The plan for the day was easy: stay with the group; provide a wheel for Anna when it was needed; respond to any attacks; stay with the group; drink and eat adequately; don't do too much work at the front; stay with the group; make sure Anna wins or is close enough to the front at the finish to give her a chance. Simple.
The execution of said plan was a little more difficult. For starters there was the daylight savings change. Then there was the vague map and description of where the race was supposed to start. And the actual race route. Not to mention that both of these things were changed on the day. And the half-an-hour late start due to some misplaced witches hats (not kidding). And the buck's night the night before. Ok - that was only affecting me but it was a factor.
But, in our favour was a very flat course and just enough wind to be annoying (but not enough to be a hassle). Five laps of a 16km course. Easy. And there were three of us from the Crossing Crew - Anna, Mark and myself. No worries at all. We'll share the load, stay safe in the middle of the pack. Be controlled. Nice.
We're sitting at the start and there is a delay. The open riders go off but not too quickly - they look like they're taking it pretty easy. That's odd. Then we go off. We're having a warm-up. A short 5km course. So we do that and we start to get warmed up. Excellent. Then we're back at the start, sitting around in the cold (did I mention the cold?) waiting for the start. Behind the open riders again. So much for the warm-up.
Fifteen minutes later the open riders take off on their real start. And they're moving pretty quick. Hmmm. Five minutes later, we get to go. Woohoo! Things are pretty cruisey for the first lap. I'm sitting in third wheel and we're double file down Tonkin Hwy at about 35 km/h. Then we drop back to single-file and start rolling off the front. Crap. How did I get here? I do a couple of turns but don't smash it and settle down hiding in the middle of the pack. Anna and Mark are still there so this is all good.
Second lap comes around and I swear that there is a headwind on the start/finish straight (about 800 metres long) even though it is a downwind stretch. This will be a pain later on. The start of the second lap also brings a few small attacks. Nothing serious - the attackers don't sprint off very far but it is obvious they are testing the pack to see who is who and what is what. Certainly need to be out of the saddle to make sure I'm not dropped. Cornering starts to be interesting - hitting those 90 degree bends on the inside at 40 km/h plus is tricky but the bike sticks so I'm happy. Clearly we're not being civilised anymore.
Along Tonkin Hwy the pace lifts to 40-45 km/h and things are starting to turn a little nasty. There is a bigger break and the pack stretches out. I sprint up the inside, pick up Anna and we make our way onto the back again. Anna works her way back up to about fourth wheel (we're no longer single file - it's just a messy bunch) and positions herself well. More attacks happen, especially through the roundabouts on Lake Rd and everyone compensates appropriately. We slow down a little as it is into the wind along Lake Rd but it isn't as easy as the first lap.
Just before the end of the second lap it happens. There is an attack of the front - the Plan B girls and a few others take off. This is ok for a bit but the road is like a chicane coming into the start/finish straight and this splits the pack. I'm out of the saddle through the twists and turns pushing an insanely large gear hanging onto the breakaway through this bit and I can feel the bike flexing underneath me - that's a first. But, it's no good and I get pushed out around the last very sharp little corner into the home stretch and I lose too much ground. Crap.
I struggle up the straight into the not-so-imaginary headwind at about 38 km/h trying to keep in touch with them but they're getting away. And fast. I catch a glimpse of five or six riders behind me but no-one is helping and I lose the main pack. I can see a few stragglers in between the pack and me but they're a fair way off. I assume Anna and Mark have grabbed my wheel (or another wheel behind that) but I'm not looking because I'm a bit busy dealing with my legs and lungs and I don't have the energy to sit up and take a look behind me.
Out onto Tonkin Hwy for the third lap. Although this is parallel with the start/finish straight the wind is again behind us. I'm happily sitting on 38 km/h and stay there for a while. Tony (another rider from RFY who is on our Mirvac team) rolls past me and we set up our pattern for laps 3 - 5. We take 30 second turns in front and that's that. We don't talk - there is no need and I don't feel like wasting the energy. We drop the few stragglers behind us but that is only obvious coming into the sharp corners before start-finish straight again. It registers with me that Anna is somewhere back there but I figure she's in a bigger group (there should be at least 20 people behind us) and they'll chase us down in a little while.
Just near the end of the third lap we catch Cherie who is an amazingly strong rider. I had thought it was our combined riding that was getting us closer to her but it turns out she was most probably slowing down so she could work with us. Back up the main straight she is yelling at us to do short turns at the front so her and I do two or three 15 second spells at about 43 km/h but I'm spent before the end of the main straight because the other couple of riders we've caught up with can't take the pace - only Cherie and I have been rolling through. She seems a bit annoyed but we've got to let her go.
Tony and I are left with a guy who has (mistakenly, I think) entered the open race. He is no help at all and (according to him afterwards) we "dropped him like a sack of s**t" on Tonkin Hwy.
The last lap is hard. I've had a gel but I can feel my legs getting tired - they're like lead. Our speed along Tonkin Hwy drops to around 35 km/h but we keep going. Tony take slightly longer turns at the front to spell me out. In the last 8km we get caught by a rag-tag group of 32km (two-lap) riders on their first lap - road bikes, flat-bar roadies and mountain bikes in the mix. They sprint past us at 40 km/h and we jump on the back of them. After about 500 metres of this they slow down to 32 km/h so we accelerate, go past them and keep rolling. It is obvious that they are using us now and a few minutes later they sprint past us again. And then slow down again. We go past them another time.
It occurs to me at this point that Anna and Mark haven't caught up. Oh well, too late to worry about that now.
Finally, we're at the finish line. Tony sprints away and finishes about 50 metres ahead of me - I cross the finish line at 35 km/h. I'm spent. I can't think of any time (other than the first easy lap when it would have been completely stupid) that I could have gone any harder. But apparently, I've finished only about 5 minutes behind the leaders. Couldn't have done it without Tony - we worked together really well despite never having ridden with each other (except maybe crossing paths at one of the RFY training rides). Anna and Mark are waiting at the finish. What? How did that happen?
Distance: 78km
Time: 2:11 something
Average speed: 35.8 km/h