27 August, 2011
By Field Reporter, Richard Allen.
The 2011 Queensland MMA3 Road Championship was held in the beautiful town of Warwick some 2.5hrs from Brisbane. Leaving Brisbane at 6.30am in fair conditions, I was hoping the expected inclement weather in Warwick may not have passed – tougher the better! However upon arrival, it was far worse than the forecast – even better!! It was cold, wet and very windy. Many of the riders from the earlier races made comment on how slippery it was and how much water was covering the roads. I knew it was going to be a hard day in the saddle so I set up the rollers and began warming up. An excellent warm up was an absolute necessity.
The race was 120km short consisting of 4 x 30 km laps.
Lap 1
The race started at a pretty slow pace with everyone looking a little edgy. After about 2km, Matt Ryan decided to launch the first attack of the day, however there was little reaction. After a minute or so Matt was brought back. As we approached the first climb, I moved to the front just in case the climbers decided to do their little thing(!) however nothing eventuated. After turning left, I launched my first attack trying to use the crosswind to my advantage. Everyone followed so I stayed on the front keeping it in the gutter. After numerous attacks from Matt and myself, I launched another which no one followed. Shortly after I heard this loud whistle and after looking back, I saw Matt coming across. I waited for him to get on and then we hit it. The peloton began chasing, however, it was falling to bits. Teammate Dave Crosswell (D3CC Race Team) and Andy Patten broke the back of the peloton and bridged the gap. We thought this was the perfect break with two Mainline and two Data#3 riders however the peloton had different ideas and did well to close the gap. As the peloton went past, I quickly noticed the field had been reduced to 9 riders in less than 15km of racing. The rest of the lap was steady but very inactive.
Lap 2
On the second lap Matt and I launched several attacks in the crosswind without luck.
Lap 3
Lap 3 was where the fun began with Dave Crosswell puncturing and chasing back on. I then punctured just before the halfway point and quickly pulled over. With the spares arriving (slowly due to the conditions), I gave him a front and promptly received a rear! Anyway I had about two minutes to make up. As I started to pedal, I noticed 3 guys go past who were chasing. They paused a little for me and we started swapping off. It was evident shortly after that these guys were pretty stuffed so I got on the front and drove it while keeping focused on the flashing lights of the convoy a good distance up the road. I flicked my elbow only to find I'd dropped them. Luckily another guy punctured from the lead group and I was able to work with him for a while before he punctured again. Still over a minute down, I thought this might be race over. However in the spirit of not ever giving up, I had a couple of Capilano honey shotz and continued the chase.
After about 15km or so I got back on which clearly surprised everyone. I then took the opportunity to eat, drink and recover as I knew the last lap would be hell!
Final Lap
As expected the first climb on the last lap was when Dave Crosswell made his move along with Andy Patten. I, along with the others, just went into tempo conserving energy. Once over the top, it was clear that Dave and Andy were on the gas as they had put in a fair gap to us. The chase then began and before not too long the group was back together. A few attempted attacks failed for the next 15km. Again on the final climb (6km from the line), Dave launched a vicious attack which ripped the field apart however, Andy and another rider managed to go with the move and open a big gap. Once over the top a rider from the group got on the front and began the chase getting to within 50 metres before the gap opened out to what looked like 150m. I decided this was my time to have a go at jumping across so I hit the group. It seemed like an eternity however I eventually got there and to my surprise so did another rider.
With 3km to go everyone started to look around at each other waiting for an attack which in turn resulted in the pace slowing dramatically. The attack finally came with 1km to go and again it was Dave. We all followed and at the 500m mark I looked around and saw the others had got back on so I decided to launch for the line. I quickly opened a good gap and gave it all only looking back once to see the group chasing. I remember thinking legs “don't fail me now”! At 150m to go, I looked back again. To my surprise and relief I had extended the gap a little more so I took the time to fix the jersey and go the two handed salute. Unfortunately no pictures of the two hand salute however I did get this one!
I'll say this whenever the opportunity arises (not just when I win!) but thank you to my beautiful wife Candice and my son Corey for their amazing support. Despite the rain and freezing cold conditions, Candice was still there with water and food. I certainly couldn't do this sport without their support. I also want to thank the Data#3 Capilano Cisco Race Team, managers, riders and supporters for their fantastic support.
Corey wanting to wear the medal....
1 comment:
Nice one richard!!!!
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