Cairns Copperlode Cup

Today after a late decision I decided to race the Cairns Copperlode Cup. The race has been going on since the late 90's and this was the third time that I have raced it. It is a 15km race and it is uphill the whole way and you climb around 600m. The first year I won B grade, second year I was 4th in A grade and so this year I was out to better what I have done.

I haven't been training specifically for cycling lately as I have been super busy and I've had a lot of running to be focusing on so I really didn't expect too much. I woke up late and that was already a set back because it meant I was rushing and I don't like that especially on race days. I missed out on my warm up ride to he race start which meant I would starting cold. I put that behind me and jumped on my bike to start the race. Ivan Cook was on the start line and he was the red hot favourite to win. As the race started I led out for the first few hundred metres before I thought it was best to just sit tight and try hold Ivan's wheel as he raced up the mountain. We basically broke away at the very beginning and somewhere around the 4km mark, Ivan was left to ride by himself after I dropped off after not being able to hold his pace. I rode the rest of the way as hard as I could knowing that I would still probably get a personal best time even if I rode by myself. I came across he line in 2nd place behind Cook with a time of 39:20. I rode a myself to a 2 minute personal best and my best place finish.

The race was super hard and after struggling over the climb it's given me lots of motivation to get out there and train as hard as I can to get back to my peak, because who knows how well I could have gone if I was riding on my best form. 

Not the best photo, but this was when I came to the
finish in 2nd place