Twin Peaks Tour

B grade

Sunday 16th June 2002

Jason Kelly

The Twin Peaks Tour is a one day, three stage event, which starts and finishes in Palmerston North. This year, A, B, Vets and womens grades were held over different courses from those used in previous years. While all grades climbed both the Saddle Road and the Pahiatua Track, the A grade had a 15km longer first stage and a 22.5km longer third stage than the other grades.

Driving down to Palmerston North on the Saturday evening, torrential rain and strong winds with the possibility of more to come on Sunday, combined with a head cold, made me wonder if I really wanted to race in this event. However, although Sunday morning dawned showery, this soon cleared to be fine, sunny and mild. A very light south westerly wind remained for the whole day.

Due to typical Manawatu organisation, my entry form said registration was at Memorial Park and the race started at 9am, which I foolishly forgot to translate into Manawatu language which actually translated to mean (obviously!) that registration was at a bike shop some two kilometres away from Memorial Park and the B grade race was scheduled to start at 8.50am. As such, I only just made it to the start line on time. I also had no idea of the course, its length, sprints and hill climbs (yes, there were some), finish line placement or other useful details. Looking around the starting bunch, Scott Betteridge was the only other Rambler in the B grade. There also seemed to be a few Vets present and it turned out that all the Vets (and women), whether A, B or C graders, all rode in the B grade and for B grade and Vet (and womens) prize money. This confused the organisers with their initial results and made the B grade race harder than would normally be expected.

The first stage started in Palmerston North with 33 riders and headed out towards Ashhurst. I realised the course had changed from previous years when we turned left off the main highway well before Ashhurst. The bunch rode at a moderate pace and all attacks were quickly rolled in. There was a sprint at 12.4km and a hill prime at 22.9km. Neither of these caused any real problems to the bunch who remained basically intact. Returning to Ashhurst, it became apparent that we had the Saddle Road to climb. The pace went on from the bottom of the climb, lead by the A grade vets, and I soon found myself at the tail of the leading bunch of six riders. After a while, I slowly drifted off the back and settled into a steady climbing mode. Scott Betteridge rode up and passed me and we then climbed together to almost the top. With a few hundred metres to go, Scott accelerated away and took 6th place for the stage, just 50s down on 1st, and I ambled to the finish line (as I still had no idea where it was) and was caught by another two chasing riders to be awarded 7th= place, a further 9s behind Scott. The leading rider had completed the 39.2km stage in 1hr 14m at an average speed of 31.8km/h. The weather was very cool at the top of the Saddle but at least I finally had a chance to study the course.

Stage 2 was a 13.6km individual time trial from the Woodville Railway Station to Pahiatua and started in reverse order from the results of Stage 1. I started off at a solid 40-42km/h but soon slowed and struggled on the slightly uphills parts of the course. It was still fine, sunny and warm with little wind. Two riders passed me and I managed a time of just 22m 40s while Scott Betteridge almost caught me, completing the course in 21m 25s. Again, the organisers let themselves down as there was no finish line and no indication of the end of the stage. By the middle of Pahiatua, most riders felt they must have finished the course and started to slow down. Later riders did have the luxury of a single road cone at the presumed finish line which was on the entry to town.

Lunch was probably the highlight of the day. Held at the Pahiatua Recreation Centre, hot macaroni or lasagne, fruit and drinks were available. This was included in the race entry fee and there was food left over. The initial results posted during this time showed that Scott was 2nd overall in B grade, just 7 seconds off first place. I was further back but still just in the prize money. After a brief discussion with Scott on tactics for the last stage, I re-checked the results to see they had been changed and all the Vets inserted into the general B grade results. This pushed Scott down the field and myself out of the prize money.

The third stage was a 44km road race from Pahiatua, over the Pahiatua Track, and finished outside the Pacific International College on Aokautere Drive, just out of Palmerston North. From the start, Scott and I took the front of the bunch but failed to break away so just settled into a gentle cruise. No one else was interested in anything but a very brief turn at the front until we started to get into the hills. The Vets again pushed the pace up the Pahiatua Track and the bunch soon splintered. Going across the top, a bunch of four were just out in front followed by a bunch of five including myself and Scott. We chased down the Pahiatua Track and were only just holding the front four. With a big effort, the gap would reduce slightly. After a few big efforts by various members of the chasing bunch, at speeds of around 75km/h, we caught the front four and formed a bunch of nine. I had to finish at least 9 seconds in front of the 11th rider to guarantee myself some prize money so I pulled the bunch along. Reaching a nasty hill in Aokautere Drive, the Vets initially pushed the pace but soon settled down and I reached the top with them. Scott unfortunately just drifted off the pace on this hill. We soon reached the finish line and I secured 4th place in the stage in a time of 1hr 16m at an average speed of 34.7km/h. Scott finished about 30s later.

Overall, the Vets took out the top places with Scott Betteridge 6th, 2m 20s down, and I finished 9th, a further 53s down and managed to gain just enough prize money to pay the entry fee. All but one of the B grade riders completed all the three stages.

Prize giving was stated to be held promptly at the conclusion of the third stage. Translating this into Manawatu language meant it actually started almost two hours after the last rider finished the course and  concluded around 5.30pm.