When I was 26, I would jokingly refer to my bike as the CWM (Cross Wind Missile). I'm not 26 anymore...

About Me

My name is Dean Russell and I raced road bikes and some track endurance in the 1990s. I stopped racing in 1999 when I was 26. After almost thirteen years of being a lazy slug I decided to put my sorry backside onto a bike seat and have another crack at racing. This blog chronicles my journey from being completely unfit and overweight to becoming one of the oldest Elite A grade riders in Queensland...and then slipping nicely back into Masters racing.

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

Race Report: Queensland Road Team Series (QRTS) - Round 1 (Gatton)

I have been kindly offered a guest team spot with Toowoomba's Team TLD Racing for this series. I expected the standard of racing to be well above anything I have done so far on the comeback trail and I was right.

Stage 1: 15km Individual Time Trial
49th place (108 starters) in 22 min 25 sec. Just like last week at Ipswich, I just didn't 'fire'. Not a great course for me (was quite hilly) but all the same, I just didn't perform like I should. Not a total disaster, but not great either.


Stage 2: 105km Road Race
We did the same course from the time trial seven times. The hills were not especially steep (all done in the big chain ring) but the pace was very fast which made it tough. I was caught behind a HUGE crash with 1km to go so was given bunch time. There were two riders away and seventy or so of us left in the main bunch, so I was pleased with that finish.

Stage 3: 105 km Road Race
This was a 20km loop we did five times with a small circuit to get to the course. It was much harder than yesterday with a nasty little climb we crossed five times. I was actually dropped on lap three and did a mad dash through the convoy to get back on. A large group of fifteen rode away and I finished in the main group of about sixty or so riders. Like yesterday, I was very happy to finish in the main pack; especially after getting dropped at halfway. 

So overall, I'm feeling pretty pleased with how it went. An 'okay' time trial and two solid bunch finishes in some very good company. I need to get that time trial right though...

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