When waking in the morning keen to head out and complete the usual bunch ride for a nice little warm up the writer was confronted with a frost on the front lawn.  I understand it was one of the coldest morning in Geelong for the last 30 years.    Needless to say a sleep in proceeded.

With a small but keen group assembled for the early 10:30am start the feeling before the race was the same for all the riders.  How many pieces of clothing do I need to wear to keep warm.

The race started in cold foggy conditions but by lap 2 the sun was out and starting to warm as all up.  With 5 bunches setting out on the 5 lap, 55km journey the limit group (at 24 mins) passed the start line just as the scratch bunch got underway.

I can’t say to much of what happened throughout the race as the scratch guys only saw the first piece of action when the 6 minute bunch was caught half way down Greys Rd on lap 4.

Heading into the last lap, scratch was down to 6 mins behind the combined 24 and 18 minute bunches with the 12 minute bunch still working hard to catch the riders in front and also stay clear of the scratch bunch. 

In the end, a combined limit and 18 minute bunch got up with Phil Spark out sprinting his son Oli and taking to win with Felicity Wilson filling the places.

Fastest time was taken out by James Langedyk by half a wheel from Mark Bellew in a time of 1:22:44 and an average speed of just under 41kph.  This ended up being only 3 minutes behind the winners with the 12 minute bunch finished half way between the groups.

Thanks to all our marshals for their efforts on the weekend.

This weekend Geelong will host race 2 of the tri series between Geelong, Colac and Ballarat at Maude.  Race start is set for 1:00 sharp, we encourage everyone to pre-enter for the race as it makes it easier race day.  

Danny Connor is a race co-ordinator for the weekend with out other marshals being Keryn Charman, Chris Valentine, Grant Blake, Jason Keller and Robyn Smith.      

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