Fortune favours the brave
A select field of 10 local riders gathered (in a customary COVID compliant manner) on the Grand Final Day public holiday for the annual 75 km social ride known as “Stiles Stomp”.
The ride is named in honour of local cycling legend Shane Stiles, who is adamant the climbs were higher back in his day. The lumpy road profile of “Stiles Stomp” has something for everyone, including King of the Mountain (KOM) points in Jindivick and at the top the Costers Road climb as well as intermediate sprint points at Longwarry North.
The sprint and KOM points keep the ride interesting through the transition stages but are typically only contested by those not intending to contest for line honours and the General Classification (GC) overall prize.
The intermediate KOMs and sprint points also function as wait points, to allow slower riders to catch-up. The wait points are a controversial ride stipulation however, and historically have only been loosely enforced and are therefore often poorly adhered to.
It is at this point people may be siding with those who think some riders take these “social rides”, far too seriously, but there are plenty who think that many do not take them seriously enough.
And they have a point, as there has been no formal racing for some months and as Jeff Emig once said “when I’m racing, I’m living, everything else is just waiting”.
Monk was quick to make an assessment of the field of riders and noted that with the absence of Rickety, (the only rider worse than him) he was going to be in for a tough day. Monk attacked early en route to Rokeby in an attempt to give himself some breathing space on the notorious climb to Jindivick, but Kenny was having none it and quickly shut down the move.
The new guy, “Andy” took the Jindivick KOM points, but showed his inexperience with the route, and was quickly made to pay for his efforts with a fast descent onto the Labertouche flats.
Kenny took out the intermediate sprint into Longwarry North, but was pushed to line by the well-rested Greek, George Tambassis, who it could be said, had been conservative with his efforts up to this point on the ride…
The ride began to heat up coming out of Longwarry, with the other new guy “Ev”, Nash and Copeland all contributing solidly to rolling turns and trying to make it hard for others, coming into the Costers Road climb.
New guy Andy was however keen to hold on to his lead for the polka dot KOM jersey and taking 6x4 Neil, Kenny and Malacarne, with him, establishing a solid gap to the GC contenders. Kenny was shelled however on the steeper section of the climb. Not only did Andy take the KOM points uncontested, but controversially ignored the wait point rule and pushed on along with his breakaway companions.
Law abiding and all-round nice guy Kenny aired his frustration at this blatant disregard for the rules. He was however consoled and reassured by Marriott, that by waiting patiently for everyone else and by getting them organised into rolling turns, the break would easily be reeled in. And besides with only three riders in the break and one of them being a wheel sucking cyclist, what chance did they have.
And so, it played out as expected, with the bunch (except Kenny) rolling through nicely and with almost everyone contributing to the chase along Westernport Rd, by Drouin West the offending break was caught and swallowed up. This was where the ride got interesting, for no one could have foreseen what was about to happen - road works ahead.
With one lane shut and automatic traffic lights “giving a green light”, Marriott took the ascendency and attacked the bunch on the approach, with the light only just changing to amber as he passed. The light must have stayed amber for quite a while, because Kenny had launched from the back of the bunch and also made it through safely.
The light stayed red for no more than a minute, but it must have seemed like an eternity for the waiting bunch. They could only watch in frustration as the tactically savvy pair of Kenny and Marriott, disappeared over the horizon.
Marriott and Kenny swapped off turns from Lardner to Warragul, with the Kenny “The Magnanimous”, having already secured enough points to take out the green sprinters jersey, gifting the overall win to Marriott. Stiles, the man of honour, may have secured the bunch sprint, but let’s face it who cares, the race was over, they were fighting for the scraps and they knew it.
You may hear or have heard rumblings that the overall GC victory was tainted by foul play or cheating, but these rumours should be treated as nothing more than sour grapes. Fortune as they say… favours the brave.