Almost in Yellow

B grade Queen’s Birthday Cycle Tour 2002

Saturday 1st June - Monday 3rd June

Jason Kelly

The Queens Birthday Cycle Tours is a three day, five stage event, and includes A, B, C, D and a womens grade (who ride in the C grade unless they choose to compete against the men in another grade.) Each grade is limited to 50 riders and this year the number of entries was such that the organiser put riders down a grade to accommodate them all. It was rumoured that there were 19 A graders riding B grade! While some riders supposedly complained at being put down a grade, the Taranaki organisers give the same prize money to all grades and as the organiser pointed out, they should be grateful that they were riding in a lower grade. The A, B and C grades had the full 50 entries and the D grade had around forty entries, giving a total field over all grades of just under 200 riders.

In the B grade, the Ramblers had three riders - myself, Scott Betteridge and Hayden LeCompte.

The event started in Hawera on a very cool and frosty Saturday morning with a 4km individual time trial over an out and return course. The course is mainly downhill on the way out with a resultant climb on the return journey. With little wind, conditions were not too bad but I still only managed a time of 6m 51s compared to the fastest B grade time of 5m 50s! Both Scott Betteridge and Hayden LeCompte were faster than me at 6m 39s.

The second stage was on the Saturday afternoon. A thin veil of high cloud ensured that the temperature had barely risen all day. A cool official maximum of just 10°C was reported. The stage was a 76.7km road race over gentle rolling country. Again, there was little wind. As such, the stage was uneventful with virtually all riders finishing together in a fast time of 1 hour 57 minutes at an average speed of just over 39km/h. There were no serious attacks and no changes in general classification.

Day 2, the Sunday, brought two more road race stages. The morning stage was 38.7km and started and finished in Inglewood. It took in the first half of last years National course, including the major hill climb, before branching off into generally more rolling country that is typical of the area. The weather was again cool, but, with a maximum reported of 14°C, was much warmer than the day before. A strong south-westerly wind with the occasional shower made the stage appear more interesting. However, any early attacks were rolled in at will by the bunch. The major climb was comfortable and the bunch stayed largely together. In the last few kilometres, one rider managed to slip off the front but the bunch appeared pre-occupied with thoughts of the race to come and made no serious effort to close the gap. The stage finished in another bunch sprint with the solo rider gaining 31 seconds on the peleton. Scott and I both finished in the bunch while Hayden lost 1m 17s in the last few kilometres after being snapped off the main bunch in the cross winds.

Between the end of the morning stage and the afternoon stage, torrential rain fell and the wind strengthened. However, by the time the imposing 38.7km stage from Inglewood to the top of Mount Egmont (well, to the end of the road anyway!) started, the weather had cleared to mostly fine and sunny with a strong south-westerly wind, a wet road and the odd shower. The stage again started off down last years Nationals course and was initially a gentle downhill, tail wind affair. The bunch was sitting on around 50km/h but one, and then two, riders rode off the front and started pulling away. Realising that this should be the decisive stage, I decided to chase them and did so unchallenged by the bunch. After a few kilometres, I caught the leading two riders and we decided to work together and see what happened. Shortly after I caught up to the front two riders, we turned the corner into the wind and started gentle but constant climbing. After a few more kilometres, the bunch was well out of sight behind us and as we reached yet another climb, one rider dropped off and were down to just two.

After battling into the wind and against the terrain for several more kilometres, I was somewhat disheartened to be told that there were still about 10km to go to the base of the mountain. The mountain climb itself is another approximate 6.5km ride. We “raced” on at speeds from around a mere 23km/h into the wind to over 40km/h when we turned to get some advantage from the wind and or the terrain. Still the bunch was nowhere in sight. We passed an A grader who just let us struggle by. With just a kilometre or two to go to the base of the mountain, we saw a chasing bunch catching us up. We were caught before the base of the mountain and the chasing bunch contained just three B graders but were lead by the A grader we had passed who had obviously gained a second wind and continued to drive the pace once we were caught.

Once on the mountain, the A grader continued to push the pace and rode away with one of the B graders he had towed up to us and took him right to the top of the mountain. Early on in the mountain climb, I was sitting in 4th place for the stage with one rider about 50 metres in front of me and Sarah Ulmer on my wheel asking me to take it steady. In the last two kilometres or so, Sarah Ulmer fell off my pace and with the wind funnelling down the mountain and a reported mountain top temperature of just 3°C, conditions were certainly harsh. Some brave spectators were on the road side and, after what seemed a long time, said there was just over one kilometre to go. Having been in first gear from very early on in the mountain climb, I had no gears left and started to push a little harder. I caught and passed the rider in front of me who then sat on my wheel so I pushed harder again. After a few more corners, a large expletive was uttered from behind me and I knew I had third place secured for the stage. I crossed the finish line in a time of 1hr 25m 14s, just over a minute down on first place, with a mountain climb time of around 24m 40s for the 6.5km distance. The main bunch had shattered in the cross winds and Scott Betteridge finished another 4m 44s down, followed by Hayden LeCompte a further 47s down.

Monday morning dawned mild with the threat of rain. I was somewhat stunned to read in the morning paper that I was supposedly now in 2nd place overall on general classification in the B grade - the result did not make sense to me. The paper also reported that the winner of the A grade, Aaron Strong, had said it took him 6 minutes to climb the last kilometre up Mt Egmont. I estimated it had taken me about 5 to 5 1/2 minutes. Perhaps my computer just froze??

The rain held off for the stage but a very strong and gusty south-westerly wind greeted us from the start line. Right from the start, two local riders attacked and rode off the front. After the previous days hard work, I had no inclination to attempt the advertised 77km stage as part of a three man break. The yellow jersey was in the main bunch but they, and everyone else, had no committed desire to chase down the break. The course was mainly undulating with one steep but short hill and plenty of false flats. With horrendous cross winds and tired legs, the bunch began to shatter from early on. By the end of the stage, just 65.5km covered in 1hr 56m at 33.9km/h, the front two riders had pulled 3m 35s on the bunch to take first and second place overall in the tour. I finished in the bunch for the stage and 5th overall while Scott Betteridge finished 10m 20s down for the stage and 37th overall and Hayden LeCompte did not finish the last stage.

It was only at the much delayed prize giving on the Monday afternoon that I realised how close I had been to wearing the yellow jersey. I found out that the rider I had lead the 4th stage with had lodged a protest against the actions of the A grader who had clearly towed the three chasing B graders up to us and then towed one of them up the mountain. The other rider had also protested about the service vehicle towing punctured riders back to the bunch as they had not done it for him but had for another B grade rider. If the A grader had not interfered, we would have almost certainly been first and second to the top of the mountain and due to the fact that the rider with me had punctured and lost time in the Sunday morning stage, I would have held the yellow jersey and tried my best to defend it on the Monday morning. Maybe next year ..............................