The Cunningham Classic is regarded as the 'biggest' race on the Queensland road calendar and I believe rightly so. It has been running for nearly thirty-five years and when the race conditions are 'wrong' it can be a brutally hard race.
Forty-five of us rolled out of Gatton in Masters A last Saturday, in very mild conditions; a slight head-wind and nice temperatures. I was looking for conditions to be a little dirtier than that, but it wasn't to be. I was unsure of my form as well. I am feeling very fit at the moment, but I had a planned four day complete break that had finished only eight days earlier. The long-term goal of freshening up had been achieved but a break like that can do funny things to your form.
As it turns out, my legs weren't too bad. I wouldn't say great, but I felt like I could 'ride myself in' as the race progressed. That was a little tricky though, as the first hour of the race was aggressive with a lot of moves trying to get off the front. I tried to stay out of that mess and only put myself into a break on one occasion when a move looked dangerous. That move was caught however and we had a full bunch as we rolled into the slopes and twists before the climb of the day.
This is where the race winning move happened; a break of about five or six with the 'right' combination slipped off the front. I watched it closely and saw it had about a ten or fifteen second gap. I could also see that Matt Ryan and Michael Bettany (both Australian Masters Champions) were still in the bunch, so I watched them with great interest.
A minute or so later, those two riders bolted from the bunch to attempt to get across to the break (they would actually go on to finish first and second respectively). I waited until they had established a small gap and then I attacked on my own. I managed to break free from the bunch and gave it FULL GAS to get across to the two riders.
This move took a significant effort and when I caught Matt and Michael I could understand why. They were absolutely flying... In terms of timing, it all went wrong. I had made contact with them almost at the bottom of the big climb of the day. Full of lactic acid and bad manners, I lost contact with Matt and Michael almost as quickly as I had caught them.
I tried to get over the climb on my own before the bunch caught me but it wasn't to be. The bunch split with about twenty going forwards and ten going backwards. I went over the top of the climb between the two groups and stayed there on my own for the next sixty kilometres. I must admit, I didn't even know that the remains of the bunch was behind me until I reached the finish line in Warwick and saw them trailing by a couple of minutes! Anyway, it gave me a nice sixty kilometre solo training ride.
So a disappointing 33rd place in a race I should have done much better. You know what they say; shit happens. If I had my time over again, I am not sure if I would do much differently; I just didn't have the legs to finish the job on the day.
What's next? State Individual Time Trial and Road Race Titles are both in the next four weeks. I am keen for results!
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