Battle Of Border 2011

Stage 1 - Terrible Time Trial (By Matthew Chew)

I looked down to see if my dad's statesman had 4wd, no comfort there, I asked Sarah to check the I phone to see how much longer this ridiculous road would go on for, my heart rate was high and I was sweating (lucky for climate control), we were late, not super late but we were on the limit, definitely could not afford to turn around and I nominated myself to lead our entire team the 'way'. Trusting to much in technology I took the short cut on the windy dark dirt road that wound its way up the Burrinbar range from the east then back down almost directly at the race start PHEW!!!!. for a good 20mins I learnt my lesson sorry....... However I do intend to ride that road again on my MTB!

With 30mins to race start we all quickly got signed on and ready. Threw my race wheels on my TT bike for the first time in ages and the brakes were rubbing badly, again this is due to poor preparation as the Zipps are fatter than my training wheels, lucky a good friend who owns a bike shop just happened to be walking past as I was about to blow a fuse.

TT's are always such a mind game. It feels like time is standing still before you start, just as you think its never going to happen your being held upright on the start line and your heart rates automatically picks up significantly

Beep
Beep
BEEEEEPPPPP

Before I could think I had almost caught my 30sec man before the turn around at 2.7k's and was now punching a small head wind back to the start line. Just kept the legs burning, lost a few secs as I sat up to early with the marshal confusing me near the train crossing the train crossing,

Prologues are a joke, $5k + bike, woke up at 4:15 for a 6:35 start drove an hour, stressed being off road, warmed up for 30mins race finished at 6:41 packed TT bike away for next few months! until it all happens again!

Dave Brown 8th 6:20
Matt Chew 10th 6:23
Dave Melville 12th 6:24
Sam Wood 18th 6:27
Reuben Donati 19th 6:30

The top 50 riders were within 1 min of the winners time.

This was a good result for the team as we were all within striking distance on the GC

Stage 2 - Rapid Road Race (By Matthew Chew)

Not sure if rapid or epic describes this race best describes this race, anyway..... 4 laps of 37k on a super hilly course that saw us climb Burrinbar range 8 times for 2000+ m's of climbing. 152k's

The race started as standard with a solid pace being set by the QAS team, D3 had no plans to do anything but cover moves so we all sat in conserving as much as possible the comms car took a wrong turn in Stokers Sliding which we followed and were given an opportunity for a nature break when we were red flagged after 5k in the wrong direction.

After finally getting going again and a period of neutral we got through the dodgy potholes of stokers sliding without incident and made our way up the climb for the 2nd lap, I could hardly feel my legs so I started to dangle off the front looking to start something Chris Klem and I rode off the front on the decent, he advised me it was a long way to go and slowed down then Chris Prior and I were dangling off the front and he also said 'steady' but i kept the pressure on this time and within 5 mins we were a group of 6 out of sight.... EB time here we go again!

I didn't suffer all that much and for the next 75k's our group got a maximum of 2mins or so, rumour has it every time a Tinelli rider turned around to look for someone to pull a turn Stu Cowin was there with a smile on his face!

The hills and the lure of the KOM points really cost they breakaway and we slowly whittled down lap after lap from 6 to 1 rider (me) at the top of the range for the 2nd last time with 30k to go, I saw the peloton only 30sec back and had no interested to try to survive 30k solo, I rode over the KOM sat up ate and waited for the peloton to come past on the decent.

I was very worried I would slip straight out the back but the legs were pumping today and had no problems sitting in. Reuben needed water an I had only two mouthfuls which I have him one. The race really only started in the final 15k's after the Art Gallery, Stu Cowin hit the group and was joined by Peter Thompson from Tinelli they quickly got 30sec + on us as they started the final climb up the range, within 1k of the top I saw Stuart almost rolling backwards down the hill he cracked so hard and was so close to getting over the top and being towed to a podium behind Peter Thompson! Great try mate you almost ripped our legs off today!!

With Stuart rolling backwards Nick Shultz QAS launched an attack which sent him on the chase of Peter Thompson only to catch and pass him on the line after Peter had started his celebrations! ooppssss...

Stuart recovered well to hang on and finish in the first group with my self and Dave melville @ +34 secs
Reuben and Sam wood came in the 2nd group at 1:14

Due to my breakaway of 80k's and 4 hill climbs I collected the Polka Dot Jersey even though it was not a goal of mine!

We went into Day two with the polka dot Jersey
Matthew Chew 5th on GC +1min
Dave Melville 6th GC +1mim



Stage 3 – Epic Road Race (By David Melville)

Stage 3 was another longish road race the started in the Salt village before heading out to complete 3 laps of a 40km undulating course. The first few kms were on an open fast hot mix road before turning onto the dead and rolling Plantation road. The road then flattened out through the cane fields before heading over the KOM and heading back into to Kingscliffe via Cabarita Beach.

The plan today was to try and let a early break go to take away the KOM points from the Matts rivals in this category. I was near the front when the early break began to form. Fortunately Sam was at the right place as well and was able to ride across to give D3 a rider in
the break. As this group began to draw clear, the main field slowed
down and let the group go. The lead to the early break grew to 2minutes as we finished the first lap. The TDU team had missed the move and placed the entire team on the front to pull the break back. The break was caught just after the KOM on the 2nd lap with 50kms remaining. Along the fast hot mix road that links Kingscliffe and Cabarita Beach there was a flurry of activity as riders began to try and split the field up, however it all remained together as we passed the feedzone and began the final lap. I decided to try and force a reaction from the mainfield and draw out some of the stronger riders by attacking on the toughish climb where
Cam Jennings rode across to the early break 12 months ago. Unfortunately no one from the main field decided to join me so I was left to roast out in front for the following 10kms in a rather fruitless waste of energy. I sat up in the cane fields and waited for the field to rejoin me. Coming into the approach to the final KOM, Chewy had to be careful to try and keep his lead in this category. The pace was fairly quick over the climb however the main field remained relatively intact. Kristain Juel took the points in the KOM meaning himself and Chewy were now level on points. A flurry of attacks began after the KOM in the fast run into the finish. Two riders managed to draw a small gap and Stuey Cowin was only 5m of the back of the group when the commissars decided to stop the race out on the road and re-explain the finish for the 3rd time. Upon the restart, the two riders who had a small gap were allowed to resume ahead of the main field shot away and to their credit, were able to draw out a decent gap. The main field slowly got moving again, with most riders including myself complaining about second race stoppage in two days rather than paying enough attention to the riders down the road. Reuben attempted to ride across the gap to the two out in front and was joined by some Chris Pyror and another rider, however Reuban stopped working when he realized Chewy and I were about to get leapfrogged on GC due to our miscalculation. In the end, Michael Hosking took a fine win over Ben
Cutajar with send Michael into the race lead. Rueben was on track for third place before he overshot the last corner and ended up in the barriers. The rest of the D3 finished back in the main field.

Overall, it was a reasonably interesting day of racing for all the
wrong reasons.

Matthew Chew GC 7th 1:05
Dave Melville GC 9th 1:09

Stage 4 – Salt Crit (By David Melville)

The final stage of the Tour was a 45minute crit around the Salt complex. We had awoken to the good news the Chewy had retained his KOM jersey on countback due to his higher GC placing than Kristian. The goal for the crit was to try and be as aggressive as possible and to get Sam or Reuban on the podium whilst maintaining Chewy's KOM jersey and good GC place. A lot of talk was thrown around regarding how safe or dangerous the course was due to the tight corners, however after racing Tour of Murray last year with 100 plus riders on worse courses than this, I really wasn't that worried. The best thing to do is forget about and go have a coffee, preferably at a good cafe on the beach at Kingsliffe... and that's exactly what I did.

With the whole team decked out in skin suits, we set off at midday for the final stage. The fight for position was on during the warmup lap as the importance of getting to the front on a course like this is paramount. Sam Wood was able to get to the front as he had a call up from the "Voice of Cycling" Luke Lucas. I managed to get on the right hand barrier to avoid having to clip in. As soon as the race started the pace was on and it was a case of getting to the front as soon as possible. Sam was in the first 10 wheels from the first corner, whilst I had to work abit harder for it and was only able to join him up the front after about 10minutes. I didn't know where Reuban, Dave, Stuey or Chewy were, all I knew was that they had to get up to the front as soon as possible. Reuben missed his clip in and Chew was left praying for a Call up stuck at the back of the bunch! Once at the front, I set about trying to get a group of the front to
apply pressure to the Tinelli team and put the less experienced crit riders in difficulty. Sam and I were joined by Reuben who got up to the first 10 wheels about mid race. Once up the front, we took turns covering all of the moves and trying to be as aggressive as possible. I was on one of those days were you can't really feel your legs and the power just comes out effortlessly. I put it down to the combination of red wine, pizza and a 'Power Plus' fruit juice I had the night before. It definitely wasn't due to the 8 year old Giant I was riding that was giving me all sorts of handling issues in the high speed corners (apologies to anyone on my wheel). Despite trying to break the field apart, 25 riders went into the bell lap together. Peter Thompson once again showed how well his is riding by taking the stage win over Brad Davis from ZipVit and our very own Sam wood taking third. Chew started almost last wheel @ 60th place and managed to pass 40 riders to finish 21st, Never being ahead of more than 5 riders all day.

Both Chewy and I were able to move up a spot on the GC to finish
Chew 6th @ 1:10
Melville 8th @ 1:16

It was a successful day for the team and it was nice to be able to animate the final stage of the tour in front of all the spectators. A lot of people commented at the end of the race about how fast it was and how hard it was to hang on. I kept my mouth shut; I'd made a promise to myself after finishing the Swan Hill and Euston crits at the Tour of Murray last year to never complain about a crit being hard ever again. No matter how hard a crit is, it can't be harder than they were!

We were able to come away with a podium place for Sam Wood, a jersey with Chewy and plenty of publicity and exposure for our sponsors. Overall, as a team we were very pleased with the weekend and would like to thank everyone who helped us in out endeavors at the Tweed coast.