I was certain that for the first 50kms had missed that B grade start and hooked onto the GrandFondo. Even the sprints were halfhearted attempts for points, but then again who really wants a subscription to some shit bike magazine?
The leisurely pace did give me a chance to finally find out what ZoomVideo is all about. Unfortunately, its not a place specialising in 80's movies that where only released on VCR, like Toy Soldiers. Its basically a Big Brother security system, that would protect your building/assets from graffiti hacks and underage no good drinking riffraff.
I miss videos.
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| Pre-race security footage provided by ZoomVideo |
The 2nd Grand Fondo event of the day aka B Grade was travelling behind schedule, so it was decided to pull them over and let the Masters A take the road (an interesting thing I heard this week is in order to master a task you need to practice it for 10,000 hours, or 20hrs every week for ten years).
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| Our humble narrator stomping up the climb |
We reached the bottom of the main 6km climb and the group having fresh legs smashed it up the dirt road. Jez got on the front and made it clear that the race was ready to start. Ransom (My Mountain) was chasing points and put in a solid effort wheeling over for second in KOM. There was a splintered peloton cresting the top.
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| There's a prize for anyone getting a photo of the Cross Boss not smiling whilst racing. |
Hanging it out on the descent sounds like it was a banger in all grades, even the Grand Fondo got some strava records. At the bottom the race had split into an eight lead group and a 15-20 chase. Both groups worked well together on the 40km flat drag home. The eight held out to make a sprint out of the finish, with the main bunch pulling in two minutes later.
Sam Miranda is a banger of a race. Great venue and an awesome course. It be great if next year they ditch the handicap and run another RR and make a three day tour out of it.
