With the growth of cycling and our growing female membership base, MWCC has borrowed the excellent idea from NSCC and are hosting a women’s ride and breakfast. This will be an opportunity for all of our female club members to get together and go on a social ride, as well as the opportunity for cycling widows and those interested in road riding to come along and see what all the hype is about.

The number of female riders within the club and riding has been increasing at a massive rate – Sydney Uni Velo now host women only graded racing and we also see growing numbers of ladies riding within our bunches. This ride will be a chance to harness all of those riders and also give other women a chance to get out on the road and do a ride with our club members as a great introduction as to what road riding has to offer.

We will have two groups on the morning, with experienced riders joining in on the Clubs Saturday Cruisers ride, which does the weekday loop out to Church Point before returning to Bacino. We will also have an introductory group that will ride to Narrabeen before returning to Bacino at Manly. Upon arrival at Bacino, the riders will take up the usual spot on the outside basking in the sunshine and have a complimentary breakfast from Bacino put on by the club.

Both groups will have experienced riders within them, to ensure the safety of the group and also to assist with any problems. In order to ride with either group, you will be required to have a helmet and a road worthy bicycle. If you are unsure if your tyres need a pump or the bike isn’t running smoothly – it might be worth popping into the Fixed Wheel at 143 Pittwater Road, Manly and getting them to give your bike a quick look over. At 6:30am there is some potential for the requirement of a working rear and front light, so make sure that you also have access to one of these.

Male partners of riders are welcome to attend and offer to be a supportive riding partner. However if there are child minding requirements, we recommend that our noble male riders put up their hand for babysitting duties on this occasion. You are not required to be a member of the club to participate and we welcome all new comers on this ride.

Both rides will depart at 6:30am from the bus shelter opposite Bike Addiction on Pittwater Road. You will be at Bacino at Manly around 8am.

We are sure that by the end of the ride you will be convincing your partner that you are the one who needs to upgrade their bike and will be dragging them into Fixed Wheel as you explain why the new piece of bling is not only a need by a necessity.

The ride will be postponed if it is raining.

Ride Safe,

Alexis
Club Secretary

With the winter chills coming into Sydney in a big way, it is a wise decision by MWCC and our compatriots of MWMTB to stage the next round of the HED Cyclocross and mountain bike short course so that we can get that European feel for the cross races.

Once again JJ Melbourne Hills Memorial Reserve at Terrey Hills will become a little part of Belgium, therefore almost doubling the country’s land size. The course is located next to the equestrian centre and behind the Rural Fire Brigade Station, there is plenty of parking and facilities to use.

Have you ever dreamed of being the next Zdenek Stybar? Well now is your chance to test your cycling skills combined with your running and jumping skills – in the growing sport of cyclocross. Along with the HED Cyclocross series, that runs one race for all types of bikes on the cyclocross cross and a separate race for cyclocross specific bikes, the day also has a short course mountain bike series – which is 100% effort around the multiple loop course.
Check out the some photos by Gilbert Romane from last months race and also some action video – http://vimeo.com/39589540

As always it is great value racing at only $10 race entry for those with a current 2012 CA licence, with day licences available for those that don’t.

A rough outline of the days events –
2:00 Rego Open
2:30 STXC Div 2 (C/D grades) – all bikes MTBA Licences / MTBA Day Licences
3:00 STXC Div 1 A/B Grades) – all bikes MTBA Licences MTBA Day Licences
3:30 Sport Cross / Ladies Cross – all bikes CA/MTBA Licences / CNSW Day Licences
4:10 Prestige Cross – CX bike only – disc brakes OK, 35 mm tyres CA/MTBA Licences / CNSW Day Licences

The club has a number of members who go off road, as witnessed by the recent overseas epic adventures of riders such as Mark Hardy, John Miller, Mike Foster and others at the Cape Epic in South Africa. However not all Manly members can live the champagne lifestyle globetrotting around the world with their bikes. As a result a few took a more ‘beer budget’ approach – essentially the backpacking version of the first class adventures of the Cape Epic and instead slummed it down to Canberra for the recently held 2012 Mont 24 MTB race in the Kowen Pine Forest, somewhere in the sticks outside of Canberra.

Although this was a team only event, Stu Harrington, Ben Edols and Bob Mohan put in some solid individual lap times. The track was approximately 18km in length and chock full of singletrack in stellar condition despite the Noah’s Ark conditions leading up to the event. The track wasn’t super technical but, it was rarely straight or flat and required focused attention from start to finish. Ben Edols made it onto the podium with his team by taking 3rd place in the Brady Bunch category. Bob’s team was unable to defend their title from last year but still ended up with a 3rd place finish in the mixed 4 person category. Bob is a recent convert from Sydney Cycling, so our poaching is certainly paying off.

Plans are already being mapped out to put together a crack team of MWCC members for the Scott in October.

Mont 2011

Before this week’s Easter weekend race, club officials were wondering whether anyone would turn up – they must have been forgetting that the bike always comes first! Forget long weekends with your family, chocolate egg hunts for your kids – this weekend it was all about Paris Roubaix and MWCC West Head. Every man who is king of his castle got out of bed and got on his bike – and upon return the kennel may well have been his new castle.

We wanted this race to be tough like the Paris Roubaix and so we now have a single pot hole on our 22 kilometre loop – such was the excitement with the addition of a piece of cobble that we even mentioned it in the pre race briefing.

The Grades were split into groups to comply with regulations – we had 2 A grades, 3 B grades, 2 C grades and a full D grade. With so many turning up, once again I got to hold a clip board and count money as opposed to pinning on a number. I didn’t do a very good job of counting the money because I seemed to return most of it back to the riders. After 8 grades of racing we paid out just over $1300 and gave away some chocolate bunnies and eggs to those on the podium.

After each race there seemed to be a lot of riders heading straight home (perhaps realising the gravity of their situation when they couldn’t justify their disappearance with a podium).

Great to have so many of the Carrots come up from the coast, including the return of the flying tandem – Matt Formston this time being piloted by powerhouse Mick Curran. It certainly adds an extra dimension to the B grade races that they enter. Turbo Studio are making their presence felt in A Grade and they are also being challenged by the increasing number of Manly riders who are riding in the top grade. Some of the Manly boys may need to start working together to try and counterattack the strength of Turbo Studio, Waki Lexus and GPM Wilson – although easy to say when you are standing in a car park watching them roll past at 60km/hr.

Nick Yallouris (Waki Lexus/CCCC) took the prime and the overall in A1 and he looked pretty comfortable when doing it. I wonder whether Nick and Mick Curran will look to bring their other strong sprinter in Dane Crawford along to the next race to see if they can crack the domination of GPM and Drapac in the other A race. Sam Rutherford of GPM Wilson snatched the prime in the other A race but it was Caleb Jones (GPM Wilson/MWCC), who has had a pretty strong early season, who picked up the win ahead of James Swadling of NSCC.

Really great to see the development of the young riders from the Northern Suburbs Cycling Academy. Jacob Jones earned more coming second in B Grade than a month of mowing lawns would have paid. Young Laura Jones took on D grade – only weighing as much as 2 full bidons and with no big chain ring and restricted gears, she was always going to find it tough keeping in the mix on the downhills but she was there until the end. As we saw in B2, not having a big chain ring won’t stop you getting on the podium, with Jacob Jones and Vernon Connor both under 16 coming second and third. Only Michael Smith was able to stop them – I think he also took their chocolates off them at the end as well. Well done to Cat Haynes who was making her racing debut and Rebecca Snell for returning for a second attempt.

Chris Miller and Tim LaForest both MWCC again found themselves at the pointy end of the field in C2, with Chris Miller able to sit up and enjoy the victory from about 50 metres out. It will be interesting to see how cruisy these boys find it up in B Grade next month.

Duke Millington of CCCC took a comfortable victory again in D Grade and as a result the young Carrot will now find his dad signing him into C Grade.

Overall, even with a rolling course and a testing finish berg, we are generally seeing groups stay together, so the grades appear to be well sorted at the moment. Well done to all riders and place getters.

Thanks to all the marshals who came out and stood around while others raced, making the racing possible.

We thank all riders for coming out and making each race successful and safe. We may be trialling a few different options in the coming months as we attempt to cater for the numbers and ensure that we maximise the quality of racing. We are taking onboard the feedback that we are getting and will endeavour to work within our approvals to get the best race possible. This may mean a few changes in the coming months, so make sure you keep checking the website and thanks in advance for your patience.

Grades were split by the order that riders signed in.

Results
A1.
1. Nick Yallouris
2. Tom Patton
3. Leonard Antsfeld
Prime – Nick Yallouris

A2.
1. Caleb Jones
2. James Swadling
3. Nathan Page
Prime – Sam Rutherford

B1. 1. Patrick Jones
2. Steve McMahon
3. Gareth Paton
Prime Patrick Jones

B2. 1. Michael Smith
2. Jacob Jones (Restricted Gearing)
3. Vernon Connor (Restricted Gearing)
Prime Andy Hellmichael

B3. 1. Glen Thornton
2. Adam Kimberley
3. James Bernard
Prime Darren Byres

C1 1. Paul Edolstein
2. Ben Copeland
3. Chris Taylot
Prime Eugen Schilton

C2 1. Chris Miller (Now B Grade)
2. Tim LaForest (Now B Grade)
3. Dean Rance
Prime Michael Chidgey

D Grade
1. Duke Millington (Now C Grade)
2. Chris Harmer
3. Michael Kater
No prime – single lap

With so many Easter chocolates on display, it is only suitable that this months race is brought to you by Energize Health Clubs. Burn off those extra calories this Easter by heading along to club sponsor – Energize Health Clubs – eat the chocolate and then hit the gym!

This Sunday we again have our road races which start at 8am from the Elvina Walking Track car park. Due to the increasing popularity of these races, we would request that people do not park in the Elvina Walking Track car park or the slip way into the car park. We want to try and keep this area clear for the cyclists, so that they do not have to mill around on the road. As a result it will be official vehicles only in the car park. That should mean we will only have three vehicles in there. Please park in the other car parks within the park or preferably ride in from outside of the park. Do not be offended if you try and park in there and one of our marshals asks you to park elsewhere. Any grief given to our marshals will exclude you from entering our race.

All grades cost $10 with a gold 2012 racing licence. If you do not have a 2012 gold racing licence you will be required to purchase a one day racing licence and entry for $40. We have grades A-D, with all grades doing two laps with the exception of D Grade which does a single lap. All clubs are welcome at our races.

This month we will have the usual cash prizes for the podium getters in each grade along with prizes for the prime on the first lap of A-C grades and also the most aggressive rider of each grade.

Sunday 8 April

Sign on from 7:20am

Races start 8am

Sign on and race start – Elvina Walking Track Car Park, West Head

Grades – A to D

DO NOT PARK IN THE ELVINA WALKING TRACK CAR PARK OR THE SLIP WAY INTO IT

Next race after that – 13 May 2012

Earlier this month MWCC members and club sponsor John Miller and Mark Hardy (weatherzone) went down to do the Mountains to the Sea stage mountain bike race. This happened to coincide with some record rainfalls so the report is pretty much about toughness and less about beautiful scenery in crisp sunshine. John and Mark are now in South Africa doing the Cape Epic so they will need all the toughness they can muster for the equivalent of 6 or 7 back to back Highland Flings.

The day dawned this morning bright and sunny in stark contrast to the previous several days. The racing was due to kick off at 830am with a time trial from the top of the kozzie chair. Elevation 1940m. It consisted of a 6km descent then 6km around the Thredbo XC circuit. Needless to say, the slopes still looked very wet as we ascended the chairlift with our bikes on our laps.

Stage 1
Johnny started 30sec ahead of myself and bolted out of the start chute. I followed a little more cautiously and the trail went immediately sharply down. It was very steep and loose for the first km or so and the speed had to be firmly held in check. As I started to build confidence I let the bike go a little more but shortly after took a wrong turn which cost me about a minute to climb back and rejoin the track. Very wet and slippery in some areas then the XC track down the bottom was very muddy for much of it. Struggled for traction on the steep pinches but eventually made it to the finish about 3 minutes behind Miller. He was 1st in pairs and myself 5th giving us the stage win by about 40 seconds.

Stage 2
The next stage was a non-racing stage down to Crackenback resort. A 16km cruise down the road. Lunch by the lake down there then a 21km XC race around the trails around the resort.

Stage 3
Most of the trails were over a metre under water just 24hours earlier so they were a little wet to say the least and there were several mods away from the original intended route. The pace was very hot at the start and I could not stay with the lead bunch. Miller pushed on as we did not need to stay together for this stage and we decided the threats in our category needed to be marked. It was very wet and slippery and in several places the bikes were underwater beyond the axles. I started to come good in the 2nd lap and started pulling back places. Miller finished 1st in our category again and I was about 50seconds behind in 3rd. So another stage win and we extended our lead to just over 2 minutes.

Tomorrow we have a 75km stage from Perisher to the shores of Lake Eucenbeme. This stage probably suits us better. There will be a lot of climbing and even more fast descents.

Tuesday dawned foggy and we were up early for a quick breakfast then a 16km warm up ride down to Lake Crackenback resort for a trip on the Ski Tube to Perisher where the stage was to start. Apparently in previous years this was 2 stages hence it being called 5/6. This year it was a 68km stage to Buckenderra Park on the shores of Lake Eucumbene. Originally was planned to be 85km but the wet weather forced some course changes.

Stage 5/6
Started at 9:30am from Perisher down the road to Guthega where we hooked off on a long descent down a 4WD track. Descended forever before turning up the 1st climb of the day. It was a very overgrown 4WD trail and I found it tough on the hard tail. Miller shot away from me but waited at the top but the descent was similarly difficult on my bike. The pairs currently placed 2nd, riding Cannondales were a short distance in from of us on the climb and Johnny was keen to keep them in sight. But it was pushing me too hard too early. Besides I could see one of them was clearly weaker than the other and would crack eventually.

They got further away on the descents as we took it conservatively. At the bottom of one hill Johnny came a cropper in a big pool of mud at high speed. But he bounced up instantly – the benefits of extra padding I guess. That brief stop allowed one of the elite riders (who broke his chain earlier) to catch us and the 3 of us worked together through undulating terrain and we made good pace.

We then hit the biggest climb of the day. Our elite friend disappeared and we slogged up it by ourselves. After about 20minutes we spotted our opponents walking up the hill. So we were slowly gaining on them. But once they saw us they ramped it up a bit and we stayed 2min behind for the next 30 to 40 minutes. We finally caught the Cannondales by working together on a lengthy flat section and just before another massive climb. We sat behind them for a while then it became apparent the weaker one was struggling. So I edged up the pace on the climb. The stronger guy sat on my wheel but his partner was quickly dropped and vanished backwards rapidly. Johnny sat at the back of the group till the stronger Cannondale realised his partner had gone and had to wait. Mission accomplished. We backed off for the rest of the climb. We were only 35km into the stage and the remainder consisted of rolling hills with seemingly endless climbs. We worked together well on the flats to keep up a good pace

Just when we thought it was over with only 1km to go, we were diverted up a completely sodden boggy grassy hill at about 12% which was gruelling in granny gear. Bloody Huw Kingston always finds a way to make the pain last just a little bit longer. But shortly we were over the other side and through the finishing chute in about 3hr10min. It was a tough hilly course registering 1700m of climbing in the 68km and averaged 19km/h. The next pair rolled in 12min later but it was the 4th placed pair. The Cannondales were 21min back and clearly completely blew up in the 2nd half. Individually we finished 16 and 17 overall for the stage.

So another stage win and this puts us about 16min in front. We are both very well matched on the trails which puts us at a big advantage over the other pairs who seem to be mismatched resulting in the weaker rider blowing up in most cases.

Tomorrow morning we have a pre-dawn night stage. Then a non-racing stage into Cooma.

No photos today as our photographer and tireless support crew decided to go for a ride herself. Beside, the connection here is so slow I’d struggle to send a pic.

Stage 7, a night stage starting at 5am in the Buckenderra holiday park. A brutal hour to start a race, up at 4am for breakfast. Even more brutal was the weather, driving drizzle and 4 degrees. We piled on as much clothing as we could lay our hands on. I, like many people, did not pack for this.

The course was very wet, the tracks very damaged from the recent weather and visibility tough with the mud and drizzle. I actually did not want to be out there and rode quote conservatively as the prospect of injury in these conditions was pretty high. Johnny jumped away from me pretty quickly after the start and I didn’t see him again. I slipped and slid my way around the 2 laps

Stage 9 was planned to be the biggest day of the event. From Cooma to Cobargo over the coastal range up some huge climbs. But a developing ECL off the coast forced the organisers hand and it was decided to change the course to finish instead near the top of the range then a cruise stage to Nimmitabel. A much safer option.

So we gathered on the outskirts of Cooma under drizzly skies and a lashing breeze. Started on country rolling dirt roads. It was essentially a road race, but there had been so much rain overnight that every low point of the road had a creek crossing of varying depths and quality and every descent had surprise washouts or holes. We settled into a group and road pretty steadily for the first hour till we reached a place called Numarella. There we were told the race had been shortened by 10km due to extreme weather on the top of the range.

So Miller decided we needed to ditch this group and up the pace as the 2nd placed pair was in our small bunch. We absolutely hammered it for about 15 minutes, swapping out turns and got the group down to just four of us and we had dropped the pair we were concerned about. But we could not drop these other two. We gave one last effort but it was one too many for me and I completely blew up. From then on it was a grovel-fest, I had absolutely nothing and all the guys we had just dropped disappeared up the road. John was still feeling pretty good and vanished up the road most of the time and then waited for me to arrive.

We then hit the main climb of the day and it was extremely steep. I couldn’t tell you how steep because a soaked Garmin reports rubbish elevation, but I walked the whole thing – all 40minutes of it! And everybody else did as well as far as I could see.

At the top we hit a steep grassy descent that was soggy and filled with huge puddles. It was actually the funnest part of the day. It was fast and slidey and you knew if you did crash it probably wouldn’t hurt too much. Some of the puddles were massive and I came off in one and was standing in hip deep water.

After that it was a slog over completely soaked muddy paddocks into a raging headwind and driving rain. It was amazing how heavy it was and there was water flowing everywhere. We both had a few bike troubles, especially me, which cost us some time. I ended up running the last 500m to the finish line. By this stage we were on a high exposed ridge and the temperature was 5 degrees (off the Garmin). Pretty shortly we both had hyperthermic symptoms and the organisers rushed Miller into a farmhouse to sit by a fire for a while. I can’t remember what I did then but I was pretty out of it.

Eventually we rode down the hill to Numarella again for a change of clothes and hot pies. It took us a long time to warm up and we were both pretty dopey for the rest of the day – yes, even more dopey.

Due to the weather enforced course change, the whole event then had to be bussed to the coast. We drove, but because the Snowy Mtns highway is closed due to a landslide it meant a 4hr trip via Bombala. It was a long day.

We ended up 2nd in the stage today and lost 10min time. So we are still 30 minutes up going into a 15km time trial tomorrow. If our bikes hold together we should be able to hold on.

Signing off from a very wet Cobargo.

STAGES 11 & 12
The final day.

And finally the sun returned. Awoke in Cobargo to a gorgeous morning but it
was a little hard to get moving. I stumbled bleary eyed out to breakfast and
Miller was already there in his bike kit chomping down anything that was
available.

I on the other hand was not so good. I’d hardly slept all night and awoke to
a twinge in my groin that went into a full spasm when I went to put my shoes
on, not good. I probably tweaked it with all the walking uphill yesterday.

We arrived at the race start for the briefing to see a very went XC course.
They had changed the format again overnight from a time trial to a mass
start XC race. Well, whatever, we are getting used to on-the-fly changes
now. 2 laps of the XC then a finish down near the beach.

I got on the bike and found I really could not sit on it and definitely
could not pedal. But I did find I could pedal OK standing. So rather than
pull out I decided to see how I could go standing. So after the briefing we
had the mass start and Miller jumped away with the leaders. I bolted off in
a big gear but was soon going backwards pretty rapidly through the field as
I went lactic pretty much right away. Just before the track narrowed into
the tight race course section, one of the pair riders who beat us yesterday
skipped past me. I figured if Miller is up with the leaders then all I need
to do is stay with this guy. The track was very muddy and slippery with lots
of shorts climbs and descents – a typical XC course really. But I kept my
target in sight the whole time. Hit my highest heart rates of the week in
the process though. Doing a whole XC race out of the saddle is not easy. It
really hurt. Had a couple of offs including one head first dive into a huge
pool of soupy mud. I also heard a familiar voice scream FAAAAARRKKK, through
the forest at one point so I figured Johnny wasn’t having it all his own way
either.

My target got away from me a bit but on the last open road section I put it
in the biggest gear and pumped like crazy for a few minutes till I got on
his wheel and finished just behind him. Johnny was already finished and got
into the top 10. A great result at the end of the week. I’m pretty sure we
won the stage today and therefore the event as well.

Special thanks to our support crew, Penny, without whom I think we would
have been a disorganised rabble.

Dean Gale has stood on top of the podium in the first outing of the new MWCC 2012 Kit at the SUVelo race series. Dean Gale with the help of his teammates from the club got the well earned victory that he came so close to winning last month. Lining up in B Grade with 6 other MWCC riders, the tactics were ready to be played out as the horoscope had predicted earlier in the week.

Once the call was made to roll out, Rob Maliki disregarded any forms of self preservation and immediately went on the solo attack only to find his 100 metre lead on the peloton after the first lap completely evaporate once he hit the home straight due to the head wind that was blowing straight into his face. That lead became zero metres in about 20 metres and so the only smart thing to do was send another Manly rider off the front in an attempt to weaken the bunch. This time club secretary Alexis Kaless launched himself off the front, actually hoping that someone else might be foolish enough to come with him. It wasn’t to be, so instead he just drilled himself, reminiscent of Fabian Cancellera as he stayed away for the next 4 laps the whole time waiting for someone to suicide off the front and join him. Eventually he realised the attack was futile and he went back to the bunch, this signalled for Rob Maliki to attack again.

The whole time this was happening Bob Mohan who was incognito in non club kit, Trevor Smith and Gabriel Denoury patrolled the front of the chasing bunch, doing a bit of work and making sure that the riders up the road had a chance of survival, Donald Ward was happy to police the back of the bunch. Once Rob came back to the fold, it was the MWCC riders controlling the tempo. About 3 quarters of the way through the race, it was decided that Trevor Smith would be the sprinter if it was all still together at the end, Trevor had been spared any attacks and hadn’t really felt any wind all day – which means Trevor got to do zero work and potentially get all the glory, while everyone else rode themselves into a dribbling mess.

With about 10 or so minutes remaining Dean Gale, Bob Mohan and a SUVelo rider again tried to break the bunch up and managed to get a small break on the bunch and Randwick Botany soon had a rider up the road. With most clubs now up the road, Manly were happy to set the pace, knowing that they actually had 2 riders in the break. Soon the SUVelo rider was back in the bunch because he couldn’t handle the pace and then Bob Mohan came back. With just two riders up the road, SUVelo and the other riders thought they could pull back Dean Gale and his companion. But with some Manly riders on the front who weren’t actually that interested in doing any work – Dean Gale was free to claim his victory.

According to Dean, he waited until half a lap to go before unleashing a violent acceleration that popped his remaining opponent off his wheel giving him a free ride to the finish line in which he could take in all the glory – from all accounts he was like a motorbike coming passed his RBCC companion. By the time he crossed the finish line Dean Gale was busy trying to calculate what model of Ferrari he should put a deposit on.

Dean Gale collected his prizemoney and showed off the new Manly kit in spectacular fashion by taking out Heffron san Remo, although according to the account he gave his wife he merely received a round of applause. With spirits high, the Manly riders rode back over to Hobbitville very happy with their result. Dean got to spend the afternoon making his family watch the Milan San Remo and commentating how he would have ridden the last few kilometres if he was racing – he went to bed last night reliving the race for the next 8 hours and waiting for that Monday morning phonecall from GreenEdge wanting to sign him.

In the earlier races, Manly may have had a rider on the podium in C Grade however they aren’t listed on the official results. Also good to see the new MWCC club member Lynn Clarke having a crack in the fast and furious women’s race.

How Pro does Gabriel Denoury look in this photo? Certainly setting the standard high – full club kit including appropriate club socks at the official height, MWCC gloves, white helmet, his sunglasses on the outside of his helmet straps, white handle bar tape and just to top off the Euro Pro look – he speaks with a French accent! The man has certainly read the required cycling rules in regards to appearance – nice work Gabriel and a great ambassador for the club with such attention to detail