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Thu, 24 Nov 2005

Comeback to Blog - 16:11
I have not written in my Blog for a while, here is my comeback
Lately there has been a hell of a lot of cycle racing going on, of course I've been trying to do it all in the midst of my allergies. Quite difficult. It was this time last year when I feel to pieces during and after the Hartley Challenge. This year, well I've been lots more conservative, taking it quite easy. No Fitz's Epic, no Hartley, no long training rides into the mountain regions to the south of the ACT. Still, I've been quite fatigued and my skin is giving me the shits. But now things are on the up.
Last weekend Neil, Anthony and myself traveled to Wagga for the Tolland Club Criterium and Road race. I was graded in D grade and felt quite optimistic of a result. The course was fast and fun, three sweeping corners and one more technical corner with a wicked camber. The Criterium included a sprint series. My tactic was to lay back and be attentive when the sprinters went, trying to save all my energy for the final dash for the line. At the first sprint, when we were all gasping for air a guy (obviously mis-graded) just rode away from us. I figured if he can do it good luck to him. I tried to bridge the gap and so did a few others more ambitious riders to no avail, he was just too strong. I must admit there was no organised chase, but there never is when there is a bunch of people just sitting on. In the end I came 4th, 3rd in the sprint. I was no fast enough to prevail given there was a three man Wagga lead out.
Anthony rode superbly, getting away to a considerable lead during the race only to be dragged back close to the end. I was quite impressed to see him win the sprint, even though he did admit he got a dream run in second wheel from two corners to go. He was very happy with his sash, cash and bottle of win. Neil's story was a sad story, he brought the wrong shoes. Luckily he ended up borrowing my pedals and Tony's shoes. At least he got a very long race in A grade, but could not fight off the lead out train of a team from Bendigo that rides in races like the Bayside crits in Melbourne.
Saturday saw some more racing. Tony managed to find some old pedals in his boot, so Neil with off and running with borrowed shoes and pedals. The day was hot and dry, with heaps of flies as we started out near the airport. It promised to be flat, were near the airport right? Well, anyhow, 55km in the heat greeted the four grades. Because of greater numbers Neil was pushed from A to B. Tony stayed in C despite being concerned about a re-grading because of his win. I was optimistic about my grade, since I did pretty well in D grade the night before. Well, all I can say is that I dragged my arse over the hills and into the cross/side winds only to puncture after the turn when I thought I was in for a good chance of finishing at the pointy end. But alas, I chased alone, caught one group, but could not get to the next and was not near the leaders at the end.
On Sunday I teamed up with Lee for the annual attempt at the Fitz's. This year I was having a go at the traditional challenge, that is 158km which includes Fitz's but no the harder peaks of Honeysuckle and Corin. Lee has only been back on the bike in a semi-serious way for a few months. In fact he ha joined the ACT Vets Cycling club and has been racing away in g grade quite happily. I thought I would be stuffed from the racing, so a quiet ride and chat with Lee seemed like a good idea. Lee rode strongly from Tharwa to the turn-around a back; he even made it up Fitz's in one hit. I had not managed to do that when I attempted it up there a few weeks back. Lee go hold of a 39x27, but that was not enough. One of my best investments has been a triple on the KHS, 32x26 is small enough for everything apart from maybe Honeysuckle when you're riding like stone. Anyhow, Lee wanted to push on, she we headed off for Cotter and Uriarra. I did not like the amount of traffic on Paddy's River Road, and the flies were giving me the shits. We got the Cotter after a few rests then pushed onto Urirra crossing. I finally convinced Lee to pull the pin here, since it was quite a ride back to Tharwa, but back to Curtin was only an hour or so. Still and hard ride and we ended up with 135km on the computer.

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