Well, here we go again… Yes, Cycosports Race #3 – the Batam Six Bridges (aka Tour de Barelang). The first challenge, we must firmly put behind us the wreck of the last CS series race, the inexcusable collapse/slaughter of Bintan. At least this time we know what we’re parachuting into…
Yip, back to Indo for another 126km’s of heat fuelled suffering and pain. This time on a different island, which will be nice for a change and hopefully a change of fortune, but it will no doubt be more of the same on the temperature front, not to mention the rolling nature of the terrain. Here it is on a map:
Its called 6 bridges for a reason, no, this isn’t the brainchild of Monty, but instead there are really 6 bridges, which we ride over twice (its an out and back), but 12 bridges doesn’t sound quite as good to be fair… The key to the whole thing really is to capture the last bridge, ominous given we’ve heard that before somewhere I believe?
As you’d expect, it won’t just be the course and the heat strangulation to contend with, no, its a pretty robust field on the cards as well. CAT 1 will have 37 riders in it, with some of those Direct Asia boys landing by glider from their Hong Kong base, including two stage winners from Tour of Friendship (fart noise).
And the inevitable question… How is the form? Well, fair to say that the build up to this one has been about as smooth as the Dutch highway to Arnhem, with a mix of sickness, variable motivation (lets forget THAT FTP test shall we…) and shitty weather that has resulted in a patchy preparation. Still, we won’t let that get in the way of jumping out of the Dakota, tally ho chaps!
On the upside, we have decent numbers on the team front, with a few new virgins jumping into their first taste of CAT 1 combat. The fur will be flying and I am sure its going to be explosive after the turn around point heading back to the finish, So, we will have to wait and see if its going to be ok, or if it will end up being a Bridge Too Far… The finish line could end up looking like a certain Dutch town…
Watch this space for the full low down over the weekend.
Good luck !
pretty sure it will be extremely tough… Hide, hide and hide and hang in there for 75% of the race… then a few bridges to go ! Halfway point will be the toughest part I guess, that is where the climbs are steeper, longer and quickly after each other, including false flat and headwind in every direction you go….
Thanks for the heads up Cas… Sounds… Er… Fun?
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