Rubena Tyres XC Series - Round 10 - Stromlo

Lewy Cressy railing it in A grade

To be honest I was super pumped for this race. It was the last race of the season and I wanted to finish well and bounce into the 2013/2014 season with plenty of punch in my pedals. I'd looked at the series points and was running in 4th place only 12 points behind my main man Hamish. Depending on how things played out I could end up in 2nd, 3rd or remain in 4th for the series. So the outcome was both uncertain and very exciting.

For the first time the club allocated permanent race numbers to us at sign on. So naturally I was keen to get there early and claim my favorite race digit. I use to race BMX and Moto-x with 44, with two digit numbers reserved for series place winners, I claimed 144. Awesome and such a great idea from CORC, opens up the option to have personalised plates like BMX and for the pros it also provides a great banner space for sponsor stickers.

It was a good turn out with many of the fast guys from our class on the startline. James Collins was out of the race with an injury but collected 2nd place points by volunteering for the timing tent, a perfect tactical move to hold his position in 2nd place for the series. This simplified the plan for me a little as I knew I couldn't frog leap him in the points.

I didn't have a pacing plan, just a plan to keep 2 places between me and Hamish or to go for broke and win it. The first lap was hectic, the bunting was a little sparse so a few riders made wrong turns and lost some time. John (The Bridge of Speed, TBS and series points leader) lead us down the road crit track adjacent to the dirt single track that caused a stir, the guys behind were getting a bit excited about riding on so much tarmac. I latched onto his wheel and we chatted away about the 5sec gap we'd already opened up on the rest of the field. Then TBS made another wrong turn, I immediately yelled out to him and while he was turning around I moved into 1st place. I had two choices here, slow down let him catch up again and be the super sportsman, or put the hammer down and take advantage of his disadvantage. I chose the latter, and punched hard for the rest of the lap.

Hamish was hounding within seconds of me the entire race finishin in 3rd

2nd place (Grantly) called out to me and told me we had gapped the rest, not sure if this was a tactic or what but we ended up swapping off for the rest of the race.

On the charge in 1st on the 3rd lap, Grantly hot on my heels

By the 3rd lap Hamish had closed up on us and was within seconds of my wheel. But where was TBS, I remember thinking he must have had a problem because he couldn't have lost that much time in missing the turn.

Grantly normally a 6hr and 12hr specialist, coming with the surprise attack to win

I saw an opportunity at the top of the climb and squeezed back into 1st just before the Luge descent. My heart rate was already maxed but I entered the zone and gave it everything all the way down and crossed transition with a good 10 seconds between me and Grantly. I tried to maintain but was gassed pretty bad and could feel Grantly pulling me in. He eventually overtook me but I was holding on and was planning the exact same move for the last lap. Half way up the climb I was pretty stuffed, I didn't quite pop but was close to it and Grantly managed to put a few seconds between and I wasn't able to get them back. It was a funny feeling coming down the descent into transition for last time. It had been a great race but I was disappointed to be in 2nd and so close finishing 1st which would have put me in 3rd for the series.

4th in the end of another great CORC season

 All in all a great race and a great way to finish the series. Bring on Round 1 of the 13/14 season.

Ride on
Dave