Canterbury Champs MM6| 4th | Race Director, Racer, and Reluctant Fourth Place Enthusiast Loburn, Canterbury ⛅

{"raceId":13894330532,"athleteId":2188545,"name":"Canterbury Champs MM6| 4th | Race Director, Racer, and Reluctant Fourth Place Enthusiast Loburn, Canterbury ⛅","description":"The Canterbury Champs—where the real race is just getting everything set up before sunrise! With a 4:30 a.m. start, I was in full-on organiser mode, making sure the course was dialled, the riders were ready, and the results would be correct (or at least close enough for minimal complaints). Everything went smoothly, which is to say, it was chaos but the good kind.\n\nBy 11:15, I was sprinting—not on the bike, but out of prizegiving, into my kit, and straight onto the start line with exactly zero warm-up. A few gentle pedal strokes up the road, down the road, and that was it—race time. Fortunately, my fellow MM6 competitors were kind enough (or entertained enough) to let me ease in with a relaxed first lap.\n\nDavid Roach did his usual thing—attacking off the front—which meant the rest of us (Darcy, Steve, Andre, and myself) let him dangle at about 10 seconds. Close enough to keep him working, far enough to let him dream. The next two laps rolled by at a steady tempo, until we finally reeled him in. At that point, we let the MM5 young fellas (all of 55 years old) have their own battle, while we settled into our final laps.\n\nFinal lap, time to test the legs. A few digs on the small rises to see who was feeling fresh, and, well, I was! Coming into the last couple of kilometres, Steve lit it up on the climb, I rolled through to keep the pace honest, and poor Darcy—my teammate—paid the price. Four of us left, playing cat and mouse to the finish.\n\nAnd then came that final corner. Sharp left, downhill, sprint zone opening up just after. I always get this one wrong, and this year was no exception. Thought I was sitting pretty, but when the launch happened, I was half a second late to the party. Chased like mad but ended up in my all-too-familiar fourth place.\n\nThree years, three fourths. Consistent, if nothing else!\n\nThen, before I could even dwell on it, I was back in organiser mode—prizegiving, pack-up, and finally home by 4:30 p.m., absolutely shattered. Maybe next year, the podium won’t be so elusive… or at least I’ll get to warm up.\n\nRide Highlights:\n\t•\t4:30 a.m. start – Not for the race, just to set everything up!\n\t•\tZero warm-up special – Straight from race director duties to the start line.\n\t•\tDavid’s breakaway attempt – Dangling off the front like a carrot on a string.\n\t•\tFinal lap fireworks – Testing legs, shedding teammates, setting up the final showdown.\n\t•\tThat cursed corner – Another year, another mistimed sprint. Fourth again!\n\t•\tBack to work – Prizegiving, packing up, finally home and knackered.\n---\nWeather Report: Few clouds, 20°C, and the wind was blowing 4km/h from NNW\r\n-- myWindsock Report --\r\nAerodynamics: 0.214 CdA\r\nFeels Like Elev™: +23m\r\nWeather Impact™: 0.8%\r\nHeadwind: 40% @ 13 - 17.7 km/h\r\nLongest Headwind: 13m 0s\r\nAir Speed: 35.6 km/h\r\nTemp: 21-23 °C\r\nPrecip: 0% @ 0 Inch/hr\r\n-- END --","primaryImageUrl":"https://dgtzuqphqg23d.cloudfront.net/H-EGot82o0nXLQENT5k7KcOgDMJ5dQDMSYAxkh3VLlc-768x432.jpg","distance":84406.9,"elapsedTime":8567,"totalElevationGain":431.0,"type":"Ride","sportType":"Ride","workoutType":11,"startDate":"Mar 15, 2025, 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