By Toby

For the second week in a row SPR enjoyed a good turnout at the crits.  This week the race was around the WA Newspaper building in Herdsman.  The course is quite long for a crit, being around 2.5km, and is dead flat.  It was pretty  warm today and the wind was blowing across the circuit which meant crosswinds the whole way.

We had two riders in A-grade Matty U and Ryan.  Paul O had a day off which meant no SPR in B-grade.  C-grade was choc-full of Rouleur goodness though with Josh, Jason, Lisa, Gregor, Matt W, Dave and myself lining up.

Straight from the start three NDCC riders attacked and went off the front.  Seems these guys will try about anything to get off the front.  They were brought back in pretty quickly, with a fair bit of work being done by Jason on the front.

Shortly after this there was a move that went off the front with two riders getting a small break.  One of them was the NDCC senior guys.  Again SPR was forced to bring it under control and again Jason did the work on the front with some help from Josh and Matt.

The field was split in two now and stayed split for a good 2-3 laps. 

About halfway through the race Dave came up to the front and rode a good pace for quite a while.  All of a sudden a solo attack went off down the right hand side of the road on the back straight. As he went past the front of the pack someone called out “Let him go, he’s only one guy”.  For some reason we all seemed to agree – although I was thinking “yeah he’s only one guy, but he bloody huge!”

He had a 20 second gap after half a lap and it seemed to stretch out from there.  We were past by A-grade and I think this helped the breakaway get further away as our pack eased up to let the big boys past.

Nobody wanted to help SPR chase down the break.  A called out to the NDCC guys that they needed to get on the front if they wanted the win because we weren’t going to do everything.  At this point Gregor, Josh, Jason and Matt W were pretty much doing all the work.  Gregor did about 2 laps on the front b himself at one point. I was getting a bit frustrated that we were being left to do the pulling so I had a crack to get off the front.  The plan wasn’t really to stay away, but I figured it might help get some more people on the front as they couldn’t expect SPR to chase if we had someone up the road.  I didn’t last long off the front, but I think I stirred it up a bit.  A couple more guys moved up the front including the JCC guy and a few others.  After this I went to rest in the pack for a while.

The solo break managed to stay away, and it became pretty clear a couple of laps out that he was going to win.  We all started to organize ourselves for the bunch sprint.

With one lap to go Matt W came whizzing up my outside.  I followed him up and got a bit closer to the front.  Josh and Jason went through the final corner about 4 or 5 wheels back and I switched onto Jason’s wheel.  Josh and Jason went to the right coming out of the last corner.  I got lost in the middle of the pack somewhere and was surrounded by NDCC crew.  Josh and Jason faded as the sprint started kicking.  I decided to go for it and weaved my way through the middle of the pack.  I thought I was going to run out of room for a second, but stomped the pedals and found some space.  We went a bit earlier than I wanted because it was a head wind, but at this point I was committed so I put my head down and went for it.  When I looked up I had cleared out pretty well and had time to give the SPR tent a little salute as I crossed the line.  Matt W got up to 5^th and got himself in the money too.

So 2^nd Toby, 5^th Matt W.

In A-grade Ryan got home for 7^th and Matty was only a few seconds back in the next group.  I will let them fill in the gaps for what looked like a pretty tough ride.

All in all another good day.  We had the SPR tent up today which was awesome.  It seems to bring everyone together which is nice – and we managed to get it right on the finish line which made for good viewing.

NDCC’s next crit is in march I think.  There are some MFCC ones coming up, and the Australia day race too.  Thanks to everyone for coming out and also again to Jonathan for the photos!

Sorry for the duplicate photos – I’m still learning how to drive this thing!

SPR had a fantastic turnout last weekend at the crit in Wangara. All up we had about 15 SPR riders out there flying the club colours. There is another crit being held this Sunday – it would be great to see a similar turnout this weekend. Might seem like a lot of racing, and I’m sure there will be some of you who would prefer the long ride over the hills, but keep in mind Pete’s last post and the importance of supporting these local events.  Further more next Sunday is forecast to be a really hot day so a short blast in the morning might be a better option anyway!

Plus it would be awesome to see SPR repeat last weeks success!

So for those of us who aren’t jetting over to the see the start of the TDU here are the details:

NDCC Criterium

Location: WA Newspapers, Hasler Road, Herdsman

Map

Cost: Noms are $15, day license is $33 if required.

Time : A – 8:00; B & C – 8:45 (maybe earlier)

Its a longer course compared to last week and looks a bit flatter too.  If it looks like we have enough numbers I can take the tent out for some shade.

See you there!

Toby

By Toby

The South Perth Rouleurs were out in force today!  The NDCC hosted the crit on Innovation Drive in Wangara on a day where the conditions were close to ideal for racing – slightly overcast and not too hot.

The days proceedings started with B-grade at 8:00am.  Paul O and Lisa lined up among a pretty strong field.  I will leave those guys to fill in the race details but there were definitely a couple of events that stood out from a spectators point of view.  Firstly, Lisa found the going a little hot and decided to come and join the majority of the SPR crew in C-grade.  Secondly there was a rather nasty crash in the home straight on the last lap.  No ambulances were called thankfully, but the sight of wheels flying 25m in the air was pretty spectacular.  Finally, Paul finished safe in the leading bunch – which was a relief  to see him escape the carnage.

The C-grade squad lined up next and there was an almighty display of green SPR kit on the front of the grid.  Among those who started was Julian, Jason, Josh, Mino, Dan, Todd, Dave, Matt, Lisa and myself. (Apologies at this point if I have missed someone/misspelled a name etc).  There was a slight drama just before we rolled out as Josh blew a tyre on the warm-up lap.  Luckily Jason doesn’t go anywhere without multiple bikes and offered up his spare.  The race started as expected – with a gradual increasing of the pace for the first lap or two.  A couple of guys tried going off early.  Lisa put in the first SPR effort and wheeled in a lone ranger in the early stages of proceedings.  It wasn’t long before the NDCC young guns started trying to get off the front.  Within quick succession two of them were disappearing into the distance.  Josh called for some SPR muscle of the front and Dan, Julian, Josh and myself did some work on the front to keep the escapees a manageable distance up the road.  The time quickly ticked down and before I knew it we were approaching the final stages of the race.  As the pace quickened the escapees were quickly reigned in.  With two laps to go it was clear that it was coming down to a sprint finish.  Josh, Jason and Julian positioned well at the front of the pack for the last lap.  Unfortunately Dan and I got a bit mixed up and drifted about 15 bikes back through the second to last corner.  We punched it down the outside of the side straight but couldn’t make up many positions.  Triple J hit the final corner pretty hard and motored up the final straight.  Julian got a good lead out from one of the seasoned riders in the bunch.  Dan faded and swang out of my way and Jason keep powering down the inside.  About 400m out from the finish Josh pulled off to the side – apparently the loan bike wasn’t quite up to the sprint.  Julian managed to get up for the win, Jason claimed fourth and I came through about 10th.  Three SPR guys in the top 10 was pretty awesome to see.  Special mentions for Dave and Mino who both finished strongly and are starting to find some form.

A-grade was up next and SPR was represented by Matt U and Nico.  Graham Brown decided to front up for some training in the Rabobank colours.  The field was split into about 3 groups.  Our boys didn’t make the break into the leading group and were split into the two different chase groups.  I will let them fill in the details, but it did look pretty fast from the sidelines.   Matt U looked like he finished pretty strongly but just missed out on the money.  The smart money was on Brown for the win, and despite needing a wheel change in the middle of the race he took line honours pretty comfortably. But – we do have photographic evidence of him hurting (guilty pleasure seeing a pro working for his prize money!)

Thanks to Lisa and Julian for bringing spare jerseys – I sure they were all returned (or will be returned washed shortly).  Also thanks to Josh for bringing the cold drinks and homemade muffins for post-race carbs.  Good day had by all.

Quick thanks as well to my mate Jonathan who took the photos for the club.

By Toby

The Northern District Cycling Club is holding a crit this Sunday.  I took part in the last one before Christmas, and thought it was a well run event and definitely worth the effort.  It was a shame that I was the only one flying the SPR colours on the day – so I thought I’d invite some more people to take up the challenge this weekend.

There will be three grades running with the following race durations:

A-grade : 50mins + 2 laps

B-grade : 40mins + 2 laps

C-grade : 30mins + 2 laps

I managed to place 3rd in C-grade last time, and Dave S (@madrapper) has also picked up a third place in the past – that might help you gauge what grade to enter.

Details

Location: Innovation Circuit, Wangara

Date: Sunday 10th January

Time: B-grade starts at 8:00am, A&C-grades start at 8:45am.

Cost: Noms are $15 and day licenses are available for $20 on the day.

Map:

http://maps.google.com.au/maps?ie=UTF8&q=innovation+circuit+wangara&hq=&hnear=Innovation+Circuit,+Wangara+Western+Australia+6065&z=16

Here are some crit racing tips from the pros:

http://www.cycling-inform.com/articles/19/1/Four-Pro-tips-for-winning-Criterium-Races/Page1.html