There had been a lot of trash talking on Facebook before the event, mostly directed towards Clint and how his days of dominance were at an end. Tom, who had just earnt his Triathlon Pro licence this year was particular vocal - all in jest of course.
Like usual I rode from my house and joined the ride when I spotted them approaching. I figured it would be very easy to recognise the group on Christmas Eve (a work day), but was still surprised by the size of the group. I'd estimate at least 80 riders in the peleton, possibly more.
Seaford Sprint
I'm not a good sprinter at the best of times, but with my legs still feeling dead I knew I was no hope. However even without being a chance for a win, it is hard not to join in the fun, so I took off with the lead pack on the first sprint. I saw Tom tucked in nicely behind Clint and told him I would act as his lead-out man. Unfortunately I misread the pace of the pack and ended up at the front way too early. Jason and I were riding side by side out front knowing full well our efforts would die well before the line. Seems like my lead-out abilities are almost as bad as my sprinting.
Predictably Clint won the first sprint, Tom came in second and I'm not sure who scored 3rd place.
Oliver's Hill KOM
Legs still feeling crap, but like usual I decided to race the KOM anyway. Half way up what is a short but very steep hill, it was obviously not happening for me, so I cruised up the rest of the hill.
Stephen won the KOM. I'm not sure, but he looked very much like last year's Red Rider, but on a new bike - he certainly rode up hills just as fast. Young Martin was second and Andrew third (note that this is a different Andrew to the one that dominated the Bayside KOM).
Balcombe Hill KOM
There is a fair gap between Oliver's and Balcombe and my legs were starting to loosen up. I was always going to race the hill, but now I felt I had a whisker of chance to score points.
It started out unusually slow. I don't think Clint had any intention of contesting the climb (he was concentrating on the sprints), but the slow pace seemed to annoy him so he jumped on the front to pick things up. As soon as Clint backed off a few riders made big attacks near the bottom of the hill.
At 2.4km, Balcombe Hill is reasonably long and has two sections with a small false flat in the middle. It is very common to see riders go way too hard in the first half and completely die way before the end. With this in mind the lead pack let to attacking riders go and set on a nice tempo pace for the first half of the climb. Andrew (from the Bayside KOM) set the pace out front. It was not particularly fast, but e was conveniently protecting the rest of us from head wind, so we were more than happy to sit on his wheel.
Once passed the false flat Tom took over the lead and I jumped on his wheel. Another rider followed by Andrew dropped away. We quickly rounded up the attacking riders, the last of whom was Stephen who actually seemed to wait for us (probably catching his breath before the final onslaught).
Looking who I was riding with, I felt I was outgunned and would not win a final sprint up the climb. With this in mind I attacked early about 200m before the summit. Unfortunately the fatigue in my legs meant my attack was no where near as powerful as I wanted, but was good enough to dislodge one of the riders. This left Stephen, Tom and myself. Predictably Stephen and Tom rode away from me with Stephen claiming the full points whilst I held on for 3rd.
Dromana Sprint
Starting from the Dromana Drive-in and ending under the Freeway overpass, I once more decided to continue my futile efforts at winning a sprint.
Sitting 4 wheels from the front, I felt I was in perfect position. Unbenownst to me, the two riders in front had decided not to contest the sprint, so when everybody shot off I found myself completely boxed in. Once I had manoeuvred my out I tried to catch back up, but to no avail.
Clint picked up another Sprint win followed by Tom in second (no idea who came third).
Sorrento Sprint
The Sorrento Sprint has a steep uphill finish. Maybe this would help overcome my pathetic sprinting talents. Unfortunately the start point was over 1km before the end and I was badly positioned when the pack took off at a very rapid pace. I would surge to catch up, but each time the rider in front would drop off requiring me to surge again. After happening a few times, I backed off and saved my legs.
Maybe it was the uphill finish, but this time Tom prevailed over Clint with Andrew (from the Oliver's Hill KOM) scoring another 3rd place.
Once at Sorrento we stopped for a toilet break, refilling of water bottles and to allow all of the riders to regroup. At the stop Clint announced a change to the Beleura Hill KOM. The start point was moved from Main St to the Mt Martha tunnel - so the racing section of the KOM had increased from 1km to 11.5km.
Beleura Hill KOM
The new extended KOM now included the twisting and undulating roads through Mt Martha. This is one of my favourite bits of road and usually a section of road where I would do well. But my legs were not feeling good, plus I would have 100km in legs before hitting this section.
I knew the exit from the tunnel would be a critical piece of road. It is extremely steep and I usually suffer greatly on this small section of road. Moving to front before the tunnel and then pushing very hard on the exit I successfully lodged myself within the lead pack. Once the Mt Martha twisties the pace was hard and fast. I locked onto the back of Clint's wheel and hung on for dear life.
The twisty, undulating section along the Esplanade between the tunnel and round-a-bout is 6km long. About 5kms in, a few riders managed to extend a gap to Clint. I waited for a bit to see if Clint would close it down but nothing happened. Suspecting he may be suffering I jumped out front to share to pull a turn. Unfortunately my power left me when we started to climb the next hill and Clint and Ben flew past leaving me in their wake. Knowing I was on a good time for one of my favourite Strava segments I continued to push the pace to the round-a-bout and smashed my PB by 1m40s for the 6km segment (only 90s off the overall KOM).
The leaders were still in sight but I was feeling very flat and just cruised along the Esplanade towards Mornington. Previously dropped riders flew past, but I wasn't tempted to jump on until a small pack of 6 or so riders came past that included Jason and Brent. They were riding well and were slowing picking up the riders ahead. Starting to feel better and jumped on the front and pulled a few turns as we maintained a good pace into Mornington. In fact the pace was so good that when we crested the final Beleura Hill the leaders were just ahead of us. Even more impressive, I have placed 7th overall on the 38km Strava segment from Sorrento to Mornington - this includes me stopping at Rye to fix my chain and the few kilometres along the Esplanade where I stopped trying.
Once again Stephen won the KOM - 3 out 3 making him King of the Mountain. I don't know who got 2nd, but Tom snuck in for third.
By this stage I felt terrible, but Tom looked even worse. The ride was to regroup at the Frankston BP and we both got dropped along the way.
Seaford Sprint
After regrouping at Frankston, the next Sprint starts almost immediately and you need your wits about you to get into position early enough. Knowing this, Ray launched a massive attack and quickly established what looked like an insurmountable lead. James headed off with the intention of securing 2nd and I sat on wheel planning to jump him just before the line. Stephen flew past an incredible speed in chase of Ray, leaving James and I to fight out for 3rd place.
I knew I had nothing left in my legs, but I figured if I sat in James draft all to the way to finish it should be pretty simple to overrun him at the end. With about 300m to go several other riders started to pass on the outside. Thinking they would easily outride James (and therefore me), I gave up and cruised to the line. Surprisingly James maintained his lead and took 3rd (surprising because he rode so far solo, not because I doubt his ability). Even more surprising, Stephen caught and passed Ray for the win.
At 140km I ended my ride completely exhausted. This has been my longest ride since Ironman in March 2012 (20 months ago). Initially I was a little disappointed in my efforts, but after looking at the Strava results I was pleasantly surprised. Not only did I post big PBs on nearly all the segments between Sorrento and Mornington, I also scored a PB on the Balcombe Hill climb.
Last Two Sprints
As I'd already left the ride, I didn't see any of the last 2 sprints. Parkers Rd Sprint was won by Daniel, followed by Clint and Laurence. And the Overall winner (final sprint) was won by Clint, followed by Swanny and then Dave. King of the Mountain went to Stephen and Clint won the Sprint points.
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