Firstly let me say a big thank you to the organisers and volunteers of the tour of Canberra, they did an excellent job and all grades were well looked after.
Well from my view in D2 all I can say is I am so over the three sisters climb,3 times in 2 days is enough for me. Having to haul my 90kg body up those climbs was never going to put me in a winning position.
Stage 1
| Distance: 38km | Avg Speed: 34.7km/hr |
| Temp °C: 10.9 | App Temp °C: 9.0 |
| Rel Hum %: 58 | Wind Dir: WSW |
| Wind Speed: 2km/hr | Wind Gust: 7 km/hr |
The stage was quick, uneventful. Got dropped on the three sisters climb and lost 1:23 on the stage. Which equates to half of the crit track in length. All up I was happy with that even though most D2 had finished in front of me.
Stage 2
| Distance: 50km | Avg Speed: 34.5km/hr |
| Temp °C: 17.6 | App Temp °C: 15.4 |
| Rel Hum %: 38 | Wind Dir: WSW |
| Wind Speed: 4km/hr | Wind Gust: 7 km/hr |
This stage was the same course but it went out to condor creek so there was an extra hill to climb. The pace was right off for this stage. Managed to hang on this time for the climb up three sisters. Finished with the lead bunch but one guy got away and he was the eventual overall race winner. Interestingly for me my average speed for this stage only dropped 0.2KM/hr so I am guessing everyone else really slowed down. Improved my overall placing to 10th and was only down 52 seconds, really happy with that.
Stage 3
| Distance: 86km | Avg Speed: 30.9km/hr |
| Temp °C: 10.3 | App Temp °C: 8.6 |
| Rel Hum %: 74 | Wind Dir: S |
| Wind Speed: 4km/hr | Wind Gust: 7 km/hr |
I started the morning feeling strong. The bunch started really slowly. So feeling strong I made a break for it. It was never intended as a race winning break but I wanted to get the morning’s first KOM and at least win some points, Well I managed to do that and then some, the break ended up being 25km long and I almost got the second KOM of the day but they got me with 500m to go. After they got me the pace seemed really slowed and gave me plenty of time to recover. It was a chatty bunch and there were some funny stories going around. The race then split as expected going back up Mt McDonald, I got dropped but managed to recover and catch the lead group on Uriarra rd. Then the three sisters again and again I got dropped but there was no recovery this time.
Overall I finished in 10th place 3:02 behind the winner. In total there was 1325m of climbing on the stage so as a non climber I was happy with my result. I think I might move to Newcastle, I’ve been told it’s really flat there.
