Crown still firmly on the head of this master cyclist

By Pip Read - Australian and world masters champion cyclist

It's been a busy few weeks on the racing circuit. The Victorian Masters Criterium Championship, held in the Castlemaine CBD, is a great circuit that I have enjoyed in the past. It consists of four left hand corners, climbing slightly to the first, then uphill to the second; this where it really starts to hurt after a few laps! This is followed by a long downhill for a bit of recovery, the third corner is fast but still downhill and into the fourth which is the most technical of them all. It is difficult unless you get the entry right but you need to keep the line marking cat eyes in mind. The straw bales also make for a fast corner, then the course heads slightly uphill to the start/finish line.

Unfortunately I was the only starter in my age group and knew that all starters were being awarded a medal (providing they finished), so I decided to at least make a race of it and after a few laps three of us had a bit of a gap. I then decided to put in an effort and see what happened. Some of the field soon dropped off, leaving myself and a club mate off the front. After a few more laps and lapping most of the other competitors I found myself alone out the front. I finished first across the line and retained my criterium crown for another year.

In the afternoon the organiser's offered me a start in the NAB Showman's Criterium which was a 45 minute feature event, which again saw me in the middle of much younger rider but with slightly tired legs! I headed out for another hit out, all going well for the first (I guess) half of the race then I found myself being gapped from the leading bunch. I decided to have a few laps regaining some strength and then I put my head down and by about the last five or so laps I caught the back of the leading bunch.

Then all of a sudden they backed off and started looking at each other. By this stage I was just getting some pace on so again found myself on the front, much to the delight of the course commentator. At least I was giving the SheSpoke Cycle Wear name some air time. I was expecting to finish fifth but to my surprise I looked over to my left and counted five racers with me the sixth. Still it was a great race and I must admit I was surprised at how well I backed up with two races in the one day. All that training must be paying dividends.

At Easter I raced at the South Pacific Veterans Cycling Championships. It was a fun event last year and with four events in three days it promised to be a full on few days of racing.

Day 1, South Pacific Road Championships and Victorian Road Championships:

I must admit I was not expecting six competitors in my age group. I knew two of them and a friend had told me about one so unlike my usual race strategy, I decided to see how things went and deal with it on the road. We headed out with a slight tail wind and the first thing I noticed was that I was doing all the work and when I called someone through; they only came for a short time. I had a dig on the first hill with limited success. On the last hill before the turn at Dunolly I had a big go and gapped the two who were sitting on. As they re-joined me I hit them again, this time I think they decided it was all just too hard! I put my head down into the headwind and time trialled my way to the finish. I was first across the line by a big margin and now have a new motto 'no passengers no prisoners'!

Day 2 Race 1, South Pacific 300m Straight Line Sprint Championship:

Remembering the way I messed this race up last year when I sat up at the wrong white line; this year I paid more attention to where the finish line actually was! As we only had three competitors in this event I was the last to start the qualifying run which a bit like a time trial but only 300 meters long. After sitting around for quite sometime I finally got to do my run and recorded the best time. I won by a comfortable margin.

Day 2 Race 2, South Pacific Time Trial Championship:

We were all joking and saying that if we don't get this started soon we will be finishing in the dark. It was not quite that bad but it was a late start, as close to perfect race conditions as you can get with virtually no wind and a slight downhill start on an out and back course. I had fitted a new saddle to the time trial bike and this was my first time I had ridden it. The saddle felt just as I like it. At the turn around and after passing two riders ahead of me, I headed for the finish line, which I might add seemed a lot further away than I was expecting, but all in all a good day finishing first in my age group.

Day 3 South Pacific Criterium Championships and Victorian Criterium Championship:

Slightly disappointing but we only had two starters in my age group. On the bright side the organisers joined us with the younger age group so we had eleven starters and a race. I very much like this criterium circuit; it has a nice mix of flowing and tight corners and a long straight towards the finish line. Three of us broke away after the first lap which lasting for another two or so laps, then I did my normal thing off the front and won by (I think) half a lap to my early break away partner.

Came home with four first places from four races, more sashes and stuff to hang up at work. I will be having bit of a break for a few weeks. My boss is taking three weeks off and I'm in charge full time! Shock horror!

Talk soon and please stay safe.

Pip