G’day Masters,
For this week’s Bleat –
- From the desk of the President
* Volunteers
* Racing etiquette
* Roll call procedure for crits
* SFP fence soon to deter roos
* 2025 membership update
* Contribute to committee - Next Crit Race – summer evening criterium series – Tuesday 26 November
- Narrabundah Track Racing – Thursday 28 November, 5.30pm
- Crits race report for 19 November – Jeremy Gillman-Wells
- Track race report for 21 November – Graeme O’Neill
- Handicapper’s hammer – Grade of Origin Club Championships for Tuesday 3 December
* Graded club champs will be on 3 December.
* Riders will compete in the highest grade that they have raced in since the 2019-2020 season.
* Prizes for the first three finishers in each grade. - Next Road Race – Sutton Road Training Centre graded scratch on Sunday 8 December
- Upcoming races requiring volunteers – race calendar can be found here
From the desk of the President
We are heading into the last month of racing for the year with four SFP criteriums until the Christmas Wheel race, and a Sutton Driver Training Centre kermesse on 8 December 2024.
Thank you to all of the volunteers who have been coming forward to fill vacancies. You can view our race calendar here https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar and if you see a vacant role, please consider whether you can help out as part of your obligation to the club, which from 1 January 2025, there will be a minimum requirement of one volunteer role per calendar year to remain an active club member. If you cannot commit to one volunteer role (marshal, ETC or race director), then please contact me as there may be other ways you may be able to assist the club.
We have been fortunate in our criterium racing season so far, with few if any reports of injury. However, we have received reports of sketchy, unpredictable riding, and questionable lines through the usual corners. Please consider your role in this, whether you are the actor, or whether you should provide respectful feedback at an appropriate time, so that all of us make it to the end of the year unscathed.
We will be implementing a new roll call procedure which Jeremy introduced last Tuesday at SFP, and we ask that the faster of the two grades, congregate nearest to the gate. Please allow an unhindered gangway along the sloping path so that the exiting riders can depart the track. When the roll call is conducted from the registration lists, and your name is read out by the corresponding ascending numerical race number order, please make your way past the gatekeeper (Race Director or marshal) on to the track. This is our most effective way yet to ensure that all riders who are racing are registered financial members of the club, and who are thus part of our mutually inclusive insurance ecosystem.
SFP Management has confirmed that there will be a fence erected around the criterium track shortly, as a trial to see if it will deter kangaroos from entering the track. No further details are known at this stage.
We are still waiting to hear from our parent body, the Australian Veteran Cycling Council, as to what the 2025 membership price will be, and the process to renew membership. This news typically arrives during the mad rush towards Christmas, and once known, we will Bleat it, and also update the information about rejoining here on our website https://capitalregionmasterscyclingclub.org.au/membership/.
Our committee will be meeting next week for its second last meeting of its tenure. I am expecting there will be some changes to its composition for 2025 as part of the natural cycle of committee life. If you feel like contributing in some capacity, please contact me to discuss what sort of commitment is required. We will be discussing the 2025 race calendar amongst other things. I would like to thank the five club members (Des, Brian Kim, Michael, and Rob) who recently set aside two days of their week to complete NSW traffic control certification provided by an accredited NSW training provider at the club’s expense, which we hope in part will get us back on to NSW roads in 2025.
Good luck to all of the Masters who are headed off to the Tour of Bright this weekend.
Conan
CRMCC President
Summer evening criterium series week 8 – Tuesday 26 November
Race director Michael Golding, marshal Luke Philps
Bell for the final lap.
Direction clockwise
| Grades | Time | Race Duration [sunset 1958] |
| B/D | 17:50 | B 40mins + 2 laps, D 35min +2L |
| E/F/G | 18:35 | 28mins + 2 laps |
| A/C | 19:10 | A 40mins + 2 laps, C 35min +2L |
Race registration cut-off is Tuesday 26th November at 12.50pm.
Cost is $10 for a single race or $160 for a season pass.
You need to register by looking up the calendar entry in the RMS https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar?5021181
Late registration will be assessed by race.committee@crmcc.org.au and if allowed, a late fee of an extra $10 will be applied.
If you are unregistered and show up to the event, you must convince a committee member (not the Race Director) of your club member financial status for insurance purposes, before being allowed to participate.
You must wear your CRMCC assigned number to race. No number on the day, no race.
The club is offering a season pass for $160, which now covers 21 SFP crit races concluding on Tuesday 1 April 2025, contingent upon your renewal as a fully paid financial member from 1 Jan 2025 (once we know the amount set by the national committee).
You will need to participate in 16 crits to break even. There are four SFP crits left in the 2024 calendar year. The season crit pass covers the Christmas wheel race, and also the Club Criterium championships on Tuesday 18 February 2025.
NOTE – the registration cut-off this season will be at 12.50pm on the Tuesday of the crit.
Ian Hutchings capturing some of the various dynamics that can occur during our races.
Narrabundah Track Racing
NARRABUNDAH TRACK RACING – THURSDAY 28 NOVEMBER, 5.30 PM
The season’s seventh track racing session is scheduled for this Thursday.
The Program for Thursday is as follows:
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice.
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 8-lap graded scratch race.
6.20pm – 6.50pm: 20-lap graded snowball
6:50pm – 7.10pm: Italian Pursuit
Spare Track Bikes
We have several spare track bikes if you wish to try track racing. Note that you will need to
bring your own pedals. You may need to pump up tyres (we will have a pump available) and
adjust saddle / bar position. You will need to check over the bike for safety purposes. Although
we will assist as far as practical, equipment safety and providing tools for fitting / adjustments is
your responsibility.
Attendance
Please register your attendance at https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar?5021918 , where each race
will cost $10, or purchase the season track pass at $80. We have decided to substantially reduce
the cost of this year’s season’s pass to return value to members, and to incentivise participation.
Any new or returning riders who wish to ease their way into track racing may do the just the
warm-up and the single, timed event (200m fly) at nil cost for the session. Just show up at the
Narrabundah track at 5.30pm.
Graeme O’Neill
Crits race report – 19 November 2024 – Jeremy Gillman-Wells
It was a glorious afternoon, 28°, and no wind driving out to Stromlo in my air-conditioned cocoon. At that point, I was certainly expecting fast and aggressive racing with bunch sprints. That theory DID NOT hold up.
E Grade – 25+2
No sooner had the race brief been given and roll call made, the strong easterly wind picked up. Perhaps the wise and experienced heads of F and G grade knew something the rest of us didn’t because a) none of them showed and b) as the gusts got stronger, Mick Donaldson was dropped on lap 2. Bruce Griffin was dropped on lap 3 – breathing deeply each time he came past the finish line – but pressing on valiantly. Meanwhile, Jan Koehler and Simon Milnes were working well together, seamlessly taking turns around the track. It appeared that this may be the format of things to come for the higher grades. Ultimately, Mick was lapped with three minutes to go as Simon and Jan pumped out the power heading into a two-up sprint. Jan reported to the commissaires that she wanted particular mention in dispatches of Simon: who was the perfect English gentleman and “sat up” at the end to let her take the victory. Miraculously, Mick came in 3rd.
A Grade – 38 + 2
By the time A Grade rolled onto the track, the easterly had well and truly come up. Steve Crispin was on the front for the first lap until Trent Smyth came through with his standard seated strength attack and put half the main straight into the pelo with Team Tiffen chasing.
Stu chased to bridge the gap then all back together for lap three…except for three dangling off the back. Stu Griffiths was the next to attack with Moshy (Ben Morrison) chasing and Gerard Tiffen in hot pursuit. With the wind up, the pace line in the gutter and the power going down, the torrid pace caused two DNF’s within the first five minutes. Next attack was Darlo (Matt Darling) establishing a handy lead with no one seemingly interested to chase for at least three laps when solo Darlo lapped the back markers. Then all together again at 22 minutes to go. Denis Mungoven was next to have a crack for one lap before all together again and in classic Stu form, launched again with the counter attack forming a handy four man break with Trent, Moshy and Denis (down for more pain). That appeared to be the break of the day with 18 minutes to go and a full straight’s advantage within a mere lap off the front. By that stage only seven were left in the “peloton“ and with further DNFs and riders popping, by 8 minutes to go the peloton was down to four. With six minutes to go, Moshy and Stu attacked from the break and then Denis and Trent were joined by three Tiffen riders plus Crispin from the peloton. Ultimately it came down to the two man sprint with Moshy’s favourite – downhill tail cross – and that was enough to put Stu into 2nd and Gerard Tiffen taking the reduced bunch sprint in a convincing 3rd.
C Grade – 33 + 2
Rolling out just behind A Grade, C Grade saw a very early attack off the front from Mick Hanbury which drew more than murmurs from the crowd about burning matches way too early. The rest of the bunch were together, content to be chasing but without too much effort and brought it back with 31 to go. Then Mark Vardy went leading a five man break and establishing a handy lead in the crosswinds. With 25 to go, there were splits in the bunch everywhere and DNFs a plenty, and the break was down to only two with Mark doing the lion’s share of the work. The main bunch were sticking together well, often strung out in single file, especially down the main street as the unrelenting easterly came across. Ultimately there was no move from the peloton strong enough to counter the break and Mark V took a convincing victory from Mark Bauer with Ian Mongan best of the rest.
B Grade – 38 + 2
In the last race of the evening, B grade went off the line and straight into an aggressive single file as the easterly continued and the temperature dropped markedly. Some cracks appeared towards the back after two laps when it looked like the first victims were going to fall. And with 30 minutes to go a big split occurred forming a very large break and an equally large peloton which almost immediately concertinaed back together which allowed Chris Short and Bobby Mathieson to sneak off the front forming a strong lead from an inattentive lull in the pelo. As more gaps started to appear and riders were dropped, Terra (Mark Terracini) was driving the pace on the front as his team mate, Dominator (Dominic Romano) got lapped. The sneaky Frenchman (Christophe Barberet) stayed attentive near (but never on) the front the whole way through. It wasn’t enough to stop Bobby M taking a fantastic win from Chris S and Luke Philips in 3rd.
D – 33 + 2
Immediate after dispatching B grade, D grade was out of the gate at a “gentlemanly” pace and altogether for the first couple of laps. And that dear reader is all she wrote since it pretty much stayed that way for 33 minutes. There were a couple of roos about but they were mostly well behaved all night. Towards the final few laps a few cracks appeared but it largely came down to who had more bikkies left at the end with Boyd Statton coming up trumps, followed by Chris Daly and Adam Knight. Good, clean racing all night.
Big shout out to Ian Hutchings once again for immaculate track preparation, amazing photos and making the race director’s and marshal’s (Brian Chugg) jobs very easy.
Jeremy Gillman-Wells – race director
Link to the results for last week’s crits here – https://rms.crmcc.org.au/index
Links to photos, courtesy of Ian Hutchings, from last week’s criterium are here – (Post 1 EF and A&C grades) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/VrG2t9ozDoZsVuey/ , (Post 2 A&C) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/BsnRJNMNKeDXrR18/ , (Post 3 A&C and B&D) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/tkHpNL7q5iUparzP/ and (Post 4 B&D) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/PgQki2v1vDfiYWMx/ .
Narrabundah track racing report – Thursday 21 November – Graeme O’Neill
Thursday 21 November saw the sixth track racing session for the 2024-25 season. The weather was warm with a moderate headwind in the front straight. Attendance (six riders) was quite poor. However, it was still a good evening’s competition.
The 8-lap A grade scratch race had a field of six starters. As Graeme O’Neill was the sole representative from B grade, the A grade riders kindly invited him to participate in their race, giving him a one lap start on the A grade field. The race commenced at a decent pace and Graeme made an effort to stick on the back of the pack for a few laps. The pack circulated with orderly rotation of the lead for almost 6 laps. The pace quickened after one lap, casting Graeme O’Neill adrift to try and preserve some of his one lap advantage. However, by lap 6 the pack was within striking distance of Graeme. Conan Liu and Steve Jones took off and surged past Graeme with the remaining pack in hot pursuit. Conan and Steve had their usual all out battle for the line. This time Conan took the honours by a small margin. Sarah Stephen soon surged home for a creditable third spot.
The second event was a 200 metre flying start, time trial. All riders had a quite good technique for this event and times were generally better than achieved for the same event on 24 October. The A grade times were all under 15 seconds. Best times were Steve Jones (13.20s, 54.5km/hr) Conan Liu (13.73s) and Sarah Stephens (both 14.08s). Graeme O’Neill clocked 16.15s for B Grade and was happy to have improved by 0.4s since the previous event.
The third events for the evening were 2-lap match races for A1 and A2 grades. In A1, Steve Jones was matched against Conan Liu. Steve’s experience counted as he got the jump on Conan at the bend into the final lap. Before Conan could accelerate to top speed, Steve had a 10m gap and a comfortable path to the win.
The A2 match race had the trio Craig Kentwell, Ben Davis and Sarah Stephens. This was an exciting race and the closest finish so far this season. Sarah took a flyer towards the end of lap 1. She soon had a terrific advantage and was holding great pace. However, Sarah had left herself a long sprint to the line and Craig Kentwell was pursuing relentlessly gaining a little draft as he approached from behind. Sarah’s tactics were good. She held Craig on her shoulder so he had to take the long way around the final bend. However, it was clear that Sarah was straining for the line. Craig pulled level within half a bike length to the line. With a final surge, he just pipped Sarah by a few centimetres – a great race to watch.
The evening’s racing closed with the usual Italian Pursuit. Each team had three riders. Graeme O’Neill led out for Team 1 matched against Ben Davis. Graeme was hoping to limit the loss on the lead out to give his following riders a chance for the win. Unfortunately, he pulled out of a cleat taking off. Unusually, he kept momentum and clicked back in within seconds. However, the momentary lapse sealed Team 1’s fate. Team 2 had a handy lead after 1 lap and could not be caught. Team 2’s anchor rider, Steve Jones, cruised to a victory. It was an interesting close to a good evening’s racing.
Major place getters were as follows:
8-Lap Scratch: (A1 Grade) Conan Liu, Steve Jones.
(A2 Grade) Sarah Stephens, Craig Kentwell, Ben Davis. (B Grade) Graeme O’Neill.
200m Fly: (A1 Grade): Steve Jones (13.20s), Conan Liu (13.73s).
(A2 Grade): Sarah Stephens (14.08s), Craig Kentwell (14.48s), Ben Davis (14.70s).
(B Grade): Graeme O’Neill (16.15s).
2-Lap Match Races (A1 Grade): Steve Jones. (A2 Grade): Craig Kentwell.
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner Team 2 (Steve Jones, Craig Kentwell, Ben Davis).
Season Point Score:
Hamish Anderson (106), Steve Jones (106), Ian Drayton (97), Conan Liu (96), Graeme O’Neill (92), Phil Coulton (91), Sarah Stephens (84), Craig Kentwell (63), John Paul De Sousa (52), Ben Davis (48), Warwick Wilson (34), Wayne Benham (29), Alison Hale (27).
Handicapper’s hammer – upgrades and Grade of Origin Club Championships for Tuesday 3 December
Gradings (criterium) –
Bobby Mathieson – B to A grade
Chris Short – B to A grade
Grade of Origin Club Championships
Main points:
* – The graded club championships will be held on 3 December.
* – Riders will compete in the highest grade that they have attained since the 2019-2020 season.
* – Prizes will be awarded to the first three finishers in each grade.
Our current club championships are based on age. This results in riders of a large ability range competing against each other with predictable results. It took me 17 years to get on the podium of a club championship, as I had to wait for all the strong riders who’d thrashed themselves and me in their 40s to quit racing or slow down. Accordingly, those not at the top of their age group have suggested having graded championships was a ‘fair’ option. The only problem is that within each grade are riders who were only recently riding in a higher grade. Within the club, we have riders who’ve amassed many victories by requesting downgrades and then winning races in the lower grade.
In a graded club championship, these grade ‘inbetweeners’ would claim many of the prizes. To ensure that the inbetweeners don’t take all the glory, riders will have to ride in the highest grade attained since the 2019-2020 season. Analysis of earlier results shows that 1/3 of the current B grade would be promoted to A grade for this race only. The remaining stalwarts of B grade would be joined by former B graders now languishing in a lower grade, such as yours truly. A grade, obviously, won’t be affected by this type of handicapping and the winner on the day would justly claim to be the best of A grade. The racing dynamic for B grade downwards would involve some very interesting tussles among riders who’ve perhaps never been on the podium in the past five years.
Prizes, not prize money, will be awarded to the first three finishers in each grade.
Administration of this event will involve entries closing on the Monday – 2 December – of the race to allow final checks of the grades and start lists to be created. Start times will be published at the same time as the start lists. We hope riders who don’t read the club’s communications won’t be disappointed if prevented from racing in their desired grade.
Results in the Grade of Origin Championships will not affect their regular grade.
Rob Langridge – handicapper
Race committee
Next road race – Sutton Road Training Centre graded scratch on Sun 8 December
Our final road event of 2024 is a graded scratch race at the Sutton Road Training Centre on Sunday 8th December.
Cost is $10. Here is the link to register – https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar?5019058
Registration cut-off is 5pm on Saturday, 7 December.
Race director – Gerard Tiffen, marshal – Stephen Blackburn, van driver – Dimitar Dojcinoski.
Upcoming races needing volunteers
10 December 2024 – SFP crit
Race director
2025
21 Jan 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
4 Feb 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
11 Feb 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
25 Feb 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
11 Mar 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
18 Mar 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
25 Mar 2025 – SFP crit
Race director
Please contact race.committee@crmcc.org.au if you can fill any of these roles for the club. Also look at the dates in the 2025 calendar where you could help the club. https://rms.crmcc.org.au/calendar
Thank you to those members who have offered their services to fill roles so our races are run.
