The dust has settled on the 2024 UCI Tour de Brisbane after an epic weekend of racing. I must say this was one of the best events I’ve been a part of. Organising fully closed roads on a weekend right in the heart of the capital city must be a logistical nightmare. Across the NRS race, the UCI Time Trial, the 110km UCI Fondo Qualifier, plus the many other shorter-distance fun rides, there were almost 7000 cyclists!

Bec and I were super excited in the lead-up to this one. We had planned for me to guide her around as a faithful domestique. Unfortunately even though we’re in the same age category, due to the number of entrants the men’s and women’s age group started at different times. This meant I couldn’t help her out, but also meant I was “let loose” to give the race a good crack.

From the gun it was ON! Guys were pushing for position and riding hard to get up the road and out of the city quickly. All my VO2 max training certainly helped me cope with the constant surges. Reviewing my GoPro footage, the opening section is potentially where I lost time. I rode conservatively (safely) and maybe should have pushed up harder through the bunch to gain a better position and slot into a faster group.

We certainly weren’t hanging about though. As we crossed over the bridge and into the first of four trips through the 4.6km Legacy Way underground tunnel, I found myself spinning my biggest gear on the flat and wishing for another! There’s no GPS reception underground so I have no idea how fast we were going, but a quick calculation shows 50/11 @ 90RPM is over 50km/hr.

Once we settled into a rhythm and the group thinned out, I was surprised (but also quite happy) at just how quiet the bunch was. No unnecessary shouting HOLE or PASSING. Just beautiful silence and efficient hand signalling. Even the bikes were silent, a sign of well tuned gear and riders. I may have gotten slightly carried away and pulled a few strong turns with a few of the others who were willing to work (many just sat on refusing to work). I think I paid for that later…

Hitting the base of Mount Coot-tha at 90km I knew I was close to gassed. I’d averaged over 36km/hr up until that point. Thankfully I had pre-ridden the climb virtually on FulGaz so I had an idea of what to expect. I downed a gel and a couple of “Cramp Fix” shots. Coot-tha was a slog on tired legs. I was struggling to push my regular climbing power up the 9% average, but I still passed a fair few riders that had got up the road previously.

Over the top and the descent was insane! With the ability to use both lanes of the fully closed road, I whipped down the descent passing more riders in front. I hit a max speed over 87km/hr, that’s almost 55mph in old money. After latching back onto a strong group at the base of Coot-tha, it was a matter of pushing on the pedals just hard enough to avoid cramping on the way to the finish.

Into the final 10km and I could feel the cramps coming on. I knew I didn’t have much left. Thankfully I made it through relatively unscathed, but had nothing left in the tank for any more chasing. Troy had managed to close the gap to me up Coot-tha and over the final stretch, so we crossed the line together in an epic FulGaz photo opportunity!

My official finishing time was 3 hours 16 minutes, 33.6km/hr average.

Throughout the ride I wasn’t sure where I was within the field. I thought I’d been spat out the back like at UCI Gravelista, but it turns out I didn’t do too badly for my first time at this race. I was going fairly hard, but lost a lot of time letting a couple of faster bunches slip by, and riding below-max up Coot-tha.

I finished in the 35% range for my age category (top 25% qualify for the World Champs) and a slither outside top 25% overall. I’m very happy with how the day played out. I rode hard, rode smart, and stayed rubber side down.

Onto the next one!