Greg Henderson (Jarron Partridge www.jxpphotography.com.au)
Yesterday was the Scotty Peoples Memorial Race in Shepparton, Victoria. I never knew Scotty but I remember hearing about the tragedic day in 2006 when he was struck by a vehicle while training. Every year the Scott Peoples Foundation holds a race in his honor. Judging by the amazing fields that always turn up there’s no question he was well liked and greatly missed.
This is one of my favorite races on the summer calendar. It’s well run, there’s a festive atmosphere, and there’s always some top name pros that show up to pay their respects. Lots of these guys want to win this race as I’m sure it carries some heavy significance. Let me tell you, it’s no charity ride!
There were about 130 riders that started the A/B category. It was hot, dry and windy. Everyone knew that as soon as we turned the first corner into the crosswinds things were going to get blown to pieces. This meant that the neutral section behind the lead car was filled with panic as everyone was jostling for position.
As soon as the lead car pulled off and we turned into the crosswinds everyone realized that it was a cross/tailwind and the bumping and positioning was all for nothing. The pace was on and there are always attacks at the beginning of these races, but nothing too threatening that could get away. When the pace is over 50km/hr and everyone’s legs are fresh it really makes no sense to try to break away, but people always try. The pace settled in after about 30mins of foreplay.
It took a few twists and turns to get the conditions that were needed to create the perfect storm. As soon as we had some dead-on crosswinds the strong riders went straight to the front and put the race into the gutter at 55km/hr. To me this is more exciting than an epic mountain stage in Le Tour. I love nothing more in bike racing that seeing the peloton get ripped to shreds by roaring crosswinds (assuming I’m one of the ones up at the front!). It’s absolute chaos to keep your position in the rolling front echelon while over a hundred other riders are holding on for dear life strung out in the gutter. Now this is bike racing!
After about 30mins of this ripping pace the split in the field was well and truly established. About 30 riders made the front group. It took one quick look around to see that the cream had risen to the top. I was among the company of riders like Greg Henderson (Columbia-HTC), Darren Lapthorne (Rapha-Condor), Tom Southam (Rapha-Condor) along with a bunch of other young gun pros. I was also pumped to see that four out of the five of my O2 team had made the split but unfortunately one of us was part of the collateral damage. More on him later…
For the next 50km everyone in the front group played nicely together. We rolled along smoothly trying to get as much time on the rest of the peloton as possible. This wouldn’t last long though. There was a moderate climb coming up and some vast exposed plains at the top where the winds would pick up again. I wish I had my camera. The blue sky and rolling terrain was stunning!
We got to the top of the climb with about 50km to go and the attacks began. Henderson was riding like ten men and he made the first of many moves. Not only would he launch vicious attacks – he would do so right on the edge of the road (on the side away from the wind). This meant that nobody got any draft whatsoever and it hurt every single person who followed.
About six of these attacks managed to shed everyone except 12 of us. I was feeling pretty good still so I decided to have a crack when it looked like everyone was tiring (I sure was!). I hit the group right after a move was brought back during a lull and no one followed except for Henderson. He caught up with me as I was going balls out and came around and said “okay, let’s go”. Oh man! What did I get myself into?! We still had 40km to go and I was going as hard as I possibly could. There was no way I could keep this pace up while Henderson was clearly within his comfort zone. I was punching way above my weight!
Not to worry though. After a minutes someone bridged up to us, and then someone else, then the rest of the group. “Thank the Lord!” I thought to myself. However, straight after we were caught the attack of all attacks came and a group of six got away. My legs were absolutely bombing at this point but Henderson, Lappers, and four others slowly pulled away from us. There was nothing that could be done because the nature of the teams up there meant that my remaining group wasn’t going to chase anything down. 30km to go and the race was pulling away up the road.
Naturally Greg Henderson won which I’m assuming looked something like his Vuelta win. It could have saved us a whole lot of pain if we just decided this on the start line and went to the pub during this scorching hot afternoon. I don’t think anyone would have disagreed. Hopefully next year we’ll be smarter…
Photo from http://www.cyclingfans.net/
Speaking of pubs on a hot afternoon, if you’re wondering what happened to my O2 teammate (CJ) who was caught out in the gutter and never to be seen again, he ended up in the local pub in some one-horse town along the race course (Dookie I think). After getting dropped he saw a refreshing looking place where he could sit down and wet his whistle. Not a bad idea if you ask me. Just like they did back in the day at the TdF! I was actually surprised that he came rolling past the finish line only about 45mins after we did. He still came in ahead of a few people!
Also, congrats to my teammate Tymmsy for taking out the honors in the criterium the day before. What a stud!
Things to note from this race:
- To be at the front in the crosswinds you not only have to be strong, but you have to be confident and predictable. Any hesitation in snagging your place in the echelon and you’ll be left behind in the gutter. Also, don’t overlap wheels too much with everyone is changing positions in the pack so frequently.
- There’s no need to be aggressive in trying to get your place in the echelon. All the top riders are letting each other in and waving with a quick thank-you. Many other lower level riders are pushing and elbowing and never to be seen again after a few turns.
- Be aware of the wind direction and always be up at the front when a corner is approaching. If it’s windy out and there are no crosswinds in the direction you’re heading, once you turn a corner means that there will be crosswinds!
- If in question, always carry one more bottle than you think you’ll need – even if it means carrying it in your back pocket. This was a mistake many people made in yesterday’s hot and dry conditions.
- When everyone else is tired is the time to attack. You’ll be tired too, but the lack of reaction from the group is what you’re trying to achieve. Also, if a Grand Tour rider like Henderson is there, don’t even bother attacking because he’s just getting warmed up!
{ 29 comments }
Great Race Report! But you forgot to mention where you ended up. Well done to everyone for getting down there, to what I am always told is an awesome race/weekend.
Thanks Leigh. As a side note, I ended up 8th or 9th (not sure). I came in with the second group of six. I could barely roll a turn I was so tired. Thanks for the ride guys!
Enjoy your recovery today boys………………..
Great stuff mate, you surely are riding at the top of the ladder, it's inspiring! Now I just need our delightful Optus parents to cast around some redundancies so I can follow in your hallowed time-off footsteps!! :)
I rode in the C/D and Elite women race in the morning and your review was a mirror image of what occured. Very tough when there is a split to try and move up. When we quickly got a group of dropped riders working for each other it was surprising how quickly you can start moving back up. May suggest that this a good strategy for the future. Paul
Good to see the HTC secondary salute as we have been so used to this year!!
Heh… I'm fairly certain I was standing right in front of you at the finish line but I couldn't get up the gumption to say hello. Plus I wasn't sure which one was you as there was four of you in matching kit. My brother was the guy in black and white with the steel Concorde bike that I nearly dropped. I hope I managed to cheer you on near Dookie :)
Great race report Wade and nice effort on the top 10 finish.
Very much so. For C/D/Women, there was a pretty nasty crosswind as soon as we hit Mitchell Road. Carnage (in the falling off the pace kind) in the first few kilometres. Hung on longer than some in my (D) grade, but eventually got shelled. Collected what ended up being eight riders and worked to the finish pretty well.
I'll be curious to see the full results when they get posted to the CSV website though. Just how fast was the front end going?
Sounds like stage 3? of the TdF, when HTC ripped the peloton apart
Maybe I'm a little dim….(racing wise)….but how is putting it in the gutter better when done in a crosswind as opposed to a headwind?
You cannot hide from a crosswind. Headwind everyone behind is protected …
In a crosswind, what tends to happen is the riders at the front will form an “echelon” where they form a diagonal line across the road. The size of that echelon is ultimately limited by the apparent angle of the wind and the width of the road. If the lead riders are feeling mean, they can drift towards the center of the road and make the echelon smaller.
They can then do rolling turns and have a relatively easy time of it.
Everybody not in the echelon finds themselves “in the gutter” on the edge of the road, only partially protected and working very, very hard just to keep up. Or, worse, you end up not in the gutter and totally in the wind and drifting backwards very fast (which is what happened to me…)
Sooner or later, somebody in that long line of riders will crack and a gap forms.
The sensible thing to do in that situation is to form a second echelon, but it certainly doesn't seem to happen very often at the level I race at; maybe it does in CSV Open A grade like Wade rides!
You could also read the link “throwing it in the gutter” in Wade's post that explains things much better than I can.
you forgot to mention that he rode the course the day before in similar conditions (not as windy). what was the ride time
Definitely come by and say hello if you see me loitering around! I'm not a big famous superstar like Greg Henderson!
We were sitting there admiring your brother's Concorde. Nice bike
Thanks guys!
That exact thought was going through my head every time Henderson rolled past me ;-)
The winners covered 135km in less than 3hrs!
135k?? 126.5k…….
+1
Great job Wade
I did try listening for someone with an accent but it was too noisy to do that without looking like a stalker. Anyhoo… my brother has a really nice Bianchi as well but I must admit I'm a fan of the Concorde.
Congrats on the finish too. You guys in the lead group were cracking along when we saw you.
135km? 126.5km? I did 129km, who cut the course and who didn't? Where are the official results? I guess there is none because of the corner cutting eh!!!!!!
garmin gps don't lie.
I guess we were out of the 15min rolling closed road time bracket only you were behind our bunch? Garmins may not lie and seem to tell the truth of how far you really went (Agree?)
Well done to the hitters up front, hats off to you it was a long hard day!
gm I'll put the light on for you! Does your garmin give voice command directions or is that a Navman I,m thinking of?
yeah i agree, gps is more accurate than the default setting in most computers unless you perform and enter the roll-out of your wheel that the pick-up is mounted to. but before you assume and post a reply comment without knowing the facts.
1. rode the scottys ride on saturday as a familiarization of the course, sat with the main group, gps reading 126.5k.
2. got cleaned up in the saturday crit
3. couldn't repair the bike for the sunday race so didn't ride.
4. when i saw the distance posted i enquired the distance thinking the route was different to saturday.
5.distance not confirmed or denied, only some rant response from someone other than i questioned the distance from.
but thanks anyway we all have had a good laugh here.
Bang! Kapow! Beautiful reply, this is what its all about “Banta!” I love it and thats why I joined in. Hope your ok after your fall /taken out!
I must say that the group behind ours were “out of sight out of mind” as we were to the groups ahead. BUT!!
There they were, no sooner we crossed the line and turned to hand in our transponders they came across the line. I thought oooh! something not right here. I guess riders safety and the fact that we had shut down part of no mans land for a brief period that they had to open up the roads and allow the traffic to flow.
Get on the back!!!!
O.K!
What bike is Hendo riding by the way wade?
It's a Pinarello Dogma and he was using Lightweights in the race (the photo was from Scotty's ride the day before). Looks like he's already received his new Team Sky bike.
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