Post date: Dec 17, 2012 11:18:51 AM
The final race of the year will be the annual Christmas Wheel Race. There will be a BBQ including bread, sausages and soft drinks and a presentation of awards for the 2012 Winter Season
The race format will be;
Graded Heats: G Grade@ 5:45 - 10min + 2 laps; E/F Grade@ 6:04 - 15min + 2 laps; C/D Grade@ 6:27 - 20min + 2 laps; A/B Grade@ 6:55 - 25min + 2 laps
Wheel Race: Handicap race comprising the first 5 riders from each grade following the heats.
(and there may be a special visit from Santa himself)
From the ACT Veterans Cycling Club Committee, we hope you all have a safe and happy Christmas and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.
For those that haven’t heard, last Wednesday, Jim Cruden had a most unfortunate fall from his bike onto bitumen from a virtual stationary position. His injuries are extensive with several spinal fractures and rib damage. He is flat on his back (with neck brace) in Canberra Hospital and will be there for an extended period. Jim is now ready and keen to have visitors.
As the room he is currently in limits each patient to 2 at a time, a roster will prevent a log jam. If you would like to visit Jim it would be appreciated if you could email his wife, Gail, on gailcruden@ozemail.com.au or contact her by sms on 0427905733 and she will slot you in.
Also, Paul Miller, who is known to many in the club, continues to make a good recovery in Canberra Hospital. He was critically injured in an accident, whilst on his bike, about 10 weeks ago. He is moving to the rehabilitation ward after Xmas to start working towards his discharge. Paul also has to have further surgery in the near future. He sends his regards to club members.
We are in the process of switching over to use the new IMG registration system as the mailing list for The Bleat. The Email address that you provide in the on-line registration will be the address for future updates.
Until everyone is registered, this update will go out to the ACTVets discussion group as well. Make sure that if you are racing in 2013, that you register on-line and if you register close to the next race, bring your confirmation Email as proof of registration so we can ensure your are covered by insurance.
Large fields were the order of the night in great racing conditions, though the wind picked up later in the evening. We had 36 riders in B Grade, and unfortunately there was a crash with 7 riders coming down. The crash occurred in the front straight and may have resulted from riders moving out to try to get some cover from the cross wind and some riders then becoming squeezed.
Paul Angelatos got off the front of A Grade with several laps to go and stayed away to win decisively. I got a sense of déjà vu all over again watching it, how many times have I seen that scenario before? Mick Jermyn won B with Bruce Goodspeed who made a couple of mid-race attacks finishing third.
David Lander won C Grade while Alex O’Shea had a go mid-race. Peter Harding won D Grade. In E Grade it was girl-power with Elizabeth Lowe winning from Belinda Chamberlain. Brendan Chadwick won in F and Jon Barnes in G.
Finally, as safety is paramount, I would like to restate the request I made before each race. If you are inside another rider approaching a corner and you are behind their peripheral vision, assume they don’t know you are there and back off or call out to let them know. Do it well before the corner, NOT in the corner. This is what keeps me awake at night.
Thanks to director Steve Schwenke and marshals Ian Shaw and Henry Beaverstock.
We only had 3 Roadies and 10 Trackies this week.
We started with a 12 lap scratch warm-up. The Roadies which saw Rob Langridge win. The winner of the Trackies was Steve Jones.
Next was the season points event – the event was the 200m fly. This is an individual event. Each rider get a couple of laps to wind-up, the stop watch starts when the rider goes over the 200m mark and stops on the finishing line. Steve Jones posted the best time with 13.31 and most track riders posted 14 sec times – very competitive.
The Italian Pursuit was won by Team 2 – Jim Davey got it for T2 by about 5 m but Steve Jones (T1) reeled in over 25 m on the last lap to make it a close finish.
The results of the Mystery Race at this point in time is a mystery……
Next week will be our Christmas Wheel Race and Supper in the Park. We will start with a 10 lap scratch then the Wheel Race – there will be a prize for each category. After we will hold a Supper in the Park – everyone is asked to bring a plate of food to share and BYO drinks..
A cool morning beset us as we travelled south to the Orroral Road for Sundays race. The fog on Mt Tennant did not deter 37 riders from one of the most challenging rides on our calendar. The weather was clear and warmed before the race start, although the road was quite congested with rabbits and kangaroos.
In A grade Brendan Byatt broke away from the pack somewhere between the first turn and the return to the start and was never headed. A race time of just over 1 hour and 9 minutes makes me think the course is not as challenging as some. In B grade Michael Carr held out over Patrick McNamara although on the descent into the finish some B graders encountered a few Roos that made for an interesting sprint.
In E grade Richard Gorrell seems to be gaining fitness as he well and truly took the points from the ever improving Liz Lowe.
With the advantage of inside knowledge, Rosemary Robinson provided the F grade report on today’s race.
Until now tandem riders have avoided racing the Ororral valley due to the fact that tandems are not ideal for riding up steep hills. Undeterred by the climbs, Cameron and John joined F grade on their tandem. With glorious descents up to 85 kmph, they managed to clench third place in F grade. The power to weight ratio was their undoing, with Barbara Bayliss claiming second and Rosemary Robinson First.
Thanks to our Marshall's Paul Angelatos, Bruce Jones, Braham Hart (on roo duty), Ben Davey, Kevin Hennessy and the ever present Henry Beaverstock.
Thanks to Phil Coulton for race refereeing.
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