Cycling Victoria Mansfield Criterium & Mt Buller Road Race

Last weekend I attended my 3rd C grade Cycling Victorian event (previously I have raced the Stratford to Dargo and the Tour of Bright). Photos of the event can be found here at marisafarrell.com. Overall it was a great weekend away racing with mates in perfect conditions. And no better way to start the weekend was going for a roll into town looking Euro and drinking plenty of coffees.......

Criterium 
I have raced a handful of criterium circuits in my short time racing (South Melbourne, Glenvale, Casey Fields & I  guess you could count Sandown) but none compare to the T-shaped hot dog circuit in the center of Mansfield with 180deg right turns (yep right turns, I almost had to get off my bike and lift it in the right direction). Due to the racing before hand, I was unable to ride the circuit before and only managed 1 practice lap before racing was underway. With 25 it was on from the start with the bunch strung out in a pace line, rider were already disappearing off the back with speeds averaging over 40km/h. It took me a a few laps but I started to get the hang of the course but it was too late as I was dangling off the back and had already spent a few bickies closing gaps. 10th lap in and one rider lost it on the first corner causing the last few riders (including myself) to slow and there was no chance I would be able to get back on. Race over after 15mins with a average heart rate of almost 180bpm. Packing my bike away I had a quick to Will Walker who gave my some pointers for future racers, top bloke.

Mt Buller RR
Today was my day as hill climbs/road races are far more suited to my body type and build. With around 50 riders lining up on the start line, the field was strong as is always the case with CV events. As we left Mansfield, a couple riders had opened up a small gap as I suspect a few of their mates were soft pedaling on the front. This was noticed straightaway and Tom from Uni Bikes got on the front to bring them back. From here it was fairly constant to the base of the climb with every attack being promptly brought back. Learning from my mistakes at Tour of Bright, I moved up ready for the surge as we passed the gate house at the bottom of climb. I was able to hold onto the main bunch for the first 2km of the climb which had almost halved the bunch. I regained composure and jumped onto the back of a small groupetto that had formed to help pace me up the remaining 14km's climb. With 3kms to go, a couple of riders blew up as I tried every trick I knew to prevent the cramps in my calves (or my cows). As gradients reached 10% in the last kilometer, I felt a little more at home and finished strongly in a time of approximately 1h55mins. No idea where I came, but it was somewhere mid-field which I consider a decent effort considering the quality of the riders and the 56min time up the climb. On the way back to Mansfield, I stopped with a few mates at the Merrijib pub for a refreshing ale ($25 for a jug, you have to be kidding me).

2011 Stratford to Dargo Cycling Victoria Event - C Grade

This weekend I conquered a mountain, along with a few other climbs thrown in for good measure. To make it harder, the bunch was pushing it most of the way and the temperature was up in the mid to high 30's. It was my home club, the Wellington Cycling Club's annual Cycling Victoria event. Photos of the event can be found here at Aurora Photography. Some say this is the toughest event in the CV calendar and as it was my first, I would have to agree. C Grade had the largest field with 21 one registered riders competing as we rolled out at 9.40am. I am not sure everyone knew what was ahead of them with two riders breaking off the front just past race neutral. There was some discussion on weather to chase, but I said to the bunch to let them go as it was a bold move. From there it was fairly relaxed until Beverly's Road (a 15km stretch of undulating road) where the pace started to pick up as gap grew closer to 3minutes.

The first selection came on the climb just after the wooden bridge (which unfortunately took a victim whose wheel got caught in between the boards), where the race really started to heat up and a number of riders started disappearing of the back. By this point, I had already received my first cramp and consumed as much food and drink as I could before the first feed station at 60k's. This being my first CV event, as an after thought I packed a musette with food and drink which turned out to be handy as the bunch rolled through without stopping. After I reloaded, I had unfortunately got slightly off the back of the bunch and had to fight to get back on.

From there, we started descending with one great straight stretch on the Bairnsdale to Dargo Rd allowing myself to hit a top speed of 90km/h which smashed my previous personal best. Unfortunately this all came to an end with one last climb before Dargo.  The break was still clear with a gap over approaching 4mins and the hammer was down all the way up the climb. Unfortunately, I was on the verge of blowing up for quite a while and another cramp (coincidentally occurring as a rider broke off the front) saw myself lose touch with the bunch at the 85km mark just before the descent into Dargo. If only I could have held on a little further....

Riding into Dargo alone, I had backed off the pace of knowing I wouldn't catch the bunch and remembering what was ahead of me. I didn't stop at Dargo, dropping my first neutral water but I managed to hold onto the second and kept pedaling through with cheers of support from the Wellington club members volunteering on the day.  I knew this final climb was going to be tough gaining 870m over 11km with an average gradient of 8%. I climbed the first section no worry passing a few stray C graders. But it was the next part that killed me averaging 11-12% for what felt like an eternity (realistically it was around 1.5k's). There was no shade and  my Garmin was showing temperatures up to a whopping 38degC. I was starting to feel dehydrated and I may have stepped of my bike in a shady section not knowing there was respite about 300m up the road. From there on it, it was a matter of just getting to the line and as the gradient relaxed to 5-6%, I felt a little better with speeds starting to top a massive 12km/h.

 

(2011 A Grade Winner - Jason Spencer)

As I passed the 1km to go, it was just me and 'The Wall.' 500m of  road with gradients up to 19% and the the whole time you could see the finish line taunting you to keep pushing. By this point, everyone in site was walking and two simultaneous cramps didn't make it a hard decision to get off. With the pleasant walk over, it was time to get on the bike and roll the last 200m to the finish line in a time of approx. time 4hrs 10 minutes. It was over and I could not have been more relieved. Facts as per my Garmin 500 (ride details here):

Distance:	105.56 km
Time:	4:11:45 (to be updated once official results are released)
Avg Pace:	2:23 min/km
Avg Speed:	25.2 km/h
Elevation Gain:	2,282 m
Calories:	2,814 C
Avg Temperature:	31.1 °C

Overall, it was probably the single most toughest thing I have ever done and in the end finishing was an achievement in itself. Next year, I will be back with a compact group set (as a 39/28 combo made the last climb tough) and a lot more training (Inverness repeats essentially until you are forced to walk).