Friday 29th March - Monday 01st April
2002
Jason Kelly
With
a few kilometres under my belt and the late postponement of the Palmerston
North Twin Peaks cycle tour, the Cromwell-Queenstown four day seven stage cycle
tour appeared like a good excuse to take an extended Easter weekend and again
visit the South Island. The event attracted 94 riders over three grades - A, B
and C. From the race briefing on the Friday afternoon, by just looking at the
riders in each grade, I could tell that the B grade, which I had entered, would
be tough and that perhaps C grade may have suited me better.
The
prologue was on Friday afternoon and was simply listed in the race program as a
2km Time Trial (TT) at Fern Hill in Queenstown. What they fail to tell you is
that this is all up hill and that parts of the hill are considerably steeper
than Burma Rd and Seafield Rd! Starting off in race number order at 1 minute
intervals on a cool but fine afternoon into a headwind, I thought I should do
o.k. For the first few hundred metres, I felt like I was climbing well and
maintained a good speed. Hitting the middle and steepest section, my speed fell
to 8-9km/h and my legs went to jelly with my lungs screaming for more oxygen.
After a few hundred metres, the gradient declined and it felt like a downhill
(but this was, unfortunately, just an illusion [or is that delusion??!]) and I
picked up my pace to finish the 1.44km on the road TT in 5m18s.
My
suspicions from the race briefing were immediately confirmed and I found myself
in 25th= place, out of 29 starters in the B grade, and already 48 seconds down.
I would have also finished outside the top 5 in C grade! To illustrate the
gradient of this short hill, the fastest A grade time was 4m02s, an average
speed of just 21.4km/h! My lungs reminded me of the harshness of the climb for
well over the next week.
The
seriousness of the field was also illustrated by the number of home trainers
used for warming up - I have never seen so many in my life at any open races or
the Nationals. Perhaps it was just the cold?
Saturday
morning brought Stage 1 - an individual TT of a non-specified distance from
Cromwell to the Bannockburn Hotel. As the race had no sponsorship from this
hotel, the TT ended up going out past the hotel and then turned around to come
most of the way back to the starting point in Cromwell - a total distance on
the road of about 13.9km. The weather was sunny but cool with the odd rain
shower. There was a head wind out to Bannockburn and a tailwind on the return
journey. Driving out on the course pre-race, a
relatively short but steep hill was just before the hotel and presumed
turn around point.
The
stage started on South Island time i.e. very late. I started off at a good pace
on the outwards journey and felt I was doing o.k. until I hit the hill. As I
struggled up the hill, I noticed I was in first gear and heard the chasing
cyclist approaching. He passed me up the hill, having already gained a minute
on my time. On reaching the top of the hill, the turn around was not in sight.
Continuing on down the far side of the hill, a further short but steep hill
appeared. The turn around was at the top of this second hill. After finally
turning around, there was the return hill climb followed by a fast descent. I
passed a car on the descent and found myself riding at 47-48km/h back along the
false flats with a tail wind. Despite this finish, I again found myself totally
outclassed to finish in a time of 23m 36s, at an average speed of 35.3km/h, and
another 1m 58s down overall and sitting well in the tail of the B grade field
overall.
Stage
2 was on Saturday afternoon and was a 45 minute criterium plus 2 laps around
Cromwell. The course was approximately 530m in total length, none of which was
flat, which resulted in continual sprints and cornering. There were no let ups!
The trackies and locals (who had raced the course before) showed their
abilities from the start. The first lap was a supposed “controlled” start which
resulted in an about 40km/h+ average speed and I quickly found myself at the
back of the pack and struggling. With the tight nature of the course, there
were few passing opportunities. The pace continued to be frenetic and after
about 10-15 minutes, the rider in front of me started to drop off the bunch and
eventually left a gap of a couple of bike lengths which almost instantaneously
expanded to about 10. The race organiser had been very vague about what
happened if you were dropped. Accordingly, looking at the ever widening gap,
the greasy road caused by sporadic rain and the three road stages to come, we
just sat up and were very quickly lapped.
Once
lapped, I moved in front of the other rider and stayed with the bunch fairly
comfortably to the finish. I completed about 61 laps. As it turned out, I was
given bunch time plus one lap of 46s (it was a short lap!) and four or five
other riders also lost one or more laps. The average speed for the B grade
bunch on this tight course was 41.2km/h.
Walking
out of the hotel on Sunday morning into a fine and sunny morning, with
virtually no wind, we were greeted by
fresh snow down to about 200 metres above ground level and freezing cold air.
The first stage of the day was a road stage from the entrance to the
Remarkables Ski Field to the Athol Store (for B & C grades) (Athol is on
the main highway to Lumsden) while the A grade were to ride to Lumsden and then
back to the Athol Store.
The
course started off as mostly gentle rolling country with a couple of gentle
climbs. For the first 5 or 6 minutes, we just rolled along up a slight gradient
at about 25-26km/h. After that, there were a few attempted early attacks but
the bunch just rolled them in at will and with ease. In the last 30km or so,
the terrain was mostly flat and a couple of riders managed to get just up the
road. Another two managed to join to them and it appeared that their team mates
back in the bunch just let them go. As by this stage we were cruising at around
45km/h, this may have also stifled any serious chasing! The four leaders sat
together out the front of, but in sight of, the bunch. We reached the finish line after 65.8km in a
time of 1hr38m, at an average speed of 40.3km/h, with the front four gaining
45s on the bunch. An A grader who had been dropped and caught by us then had
the unfortunate experience of having to ride to Lumsden and back (about another
60km) by himself as none of the B graders took up his invitation to join him!
From
the third stage on, somehow the official times for each stage were overstated
by several minutes. I think they got themselves confused by not deducting the
time that elapsed before we started (as the A grade always started first.) The
errors make no difference to the overall rankings. I was now just over 3m30s
down overall and needing some big results to move out of the bottom of the B
grade.
By
the time stage 4 started in the afternoon, the weather had closed in and it was
literally freezing cold with heavy showers. I stood at the start line with 4
layers of clothes on and was still cold. The official maximum temperature was
7°C but I guess the windchill factor was about -10°C! We started off at a fast pace
on the basically flat course back to Kingston just as heavy rain and hail fell.
Freezing, with wet roads and hail bouncing all over the place, I saw a little
hill and attacked to have a clear road in front of me and to try and get warm.
As was typical of the road races, I didn’t get very far before being swallowed
by the bunch. A few other attacks, even with the help of other riders, suffered
the same quick fate. In driving rain, we rode into Kingston after just 43m,
having completed the 30.3km stage at an average speed of 42.3km/h for a bunch
finish. I guess all the riders were trying to warm up!
After
the hills in the prologue and stage 1, stage 5 on Monday morning was somewhat
ominously (and promisingly) labelled as a “HILLY SECTION” from Queenstown to
Glenorchy. I thought that with some good hills, the bunch should be well split
and allow some movement in overall placings. One of the locals predicted the
bunch would splinter on the first hill climb.
The
weather had improved although it was still cool with snow getting deeper on the
mountains throughout the day. The wet road dried during the day in the sunshine
and there was little wind. Again, it was supposed to be a controlled start from
Queenstown to the base of the first hill (about 500m!) but, much to the chagrin
of Sarah Ulmer, who was riding with the B grade men, the King of the Mountains
attacked from the start line. The first hill was not too bad and the bunch
stayed together. After about 4km, a longer hill was encountered and the bunch
split. I found myself in the back half sitting behind Sarah Ulmer who was
drifting off the pace. Feeling good, I jumped across the gap to the front
bunch. A steep and fast descent followed and I recalled being told to watch out
for a dangerous corner at about the 5km mark. I was wondering which corner this
was as I saw one and then two riders slide off the road and into the bank. I
guessed that was it! The bunch then regrouped at the bottom of this hill.
The
course had plenty more ups and downs, but again, every attack was soundly
defended by the bunch. Getting frustrated, and needing a decisive winning
margin, I attacked over the top of a big hill and continued down the other
side. Despite racing at well over 80km/h down the hill and back onto the
relative flats, the bunch was still there. My 53:11 gear was just not big
enough for the course. The last few kilometres were relatively flat and it was,
like usual, a bunch sprint for the finish after taking a 90° left hand turn
just a few hundred metres before the finish line. The bunch time was 1hr16m for
the 45km, at 35.5km/h average speed, which reflected the hilly nature of the
course. It turned out we had managed to drop just 7 riders from the bunch along
the way.
The
final stage on the Monday afternoon was scheduled to be another criterium. This
course was much longer than the first criterium and basically flat. However,
after looking at the road surface and the traffic conditions, the organisers
cancelled the criterium and replaced it with a 16.4km road race. This was an
out and return course from Glenorchy. The course had a modest hill early on and
then several one way bridges before turning around for a final hill climb and
descent.
A
strong tail wind out resulted in a fast initial pace and a slower pace with a
strong head wind on the return journey. More team work was evident in this
stage. As it was an impromptu stage, service vehicles were not well organised
and the B grade yellow jersey holder suffered the agony of puncturing in the
last few kilometres and losing over 6 minutes in the process to finish well
down the field overall. There were no serious attacks in the stage and it was
once again a bunch finish. We completed the distance in 25m45s at an average
speed of 38.2km/h.
Daily
prize givings of spot prizes were held at the local sponsoring establishments
to ensure they got value for their sponsorship dollars and would support the
event again next year. The final prize giving was held at a local hotel on the
Monday night with a full buffet dinner.
Overall,
I finished in 17th place out of 29 starters and 3m36s down in the B grade.
Basically all of this time was lost in the non-road stages. The cycling was
certainly different with new terrain and competitors, coupled with genuine
mid-winter weather and an effective almost track like criterium, making the
event a most interesting experience.
