Self Righteous Cyclist

67 riders from 21 clubs signed up for the Jack Wood Memorial Handicap, with Hawthorn CC being the best represented with 16 riders.   The 6-min and the 19-min groups with 15 riders each, clearly had a numerical advantage over the other bunches, with an average of 7 riders each.   But as every experienced handicap rider will tell you, if you are not working as a unit, you are probably just getting in the way.   With weather as good as you could wish for in the middle of winter in central Victoria, the sun was out, and the wind was a light south westerly.   Starter Rae Lesniowska and chief commissaire David Cutajar, gave the pre-race briefing.   Stay together at your peril.   You are all on the same team until you aren’t and you will know when that will be, or words to that effect. As a member of the 10-minute group sitting in between two large bunches, we had our work cut out for us.   Our goal was to avoid being passed before the three big rolling hills at the end of the first lap.