Port Noarlunga Classic at The Range

Racing bikes atop the Willunga Hills on a warm and sunny afternoon was seen by many as a better option than drinking beer and watching the 2008 AFL Grand Final on Saturday 27th of September - despite the strong wind blowing from the North.

I tried something new. 3 hours before the race, I consumed 4 teaspoons of bicarbonate soda (baking soda), as I have read that it can act as a buffer for muscular lactic acid during intense efforts. It was a bit of a gamble, because there was a warning that some athletes suffer explosive diarrhoea about 60 minutes after consumption.

Ben and I drove to the event with our bikes on my car. Graham joined us as a spectator. They both shared my relief that I was spared from any explosions in the pants. Lunch at the Tin Shed Cafe in McLaren Vale on the way went down a treat.

The race was a handicap event. 3 laps of the 17km circuit at The Range.

I think Warwick, the handicapper, has more faith in my legs than they warrant. I had a 3 minute head start on the scratch group, while the limit markers had 16 minutes. 1 minute per lap is not much of a buffer on the somewhat hilly course at The Range.

My group started with 8 riders and none felt like organising the group. There was quite a bit of variation in workloads. A couple of guys never went to the front to take a turn. Three never missed a turn. I was one of a couple that hardly missed a turn.

I surprised myself by climbing the large hill at the end of the first lap with my group - I had been expecting to be dropped at this point by the strong riders that constituted my group. I was even on the front as we crossed the finish line.

Feeling good about my ability to stay with the group, I began to take more turns and push harder when on the front. Unfortunately, I had just rotated off the front, deservedly seeking a rest, when the combined scratch/block group bolted past us after just 1.2 laps. I was caught by surprise and did not have enough in the tank to accelerate to get on. I was one of only two riders that failed to latch on to the fast group.

30 seconds after accepting my fate, I put my head down and began to TT my way forward. The other guy that got dropped was 100m or so up the road and I soon caught him. He shared the work with me, but I was feeling quite strong, so I did the lion's share of the pulling. I was holding low 40's kph on the undulating section at the bottom of the course with a reasonably strong cross wind.

I passed Ben just as we were about to ascend the hill to the finish line for the second time - he had started in the group at 5 minutes, but seemed to have bonked. Again, I went up the hill feeling strong like bull. I could have done another lap, but decided to sit with Graham and watch the finale. Ben pottered home shortly after, stating that he may have actually over eaten!

Reuben Menaud-Young got past PACC's Chris Martin to win by a bike length.

I think I may continue to experiment with baking soda

2008 PACC club championship road race report

Sunday 21st September saw a fresh, almost frosty, morning over Mt Torrens on the Eastern slopes of the Adelaide Hills. It also saw a reasonable turnout of Elite category riders contesting the PACC club champs. I was one them, as was Adam, Ben and Daniel. Ben has been riding quite well lately and smelling quite bad. I expected big things from him, and I don’t mean that I thought he was going to shit his dacks, although that was a possibility.



Our event entailed 8 laps of a 9.5km course which included a decent amount of climbing. I don’t like climbing.



Adam pleaded with race favourite, Damion Hadcroft, before the race, to keep it all together for the first couple of laps so that everyone could ride at least a part of the race in the pack. I thought they agreed to do so. The race started. We immediately turned left to head up the first (certainly not the most difficult) hill of the course and promptly dropped 2 riders. They rode with the pack for a grand total of about 300 metres.



Over the other side of the hill, I found myself on the front and apparently began to pull away from the bunch sitting on a speed slightly over 50kph. Adam came with me and was laughing. The bunch was strung out in a long line as we turned yet another left hand corner to begin climbing yet another hill. Somewhere up this ascent, Daimo must have decided it was time to turn on the hurt. From my perspective, the pack splintered into three distinct divisions: In the lead group was Daimo, Adam, Ben, Daniel and Nigel. Then it was me, alone, about equidistant between the lead bunch and the trailing bunch. As the lap continued, I continued to make as much ground on the guys chasing me as I lost to the lead group ahead. Sometime on the 2nd lap, I could no longer see riders ahead or behind me.



The officials pulled me off with one lap to go, just in time for me to see Daimo cross the line for the win, followed a few minutes later by Ben, followed by Daniel in third position and Nige in 4th – well done to all of you. Adam pulled out after 3 laps as he wasn’t feeling too well, and figured there’s no prize for pushing yourself so far that you get ill – hopefully a rest day will sorts you out mate. I would have mopped up 5th place if allowed to continue, but I was happy with my ride. I rode about 60km solo, effectively at time trial effort levels, so it was quite a workout.



The sun warmed things up during the progression of the race which almost negated the blustery winds that we were exposed to on some sections of the course.



LESSON OF THE DAY: riding with others severely reduces your risk of being swooped by magpies. I had an ongoing battle with one pesky maggie that would swoop me several times each and every time I went by, bar the two occasions when there were other riders nearby (first lap and one of the later laps when I was passing a rider from another category). Talking to the other guys after the race revealed that they suffer no such attacks. Bastards J

What's going on here?

I was talking to Sam and Adam via IM tonight, and suggested that we start a blog for our somewhat regular race reports that we email to a bunch of friends.

Sam challenged me to get it set up while he cooked dinner.

Well, here it is.