"Almost" a good weekend

I will keep this short and sweet as there aren't many good points to share! The weekend consisted of the 130km Around Brunner race on Saturday followed by the 136km 2nd round of the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling Series on Sunday.

Around Brunner was always going to be a very testing race with us and Subway wanting to make the racing as aggressive as possible. From the gun aggression was the obvious theme of the day. The race whittled down to about 20 riders by halfway where a small group of about 6 riders went up the road. Sam Horgan and I put a big effort in to bridge across to the group where unfortunately Dan Barry and I were the only Benchmark Homes riders while Subway had 3. They did what they had to and 1-2'd us which forced us to work hard to make sure none of them slipped away. With us essentially doing 50% more work covering their moves they eventually cracked us and slipped away in the final 15km. Not an ideal position to be in at all but we did all we could.

Sunday saw us shoot over to Hokitika for round 2 of the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling series. Benchmark rider Dan Barry was in the leaders jersey before the start so we were keen to defend this as well as take the win. It was an odd race. The course was super fast and there weren't really any sections hard enough to force a successful selection. There were a couple wee hills where we were always able to split the field but it just wasn't hard enough after that for anything to stay away from a massive field of fresh riders. Because we were the biggest team we didn't want to miss any move as we would always be looked upon to do the chasing if we did. All day we had riders in every move until one slipped away with 60km to go and quickly built a 2 minute advantage over the main field. We managed to bring the gap down the about 30 seconds over the harder part of the course but couldn't quite bring it back and two riders from the move managed to stay away until the finish. We managed to salvage a little from the race by getting Dan up for 3rd by winning the bunch kick. So he still remains comfortably in the leaders jersey. However it was definitely not the result we were looking for though. Congrats to Gordy who pulled off the win and showed there is still life in those legs!

Chasing the elusive break. 

It was a solid weekend of racing. Good to get it in the legs before the Country Road Classic this weekend where Dan Barry and I are looking for a good result.

Thanks Brendan and Jodi Hart for all their help over the weekend! Also to David Letsche for the photo. You can find him at dlphoto.co.nz and Facebook.com/DLPhotoNZ.

Cheers

W

Tour de Lakes

Finish of Stage 5 into Glenorchy.

Over the weekend a small but ambitious Benchmark Homes team raced in the Vital Signs Tour de Lakes. The race took place in the beautiful Queenstown Lakes region. We were lucky to have perfect weather throughout the weekend to go with some bloody good racing!

The tour opened with a 5km Prologue in Cromwell. The super-fast course started with a steep downhill then a very gentle downhill to the finish. I was pretty keen to knock out a good time in this but had an absolute shocker. I got caught up behind a car on the descent then struggled to find a rhythm into the finish. I managed a disappointing 5th however the times were all fairly close.

Stage 1 greeted us with a very fresh, fog covered morning. The 80km stage wound its way down the lake from Remarkables to Five Rivers. Moves were flying off the front then getting reeled back in for the first 30km as expected. With such a small team our only real tactic was to be as aggressive as we could and be represented in every move. I managed to slip into a move near the halfway mark which had a good make up of riders who were willing to work together. I managed to take the Sprint and KOM points throughout the stage as well as the stage win and the Yellow Jersey, so it was a positive first stage!

Stage 1 finish

After a quick rest, feed and espresso we were ready to rip into the second stage of the day. Another 80km jaunt from Five Rivers to Manapouri. The stage literally climbed for 40km then descended to the finish. I was in the yellow and once again with such a small team our aim was to race aggressively as we didn't have enough riders to successfully ride the front to defend the jersey. So straight away we were on the attack which was a good move as Dan and I quickly found ourselves up the road with Sam Horgan and Dillon Bennet from Subway. We had to work hard to build a gap over a hard chasing peloton but we managed to establish a gap and it was clear we were going to be away 'til the finish. Sam Horgan unfortunately punctured in the last 3km so wasn't there to contend the final. Luckily Dan and I managed to pull off the Benchmark 1-2 on the stage. A good first day!

In the lake after the Stage. Best ice bath ever!

Day two was an important one as it opened with a 20km TT from Manapouri to Te Anau. It was a tough course with a fair amount of false flat and on the day it was a head wind. My aim of the race was to limit my losses to Sam Horgan. I had 3.15 on him on GC so was confident in not losing the jersey to him however I knew how well he was time trialing. I got a good warm up and rode a good TT and was happy to get second to Sam only 40sec down.

20km Time Trial

The afternoon stage provided us with an epic GC shake up. It was the reverse course to the afternoon stage the day before. So it climbed up to halfway then was downhill to the finish. I started the stage with the aim of sticking to Sam Horgan like glue as I knew he was feeling good and I couldn't really allow him to get up the road without me. In doing so a group slipped up the road with my team mate Dan Barry and Dillon Bennett who was currently 2nd on GC. Because Dan was there I overlooked the danger of the move so Sam and I played silly buggers, not wanting to go across with the each other. When we heard the time gap of 5 minutes at the halfway mark we decided to sit up and roll, very easily, to the finish. We lost 18mins on the stage because of this so were both out of GC contention and were now going to be in the position of helping our team mates try win the tour. Sam had Dillon in the yellow jersey now with my team mate Dan Barry 2 minutes down on him. The gap seemed pretty big, however we were confident that on the final day we would be able to give it a good nudge.

The last day of the tour consisted of two short but hard stages. The first one was from Queenstown to Glenorchy. About 45km with a few short but sharp climbs along the way. The idea was to be super aggressive as we knew Dillon was struggling on the steeper stuff. I found myself up the road pretty quick with two other riders. Just before the climb with the stages KOM points we were about to get caught so I hit it as hard as I could before the bunch got me which made sure I got the points to retain the jersey but also the pace managed to eject Dillon out the back of the bunch which is what we wanted. Unfortunately about 10km up the road he got back on with help from a super strong Sam Horgan. It was good however for us to see he was not comfortable on the climbs. I quickly found myself in another move with the Australian track rider Sean Finning with about 20km to go and we worked well together and managed to get to the finish clear of the field where I edged him out for the stage win. I was pretty happy as it was a crazy hard stage for me so it seemed like a good reward!

The last stage started in Glenorchy and on the Moke Lake hill. I talked to Craig Adair before the stage and he reckoned Dan and I should hit the first hill as hard as we could and see who could follow us. This is exactly what we did. I hit the first major hill full gas and did a big pull then looked back to see only Dan ad two others were on my wheel and the rest of the group including Dillon were dispatched. Success! Dan and I kept hitting it full gas and we bridged a two minute gap to a small group that had snuck away at the start of the stage. I did a couple big pulls on the front as hard as I could to set Dan up before my legs threw in the towel. It was then Dan's job to get to the finish as fast as he could. He ended up finishing 5th on the stage, 3 minutes in front of Dillon which was more than enough to take yellow! We were stoked. The aggression paid off.

All in all it was a bloody good weekend. I learnt a lot about racing aggressively and I gained a lot from the hard racing. I feel like I finished a lot stronger than when I started. Thanks to the Subway team for making the racing hard.. Also to Richard and Natasha Evans from Benchmark Homes for the use of the wicked Mercedes Sprinter Van for the weekend! It was awesome to travel in this luxurious vehicle! Once again thanks to Bruce Wilson for capturing such awesome pictures of the racing!

Next up for the team is Around Brunner followed by the Benchmark Homes Elite Cycling Series this weekend.

Cheers for reading!

W

Le Race - How not to.

On the Saturday just been Christchurch held the annual bike race from Christchurch City to the very quaint French settlement of Akaroa. As is the norm in Christchurch at this time of the year it was a crisp morning that greeted the riders at the start line of the race. Luckily the course takes us straight into the ascent of Dyers Pass Road to the Sign of the Kiwi. Always a testing obstacle to tackle so early in the race!

The team was in high spirits before the race as we knew we had some good fire power. The line up was Daniel Barry, Anthony Chapman, Hamish Schruers, George Tutton, Ben Robertson and me. With a hill like Dyers Pass straight out of the blocks in a race this short, the pace is always going to be on from the start. With this in mind we were positioned well leading into the hill and made sure we were ready for the inevitable pace that was to be set up the hill. Both us and Subway were very active as soon as we touched to lower slopes of Dyers but it was clear nothing was getting away this early. The race was whittled down hugely up the hill but was still, in essence, together.

Sam Horgan and I reaching the Sign of the Kiwi

Along the Summit Road Hamish Schruers managed to slip off the front which took the pressure off us. Leading into the technical descent off the Summit Road into Gebbies Valley, Daniel Barry positioned himself on the front in an attempt to take advantage of his devastating descending prowess. And boy did it work! He managed to break clear and a small group formed at the bottom of the descent followed closely by a second group of about 5 which contained Anthony and me. The gap was quickly evaporated however and the race was back on. The responsibility largely fell into our hands as Dylan Kennett of Subway had just slipped up the road and begun to build a healthy lead. The usual flurry of attacks and counter attacks ensued until something stuck just before we reached Little River. This turned out to be the winning move...I was not in it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. I didn't follow the move as I saw Hamish and Daniel were both there but failed to register that Subway had 3 riders there as well as one rider up the road. So we were seriously out numbered. Even though Dan and Hamish are riding super strong at the moment, it is very hard to win a bike race when you are out numbered 2 to 4, especially with 4 very 'on-form' riders. 

All was not lost however as Hamish Schruers managed to sneak onto the podium with 3rd place. Unfortunately he had a mechanical incident down Long Bay Road descending into Akaroa which may have cost him a higher placing. But that is cycling for you! 

I managed to ride into the finish in 6th place as the first rider not from the lead group. I felt that I had good legs in the last 40km and was very disappointed to not be in the lead group to put them to better use! However the sensations were encouraging as I have a lot of racing coming up and I am still very much on an upward trend after an injury stricken 2011. 

Rolling over the finish

So, as a team, we learnt a lot from the race and have taken away a couple very good points to work and improve on in the future. Next up is Tour de Lakes in Queenstown this weekend. I have been told it is a pretty solid weekend of racing! I am looking forward to it.

Thanks for reading.

W