7.1 July 19 Bleat

Post date: Sep 20, 2011 6:45:32 AM

Some new for sale items

A bike and some wheels for sale see www.actvets.cc/forsale

Timely Reminders:

More Race Directors needed for August and beyond. Many thanks to those who have already volunteered. See list below.

The new RMS system is operational. Try it out on the revised club website at http://www.actvets.cc/ where you simply click on rms.actvets.cc in the left hand column. There is much to explore.

Racing this Saturday, 23 July: Tidbinbilla Graded Scratch

When: Saturday, 23 July 1:30pm

Where: Assemble in the car park off Tidbinbilla Rd approx 14 km from Point Hut Crossing.

Sign-on: In the parking area by 13:15 at latest, wearing your registered number with personal details on reverse side.

Parking: Parking: Off the road on either side of Paddy's River Road. For road safety reasons, please DO NOT park on the corners of the intersection. Road traffic can be busy and dangerous, especially around the times we are finishing.

Race Description: Start from Tidbinbilla riding north to Flints Crossing; U-turn back to Tidbinbilla and on to Geals Ck: U -turn back to Flints crossing; U-turn back towards S/F zone: ABCD turn left to Tracking Stn then back towards finish; EFG do not turn to Tracking Stn but continue along Paddy's River Road to finish at Tidbinbilla.

Race Distances: ABCD = 55km; EFG = 48km

Race Director: Owain Tilley

Contact: 0412256079 or owain.tilley@health.gov.au,

Help needed on Saturday: Owain will need at least 4 turn marshals and another three helpers in the start/finish zone. Please contact (as above) him early this week to assist.

Recent Events: Gunning Graded Scratch, Saturday 16 July.

69 starters and 9 officials joined the pilgrimage to Gunning to race under cool and cloudy skies to produce some more or less predictable results. The less predictable included Gordon Mcmenemy's victory over a starry and highly competitive cast to record his first win in D grade, and Tony 'Sluggo' O'Connor's narrow victory over an equally tough group of punters in B grade, where he out-sprinted Peter Marshall, Alan Bontjer and Peter Klein in the last lunge. In the more predictable category, Ian Downing, Owain Tilley, James Cruden, Lindsay Graham and Kevin Hennessy confirmed their capabilities and recent good form by also winning in their respective grades.

The results suggest that the day belonged to the boys, but Linda Stals made James Cruden suffer for his E grade win, running him a very close second on the last hill. Sue Powell and Sally Thomson were as usual highly competitive in the D grade bunch, and Jing Huang was at her consistent best in finishing 3rd in G.

Many thanks to Race director Rosemary Robinson and her eight helpers for making this event safe and enjoyable.

This summary was composed with the help of the very flexible and informative data bases available at rms.actvets.cc where you can also view the full results sheet for last Saturday's event

What Watts?

A group of Vets members did an indoor racing session at club member David Gunther’s studio at Fun & Fitness in Manuka on Saturday afternoon. The facility can take up to 8 riders at a time on bikes connected to indoor trainers

connected to a computer and the results streamed to a very large screen. You can watch yourself, your speed, wattage, distance etc as you plug away against your fellow and fellowette competitors.

We did a number of short races over varying gradients as individuals and as teams. The system was set up to even out rider’s abilities using handicaps in the race system. You can see the hills coming up on the screen and the Computrainer simulates the hills on your rear wheel. If you love hills as much as I do (Yeh I’m joking) then you can prepare yourself for the onslaught, much

the same as in a real race. I find simultaneous swearing and praying helpful myself. The system also cleverly simulates drafting in a Team Time Trial.

The Wattage measurement on the trainer is fascinating. If you’ve never used one before it’s interesting to see what Watts you’re putting out. Rob Langridge decided at the end of the session to give of his all and see how high he could get his power output in Watts without the aid of a bucket. He found he could get it very high indeed and I suspect the studio is actually hooked up to the

power grid in Manuka and supplies energy to several of the neighbouring Cafes and small businesses.

I regularly do indoor session in winter but this is much more of a work out because you are actually racing other riders. Afterwards of course, and totally shattered, we dragged ourselves into the nearest Cafe for some “nutrient uptake”.

I’d recommend this type of racing especially on days where the weather is bad. The fact that you can’t fall off your bike, won’t get rained on, there’s no traffic and you can lie down on the floor and moan afterwards is pretty good too.

The day also marked the return to Vet's racing for Mark Hurwitz. You will remember that Mark was severely injured in a training accident in spring last year, but confounded the medical profession by bouncing back from a coma in only a few months. He may not be planning to come out on the roads for the foreseeable future, but it was fantastic to have him back participating in a Vet's activity. Given that David was able to handicap those putting out more Watts with only a mouse click, Mark was always in the thick of the action. Welcome back Mark. - Lantern Rouge Lee

DBR Women’s and Junior Tour

Last weekend a few of our VETS girls rode in the DBR Woman's Tour in WB category- Angie Wren, Rosemary Robinson, Sue Powell & Kerry Knowler. The weather was just horrible. Kerry, Sue and Rosemary did the TT on the Friday. Kerry was 1st, Sue 5th and Rosemary 15th. Angie and Rosemary were 10th and 11th in the 80km road race on Saturday and on Sunday Rosemary was 11th and Angie 12th in the 40km road race. Rosemary came 9th in the Crit on the Sunday afternoon. Rosemary was the only one to qualify for the GC - she finished 7th over all.

These girls showed guts and determination to even start let alone finish during the worst weather conditions we have seen in Canberra for a very long time. And they were competing against girls almost half their age. Well done to the Vets Girls for having a go! - Pat Rooke

DBR Women’s and Junior Tour - Thanks to Volunteers.

"I write to express my gratitude to the Vets who participated as volunteers or competitors last weekend at the DBR Women’s and Junior Tour. The committee of Cycling ACT are indebted to the volunteers who go out of their way to support these special racing events. I was out on the course for most of the three days and wished I could have given a gold medal to each marshal enduring the miserable weather. The strong spirit of co-operation in our relatively small cycling community enables us to host events of national significance. We also appreciated the Vets foregoing the chance to race in support of the tour."

Sincere thanks,

Jim Veal

President

Cycling ACT

12/7/11

Cotter Road: A Plea for Action

(Bernie Crowe's Email to Shane Rattenbury, MLA)

Shane,

Respectfully request some immediate action on building a 2 KM cycle path along the Cotter road from Ecumbene Drive to the top of the Cotter descent. Frankly, this section of road is just too narrow for cars and a bike and is plain dangerous, yet some hundreds of cyclists a week use this road to get to and from Mt Stromlo and the Cotter. I was “lucky” just to get run off the road with “minor” injuries, but the next case may not be so fortunate and may well be fatal . A 10 tonne truck and a 20KG bike is just no contest.

I must add that this is just not a “whinge” from an eccentric cyclist. At 71 years of age and the 2011 Triathlon Age Group Australian Champion, I am a very experienced and very careful road user, and in my view this section of the Cotter road is, to quote Ralph Nader “Unsafe at any speed”. In all consciousness, It is difficult to privately and publicly encourage citizens to take up green transport and promote the benefits of cycling and healthy exercise and at the same time place people at unacceptable risk on unsafe section of road.

Appreciate your views.

Bernie Crowe

New regular Winter season training ride:

Every Sunday meet at cnr Eucumbene and Cotter road at 8am. The ride generally goes up Condor hill and on to the end of the bitumen, out and back via Urriara crossing. The ride finishes at Cooleman Court for coffee at about 10:30. This is not a recovery ride. Contact: Patrick McNamara at patrick.mcnamara@ipaustralia.gov.au

Update on Club Clothing from Linda Stals:

The new order for the club clothing has come in. If you requested some clothing previously, but the correct size was not available, please send an e-mail to clothing@actvets.cc .

I will organise another 'clothing store' where I will bring all of the stock so you can have a look through it and try it on. It will probably be at the Stromlo crit 30 July.

I still have not put in an order for the full zip jerseys. If you are interested please let James know. Unfortunately, we can only order a minimum of 15. Also, there are a number of long sleeve jerseys already available in the Ventou brand. They cost $65. The Ventou brand is the old brand of clothing, we have now moved to Tripleplay. We have reduced the price on the Ventou clothing to try to sell the old stock, but the design is the same with both brands.

Directing Next Month?: Please Confirm

Please check the list below and notify Richard (vice.president@actvets.cc) or Graham (webmaster@actvets.cc) if you are unable to meet your obligations or provide a substitute director in your absence. We need more volunteers for August and beyond.

Owain Tilley (Tidbinbilla Graded Scratch - Sat 23 July)

Patrick McNamara (Stromlo Criterium - Sat 30 July)

Jan Koehler (Lookout Hill M & H Club Time Trial - Sat 6 August)

*Director Required (Old Federal Highway Handicap – Sat 13 August)

*Director Required (Iron Mike – Sat 20 August).