Sore, tired, bummed to have blown 2 tubes, but stoked that Nikcee lent me his front wheel and even more stoked to be out racing regardless.
Can’t wait to get back to the track.
Happy with life.
Stu
I’m in talks with Rapha Condor.
yeah, we ain’t too cerebral or nothin.
I thought it was funny…we kept it pretty clean too compared to ddcx
It’s a shame more folks didn’t make it out, it was a great course. I hope there are more “Opens” in the future and the number of participants continues to grow.
hahaha my garmin got bumped and turned back on in the car ride back home
I love the false hope of success you give yourself pre race that’s soon crushed after the first lap when you heart feels like it’s going to jump out of your chest and your head explode.
I had know idea the boys were hassle the the guys out the front in B-Grade. I was calling them sandbaggers every time they lapped me.
A little bit confused by the results posted… I definitely lapped James (but then he passed me when I mistakenly stopped with one to go). I was also pretty sure that the next guy in front of me was ‘cricket whites coltrain’ as he snuck past me when my tub rolled. Was good to ride with James and Gene in a HK pack for a bit.
Either way it was a good day… the course was decidedly harsh with the wind, but it definitely didnt favour the roadies or mtbers too much.
More spectators would have been great, but those that were there did a brilliant job. A good mix of heckling and support.
Those O’mara guys raced A grade @ Lysty but finished towards the back and so downgraded to B and smashed the field there. Word is that they are decent roadies and I was approached by a couple of people about them racing B.
yeh, the results are wrong. Nik was well in front of me. I caught up a bit (going faster, plus niks rolled tub) but he was definately still up there.
EITHER WAY, WHO CARES, IT’S ONLY CYCLOCROSS!
I love that too. When you look around and think to yourself “i can take these pricks”, only to discover that no, no you can’t.
it was the complete opposite for me in the Open. i started at the back, then realised at half way i’m in the points without putting in much effort…
oh, BB, any idea where my headlight ended up? CV lost and found box?
i believe so! give them a call.
‘hey omara guy! I saw you in Frankston the other day!’
People laugh.
‘what? I genuinely did, near bay city Holden!’
And I am sorry I made you cold Gene!
dudes stepping it up and hopping barriers, yes!
http://bmp.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/CV-Cyclocross-Open/G0000sSfEY4pYUwA/I0000z5I1M65WHYo
yeah a dude in soul devotion kit ate the ground hard in front of me when he failed at doing that, he got back on though. i fucking scared me though!
Awesome day! Course was fast and flowy - not technical at all - but I enjoyed it.
After the pointlessness of riding through the infield at DDCX #3 on every lap (!) I decided up-front to run more this time - I ran the U-turn after the first barrier and also the hill after the second gutter/barrier on every lap. Don’t think it was any faster but it did give my legs a rest. I took a couple places around the barriers but, strangely, I made up the most ground on the flat straights - going into it I thought I was grossly under-geared for the course (SS 54") but turns out it wasn’t so bad at all.
Race was very different to my previous DDCX experiences - a lot more riding with people and slowly making ground on them. After the first lap or two I settled in with Reuben and we slowly made ground on Anthony. Eventually I jumped across to Anthony and we started working on Blakey/Che in the distance. Great heckling/encouragement back near the mudpit! I finally bridged across to Blakey and Che and we did the last part of the race together. I had enough to stay with them but not enough to get around them. When Che heard the bell for last lap he just took off, Blakey let out a pained cry and took off after him and I just tried to hang on as they rode away from me.
In the end it was a sprint for the line with Che just edging out Blakey and me sitting about 100 metres behind. The three of us did our fastest lap time on that last lap. Awesome racing! We finished somewhere in the middle of the field in B-grade but were racing like it was for the podium.
Oh, and Munners and Iacone - so fast! Had an awesome time watching and cheering on the A graders with Max and following him around as he played with Reuben’s dog and ran around inside the velodrome.
Great day!
Blakey and che sprinting it out was one of the highlights of the day.
video footage exists of this. it looks fucking full on, but he is alright. i’ll post a link when i get home.