Rob Vernon Memorial Handicap and 2012 Racing Recap

L-R: Daniel Cahill, Jason Stirling, Mitchell Allen, Clive Silcock, Chris Zucchet, Gervaise Christie, Ned Powell, Tom Christie and Lauchlan Stewart.

It's time for a change of pace with my blog. I haven't done any bicycle touring since I was in Europe almost two years ago, not because I haven't wanted to, but because I've been working full time and haven't gotten around to doing any weekend tours or anything.
However, I have been doing plenty of cycling, during the day and at night, sunny/warm weather and wet/cold weather, on Freeways and quiet narrow roads, commuting to work and everywhere else, training in the hills, on the bike paths, on Beach Road, on Tour de Burbs and Kew Boulevard, racing in various places around Victoria and even a bit of mountain biking and cyclo-cross for good measure.

For completeness, I'll just note down the races I've raced in this year and a few comments/results for each.
First of all, here is Cycling Victoria's 2012 Winter Race Calendar which has start lists and results for all open races so far and the upcoming races.

Kew Boulevard Criteriums (A Grade)
January 4: First place
January 11: Fifth place
January 25: Ninth place
February 1: Ninth place
February 8: Eighth place
February 22: Seventh place
February 29: Fifth place
March 7: Tenth place
March 14: Second place
March 21: Fourth place
March 28: Second place

Coburg CC Criteriums at National Boulevard
February 4: First place (B Grade)
February 18: Fifth place (A Grade)
March 10: Race cancelled after ten minutes due to a crash in B grade.

St Kilda CC Criteriums
February 12: Raced C grade and wasn't allowed to feature.

St Kilda CC Team Time-Trial
February 12, 2012

L-R: Nicholas Harvey, Michael Holder, Ned Powell, Keelan O'Hehir

Our team was somewhat imbalanced with Keelan and I too strong for Harvey and Holder; Holder was dropped within the first few laps, and we just had to drag Harvey along to finish a disappointing fifth place out of seven teams in a time of 13:42, thirty-two seconds behind the winning team which was Hawthorn CC. See the SKCC race report here.

Carnegie-Caulfield CC Criteriums at Glenvale Crescent
February 26: Second Place (B Grade)

Ned Powell and Fergus Sully out in a break in the B grade criterium, Glenvale, February 26, 2012.

Mt Buller Criterium and Road Race (March 17 and 18, 2012)

L-R: Tom Christie, Michael Holder, Lewis Rattray, Matt Clark, Chris Zucchet, Clive Silcock, Ned Powell.

B Grade Criterium: I touched my pedal on the road on one of the turns on the fifth lap and consequently rolled my rear tyre off it's rim and punctured, so that was race over for me. I was feeling good too! (You're always feeling good when you puncture and have to pull out, right?)
B Grade Road-Race: I was shivering with cold as I waited at the start line and gradually warmed up as we started racing. My legs were feeling a little heavy, I knew it was going to be a tough climb. I moved myself up towards the front as we hit the base of the climb to give myself the best chance of staying with the front group; the pace for the first four kilometres was blistering! In fact our time was faster than the A graders for the first five kilometres. I dug deep trying to hold on as long as I could, with the likes of Thomas Hamilton, Fergus Sully and Jake Klajnblat but was at my absolute limit with my heart rate at around 194 bpm and after about four kilometres I just couldn't hold it any longer and gradually dropped back.
I joined up with a few other riders and we formed a grupetto of six riders. After going to hard too early, I was just able to stay with this group for the rest of the climb until the last kilometre or two where the gradient kicks up to eight or nine percent. At this point the whole grupetto split up and I struggled up the last kilometre on my own to finish in eight place. See the full results here.

Rounding the corner at the top of Mt  Buller

Baw Baw Classic (April 8, 2012)
This was my favourite race so far; the weather was warm and sunny, and the countryside was beautiful and green.
Having only raced an open event three times previously (C grade Tour of Coleraine in 2010, C grade Tour of Bright in 2011 and the Mt Buller Criterium and Road Race in 2012), I decided to enter in B grade. The field was quite small with only 25 starters, and I had one team-mate with Clive Silcock also racing B grade. This made the possibility of a break-away succeeding more likely.
Clive was apparently feeling good because he attacked just a couple of kilometres into the race. I was at the front of the peloton and I quickly hopped across onto his wheel without hesitation, with one other rider, Brenton Kaitler, also bridging the gap. Clive worked hard to open up a significant gap quickly, and took turns on the front to maintain the break, although Clive was taking longer turns.
Several kilometres later, it looked like the peloton was gradually drawing us back in, and soon they were right on our tails. At this point, Kaitler must have decided it was a lost cause because he dropped back to bunch. Clive and I had other ideas though, and we maintained the pressure. The peloton, thinking they'd caught us, let off the pace, and Clive and I quickly built the gap up again. A few riders must have decided the break had a chance, and gradually bridged across to join us: Nick Youngs, Stefan Imberger and Ben White.
Clive and I pulled the break along with a few token turns from the others, but Clive did most of the work and we maintained the break.

Clive Silcock leading the five-man break towards Vespers Hill.

Clive, having some digestion problems, was dropped on the first major climb, Vespers Hill, after a solid 60 km of riding. Ben White was also dropped, leaving just three of us at the front. Shortly afterwards, Stefan was also dropped, and Nick Young and I worked together to extend our lead before Young seemed to hit the wall and could no longer hold the pace. So there was nothing to it but to go ahead on my own.
At this point I was feeling very good, and continued riding hard, not knowing how close the peloton or any other riders were behind.
I was pretty tired by the time I reached Baw Baw with six kilometres to go, and crawled up on my 28 tooth cassette with much pain, over-taking a few of the slower A-graders as I went. With three kilometres to go, my legs started cramping up and I was worried I'd have to stop riding. Luckily I didn't have to though, and I pushed through, and was very happy to reach the top and cross the line in first place.

Ned Powell crossing the line, first place in B grade.

As it turned out, I was eight minutes ahead of the second place-getter, Aaron Blomeley - indeed a convincing win. I wondered why they let Clive and I go at the start, two guys on the same team and only a small peloton. Not that I was complaining though. A big thanks to Clive who put in a superb effort to set me up for the win, and to Gervaise for being the team Soigneur for the day.

Me and Lewis Rattray at the top of Mt Baw Baw.

L-R: Mark Kelly, Ned Powell, Aaron Blomeley.

See the full results here.

Scotty's Race (April 21, 2012)
My first handicap, and I was in the eight-minute bunch. The race is held near Shepparton, so the roads are mostly very flat and straight. My bunch worked well together, rolling turns the whole time and the whole field came together with about five kilometres to go, except for scratch and the five minute bunch which missed one of the turns earlier on in the race.
Back in the peloton I moved up to the front and led through the corner into the home straight with Tom Christie on my wheel. Someone else came through to take the lead. I could see the finish line and decided it was time to go, got out of the saddle and accelerated, taking Tom with me. Unfortunately I completely mis-judged the distance to the finish line (damn these straight flat roads!) and I couldn't hold the pace for long enough, so Tom and I were swallowed up by the bunch and just rolled in somewhere mid-field. Lesson learned.
See the full results here.

Tour of the South West (April 28, 2012)
My first A grade open race.
Stage 1 was a 115 kilometre road race, and I had a few team-mates with Lewis Rattray, Chris Zucchet, Clive Silcock and Calum Middleton also racing A grade. I was riding in support of Chris Zucchet, who'd been targeting this race. The pace was on from the gun, and caught me a little by surprise, or maybe I just hadn't warmed up properly, but I soon found myself just trying to hang on the back, while Chris was having to move himself up in the bunch ahead of me. I gradually made up a few places, but still wasn't far from the back. Towards the end of the first lap, the peloton was strung-out and the cross-winds were very strong. This was a recipe for a split, and that's what happened, and I missed it, as did Chris. It was a little chaotic as people tried to scramble up and chase the lead bunch, and coming into the second lap (about 15 km) I passed Chris and tried to pull him up to a few riders just up the road forming a chase group. Unfortunately Chris had already blown himself up and couldn't hold on as I moved up to join the chase group.
There would have been about five of us in this chase group, but we caught another few riders to bring our group to eight or ten riders and we held the gap to the lead group fairly steady.
A number of riders punctured because someone had thrown tacks on the road, which was very disappointing. I was lucky enough to miss the tacks, but unfortunately I cracked with about ten kilometres to go; I'm not sure what happened, because I thought I'd taken on enough energy, with several gels and bars, but I completely lost power and quickly lost contact with the chase group. I rode on my own for another five kilometres and was over-taken by the third group on the road, and couldn't even hold onto them.
I passed Matt Clark, who'd also cracked and combined forces with a bloke from John West Cycling (Dylan Hately) to get to the finish line in 34th place (out of 71 starters).
See full results here.

Stage 2 was a 12.7 kilometre time-trial. I normally consider myself a decent time-trialist but after the road-race in the morning, my legs were shot. I did what I could and finished 31st, in a time of 18:21, 1:58 behind the winner (Mark O'Brien). See full results here.

Ned Powell in Stage 2 of the 2012 Tour of the South West.

Stage 3 was the following day on the Sunday morning, a 1 hour + 3 lap criterium around the cemetary, with a significant hill. My legs didn't recover so well and were feeling a bit flat. I was just trying to sit in and stay in contact for as long as I could. Towards the end of the race, I was getting dropped each lap on the hill, but just managing to reconnect on the down-hill each time. It took all my strength to remain in contact, but I managed it. So I finished in 26th place, five seconds behind the main bunch with Matt Clark sneakily pipping me on the line. Considering only thirty riders finished of the sixty-four starters, I was pretty happy with that, and I ended up in 23rd place overall for the three stages. Chris Zucchet rode very strongly to finish in 12th place in the criterium and 18th place overall.

Ned Powell in the A Grade peloton in Stage 3 of the 2012 Tour of the South West.

Metropolitan Road Championships (May 20, 2012)
This race was held out at Harcourt, not too far from where I grew up (Mount Franklin). I got a lift from Melbourne with Tom Christie, but we were running a little late, and only had time for a two-minute warm-up.  The roads were wet, it was drizzling and I was shivering at the start line, but luckily the pace of the group was very easy. Clive, as he often likes to do, rode off the front in an early attack before being reeled back in.

I was confident of getting a decent result until I unluckily punctured after 30 kilometres, when a small shard of quartz forced it's way through my tyre. So that was race over for me.
Tom didn't last too much longer before he unfortunately punctured as well, leaving it up to Clive to get a result for the team. After spending too much energy off the front though, he couldn't stay with the lead group and finished 24th out of 41 starters, and with 17 riders abandoning the race. See the full results here.

Ned Powell off the front in the 2012 Metro Championships in Harcourt.

Preston Mountain Classic (June 24, 2012)
I was heading into this race after a month of not racing, and a lack of training; I knew I'd be lacking fitness but the race would enable me to see where I was at nonetheless.
Clive and I were off from the five-minute mark. The group worked fairly well together and I was surprised how quickly scratch caught us, a little after half way through the first lap, just past Yea.
The 65 km circuit included a hill climbing out of Flowerdale, and while I'd ascended the hill with relative ease in the five minute bunch, the pace was much harder going up it the second time round with the scratch group. I was very close to losing contact, going from right up the front at the start of the climb to right at the back when I got to the top, I was struggling, with my heart rate peaking at 198 beats per minute.
I had no trouble on the descent, and gained quite a few places. After we passed back through Yea, I continued struggling but remained in contact with the group until Strath Creek with five kilometres to go, when I had a step drop in power, and despite my best efforts, I lost contact with the peloton.
In those last five kilometres, with the final two kilometre climb up to Murchison Gap, I lost five minutes to the winner, Alex Morgan, and finished in 42nd place, out of 56 finishers. See full results here, and see my Strava data here.

Footscray CC Graded Scratch Race at Little River (June 30, 2012)
I got a lift out to the You Yangs with John Prince and raced in A grade with Tom Christie and Jason Stirling. The pace was particularly high in the first lap, and with the strong cross-winds I was very close to getting dropped; a number of riders were dropped at this point, including Tom.
The pace was much easier for the next four laps, and I stayed with the peloton. Stirls went out in a break in the final lap, but the bunch chased them down just before the finish line and it ended in a bunch sprint; I finished in 8th position, a little disappointed with how week I was feeling. See the race report here.

Alf Kimpton Handicap (Northern Combine race at Broadford) (July 7, 2012)
Like the race last week, I was still feeling flat. I was off in the 3 minute bunch with Jason Stirling. I went okay for the first lap, scratch caught us in the second lap and I got dropped half way around the third lap on a little hill and had to ride the last 25 kilometres on my own; I was completely knackered.
I was disappointed with my performance and didn't know why I was going so badly. I had felt a little unwell for the past few few weeks, so I went to visit the GP a few days after this race, on the Tuesday and discovered I'd had viral meningitis for the previous few weeks - no wonder I'd been feeling flat!
The doctor said I had to rest up, and I took four days off work and off the bike, barely left the house. A few days later, to make matters worse, I came down with tonsillitis as well, which was confirmed after another visit to the doctors on Friday, and was prescribed penicillin.
I was back at work the following Monday, but taking it easy and easing my way back into the training. I skipped the Melbourne to Ballarat Classic, not wanting to push things too soon. I also decided I wouldn't be doing the Tour of Gippsland or Tour of the Great South Coast which I had previously been considering.

Rob Vernon Memorial Handicap (August 12, 2012)
I raced the Rob Vernon Memorial Handicap on Sunday. After a very early start (7:30 am!), I rode over to Clive's place and we drove out to Strathfieldsaye for the start of the Rob Vernon. The team had a strong contingent racing, with seven of us from Team Unibicycles racing. Chris Zucchet and Lauchlan Stewart were off at six minutes, Jason Stirling and I off at ten minutes, Tom Christie and Mitchell Allen off at sixteen minutes, and Daniel Cahill off at twenty-six minutes. Clive Silcock, Gervaise Christie, David Barker, John Prince and Sair Aitkin were also along for support, and we all arrived early to take a team photo. We didn't end up doing this until after the race, but this meant we had plenty of time to get ready and warmed up, which is unusual for me. I took the liberty to do a ten kilometre warm-up before lining up with another twenty-three cyclists in the ten-minute group.

Ned Powell and Jason Stirling at the start of the Rob Vernon Memorial Handicap.

All went well to start with, and the group worked fairly efficiently with everyone rolling turns. The roads were a little rough and dead, and the terrain was rolling hills, with a few longer climbs as well, which suited me fine. About half way through the course, I noticed my team-mate Stirls was missing. I later found out he'd dropped because his brakes were rubbing on his wheel and he'd been averaging around 320 watts instead of 280 watts as I was averaging.

Half way around the course we changed direction and were riding with a decent tail-wind and sitting at speeds of 50 to 60 km/h. I was rolling through for my turn at the front when my tyre hit something in the middle of the road and punctured, and I pulled off the road as my tyre hissed and went flat within a matter of seconds. That was race over for me, unfortunately, after 60 km.
I waited on the side of the road until one of the race commissaires kindly stopped and picked me up in his red ute, and we drove back to the start overtaking the six minute group, the ten minute group, the 16/20 minute group and the 26/32 minute group.

Ned Powell racing in the Rob Vernon Memorial Handicap.

I spent the rest of the race at the Strathfieldsaye Sports Club watching a local soccer match, Eaglehawk versus another team. I was unable to get to the finish line several kilomtres away, but the 26 minute bunch managed to stay away and Peta Mullens took the honours, and team-mate Daniel Cahill finished tenth, the top finisher for the team.  The handicapping appeared to be very sound, with the rest of the groups finishing within a couple of minutes of the winner.

I'm now trying to ramp up the training so that I'm fit enough to race the Tour of the Murray in a couple of weeks. It will be my first Nation Road Series race if I get there, should be exciting stuff!
That's all for now, I'll be updating my blog with further thoughts and developments shortly.

Team Unibicycles:  Daniel Cahill, Jason Stirling, Mitchell Allen, Clive Silcock, Chris Zucchet, Gervaise Christie, Ned Powell, Tom Christie and Lauchlan Stewart. And with thanks to our sponsors!