ANDERSON: My (brief) return to racing

I recently joined a ‘Ride with Phil’ team at the Tour of Margaret River and have taken the first steps to a comeback, winning two stages!

Since my retirement I have competed in a number of community events/fun rides and the occasional mountain bike event, but race? No.

The organisers of the Tour of Margaret River invited me to attend and I had a blast. I wouldn’t exactly say that, like Robbie McEwen, I have come out of retirement but the event represents the future of cycling participation/races for novices and age groupers (and all on open roads).

It has taken 19 years to entice me to do a licensed road event.

The largest portion of entrants were first-time competitors, who were able to race in grades that include old pros, young pros like Jack Bobridge, neo pros like Anthony Giocoppo and the local National Road Series team Satalyst Giant.

The Tour of Margaret River would have to be the stepping stone between the ever-popular recreational ride and racing, something I’m passionate about.

Opportunities are few and far between for the average weekend cyclist to step up to experience racing.

I came into the sport by chance and I can remember how difficult it was back then, almost to the point of being discouraging.

Despite the ever-increasing popularity of the sport, commuting, training and racing on open roads is an ongoing issue.

Our team at The Tour of Margaret River
The Tour of Margaret River was a graded event. Each team competed in the Stage 1 30km team time trial.

I was steering a group of Ride with Phil competition winners, who had never met each other before and included two young juniors.

This put us to a little disadvantage, however we had a hoot and came away with a wealth of experience.

While we certainly weren’t the last in the field, we learnt a lot about ourselves and were happily placed in the second lowest grade – a relegation gratefully accepted by the oldest pro in the field.

The rest of the weekend’s racing was held on circuit course, with the final stage an A to B, 70km course along the popular Caves Road down to Augusta.

All the distances were achievable by the average weekend warrior.

The Tour rules
I forget how scary it can be riding in a group of novices who don’t necessarily ride slowly. There was a lot of horsepower in my category 4 group but I had to keep my wits about me.

Like the Tours de France of old, I quickly made my way to the front to sit safely on the wheel of Jack Bobridge, who was guiding a group of potential neo pros throughout the weekend.

He too had forgotten about the war cries of the weekend warrior, the echoes of which strangely appeared in this racing environment.

The overwhelming favourite – “SLOWING!” Another cry is “UNCLIPPING”, usually heard when approaching traffic lights after a chorus of “STOPPING”.

We both rode steadily, keeping in mind it didn’t take much to upset the flow, a touch of an elbow, or slight change of line would send very nervous tremors down the line as we raced for points, team categories and line honours.

Cyclists are pack animals and develop their own language, each group slightly different. The communication of the pros is silent.

Cat-like, we slink along the roads as one, close and comfortable, reliant on the skills of those around us.

The noise is something I had never heard of prior to retirement. However, it does get your attention – something which I have had to become accustomed to as I contend with the weekend warriors on my local turf.

And finally, the prize.

The Tour of Margaret River was blessed with beautiful weather, a well-organized team and a sensational tourism backdrop.

It all combined to produce a great weekend of real racing. Under some pressure to win a coveted ‘cow’ I stepped out to take line honors and will be taking that trophy straight to the pool room!