TT at Maryborough

Last year I raced the whole 3 days of the Veterans South Pacific Championships at Maryborough over the Easter weekend, but this year I opted to ride only the TT.  Thankfully Alex joined me so that  the burden of driving there (~2-3 hours on the road) was shared.  It's a long way to go for a short TT but worth it to be able to compare my form against previous years results.

I can't recall the weather from last year, although I think it was pretty benign...this year there was a head wind going out (downhill) and therefore (natch) a tailwind coming home uphill.  The organisors at this event always  put the youngest males on the course first, working through the age grades until finally the women get out..youngest first again and as a result I know for sure I'm going to be last or very close to last.  This time I was 3rd last with 1 late entry and an older women than I behind me.

All went pretty much to plan except I eased off too early ahead of the turn and for some reason dropped lost too much  speed at one point on the way back. Dunno what happened to the tail wind..unlike a friend who started about 30 minutes ahead of me and who said he "flew" back, I never flew anywhere!   I left nothing in the tank and despite the lack of a weather  assist put up a PB of ~24 seconds.  I slept all the way home!

Since then I've been packing my bike for the plane trip to Perth for the TT on Rottnest Island

 and putting the TT bars on my road bike for ongoing practice of that set up..more on both  in the weeks ahead.

I've discovered there's a TT  on the Trento course the week after I arrive in Italy and so have entered. It's another qualifier race  for the UCI TT Masters World Championships and therefore will either be  a safety net if I fail to qualify in Rottnest or a practice round.

I now have to actually get round to  entering the World Masters Games in Turin and since the exchange rate is favourable perhaps now is the right time to do that plus also getting some euros off the bank.

So now my overseas racing program reads like this:
19/7      TT at Trento,Italy
5,6,7/8  TT, RR, Criterium at Turin, Italy
16/8      Short TT at Hartberg, Austria
17/8      Road race at Hartberg, Austria
24/8      TT at Hartberg, Austria
28/8      TT at St Johann in Tyrol, Austria
30/8      Road Race at St Johann in Tyrol, Austria
19/9      TT at Trento,Italy

wow...August looks a bit busy!