Tour of Bronte

Great day of racing at Bronte park yesterday. Turned out to be warm and sunny for the afternoon elite race, which was a nice surprise.

I felt great on the bike right from the warm up. When our race started, a bit delayed, I was excited to get going. Stayed top 5ish for the 9 or so short road laps we did and missed out on the key move that went. I thought it was too soon and was unsure exactly who was in it, other than Zack. Turns out it was Tyson and an M1 up there. After they got away no one in the bunch seemed interested in chasing, except Morka. Seemed like he was the only one doing any work, and when he slowed, no one would take over. I did a bit up there, only when the pace got really slow.

These three would get almost 2 minutes on us before we hit the actual course to do 7 laps. The race got way more fun here, and new guys went to the front to drive the pace. Morka was still doing the majority of the work.

Forget when, maybe on the second full lap, a group of 6 went clear. I must of been at the wrong place at the wrong time, cause I missed this one. I noticed some strong guys were up there, and figured it would stick. I was determined to bridge up to them, but again, no one wanted to chase hard, so they were pulling away quickly. I got a bit frustrated and went to the front to help chase, thinking that if we got them closer I could make the bridge. Shortly after, I was just pulling off to rest so I could attempt to bridge, and then Chown went; perfectly timed and made it up to them fairly quickly. I felt I still had a chance, and after a bit of recovery I went for it. made it about half way across the gap and then had that feeling that if I kept hammering I would be stuck in the gap until I blew up, so I sat up and waited for the pack. The gap was far to big now.

For me it would be a sprint for 10th. I positioned myself perfectly for it, and most likely would have won it, but was forced to go around a guy on the grass, losing a lot of speed. Came through second, which I was satisfied with.

Congrats to Chown for taking his second Victory this season, and playing it very smart. I learned a lot from this race and won't be making tactical errors like that again.

Also teammate Alex Schmidt who finished 2nd in the junior cat. He rode smart and made a big move at the end, that unfortunately didn't last, but he was strong enough to finish front half of the pack still. Justin had a very solid ride also, especially considering that he has been very sick and off the bike the past week.

It was for sure excellent training for the P-A next weekend. I took last week much easier than planned as I picked up a little cold. Seems to be gone now so I will be able to resume with some intervals. I did one 20min int. @ 305watts last Tuesday. Going for the 2 @ 310watts tomorrow. Will let you know how that goes!

Andrew