Hello Vets,

Hope you all had a good Canberra Day long weekend. In this week's Bleat;

•  From the Desk of the President

•  From the Desk of the Handicapper

•  Wanted - Track Bike

•  Found at Stromlo - 8 Mar

•  Interstate Events

•  Racing this Week

•  Race Reports

Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton

From the Desk of the President

Help needed for Criterium Championships - Sunday morning 20 March 2016

Our rostered referee and both marshals for the Criterium Championships cannot make it, so if you have some experience in refereeing a criterium at Stromlo and are not racing and can act as one of the two marshals, please let me know on alexoshea@hotmail.com or leave a text message with your details on 0419 201 081. This club championship and medal event - run in aged based categories - will be definitely be going ahead. We all look forward to discovering who our real Criterium champions are after such a great Criterium season.

Getting ready for the Peter McLennan Memorial 2 Day event at Gunning

‘Gunning' - our premier road racing event for the year - is coming up on 7 and 8 May. For new riders, ‘Gunning' is like a mini-tour held over three events spread over two days - with the least cumulative time over the three, including factoring in sprint bonus ‘prime’ seconds won, deciding the winner and trophies in each grade. The course is on the magnificent rolling terrain of the old Federal Highway from Gunning to Bredalbane. It involves a short prologue-type time trial to separate riders in each grade, then a 50 Km road race with two sprint primes as well as the finish times, then on the following day, a challenging 100km road race with 4 sprint primes for A-D grades and 50kms for E,F & G grades. The ‘Gunning breeze’ can sometimes be a challenging, if not deciding factor, in the race, as well as leg-cramps for the underprepared. Of course, the ‘Gunning’ event commemorates the life of staunch club rider and larger-than-life personality Peter McLennan who died in a tragic swimming accident about 5 years ago.

Getting ready for Gunning, for Vets club competitors, should see you getting in some quality road miles - try, especially, to compete in the Vets Club graded scratch race on 23 April out at the Old Federal Highway - its rolling course is similar to Gunning. Try also to sharpen your sprinting skills (your recent SFP finishes should suffice) as well as some energetic time trailing - look to the year’s first TT coming up on 9 April out at Lookout Hill, to set you TT benchmarks - as well as, possibly, some crafty ’team tactics’ if you can form alliances in your grade on the road. For this reason, it is important to ride in your natural grade and not be in a grade too easy for you. We want genuine Gunning winners after a fair and hard won tour, especially as you collect your trophy in front of your grade-colleagues at lunch which the Gunning CWA folk put on for us after the last race - at the Gunning Show Grounds - its a great atmosphere to celebrate our winners.

Gunning Help needed

Helping out at Gunning is very rewarding - in being a part of our premier event for the year and helping with its success. We need a big team of: on-road marshals; finish line and sprint judges; time keepers; lead and trail car drivers. If you can’t race, come and join this year’s Gunning Race Referee Ben Davis and be part of a great team. We will be calling for help from our trained ATCs and experienced referees - but in the meantime, put 7 and 8 May in your diary as a 'must attend’ whether as a competitor or a helper. For ‘helpers’ lease let me know at: alexoshea@hotmail.com specifying what role you would like to do.

We will be setting up the IMG site shortly to take your entries (pre-registration is required to enable us to plan effectively). We are also likely to invite interstate Vets clubs to come and compete with us at Gunning. So watch this space for developments.

Alex O'Shea

From the Desk of the Handicapper

Changes this week;

Handicaps;
Brendan Chadwick E to D

The following riders have the option of riding B grade;
Mark Terracini
Michael Langdon
Mark Gillett
Travis Hicks
David McCook
Ben McDuff
Ian Mongan
Jason Parkes
Dougal Torrance
Allan Bontjer
Robert Langridge
Nathan Spillane
Dominic Romano

Wanted - Track Bike

David McGuinness is keen to get out to the track. Does anyone have a track bike for sale, or would be able to loan him a track bike? You can contact David at david.g.mcguinness@hotmail.com.

Found at Stromlo - 8 Mar

A pair of Black RM Williams boots (Size - Medium) in the mens change rooms under the bench.

The owner can ring Andy Hall on M:0455666962, or he'll bring them into the registration room at the crits next Tuesday.

Interstate Events

•   Tour De Riverina interclub dates;
- 20 March - Stockinbingal Fair - Cootamundra CC
- 3 April - Butch Menz Memorial - Wagga CC
- 24 April - Geoff Dixon Memorial - Albury CC
For more information http://riverinainterclubracing.com/tdr/.

•   Newcrest Orange Challenge
- 20 March
An epic 170km ride through stunning NSW scenery finished of with some of the finest food and wines from the Orange region. Details Here

•   2016 South Pacific Veterans Cycling Championships
- 25-28 March
A combination of aged based events (the Time Trial and 300 metre sprints), and graded road race and Criterium events. In the age group races, riders are grouped in 5 year increments. Women start at 30 years and men at 35 years of age. Click HERE for details and online entry.

•   Tolland Cycling Club Wagga Wagga
- 16-17 April
90 km Handicap and 71km/54km Graded Scratch. Details and registration https://eventdesq.imgstg.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=main&EventDesqID=16484&OrgID=20999. For more information contact Barry O'Hagan 02 69252404 or 043191803.

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 15th March: Stromlo Criterium

Where: Stromlo Forest Park
Sign on: 15 mins before scheduled start time wearing your registered number.
Race Description:
A/C 5:50 A 20m+2, C 18m+2
B/D 6:20 B 20m+2, D 18m+2
EFG 6:55 E/F/G 15 m + 2

Race Director: Kim Malcolm
Contact: Email: d.kimmalcolm@icloud.com    Ph  0418643623

The nominated marshals for this event are;

•  Philip Anderson,

•  Seymour Savell-Boss

Wednesday, 16th March: Track Racing

The Program for Wednesday is as follows:
5.30pm – 6.00pm: Warm-up and free practice
6.00pm – 6.20pm: 10-Lap graded scratch race
6.20pm – 6.40pm: 2-Lap TT – standing start
6.40pm – 7.00pm: 4-Lap Handicap
7.00pm – 7.20pm: Italian Pursuit.

Sunday, 20th March: Stromlo Forest Park Club Championship

Club Criterium Championships;

*Age Classification is the Age that you turn on your birthday in 2016, eg a rider who turns 40 in December 2016 is classed as M2 (40-44) or W2 (40-49) for all events during 2016.

Please note following rules applicable to the race:
- Riders will be issued, and MUST wear an age group identifying ribbon on their race number.
- Intermingling (except while passing) of age groups is prohibited.
- Riders who suffer a mechanical mishap (for example a flat tyre) must notify the referee who may allow a one lap time out to fix the problem, the referee may permit a rider re-join the race after a mechanical mishap. Leaving the race to fix a mechanical mishap without notifying the referee will count as withdrawal - and the rider may not re-join the race.
- Riders may be removed from the race at the referees discretion if they fall sufficiently far behind their age group race.
- A full rider brief will be conducted at the start of each race. Riders not attending the brief are not permitted to race. - The referee may combine races if rider numbers are low. Results for each grade will still be awarded.

Please stay around for the award ceremony.

Race Director: tba
Contact: Email: tba    Ph  tba

The nominated marshals for this event are;

•  tba

The nominated marshals for upcoming events are;
- 22 Mar @ Stromlo: Dennis Puniard, Tanya VanderPutt
- 29 Mar @ Stromlo: Leon Horsnell, Stewart Stockwell
- 9 Apr @ Lookout Hill: Belinda Wren, Douglas Widdup, Rico Fitch, Jason McAvoy
- 16 Apr @ Uriarra: Lindsay Graham, Reinhard Mauch

RACE REPORTS:

Stromlo Criterium – 8th March

They say 'It's an ill wind that blows nobody any good' and certainly last Tuesday there were winners and losers as a result of the steady easterly.

G grade

Bernie Crowe, after being outsmarted by Paul Robey's quick start the previous week, was back to his wheel-sucking best and managed to out throw Heather Sommariva on the line by about a quarter of a wheel. Bruce Jones was third.

F grade

Ian Barrass was the protagonist in F grade, riding away from all but David Witteeveen by miles. Not wanting to attract the attention of the Handicapper, Ian denied attacking his rivals "I just went to the front, and when I turned around they had all gone" was how he humbly described his maiden victory. Let's hope Ian was more upbeat when he was recalling his triumph to friends and family. Mike Spoljaric was third.

E grade

There were a few surges here and there but the group stayed together until the last lap. In the back straight big Brendan Chadwick stormed away from Al Croston and Amanda Boers to take an easy victory.

D grade

Andrew McRae, Seymour Savell-Boss, Andrew Hall and Martin Boyd got a huge break over the rest of D grade and finished in that order.

C grade

C grade had a few more riders than D but also disintegrated. Steven Stolk rode a very classy solo victory over David Rowe and Paul Welsh.

B grade

There was much slacking in B grade, with the sound of whirring freewheels drowning out any other noise around the Stromlo course. Gutsy Paul Ledbrook made (another) a solo bid for victory in the final laps. He went into the final corner at the top first but something happened up there and Darius Everett and Michael Foulds were the first to pop out the other side into the home straight. Darius got the better of Michael in the sprint while Andrew Murrell got third.

A grade

A grade was another in-the-gutter slugfest and it was Steve Isbel who did most of the damage. About half the field had a hope of staying near the front while the rest just scrambled for good wheels, then gave up when it all became hopeless. Towards the end, hidden among the A and C graders all over the course was stealth bomber Nicholas Stewart who was pedaling along on his own about 50m ahead of Marc Vroomans, Steve and Paul Conner. Such was the pace in the final laps that power riders such as Tom chase-'em-down Hartley and Kel Boers were left floundering behind. In the end, Nick had enough of a gap on Marc and Steve to sit up and enjoy the victory. Christophe Barbaret took advantage of the reduced drag on his legs to return to A grade with a solid 6th place.

Many thanks to Brian Chugg, Michael Hanbury and Liz Lowe for their excellent assistance and stylish grade board display techniques. Liz's sage advice of "I think you should ring the bell first" was a very useful counter to my suggestion that we should take our positions to judge the final places. .

Rob Langridge

Narrabundah Track Racing – 9th March

Wednesday, 9 March was again hot and dry with a stiff breeze facing riders in the back straight. Track practice was slightly uncomfortable. However, the temperature and wind conditions eased over the session, providing good conditions for an evening of hard racing. Track attendance declined, with only 12 riders for the evening’s racing.

The initial scratch races were 12 laps. Despite the smaller numbers, separate A and B grade races were conducted. A grade kicked off at a good pace. The bunch cruised around at a fast tempo until Michael Langdon upped the pace with 5 laps to go. Kerry Knowler took up in pursuit. This enterprise quickly enlivened the bunch. A furious bunch pursuit ensued until order was restored within two laps. With the bunch consolidated, the pace eased until the bell lap approached. Then Chris Thompson accelerated from the bunch with Alec Millet in pursuit. The hotly contested final lap saw Peta Brill leading into the final turn to be just overtaken at the finish by Michael Langdon and Alec Millett.

In B grade, the pace seemed quite solid over the first nine laps. However, Russ Scutts decided it was too pedestrian and accelerated. In short order, the bunch was splintered and one rider out the back. Splintered riders took up the pursuit and consolidated the bunch by the bell lap. Ken Birch took a hotly contested sprint from Steve Hirsler and Russ Scutts.

The next event was a 200 metre screamer, a short, flat-out effort from a flying start. Timing and set-up for this event are crucial, as the time differentials are very small. In both A and B grades, the spread of times was only around one second. Michael Langdon set the best time in A grade at 13.07 seconds (55.0 km/hr). Bruce Griffin set the best B grade time at 14.28 seconds (50.4 km/hr). The speeds were limited by accelerating into a headwind down the back straight.

The next event was 2-lap handicap in A and B grades. The handicapper seems to have a good eye for abilities, as the initially splayed fields converged to a bunch at the finish. John-Paul DeSousa took a good win in A grade, by refusing to give up his lead. He was closely followed by Alec Millett and Kerry Knowler, both putting in great efforts. In B grade the limit rider, Graeme O’Neill held his lead until about 20 metres from the line, when Steve Hirsler and Bruce Griffin closed the gap to take first and second.

As usual, the evening’s final event was an Italian Pursuit. Teams are, normally, closely matched for this event. The slightest tactical error can surrender a win. In this instance, Team 2 just missed the start. They tried gallantly to redress the error, with a furious pursuit. They made up time when Team 1’s Russ Scutts was locked-in and taken up the banking, at the changeover. However, this slight reprieve was not enough. With Michael Langdon as anchor, Team 1 gained the ascendancy in the final lap and took a good win.

The major place getters for the 9 March races were as follows:
12-Lap Scratch: (A Grade) Michael Langdon, Alec Millett, Peta Brill (B Grade) Ross Scutts, Bruce Griffin, Steve Hirsler.
200m-Fly: (A Grade) Michael Langdon (13.07s), Kerry Knowler (13.46s), John-Paul De Sousa (13,46s) (B Grade) Bruce Griffin (14.28s), Steve Hirsler (14.65s), Ross Scutts (14.92s).
2-Lap Handicap: (A Grade) John-Paul DeSousa, Alec Millett, Kerry Knowler (B Grade) Steve Hirsler, Bruce Griffin, Graeme O’Neill.
Combined Italian Pursuit: Winner, Team 1 (Michael Langdon, John-Paul DeSousa, Ken Birch, Ross Scutts, Bruce Griffin).

Season Point Score Update: Michael Langdon (271), Alec Millett (236), Steve Jones (205), Steve Hirsler (205), Ross Scutts (194), John-Paul DeSousa (187), Bruce Griffin (149).

Omnium Track Championship Score Update: Ross Scutts (10), Alec Millett (6), Ben Davis (5), Michael Langdon (5), Peta Brill (5), John-Paul De Sousa (5), Steve Hirsler (4), Bruce Griffin (4), Phil Coulton (4)

Note that the final weeks in March continue to present a challenge in ensuring we have qualified first aiders present. If you are first-aid qualified, your attendance for these last few track sessions would be much appreciated.

Graeme O'Neill