“Welcome sports fans” (Art T-town velo announcer)

Cyclosportif 108km- A distance
Macquarie Bank Sur le Rivet a York Grand Fondo
Plan B Team event- York, WA

Registration was great, there was heap of riders (and their supporters) that I had not seen for ages…of course I had to stop and say hello. We parked up next to Paulie (whom I have been in many a Cyclo team with) and Brad (elite triathlete). I was waiting for one of the team members to locate me to give out the final timing transponder and race number so my warm-up was non-existent. As Cyclosportif is a participation event, warm-up is not usually required so I was not that worried. We hustled to the start line and before we knew it were off.

As the racing was effectively a handicap race, but with the ‘glory’ (it is not a race remember) going to the fastest team time using the transponders, not necessarily the first across the line. I expected that we would ride it as a handicap, working the combined 5 teams together, rolling it over. I could not have been more wrong. I became worried about not warming up around 30 seconds into the start when about 10 of the guys smashed it off the front right from the word go. Pleasingly both Neil and Duane were in there, but the team time was going to go on the top 3 times, so one of us Ladies needed to have a go to bridge and get across. As I started to go, Neil came back for us. I jumped on his wheel and he towed me up to the front group.

The front group (from our start time of 9:55am) was catching teams in front and collecting riders that could stay on the wheels. As it was a Grand Fondo, there was no necessity to stay with your team. Some teams chose to ride together, others were out for a ‘race’. I stayed with this group for about 40kms, doing what I needed to, the wind made it very hard, and against the men I was not strong enough to stay with them for any longer.


I dropped back to the group of about 50 who had been sitting on our ‘front group’. We picked up Bobby Barnes along the way for a bit. I would like to credit the Elite Racing Cycles Team (K) for keeping this group together and keeping the pace high and consistent…until the crash. Around 90kms in we were single-file overtaking three riders who were on the inside. I felt someone clip my rear wheel and then heard that terrible noise. This obviously splintered our group. With some riders still going, some slowing to make sure everyone was okay and others stopping to help (or were on the ground).

This was about the time that I was starting to feel my extra training from yesterday and didn’t have a great deal left in the tank. I knew that I was still the third rider for our team so did what I could to get to the finish as fast as I could. But I will guess (without my polar as it getting a new battery) that I was not very fast solo into the wind at this point. The timing mats could not come fast enough and I was very glad to get off my bike for the day.

Yummy lunch was served in the usual fashion (see photo), feeding a massive 660 bike riders and their support is no small feat itself, but pulling it off so we are not all waiting in line and have a seat to sit on, was impressive. It was good to have a chat to Neil Manning (Plan B Racing Team rider) whom I have not met before, and some of the Plan B Corporate Team riders. Hamish (who took Ryan on for last week’s SPR Saturday Sprint) was riding for them.

The gang (Bec, Anna, Brett, Steve and I- pictured here) had a bit of a catch-up before the journey back home.

And for the rest of the non-cycling world, we finally have a decision with the WA state election. We got there in the end.