in a large break of 10 or so on the first lap but SUVelo chased hard and a few of the guys sat up which ended the excursion. 2nd lap was quiet but heading out on the 3rd the moves started to look more serious up those 4-5% drags. John had the misfortune to be going slightly backwards when the race split in half while I managed to be the last across to the break which stayed away for the remainder. Really suffered to stay in touch on the 4th lap at the same point where the break had formed but just kept in the wheels. Then pretty much immediately the winning break of 2 went and there was nothing I could do. The chase group worked occasionally but a couple of clubs had guys sitting in while others had pairs of riders so I couldn't commit too much. Was sitting nicely at the bottom of that final 2 kms but it's a tough uphill drag and I didn't have the kick I'd have liked in the sprint. Still pretty happy with 6th in a fairly tough race. If there's any sort of crosswind at Nationals that course will be a killer.
Wow that sounded hard.. I forgot that the men's teams have the numbers to actually work together. Pity we didnt have more DHBC'rs to help you. 6th was excellent in that field Wallman, good luck in the Nationals.


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