ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Monday 24th September, 2018

Hello Vets,

In this week’s Bleat;

• From the Desk of the President
• Fence for Stromlo Criterium Track – update
• Vets out and about
• Indoor Training
• Narrabundah Track Practice Session
• Racing this Week

Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton

From the Desk of the President

Dear all,

Another Winter Season racing has wrapped up. Between the 7th of April and 22nd of September the ACT Vets put on 25 races, including the Gunning 2 day (which was really 3 races in 1 event) and the Breadalbane mini tour (2 races in 1 event). These races ranged from Cooma in the south to Dalton, about 75km North of Canberra- a span of almost 200 Km. Dedicated club members were there to ensure the races went smoothly. A total of 724 members attended these races, however the average race had only 33 members, something I’d like to improve next Winter race season.

From my perspective, numbers in B C and D grades were reasonable, and indeed sometimes excellent, but other grades need to come out and play! The race committee searches high and low for good venues and I was really happy that we added two extra venues this year to our usual race program, Cooma and Sutton driver training centre. I was heartened to see that 58 riders were out at Sutton given the huge amount of extra work this venue required from the Race Committee. Racing there got great reviews! The next best attended event was the Gunning two day, which, given the work that goes into the event, was a great turn out.

Thanks to all those that turned out to races. A special thanks to Volunteers such as the seemingly ever present Graham Hendrie and others that put their hands up for race director such as, Mark Harris, Paul Scherl, Mark Taylor, Linda Stals, Brian Holloway, Brian Holloway, Paul Robey, Bill Frost, Peter Taylor, Simon Junakovic, Simon Milnes, Roger Northcote, Rohan Verco, Steve Dean, John Ignatius, Ben Davis, Ian Morton and Alain Arbaut. If I’ve misplaced anyone please forgive me!

I’m very proud that the ACT Vets, is, to my knowledge, the only ACT cycling club that races weekly (with some exceptions) in winter and races over so many venues. A special thanks to the race committee for putting such a great winter race program together.

Regards,

Dougal Torrance
President
ACT Veterans Cycling Club

Fence for Stromlo Criterium Track – update

ABC News ran the story on kangaroo collisions with cyclist on Sunday featuring Club Vice President Ian McVay making the case for a kangaroo fence at Stromlo. There were also interviews with other cyclists including Steve Crispin about their experiences with kangaroos.

There is also a story on the ABC website: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-23/kangaroo-cyclist-collisions-on-the-rise-in-canberra/10292708?WT.ac=localnews_canberra

Vets out and about

Congratulations to club legend Mark Taylor on winning the M8 criterium at the NSW Master’s road champs.

Indoor Training

The last indoor training session for this winter is on Tuesday 25th September. The session starts at 6:30 and runs for about an hour. It will be a mixed session focussing on neuromuscular power.

Training is in the hall at the Weston Community Centre. Enter from Hilder St Weston and veer to the right to find the lower car park. The hall is adjacent and opens at 6:00pm. The session is $10 and you must be a club member.

Bruce Griffin

NARRABUNDAH TRACK PRACTICE SESSION
WEDNESDAY 3 OCTOBER 6.00 PM
ALL WELCOME – DONT MISS IT !!

Daylight saving will soon be with us, and that means VETS TRACK RACING!!!!!

The track racing season will kick off with a Practice Session starting at 6.00pm on Wednesday 3 October. There will be no racing. All interested riders are invited – particularly new riders and track novices. It is a great opportunity to give track a try!

Please note that Narrabundah Track is a high-banked, oval track suitable only for conventional fixed gear track bikes with a high bottom bracket. We are unable to accommodate road bikes on this track.

Note:
+ Narrabundah track is located off Goyder Street in Narrabundah;
+ We welcome riders to try a high-banked track for the first time;
+ New riders can get practical advice on gearing, bunch riding & track etiquette;
+ Interested riders can try out a track bike (bring your own pedals and shoes);
+ Experienced riders can tune up the machinery & motor;
+ All riders can express their preference for events & races;
+ The practice session will be around 1hr 30 mins starting at 6.00pm;
+ There is no formal structure to the practice. We can assist with introductory training, if requested;
+ You can do your own thing, if you prefer.

A few basics on track etiquette for the practice session:
+ Use the designated track positions for cruising, tempo or fast pacing;
(The faster you ride the higher you should be positioned on track. Overtake outside other riders)
+ Hold your line – don’t make changes of speed or position unless you are clear of other riders;
+ Be very careful if you are crossing or moving on / off the track.
(It is your responsibility not to impede other riders in this situation);
+ Start from the fence and be aware of riders approaching;
+ It is best to wear clear or light tinted goggles;
(the shaded portions of track have very low visibility with regular sunnies);
+ All riders will need to be cautious, as there will be novice riders at the practice session.

Regular track racing will start on Wednesday 10 October.

Last year was a great season and we had a dedicated bunch, with 38 riders participating over the season. However, why should they have all the fun. If you have thought about it, come a give it a try, as we would like to have at least another ten regulars.

Graeme O’Neill

RACING THIS WEEK:

No scheduled race this weekend.

Upcoming Marshal Roster

Thank you to those who volunteered to help (noted below in black) at the races to September. The nominees (in blue) have been selected based on results from the previous summer race season and the period since they last helped at a race. Please advise your availability or unavailability to the race committee (race.committee@actvets.cc) as soon as possible.

We still require three race directors. Crit races are at Stromlo Forest Park on Tuesdays and road races are on Sunday mornings.

* denotes ETC required for ACT races.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo Criterium – 15th September

Would it be the windy conditions or the rain looming in the horizon? We had only six starters for E,F,G.

G grade: Bruce Jones did a good race against himself well done Bruce nice to see you there.

E grade : Thanks to Rob Tyson to have a try , it made things a bit more challenging for Ian Morton. We saw Ian working hard trying to drop Rob but Rob did hang there and won a very tight sprint.

F grade: had three riders Graham did a lot of work and finished it off with a decisive sprint to get the better of Nigel Wines and third David Witteveen.

A and C grades had few more riders.

A grade: as usual was fast and furious some riders tried to break away but the gap got closed every time. At some stage we thought Paul Scherl will be able to escape, the small bunch got well organized and closed the gap. Nevertheless Paul effort’s got rewarded by a fine win to beat Savell-boss second and Christophe Barberet third.

C grade: With five riders it was another small bunch. The bunch had few surge but mostly stayed together with Lopes Reis Felipe having a dig , and did well to win the sprint followed with Al Bonjter and James Curran.

B grade: It was a fast start from Mark Taylor taking off on the first lap, the bunch was not too worried to close the gap which eventually they did. With fifteen minutes remaining Collis Greg took off , not too sure if the bunch was asleep or Greg was too strong but the gap never got closed just got bigger , then after couple laps nobody got interested to chase all happy to fight for second. Greg won by half lap well done . the sprint was won by Conan Liu second and Ben McDuff a close third.

D grade: The bunch did roll around for a while happy to be together , a few surges now and then, but not much was happening until 12 minutes to the finish Steven Simms took off, a few seconds gap was allowed to get bigger every laps, Gillian Lugg and Des Brown tried to close the gap, on the side line we thought Steven will be caught but he kept at it and had a fine win followed by Lugg Gillian and Michael Golding third.

Many thanks to Jan Koehler, Jason McAvoy and Ian McVay to help setting up and marshalling the Crit.

Alain Arbaut