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Just thought I would drop a line and give you the news on RBCC's presence at the Sid Demmery Memorial at Wagga on Saturday. You may have to contact Will for more info regarding his race on Sunday. So here goes...

RBCC's representation consisted of two riders: Will Gray (M23) and Brendan Ingram (MElite). On the Saturday morning prior to the start, both were very happy to find a fellow club member, however Will looked a bit concerned as he asked to borrow a track pump.

My girlfriend and I drove down on Friday night. Or should that be, on Friday night we embarked on an epic journey of automobile ping-pong that involved more than one close call with other maniacal drivers. Needless to say, there was plenty of 'communication' with the other drivers! We eventually arrived in one piece, and booked into our motel.

When the morning arrived we were ecstatic to find nothing but blue sky. The sky was literally cloud free, and only a slight breeze could be felt. What a day for racing! After RBCC's efforts at Dapto the week before (and my bout with hyperthermia), this would be a pleasant change.

We arrived at the start line about two hours before the scheduled start time. Looking out across the countryside we could see that it would be a very undulating race. Typical australian country racing. It would make for a very fast race, but it would also favour the strong riders who could ride over the undulations without losing any speed.

Will started in the 17 minute bunch, just in front of my group, the 12 minute bunch. As Wills group rolled out, we rolled up to the start line. At 12.36pm the 12 minute bunch rolled out for 109km of racing. We rode off the start line, 100m down the road and turned left over a very badly patched area of tarmac. BANG! There goes a tyre. Was it mine? I look down... No. Phew! The guy next to me riding Corima carbon wheels and tubulars is rolling on his rear rim. Unlucky, but then to ride wheels and tyres that are more suited to the Dunk Gray then the Wagga Potholes was maybe a little bit optimistic.

As we accelerated up the road I could see a lone rider walking back towards us on the other side of the road. As we got closer I saw red, then blue, then I realised it was Will. Bugger! I guess that his tyre just didn't want to race, even after being fixed the first time. Very unlucky.

As my race progressed, and we passed the hour mark, I looked at my speedo. 46km... What the? The first 46km travelled in one hour!? Ok, this was fast! Our group was working very well together to say the least. Along the flatter sections of road we were rolling through at 52km/h. It was such a pleasant feeling to be able to race on roads, and with riders, that allowed us to continually roll over the top of each other at speeds of 50km/h+. Just like the professionals... :)

The mid section of the race was very uneventful. We simply continued to roll through. At the 80km mark there was an intermediate sprint, which was half heartedly contested by two or three guys from our bunch. We were still yet to catch the groups ahead.

At about 90km we pulled back a large bunch and rode straight past. I was amazed that we didn't pick up any riders as we rode through. Only a few km later we picked up the last of the bunches. As we rode through this time we gained a large number of riders. However, they were almost entirely content to sit at the back and get towed along.

At 100km there was a KOM. This could not be called a KOM. It was simply a line across the road at the top of an undulation... And it was not even the biggest undulation of the race! Regardless, there was one rider who sprinted away about 500m from the 'summit' and stayed away largely uncontested. Most of us were happy to raise the tempo and continue our rhythm over the top.

The KOM signalled 10km to go. The tension in the bunch was rising slowly, and I ensured that I was never any more than 10 riders from the front over the last 10km. This was occasionally quite challenging, but was relatively uneventful.

We could tell that nobody knew exactly where the finish line was, or how far we were from it. We simply knew that we were to turn left at an intersection, go over the rise and the finish would be ahead of us. Well, about 5km from the finish, just such a left hand turn and rise presented itself. Needless to say the bunch got very excited as we rode to the crest of the hill, only to see nothing but straight road ahead of us. We calmed down and waited for the real finish to come.

Throughout the closing kilometres, the motorcycle official was giving us continual time checks to the scratchies behind us. With 10km to go, it was 6 minutes. At the finish they were 2 minutes behind. They had left their run too late. Not only was the moto giving us time checks, but he was encouraging us to keep pushing to the finish. Champion! His presence was very much appreciated.

The finish line was looming closer, and as we turned left onto Pine Gully Road, I recognised the street sign, and knew now that we were only a kilometre away. The token 1km breakaway went off up the small rise, but was immediately brought back. Not today sunshine. This was a day for the sprinters! Accelerating to the top of the rise I was sitting about 8th wheel. Over the top of the rise and the finish line came into sight. Only 600m to go!

A very slight downhill led to the finish line. I was positioned on the left hand side of the road still about 8 wheels back. 5th wheel couldn't hold the speed and let the wheel slip. I remained seated and accelerated around three failing riders to grab that wheel. 4th wheel now. 500m to go. 1st wheel is off! 2nd wheel is chasing him. Three guys have gone down the far right of the road. I have remained seated and accelerated to hold the wheel of the three guys in front. 400m to go. I don't want to go now. It's too far. The guys on the right are a couple of bike lengths ahead. Ah bugger it. I raise out of the seat (for the first time in a sprint on the mightly
Cannondale!) and kick the pedals for all they're worth. I go straight past the three guys on the left like they are standing still. Straight up the middle of the road. Those aerodynamic blue booties working a treat! The riders on the right hand side of the road seem to have disappeared!?! I push the bike forward as I sit back in the saddle so as to not lose any momentum. 50m to go. Am I in front? I am. Am I going to win? Should I sit up and celebrate Mario Cipollini style? I see a wheel come along the right of me. I kick again 10m from the line and throw my bike. Did I get it? I think I did. Not 100% sure. What was that scream? Where did that guy come from? I went from too far out. I should have gone with 200m to go. Damn, is that heart rate reading correct? Surely not. I'd be dead right now.

I turn around 500m after the finish and drop it into 39/21 to spin my legs over. I role back toward the finish and almost get knocked off my bike as my girlfriend comes hurtling over to me, arms outstretched! She thinks I won. I see Will and his mum.
They congratulate me and they think I have won too. I am not willing to celebrate. I don't want to let myself believe I won in case I didn't. I don't want to be disappointed, but I think I won. Someone mentions prizemoney. I think "cool, $50 or $100 bucks will help pay for the petrol out here." I hear someone say something about $800. I almost fall off my bike.

As I am sitting off the side of the road, the scratchies come over the line, and a car pulls in front of them. Two guys go down. Ouch. An unfortunate mistake on behalf of the driver, but the riders pick themselves up quite quickly. They are hurt, and they are showing it, but look alright.

I packed all my gear back into the car and we all ventured over to the Bridge Tavern in Wagga for the presentation. I still did not have confirmation that I had won. The presentations started. They presented 8th, 7th, 6th, 5th, 4th (fingers crossed!), 3rd... Please dont say my name next. 2nd. Yes! They didn't say my name. Then fastest time was presented, 1st wagga rider, 1st female. Then, finally, they announced my name, the winner of the Sid Demmery memorial 2003. What a feeling! It still hadn't sunk in fully.

I had to say a few words, so thanked the riders for travelling all the way out to Wagga to race. The officials for running such a good race, and made special mention of the moto giving us time checks and encouragement.

My girlfriend quickly laid claim to the prizemoney while I had photos with the trophy and the winners sash. Unfortunately, Will was not able to compete the entire race, but was there with me through the presentation with his mother. Both of them excited just as much as my girlfriend and I. Thanks to Will for his companionship at the presentation and his great attitude. Plenty of cyclists would
have spat the dummy at such a mechanical failure (and I saw a few examples of this after the race!!).

After more then 110km of racing, with an average speed just a shade under 43km/h, I emerged victorious! My first victory outside of club racing! What an amazing feeling. I will have to enjoy it while it lasts, because with results like this, I can say goodbye to good handicaps from now on!!

I hope you enjoyed this insight into the racing at Wagga.

Brendan

Will Gray's report

Hi John

Just let you know what happened on Saturday and Sunday in Wagga. As you know, Brenden won the Saturday race with a fantastic down hill sprint to win by millimeters on the line.  My day however was no so good. Ii managed a fantastic 10km in the race before a fast down hill caused my rushed tyre change before the race to explode leaving me on the side of the road walking back to Wagga. My socks didn't look too great after the walk.

However Sunday was a different story. Waking up to a little warmer wheather at 11 degrees, Ii fixed the blow out I had on Sunday just to find I'd ripped the beading of the tyre in the explosion.  So i put my training tyres back on and headed out to Coillingully pub for the start of the race at 10am. On the way in the driest place in all Australia, it started to rain.  Not that I am complaining about the desperatly needed water for the farmers, it's just that I wasn't keen to race in the rain 2 out of 3 times.

Anyway they handicaped me rather nicely again with 12 minutes.  The bunch started of like a group posesed.  for after 15km of riding we could see our 3 minute bunch.  However we didn't catch them until the 34km mark but by the 1/2 way mark we had passed the 25minute bunch and were in the lead.

This is were things started going wrong. My butt muscles started cramping quite badly and I started to roll to the back on the bunch. I fueled my muscles back up with some much needed GU (highly recommended in races) and water and was felling great again with a new legs. I got to the front again and began to power with some of the strong guys in the group.  This was a fantastic idea as the bunch dropped from 25 to just 12 riders on in the final 15km. From here I tried upping the pace again but this only servered to tire myself out.

In the end the race for the line was between the 12 riders in my bunch. However no-one actually knew where the line was in the 2.5km straight leading to the line so the sprint started about 1.5km out.  My move was made way too early at the 600metre mark and I was swamped in the final dash for the line, sadly for me finishing in 9th spot out of the money.

Oh well money isn't everything.  The race did give me a good lead up to the Sydney Road Championships on the weekend.  I am looking forward to another good performance.

CHEERS
WILL
 

RESULTS (Saturday)

RESULTS (Sunday)

 

	1st	David Mann	Albury
	2nd	John Wallace	Cootamundra
	3rd	Grant Webster	Eucha Moama
	4th	Jim Hogan	Tolland
	5th	Bill Robertson	Wagga
	6th	Steven Doidge	Cootamundra
	7th	Steve Bertoldo	ACT
	8th	Terry Gorrs	Lidcombe
	1st Fastest	Robert McLachlan	ACT

Last updated: Tuesday, 10 October 2006

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