Auckland 1000
The Auckland 1000 was the first national points race back after winter and a chance to test the legs and give Questey ( Avanti Team Questa) a run after being kept inside all winter.
Roy had given her the once over and she was looking hot .We travelled down to Auckland on the Saturday night after helping at the Cyclo Cross race at Pohe Island and stayed at a friends place .
The morning of the race was very windy and the wide open plains of Karaka were not going to offer any shelter .After a good warm up I was ready to do my 78kms ,we started of into a head wind and the course was basically a rectangle 26kms long so at one point we were going to get a tail wind .We were cruising along at 38k hour into the wind with 4 or 5 us taking turns , I felt really good and was happy with my effort. I decided to take a rest and let some of the other girls take a turn and sort of drifted back thru the group .One girl attacked but none responded so I watched and waited, then they all attacked on a left hand corner, I found that I was the last one in the group as they sprinted, but also the left hand corner also gave you the tail wind . I was only 3 bike lengths behind the group but we were both traveling at 50+k , I wasn’t panicking as I was slowly gaining then we turned around another corner and BOOM cross wind and it was like somebody had put my brakes on .I tried harder but just could not get on the back and slowly I watched the group pull away from me…I was so angry with my self for not paying attention , I spent the rest of the lap beating myself up for not focusing but I learnt a valuable lesson and I suppose it is better to make that now rather than at the nationals .As I crossed the line I pulled out as I was not keen on riding the other laps by myself. I wasn’t all bad news for the AvantiPlus Whangarei Team , Kevin ( my little helper and coach ) managed to get 6th place in the sprint for the line in the C grade race, riding his Team Quantum .With his $30 he won it was “Burger Fuel” on the way home for tea. You just need to look at all the bikes the riders where riding and all the top placings they got to see that Avanti is the dominant force in cycling .A big thanks to Paul and Tracey and the team for there support
Hasta la vista
Chubby.
About Chubby Hale
We are very pleased to welcome Chubby Hale as our latest "Sposored Rider"
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