PBK rider Tom Collier took first place in a tough crit at Synergy Park, hosted by the Ipswich Cycling club. He tells his story of the race and for us Brits, a look into a humid world that we can only dream of!

Riding the 30k’s out to the crit on Sunday it was humid as hell, Queensland does humidity well! So much so that in the dawn gloom the water beaded on my lenses and helmet and soaked through me. The short days here and silly temperatures mean races start early, this one was 7am. Seriously stops you going out for beers racing and riding out here! Training at 5am most days and bed around 9pm.The Synergy Park crit has yielded me a couple of top tens before in 2009 so I was feeling confident today. I have been getting in a lot of miles recently, really trying to focus on strength work which is one of my weaknesses, so I was keen to test myself.  A relatively small field greeted me at sign on, I stuck in my 10 bucks pinned my number on and got ready. A grade and B grade were being run together, equivalent to an E123 in the UK, with A grade being E1.

The course takes about 3 minutes a lap, roughly rectangular with a fast finish straight and a hill/drag over the back. Riding on my own, I just watched the moves for the first 15mins staying in the top ten, I made one break but no one was interested so I went back to the bunch. The whistle went indicating the half distance prime, I was well placed in 4th wheel and decided to go for the cash. Jumping from 3rd wheel hard and hitting the 53×11 I surprised myself overtaking a lone break on the line to take the prize.  Keeping the pressure on two other A grade riders came across and we soon worked well to create a solid race winning break.

We had a great gap and with 2 to go the banter started. The bell came and we watched each other, or rather the Aussies watched and sledged me! I sprinted harder than I can remember to overhaul both my Aussie adversaries and take my first win of the year by a wheel. Well pleased I collected the envelopes and rode back to Brisbane with some other lads for a coffee. The stats read an average speed of 42kph for the hour and a max of 63kph! So my sprinting has really come on and confidence grown. The next race is the Tour de Tweed, a 3 dayer at the end of the month that will be a tough one.

We’ll keep you posted on all Probikekit Team action and don’t forget to let us have your race reports and photo’s so we can let everyone share in the effort!