Stage 9 - Invercargill

Everybody made it to the end of the race, safely and without major incident. The winds picked up the closer we got to Invercargill and the race shattered as soon as we turned into the crosswind. Mike made the front group as usual and stayed out of trouble towards the end. Some guys ahead of Mike on the GC missed the split so he moved up a few more places to finish 11th overall. Aside from the downside of not being able to race, it was cool to watch the team as the guys quickly adapted to the riding style and wind down here. We often had everybody in the mix in the front groups where the racing was going on as opposed to the back of the race where everybody was in survival mode.

There was a big awards ceremony at the rec center attached to the velodrome, all facilities paid for by the Invercargill Licensing Trust which essentially taxes all alcohol, restaurants, etc. and dumps money back into the community. My biggest question was how many drinks did it take to build the velodrome . . . anyone?