Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

•  Van Volunteers

•  Racing this Week

•  Race Report

Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc

Van Volunteers

As we transition into the new arrangements for the race van, we are looking to establish a pool of members who would be interested in taking on responsibility to prepare the van, drive it out to races and return it to Stromlo.

Members who drive the van to an event would still be able to participate in the race.

Members who are willing to be included in the roster should contact secretary@actvets.cc

Note that the van is a manual gear change.

ps Thanks to also those people who have already volunteered.

RACING THIS WEEK:

There are no scheduled events this week due to the Reconciliation Day long weekend.

RACE REPORT:

Lookout Hill – 22nd May

It was a perfect day for racing on Saturday – it was warm, there was barely any wind and most of the grades had enough riders to ensure there was some competitive racing. The day would not have been possible without the assistance of our ETCs Brendan Byatt and Tony Weir and from the help provided by Brian Peak, Tim Minehan and Chris Copeland. ETCs reported that motorists were well behaved also. A number of riders were alarmed by some of the overtaking manoeuvres of the passing bunches. Please be aware that not all riders are super confident when passed at speed by large bunches so please give them extra space when passing.

Kirsti McVay was also at the finish line testing the club’s racing app, while Ed Logue came along with a toddler to introduce her early to the finer points of road racing. She was observed nodding knowingly as Ed explained “That’s Steve Crispin, I guess you could say he’s the Egan Bernal of the club.” Ian McVay and Kirsti prepared the van on Friday, and thanks to Des Brown who helped with getting the shipping container open and assisting with driving the van out.

Although this course has a tough hill where gaps can be formed maintaining them requires riding at 50km/h on the other side to avoid getting swallowed up by the chasers. Hence, the majority of the riders finish in a strung out bunch.

Brad Peppinck shot off in A grade and had decent lead for the first lap. This was then countered by a breakaway by Nick Stewart, Steve Crispin and Jimmy Carrol. I’m not sure if a puncture by Nick Stewart ended the chances of the breakaway succeeding but it certainly killed off any hope of Nick finishing. It all came down to a mad sprint in the end, and it was Gerrard Tiffen who had enough of a gap to coast over the line ahead of Jimmy and Steve.

The other grades may have had many internal battles going on but they weren’t happening near the start or finish lines. Ben McDuff came around the outside of the B grade bunch to take line honours over Bruce Goodspeed and Conan Liu. The margin between second and third was the only close finish of the day, much to the relief of the judge and timekeeper.

The C grade finish was more of a grind to the finish and who better to win than one of the club’s great diesel men Kev Wells! Bryan Holloway came in next followed by a rejuvenated Ian Preston.

The stick insect men had been dominating the previous hilly races in D grade but their attacks on this fast course didn’t tire the legs of David Rowe who easily won in his first road race in four years. He was followed by Bruce McMillan with his best ever D grade finish and regular podium dweller Alain Arbaut.

Allan Bontjer was far stronger than Ian Morton and Rosemary Robinson in E grade.

Thanks to those who have volunteered to be van drivers for future races. It’s very time consuming and coupled with being race director makes for a very long day, but certainly worth the sacrifice so that we can keep doing what we love.

Rob Langridge

	Photos from the event courtesy of Tim Minehan: https://flic.kr/s/aHsmVJJGK1   And Michael Fawke has posted some photos on the ACT Vets Facebook page.

Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

•  Event Traffic Controller Training

•  From the Desk of the Handicapper

•  Van Volunteers

•  Racing this Week

Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc

Event Traffic Controller Training

The ETC Training course for 5 June is now confirmed.

I’ll be sending out joining instructions shortly. If you’re not an ETC, sign up and get trained!.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

From the Desk of the Handicapper

Neutral turns

Saturday’s race will have eight neutral turns. We have neutral turns to ensure riders focus on the traffic controller and cars in front of and behind the bunch, rather than ignoring traffic to save themselves from being dropped. To ensure the bunch can quickly regather, the onus is on the lead riders to soft pedal out of the corner so that riders at the back can quickly catch back up. When D grade raced this course over the summer, the lead riders consistently charged out of the corners, resulting in much yelling and a delay of minutes until we could resume the race. Saturday’s course has uphills, downhills and flat sections, which are all good for attacking depending on your racing style. We have neutral turns to ensure the safe conduct of races, not as a staging point for tactically challenged riders to gain an advantage.

Vets out and about

Many Vets races in the Cootamundra Classic and Haycarters handicaps on the weekend, facing windy conditions on Saturday and a chilly start on Sunday. Not that I was there this year, but this is a fun race if you enjoy zooming along on relatively flat roads in the NSW country side. Best performer on Saturday was Nick Stewart who finished 23rd in a race dominated by scratch and block. On day two, Ben Morrison was 14th in another race where scratch and block took the spoils. In the top 10 was 16-year-old Cam Rogers, the nephew of Canberrra cycling royalty, who finished with the scratch riders and three minutes ahead of the next person who started in block! Also back in action was M6 rider Stephen Fairless of Shepparton who represented Australia at the Seoul Olympics, won the world grand fondo champs for his age a while back and even has his own movie documentary about his exploits!

Rob Langridge
Handicapper

Van Volunteers

As we transition into the new arrangements for the race van, we are looking to establish a pool of members who would be interested in taking on responsibility to prepare the van, drive it out to races and return it to Stromlo.

Members who drive the van to an event would still be able to participate in the race.

Members who are willing to be included in the roster should contact secretary@actvets.cc

Note that the van is a manual gear change.

ps Thanks to also those people who have already volunteered. We will be putting together a roster soon.

RACING THIS WEEK:

Saturday, 22nd May – Lookout Hill – Graded Scratch

Reminder: All riders must pre-register on the ACT Vets website (https://rms.actvets.cc/calendar) by 21/05/2021 6:00 PM prior to the race. There is no registration on the day.

Any requests for Grade changes should be sorted out with the Handicapper prior to registration.

Where: Observation lookout on Tidbinbilla Road about 2.5 km towards Tharwa from Point Hut / Tidbinbilla Rd intersection (or about 4.5 km from Tharwa village).
When: 1:30 pm.
Race Description:
Lookout Hill 3.5km toward Tharwa, U turn, 5km toward Point Hut, U turn to Lookout Hill. ABCD 4 laps, EFG 3 laps.

Race Director:  Robert Langridge Contact: Email: rlangridge88@gmail.com    Ph  0450 400 658

Marshals: Brendan Byatt ETC, Tim Minehan, Tony Weir ETC

Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

•  From the Desk of the President

•  From the Desk of the Handicapper

•  Van Volunteers

•  Event Traffic Controller Training

•  Racing this Week

•  Race Report

Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc

From the Desk of the President

Dear Members,

Unfortunately one of the casualties of our current problems with council approvals has been the Gunning 2 Day event which was to be this coming weekend. Until these problems can be resolved, our race calendar for events in NSW is still very much uncertain.

Appreciate your patience,

Seymour Savell-Boss
ACT Vets Cycling Club President.

From the Desk of the Handicapper

Handicaps

No changes for this week although John Paul De Sousa has achieved some good results in C grade this year, as has Brian Peak who, on Saturday, recorded his first C road victory since 1999!!!! Well done Brian, and certainly an exceptional performance for an M8 rider.

Dan Crocker and Adam Strickland both ventured beyond the safety of Stromlo to experience road racing for time and made the most of the downhill finish to record victories in B and D grades, respectively.

Rob Langridge
Handicapper

Van Volunteers

As we transition into the new arrangements for the race van, we are looking to establish a pool of members who would be interested in taking on responsibility to prepare the van, drive it out to races and return it to Stromlo.

Members who drive the van to an event would still be able to participate in the race.

Members who are willing to be included in the roster should contact secretary@actvets.cc

Note that the van is a manual gear change.

Event Traffic Controller Training

The last ETC training course was cancelled due to lack of enrollments. We need to have more members become ETC’s so we can run races in the ACT. And given current problems with racing in NSW, these are the only races we can currently run.

Upcoming dates for courses are;

• Saturday 5 June
• Saturday 24 July

We need to get sufficient members to nominate be able to run the courses. Please nominate to undertake the training to race.committee@actvets.cc We should look to get enough members attending so as to utilise both dates.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACING THIS WEEK:

There are no events this week.

RACE REPORT:

Smiths Rd – Naas Rd, Graded Scratch – 8th May

A predicted top of 20 degrees, zero wind and a beautiful course were the only ingredients needed to attract a field of 41 riders to the Mt Tennant scratch race on Saturday. Unlike other mountains around our region, Mt Tennant is one of the more forgiving climbs with a good downhill on both sides of the mountain making for some exciting attacking on the day.

A, B, C & D grades were each to do 3 laps of the out and back course and were first away. A grade were not mucking around on the day with the first lap completed in around 29 mins. They were blitzing it so quickly it caught Howard who was the ETC at the far turn almost napping and caught us by surprise at the finish line when they came into sight for the completion of the first lap. Of the 8 starters in A, there were still 7 together after lap 1. Meanwhile in B grade also with 8 starters we saw a group of 6 round the first lap. B grade were held up by a tractor on the course which gave them a nice leisurely pace over the first outward leg . C grade completed the string of lucky 8’s with 8 riders starting and 7 taking the tight turn to complete lap 1. Meanwhile in D grade with 11 riders starting=, it was never going to be a sedate affair with feared names such as Strickland, Langridge, Brown and Moore lurking in the ranks. D grade managed to hold it together after the first lap with a few weary faces fearing what would lie ahead in the later stages of the race.

By the completion of lap 2, it was essentially a replica of the first lap. With A grade registering a quicker lap time and all grades hanging together with a few dropped riders not far behind. On the last lap for A, B, C & D, it was where all the real action begun. From all reports, there were some serious attacks both outward and on the return climb over Mt Tennant which broke some riders. With a fast downhill to the finish, anyone with a minor break cresting over the mountain would be tough to run down in the race to the finish.

In A grade, we witnessed a 2 way sprint between Jimmy Carroll and Nicholas Stewart with Jimmy winning by half a wheel length on the line. Peter Zygadlo was only 24 secs behind in 3rd place.

B grade we witnessed a 4 way sprint that must have started up near the Namadgi visitor’s centre with Daniel Crocker just edging out Bruce Goodfellow again by half a wheel with Paul Welsh and Tristan Fuge mere seconds behind in 3rd and 4th respectively.

In C Grade we could have thrown a blanket over the first 4 finishers it was that close. In the end it was judged that Brian Peak had just edged out John Paul De Sousa ahead of Gerald Van Ewyk in 3rd and Ian Preston in 4th.

D grade was not to be outdone in the sprint finishes and ensured those of us judging at the finish line were earning our keep. Adam Strickland just edged out Tony Beasley with Alain Arbaut in 3rd.

E grade had 2 laps to race over with a total of 5 riders line up ready to rumble. After the first lap turn, they were all together, but as is often the case, the climbers reserved the sting for the final lap. Russell Marston and Elizabeth Lowe put in the watt bombs during the climbs on the last lap and were left to fight it out at the end with Russell just edging out Elizabeth in a sprint finish. Al Bontjer was 3rd.

Running road races on ACT roads is never an easy event with so many signs to put up and not possible without volunteers such as Howard Moffat who handled the far turn with perfection including putting up all the signs around the area. Al Raitt who put up signs and captured the riders numbers as they flew into the finish chute, Seymour Savell-Boss who drove the van and controlled the traffic at the Smiths rd intersection, Andrew Matz for all finish line duties helping to setup and pack down, Ian and Kirsti McVeigh who do all the behind the scenes work to make such a great day happen. And Simon Whitehead the sports med who made sure all medical issues were taken care of for which wasn’t needed on the day.

Ben Davis

Hello Vets,

In the Bleat this week;

•  Van Volunteers

•  Event Traffic Controller Training

•  Racing this Week

Ian Morton
thebleat@actvets.cc

Van Volunteers

As we transition into the new arrangements for the race van, we are looking to establish a pool of members who would be interested in taking on responsibility to prepare the van, drive it out to races and return it to Stromlo.

Members who drive the van to an event would still be able to participate in the race.

Members who are willing to be included in the roster should contact secretary@actvets.cc

Note that the van is a manual gear change.

Event Traffic Controller Training

The last ETC training course was cancelled due to lack of enrollments. We need to have more members become ETC’s so we can run races in the ACT. And given current problems with racing in NSW, these are the only races we can currently run.

Upcoming dates for courses are;

• Saturday 5 June
• Saturday 24 July

We need to get sufficient members to nominate be able to run the courses. Please nominate to undertake the training to race.committee@actvets.cc We should look to get enough members attending so as to utilise both dates.

Ian McVay
Race Committee

RACING THIS WEEK:

Saturday, 8th May – Smiths Rd – Naas Rd – Graded Scratch

Reminder: All riders must pre-register on the ACT Vets website (https://rms.actvets.cc/calendar) by 7/05/2021 6:00 PM prior to the race. There is no registration on the day.

Any requests for Grade changes should be sorted out with the Handicapper prior to registration.

Where: South of Tharwa. Members to park on the side of Smiths Rd and start just around the corner on Naas Rd.
When: 1:30 pm.
Race Description:
Mt Tennent Terror
Course is laps over Mt Tennant spur to Apollo Road and return
ABCD – 3 laps
EFG – 2 laps

Race Director:  Ben Davis Contact: Email: bdavis@internode.on.net    Ph  0416 014 629

Marshals: Seymour Savell-Boss ETC, Howard Moffat ETC, Al Raitt