Blayney to Bathurst

I'll just preface with last years stats for this race from last year.

Blayney '08

TSS 254

261W NP

3hrs 20minutes - 110km ~ 32km/hr

Blayney '09

TSS 237

267W NP

3hrs - 110km ~ 37km/hr

So where did I save 20 minutes if my output was almost identical to last year?

Well it comes down to hiding in the bunch and keeping my nose out of the wind. Last year I got dropped from the bunch after an hour (NP 300w). This year there was a block headwind for most of the course, which kept the pace down, and being in a good position in the bunch, my overall output was fairly low.

This meant I was fresh to get over the climbs with the lead bunch and then recover on the flats. In the mid section of the race there was a 30 minute segment where we averaged 45km/hr, that might not sound very impressive, but when you are constantly bridging gaps when other riders are getting spat out of the bunch, it sure as hell takes a toll on the legs!!!

I managed to stay with the main bunch until the main climb of the day (90km in), the 5km ascent up Mt Rockley. I started to cramp with 1km to go and lost touch with the bunch.

Reformed with a smaller group and we limited our time gap by around 3minutes from the main field.

I am very happy with the results, especially as I came into the race very under done.

Will have a think about where I need to improve over the next week or so and then fine tune for the Canberra Tour in 2 weeks.