Perfect conditions for bike racing today, still, overcast and around 20 degrees. As the flag dropped on the way out of town, it became obvious who'd had too much sugar on the weetbix at breakfast, with an ultra-rapid start as groups tried to escape the peleton.
As it turned out this didn't take long, and we hit the rolling and windy Wangaehu Valley with a group of about ten just off the front and the rest of the group in single file. Despite repeated attemps by yellow jersey Gordon McCauley to get across, it was another five riders bridging the gap and McCauley stuck back in the bunch, with teammate Hayden Roulston up the road. We had Paul up there, so happy days ... and that as it turns out was pretty much the bike race.
With the stronger teams happy with the group up front, the time gap ballooned out to around ten minutes at the 100km mark. At this point Roulston made his move that resulted in a solo win, and Paul unfortunately dropped his chain and managed to end up in the second part of what was left of the break.
The rest of us had a steady day in the bunch, myself and Ross being close witness to a spectacular crash on a mid-stage descent. I passed the time by interviewing a few people for the blog, Aaron Strong told me that Gordy was throwing a dummy and the Roly was Zookeepers man for the GC, and Richard Speer was reflecting on bike racing being a trade-off between extreme boredom (ie rolling along in the group), or extreme pain (the break). Good call I said. My other observation is that the mullet is well and truely back, it's not just me, there are a lot of flowing locks in the Wellington peloton!!
So that's about that for today. Now it's time to put the feet up, eat, get the legs rubbed, eat, and probably a bit of a nap too I'd imagine. Speaking of legs rubbed, if you were wondering about the apples comment, well you'll just have to talk to Chris Jenner.
Until tomorrow, Don
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