On Thursday last week, mum and i began our 11hr journey up to northern NSW for the Glen Innes to Inverell which is the Women's race which is run in conjunction with the men's Grafton to Inverell (226km). On the schedule for the women was a 95km race with 2 KOMs and 2 Sprint primes. The course was undulating for the most part it with a few steep 2-3km climbs thrown in to the mix. the profile of the course can be seen here:
http://www.graftontoinverellcycleclassic.com.au/site/images/stories/pdf/glen-invl_elsm_loop_coloured.pdf
26 girls fronted the start line including eventual race winner Davina Summers and Kirsty Broun, Liz Young and Carly Hibberd all racing for MB cycles team. Conditions for racing were good, except for that it was a bit on the steamy side. The SRM kindly informed me that it was 34 degrees... definitely don't get that back home! So after the field did a lap of the town to be introduced to the crowd, we headed off. We were told that there was going to be a surprise sprint somewhere in the race and that there would be flags marking when it was going to be. Unfortunately for most of the girls, they didn't see the flag or didn't read to program and were unaware when the first sprint was. at 10km in i saw a yellow flag indicating 200m until the sprint and i was in a good position near the front so i took off and gapped the field by a long shot to win it. I sat up and the bunch rolled up next to me and asked me what that was..they didn't realise that it was the surprise sprint until it was too late! Probably thinking what an idiot i was, attacking 10km into a 100km race ha ha.. oh well. So got maximum point for that sprint.
After that we ran into the base of 8% climb which was about 2-3km long and the first of the KOM. I broke away mid way with Kirsty Broun and Jodie Willet and managed to get over Jodie for 2nd in the KOM. The bunch regrouped shortly after and we continued on the undulating course until the next KOM climb, a 5.8% climb which was about 1-2km long. Kirsty and I broke away with her team mate Carly and Kirsty picked up the win again to secure the KOM. we were away for a little while but the course is essentially downhill so we got reeled in by the pack before too long. In the last 30 or so km of the race, most of the girls were running bit low on water since we didn't get an official feed station because our race wasn't very long.
One rider in particular asked the lead motor bike if she could have some water and he said he didn't have any and i overheard this and offered my 2nd bottle to her. later during the race she asked if she could have another drink and i was like' yeah sure', was hardly going to let another rider go without water...but if you keep reading on you'll see why i get a little bit pissed off at this rider.
So we had only a short 9% climb which was about .5-1km long, by this time my legs were killing me. i don't mean to sound up myself or anything, but i was definitely pulling my weight in the bunch! wa pulling a stack of turns but hey, thats just how i ride. I would rather be aggressive and get dropped than do nothing all race. At the end of that little pinch there was the last sprint and i picked up 2nd, securing my a win as the Women's Sprint Queen.
From then on, it was downhill to the finish. Then was when i was welcomed to the wonderful world of women's team racing. another rider (not the one who i gave water) but another rider told me her team mate was going to attack at 2km to go and that i should hold her wheel and go for it. now i took her advice because we'd been working hard together all race and she was saying how well i was doing and stuff..so trusted her. was a bit annoyed when i realised that the person she told me to follow was her lead out rider so she had me perfectly sandwiched out of the way from the rider they actually wanted to win. I was sitting on the inside of the lead out girls wheel out of the wind when her team mate behind me goes 'pull off inside' and pushes me to the side, which left me with 1km to go in the wind trying to get back into the lead out. i tried getting back into the pack only to be told by the rider who i gave water to 'to piss off'. left me having to go to the back of the pack of about 13 through a round-a-bout and having to come around them. managed to get 7th in the tight bunch finish. was pretty annoyed becuase hadn't reached my max in the sprint. didn't get the opportunity. reckon would have been up there for sure. but hey, guess thats just racing! and lesson learnt. it is kind of a sucky way to learn it but hey. At least I was happy with how i rode bar the last 2km. i rode more aggressively than the race in Wangaratta and did a lot of work. Just didn't quite go my way at crunch time. All i guess i can do is learn from my mistakes.
So thats another race under my belt and a big one at that. Turns out it was the last race on the NRS calendar! and i guess 7th in an elite field isn't too shabby.. and i did pick up the Women's Sprint Jersey (even tough they got the results mixed up and presented it as a tie at the Presentation between myself and Kirsty..turns out they had me 3rd in the 2nd sprint..) but got that fixed up not long after.
So that night we had the presentation pasta dinner which was good then crashed in our lovely caravan for the night, it was actually really cute! Oddly enough my body clock woke me up at 5am the next day as it is accostumed to during the week and was unable to get back to sleep but luckily mum was awake so we were on the road at about 6 so were were home in time for a 40km recovery ride and dinner :) the trip itself was good. i shared most of the driving with mum, stopping in little country towns on the way. thats one of the aspects i like about cycling, it can take you to some of the most wonderful places! i have been to towns people didn't even know existed! and cycling people are so friendly and people were out on the race route cheering for us the whole way! it was wonderful :)
Next on the to do list: 'Amy Gillett Cup'. going to be a good one ;)
P.S full results and race interviews can be found here:
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2031&Itemid=48
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2028&Itemid=101
and
http://www.cyclesportnews.com/aus/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2030&Itemid=48
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