Gold Coast Cycle Training Club

Woke up this morning to beautiful blue skies and perfect weather for cycling.  I had a choice between going for a long ride up to the mountains, or a practice crit race at the Luke Harrop Cycling circuit which is 5km from my house.  I decided to do the race, to see what the Gold Coast Cycle Training Club is all about.  In the end i was very glad I went.  Its a very well run race, which has a good community feel about it.  There is no prize money as it is a practice race, but this doesn't stop everyone from pushing it to the limit.  I went in A grade, where the majority of the riders are elite triathletes.  As a result they all had tri bars which only served to increase the pace. In the end we flew around the track, and after taking a few turns I simply tried to hold on for the rest of the race.   It was a 50 minute plus 3 lap race, and after only 15 minutes I was in the red zone, just focusing on the wheel infront.  Unlike the usual Sunday races at Luke Harrop the course includes a u turn, and it reconfirmed how hard they make the race.  Everytime u come out of it  there is a full on sprint, and many times I was dropped and had to fight to get back on the group. Whats more the u turn came up every km, which made the race even harder.  We averaged over 40km/h for the race which is very impressive when the u turn is taken into account.  The pace was unrelenting and as a result no one attacked, it was like being in a team time trial.  I amazingly survived until the end without getting dropped, which I was proud of.  For those who live on the Gold Coast I would highly recommend checking out the gold coast cycling training club website at http://www.gcctc.com.au/ and coming to some races.  They are extremely tough and good training, and have a friendly feel to it.  I am very glad i went this morning and know that I will race here more often.