2011 Australian Masters Road Time Trial Championships - Ballarat, October 6th 2011

TT #30 for the year, and it is no secret that this is the TT I focus on the most. With no hip breaks or collarbone snaps getting in the way this year, everything fell into place nicely. There was a minor incident with a CA commissar in regard to my drink bottle, resulting in me requesting a review of the rules, me threatening to lodge a formal complaint, removing the drink bottle, then being allowed to mount it on the seat tube (but not the down tube). It was on the seat tube initially, so I smoothed things over with my new CA commissaire friend and everyone was happy. (the real story may contain more swears and death stares, but it all ended up well in the end).

I was the final rider of the day again this year. I wasn't keeping a track of the other results online while I warmed up, I wanted to stay clear of anything happening out on the course. But as I was rolling up to the start line I heard over the loud speaker someone had 23:50 as time of the day so far. That was set by a MMAS3 rider, so not in my category, but it was the benchmark for time of the day.

Cutting to the chase - I rode a 23:26 @47.6km/h average. I rolled back to the start to see if anyone had the results loaded up on their phones (electronic timing system was EXCELLENT!). Kipp Kaufmann (GM of Cycling Victoria) handed me his iPhone to check the results. 1st place MMAS1 and fastest time overall across all grades. Pretty happy with that. A few things I can take away from the ride to improve on - but I'll worry about those later on - for now I'll just kick back and enjoy the rest of the year racing knowing I nailed the one race I wanted to win for the last 12 months.

Many familiar faces at the presentations, officials and riders I'd competed against all over Victoria over the past few years. At the ceremony, I was also awarded the male rider of the day award by the City of Ballarat, a nice bottle of red, which mum was very happy with. I was interviewed by The Ballarat Courier and made the front and back pages, with a half page write up in the sports pages. I had my 5 minutes of famous!

MMAS1 TT Results:
1. MILLER, Shane        23:26.42              47.6  Hawthorn Cycling Club
2. JOHNSON, Benjamin    24:33.67  +1:07.25    45.4  Footscray Cycling Club Inc
3. MCCARROLL, Simon     24:38.87  +1:12.45    45.2  Peloton Sports Inc.
4. JOHNSON, Shannon     25:09.09  +1:42.66    44.3  Preston Cycling Club Inc
5. BONARIUS, Nathan     26:07.23  +2:40.81    42.7  Sydney Uni Velo Club
6. REGESTER, Robert     26:31.59  +3:05.17    42.0  Blackburn Cycling Club Inc
7. MATRAVOELGYI, Miklos 26:41.16  +3:14.74    41.8  Cats Cycling Club
8. SILVESTRI, David     26:53.89  +3:27.47    41.4  Ffast Cycle Club
9. JACKSON, Heath       28:33.97  +5:07.55    39.0  St Kilda Cycling Club Inc
DNF LANE, Stephen                                   Footscray Cycling Club Inc

Full Results: HERE
Leanne Cole has a whole swag of photos: HERE

I also want to give special mention to both Kipp Kaufmann and David Morgan for their work over the weekend. Kipp, GM of Cycling Victoria - Spending 5 days in Ballarat helping run the show, I saw him running around putting up marquees, driving a follow car, and word has it he spent Thursday night sweeping corners at the crit track for the following day. There is a legacy of disliking CSV (as it was known then) - I've had my say in the past too.. To see the GM out there hands-on helping out in Ballarat was fantastic. And what can I say about David 'Mr. Pink' Morgan that we don't already know? An absolute legend at what he does for us, the riders.... and you'd never guess what colour his drink was while he was standing at the bar with a smile on his face watching the presentations? Raspberry, which passes as pink if you ask me!

A lot of people to thank for their support in the lead up to this event:

• Team Kosdown - Our main sponsor and our all our sub sponsors for their all their assistance.
• Kos Samaras - The Chief Smurf behind the scenes of Team Kosdown. A top rider himself and a huge supporter of his riders.
• Raoul Luescher - www.luescherteknik.com.au
• Elizabeth Walker from Absolute BodyHealth Solutions for keeping my ageing and busted body in order.
• Champion System for the skinsuit (mine with the Aus Champ bands is in the mail they tell me! Can't wait!)
• Von - For putting up with my ever increasing focus on my 'hobby' of cycling.

Also at the Masters Nationals - Kosdown team mate Shannon Johnson took the win in the MMAS1 Crit and with the assistance of Stephen Lane he also took out the Road Race - Securing himself the MMAS1 Champion of Champions title and a clean sweep of the MMAS1 category for Kosdown. So we're a pretty happy bunch at the moment.

Ballarat Courier Write up: Miller battles winds to claim Australian Masters Cycling time trial

Huge thanks to Michael McRitchie for his Team Kosdown photos too!

Thinking very aero thoughts.....

Didn't have time to count the orange poles, but I didn't hit any!

"I don't drink, so mum will love this."

Three in a row... and I'm not stopping there!

Feeling very important.... <3 The Courier

Back page news! Woooooo!

I'm now over in Adelaide competing in five cycling events at the 13th Australian Masters Games. I did pretty well in the crit, I'll write that up tomorrow if I get a chance... but I've got to scoot and get the TT bike ready for TT #31 for the year tomorrow morning!