Post date: Feb 27, 2012 9:41:55 AM

Hello Vets, welcome to another issue of The Bleat, in this week’s issue;

· Annual General Meeting, have you nominated for the committee yet? Details on the time and location for the AGM below.

· This week’s Member Profile we feature, Cameron Ermert

· Did you miss The Bleat last week? I had a query about whether The Bleat was sent out last week. It was, so if you didn’t receive it, please let me know and I will investigate.

Please send me contributions at: TheBleat@actvets.cc

Ian Morton.

Annual General Meeting

RACING THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, 28 February: Stromlo Crits from 5:45pm.

Where: Stromlo Forest Park Circuit.

Sign on: 15 mins before your grade's scheduled start time wearing your registered number.

When: (approximate start and race times): G at 5:45 for 15 min+2; AB at 6:05 for 30 min+2; CD at 6:40 for 25min+2; EF at 7:10 for 20 min+2. NOTE that race times will be reduced in the coming weeks as daylight fades earlier. If the weather is overcast, it is a good idea to time your arrival at the track a little earlier in case start times are brought slightly forward to allow for this.

Event: Stromlo Graded Criteriums

Race Director: George Pongracz

Contact: gpongracz@gmail.com Ph 62232777

Thursday 1 March: Qbn Track Racing from 6:00pm

Where: Queanbeyan Park

When: Warm up from 5:30 pm; first race at 6:00 pm.

Event: Scratch races, two lap handicap, derny races and Italian pursuits. Road and track bikes welcome.

Contact: track@actvets.cc

As always events can be found on the RMS and more detail at http://www.actvets.cc/track/tracknews

Saturday, 3 March: Lookout Hill Twilight Race

*** Note: This a Saturday afternoon event, part of the twilight series ***

Where: Lookout Hill

Time: 5:00pm

Sign-on: At least 15 minutes before scheduled race time. Numbers must be worn on the bottom left of your jersey.

Race Description: Lookout Hill - Tharwa Short Turn - Pt Hut Turn x 2 Laps. Finish at Lookout Hill

Race Director: Andrew Remely

Contact:; a.remely@hotmail.com

RECENT RESULTS:

Stromlo Crits, 21 February 2012.

G grade started on time and on a dry track. Bernie Crowe took advantage of the recent promotion of Angelika, to take the win from Bruce Jone and Antonina Bolschelarski.

Someone in C and D grades must have offended the rain gods because for the second week in a row the heavens opened up and poured down on their race. There were a lot of DNFs but for the dedicated stayers, Brad Dickie took out C Grade from Allan Bontjer and Ross Robinson. In D Grade, Michael McGurgan took the honours from Catherine Kelaher and Braham Hart.

Thankfully the rain had passed by the time E and F grade lined up but there was still a lot of water on the track. There’s nothing like a mouth full of duck poop flavoured water to make for some savoury racing. Daniel Partridge took E Grade from David Gunther with a fast finishing Liz Lowe grabbing third place. In F Grade, Frank Lemmon took first place ahead of Jeff Keyte and Pauline Thorn.

By the time the track had started to dry out it was time for A and B grade to take their turn. Sean Ifland took the win ahead of Paul Scherl and Mark Gillet. Charles Nicoll took the flag in B Grade ahead of Peter Young and Christophe Barberet.

Thanks to James Meredith for stepping in at short notice to take on the duties of Race Directing.

Dairy Flat Road Point Race, Saturday 25 February, 2012.

The next in the Twilight Series of Races was held at Dairy Flat on Saturday afternoon. It was an unusual format, a handicap Points Race around the hot dog circuit. It was a little warm and humid but the wind stayed calm and made for some fast racing.

AB grade combined race with B grade getting a 45 second start.

From the gun “B” grader Paul Angelotos attacked B grade. He rode the whole race off the front claiming victory by 90 seconds and all 20 points with a bunch of 10 chasing. He had earlier raised concerns with the RD about the race combining with “A” grade!

Chris Nolan took two big bunch sprints for 2nd with Rob Diamond 3rd after his warm up of pruning and cleaning of the course in 32 degrees.

CD grade combined race with D grade getting a 35 second start.

C grade quickly caught D grade with Seymour Savell- Boss from “D” grade clinching early vital points for a final 2nd place. A recovering Al Bontjer claimed the last sprint and overall victory (after being led out by Mark Taylor). Vincent Dunn claimed 3rd holding off a strong Jim Davey.

EFG grade combined race with F grade getting a 30 second start.

E grade caught F grade within 2 laps. Bruce Jones powered to take the first sprint but just failed to take the second not enough to claim a top 3.

E grade looked too strong for F grade with the powerhouse Wren sisters ripping it up.

Ian Morton also showed some early power taking points and creating confusion for the RD by not being on the sign on sheet.[Ed: Ooooppps]

The majority of F grade managed to stay with E grade nearly to the end but were not a match for stealthy ”E” graders David Gunther, Dale Teddy and Cameron Ermert finishing 1,2,3.

Thanks to Nick Boylan for Race Directing with James Meredith and Chris Nolan helping with the scoring. Also extra thanks to Nick, Rob Diamond and Rob Langridge for some tree trimming before the race started.

NOTE: Full results available at http://rms.actvets.cc/

ACT Veterans Member Profile

Our next member profile takes a look at Cameron Ermert;

How long have you been a member of ACT Vets?

My first race with the ACTVCC was in February 2005. I was excited to finally be eligible to ride with the vets and rocked up to Dairy Flat. My dad was horrified to know that he was now the father of a 'Veteran' cyclist. At the end of 2005 my wife Jennifer was sent to Beijing for what ended up being nearly 3 years. I went with her except for a short stint when I was sent to work in Taipei for 3 months, a time that just happened to coincide with the Taipei Bike Show. I returned to Canberra in September 2008 and made use of the extended membership to re-join in October.

What is your favourite course in the ACT Vets racing calendar and why?

My favourite courses keep disappearing from the ACTVCC calendar, my all time favourite was the Geoscience Australia carpark. This course provided a tactical benefit to being able to go round the fast corner quickly, whilst the corner at the other end provided a test of rider's judgement and risk-taking behaviour. Unfortunately too many people failed that test. My next favourite was Kingston. My current favourite course would be Dairy Flat. Of the road courses my favourites would be Dog Trap Road and Gunning since they seem to carry the least penalty for those of us challenged by gravity.

What Grade did you start in with the Vets?

I started in D grade, I hadn't ridden for some time but it was at Dairy flat so I wasn't completely outclassed. I rapidly slipped back to E grade after a couple of weeks.

How long have you been cycling?

I started road racing in Geelong in 1978, in the days of leather soled shoes and cleats that had to be nailed on. I've only missed about 3 complete seasons since then. My family moved from Geelong, to Melbourne and then to Canberra in 1984. I rode with the CCC as the only club in town at that time, and enjoyed racing particularly in the hills(!) I was still going to school in Geelong so racing was only in bursts at holiday time. I did take a year between school and Uni so I rode most of 1987 although I spent Autumn working in Thredbo leading up to the ski season. I did some good training up there too and came back to one of my best seasons where I won both the club pointscore and the Autumn Leaves trophy (I had 12 falls that season mostly through exuberance). I moved back to Melbourne for Uni and started racing with Blackburn and then one day I got lost on the way to a race and followed a car with a bike on it and found myself at the Forte Knox cycling club. I preferred the people there so I transferred to them and those are the colours that I race in today. I did take it seriously for a while and was doing 400km a week training and for at least while in the early 90's I rode A grade with Forte Knox and Melbourne Premier cycling clubs, both of which no longer exist.

What got you interested in cycling?

My parents recognised that I had terrible hand/eye coordination and was a really bad runner so most of the winter team ball sports were not a great option for me. They took me along to see a race with the Geelong Amateur Cycling Club and I thought I'd have a go at that. It helped that at that time about 80% of the races were handicaps since I was 8 at the time and most of the other kids were at least 5 years older, so I was simply sent off first. Depending on the generosity of the handicapper I would typically come either first or last. However that experience did teach me how to latch onto a bunch as it came past, so I got my first experience of real speed. My first race bike was a red Peugeot with 24" steel wheels and a 3 speed derailler with a 1/8" chain, but we did pull the mudguards and lights off it. It was quickly evident that I needed to upgrade and got a modern 5 speed freewheel with a 3/32" chain. My parents didn't have much money to buy stuff let alone pay someone to fit it, so when Ken Smith offered to fit it for them they gratefully accepted. Although it took a week longer than expected, what wasn't appreciated at the time was that in order to make the chain fit, he had to hand file each tooth of the hardened steel chainring to make it narrow enough for the new skinny chain. This one act of Ken taught me a lot about what good people can do for a club. I believe he is still racing now with one of the Queensland clubs and came down to the Vets nationals a couple of years ago, although I missed out on seeing him. I have always tried to acquire the tools and knowledge to work on my bikes so that I can keep them running without resorting to paying someone for the privilege.

What was your most memorable ride?

There have been a lot of incidents over the years. I especially like the times when I can catch people by surprise and sneak a win from riders who are fitter and stronger than me.

I really enjoy team racing and have fond memories of the couple that I have done well in.

Last weekend John and I on the tandem experienced chain suck at the bottom of Lookout Hill, we had to run/walk/stagger to the top and still managed our best time on the course, based on my recent performances the improvement was all John's.

What is/was your favourite bike?

My current bike I saved up for years to buy at a shop in England (VAT free) for when we were on holiday there in 1990. It was a shop in Tadworth, Surrey just near Box Hill which is a hill you will be familiar with come August. It is a lugged steel frame made from Columbus Max tubing, which wasn't the lightest tubeset at the time let alone now, but it is stiff. It has a short wheelbase so short in fact that I have to be careful with rear tyre choice and fitting, otherwise it will rub on the downtube, I also avoid riding this bike in the rain because the little stones that stick to your tyres will scratch it. However for all that it somehow manages to be both manoeuvrable and stable. Even though there are lots of frames around that are more than a kilo lighter, since I already carry 20 kilos more than ideal it is hardly the frame that is holding back my performance. The running gear was originally the first generation of STI, in fact in October of 1990 I went to the finish of the (Herald) Sun Tour at Treasury gardens, and even though there were a couple of bikes with STI and a couple with Columbus Max frames (Including the winner Udo Bolts), no-one had them both together. I built the wheels with 275g Wolber Profil 18 rims with double butted spokes because I wanted to reduce the rotating weight as much as possible. Did I mention it was a poseur bike? The rims in fact weren't meant for road racing, but the rear held together for 7 years of race duty before fatigue cracks appeared, the front was still original when I swapped a few pairs of wheels for the latest Dura-Ace clinchers in 2001 or so. In 2006 when I was in Taipei I bought the latest Dura-Ace groupset for it (7800) including some plastic wheels. I had to fit them to another frame at the time but I always intended the bits to be for the 'good bike' when I returned.

I also quite liked my first 'Track' bike. An old girlfriend called to say that her Dad's old bike was found in a shed and offered it to me. It was in fact a road bike from 1956 so it had both drillings for brakes and fork ends rather than drop outs for the rear wheel. There was a bit much surface rust on it so I had it blasted and painted, I rebuilt the wheels around the original hubs but with modern rims and had to change the butterfly nuts on the wheels to regular ones to make it legal. It was no lightweight and the inch-pitch block chain made a characteristic noise as I rode, but it got me out there and racing. I sold it to a junior when my proper track bike was built.

Where do you work?

Like so many in Canberra I am a public servant. I work for the Department of Immigration in Belconnen, unfortunately only 6km from home via pre-school.

How do you find the time to train?

Quite simply I don't. I ride to and from work Mon-Wed slowly and in work clothes. Occasionally I manage to get out on a Thursday or Friday lunch time. I'm only allowed out once per weekend.

Do you have a special training regime?

My commuting ride includes towing a half-bike with my 4 year old daughter to pre-school, and then home again, she doesn't pedal much so I get something of a workout then. My lunch time rides have to fit into an hour's lunch break, including showering and changing so it is only a short loop but it has a long slight downhill for sustained speed, a long climb and a couple of shorter ups and downs. I often ride it with a fixed wheel so this ride works on both my leg speed and power even if it is for only half an hour. I have a modified tandem that I might attach the half bike to, so that I might drop both children off and pick them up, but that is only a vague plan at this stage.

What does your family think of your cycling?

My wife tolerates it, she doesn't have to remind me that my running off for a few hours to enjoy myself while she stays home with the children is a bit indulgent. I try not to pour fuel on the fire by buying unnecessary bike stuff.

An interesting fact about yourself;

I have taken a couple of videos of races and put them up on You Tube, search for ironhanglider

[Ed: Here’s 12 Feb Race: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgX8ObPAkc ]

I got the camera to deal with miscreant drivers but it works like a talisman, I have deleted hours of footage of good motorists who treat me with respect on the road. It really is the tiny minority who make life bad, and most of them are careless rather than homicidal. I try to take away the opportunity to claim SMIDSY without admitting to failing to keep a proper lookout.

Directing This Month?

See our website for list of future events and allocated race directors. http://rms.actvets.cc/

Please notify James Jordan (handicapper@actvets.cc) if you are unable to meet your obligations or provide a substitute director in your absence. If you are unable to direct for any reason please try to make alternative arrangements by swapping with other allocated Directors. If you cannot make a swap please give us at least a week's notice so we can call for a replacement in a timely fashion.

Current List to through March 2012;

George Pongracz (28/2/12)

Paul Reid (3/3/12)

Ken Kroeger (6/3/12)

Trevor Rix (11/3/12)

Peter Prammer (13/3/12)

Gary Scheld (18/3/12)

Graham Tanton (20/3/12)

Mike Spoljaric (25/3/12)

Director Required (27/3/12)