Tuesday night was my first Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club Criterium at the Sandown raceway. It was a windy and chilly night for the 6.30pm start. I was shivering on the start ramp and many riders were still in line for registration...
In the first few laps the A grade field was trying to warm up the legs and after rolling around the attacks started to come. I was in good position and followed a few moves over the first 15min. Late rego riders jumped in a few laps in and the bunch grew to 70 strong riders.
The wind played a major roll in stringing out the bunch in one long line and with around 30min left of racing I surged off the front of the strung out peloton. I was accompanied by a few riders at first then they disappeared when I picked up the pace to hold off the chasing pack.
Coming into the final lap I was cautious of attacks from the fellow riders and sure enough on the tail wind climb a big attack came from behind catching me off guard and forcing a big effort to chase down the gap. The other two riders were sitting on using me up for all I was worth and at that point I almost lost hope as I caught and passed the defeated rider.
I hit the last corner first and was watching out for the final kick hoping that I could jump on the wheel of a rider that kicked too early. Luckily for me the BMC rider went hard and fast and I jumped into his slipstream and managed to do a second kick over the top for the finish.
So my first win in Sandown tuesday night crit and I was very happy that my legs were feeling strong after Tassie.
On Saturday morning I fly out to Langkawi for a 5 day MTB stage race. It should be awesome as the weather is meant to be warm and nice. Follow the updates on www.cyclingnews.com or www.mtbmalaysia.com
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