It’s that time of year again! The Bev May tour, my favourite tour in New Zealand.
This year the entry’s for the A grade were very good, especially with the likes of NZ (and American) road champion Catherine Cheatley.
I came into the tour pretty cooked, having had a very hard couple of weeks training. This race was basically for some good hard training and fun. The first stage was a 21km rolling time trial. I felt pretty good for the first 3 quarters, then stuffed for the last quarter (which I think is a good thing). I had recently got set-up on my TT bike. Still a few adjustments to be made as I seemed to spend the whole race falling off the front of the seat and hitting my elbows with my knees, although other then that I felt really good (and aero). I finished 3rd behind Cath and Mel Burke.
This year the entry’s for the A grade were very good, especially with the likes of NZ (and American) road champion Catherine Cheatley.
I came into the tour pretty cooked, having had a very hard couple of weeks training. This race was basically for some good hard training and fun. The first stage was a 21km rolling time trial. I felt pretty good for the first 3 quarters, then stuffed for the last quarter (which I think is a good thing). I had recently got set-up on my TT bike. Still a few adjustments to be made as I seemed to spend the whole race falling off the front of the seat and hitting my elbows with my knees, although other then that I felt really good (and aero). I finished 3rd behind Cath and Mel Burke.
The next stage was a 75km circuit race with a few rolling hills. The race was really good! Mostly everybody pulled through hard and made it a relatively hard ride. We dropped about half of the field, and I finished 2nd in the bunch sprint at the end (to Emily Collins).
The next day we had a pretty hilly 80km stage. This was around the Bell Rd circuit in Morrinsville, 6 times! Each lap on the big(ish) climb Emma Crum, Cath and I got a break on the field, we then stayed away for a tiny bit but because the bunch was working so well together we got caught each time. It ended up finishing with another bunch sprint, finishing second, again to Emily.
Stage 3 sprint finish, me on the far left.The last stage was a criterium, it was very hot. The race was pretty on and off, with attacks coming most laps. On the last few laps Cath did an attack and brought along Sarah Williams, then when we almost caught, Pip Sutton went off the front and caught Cath. The bunch did not react soon enough and Cath and Pip got us by about 50 metres in the end. I was pretty stuffed by the end of the tour, finishing in 3rd place overall, 8 seconds behind 2nd place. Overall was a great weekend for training!
Going round one of the corners in the crit (me at the front of the photo).I have the Rev 120 this weekend and then heading off to Wellington for the Tour of NZ on Monday. So all is on!!
Will keep you posted,
Courteney
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