Grant Eikelboom from Team Vie shows Skyboy is not the only one who can put together a great race report.... Cristal Titanium Dardanup Tour Cat3 Race Report I knew that I was cutting it fine when I rode into the carpark for the start of the Cat 3 Road Race and team captain Rick was sitting at the back of the group looking around rather nervously, but hey, at least I beat Kim to the start line! The race started off reasonably brisk though uneventfully enough until the first attack was fired off on the first little rise after Dowdell’s Line. Kim took off first, before firstly Peter McDonald, followed by Reggie and Chris de Chaneet bridged across to form a potentially dangerous move. Rick was having none of it though, and shortly after Pile Rd took Stuart to the front and shut it down quick smart. Having started the race at the tail end of the group I used this opportunity to follow Rick and Stu up front and take up a place in the first 5 or so riders in the bunch. After a brief lull, Kim was off followed once again by Macca, but again they were never given anymore than about 15 – 20sec on the bunch before Erik and Turbo Tom had enough of it, closing down the gap until it was once again all together as we swung left onto Wellington Mills Rd. The pace slowed up and the race was quite cruisey until we were just approaching Gnomesville. With maybe 1km to go until the roundabout, there were a few little accelerations which strung the group out once again with Erik and one other opening a gap of maybe 10sec max as we headed onto the climb, with the remainder of the group together. I was feeling OK but not too great at this stage, still maintaining my place near the front of the group, but having just sucked down a gel to try and give me the little kick I felt I was missing. Not knowing what to expect on the climb, I was pleasantly surprised by the steady pace on the initial slopes and even found myself drifting up the outside taking up the ‘chase’ of the two riders still just in front. Once they were caught, I was quite happy to ride the front of the group at my own tempo up the climb, and after all the early Sunday mornings riding repeats on the climb chasing Vik, I felt I knew how to ride it as efficiently as possible - where I could push a bit more and where I could recover. With no idea what was going on behind me as we passed Queenwood Rd, I gained a little confidence given that no one had yet come around me and so I pushed the final kick a little harder to try and discourage any attacks on this hardest part of the climb. In hindsight, the headwind on the return leg was probably enough to discourage any attacks rather than my steady tempo!! Over the top, a few riders started coming through to push the pace and I was clearly stoked when all five Vie13 teammates where correct and present, with no more than 2 or 3 riders from any other team still in the bunch which was now about 15 strong. This group worked together reasonably well and after a while I asked myself why our entire team continued to work?? I reasoned that having five of our team working was more than enough given no other team had more than three in this group, so I started missing the odd turn here and there and once we passed the Moody Cow, I sat on the back saving as much energy as I could. I think Erik was onto me as soon enough he drifted back onto my wheel and didn’t come through anymore either. It was at this point I turned to see the ominous red jersey of Macca chasing solo (after looking after his teammates on the climb) and not too far off the back of our leading group. As we came down onto the flats again past Dowdell’s Line into the raging headwind, we could see the riders down on the road ahead following the Cat 2 crash and so we slowed to a gentle roll to safely pass. Perhaps sensing the lull in the group had lingered on a little too long, Reggie couldn’t help himself and was away on what is clearly his favourite TT training ground, quickly opening up 10 - 15sec. Stu was straight into action leading the chase, and also using the lull to my advantage I made my way to the front of the group latching onto his wheel. Confident we would bring him back, I was happy to leave Reg out on his own as long as possible so he had no chance to recover once caught. Stu and Denny rode perfectly letting Reg hang out but still keeping him in check until he had about 5sec passing Waterloo Rd. At this point Turbo Tom and Phil Smith came round to the front and knowing a good wheel when I see it, I was straight onto Tom. Phil continued on quickly coming around Reggie and heading off alone. Sensing the opportunity, I sat on Tom for a few seconds, took a few deep breaths and kicked across to Phil intending bridge, rest up for a bit on his wheel and then kick again to the finish. Approaching Phil it was clear that I had too much momentum to hold up on his wheel and so I went straight by, trying to encourage him onto my wheel, but knowing I’d given him absolutely no chance… Head down until I entered the little bend into town and I turned to see I had maybe 50 – 100m (it really was a quick look through blurry eyes!) or so on the bunch which was being led by that ominous red jersey. I was confident but knew it was far from over. As the Garmin registered a maximum HR of 205bpm (!!) approaching the line, I took one last look back and could finally sit up and relax, just holding off the chase by less than 2sec with Rick coming through to take the sprint for 2nd. An hour and a half later Vie13 lined up for the TTT with the clear plan of cresting Gnomesville Hill as a full team and then giving it everything we could sharing the load as best as possible back into the now howling westerly wind. Despite a relatively slow climb up from Gnomesville, this ended up being a solid plan with all six of us sharing pace setting duties on the return to Dardanup and getting a decent recovery between pulls. It was here that Ryan really hit his straps, putting in some huge pulls into the headwind which had the rest of us scrambling to hold his wheel. Back onto the finishing flats, and that headwind was now ridiculous but thankfully we were all still together pushing hard right through to the line, managing to cross the line more or less as a complete team, which was a fitting and very satisfying way to end the day. All this resulted in me taking home one of the best trophy’s known to cycling (got to be close to the cobblestone doesn’t it) – a prestigious Golden Gnome which is currently taking pride of place in the entrance to our house! Again huge thanks to the organisers and volunteers which make this great day all possible.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 11:27:42 +0000
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