The 102nd edition of the worlds longest road race for women was held Saturday 14th October.
Prior the event itself members of the Veris Racing team attended a fundraising ride for Veris subsidiary Bosco Jonson in Melbourne as part of the teams community aligned projects. We hear from Senior Consultant Stuart Worn of Bosco Jonson regarding this community event:
“On the Thursday morning, two days before the gruelling Melbourne to Warrnambool, Erin Nolan, Sabine Bird, Matt Peterson and Justin Ghosh from Veris Racing joined with 45 members of the Victorian Planning and Environmental Law Association (VPELA) for a development industry ride and breakfast. The Veris team members linked up with the VPELA crew in riding circuits of the 5.3km Melbourne Grand Prix circuit. The ride was organised and supported by Bosco Jonson (a Veris company) and HWL Ebsworth Lawyers. It featured three groups riding at an average of over 40, 35 and 28km/hr. After 60 minutes the groups assembled together at The Carousel restaurant overlooking Albert Park for a gourmet breakfast and a chat with the Veris riders.
Erin, Sabine, Matt and Justin were tremendously candid and honest in their comments to the gathered riders about how they found their way to cycling and their love for the sport. They spoke of the challenges they currently face as elite cyclists, the limited pathways for progression and the role of the sport’s governing bodies.
We assume the gourmet breakfast, which featured waffles with whipped vanilla ricotta and Belgium chocolate, and sliders with maple bacon and scrambled egg, contributed to the team’s great endeavour and Erin’s fantastic achievement in winning the “Warny”.
Erin, Sabine, Matt and Justin were both inspirational and humble, the VPELA riders greatly appreciated the team members being so sincere in their comments and generous with their time. The team’s success at the Warny has added extra poignancy to what was a wonderful morning with such fantastic ambassadors for the sport of cycling.”
The ‘Warny’ Win, with Erin Nolan…..
“I’ll just start by saying… what a beast of a race!
Preparing for 280km on the pedals and 7.5 hours in the saddle is not easy due to the time commitments required for training appropriately for a unique event like this. I’ve never ridden this distance in a race situation before so it was really important to be comfortable on the bike and understand nutrition and hydration requirements that are reliable on race day which can only be achieved through prior preparation. Add the complication of feed stations and needing to be an ambidextrous octopus with gymnast quality balance to successfully grab full musettes and bottles at speed in a large group and training your bladder to hold firm for long periods of time means there was lots to practice leading up to the race. Team mate Sabine Bird and I spent many long rides together doing exactly those things.
A chilly 6 degrees at the start line and a light head wind building, we received our instructions from Race Director Tony Davis and the race got underway at 7.30am with a mass start of over 200 riders. The nervous energy in the group could be felt and a couple of early crashes resulted which unfortunately impacted team mates Sabine and Justin Ghosh who were then in chase mode. I managed to get through the crashes and re-join the main peloton where I stayed for the next 150km focussing on riding in a good position especially around the many corners in the first 50km when the surging was pretty intense.
Just before the 2nd feed station at 150km, the bladder would hold no longer and I had to make a pit stop losing contact with the main group. After transitioning through the feed zone and collecting my booty of much needed food and water I wasn’t able to chase back onto the group who were averaging over 40km/hr. The next 100km was a solo effort through the countryside with nothing but bad music running through my head, a commissaire and neutral spares car following and our team support car providing much needed motivation and communication about the pace I needed to maintain to finish within the required time limits from the race leaders. Our two mens Veris team members Justin Ghosh and Matt Peterson were riding well in the main group up the road.
At 190km were two climbs totalling ~1,200m within 3km of each other. While the climbs were manageable, fatigue started to set in shortly after and by 200km I was out of food and water. Thankfully by the final feed station, I was refuelled and joined by team mate Justin Ghosh, who had suffered another crash, and we were able to ride the final 30km together which was a very welcome relief from the unrelenting headwind for me. Crossing the finish line in 7:38:59, averaging 36.2km/hr with the highest 90 min power data after 150km was a massive goal achieved for me personally and to stand on the top step of the dais drinking warm champagne in celebration of conquering the beast is a moment I won’t forget any time soon…”
Erin Nolan
