I had my eye on Challenge Gold Coast as
soon as it was announced earlier this year. This was not without an element of
risk though, as it falls only 2 weeks prior to what is perhaps the biggest race
of my season, 70.3 World Championships in Mont Tremblant, Canada. Discussing
with Tim we targeted the race as a potential last hard hit-out before dialling it
back for worlds. We had discussed swimming and riding really hard and hopefully
having a buffer to notch it back a little on the run to avoid the muscle damage
that arises from 21 kilometers of pounding pavement. I was also eager to replenish my bank account
to avoid potentially living off baked beans and mi goreng noodles after
splashing ‘dat paper’ on a trip to the northern hemisphere.
Having already raced a fair bit this year,
Tim was keen for me to focus on Mt Tremblant and use this race as a solid hit
out to test where the form was at after just completing a decent training block.
I was a little apprehensive, as I hadn’t really freshened up as I usually would
before a race but given that Worlds is in 2 weeks I knew it was important to
keep the training volume up. I had also been battling a chest infection for a
couple of weeks which had also left me feeling a little flat, but I convinced
myself that a few days of warmer tropical temps would put me back into good
health and ready to go for the race.
Due to some unseasonal Gold Coast weather,
the race organisers made the tough decision to reduce the bike leg from 90km
down to 40km for safety reasons. I was initially disappointed with this call as
I was eager to test out my current cycling form over the full 90km. However
after riding the roads during the race I know the right decision was made as we
weaved our way through moss covered roads that were treacherous to negotiate on
a TT bike.
Race morning rolled around and the skies
seemed to be clearing for what promised to be a great day, regardless of the
course changes. Shane Barrie offered himself up as bull shark bait and left the
rest of us in his wake as he opened up a handy lead in the opening stages of
the swim. I was content to lead to chasers as we exited around 20 seconds in
arrears.
Onto the bike, Tim obviously didn’t want to
muck around as he sniffed an opportunity to break up the little pack that might
form on the bike. Feeling quite sluggish I went with him for 10minutes before
slowly dropping off the pace. I turned around and noticed that Casey Munro and
myself was the only one able to respond to Reedy’s watt bomb. Tim managed to
get about a 200m advantage but due to some shared work by myself and Casey we
managed to claw back onto him by 20km. To give you some indication, at the 20km mark my average wattage was 330w. I was surprised to see a handy lead to
the chase pack at the U turn as we set about our return journey. Casey
unfortunately punctured not long after, which was disappointing for him after
riding superbly.
After sloshing through the rapidly
deteriorating transition we set about on the 21km run ahead of us. We got our first time gap after doing a little out and back section and I guessed we had
about 3.5minutes to the chase guys. Tim wasn’t feeling that social and opened
up a little gap before settling into his pace and I was left hovering about
30seconds in arrears as we completed the first of two laps. I noticed that Dave
Mainwaring was moving quite well in 3rd and had eaten away at my
advantage so I put in a sustained surge for about 15 minutes to really put the nail in the coffin, but this had also brought me
within 10 seconds to Tim. This didn’t go unnoticed and he quickly crushed any
thought of me sneaking into the lead as he increased his lead again to 30 seconds by the
finish. The raced pretty much was executed perfectly from my pre race plan and
I was happy to come away with 2nd with Dave consolidating 3rd
with a swift run.
A huge congrats to Marcus and the guys from
Challenge Australia for putting on such a fantastic event despite tumultuous
conditions in the days leading up to the event. Also a huge thank you to my
homestay Matt and Coleen for their exceptional hospitality over the course of
my stay. Thanks also to my team Giant bikes, Shotz, Scody, Blue Seventy,
Hawkesbury Physio, 3D Bike Fit, Rudy Project and echelon sports.
Next time I will be checking on from the
USA!
Thanks for reading.
