Rhonda van Breezy Beens

Brisbane Highlands Circuit Race, Cat. 5's
Matt Werner

Rob Montague & I raced with the Cat 5's. Seemed like the peloton pretty much split in half in the 1st or 2nd lap, and Bob found himself in the 2nd group, schooling some of the young ones who were having difficulty making their bikes turn corners, 3 of whom eliminated themselves in the first minute by taking the left hander too wide and hanging up on the curb.

I managed to stay with the front group and worked on positioning. I was pretty comfortable on the uphill section, keeping my cadence high and following wheels that were moving forward. I was generally able to stay in the top 10 to 15 places, and found I could move forward on the downhill by taking an inside line when the group seemed to want to swing wide and take the long way. On the penultimate lap I identified another rider who was using the same trick, grabbed his wheel, and found myself sitting 2nd wheel on the downhill, tucked in & coasting, trying to rest my legs for 2 more times up the climb. This seemed like a good thing, until near the bottom we suddenly got swarmed by a bunch of guys with a lot of momentum, and quickly lost position before the haybale turn.

On the final lap we went into the final climb pretty hot, & I just didn't have enough to stay with the group. I went by the 2 guys who got dropped with me, caught another at the top of the hill, & went by him for 18th place. Not too shabby for an old guy in an all-ages cat 5 race (which I later learned had been won by a 19 year old).

Bob came in a minute or 2 back, fulfilling his 2 goals of finishing and not crashing.