Dwindling numbers concern champion cyclist
by Pip Read - Australian & World Masters Cycle Champion
Hi everyone. Another month and a bit has passed since my last article and cycling has been high on my agenda.
The Victorian Masters Criterium Championships was held in Castlemaine. I feel the event was a bit disappointing due to the dwindling number of competitors; there were only two competitors in the 50+ age group, my friend Gen and me. The younger age groups were better represented and we all started at the same time. I still finished first and retained my State title, which was a bonus.
One of the first things the other competitors asked me before the start was 'Hey Pip, what are you planning to do in the race?' To which I replied, 'I plan to go from the start and see what happens!' The circuit while different from last year and was quite challenging; winding around a block in town with all left hand turns, including a hill just after the start finish straight, followed by a steady downhill section with a fast left hand, followed my another downhill and another fast left hander leading on to the finish straight. Whew!
As I said my plan was to 'go from the start and see what happened'. I was not confident of the race outcome, as my training had been a bit interrupted with work around home; so when I started lapping other competitors I was a bit surprised. After I lapped the field three times I started to wonder what was going on. When you are criterium racing you need to be confident at cornering at speed, and I was on my own and able to pick my lines and not have to worry about what others around me were doing.
I also raced at the South Pacific Veteran Cycling Championships in Maryborough, Victoria over the Easter long weekend. The five races program was extremely well run. The best thing as far as I was concerned was the social aspect of the weekend. Presentations were held each night at the Highland Society in town, which was great as after each day of racing we all gathered for dinner, drinks and presentations rounding up a marvellous day of racing.
Day 1 - road race championship
We had the 45km circuit heading out with a tail wind which was great until we turned for home and as with all tail winds; they smack you in the face when you head for home! Our race was a combined age group with six competitors. The other riders were a bit hesitant to get things moving so I decided to have a go (again) and see what happened. After the turn for home, the leaders started picking up the stragglers from the earlier group which started five minutes ahead of us. While most of the corners were well marshalled, the final one only had a police car on it I still missed the turn! After a quick U turn I got back on track and finished first by quite a margin.
Day 2 - sprint championship
I had heard about sprint racing and was intrigued. After a quick look at the course I figured this could be fun except the race was heading slightly up hill into a head wind. We were to use a ramp start like you see in time trials, so that was good as I'm used to them, and we only had to race 300metres. The only thing I did wrong was to sit up at the wrong line, quickly realised and then headed for the finish line, still with a quite a bit of a lead and won my race.
Day 2 - individual time trial championship
After having to sit around and amuse myself for most of the rest of the day until the time trial start of 3pm. The course was a slight downhill and tail wind to the turn around and then a headwind on the way home. This was the first time I'd sat on the TT bike since the World Masters Games in Sydney last year, so it felt a bit strange. But I soon felt comfortable and got down to business, found my rhythm and finished first in my age group; and also the second fastest time for the women competitors.
Day 3 - criterium championship
We had a great circuit which included a very smooth section around the lake and while not very technical at least we had some fast and flowing corners, with a head wind along the finish straight. I decided to just have a go again and as we only had a few starters I decided to work on my cornering skills. I lapped the field a few times finishing first.
Day 4 - handicap race
Now as I've said in the past I don't particularly like handicap racing. But at least this one was looking to be a bit of a challenge with a few of the entrants just sitting on the back of the bunch. I knew what they had in mind and I decided to keep the pace high and see how it all panned out. Most of the bunch worked well and after we turned for home and started to work into the head wind the sitters all dropped off. We got caught by the following bunch and I finished with them in a sort of bunch sprint.
I must apologies if this article seems a bit scattered. We are currently in London on holidays and this article has so been written from locations in Melbourne, Abu Dhabi and finished on a family member's barge on the Thames River in London. We are both really looking forward to the rest of our trip and planning on leaving soon for Europe, then catching some of the Giro. We have also taken delivery of two fold up bikes which if the weather ever improves will be getting some use.
Cya!
Pip