The Charles Coin is arguably one of the most important road races on the Queensland racing calendar. It is a course that suits me and one that I enjoy very much. Given that, I raced Elite A on the day, hoping that I could get in there and mix it with the young uns'.
So...128 km would normally be a tough ask, but with 40 km/h South-Westerly winds blowing and with gusts stronger than that, it was always going to be a battle of the cross-winds in the gutter. I wasn't to be disappointed and within the first 5 km of the race, with a howling cross-tail wind, it exploded. Fortunately, possibly due to me being a grumpy old man who has seen such conditions many times 'back in my day', I saw the bomb coming and at least prepared myself for it. I didn't have the legs, but I did have the positioning.
By half way through the first lap the field had splint into the lead three, being chased by five (including me), being chased by another five, then everyone else in bits and pieces. The two groups of five did come together shortly after to make a solid chase group of ten.
So we chased, and we chased and we chased. It was all to no avail though and as our group shrunk down to six riders by the last two laps it was clear that we were racing for fourth and as long as I could hang on, I would sneak into the top ten.
But it didn't all go to plan from that point. It's pretty rare for me to cramp, but that is exactly what happened with 20 km to go. Luckily (and to be honest I don't know how), I had a little stretch, a big drink of water and a truckload of sugar and I managed to pedal through it and out the other side.
After that our group got all attacky on the way into the finish, leaving five of us sprinting for the scraps. I managed 4th in our group and 7th overall.
No doubt about it...this was one of the toughest days I have had on a bicycle for a long time:
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