Kelly Cycle Coaching masters cyclist Steve Payne, (who rides for Team Svitzer) tackled Melbourne to Warrnambool two weeks ago.  Here is how his day unfolded:

Report by Steve Payne.

After crashing in the first 10km, puncturing at the halfway mark and taking a 5km detour (missed a turn) at last years Melbourne to Warrnambool I felt I had some unfinished business to do. Last year I made the 100 minute time cut by 13 minutes finishing 1hr and 27min down on the winner. This year I was looking for a bit more luck and the chance to truly see how close to the 125 NRS (National Road Series) riders that were competing for the win.

I spent 8 weeks over in France and England from mid June to mid August. The trip revolved around cycling and watching the tour of course. Whilst over there I did 600km of cycle touring, competed in a race that finished at the summit of the Col de Tourmalet, and rode the course of le Marmotte which is a 180km course with 5000m of climbing over the Col de Telegraph, Galibier and finishing up on Alpe duez. All of this was sandwiched in between lots of other mountainous training rides.

My mind wasn’t really made up to take part in this years race until I returned back to Melbourne. I knew that the riding in Europe had provided me with a good base and all I had to do was find the time to continue on until October to make the start line which fortunately personal circumstances allowed. I continued to train and took part in a few local races to help sharpen things up. The last of those races was the Damien McDonald Road Race in mid September out in Eildon. I had entered B grade for the race. I realised I was on for a good workout when I got there as we were thrown in with the A graders. I nervously lined up at the start line when I noticed directly beside me was the winner of last years Warnie (and favourite for this years race), Dutchman Floris Goesinnen from Drapac Cycling. This changed to excitement though when looking through the results from the race. I had finished ahead of a number of A graders including Floris! OK, so he may have had a mechanical but still, it was a confidence booster for me and I knew I was riding well.

The days leading into the race involved routinely checking the weather and wind forecasts for the race and consuming copious amounts of pasta, crumpets, bagels and sports drinks to the point of feeling sick. Thankfully the forecast was looking good and I was feeling good and starting to really look forward to the race.

Having ridden the race last year I knew what I was letting myself in for and was confident of getting through providing lady luck was on my side. I had the support of the Switzer racing team. We had 3 other riders in the race along with 3 helpers/soigneurs in 2 vehicles.  Pete was taking care of my mussette’s (feed bags). He had the job of handing them out to me at each of the 3 feed zones. The first mussette had 2 bottles, one with water, one with a sports drink plus a couple of energy bars.

For the second and third musettes I opted for some Coke in with the water (learnt from Bob), along with gels and crumpets coated in honey. I carried as much food as possible from the start, the reason being that the NRS riders were able to feed from the team cars and so would be unlikely to slow in the 1st feed zone. If I were still with them at this point then at least I had enough food with me not to have to slow too.

240 riders left the Werribee Equestrian Centre at 7.30am, the skies were clear and forecast to remain that way for the rest of the day and there was very little wind. The bunch slowly rolled out through Werribee. The 10km neutral zone took us through the built up streets before we hit the open road. Maximum concentration was required at this point. From last year’s experiences I knew it was important to try and stay as close to the front as possible to minimise the risk of getting caught in a crash. Of course this is how everybody is thinking so you’re constantly trying to move up through the bunch whilst avoiding the traffic islands, support motorbikes and media motorbikes and keeping your eyes on the wheel in front of you and those around you. I did see one guy go down beside me but otherwise I remained unscathed after 10km and the official start of the race.

As soon as the race started the hammer went down. The first 30km of the race is a series of straight roads heading south or west. By this time a fairly strong north westerly wind had picked up. I managed to stay with the main bunch for the first 30km averaging a speed of 46km/h. At the 30km

mark we came to the first short climb of the day that headed west. I held onto the bunch to the top of the climb but as the climb opened up with flat paddocks either side the cross winds caused a huge number of splits. 2km further up the road I had a look around to assess the damage. Riders were strung out everywhere. A group of around 35 of us formed at that point and we worked together spread across the road in an echelon to give ourselves as much shelter as possible from the constant cross wind. Everyone was working hard, having to concentrate on keeping the rotation going. I soon realised it was important not to allow myself to get strung out at the back of the bunch where there was no protection and that rolling a turn in fact made things easier.

We reached the second feed zone and shortly after took a left turn. The bunch stopped for a ‘nature break’ and then continued on with a much appreciated tail wind. A quick count of numbers and I realised we were down to 15 riders. 20 riders dropped in the cross winds. Everyone was looking for a bit of respite from this point on and we all knew that if we kept a steady pace on together from this point on we could easily make the time cut. The pace dropped of notably and the majority of the bunch were not willing to work. At the 50km to go mark I slowly rode off the front of the bunch, one other rider followed me. We rolled turns for approximately 5km but then chose to sit up realising the wind was too strong for us to ever gain much of an advantage. Once back together as a group of 15 and continued on into Warrnambool.

There were a few little attacks on the approach but all of them were covered. Approaching the finish line I chose who I thought was the strongest rider and stuck to his wheel until the final stages of the sprint.  I managed 3rd from the bunch which gave me a position of 111th overall, 1hr10min down on the winner. Close to a hundred riders didn’t finish the race due to the brutal cross winds, almost twice as many as last year so I was pleased with the result.

I felt good throughout the race in comparison to last year and my recovery seems to have been much quicker. I think most of this is down to having an extra year of km’s in my legs as my volume of training leading into the race was comparable.

Will I be doing it again? The history of the race, the sheer toughness of the race and the opportunity to race against the best riders in the country are the attractions for me. At the end of last year’s race I said that if I have the time to train I will definitely be there again. The same definitely applies this year.