Sitting down on a Saturday afternoon collecting my thoughts; procrastinating about writing this article, can be just like racing. I find worrying about the extraordinary effort involved in racing this 32km course can be overwhelming when you know you haven't had the ideal preparation - with not enough training for numerous reasons. By entering on-line the night before automatically, I reason with myself that at the least I will make it a kilometre off the start-line, and then if dropped it can be a training ride. Even with a proper warm up, my cardiovascular system screams at me for the first 15 minutes while it adjusts to the demands of maintaining at least an 80-90 per cent effort. There were the usual group tactics discussed at the start line at Botanic Park. Starting in a group of four, we had an advantage over other groups of just two or three, but when we dropped Jean-Daniel Guerin on the Barwite Hill, I was less confident. The significant head wind on the way out to the turnaround at Sawpit Gully Road affected the scratch and block group in the handicapping, Craig Wilson and Tim Hall worked well with me until Barwite Road, when Tim dropped off in the tricky cross wind. John Eisner stuck with us for a few minutes before we eventually passed David Bock on the start of the Coombesberg. Surprisingly, Craig was holding my wheel up the hill and I was happy to tuck in behind him down the other side, finally passing Steve Curnow. With a quick glance behind, the road was clear, and we just needed to stay strong to the finish. Again, I was able to hide behind Craig in the last 300 metres before the finish. The plan was to wait till one hundred metres to go, stand up on the pedals, keep my head low and power away. But that was matched and surpassed by Craig’s effort. He deservedly won by a bike length. Steve Curnow was 50 seconds behind, followed by Simon Hall, Mauro ‘Jock’ Brega and Adrian Dowd with Jarrod Appleton another 30 seconds behind, followed closely by Dave Bock and Ant Bateup. Ryder Chad, Ben Ross and Bruce Halket finished together; a massive improvement in Ben's finishing skill and fitness. Forty seconds later was Dave Jagger, Steve Duke and Tim Hall. Fastest for the night was again Andy Garrett, with John Eisner, Heath Hammond and Jean-Daniel relieved to finish. Congratulations again to Craig Wilson, winning the Alain Guerin Memorial race two years in a row. Thanks to all the marshals and officials, and the Mansfield motorists for their patience during this event. This week it’s Howes Creek Road, one for the rouleurs.
