Tour of the Tweed - Battle Report

Hey

I'm spent the last few days down the coast racing the Tour of the Tweed in Agrade for Data3 with Shaun and Dave from ozbikedirect. I know its a long report, but so much happened and I hope some of you find it interested.

Stage 1 - 8km TT

To start the tour we had a short TT over a course which I would describe as 'dangerous'. The roads were very rough with blind corners and wooden bridges. We all got through the stage ok with myself coming at 20th and Dave and Shaun in the 30's. I almost collided head on with Steven George when I overshot a blind corner and ended up on the wrong side of the road so I was very lucky to get home safely.

Stage 2 - 82km Road Race

I knew this stage would be very hard from the start. The course had 5 decent climbs in the first 10km of the lap. The time gaps were close so I knew that the all the big teams were going to try get the numbers in the break. We flew up the first few hills at warp speed and with alot of strong guys trying to establish the break. After the first lap things calmed down abit and a group of 5 went away containing a rider from budget, 2 from fly v, and a rider from the strong NSW Mace team, being directed by two time Giro finished Trent Wilson. I had about three opportunities to get across to the break when the gap was still at 30-40 sec but I lacked the confidence in my legs. I could feel a cramp coming on and I was worried I would cramp up once in the break and stuggle to finish the stage. In hindsight, this was a big mistake and I should have backed myself. Steven George and Peter Herzig crossed to the break on the 2nd lap which I thought would have sent the two Cameron's (Hughes and Jennings) from the Budget Forklifts team to the front as now Malcolm Rudolf (Budget) had 3 fly V riders to compete with in the break. I spoke to Shaun during the race and told him to make sure that if he was worried about getting dropped on the hills, make sure you are on the front at the base of the climbs. This way you can drift through the pack rather than being near the back and having no where to go. In the end, I finished in the main field some three minutes back with Shaun and Dave. We were all happy to get the stage over with safely after a couple bad crashes. The big losers of the day were the BikeSales team and the Budget Team who had riders high up on general classification after the Time Trial but missed the break, or in the case of Malcolm, lost time to the other riders in the break.

Stage 3 - 112km Road Race

This is a stage I would call a 'Salvage Day'. Often in short tours, a deciding break will go in one of the earlier stages which will decide the general classification. Normally after such a breakaway, alot of riders who missed the break will try to get into the early break the following day to claw back time, put that good training to use, allow their teammates in the main field a free ride, or get down the road early to be able to help out their team mates later on when the race rejoins them. I was 100% commited to the early break and spent the first 20minutes following anything the moved and trying desperately to make the move. We covered 24km in just over 30minutes! Fly V was pulling back every break that went off the front but it didn't stop riders from trying. Eventually a 5 man group containing mostly u19's went away. I had a crack at getting across with Cam Hughes and we were able to get within 15sec but Fly V were not willing to let someone like Cam Hughes in the break so we were pulled back. Things calmed down after this and the bunch settled in to a more comfortable speed for the following 50km as we went over the 15% climb and another loop of the tough course completed in stage 2. As we climbed the tough climb to the feedzone at 80km, the field split up and alot of riders were caught out over the top of the climb as they realised a 20m gap going up a 10% hill can very easily become a 200m gap when going down at 70 km p/h on the other side! The following 30km to the finish became extremely difficult as the rain and wind picked up and the pace went down on the flat road! I very rarely saw my speedo reading below 47 km/ph for the final 20km's. The 25 of us in the front split were riding in a echelon to combat the strong side wind with lightening, driving rain and flooded roads. I break of about half a dozen got away through the wind to take the stage. It was freezing and just focusing on trying to survive. I came in with the front split of the main field( 20 riders) about 1.30 down on the break of 6. Deon Locke won once again showing everyone how strong he is. Shaun and Dave came in abit later in a group of riders. It was a day we were all glad to get over and done with.

Stage 4 - Salt Crit

Out of all the stages of the tour, this was the stage I was most worried about. I can't sprint and struggle on flat roads against larger strong riders. I knew this crit would be raced at warp speed. I thought about some advice Stuart Cowin(well respected, experienced brisbane cyclist) gave me once about racing full gass crits, he said 'if your not warm, your gone'. I felt like my body was starting to shut down abit when I woke up so I went out for 50km before the race with three reps of a 2km climb we found the previous day when driving back from the race. I did one at 85% and two with 15sec sprint and 45sec recovery. This might sound like a stupid thing to do but I know that I had to get the legs going before a maximum effort like a crit on a course like this with riders of this callibre. My prediction was correct and the crit was raced at full speed. I had a bad start and ended up at around 40th wheel, a bad place to be. We were lapping around at an average of close to 45 km p/h so moving up was next to impossible. I felt like I was racing the Monaco grand prix as I only really had one, maybe two, opportunites per lap to advance my position. About 10minutes in and still in around 30th wheel there was a big crash in front of me and I had no where to go but staight into a gutter at 45 km. The mavic cosmic somehow didn't snap in half and I was able to have a lap out and rejoin. I rejoined and found myself back in the last few wheels but slowy and consitently worked my way up. The hardest part of the course was the flat straight after the quick right, left corners after the start/ finish. We never sat below 50 km p/h thought here as the cross wind pushed us all into the right hand gutter. When you see riders like Mark Ledgerwood and Peter Thompson unable to hold the wheel you know the racing is HARD!! Those watching may have heard me shouting some 'gentle encouragement' to the riders in front of me through the finish on a few occasions. The reason for this was that I could see that they were starting to drop the wheel and I just wanted them to either close the gap or move out of my way so I could. When a gap goes on a course like this at this speed, its game over. With two laps to go, about 20 riders of the original 50 remained. Dave McAdam rode a great race but suffered a very untimely puncture at around 2 laps to go. In the end, Cameron Jennings won over Steven George. I came in with the 15 or so riders representing main field some 13seconds back in 14th. It was a super hard crit but I was happy to finish the stage in the main field with alot of very high quality cyclist and it gives me confidence going forward.

I must send a massive thanks to Andrew and Shane for the assistance in getting me to this tour. It was a great experience and I hope that I represented the Data3 team well in my first outing.