Gold wins help heal race crash injuries

by Pip Read - Australian and World Masters Champion

I started my last ramblings with the statement 'things have been a bit quiet on the racing front of late' but that will be the understatement of the year! With the Australian Masters Championships closely followed by the Honda Hybrid Women's Tour there was a total of eight races in 10 days; all with a few ups and downs along the way. Read on.

As I also mentioned last time I was in a bit of a panic when I realised how close the championships were. I really did not feel that confident planning my race. My plan for the racing was just to do my best and if all else failed at least it was good training for the Honda Tour.

Australian Masters Time Trial Championships: This race was an early start and by 9.30am I was at the bike check. The first thing the officials told me was 'you can't use that aero bidden'. Being a short time trial this did not worry me too much. After a warm up and while waiting for my start I noticed a magpie nest directly above the start ramp! Luckily it was a member of the 'we don't bother swooping club'. I was first off in my age group so had no rider ahead of me to gauge my effort. I felt great until the turnaround when I was lashed with a strong headwind and an uphill finish. Tough! Just after I crossed the finish line I was summonsed for a drug test.

I've been observing the pro's being drug tested for years and was very interested at the proceedings. Firstly I was interviewed, with a chaperone accompanying me. All conversations were documented and I had to check them for accuracy. I even had to check the sample containers were clean and unused before being taken from the bag. I was able to ask as many questions as I felt I needed and at no time made to feel pressured. I have talked to others since and most say it gets a bit tedious after a few tests but, how pro is that? Being drug tested and being referred to as and athlete! So cool! Plus I won gold.

Australian Masters Criterium Championships: Another early start in Ballarat (read cold). We had a good number of entries from three age groups. Half way around the first lap an official car came past with horn blasting. We were apparently supposed to be under control until the whistle, but after talking to the others, none of us remember being told this at the start. When we finally had the whistle we were racing. My plan was to find another strong rider and force a breakaway, which I tried a few times without success. As it was a long circuit for a criterium event, myself and two others kept the pace as high as possible to minimise the chance of a sprint at the finish. I finished just ahead of my age group, two gold medals and one to go.

Australian Masters Road Race Championships: I did my sums the night after the criterium and worked out that I had won enough points to take the champion of champion's jersey. But at the start line in the morning the atrocious weather conditions had me questioning my sanity of starting the road race at all. The course took us around Lake Learmonth and we had as much water being blown of the lake surface as that which was falling out of the sky! Again I questioned why was I doing this?

The answer to that question is because sometimes I just can't help myself. Three laps of a circuit that I know quite well, lap one by myself with another competitor and we broke away and stayed away for the rest of the race. Lap one was wet and windy, lap two was sunny but windy and lap three was wet and very windy almost blowing us both of the road at least twice!

I went home with three gold medals, the champion of champion's jersey (pictured above) and a bottle of wine for best female rider on the day.

Honda Hybrid Women's Tour: Stage 1 Ballarat, Lake Wendouree (6km - 7 laps).

I really love doing these types of races; lots of people, lots of spectators all the trappings of big races, sponsors, signs etc. In saying that the road closers could have been a bit better thought out. Picture 59 riders with half the road to race on, except at roundabouts, and every so often signage for cars coming in the opposite direction. But these signs are on our side of the road, and as you would expect with the road narrowing, wheels touched and crashes happened. One of our girls came down loosing a bit of skin. I still don't know how I didn't join her but I remember realising my front wheel was skidding so I let go of the front brake and the next thing I know my rear wheel was hitting the road. One of the girls told me later that my rear wheel was two feet of the ground! We all finished, with the team placing 13^th on the GC.

Stage 2 Geelong Criterium - (Geelong criterium course - 1 hour criterium)

I used to live not far from this demanding circuit and finally I got to race on it. We still had a field of 59, even after yesterday's crashes and it wasn't long before the race split into at least three groups. I was trying to catch the leaders and after doing a few laps in between the two groups I sat up and worked with the second group until we were about to be lapped. We were pulled to allow clear passage for the leading bunch. Again our team all finished and we had started our climb up the Team GC into 12th position.

Stage 3 Drysdale (team time trial - 13.3km)

Our nerves were playing up on the start line. We had already ridden the course in team formation and had a plan on how we would run the race. But it's all an unknown until the race unfolds. In the long run all went to plan. The race was a reasonably short team time trial. I needed to keep my team mates in mind, as I was more experienced at this style of racing than some of the others, having done one or two team time trials in my time. My priority was to keep as many of us together for as long as possible and finish with at least three team members still riding. We managed that and also managed to maintain our 12^th position on the GC.

Stage 4 Sorrento to Arthur's Seat road race (45 km)

To be quite honest I was not feeling that good at the start of this stage. I have ridden Arthur's Seat once or twice about 10 years ago. The bunch left the start at Sorrento with the first 5kms under neutral race control. One of our team had a mechanical problem at Rye and my legs were telling me I had not had enough coffee or something! I was starting to struggle but I persisted and after a few more kilometres of slight incline I started to catch the leading bunch. To my surprise I started to make my way through the race convey just like the pro's, using the cars to my advantage (lucky no officials saw me). I was also surprised at the steepness of the final climb to Arthur's Seat. I finished 30^th on the stage and 34^th on GC and our team improved position; we were now 11^th on GC.

Stage 5 Lygon Street Criterium

While not technically a hot dog circuit, this might as well have been. It had tight turns and lots of acceleration out of the tight corners. As was expected the race broke up quite soon after the start with small groups working to stay out as long as possible. I was going great guns until lap 13 or 14. As I was heading for the first left hand turn the corner marshal closed the pedestrian crossing and I think one person crossed without being noticed. This distracted me for a second and the next thing I remember is the pain in my jaw and me thinking have I broken anything? I had crashed heavily. There was lots of blood and I was in considerable pain. The scene must have looked spectacular but all I was worried about was my bike.

The damage was three stitches in my chin, lots of bark missing and some bruised ribs. The bike fared better, just a damaged lever cover. This was my first ever race fall, and I guess it had to happen. I don't blame the corner marshal or the pedestrian. I checked my computer a few days later and as I turned into the corner I was doing 35.8kph so I guess I got of the whole situation fairly lightly. The surprising thing is I still got a finish time and our team, being the only club team and the only masters team finished 10^th on GC! Not bad for a bunch of old chooks.

As I write this I have two days until I leave for the Bright Boot Camp. My ribs are better but still quite sore, so with any sort of luck I will be supporting one of the slower bunches. My breathing is still not back to normal and you need to be able to breathe when you climb Mt Buffalo, Tawonga Gap, Falls Creek, and Mt Hotham in four days… Eeek!

Please stay safe on the roads.

Talk soon.

Pip