Brunswick Cycling Club

Words: Phil Bushell, Photos: Gail Miller

“What the hell am I doing this for?” I was thinking as I approached DISC in Thornbury on Sunday 3 August for my first “Sunday Roast” race afternoon hosted by Hawthorn CC.

The Sunday Roast is held at DISC each Sunday from 2:00PM to 5:00PM and includes longer format races to test riders’ fitness and endurance as well as helping to develop race tactics and strategies not usually available in the shorter format races typical of the weeknight club racing. With the added attraction of the PA blasting out some tasty tunes and some interesting commentary from the judges table there is something to keep everyone amused.

Being a Tuesday night C-grade rider, I was placed in Division 2 (for C&D grade riders) which was fine by me as I certainly wasn’t ready to play with the big A&B grade boys and girls in Division 1.

After a short warmup session, racing got underway for the Div 2 riders with a 30 lap (7.5km) scratch race. This began gently enough for the first ten or so laps. The middle ten laps saw a few breakaway attempts, including one initiated by yours truly, which were all thwarted by an alert field that responded quickly to every attack.

With about eight laps to go, the pace really began to hot up and by four to go the speed had all riders swapping half lap turns. With two and half laps to go the real attacks began and those that were able, found a wheel to hang onto for the run into the finish. I ended up being unable to make any ground on the two front riders and finished in third place keeping a keen eye out for anyone coming around me on the final straight - not that I could have done much about it by that stage if they had!

We Division 2 riders then enjoyed a short break while the 40 lap scratch for the Division 1 riders got underway. This gave me a chance to catch my breath and have a chat with Matilda Vaughan who was today’s race organiser, head official, lap counter and DJ and Jess who was assisting as a finishing judge.

Next came the Division 2 elimination race. I’d never ridden an elimination before and fully expected that I would be one of the first called out. The race format was to be 20 laps followed by eliminations each lap right down to the last two riders who would battle out for first and second place. With two laps to go before the first elimination, the field started to get a bit jittery and the pace came on with everyone keen not to be the first out. By the time the bell rang to announce the start of the elimination laps the pace was really on but I had managed to avoid being boxed in and moved up into a safe position crossing the line with a few riders behind me. I found that I was able to carry a bit of speed from the sprint onto each lap and my choice of 90″ gear allowed me to accelerate effectively without overspinning in the faster stuff.

The next few laps passed quickly and I was able to relax a little after each sprint giving me a short but essential recovery so that I could power up and not be last across the line in each ensuing sprint.

The next thing I knew there were only three of us left. I crossed first but didn’t realise just how close behind was Peta Stewart from Albury. Her Techner is such a quiet bike that I was sure she must’ve been a few metres back. Not so! I dragged her unknowingly up the back straight (those who have seen me will know that you get good value drafting behind me!) Around she came on the final bend and I had nothing left to respond. Still, I was pretty happy with a second place in a race format I’d never tried before.

All too soon the Div 1s were finished their elimination and it was time to mount up again for the last race of the day; the one I had been dreading; the 60 Lap Points Race. “Oh well”, I thought, “I’m pretty knackered so I’ll just treat this as a training ride and hope not to be lapped too many times.”
With sprint points up for grabs every ten laps and double points for the final sprint I thought that I might be able to avoid total humiliation by grabbing a couple of points early in the race and then just hang on to the pack as best I could as the race progressed.

The first sprint was hotly contested and while I wasn’t anywhere near the first three over the line, I made sure that I kept up with the group without expending too much energy - Come on, there were still 50 laps to go! A few laps before the counter hit 40 to go I decided that it would be my turn to have a bit of fun as I figured my chance of being fresh enough for a solo surge later in the race would be pretty minimal. When I peeled off the front at the 43 to go, I stayed high on the bank and pushed a little harder to keep up with the back third of the field. As we came around the next bend I launched from high off the bank and and got a good few metres out in front of the pack. They quickly woke up and started chasing but I was far enough ahead and still fresh enough to keep them at bay - except for the very young bloke that made a powerful burst at the line “stealing” my five first place points (by about a tyre width) and leaving me with the three second place points.

I managed a couple more second and third place points as the race progressed and I was given a bit of a psychological boost when the field lapped two riders and I wasn’t one of them - in fact I was still feeling quite good!

At the penultimate sprint I managed another third or second - by this time there was so much sweat in my eyes I couldn’t really be sure!

“Only ten laps to go.” I thought to myself. “I can do that!”. The next few laps went by quickly and suddenly there was the bell. I found myself on the outside of two riders coming around the final bend with “Peta the Powerful” powering off the front. Only the knowledge that this was the last effort of the day allowed me to maintain the pressure and I found myself pulling away from the two riders inside me and took second place points once again. Lo and behold, once the points had been tallied I found that I had come in second! Whoopee. Not a bad result. Peta, of course, had made a well deserved clean sweep of the three events despite having completed a tough training session from 11:00AM to 2:00PM the same day. Very well deserved. I bet she slept well in the car on the 3hr trip home to Albury!

So is it worth coming down to have a taste of the Sunday Roast? Absolutely! - Win or lose, you’re sure to have a ball.

Phil “Philthy” Bushell

This entry was posted by P. Bushell on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Reports, Track.