Well this was going to be my first ever road tour so was keen to go down and get some experience and some good training in before lake hawea.
The first day on friday had a small 5km prolouge so was a good distance to shake the legs up. Just went for it and ended up a in 12th place so was happy with that effort. The main aim for the tour was just to see how it all ended up.
An early morning on saturday started with a 80km stage from the Remarkables to Five rivers. It was quite uneventful with a break heading up the road and I decided to stay in the bunch trying not to go too hard too early. A quick 80km flew by and we came to the finish about 1min behind the break. This stage I placed in 14th.
The afternoon stage was from five rivers to Manapouri so making it to the finsh and conserving gas for the TT and the 2nd half of the race. A break went away again and I was happy to stay in the bunch and just roll through till we found the finish. Keeping near the front crossed the line in 11th.
Sunday Morning came with no easter eggs, just 20km of pain. There was alot of wind which made it even harder. This being my first TT I was a little unsure of how hard to go out and ride it. Spoke to big Jase and went out with a rough plan of being just a little uncomfortable!! It was certainly uncomfortable! I managed to come to the finish strong and rolled through in 14th place.
The next 80km stage proved to be a very strange one. Many attacks went off the front and I chose to hang back with the Yellow jersey and 2nd on GC thinking it would be brought back. It didn't. Myself and George Tutton gave it a crack trying to bring it back into the main group but did not work out as planned. So unfortunatly this stage found out at the top of the climb we were 5min behind, from this point on our group sat up and cruised to the finish. Ended up loosing 18min which was not really planned! But learnt some lessons pretty quick this stage! I then decided the last 2 stages were when I should go full gas and try to do whatever I can.
So these two hilly stages I tryed to go with a few moves and see where I could end up. The stage to glenorchy was rolling most the way with a climb about half way. This turned out to be where it split up in the main bunch. It was here I had to dig quite deep to hold the wheel of the guy ahead of me and not get dropped. So stayed in this group and came across the finish in the bunch sprint.
In the afternoon we had the last stage which rode back towards Queenstown and finished up the hill at Moke Lake. About half way into the stage with a group already up the road myself and 2 other guys jumped out of the main bunch to try and bridge across. It all started working well and got away from the bunch till we hit the KOM climb. This was when the other 2 guys ended up riding away from me. Which was not ideal at all!! I started to catch a couple others dropped from the break then hopped in the group coming through with Dan Barry and Will Bowman flying through trying to get Dan into yellow. I somehow managed a couple of turns on the front then blew up again. So ended up just riding back to the finish and tryed to finish strong up the final climb.
Overall had heaps of fun and learnt plently. I think it is something I will happily go and do again just so I can prove to myself I can do better. It was a little unknown if I could get through the tour and finish with the main bunch each day which I did each stage minus the 4th stage of course!
Hopefully it has got me ready enough for around Lake Hawea.
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