sunday 1st june - menzies to kalgoorlie race

race report by peter

the menzies to kalgoorlie is one of those iconic races on the wa racing calendar. if wa was europe, it would probably be referred to as a monument much like paris-roubaix. it has been run and won since 1928 when the road was only a dirt track. a event history can be found here.

the race is run as a graded scratch which meant that groups all got a head start based on the grade that they nominated. the “a” grade or “scratchmen” would take off last and be trying to catch “b” grade, who were trying to catch “c” grade, who were trying to catch “d” grade, who were dodging the remnants of “e” grade which is the participation race. so generally if the handicapper has read the field right (and this is a very difficult job) all the groups should come together at the finish for a mass sprint. this doesn’t always happen as it depends on how well the groups work together.

the most important thing about this race is the prize money. first place gets $3,000. being a handicap event, this means that everyone has a chance of getting it if they have the legs at the end of 132km. there is also a generous breakdown of cash prizes for the different grades and fastest times as well as money for the criteriums on saturday. the total prize pool this year was $15,000. that is what generally attracts people to the race.

so before i even got to the start of the race, i needed to actually get to kalgoorlie. this meant either a 6+ hr road trip or a flight to kal. one of my sunday training partners, davina and her hubby luke were also heading up for the race so i car-pooled with them to ease the drive a bit. davina got sixth overall in last years race and first female across the line, so she was looking to improve on that this year. my goals for the race were just to finish.

we set off on saturday morning early enough to get to kal before the criteriums that afternoon. i had not nominated for the crits as i didn’t really think i had the legs for two events. my list of excuses was starting to grow. i had been battling a sore throat and runny nose all week plus i woke up at 4:30 that morning with a serious cramp in my calf. it was all heading towards a memorial weekend, no matter which way it turned out.

so a long boring drive with many toilet/food/driver change stops on the way and we finally rolled into town at around 2pm. both davina and i had nominated for “c” grade and her crit was due to start in about 35min time. we quickly got her bike out and she kitted up and headed out to register and warm up.

the circuit was laps around the main street of kal for about 25 min plus a couple of laps. the field attacked quite a lot and davina was there to chase down most of them until the final lap when some guy went hard with one lap to go and managed to stay away till the end. a strong showing by the field and it would be interesting to see what the pace would be like the next day when it was over 132km.

a compulsory race briefing at 6:30 that night and it was time for a quick bite to eat and off to bed to close out an already long day. luke was going to drive us to the start, so it allowed a bit more of a sleep in compared to the other riders that would have to catch the bus. bike was ready, kit was ready, rider was…..interested to see how the day would pan out.

race day
the race started at 10am at menzies. being a one-way race, meant that we had to endure the 132km drive out to the start. after the previous day, it seemed like nothing at all, but did give a bit of a preview of the terrain. it is considered flat, by most standards, but the road actually undulated quite a bit along the entire course.

the handicaps are not posted till the morning so it was well into our warm-ups that we found out that “c” had to make up 11 min on “d” but stay the 9 min away from “b” grade. the “a” and “e” grade were either side of that, but weren’t really a concern at that time.

when our time finally came to toe the line, murray hall gave a bit of a pep talk encouraging everyone to work well together and make sure you did your fair share of work. murray is one of the most experienced riders around the wa scene and has raced at almost every level of the sport. also as he is over 55 yrs old (masters 6 last week state titles) and still as strong as an ox, he has a lot of respect from the other riders.

the clock struck 10:35 and we were off.

we had a field of about 20 and there were some familiar faces amongst the group from other races that i had been in this year. the pace was on as soon as we crossed the railway track just outside menzies and soon we were rolling through at an average of 45km/h.

with the aim of keeping away from “b” grade reinforced by murray’s speech, everyone was rolling through well and keeping the pace high. there was a nominated sprint point at about the 30km mark and each grade was given a prize for first to cross the line. funnily enough, there were calls for people not to sprint but keep working together just before a bunch of guys took off the front and went for the money.

we regrouped and started to work again. occasionally as we rolled from the back you would notice a couple of people sitting on and not doing a turn. i was still struggling with the pace at this time and really felt like my body had not warmed up to the event. i felt a bit cheated that even though i was feeling crap i was still doing turns while a couple of others were just sitting in. anyway, by about the 40km mark i started to feel a bit better.

i was trying to drink more than i usually do but i actually felt like my stomach was not talking it too well and felt a bit bloated. i stuck with mostly water to make sure i wasn’t trying to force too much sugar through my gut. it usually works after a while as it give it time to flush though. at the halfway point there is a feed station set up. luke was meeting us there to give out drink bottles and davina and i managed to grab one each. very quickly afterwards the pace was back on.

we were beginning to pick up remnants of both “d” and “e” grade the further we got up the road. as the roads are very long and straight, you could see other riders for quite a long way before you actually reached them. we were also on the look out for the flashing lights of the “d” grade support car which would give us an indication of how far in front they were. looking back down the road we also couldn’t see the “b” grade support car, so that was a relief.

by about the 75km mark i was really starting to feel my legs. the hamstrings were beginning to feel tight and i had to occasionally get up out of the saddle to stretch them. my quads had not felt any cramps yet, which was a good sign, and the tight calf from the other morning had not given me any grief. the hammies felt like they did the first few times on the track where you are forced to spin more at a high speed. i didn’t want to over gear though as then i may upset my quads. i just kept it going as best i could.

at the 85km mark i really needed a break and fell to the back of the pack and sat behind sarah-jean who had been lurking back there. i skipped a few turns and tried to get some recovery, but it really didn’t seem to work. my muscles didn’t want to play and my cardio was still sitting high. at 88km i fell totally off the back and watched the pack continue up the road.

f@ck. i was so disappointed in myself. couldn’t even finish the race. as i started to slow down my body really started to rebel even further. the tightness in my hamstrings and glutes turned to pain and it was uncomfortable to even sit in the saddle. i managed to keep going by alternating between standing and sitting until my quads then began to cramp. it hurt to sit. it hurt to stand. what the f@ck was i doing out here in the middle of nowhere.

i managed to keep going for another 4km after being dropped before pulling up at an intersection and reaching for the mobile phone. limited service so i rang luke, but he was out of range. luckily “b” grade came around the corner a few moments later and luke was stuck in the convoy behind them. he saw me and pulled over. very gratefully i loaded the bike into the car and was glad to not be riding anymore.

as we finally got past “b” grade and up the road, we saw that “c” had caught “d” and had formed quite a large pack. this would certainly make it interesting for the finish. as we headed towards kalgoorlie i was trying to work out what went wrong. the encrusted snot around my nose and the salt crystals i could feel an almost every inch of exposed skin was a good indication that my body was not performing as expected. i probably went into the event a little too dehydrated and should have spent most of friday and saturday sculling water to make sure i had enough in my system. i was still coughing up crap, from my “cold” but i didn’t really feel that bad. the most telling sign was when i downloaded my heart rate monitor and saw that for the 2hrs that i was racing, my average heart rate was 177bpm. this meant that after doing a turn on the front and hitting the high 180’s, i wasn’t recovering properly before doing another effort. the 44km/h average up to that point hadn’t helped the situation either.

so, we pulled into kal and took up position near the finish line. a number of “e” grade riders came in first in dribs and drabs, but as they had a 35min head start on “c” grade, it would be expected that some of them would. not long after, a big bunch came around the corner and started jockeying for position. there is a tight roundabout to negotiate and the pack thinned as it went through to avoid having a pile up this close to the end.

down a couple of blocks of hannan st and a sharp u-turn before the sprint to the line. “b” grade had not caught “c” and the winning group was made up of “c” and “d” grade. the sprint to the line started early and being a couple of blocks it was too long for some who fell back at the finish. paul lamond managed to come away with the win but davina held onto fourth overall and was only a tire width away from claiming third. her race report and video of the finish can be found here.

the top six spots were all “c” grade riders as it seems that both “b” and “a” grade self destructed along the way and stopped working together to save themselves for the sprint of their own grade.

so, not a good day for me but a few lessons learned. lack of water, lack of speed work, lack of heart all may have contributed to my downfall. i was quite disappointed with my effort and will try to learn from it for the next lot of races. i don’t think i was really prepared for the speed that the group went as i had only contested scratch races so far this year. with the next handicap race being the collie-donnybrook race in august, hopefully i will have my shit together by then.