Longbeach rolled on around again for another year. Even though it is pretty much a flat race, I still quite enjoy it and I have done It every year it has been held. About a week before this race I was feeling really good on the bike and I could feel a big improvement in my fitness. But then a tough week at work with massive sleep loss put me on the back foot. I was struggling to get my training for the day done and I had to revise the week in preparation for Longbeach. Seeing I was feeling very tired I thought a result was unlikely in this race. And to make matters worse I only got 6hrs sleep the night before!
I got to the event venue with good time on race day. After I had registered I went straight to the main river crossing to check out lines. I thought, "I will ride it like a would race it." and burst in at speed. Before I could even get into the water I found myself up on the front wheel after it sunk into the soft gravel. So the decision was made to run it. Race start came along quite fast. So not a lot of waiting around which was great! I didn't want to have a fast start so I could save my energy and I could be a dirty roadie and sit on for a bit. This worked out well, I was on the back of a 5 man group (same top 5 at finish). It was Phill, Kyle, Brad, Anton then me. It all split up pretty soon at the first stream crossing. No one got away from anyone too quickly. It all slowly pulled apart throughout the race. I moved into second early on and held it from there. Kyle had gone off the front and was moving out of sight. Brad was close behind me but slowly dropping. Then Anton caught up to Brad and they started to pull me back in the last few kms. But I held them off to take 2nd overall and first junior. Anton came in 3rd, Brad 4th and Phill 5th. I was very happy and surprised with my result. 2nd seems to be common but unlucky for me. Although there is nothing wrong with coming 2nd. Hopefully I will get a win there one day. My training is working well and the future season is looking bright. We will see how I go on the hills this Saturday at the festival of cycling. Could be a different story.
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