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Wed, 28 Sep 2005

ACT Vets Club Championships - 10:15

I was very happy to see lots of people out on Saturday giving the Club Championships a go. Being an age based event it can be pretty hard for those riders who normally ride in c grade or below. But, it's only once a year and it is useful to see how the more elite riders race.
Personally I was in the vets 2 (40-44) I knew if I rode really well I was in with a chance to finish in the top five or so. The start line looked like this:
BARRETT Damian
BONTJER Allan
BOYLAN Nick
CARDEN Michael
CHOWNS Jonathan
GOODSPEED Bruce
GRAHAM Bruce
JONES Brad
KROEGER Ken
LAW-SMITH Michael (visitor)
McLENNAN Peter
McNAMARA Patrick
O'CONNOR Anthony
SHAW Bernie
TOFT David
Everybody knew that Nick was going to attack, in fact I'm surprised now when he doesn't. I was surprised as Sluggo (Anthony) was first to rip up the road with gusto. I felt sorry for all those who were not quite warm or are not accustomed to the pace of a fast A-B grade race. I reckon it would have been more fun to keep it together for a while as natural attrition would have seen riders loose contact with the bunch during the race anyhow. But back to the action. Nick could not help himself and surged up the road. This was quickly followed by a huge attack from Ken, this was the attack that broke the bunch to bits barely 2km into the race. I managed to survive along with Damien, Nick, Johathan, Bruce, Ken, Patrick and Sluggo. Luckily for me the pace eased a bit, but attacks soon followed as we turned onto Uriarra road to head up to the first turn. Ken paid for his effort here, loosing contact, but Bruce bravely chased and made contact quite a long way down towards Uriarra crossing. Johathan and Nick made some attacks and both Damien and Patrick were effective at closing them down. Sluggo was biding his time waiting for the right moment. Nick and Anthony turned the screws on the horrible long drag from the crossing. Finally Patrick lost his wheel and there was a mad scramble to get back to both Nick and Sluggo who had realised that the gap was there. Damien did best and get within 30 metres or so of the leaders. I thought that Bruce, Patrick and myself would have a good chance of closing the gap at least back to Damien. Bruce and I did some major turns, but It would have been good to have all three of us working to get back into contention for third place. Finally I blew as I did one big turn too many, but I reckon one has to give it a go and never finish the race wondering if you could have. I sat up a bit and waited for Johathan and we worked together nicely. It felt like motor pace training getting in behind Johathan for the flats and down hills. I could barely come around him and do my turns.
In the end class prevailed, with Anthony and Nick riding away. But I reckon the best rides came from Damien and Bruce, both riding individually to stay within a minute or so of the leaders by the end of the race.
Full results of the day and the other age categories can be found here

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