The 2013 Metro Road Champs were back in Harcourt and back onto the
extended
Sutton Grange loop that was missed last year due to road
resurfacing. 80km to be covered for the combined MMAS1/2 field. Adam
Versteege (Zoom Video Racing) MMAS1 spent around 45km dangling off the
front of the bunch. With two different championships in one race, he wasn't a
rider I had to worry about, it was up to the other MMAS1 riders to
chase. A few accelerations by MMAS1 riders were covered by other MMAS2
riders, so I kept those in check. A few of us finally started rolling
turns at 50km into the race.... for 3km until someone rolled through
like a steam train and blew the harmony. Luckily it was a bike
race, not a singing contest.

With 16km left to race and the
always decisive hill coming up, I threw away the idea of trying to win
and went to the front and got on the gas. Smart move? No. Good timing?
Yep. A few kms to string out the bunch before stomping up the climb. Across the top we had 4-5 left, sweeping up
Versteege in the process. With 6km to go Nick Youngs (Zoom Video / MMAS2) puts in an acceleration that I jumped across to. No reaction from the
others. "Let's do this" was the agreement. A few kms later we were out of sight. I swung off
the front at 800m from the line. Youngs lead out and opened up the
sprint. With a few rounds of
Carl Brewer's ABOC Sprint Series
a few years back still up my sleeve I kicked for the win. After
throwing the idea of winning out the window 16kms before and just riding
the bike as hard as I could - I was pretty happy with the result.
Cycling Victoria wrap up (and results)
Jo Upton Metros Photos
Back
to Kew the next morning for an over-and-under ball breaker TT with
Blackburn CC. The good conditions we unequally matched with not so good legs.
Thankfully the other hitters on the A Grade start list were in the same
boat. Tom Leaper (Croydon CycleWorks) had smoked a massive 170km on the day prior,
and Dave Kelly (Total Rush) had been lighting up the dance floor at a
wedding just a few hours prior to hitting the start line. I've been
doing TTs against these guys for a few years, so I'd overlooked who was
knocking on the door at the last round. The next generation are coming!
Specifically Oscar Stevenson and Tom Russel. Oscar had ridden a 29:59
for his first TT at Kew last round. Thankfully these guys have been
spotted a few months ago by Kosdown team boss and are both team mates.
A Grade
-------
1 1 MILLER, SHANE 29:19 29:19 Coburg Cycling Club Inc
2 13 STEVENSON, OSCAR 29:31 13 Hawthorn Cycling Club
3 19 KELLY, DAVID 29:58 40 St Kilda Cycling Club Inc
4 22 RUSSEL, TOM 30:14 56 Hawthorn Cycling Club
5 2 LEAPER, TOM 30:27 01:09 Blackburn Cycling Club Inc
6 5 LANE, STEPHEN 30:38 01:19 Coburg Cycling Club Inc
7 4 ARETA, JOSE 30:51 01:33 Coburg Cycling Club Inc
8 3 CAIN, JOHN 30:55 01:36 Carnegie Caulfield CC
9 12 ROSS , MATTHEW 30:55 01:36 Carnegie Caulfield CC
10 15 DONOHOE, ALISTAIR 31:13 01:54 Blackburn Cycling Club Inc
Full Results
Four Kosdown riders in the top 6. Ace! I was a few seconds off my time last round, good enough for my
10th A Grade TT win at Kew over the years.... but as I said, the next generation are
coming! Oscar's time in 2nd place is only a few seconds off Alex
Morgan's previous course record that stood for a few years. Tom will crack the 30 minute barrier this season too.
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I think my words were - Watch out for this kid! |
With the little help from an
anonymous artist,
we've graphed the Winning A Grade times over the last few years. Very
interesting to see the downward trend of the times. Sub 30 minutes in
dry conditions is the new benchmark.
I've been supported by
Kosdown since 2009, amassing an impressive wardrobe of team kit over the
years. There is only so much 'training kit' I can use in a week, so it
was time to do something with it.
A few weeks back I put the word out on
Facebook that I'd send a top to anyone who'd wear it, and who'd send me
a picture of them wearing it. The kit was gone in about an hour....
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Trip #2 to the post office... |
Now the pics are starting to flow in! It'll be good to see this kit out and about again.
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Smiths Gully! |
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Ben Culton rocking the K - 427m above sea level! |