Sunday's race was a good one for a number of us, until the final 500m when, with 65 odd riders coming into a tight finish, there was the almost inevitable crash..

I saw it happen in front of me and began to brake hard - it was one of those moments when time slowed down and I watched riders either side of me avoid the fallen bikes and riders but as I approached I knew I was going down. I was lucky and had scrubbed off most of the 60kmh+ we were doing so managed to walk away with only a bruised hip and ankle and a bent derailleur.

Others were not so lucky - Shan was cut up and needed stitches, John Wakefield also lost some skin and hurt his shoulder but worst off was John O'Connor who eneded up with skin grafts and a few days in hospital for his trouble. A guy called Daneel also ended up with some nasty injuries.

No doubt this is the sport - but I do feel that this could have been avoided had the finish only been 1km or so earlier and finishing on a nice gradual rise we came over rather than the narrow fast downhill section the line was placed on.

Other than that I was pleased to be able to cope with the fast pace - just under 40kmh average for 120km with a good few rollers in there - maybe some fitness showing through.