Glenvale Crit with @cccyclingclub @c_ports @lsd_snr @hampton_cycles @stalds

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Damo @ DeLuca discussing Tactics - DeLuca I am going to attack all day, Damo Uh Oh!

After rolling up to Sandown on Tuesday night for my first A grade race it was time to back it up with a Sunday morning crit at Glenvale.  Shop owner Damian Jones and Craig Porter made up the Hampton Cycles contingent ably assisted by Leigh 'I'm not ready yet' Schilling who spent the morning behind the camera lens and filling his two young daughters with Coke (hopefully his wife reads this blog!)

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Proof of the Coke intake

 

The sun was out, the conditions were great and when I rolled up and received $45 prize money from last year's B grade effort the day couldn't have started any better.  How quickly things can change....

 

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Quality Field just here

Standard pre race routine saw Ports and I warm up with a ride down to Glenvale where we hooked up with Damo just before the race. As soon as things got underway it was obvious that this was going to be a much harder race than my first A grade one 5 nights earlier.  An early break leapt away and the chase was on with the rest of the field being worked over in an attempt to bring things back.  This was where things started to go to custard.  After moving forward to be near the front of the chase group I found myself sitting second wheel and next thing I'm looking around to see a gap opened up behind and we are half way across which seemed like a good idea at the time but not for long. 

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Muzza realising his mistake about here

Next thing it's my turn on the front and feeling obligated after following the wheel for a while I gave it everything in an attempt to get across what was left of the gap.  This wasn't B grade which I soon realised as I made little impact on the gap and had no choice but to retreat to what would hopefully be the safety of the bunch.  Wrong again - with lungs burning I slotted back in and battled away for another 5 or so laps but the effort had cooked me and it was game over.

 

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Ports copping a spray from DeLuca for dropping the wheel - Who needs friends?

 

From the comfort of the side of the road I watched Damo turn himself inside out in a break of 10 that worked hard in an attempt to stay away and Ports working overtime to maintain good position in what was a strung out bunch in pursuit. 

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Damo starting to suffer

Some big efforts from the chasers saw them reeled in only to see another break go clear which would prove to be the winning one.  The bunch tried hard to pull them back and a big turn on the last lap from Ports was only enough to bring the bunch to within 50 metres at the find bend but it wasn't enough and the break held on with 2006 Commonwealth Games Points Race Gold Medallist Sean Finning taking the chocolates. 

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Ports giving it a last ditch effort to chase down the break

If there was any consolation the CV of the winner highlights the quality of the field and it's not a bad effort for a few old dads to be going around in what is some of the most competitive crit racing around.  Looking forward to keeping my nose out of the wind in the next outing.

 

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Wokka Showboating - He loves the camera whilst Stalder drives it as usual

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Damo & Ports trying to recover

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DeLuca on another attack

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Damo trying to hold on

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Ports turn to showboat - 2 hands on the bars in a corner mate

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race report by Muzza

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Damo looking pooped

2011 Australian Masters 2 Road Race Report Ballarat by @c_ports with Gus

Race report

Saturday 8th September

 

A rare opportunity for a Saturday morning sleep in. My ride was showing up at 9.00am.

Fellow shop rider Angus McDonald and I were all set for a road trip to Ballarat for Australian Masters Road race. Driving over the Pentlands the weather wasn’t doing much to encourage us, it remained dark and gloomy threatening rain. I had vivid memories of last years race, strong cross winds hail and rain, Ballarat can be a nasty place this time of year.

We eventually found our way to the course after briefly getting lost amongst the network of farms and poorly sign posted country roads, the course this year circled Lake Learmonth and the breeze off the lake was so cold. Because of our poor navigation we were a little pressed for time and the much needed warm up, never eventuated.

The race this year was very well organised, a good section of closed roads, neutral spares and plenty of people on hand to assist with registrations and commissioning.

Thankfully for Gus and I the initially pace was easy going, being a new course to many of us, I believe most of the field was keen to site the climbs on the first lap. We were destined to do 6 laps. Each lap almost 16km in length. The first 6 km gradually rolled over two climbs no more than 3%.

The breeze was in our favour, coming in from the North West it was on out tails for the more open parts of the race which pushed the down hill speed upwards of 60 to 70kph each lap.

The second lap the race began to find it’s rhythm.

We’d had a stern warning from the commissaries’ before the race about team tactics but thankfully no body really had a strong team or support. Most riders where there with their own interests or just didn’t have the strength in the team to influence the pace.

Many times throughout the next few laps riders rolled the dice at the top of the second climb, the strong field though never willing to give the leaders more than 100m. It wasn’t until 3 to go that some of the favourites really starter to show their cards. None more heavily marked the Cycleworks Tom Leaper. Tom’s reputation was his un doing and in a lot of ways would be the theme of this race.

Angus made some very strong contributions on the 3 lap, forcing the tempo and stretching the group over the climbs.

Some of the strong riders tried using this lift in tempo to mark their attacks, but the attacks were well covered, often by the same 5 or 6 guy’s. Nobody really had the interest or maybe the legs to push on with the attacks, the tempo would drop and the back third of the field would regain position.

 

At this stage Angus and I where very well placed, waiting patiently to pounce on a dangerous move.

Tom Leaper was the catalyst for almost every move in the final two laps, with a few notable exceptions. What Tom needed was a second rider to counter attack his moves, but no body wanted to go off the front with Tom, me included, knowing all to well he’d leave you buried 2km from home.

I did however roll the dice once in riding across a gap to join 6 riders 100m up the road, but we too were slowly pulled back in by small groups of riders.

Eventually this trend continued until the final lap, on the down hill a few riders rolled the dice and went for gold a few km’s from home. The bunch had this under control, maybe too much under control, everyone wanted to be on the front for the final narrow 1.5km. Angus and I both had terrible position in the pack and everything we moved on was closed out or ran out of road. It wasn’t too long until the inevitable happened. A touch of wheels and bars and riders were sent scurrying into the grass, this was my way through!

Quickly I moved forward about 20 riders but I was sitting on the outside, the commotion had sparked the front 20 riders into an early sprint, still more than 800m to go and we were already up on our gears and hitting 60kph. Heads where dropping and riders were loosing form, I took the safest option and road an outside line the whole way on a left hand sweeper. I knew a podium was out of reach, but I desperately wanted to finish on “same time” so I stuck to the saddle and pushed around as many riders as I could.

Credit to the podium, it was a day where only a strong sprinter would prevail.

As it turned out, both Angus and I rode as well as we’d hoped, we both had an influence on the race at times and we were always prominent in the group. The weather warmed up considerably and most importantly we both stayed up right.

A race like this one only builds your confidence and keeps you keen for the next opportunity.

That opportunity will be for us, Shepparton in two weeks.