After a hectic first stage of the 2016 Cape to Cape, we have an idea of who the strongest riders are in the race. There are lots of them. There truly is one of the strongest fields in Australian mountain biking here in Western Australia. The time gaps from the first stage were small, and the opportunity for changes on today’s longer stage were big, if anyone would be feeling off form.
The brisk temperature at the start in Hamelin Bay was soon forgotten as elite riders hit the after burners on the road climb away from the ocean. Soon enough we were onto sandy, rolling double track and riders were popping off from the pace, or finding their legs and moving up.
We also caught up to Paul van der Ploeg around this time, which is always ominous. Clearly he wasn’t feeling awesome, but that’s not to say he won’t later on in the stage. So sticking with him means you may well be on the receiving end of some serious pace line action.
Selfie!
And really, that’s what the next 20km involved. We went straight into a short singletrack descent, there was a small crash behind but Andrew Low got clear and was on my wheel. We hit the road at the bottom and did our best to bridge back to Paul who had pretty much just ridden away from me.
At the front of the race, this is where Michael Potter had lit it up, breaking away solo on this road section. But just as we got caught by those behind us, the same had happened to Potter minutes earlier, and he found himself in a select group with Tasman Nankervis, Chris Hamilton, Brendan Johnston, Cam Ivory, Kyle Ward and Craig Cooke.
Our group was reasonably quick and we climbed up through the long section of singletrack, cresting the climb and pedalling right through the descent. The trial crosses a few more dirt roads but basically continues on, moving away from the loamy soil and cocooned green shrubbery towards sandier soil and coastal scrub.
Back onto sandy doubletrack, looking behind revealed the massive group that we were in, with about 20 riders all together. It really is a reminder of how big this event is, that you can be surrounded by so many other fast riders, still with 20-30 of them in front of you. At many of Australia’s events, you can settle into no man’s land and be sitting in 15th place. But here at Cape to Cape, sit up for a stretch and you’re likely to be passed by a few riders, of not half a dozen. It’s a really deep field!
The descent down to the beach is lots of fun. Sandy doubletrack with views across to the azure blue ocean. Western Australia has some of the most ruggedly beautiful coastline in the world, and we were riding straight towards it. The descent is littered with some small rock outcroppings. Nothing too bad, just some limestone to pump or loft over. I must have mistimed something as I managed to hit hard enough to burp my tyre, to completely flat. I had to stop and let the massive group go.
That will not buff out.
Closer inspection showed that it wasn’t just a flat – but I’d cracked my rim. I’m overdue to finish a review on the XC923 rims, but figured getting 4 days of racing on them would be a good pressure test to put the rims through before finalising my thoughts. There wasn’t much I could do save for put a tube in, and inflate the tube and hope for the best.
Peta Mullens had shot past, with Samara Sheppard just metres off her wheel. Jenny Blair, Briony Mattocks and Jo Bennett would have come past too but I must have been busy at the time and didn’t see them. Once I did get rolling, I knew a cautious approach would be best – lest my rim got damaged further.
At least there’s always plenty of people to ride with!
So I got down the final part of the descent and found myself caught by a group that looked about right. Sam Hill was in there, plus a whole mix of people. It was a good fit.
As we were only half way, it was just a case of seeing how the wheel felt. I had to back off on the rocky sections, and just push harder on the smooth bits. This wasn’t so bad as it sometimes allowed more time to look around.
I’ve heard that Margaret River has had an exceptionally wet winter. And while I’m sure that was miserable the result is everything is bright green and lush now. In the final 10km we turned into farm lands, and the whole palce just smelt like spring. With the air sweet with the smell of flowers and cut grass, I was pretty happy my bike was still holding together. I caught up with 4th and 5th placed elite women, Briony and Jo, who were either working together or playing cat and mouse. I wasn’t quite sure.
Briony and Jo close to the finish.
The final run in to the winery would have played out in similar ways for most riders. Small groups, with attacks going. The gates are a full 2km from the finish, it’s a long driveway. And in the front of the race Kyle Ward’s attack was matched by Michael Potter, but then Cam Ivory won the sprint once Potter was caught, with Brendan Johnston in 2nd and Chris Hamilton in 3rd.
My race was same same but different. I caught a group of three and passed them just before the gates. 2 latched on, one didn’t. One of those guys then blew up from the effort. And the last guy was strong and was a great ride to the finish.
In the women’s race Peta Mullens just edged out Samara Sheppard, and Jenny Blair was home in 3rd. None of the time gaps are close at the front of the race, so there’s still plenty of tight racing to go, especially with the Sundown Shootout tonight awarding time bonuses.
One of the head organisers of The Pioneer is over seeing what all the fuss is about at Cape to Cape.
Sometimes race finishes are a sea of broken people.
The Bike Drs are being kept pretty busy.
Wow. Some people aren’t even waiting to the end of the event to move their bike on…