Tour of Bright 2012 MMAS123 - My Journey

The first weekend in December comes around way too quickly every year. The plan is always the same in the lead up to the Tour of Bright: Drop a few kgs, ride more hills, do more kms on the TT bike. A pretty simple formula that I'm sure sounds familiar to everyone from C Grade to Masters 6+. Before you know it you're half way through November and it's all too late. I've never had any issues getting plenty of race time on the TT bike, that is where my true love for the sport lies. It has always been dropping the weight and hitting the long hills that I've never been happy with prior to race day. This year was different. A lot of things went to plan in the lead up. A lot of things went even better in the race. My good friend, team mate, eventual 2nd on GC, and my very own 'Froome', Stephen Lane has penned a great write up of the MMAS123 race here. I wanted to write this report from another angle. The journey leading up to pulling on the MMAS123 yellow jersey after the final stage after six years of trying.

Wade Wallace summed up perfectly what the ToB means to club level cyclists - "It’s Australia’s amateur Tour de France." It is a race that cyclists of any calibre can live out their dreams of being in a stage race with feed zones, timing systems, online results, and those epic mountains! It is the first stage race I heard about when I took up the sport. It doesn't have any UCI points, it isn't NRS, it isn't a championship, it it simply the Tour of Bright, or just "Bright" to most of us. It is the event on the road racing calendar that stands apart from the rest.

My ToB history is pretty varied. I'm not a lightweight climber who'll limit their losses in the TT. I'm more of a TTer who'll try to limit losses on the climbs. The biggest issue for me is trying to limit my losses on the biggest hill, Mount Hotham!

2006 - Entered B Grade. Death in family, unable to race that weekend.
2007 - MMAS123. 9th GC. Stage 2 TT win.
2008 - MMAS123. In break. Crash on Tawonga. DNF. Photos (awesome gore warning!).
2009 - B Grade. 5th GC @40sec. Stage 2 TT win.
2010 - Missed entry cut.
2011 - MMAS123. 17th GC. Missed break Stage 1. Stage 2 TT win. 3rd Stage 3.

I've always targeted and done well in the TT, just never been able to crack a podium spot on final GC. The closest was B Grade in 2009 where I was leading after day 1. After being dropped up the final climbs I lost all fight to the top of Hotham thinking my GC chance was well over, it was only 40 seconds off! I've always regretted not riding harder that day in the final kms. Last year might have been different if I didn't miss the early break on Stage 1..... the shortened Hotham stage in 2011 was really to my liking too. All "what could have been" scenarios. Time to start focusing on the "what will be" ones!

Every year after the Masters Nationals TT in early October I switch to 'ToB' training mode. More kms, more hills, less food, same old TT intervals. The preparation this year started with the 100km Grampians Audax (2600m climbing) a few days after our trip to NSW. The first 20 minutes up Mt William felt good. The rest of the day I was in the hurt box trying to convince myself that slogging up hills in 2.6°C foggy weather was all part of the building blocks for Bright. The power numbers were nothing special, I was 'heavy' at 74kgs, but this was just the beginning. I was much happier rolling out of bed the next day and racing a 46km flat handicap with the Grampians Vets... which turned into one long time trial for the final 34km. The first of many back-to-back training days on the bike over the next two months.

Eight weeks from the ToB I stepped up the weekly kms, rode a few hilly races, and started eating the right kind of foods (at the right times of day!). My weight was dropping, power numbers were good, and my times up hills were getting faster. A twilight attempt at Tony Reeckman's Mt Buffalo Challenge resulted in knocking 2 minutes off the time I set prior to the ToB last year. A solo climb is a lot different to a bunch race up a hill, still, always a good confidence booster knowing I wouldn't be losing as much time on the hills if I didn't make it into the front climbing groups.

Back home for more kms, more hills, less food. Strava KOM hunting was the new diet plan during the week. Find a segment a few minutes long and ride it as hard as possible. KOM hunting is only fun for about two weeks. Having your eyeballs go lactic and almost falling off your bike loses its shine very quickly. This kind of training puts race day pain into perspective..... it is never that hard in a race!

Mid November is ToB training camp time. Anyone who has an entry is up in Bright for a weekend riding the course, checking their form, testing their legs against their mates. My weekend was spent with SLane and José the Argentinian ox. We rode each stage, smashing each other to bits on the climbs and hoping afterwards that the racing wasn't going to be anywhere near as hard as the training was. Abby from Coburg CC held a TT on the Saturday night on the Wandi TT course so it really was a pre-tour tour weekend. We stayed up in Bright for the Alpine CC Monday night TT to clock up another TT dress rehearsal. I rode the 16km course around 7 times that weekend. I can recall every bump on the course and the smoothest line around it. I was almost on a first-name basis with the cat that kept running across the road near the Wandi Pub, I called him "TwoCat" for obvious reasons....

Back home again. Two weeks to go. I raced a crit with Coburg CC to get some bunch time prior to race day. Turning the legs over with a different goal in mind meant I wasn't out on the attack. More Strava KOMs targeted. More loops around Smiths Gully. More TT intervals that were now course specific. More kgs dropped. This was finally the year I'd nailed my ToB preparation. I don't take a lot of notice of my WKO Performance Management Chart - however all the lines and numbers were exactly where they needed to be if I was to over analyse my power data.

Race day(s). With the MMAS123 race now being controlled by a handful of teams we were lucky enough to close the time gaps at the end of each stage. I also had a great ride in the TT taking the MMAS123 stage win. As mentioned above, Stephen Lane has covered the racing here in good detail. I won't re-hash it. In short, we achieved the best result possible - 1st and 2nd on GC after the final stage on Mt Hotham.

It is too cliché to say hard work pays off, bike racing isn't that kind. What I had was the best lead up, the best support, the best training partner, and the best luck anyone could have possibly asked for. In a race that I've trained 100s of hours for, only to be been dropped in. A race I've broken bikes, broken bones, and bleed all over an ambulance in. A race I've got too many scars from.... Standing there in the 2012 MMAS123 Yellow Jersey took a lot more than just those three stages last weekend.

2012 MMAS123 GC Yellow Jersey
Photo (c) www.tonyreeckmanphotography.com

Masters 1/2/3 GC Results
Full Results - All Grades

Photography:
http://jxpphotography.com/2012-tour-of-bright-stage-1-2/
http://jxpphotography.com/2012-tour-of-bright-stage-3/
http://www.jouptonphotography.com.au/tour-of-bright-2012-stage-1-tawonga-gap.html
http://www.jouptonphotography.com.au/tour-of-bright-2012-stage-2-wandiligong-tt.html
http://www.jouptonphotography.com.au/tour-of-bright-2012-stage-3-mt-hotham-climb.html
Kosdown Performance Cycling shots by Michael McRitchie.
Tony Reeckman's Race Report (and some great shots)

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Special Mentions List....

Kos Samaras / Kosdown Performance Cycling / Bike'n'Bean: Making sure we're able to train and race at 100% One SMS saying I had 4 gears up Mt Buffalo after my old DuraAce lever dies and my bike had SRAM Red installed in no time flat. Support doesn't get any better than that. I'm so proud to be a part of KPC and to be wearing their colours.

Stephen Lane: Froome. From a triathlete to podium spot at ToB, who'd have thought? What a year we've had on and off the bike.

Tony Reeckman, Tully Lyster, Rhys Lyster, Marty Tobin, and all the Wangaratta crew: Thanks for the hospitality, the support, the rides, the racing, and the event sponsorship up that way. Von and I love it up there. Feels more like home to me than Melbourne.

Aaron Smith (Alpine CC. Race Director): For sneaking an extra Violet Crumble in my rego bag and having a laugh about it with me on the start line. See KitKatGate here for the back story. What a champion!

Cycling Victoria: For putting on the racing. How often does an official hug you after your TT? Mr Pink is awesome! Also for their great work on the Tweets/Facebook updates that help bring the event to life online. Families, friends, supporters can now follow the racing all in real-time. Great use of technology to promote the sport!

Raoul Luescher: Luescher Teknik

Richard Sekesan: Boost Your Performance

Everyone who reads these write ups, follows my Twitter, Facebook, etc. I hope what I bang out on the computer is entertaining and gives a unique view of things.

and

Von: aka Mrs Llama in a few weeks. Can I wear the yellow jersey at the wedding?

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Everyone Loves Photos!

Christmas comes early at the TOB! How good is this!

Perfect race number application... takes YEARS to perfect.

SLane's room.

In the box.
Photo by Jo Upton Photography

This is my idea of a fun day out!
Photo by Michael McRitchie

TT warm up. Right in front of the aircon.

Post TT cool down. Result checking.....

Post TT lolly session.

MMAS123 Stage 2 TT Podium.

MMAS123 GC Podium.

Interview!

Article in the Wimmera Mail-Times.

SLane and I have one last race for the weekend.
Photo (c) www.tonyreeckmanphotography.com

2011 Tour of Bright MMAS123

The Tour of Bright is 'the tour of the year' for most club riders, it is a great event, a lot of riders put in months of preparation. It is an award winning event, literally. I'll be honest and say this year wasn't up to the high standards we've come to expect from previous years. The standard massive MMAS123 bunch meant riders crossing to the wrong side of the road to gain bunch position (none DSQ for this), non certified TT helmets across the grades, time penalties for riders being released too early for their TT, the meat of the race (the final 12kms of Mt Hotham) being excluded due to adverse conditions, then a MMAS123 GC contender being DSQ for accepting a wheel after getting a flat. Rules are rules, and taking care of rider well-being is understandable, but consistency of enforcement would be handy. How A Grade (60 riders) get neutral spares and MMAS123 (110 riders) do not doesn't make sense to me. Also ask someone who raced B Grade about their lead car not taking the correct road, causing a crash in bunch.......500m into the neutral zone....! Is the event too big? 500+ riders too many for them to organise? With all respect to the volunteers, things just were not up to scratch this year and I hope they take on board rider feedback.

The Rapha race numbers were a clear winner. Rego was straight forward and the same as all the other years, sign in, head up the back to get your showbag full of lollies, then grab an apple or two on the way out. The weather was spot on for racing all weekend, apart from being ball freezing cold at the top of Hotham. The timing system and instant results were as magic as always, as long as you knew where to put the timing chip on your bike (no instructions), and you cross referenced the number on the chip against your race number (both different) on the TT timing sheet. TT times were correct, so of course that was the most important thing for the weekend for me... :)

Showbag!

Stage 1 - Rosewhite loop.

One exploding wheel heard 2kms into the race, every move being chased down, riders scrambling for position on the wrong side of the road - a typical start of the race towards the first sprint point. The first 30kms were fast. Nothing was getting away from a 100+ strong bunch that had 4-5 well represented teams. With no wind it should have been in everyones interest to stay together, never to dropping a wheel until the race really started at Tawonga, 86km. Not the case.

Somewhere around the 36km mark a bunch of 15 or so riders were allowed off the front, I was sitting not too far back from the front keeping an eye on the move. One or two riders pinged off the front and bridged across. The gap was soon out to 200-300m, a few strong turns by a handful of riders could have closed this, but didn't. I launched from the bunch with Andy Van Slobbe (HCC) - we were set upon by the 6amers team, they pulled us back and didn't roll through to keep the pace up. I had another go at getting across to the break, chased again, sat on again. A rider in Giant kit tried to encourage the bunch to roll turns but not enough riders were willing to assist the cause. With the TT in the afternoon, I wasn't going to spend all my energy pulling the bunch along if nobody else was helping, nor was I going to keep attacking those on my heels hoping I'd get clear. At this point I was fair pissed off, so went back to the bunch and sat in. Yep, I missed the move, I tried to do something about it, and failed. I had the same shit luck as ~85 other riders who watched the race for Tour GC slip away at only 36kms into the race.

A few minutes later we were slowed down by the commissars as we passed the B Grade bunch before the Rosewhite climb. With the break being a much smaller group they would have sailed straight past them at speed. They were now out of sight. Two or three crashes were heard up the climb. There is no reason these should happen, I can only put it down to the large numbers and wide ranging abilities that get crammed into the single MMAS123 race. "4 Minutes" was the call at the top of Rosewhite. With a number of big GC hitters in the break and no organised chase this was the nail in the coffin for any GC aspirations, for all of us. 

So a change of race plans from there, I sat back in the bunch to the base of Tawonga and then shut off the legs to save them for the TT. I rolled across the finish 8 minutes down on GC but a lot higher up than I expected. I rode up Tawonga chatting to a few others and still came in 35th! This really isn't fair on those who were honestly racing up that final climb and came in lower - I think it is time ToB Masters racing to progress to Masters A/B/C categories, exactly what they have for Elite/U19, for future races. This will also help spread out the bunch sizes and keep things a little safer on the open roads we're on.

Up the front in the battle for GC, Ciaran Jones (Giant) took a well deserved win. Good to see a rider like Ciaran with his arms in the air.

Stage 2 - Wandiligong ITT.

With fresh legs after Stage 1, I wasn't aiming to climb back up the GC ladder. I wanted to win the TT. 34th ITT for the year and everything went to plan. 20:42. Fastest time in MMAS123 by 32 seconds. Alex Morgan (VIS) in A Grade pipped me for the unspoken race for time of the day by 4 seconds, I won't mention his Giro Selector helmet giving him a slight non AUS/NZ certified advantage. :)

Naylor (O2) had a good ride, also sporting a Giro Selector TT helmet (and how?), with 21:14 for 2nd place and Seiper (Elders) in 3rd with 21:20.

Top 10 MMAS123 TT Results

1  425 MILLER Shane      20:42.72 - 45.49 Hawthorn Cycling Club

2  497 NAYLOR Andrew     21:14.96 0:32.24 44.34 St Kilda Cycling Club Inc

3  467 SIEPER Allan      21:20.15 0:37.43 44.16 Canberra Cycling Club

4  402 GALLAGHER Michael 21:30.36 0:47.64 43.81 Carnegie Caulfield CC

5  487 MASON Damian      21:44.03 1:01.31 43.35 Nowra Velo Club

6  406 BLACKBURN Stephen 21:45.12 1:02.40 43.31 Canberra Cycling Club

7  404 JONES Ciaran      21:48.21 1:05.49 43.21 Carnegie Caulfield CC

8  407 LYSTER Tully      21:49.57 1:06.85 43.16 Wangaratta Cycling Club Inc

9  443 GARDNER Alex   21:57.54 1:14.82 42.90 Manly Warringah CC

10 403 KAH Danny         22:10.78 1:28.06 42.48 Carnegie Caulfield CC

I was told after Stage 3 that due to the TT start holder, Mr Butterfingers, letting riders jump their start by 1 second, 8 riders were given +10seconds to their TT times. Michael Gallagher being one of them. Unlucky, he missed the break on stage 1 and this cost him a podium position for stage 2.

MMAS123 Stage 2 Podium. Naylor (2nd) was MIA.

Stage 3 - Mt Hotham, or, 3/4 of it.

Blue skies, sunshine, but a way too early start in the day meant the Hotham summit was still a refrigerator from an overnight cold blast (adverse conditions!). We were told the finish was now at the toll booth (46kms in), then we were told it was at the chain bay (not 46kms in!). A few people missed that second update, but I wasn't going to help spread the message - a flat run to the line should be an advantage for me.

Same as Stage 1 - Too many riders of all abilities taking it to the commissars and ripping up to the front on the wrong side of the road. In 2009 they were onto these jokers, Leigh 'Hollywood' being ejected from the race for only one infringement - This year riders had a get-out-of-jail-free pass all weekend...... The offenders were repeat offenders too, in team kit, sponsors kit, in kit representing a government sporting body, everyone saw them, everyone knew who they were. It really pissed off the rest of the bunch who were doing the right thing moving up only when gaps opened. Where the hell was the moto scout with his red card? If you're nudged over double whites for a few seconds, sure, this happens, but this wasn't the case.

At 10kms in, the O2 boys who were riding for Naylor (sitting 2nd on GC) all pulled over. Naylor had a flat. His shot at GC was looking to be over. The bunch speed dropped to 32km/h. O2 were back to the front in no time, minus one rider who'd given him a rear wheel since we didn't have the privilege of the SRAM motorbike or a spares car. Had he changed the tube himself it would have been his tour over.

At the fish farm 3km from Harrietville I rolled up to the front, rolled a turn or two, then put the hammer down. I was off the front and joined by the ever present Andy van Slobbe. I told him I wanted the sprint points (for shits and giggles more than anything else) so he let me roll across to collect those. In the wash up and count-back, this single sprint netted me 3rd overall in the Sprint King competition. With our 200m advantage we didn't get caught up in the bunch bottleneck as the road turned upwards. We sat up and latched onto the GC climbers as they stormed past. A select group of 15 was formed from 2kms onwards up the climb. A few popped at the Meg and a few just after it. Naylor was yo-yoing from the climbing bunch of 12 with Wade Wallace giving his all to support his team mate. The Canberra boys were setting the pace and allowed Michael Gallagher (VIS) and Alex Gardner to drift off the front. At the false flat I had a go at getting clear and across to them but after 1km the Canberra boys were on my wheel, and on a mission, taking their GC man to the line. The finish came a lot sooner than anyone really expected. With two riders up the road, and GC decided, it was a battle for the final podium position for the stage. 1km to go the pace lifted again. At 500m I jumped up towards the front. 250m to go and no sight of the finish I launched. Full gas around the corner, I was on the front and side-by-side with Ciaran Jones. We were met with a blocked road, some dodgy taped off area, and being told to go left. Chaos. We were sprinting but where the f'ck are we going!? I finally saw the timing mat and pointed towards it, just pipping Jones. There were people everywhere and no run-off area. At 50km/h+ this was crazy. People jumping everywhere out of our way telling us to slow down. How we didn't put a few people on their arses I don't know. I was both happy with the 3rd place and happy to have picked a line though the people in the madness. I hope there are finish line shots as I don't remember much of it.

Naylor had hung onto his 2nd spot on GC only to be told later someone had complained about his 'team assistance' to a race commissaire. Because of the wheel change and he was DSQ from the event. It was a shitty thing to have happen as a flat is just bad luck. The panic and chase back on was penalty enough. I saw him digging deep, I saw him crack, I saw him dig deeper and get back on. The Canberra boys were class and took the deserved win, but Naylor's ride was clearly deserving of the 2nd spot and maybe a $50 fine over getting tossed after the race?

Michael McRitchie got a nice art-sy shot of me coming into the finish of Stage 3.

Wrap Up

After a standard Stage 1 it was a pretty good weekend from then on. I've not said anything in this post that wasn't echoed by others at the post race coffee stops during race debriefs with mates. There is a general consensus that ToB MMAS should be A/B/C in the future for better racing for everyone (yep, teams too!). 

The TT win was the goal and I was happy to have nailed it. The 3rd on Stage 3, 3rd in the Sprint King, and $100 prize money all up was icing on the cake. I didn't get a chance to take it to the climbers on Stage 1 so it was good to battle with them on Stage 3 and be at the pointy end. Had the final 10kms up Hotham been in the race the GC list would have been given a real shake. 

It is no secret that road racing plays second fiddle to TTing for me. After this weekend I did come away wanting more of this style of racing. The comradery when suffering up a climb with the 'select few' is something you have to experience. Words of encouragement shared, a helpful push and a shove to help someone dropping a wheel (disguised as getting them out of your way, of course), the sighs of relief when the pace backs off just a little as you're on the limit. A friend becoming an enemy in a split second, then back to a friend once the clock stops. 

I'll add more photos as they come in over the next few days...... stay tuned.. Now I'm off to unpack the car! 

Full official results

Photos/Links/Info: https://www.facebook.com/CyclingVictoria

Photos: Tons of pro'tographers there on the weekend. Shoot me my shots and I'll link people to your site.