Valentines day was super romantic this year, a 6 hour car
trip with my le’mond on the front seat and my bike in the back. Lets just say,
it was a pretty quiet and late night date, arriving in Metung just before 1am!
The best thing about the late night was defiantly the thought of an 8am time
trial the following morning…..
Surprisingly I felt pretty good the next morning, well as
good as it gets when preparing for the dreaded time trial! It was a super humid
morning and warming up on the trainer was like sitting in a pool of sweat!
Thankfully the TT was only 8km, which suited me better compared to a longer
one. On the start line I was super
nervous but as quickly as it had started, I found myself on the downhill run to
the finish line. I guess looking back now I can say it wasn’t as horrible as I
imagined it would be, finishing in 8th position. The star of the day
however was Lauretta, taking out the stage and leading the tour going into the
road stage.
With BCS holding the yellow jersey coming into the road race, for Minda and myself it was about protecting Lauretta! Normally this would be a pretty straight forward, but Lauretta hates sitting in and loves finding her way to the front!! Multiple times I had to tell her to get off the front and stop working! Heading out of town we new we had 2 loops of a course and then we were to head back in on the same road. As we descended down a fairly steep and curvy hill, all I could think about was how hard that was going to be to climb back up it! At the first more difficult rise, a rider Alexandria Nicholls attacked, about 4 riders quickly closed this quickly but it split the field into three groups, however not long after everything was back together. Riding out in the countryside in Metung, we had a little surprise along the way, with a group of Kangaroos jumping along the road and in front of the bunch!! I think they surprised a few of the girls and lifted everyone’s heart rates quickly! Following this another solo attack was sent and got away with no reaction. With the km’s ticking over and as the rider out solo could no longer be seen, we really needed to start bringing her back. As we weren’t the only team to think this, both BCS and Hampton cycles worked together on the front to try and bring her back. Well into our second lap the bunch had caught the solo break and the bunch was back together and we were on our way back into Metung, yes towards the climb! Just as we had expected Alexandria launched up the climb again and split the field to pieces! With less then 10km to go, Alexandria was off the front, a chase bunch of 5 followed including Lauretta and a second chase bunch of roughly 7 included Minda and Myself. I was happy to take our little bunch sprint to take 7th, Lauretta finished in 4th and Minda just behind myself in 12th.
Day 2 of racing staged the final race of the tour, with a
criterium in lakes entrance. A technical course with multiple corners made me
feel a little nervous before the event. With Alexandria away, Lauretta wore the
yellow jersey, which meant we had to fight for her to keep it. We also knew we
were just behind Holden on teams, so needed to get those big time bonus’ in the
intermediate sprints. It was fast racing for a smaller bunch, and with so many
sprints the bunch was soon split. I managed to stay in the main group, but
after a tough road race the day before I was really feeling the pain. We had a
solo breakaway off the front and 2 chase groups; all three of us girls were
sitting in the first chase bunch. Minda worked really well to try and bring
back the solo break but Simone Pierce from Park Trent was strong enough to hold
it for the win. In the bunch it came down to a sprint for second with Lisa
Hanley holding off Lauretta for second, and getting third with me coming
through in 5th and Minda right behind me in 6th. After results came through we were
delighted to find Lauretta had done enough to take GC and we had all brought
back enough time to take overall teams!
I had the best weekend being able to work well with the girls and to take home
a great result was just a bonus! The only negative part was having to drive
home from Lakes entrance on my own, with my only entertainment singing along to
my radio haha! A big thanks to the team as well as Danielle, a special big
thanks to Heather for all the organisation and everyone we stayed with for a
fun weekend! Can’t wait for the next team tour!!!
