Damian McDonald Memorial RR (inc. BBN Club Championships) 25th September 2011.

Perfect weather at Eildon for the race on Sunday, not the 13 degrees and frost that was forecast. The main mens bunch included U19/U23/Elite/MMAS123, around 30 riders strong. The all-in contained a few races within the race. 1-2-3 to the line would take the memorial trophy honours, 1st Blackburn rider would be male Club Champion, and each age category would get envelopes. Lots to keep track of, much easier just trying to beat the guy next to you. :)

The start line looked a little more professional than most club championship races... 2x V Australia pros (Chris Winn and a team mate), recent Budget Forklifts signing Jason Spencer, Ashley Baines in his Euro pro team kit, a Serch2Retain rider from Wangaratta CC, and the rest of us - A stacked line up from the 6am-ers, two new Kosdown riders - Shannon Johnson, Stephen Lane, and me, some lightweight juniors, and a stack of others.

56kms flat, 6-7kms up a hill, then 32kms to the finish. The advertised and anticipated final 2km up the Eildon dam wall was scrapped on the day. The finish being located a few 100m through town on a flat side road. Not much action in the first 25kms. Cameron Parlevliet (U19/BBN/DeVer) launched the first major attack before we hit town to finish lap 1. A few minutes later he was out of sight. The three of us in Kosdown kit didn't mind, not our category (we were registered as MMAS123), and it was not our championship. V Australia had other ideas, sitting a rider on the front for a monster 10km+ turn to pull Parlevliet back to the bunch. Johnson (Kosdown) sat locked in 2nd wheel making sure the monster effort by V Australia didn't turn into a solo ride away from the bunch. Baines was soon on the attack too, hitching a sit on a 4WD+caravan that cautiously passed the bunch heading in the same direction, then jumping off the front solo once that move was shut down.

With Baines up the road when we hit the climb, Spencer attacked on the climb after a few minutes taking both V Australia and a few others with him. I was on the limit stomping over 400W, feeling too heavy, and not enough power to go with those guys.... I kept cranking and worked my way through a few riders and was chasing the leaders solo by a few 100m at the KOM. On the descent I was joined by two others - one I didn't know (racing Elite) and Vaughan Bowman (CCCC) who is old enough to be MMAS123 but I didn't know what he'd registered as. The leaders were now out of sight, so we started rolling solid turns to stop anyone getting back to us. The Serch2Retain rider was just off the back of us and didn't quite make it across as the three of us stepped it up for the 30km home.

We picked up a rider who dropped from the lead bunch at 25km to go. 10km to go Bowman started the fight. Putting the hammer down on a rise, dropping one rider off the back. At this point we weren't going to catch the leaders, and we weren't going to be caught... so game on. 5km to go we passed a V Australia rider who'd hit the deck after a touch of wheels with Baines. 1km to go I attacked, brought back. 500m to go I dug again and got a gap, keeping clear to the line.

I was 4th in Open Mens/overall and 1st in MMAS123. The large chase bunch was lead home by Johnson (Kosdown), Tully Lyster (Wang CC), and Lane (Kosdown). Three mates at the pointy end of that bunch! Nice! 

Winn (V Australia) had taken the win/trophy, Spencer (Budget Forklifts) 2nd place and BBN Club Champion, and Baines in 3rd after a mad chase after stopping to secure his rear wheel into place once it was nudged by Winn's team mate.

Full results: HERE

Apart from not being able to keep up with the lead guys, it was a good day out and about. 56km road race, 7km hill climb, 32km team time trial. Perfect training for the next month and beyond which is stacked full of racing!

Post race stories....

Team Kosdown photo pose (Shannon, hands behind!)

Castlemaine CC Hill Climb TT - Mt Alexander, Sept 17th 2011.

On Saturday Von, Stephen Lane, and I headed out to test our 'riding skyward' form on the 5km 7% climb of Mt Alexander with Castlemaine CC. It had been a while since I'd been up a hill that climbed for more than a few kms, so we were out there early and did a recon lap, scoping out the course - where it kicked up, corners, and the location of the finish. Even with minimal event promotion there were still around 20 riders lining up to set a time up the climb.

I've been putting out good power on flat and rolling TTs, this would be a good chance to see how the power was on the road bike when it was pointed upwards. It'd also be a good test against an old TT rival, and new team mate, Stephen Lane. He is 8kgs lighter than me and is at home in the hills. We'd done a rough calculation and I'd need to be putting out 40W more than him for a similar time (discounting a whole lot of other variables). The challenge was on!

Castlemaine CC had issued me #1 and had me starting last - chasing everyone. The first km was the fastest part of the course, so I saved the legs and effort until the road really kicked up. Just as it did I passed someone's lunch they'd painted the road with. We weren't racing for sheep stations, but it was worth enough for someone to lose their lunch over. (top effort whoever it was!). The power numbers were surprisingly good at the halfway mark where I started catching riders. Anyone I passed could hear me coming as I was breathing like a wounded animal, it didn't sound pretty but it was doing the job. Right turn at the top, all out to the line. 399W average for 15:37. Close enough to 400, so I'll round it up and claim to have finally cracked that one! Lane in 2nd place only 56 seconds down, HCC club mate Paul Ambry in 4th place with a new 20min power PB, and Von 1st woman and 6th overall.

Seniors Results:
1st Shane Miller       15.37
2nd Stephen Lane       16.34    
3rd Paul Maltby        17.38
4th Paul Ambry         20.35
5th Luke Daly          21.37
6th Veronica Micich    23.15     
7th Christian DeVrieze 23.20     
8th Ian Revell         23.25    
9th Shirley Amy        24.43     
10th Daniel Jackson    28.24   
11th Emma Waldron      29.41  
12th Derek DeVrieze    34.05

Full Results and Castlemaine CC write up: Here

Thanks to Castlemaine CC for running the event. A great course to test ourselves, welcoming visiting riders, $6 entry fee, portable toilet provided, friendly officials, and accurate timing. The weather was a bonus - plenty of sunshine and just a touch of wind.

Still so much to improve on, so I'm back to working on the building blocks to keep those numbers jumping. Final lab 1hr lab session coming up this week, then a 100km epic hilly road race this Sunday with Blackburn, followed by a TT up the 1:20 the following week..... Always something to keep training for!

Ballarat Sebastopol CC 2011 TT Champs (Sept 10th 2011)

"Looks like it'll be cold and windy".... a spot on prediction from last week for the 2011 BSCC Time Trial Championships. I did a lap of the course before the race and the new SRM was reading a little low, either that or my legs were not up to the task... Visitors off first, so the final warm up was short and I was off chasing the two riders in front of me.

The first 2-3kms were straight into the head wind, with a slight drizzle. My minute man was caught and released at about 2km, two minute man caught at around 6km in. I was now chasing the course lead car, with its orange light flashing on the roof. Regardless of the obvious EVENT IN PROGRESS..... a ute pulled out from a side road chopping in front of me. I had to get off the TT bars and into some four letter words of encouragement. My HR jumped a little higher at that point. After working out where the accelerator was, they were soon up the road and out of the way and I was cranking along again without fear of putting my head into a rear tailgate.

On the final corner before the 7km stretch to the line there was a rattle coming from my TT bars. Arm pad loose? Clunk clunk. Nope, whole right TT bar was loose! Just as I hit the headwind, just when I need a good grip to keep the bike straight. It wasn't terminal so I pushed on it rather than pulled back and it didn't rattle around too much, and most importantly it didn't fall off. The SRM still reading way too low for the effort I was putting in...... Never mind, it hurt just like the rest so power didn't matter. 24:35 and average speed over 47km/h. The legs were up to the task!

Senior Top 10
*Shane Miller     00:24:35 47.65
*Andrew Weightman 00:26:48 43.71
Grant Gilbert     00:27:41 42.32 (BSCC Senior ITT Champion)
Michael Pierce    00:28:02 41.78
Sam Turley        00:28:07 41.64
Ben Clark         00:28:50 40.62
Sam Edwards       00:29:53 39.19
*Paul Ambry       00:30:03 38.98
Neville Bilney    00:30:59 37.81
Will Stewart      00:32:31 36.02

*Rider from visiting club
Full Results and club report HERE

Paulie calibrating his sun dial watch before the start

I was a minute faster than last year, and after having the SRM slope checked we found out it was out about 10%.... hmm... but good to have that problem sorted. Time trial #28 coming up this Saturday with Castlemaine CC at Harcourt, 5kms up a hill. No TT bike, no disc, no TT helmet. Going old school and as light as possible.

I've heard some of my creative material is getting a run as coursework.... really? Apologies to anyone subjected to this, it isn't really how you should race. Always attack and never look back!


A controlled diet today means I'm back to RMIT tomorrow for another lab session...... another hour of unknown power (we're not allowed to see the numbers).


Random Visual

Bakery name lol.

Lama on Ice... and Wangaratta CC TT Sat 3rd Sept, 2011.

Blue sky for ski school!

The only reason I did Outdoor Ed in high school was for the week long ski trips in year 10 and 11, making it 16 years since I'd been skiing.... and now I feel old. Anyhow, I lined up for beginner ski lessons at Mt Hotham on the weekend with Von (a seasoned snowboarder trying skiing for the first time) and a handful of other girls..... Our female instructor was quick to point me out as the only guy.... pressure! 2hrs of ski basics, it all came back pretty quick. My parallel ski turns during our 'snow plough' exercise was quickly doused by the instructor with "He isn't anything special girls".... Ouch! I had a quick flashback to a few years back when I was told by the then Hawthorn CC president I was "No Lance Armstrong" and didn't deserve a club jersey for the upcoming team event... Oh yeah, feeling the love. Fist first.

Two hours was soon up and we were onto the real stuff, chairlifts and blue runs. I never thought I'd pick it up this fast after so many years. It was like riding a bike, but nothing like it.... I was spent by 2pm. Food, sleep, more food. Next time I'll see what damage I can do on black runs. Bring it on!

I drove over to Glenrowan on Saturday for the 36km TT held by Wangaratta CC. 18km out, 18km back. Pretty flat and a hell of a wind blowing. The only other rider to arrive early was the flying mullet himself, Ray Jarratt (Cobram CC). He pointed me in the right direction of the course and I went for a quick re-con drive. It was along one of those small country roads that you have to half-wheel in the car to pass oncoming traffic..... which means flying stones... which means a cracked windscreen on the Subie. Fark!

Subie windscreen on crack.

15 starters for the TT. A pretty good turn out given the Junior Nationals were on just up the road in Dookie. The organisers put me off last, chasing Tully Lyster (MMAS2 Vic TT Champ). I had a good ride for the first 8kms where I caught Tully, but struggled to keep the power down knowing we still had 28kms to go. I didn't manage to pull away from Tully until after the turn. It was only at 10km to go I could get into the right rhythm again and lift the pace as I started passing a few riders. I hit the line in 47:18. Such a different level of focus required for the longer TT events.

Top 10 Overall:
1.  Shane Miller       47min 18sec 
2.  Tully Lyster       49min 18sec
3.  James Boal         50min 27sec
4.  Rhys Lyster        51min 12sec
5.  Christian McDonald 52min 16sec
6.  Ray Jarrett        53min  07sec
7.  Jake Morgan        55min  35sec
8.  Tony Reeckman      59min 18sec
9.  Laurie Lyster      59min 21sec
10. Zane Douglas       1h 1min 05sec

It was an Oppy 1-2 for Tully and I.
Pic by Tony Reeckman (http://www.tonyreeckmanphotography.com)

Tony Reeckman has the full results and his race report over on his site: Here

Excellent event by Wangaratta CC. Timing was spot on, course was perfect, and everyone was up for a chat. I met a few guys who are just getting into TTs and who are already talking about chasing more speed for the next event. After presentations I drove back to Mt Hotham, knocking 17 minutes off the GPS arrival time by chasing a little Mazda 3 all the way to to the top.

Race loot, aka fuel money.

Heaps of snow on the top bits of Hotham.

2011 time trial number 27 next Saturday in Ballarat over 20kms. Looks like it'll be cold and windy, standard conditions for Ballarat all year round.

Random Visual

Spotted on a Hotham shuttle bus - Windows Vista. Just lol.