Cyclists Hit The Wall

01/11/2003

Heavy rains leading up to the race meant most were content to stay at home and think about how well they would have gone. Only 14 of the toughest cyclists were willing to take on the weather and the steep climb of Fishers Rd (the wall) during the Warragul Cycling Club Scratch race on Saturday.

The A grade contingent consisting of Thomas Sandner and Geoff Thomson were combined with B graders Ross Henry, Tim Lee and Pete Finlayson to make the racing more interesting. During lap one the bunch stayed together with Thomas resisting the urge to embark on a three lap breakaway as they approached the Fishers Rd ‘wall’. Lap 1 was completed in 25:52.

Thomas’s itch was finally scratched as they hit the climb on the 2nd lap. All except Tim Lee were content to watch him pull away. Despite a gallant attempt, Tim would never catch the red and white express and was soon hauled in by the chasing bunch. Thomas rounded out the second lap in a brisk 23:14 with the others were 1min 11sec behind.

In true time-trial style Thomas finished his final lap in exactly the same time as his second (23:14) to round out a great win. It was in this lap that the ensuing B/C Grade bunch parted ways as Peter and Tim turned up the heat.

Ross in his first ride back for a while could not stay with them to see Peter out muscle Tim towards the finish line (1:15:05). Geoff crossed 20 seconds later and Ross was two minutes down.

James Henry, Monique Hanley and Steve Hall put in one of the greatest training rides this year (it was not much of a race apparently). Having been off the bike for a while young James decided to take it easy over the hills and the group of three remained together.

The first lap of two was completed in a modest 29:22, giving everyone a chance to take in the scenery. The final lap was spent preparing for the sprint. Monique was hungry, Steve was hoping is massive gastrocnemius muscles would propel him across the line and James could visualise himself raising his arms as the crowd (comprising of Staf) cheered.

In what was the closest finish of the year, James, Monique and Steve went head to head. Steve and James hit the line and without the luxury of a channel nine camera crew, Staf was left with no choice but to call a dead heat in a time of 57:31.

Kym Fisher was out to assert his dominance on the points table as he, Rod Atkinson and Brendon Jones bustled around in D-Grade. Chris Jones, claiming not to be racing, had to work to keep up with his son.

In the same time as the C-Grade cyclones, the D-Graders completed their first lap in 29:22. The final lap belonged to Brendon who powered his Trek up the ‘wall’ to pull away on a race winning break. The remaining two tried to respond but could only hold Brendon to a 1 minute lead. Not surprisingly Chris didn’t lend a hand and they crossed in 58:54.

Zoe Atkinson and David de Bruyne showed some grit in the junior ride and both put in fantastic efforts.

The club is looking forward to some big turn outs for the next few races as the weather starts to warm up. Check out the race calendar on the club web site (via Cycle Sport Victoria). Next race is at Cloverlea.

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