Tales from the llama...: 2013 Metro Champs, May Kew TT, Kit Giveaway!

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
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  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.

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....