Capital Region Masters – Weekly Bleat, Monday 17 July, 2023

Masters, In this week’s Bleat;

• Next Race – this Saturday 22 July 1.30pm – Graded Scratch race on the Mount Tennant course 
• Crankys Bicycle WorX Voucher
• Race Reports
• So, you want to be a race director?
• Racing Calendar changes

“You’ve got to stay positive and you’ve got to stay optimistic,” said Hindley. “Hopefully, we can fix my back up a bit on the rest day tomorrow. Then a tough TT and the last week of racing. Still plenty of hard days to come”. Jai Hindley of Australia and Team BORA-Hansgrohe 

RACING – Next Race

Saturday Saturday 22 July 1.30pm – Graded Scratch race on the Mount Tennant course

Our next event is a graded scratch race on the Mount Tennant course this Saturday from 1330 AEST.
The start and finish is at the intersection of Smiths Road and Naas Road, around two kilometres south of Tharwa, near the model aircraft club.

For A/B/C grades the race will be three laps of 18kms from Smiths Road over the Mt Tennant spur to Naas Road/Apollo Road junction return for 54kms in total.
D/E/F/G will have the pleasure of riding over Mt Tennant twice for two laps, a total 36kms.

Will it be one for the punchy grimpeurs ala Pog or could the sprinters hold on enough up the final back end of Mt Tennant to contest for a sprint to the finish line?

We require a Race Director, an ETC and a van driver for this Saturday. If you can assist the Club then please email the race.committee@actvets.cc Registration closes at 2130 on Friday 21st July.

Ed Logue – Race Committee

Crankys Bicycle WorX Voucher

Crankys Bicycle Worx $180 voucher winner – Ben Healy was the name that Excel spat out this time for the bike voucher at Stromlo Criteriums. Note that Stu at Crankys has moved to the Downer shops and now sells bikes and accessories.

Race Reports

Stromolo Criteriums – 16 July 23

A beautiful day greeted those who headed out to Stromlo Forest Park for a mid winter criterium.  Unfortunately, E, F, and G grade had an absence of competitors, with the exception of Shirley-Anne Taylor, which then meant a first race start at 2:30 (as Shirley-Anne graciously rode up in D grade).

A and C  grade started the affairs at 2:30 for 50 minutes plus two laps, with the light winds slowly starting to pick up.

After a slow first half lap from A grade, the pace was then on and did not relent for the entire race.  After 10 minutes, the pace was on big time, and a few cracks started appearing.  Twenty minutes in, and we saw the first break of six that started to get a bit of daylight from the remainder of the bunch. Halfway through the race, another from the bunch had bridged across leaving seven up front, with five chasing and the rest of the bunch splintered across the course.

This was generally how it remained the rest of the race, with the front group working well together, although the seven gradually reduced in size, dropping to 6 with about 15 to go.  A flyer by Sebastian Mueller with three laps to go looked very promising, but a hard chase from the bunch reeled him back in a lap later, leaving it to a bunch sprint, which was strongly won by Ben Morrison, followed by Stuart Griffiths and Steve Crispin.

C grade was also a very hard fought race.  The pace was solid from the start and did not let up the entire race.  The solid pace prevented many attacks in the first 20 minutes, with many riders doing very strong turns on the front including Peta Brill, Gavin Stephens, Claire Aubrey and Roslyn Hurt.  These consistent efforts saw a few shelled out the back, and dented many prospective attacks.

With fifteen to go, Claire Aubrey and Roslyn Hurt attacked and quickly gained a 100m gap.  Working exceptionally strongly and well together, the duo continually expanded the gap, with the bunch quickly reduced to sprinting for the minor places.  In the finale, Roslyn overcame Claire, with Gregory Harris leading the bunch in for third.

With B and D grade starting at 3:30, the wind had picked up further and the temps had quickly started to plummet.

Both grades also started swiftly.  B grade, colour coordinated with a mix of MyRide and CRMCC kits, saw solid riding through the first half of the race, which prevented many attacks, with any attacks happening being quickly bought back.  With 20 minutes to go, the pace picked up another notch, with Ben Healy and Nathan Rickerby often lining the field out and causing a few gaps.  Within 10 minutes to go, the attacks were regularly occurring, but getting dragged back with hard riding from behind.  A last lap flyer from Nathan Rickerby was being chased hard, but Nathan held on for a strong win, with Ben Mcduff and Michael Foulds sprinting hard leading out the rest of the bunch.

D grade had the smallest field of the day with five riders, including Shirley-Anne riding up from E grade.  With small numbers, the five riders all strongly rolled turns throughout the race with no-one avoiding their fair share of work.  Shirley-Anne certainly didn’t use her upgrade from E grade to avoid work, and stretched the group out numerous times.  The group rolled well all race, until the last lap when Anthony Beasley blasted off the front.  Anthony held on strongly for the win, with Elizabeth Lowe and Shirley-Anne leading the bunch home. Results here Photos here on Facebook CRMCC page.

Thanks as always, to all the volunteers. Race Director – Peter Merrick

Time Trial – 15 July 23 – Lookout Hill

A light wind showed itself for the lookout hill TT and twelve riders took to the course. Some riders opting for a disc rear wheel and others sticking to deep carbons, and a few last minute bike adjustments kept riders on their toes. In A grade, Anthony Murfett took a slim (1 second) win over Steve Crispin in 2nd, with Brenton Clark 3rd. B grade was won by Tristan Fuge, followed by Craig Lindenmayer and David Parker. C grade saw David Buckley take the win, followed by Owain Tilley and Ian Preston. D grade was won by Anthony Beasley, followed by Shirley-Anne Taylor. Riders enjoyed a well-deserved post race donut to reward their 30min all out efforts! Big thanks to all volunteers and marshals.

First Time – Race Director, Kris McCreath

So, you want to be a race director?

As you well know, the efforts of volunteers allow the CRMCC to offer the most extensive race program of any cycling club in the ACT. Are you interested in making a contribution, but aren’t really sure how to help? Well, fear not, race director training is coming! We are looking for expressions of interest from members keen to help out but who would like some training beforehand.

Format one—Shadowing: member will read the relevant training material, then shadow the van driver and race director for a road race held in the ACT. This will require about two hours with the van driver and about three hours with the race director on the day of a race.

Format two—Group session: this will comprise about one hour on-line, or face to face, reviewing the race reference materials and discussion of possible scenarios, and about one hour at the club’s container learning about the van equipment and how it works. Theory session would be held during a weekday evening and the practical on a Saturday morning prior to a race.

If interested, please respond to the race.committee@actvets.cc , stating your learning preference by 28 July 2023.

Thanks, Rob Langridge – Race committee

Race calendar can be found here for other race dates needing Officials

Racing Calendar changes – please see below

Subject to approvals from NSW and ACT governments, the dates have changed for the following events:

Sunday, October 15	The 2023 Gunning (aka Peter McLennan Memorial) event. Start/Finish at Bredalbane, using the community hall as race central Consists of a TT event followed by the usual 48km lap – once or twice depending on your grade. The handicapper is considering letting D grade vote on their lap count…   The single day approach facilitates (i) the ability to attract potential 2024 members though the use of the single day trial licence, and (ii) reduces event costs hiring NSW traffic controllers.
Saturday, July 29	The M&H TT Age-Standard trophy race Moved from August 12 as several of the regular club TTers noted the clash with the NSW TT AusCycling championship at Bredalbane.
Saturday, August 26	Iron Mike Moved from August 19 as the AusCycling ACT RR championship is being held that morning on the same course.

Chris Short – Race Committee

thebleat@actvets.cc