Fortune Favours the Brave

DBR Australia ACT Women and Juniors Tour
NRS Event
Stage 4: 71.8 km RR
Sunday 5th July
Still Windy!

At the start of the day I was 20th on GC. Whilst not exactly outstanding, it was definitely better than I was expecting. My goal today was to finish as close to this as possible.

It also occurred to me that this was only my 3rd complete stage race. Wonder what I have actually been doing with myself...

The course was similar to Saturday's stage. Out along Uriarra Road all the way to the Homestead, U-bolt and back to Coppins Crossing Rd, to the end of that, U-bolt and then back along Uriarra Rd for 10km to the same turn around as yesterday and then back to SFP. Lots of ups and downs and the false flat which doubles as a wind tunnel!

The bunch had dwindled from Saturday, which most of us weren't unhappy about, but the pace at the start was rather pedestrian and I found myself getting cold and bored... time to mix it up a bit. At about 3km in, I manoeuvred my way to the front of the bunch and went for an attack. I wasn't sure what the bunch was going to do, I wasn't really a threat to overall GC and in the conditions it would take a superhuman effort to stay away all day. On a glance back the bunch hadn't reacted, nice, figured I'd keep digging. Next check Jemma O'Brien was on my wheel- cool, misery loves company!

The two of us continued to swap off through Uriarra Crossing, taking the QOM points, and then along with false flat. Today this stretch was a wind tunnel at its finest. We had to work so hard to even keep moving along this section, let alone hold the bunch off! In the end the bunch caught us at the turn around. That was a lot further than I expected!

Back along the towards the Crossing, I tried to sit in and recover, but that was made difficult by the wind. You know sometimes it is just better to keep rolling through... the things you learn hey?! Then I managed to get stuck behind a dodgier wheel than mine on the descent into the crossing, bugger, lots of ground lost! Determined not to drop too far down GC, I forced my legs to go "fast" up the first of the three sisters. It is easier to do this when there are people in front of you to chase! On the second sister I even managed to pass the spares car!! (Yeah, small things I know!)

A small group of us came together, including Chloe McIntosh, India McLean, Delphine Astier, Heather Evans and B-grade winner Zoe Watters, and we stayed together for the rest of the race, encouraging/willing/dragging each other to the end of the race! We were all creeping towards the end. Myself, maybe I spent a few too many biccies on my adventure up the road, but you never ever know if you never ever go!

As expected there were lots of lessons learnt today. My hot tip from this weekend is: get the little things right and the big things will be easier!

In the end I was 25th on GC, (18th if you take the U19s out) which I am happy with. I was also 4th on QOM which makes me smile :)

From here, it can only improve.

Thanks to ACTAS for the support over the weekend- Glenn, Brent & Sian. Thanks to Pothole and Dean for preparation. Thanks to Matt for putting up with a grumpy cyclist!