Tales from the llama...: Cycling Victoria & CCCC Phillip Island TT

Back to the island for the 4th year in a row. The track was resurfaced 6 months ago, $3M and 5000 tons of asphalt later, the world-class facility is faster and smoother than ever.

We stayed down on the island on Friday night to take the pain out of an early morning road trip. This meant a 9am arrival and getting in a few laps before the event. Such an amazing place to roll around and take in the views of the coast. It really is a privilege for us to be able to race our bikes on this circuit.

The TT heads of state were all in attendance, with the exception of Squillari (AWS) who was over in the USA to pursue an acting career following in the footsteps of Melissa George... or at some international bike junket (lucky bugger!).

The threatening rain never eventuated and the wind was at an uncharacteristic minimum for this time of year. No headwind on the climb to Lukey Heights for once was very welcome! Speaking of welcome, it was good to be greeted by Lee 'Hollywood' Turner as I rolled up to the start line. He was there supporting the Stay True Racing stable.

I won't give a detailed breakdown of my ride itself. I was a good 10-15 seconds up on schedule after lap 1 and just kept tapping away at a pace that I had to trust in myself I could hold to the end. My facial expressions on a few of the official event photos sum up the battle I'm referring to.

In the hurt box!

A Grade Top 10
1   Shane Miller      Coburg CC    Kosdown         22:45.55
2   David Kelly       St Kilda CC Total Rush-Hyster    22:56.25
3   Michael Gallagher Carnegie CC VIS               23:20.42
4   Nick Bensley      St Kilda CC Stay True Racing      23:25.48
5   Stephen Lane      Coburg CC    Kosdown               23:36.58
6   Tom Leaper        Blackburn CC Croydon Cycleworks    23:41.06
7   Benjamin Johnson Footscray CC BikeBug/AussiePallets 23:45.59
8   John Cain         Carnegie CC Giant-Celtic          23:52.40
9   Adam Versteege    Carnegie CC Zoom Video            23:55.43
10 Rohan Andrew      St Kilda CC Charter Mason       24:13.55
Full Results (CCCC)

Yep! Quadzilla did too, I was just a little quicker and took 1st place. Gallagher had a great ride as he prepares for the Para-Cycling World Championships in four weeks.