Tour of Gippsland report

Hey all,

Congratulations to everyone who raced the Cunningham last weekend. Its a great race and one that I have enjoyed racing over the past two season. It is unfortunate that the race overlaps with important racing down in Victoria.

As Healthy has said previously, I was fortunate enought to be allowed to race down in Victoria in the Tour of Gippsland which is the first race in the Scody Cup Series. The tour covers just short of 500km over 5 days with 9 stages in total. This was my first appearance in a Scody Cup race and it was a daunting experience. There was over 140 riders in A-grade with every large Australian team sending their best riders, many of whom have spent the first months of the year in Europe or the US to prepare for this series of races. I'll try as best i can to summarise my experiences during each stage and provide an insight into this style of racing.

Stage 1: Traralgon - Boolarra 51.5km

The first stage was a very nervious occasion. The organiser has made the crazy decision to have the first 20km nuetral. This may sound like a good thing however it was not! The bunch was very large and the lead vechile was driving at a very slow speed. This meant the whole bunch was always spread out across the road and bunching up alot. Everyone was trying to get to the front and as the field was so spread out, this meant that things got very tight on the edges of the road and very messy when 4 lanes turned into 2. There were about 5 crashes in the neutral zone and 3 more once the race finally started. I was caught up in three of those but managed to avoid major damage. I ended up in a ditch of to the side of the road after a 20 rider crash and finished the stage with a group of guys that had been held up in the numerous stages. It was not a good start to the tour.

Stage 2: Traralgon South - Yarram 57.7km

This was always going to be a important stage. We first had to complete 3 laps of a 2km circuit in town. This lap had a 700m climb every lap that was around 13% than we left the circuit and heading stright up a 15km climb which rose to 800m in elevation. The first three laps were raced at an insane speed and I found myself at around 80th wheel when we took the turn off for the 15km climb. I knew I was way to far back and had to get up to at least the top 30 others wise I would get caught behind riders getting dropped on the climb. The problem was that the pace up the climb was extemely hard to begin with and I was already at my lactate threshold. I took a big risk and moved up to the top 30 on the climb which took a massive effort for about 1-2 kms considering the whole bunch was mainly single file. In the end the effort to move up put me into the red zone and I exploded about 5km from the summit of the climb whilst with the front 40 guys, with another 8 guys off the front in a break. I tried to recover and joined the 2nd group of riders which trailed 45seconds back. We continued to climb into the clouds and mist and as we crested the summit we were surrouded by the devastation that the fires that came through this region earlier this year had caused. I was an amazingly humbling experience to see roadside memorials and weathered flowers left in memory for those who were not lucky enough to escape the fires. We were racing on the very same roads where people lost there lives just a few months ago. We crested the climb a couple minutes down and we than decended for 30minutes down the most amazing decent I have ever riden. I lost count at about 20 switchbacks and was very thankfull for the aluminium braking suface on my mavics. We than had to negoiate 4 plank bridges during this decent. I finished in a group about 7minutes down on the leaders. It was another average day in terms of results but a day I will never forget.

Stage 3: Trafalgar Criterium 28.5km

Day two on tour started with a criterium on a 950m course. Yes, 140 riders on a 950 course for 30 laps! This criteriums are raced at 100% from the start till the end. They normally have 30 laps with sprints on the even laps between laps 5 and 26. The pace of the extremely fast from the gun and it stays fast as the crit guys chase the sprint points every 2nd lap. I managed to slot myself into a decent position in the field and get though relatively unscathed.

Stage 4: Trafalgar - Walhalla 75.3km

After the hard morning criterium, we were send of to do another hard 75km journey. The race was fast from the end of the neutral zone (only 1km this time) as everyone tried to make the early break. Eventually after about 20km a break got away but it never enjoyed a decent lead due to the persistant and superstrong AIS team. We left the fast flowing main roads and heading into the hills after 40km. The field split into several pieces over a few climbs with some up to 4kms in length. I was feeling strong and sitting in the front group of 50 guys until I suffered a untimely cramp in the left hamstring with about 15km to go. I had to sit up and by the time I had managed to get the cramp to 'turn off' the front guys were long gone. I recovered and chased for abit with a few riders but was not able to go too hard otherwise the cramp would come back on. I lost a few minutes and was not to happy! I spent the night running through all my pilates exercises Leon Vogels gave me to try and correct the problem (caused by a left glute that likes to stop working and leave it all up to the hamstring) which I have had in the past a few times. I can be seen riding along at the far right of the 2nd photo in my data3 knicks!

Stage 5: Sale Criterium 36km

The next morning we drove to Sale to complete a crit on a square box shaped course. Once again the crit guys were doing there thing and absolutely flying about the course. I was beginning to get the hang of moving up in those crazy races and slotted myself into aroudn 60th wheel. Despite being infront of 80 others guys, I was still 60 wheels from the front! I was riding at close to mt threshold for the entire criterium and we had to sprint out of every corner. During the last couple laps, a few riders ahead of me dropped the wheel and that lead to some gaps being created which lost me some time. It wasn't much, but it I want to come back and go better at these races it is something that you need to be aware off. I may only be a 20m gap, but the time is from the first rider of each group, meaning it can look like 2seconds but acually be 2oseconds.

Stage 6: Sale - Licola 88.3km

This was going to be a hard day. The wind during the tour so far had been very strong but today it was REALLY strong. Our team director was a very experienced and respected former team director of 18 years, who in his youth had placed 28th in the Italian amauteur championships in 1948! He goes by the name of Domonic Caravello. He instructions today in broken english were simple ' GET IN FIRST ECHELON! NO IN BACK, AVOID GUTTER! When come together at 30km with headwind, you break away!" Put simply, the wind was going to be a very strong head/cross wind (about 10-11 o'clock) and we riding along a dead flat and perfectly straight road for 20km after the start. This meant that the riders at the front would form an echelon which is a paceline that runs diagonally across the road to allow the riders to get protection for the side wind... but only so many riders can fit in the echelon as the road is only so wide. This means that if you miss the echelon you end in 'the gutter'. The 'gutter' is the used to describe those riders who are tailing behind an echelon and are riding on the furthest part of the road in, yes you guessed it, the gutter. It is the hardest place to be as the riders in the echelon have crosswind protection but you do not as you can't sit on the rides hip as there is no more room left on the road.

The photo below shows two echelons on that day. The riders on the far right in the group further up the road, sitting on the back are riding 'in the gutter'. They are working alot harder than the riders who are in the diagonal paceline across the road.

















I ended up in the 2nd echelon, but I was not able to get a position in the rolling movement of the echelon so I opted to drop back to the third echelon where my team mates were able to let me into to the rotation. The field was in 4 echelons and the gaps were about 15-20 secounds between groups. We all managed to get together again after about 30kms when we turned into Maffra and the crosswind became a headwind. I than got straight to the front and started to try to cover some of teh break aways that were trying to get away. I strong group of 7 had slipped away and I had a go at getting across but 20s gap but we turned left into a full blown head wind and I was unable to cross the gap.

After all the chaos of the first 50kms, we than heading into the hills. We first conguered a 2km climb similar to Mt Cootha, than a 5km climb. I was dropped from the front runners up the 5km climb but stayed with Cody Stevenson who I knew could decend like a madman. We crested the climb 30seconds down and managed to get back to the front group by decending like idiots and taking all sorts of risks. Let me tell you, I now know why racing drivers have such high heart rates when the race. When you are going 90 km p/h into a corner you have never seen and are just trusting the cars infront and hoping that the corner does straighten up, you get very scared! We fought our way though the convey and it is just a massive game of trust. You have to trust that the cars which follow the race know you are there and they give you the room when you are about to take over them on the side, you have to trust your equipment, you have to trust the road quality and most of all, you have to trust your ability at decending! Any hesitation can mean missing the apex and going of the edge of the road. Cody was just a lunatic! I was exiting the corners with no more than 5cm of road left at full lean, if it was an tighter I would have been in serious trouble.

We got back on and I knew I didn't have the legs to go to the finish with the leaders so I helped my young 58kilo NSW team mate named Ben Dyball. He was riding very strong in the hills so I paced him to the base of the final climb and made sure he was in the first 20 wheels when the climb started. I was dropped halfway up the final 6km climb and rolled to the finish a few minutes down. Once again I was not to happy to be getting dropped on hills I was finishing with some good riders so it made it abit easier to deal with.

Stage 7: Bairnsdale Criterium 33km

Another day, another criterium, another small course, another hour of pain. Today the fatigue from the two previous days was starting to take its toll. Me heartrate whilst resting on the startline today fell to 41 b/pm, I was a little bit worried as I had already had a double-shot latte and 10 hours sleep! This crit was another really hard course. The wind was still blowing very strong and I once again was getting a bad position on the start line. I managed to fight my way into the main bulge of the field in the first 50 wheels and survive the race quite well. I had taken my sub 60kg team mate under my wind and looked after him in the crits. He had a chance of a top 20 for the tour but he was suffering in every crit due to his feather weight so I was trying to keep him in good position and draging him to the front as best I could. I finished in the main field of about 60 riders with 40 guys being dropped. You know it is a hard criterium when Jai Crawford, rider at Savings and Loans who is once of the best climbers in Australia, drops the wheel and you have to close the gap. Thanks Jai! During this crit I was pleased to receive a handsling (madision track style) from a rider from the Victoria Insitute of Sport that had dropped the wheel and was unable to close the gap. It doesn't happen much but it was very much appreciate and I thanked him later on in the tour.

Stage 8: Bairnsdale - Lakes Entrance 76.8km

Today it was obvious that a break was going to go away to take the stage today. The problem was that the course had some KOM and sprint points in the first 30kms which meant that the teams chasing those Jerseys were going to try to keep the race together. Myself and Ben (team mate for NSW) had aggred to start looking at the breaks after the first KOM at the 6km mark. Unforunately the break didn't go until the 30km mark and I was way to fatigued to make the break. The AIS team had let the break go as it had no one that threatened there race leader. I was very, very dissapointed in myself for not making the break. I had a couple chances to go across when it was being formed but I either had bad position in the field or not enough legs left. The break started with about 6 riders and three went on stay away by 30secs with Scott Davis, Alans brother, taking the stage win.

Stage 9: Paynesville Criterium 44km

It was rather appropriate that the final crit was held in a town prounounced 'Painsville'. I was starting to get very fatigued and my HR fell to a staggeringly low 38 b/pm on the startline. The late night packing and getting ready to leave the accomodation had left me only a few hours sleep so I was feeling very average. The race was once again super fast and was help on a flowing 1.5km course. I surprised myself by feeling amazing on the bike, the best all tour. I knonestly felt like I had forgot to put a chain on because the pedals sun so easily! I began to get ready to move up for the final 15laps of 40 to have a go in some of the breaks aways. Unfortunatley, QLDer Malcolm Rudolf came down in a terrible crash and looked it a really bad way. When a friend is lying on the ground with a massive team of medical people standing over them, it is hard to stay focused on the race. He fortunately was ok. I began to get ot the front when another 10 guys came down in front of me and I was able to avoid it. These crashes took my mind completely of the race and I just focused on getting the final stage over and getting home in one peice! I found my team mate Ben again and got him out of trouble and guided him around till the end of the race.

And that was it. The tour that seemed to have everything from rain, mist, fog, wind, crits, road races, echelon, massive hills and crashes had come to an end. I finished some where around 50th on general classification out of about 140 riders. It was an amazing experience and something which I hope to build upon in the future.