Kooragang Island – Cervelo Masters Super Series Round 2 (Rerun) – Le Foz Reports

Race report from Le Foz

We all met at Andy’s place for the long trek up to Kooragang Island, a windswept industrial island in the middle of the Hunter River just north of Newcastle.

Famous for it being a deep water port that loads coal from the nearby Hunter Valley mines, it is also the well known home to three Hunter cycling clubs being Kooragang Open Cycle Club, Hunter District Cycling Club and Hunter Valley Veterans Cycling Club.

Miha, Jordan, Ryano, Andy, Ben and myself piled the bikes and associated kit into a couple of cars with me taking the bulk of the boys, and Andy taking the bulk of the bikes.  We didn’t need the radio on in our car as we had Ryano in the passenger seat, already on a high after having a week training in Noosa with my brother David, Big Tim and the rest of the Noosa bunch. As if that wasn’t enough to fire him up, he decided to pop a couple of No Doze so he was good and hyped by the time the race started!

A quick stop on the way for lunch, coffee and to discuss the dreary wet weather that seemed to be engulfing us, we were soon again on our way. We were lucky as we approached the island the clouds disappeared only to be replaced by a good solid 30kph wind. Looks like there would be lots of gutter riding today around the 7k circuit.

As we pulled up, we were met by Rosco and Alex, so Team KMD had 8 starters in the A grade race. You could see a few heads tilt to the side and stare as the team got dressed,  even the nice lady at sign in commented that in future there might have to be a limit on the number of Manly boys in the race.

As we got changed and warmed up, the lower grades were racing. They were being split into bunches by the strong wind, so we could see we were going to have our work cut out.

Of the three Cervelo Masters series races to date, Alex had won 1 and Eddie Salas the other 2. Eddie had already won the series, due to a 4^th place in race 3, when Alex didn’t race but we were keen to ensure Alex evened up the number of wins

So Alex was out protected rider today. The plan was for Me, Jordan, Andy, Miha and Ben to do the bulk of the work, and have Rosco and Ryano ready as backup if Alex wasn’t into contention.  With the flat windy course, I had a choice of the 11/23 or a 12/25 rear wheel. I took the 11/23 as I knew coming off a 3 month break from racing with not much training in the legs,  I was going to be struggling to find the right gear in the wind. (don’t you hate it when that happens!). However it was a mistake to fiddle with the bike 5 mins before a race. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I hadn’t put the wheel in securely enough.

The race had 40 starters with a very good strong masters field. Jayson Austen was a little more direct on the line “if you guys don’t win… you ALL want to retire!”

As soon as the starter let us go, Ben and Andy started off at the front, on lap 1 of 8, keeping the pace high, with all of us tucked in behind into the headwind. It wasn’t long till the attacks started with plenty  strong riders eager to test the field.  However, it was easy to see only the strongest riders would get away on such an open windy course.  There were 3 or 4 strong surges in the first lap, with no-one getting away, however, when as we hit the start of lap two, our protected  rider, one Alex Gardner, decided to test his legs and he surged off the front. One other rider from Nth Sydney went with him, Eddie was a bit boxed in on my left and the rest of the field let him go.

Alex put 50, then 100 metres on the peleton. I was about 6^th wheel watching him power on into the wind. It was early in the race, but Alex was fresh off Goulburn last weeks so the distance shouldn’t be a problem. Obviously no KMD Racing rider was going to help anyone chase him down, and I thought, “if they don’t react within 15 seconds no one will see these guys till the finish” After a brief pause, three or four riders took off after the two attackers.

Ryano was straight onto their wheel, covering the move. Salas and 3 others then reacted and took off to bridge to the second group soon after. I saw the move going and jumped onto them. Salas drove across to the break, so Alex and one other rider from Nth Sydney were up the road,  then a break of 8 about 15 seconds behind followed by the main group another 15 seconds or so.

I had just made the second group with Ryano and thought that this would be the group that would catch Alex and his breakaway companion. Ryano and I wouldn’t have to do anything and would be set to counterattack when the junction was made. However my participation in the group was brief.  I looked to the rider behind me as I thought he was grabbing my seatpost, only to hear him say, “mate your rear wheel is rubbing”. When I had swapped the wheels on the bike before the race, I hadnt tightened the skewer  enough and the wheel was rubbing against the rim/wheel. By the time I had sat up reached behind me to loosen my brakes, I was 30m off the back of the group and in no man’s land. I knew I was undercooked with my fitness, and had no chance of getting back on, so had no choice but to sit up and wait for the bunch. Race done for me.

The course had one section where there is a turnaround, so each lap we could see how the break was doing . Salas then attacked the breakaway and he and one other got to within 200m of Alex. But they couldn’t make up that last little bit. After another lap Eddie was shouting at his teammate in our bunch – “get yourself up here – I need you to bridge across”. Jordan gave me a bemused look – this guy would have to be the best rider in the race to bridge to the break then to 200m off the leaders – we thought that the best plan might be for him to bunny hop the centre divider.

So that was the race order for the rest of the race. Alex was driving at the front with one other. Salas and another chasing 15 seconds back, then a small break further down the road which Ryano was in  and then (what was left) of the peleton a minute or so further back.  All the attacking had shed about half the field out of the race. Ben had also had a mechanical so he was back at the car early and with Andy was coming off a long break,  he soon joined  Ben.

In our group, Jordan, Miha, Rosco and myself were tucked in doing it relatively easy, but our group was well out of it, with none of the KMD riders contributing to the effort, nor did we have to with a couple of riders up the road.  As we turned into the headwind down home straight at the end of the 6^th lap, my rear wheel punctured and that was the afternoon for me.  I turned off at the car and along with Ben and Andy waited for the big finish.

As is common in strange world of cycling alliances, 750m out from the finish the unspoken agreement between Alex and his breakaway companion was broken, Alex attacking and easily winning the 2 man sprint. It was an authoritative win by the strongest rider in the race. Salas and his breakaway rider from Newcastle finished 20 seconds behind, rolling through together, followed by a strong sprint for the minor places. Ryano had attacked the group from 3k out (a bit far I would have thought!!) but they came over the top of him 500m from home.

Rosco easily won the rest of the bunch sprint, followed by Jordan. One of the locals said to me after the race, “Gee, there are some strong masters riders coming out of Manly at the moment!”

Job done, Alex collected his booty (a Garmin 800…..pretty nice prize) we all piled back into the cars, turned on radio Ryano and headed back  to Manly.   A good days racing.

Tagged as: Alex Gardner, Andy Bateman, Ben Elvy, cervelo, Cycling, Cycling Strategy, Jordan Reizes, KMD Racing, masters, Miha Remec, Mike Foster, racing, Ross Chaffer