Yes, it’s the big one. Tour of Bright. Forget the Tour de France, this is the Australian Alps in December. With the big guns - Tour de France 4th place overall Oscar Onley, Giro stage winner Luke Plapp, Aussie national champ Brodie Chapman, and Olympic gold medallist Kell O’Brien. And me.*
* in Masters C grade, over 50, a bit arthritic, still on a rim brake bike but very enthusiastic.
Here’s how it went down. We arrived on Friday to watch the A graders race the entree criterium around the Bright town centre. It’s awesome watching the hitters smash themselves in a crit. Lap by lap, the ‘lesser’ A graders got shelled. One guy was laid out on his back, spreadeagled on the ground gasping for breath beside the track. Plappy wasn’t holding back - shredding the front, trying to set it up for Olympic track gold medallist Kell O’Brien. In the end he and a few others succeeded in shelling just about everyone, but Kurt Eather a local hitter sprinted over him for the win.
Enough about the side show - onto the main event - Masters C grade. Stage 1 was a 90km loop ending with a 7km ascent of Tawonga Gap. I’ll be honest, it was a pretty tame affair for 83km until we hit the base of Tawonga - at which time it was a drag race to the finish line. I got 8th of 42 odd competitors. Pretty stoked with that. 26 minutes up the climb. Incidentally Strava tells me EC big kahoona @wade_wallace has done it in a smoking 22 minutes. Plappy now holds the KOM in a mind bending 17:40.
The afternoon saw a 17km time trial. I was on my road bike, so immediately at a disadvantage. Trust me, people turn up to Masters C in full time trial regalia. But at 190cm and over 80kg, this is more my terrain. I set off and quickly caught a couple of people ahead. Cool. Then it started raining. I did have a Kask Bambino, my nod to aerodynamics. Unfortunately the visor immediately steamed up and I couldn’t see a thing. It’s magnetic so I removed it and carried it, handing it the turn-around marshall. When I collected it from Lost Property the next day, there were a total of 4 discarded visors to choose from. Anyway, I got 9th @ 1:22 down in solid rain and never overtaken. Stoked. I think the women got utterly drenched. I was now in 7th place and on track for a top 10 overall.
Day 2, Sunday and the Queen Stage up Mt Buffalo. 18km @ 5% on a blue-bird day - perfect weather. (in 2019 we rode up in a blizzard) Immediately my legs were not feeling as good today up the climb. Turns out I did a PR up the mountain in 1 hour 2 mins so others were just faster. The winner, a full 8 minutes faster. They must have been somewhere near 5 w/kg for the hour which is impressive for Masters C grade. I’m not bitter. At over 50 years old I’m probably not going to get much faster, so I guess I’ll never win.
15th on the stage and down to a final 13th overall at 12 minutes down. Observation - it’s crazy how close the pros run in Grand Tours. We’re swapping minutes every stage. They must be so close to perfection to reliably be finishing so close to each other, stage after stage.
Anyway, my 5th Tour of Bright completed and my highest ever finish (13th) - partly thanks to dwindling participation. Down to 43-odd in Masters C from what I recall used to be the maximum 100 riders. It’s such a brilliant event, rubbing shoulders with some of the world’s best cyclists. If you’re inspired to give it a go - sign up to your road race before it goes away forever, which is happening at an alarming rate.