RR: Murarrie Crits, Sat 21Oct2006

Hey all,

Bit the bullet this morning and headed out to Murarrie for the crits.

Rolled up and registered with about 20 or so others. I wasn't expecting
much after about 6 weeks off with injury & work issues - I've only been
really back on the bike for 2 weeks. But I have been knocking some k's
up in those 2 weeks...... Anyway - I had decided that my goal was to
make it to the half-way prime. If I got that far, it would be a raging
success, and then I would just aim to make it further next week...

Tam & Paulie-au rolled up not long after me and also signed on for
D-grade. Then Lotte & monsterman cruised up after doing a loop around
Wynnum to cheer us on and throw Gatorade at us...

Paulie was defending champ after his win last week, so he had no
pressure...

Anyway, at 0820 we were off for 40min + 3 laps. Pace was good at about
38-39 km/h at the start. The legs seemed to settle well, and while I
was pushing it a bit, I was OK... At the 10min mark, I hit a bit of a
hole and was worried that the legs had popped, but a brief respite with
the pace (no-one wanted to take a turn!) gave me half a lap or so to
recover, and I was right...

After that brief moment, I was right!! I felt strong, and was able to
hold my spot in the peloton well. I moved up and back the peloton a
bit, to try and get a feel for the racing again, and itw as all good. I
didn't take a turn tho' - I didn't want to kill my legs too much!!

Th ewhistle for the prime blew at 16min - a bit early!! I stayed right
out of it, but managed to kee in touch in case the sprinters tried to
go on with it (which they didn't...).

At 35min, I hit a brief hole again - but again there was a drop in
pace. Definitely my lucky day!! A well-timed half-lap recovery, and I
was back into it...

At 43min, the 3 laps to go sign came out. I started looking for
Paulie's wheel - I knew he would be in the finish, and I thought maybe
I could follow him through at the end if I was lucky...

It was not to be tho'. Just afterthe bell rang for the final lap, their
was a brief surge. I went with it, but then the legs apologised and
told me that they really had nothing left to give me... *grins* So
with half a lap to go, I let the peloton go and cruised back around and
over the finish.

I was pretty lucky with the timing of a couple of the eases in pace -
but was still absolutely stoked with managing to stick with the race
until the end without getting dropped.

I obviously didn't see the finish, but Paulie-au rolled over in 4th
place (yay!!), and Tam just missed out on taking the envelope for 1st
female.

The ride home up&down the hills of Creek Rd was a *******, but luckily
monsterman let me wheelsuck him for part of it - thanks mate!! *grins*

Cheers all,
Abby

Abby wrote a race report so I felt I'd better do that as
well.

I'd trained hard for seven days straight, running, weights,
etc, and was a bit worried about how my legs were going to
feel, especially given how flat I'd felt riding home the
afternoon before. (Not QUITE flat enough to take to the
footpath up the big hill... but close.)

I woke up at 7.20am and decided I still had enough time to
go because Murarrie is only 12 minutes up the road. I
scoffed breakky and got dressed and headed off up the road,
panicking as I turned onto Wynnum Rd up the steep little
slip lane as I realised exactly how dead my legs felt.
Thought about heading home but decided it would be better to
waste $8 race money (if I got dropped early) than to go on
wasting my licence.

Paulie-AU turned out of Creek Rd in front of me as I
approached the red light but he didn't hear me call. He
pulled into a servo so I just headed to the circuit. Found
Abby straight away, left my bike and went to pay up, feeling
very embarrassed that I am bothering to race... Went back
and Lotte and Chris had shown up from their early morning
ride.

I unloaded all the extras off my bike, except for the bell
(which I still hope to use to signal a Prime one day...) and
as it turned out my pump. Just as we rolled up to start I
noticed my pump, but Lotte and Chris had moved to a better
viewpoint, so I called out to a man, "Excuse me man in the
New Balance shirt, can you please take my pump for me?" And
he was too startled to argue.

I found myself at the back very quickly as the bunch just
shifted and morphed and not much happened. I thought, "nah,
I should pull out," but then decided to wait until I was
dropped... Abby said the pace at the start was fast but I
suppose that depended on when you looked at the speedo - I
kept looking as we headed into a headwind and the leader
would struggle and we'd all slow down. I got very annoyed at
people not pedalling through the 2nd corner (there is no
excuse!) and after a few laps moved up much further forward
in the bunch.

My legs still felt dead but I was being very cautious about
how I rode, not panicking when a small breakaway formed in
the first ten minutes, resisting the urge to chase, just
sitting back and letting others do the work, watching who
was solid and who could hold pace, whose wheel I would most
like to follow, etc.

The prime came along (no that wasn't my bell ringing...) and
I pretty much disregarded it. I think at this stage I hadn't
gotten out of the saddle, not once, just spinning faster to
close gaps, etc. Most of the young guys went for the Prime
but the strong older guys ignored it and so I didn't worry
that we wouldn't catch back up.

I spent most of the second half of the race in 4th wheel. It
was weird because I wasn't trying to stay there. I had just
picked which riders I'd follow, and so when some of the
young guys went up the outside I ignored them and sat behind
these strong time-trial types, when the gap opened up I
didn't have to work and next thing it was closed... then the
next time the strong guys took off, so I ducked around the
guy in front who was slowing down and jumped the gap, but we
had no chance of staying away for long so we only did half a
lap and then let it close. So there I was in fourth wheel...

One guy commented that I should do a turn. I replied that it
wasn't for want of trying - see, every time it was my turn
on the front, the guy who had just rolled off kept going at
the same speed as me. I couldn't go any faster, I had
nothing. So I just sat in the wind until the next guy got
the sh!ts and came past again. Oh well, I tried.

At three laps to go I thought I spotted Cipo in the bunch
(yes, D-grade) but it was just Abby. The pace hotted up and
some of the young guns tried to get away. Others took up the
chase but I just held back and sure enough got sucked back
up to the bunch. There were only three chicks, one had
ridden strongly showing excellent form and awareness and
from her rear end I had my suspicion she was a trackie, VERY
strong hindquarters; the other chick was young, wobbly, etc
and I wasn't worried.

Time for the last lap and the young boys took off, really
took off. I decided not to worry - if I could just stay with
the chick I'd have a chance. I darted around another guy and
closed the gap to her - she'd also been dropped. On the
third corner a guy slid sideways and nearly took out another
rider so it was just a handful of us hammering along. I was
determined to just sit in behind this chick and make her do
the work, as I knew we wouldn't catch the boys, and it was
down to the two of us for a cash prize!

However the boys had no staying power and by the time we'd
gotten to the final bend we had actually passed them, sure
enough this other girl and I were up the front with the
strong male riders I'd identified early. I grit my teeth and
hung on but this girl could sprint whereas I sprint rather
like an ultra runner... I tried to come around near the
finish but I'd left it too late, as we rolled through my
front wheel was about a metre behind hers but I had nothing
left. I didn't mind, she had well and truly earned the win,
with the effort she did on the last lap, and she was a cool
chick too, friendly unlike those HITb!tches.

Charlie told me I should ride home (he had a point) so I
cruised with Lotte and Paulie as far as Morningside. It
rained on us. But it was a great morning.

T

"Absent Husband" wrote in message
ps.com...
Hey all,

Bit the bullet this morning and headed out to Murarrie for the crits.
[snippo]
Cheers all,
Abby


Glad to hear your going ok Abby (and Tam). All you gotta do now to improve
your results - I recommend the Paulie and Adam diet

Adam