This was my last crack at winning the state time trial title for 40-44 years men (I go up to the 45-49 division next year). I had previously finished 5th (2013), 3rd (2014) and 2nd (2016). The course was on North Stradbroke Island. I have some strong views about this location and course, but Cycling Queensland's Social Media Policy prevents me from making further comment.
It was an exceptionally windy day and (like may others) I had no opportunity to ride the course before the day. It was 20km out and back with quite a few hills. Overall, I felt pretty good and managed to keep the power where it should have been. The hills were a lot steeper than I expected and this definitely knocked my time around as I needed to put a lot of watts out to prevent slowing down too much. I ended up riding 29 min 46 sec, which was good enough for second place. I was beaten by a rider from NSW (Ben Neppl) so as much as I don't have the title, I was at least the fastest Queenslander on the day. No shame in losing to Ben though, he is a good bike rider and rode an impressive 29 min 02 sec which was one of the fastest 20km times across all divisions on the day. Ben and I have raced each other on the track previously and recently shared two podiums at the Masters Track Nationals in Sydney.
So there you have it, not quite what I wanted, but happy all the same. I also managed to represent both of my registered kits on the day!
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