Eurobodalla Cycling Club sent a team of seven riders to the Canberra Tour last weekend. Yours truly entered after an emailed missive from Bruce Goodspeed to say that it would be good training for the NSW Masters Championships. Anticipating that I will put in a “lanterne rouge” performance at the Masters, I entered in the lowest men’s grade available, E grade. This grouping was for those riders who thought themselves too old, too skinny in the legs or just too devoid of talent to cut it in the higher grades. Sadly, the organisers didn’t share John Vaughan’s modest assessment of his own abilities and he was put up to D grade .Dominique Rideaux volunteered to go up to D grade to keep John company (or maybe because he is a masochist). Dave Rowe was with me in E grade. Like many members of the club he lives Canberra but loves to come down to ride in our weekend events whenever he can. A quick cross check of the entry list vs that of the recent Southern Districts revealed that the standard in E grade wasn’t too pedestrian – being nearly equivalent to C grade at the Southern District event. D grade in the Canberra Tour was close to B grade in the Southern Districts. Brendan Johnston was taking on a hot field in C grade. Cyd Trevallion and Vanessa Goodspeed entered women’s C grade. The A grade in both the men’s and women’s fields featured many professional riders including the current men’s Australian Road Champion Peter McDonald and the current women’s Australian Criterium Champion Kirsty Broun. There was a total of over 400 entries.

The weather was beautiful on both days although it was a bit nippy in the mornings. On the Saturday E grade, D grade and the women were sent out on the “Iron Mike” course. I wasn’t sure if this was because you would feel like you had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson after riding it. The first stage was a 38km there and back course from the Stromlo Forest Park along Uriarra Rd.  I was already familiar with the initial undulating 10km of the course from competing in duathlon events. This turned out to be the easy bit. After 10km the road dived down into the Murrumbridgee River valley at the Uriarra Crossing and then up out the other side. I was a bit cautious on the descent and got stuck behind a group of riders on the climb. With over 40 riders in our grade and commissaires observing for any transgression of the median strip it was difficult to overtake. I felt OK at the top of this climb which was most encouraging. The next few kilometres to the turn around were pretty flat. On the way back the climb out of the crossing was not as steep but a lot longer so I was able to gradually work my way towards the front to get third in the KOM.  Charles Dorron unsportingly soloed away at this stage so the pace picked up at the top of the climb just when I was feeling stuffed. I hung on with the lead group but had nothing left for the sprint and finished eighth. At least it wasn’t like a duathlon where you have to get off the bike and start running.

The Saturday afternoon featured a criterium for Men’s E grade and Women’s A, B and C grade. I had a brief chat with Brendan Johnston before he set off for his road stage, which at  97 km was heaps longer and harder than ours. Brendan was awesomely relaxed, his sang froid impressive in someone so young. By contrast when I lined up for the criterium with Dave, my nerves were jangling. The Stromlo crit track is like an expressway compared to the Gundary track, but it has a couple of tricky bits. At the end of the long straight there was usually a battle to get the inside running on the next hairpin corner. A couple of times I was nearly forced onto the grass. At the other end of the track there was a corner which tightened as you went into it. Running wide was not an option when you had 3 or 4 riders on the outside of you. Just when I was getting used to lapping with the other 40 or so riders our race was stopped. A group of A grade riders were coming through at warp speed. There would have been carnage if they had run into our group. After they had passed the race was quickly restarted. Such was the scramble to get to the start line that Dave and I found ourselves at the back. With some effort over the next few laps I got towards the front. With one lap to go I had the opportunity to go for the lead at the end of the main straight but hesitated and was swamped by a chasing group of riders. I ended up finishing mid field just behind Dave. Cyd and Vanessa’s race looked a lot more civilised than the men’s race. They had such a good time they said they would probably enter the crit at the Masters championships.

On the Sunday we again went out along Uriarra Road, but this time the course turned onto Brindabella Road and Paddy’s River Road. Fiendishly, this allowed the organisers to incorporate another descent into the<st1:placename Murrumbridgee Valley and then a particularly vicious climb known as Pierce’s Creek Hill on the other side. The turn around was just after the top of this hill. These hills were a lot longer than our usual Eurobodalla climbs. Even so the E grade course at 64km was easy compared to John and Dominique’s ride (84km) and Brendan’s (108km). I managed to position myself a bit better coming out of Uriarra Crossing for the climb, but this time everyone seemed a bit keener so I missed out on placing in the KOM. The descent down Mt McDonald was long and technical. I found myself at the back of the lead group and struggling to hold on. Soon we got to Pierce’s Creek Hill where everyone struggled. I managed to pick up a few places but it wasn’t pretty. Charles Dorron then soloed away again so everyone who saw it cursed and went after him. I recovered my composure on the descent and bridged across to the lead group on the lower slopes of Mt McDonald. I tried to sprint for the KOM place at the top of Mt McDonald but my legs were like noodles by then so I was easily rounded up. The chase never really got organised on the run back in and to be honest, I wasn’t in much shape to contribute meaningfully anyway.  Charles Dorron therefore stayed away for a much deserved win. I finished 10^th in the third stage for 8^th overall in E grade.

 Cyd and Vanessa reported another positive experience in the women’s peloton. At one stage Vanessa was caught by a chase group. Rather than upping the pace to drop her out the back, the word went around to slow down a bit so Vanessa could recover and contribute to the chase. How kind is that? The most heart breaking moment came later when John Vaughan came onto the crit track at the end of the D grade race with a 20m lead over the pursuing bunch. John’s got to THAT corner too fast, touched a pedal and went down. He got back on to finish with a nice hole in his knicks and a solid round of applause from the crowd. 

Lachlan

Seven club members made a strong showing at this year’s Canberra Tour. Cynthia Trevallion, Dominique Rideaux, John Vaughan, David Rowe, Brendan Johnston, Lachlan Brown and Vanessa Goodspeed enjoyed fine weather and good racing at an event that is recognized as one of the most difficult and challenging events on the Australian Road Racing Calendar.

As the results below show, John, Dominic, Lachlan and David all put in strong performances in competitive fields.

John Vaughan’s training efforts over the past months was paying off, leading in for a strong finish on the 3^rd stage, John was showing some exciting racing, flying from behind and absolutely hammering it along the straight on the criterium track to overtake about 8 riders in his grade and positioning himself in first place…………Until his pedal decided to introduce his bottom to the bitumen on the notorious “collarbone” corner. It was exciting to watch!

Results are as follows:

Cyd and Vanessa thoroughly enjoyed their first “stage race event”, (nearly missing the second event, a criterium, too busy sitting in the kitchen chatting away) and have vowed to return next year.

Brendan, who was using the race as training for his MTB exploits, put in another strong performance on the road and appears to be recovering well from the broken collarbone he received earlier in the year. He is unstoppable.

Another great turn out for Sunday’s Kiora – 18 starters, 4 of which were visitors.   I think we also had a record number of timekeepers/assistants – (4).

Top 5 riders:

Craig Trevallion 1^st place

Hans Visch (the Destroyer)! – 2^nd (visitor).  

Steve Johnston – 3^rd

Graeme Marsh – 4^th

John Vaughan – 5^th

The fastest time was Brendan Johnston with 1 hour 18min 5 sec, lucky he isn’t old enough to be a Master!

This is an excellent result for Craig T, who doesn’t race road bikes very often….......   It goes to show, if you come along and take part, you may surprise yourself!