Tour de Hawkesbury

When members of the Hawkesbury Tri Club (HTC) mentioned the idea of a social ride on Australia Day, with not just one training loop ride, but including all three of their training loops. Of course I was interested, it wasn’t going to be just a casual couple of hours, 140km was more like all morning. With the recent influenced of the Tour Down Under and adding a little spice to social ride, the HTC crew threw in a handful of special KOM and Sprints. In these special open sections you could collect points and be named for overall GC, KOM and Sprinter.
With the chance of showers it wasn’t looking promising, the days leading up were humid, wet and then a little wetter. But as the dawn sun attempted to push rays of light over the horizon into a cloud filled sky, a dry road was illuminated. I loaded my mountainbike with two orange Rocky Trail Entertainment bottles full of electrolyte and in my pockets, Hammer Bars and Gel, enough food to get me through at least six hours of riding. Then it was off to the meeting point for our early start.
The first loop included the Wiseman's Ferry Road climb and when we hit the initial slope the social bunch split. A little further it split again and there was just four of us, Jason Reynolds was leading Greg, Steve and I. It flattened off a little and Jason pushed the chain over to the big ring, attempting to grind out the last of the major hill section and build some speed. I thought it was a little early and jumped off his wheel, taking advantage of his vulnerability being in the wrong gear, and lead Greg and Steve up the hill further, making a significant gap to Jason. Once over the steep section we only had to traverse the final undulations before Steve set a blistering pace over the final kilometer and forcing me off the back. Second wheel over KOM 1.
After meandering back down the hill and across the ferry it was time for KOM 2. It is a well know, to many a Hawkesbury cyclist, as a short but sharp climb. Steve once again found himself out the front and lead the bunch to the critical middle section of the climb. It was here I chose to stomp on the peddles a little, leaving most of the bunch behind. I felt I crested the climb with quite a few bike lengths to Jason and crossed the finish of the second KOM section well in front.
We made our way through Wilberforce and turned towards Windsor for the first of the Sprint sections. This particular sprint is totally flat and I did all I could just to hold on and scoop some tail-end points. The HTC guys just rode away from me on this one.
It was then onto loop two which was an ascent of Bells Line of Road to Kurmond. Heading out of North Richmond I missed the initial surge of speed and had to be content with keeping an eye on my Bryton 30, ensuring I sustained a manageable HR for the length of the climb. There were still plenty of points out there to collect. Not quite on the ball for this KOM but snatched a couple of points.
On our meander from Kurmond across to Wilberforce was the forth and final KOM. It would be a down hill run to the small climb, I guess the basic idea was to maintain momentum and just out-climb any other attempts. So that is pretty much what I did, Jason once again lead the charge, I rolled off his wheel and maintained my speed to the virtual line. I collected top points for the final KOM.
Once in Wilberforce it was time for yet another totally flat sprint section. This time the wind had picked up and was blowing slightly across the road. Again I did all I could just to hold on at speeds up and around 40km without getting blown off the back. I couldn't hold the pace, dropping back from the lead bunch and settling for some tail-end points again.
Loop three and the final loop of the day was mostly flat and would include the final two sprints. There was a long transitional social section, perfect for finishing my Hammer bars and to let the body actively recover. Soon enough we were on road for the second last sprint and to my likening this sprint had a few slight rises and dips. We wound up a long way out, Greg was off the front to ITT the section and the rest of us mostly lead by Steve and Jason worked the small bunch within meters of Greg's wheel. As we got close I was on third wheel when Ron boxed me in from the right. I purposely slipped back for the best chance of a clear run, then we hit the final hundreds of meters, Lars was launching his sprint and Jason was on his wheel. Thankfully I ride this section regularly when I join HTC on their training rides, so I knew the moment to wait for. I rode out into the wind from the protection behind the bunch and in a matter of moments drew level with Lars and Jason. I kicked again, a full all-out effort, this was going to be my sprint, I wanted it. I crossed the line first, timing it to perfection.
It was a nice flat spin to the final sprint with its unique down-hill finish. Steve lead out the start of the sprint way to early. The rest of the bunch scrapped to follow his wheel and over the final down-hill hundred Jason and Lars went head to head. The rest of us were happy to hold our own, pretty much exhausted from our epic endurance ride. We had cross the 100km mark during this final loop which was a first for a couple of people. It hadn't been till lunch either, we finished well after lunch. To get involved with the HTC visit their website, or Hawkesbury Triathlon Club on Facebook. As for all things MTBing check out all the events on Enduro Pulse and expect more from the team in the near future as we launch into the 2012 season.