shiiiiiiiiiit!

I went hard and was a serious contender for top 10 (yeah whatever… no really felt that way) in vets but somewhere along the paddocks I got to the first flat… lost 4 minutes, but was still looking good.
Then heading into Majura I had 2nd flat and after fixing it I jumped on the bike as Coach was cycling past (he started in same group as me) I think I would have lost another 4 minutes by that stage.

Soon I headed up the track again leaving a comfi looking Coach behind…. then No 3 flat happened and lots of expletives….. I wasn’t quite sure how far it was to the Majura exit so I decided to run out to the horse gate into the neutral zone instead of fixing another flat and possibly loosing that one as well before the horse gate anyway.
It wasn’t long before Coach passed me and then Dayn, who started a group later and was hot on the heels of Coach.
Dayn was estimated 3:30 minutes behind Coach at horse gate and he had started 4 minutes later only just having made up 30 seconds on Coach by that stage (looks like Coach’s 8kg diet loss is helping nicely).

I probably lost another 15-20 minutes running out into the un-timed section, then rolled home and swapped to the single speed bike, putting a little extra air into the tyres for better rolling.
Not sure how much time I got back on the boys, if any, but it felt good going on the single, although the long flats sections were very hard work.
I was surprised how well I went on Stromlo, except for a couple of very short stopages for calve muscle cramping, maybe 1 – 2 minutes.

Had a great run through Stromlo only passing people and not being passed. Actually except for the times when I flatted I only was passed by 1 guy during the riding whom I didn’t blow past again on the flatter sections.

Besides the mechanicals a great race, awesome course and plenty of marshals including perfect weather and temperatures.

Thanks Tom & Al,
Bleeksie