Cannasia-Cannondale at Tour of Friendship 2011

On the penultimate day of April 2011, hundreds of riders from literally all around the world gathered at a nondescript hotel in the outskirts of Bangkok to compete in the annual running of the Tour of Friendship. This race offers cycling enthusiasts the opportunity to race in an event the type of most of them only normally get to watch on television; a multiday stage race starting with a prologue, followed by four days battling each other and themselves on the blacktop in the sauna-like tropical heat of a Thailand summer. The event is an all inclusive affair – just pay your entry fee and all internal transport, meals and accommodation it paid for. The only thing differentiating it from a professional race is the lack of electronic timing and prize money. Who knows how long this will remain the status quo is however unknown, each year the race grows in stature and popularity.

This year was the first time the Cannasia-Cannondale Cycling Team had participated in the event, although a number of the team had experienced the ToF in 2010. With a team divided neatly into 30-39 and 40-49 year old age categories, we nevertheless entered the Open category to really test ourselves. The competition had depth – there was the Neil Pryde team with thirteen cyclists, a number of whom had excellent cycling pedigrees, the Hong Kong based Champion Systems Racing Team with four, another Hong Kong team Racing Force with another five, a professional triathlete in Freddie Cronenburg, together with teams from the Philippines, India, Singapore and Thailand.

In addition, the team had sole representatives in Chris Bray and Gabi Code in the Male 50-59 and Open Womens categories respectively. Without a team to support them, their Tour, although primarily raced on the same roads, would be a very different experience from the Mens Open squad.

Prologue

The Tour kicked off with a 7km prologue raced the closed King’s Road on the outskirts of Bangkok. A more ideal setting for the prologue couldn’t be found. The start/finish line was on top of a small rise, providing a birds eye view over proceedings. Competitors started by sprinting down the frangipani-lined three lane wide road, making a 180 degree turn 2kms down, riding back past the start area, making another 180 degree turn after another 3.5kms before winding it up to the finish line. Results were promising for the team after the prologue. Rob managed 3rd by less than two seconds from the top spot, with another four of the team in the top 16.

Stage One

Sunday marked the the first road racing stage of the tour and the first stage in which the ladies would be competing. Ahead lay 120kms of flat roads leading out of Bangkok to Khao Yai National Park, whereupon 20kms of climbing of a constant, but not obscene, grade would greet the riders.
Thailand at this time of year is amazingly hot, and one of the challenges of the racing is dealing with the heat. Nutrition is important but so is ensuring an adequate amount of hydration to keep the cramps at bay – for those that suffer from cramping at least. On this stage, this didn’t turn out to be a problem, quite the opposite in fact. With the exception of 10mins of sunshine, the stage was conducted in torrential rain. Lightening was striking lampposts on the road side as we went past, people were cowering over their handle bars as cracks of thunder exploded overhead, visibility at times was reduced to a hundred metres, the roads were slippery, the white lines even more so, and everyone struggled in one way or another.
It was an inauspicious first 15kms for the Cannasia team, with Nathan falling victim to grooves in the bitumen on a corner and coming down heavily but only losing a bit of dignity in the process – there was so much water on the road, he hardly got a scratch despite sliding for several seconds. Matt then punctured as the peloton was flying down the highway at 50km/hr plus. By the time the spare wheel car had reached him, his race was over for the day and he ended up finishing the stage with the 30-39 category. Rob then punctured, but a quick swap of the front wheel with Shep meant that it took little time for him to dodge through traffic to rejoin the peloton. Shep’s sacrifice though, did mean that his race was over, and he joined Matt to finish with another group. Nic punctured later in the race whilst being the sole Cannasia representative in the main break of the stage. With the neutral tyre motorbike lost in the torrential downpour, Nic’s day too, was now effectively over. Three out of our seven were now out of the of the race for the line after just 50km while later Pete punctured with just 6km of the stage remaining – the luck just wasn’t with the team.
With no Cannasia member in the lead break, our strategy suddenly changed. We now had to get involved in the chase - either limit our losses to the breakaway, drag the peloton back to them, or instigate a chase break ourselves. Tim and Rob, together with three other riders managed to break from the peloton, chasing the lead break from the 60km mark. The speed was consistently over 53km/hr, and they were sure they were making up good time.
Exiting the highway into the valley approaching Khao Yai the second chase group rode through a swimming pool of water across the road. It must have contained either oil or diesel, as all of the bikes suddenly became very unstable, losing all grip on the rear tyre. Tim and Rob, convinced that they had flatted, dropped off the pace and checked each other’s tyres. Despite assurances from each other, both were convinced they were losing air. The group pressed on however, determined to catch the lead break group.
At 125kms, and at the start of the real climbs of the day, the stage was neutralized due to increasing concerns about rider safety. Although the Opens category was remaining upright, many in the age groups were finding the conditions tough resulting in a number of spills.

Stage Two

It was the second day of road racing, and everyone had their fingers crossed for less biblical weather conditions over the next 140kms than the previous day. Upon waking, it was evident that today would be business as usual. At 6am, it was already hot and humid without any threatening rain clouds blighting the sky.
20kms into the stage the real surprise of the day hit everyone like a brick wall. Despite being told to expect a small hill, the peloton wasn’t in any way prepared for the 7min sharp climb that greeted us. It twisted up a valley between two hills, every turn revealing yet more climbing. The incline didn’t relent either, just up and up with no end in sight; it was the straw that broke the peloton’s back. At the top just seventeen riders were together, the remainder still working their way up. Tim and Rob were with the break, the three other main teams with strong representation and a few solo riders. This group was later described this break as actually BEING the peloton (the large main group of riders in a road bicycle race), the remaining thirty-odd Open riders all strung out in much smaller groups for the remainder of the stage.
There were no major developments in front group for the next 50kms, with the exception of a break of three which was never too much of a threat. The temperature was finally living up to expectations, well over 37C and climbing steadily. The support motorbikes were working overtime dispensing water, riders habitually drinking half a bottle in the blink of an eye then pouring the rest over their heads, backs and legs in an effort to keep cool. With the finish of the stage getting closer and closer, David Tonks’ (an ex-pro from CS Racing) desire to get away in a break was obviously increasing in line with the thermometer readings. However, everyone knew of his reputation, and consequently nobody was letting him get away. Time and time again he attacked, each time the Hong Kong teams stuck to his wheels. Tim also was sticking to Tonks like glue, knowing that if they got away, they’d be in a good break with a decent chance of staying away.
At 105kms, and after another determined attack that was promptly shut down, it was evident that Tonks was getting increasingly frustrated with everyone marking him. As Rob went past him, Tonks suggested that he make a break as nobody would chase him down. Quickly thinking this didn’t seem like such a bad idea, he rolled away from the group, with lo and behold, nobody at all chasing him.
The profile of the stage was for rolling hills, but this belied the fact that it was a net climb of 1400m over the 140kms. Especially in the last 40kms, this meant that each rolling hill always ended with less of a recovery than could have been expected, and the long “flat” sections were actually always gradual climbs. Rob managed to get a lead of over 2mins on the group, and was hoping and praying at every turn in the road that, as can often happen in a Tour of Friendship stage, the finish line would suddenly spring up unexpectedly. This wasn’t to be the case today as the stage was roughly the advertised length; the gamble didn’t pay off. After about 14kms away, the peloton finally thought that Rob may present a problem to their GC aspirations and worked together to slowly reel him in. After 18kms, this break was over as well.
With 3kms to go on another hill, Rob cramped and he was consigned to struggling to the finish line alone. At 500m to go and only seven riders left in the group, the last climb for the day started. The finish line was at the top of the steep rise, and everyone was going for the result. In the sprint to the line, Tim snagged 5th and a place on the podium.
Meanwhile, post the surprise climb, Nathan, Matt, Nic and Pete had managed to come together for the ride to the line. The highlight of their stage was Pete firstly attacking his fellow Cannasia team, then attacking the 30-39 age group peloton, just to show that he could, much to the amusement of his team mates. Gabi’s GC aspirations suffered a massive blow as she suffered a flat and had to wait over 45mins for the spare wheel support to reach her. The rest of her stage was a solo struggle, passing the stragglers of the male age groups.

Stage Three

This was the day we’d all been dreading, well all of those except the mountain goats. This was the day that would sort out the men from the boys, the day to see whether rider would conquer mountain or vice versa, the day when the KOM jersey would be decided, and the day when GC would be won or lost in all categories. In short, it was the day that mattered most.
For all categories except the Women and Masters, what lay ahead was a relatively flat 45kms approach to the first climb of the day, and the first significant one of the tour. 7kms straight up on the side of a range, with little shade to speak of, no wind to cool riders down, to the top where the KOM would be decided. From there it was a couple of kilometres of rolling climbing before the start of 70kms of rolling hills to the climb into Khao Yai National Park. The climb into Khao Yai itself begins gradually, kicking up slowly until the killer section of 20%+ incline. Once over that, it’s more up than down to the finish line; approximately 15kms from the start of the climb to the finish line.
On GC, Tim was in striking distance of yellow, and it made Cannasia’s strategy for the day simple. Tim is by far and away the best climber among the team, so he was to be protected at all costs until the entrance into Khao Yai, where we’d then slip off his leash to attack, harangue and stupefy whoever was remained with his climbing prowess. To this end, it was Matt, Nathan, Nic and Shep’s role to protect Tim, Rob and Pete to the base of the first climb. From there, they should have ended up in the front group when the peloton splintered, and Rob and Pete would protect Tim until Khao Yai. Simple…..if only.
The stage went to plan until half-way up the first climb. Along the flats, the guys kept the peloton under control, without having to dominate the front. Only one solo break was allowed to get away, with this rider going on to claim the KOM points by about 400m.
Up the fist climb, Rob found the pace a little too much and by the top was 500m behind the lead group of about thirteen guys. Pete, who was suffering from stomach cramps, was forced to retire from the stage altogether. Tim however, did exactly as planned, and sat in the middle of the lead group.
Over the top Rob passed four riders who had been spat out the back of the lead group, and seeing their spent faces, decided it would be better to push on rather than wait to form a small chase group. It took him 17kms on a solo chase to catch the lead group, whereupon he rode up next to Tim to give him a slap on the arse.
In those 17kms, a group of four riders had broken away, building up a good lead. With all except one other team represented in the lead group, nobody really wanted to reel in the break. With Tim in GC contention but under strict instructions not to do anything until the climb, it fell to Rob, with what seemed to be very occasional help from one other team to chase. For 40kms they did so, eventually whittling down the break’s time lead to around 20 seconds. With 3kms to go to the entrance of the park, an attack was instigated with Tim and the rest of the group following, leaving Rob a broken man on the side of the road.
Into the National Park, contenders dropped by the wayside. The lead four were caught, and all dropped except for Freddie C, the pro triathlete. Sean Smith, from Neil Pryde bikes, on the back of a few UCI races in America and Brazil, powered up the climb, breaking everyone else in the process. He went on to win by a couple of minutes, leaving Tim and Freddie C competing for second place, Tim having the better sprint to the line.
Behind, Rob tempo’d all the way to the finish. Matt and Nic stayed together all the way to the line, finishing under a minute behind Rob. Nathan toughed it out to conquer Khao Yai on his first attempt. Shep decided to save his legs for the last stage and jumped the team van not too far from the finish.
According to plan, Tim proved his climbing prowess to move into second place on GC with one stage remaining. Team tactics had worked out almost perfectly.

Stage Four

The goal was simple. Tim was sitting second on GC. Sean Smith was over three minutes ahead of Tim and in pretty much an unassailable position. Whilst there were seven in the Cannasia team, Neil Pryde had thirteen riders to protect their lead man. It would be foolish to think that we would have a hope in hell of bridging that sort of time gap, so the focus was on defending second. It would be a difficult task. Within a minute of Tim were three riders, all from the other main teams in the Open category, and from the start of the stage they’d be looking to attack the race in order to move up the GC as much as possible. There was no tomorrow, this was the last stage of the Tour to make a difference.
Tim was feeling good, Pete’s stomach cramps seemed to have abated and he was in a mood which indicated he wanted to rip the peloton apart, Shep had saved his legs from the climb of Khao Yai and was looking fresh and the rest of the team were in fine spirits. The stage really suited Cannasia’s team of predominantly big guys. Out of seven, only one was less than 80kgs, so the flat terrain with a final 2km kick to the top of a dam wall was right up their alley. At the start line, the team was reminded that this was going to be just like a Smash Brothers Wednesday morning training ride, just a bit faster, a little longer but with not a single traffic light in sight for a sneaky recovery.
As expected, as soon as the race left the hotel driveway, the pace was high. Upon taking the first u-turn 200m from the hotel, the first attack went up the road. However, Cannasia had a plan, and stuck to it. It took about 1km to get organized, but from then on, it was a glorious sight to behold. The black and green of the Cannasia team headed to the front of the peloton, wound it up to over 45km/hr into a headwind, and didn’t look back. The pace was kept high to minimize the threat of attacks.
For the better part of 55km, nothing really changed. We sat on the front and kept the pace very high. The peloton was a very long single line snaking its way back down the road. Tim sat in about 7th or 8th wheel, Shep right behind him to make sure that should he flat, there’d be a replacement wheel immediately on hand. Up the front, it was just a constant rotation of Matt, Pete, Nic, Nathan and Rob, with Lewis Fellas of Racing Force also contributing. Occasionally some other teams would try to get into our pace line to disrupt it but a couple of choice words and the odd elbow from enforcer Matt soon made them realize the wisdom in staying clear.
The tactic worked perfectly. Only one more attack was attempted, and rather than chasing it down, we kept racing our own race. It fizzled to nothing and the peloton just sat in for the ride, seeing if Cannasia would ever tire.
Eventually this happened. Sensing a drop in the pace, the attacks started thick and fast. The closest member of CS Racing to Tim on GC was unrelenting in trying to break Cannasia, as was the representative of team Excellent Noodles. Once they got underway, it was nigh on impossible to get the whole team on the front again and our tactics changed from controlling the race to shutting down any attacks.
The team had done themselves proud for the first 55kms, but the next 20kms was where they really showed their mettle. Every rider who launched an attack would get up the road only to find two Cannasia jerseys sitting on their wheel. All seven of the team were involved, taking it in turns to cover breaks whilst the others taking a quick rest from chasing wheels. Everyone had done a lot of work on the front and it was telling, but all dug deep to try to ensure nothing got away. Inevitably, a break did get away, and concerningly, it contained the danger man from CS Racing. This break managed to stay away for a while, at one stage getting a gap of at least one minute over the peloton. However, we were fast approaching the advertised 80km finish mark of the race, and the peloton worked together to reel them back in.
In classic racing style, as soon as they were caught, another attack ensued. Tim had been expecting this, and was off up the road. With him were two of his closest threats on GC, but the rest of Cannasia knew he had them covered. Sean Smith, with over three minutes advantage, let them go, and with anyone with an interest in overall GC position for the Tour in the break, the peloton took a breather. At 80km, rather than the expected finish line, a 15km to go sign appeared out of nowhere. There was a collective groan from the riders, and Matt muttered that he’d only signed a contract for 80kms! However, there was only 15kms remaining, and it sailed by without incident. The lead group stayed away, the peloton, content that the race had effectively been decided, coasted along at 40km/hr.
With 2kms to go, the dam wall appeared, and the sharp little rises to the top presented one last climb for weary legs. Tim crossed the line in 4th, losing practically no time to his rivals, wrapping up 2nd on GC for the Tour. The remainder of the team coasted up, overjoyed with the final standings. Cannasia had achieved a major result, and were stoked.

That was it for the Tour of Friendship 2011. Another great race, harder than the 2010 version in terms of route and competition, well run with a relaxed atmosphere, in short, an amazing experience for all who participated. Thanks must be expressed to the organizers, the water outriders, the police and military who shielded us from traffic on the motorways and kept the rolling road closures safe. It’s a unique event in the world of amateur cycling, and we’re already looking forward to the 2012 installment.

Team Cannasia-Cannondale would like to thank the following Photographers for kindly supplying their photos.
Bobby Bostic
Joris Birnie www.birnstar.com
Bundal Udol
Prinya Songbundit
Craig Sheppard www.craigsheppard.co.nz
Gabi Code