My very own pilot fish!

According to Wikipedia, there are several etymologies for pilot fish.

Pilot fish swimming with an oceanic whitetip shark

One story suggests that sea-faring people believed that pilot fish, which would appear around the bow of their ships when they were close to land, were leading (or piloting) them back to port.

An alternative etymology is that pilot fish were once, erroneously, thought to be piloting sharks to food, or even (as legends have it) piloting ships, whales and swimmers to safety.

Both of these are pretty good analogies for the lead out man (or woman) for the sprinter in a bike race. And the Coolamon Handicap saw me in a position to have my own pilot fish.

After a shocking appearance at the Rutherglen Classic 2 weeks before, chief Riverina handicapper, Barry O'Hagan, obviously had taken pity on me and stuck me in the limit bunch. I wasn't sure if I should be insulted by this, but I was happy enough to take it as a gift- that doesn't happen very often in bike races! Actually he had put all the women in limit, so it kind of made sense.

The first 40kms of the race were pretty uneventful. I was mindful of the fact that I really was in the wrong bunch and tried to encourage the others in the bunch without blowing them apart. Although I don't think they saw it like that- oops!

At the 40km mark we were caught by all the back markers, except scratch. This made for a rather large surging mass of riders on a fast, largely downhill stretch of the course. It was the rush of being in that bunch that reminded me why I love racing my bike.

At what I thought was about 10km to go fellow club member, Jeremy Rhind, turned to me and said "I want to lead you out". I couldn't believe it. Offers like that don't come along too often. And after the offer was repeated, I was glad to accept it!

From there I was well expertly escorted to the finish line. Jez made sure I was on his wheel at all times, which took a bit of co-ordination as we were both still swapping off to ensure we held a good spot in the bunch. And Jeremy spent an awful lot of time in the wind for which I am very grateful.

I wish I could say that this worked out perfectly, like you see at the end of a Tour stage, but that was not the case today. I knew the finish was uphill, but I had blocked out the steepness of it!

A group of 4 that obviously knew the course jumped early and attacked over a little roller at the base of the main climb and got enough of a gap to hold it to the line. Having missed that, I went not far up the climb, but found it was just a little too steep for the gear I was on and faded badly over the last 100m. By my count I ended up 10th over the line, and first female which was the primary goal.

The irony of the situation was that Jeremy had enough to come back over me on the line and take 9th! oops!

Big ups to Jeremy the pilot fish. It was nice to be supported and delivered to the finish line so capably!

"Trying is the first step towards failure" (Homer Simpson)

Stages 3 & 4 of the Tour de Riverina
Coolamon & Rutherglen HCPs.

I think I might have learnt my lesson, sometimes it is better to take a break and let some of the not so important things go by so that you can truly appreciate (and perform) at the important things.

The Coolamon stage was the weekend after the Stockinbingal race and whilst I had been sick with the flu I was convinced that I would be all right when I got to the start line. Unfortunately I didn't get to the start line. I seemed alright in the car, though I did have a bit of a cough- similar to the one that I had hampered me most of summer, but figured that I had ridden through that so surely I would be fine for the race. Wrong. I went out for a warm up, including some motor pacing behind a tractor, and once I started coughing on the bike I couldn't stop. I coughed and coughed, thought my lunch was going to come up, coughed some more. Being incapable of making a decision not to race on my own- I am not into looking soft!- I discussed the situation with Reggie. Being the wise Mr Mum that he is, no racing for me, probably not a bad idea since I had a wedding to tend to the following Friday! All was not lost, I jumped into the Commissaire's car for the Scratch bunch and had the best view of a bike race I have ever had (apart from the ones that I am at the front of ;) ). After learning a whole lot more about bike racing thanks to this different perspective, picking Jess Mac up off the road after she came down in a little crash going up the only rise of the course and getting Adam Phelan going again up said hill, I got to see the girls I train with all finish well and award Suz the prize for first female over the line.

The Rutherglen stage of the tour was the Sunday after we got back from our honeymoon, which meant I had been off the bike for about 4 weeks (not counting the ride on Friday afternoon and the bunch on Saturday morning). I really had nothing to lose and was, I thought, mentally prepared for what was going to be a tough race. However, I was physically well under prepared! I got through about 1/2 the first lap of the 2 lap course before I called it a day. The reality of the situation being that I just wasn't physically up to these races.

The trip to Rutherglen wasn't in vain. It was delightful to catch up with Lyn and John. And as fate would have it I had other errands to do in Albury.

Never Underestimate a Cup of Tea and a Good Lay Down

Reflecting on the 2009 Tour de Riverina
Stage 2- Stockinbingal 40km HCP

Photo from http://adozeneggs.com

I went into this series of handicap races as the reigning female champion and was hoping to put up a good fight to try and retain the pink ribbon, but 2009 wasn't the year for it.

I have already posted about the first stage (see here) and I had hoped on an improved performance at the second stage at Stockinbingal. And under the circumstances I can't be disappointed with 8th over the line on the day.

I had scaled back a couple of training sessions earlier in the week as the threat of flu loomed, you know the feeling when it is there but not quite ready to hit you? Race day came, I wasn't great for the drive across- bad enough to need some cold and flu drugs, but not bad enough to think racing was a bad idea! In what has become a pre-Stock tradition, we park in Cootamundra and rode the 20 km to Stockinbingal. It is only a 40 km race after all! It was during this warm up ride I was started to think racing wasn't such a bad idea, though we decided that was a result of the medication kicking in and I'd be alright once I got to the start line. That was kind of true!

The race was pretty uneventful from my perspective, at least the first 39 km- my bunch rolled along at a reasonable pace to the turn around, although I realised when we turned that we had lost an awful lot of people by this stage and in fact we were down to 5. The 5 of us worked really well on the way back, valiantly trying to stay away from the bunch behind, and we almost did it. We were caught with about 4 km to go, thankfully it was only the bunch that started behind us, and some of the ones who had started with us. This gave me a good opportunity to take a breather and work out where the best place would be for the sprint- I was determined to better my 4th place from last year. A couple of the Riverina clubs were getting their trains worked out so I kept an eye on them.

About 1km out it almost all went wrong! I suddenly found myself sandwiched between two guys- one trying to swing of his train and the other, I think, lining up for the sprint! There were a few very anxious moments as I waited to feel the scraping of skin on bitumen and thuds of carbon and wheels colliding... but somehow that never eventuated, maybe it that was thanks to time on the boards. Anyway, I picked my way around the bunch to the other side of the road where I had clear space for a run at the line, I wasn't giving up hope on that 4th place or better yet! Unfortunately I started to fade just before the line and actually was rolled on the line by Jacqui who had followed my wheel for the last 3 km without me even knowing she was there!! Cheeky cheeky!

So all things considered not a bad effort, but it would pay off! I ended up too sick to go to work on the following Monday, nor was I able to train for most of the week, maybe I should have had that lay down...