12 March 2016 Calder Steward Round 2: KiwiStyle Bike Tours Timaru Classic

Round 2 of the Calder Stewart Series, sponsored by KiwiStyle Bike Tours, was in Timaru. A chilly, distinctly autumn morning gave way to a beautiful, fine day. The course was two laps of a 55-km circuit around the quiet, country roads and undulating terrain of Pleasant Point, northwest of Timaru.

Picturesque roads of Pleasant Point.

With teammates Karen Fulton busy winning lots of gold medals at NZ Track Nationals :-) and Jessica Johnstone side-lined with an injury :-(, Susan van der Pol, Rhonda Murphy, and I toed the line for the FreshChoice Richmond Pomeroys Women’s Team. Since we had two leader’s jerseys and a top team standing to defend, we knew we had a challenging race ahead.

The Black Magic and Benchmark Homes Teams put pressure on straightaway, with Julia Grant (Benchmark Homes) and Michaela Kerr (Black Magic) especially active, putting in repeated attacks throughout the first lap. A mechanical for Rhonda whittled our team down to just me and Susan after only 15 km of racing. Susan, putting in a massive day at the office, did an amazing job covering moves and making certain we were represented in any breaks.

Susan (middle) in a break with Julia Grant (Benchmark Homes) and Michalea Kerr (Black Magic).

Just past midrace, Black Magic riders put in a flurry of attacks, opening the door for Amanda Jamieson (Black Magic) to escape up the road. Amanda’s exceptional finishing climb in Round 1 and second place standing in the series highlighted her as a real threat. Registering her race number, I responded, digging deep to bridge the gap. Soon my gains diminished and the distance between us stabilized. We stayed that way for a while: Amanda looking to me like she was pedalling along quite casually, me unable to bring her closer. Eventually, I think she decided to put in some solid pedal strokes and disappeared up the road.

Heading into the first climb.

I looked behind to assess my situation and was somewhat bewildered to find the bunch was completely out of sight. With 45 km remaining in the race, I had a difficult decision: sit up and wait for the bunch or carry on riding hard, possibly sacrificing my finish should I be caught. (Other options, including lying down on the side of the road, do occur to me now but weren’t considered at the time...)

Chasing hard.

I opted for the latter and carried on, battling solo for nearly an hour. Alas, my current form wasn’t quite sufficient to maintain the effort required. Soon the bunch sucked me back in with just over 15 km remaining to the finish. No chance of catching Amanda, however. She remained out of sight, finishing over 3 minutes clear of the bunch, and showing some outstanding form and grit in the process.

Solo finish from Amanda Jamieson (Black Magic).

Once I was back in the bunch, Susan was immediately back on patrol, giving me time to recover for the sprint. With the last climb behind us, my legs felt good heading into the finish and second place was still a possibility. Until…

A wee crash on the final corner split the bunch and eliminated me from the sprint. I was fortunate to stay upright, barely swerving to miss the splayed arm and skidding bike of one of the two riders who went down. 

Com 1.

Arrrrrrr. Putting forth a much bigger effort that I had left in my legs, I battled through the last 500m to finish 10^th. The result knocked me well back in the points, but was good enough to keep me in the Master’s Jersey and 3^rd overall. No room for disappointment – I had two chances for a better finish and I wasn’t able to collect on either of them. Susan put in a great finish after huge efforts throughout the race to finish 13^th, and, despite missing out on team points, we held on to our second place team ranking.  

Most importantly, everyone ended up all right, minus a bit of skin for two. Nelson powerhouse Michalea Kerr repeated her fifth place in Round 1 to keep her in the U19 jersey. Well done to Amanda, Michalea, and the Black Magic team for great riding.

What?! How cool are these pink lambs cheering us up the climb!

Big thanks to series sponsor Calder Stewart, race sponsor KiwiStyle Bike Tours, and team sponsors FreshChoice Richmond and Pomeroy's Coffee, race photographers Chris Sexton (Faction Photography) and Sandi Scott, and our awesome team manager Craig Murphy. Round 3 is in Nelson in August after the winter break. The next race for the FreshChoice Richmond Pomeroys Women will be the GrapeRide on 2 April in Blenheim.

21 February 2016 Calder Steward Round 1: Kings Electrical Hanmer to Kaikoura Classic

Thanks so much to everyone for all the wonderful messages of support over the past week. After a bit of a break from cycling, it feels pretty good to get back into it with a win! 

Calder Stewart Series Leaders after Round 1.

We had almost perfect conditions for cruising along the 100 km of beautiful road between Hanmer and Kaikoura. The race was the first round of the Calder Stewart Elite Cycling Series, a six-race series around the South Island of New Zealand. The Calder Stewart Series, previously Benchmark Homes Series, has been hugely influential in developing team based racing in New Zealand. 

 I last raced the series in 2010, when each round was one race with teams generally fielding one or two female riders – if that. The series has now evolved into three separate races: elite, masters, and women – most exciting being the growth in women’s cycling, with the series attracting enough quality women’s teams to support our own separate race. And it’s only getting bigger!

After a frustrating season last year, I had some time away from cycling for a while. Gentle pressure and encouragement from long-time teammate Karen Fulton got me motivated to get back training. I had six weeks to find enough form to make it through Round 1 – dauntingly, with big climbs and constant undulations, the most challenging course of the series. It’s just as well that my local cycling club, the Tasman Wheelers, offers outstanding local racing to help me push my limits! 

Come race day, I lined up alongside FreshChoice Richmond Pomeroys teammates Karen, Jess Johnstone, Rhonda Murphy, and Susan Van der Pol, feeling a bit underdone. An obvious strong presence in the peloton was the New Zealand Women’s Road Development Team, Black Magic. This is the second year of the Black Magic program. I’m pretty stoked to see young female roadies finally getting a pathway for development in New Zealand.

Several teams were put under pressure early when a dangerous break containing the strong combination of last year’s series winner Sharlotte Lucas (Benchmark Homes), Jeannie Blackmore (Vidasana Thule), and Michaela Kerr (Black Magic) escaped up the road. No sooner had we them brought back did Kim Marshall (Cycle World Fairweathers) put in a big attack and disappear. With the challenging terrain and over 60km left to race, a single rider posed little concern. However, when Black Magic’s Michaela Drummond bridged the gap, the move turned into a threat.

The peloton waned and waxed and waned again, as the toughest part of the course taxed weary legs. Some hard efforts by key riders on the front, assisted by the challenging terrain, saw the two riders brought back into the fold with a little less than half the race to go. 

A moments rest and, keen to show some world-class form, Drummond zoomed off again. When Kerr made a move to join her, I saw the opportunity to take some pressure off my teammates and we soon had a break of three. We immediately started working well together and, with no response from the bunch, were quickly out of sight, at one point two minutes up the road. We worked together for over an hour, battling strong winds heading into Kaikoura.

 At the base of the final climb, the bunch was closing fast. I kept a steady pace on the climb, expecting my breakaway companions to come zooming past at any moment. The tortuous bends of the climb kept the finish concealed until the last moment. The line in sight, I felt the pressure dropping off. A quick glance behind. I had time to savor this one. I have to say, this was one of my most satisfying (and unexpected) wins. My last visit to the course in 2010 was also a win so it felt doubly exciting to repeat. Behind me, Amanda Jamieson (Black Magic) stormed up the hill with amazing speed to steal second while Drummond held on for third and Kerr fifth – a big shout out to both of them for some really gutsy racing.  

Credit for my win goes to my FreshChoice Richmond Pomeroys Coffee Team: Karen, Jess, Susan, Rhonda, our awesome Team Manager Craig Murphy. Big thanks to series sponsor Calder Stewart and race sponsors Kings Electrical and Ocean Ridge Kaikoura for making a great start to the 2016 series, and Enthuse for outstanding media coverage of the race. Next up, we head to Timaru for Round 2 on 12 March.