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).

Northern Combine South Gisborne Loop - C grade

After a week of training, my legs always feel worst on Fridays (my rest day) and heavy for the first few k's. This feeling normally lasts until the first serious attack which raises the heart rate and where you just buckle down in order to not get dropped. The race was held on a 8km loop with included a nice climb which averaged 6% for 1km into a head wind. Fortunately, I felt better on each lap and more comfortable on the climb as my legs loosened up. But today with the pace up and down, there was no real adrenalin pushing me like there was in the Modella handicap the other week. It was almost like interval training looking back over the Garmin data. For photos of the race, click here.

 I am feeling a lot more confident in general and especially in descending, today hitting just over 70km/h with a cross wind. They key is to get in the drops and get sheltered from the wind by other riders where possible. Unfortunately, I hadn't checked my solo drink bottle (I have cut back to one after not using the 2nd one in a few races) which obviously had been sitting in the car for a while and the contents tasted partially fermented, but not in a good way. There were no cramps today or even potential cramps which is great and can be put down to the longer road races and training I have been doing lately.  

Overall, we raced for 2hours and completed the climb 8 times totaling just over 800m of vertical climbing. The bunch was altogether at the base of the final climb but exploded very quickly in the fight for the finish. I had a crack up the last climb making up a lot of places but I couldn't quite catch the leaders finishing in the top 10 still. A great day out and perfect training for the future. Note to self, need to train on more hills and less time on beach road.

CCCC Jack McGowan Handicap at Modella - 6th Overall

Today the weather was great with the sun making a rare appearance and temperature was up in the double digits. I was excited to be on the way to another race and finding my way to Modella Hall proved a challenged as I blindly followed the GPS. It took the Mazda 3 down a unsealed road which deteriorated the further we traveled, turning into a muddy 4wd track before finally disappearing into a swampy paddock. I decided to accept defeat turning back, choosing the safer but slightly more boring option. Overall it was probably lucky that we didn't get bogged which I put down to my driving abilities leaving the Mazda intact albeit being covered top to bottom in a thick layer of mud.

In total 100 riders made the drive to Modella. My bunch was the off at 16mins and was fairly large in size containing a couple of strong riders that I recognized from the Gippsland region. Straight from the get go it was on with a couple of the more experienced riders organizing the bunch from a collection of stray cats into a well oiled machine. Everyone was rolling turns and before we knew it we had caught the riders in the previous bunches. Overtime the bunch was slowly starting to whittle down but the pace was kept high and by the end of first lap, the existing 4min to the riders behind was unchanged and the bell spurred us on.

The legs were starting to feel tired and I could feel a number of cramps building but thankfully never eventuated. The group continued to work well together with everyone doing their bit to keep the dream alive. Throughout the lap, the time updates proved that the gap was slowly being whittled down but it was still possible. On the home stretch, only 10 riders remained and the closer the finish become the more disorganized the group became. Finally with the finish line in sight, a couple of the smarter riders sat back knowing the job had been completed and it was time to prepare for the final kick. I missed the initial jump but managed to pull a few places back coming 6th overall. Overall we had averaged 40km/h for the 96km and all riders looked glad to be of the bike and a number of us were already walking funny.