Matt Ryan Cycling

Murarrie Criterium | Fresh Winds and Changing Places

Murarrie criterium or Muzza! as its affectionately known, is a great place to race except when its windy and the field of cyclists is small. Saturday's Metropolitan Championship met both criteria.We started with about 25 guys in the race and from the first lap there were attacks.  I sat back and watch a small group go away with all the main teams represented, including an MBCC rider, so I sat back and watched.

I did not have to watch for long to see a few attempts for riders to cross the gap, but the windy conditions did not really result in anything sticking.  I watched the time tick down, as a 30 minutes race is always over before you know it. Then I made a move to cross the gap with Rathlin from Team Tineli on my wheel and I hit it hard… the power meter would later tell the tale and so did Rathlin after the race.

After reaching the break and we both went to the front to start working, we saw a slowing and the guys did not really keep punching hard.  Within two laps the break had been caught by the following peloton. Rathlin saw his chance with a Tineli team mate and they went just slowly rode away and nobody reacted.  Within a few laps they had a nice break.

At this point a small group continuing the main teams including myself started to chase, but too late. I looked at my Gamin, 28 minutes gone and it was now or never so I hit it and took Pickles from Mainline Cycling Team and he did a big turn and then sat up. “Nothing in the legs today” was his comment later.  So I went hard really hard to cross the gap by myself.  I came around the first lap with a 49kph average and was closing them down.

Wrapping it Up

On the next lap the speed reduced to 47kph and I had 100-meter gap to close. With only one lap to go I pushed but the legs did not have the pace.  I slowed to 44kph and I rolled in 50 meters behind then for 3rd place.  Very tough last few laps, but tomorrow is another day and the road race will be fun.