uci world cycing tour championships

23 Comments

this sunday in belgium, bonner, ainsy and jason will be lining up for the uci masters world championships.  give the spr guys a boost by adding your support to the comments on this post.

 

 

 

23 thoughts on “uci world cycing tour championships”

  3. Just remember what Jens said… “memories are forever, pain is temporary”. Good luck, watch them cobbles, be strong, keep safe. Can’t wait to hear/read the stories.

  4. Hi from Stavelot, Belgium. Just had dinner at the cafe opposite the finish line with Jason and Ainsy. Jason has picked up a bit of a stomach bug, perhaps from some dodgy water, so is in a weakened state.
    We picked up our registration packs this afternoon. Lots of Aussies, Americans and Europeans of all languages. One of our numbers has to go on the FRONT of the bike; those who have invested in an aero bike or just aero handlebars are thrilled. To go with the Gran Fondo theme they are combining age groups within the 2 minute waves. I go off with the 45s at 9:00 with a field of 150. 2 mins later go another 120 55-70 year olds. Guess what the strong 55s are going to do?
    God knows what will happen if there is a crash near the front of the field.
    The first hill doesn’t come until 40km so there won’t be much of a sort out until then. The frightening thing here are the descents. They are steep, narrow, have wet patches, and most of all they have lots of blind right angle corners and several are switchbacks. Think going down Welshpool at one lane wide (only bumpier) with thick trees either side into a blind 80 degree corner followed immediately by a right switchback. My carbon tubulars couldn’t cope with the heavy braking under the yellow seiss stops and started to grab something horrible. On one of the 5 km drops, the back locked and fishtailed until the tyre popped. Luckily I held it upright and stopped before the steel barrier. Consequently I’m back on the heavy clinchers with controllable shiny rims, but the nerves aren’t good. The thought of a line of 100 plus riders going down together is truly terrifying. If there is a mistake in front of you…
    Now, about the cobbles…
    As you can probably tell, there is nothing in WA racing to prepare you for this. This is full scale euro hard core (and I’m not talking the funny tv channels you can find at 3AM when you can’t sleep).
    Perhaps I’m getting over anxious. It might all work wonderfully; I hope so. Right now, the thought of a nice field of 30 riding on wide straightish roads has enormous appeal.
    Watching local cycling followed by the Vuelta during afternoon rest time is great. As you were.

  5. Good luck boys, leave it all on the road (not your skin but your efforts) and never give up. Pain is temporary, quitting lasts forever. I wonder how many cliches we can get on the comments.
    1. memories are forever, pain is temporary
    2. Pain is temporary, Quitting lasts forever
    3. Remember that the others are probably hurting just as much as you, so attack.

    Any more.

  6. Mike, hopefully due to all the congestion, the pace will be down on the descents.. At least with 300 bikes strung out will mean a line approx 600m long should allow you to stay in touch on the way down (as long as you are up front on the way up :-)…

    As for numbers on the front of your bike?? Maybe to slow you down on the descents??

    On the aero subject, have you waxed your legs for the occasion? We want to see a pic of the three of you in your Aussie get ups…

    Enjoy the race, play it smart and hopefully you pop up in a good spot near the pointy end of the race.. So exciting, you are on the world stage now..

    Good luck the Three Amigos…

    p.s. we know why Mr Cawthorne’s tummy is upset.. It is because he is sh*tting himself.. Perfectly understandable, those hills are scary.. But at least we know he has big n*ts.. What with coming from racing big bikes so Jas will be loving the downhills..

    Daisy, I hope the legs are fresh and you have not hit China Town in Stavelot yet…

    Carpe Diem fellas, carpe diem..

  9. Stick with the Euros and don’t get discouraged – they will go early and very hard just to get rid of all the pretenders. It will ease up a bit till the finale, then stay on the back of the Italians (they will be riding as a team).

    Good luck.

  12. Good luck guys!
    We know it will be tough but give it your best! We are proud of you and can’t wait to hear how it all goes.
    Davin & Carla.

  13. Gents….remember what they say (whoever they were) …..”to finish first, you first have to finish..” So calm the nerves…avoid the carnage….conserve your energy…then attack..attack…attack….!!!

    Best of luck and enjoy the day……!!!!

    Dale

  16. Thanks for the support everyone. We’ll do our best tomorrow. I know my technical descent riding will not be good enough to stay with the top Europeans, but one can only try. You really need to practise that skill regularly i. e. since birth. No wonder a local by the name of Gilbert is doing well.

    At least it was a fine warm day today and there is only a moderate chance of a shower or two tomorrow. Enjoy the Hills ride.

  17. well done mr bonner. 12th in the category and only 5 min behind

    Pos Team # Name Time Gap Cat Pos Cat
    32. AUS 442 MICHAEL Bonner – 3:15:34 +5:31 12 M50

  19. In the pouring rain too. 32 was the number of ambulances called; crashes everywhere. Happy but frustrated as was only a minute down at the top of the Col du Rosier after 85 kms, but had to let the 2nd bunch go again on the descent and ride the last 25 km by myself. Legs and lungs felt great the whole day. Reasonable average too.
    Ainsy had some bad luck when his wheel was taken out and he chuted on the first climb. He kept going with damaged bike and wobbly wheel. Jason worked steadily given his illness and came through on the second lap to finish 52nd in his category I think. The boys are off to Amsterdam tomorrow while I’ll be back at school on Wednesday. Cheers.

  21. well done Mike, we bumped into your better half ar the hockey stadium – she said it’s not often you used the term ‘frightening’ to describe descents…i can only imagine what it must have been like…look forward to hearing a few war stories when you get back.

  22. I did a table pull from the UCI results for all the Aussies.. well done in the long race Jason & Chris – looking at the average speeds, I can’t imagine how tough it was:

    The columns are:
    i. Country
    ii. Age Group
    iii. Ranking
    iv. Race #
    v. Name
    vi. Average Speed km/h
    vii. Time behind outright winner

    AUS M30 14 110 SHANNON Johnson 34.534 +8:55
    AUS M30 40 101 PAYNE Steven 32.005 +23:36
    AUS M30 41 60 ADAM Feilding 31.896 +24:17
    AUS M35 23 169 MATT Dec 33.84 +12:44
    AUS M35 30 192 TIM Dalgliesh 33.203 +16:22
    AUS M35 39 178 PAUL Speyers 31.836 +24:40
    AUS M35 42 185 ROBERT Hensby 31.465 +27:03
    AUS M35 52 155 JASON Cawthorne 30.989 +30:11
    AUS M35 53 138 CHRISTOPHER Ainsworth 29.135 +43:22
    AUS M40 23 230 GARY Jones 33.14 +16:44
    AUS M40 32 218 CHRIS Roberts 32.104 +22:59
    AUS M40 54 283 RICHARD Kelly 30.276 +35:04

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