The circuit was a treacherous, dangerous ‘horror show’. It was perfect for Grace Brown
Treacherous, dangerous, almost blind and right up Grace Brown’s street: that was the assessment of the president of the Australian gold medallist’s local cycling club of the conditions during her triumphant road race in Paris.
“That Paris course was dull, boring and uninspiring, until it rained and then it was a horror show,” said St Kilda Cycling Club president Tom Reynolds, pointing to the cobblestones and painted road markings made slick by the poor weather.
Grace Brown is all smiles after being presented with Australia’s first gold medal at the Paris Olympics.Credit: AP
Brown, who grew up in Camperdown in south-west Victoria and now lives in Melbourne, won Australia’s first gold medal of the Paris Olympic Games on Saturday (early Sunday AEST), taking out the women’s time trial.
Reynolds said time trial bikes were more challenging than regular road bikes because they were built for speed, not handling.
“They are designed to be fast and not easy to ride, everything you don’t want in the rain,” he said.
Brown managed to avoid any mishaps on her winning ride as rivals crashed – a major achievement given the conditions – although Reynolds said her lead was so substantial the crashes did not decide the result.
“All the other top riders against her crashed,” he said, saying that a crash typically took 15 seconds off a rider’s time.
Brown destroyed the field; the gap between first and second was 91 seconds, an eternity in the context of a ride that lasted less than 40 minutes for the 32.4 kilometre course.
Her switch to riding from running in her twenties made her flawless ride in the wet all the more remarkable, Reynolds said.
“What is really impressive is this late-comer to cycling went out and smashed them in terms of her bike handling … to keep her bike upright and ride so hard. She has got no right to be that good at bike handling.”
Grace Brown looked determined as she prepared for the race to start.Credit: AP
Reynolds said Brown’s calm under pressure was a defining trait and would have helped her in the tough conditions.
“She is just super level-headed,” he said. “Seeing others crashing and she stayed upright, that’s a classic Grace Brown situation. She would be thinking ‘I know exactly what I have to do here’.”
Brown herself told Nine she couldn’t have asked for a better day.
“It’s raining, but it really didn’t dampen my spirits. Rain doesn’t bother me too much,” she said after her win.
Time trial riders had limited visibility and were often only able to see seven or eight metres in front of them, conditions that would not be safe in a pack ride, he said.
“Because of the riding position for modern time trial [riding] you are almost blind,” he said. “It is not really about safe riding.”
Reynolds, a former executive at Cycling Australia, said Brown had carved her own path since arriving on the competitive cycling scene, identifying time trialling as her speciality.
Still, Reynolds said she would be one to watch in the upcoming road race which was notoriously difficult to predict.
The rain-slicked streets of Paris provided the perfect conditions for Australia’s Grace Brown to win the women’s cycling time trial event.Credit: AP
Reynolds said women’s cycling was no “financial playground” and predicted Brown, who holds a master’s degree in business and had already announced her plan to retire this year, would now likely look to build on her career.
“Grace Brown is going to go back to work,” he said.
Reynolds said that unlike some Australian professionals, Brown regularly made the trip home for the summer’s domestic competitions.
“When she was here she would sometimes be a part of the club’s regular Sunday morning ride from St Kilda to Mordialloc and back,” he said.
That 44-kilometre trip took the club pack about 90 minutes, Reynolds said Brown could complete it in about an hour.
He joked that it had been noted she was yet to be spotted for the club’s 5.30am start on a mid-winter ride.
Camperdown Cycling Club treasurer Matt Clark said Brown’s win was a great inspiration for the club and everyone in her home town.
He and his wife and three boys – all cyclists – stayed up overnight to watch her race live as she went from an uncertain start to claiming gold.
“Just at the start as she came down the starting ramp she was a little bit hesitant, but she regained herself and got the gold.”
Brown hadn’t ridden with the Camperdown club in her younger years, but had been a supporter through donating jerseys and cycling gear for its younger members, he said.
Clark said Brown’s father Anthony Brown, who had worked as the local GP, had been a club member for years and had encouraged her to take up the sport after she suffered injuries while competing as a runner.
He said it was remarkable to go from taking up competitive cycling as an adult to beating the best cyclists in the world.
“To get the first [Australian] gold at the Olympics … is an amazing achievement, just tremendous.”
With Debbie Cuthbertson
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