Masters, In this week’s Bleat

  • Next Road Race – The Apollo – Saturday 27 April 1.30 PM
  • Road Race report for `Sutton Series round 1 on 13 April – David Parker
  • Update on Gunning – scheduled for Saturday 4 May
  • Handicapper’s musings – Heritage Polaris
  • Membership message
  • Race calendar can be found here for other race dates needing officials


UPCOMING RACING

The Apollo – graded scratch race – Saturday 27 April from 1330 AEST

Test yourself chasing your peers with the finish up on one of the iconic cycling climbs in the ACT.

Race director Peta Brill, ETC Ben Healy, ETC Brian Peak, marshal Jonathan Chowns, van driver David Gunther

The race is a graded scratch event. Race registration cut-off is 11:30 on Saturday 27 April, cost is $10.
You need to register by looking up the calendar entry in the RMS https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar
You must wear your CRMCC assigned race number to race.
Late registrations will be assessed by Race.committee@crmcc.org.au and if allowed, a late fee of $10 will be applied.
If you are unregistered and show up to the start, you must convince a committee member (not the Race Director) of your club member financial status for insurance purposes, before being allowed to participate.

RACING REPORTS

Sutton Road Training Centre series round 1 Tuesday 13 April

A Grade – Stu Griffiths
Race was steady from the outset. Few people trying moves off the front particularly on the home stretch, me (Stuart Griffiths) included. Though everyone quickly realised the straight was longer and windier then first thought and the group would always come back together.
About 30 mins in Crispy (Steven Crispin) made a move off the front at the end of the straight and on the steepest part of the climb I bridged across to bring Rainer (Wilton) and Toby (McLenaghan), where this put the pressure on Tristo (Tristan Dimmock) and Andrew (Foster)to chase. They caught us on the front straight but Steve again had rolled off the front. I bridged across again and brought Tristo so making the others work to get back on. That second attack broke the elastic for some riders and the pace stayed high for them to not be able to regroup.
Small attacks then went but it all stayed together till the final climb where Steve attacked again. Rainer chased him down for a moment then realised I was on the wheel then flicked me through. I judged the gap to not bring him back early and conserve energy. Rolled onto the wheel on the final stretch with the rest of the group just getting on my wheel after chasing also. What Steve thought was a good attack ended up being a good leadout for me to attack early on the straight and hold the rest off.

B Grade – Mick Rose
B grade rolled away steadily for the first climb but it didn’t take long before Mick Rose pulled away from the bunch and continued riding a solo for a number of laps until being joined by Simon Costello. 

The pace continued for a couple of laps before Mick and Simon rejoined the bunch. Mick not quite done, made another move with Andrew Murrell where they continued at a fast pace and working well together to keep away for the remainder of the race with Mick taking first place followed in a close second Andrew with promoted David Dickson third ahead of Simon.

Mick Rose

C Grade – Luke Wines
On a near perfect day for racing, a dozen riders lined up to tussle for the C Grade honours around the tough Sutton loop. Setting off toward the uphill drag at the northern end of the loop, several game leaders took up the mantel of dragging the bunch up the hill. This state of play was maintained, as was a steady pace, for the first few laps, with no real aggression being shown. This quickly changed with two riders in particular – Rosie Hurt and Ed Logue – repeatedly attacking off the front trying to split the group. Some keen attention by Kim Pedersen, Gavin Stephens, Darren Blackhurst and Andrew Hislop ensured that these moves weren’t able to stick for long. 

As the race worked toward its two-lap conclusion, the pace started to accelerate, with the pinch at the end of the straight starting to take its toll on some riders. Into the final lap and the same aggressive riders again found themselves driving the pace, with the bunch using all of the road through the twists and turns at the top of the course. Charging through the final bend and diving down the straight, five riders dropped the hammer and gave it their all in a sprint toward the chequered flag. In an incredibly tight finish, three riders took it right to the line with visitor Luke Wines winning ahead of arguably the best and most aggressive rider of the day, Rosie, being pipped at the post and a fast-finishing Gavin third just short of the second step on the podium.

Luke Philps had an unfortunate touch of wheels mid-way through the race where he hit the deck and was out of the race. Luke says he “pulled up pretty good with some skin off”. Thanks to Paul Robey for administering first aid.

D Grade – Lance Purdon
D Grade started off getting used to the anti-clockwise direction and proceeded at a steady pace to begin with. Lap by lap the pace gradually picked up with Damian Copeland pushing the pace up the hill each lap. Some cracks started to appear where one by one they started to drop off the back but persisted to get something out of the afternoon. 

Alison Hale and Peta Brill were working extremely well within the bunch and putting their noses into the wind taking their turns within the bunch riding exceptionally well.

Some decent turns on the front from Brian Peak kept the pace on and everyone rolling through.

As the race went on there were attacks on the hill and it was a group of four that broke away to battle it out. The pace picked up and the bell sounded. The last lap seemingly started looking pedestrian down the long straight until the hill. 

It was still down to the four riders seeing who had the better tactics with all four riding really well. It was Lance Purdon that attacked on the way down to the fast sweeping right hander and took the momentum all the way to the line with Damian, Peta and Brian just behind the winner. . An exceptional ride from Peta matching it with the men in the race, well done.

All riders rolled through to the end safe and sound enjoying the challenge of the differing anti clockwise race.
Lance Purdon

E/F/G
E Grade was a small affair of four riders with Robert Solomon quickly falling off the pace of the other three. Midway through the race Ian Morton suffered the same fate leaving two up front to battle for the honours. Nothing could split David Gunther and Kevin Newhouse with the race coming down to a two up sprint for the line. It was a tight finish and David just edged out Kevin to take the win.

David Parker

Race Director

Links to photos, courtesy of Ian Hutchings, from last week’s race at Sutton Road Training Centre here https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/permalink/2126875354349515/ , https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/permalink/2126877494349301/ , https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/permalink/2126880604348990/ and https://www.facebook.com/groups/ACTVets/permalink/2126881767682207/ .

Publication of the results from Saturday have been delayed with the aim of them being published in the coming days.

UPDATE ON GUNNING

The club’s premier road event is scheduled for Saturday 4 May 2024. The race committee is awaiting final NSW Police approvals.
The event will follow a similar format to 2023 with a 3km prologue followed by a road race, both starting at Breadalbane. The road course is Breadalbane to Gunning return for approximately 48km.
A/B/C will have the pleasure of racing two laps for 96 kms while D/E/F/G will race one lap for 48kms.

HANDICAPPER’S MUSINGS

Heritage Polaris

After announcing the start of Sutton Super Series II to great fanfare, I was rather surprised to learn that I’d committed to compete in the Heritage Polaris last Saturday. I’ve been enjoying free pies from the Evoke bakery after winning 3rd place overall last year and was hoping to be among the prizes again, but those hopes were dashed with the realisation that I’ll be in Vietnam for round two next month.

Anyway enough of the first world problems, the Heritage Polaris is bicycle orienteering around Canberra with the aim of locating 39 markers dotted around the suburbs with the help of maps and clues, as part of Heritage Festival Week. The serious types affix a map to a board bolted on their handlebars, dash to the checkpoints to stamp their card then disappear in a cloud of dust within a few seconds, while the leisurely competitors arrive at the checkpoint, have a snack, decide who will punch the team’s card, make murmurings about having a coffee or a rest then amble off to the next checkpoint. Nonetheless, it seemed that everyone was having a great time and I didn’t hear any bickering among the teams. The highlight was ending up in places I’d never been or passing landmarks I’d hadn’t been past in 40 years. Lunch was a sit-down affair at a Vietnamese café with the rationale that we wouldn’t have got that many more points in the time we were scoffing down chicken and fried rice.  We ended up riding about 95km in the 7 hours, but it reportedly required about 150km to reach all the check points.

Back at the Telopea Park School finish, exhausted competitors were treated to snags, soft drink and ice cream. To my surprise, one or two were still studying the map, perhaps searching for the clues where it all went wrong. There were many team categories and although the overall winners were not known to me, suddenly there was a procession of CRMCC members up on the stage with their teammates being awarded prize money. Well done Claire Aubrey, Aaron Thomson, Leonard Pooley and Elizabeth Lowe. I’m sure you’ll be able to buy plenty of pies with your winnings.


MEMBERSHIP MESSAGE

To renew your financial membership for 2024

Please carefully follow the instructions below to renew your racing membership for 2024 with the Capital Region Masters Cycling Club of the Australian Veteran Cycling Council Inc.

As previously stated, the annual racing licence for 2024 is $140, comprising $120 for the national component, and $20 club component for running races.

•             To start the $140 race licence process click here https://amc.helloclub.com/register?membership=657ed9ff637993bde7bcf446. This is for both new and renewing members

•             The membership system has moved to Hello Club from SportsTG, and your previous account credentials will NOT work with this system. You will need to create a new membership account, irrespective of how many years you have been a member of the club.

•             Do NOT sign in using a previous AVCC account, click CONTINUE.

•             Read and agree to the terms and conditions.

•             Sign up with email, Google or Facebook. Follow the prompts to enter your contact details and emergency contact details.

•             Pay $140 via credit card.

•             If successful, you will receive an email from ‘Australian Veteran Cycling Council reply+australian-veteran-cycling-council@helloclub.com’ to inform you that your registration has been completed.

•             Contact membership@crmcc.org.au if you have questions or if you encounter any issues.

Rob

Acting CRMCC Club Membership Officer