John courageously carried the 3Fidi flag in a magnificent solo effort in tonight’s Cgrade crit at Stromlo.

There was no Bleeksie to come back and fetch him and tow him onto the break.

There was no Craig to block the bunch to let John get away in a solo break.

There was no support from team-mate Cath – who sat in the stands – not even in uniform.

There were no shortcuts – there’ll be no stewards investigation.

A hard fought 2nd place was the result in a field of 18 C graders.

A steady first 4 laps was followed by a maniacal 3 lap solo breakaway at 40km/hr.  Unfortunately the bunch settled down and worked it back – I was hoping for one or two to launch across the gap – but they came as one big bunch.  So I conceded defeat – cruised for half a lap and hoped to jump on any counter attack as the bunch caught me. Nothing happened – so I hopped into my traditional spot on the back of the bunch and waited patiently.  With 3 laps to go, one Frank Zeller launched a solo break and the front just let it happen.  

On the bell lap, I fancied my chances of reaching him and launched on the back straight but was rudely blocked as a couple of riders “died” up near the front of the bunch.  So I was left to go around the outside of the last 8 riders on the top turn and then dived out to the right with no-one on my wheel.  The rest stuck to the left hand edge, all trying to give nobody else a wheel into the south-westerly.  By the time the wheel-suckers woke up I was well clear and got to within about 40 metres of Mr break-away, comfortably clear of all the chasers.  Minor gearbox problem meant it was a high speed spin down the straight – stuck in the 53-13.  If only I could have reached the 12, I might have got the break-man.  And at moments like that I can only wish for the old 53-11.

Vital stats – average speed – 38.7km/hr; average heart rate – a comfortable 154bpm; and a max of 172bpm in the sprint to the line.

There’s plenty of opportunity for more 3Fidi at the Tuesday night Vets crits – it’s only $90 for membership for the year – and tonnes of races to choose from – check the calendar at www.actvets.cc – and it’s goodnight from the Club Secretary 🙂