Post date: Aug 10, 2014 10:42:5 PM
An early Bleat this week as I am heading overseas tomorrow. In this week's issue;
• EMail Problems
• Lynne Mcgregor
• Fitz's Challenge – 26 October 2014
• RMH Canberra Challenge – 19-20 September 2014
• Interstate Events
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports
Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc
Ian Morton.
ps A reminder that if your EMail address is not correct please go to the IMG system, login and update your contact details. Use thislink. Same login details when you renewed your membership
I have received a few comments that people aren't receiving the Bleat via EMail. It is normally sent out on a Monday evening. Also been having a few issues with the Specials Bleat's during the week.
While I try to get to the cause of the problem, you can find archived copies of the Bleat: here.
Hi fellow vets,
This is Lynne Mcgregor from Albion Park. A few of you know me, and always make me very welcome. Just a mention about 2 accidents in 8 weeks. Both times I was hit exiting roundabouts. First time bruised elbow and bruised bike. Second time broken wrist and broken bike. Both times I was riding on my own and both drivers said “just didn’t see you”.
Do ACT drivers have tunnel vision at roundabouts like they do here? Anyway will be back on a new bike ASAP. I didn’t “bounce back” on the roundabout, but I will climb back on in a few weeks.
Lynne Mcgregor.
Canberra's biggest and best known long-distance one-day cyclo-sportive participation event on sealed rural roads in hilly terrain in the southwest of ACT.
Challenge yourself over 255 km, 205 km, 165 km, 105 km or 50 km – these are serious physical challenges to test your capabilities. (The 205 and 255 km rides qualify as Audax rides for those interested).
Conducted by Pedal Power ACT (www.pedalpower.org.au)
Full details and registration at www.fitzs.com.au
Help the local House and have a lot of fun by joining the Ronald McDonald House Canberra Challenge!
For cycling enthusiasts, the Challenge also includes a cycling component, which will finish alongside the Walk and Run event at Rond Terrace on Saturday 20 September.
• Take on the cycling challenge, comprising of almost 200 kilometres over 2 days.
• Tackle riding on some of the toughest roads in the ACT.
• Take on over 3000 metres of climbing.
• Be a part of the National Road Series, riding on the same roads as some of the best cyclists in Australia!
• Raise money for Ronald McDonald House Canberra!
Details at www.rmhc.org.au/canberra-challenge
• Bike SA’s Annual Tour - 20 to 28 September 2014
more information at http://www.bikesa.asn.au/annualtour
Where: Start at corner of Archer Close and Cook Hill Drive in Yass.
When: 12:30pm
*** Note the earlier start time ***
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description: Yass Map: Course ABCD - Start, A, C, Finish - EFG - Start, A, B Finish (Start at Cooks Hill Rd/Discovery Dr, Cooks Hill Rd, Blackley Creek North Rd, Finish Cooks Hill Rd/ Archer Cl)
Race Director: Malcolm Paterson
Contact: Email hhim@tpg.com.au Ph 0478 225 350
The nominated marshal for this event is;
• Ian Albrey
We still need four more Marshals and Lead and Trail Car drivers. Please contact the Race Director if you can assist.
Please confirm with the Race Director that you are available. If you unable to make the date that you have been rostered please find a replacement.
I'd love to say it was a fine and warm day, but the reality was it was "acceptable" at the start but far too cold by the time the race ended, especially for the marshals standing out in the wind.
Initial "google" measurements for the course proved inaccurate : A, B and C grades rode two laps of the course for a 58km race, with D through G doing a single lap of 29km - this allowed a good opportunity for those who often miss the biscuits, cake and milk to get their revenge.
After sending the 58 riders off, we relocated to the finish point where there was some final adjustment of the turn point after James had pointed out that the finish line was too close to the corner for him to legally stop traffic. This caused some confusion in D and E as to where the finish was, as we still had the cone out for some of the C grade riders - we apologise for this and will do better next time.
D grade were the first to cross the finish (Philip Walker, Des Brown and Andrew Boyd taking the honors), holding their order after having sprinted to where James Meredith was standing, E (Frank O'Sullivan, Phil Anderson and Kirsti McVay), F (Graham Hendrie, Luke McGowan and Edward Joliffe) & G (Bruce Jones,Jing Huang and Antonina Bolschelarski) were more orderly after having been spread out on the long rise to the finish line into the wind.
Shortly after G grade had crossed the line, the five remaining A grade riders re-appeared in a bunch but broke up in the run to the line with Jeremy Gillam-Wells taking the race over Brendan Byatt and Peter Marshall.
B Grade was the exciting finish of the day with the riders fighting for position before the sprint, which resulted in some riders crossing the centre line (no - we didn't get your numbers!) before Sean Ifland, Chris Short and Reinhard Mauch broke free to cross the line ahead of the pack.
The C-grade winners appeared with the tail end of the B grade riders, with Philip Hopkins, Tom Tokich and Nick Boylan taking the honors.
After the final riders crossed the line we returned to the start to rush through the results, clean up the site and get back into cars to defrost.
So - thanks to all of the riders for coming out and having an incident-free race, and a big "thank you" to the marshals Mark Taylor, Bernie Crowe, Dale Teddy, Greg Shaw, Kev Hennessy, James Meredith, Jan Koehler, Simon Mills, Henry Beaverstock and Brad our medic.
Thanks to Michael Fawke for race refereeing.
The Cole Family was represented by Barry Cole who is one of the founding members of the ACTVCC as well has being a founding member of the Canberra Old Boys cycling club. I first met him as a member of the Canberra Cycling Club, when I was a junior in the mid-eighties. He has been around the Canberra cycling scene for a long time. I remember the club newsletter would frequently contain reports of the ‘Flying Flea’ dishing out some pain. It was appreciated that he could still make the effort to come out and watch and present trophies for this race despite a recent bereavement.
I seem to have been off the handicapper’s radar because at sign on the computer still had me in F grade. I asked to be upgraded to E grade to fend off the likely objections. There were 48 bikes that took to the start including one D grade tandem (Elton&Don) and 2 first-time ungraded riders. The strength of numbers was with B, D and E grades with 8 or 9 bikes each.
As soon as the race proper started, the splits immediately appeared. Most of my E grade colleagues were on the wrong side of the split behind me with only Phil making the group I was with at first. I ended up in a bunch of mostly D grade riders with a small gap back to another group that was being led by Elton&Don.
The first significant climb on the northern section of the course I call Pothole Hill. There was some damage done here as Russell John and Terry slipped off the back and I didn’t last much longer. Fortunately just after the top, Elton&Don and Peter came past and I was able to hold on to them as they proceeded to catch the remnants of the bunch which now included Sue. Elton&Don then led the bunch up to the next pair on the road, Craig and Andrew. Up until then Craig had been the leading D grade rider. Elton&Don, Peter and I pulled out a gap down the hill that looked sizeable at 60+km/h, but at 10km/h for the corner, it was not more than a few bike-lengths.
Coming back up the hill the better climbers got away again, this time in two bunches, with Craig, Andrew, Des and a new rider in the front group. Craig’s Strava stats tell me that they were 29 seconds faster to the top and it would take another 7km of hard chasing, mostly by Elton&Don to bring them back. They had now picked up Allan who wasn’t having his best day. On the way we managed catch Tony, Kev and Sue only to lose them down Pothole Hill.
The trip out and back to the south was uneventful but the still done at pace. We were still together at the start/finish as we headed out north again. Some inattentiveness saw a few people drop off in the fast section before Pothole Hill and by the time we got to the top, the group was down to Des, Craig, Andrew, Allan, Elton&Don and me.
Not surprisingly the other 4 got away from Elton&Don and me again on the way back up the big climb, with Craig 22 seconds faster than us this time. Elton&Don then got to work chasing them back down again, with me chipping in where I could. We were fortunate that we were able to catch them on the descent of Pothole Hill so that we could come past with the maximum speed differential to make it difficult for them to get back on since it was now only 2km from the line. In the end it was only Allan and Andrew who were able to make the jump. Elton&Don led down the final drop to the creek but were not able to raise a sprint. Not that the sprint was relevant since we were in different grades, but hey when you put a line across the road, racers are going to sprint for it. Andrew jumped away in the end to lead across the line and I followed a short way behind with Elton&Don and Allan after that.
A look at the results sheet show that there were some notable performances. Elton&Don rode hard all day to take a well deserved 3rd. Owen outperformed the next 3 in C grade by half a minute to take 6th. However one of the rides of the day was Lynne from G grade who although she was the second last rider to finish, did so alongside Lindsay and Phil and in doing so got herself up to be 2nd overall.
Whilst I took the win it was exclusively on the back of the work from Elton&Don. They were easy to follow because they were smooth, fast and don’t climb any better than me. There was a couple of riders who mentioned that they'd have been better off saving energy by climbing at a slower rate with us, and then riding at a faster rate with Elton&Don and I for the flatter sections. There was also a few riders who found out the hard way that clean air is hard to push through at high speed, when they allowed a gap to open up and were unable to close it down. I have footage from my rear camera of riders allowing a gap to open behind us and getting blown away. I'll post it on youtube once I figure out how to edit out the many minutes of footage with only empty road behind me.
Cheers,
Cameron.
BTW, I prefer the term Klingon to Leech.