Having done this once before in my former life as a triathlete, I was well aware that the Tour of Bright is always just a great weekend!!   Four stages over 2 days, hard circuits, something for everybody whether you are a sprinter, a climber or a time trial specialist.  Unfortunately for Masters 2/3 this year Tom Crebbin was all 3!!!  Nevertheless the Coburg boys put on a good showing, so here is a quick rundown of how it happened…

Stage 1: Tawonga Gap loop – first stage and everyone is pretty apprehensive since I don’t think you ever know how your legs are until you get going.  Personally I found that my legs were filled with slowly setting cement, and as edgy riders chased down Tommy McDonough at each of his multiple attempts to break free early in the stage I was quietly blaming him for my discomfort.  Everyone was together by the first KOM, which was really just a gradual climb for a couple of clicks and wasn’t enough to really break up the race.  A small bingle half way up added some excitement, but it was business as usual in economy class and Paul Logan, Justin Wornes, Phil Smith and myself cruised over.  I’m told Mike Skerritt and Tommy Mc were slightly trailed off but these guys soon made it back into the comfort of the bunch.  The business end of this stage is the 7km Tawonga Gap climb, and Wornsey had been dreaming about this climb for months.  He wasted no time in disappearing up the road in a gutsy solo move that bought him maximum KOM points and a real chance at the stage win.  The next group consisted of myself, Danny Kah (CCCC), Tom Crebbin and Phil Smith (CCC), and together we kept a smooth tempo that was just quick enough to get clear of the likes of David Sturt, Aaron Christiansen and Aaron Field all of whom were looming as major threats in the tour.  Over the top and it is a fast decent and then a flat out time trial for about 5km into the finish just outside of Bright.  Phil dropped back to the chasers on the decent and Crebbin, Kah and I swept up Wornes on the way down.  800m out and it looked like these fine gentlemen were in disagreement as to who should ride in the front, at which point I decided that time gains were more important than the stage itself, so a foolhardy flat-out move from way too far out resulted in an easy win to Crebbin from Kah from myself, then a couple of seconds back to an unlucky Wornes.

Stage 2: Individual Time Trial – these are always hard to judge in my view.  For us it was a little less than 16km with some gusty winds and moderate undulations.  Tom Crebbin was strong again and he just pipped triathlete Reece Stephens.  Wornsey rode well and lost only a small amount of time as did Phil Smith.  I found my legs for the first time all day and felt great, but was only good enough for 4^th place.

 Stage 3: Mt Buffalo – the big daddy of the Tour.  Everybody knew that the race would be decided here and it was always going to be close.  Crebbin started the day with 70 seconds from me, with Danny Kah and Wornes only a handful of seconds further back.  Stephens has also entered the picture courtesy of a fast time trial and the usual suspects in Field and Christiansen and Smith were waiting to pounce about 2 mins back.  Early in the race Mike Skerritt and Tom McD made valiant attempts to steal intermediate sprints from Crebbin who had dominated the sprint competition all weekend.  I was expecting Crebbin to be on the defensive with such a big climb ahead, but he was part of every move in the opening stages and was clearly out to win the race.  Up the first Cat 3 KOM, Sturt and Crebbin got away to steal more points, a move I felt obligated to follow.  But upon seeing that neither of those guys were going to march away I sat up and waited for the cavalry…  And then, from the base of the main Buffalo climb came my biggest rush of blood and probably the only real mistake I felt I made – Christiansen surged, I countered, hard, and then thought “stuff this – I’m going!”.  I caught Crebbin and wanted to bury him early since I felt he was vulnerable in the hills, so I surged harder again as I went past, convince he couldn’t respond.  I was committed now – 20km climb solo – do or die – WHAT AN IDIOT I was thinking to myself!!!  I could see that I had about 30 seconds at the most but still felt pretty comfortable and that I could continue to accelerate.  I could hear that another rider had got to my wheel and after a couple of km’s I suggested he may wish to contribute to my efforts, but he politely declined, offering instead some encouragement.  It occurred to me that he may be one of Crebbin’s team mates sent to keep an eye on me, so I asked “Are you working for Crebbin?”, to which the response was “I AM Crebbin!”  BUGGER IT!   So we sat up and waited for the bunch.

 Act 2 in the Buffalo climb didn’t really start for a while and the lead group was still 10 or so riders strong.  Wornsey was on the front and I knew he would be aggressive, so I watched him for any sign of a twitch – like two sharp shooters, the moment he drew I was doing to draw first.  Then it was Christiansen again who surged which triggered an aggressive final 10km during which all of contending the riders threw in testing surges to see how the troops would respond.  Finally though it was Field who hit us with the big guns as he tossed himself into the big ring and went really hard 1500m from the KOM.  I responded but my feeble efforts were in vain and I was again caught by Crebbin with Wornes and Stephens in tow.  Approaching the KOM and I surged again which might have been just enough to drop Wornes and Stephens, but Crebbin is a cagey bugger and he still wouldn’t work with me on the following false-flat, so then with Field off up the road hammering himself into oblivion, it was left to the rest of us to sort out 2^nd to 5^th.  Phil Smith had another good climb and finished up not long after with Christianson and co.

 Stage 4 – the Criterium.  Finally, the pressure was off for me.  In spite of the sprint bonuses still available I couldn’t move up or down from 2^nd place on GC, so I figured it was time to have some fun.  20 minute crits are fast and the pace was on pretty quickly with most guys just hammering themselves for the fun of it.  I tried twice to outgun Crebbin in a sprint at the intermediates and fell a tire width short on both occasions… surely he could give me one!?!?  In the end for Coburg it was 2^nd place on my behalf, Justin Wornes got 4^th but probably rode better than that just losing time at critical moments.  Phil Smith got 7^th and Paul Logan got 16^th.

 Well done to everyone who raced, hope you all had as much fun as I did.

Coburg Results - Final GC

A Grade
-15th Brendan Sharratt & 1st Stage 4
- 20th Andrew Ward

C Grade
-12th Jason Laird
- 37th Wayne Gebert

Masters 2/3
-2nd Stuart Morgan
- 4th Justin Wornes
- 9th Phil Smith
- 16th Paul Logan
- 34th Andrew Robinson
- 36th Tom McDonough
- 57th Mick Skerritt
- 64th Marcus Speed

Masters 4/5
-36th Kevin Russell

Full results