Chris and I arrived at the Lysterfield hopeful of a good result on the more technical track. I was on starting duties and planned to go out hard as last round I unknowingly let the eventual winners slip away early. Mark @ogarm caught the start on film and you can see my wind-up starting (navy/white capo kit) which put me in front at the end of the first lap with a healthy lead over the field.
start video
Chris took over and managed to hold Tobias (you know who) off for a while but most importantly kept the gap back to the pairs field. Toby was a man on a mission and as it turned out, no-one would touch him all day. I was tagged back in and this is where things began to unravel.
At the top of the Commonwealth games track I blew out the rear tyre. Making a snap decision to roll back to the pits and re-attempt the lap, I swapped shoes and jumped on Chris's bike, losing a bunch of minutes and a bunch of positions. I hauled the gap in over the next lap and handed the bike back to Chris in a reasonable position on track. Chris was in great form all day and smashed out another quick lap, reeling us ever closer to the front-runners.
I took over on my own bike once more and had just caught sight of the Commonaeros at the top of Glen track when the rear blew out again. This time miles from the pits. I proceeded to slip and slide my way all the way down middle track, trying desperately to keep out of the way as the fresh 3 hour field stormed past. Wheel-spinning tyre on rim I dragged my way up the climb to the toilet block and ran to the pits to swap bike once again with an astonished Chris. Thankfully the marshal at the top of the climb recognised me returning, or at least had the sense to lift the barrier for a man fueled on the air of two flat tyres. At the conclusion of this lap we were back to around 8th position and 10 minutes down on the lead.
Chasing hard, breathing hard.
Down to one bike again, Chris and I alternated; switching bottle, garmin and rider on every lap. At this point we'd given up on a win but set ourselves on chasing down the podium places. Digging deep we clawed our way back once again until on the penultimate lap, Chris caught the group and made the last lap cut by literally a few seconds. I'd all but given up on getting to ride another lap and was shocked when Chris came in and the leaders were right there! Needless to say I gave that lap everything I had left, leaving no chance of someone drafting or catching me at the finish. Carving through lapped riders, brushing hips and shoulders on trees I charged home, urging cramping legs on. In the end it was enough and we came home with a 50 second advantage.
Massive thanks to LDTR, VES and bighill events for running the event and a special thanks to our wives Laura and Jess for the encouragement, snacks, pep-talks and time management :)
I think Chris's wife Jess may have a future in team management...
Spent but happy.
Happily the prize pack had a couple of Maxxis tyres in it. Just what we needed!
