williamstown round 1

stepping to a new level of cycling left an impression: smokkelaar pride and or glory. maybe both. maybe neither. the team drove the long leg to williamston—the place of a few smokking exploits see previous, and geared up for their first cycling australia sanctioned event. kidd, doc, rowdy, g'lover, syd, skipper, curly, and newstarter luke 'bigrig' cog collings aka the last man on the moon'. ready to sample some folklore firsthand. what he had been told will remain secret mens business and as to what he actually experienced will either make or break his foray into the cycling pages. he's built like a sprinter but has no issue with 'big rings' when climbing even if a tech gliche has him hammering them out in the climbs. the disorder at the start was sorted in true smokkelaar style with our expected roll out to be last, as skipper busted their entry system on the friday. team smokkelaar was called first to lead out and with the timing gates tripped for the first round, team s got off to a flyer with average speeds close to 45 downhill in to lyndoch the pace line settling ironing out the rotations , and very much looking like a team against the vines and still summers day. only one team caught us at the first corner and climb. then a couple more before the first lap and one more on the last climb.  the lack of recon meant ignorance was bliss and we busted our selves at the first 'climb' with a 'this must be it' moment as on the map it looked like nothing much at all coming our way. then it reared and almost knocked over our early grandeur and false flats. the return to wtown was pretty tough. skipper almost calling it a day on the first round. the pack splintering and then the good sense of the kidd reigning in the team. up and down he marched barking orders to drop the willingness and keep tight. we caught our breath and carried that detail over and into the second lap. Skip and Syd finding composure and solidarity in the wings and the second lap seemed to ease to us, the climbs not so intent and  amazing team work to carry the legs of the failing over the summits. great bunch work on the road back in saw the clock stopped on the last man at 1.27 just shy of a 30 ave. Noel and the mega team took line honours at 1.12. a full 15 minutes ahead of the team s parade. time is not position on the road so when the results get uploaded we can either sink or swim. thanks to our cheer squad of fi an ollie. the smokkelaars are a legitimized UCI outfit ready for dope testing and or other forays against the cyclo sportif. well done lads it was fantastic first tour. sure we can learn from this but what was evident was the team work and readiness to work one for all and all for one.  we started and finished as a team. see you at rowdys for the roll out to snapper point. cheer squads welcome. tight lines guys it was amazing.

—For the record, our first lap was faster than our second. Roughly 43 mins versus 45 mins. thanks kidd. possibly the thrown curly chain.

skipper