Tour de Brisbane: My first overseas cycling race won't be my last

SINGAPORE — I’m no stranger to triathlon races and am just getting more familiar with marathons, but I decided recently to venture into a new territory – cycling races.

Funnily enough, I’ve been cycling for seven years as part of my triathlon quests, but I’ve never actually taken part in a major cycling race (I’ve only done a local one).

But there I was on 2 April, toeing the start line of Tour de Brisbane, an annual cycling race that was part of the month-long Brisbane Cycling Festival.

It ran over four days, with time trials and elite championships from Thursday to Saturday, but the main event was on Sunday with a slew of cycling categories for the general public: the 110km Gran Fondo, 80km, 50km, 10km family ride and a sprint duathlon.

Since I was going to take a trip down to Australia, I wanted to make the most of it, so I signed up for the 110km Gran Fondo. It was my first time participating in a cycling race and I had never rode in Brisbane city, so I went into the race with no expectations. I just wanted to have fun!

No jostling, crowding at starting point

On race morning, being the kiasu Singaporean I sometimes can be, I was at the assembly area at the Brisbane Showgrounds around 5.15am because the rider guide indicated that participants were allowed to start queueing from 5am.

For the 110km Gran Fondo, you could start with your age group or you could join the mass start so you can be with your friends. I chose to start with my age group, which was scheduled to start only at 6.36am, so I ended up standing around for over an hour, watching participants slowly trickle in. (Tip: Arriving 30 minutes before your scheduled start should suffice.)

When it was go time, I realised I wasn’t feeling too nervous. I was observing other riders; some alone and others presumably from the same club decked out in the same jersey.

The start was managed well, with each wave released in intervals, so there was no jostling or crowding. I always have this fear that someone will elbow me in the ribs and cause me to fall over and prematurely end my race before I even go over the timing mat. Thankfully none of that happened and off I went.

This is a draft-legal race and that is music to my ears because in triathlons, it is a rule break to draft. In case you are wondering, drafting is the act of riding closely behind someone so you are in the slipstream and will gain an advantage. Faced with less resistance, you will require less effort for the same speed.

I was hoping to find a pack at the start to ride with, but I found myself riding by myself for a while – until the next wave (which was a men’s category) caught up with us. I tried as best as possible to jump onto someone’s rear wheel each time a group passes me and follow them for as long as I could. Some of the male riders were quite friendly and slowed down to let me catch their draft – something I am eternally grateful for.

This was pretty much how the first two-thirds of the race went for me, as I drafted one group for as long as I could, lost them somewhere and then waited for the next group to overtake me so I could follow them.

Riding through iconic city vistas

One thing unique about the Tour de Brisbane is that the entire race is held on fully-closed roads right in the city.

For the first 80 kilometres of the race, I was zipping around the buildings in the city, flying down the highways and rushing through tunnels. We even got to ride across the iconic Story Bridge! I was thoroughly impressed with how much road they managed to close for this race, so the riders have plenty of space.

The route so far was fast, punchy and flowy with rolling hills, and I was taking in the city sights of Brisbane. I didn’t stop at any of the aid stations either.

Then came the kick. At around the 90km mark, the race route left the beautiful network of tunnels and highways, and entered Mount Coot-tha. At this point, my back was aching to the extent of my legs starting to go a little numb. In my eagerness, I might have rode too hard at the beginning and not warmed up enough. Thus, it was no surprise that I suffered on Mount Coot-tha.

The climb up is a little over 2km, with an average grade of 9 per cent, and I was not prepared for it. As much as I didn’t want to, I had to stop and stretch out my increasingly painful back as I huffed and puffed my way up. You have no idea how grateful I was to reach the top and start the descent, with over 10km left to the finish line. This last segment back to the end was straightforward, nothing crazy, and I still had energy to raise a hand in a mix of delight and relief.

In hindsight, I do feel slightly bummed about Mount Coot-tha, but it was a great learning experience for me – that I should not go too hard from the get-go. Like in any race, be it running or cycling, pace yourself well and allow the body to warm up properly before gunning for it.

Recommended for both competitive and recreational cyclists

One interesting thing I noticed, was that the 110km Gran Fondo riders could bail and choose to opt out of Mount Coot-tha. You have an option to turn off the course and avoid it, in case it gets too much for you. It means you would not have completed the full 110km, but at least you could attempt this distance.

This 110km Gran Fondo is also part of the UCI Gran Fondo World Series, where the top 20 per cent of finishers in each age group will have the opportunity to represent their countries at the UCI Cycling World Championships.

Clearly, I am not at that level but I enjoyed myself and I would recommend the Tour de Brisbane to both competitive and recreational cyclists. They have various categories happening on the same day, so you can come up as a group or a family and there will be a suitable category for everyone, including a free family ride that goes across the Story Bridge.

The 50km and 80km categories are on the same roads as the 110km one, but with shorter loops and without the Mount Coot-tha bit. Also, Australia is easy to travel to and get around, with no language barrier.

I also like that Tour de Brisbane raises money for The Common Good, to fund medical research for things like organ transplant, heart disease, lung disease, dementia and mental health.

Now that I’ve done it, this will not be my last major cycling race. Many more things for me to learn of course, but I’m always up for a challenge!