ACT Veterans Weekly Bleat, Monday 22nd October, 2018

Hello Vets,

In this week’s Bleat;

• Vale John Harvey
• Australian Paralympic Committee Talent Search
• Tandem Cycling Come and Try
• From the Desk of the Handicapper
• Additional Event Traffic Controller course for 2018
• Racing this Week
• Race Reports

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

Ian Morton

Vale John Harvey

I respectfully advise on behalf of John Harvey’s family that John passed away, peacefully, on 16 October 2018. John was a founding member and long-serving committee member of the ACTVCC. He and his wife Elaine owned and operated Canberra Cycles in Fyshwick for many years. John was also ahead of his time in instigating the Fitzs Challenge in the late 1980’s, well before such one-day events became popular. John ran and generously sponsored this event for many years until it grew too big for him and his merry band of helpers to manage and Pedal Power was encouraged to take it over. The Fitzs Challenge endures as one of Canberra’s premier cycling events. The funeral service for John will held at the Yass Railway Museum, 8 Crago St. Yass on Friday 26 October at 11am, followed by interment in Yass Lawn Cemetery.

Jan Koehler

Australian Paralympic Committee Talent Search 18th Nov

The Australian Paralympic Committee and our sporting partners are searching for the next generation of Paralympic athletes. If you believe you have the potential to compete at the Paralympic Games, please join us at our upcoming testing session in Bruce;

AIS Sport Halls
Leverrier St, Bruce
Sunday 18 November, 11am-3pm

Eligible disability types include but are not limited to:
– Impaired muscle power
– Short stature
– Ataxia, athetosis and hypertonia
– Limb deficiency and dysmelia
– Leg length difference
– Impaired passive range of motion
– Vision impairment
– Intellectual impairment

For more information: http://paralympic.org.au/talent-search-registration-form

Tandem Cycling Come and Try

Riding a bike is an inclusive activity – however it’s not always an activity everyone can be included in without some extra assistance, particularly if they have a visual impairment or another disability that means they can’t ride safely alone.

For this reason, we are always looking for new tandem pilots to ride with us.

On Saturday 10 November at the forecourt area of the National Museum of Australia (Lawson Crescent, Acton), between 2 and 4pm, Fitability will be holding a come and try tandem afternoon where people can go down and trial piloting a tandem bike!

This is a great opportunity for people to turn up and see if piloting a tandem is something they enjoy and volunteer to share with riders with vision impairment or other disabilities.

You can also speak with us about opportunities to ride tandem with a person with a disability, or accompany a person with a disability riding their single bike, as a paid casual job. This is becoming possible through the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) because people with a disability can use their NDIS funds to support their own recreational and social goals.

No matter what interest you have, whether it is road riding, social riding or even racing – if you are confident on your bike and open to trying a tandem then Fitability’s trial afternoon is for you.

The only thing you need to bring with you is your own helmet and a willingness to give something new a try.

More information about Fitability Tandem Riding, a Pedal Power program can be found at www.fitability.org.au

Contact: Lauren Brand on 0403 602 577 or email: lauren.brand@grapevine.com.au or Lindy Hou on 0402 113 836 or email: lindy@lindyhou.com.

From the Desk of the Handicapper (in London)

The changes this week;

Promotions
– Iver Lange D to C
– John Thorn D to C

Rob Langridge
Handicapper

Additional Event Traffic Controller course for 2018

An additional course for Event Traffic Controllers has been scheduled for 24 November. Details are available on Blended Learning’s web site: http://www.blendedlearning.edu.au/home/courses/programs-courses/event-traffic-controller/.

Members previously accredited as ATCs will need to do the updated training course to get ETC accreditation. Having enough controllers available in the club is critical to our ability to run races in the ACT and it is likely we will need to have ETCs for NSW races in the future.

Please register for a place ASAP as numbers are limited. Register directly with Blended Learning via email info@blendedlearning.edu.au or phone 6230 4633 and indicate you are from our club.

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 23rd October: Stromlo Criterium

Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
A/C @5:50 A 28m+2, C 25m+2
B/D @6:25 B 28m+2, D 25m+2
E/F/G @6:55 20 min + 2 laps

Race Director:  Peta Brill Contact: Email: purple_peet@hotmail.com    Ph  0416140528

Marshals: Christophe Barberet

Wednesday, 24th October: Track Racing

The Program for Wednesday is as follows;
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice;
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 8-lap graded scratch race;
6.20pm – 7.00pm: 2 Lap Handicap;
7.00pm – 7.10pm: Italian Pursuit.

Sunday, 28th October: No Scheduled Race due to Fitz’s Challenge

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.

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 – 16th October

There was quite a good turn out for this weeks criterium with 111 riders despite the dark and gloomy weather.

The first race of the night was B and D grade, with 25mins and 22 mins respectively. B grade circled around together with the bunch fairly well in tact until the final sprint, which was taken out by Mark Taylor with Club President Dougal Torrence in second place and Paul Ledbrook third.

D grade with the largest bunch of the night with 31 seemed fairly subdued as well although there were a few DNF’s so the wind and the pace must have had more inpact than was evident from the side of the course. Iver Lange was the winner, followed in by John Thorn and Mark Kitchen.

E,F and a lone G grade rider were next on. Belinda O’Connor time-trialed, missing Bernie and the other G graders, for 20mins to take out G grade.

In E grade there was a comfortable, stable break formed as the rest of the bunch broke to pieces, as did F troop, with single riders dotting the full length of the circuit.

Linda Staals executed a well timed sprint, perhaps calling on her track experince to take the win, pipping Tony Sheehan and David Gillies.

F Troop as mentioned came home individually, the winner was Helmut Zellar, with Adrian Priddin and Mike hayes 2nd and 3rd.

The Final races for the (fading) evening were A and C grades.

C grade rode around together with no attacks staying away. The result was a bunch sprint, won by John Marinov with Felipe Lopes Reis 2nd and Duane Toohey 3rd.

A grade was a more animated race with a break of three riders forming early. Ben Morrison bridged across from the bunch to make it four.

A little more than half way through the race, the break slowed up a bit and began looking at each other, perhaps feeling not everyone was contributing evenly? Because of this the steady, consistant, bunch came to within 30m of the break and it looked to be over.

Something stirred them up as the next time they came past they had pulled away to a few hundred metres again. Then with 2 Laps to go Rob Mclachlan, who I guess didn’t want to chance a sprint, jumped away from his breakaway companions Robin and Ben.

With half a lap to go, it looked in the bag for Rob. Ben Morrison launched a long rage sprint to try and mow him down on the line, but the photo showed that he missed it by a tyre width. The end result was Rob McLachlan first, Ben Morrison 2nd and Robin Mules 3rd.

Ben Robey