Sweet As.

The Cunningham Classic is an annual road race event that’s been running in Queensland since 1982. I remember when I started racing three years ago of people telling me stories of The Range, The Crosswinds and something about tree roots at the end of the ride.  This race is great for all these things and more - it has a bit of everything.

The Cunningham Classic starts out on the flat farmlands of the Lockyer Valley and steadily climbs through the foothills of the range to the KOM (King of the Mountain) at the top, where it meets the winds off the Darling Downs.  It then heads over big rollers to the New England Highway where it heads south before a turn off to Allora and further south to the finish at Warwick. 

The first year I did this legendary race, in 2008, the 40m tall trees in the park at Gatton were all but sideways.  The kind of wind that makes the hair on your arms stand up because you know it'll be a hard day on the bike.  It wasn't like I hadn't been warned.  I started my 3rd Cunningham Classic last Saturday and like last year, the weather was actually pleasant.  Really cold but not much wind - so "pleasant".  Two years outta three ain't bad. 

As usual the Elite A women were racing with Masters A men.  These guys are strong, fast riders without age on their side but plenty of experience.  They'll treat you as one of the boys and you'll be rewarded if you can ride like them.  Good practice for NRS racing!  Jason (husband/swanny) and Liam McCarthy from Lifecycle were also racing in Masters B and Elite B respectively.

And so we were off at 9:35 am.  The first 20km leading up to the range were fast as usual and an attack went off the front early.  The bunch were happy to pretend to chase it but Chris Millen from Team Mainline stayed away with a bit of help from his teamies in the pack to take the KOM, happy to be caught soon after. 

Back in the bunch, in the steady, long and undulating climb up to the KOM, the jostling began. We passed over Heifer Creek Crossings 1, 2 and 3 - I missed the next 3 - and before I knew it we were at Heifer Creek Crossing number 7, which is the last crossing before it's business time. 

Those guys who know they're not hill-climbers try to get to the front to make up for time they'll lose up the hill later and the climbers will start to "smack it" up the hill trying to lose the guys that can't climb.  All the time the group is trying to stay to the left of the centre lines - where they exist - to the constant "MEEEP" of the commissaire's horn, which signals that either a car is coming up ahead or we're way over the middle lines.  Yes, that is the actual sound the horn makes.

The KOM hill tricks your legs because they don't realise how much steady climbing they've been doing before the final 1km to the summit where the gradient gets a bit more serious.  From previous experience, I knew that this is where the big break of the day often forms and it's worth going into the red zone for a little while to make it because your ride will be a lot easier on the other side.  Easi-ER, not easy.  It was here I managed to gap the other 5 girls that were racing as I hit 95% of my max heart rate. 

Once over the hill, the group that's made it usually turns on the pace to make the most of the advantage they've made over the hill and this didn't change on Saturday.  With a cross-head wind we sailed down the hills towards the feed zone where Dave - who normally makes things happen from behind the scenes - was out on the front line with drink bottles in hand.  One of the Sunshine Coast Cycling Club women had worked hard to make it back onto the bunch, as did a few other guys but the long grinding hill out of the feed zone kept it's reputation for being fickle and split the bunch again, including my friend from the Sunshine Coast Club.  This time I was clear again for good with the lead bunch.

We turned east on to the New England Highway and were met with a headwind.  The pace was surging with guys making short attacks trying to split the bunch some more.  This was frustrating to ride behind - it was big chain ring, drops riding, then grab a handful of brakes - so I went up the road for a couple of kays to see if anyone would follow and keep a steady pace.  The headwind wasn't strong but enough to make being by yourself hard work.  The boys left me out there for a while and finally decided they should reel me in.  Once I'd joined the pack, the surging began again and I decided to sit in and get a ride into Warwick.

The final 20kms were uneventful, guys attacking, the bunch chasing, sitting up, repeat.  Even the final 1km was steady by Masters A standard until the turn into the finishing straight.  The boys smoked it into the turn and I hung onto the back to finish first woman, 10 min ahead of the next women.  After my race crash a month ago, I'm really happy to return to racing with this kind of result.  Often time off the bike makes you realise how much you love racing and freshens you up not only physically but mentally.

The race done and dusted, we went back to the Horse and Jockey Hotel at Warwick for the traditional steak sanga and presentations.  Dave taught me in the ways of eating with busted teeth, which was pretty novel because I’m used to cutting everything into bite-sized pieces.  Nothing was going to stop me from that steak sandwich goodness! Appetites sated we were then back on the road to Brisbane where we discovered there's only 2 degrees of separation between Dave and Liam - guys that otherwise have nothing to do with each other.  It really is a small world!!  Thanks again to Dave who drove us in his flash new car and managed to find me amongst the Masters A men at the feedzone.

Stay tuned for the Tour of Geelong race report.  "Geelong" is on this weekend and is the second-last NRS race of the year.

Simone