Today’s set up was quite different, we had two stages on the same course. In the morning we had an Individual Time Trial on a 23km circuit and then in the evening we had a night race on the same course, but going the opposite direction.
The time trial started in reverse order of where you placed in the general classification so for me being mid field it meant a bit more of a sleep in and a relaxed start to the day. My start time was 10.10am, they were setting people off at 30 second intervals. It was amazing how much warmer it was by this time of day, we got to a max temp of 27, bit of a difference to the cold Victorian weather!
The course was great, on the way out it was quite fast and flowy, the mandatory patches of sand to catch you out and then some quite technical hilly rocky stuff on the way home. I had not pulled up well from the big stage yesterday and was continuing to have issues breathing, so I just dialed it back and enjoyed the trails, not a cracking time (1hr and12 minutes), think I placed fourth in this stage! We then went back to our accommodation to get some quality time in by the pool before we needed to front up and do it all again tonight!
It was a beautiful warm and calm night, I just raced in a jersey, no undershirt required! The mass start was quite chaotic, there was a mandatory crash off the start line which I managed to avoid, and then it was hard and fast elbows out to gain a good position heading into the single track, the amount of dust that was created from the pack was amazing and I was not at all enthused about being able to see what I was breathing in!
Once we got into the single track it was pretty slow, a bit like world cup racing, with lots of bottlenecks as the whole field tried to squeeze single file into the technical trail. So for a bit it was pretty slow and at some points off and walking. Eventually things spread out and I found my own space, I was really starting to enjoy the night riding, it’s always an extra challenge not quite being able to define obstacles and also what lay around the corners.
About half way through I cam across a pile up where Anna Beck had come down pretty hard, she was quite out of sorts but all in one piece, I asked if she wanted to jump on my wheel and follow me home, she gratefully accepted and she nursed her self home, it felt good to be able to help out even if it was just a little. We later learned that Jess Douglas had also had a pretty nasty off managing to crack her helmet, such are the joys and the challenge of night racing!
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