10th Annual Cromwell - Queenstown Easter Cycling Tour

Friday 25^th March - Monday 28th March 2005

Jason Kelly

This year saw the 10^th annual running of this event since it was resurrected in 1996. The course returned to that used in 2003 and was all in the Cromwell – Queenstown area. This year, other than myself, the only other Rambler to travel down south was Gavin Povey. While Gavin flew to Christchurch to travel on with former Rambler and last year’s B grade winner, George Masters, I made my way down by car with my parents, Gavin’s bike and plenty of extra bike bits. George elected to compete in A grade while both Gavin and I raced in B grade. As my form and training had been very poor to non-existent in the two weeks leading up to the event, I thought even B grade might have been a bit taxing for me.

At the Friday afternoon pre-race briefing, the starting roster handed out for B grade was one of the thinnest to date with just 14 riders registered. However, as is typical, two late entries boosted the numbers and had major effects on the race outcome.

Friday 25^th March

Prologue – 5.4km Individual Time Trial – Cromwell - Bannockburn
I read somewhere once to always be wary of short prologues as they tend to include some hard climbing. This prologue was no exception. Having ridden this course previously in 2003, I knew what to expect and hoped to put in a practice ride in the morning. However, constant drizzle and cool weather meant this did not happen. By the time racing started late in the afternoon, the sky had mostly cleared and the temperature risen to be very temperate for the area with no polyprop required for extra warmth. Gavin and I cruised out and back along the course to re-acquaint ourselves with its initial gentle rolling nature which finishes with a short sharp descent followed by a sharper and longer climb to Bannockburn.

With riders starting in reverse number order, I started one minute behind Gavin. The person holding me at the start kept putting me on a bit of a lean and did not let the bike go until well past the countdown had passed zero. Finally underway, I tried to settle into a solid rhythm and see Gavin up the road. With the memories of 2003 still fresh when Gavin, who rode C grade that year, beat me in this stage, I wanted to see some personal improvement. After only ever seeing Gavin way in the distance once and crawling up the final hill in first gear, I thought I would have a fairly poor time but was happy to see that I had at least beaten my 2003 time.

            
As it turned out, I beat Gavin by three seconds, with my time of 8m 22s earning me 3^rd place and the position of the default KOM (King of the Mountains) jersey holder. Neil Gellatly, a late entry, professional athlete and well known adventure racer, took the yellow jersey in a time of 8m 08s. This left Gavin and I just 17s and 14s respectively away from yellow with all riders within 50s of yellow. The top C grade rider recorded a time faster than all B graders and would have in fact finished 5^th in A grade.

Saturday 26^th March 2005

Stage 1 – Cromwell – Lake Dunstan Circuit – 88km

Sporadic drizzle and a cold south easterly wind were the main early features of this stage. With an early tail wind, the pace was fast with a number of riders attempting unsuccessfully to break away. However, once past the half way mark and back into the wind, a solo rider went up the road. As is typical in this event, the bunch just sat and watched him ride ever further away. Gavin came up to me and asked if I wanted to try and jump across the gap. Looking up the road, the gap looked to be at least 30 seconds and growing. Combining this with the racing still to come and the fact that a B grade rider who is a doctor was going to be awarded bunch time anyway as he had gone back to help with a nasty C grade crash at the intermediate sprint, I told Gavin I didn’t think the required effort was really worth it. Just as I finished saying this, the bunch pace eased and the road opened in front of me with an identified “non-chasing” rider on the front. With the opportunity presented, I attacked off the front into the gutter with my eyes set on the rider up the road. As my legs started to fade, I pulled over and Gavin came through. Looking behind, we had dropped the bunch so started to work together in pursuit of the yellow jersey.

It soon became apparent that we were holding to only slowly catching the stage leader on the flat to downhill sections of the road but quickly closing the gap on rising road. After several kilometres, we finally caught him and again looking behind, we saw we had a workable lead over the bunch. With three of us now working, we kept up a solid pace but were, a little surprisingly, caught by the bunch. Once caught, the bunch pace slowed and I sat on the front at a Sunday ride pace back into wind with a bunch sprint deciding the stage.

After our breakaway effort, we had gained no time but had not lost any either. Post race discussion observed that the yellow jersey holder did little chasing with the bunch led by current Vet 1 4000m champion and former international cyclist Jerard Stock and local Christchurch rider Darron Burns. Darron had indicated he would help us as he only wanted KOM.

Stage 2 – Cromwell Criterium – 30 minutes

The C grade crash in the morning stage caused a re-jig of the criterium starting and racing times while various C graders and their bikes were attended to. Our race was re-scheduled to start first and reduced to 30 minutes plus three laps in duration. The wind had strengthened a little and it remained cool but the road remained dry. To add a bit more excitement, two large vehicles were parked on the course despite the best efforts of the organiser to keep the circuit clear. One was moved during the warm up and the second one late in the race.

After a hard and fast start for the early few laps, while Gavin was up the front having fun, I found myself and a few others off the back of the bunch after a rider in front of me gave up and dropped the wheel. With the group we had, I thought it should have been relatively easy to rejoin the bunch. Unfortunately, no one else wanted to chase and it took a solo effort of several laps for me to get back on. It turned out that no one else managed to get across with a number of riders losing a lap so the effort was worth it.

The morning stage efforts started to kick in and the bunch pace slowed as the stage progressed. With three laps to go, I was warmed up and attacked off the front. With the short distance of the course (just over 500m per lap), I was unable to gain any advantage and the inevitable sprint finish saw another bunch finish for both Gavin and myself. An average speed of just over 37km/h was similar to last year but considerably slower than previous years, especially when compared to the first year when Olympic gold medalist Sarah Ulmer was racing and we averaged around 40km/h.

Sunday 27^th March 2005

Stage 3 – Remarkables Ski Field to Athol – 65km

After early morning fog and low cloud cleared, the day turned out to be sunny and mild. With an afternoon ITT to race and the following day’s two very hilly stages, Gavin and I decided to take it easy in the bunch. With this being traditionally a fast stage, I started from the front in case any riders tried to attack early. This resulted in me having a dress rehearsal for the ITT as riders sat on my wheel for about 10-12km as I spun comfortably along up false flats. As we turned a corner with a slight tail wind push, I changed into a big gear and drove it up a climb at over 40km/h but still failed to split the bunch.

The balance of the stage was fairly tame with a few attempts at breaks and some high speeds on downhill sections. No rider was dropped and another bunch sprint eventuated with Gavin taking fifth place.

Stage 4 – Athol to Garston – Individual Time Trial (ITT) – 11.4km

With the even racing to date, this stage looked to be a potentially decisive one. When this stage was held in 2003, I averaged 42.8km/h and still finished well down the field and over a minute behind the leading C graders! As such, while I had some positive anticipation of this stage, I also shared some of Gavin’s trepidation.

Starting into a head wind in reverse GC (overall time) order, I was on the road two minutes after Gavin and two minutes in front of the yellow jersey. My start was much better than for the prologue but after about 4 or 5km, my legs started to protest at the pace. Glancing at my speedo, I thought I was in real trouble as I was only pushing 36 to 37km/h. Looking up the road, I could see my minute man far in the distance. Digging it in, I pushed on, hoping for a downhill and tailwind that never came. At about the 8km mark, I thought I could see two riders up the road but thought I must have been dreaming. Closer to the finish line, I saw one rider pass another rider and I wondered if one of the riders’ I could see was Gavin. As I closed in on the finish line, I saw that it was Gavin and I passed him just after the finish line, having pulled almost two minutes on him despite me only averaging 37km/h.

Turning around, I started the count for the next rider. He was well over a minute behind me and so out of second place on GC. Awaiting the yellow jersey, he was in sight within the two minutes and I started counting once two minutes had elapsed. I reached 10 before he crossed the finish line and the official stage results showed I had won the stage by 10 seconds over the yellow jersey. This left me in 2^nd place overall, just six seconds off yellow! Gavin slipped from 5^th place with his GC aspirations all but gone but was still in the money if he could hold his overall place.

Monday 28^th March 2005

Stage 5 – Queenstown to Glenorchy – 44.5km

The predicted constant heavy rain thankfully failed to eventuate although a head wind added to the challenge of the constant hill climbing. With Gavin now over two minutes down on GC, he decided to target a stage win. However, the yellow jersey holder easily chased down any attack. The result was another bunch finish. This stage finishes after a sharp downhill and is always fast in the last few kilometres. As I was lining up the sprint from the back of the bunch, I looked up the road to see a walker directly in my intended line. Not wanting a collision at 50/60km/h plus, I switched my attention to the yellow jersey holder. Easily holding his wheel, I found myself boxed in with a few hundred metres to go and had to settle for fifth place in the stage. Gavin found himself better positioned and just missed on his goal by finishing second in the stage.

Stage 6 – Glenorchy to Queenstown finishing up Moke Lake Road – 41km

After all the previous riding, it came down to the fact that I needed to win this stage by a handful of seconds to secure the tour victory. With the wind at our backs, the bunch started slowly but at the top of the first climb, another rider and I had a small gap on the bunch. Picking the speed up to around 50km/h, I drove the pace for several kilometres but it was again to no avail. The yellow jersey and bunch were still glued to my back wheel. I eased up to rest in the bunch as the best chances to take any time would be on the main hills.

As it turned out, on the mid stage KOM hill, the yellow jersey holder and another rider simply rode away. The current KOM jersey holder (Darron Burns) and the rest of the bunch were left in their wake. Once at the top of this climb, the two leaders started to work together and ride away. The rest of the bunch was split but we managed to quickly get a chase together which Darron and I led. After some hard work, we caught the front two and then continued to push the pace so following riders could not catch us. Gavin found himself further back and then had trouble with his gears and despite his best efforts, was unable to catch us.

Heading into the final two climbs, there were six riders in the front bunch. My only chance of victory appeared to be to try and make the yellow jersey holder crack. Accordingly, I went to the front of the bunch and climbed at a solid tempo. Two riders dropped off up the first climb before we turned into the notorious Lake Moke Road climb. I started this climb in first gear and my legs still protested at the pace and gradient. Despite a good tempo, the limpet mines remained on my wheel. In the final few hundred metres, as the gradient eased, I flicked back into the big ring to try and gain some time but was outclassed and finished third for the stage. Gavin finished almost 4m 30s later after being unable to use his first gear and slipped out of overall prize money.

After four days of riding, the final results were:
Jason Kelly,        08hrs 12m 04 at 15s, 2nd
Gavin Povey,      08hrs 18m 24s at 06m 35s, 10th

Although the prize money is not the best in the world, there are plenty of spot prizes – Gavin won a Fly by Wire experience – and with daily prize givings on sponsors’ premises, plenty of opportunity to socialise with fellow riders.