'Old chook' lays a silver egg!
by Pip Read
I had seen publicity about a women's criterium as part of the 2007 Jayco Herald Sun Tour promising feature elite and amateur riders from around Australia and New Zealand. I entered with fingers crossed.
Race day in Bendigo dawned fine and almost windless. We arrived and unloaded the trusty race bike and as I headed out to check the course, Fran headed for coffee. Note to self to check out coffee first next time! After signing on, and rolling around the course for a few laps, catching up with race colleagues, I spotted the dodgy patching as we crossed the tram tracks. I then started to worry about the hill in the course, especially after seeing how many young elite riders were also rolling around.
Race start went smoothly and after the first few laps I started to feel a bit more confident that I could hang on to the main bunch. We had already dropped a few and I was mid field and not actually struggling to much with the hill. With about five laps to go I found myself being forced out wide on the last corner at the bottom of the down hill section that led onto the finishing straight. To my surprise I actually passed most of the bunch and locked into fourth position, just before the dodgy tram track patch. Note to self, a wide entry to finishing straight works well.
The last lap will be a pleasant memory for me for sometime. I entered the
finishing straight wide, which gave me a wicked run along the finishing
straight that saw me leading into the next corner. Race leader Jenny
MacPherson was off the front big time, so I just put my head down and gave
it my all. My heart rate was through the roof by the top of the hill but
the noise from the crowd was very inspiring and I just kept going hard. I
spotted the rest of the bunch on the way into my favourite corner; they
were heading up the hill, me down. I came in second place, which is not bad
for an old chook!
On the web I checked out the course for the next round. It is a long hot dog type with a bit of a detour. I have a vague memory of a slight hill around that area so the course promises to be a bit harder than Bendigo.
Cya!
Pip
Pip is pictured on the podium with the winner of the women's support criterium Jenny MacPherson.