On Saturday I finally went racing. Wow! What a hoot. Armed with my freshly minted racing licence I turned up at
Glenaroua fire station in back of beyond. Knowing I warm up slowly I did an easy 25km
warmup with a few fast jumps just to get the legs working and fronted up with my five bucks to race.
With the race number 50 pinned to my shirt, I rolled up to the start.
First mistake: the previous Saturday morning I'd been out for a ride and met up with another rider. Daryl was very sociable and I soon learned that he rode with my new club too. We rode along together for 15k or so just putting a bit of punch into the hills and seeing what each other had while trying not to puff. Daryl was, of course, the club handicapper. Big mistake.
So it was that I found myself off 4 minutes from scratch, in amongst a bunch of guys who's legs looked huge. The only steel frame and it seemed the only one without $4,000+ wheels. Quickly I learned that I could at least climb with the other guys in my group. We were caught by the 2 minute group at about 20km and things started to wind up. Fortunately there were a few hills here and I was able to keep up without too much drama. At around 24km we came to a sharpish corner and I found myself drifting through it at the back. Of course that was where the acceleration came. Twenty metres off the back I gave it everything. Downhill with a tail wind I was pushing max heartrate without making any dent on the bunch. Eventually 20 became 40, became 60m and I was starting to look down the barrel of a long limp home.
I heard a fuss behind and looked back to see the scratch riders coming fast. Somehow I managed to tag on and stick a wheel. Fortunately we hit the hill up the cutting out of sugarloaf creek. It was here that we caught back up to the remnants of my bunch and the 2 minute group. By now we were passing outmarkers at a great rate and I was feeling pretty good. Well, as good as I can at 175bpm. On the final corner with 4km to go I was determined to get around in mid bunch but again found myself outmanouvred to the back. This time I was ready with a big gear and knew just what to do. I flat sprinted out of the corner to get back on to the bunch which was now shedding riders rapidly.
I made it, but had spend all my coins. Nothing left, I had to let them drift up the road. Several of my fellow riders now stuck the car following the main bunch. I almost did the same but followed at sufficient distance to not be disqualified. Eventually I came in 9th. Not a triumph but not too shabby for a first outing.
What now?
Next weekend is an individual time-trial. On the flat. Not my preferred terrain. Nowhere to hide. I'm looking forward to it.
All in all I just love going so fast. The crowd from the club were really friendly and went out of their way to include me.
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