Hello Vets, In the Bleat this week; • FREE BEER! • Photo Comp • Vets out and about • AVCC National Champions • RIDER ALERT • Racing this Week • Race Reports
Please send me your contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc
Ian Morton
FREE BEER!Dear Members, Now that I have your attention, I encourage as many members as possible to attend the Clubs Annual General meeting (AGM). As the new(ish) President I'd really appreciate members openly debating ideas for the direction of Club in 2017/18 and the AGM represents your best opportunity to participate in the shaping of the club for the future. If you've ever wanted to design a new race course, organise more club training rides, work with the ACT Government in providing better cycling facilities or even design the next club jersey, then the AGM is where you can put your hand up and contribute. There's also the potential to put up your hand to join the Committee of the Club* if you want to long lasting impact on the direction of the Club. ACT Vets is a club run by club members for the benefit of club members and the more members that help in shaping the direction of the club then the better we'll all be. Whilst we are supremely fit cyclists, the AGM will be concluded by complimentary beer and wine for those attending. Yes free beer....a cyclist's 2nd best friend (right after coffee). The AGM is on 7:30 Monday 3rd April 2017 at the Weston Club, 1 Liardet St Weston
Dougal Torrance
*Nomination forms for the ACTVets committee can be downloaded from CLICK HERE
Photo CompWe're looking to brighten up the web site with some photo's, as such I'm announcing the first ACT Vets photo comp! The winners will have their photo's used on the new Vets web site. Winners will be announced at the AGM, Monday 3rd April 2017. Rules: We're not looking for the worlds best photos, just shots that promote the club in the best light.
Dougal Torrance
Vets out and aboutTrack HappeningsDid you know that we have a couple of Track cycling champions in our membership ranks? Several of our track stars have been competing interstate at NSW and National levels with some very impressive results. Congratulations to all those who competed. NSW Track ChampionshipsKerry Knowler- Silver in WMAS5 500m TT, GOLD in WMAS5+ Point Race, Silver in WMAS5 Sprint, Silver in WMAS5 Ind Pursuit Masters National ChampionshipsPeta Brill- Bronze WMAS3 Ind TT, Bronze WMAS3 Sprint, Bronze Women 3 Scratch race
AVCC National ChampionsJust to remind everyone that the 2017 Australian Veteran Cycling Council National Championships will be held in Maryborough, Victoria over the Easter weekend, from 15th to 17th April under the auspices of the Victorian Veteran Cycling Council. The championship events include criteriums, road races and the Mockridge Cup 25km time trial. Nominations close at midnight Saturday 8th April. For registration and course details see the AVCC webpage at: http://www.ausvetcycling.com
RIDER ALERTEvent Name: Annual Daramalan College Charity Walk Starts at 9:30 am at Lennox Gardens with walkers moving in a clockwise direction, finishing at Acton Park at lunchtime. We hope it does not cause any inconvenience to those members who use this path as part of their daily commute or recreational activities.
RACING THIS WEEK:Tuesday, 21st March: Stromlo CriteriumDUE TO THE THREAT OF MORE STORMS TOMORROW, A DECISION WILL BE MADE BY 4:00PM AS TO WHETHER RACING WILL GO AHEAD. PLEASE CHECK THE BLEAT OR TWITTER FEED FOR UPDATES. Where: Stromlo Forest Park Race Director: Bruce Griffin 2 x marshals required for this event.
Wednesday, 22nd March: Track RacingThe Program for Wednesday is as follows: The 2016-17 Omnium Series of four races concludes on 22 Mar with the 2 Lap Match Race. Note that the 2016-17 Track Racing Season will finish on 29 March with drinks, nibbles and Trophy presentation - all welcome!
Sunday, 26th March: Lookout Hill Graded ScratchWhere:Stromlo Forest Park Require 3 ATCs, 2 x marshals. Please contact the Race Director if you can assist. Race Director: Ben Davis
RACE REPORTS:Stromlo – 14th MarchUnfortunately, just as the racing was about to start, the heavens opened and the race was washed out
Narrabundah Track Racing – 15th MarchAttendance for Session 19 of the track racing season was similar to last week. Fourteen riders attended, split equally between A and B grades. The weather was quite cool and overcast. Fortunately the rain held off. The wind was strong and appeared to swirl around the velodrome – in the opposite direction to riders, naturally! Six riders lined up in A grade for the initial 10-lap scratch race. The wind conditions meant that there was little profit in an early attack. Consequently, the pack circulated in unison for 8 laps. Ben Davis then dropped out with a fractured seat bracket. Mid way into Lap 9, Michael Langdon and Ben Robey put in an attack. Michael sustained the effort and soon had a significant gap. Ben backed off and was overtaken by Michael’s pursuers. Michael Langdon had a comfortable win over John Paul De Sousa and Andrew Peel in that order. The 10-Lap B grade scratch race started at moderate pace and began to hot up around mid race. Lap 7 saw the first rider dropped. Tony Beasley was well positioned approaching the bell lap and rode a good tactical race for the win over Ross Scutts and Ian Drayton, in that order. The evening’s second event was a 2-lap, standing start, time trial. This is a taxing event, virtually a 2-lap sprint. Ben Robey lined up with aero kit, again this week. The reaction was more muted this time and so was the effect. Ben had to settle for second fastest time after Michael Langdon blitzed the field in 51.20 seconds. Ben’s time was also good at 52.00 seconds. John Paul De Sousa set the third best times at 54.20 seconds. In B Grade, Steve Dean was the standout with a time of 56.40 seconds. John Lowe and Ian Drayton set the second and third best times in B grade. The next event was a 4 Lap handicap race. In A grade, the back markers really put in to consolidate the field within the first lap. From that point, the bunch circulated in a compact pack with Michael Langdon initiating a big attack on the bell lap. The result was Michael Langdon first, Andrew Peel second, Rowan Mc Murray third. The margins were significant and an illustration of how unpredictable handicap races can be. In B grade, a good handicap did not help Graeme O’Neill as his pursuers were on fire and made the catch within two laps. From this point John Lowe made the most of his handicap to hold off the field. Ross Scutts and Phil Anderson took second and third respectively. The final combined Italian pursuit had six riders drawn from A and B grades on each team. Team 2 had one less A grade rider than Team 1 with compensation via stronger B grade selections. Nonetheless, each team had to perform flawlessly to take out this event and both teams did exactly that. The first few changeovers were very close. By the back end of the race Team 2 had a modest margin that looked reversible. However, when the anchor riders Ben Robey and Michael Langdon took over, it was clear that Ben was not going to surrender this margin. Michael put in all he could. However, Ben scorched over the line for an emphatic win by Team 2. Major place getters were as follows: Current Points Score Leaders: Michael Langdon (312), Phil Anderson (290), Ross Scutts (277), Steve Jones (260), Tony Beasley (242), Alec Millett (220), Graeme O’Neill (187), John Paul de Sousa (183), Andrew Peel (179). Current Omnium Points: Ben Robey (9), Ross Scutts (9), Michael Langdon (9), Steve Dean (8), Phil Anderson (7), Andrew Peel (7), Ben Davis (6), John Paul De Sousa (6), Kerry Knowler (5). Dougal Torrance (5) Tony Beasley (5).
Graeme O'Neill
Stromlo, Club Championship – 19th MarchThe Vets Criterium Championships is always an interesting affair with riders pitted against others by age groupings and not grades. This results in some races seeing E graders up against A graders and sometimes the odd upset with a lower grade rider able to out manoeuvre their higher graded opponent. Regardless, it’s great experience for everyone competing as you get to race against riders who you wouldn’t normally ride against. Women Div 1 (30-39)2 riders to contest the youngest age group of the day. Newcomer to the club Tess McLachlan who only started racing just before xmas up against Gill Lugg. The two were in amongst more seasoned riders from other age groups and rode very strong through the entire race. It came down to a final sprint with Gill just edging out Tess for the win.
Women Div 2 (40-49)Another battle for the history books. Both Ally Roche and Kirsty Cummin swapping the lead throughout the race amongst Div 1 and Div 3 riders. The sprint finish was the closest of the day in any race with Ally edging out Kirsty by about 1 tyre tread.
Women Div 3 (50-59)4 riders began the race. Terry Moore, Sally Thomson and Elizabeth Lowe rode a cracking pace with the Div 2 and Div 1 riders. Terry attacked a few times to try to break the rhythm of the other riders, but each time they fought back and got her wheel. Once again a sprint finish with thankfully several pairs of eyes on the finish line to help me with Terry Moore taking the win ahead of Sally Thomson and Elizabeth Lowe in 3rd.
Men Div 9 (Age 75+)The most experienced riders of Bruce Jones, Bernie Crowe and Lindsay Graham lined up like they have many times before. Each knew how to run their own race and after 5 mins Lindsay and Bernie had dropped Bruce and were setting a solid pace keeping up with those young “whipper snapper” riders the 70-74 & 65-69 age groupers. With enough time on the clock, Lindsay put some hurt into the race and finally managed to drop Bernie off his wheel. At one stage it looked like Bruce was going to reel in Bernie but it was not to be with Lindsay taking out 2017 honours ahead of Bernie in 2nd and Bruce in 3rd.
Men Div 8 (Age 70-74)We were looking at a rumble in the jungle matchup between Paul Robey and Graham Hendrie in this age group but all the pre-match hype amounted to nothing with Graham a no-show leaving Paul to set his own pace for 30 mins. Personally it would have been interesting to see a 30min lap from Paul with several track stands, a kip down the southern end, and maybe a pitstop for a coffee in a single lap, but Paul rode like a demon for 30 mins at times tacking onto the back wheel of other riders which I allowed in the instance as it didn’t disadvantage anyone. Paul Robey-1st
Men Div 7 (65-69)An interesting race this one with Mark Taylor, Rico Fitch amongst the hot favourites. 2 laps into the race and Mark showing the red hot form he is in this season rode away from the pack and proceeded to Time Trial the next 25 mins of the race. Everyone else was going to have to work for 2nd and 3rd place as with 5 mins to go, Mark had their back wheels in sight and was planning the ultimate in cycling which was to lap the chase group. 1st Place- Mark Taylor, 2nd- Rico Fitch, 3rd-John Ignatius
Men Div 6 (60-64)5 riders started the race but this was quickly whittled down to 4 as one rider found the pace too quick into the stiff southerly breeze. Tony Beasley and Steve Simms tried a mini break but were reeled back in after 1 lap. Then Tony Beasley who is a much stronger rider now after a season of track racing under his belt, put on another attack and held a 100mtr break with 2 laps to go. This proved a distance too great to chase for the other riders as Tony went on to record the win ahead of Steve Simms in 2nd and Owain Tilley in 3rd. Ed note: Steve I have your silver medal and you’ll get this posted out to you.
Men Div 5 (55-59)The biggest field of the day with 14 riders starting. This division contained everything from supremely fit A graders, B graders who always finish in the top few each week right through to E graders who were intent to show their more fancied rivals how it’s done in E. 7 mins into the race, a not unexpected surge by Mark Harris split the group with only Dave Mullins able to tag onto Mark. The two then worked together to build a big lead over the chase group. Discussion was held in the crowd on how good Dave Mullins was riding being able to hold onto Mark as each lap counted down. But with 5 mins to go, Mark surged again and finally scooted away. Mark then set his sights onto lapping the chase group showing a style and speed that the others could only look to as he cruised past them effortlessly. With Mark Harris assured of 1st place and Dave Mullins riding out an excellent race for 2nd place, the battle for 3rd was where it was at with Nick Boylan, Chris Nolan and Rob Langridge all pushing hard over the last 2 laps, but it came down to a sprint finish with Mark Stevenson showing who’s the boss pumping out more wattage than the entire South Australian electricity grid combined to take 3rd place.
Men Div 4 (50-54)5 riders signed on for Div 4. Several attacks during the early phase of the race sorted out the pecking order for the rest of the race. In the end Sean Ifland showed the experience of A grade racing taking the win ahead of a sprint between Chris Short and Roger Northcote with Chris edging out Roger. 1st- Sean Ifland, 2nd- Chris Short, 3rd- Roger Northcote
Men Div 3 (45-49)A good field of 12 riders and it was a field of quality with A & B grades well represented. This was probably the most wide open race for the men’s divisions as at least half of the field could have shone on the day to take the win. And the racing did not disappoint with an early attack by Nathan Spillane with a chase led by Tim Minehan. Counter attacks were led by Marc Vroomans and Paul Connor and Stephen Blackburn. The lead see-sawed many times over the latter half of the race. On the final lap, Marc Vroomans was at the head of a group containing Paul Connor, Stephen Blackburn before Christophe Barbaret and Seymour Saville-Boss caught their wheels. A tactician might have thought Marc was not going to survive such a long lead out, but coming around the final bend, he was holding everyone else’s wheel at bay to take the sprint win ahead of Paul Connor and Stephen Blackburn in 3rd.
Men Div 2 (40-44)Strategic plays by most of the riders regarding the sign-on caught yours truly by surprise as when I signed on with 15 to go there was only 1 other rider and here I was thinking I had a chance only to be confronted by a cream of the crop at the start line. A & B riders a plenty and 3 out of the 8 riders called Ben, so surely I would have placed a bet on someone starting with Ben taking the win? Luckily I’m not Tim Simona and didn’t back myself as my 250 mtr warm up showed 10 mins into the race where I took up the more familiar surrounds of the sidelines to watch the rest of the race. It was a final lap shootout between several A graders with Ben Carmody taking the win ahead of Andrew Murrell and Peter Young in 3rd.
Men Div 1 (35-39)The young guns, born to fly and fly they did. 3 riders started with Adam Potts facing the prospect of having to work out how to defeat the two other team Quon riders. Alas any strategy would have been futile with team Quon clearing out early and it was little surprise with both Quon riders coming out of A grade. In the end they lapped Adam several times and also caught Div 2 and went past them like they were standing still. Ben Morrison showed his killer form from this season by winning the sprint ahead of Peter Kitchen and Adam Potts in 3rd.
Thanks to the great number of helpers on the day:
Ben Davis
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