Volunteer roster, road racing, new club kit, Madison racing and member reports. Read on to get a snapshot of some recent club activities and an idea of what's ahead in the next few months.
As always, if there's something missing or anything you'd like to contribute, please do not hesitate to email it through to your social committee at <social@brunswickcyclingclub.com>.
| Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 Tues Track |
13 Night rider |
14 Spin |
15 |
16 NC Newham |
17 Track Skills |
|
| 18 |
19 Tues Track Madison |
20 Night rider |
21 Spin |
22 |
23 |
24 Track Skills NC TT |
| 25 |
26 Tues Track |
27 Night rider |
28 Spin |
29 |
30 NC Carlsruhe |
31 Track Skills |
| 1 Committee |
2 Tues Track Madison |
3 Night rider |
4 Spin |
5 |
6 3 Day Tour |
7 Track Skills 3 Day Tour |
| 8 3 Day Tour |
9 Tues Track |
10 Night rider |
11 Spin |
12 |
13 NC Gisborne |
The northern combine now has its own web site, and will be the central source for information on combine road racing. The combine fixture is available at:
http://www.northerncombinecycling.org/
Check the combine web site for locations, start times and fees. On days where there is no combine racing, Brunswick will be racing with the Macedon Ranges Cycling Club. These races will start at 1pm, please check with Alf or on the web site to confirm start locations.
Profiles and maps courtesy of
(*) Note: Entries for the 3 day tour close on Friday 29th May 2009. No late entries will be accepted.
![[Tuesday Track Action]](http://brunswickcyclingclub.com/newsletter/2009/april/tt_newimg.jpg)
Tuesday track is now in "Winter Mode". Since road season is now in full swing, the Tuesday Track program has been altered slightly to provide riders with some longer races on the track. From Tuesday 5th May we will be omitting the middle race for senior A - D grades, and racing instead as follows:
Open Warm-Up
Please note: Distances, races and grades are subject to change based on entry numbers. If you have any queries or concerns, please make sure you let someone on the registration desk know.
For more information, check the web site.
The next club committee meeting will be held at the Harrison Street Clubrooms on Monday 1st June from 8pm. All members are welcome to attend, especially anyone interested in taking a greater part in the organisation and running of the club.
Brunswick Cycling Club and Rapido Cycles are proud to present two nights of Madison racing at DISC in conjunction with Brunswick CC's Tuesday night track program.
Riders wishing to race either event will be required to register their team one week before, and anyone that has not raced a Madison at DISC before should attend one of the two practice sessions.
For more information, keep an eye on the Brunswick web site or contact Nathan on 0404 622 272.
Two interesting themes emerged in the results of the member survey sent out earlier this year. The first is the idea of implementing a compulsory volunteer roster, while the second is the issue of the club uniform. After some discussion at committee meetings the following changes will be made in the next few months:
The committee have identified a number of jobs that must be filled each week for us to continue to provide racing both on the road and on the track. These jobs will be rostered to club members on a random basis, so please note you may be asked to provide a volunteer role in the near future. All jobs may be hand-passed or substituted, however it is your responsibility to arrange a substitute for the dates/times you are rostered. Following is a list of jobs you may be required to perform:
All rostered members will be given plenty of notice, and where possible we will try to avoid conflicts with other duties. BCC will not be offering discounted entry to races or any other such incentive to volunteer, all members will be expected to perform their duty or arrange to have it performed on their behalf.
Many survey respondents requested a change in the club uniform, so the committee has begun the process of designing a new kit. We are developing three alternatives, and will work on having some samples made up. Members will then be invited to vote on the alternatives at the club's Annual General Meeting in October.
If anyone has any questions, concerns, or ideas they would like to raise with the committee, they are warmly invited to attend the next meeting which will be held at the clubrooms on Monday 1st June from 8pm.
Recently on Tuesday nights the ToK has been having trouble reading the race numbers to accurately judge race placings. Please ensure that you use all four pins provided and that you pin the number on the back of your jersey, low down so that the bottom of the number is a few cm above the bottom of your jersey and that it is towards your left hip but still on your back.
Once it is on, assume a racing pose (race face is optional) and ask a friend to verify your number's visibility. Please also make sure you hand your number back to registration before heading home.
Recent sessions have included using a lead out, sprinting off a wheel, sustained efforts and pyramids, close riding and standing start technique.
Jay Doughey had a fall on 18 April and may have cracked his shoulder bone. We wish him a speedy recovery.
Madison training was held in conjunction with Sunday Skills on 10 May
The Victorian Masters Omnium Championships was held at DISC on Sunday 26 April. It was a long day of exciting racing commencing at 10:00 and finishing after 18:00!
BCC was represented in every category by 11 athletes and included 4 Podium appearances:
Gold to Peter Ganss MMAS6, Bronze to Leah PatersonWMAS1/2, Alan Comte MMAS5 and Walter Dapcich MMAS4.
Making their CSV Open racing debuts were Brunswick members Sophie Patten and Phil Boelen who both showed great determination and did extremely well despite their minimal racing experience.
Friends of Brunswick CC from Hawthorn CC, Stuart Vaughan and Megan Marsh both won their events in convincing style, by winning every individual discipline.
Kendelle Hodges continues on her winning ways taking Gold at the Aust U19 IRTT championships: Kendelle Hodges claims Australian U19 time trial championships Full Story
Mitch Docker: After transferring from Drapac Porsche to Skil-Shimano around new year 2009, Mitch, who came up through Brunswick's Junior ranks, is now racing in the European Pro-Tour. In February he raced in the Tour of Qatar and in April, amongst others he competed in Gent-Wevelgem and Paris-Roubaix and in May, 4 Jours de Dunkerque.
I was struggling in today's handicap race, something I think I'll have to get used to if I stick with this road racing malarkey. Half the time I was so short of breath that eating anything was near impossible. The other half my legs were hurting so much that it took every stupid psychological game-playing strategy I could think of just to keep them ticking over. I was hanging on to my group, though, and given that Ewin had predicted the winners would eventually come from my group, this was a good thing. To help ease the pain I was sticking to the back of the bunch, letting other folks do the work. They'd do their turn at the front, work their way to the back, and then I'd signal for them to cut in front of me. It means they had to do more work, but I doubt they were struggling quite as much, so I didn't freaking care. Until I signaled this one guy in. He really wasn't too keen on the idea, but I was dropping the wheel, so he didn't really have a choice. He did, however, make his displeasure known in a way that was universally understood.
He farted.
Pretty soon afterwards I got dropped.
The winner did come from my group, and my good pal and occasional training buddy Fraser came in fourth. I came home fifty places behind him.
In the last month there have been three Victorian road race titles decided. With my third place in the Victorian Criterium Championships, and second place in the Victorian Mountain Climbing Championships time trial and road race I was determined to go one better at the Victorian Hill Climb Championships, here's how it went.
It was a fine cool morning on the 3rd of May 2009 and after a warm up we all waited at the start line ready to go, Brunswick was well represented in "A" grade for the championship race with Bryce Holloway and James Pane and me, and in "B" grade there was Christian Molina and Aidan Neilson racing for prizes. It was a 2.5km hill but started out flat for the first few hundred meters, as we rolled out and just before the start of the climb an attack was launched, we let him go out by himself for a bit but a quick serge by the bunch took us all onto his back wheel and we all slowed down again. As we went higher up the hill another attack was launched by Zac Shaw from Colac, he was a tough rider to beat and I thought he would be my main competition on the hill.
Riders were dropping off as Zac was on the front keeping the pace high then he slowed a bit after he realized I was right on his wheel. More attacks were made up the hill as the bunch was left to about 6 or 7 riders including myself. I noticed a few familiar faces still with me Bryce Holloway, James Pane and Joshua Liston and Angus Lyons from Ballarat as well as Zac. Angus Lyons attacked in the closing hundred meters or so and Zac jumped on his wheel so I came up beside Zac and rode right next to him, he slowed down to get around me so I slowed a bit as well and then I jumped to make my sprint to the finish, I was pulling away from him in the sprint to cross the line first and win my second Victorian Hill Climb Championship in a row, last year was in the under 13 age group.
Bryce was 6th and James right behind him in 7th place, and in B grade Christian finished in 7th and Aidan in 10th place. We had to wait at the top for some other races to finish, I came back down the hill smiling as I was really happy with my race and my parents and friends congratulated me at the bottom. The next event for the day was a 20km handicap road race, it was an out and back course with long straights and was mostly flat except for one small hill. I had a good handicap in a group of 3 riders; I knew I had a chance of winning if I raced it smart. There was a strong group of riders only 1 minute behind me, they included Brunswick riders Bryce and James. My group was away so I decided to ride with them as we all took turns until Bryce and James's group caught us. The group by now was getting bigger and also we passed a few of the front markers, we all worked turns until about 5k to go then everyone started playing tactics jostling for position. The sprint was lead out from about 500m to go, I wasn't sure who it was but I jumped on his wheel and waited till about 200m to go, I clicked on to my biggest U15 gear and made my move to the front, I was dying in the last few meters and I just managed to hold on to win by centimeters in a bunch sprint finish. James also rode well to finish in 4th place and Bryce was also in the lead bunch with Christian and Aidan 10th and 18th respectively.
Saturdays racing was a bit of a mixed bag for me, there was sunny conditions for most of the day with a bit of wind about and a few spots of rain which everyone was hoping it would stay away. I got 4th in a 1 lap time trial of Wonthaggi oval; Christian showed good sprint form to get 6th with Bryce 9th and James 15th. There were heats to decide the final riders in the straight line sprint with only the winners going through to the final; I managed to win my heat. The final was raced on a slightly curved straight after lunch and I finished in second place behind Zac Shaw.
There was also a criterium race with intermediate sprints, I finished 4th, James 6th and Bryce was 7th. Christian was also 8th in the other heat. All up I was very happy with my races and had lots of fun and I thought it was a great weekend. Next Event: 16-17 May, Ararat Junior Tour I would like to thank my sponsors Total Rush and Brake & Clutch Warehouse.
The race does not start when the bell sounds, it begins long before you even roll up to the fence. Like a good game of chess, a good race has a solid opening, a middle game where you claim your territory and defend against your opponents and an end game where you simply play out the sequence of winning moves your opening and middle game set up.
And like a good game of chess, it is not just the mate that makes the game. Till next time...
Have you got a feature story, report, anecdote, photo set or event you'd like to contribute to the newsletter? If so, please send an email to:
<social@brunswickcyclingclub.com>
To subscribe to the Brunswick Cycling Club monthly newsletter, send an email to <social@brunswickcyclingclub.com>. Please include your name, preferred email address and ACF license number (if applicable), and we'll put you on the list.
"Resting? More like resting on his laurels!"
