Category: 3
Result: Top ten

The question on my mind as I drove down to Selma on Friday night was, "Will it rain?" At 6am on Saturday morning, the ground was dry when I looked out of the window, but by the time I was heading out towards the race HQ the first drops were landing on my windscreen.

The race was a low-key Velo-Promo affair - the fields were small and we got under way pretty close to on time. The 3's were the second group on the road and we rolled out chatting about where we would stop for a pee break as we made our way to the course.

Ablutions complete, our bijou group of less than 20 reassembled as we rode through the feed zone and finish for the first time and started what was billed as the first of 2 hills. This turned out to be somewhat misleading as it was never really clear where the first hill ended and the second began.

After many miles of climbing the group was slowly losing riders out the back and after a while, I lost touch also. I had to peg my effort back a bit to avoid blowing up completely. The group ahead remained tantalisingly close in front for a long time, but I wasn't able to make any inroads on the gap.

At the top of the course there is a few miles of rolling roads and this is where I was caught by the lead 4's. We passed each other several times - they were quicker uphill, and I was quicker on the flats and downhill sections. Once on Boyd Drive a caught up with a pair of 3's who constituted the third group on the road. Shortly afterwards we came to the descent, and what a fun descent this is! I don't know the gradient, but we had the benefit of closed roads, though the wet roads did cause me to be cautious.

Once at the bottom of the descent we caught the second group of 3's on the road - just once group ahead, but we were not expecting to be able to catch them. Five of us headed on to lap 2 and the hills reduced us to 4. Three of us continued on to the final lap (I needed the distance in my legs) and we learned that there were 5 riders ahead of us in the 3's race. Were we "racing" for 6th, and the possibility of a Velo Promo t-shirt?

Up the hill and our group split into 2 & 1 with me riding with a Davis rider (Steve). We kept each other company on the lap, chatting when able to, but more often than not, toughing it out on the climb. Towards the top I began splitting the remaining distance into landmarks from the earlier laps to keep myself motivated. The descent the final time was lots of fun yet again and then the run-in to the finish. The final km was uphill and there was nothing left in my legs. The Steve rider rode away from me to claim 6th and I rolled in 7th out of what would be 8 finishers.

Upon returning to the race HQ, I confirmed that there was a t-shirt at stake as the places were 6 deep. It took some persuasion, but Steve did eventually go and claim it! And of course, the rain cleared as I began the long drive home.

Some numbers:

Miles driven: 420
Miles ridden: 100, race was advertised as 88.
Starters: 17
Place: 7th (error in the results)
Number of finishers: 8
Elapsed race time: 5h18m
Elevation gained: 7,200'

Back to top