Cootamundra Classic & Recovery - August 29-30

[T-Bone]

Just to let everyone know, it's only 1month until the next lot of Cootamundra road races, entries close August 16th.

These races are highly reccomended with a challenging 120km on the Saturday and a 69km recovery race on the Sunday. Especially for those thinking of doing Grafton, this will probably be your last chance to get some good racing km's in your legs before the big race.

One of the best parts of the racing in Cootamundra is the wonderful Accommodation we've stayed in the last 3 times we've been down there. Though this may be your last chance to experience it with the owners planning to sell up.

Hope to see a good number of riders coming along for the great racing. Let me know your interest so i'm able to begin sorting out accommodation sooner rather than later.

[shrubb face]

Ok im in for this. Ive got one spare spot in my car for a person and bike.
Any details on accomodation for the sat night?

[T-Bone]

Accomodation will be at an old Pub not too far out of Cootamundra. I'll have to investigate the vegetarian side of things for you.

[timyone]

man we are going to miss alot of this tour of aughust should i lock this in eddie?

[othy]

I am interested and am available that weekend. This would be my first road race.

There was discussion of this race after the omnium today.

[NOOG]

I am interested and am available that weekend. This would be my first road race.

There was discussion of this race after the omnium today.

If you're in, I'm in...

[othy]

If you're in, I'm in...

Its settled then. First road race, and second road race will be on.

Looking at the start list, I don't think James or Alex have signed up yet.

[mikesbytes]

Is this a drive down Saturday morning race?

[timyone]

hey james or alex, can you give me a list of what im supposed to be racing? im assuming alex could be better, as james your not doing the metro track races. But yeah, james if you reply, which road opens are there before the grafton? we want to do tour of aghust where possible too.

[timyone]

Its settled then. First road race, and second road race will be on.

Looking at the start list, I don't think James or Alex have signed up yet.

yei ha!!! my first too!!! man seriously when you start pustting the power in, which you dont realise you are, i get dropped! so ill be looking for your wheel

[timyone]

ok im signed up for this, ride for life, the track medal thing, and the grafton now. no looking back...

[shrubb face]

Ok im signed up for coota

[othy]

Signed up now. This race will probably finish me. 120 km is a long way.

James, will you be booking accomodation? Have you signed up for the race?

[NOOG]

I've just signed up as well.

[shrubb face]

race doesnt start till 12.30pm on the sat. So we should all be able to drive down on sat morning, after racing raw the night before.

[mikesbytes]

race doesnt start till 12.30pm on the sat. So we should all be able to drive down on sat morning, after racing raw the night before.

So pretty much the same as Mudgee

[T-Bone]

Signed up now. This race will probably finish me. 120 km is a long way.

James, will you be booking accomodation? Have you signed up for the race?

Don't worry about the 120km, if you're completely gone you can jump in the van.

I've finally signed up, usually leave it until the closing date, but decided to enter ride for life as well.

I'll book accomodation this week sometime, can always modify it a little if needed.

Just to confirm, i'll book accomodation for the following:

Al & Coral
Ron
James F
Tim
Tim
Alex
John

Let me know if i've missed anyone, or if anyone is bringing their partner.

Mike, are you coming along??

[mikesbytes]

Thinking about it. I've got a pretty full schedule, will consider what to bump and what not to bump

[NOOG]

I know Christian was giving it some thought too.

[christian]

I'm entered, put me on the list of people that'll need somewhere to sleep.

[T-Bone]

Ok, it's all booked for the following:

Al & Coral
Ron
James F
Tim L
Tim B
Alex
John
Christian

For the vegetarians, the Cook is happy to make something suitable for you.

[othy]

I assume we are driving there on the Saturday? What time do we need to leave - from those who have been out before?

[T-Bone]

6am should give plenty of time with a stop at the servo near Yass.

[shrubb face]

Yay for the cook.

[mikesbytes]

OK I've entered

[T-Bone]

Just wanting to check what peoples current plans for transport are, as we shouldn't take more cars than absolutely necessary.

[shrubb face]

I was planning on driving with tim in my car. I can take both our bikes and probably a third one at a push.

[NOOG]

I've got Christian and Tim(Othy) in my car.
Are we meeting up at Yass Maccas? What time?

[timyone]

cool i couldnt remember if i had organised any thing im pumped for this james how much do we owe you?

[T-Bone]

everyone pays their own bill, so it's all pretty easy.

[othy]

Handicaps are up.

http://www.nsw.cycling.org.au/cy_nsw/ra ... #Handicaps

[shrubb face]

bloody handicapers. arrrg

[christian]

I'm not too upset with that. According to the handicappers you're the fastest DHBC rider Alex.

[othy]

Well they've ruined my tactic of sitting on Christians wheel for the whole race.

[orphic]

Othy I think I know those Sydney CC guys in your bunch. If they are who I am thinking of, both of them are pretty strong. One in particular would be great to sit behind.

[T-Bone]

I'm happy with the handicap, nice big bunch to work with.

[mikesbytes]

I've got Tim L and John in the grey power bunch. I'll let you youngies do all the work and then do ya in the sprint (assuming I wasn't already dropped).

Hey Othy did you bribe the handicapper ?

[timyone]

which tim is tim s?
lucky its not me mike because id love to take you on in a sprint

HA!! alex im more handicapped than you
i reckon its your time trial time!

(umm is the madison the night before? i think maybe we stand a better chance sunday than saturday hey!)

[geoff m]

Have a great 3 course dinner at the Shirley Hotel and say gidday to Earl.

[mikesbytes]

which tim is tim s?
lucky its not me mike because id love to take you on in a sprint

HA!! alex im more handicapped than you
i reckon its your time trial time!

(umm is the madison the night before? i think maybe we stand a better chance sunday than saturday hey!)

Ops fixed it to tim L

Now remember my recent form against world champions LOL

Jokes aside, I've only got about 80k fitness in me, so what do I do about the other 40k...

[T-Bone]

40k ride in the van....

[NOOG]

What time are we all meeting up?
I was thinking maybe we could meet at Yass Maccas at around 900-930 and drive in from there?

[othy]

Should we pack lunch for tomorrow?

[mikesbytes]

Should we pack lunch for tomorrow?

12:30 start, you choose

Either way you need plenty of on bike calories for the 120

[othy]

Yes, I have the bike calories and morning tea covered I was just wondering if there was a pre-determined lunch organised.

[othy]

Well I just went and purchased some lunch ingredients for one of my favourite sandwiches. I will make two extra bagels if those travelling with me are interested?

I should probably also add I am not going to ride tonight at RAW, though I will attend. I managed to pull a muscle between my ankle and calf behind the leg at/after training on Wednesday night. I rode to work yesterday and it started hurting after about 10 minutes on the bike. No riding today but it feels much better - I really need to rest it until tomorrow.

[mikesbytes]

Please congratulate Tim L on his 5th place in the Classic. I'll leave him to tell his story, but lets say that Tim's spirit after the race lifted the lows of most of us.

Quick Summary;
Saturday;
Star Performer: Tim L
Black Cat: Tim B
Wooden Spoon: Mike Cl

Sunday;
Star Performer: Alex C
Black Cat: Tim B
Wooden Spoon: Tim L

Once I figure out where my camera is I'll upload the pic of Tim L at the award ceremony.

[timyone]

i sat on drapac porsche and was in a break away for 30km
itrs my last good result my handicap is now less handicapped

[mikesbytes]

Saturday hanging around awaiting our handicap starts


The Warrior before being sent to his death


Al and Ron


Tim B


John Tim L Mike CL


Christian James F


Alex C (we got his good side)


Tim hyped up awaiting for his award


After taking several pictures of the back of Tim's head, Tim was finally looking the correct way and the camera announced "card full" I quickly deleted a picture and got one in, unfortunately not a good one, but "Hey" you should of seen Tim, he was on cloud 9.


Sunday Tim B, John and Mike CL on the start line

[othy]

First Race:

Flatted after 20 km, changed by the time 2 groups had passed. Got spat from the first one I got on after 15 km due to terrible crosswinds and not being able to get a wheel. Got on the next one and didn't get spat until the Drapac porsche train caught them at the Young turn at about 45 km. Rode a miserable 80km back to Coota in terrible winds, picking up one or two riders but never forming much of a bunch. Rain and hail soaked me about 20km out of town just to make things worse.


Second Race:

Recovered well and felt very good in the race. John, myself and about 3-4 other riders were doing all the work in our group with the others rolling through on occasions. It wasn't working well but we were moving forward.

Didn't get caught until just after 46km mark (2 laps of 3). I got on the next group and started working again until I was taken out in a crash at the ~53 km mark. Luckily it was going up hill just before the fastest point in the race. About 7 riders went down. My knee is pretty blue now, shoulder & ankle also hurt, but not much road rash due to the low speed. Basically hit the ground all down my left side. Have a neat circular mark near my belly button that looks like it came from a bar end or headset. Will see how things are in the morning. Haven't really assesed the damage to the bike but it appears minimal.


So in summary I raced around 165km on the weekend for two DNFs.

[timyone]

OK as im still over the moon with this result, though im more sceptical
about how much was me being fast, and how much was an amazing amount of luck etc I will write a longer version of my account though I know every one that was there has heard it too many times! I had a goal of finishing with my bunch for the day, or at least just finishing.

I was off the 21min bunch, with Mike and John, James and Christian were a grade up from me, and Alex Chubb was in the next grade up, which sounds like a bunch of hardcore work horses!!

My group went strait into a pace line, and was working pretty well for the first 20 or 30km, but after we had lost a certain amount of riders and slowed down a bit, where the pace line stopped working. Eventually around the 60km mark, I had started talking to the Randwick guy and a few of the young guys about making a break away, as no one would do the work. I think It was about 70km mark or so that 8 of us sped it all up, and tried to drop every one down a massive hill, it wasn’t totally working, but in this time we caught the next bunch, I sat on the front as we went past them trying to make sure not too many people jumped on keeping the pace up etc. this didn’t totally work, we picked up a few of them, but then reached a turn around on the actual road, where we went back down the same street, where we realised how close every one was to us! There was a bunch nearly on us, then a small group of red riders, then another bunch, the red riders were Drapac Porsche, and all these groups were flying. So yeah, I re had a talk to the lads I was doing all the work with and said, lads we are stuffed, Drapac are on us etc, I went up and down the bunch telling the lads that mattered, I don’t know if this did it, but we slowed down a heap, as well as hitting a massive head wind! So we then started to ride up a massive hill going heaps slowly, I jumped off the front so no idea how windy it was.

Now that I was mucking around on the back of a big little bunch, I was just moving left and right, staying out of the wind, talking to a young guy from Wagga, I told him my plan of jumping on Drapac as they flew past, no idea if I was serious or not, but yeah, I eventually jumped into the line again, and went to the front, where I jumped around a bit, until out of the corner of my eye I saw red going past, I was like here we go and I pushed in behind the fourth rider probably pushing some one else off the back of them I sat on them for a bit, to start with I think there was a bunch on them, But I looked back again and there was one guy, then no guys. They weren’t going that fast I don’t reckon, but I have heard since that they were, it was up hill into the wind. So yeah, after a bit on the back of the four man pace line I asked if they would be cool for me to do turns, they said yes so I did turns for a while, maybe 10km? but started to get a bit warn :S

At the point I stopped doing turns one of the lads came back to talk to me, and I explained that I was just a track lad, that had never ridden a road race before etc, and he then said that as long as I didn’t contest the sprint, they would look after me, so for the next 10 or 20km I sat in, when we were approaching the end of the race I tried to do turns again, and both legs completely cramped up?! I’ve never had this before! It was at the 110km mark! At different times I had lads come talk to me, mainly the track guy Tom Palmer! (who no one else seems to know! But he was a junior world champ, etc, I didn’t realise who it was until after it all?! I used to watch this lad off scratch on the track all the time!) But yeah long story short, they warned me 50 times not to contest the sprint, and I came in 5th

Now as a result I have a new handicap, lasted 5km of the Sunday race.. but im still smiling! This was beyond my dreams of one day finishing a road race

[timyone]

man thats hard to read with it so wide! sorry a bit long :S

[othy]

I forgot that I also had a flat before the race during warm up on Sunday. You can see my mis-matched wheels in the last photo - thanks Alex for the loaner.

[mikesbytes]

Othy you also forgot to mention that you ran out of water at the 80k mark on Saturday, therefor riding the last 40k without water

[wallman]

Othy you also forgot to mention that you ran out of water at the 80k mark on Saturday, therefor riding the last 40k without water

He did say it rained and hailed during the last 20 km or so, so it's not like he was totally without liquid refreshment!

Well done Tim L for hanging tough when no-one else could. I would have loved to hear your speech - you're excited enough after a training ride.

[othy]

Othy you also forgot to mention that you ran out of water at the 80k mark on Saturday, therefor riding the last 40k without water

Yes, after the crash all those other bits just seemed insignificant.

I was also almost hit by a gum tree branch that fell on the road halfway between Young and Harden. I was behind another rider and it landed beside us just as he passed. Gave me a big fright at the time.

[Trouty]

Sounds like a really hard race on the weekend....I spoke to Christian and heard about the nasty cross winds. Good on all of you for finishing it.

[mikesbytes]

OK here's my report
Saturday
5k into the race my rear water bottle holder worked loose, the bottle was banging into my left leg and the cage was at risk of being munched into the ring/chain. I pulled out of the paceline to deal with it and found myself off the back by 5 metres and couldn't get back on. I didn't have any lasting holds on any bunch until the one behind Alex C came along and I stayed with that one for a while. Eventually I had exausted all the bunches, I tried to get onto the back of scratch. One of the Drapac riders gave me a big smile as I tried. Eventually I was going slower and slower and then I saw Alex C and Christian going the other way and that was my cue to quit. Even the ride back into town was painful.

My effort definitely wins me the DHBC wooden spoon for that race.

Sunday
I got around to the 2/3 mark where we turned left to climb a hill and that was it, man I suck in the wind. I decided to press up the hill thru the wind, with the intention of getting the next bunch after the headwind was gone and that was exactly what happened, I worked well with that bunch, which had Christian, Alex C and James F in it. Over some of the hills I was hitting VO2 max, but my legs felt good and then not far from that corner I fatigued and dropped off, in time to see another bunch catch them and blow them apart.

Going past the start/finish line I could see that Tim L had chips and that was enough incentive to quit.

While I had done better than Saturday, I still deserved the wooden spoon, but I was the saved from it by Tim L.

[timyone]

im seriously still stuffed from saturday!


i beat eddie sallas

http://www.nsw.cycling.org.au/cy_nsw/ra ... tm#Results

[geoff m]

Tim,

Congratulations.

This is one of the biggest results we've had on the road for some years since 2005 when Shamus O'Halloran and Andrew Duggan came 1st and 3rd for DHBC respectively, at Ken Dinnerville race.

To be keeping pace and finishing with this professional squad of scratchies is incredible.

Well done.

Might have something to do with all the kms, the breakfasts, maybe even shaving the beard, and shaving the head. (the latter two I can do, without having to work harder!! - maybe it will work for me?)

On the whole it was very pleasing to see a large number of DHBC riders, not just around limit, but right across the spectrum. Well done to all!

[orphic]

The whole thing sounds painful. I could barely do Waterfall in the wind, so well done to everyone for giving it their best. Tim's effort is pretty impressive. I'm now seriously considering shaving my head

The whole handicapped race thing sounds really interesting to me. I would love to give one a shot - just not 120km's.

[shrubb face]

Well almost a week after coota i've decided its time for me to write up my race report.

For the saturday i was set to start the furthest back of all the dulwich hill riders. All most 20 mins behind mr Llewellyn. My bunch all looked pretty serious, with all 30 riders on wheels 50mm deep, this was to cause havoc in the cross winds later on. We set off a killer pace, with half the bunch gone by the 15km mark. Macker who is a div two winter series rider had disappeared by the 5 km mark.

By 30km into the race, my 3rd place for the madison the night before was being to take its toll. I missed a couple of rotations of the paceline, and following a brief exchange of words with another rider I was told to F'off the bunch if i wasnt going to work. So thats what I did. Once off the bunch my plan was to time trial the remain 90kms on my own, but once i met up with Christian a beer seemed like a better idea.

Following a couple of beers and a early night, i felt much better on the sunday morning, despite the freezing temps. Id been moved into a bunch with Christian and James and along with a hilly course, the race suited me much better.

Our bunch worked really well together, and it wasnt until half way through the second lap that we were caught by the bunch behind. I jumped in with this bunch and about 10 of us worked flat out in pursuit of the limit bunches. The wind was even worse than the day before, making us work even harder. We picked up the limit bunches and continued working hard.

What was left of the scratches caught us before the final climbs of the last lap. This formed a bunch of about 30 riders. We completed the climb into a block head wind, with the drapac porsche riders attacking one after the other, in an attempt to blow the bunch apart. The whole thing felt very reminiscent of a mountain stage in the tour. The descent to the finish, was suitably quick, with everyone scrambling to hold wheels. I was trying to get a good position for the final sprint, when the guy in front of me lost the wheel of the rider in front of him, causing a small split in the field. By the time i got around him the damage with done. A bunch of ten riders sprinted it out for the win, and i rolled in about 20 meters behind.

Overal I really enjoyed sunday, and despite the fact i didnt win, i would rate it as one of my best races yet.

Appologies about how long this post is. I got a bit carried away.

[timyone]

yeah id rate Alex chubs ride on the sunday as an amazingly good effort, no accolades, but finishing with the scratchies, staying on while th ey hammered the front with attacks etc.

[timyone]

hey i heard my interview from this was on tv in wagga not long ago