Course: Volcano Flat
Distance: : 24.4km/15miles
Very short on time for any cycling this weekend with DIY and family commitments I had. Plus its been a hot weekend weather wise so I needed a pretty short one so I could cope with the heat. I saw this race and tucked it in between cooking dinner for my lad mine.
I got in the pen witha couple of mins to go. All very rushed and I hoped the sweat I had on already was enough to warm up. I turned the pedals and the legs felt good.
Off we went, fast start as usual and then I immediately noticed I was the only A cat. Had I chose the wrong race? Dunno, so just carried on. I was in a decent group of B’s so I decided to make a race of it rather than sandbag and annoy them all. Out of the tunnel I turned on the gas and stretched them. Again on the esses until a small 4 man group got clear up and over the drag to the Italian Villas but we were caught on the dirt road hairpins. The first climb into the Volcano really stretched and split the group. Six of us went clear.
Over the line for the 2nd lap and we had about 15 secs on the chasers which slowly increased as the last lap went on. My graph with plenty of red showed how hard I was trying and the others didn’t sit on either, we all did a bit. Out of the tunnel for the last time I eased off a touch and just rode a high tempo round the esses. Just before the hairpin I did a big turn which stretched us again but it didn’t stick so I waited for the climb into the Volcano. I came from the back and wound it up on the first part. The second pull and a rider flew past me and I had to do a double sprint to stay with them. It drew us clear and we stayed away to the finish. I wound up the sprint and I held it but with 150m to go he flew past me again like into the Volcano and I knew I was done. 2nd overall.
