Tour Of Bright 2011
The KMD Racing team made the long trek from Sydney to the picturesque town of Bright at the base of the Victorian snow field Mountains of Mt Buffalo, Mt Beauty and the Mother of them all Mount Hotham.
Hotham is the penultimate climb on stage 3 and a beast of a climb at that, stretching some 35km from the start of the climb at the little sleepy town of Harrietville to the summit at Hotham. This race has broken many a man, reduced plenty to tears and that’s no embellishment let me tell you. The TOB is a stage race consisting of a 100km road race on the Saturday morning followed up by a 16km TT in the afternoon on very dead legs and then stage 3 a 55 km road race on Sunday.
The team was unfortunately split across two grades this year. With Danny and I racing the tough B grade with plenty of young up and coming riders the pace was sure to be hot. A notable previous winner of B Grade being one Richie Porte, now a pro cyclist riding in the major tour races. The plan was for the sprint jersey in B Grade given we were no chance to climb with 65kg mountain goats that would be dancing on the pedals come Tawonga gap climb and ultimately Hotham.
Stage 1 started with a bang, not 500m down the road following the neutral pace car there was a crash resulting in some serious carbon damage. The PEANUT driving the car for some reason didn’t take the left hand turn that all the riders knew was coming up. He confusion of whether to follow the car, or make the turn caused riders to smack into each other right near Danny and myself. There were blokes flying over handle bars and the sound of breaking wheels and tearing skin, mmm great start. So that would be stop number 1.
The air was thin, temp crisp and little to no wind, great conditions for racing. We had a plan and Danny knew where to take control and hit it with me knowing to be ready to jump on his wheel for a famous Fixed Wheel lead out. Our hope was for minimal resistance thinking most in B grade would be there to climb. WRONG. First sprint point is at roughly the 10km mark, queue the tempo increase queue the pointy end of the field, queue Danny and I sitting beautifully either side of a team of youngsters waiting to show their wares.
Bang, Danny goes on queue and I have the free wind behind his wheel, I think we are clear here, but no I see a wheel right on mine, stay focused stay close and be patient. Bang I jump, OH SHIT, I’ve got nothing these blokes are swamping me, OH SHIT, SHIT……… The words out of my mouth were, GO DANNY, the words going through Danny’s mind were, OH WHAT THE F…! Filthy, that point where you realize you are way to slow to get to the line first is an empty moment.
Right we are still in this, but we may need a change of plan. We re-gather and say that’s one there are 3 more chances for points. We get over Rosewhite and see how we are feeling going into the Tawonga sprint. Meanwhile a rider jumps from the sprint and goes it alone, then bang a second rider drags a 3rd out and they are a 3 man break…….that won’t survive they can blow themselves up and the bunch will catch, after all in Bright a break never survives.
We make the turn for Rosewhite and both Danny and I are stinging for a nature relief, Danny sneaks to the back and manages to go on the run. I can’t get there and have to hold it, can’t concentrate, I need to go, can’t concentrate, shit there goes a 4th rider, nah that’s sweet no dramas. Next thing the Masters 1,2,3 car comes past and says we are pulling you over, you’ve been caught. I was instantly happy and couldn’t stop quick enough and take that break I needed. But what about the break, they didn’t stop it. There goes the race for the rest of the bunch and there goes the next round of sprint points…..all of them.
The time gap got to 9mins at one stage with us being stopped a total of 3 times for the day. Danny and I locked in for some solid training riding basically with myself struggling my way up Tawonga as usual. But really I just go up the climbs to get the Buzz coming down, now that is a good time. Eventually the leaders were closed down to 3 mins by the chasers but that was never going to be close enough. We did our bit and got through the TT in the afternoon with Danny posting a respectable time on a road bike with me just making up numbers and tapping my way through while just knocking at the door of pain once and a while over the course.
Stage 3 we thought if we can win both sprints which was going to be a long shot we’d have a chance at Green. Danny was now it with me working on getting him position. We knew when to go and when to be on the front. The pace picked up again and we could see we were going to haven’t fight pretty hard. I was hoping to keep Danny on the middle line of the road and fade off for him to keep his line. We were getting well boxed in and eventually Danny had to come under me well on the inside. We were being watched closely and Danny got checked and boxed out going for the line. Time to suck it up and jump in the bunch and shut up basically. We just needed to enjoy being down in this beautiful place enjoy the pain of Hotham and look forward to the descent. Unlike previous years there was extreme adverse weather conditions on top of the mountain. It was 3 degrees with a windchill of -10. The organizers decided to shorten the race by 10km which was certainly a welcome decision from my end. I do love the challenge of getting up Hotham but was pretty happy to finish on the false flats this year. Danny stuck with the leaders till the Meg where he imploded. He did last long enough to lead Alex Gardiner out in the final sprint for the line though………. Huh, what? I here you say….Alex? Wasn’t he in the Masters 123 race?
Indeed he was, so more of that later.
Buzz
