By Sam Layzell
After the 800-odd km trip down the tedious Hume Highway we arrived at picturesque Bright for the two day tour. For my teammate Ben Hill from Muswellbrook CC, it was his first big race back from an 8 week break for HSC studies. For me, the first state race since Goulburn to Citi. The two of us had been placed in B grade for the weekend of racing. As we took a quick spin around town on Friday afternoon, it was obvious that the whole town was involved with the race, with Tour posters and “Welcome Cyclists” banners everywhere.
We woke to beautiful sunny skies early Saturday morning, however by the start of the first stage at 8am it became apparent that we would have to contend with a crosswind for the rest of the day. The tour consisted of 3 stages. Stage 1: 105km’s with two 2nd category climbs, and Stage 2: 15.7km Time Trial in the afternoon. Then for Sunday, a 56.5km stage which included a 30km 1st category climb up Mount Hotham. The bunch rolled out of town along the flat valley road, the flag was dropped and the attacks began. Our tactics were to have Ben in the early move while I sat in the bunch and waited for the last climb. Team Suzuki/UNO from Canberra was well represented in our bunch with 6 riders. They were very attentive and shut down every move that went up the road. Eventually 3 riders made it off the front after the first sprint prime and stayed away until the first climb at 50km’s. From there Suzuki/UNO got on the front and began upping the pace. The bunch strung out into single file at about 45km/h at times. Ben suffered a puncture at the 65km mark, made worse by a slow wheel change from the neutral spares car. He chased on his own for 5km’s until the commisare finally decided to pace him back up to the bunch. The hammer remained down until the base of the last climb, Tawonga Gap. As we hit the uphill, the better climbers in the bunch came to the front to set the tempo. The bunch was quickly reduced to 20 or so riders in the first few km’s. Halfway up riders began attacking which spread the bunch all over the climb. A bunch of six riders summited the climb with a 40 second gap over my group of five. As we hurtled down the decent we were caught by a chasing group of nine riders. Halfway down we approached a sharp left turn and there lying in the ditch was a rider, one of the leaders who were obviously taking risks down the mountain to stay away. He apparently suffered some nasty injuries and couldn’t continue. I finished the stage in 11th place 1:03 down on the five leaders. Ben suffered on the last climb and finished 5 mins down.
Only a few hours of respite before the afternoons Individual Time Trial. Our starts were just after 3pm. Thanks to Marek and Jarrett I was decked out with Time Trail bike, Corima Disc and an aero helmet to match. I rolled down the ramp and tucked straight into an aerodynamic position. The first half of the course was very painful…a long undulating drag up hill with a crosswind to boot. The second half of the ride being slightly more downhill I picked up my average speed crossing the line with a 22:59. A time good enough for 13th place when everybody came in. I finished the day in 10th overall sitting 2.57 off the lead. Ben did a 24:16, a solid ride in his least favorite discipline.
Typical alpine weather greeted us on Sunday morning. The overnight rain provided a big temperature drop and as a result, a thick fog covered the town. Five minutes before the rollout the temperature began to climb. the sun began to filter through and we made the call to take off our vests and various other cold weather gear. It was a good decision as after only 10 minutes of riding, it began to get hot. Again Team Suzuki/UNO got on the front and drove. Many riders were wearing far too many layers and struggled to undress while the bunch moved along at a fast pace. My teammate Ben did a great job looking after me in the early part of the stage. He closed any gaps that appeared in the bunch, kept me close to the front and sheltered from the wind. As we hit the base of Hotham, many riders just about came to a dead stop. Ben surged forward one last time to get me to the very front of the peleton. He then gave me a wave and lost contact with what was now a lead group of about 25 riders. He told me later that many of the dropped riders simply turned around and began riding back down the mountain to Bright. Ben however isn’t the type of rider that would turn around…he would see the summit of the climb.
As we reached the flatter middle part of the climb I found myself in the leading group of about 15, however our bunch quickly swelled in numbers as a second group of riders caught us. The last 10km of the climb where by far the most difficult of the stage. With gradient of 7 to 10 %, many riders used the steepness to attack and put others in difficulty. When 5 riders attacked with 8kms to go, it scattered our group all down the mountain. I found myself in a bit of trouble. The most important thing was to not push too far into the red zone and crack completely. I concentrated on my heart rate and cadence and with 2kms to go I began to feel better. I managed to limit my loses slightly, but unfortunately I still lost a fair chunk of time finishing the stage in 18th.
I finished the Tour in 12th place overall, a result I was a little disappointed with as I was aiming for a top 10 finish. Ben finished in 44th , the weekend has motivated him to have a big off season of solid training, he should be stomping come April. Big thanks to our sponsors for the weekend. A personal thanks again to Jarrett for loaning me his TT bike, and Marek for the Corima Disc and the TT helmet. Also thanks to my Dad Geoff for being our soigneur for the weekend. He planned every part of our weekend which meant all we had to do was eat, sleep and ride bikes. He was waiting at the finish of each stage with water, coke and food. He also booked dinner each night which was especially good on the second night. While other riders walked the streets looking for a feed in the rain at 8pm, we had already eaten and were heading back to the hotel.
Results B Grade:
1st: Graeme Allbon 5:08:36
2nd: Sean Moran + 00:12
3rd: Sam Genge + 02:12
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12th: Sam Layzell +05:37
44th: Ben Hill +24:36
For Full Results, visit:
www.tourofbright.com.au