2011 Mansfield Tour De Flavour Mt Buller Road Race - Race report from James McArdle

Following up from the criteriums the day before was going to be fun. Again we had luck on our side and the weather was just perfect, a little overcast and the sun was trying to break out but the temperature was just right for what were about to do.

A grade went first and then ever five minutes the next grade would go.

Michael Fisher and Darren were in C grade and Laurie Paltridge and me in D grade.

C Grade

They went of pretty quick and the pressure was put on straight away. As for the actual race I can’t give much more info besides I’ve heard that riders had troubles staying with the eventual winner. Aaron Knight won the grade in 1hr 48min followed by Blaise Burke, Peter Knight and Roy Clark. I know Aaron well and he would’ve made it very hard for anyone to keep up with him. He’s a local boy from Mt Beauty so to have climbs like Falls Creek, Tawonga gap and so on to play on any time he wants, he was always going to be hard to beat. Next year Michael and Darren.

D Grade

Well this I can report on. There were about 25 starters which showed there were a lot that didn’t do the crit the day before but we did have some in the group with some sore legs at least. Cycling Inform riders Laurie Paltridge and I It started off at an easy pace and within about 5klms there were 4 riders that wanted to shake it up and see if we could loose some of the weaker riders. They’d attempt small attacks and this continued all the way to the bottom of Buller and to be honest I don’t think we dropped one rider all the way out. But as soon as we hit the gates for Buller it was on. Eventually winner Mark Thompson attacked immediately and I was second off and jumped straight onto his wheel. Within about 100m I knew my legs were a little tired from the crit. David Tennat then came up and I dropped back behind him and let him pace us with Mark. Then Mark gave another kick and took off, David tried to match him and kicked as well which dropped me off. Neale Adams was making his way up to me and I dropped back behind him and sat there getting my heart rate to rest and drop a little. This all happened within the first few klms of climbing. Neale and I could always see Mark and David but there was slowly a gap appearing between them and then the corners got tighter and we lost sight.

At around the half way mark up the climb, Malcolm Dow came steaming up beside Neale and myself and he kept going. I honestly thought he’d blow up because he was really panting and sucking in air. He just kept on going and going. We kept him in our sights and wanted to slowly drag him back in. We didn’t see an other D grade riders at all the rest of the ride. What we started seeing was that we were no passing C grade and even B grade riders. So the pace we’d set was just right. We averaged around 17.5kms from the base to the top, so pretty happy with that. With 3kms to go I said to Neale that my legs were shot and for him to continue to chase Malcolm. I just rode tempo for the rest of the climb mind you which is the hardest part.

I swear I was racing a caterpillar on the road at one point and it was winning. All I could hear was my coach David Stuart saying if your hurting, they’re hurting so I kept going. I crossed the line in 1hr 52mins and in 5^th place. Neale got Malcolm with about 100m to go and finished 3^rd. I only wished I stayed on his wheel and maybe did that myself. Mark Thompson crossed the line and won in a time of 1hr 48min. The same winning time as C grade. 2^nd was David Tennant, 3^rd Neale Adams, 4^th Malcolm Dow and myself 5^th in a time of 1hr 52min.

Lesson learnt. If you are hurting and the others are as well, don’t stop or slow down, push on and jump for that extra place. Pain doesn’t last for ever and there is always going to be a top of a mountain.

Laurie Paltridge was over the moon with his result. He came across in the top 10 and had a smile from ear to ear. He felt comfortable and was actually passing others on the climb. While they were hurting he loved it and kept pedalling away. Laurie was even interviewed at the end of the race and you could just hear it in his voice how happy he was with his result. He contributes his result to coaching by David Stuart and breathing techniques by Lucas at Eltham Physiotherapy. I think we’re going to see a very happy Laurie from now on. Excellent work and a pleasure to see that type of result.

Again a special thanks to Laurie, Darren and Kylie. And obviously to the Cycling Inform team supporting us from home. Not to forget the work done our coach David Stuart for getting Laurie, Darren and I to the fitness level to be able to not only compete but be competitive. Thanks David and now you can make our sessions easier, PLEASE : )

James McArdle