collie. it is actually a lot further than i thought it would be. luckily i didn’t go to albany the previous week as it is even further.

so, five of us had signed up for the race. joining me was ryan and stu as regulars, but this time jerry and michael were making the start. the morning looked nice as i drove down, but it was surprisingly cold when i arrived at collie. i was told that that was normal. i drove up some big hills to get to collie so was a bit worried what lay in store for this race. others that had raced previously, said that there were no real climbs and nothing that would smash the group up.

i had given my bike a clean on saturday ready for today’s event. it had new tyres and pedals on courtesy of probikekit (with their low, low prices and prompt delivery) but i hadn’t had a chance to really test them out. the tyres had that new sheen on them that i was a bit worried about, and the cleats needed to be adjusted before the race. i have moved away from the look keo pedals that i usually ride with as i seem to be losing the little pins from the sides that keep the things together. i looked at a couple of other bikes the other week at coffee and saw a similar thing. so this time i have gone with the dura-ace pedals for a change. they are so similar now that i was not expecting any real difference.

the start list showed 25 riders total in our b grade race. we had 1/5 of the field, so could actually do something if we got organised. big if really. by the time we rolled out, the crispness had disappeared from the air and it was almost ideal riding conditions. very little breeze and the sun to warm up our backs. the circuit was a 5 corner, 21km, 4 lap event for us totally 84km. with a smaller group than the last few races, i didn’t know whether this would be better or worse. i.e. would they let a break go early, or would it stay together till midway through the race.

so we headed off and almost instantly no-one really wanted to do any work on the front. no real roll throughs and it was only luck (or unlucky) if you got to the front at all. a guys went to the front about ¼ of a lap out and just kept going. he didn’t look like a big threat, by himself, so he was let go. by the time the second corner came around, he had about 100m on the group but i guess we just thought that he would get tired and come back eventually.

at about the 10km point, the ecu boy from the wandi race jumped up the road. i thought that it was a bit early and didn’t even notice who he was when the move happened. the coffee boy was right on his tail and also went. ryan was chatting to the coffee boy and was boxed in when the move happened. he had to fight his way out and a glenn parker guy also got away.

i was boxed in on the left and couldn’t get out, but was also unsure if i wanted to go this early. i should have forced my way out, but instead waited a bit. the group kind of started to chase and started to line out a bit. it forced the group to the right side of the lane so i sneaked up the left and tried to bridge across. i had left my run way too late as there were now five guys up the road all working together to stay away. i probably made it about halfway across to them, before i saw that the group was closing the gap. i sat up and waited which allowed me time to get my breath back before the group shot past.

i sat at the back for a while trying to recover and seeing what would happen next. i noticed that stu was on the front working but since we had ryan in the break i questioned the reasoning. after a while it was clear that there were only a few guys willing to work at the front, so i moved forward to give them a hand.

it turned into a very frustrating experience. we would start rolling through and after about five or six guys, the line would stop as the rest of the group would just be sitting in. occasionally, this red head guy from joondalup cycles, would get to the front, notice that there was no-one behind him and pull back into the group. wouldn’t even sit on the front. i got sick of it and decided to make it a hard training ride and would go to the front whenever there was a gap. this meant that sometimes i was there by myself with no-one coming over to give me a hand, until someone like stu came from the back to roll through.

i should have just sat on like the rest, but it just frustrated me that no-one was willing to even roll through just to share the load not necessarily chase.

by the end of the first lap, i think that the break was still in sight, but it was hard to tell as there were other races on the road. we chased for most of lap two, but again there were not many that wanted to help. by this time jerry mentioned that michael may have fallen off the back. I looked back and could only see other groups of riders so wasn’t sure. a quick scan of our group and I couldn’t see his jersey at all. well, no time to wait. later he said that he just didn’t have the legs to go with a surge so fell off the back and had to finish the lap by himself.

by the end of the second lap, the break was so far away that no-one cared anymore. two of the break had been spat out the back and had reintegrated with our pack. this left ecu and coffee boy up the road with ryan (or pool boy). this was a similar situation to the race at wandi.

lap three should have been a total cruise, but still people refused to come through and do any time at the front. i ended up doing a lot of turns at the front and would even roll through and sit there at cruise speed for ages as no-one else would. interesting thing is when you want someone to do a turn, you wait for a hill, as the guys just can’t hold back and need to push hard up the hill. i would just let myself slip back through the pack and have a rest, before making my way to the front again just in time to relive some other poor sap who was left on the front.

during this time we came past the women’s race and there was a bit of interaction when we slowed a bit and they got caught in between. the same thing happened with the c grade race, except a couple, of guys were on a breakaway and managed to get really well tangled in amongst us. we would drop them on every hill, then they would barrel back through our group down the left hand side. as we came into town we expected that the end of our third lap would be the end of the c grade race, so gave the two guys a bit more space so that they could do their sprint. it turned out that they also had one more lap to do as they started later than us.

as we headed into lap four, we put in an effort to make sure we dropped the c grade guys for good.

the final lap was a bit of a weird one as people started to make some moves. i looked up the road at one point and there were a few who had headed off the front. i went wide to make sure that no-one was on my wheel and bridged across to them. however, by the time i got there, the impetus had left the break and they had just left one guy on the front to suffer. i just jumped on the back and waited as the group rushed past us.

as we made the last turn to home, the final real climb allowed the group to split a bit with three guys getting away. i wanted to be part of it so did the same move again and thought that i had broken clear. about half way across, i noticed that the rest of the group had also sprinted to get on and we beared down on the break.

stu and i sat at the front as we headed back into town, and i knew that i had done way too much work on the front to do anything really productive in a sprint. as the road went up slightly before the final run into town, some of the guys came around me as i eased off the pace. unfortunately this left stu on the front and no-one was willing to come around. he would move left and the group would snake with him. it didn’t matter what he did, everyone was keen to stay out of the wind so that they could go for the sprint.

i came up the left hand side and made it to the front by yelling at people to get out of my way. it would have been 1 km from the line when i decided to lif the pace so put in a big effort to try to string it out a bit. everyone came with but by the time i faded, no-one wanted to come around. there was almost a crash as guys tried to not be at the front. as we hit the rail crossing and the small rise to the finish, someone started the sprint. everyone went with and i just let myself roll to the line.

as there were only three guys left in the break, the sprint was for fourth which paid out. not sure who got it, but brendan came second in the sprint for fifth overall. in the final break, ryan was taken to the cleaners again by the coffee boy and had to settle for second again. however, it was a very good effort since he had done the half ironman ride the previous day.

jerry and stu finished with the group and jerry had quite a good day considering it was his first bike race ever. i could stay for presentations as the long drive back to perth meant that i would only just be getting home at five and had already spent the whole day away from the family.

so, another second for ryan, but a good day overall with some lessons learned. mainly know your competition and watch them when they make a move; don’t rely on the group to chase as most guys just want to sit in; don’t do all the work on the front if you can help it.

we have planned to skip the race at york this weekend as it is mothers day but will be sending a contingent to dardanup the following weekend. hopefully we can help ryan to move up a spot to first.