The event is not an official race, but rather a club ride with designated Sprint Points and King of the Mountains (KOM) as well as an overall winner at the finish line. There are 3 of these events each year (with different titles) and you can follow the links to see how I fared in the last 4 such rides: Ronde de Bayside (Autumn Classic) May 2013, Ben Griffin Classic Dec 2012, Bayside Classic Aug 2012. In summary, I do reasonably well in the King of the Mountains, struggle in the Sprints and never actually make it to the finish line.
The Bayside Classic version starts at the Clocktower and travels all the way to top of Arthur's Seat (very steep 3km climb) in Dromana. In total 120km with 4 KOMs, 4 Intermediate Sprints and a final Sprint finish back in Beaumaris. Not wanting to get up extra early and drive to Beaumaris, I started from my house in Seaford and rode back towards Beaumaris until I saw the peleton approaching. I joined the group in Aspendale. One of my biggest competitors from the previous events, Tom, had just secured his Professional Triathlon Licence and was preparing for his first Pro race in the Gold Coast. I noticed he wasn't part of the group and some of my confidence was starting to creep back.
The first Sprint is in Seaford just before we reach Frankston. I had no strategy for the Sprint (and I wonder why I never do well), but I thought I had positioned myself well on the riight side of the pack two wheels from the front. The rider in front did not look like someone who would be a serious contender, however my thinking was I could jump onto the wheel of anyone good that went past.
Clint made the early jump, but he found a gap on the left down the inside. Most of the serious contenders had been sitting on Clint's wheel and were now charging off after him, whilst I was still stuck on the outside. I stayed in the draft hoping the rider in front would join in the charge, but he wasn't really up to it and I soon realised any further action was just a waste of effort. Despite appearing to charge too early, Clint was simply too strong for everyone else and comfortably won the first Sprint (I didn't notice who got the minor placings).
Next was the Oliver's Hill KOM. A very short (about 600m) but very steep hill as you head out of Frankston towards Mt Eliza. After the peleton regrouped I moved up towards the front and sat behind Ray in about 3rd wheel. Again I had no plan, but I figured Ray was probably my biggest threat so I decided to keep an eye on him. About 200m before the hill starts, Young Martin raced passed making a solo charge at the KOM. I immediately jumped onto his wheel and sat on him as we pulled a nice gap on everyone else. I was pretty confident of being able to outride Martin up the hill, but was very happy for him to do all the early work. Less than halfway up Martin showed the first signs of struggling, so I moved to the front and Martin slotted in behind me. I was feeling pretty good at this stage thinking this was going to be the easiest KOM ever, when another rider from the group (who I don't know) sped past like I was standing still. I knew the early speed before the hill had sapped some of our energy and slowed the second half of our ascent, but I've never seen anyone go up Oliver's Hill as fast as this new Mystery Rider. I continued to push, but Young Martin dropped away. The Mystery Rider won the KOM (4 points), I took second (2 points) another rider pipped Martin for 3rd (1 point).
I knew it wasn't my best effort up Oliver's Hill, but my legs now felt completely spent. Strava shows it as my 2nd best time, so it was a better effort than I probably realised, but I was certainly feeling the aftermath. The next KOM was Balcombe Hill and gratefully this was another 20kms away, so a bit of time to try and recuperate. The peleton stopped for a touch on the other side of Mt Eliza just so the group could re-form back together. Riding through Mornington I caught up with Jen and even though it was her first proper group ride with the club, she looked like she was going extremely well. She does a lot of mileage on the bike, including riding to work several times a week and it shows in her riding ability.
In previous events I have tried to gap the field early with a charge at Balcombe Hill, but it has never worked very well, so I decided I would play it cool this time. Ray took the lead with Clint on his wheel followed by me. The early pace was pretty comfortable, so much so that I yelled at Ray to try and go faster. Balcombe Hill is about 3km long with a small false flat in the middle. The second half is not quite as steep as the first, but you need to save energy in the first half to find the speed at the end. About halfway up the first section Ray started to apply some effort and pulled a gap on Clint. I immediately passed Clint and rode back onto Ray's wheel. In hindsight I think Clint deliberately let the gap appear because he wanted me in front.
Ray completely misjudged his effort and blew up as soon as we reached the false flat forcing me to take the lead, something I was not planning to do until much later. Now on the slightly less steep section, I held a good tempo pace as I tried to put a gap on the riders behind. I could hear another rider sitting right behind me and judging by the level of puffing, he was suffering less than me. I just assumed it was the Mystery Rider from Oliver's Hill and he would fly past at any minute, so I was already focussing on riding for 2nd place. With about 500m to go the rider behind made his move, but it was Andrew on his new bike (he had taken his old bike into Cyclespeed for a service and walked out with a shiny new one - happens a lot). Andrew effortlessly put a good gap on me and I instantly knew I was no chance of reigning him in. I couldn't hear anyone behind me, so I figured I was still good for 2nd place. Then for the 2nd time in the day, another rider flew past. This time it was Clint making a huge charge for the line. By this stage Andrew had a good gap and I didn't give Clint a chance, but he caught Andrew metres before the finish and took the KOM (4 points). Andrew was second (2 points) and I was third (1 point). According to Strava this was my equal 2nd best effort up this climb.
Now I was really wrecked. Luckily the group took it very easy and I limped along near the back of the pack. The next Sprint was on Boundary Rd not far from the base of Arthur's Seat. I was very happy to sit back and take no part whatsoever. In fact I didn't even bother looking to see who won (probably Clint).
A disused Chair lift is situated at the bottom of Arthur's Seat and cyclists often meet in its carpark. We starting hearing reports that someone had crashed near where the Sprint was, so Clint got us all to wait while he worked out what had happened. Everyone seemed pretty happy to get some extra rest and it also gave all the slower riders a chance to rejoin the group.
I strategically positioned myself for the restart, but did too well and found myself leading the climb up Arthur's Seat. There were 10 or so riders behind me, but I could tell Griff was sitting right on my wheel. This is a tough climb and going too hard early will almost certainly mean dying before the end. So rather than try and inflict pain on my pursuers, I simply found a comfortable rhythm and grinded my way up the hill. The riders behind slowly dropped off one by one, but Griff held firm never letting me build a gap. Then at the half way mark he took the lead and very slowly started to pull away. The gap never really got that big and I just concentrated on holding my rhythm. A little further on and there were only 3 riders left in the hunt. Griff had a 20 metre gap to me and Andrew (on his new bike) was another 20 metres or so adrift. I hadn't given Andrew's new bike a good look, but I knew he usually rode with a compact crank and the steepness of the climb would definitely be playing to his advantage. However I also knew that the gradient drops off a little in the last 500m and if he hadn't passed me before that, I would be too strong once his advantage had disappeared. By the time we reached the slightly less steep section, Griff's lead was closer to 50m. I started applying the power, but so was Griff. At least I was holding off Andrew. In the last 100m Griff appeared to be struggling and I was closing the gap quickly, but the finish line appeared too soon and Griff took the KOM (4 points). Speaking to him later, he said he eased off once he realised I was too far behind to catch him. I took second (2 points) and Andrew took 3rd (1 point) with a large gap to fourth place.
The Arthur's Seat Strava segment I usually look at starts at the gate which is before the Carpark. Having waited several minutes, this segment was not going to reflect my actual climbing time, but luckily there are numerous other segments for the climb, some which start after the carpark. Despite feeling absolute crap after my Oliver's and Balcombe Hill efforts, I recorded my fastest Strava time up Oliver's Hill. I don't know if this is my fastest time ever, because I only have 4 attempts (out of about 20) recorded on Strava.
With three 2nd places and a 3rd I was now leading the King of the Mountains classification. However with 4 points for 1st place, a win for Griff, Clint or the Mystery Rider on the last KOM would take the title off me.
The plan was for everyone to ride to Mornington and re-group at Main St. Being well ahead of most people up the climb had its advantages, because I could slowly cruise the 20km into Mornington. The Mt Martha twisties along the Esplanade is one of my favourite cycling roads and I usually ride this section as fast as I can. On this occasional I crept along putting in just enough effort to get myself up each of the hills (the headwind didn't help).
The ride back down Arthur's Seat was quite slippery from overnight rain. I rode down very slowly as I offered encouragement to those still climbing. Unfortunately Hayley (one of the star Triathletes in the club) had a fairly bad crash on one of the corners and ended up in Frankston Hospital. I believe she is fine now, but will probably need to buy a new helmet. Mick also crashed on the decent (last corner), but survived the incident with only a few scrapes and bruises.
After a short wait at Mornington we headed towards the last KOM of the ride - Beleura Hill. At only 800m long it is a very short hill, but it has a nasty pinch in the middle that must be around 20% gradient. As we headed off, Darren started to pull a gap on the rest of the field so I immediately rode up to his wheel. He didn't seem to be going very fast, but I wanted to conserve as much energy as I could before I hit the steepest section. I kept waiting for him to launch an attack, but I suspect he was never really intending to contest the KOM and was just riding tempo as the easiest way to ascend the hill. I couldn't wait any longer and eventually had to make the jump. I had a gap to the group but nowhere near as big as I would have liked. As I hit the pinch I changed down gears to try and spin up, but this is when both Griff and Andrew charged out of the pack. I sprinted up the steep pinch as fast as I could, but in hindsight I should have been in a harder gear. Griff took the lead as we turned the corner and I jumped onto his wheel. He was unable to pull a gap on me, but I was also unable to pass. So Griff got another KOM (4 points), I got yet another 2nd place (2 points) and Andrew came 3rd (1 point). According the Strava, this was my 2nd best effort up Beleura Hill.
With his win on the final climb Griff pipped me for the King of the Mountain title with a total of 8 points, I came 2nd (7 points) with Clint, the Mystery Rider and Andrew all on 4 points in equal 3rd.
The next 15kms back to Frankston was a major struggle, however I wasn't alone. The main peleton was a fraction of its original size with lots of riders having hit the wall. The rest of us were limping back at a very leisurely pace. Halfway back, Clint caught up to Young Martin and myself and signalled for us to sit on his wheel as he gave us a draft back (it was headwind all the way to Frankston). We were flying along when we caught up to James and Leah. I had to laugh when he gave the same drafting signal to them. This was Leah's first real group ride so I imagine she would be feeling absolutely shattered by this stage and Clint was suggesting she jump on our wheel as we sped past down a hill at over 50kph.
We regrouped at the Frankston BP service station before heading off again. The next Sprint starts just after the BP and the lead group managed to get the jump on the rest of us out of the service station. I sat on Clint's wheel as he tried to close the gap, but we didn't catch back up until after the Sprint had finished. Completely disinterested by this stage, I have no idea who won.
At this point we were less than 5km from my home as I was completely spent. Clint had earlier asked me if I was going to continue to the finish at which time I said 'depends how I feel'. Well now I knew exactly how I felt and I was definitely dropping out.
Overall I was a bit disappointed not to take out the King of the Mountains. But looking at my Strava results, they weren't too bad. And I've never been in this kind of form in August/September before. So I'm not at my peak, but I'm not too far off it either.
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