Postcard from Jono

Jono Returned to Australia in June but he's still representing Webcor/Alto Velo. Here's a report from his latest escapade.

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Queensland State Road Championships
Mt Alford 149kms
7th from 40

Hey Boys wish this coulda been a better placing i was racing for 3rd with 5 kms to go and then was in the sprint for 4th and was really dissapointed to get 7th which i got last year but i really did ride well and my go greens got stronger in the last 25kms so all bodes well for the 8 day 14 stage tour of the murray river NRS race next week...

Race was on a ripper of a circuit including a hilly 34km parade lap, then nice and lumpy with 4 walls in succession and then an undulating windy section for 25 kms per lap after. Smallest state titles ive been involved in in 8 years, but the racing has been dominated by two teams in Queensland lately, with Ord Minnett and Wilson HTM (two national investment banking companies)putting the big bucks in to race the NRS and then poaching riders from the 8 or so "elite" level teams we have in the area so the other squads only have 3 or 4 good riders who then become demoralised cos they keep getting whacked every weekend and then dont bother showing up to a state titles if there is no nrs race on the same day... so its all teams of 1-3 riders v 10 each from the two big teams...

Doesnt bother me i love pinning on the number on the Go Greens and showing the race face, rubbins racing!!!!

Felt a little crook for the first two hours of the race so looked after meself thru all the attacks and single file, then after 90kms of racing and various awesome combinations going up the road then coming back Cam Hughes (Ord Minett- ex Subway Pro) and Greg Campbell (Wilson HTM - ex France espoir) drift off the front and the 10 riders from their respective teams left in the race from a total of 17riders that havent succumbed to attrition let the gap balloon to 4 minutes within 25 kms..

game over but the rest of us get to cut sick in the final 25kms, i had 3 efforts where i was away with one or two others going for the bronze medal but at 5k to go one of those breaks came back and we were countered by Grant Irwin (Ord Minett) and he dangled 25 seconds in front of us till the run in to the sprint. I had another go at 2kms to go, got caught with 1km to go and sat on the back of the 8 riders left to finally get 4th in the kick and 7th in the titles...

Really wanted a top 5 but on the other hand it was by far the best ive raced in a few years cos everyone in the top 10 has raced in europe in the last 5 years so theyre all pretty savvy and i felt that everytime we regrouped after id gone down the road in the last 45 minutes of the race the bunch was halved so i felt like I/ Me/ plain ol jono was creating a lil bit of havoc looks like the time spent climbing up to skyline/ racing cal giant/ doing director bruces tuesday sesh is starting to pay off...

Stay tuned for more adventures and keep me updated on yours fellas!!!

Sweet!
Jono