Coota Cycle Club Summer Series Round 2 Sunday 15^th December 2013

Race Report – “Scratch Take the Points as Favourite Flats!”

Great weather conditions greeted the starters for the second round of the Summer Series on Sunday.  With some first round starters missing, the gaps were made up by some first-time series riders, and a field of 23 was assembled by the handicapper Zeke.

Simon Thompson’s return saw him leave off the 12 minute mark with Phil Bowden and Barry Rose.  Chasing them off second limit 5 minutes behind was series joint favourite Phil Davies (moved back one group following his win the week before), Peter Lott, Darren Garnon and Tim Condon.  Dave Holder made his long-anticipated return to racing off the third-limit bunch, a further 2 minutes back, and pushed his group of Marty Ryan and Jack Stratford hard all the way out to the turn.

The other joint favourite for the overall title, Scott McLeod, led the fourth-limit group only 1 minute behind.  He was ably assisted by Rod Holder, Kevin Ford, Anthony Dean and Michael Crowe (cruising on his track-bike!).  It was decided there would be no block group so Dave Jarvis, Jamin Hall and Garry ‘Retro’ Halloran headed off from fifth limit only 2 minutes in front of scratch.

The scratch bunch this week were 5 riders strong with the consistent Peter Telford, Sean Williams, Steve Franklin and Anthony Sleeman joined by Hamish Nott.  Sleeman was a little tired after pedalling into a headwind all the way from Temora for his ‘warm-up’!  Despite Sleeman dragging the chain, scratch were able to combine with fifth-limit on the hill before the turn.  These riders also collected Dave Holder, who became the gate-keeper for the remainder of the trip home.

With scratch and fifth-limit working well together they soon had fourth limit in their sights.  By this time fourth and third-limits were together.  Series co-favourite Phil Davies had suffered a flat tyre by this stage much to Scott McLeod’s joy.  Once again Anthony Dean was among the strongest riders in the race and prevented his group getting caught too early.

By Dinyah on the way home a large peloton had formed with all groups involved and Holder still on the gate being ably assisted by Rod Holder.  With 2km to go Mick Crowe and Kevin Ford started to increase the pace and stretch the field out.  McLeod struck out for glory at the turn but ran out of puff just as quickly.  He was swallowed up by the scratch riders in the main sprint who took all the spoils.  Nott came out on top just ahead of Telford, Williams, Sleeman and Franklin; and also took the fastest time of 38 minutes and 12 seconds.

The last race before Christmas is this Sunday and will be the last chance for points before the series resumes in February.  Current top 5 standings 1^st Phil Davies 13 points, 2^nd Nott 12 points, 3^rd equal 9 points McLeod and Telford, 5^th equal 6 points Ford and Williams. For the full table click here

Max Meares, Hamish Nott, Tom Meares, George Baldry, Tim Meares, Cadel Evans and Charlie Baldry

In early November these Cootamundra riders were fortunate to meet Australia’s only Tour de France Champion Cadel Evans!

Cadel was on hand to officially open the King’s School Mountain Bike Track at their inaugural event.  Local rider Tim Meares (pictured) was instrumental in the development of the track.  Hamish and Tim place first and third in the Open Male Solo at the event!

Afterward Tim, Charlie, Hamish and his wife Penny were able to have a sit-down lunch with Cadel and chat to him at length about his past, present and future riding experiences.  He was very candid and easy to chat to – in fact he would fit right in at the coffee shop with Coota Cycle Club after a Saturday morning ride!

Cycle Club Race Report Sunday 8^th December 2013

Round 1 Summer Series – “The Davies Handshake Handicap!”

The Summer Series of Sunday Events started with a bang on Sunday with a great roll up of 24 competitors vying for a shot at the title.  A change to the point score format and a shortened season comprising of only December and February brought out some riders who had literally dusted the winter cobwebs off the frame and decided that two rides (or less!) was enough training to start the series.

Two of the riders with limited training were team Phil – Davies and Bowden, who kicked off the series from limit. A golden handshake from Phil Davies to handicapper Zeke Loiterton guaranteed a very generous 12 minute head-start from scratch!  Second limit left four minutes behind and comprised of debutantes James Lenehan and Greg Ewings who both had been showing some form of late on training rides.  Joining these two was the experienced Barry Rose along with Darren Garnon and Paul Bruest.

Middle of the bunches to leave was the form group consisting of joint hot-favourites Anthony Dean and Scott McLeod with Rod Holder, Peter Lott, Tim Condon and Kevin Ford leaving 7 minutes after limit.  The chopping block began 10 minutes behind limit and were going to have tough day.  First time starter Jamin Hall, fresh off the Christmas Team Race win, drove the group hard setting a fearsome pace.   Experienced campaigners Dave Jarvis, Ken Clarke, James Watson, Mick Crowe and Garry Halloran all reported having trouble holding his wheel – a definite danger-man for the series.

Despite Jamin’s best efforts scratch still managed to catch just before the turn and form a large chase bunch.  Anthony Sleeman, Peter Telford, Sean Williams were ably followed by Frank Stephens.  Alas despite everyones best efforts and a slick time the handicapper had ensured  this group were not to catch anyone for the rest of the race!

Up in the distance ahead the second and third groups had combined and were now being carried along at the pace set by Lenehan, Dean and McLeod.  This group thought they had the race won when they passed half of team Phil – forgetting that Phil Davies had left his partner at the Ironbarks on the way home and was being egged on by some ‘social’ riders to go for victory off limit.  Seizing his chance and making the most of his investment with the handicapper, Phil rode solo off the front for the last 9km to a gutsy win and surely a harder group next week!

The strongest rider in the field Anthony Dean, who again was riding well within himself, led Scott McLeod out with a massive turn to enable Scott to win the bunch sprint for second place. McLeod (aka The Fox) looks also to be a good early bet for the overall title. The other placings were filled by Kevin Ford, Tim Condon and Lenehan.  Anthony Sleeman clocked the fastest time in a slick 38 minutes 30 seconds.

Current Standings: Davies 12 points, McLeod 8, Ford 5, Condon 3 and Lenehan 2 points. For full table of standings click here.

Round 2 continues next Sunday at 9am from Berthong Road.

The Summer Series is Back

Join previous winners Dave Jarvis, Kevin Ford and Michael Crowe for the return of the ‘Summer Series’.

The Summer Series (traditionally over 3 months!) was brought up at the last 2 meetings and the following format was decided upon for this year.

7 or 8 events over December and February with a break in January.

All events Sunday mornings ( mostly in Coota but 1 or 2 scheduled for Young – likely in February)

Point score change from traditional (5,4,3,2,1) to (11,7,4,2,1) for first 5 places and 1 point for participation.

A running point score will also be available on the website ( to avoid any conjecture at the end of the rounds!!).

Entry is $5 each week.

The first 3 rounds are this weekend (Dec 8^th), Dec 15^th and Dec 22^nd.

The Cootamundra Rotary Bike festival will be held over the weekend November 9^th and 10^th. The purpose of the festival is to promote Cootamundra as a bike riding destination and potentially provide a constant stimulus for our local economy as bike tourists come to visit. The cycle club has 4 race weekends a year that bring outside money to town, the bike festival’s hope is to encourage a steady stream of bike riders to visit right through the year.

There are a fair few activities over the weekend that you might want to participate in or just bring the kids down for a look.

Saturday:

• Two social rides.  One 30kms long, the other 70kms. This would be a good opportunity to share your sport with your partner or kids. It’s not a race, it’s an opportunity to enjoy a casual ride. Sign on at Scout Hall 8.30
• Markets.  There will be about 40 market stalls around the Scout Hall.
• Antique bike display.  A lot of old and interesting bikes as well as information regarding Coota’s bike history will be on display in the Scout Hall. 9am till 5pm
• Bike toss.  Come and see just how far you or your kids can throw a bike. You know you’ve wanted to in the past, here’s your chance. Adult and junior competitions. Medallions for the winners. 1pm  Start
• Bike challenge.  Our new federal member Angus Taylor will take on Janine Lee, riding on a trainer for 3 hours. 2pm start
• Trivia night.   7pm at the RSL, raising funds for RDA. Get a table of 8 together and come and have a fun night. There are some great prizes and an auction of some pretty interesting items will be held(see the website).

Sunday:

• The Criterium. 10am start! If you’re not riding, come and have a look it’s worth watching!

As bike riders this is a good opportunity to get behind and promote our sport in our community. I hope to see a lot of you there supporting this weekend.

Rick Martin

As of this Sunday 22nd September the Sunday mornign 9am Event returns.  Berthong Rd start beside the Golf Driving Range.

Saturday morning rides are on as usual 7am sharp at the Family Hotel in Hovell St Cootamundra.

A great social afternoon with some fast, some slow and some in-between times!

Kevin Ford proved you don’t need to be the fastest to succeed in this format (or even know where you were going)!

Thank you to Timekeepers Al Moston and Chris Cooper and to all those who supported – further funds for the track upgrade project!

Please see below for Lap Number 1 times!

This Saturday 3rd August is Lap Number 2 ( for those that missed Lap 1 they can do both laps starting from 2pm at the town Track).

Entry is $5 per lap – with funds raised going toward the track upgrade!

Once again the afternoon start proved a popular move attracting a larger group of riders for the weekly Cycle Club road event on Berthong Road.  In all 14 riders made the start including riders from Young and Grenfell giving the handicapper some harder work.

Limit had a gap of 3 minutes to their nearest chasers and consisted of Phil Davies, Anthony Dean, Barry Rose and Janine Hobson.  Chasing from second limit were Rod Holder, Edwina Hobson and Al Baker.  New International License holder Kevin Goodman was joined in scratch by Pete Telford, Brendan Forsyth and Frank Stephens.  They gave the block group of Gary Halloran, Hamish Nott and Marty Ryan  a 1.5 minute start – no doubt the handicapper had been informed of Ryan’s form on the Thursday club ride!

In an unusual circumstance all groups came together on the last climb on the way out to the turn. Handicapper Pete Rees put this down to the form of scratch riders Goodman and Telford who are in training for the state Team Time Trial championships in two weeks in Nowra. They were ably assisted by Frank and Brendan who were going strong.

The way home was uneventful until Goodman attacked at Dinyah splitting up the group of eight that were left in two groups of four.  Only Telford, Forsyth and Nott were able to keep up and these four would sort out the finish.  As Nott tired at the home turn it was left to Forsyth to come over the top of the tiring older duo in the finish for the win. This was also fastest time with the riders breaking 39 minutes for the first time since the warmer months.