Tales from the llama...: March Madness Weekend 2012. Crits, TTs, Crits, lots of kms in the car...

Lots of kms in the car.

This weekend was jam-packed with racing which saw most of Team Kosdown racing two or three events over the weekend. There is a team round-up over on the website here, below are a few tales from the three events I pinned a number on for....

Coburg CC Criterium Champs 2012. Saturday, March 24th 2012.

12 riders and damp conditions at National Boulevard. Kosdown had the numbers but as a club champs it was a gloves-off affair, team mates against team mates. Kos Samaras was active early on. Chris Naumovic (TopGear) was looking sharp in a skinsuit, a clear sign he was there to race hard, or that his more-acceptable-for-a-crit knicks and jersey was still in the wash. Adrian 'Chewy' Chew (TopGear) also kept very active near the front making sure the Kosdown colours didn't dominate proceedings.

A break of four riders formed at around the 20 minute mark. Sam Lilley, Adam Katsonis, Chris Naumovic and myself. Naumovic was out numbered and was in a tactical tough spot. He didn't need to roll turns, was ridden off the back, and on the receiving end of some tactical shit-talk. To his credit he didn't crack or feed the trolling, and we were soon back with the two leaders. After Naumovic started rolling through and contributing to the break, Lilley attacked him three times in quick succession. While those two boys were playing attack-sies and Katsonis was a few lengths back, I jumped away solo.... and got away.

After 31 minutes solo I was never out of sight on the main straight. I thought I might be in for a chance. It wasn't to be. The the catch was made with 3 to go. The sprinters in the group were more than happy to go neutral on bell lap as A Grade came past. We resumed 'racing' with 800m to go. I kicked from the bunch but wise old-fox Peter Ferrie didn't let me go anywhere, giving the others a nice ride onto my wheel. 500m out and another acceleration went, without me. Lilley, Samaras, Ferrie, and Katsonis took off to contest the win. I watched them spin away... and a few riders watching my wheel missed the jump. Lilley took the well deserved club champion title, Samaras 2nd, Ferrie 3rd.

Doomed solo attempt...

Wangaratta CC Winton TT. Saturday, March 24th 2012.

A 2pm start time meant I could get up to Glenrowan for the Wangaratta CC time trial in the afternoon. A 20-26km TT (depending on where the marshal put the turn around), on a relativity flat course that ran parallel to the Hume Freeway, with a little berg in the first and final 2km to contend with.

The turn out was pretty good. The local BikeHub boys all there including Lyster and Reeckman, along with a few familiar faces from other TTs, including Martin Lama, and Liz Randall on her shiny new Trek TT bike. Tomarsh Loki was on the rego desk for the day and had already assigned me #1, putting me off last, and estimating I'd be hitting an average of 47km/h. Not with the hill we had to contend with! 45km/h was my estimate. An unknown interstate rider was also in the mix but had missed his start time and was sent off behind me, a fatal error as the corner marshal thought I was last through and had packed up once I'd passed.

Lyster was my minute man and it took me 13.8km to reel him in. This was his first TT since the Tour of Bright so was having a pretty good day on the TT bars. The short sharp 7% rise was the evil twist in this course after the 51km/h return leg on the super-fast road... Then an all-out effort the longer gentler 4% onto the freeway overpass before the downhill to the line. My 2 minute man was caught on the overpass as I targeted the catch-and-release just as we crested the last bump.

1st place with 25:18, 45.6km/h on the Garmin for the 19.2km course. $20 for the win was a welcome fuel money bonus for the day.

A Grade Results
1. Shane Miller 25:18
2. Tully Lyster 26:59
3. Allan Thrum 27:24
4. Martin Lama 27:25 (1 second!)

Full results are up on the new Wangaratta Cycling Facebook page. Their next TT is on April 28th on the Warby Range course.

Few pics showing that you can never underestimate the weaponry people use in country club TTs. It is wallet warfare on the start line! (Cheers to http://www.tonyreeckmanphotography.com/ for the shots.)

Heads down thumbs up, 2012 edition.

Full result list. Tomarsh's handy work. Spot on!

Cycling Victoria Masters Criterium Championships 2012 - Hosted by Castlemaine CC. March 25th 2012.

Castlemaine CC had prepared the tight street circuit well this year. Hay bales everywhere for hungry horses, and for any riders who wanted to overcook the corners. MMAS1 showing no signs of participation improvement over previous years, had only 3 riders, so we were again crammed in with MMAS2 (10 riders) for our 30 minute + 1 lap blast around the 700m course.

30 minutes isn't a lot of time to mess about in a race. So I went from the gun. The only other rider to respond get across was Haydn Bradbury (DeVer), a MMAS2 rider. Everyone had to chase this move. They tried and held us at about 50m for a lap or two before a hesitation in the chase bunch meant Bradbury and I were out of sight. We swapped one lap turns and knew the move just might pay off when the bunch wasn't closing back to us. We ended up lapping the field at the 13 minute mark and getting to sit on for a few laps. All we needed to do was mark any attacks or at least keep them in sight... oh, and keep away from the hay bales.

Shannon Johnson (Kosdown) MMAS1 went on a solo mission off the front, not long after that a MMAS2 rider followed but never made contact. The bunch accelerated and closed both riders down. In the final few laps Bradbury and Johnson rolled off the front and nobody chased. I let them go, Bradbury MMAS2 and not in my race, Johnson MMAS1 but no time to take a lap. At three to go I jumped solo to see if I could bridge across but came up short as Johnson got in a pre-NAB Showmans Crit sprint to the line. Cam Woolcock (ABOC) MMAS2 took the bunch kick to the line.

MMAS1 Results:
Gold - Shane Miller (Coburg CC)
Silver - Shannon Johnson (Preston CC)
Bronze - Chris Zielinski (Southern Masters CC)

MMAS2 Results:
Gold - Hayden Bradbury (Blackburn CC)
Solver - Cam Woolcock (Hawthorn CC)
Bronze - Gary Wearmouth (Geelong CC)

The racing this year, while still short, was a lot better than last time around. The course is made for a huge normalised power number, as seen on my Twitter feed. You're either stomping up the main straight into the hill or coasting down around the two final corners at speed. It was a similar race story for MMAS3 and above, small groups, or single riders getting clear and just stomping away from their fields. Even with the thin numbers in the Masters fields the hard-man (and hard-woman) racing made up for it. Top work Castlemaine CC!

See the Castlemaine CC write up of the day here: Linky