Great afternoon of racing in Armidale on saturday.
Instead of 75km of handicap pain at home, we lined up for 36km of undulating hills in freezing windy weather. Breeze was strong enough to have me wishing the new bike was not so light and I weighed a lot more than I do
5 CCCC in C grade, and moi in B grade. Two out and back laps approx 18ks with enough hills included to have someone of my weight salivating, throw in a little altitude and we were in for an interesting arvo.
The C grade team went in with a plan that almost paid full dividends. 2nd return lap and all i saw was Yoni off the front, head down looking good for a win. Unfortunately the 30knot head/crosswind on the way home cruelled the win for the ladies, but Hodgee took second in a sprint finish aided by Stu with Whitey in the following pack, and Troy lamenting a broken spoke.
B grade started like a coffee ride. With one or two attacks uphill I was watching two Armidale riders who looked the strongest. The crosswind had me looking for cover as soon as it flattened out and put paid to any solo breakaways. A solid pace up the second last climb had the two Armidale riders following my wheel, a 100m break that they were happy to consolidate, and a nice little uphill that flattened out 200m before the finish was made for a CCCC win. The inevitable... "he should have been in A grade" was tempered by "gee that course suited me" and CCCC finished the day with some good results.
Keen to hear how the Tamworth club race went on Sunday.
