Arriving on Wednesday afternoon I took to the track to cut some practice laps and get a feel for the course. My new Avanti Competitor Team felt amazing and the compliant rear end is a noticible difference from the previous model. It also rides like a lighter bike, particularly in the front end. The Shepparton course is very dry and has a steady climb in it with some rocky pinches to negotiate along the way.
The highlight of the track is "The Waterfall" which dries up and summer and can be riden down. A tricky entrance is finished off with a difficult rock slab section which you don't want to get wrong!
I felt good cruising a few laps and pulled off the "Waterfall" section. On my third practice lap I thought I'd give it some stick and was flying down a dusty descent when I went slightly fast into a corner and the next moment, my face was sliding along the ground! Less than ideal! Pulling myself together, I did the body check (could feel toes, arms, etc) and then brought my hands up to my face. Dirt had gotten into my mouth and I was worried I'd whacked my teeth. Giving them a wiggle and getting no movement I breathed a sigh of relief. My right eye was another story. It hurt. I called it a day and went back to the accommodation to recover. Not a great start to Oceania's!
Lining up on the start line with a massive black eye, I was still feeling pretty good and looking forward to racing against the world class Rosara Joseph from New Zealand. She finished 8th at the Olympics and is all class. The start was a tussle for position and I headed into the singletrack in second on Rosara's wheel. We managed to get away on the first lap and Rosara had 15 seconds on me heading into the second. She started to pull away and I made a couple of errors, enabling another New Zealander to catch up to me. She was climbing really well but I descended much better which made for an interesting battle. With one lap to go sh had 30 seconds over me. I gave it everything I had and was catching at the end but she got me by 10 seconds. Third overall but it was good to be the first Aussie across the line.
The race also doubled as the last round of the Aussie National Series and I needed to be the first Aussie across the line to wrap up the series. I won 3 out of the 4 races and was happy with my consistency. It is my 3rd National Series Title.
The next day I lined up for the Oceania Road Championships (good for training). The course was flat so didn't altogether suit me but I was looking forward to racing the "Roadies". The 116km race was fairly negative so my legs had a good chance to recover from the MTB race. I made sure I was near the front and at one point was away in a brak of about 15 but we were brought back. Three girls got away on the last lap and it was a sprint for fourth. I had good positioning but the girl in fron of me drifted wide around the last corner, allowing a gap to form to Rochelle Gilmore's leadout train. I tried to bridge but it was too late. I managed thrid in the sprint which gave me 6th place overall. Happy with that.
That night was the real test. The short-track MTB race was on and a 116km road race isn't ideal preparation for it. At 15min + 3 laps I figured it would only be about 20 minutes of pain all up so what the heck! The course wasn't overly technical but had a few sections where you needed to put high power down. I started well and felt pretty good for the first 10 minutes. Bec Henderson and I got well clear of the other girls and it was a battle between two. We both threw in attacks but neither could get away. The last lap was a cracker and the crowd were enjoying the battle. We both sprinted for the single track and neither was yielding. I had half a bike lenght and had the bike in a full sideways slide to make the corner to the track. It was great fun. I hit the final straight in the lead and sprinted to the line to win by just a couple of seconds. Phew.
The win also wrapped up the National Series Short Track Title and my Avanti and I were undefeated in the format for the Series.
A good weekend results wise and an even better one in terms of training before I head overseas with the AIS Women's road team. I'm racing the Women's Tour de Flanders on April 3rd so the Questa will get a good test run on the pavè!
Happy riding