Tag Archives: race

national road championships – men’s road race part 01

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report by peter.

as i previously mentioned steve hedley was fronting up to the national road race today.  it was good as it gave me someone to look out for rather than just go euro-star spotting.  i turned up early and caught up with chevaun as she was looking for the support van for steve’s spare wheels.  turns out that he had not ridden the hill yet but had driven it twice the previous night.  sure, that will do.  chevaun and her family were setting up in the feedzone to support steve as the 160+ kms meant that he was going to need some food and the close to 40 degree day meant he would need lots of bottles.

i hung around the sign in area and did some star spotting with a older couple also from perth.  pam used to race in victoria about 35 years ago but now lived in mandurah.  i told her about the club and said she should look us up as she mentioned that she wanted to start riding and racing again.  they were off to the tour down under after this and knew all the pro riders.  steve was almost last to sign in but made it to the line on time.  pretty soon they were off on 16 laps of the 10.2km circuit.

i wandered up the first hill to the feedzone and hung out with chevaun, her parents and sister for a while, before making the trek to the top of the king of the mountain climb.  i sat with some guys from the sunbury club for a few laps and watched the peloton swing past.  there was a breakaway from lap 2 and it was increasing each lap till it got to about a 7 min advantage.  with each lap only taking 15 min, it was hanging out there for quite a while.  the main peloton didn’t seem to want to chase down at all as i think they thought it wouldn’t last with the conditions the way they were. 

steve was sitting pretty in the main peloton along with all the euro-stars (rodgers, davis a, davis s, goss, meyer c, bobridge, cooke, wilson, lowe) and looked very comfortable on the climbs.  for the majority he was sitting at the front quarter of the the pack staying out of trouble. 

it was a long way from the top of the mountain to the finishline and i didn’t want to miss the finish so i left with about 5 laps to go.  on the way down, i watched the peloton go past again and didn’t see steve.  not to worry, it is easy to miss someone when there are that many riders in a group.  as the support cars went past, i saw him just off the back of the main pack and chasing to get on.  i didn’t know what had happened so made my way back to the feed zone.  there i found out that he had a mishap with a bottle and feedbag which caused him to crash on the previous lap.  it was pretty low speed so not much damage, but enough to knock the wind out of him and make it hard to catch back on to the pack.

chevaun was pretty upset about it as she thought that she caused the crash, but i think it was just one of those things.  steve came past another couple of times and managed to get aboard with a few other guys, but the peleton started to make stronger accelerations.  they were getting desperate as the break had not been pulled back in and it looked like the winner would be coming from the original 8 man which was now whittled down to 4. 

steve lasted till about 3 laps to go before deciding to call it a day.  he was riding strong but was not sure if he could have stayed with the likes of rodgers etc when the move went.  a sub-group had formed with the davis boys in and he thought that he may have been able to stick with them till the end.  however, it was not to be but it showed a very promising start to 2010 especially after his back surgery last year.

we made our way down to the finishline where steve got his injuries tended to at the medical tent.  the loudspeaker announced that the breakaway had indeed stayed away and the younger of the meyer boys, travis, had attacked the others and was now clear of the field.  with steve patched up we made our way to the line to see travis cross as the new australian road champion, to match his brothers tt championship on wednesday.

national road championships – road race

the women’s road race was damn hot today.  predicted max of 35 degrees was seen and past on the way to closer to 40 deg.  it took it’s toll early with about a 1/3 of the field pulling out after about 3 laps.  we had a few south perth girls taking part so here are the pics. 

tomorrow is men’s road race and steve hedley is having a crack against the likes of michael rodgers and co.  will get a few pics up tomorrow night.

peter

national road championships – time trial

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on the back of the bay crits are the national road championships.  so i have pretty much had a full week of cycling without actually turning a pedal.  a bunch of the perth girls were in the time trial where josie took out the under 23 division.

peter

jayco bay cycling classic – part 02

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some of the other (non-spr) stars of cycling were also out at the bay crits.  managed to get up close and personal with a few of them (well via the lens).  peter

jayco bay cycling classic – part 01

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the bay crits were on down in geelong this week and there were a few of the spr regulars that participated in the women’s event.  i was lucky enough to be around to watch a few of the races. 

peter

“Hell of the North” B Grade

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“Hell of the North” B Grade
by Gregor

Long overdue an outing in a proper road race, I finally signed up for my first one in this years Joondalup classic (previous commitments to mountain biking, beer, pizza and such have hampered my road racing career to date).

Having never entered such a race before, I wasn’t entirely sure which grade I should be signing up for. I sought advice from El Presidente on the matter, and on Pete’s recommendation, rightly or wrongly signed up for B grade.

I figured I should show up nice and early, got parked pretty close to the start/finish line and bumped into some of the other SPR B grade riders, Ben (thanks for the coffee), Jarrad and the Judd. Went through the motions of registering, giving the bike a once over, and hooking up the timing device. By the time I wandered over to the SPR tent, the support crew were setting up shop.

I kitted up, hydrated, warmed up by riding a few km’s on the last few turns of the race course (though warming up seemed somewhat unnecessary as I was already perspiring sitting under the shade of the SPR tent). After a brief discussion with Paul O, decided my saddle bag and pump were unnecessary weight and shed them from my bike. Then there were some discussions regarding feed zones, the net result of which was that we would be able to collect additional bottles as we passed through the start/finish area. I figured the support crew would have their work cut out with the number of SPR riders in the various grades, and having never collected a bottle at speed before I didn’t fancy my chances of actually being able to collect one… I had two bottles on the bike and stuffed a third one in my jersey.

All too soon we were lining up at the start line, and shortly thereafter we were off. The first obstacle occurred within the first 100m of the start line, a Garmin Edge bouncing down the middle of the road, I think Jarrad said he actually hit it. Right from the start, the tempo was pretty quick, and I realised I was going to have my work cut out for me. With not much more of a plan than taking it as easy as possible for the first couple of laps, and then hoping to still have something left in the tank by the third and fourth laps, I sat in probably the back 1/3 of the group for the first couple of laps. From where I was, the first couple of laps were fairly uneventful.

Being toward the derriere of the peleton, I’m not entirely sure when the Échappée first formed, and what the reactions were from the front end of the group. I’ll have to ask others who were closer to the action, to tell how they saw it. But as far as I know, Ben made it into the breakaway. All I knew at the time, was that chasing breakaways was not the order of the day for me, and I was content to sit at the back, take it easy as possible and keep up with the surges as they happened.

Into the third lap, the main group was starting to stretch out a bit and gaps were beginning to form, I decided that if I was going to stick with the first group of poursuivants, I’d have to move up. Certainly there were a couple of moments that stretched the main field. It’s hard to know just exactly who dropped out when, as looking back really isn’t an option, when you are trying to keep up with the guys in front.

There was one moment, when there was a surge from the front end of the main field that a guy in front of me didn’t follow, and as I hesitated to come around his wheel, a gap appeared. Quickly the gap opened up to 10-15 meters or so, and I wasn’t sure I needed to be putting in the effort to close it at that time. I was hoping there was enough support coming from behind me to help close it. Help came in the form of Tim H, who shouted some words of encouragement as he came around and powered across the gap, I jumped on his wheel and was able (thanks entirely to Tim) to make it back. Glancing back, I don’t think many others were able to follow Tim’s lead.

I think it was on the third lap, there was another significant moment that shed a few weak gazelle’s from the group. Heading north on the backside of the course, there was a pretty strong crosswind hitting us from the west. An echelon formed across the entire width of the road, and I was in the right spot to be one of the last riders to get on the right side of the echelon. As I got into position onto the far right side of the road, I glanced back over my left shoulder, to see what appeared to be a number of riders drop out of the group as they ended up on the wrong side of the draft.

Riding through the bell on the start of the our final lap, I was riding alongside Jarrad, who had been counting on collecting a bottle from the feed zone. Unfortunately for him (and not for the first time), he was unable to collect his bottle. Checking on my own reserves, I still had a bottle and a half, so offered up my half bottle to Jarrad for his last lap.

About midway through the last lap, the chasing group was down to something like 10 riders or so. When it’s that small, all are obliged to do your turns on the front. I was 2nd wheel, and after putting in a decent effort (albeit only in 2nd wheel), I decided I needed to drop back before I popped. In attempting to do so, I slowly dropped off the first guys wheel and tried to ease back down the left hand side, assuming others behind would fill the gap. The guy behind me seemingly, didn’t want to lose my draft, and putting a hand on my rear quarter, pushed me back up to the guys wheel. Eventually I was able to ease off the front and  as I headed to the back, Jerard asked me if I was doing OK, I told him I was fine, I just didn’t need to be on the front for any longer. When I initially had planned to drop off the front, I had felt that the guy on the front (as well as myself) had earned our right to drop off, not sure why the fella on front didn’t choose to drop off with me, as some time later when he did eventually pull off, he went straight out the back door to no mans land.

The last few km’s were pretty uneventful and the pace probably dropped back a little, for the inevitable dash for the line. Coming round the last couple of bends I was close to the front of the group, and as we got inside 500m to the line, noone had made a move. I didn’t fancy my chances in the sprint, so figured I might as well contribute to the show and led it out, sure enough (in-spite of the SPR supports best cheers), as I got within 100m or so of the finish most of the guys behind me came around and passed me.

All in, I was very happy with my outing and I accomplished pretty much what I had set out to do (1. Finish 2. Don’t fall off).

Big thanks to the support crew, for the cold towel, coke and the brownies! And congrats to all the participants. Great to see so many SPR jerseys out there.

Unfortunately there seems to be some discrepancies in the results, perhaps some teething problems with the new system. For one Jerard finished ahead of me and oddly there are a number of instances of duplicate riders appearing in the results. Removing the duplicates, puts me in somewhere like 13th spot. Though that likely isn’t accurate as per some known inaccuracies. Still, no point worrying about it, as it’s all just a bit of fun, right?

Stats:
Distance: 82km
Heart Rate: Avg 169bpm, Max 201bpm
Speed: Avg 37.48 km/h, Max 66.7km/h

spr - pre race
spr - pre race

C Grade Hell of the North…

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..or, “it’s a bit warm isn’t it”

Chucks Version

Having not raced all year it was time to get out and have a go. So I nominated for C grade and hoped my minimal training would mean I could at least stay with the bunch for a finish. I was very surprised and pleased to hear that we would have 10 or 12 guys/gals in the C grade race and good representation in the other grades as well.

After packing the previous night in order that I didn’t forget anything I was 5km down the road when I realized I didn’t have my shoes! Those that know me will know this isn’t the first time, perhaps I should have actually used the checklist in the race pack. Next time I’ll probably remember my shoes but forget everything else.

I caught most of the guys & gals for a pre-race brief, sorry to those I missed. The main point being don’t chase breaks if we have people in them.

From the gun things went off rather steadily, I settled in the front third of the bunch and noticed Stu near the front also. Once the legs were warmed up Stu lit the pace up with the assistance of a couple of others and things stayed pretty well strung out for a while. Soon enough we caught the Elite Women and I think as we passed them the bunch got pretty well split up.

The pace remained pretty quick for the remainder of this first lap, things started getting interesting on the second. I held my position about 8th wheel not feeling strong enough to get on the front at all but wanting to remain near the action. Soon enough there were a few attacks, Stu did a great job covering them and a few of the other SPR guys decided to move up at this stage as well. Smart riding from Matt and Jason saw them in the right place at the right time when they, along with Stu got a small break on the bunch with 3 or 4 others. A little coaching had the remainder of our guys control themselves, sit in and let the break stretch the elastic band. Thankfully the Barista boys had a guy up the road also so they weren’t interested in chasing either.

This break stayed away and I will leave it to Jason, Matt or Stu to tell the tale. Suffice to say I got an easy ride from there on in, particularly the last lap which was almost at a social pace until the final flurry to the line.

A happy return to racing for me, no accidents for our club, some prize money for our members and a great event put on by the NDCC.

Well done to all who participated and a big thanks to the support group in the tent cheering us on, it is amazing

what a difference it makes having people cheer you on. 

 

Results can be found here

c grade crew
c grade crew

Joondalup City Classic – The Cyclemania Classic

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team spr at the 2008 joondalup classic
team spr at the 2008 joondalup classic

the last race of the cycling wa calendar is almost upon us and this is the event that last year made us consider becoming a club.  after an average of about 6 spr riders attending races through 2008 the joodalup classic had us field close to 15 riders.  from that we have certainly moved forward and regularly have a decent turn out at events this year.  lets finish the race year on a positive note and aim for a massive spr presence.  last years race report by jerry can be found here and stuart’s not so good race report here.

the course has changed this year and it is a longer circuit at just over 20kms.  “a” grade men do 102.5km while “a” grade women and “b” grade men do 82kms (separately).  this event will also have a 61.5km women’s support race and a “c” grade men’s race.  this is a great opportunity for you to have a go at racing if you are interested.  all you will need is a recreational licence as a minimum and then you can get a day licence.  if you need more info about your requirements send me an email.

other information such as a event flyer, map and online registration can be found in these links.

entries must be in by tuesday 1st december at 7:30pm.  don’t be late and don’t wait till tuesday.

joondalup classic course profile
joondalup classic course profile

i managed to get out in the car last weekend as the boys wouldn’t sleep in the afternoon so took the trip up to see the new course.  it took close to an hour to get there from como but it is relatively easy to find as you just keep going north past the end of the freeway.  anyway, i drove the circuit with the gps on the dashboard to get an idea of the terrain.  don’t let the flyer fool you as there is nothing that even resembles any paris-roubaix type roads.  just your standard rough country roads.  don’t let the profile fool you either.  the course is not really that hilly as the total elevation gained over the “big” hill is only 50m.

add your name to the comments and we will send out a race pack next week.  we will be pitching our tent at the event and the parking area has the race pass by every lap so it is relatively spectator friendly.

 

 

 

 

start/finish line - note wide road and plenty of parking
start/finish line - note wide road and plenty of parking
southern straight 8km mark - halfway up the hill on the profile
southern straight 8km mark - halfway up the hill on the profile

Golden Spokes Men’s Support Race

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Golden Spokes – The B team race report by Judd

Or: Where has my sprint gone?

 

This was my first race in a while so I was nervous for a full week beforehand. Rather than try to make up for months of not training in the last few days I was determined to try a new race approach, recovering for a full week in the lead up after a few weeks of heavy training. This unusual procedure has lead to a mild state of panic and self doubt: I feel flat, I have not done enough, I am going to get spat out for being lazy, this is going to be so embarrassing and so forth and so forth. I start researching UCI Cycling rules to find out if I can use aero wheels, engines or kite surfing parachutes. I am willing take any advantage I can get. Unfortunately it seems I have to resign myself to my training wheels.

5am race day: Text from Nico saying he has had to cancel race as Jody has gone back to hospital after crashing the car (I have since heard Jody will be OK). Planned race day routine stuffed already. Panic continues. I know what will help, coffee!

Pack Bag, Pack Bike, Pack car. Car is full of every conceivable cycling tool/spare/clothing item known to man but still my brain keeps telling me I have forgotten something. Panic continues.

Arriving at Armadale it was good to see a reasonable crowd and that the weather was looking to be brilliant. Facilities here are great and the course is my favourite kind, flat with a short section of flat followed by a longer section of flat, an occassional corner. Fantastic!

A few early arrivals meant that SPCC base camp was set up early and the green swarm began to gather. A race so close to home seems to have helped the numbers, we were going to have a good showing in Mens A & B and the Ladies. Knowledge and strategies were imparted on the inexperienced (mostly Matt telling me not to follow my original plan because everyone is thinking the same thing). Great, now the panic is really building. I start to wonder if five trips to the gents in half an hour is a sign of a larger health concern.

A few of the non-racing types (excuses detailed later) were off to help set up. The rest of us took off for our short warm up before the early start. I did a quick lap of the course to confirm the exact nature of the course. Flat with a few tight corners, I start planning the run home.

I get to the start line, There is a good sized field for the A grade and it looked like the whole of B grade was SPCC. Well not quite but of maybe a field of 40 we had almost a quarter. In attendance we have Pete, Mr B, Jarrad, Dropped in Dalkieth (name soon to be revised), Daniel, Brettski, Bruce & Toby. All round a strong group, things are looking good. Group tactics began. I look around, lots of deep dish aero wheels…..I feel jealous/daft, suppress the need to hyperventilate and head off to the portaloo again. This is getting beyond a joke now.

After five or ten minutes of nervously sitting around we were informed that the roads had not quite been closed yet so start would be delayed another ten minutes. I start feeling need to visit the gents yet again but ignore this thinking that it must be nerves, it can’t be possible and will simply go away when we get underway.

The first lap is a neutral lap to allow reconnaisance of the course and a few troublesome corners.  Eight laps of 10km including the neutral lap.

It is at this point I should point out that my plan of attack is stay with the leaders but not do any work and try a breakaway at about 3 laps to go and then again at the 1km mark if that fails. For some reason my sprint has gone to poo lately and I decide that if I sit and wait I am simply handing the race over to everyone else. For the first 200m I listened to my new found friend from ADCC (eventual race/sprint winner) in the peleton tell me about all the sprint finishes and sprint races he has won lately including the World Masters.

Should have gone to the gents….

Neutral lap is very sedate. My only other experience of a neutral start was the freeway bike hike and that was anything but sedate. We come around for the first lap of racing and rather than an immediate attack the group does nothing. I decide that this is simply not acceptable as it will take an awfully long time to finish the race at 25km/hr and move to the front to start the pacing. We soon gather speed.

The next three laps of actual racing go past as a series of serious attacks that the bunch is not happy to let go. There develops a recurring theme of culprits and the pace rarely seems to come down below 45km/hr. The bunch seems to hold together although the attacks and the hairpin turn were taking their toll on the guys at the back and took some effort from the culprits as well. Mr Bonner, Dropped in Dalkieth and others all put in attacks which were closely guarded by the bunch, a sign that we are being taken seriously now. A couple of solo efforts were allowed to go but didn’t last.   Over the next one or two laps the pace settles down and becomes a steady pace with a few half hearted attacks, it seems the initial rush of adrenaline is done and everyone is setting up camp for the sprint home.

With four laps to go I start considering if I should attack sooner than planned but resolve that I simply don’t have the legs to go forty K’s at 45km/hr. I decide to stick with the plan and attack before the hairpin with three to go. I am hoping for an attack to go which I can launch from. I am assuming that the culprits will come as well but at least we may get a small group away from the bunch. I have a chat to Pete and go to the back of the bunch to fetch Jarrad who has been sitting quietly in the pack. Although I am sure I said come to the front and sit in I started to wonder if I said “come to the front and smash the s@#t out of everyone”. A couple of surges later I conveyed the concept of energy conservation. In a very short period of time I think we will all be chasing him a bit more often!!

On the last run into the hairpin before my planned attack there are no surges or attacks, I knew this is not good but cross fingers that the group needs a lap or two to recover and there is still hope of launching from an attack on the next lap. I am so busy considering the options I almost run over the poor bugger on the front who went down on the hairpin. It was an odd crash at low speed which looked like he tried to turn in too sharply and locked the front wheel. Anway, I didn’t run him over and listened to him cursing himself. I am pretty sure he got back on and finished.

Coming around to the hairpin with three laps to go there were still no attacks, bugger. I am feeling unsure but resolve to stick to the plan. About 100m out of the hairpin I attack passing some of the culprits on the way which I was sure would get attention, when I turned around at the hair pin I realised I was on my own and started to think I am going to have to do this alone which is not part of the plan. Anyway I bury myself for 500m and realise I haven’t made a lot of ground on the group and this is a failing exercise, I sit up and rejoin the group. Being somewhat embarrassed by the lack of execution to plan, I proceed to waste a lot of energy pushing attacks off the front with Jarrad. They all get marked.

About this time one of the culprits from Glen Parker sits in next to me after my last useless waste of energy and says something like, I am not going to let you get way. My head was pounding and I wasn’t exactly sure what he had said but asked “Why? Do you want a sprint?” GP replied “It’s not for me” and asked how much I want it. The only reasonable answer I could think of was “I want it more”. It was at this point I am pretty sure GP said something Like “I bet you fifty bucks……the Golden Spokes and you can post that on the blog”. Now I wasn’t actually sure what the middle of the sentence was and what I was being challenged to do. Anyway I was reasonably sure I was being goaded into being silly so I didn’t respond and put it out of my mind. I probably lost whatever the bet was anyway but here it is, posted on the blog anyway.

With most of the group still together there were no more attacks until the last lap. Pete got in first as soon as we crossed the line for the last lap. Soon after came Dropped in Dalkieth (name has to be revised to something short) and a whole series of attacks but no-one was really trying to get away. It was more like last lap nerves and the pace kept rising as everyone tried to secure their launch position for the finish. After the hairpin the pace really picked up, I had a good position sitting in around 4th or 5th wheel, Jarrad was just behind but unnervingly all of the culprits were present. Two McMurdo guys went to the front looking to secure a position and got held out there with the group refusing to come around. I started to get boxed in as the group gathered up behind.

I decided to leave the run a little later but go at the roundabout at the entry to the venue and try to get into the finishing turns in front, hoping it will be hard for the sprinters to get up and chase while turning. So as we come up to the roundabout a gap opens up on the inside and with track running out I decided to go for it. I yelled “inside” at the poor bugger on the front (who must of crapped himself because I was only 3ft away) and took off. This surprised everyone (possibly for it’s stupidity) and I quickly opened up a gap. Under full power while turning through the roundabout I decided it was time to change gears (just seemed like a good idea at the time). There was a short slip on the crank, the bike seemed to jump into the air and there was an almighty bang as the rear wheel came back down earth about a foot from where it started. I paused, looked down to see if I still had a rear wheel and then started pushing again. Jarrad tells me it looked quite spectacular from behind. Not something I plan on doing again though.

I pushed into the corner off the straight and started running out of steam. I had maybe 20m on the Riders Choice guy and 40m on the group. With 250m to go speed started dropping, the sprinters wear baring down and my goose was cooked. I cursed my ego for pushing the surges after the failed breakaway. I sat up and started my warm down while the group swarmed past. My only consolation was that the Riders Choice guy did the same 20m after passing me. Maybe he thought I would be a better lead out?

So as it turns out all was not lost, Daniel managed to pull in fifth which is an awesome result given the big pack of sprinters who were in the mix at the end.

A couple of quiet moments were held in the SPR camp after the race to reconsider our efforts. A lot of planning went on here that might have been better placed before the race but so be it.

I didn’t win, had fun and will be doing it all again soon.  

Spud.