After a race of fighting my way back up to the front BANG my rear tyre disociates with my rear wheel. I was pretty calm when it happened, but then you start to hear the crowd "Oh, that's Unlucky", "So close to the end, don't think he'll get a free lap" and "I think he's got a puncture", it's fair to say after rolling around to the finish I was ready to kill someone.
Our kit is pretty rude, at least it stands out.
Here's Beth Canny in the Elite Womens Race, it looked so much harder and rougher than ours, halfway through the bunch split, then split again in the dieing laps.That's all I have time for now, i'm racing in just over an hour.
Should probably do something about that.
Cheers,
Doyle Time
Here's what went on Ballarats Web Page
Promoters of the 2009 Jayco Bay Cycling Classic (formerly known as the Bay Series) bill their races as "The World's Fastest Criterium Series." BSCC has a gaggle of riders on the start list, and some of them will be giving us their views on what the race feels like from the inside. Stay tuned - and keep your eye on Rob Doyle's blog "What's the Time?" (Answer: it's Doyle time ...)
Latest: Rob is staying at the only hotel in the western world without internet access for its guests ... so until he returns to civilization, here's his report on today's proceedings, phoned in, just like in the old days:
The elite men's race started almost 2 hours late, thanks to a delay to Robbie McEwen's flight. The riders weren't too happy, but Robbie is Robbie ... so they waited. The course has fast straights, and a slalom through a tight roundabout, with a short cobbled section thrown in for good measure. Especially hairy down the back of the field. A break including Simon Gerrans went away early, and hung just off the front for the whole race, despite a wicked pace in the bunch. Rob and his team-mates spent much of the race surveying proceedings from the back, but when Rob rubbed his front rim against another rider's shoe, he decided it was time to take the team closer to the front. Clearly our man Rob is on fire - "I'm fitter than I thought I was," he says - because he rode from the back of the field to the front at the business end of the race. He even lost a few of his team-mates in the process. As if by magic, he found himself on the wheel of Matt "Bjarne's darling" Goss, half a dozen from the front of the bunch, with a handful of laps to go. At this point the break was still away, but only just, and the cavalry charge was winding up. Rob was banging elbows with the best of them when there was a very loud BANG - his tyre. Rob held the bike up, and so did everyone else, but that was his race over for today. The break just stayed away and Gerrans got the win. Rob is planning a different finish to tomorrow's race.
Stay tuned - for more from Rob, and more from BSCC riders in the women's race and the men's support race.
Latest: Rob is staying at the only hotel in the western world without internet access for its guests ... so until he returns to civilization, here's his report on today's proceedings, phoned in, just like in the old days:
The elite men's race started almost 2 hours late, thanks to a delay to Robbie McEwen's flight. The riders weren't too happy, but Robbie is Robbie ... so they waited. The course has fast straights, and a slalom through a tight roundabout, with a short cobbled section thrown in for good measure. Especially hairy down the back of the field. A break including Simon Gerrans went away early, and hung just off the front for the whole race, despite a wicked pace in the bunch. Rob and his team-mates spent much of the race surveying proceedings from the back, but when Rob rubbed his front rim against another rider's shoe, he decided it was time to take the team closer to the front. Clearly our man Rob is on fire - "I'm fitter than I thought I was," he says - because he rode from the back of the field to the front at the business end of the race. He even lost a few of his team-mates in the process. As if by magic, he found himself on the wheel of Matt "Bjarne's darling" Goss, half a dozen from the front of the bunch, with a handful of laps to go. At this point the break was still away, but only just, and the cavalry charge was winding up. Rob was banging elbows with the best of them when there was a very loud BANG - his tyre. Rob held the bike up, and so did everyone else, but that was his race over for today. The break just stayed away and Gerrans got the win. Rob is planning a different finish to tomorrow's race.
Stay tuned - for more from Rob, and more from BSCC riders in the women's race and the men's support race.
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