Round 2 of the Dirty Deeds cyclocross series started off pretty normal for Team iRide, Will Geor showed up once the tent was setup and as always it wasn’t his fault he was late. The big shock of the day was Llew Thomas not only showing up before the race started, but he was one of the first of the team to arrive.
New edition to the team Catherine Fraser-Smith was first to go in the open category. Catherine proved the old saying of spin to win is always true, spinning her way to second place in open female with a smile the whole time and somehow staying remarkably clean. Questions would be raised later that night in the Wilkinson/Fraser-Smith household as to who was the more elite athlete.
With all of the Team iRide cyclocross riders in A grade we got to watch the B grade race. After seeing the fast start that B grade got off too it was being mooted by more than one time rider that maybe getting a kebab and going home was a better option.
While most other riders were warming up, Ken Moore went searching for some of the many people who had video camera in the hope of doing a rider interview, but sadly no one seemed too interested in getting an insight into the 4th placed B grade rider from round 1.
Lining up on the start line it became clear just how big A grade was with over 50 riders, Mikkeli lined up in his preferred front row position with the rest of the team trying to hide in rows two through to four. In the lead up to the action most team members were trying to play it down and put pressure on the others. Ken Moore was spouting his usual line of “I'm just here to have fun” while Will kept going on about how he had a road race the previous day. As soon as the starter yelled go it was on and any notion of taking it easy was out the backdoor along with a few riders who were struggling from the get go.
Mikkeli used his fast start to once again be one of the first riders into the corner only to be held up at the first barrier when Michael Crosbie plowed into the first barrier, giving the rest of the field a 'hello boys' stance on all fours. Needless to say, it would have proven quite valuable for Crosbie to learn how to get off a bike at speed before declaring world domination in the world of CX. Shortly after this Will became the team rider leading the charge sitting in about 20th position. Will had Llew and Ken nipping at his heels. The race started to spread out over the next 20 minutes and by this point most team riders were in a world of pain that only someone who has raced cyclocross could understand. Head Honcho Ross Wilkinson was using his diesel engine to slowly but surely work his way through the field. One spectator was overhead saying how Ross reminded of him a rugged Jan Ullrich.
10 minutes later Llew bridged the gap to Will, who more than likely would be regretting not exaggerating how hard the road race was he day before in order to provide some excuses. Ken was a little further back after deciding that laying down in a couple of corner would be a nice break.
Whilst this was going on the real battle was between Ross and Ben Vlass who were turning themselves inside out in order to beat the other. Vlass beat Ross in round one which would explain why Ross turned up for round two not saying too much and being all about the business. Ross, covered in 5 laps worth of beer thanks to the boys in the Hell Krew, passed Vlass with a few laps to go with a big turn of speed. Details are sketchy but it appears the mental anguish of being passed caused Vlass too blow harder then a cheap hooker resulting him pulling out with 1 lap to go. DNF remorse will haunt Ben for the next 12 months as he is unable to make Round 3 at Brunswick velodrome.
With one lap to go Will could see he was catching back up to Llew, he was also very fearful that Ken may come outta no where and roll him on the line, pure dirty Canadian style. A painful last lap made sure Ken didn’t make any special appearances and got him onto Llew’s wheel with half a lap to go. Disaster/miracle whichever way you look at it struck when a lapped racer who Llew and Will were passing crashed in a corner allowing Llew to get a gap on Will going into the final quarter of the track. Will chased hard to catch Llew at the start of the finishing straight but a fast finishing Llew held off Will for team glory.
Llew ended up in 24th place, Will in 25th, Ken cruised home a little bit later for 26th. Mikkeli and Ross held their own with 33rd and 36th respectively and Vlass stilled managed 43rd even after having to pull out early.
A massive thanks goes out to Jamis Bicycles and SRAM for supplying some amazing bikes that performed flawlessly in some extremely muddy conditions. Cyclocross is hard work, but this winning combination sure made our day much easier! Look forward to seeing you all at round 3 in August!
