Tales from the llama...: Phillip Island

Sunday, 14 July 2013

Cycling Victoria & CCCC Phillip Island TT - July 13th 2013

Back to the island for the 4th year in a row. The track was resurfaced 6 months ago, $3M and 5000 tons of asphalt later, the world-class facility is faster and smoother than ever.

We stayed down on the island on Friday night to take the pain out of an early morning road trip. This meant a 9am arrival and getting in a few laps before the event. Such an amazing place to roll around and take in the views of the coast. It really is a privilege for us to be able to race our bikes on this circuit.

The TT heads of state were all in attendance, with the exception of Squillari (AWS) who was over in the USA to pursue an acting career following in the footsteps of Melissa George... or at some international bike junket (lucky bugger!).

The threatening rain never eventuated and the wind was at an uncharacteristic minimum for this time of year. No headwind on the climb to Lukey Heights for once was very welcome! Speaking of welcome, it was good to be greeted by Lee 'Hollywood' Turner as I rolled up to the start line. He was there supporting the Stay True Racing stable.

I won't give a detailed breakdown of my ride itself. I was a good 10-15 seconds up on schedule after lap 1 and just kept tapping away at a pace that I had to trust in myself I could hold to the end. My facial expressions on a few of the official event photos sum up the battle I'm referring to.

In the hurt box!

A Grade Top 10
1   Shane Miller      Coburg CC    Kosdown         22:45.55
2   David Kelly       St Kilda CC Total Rush-Hyster    22:56.25
3   Michael Gallagher Carnegie CC VIS               23:20.42
4   Nick Bensley      St Kilda CC Stay True Racing      23:25.48
5   Stephen Lane      Coburg CC    Kosdown               23:36.58
6   Tom Leaper        Blackburn CC Croydon Cycleworks    23:41.06
7   Benjamin Johnson Footscray CC BikeBug/AussiePallets 23:45.59
8   John Cain         Carnegie CC Giant-Celtic          23:52.40
9   Adam Versteege    Carnegie CC Zoom Video            23:55.43
10 Rohan Andrew      St Kilda CC Charter Mason       24:13.55
Full Results (CCCC)

Yep! Quadzilla did too, I was just a little quicker and took 1st place. Gallagher had a great ride as he prepares for the Para-Cycling World Championships in four weeks.

Links:
CCCC TT Report
Giant Celtic Race Team Report
Brian Mangano Photos
Kosdown Facebook Album

HEDs of state!

Thursday, 19 July 2012

Cycling Victoria & CCCC Phillip Island TT - July 14th 2012

Photo (c) JXP Photography

Like migrating penguins, it was that time of year again to make our way down south for the Phillip Island IRTT Spectacular. With the forecast of rain, hail, and the chance of bogans, Mal and the crew from CCCC somehow arranged perfect conditions for a TT: Dry, sunny, and windy as hell.

Von was off early in the day so we were able to sneak in a lap before the TT started. It was super-fast down the main straight and super slow back into the wind and up the hill, or "Lukey Heights", for those who like to give nicknames to segments of road. It was good to get a feel for the wind, it really dictated the pacing strategy for the day.

With the honour of wearing #1, I had 2hrs up my sleeve to run around and take photos of Von and a few others... and pick their brains about the conditions when they rolled into the finish.

Not much to report on my ride. Head down, stick to the plan, get it done. I was keeping an eye on my lap splits and was just a touch faster than last year. In the end I was only 5 seconds faster than last year. Fast enough to snag the win over David "Quadzilla" Kelly (Total Rush) in 2nd and a larger than life John "Big" Cain (Giant Celtic) who cut his way into the wind for a very handy 3rd place against much younger (and shorter!) competition.

Photo (c) JXP Photography

A Grade Open Men Top 10:
1 Shane    MILLER    Coburg CC       23:16
2 David    KELLY     St Kilda CC           23:54
3 John     CAIN      Carnegie Caulfield CC 24:15
4 Benjamin JOHNSON Footscray CC          24:20
5 Michael GALLAGHER Carnegie Caulfield CC 24:35
6 Vaughan BOWMAN    Carnegie Caulfield CC 25:02
7 Stuart SMITH     Leongatha CC          25:10
8 Andrew WEIGHTMAN Carnegie Caulfield CC 25:18
9 Ciaran JONES     Carnegie Caulfield CC 25:19
10 Liam     DOVE      Blackburn CC          25:29
11 Martin   LAMA      Blackburn CC          25:55

A Grade Podium - And a bit of Game of Thrones cosplay.

Full results (Cycling Victoria)

Jarrod at JXP Photography was at the circuit snapping all the competitors. Visit http://jxpphotography.com/2012/07/14/2012-phillip-island-itt/ for a full gallery of all the action.

Full results, a few pics, and event wrap up over on CCCC here. (Lap splits hidden away on there too for anyone like me suffering from info OCD). The sun stayed out for the afternoon scratch races and it looked like everyone out there was enjoying the unseasonal sunshine. We also got in a re-con of the upcoming Vic State Masters TT course on the way home too.... summary: First few kms look to be on a busy road with blind sweeping corners, blerk.. after that the roads are pretty good. Looking forward to that one in a few weeks.