The Darrebin International Sports Centre (DISC) in Melbourne hosted these championships a little over a week ago. I competed in the Individual Pursuit and Points Race in the MMAS 4 (45-49 years) division and the Team Pursuit in Open Masters. I had prepared well and was hoping for a strong performance.
Individual Pursuit
I was looking to beat my PB of 3.34.13 in qualifying. The track was not running especially quick with a slightly cool morning. Maybe I wasn't running especially quick as well? Either way, I qualified in second place in a 3.35.37, 1.33 seconds behind Victoria's Matthew Bowman. Now guaranteed of being on the top two steps of the podium, we would race for the medals later that day. With John Eder calling me, we opted for a strategy in the final of starting steady and then bringing it home. History shows that this approach works better for me. In the final Matthew had a steady first lap and then went very hard. He had me three seconds down by halfway. At that point I clicked and started to reel him in. I made big gains in that second half but ran short by 1.3 seconds with a 3.35.31. The two of us had ridden identical times in the final down to tenths of a second! So a Silver medal for me.
Points Race
This would end up being an extremely frustrating experience for me. Apparently, there has been a rule change in masters points races, where the final sprint no longer carries double points. Unfortunately the program had not been updated to reflect that. Also unfortunately, riders who entered the track from the side of the track where Queensland were sitting, were not privy to the pre-race briefing which advised of this rule change. So I headed off thinking the final sprint was double points. Can you see where this is going? The event turned into a two horse race very quickly, those horses being Stuart Grieve from NSW and myself. Stuart held the lead the whole way, but I chipped away at the points and stayed close. I won the second last sprint and then checked the points and saw that If I won the last sprint (assuming double points) I would be Australian Champion. I dutifully put myself in the twilight zone for the last sprint, won it...and then was advised it was normal points only and I had in fact won...the Silver medal. Gutted...
Team Pursuit
Our Queensland Team of myself, Andy Patten, Robbie Reid and John Eder were always going to have a hard time of it. Firstly, Robbie was as sick as a dog and it was a miracle that he even started. Secondly, Hunter District had a red hot team with an average age of at least ten years younger than us, who we raced in the final. We gave it a good crack though and ended up with the Silver medal. Our time was 3.06.28 after (inexplicably) the final was run a lap short. I really feel for the Hunter District team as they were on track for an Australian record.
So there it is...three events and three Silver medals. A part of me is immensely satisfied with three from three, but another part of me is pretty miffed about not being able to secure at least one Australian Title.
So what now? The racing calendar is pretty quiet for a few months. I am interested in the new State Individual Time Trial Series that starts later in the year so we will see how that goes. Might need to get back into the Zwift racing zone for a while!
