Tales from the llama...: Mt Buller Road Race

Monday, 18 March 2013

Mt Buller Road Race. March 17th 2013 - Masters A.

My race report from the Mt Buller Road Race last year caused a little controversy for telling it like it was. Fast forward 12 months and to the credit of the race organisation team, Cycling Victoria, sponsors, and volunteers, they stepped up and addressed everything to make the event a better experience.

Pre-registration the day before, electronic timing with results online in real-time, a grading system (finally! Not perfect, but a great start). Add to this the inclusion of the Victorian Road Series and ability based Masters grading. You can't deny that things in our sport are progressing at a rapid pace.... So much so that a few riders are drifting off the back of the collective bunch waving their fists screaming "This isn't how my sport used to be! Damn it!" More on this later on.... First up, a race report!

Masters A

Masters A Grade wasn't the biggest field of the day, 40 riders on the start sheet. Quality over quantity, with more Tour of Bright podium place getters than you could poke a stick at and a few well known flat landers to keep everyone honest before the hill. Nobody knew who to watch. Still too early in the season to know who is flying and who is creeping.

Masters A - Start line.

Roll out. New Kosdown kit on show too.

Right from the start the Charter Mason boys had the numbers and used their riders to perfection. 2-3 of them on the front driving the pace in the gutter for the first 20km. One rider thought it best to ride in the gravel on the shoulder of the road..... and was soon a DNF with a puncture. No surprises there. Charter Mason's man mountain, Rohan Andrew, was providing the best wind break we could ask for. He was stomping along! I heard there were a few splits in the bunch within the 20km of gutter action. No surprises there either, this kind of riding takes a lot of energy, concentration, and risks.

The two riders just off the front of the bunch were soon swept up as we started the climb at 31km. Stephen Lane (Kosdown) went to work on the front. Full gas can only half describe the pace he set. What was left of the climbing group after only 2 minutes were all in the hurt box! All except for Michael Gallagher (VIS). He was soon on the front setting an even higher tempo, dropping more riders from the climbing group. Not content with just a high tempo, he was throwing in accelerations every few minutes.

Decision time. Do I keep fighting and respond to every attack, or peg my power numbers and never push too far into the red? Bugger it! Fight! Attack after attack was thinning the climbing group. Down to 8, 6, 4, then it was only Gallagher and I for a short while. I told him I'd pull through for a turn and keep us clear but I wasn't able to contribute much as the road pitched up harder. I did a few token turns but the pace wasn't high enough. Two riders rejoined us and Gallagher soon put the nail in our coffins with a few kms to go. Experience and ability like that is hard to beat!

~30 second gap to Gallagher at this point.

Race status - Gallagher up the road by 30 seconds. Brett Kingson (Hampton Cycles) still on my wheel. Danny Kah (Charter Mason) still within striking distance of a podium spot. After some encouragement, swerving, and a handful of brakes, Kingson came through for a turn. We knew Gallagher had the win in the bag. We needed to keep clear of Kah to get on the podium. The pace was off near the top and I mistakenly backed myself against Kingson in the kick to the line, he stuck to my attack and launched off me for a deserved 2nd. I rolled over a few seconds later for 3rd, 48 seconds down on Gallagher.

From the gutter action out of Mansfield to the slaughterhouse on Mt Buller at only 2 degrees, the race had character. We were all outclassed by world-class Gallagher and I was pretty happy to be standing up on the podium next to him.

Top 10 - Masters A

1. 170 Michael Gallagher 1h41:23          Carnegie Caulfield CC
2. 148 Brett Kingston    1h42:07    +44   Carnegie Caulfield CC
3. 178 Shane Miller      1h42:11    +48   Coburg Cycling Club INC
4. 156 Danny Kah         1h42:49    +1:26 Carnegie Caulfield CC
5. 150 Ciaran Jones      1h43:35    +2:12 Carnegie Caulfield CC
6. 171 Paul Mason      1h43:54    +2:31 Carnegie Caulfield CC
7. 185 Aaron Knight      1h44:01    +2:38 Team Mount Beauty
8. 151 Craig Johnson     1h45:15    +3:52 St Kilda Cycling Club INC
9. 152 Damien Jones      1h45:15    +3:52 Carnegie Caulfield CC
10.184 Tully Lyster      1h47:07    +5:44 Wangaratta Cycling Club INC

Results:
Masters A - Full Results
All Grades - Full Results

Photos:
Tony Reeckman Photography
Jo Upton Photography

My take on the grading system/ear chewing....

With progress there are grumbles.... Let me address those, as best I can, after my ear was chewed off a few times over the weekend - "The handicapping isn't fair. Masters needs to be age based, not ability based. Scrap Masters altogether. What the f&#k are you in grade X for?"

- Cycling has changed in the last few years. A lot. More people. More events. More private sponsorships. More money involved. Racing is popular! Charter Mason and Kelly Coaching, both had cars and team vans there to support their troops. Only the VIS and Drapac had this luxury a few years ago.

- The quality of racing has changed. A LOT. A Elite Grade is super fast. Masters is faster than ever.

- The grading system is in early stages of development. There is only one rider you need to worry about, yourself. CV have provided all the info you need here, http://www.vic.cycling.org.au/default.asp?Page=49473 along with a feedback form.

- Grading exists to offer more riders a chance to be competitive. I think this is fair. We're not all ProTour contract seeking Elite A Graders. Most of us just want to be competitive in a bike race.

- Ego aside, you need to evaluate which grade you'll be competitive in, and race that. If you can honestly tell me there isn't a grade you'll be competitive in, I'll be surprised.

- The grading system is not set in stone. You have the ability to question/change/state your grade assignment. Have supporting information, previous results, etc to make things easy for them.

- Aged based Masters racing forces a 44yo D Grade club level master to race 32yo A Grade club level riders. I don't think this is fair.

- The grading system will have the ability to identify and relegate those who are continually 'over graded'. Hypothetically speaking, if you're always finishing in the bottom 20%, I'd be pretty nervous about expecting a start in the same grade in the next race.

- Re: Tour of Bright qualification points from the VRS. Anyone collecting points in the VRS who has already gained a top 20 last year are allowing more spots to be opened up for people who don't collect any points all year. Something to consider before complaining about how you won't get a start at Bright. Support your ToB Top 20! :)

Other Random Stuff....

Coach! - With the level of competition at the ToB last year and the introduction of ability based Masters grading in the Victorian Road Series, I knew if I kept doing the same training then I wouldn't be as competitive in 2013. So back to basics. Working on the engine under the guidance of Mark 'Fenz' Fenner (http://www.ftptraining.com). After years of doing my own thing and ticking off a few goals, working with Fenz will leave no stone unturned when it comes to getting 100% out of what I have. Only a few weeks into the program and things are looking good. Racing Mt Buller was a good indication we're on track already.

Mont24 - Von and I have been invited to be a part of THULE's mixed team up in Canberra next weekend. 24hrs. Mountain bikes. Camping out. Something well outside our comfort zone. Scott and the team at THULE have been a sponsor of mine for a few years and really do live the lifestyle their company is all about. We can't wait to be a part of it.

Easter Vets - One week after the Mont24 Von and I will be doing all five races at the South Pacific Vets Championships in Maryborough. Vets is still an eerie parallel universe of racing that I enjoy. High quality racing too. Worlds away from any grading system/pro contract chasing niggles!

2012 Masters of the Year! - My last post mentioned my nomination. The awesome news is I won! This will take pride of place on the shelf at home!

Random Pics

Mansfield accommodation... The 'tin shed' was exactly that. A tiny shed.

This driver also failed grade 3 colouring.

Country town gingerbread men supporting the CFA! Awesome! Nom!

Llamas. Real llamas from Argentina, thanks José!

Monday, 19 March 2012

Mt Buller Road Race. March 18th 2012.

700+ riders, pre-register the night before, electronic timing, event photographers on course, and more corporate sponsorship than you could poke a spoke at. That was the recreational ride, the 2012 SCODY High Country Cycle Challenge. From all reports it was a great success.

On the racing side of things, while being referred to as 'professional' by MC Rob Gaylard, we didn't have the same luxuries as the rec riders. Our 8:30am start was delayed for 20mins+ due to a 30min line up for on-the-day registration, no electronic timing, a grading "system" that had national level team riders in B Grade, and zero detail about where the actual finish was.... was it at the clock tower, around the corner, or up some footpath that people had to contend with last year? In my honest opinion, the racing is the red headed stepchild of the Tour de Flavour.

A little more on the grading.... There was a limit of 60 riders per grade so CV/someone had to perform some rider shuffling. I'm not sure exactly why a limit was put on the race fields when there were 100s in the rec ride.... National level teams such as the VIS, Drapac, Search2Retain had riders were placed in B Grade. Last years winner of B Grade was also sitting pretty again in B Grade along with other previous B Grade Open hilly race winners. This isn't a stab at the riders, they're absolute guns, most had even entered A Grade but were demoted. Everyone was questioning was what the f*ck was up with the handicapping? It wasn't a case of educated shuffling to make up numbers, it was a clear example of incompetence. The quality of racing and fairness within the grades isn't a primary concern to the event organisers. Until there is some kind of system in place to track and rank riders, it is likely nothing will change.

The solution for a few of these issues? To look at what the recreational ride is doing and come up with a middle ground. Reduce the "$8,000 prize money" that only 5% of the field get to see (and that gives people incentive to demote themselves) and implement better services for the entire field, services that 100% of people will benefit from. Pre-race rego, electronic timing, more race/route information, better grading, a sprint point at the gatehouse. With a few tweaks, the Mt Buller race has the potential to be as successful for the riders as the Tour of Bright.

That is most of the negative junk out of the way, and I'm not expecting a re-tweet by CV from this race report.... if you want some sugarcoated fairytale bullshit you won't find it here, not today. I can't give you the blow by blow account of what happened at the pointy end because I wasn't there to see it.

To the race.... I'd only entered because Von was up there racing the two women's events and I didn't want to stand on the sidelines wishing I was out there too. I'd entered A Grade although I honestly don't have the runs on the board in Open road events to be there, but that'd be sorted out once all riders had entered, right...? No. I was racing A Grade! Shannon Johnson (Kosdown) driving the bunch for the first few kms out of town at a smoking pace. A group of 15 riders held a gap of 15-20 seconds for about 10km which was closed down before the climb thanks to everyone jamming up the small hills and some monster turns by leg-meat-mountain David Kelly (Total Rush).

The center line rule wasn't mentioned nor enforced. Our follow car turned a blind eye to riders ripping up the wrong side of the double whites on the way out to the climb, and up it.

A few riders went backwards through the pack on the final rise before the gatehouse. More switched off as soon as the real climbing started. I was sitting near the back and picking my way around riders for the first few km. Nathan Elliott (Charter Mason Drapac) ripped a monster turn on the front that left only 20(?) riders in touch.. at around 20 minutes into the climb I was still dangling about 10m off the back of this bunch, never getting back on. It was a solo slog to the top from then on, watching the leaders spin away. After losing sight of the bunch the motivation and power to the pedals was lacking a few percent. I made my way past a few riders that had been dropped and were just tapping to the top. Most wondering why I was still riding hard... because why not was the reason. There was no stage 2 TT to save my legs for. I wasn't in the same league as the guys up the road on a hill like this, but I wanted to see how far off I was.

Using Strava as the defacto result sheet, I was 4min30sec off the A Grade winner, Matt Clark. A handful of B Graders who've uploaded their climb times show they climbed faster than most of A Grade too. How about we take a collection and shout the handicapper a Strava subscription to help next time? :) No idea of where I ended up overall. Plenty of time to work on that before any other lengthy hilly races pop up on my calendar.

The feed bag at the top for all riders at the top was a welcome sight. The cake, biscuit, and Gatorade was consumed in no time at all. I offered to tow Von all the way back into town if she paid for lunch..... it was agreed.... so I sat on the front for 30kms. Perfect TT training with lunch provided. We picked up one fare evader who hung on for the last 15kms. He didn't interfere so was a welcome passenger. :)

Race Results.... Only the Top 3 reported, pretty unfair on the other 95% of the field... I won't put the heat on CV for this one, it was probably due to the lack of electronic timing. There were pens, paper, and a video camera on the finish line.....

Edit: Wed 21st March - The full results for the road race have been published!

Overall winning times per grade.. (Calculated by me from Strava data and time gaps.)

Men A:   1:31:54
Men B:   1:37:56
Men C:   1:47:42
Men D:   1:51:02
Women A: 1:59:47
Women B: 2:02:03

Fastest Mt Buller climb times per grade.. (From Strava/time gaps, assuming bunch together at the base)

Men A: 40:51 (Matt Clarke)
Men B: 42:20 (Tom Hamilton)
Men C: 48:08 (Hugo Tolliday/Morgan Curtis)
Men D: 49:53 (Roland Elsdon)
Women A: 53:10 (Stephanie Ives)
Women B: 56:12 (Carolyn Fraser)

Crit: http://www.vic.cycling.org.au/?ID=45968
Road: http://www.vic.cycling.org.au/?ID=45969

A few clarifications:
- I believe the rec ride was organised by Bikevents.com.au/Mansfield CC, not CV... however all the events this weekend came under the Mansfield "Tour de Flavour" umbrella.
- Don't flip your shit at me for having an opinion, especially if you're an organiser, volunteer, or someone who takes offense to what I've said. Your work is appreciated. As I have done in the past, I'm echoing a number of topics discussed by a number of people over the weekend and putting them in writing.... because I want to see things get better. What you have to worry about is the riders who've done it once and won't return. You'll never know why.
- The weather was good, the roads were good, there were no major dramas affecting the racing itself. The fastest guys and gals in each grade won.
- I'll go back next year if I'm not banned... or sued by Happy Fun Fapper Pics for using their images.
- I sat on this post for most of the day, thinking it was all too negative. The response I've had on Facebook about this topic shows that there are a lot of people who are interested in the weekend and some of the details on and off the bike... so here it is.
- Just bear with me and I'll come up with good content again.... maybe.... ;)

Anyhows... for some calming visuals to finish...