With the Fall Back time change I had an extra hour to get ready and made good use of it. Rolled into Perth with more than an hour to get warmed up. Was a beautiful day.
Set up the tire pressure just a tad about 35 psi and went off for a warm-up lap. Course had a couple slight changes but over-all was very similar to last Perth race with the sand pit included. It was very dry and hardly even any dew on the course.
Wore my one-piece kit with a t-shirt under and was plenty warm during the race with only a bit of a chill waiting for the start.
We started on the pavement and I initially had a good spot but we got moved and I ended up caught out for a good spot on the inside. For some reason there was a lot of room on the out-side so I decided to go there knowing I usually get a good jump. I had a good start even though Bob said "We go on 3" and I didn't realize he was going to count in his head ! Even with the bad jump I was onto the course probably in the top 20 for a large field of over 120 riders.
I have been having great starts and I have not even been on the front row. Too bad my power only lasts for 1/2 a lap. Once I hit the redline it's all backwards from here... Ended up 31st of 41 for cat and 90th of 134 overall.
I think I missed being on the lead lap by about a minute which was my goal for the season, to be on the lead lap. This was before all the insulin issues arrived. Two more races left to at least finish one race on the lead lap.
Was a bit of a crazy start and one guy cut me off 3 times, the last into a tree which I had to brake hard for and then lost about 4 spots in 2 seconds. I also lightly bumped against a tree at speed as a rider somehow went down in front of me. I think throughout the race I had to dodge about 4 other riders that lost it in front of me. Didn't cost me much time and stayed up myself so no complaints.
After I settled in a bit I ended up having a good battle with one of the younger lads and a teammate, Dom, for most of the race. Dom slowly caught me and passed me in the first two laps. I fought back and forth with Jonathan(I believe) up until near the end of the second last lap. I had passed Dom about the middle of the second last lap when he missed the turn and went wide off course. I could see he was slowing down and probably toast trying to stay in front of me and thats why he missed the turn.
The 3rd lap was an awful lap for me and my time showed it. At one point my HR was almost down to 150 when I normally keep it close to 170(max 185). After this I was slowly feeling a bit better and I was starting to attack a bit out of the corners and then ease power up and hold as much speed as I could. I could see my HR finally creeping back up into the 160's.
It's a bit of a blur what part of the end of the race that I decided to make my move and drop the young lad that I was battling with all race. The course zig-zagged over a couple of pavement sections and this is where I made my move. We all know we roll faster on pavement so I made extra hard sprint efforts as soon as I hit the pavement and tried to get up to speed quickly knowing that it would not require that much power to maintain it here. I quickly closed the gap and passed putting in a gap. I hit every exit harder than I did on previous laps and ended up with my fasted lap of the day. If I did this every lap I would have easily made the last lap. I am hoping to apply this strategy of fast exits up to speed the next 2 races and see what happens.
The finish of the race is at the top of the hill and you hit the hill a couple times right near the end of the lap. I hammered fairly hard on the hills as I could see that Jonathan was trying hard to reel me back in and I dared not let up. Turns out we both had our fastest laps at the end. Being the carrot and chasing the carrot sure helps push yourself.
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| Dragging to the Finish, sadly down a lap. Photos by Bernard Durand |
Stayed and watched the second race and chatted with some people during and after. Also helped take down the course. Bike is amazingly clean so only oil the chain again. Think this is a first for 2 weeks in a row....
Headed home with a nice sunny drive on the cruise!
Cheers,
Paul
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