Stage 3  Jindabyne Dalgetty Berridale Jindabyne.

There was lots of pressure on me on this stage as I was the green jersey wearer from the previous year in what is the prima event of the Tour, “The Dalgetty Sprint”.  There was a lot of beer consumed the night before the event during which I had to endure a lot of vain threats and general ramblings which might best be labeled with the very appropriate word, “bullshit”.  Everyone told me how I was going to have a certain part of my anatomy kicked (the same part that Scotty Callum exposed, much to our collective horror at the beginning of the first climb – but that’s another story).  Matty Lucas would have none of it however and announced to all and sundry that he was El Presidente’s “domestique”. 

Check out the icy cool totally focused stair of my “domestique”.  Matty was all business and this is the best smile he could muster after photographer Marek asked us to smile for a photo. (prior to that it had been a growl - grrrrrrr !!). Well true to his word Matty nursed me all the way, even pushing me up some of the hills and ensuring I was in maximum wheel sucking position as we maneuvered for the kill.

Unfortunately I had to contend with persons who feel that they have to stoop to cheating tactics to take the green jersey away from me.  I had Big Bird getting between Matty and myself and then tailing me off.  Actually he and the Magnet had a bit of a team thing happening in that department.  They even induced the vile assistance of Sneaky Pete who was making it extremely difficult for me to hold my domestic’s wheel.  Then there were all the other whingers screaming out for me to roll over and do a turn when I was second wheel behind my man.  Anyway they managed to ruffle me and when Matty went, I was not behind him.  Whitey thought he’d won the lottery as Matty sailed passed him at warp speed and jumped straight on Matty's wheel.  Then Spongie jumped right on Whitey.  I did manage to jump on Spongie’s wheel however and not soon after Matty’s bubble burst, Whitey hit the wall as well.  It was all very close with Paddy Jones out the front, Spongie then me when all of a sudden the “Prince” of Heffron, The Tuesday night "Sprint King",  burst up the inside and stole the sprinters jersey right from under all of our noses.  Next year we have decided that we will actually employ a finish line which might assist greatly.  At the moment the winner is the one who raises his hands in victory.  The other premium event of the day was some 15 kilometres before this sprint and that was the infamous Dalgetty Descent.  Last year Slapper amazed all of us when he clocked up the speed that only a maniac could achieve of  96 kph.  We asked him if he was going for the ton this year but he wimped out making statements like, “I have a young daughter now” and the like. 

There was a third sprint of the day into Berridale and Patty Naughton hit out early and I chased him down until I ran out of rice bubbles bridging the gap and bringing the bunch back up to him.  I was glad to see my domestique, Matty Lucas take the glory.  He needed a bit of glory as he was the brunt of a few “soft” comments after coming up Dead Horse in the car. 

This easy ride from Jindabyne to Berridale was a little too much for Ritchie Jenkins who basically fainted besides the roadway but that was ok because there weren’t too many seats available at our rest stop and Matty was able to get comfortable on Ritchie. 

Although everyone is pretty stuffed at this point, we traditionally finish Stage 3 with the Berridale to Jindabyne dash.  It’s only 30 kilometres and up and down a few mean climbs.  Whitey true to form took off early giving us the excuse that he had to get home early for Charlotte.  Whitey pulled the same crap last year telling everyone that he was just riding up the road to the Public toilets and as soon as he was out of sight he got on the drops and hammered all the way home.  This year the Slapper went with him as he reckoned Sarah would be angry with him also if he didn’t get home early.  Sarah and Charlotte, are these guys bullshitting us or what ???

Anyway without the softies who had to go early, the rest of us put it in.  Shonky Darth Callum and his sidekick Sneaky Pete also tried to get a break on us by sneaking away but we hauled them in within a few k’s and then they sat on the back and sucked wheel.  New member Kevin Huang worked exceptionally well and was coming through doing turns with everyone.  Pretty soon there was me, Paddy, Spongie, Robbie, Kevin, Matty, Scotty and Sneaky Pete.  The seven of us worked really well together and it was only about 2 kilometres to go up some nasty climb that Paddy, Robbie, Spongie, Matty and Scotty got away leaving  myself, Sneaky Pete and Kevin to try to claw back the gap.  Well we soon hit the descents and Sneaky and I pulled some big turns and went into tuck position and got some good speed happening.  Unfortunately poor Kev who weighs 4 stone wringing wet, went off the back but we soon reeled Spongie in who had let the others go. There I was climbing the last hill into Jindabyne with Spongie sucking my wheel and thinking to myself, “What’s wrong with this picture !!”  I heard later that poor Smartie was trying to catch us for about 10 k’s making up ground up the climbs only to be blown away again when we descended.  Smartie is climbing really well though.  I reckon you C graders are going to have a bit of a problem on you hands at the next round of the club road racing championships. 

Last updated: Tuesday, 05 December 2006

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