I’ve been road racing for the first time ever this year.  Whilst I’ve thought about racing for about 10 years, it was not until earlier this year that I bit the bullet, got a license (joined Northern Sydney Cycling Club) and started racing.  I was addicted instantly!

Today’s race was a West Head / Akuna Bay loop - the route is shown below:

The start point is shown by the green play flag.  From there, the ride heads through a neutral downhill section (off to the right of the map towards Bayview.  At the bottom of the first hill, riders regroup and the race starts in earnest.  A short climb is followed by a 24km loop out to West Head and Back - this is the long road that heads out to the peninsula.  The road surface is rough and slow and there is almost no flat terrain - it is all undulating until the last km or so where the road rises in a sharp pinch about 300m long - affectionately known as “the Wall” because it looks like a wall as you come up to it.

After heading out to West Head, the ride returns along the same road, and then turns down towards Akuna Bay.  This is the last section of road which squiggles on the map on the left hand side.  There is an approx 4-5km descent, about 1-2km along the bottom of the bay and then the race finishes with a 4km climb - with the steepest gradient sections in the first 2km of the climb.  The elevation profile of the route is shown below:

You can see the dip and then climb in the last 10km of the race - for me as a reasonable hill climber the most logical place to attack is on the pinch section in the first few km of the final climb.

The race started eventfully with C and D grades heading off, following by combined A and B grade (I was racing B grade).  Whilst it’s a neutral roll down McCarrs Creek Road at the start, the pace was on and within a km one of the Manly Warringah boys came undone in a nasty crash on a corner.  I was first wheel behind him (about 10m off his wheel, being a bit cautious, luckily!) and he went down hard and took a fair bit of bark off.  His kit was shredded and I had one of those nervious moments where you’re not sure whether you’re going to hit him or not.

This broke the pack and whilst it was meant to be a neutral start still meant I had a bit of work on the first hill to latch on to the group.  With A grade mixed in with B grade the pace was higher than a standard B grade race at the start.  Within a few kms of the start of West Head road, we’d caught C and D grade and this made for lots of jockeying as A and B grades moved through and opportunistic C graders latched on.

Relatively uneventful out to West Head and then as we were climbing the wall, one of the A grade boys who was slightly behind me and off to my left seemed to slip on the slightly wet roads and went down, knocking my rear wheel but fortunately I stayed upright.

Two A graders (Scotty Dillon and Rob Hodgson) had gone off the front and as we rounded out to return back down West Head road there were a few surgers as A and B graders seemed to be thinking about whether or not to attack - the A graders making up their mind as to whether to chase down the escapees and the B graders hanging out to catch a lift if they decided to go.

For me, this race is about limiting damage over the West Head section and waiting for the final Akuna Bay climb to take advantage of better climbing legs than most.

As we headed back on West Head Road, we started shedding riders - there was a bunch of probably about 10-12 riders - 3-4 A graders, 7-8 B graders and two C graders, amongst them Ben Larsen.

We scooted down into the Akuna Bay descent, but with a few crashes already I was pretty cautious.  By the bottom of Akuna Bay I was about 150m off the back of the pack as a result of slow descending (and Benjo pushing a pace down the hill).  By the time we swept through the flat/undulating bay area I was back on board and we headed into the final climb.

Last time I raced this course I came second - attacking reasonably early on the climb another rider came with me and ended up taking me at the line.  I thought I’d try waiting to attack today and whilst I put a little surge in and got a gap I sat up and we rode towards the finishing uphill straight with a bunch of A graders and a few B graders after spitting a few out the back.

About 50m from the line, Matt Hodges (one of Benjo’s bike store boys) attacked with a pretty vicious turn of speed.  I wasn’t watching behind me enough and he got the jump on me - I did all I could to catch up but all I could do was hold the gap and he beat me to the line.  My quads were burning like they were on fire as we passed the line.

So, all up a fun race and second is better than no place, but would have liked the win.  I’m slowly learning lots about strategy and clearly there’s so much more to road racing than at first meets the eye.  I should have raced better to my strengths - I coasted through the sharpest parts of the final hill climb rather than attacking and dropping those who, over that terrain, don’t have the same depth.  Instead, I left myself open to a sprint finish over terrain which is less favourable for me.  Oh well, live and learn and all the more motivation to go and see if I can get the win next time!

Benjo scored the win in C grade which was a great result for him and well deserved.  Interesting racing with a friend who has done so much more of it - you can see the tactics and strategy being thought through in a way that I’m yet to learn.

Gallery below has some of the photos from today, courtesy of Manly Warringah Cycle Club.

Happy racing,
GJ!

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