Mudgee Mark Dwyer H/C & Pieter van Gent G/Scratch 3/4 August

Road cycling & upcoming rides
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Timbo
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Postby Timbo » 22 Jul 2013, 13:37

I've signed up for this. Hope to get a generous handicap and grading (James - I am going grey, and I haven't been riding much - honest!).

Apparently route has changed a bit from previous years.

As entries now closed, it looks as though there will be just four DHBC riders this year: Mark, Michael, Simon and myself.

I'm taking the family for the weekend, so there won't be room in our car unfortunately. But I will have spots for extra bikes on the roof if anyone wants one.

Strawburger
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Postby Strawburger » 25 Jul 2013, 21:14

No room in my car either.

Yes, the race no longer starts at the AREC, it's in town so we add an extra 10km in both events I'm pretty sure.

It's windy, usually gusty so bring your Schwarzenegger arms for this one.

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 25 Jul 2013, 21:44

If there's only 4 of us, then transport is sorted

207 competitors, well short of the 250 maximum

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Timbo
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Postby Timbo » 01 Aug 2013, 14:29

Still no handicaps!

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 04 Aug 2013, 13:32

Saturday handicap race, Mark got the best DHBC result, with Simon going the furthest in his bunch. Results are on CNSW

Sunday Div4 Mark finished in the bunch not too far of the podium. In Div3 Tim was the first DHBC rider home.

Strawburger
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Postby Strawburger » 04 Aug 2013, 15:59

What a weekend.

Was put up a grade and I suffered all weekend. They were in a different class that's for sure. Didn't stop me from thinking I could compete though.
Saturday hung on for 65kms before exploding (not just dropped but one of those occasions when you can barely keep the bike going). Got passed by scratch soon after and soloed for about 40 mins before being picked up by other dropped riders with 5km to go.
Sunday held on for as long as possible. Was in the diminished pack of 30 for the first KOM so decided to have a crack. Was 7th over the top. No prize money for 7th but that effort certainly paid me back for the next 50kms. Hung on until 55kms and exploded again. Soloed for 45mins before picking up tim and a few others with about 10km to go.

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Timbo
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Postby Timbo » 06 Aug 2013, 10:11

Mark Dwyer Handicap

I was in bunch 8 (+14 minutes), with Mark Lacey. A very fast start up Ulan Road. Blustery winds, but the sun was shining. The bunch was completely shattered on the first hill. About 10 riders rode off the front, leaving the rest of us. Over the hill I could see a few other riders who'd also been dropped. After 20 minutes or so chasing by my lonesome, I caught them. One rider was from the bunch ahead, and one from my bunch. We worked well in a rolling pace line for the next 30 minutes or so. Once we reached Ulan and turned left we saw a bunch behind and sat up. These were a grab bag crew of my bunch and bunch 9. Mark had made his way back in the race. The bunch then kept together at a blistering pace until the grinding hill on Henry Lawson drive, when scratch caught us and went past like a steam train. Mark held on for a strong finish.

Mark LACEY Dulwich Hill Place 80 Actual 2:42:42 Elapsed 2:56:42
Tim STEPHENS Dulwich Hill Place 92 Actual 2:45:09 Elapsed 2:59:09
Simon BERRY Dulwich Hill Place 116 Actual 2:46:22 Elapsed 3:04:22
Michael CLEMENT Dulwich Hill Place 151 Actual 2:57:07 Elapsed 3:15:07

Pieter van Gent G/Scratch

Simon, Michael and I were in Division 3 (83 km - 2 laps) with a bunch of B graders. Mark was in Division 4 (43 km - 1 lap). I thought Saturday was fast, but this was something else. As soon as we passed out of the neutral road, the pace lifted, and on the first hill went ballistic. This time I managed to hold on over the top, as did Simon, and we stayed together until the left turn on to Mudhut Creek Road. The KOM beckoned, and Simon and everyone else had a go. The bunch was split, I fell of the back. But over the top descended fast with a few others and held on. I felt better than Saturday, but knew Henry Lawson was ahead of me. For some reason I started thinking about his Loaded Dog story. I was dropped. Simon rode off in the distance. So that left me alone to ride the rest of the first lap and potentially all of the second by myself. It wasn't until I came back to Mudhut Creek Road again for the second time that I was able to team up with some other dropped riders from Div 3. We stayed together, and I could see Simon in the distance. We caught Simon with maybe 10 kms to go. Mark had a great result in Div 4 (coming 13th, and finishing with the bunch).

The conditions were much tougher than the Saturday. Much windier. But good fun all the same. I'll definitely do this again.

Tim STEPHENS Dulwich Hill Place 25 Time +09:31
Simon BERRY Dulwich Hill Place 28 Time +10:10
Michael CLEMENT Dulwich Hill Place 35 Time +13:36

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mikesbytes
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Postby mikesbytes » 06 Aug 2013, 16:38

3/08/2103 Mudgee Mark Dwyer Handicap
I was in bunch 7 with Simon, starting 3 minutes behind Mark and Tim. As soon as neutral had finished it gunned and I only rolled to the front once. It was shedding riders right away, including my Marcus my Waratah's mate. At 6k I blew and formed a group of 4.

Doing the maths in my head we needed to ride tempo to the hills and cruise up it, so to be picked up by bunch 6 behind just over the crest and this is what we did. The only problem was that I positioned myself too far back and the tail broke off. I tried to ride across the gap but to no avail.

Ended up in the same small group of riders and as we hit the next hill I had to gun it hard up the hill so to catch the group as it went over the top, which I only just did. This time I had a much better position but got dropped about halfway up the long gentle hill following.

Then what appeared to be bunch 5 came past, with Fenton in it. It was screaming along, we were sitting on 55k, but they punched such a big hole, it was easy to stay in. At the turnaround at Uland I was positioned badly and got blown off. Almost immeaditely a large bunch came and I tacked on. It felt easy so I did a turn and promtly rolled out the back.

2 more bunches came past shortly including scratch, which made the bunch count incorrect so there must of been a merger prior. Just as Scratch went past there was a crash, one guy down. But he got up and immediately looked at his bike

So it was time to cruise and I rode the remaining 50k tempo with whoever was around including Marcus and had a jolly good chat with Kieran Woo from LACC for the last 25k of that.

However when I was riding solo I got attacked by a magpie who swooped 6 times on me, biting the back of my helmet 6 times.

4/08/2013 Mudgee Pieter van Gent G/Scratch
Divison 3 as per the last 2 years. This one was to be my worst performance.

Lap 1.
Dropped at 13k was a bit disappointing, last year that would of got me to the hill, but this year the start line has been moved into the CBD. As I was one of the first to get dropped, I needed to push on to get within what was hopefully the chase bunch. I worked with one other rider and we picked up riders as we went and eventually formed a bunch of 6, consisting of 4 hunter valley riders, myself and one other. In the far distance we could see a bunch of 3 riders and we weren't making much progress on them. Then it seemed to click together for a while and then we started to break up. I communicated that we won't catch them if we don't stay together, we reformed and worked together and reeled them in as we completed lap 1.

Lap 2
Then we were 9, it was looking good, but in no time at all we were down to 7, then 6, 4 off the front without me. I dug deep and got back on just before the hill. Ironically catching the 3 ahead had been our down doing. Stayed together as a group of 5 all the way round till the long flash flat uphill section, where we picked up two riders who had stopped and fixed a flat and that was my undoing as these 2 were a little quicker and I was dropped about 3/4 way up that session and crested too far behind to catch them on the downhill. I was catching 2 of the group who had been dropped when they suddenly slowed and handed a key over to the other. He had a flat. So I rode with the other rider to the finish where we had a sprint for fun, which he won but the results show me as winning.

Simon told me he was with the bunch till 55k so I'm rather surprised to be only 3 1/2 minutes behind him.


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