Race Report Thread

[jules21]

yep, I'll be there. I had good form last year, still couldn't keep up with you, but hopefully I'm in the ball park this year.

[filipw]

Waratah Masters Enduro at Eastern Creek
C grade,
1h40m+1
37.2km/avg
Never raced there before but as my mate was keen to race there I tagged along. I was a bit apprehensive about the length of the race (as i thought it would be 60-70min, not 100min) and I was impressed about the number of opponents (46), but after all it is Sydney. Learned quickly that even at Eastern Creek the best place is near the front then near the back of the pack, but once I sorted that out I went ok. In the bell lap I lost a bit too many positions to be able to participate in the sprint so I rolled in mid pack. Not a bad work out on a good road surface, no cars or trucks to content with… heaven.

[jules21]

did a B gr. crit with Coburg CC last Sat. no wind. 42+ km/h average. I tried a few attacks but I'm hardly going to ride away from a 42 km/h bunch. they chased me down straight away, anyway. then Brendan Canty came and tore up A grade. he can and did ride away from the A grade bunch.

[queequeg]

I did the Eastern Creek Enduro on Sunday as well, but in A Grade. It was the first time I have ridden this course, and I have done hardly any racing this year so I planned it as a training ride just to see how long I could hang on.
I think we had 39 riders in A, and right from the start we had three or four riders go off the front for a breakaway. Nobody chased them, because you know, it's a 2 hour race and those three are mad. The pace for the first few laps was pretty hot before it settled down, but nobody was willing to get organised to chase the three guys down, so they just kept extending their lead to the point where we could no longer see them anywhere on the course.
Mid race another group of guys went up the road to chase them (a very strong group consisting of Eddie, Peter & Simon), and they were not able to reach them either, so the finish was basically the first breakaway, followed by the chase breakaway, followed by the bunch (half a lap down!).
I was happy to last the full two hours in relatively good condition. Avg speed 41.1km/h for just over 2 hours.

One of the other guys put up the last 30min of the race (in the bunch). Some real exciting circuits lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQ6ZoHCVIPI

[Row-D]

because you know, it's a 2 hour race and those three are mad.

That’s pretty much what I was thinking when Trent rolled up next to me at the start line and suggested we attack from the gun. He convinced me by saying we’d just ride at 80% and see if we got a gap. We were quickly joined by Ed who unfortunately didn’t get the memo re riding at 80% (and besides his 80% is probably my 95%) so the pain set in early, but we did get a decent gap.

About 40 minutes in we had Pete, Eddie and Simon chasing as queequg mentioned, but between them and us was another chase group consisting of Eastie (my clubmate and Ed’s teammate) and Jonathan (a really strong rider from Cheeky Monkey). Both groups were closing on us and we knew if they came together we were doomed and if Pete, Eddie and Simon got to us they’d likely take 2 if not 3 spots on the podium. So we slowed slightly and let Eastie and Ed come across to us with 50 minutes of racing done.

Simon wasn’t really contributing to the chase having teammates in Eastie and Ed in our group which meant effectively it was 5 versus 2. Ordinarily you’d be pretty happy with those odds but not when the two are Pete and Eddie so we continued to ride hard for another hour. It was only with about 2 laps to go that we were confident they weren’t going to catch us and we eased a little before Ed and Jonathan started attacking.

Ed put in a strong attack in the last lap forcing Jonathan to chase and Trent, Eastie and I ended up coming around the two of them in the sprint.

It’s a long way from how I expected the day to play out but pretty satisfying!

[queequeg]

It’s a long way from how I expected the day to play out but pretty satisfying!

You guys were out of sight, out of mind. I saw Eddie that afternoon while I was out to lunch.He said that Peter was going to pull out because he wasn't felling too good, but Eddie twisted his arm to stay with it as a training ride

As for me, I would have loved to have gone up the road with you, but I have done stuff all racing this year so it was purely just a case of get out there and see if I could last the 2 hours. All my focus the last few months has been on pure endurance riding, and that continues as I build up again for the Alpine Ultimate in January, then I have 6 months of training to prepare for the Haute Route Triple. Whether racing forms part of that training plan or not will depend what the coach says (when I sort one out in the coming weeks!).

In any case, I am now also the Race Director for our club, so I am being kept busy behind the scenes and learning the ropes.

Paul

[cerb]

CCCC Glenvale - B-Grade Crit
42km, 42.6kph avg.

No racing at SKCC yesterday due to the CyclingTips Giro Della Donna, so I went out to Glenvale instead. Good sized bunch of 40-50 odd riders and no-one that I recognised, but certainly some teams I knew to watch for.

I was riding alone, so was looking to get into a break for the day and basically ensured that if I wasn't in a move, I'd do some work to either bridge across or shut it down. Not particularly smart racing, but it is good for the fitness!

I went for about 7 breaks in the first 30mins of the race - either starting the move or going with other guys who seemed strong. However, the bunch chased hard every time and I couldn't get anything away for more than a lap. I got counter attacked at about the 30min mark by a few strong guys who started to open a gap quickly, so I tried to get some others working to help chase it down. No-one wanted to come around me to chase, so I ended up doing ~300m out of the saddle effort along the home straight to bring it back quickly, rather than mucking around.

After one more big break attempt, I figured it was only 20mins left to race and the bunch weren't letting anything go, so I'd sit in for a bit... of course, just as I went backwards to mid-bunch, a group of 8-9 got away off the front, including a couple strong guys. I let others do some chasing, but after 3-4 laps, they'd already built up a gap of 1/3 lap and with time running down it was starting to look dangerous.

So I moved up and jumped from ~10th wheel to try and bridge across to the break. I went 'fully comitted' and didn't even check behind me after jumping, so when I did a quick check after 30 odd seconds, I was a little bit surprised to see that the bunch was still sitting on me, albeit strung out a long way back down the straight. I figured gaps would open if I just kept going and if they didn't, at least I was still going to shut down the break... so I kept the power on and made contact with the break inside 1.5laps. I was pretty cooked, so eased off - job done. Apparently others were cooked too as the pace dropped significantly for 1/2 a lap, with no-one wanting to come around me... so I just slowed down until they did.

Coming through the start of the bell lap, I was in good position about 5th wheel. Through turn 1, a guy got a little carried away and cut me off hard through the corner. I could see him moving across into me, so I yelled at him to stay wide and stuck my elbow out just as he rammed hard into it with his thigh/hip... We both lost a lot of momentum and got a bit of a shock as we tried to get up to speed again. Due to the lost momentum, I ended up getting swamped into turn 3 and couldn't move up again in time for the sprint - finishing just behind the sprint.

Overall, not a bad race and very good for fitness building. Be nice to get a result at Glenvale, but I'm not too concerned about that as it's currently a good place to go and try some different tactics to usual in a lower grade and not get smashed by the big boys of the local scene, like I usually do at SKCC!

[filipw]

Last Sunday I raced CCCC's new -private road- crit circuit around Ourimbah University. A challenging 1.8 km circuit with a long uphill(ish), a falls flat, and then a downhill, included are 2 x 90 degrees corners. This is my first race at the crit and I was happy to see quite some of my friends of B grade line up with me in C grade . Very hard riding, nowhere to hide, nowhere to rest, welcome to pure crit racing. 4th with absolute nothing left to even try to sprint.

30’+2 laps
38.8 km/avg

B and C grade were completely blown apart, with B grade only finishing with 6 out of the 30+ riders so the handicappers have some work to do.

[cerb]

SKCC A-Grade Crit
49km, avg. 47kph

Melbourne finally had some sunshine and warm weather for yesterdays race! By the time A-grade was on, it was over 30 degrees and pushed through into the mid 30's while we were racing, with the wind also picking up a little.

I had thought that it may be an easier week of racing with Tour of Bright and an ironman race on in WA, but this was a bit mis-guided as real crit racers don't do these type of events..

Of the 53 starters, we had Gerro, Koen De Kort and Baden Cooke on the startline, along with the 5-man Malaysian track team. Many of the top local sprinters were also racing as well as a couple of strong TTers. So, I figured the pace would probably be high and the chance of a successful breakaway quite small. However, a split in the race is always a possibility when the pace is high, so I was constantly on the lookout for one.

It was suggested by our team leader/DS that I sit in today rather than continually chasing efforts and that he'd look to lead me out for the finish. Sitting in isn't my strength as I try to look at each move and follow any that look good... but after following a move early in the race, only be brought back quickly I figured I'd give it a whirl.

I was sitting mid bunch, so didn't know exaclty what was going on up the front, but I think a small break got away shortly afterward which included two strong TTers and quickly buillt a big gap. The gap went out to 35sec at one stage, but started tumbling when the likes of Gerro and Koen started setting tempo on the front.

We averaged about 49kph for 20mins through the middle of the race, where it was basically strung out single file. The pace was so high it was pretty difficult to maintain position, let alone move up and I was getting a little nervous that there'd be a split given the sustained pace. I put in a few 'little' efforts to move up the line when the pace eased slightly and got myself back up toward the front and feeling comfortable in the event there were any splits. With the pace continuously on, plenty of people were red-lining and I was having a few good mini-battle for wheels, which kept me amused and head focused on anything other than the tough pace. Pretty sure about 25% of the race popped and pulled the pin during this portion...!

I think the break got brought back at about ~20mins to go and the pace went a bit more on/off with fast surges before slowing and bunching, then repeating again. I maintaned position and with about 15mins to go put myself in the vicinity of all of the fast finishers and rolled around maintaining position and conserving as much energy as possible.

The pace kicked up again with 3 laps to go and I expected to be swamped, so moved up into the top 5 and kept some power down and ensure I didn't get boxed in. I was loosely following Cookie and a local, Todd Wilksch but always opting to flow forward when the pace eased, rather than slow and stay on their wheel. Copped a couple of solid hip & shoulders from Todd as well which were more 'firm' than I'm used to... nothing un-toward, but enough for me to give him the space he wanted rather than try and push back!

I'm not great with changing gear in the middle of a full-sprint, so when I heard the bell, I dropped it into the 11t and just went with everything I could. At 500m to go, the pace at the front dropped slightly and the bunch started to swarm forward. I think it was local Troy Clarke who kicked off the sprint and gassed it for the 75-100m into the final corner, quickly covered by Todd, Koen, a Malaysian trackie and two others. I was partially obstucted by the guy in front of me, so was a little slow to break out in chase, but had basically closed the small gap by the time we hit the final corner. I came out of the corner with legs aready burning from trying to close the gap, but tried to keep the power down anyway - losing a little ground but not losing any places, coming across the line 7th.

1st: Todd Wilksch
2nd: Troy Clarke
3rd: Irwandie Lakaset (Malaysia)
4th: Baden Cooke
5th: Koen De Kort
6th: David Follino
7th: Me

Very happy with my race! It was my first top-10 in A-Grade and I felt fairly comfortable the whole race. If it weren't for my tactical errors in the final lap, I might even have managed slightly better. Form is feeling pretty good for SuperCrit in 2 weeks time!

Talking to Koen while cooling down, he was surpised to have done 314W average power (not normalised)... It's only a club race! Of course, that just means he was riding mostly Tempo pace the whole time...

Gratuitous shot of Baden Cooke (and many others) suffering in the closing laps, while I do a Froome and look at my stem..

[jules21]

fantastic result Cerb! look at the names on that list. you've gotta be happy with that. and plenty of others you put to the sword no doubt. I'll have to come down to SKCC one Sunday and race C grade again.

anyway, back to hubbard racing, I did the Tour of Bright in Masters C for the 3rd time on the weekend. I came up with 3 other club members on Thursday and prepped the bike at our house for the Friday stage ITT showdown. weather was beautiful and after my usual rush to get to the start-line on time and friendly mocking by others who are used to me doing that, I went down the ramp. I caught the 2 riders ahead of me, although I discovered later that 1 was sick. I was 20 secs. down on last year's TT time and 27th place. 39.9 km/h average. not great, but it may have been windier this year and I gave it 100%. I lost 1:15 mins. to the winner.

Stage 2 on Sat. was the Gaps Loop, 90 km finishing up the east side of Tawonga Gap. my main objective this year was to not be taken out in a crash. the start is always nervous with a ~100 strong bunch, lots of surging and panic-braking. I spent most of the stage watching intently for any signs of trouble and slowing riders - I think I spent more mental than physical energy. great news as I avoided crashing and even had good legs. the short climb up Rosewhite at ~50km in felt easy, although Strava told me later we took it easier than previous years.

I'd trained for the finishing climb so just sat in the bunch quietly and ignored the breakaways. everything was going OK as I stayed near the front, said hello to a few people I only see once a year at this race and even admired the scenery in Happy Valley. then at 80km in we took the RH turn up Tawonga - the moment of truth with a 7.5km climb at ~6%.. I sat on, about 10-20 riders back as the leaders pushed up the hill. so far, so good - I was handling the pace. as we moved on, a few riders eased off and I went around them, a few moved up. no one seemed to be giving 100% as yet. maybe 10 minutes in, the gradient lifted to ~10% and 3 of the strong-men up front pushed the button. I know my limits and just kept a pace that I could follow.

I was on a good day though and gradually started to move past a few more riders. I was really giving it 100% now in the last 2-3 km, sensing I was feeling it but not digging to far into the red, given tomorrow's ascent of Hotham. in the end I was 11th and 1:23 back on the day. that was about as good as I could hope for - up to 13th on GC and hoping to push top 10.

stage 3 was the infamous ascent of Hotham. after a good sleep and a lot of eating, my legs didn't immediately feel great as we rolled out towards Harrietville for the flat 20 km preceding the climb of Hotham - 28km and 1.3km of vert. we didn't hit Hotham at a great pace and a large group 30-40 riders snaked their way up the lower slopes, bar 3 riders who broke away and took off in front of us.

about 4.5km into the climb we hit The Meg, only about 500m but kicking up to 13% - the traditional point at which the race explodes. as it did. being 190cm and 80kg, I couldn't quite hold the lead (chasing) bunch of 20-30 on this steep bit and 'let' myself slide backwards about 1-200m. I know the climb and kept the pressure on the pedals after the gradient eased, taking me 3-5 minutes of above-threshold work to bridge back up. from there the gradient is soft, then leads into the false flat. time to recover, eat, drink and sit in.

18km into the climb, the false flat ends and the climb ramps back up to 13%. bang - my legs gave out a little here. my power wasn't bad, I hadn't blown up, I was pushing 400w, then eased up and was holding ~300w but I was losing ground. I knew if I kept it steady I'd pick off a few riders who over-exerted themselves. from that point Hotham goes up in pinches before traversing a ridge line in a series of about 3 short descents and climbs. push it up the ascents, then relax on the descents.

at 20km in to the climb, CRB hill, 1.5km (AT) 9% hits you in the face. I'd brought the compact cranks this year so was able to 'spin' up in the seat. this helped. me and a clubmate yelled encouragement at each other. I picked off maybe 1 more rider on the last pinches until the summit, 1.3km of climbing at an altitude of 1800m. only 24th on the stage, 5 mins. down for 18th overall at 7:18 down.

not the top 10 I was hoping for, but I PB'd Hotham by 20 seconds and PB'd Tawonga so I guess the competition stepped up a bit this year. I'll be back

[cerb]

Great job Jules and strong result! The meg was the killer for me the on-and-only time I rode Hotham. Can't image racing up there - you're a machine!

[jules21]

Great job Jules and strong result! The meg was the killer for me the on-and-only time I rode Hotham. Can't image racing up there - you're a machine!

thanks Cerb. the difference between riding and racing up Hotham is probably not as great as you might imagine

[Strawburger]

Nice report Jules and well done!

Looking at masters b, same time as masters a this year. Either lots of sandbagging or the quality has improved!

Nice one, enjoy the beers and see you there next year!

[jules21]

Looking at masters b, same time as masters a this year. Either lots of sandbagging or the quality has improved!

thanks strawburger. there was a DHCC rider there I noticed. I reckon quality has improved - riders were not being shed very easily on the climbs - fighting for seconds.

[ft_critical]

Amazing result Cerb, congratulations.
Great report Jules.

[Strawburger]

Looking at masters b, same time as masters a this year. Either lots of sandbagging or the quality has improved!

thanks strawburger. there was a DHCC rider there I noticed. I reckon quality has improved - riders were not being shed very easily on the climbs - fighting for seconds.

Wow, ok better get training then!

Yeah, that would have been Raph. You would have been riding together by the looks of your report and reading his. Not much difference in times between you two.

[jules21]

Yeah, that would have been Raph. You would have been riding together by the looks of your report and reading his. Not much difference in times between you two.

he's put 3 minutes into me on Hotham! I would have ridden with him up until the end of the false flat, but it looks like he's scooted away from there as we headed skywards again

[GJM]

Great riding Jules. You are an inspiring rider.

On the TT leg ... we're all different and conditions are never exactly the same for everyone, but my take was that the wind was very similar in strength to last year (though last year was more blustery/flukey), but this year it was almost in 180 degree different direction. There are no long stretches on that course, as you know, but the longest of them is the first leg out to the turnaround. Personally then, if there was to be any wind at all and I was only concerned with trying to set a PB, I would want the wind at my back on that first outward stretch. Last year, the wind was more or less at your back on that first stretch. This year if anything it was into the wind on the outward stretch. For me at least, I thought it was harder to set a PB this year as a result. The best thing about this year is that the wind wasn't against you on the short final stretch.

[jules21]

thanks GJM! it's all good fun, hope you had a good race.

I agree on your analysis of the ITT. I recall last year really dying on the last leg and this year seeming to do it easier. another rider asked me on the start line, after I'd finished, which way the wind was blowing and I just couldn't remember. he looked at me like I was a bit special and I wished him good luck

[Ross]

Great race report Jules, reading it was just like being there (except without the pain!).

[cerb]

SKCC A-Grade Crit
49km, avg. 48.7kph

Big turn out in the week before SuperCrit with 84 starters on the line.

From the word go, the pace was on and I was in the top 15 just follwoing the wheel in front. There was a bit of a split ahead of me only ~5 mins into the race so I just follwed some wheels who were punching ahead chasing the break. I'm second wheel when the guy in front of me motions we should start rolling turns and I look around to see a big gap back to the bunch and a big gap ahead to the break with two lone riders between us. Did about 2 laps out there trying to bridge to the break before we both didn't have any juice left and we went back to the bunch.

Was a bit interesting waiting for the A-Grade catch as C-Grade started to pass me on the right, then A-Grade started to pass them on the right - meaning I had to migrate my way through the C-Grade bunch and then accellerate into the strung-out line of A-Grade hammering past...

Pretty sure the break (which I couldn't bridge to) was the break that then stayed away for the whole day - despite us chasing with an average speed for the race of 48.7kph... The break of eight riders got 40sec on the bunch fairly early and we just couldn't reel them back.

From the break, Brenton Jones (Drapac) won the day with Inform Racing's Darcy Wooly and Pat Burt in 2nd and 3rd. There were some solid TTers up there as well including Nick Squillari & Naveen John as well as one of the Malaysian trackies and a couple of others... certainly no shortage of firepower...

Meanwhile, I basically needed a motor the (few) times I was on the front during the chase... Do a short turn and go straight to suffertown!

Finished no-where (mid bunch) after I ascertained that the the break still had a 40sec gap with 3 laps to go and didn't bother with positioning myself properly. The hammer was still down all the way to the finish and my legs were cooked, so spending the energy to move up wasn't paricularly high on my list of priorities.

[jules21]

that as an insane average speed. for those who haven't raced SKCC's Pt Melb circuit, it's free-flowing but you lose a bit of speed on 3 corners so they're accelerating to a 'cruising' speed of 50 km/h+ for the whole race

[toppity]

And BJ had won his local Crit' at Warragul CC the afternoon before. Not bad for offseason.

[toppity]

Never stop riding.

I must remember that.

I'm racing again at local level and Vet's. Back in D grade where I belong. I haven't raced for a couple of years and it hurts. Now I just have to figure out how to loose the 15kg I'm carrying above my already heavy 'normal' weight (race weight when I was 20 = 88kg, race weight at 42 = 98kg, currently 113kg).

[foo on patrol]

48kmh average! Ouch.

Foo