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Monday 30 August 2010

A Pendant.

The stage was once again set. We'd been down at the course all morning, banging in stakes and hanging up bunting. The beer was in the fridge and approximately six thousand vegie dogs were waiting to sizzle. The volunteers from Brunswick Cycling Club had purchased extra RedVines and Sesame Snaps (not to mention ten packs of ginger beer). The Morgan sisters were taking registration next to the vegan bake sale, and both were doing a roaring trade, even before the course was open. The commissaire's clipboard was poised, someone was seen on the rollers, and I was seen doing vocal warmups in the carpark. The third and final Dirty Deeds Urban Cyclocross Race was upon us.


Back at our ancestral homelands - the Harrison Street Velodrome - the course this time featured a number of extra devious additions. The first of these was a run up the side of the embankment leading on to the bike path. Pictured below is Sime, on his first and only lap. Shortly after this photo was taken he disappeared behind the clubrooms for a nasty hangover vomit.


The mudpit from round one was still included in the course, but in the ensuing months it had taken on considerably larger dimensions and a considerably more offensive stench. Which made falling into it hurt even more. Which didn't stop the good folks below from enjoying their time therein.

Sean The Man Hurley


Aron "Grandpa" Hemingway


Gene "On The Run". Sometimes these writeups feel a little bit too Benny Hill for my liking.


And, left to right, Jess, Anne-Michelle and Eleanor. The mudpit became one of the most popular viewing areas - whenever those of us in the middle of the track heard a roar from the mudpit (a roar that would make a Collingwood crowd complain about the noise) we knew someone else had just binned it - and as such it features in a number of photo albums I've linked to below. Jess spent more time in the mud than most people, and as such has her muddy face plastered all over the internet right now. She also won the prizes for best stack, which included a massage from Impact Massage (to soothe her battered body) and a bike service from Commuter Cycles (to soothe her battered bike).


Matt Gray had come second in the open category in the previous two races, and later admitted that he was pretty damn keen on getting the win this time around. And while Dyon Balding held on to his wheel for as long as humanly possible, Matt and his modified, brakeless fixie ended up winning by the proverbial paddock.


But let's face it, the real winner from the open category was Mr Dylan, who rode all three races on his BMX, and was given the persistance award for his efforts. He backed up Sunday's BMX ride with a ride in the CX category, and was heard to remark with earnest surprise how much easier it was on a bike designed for the type of race it was in. True to his roots, however, he is pictured here showing the young 'uns how it's done.


The Bananaspokes Crew came over from Adelaide and had obviously heard about the hotly contested "Best Outfit" award. Pictured is Sam Bell, who not only had that prize in the bag, but also put a lock on first place in the women's CX category, and also - in a shock turn of events - the women's CX aggregate. The Milky Bars were on her all the way home.


Greg Brunt helped set up and take down every course over the last few months, and brought the true Brunswick spirit to every race - that is, to be both fierce and and ridiculous. He was later given the "Inappropribike" award, even though his chicken-and-gumboots combo was more about his outfit.


A widely circulated GIF file from the first race shows Benzy Dowling being sprayed with beer. Here he is exacting revenge. Later those in the crowd simply shrugged their shoulders and said, "Yeah, we probably deserved that."


Eleanor - of Helmets are Hot Blog fame - is a poet. No kidding, she gets paid to write poems and read them out to people. So it's perhaps not altogether that surprising that this was her first ever venture into organized sport. Yeah, no kidding - no poison ball in primary school, no netball in highschool, no university drinking games. I can only hope that we encouraged her, and a future of living to beat the bejesus out of others is ahead of her. Either that or she writes a sweet poem about Cyclocross.


Huw Vellacot of Commuter Cycles was on hand early, offering free 'race prep' for the bikes of racers, and generally adding an air of charm and sophistication to proceedings. Somehow he made it around the entire course seven times with an open fourpack of Heinekens in his basket and didn't spill a drop.

After the race was done a call went up for the organizing team to have a crack at the course. One hot, timed lap. The course record was 4 minutes 57 seconds. Only the commentator - ie, me - took up the offer. A bike was procured, shoes and helmet donned, and the race of truth was on. The seconds ticked by. People began to look at each other. Perhaps I'd binned it? Perhaps I'd got lost? But when I returned to the track a new record was set. Yep, 4.11. The trash talking was a little quieter later in the day.

After a free barbecue (vegan!) and a number of free beers presentations were once again held in the Brunswick Cycling Club clubrooms. More than thirty people received prizes in the end - almost one third of those racing. Because that's how we roll. Rolling like this, however, means that you give out some prizes for spurious reasons. Youngest rider went to Emily Hughes, oldest Rider was meant to go to Geoff Lees, but he wasn't there, so it went to some other old bloke. King of the Hill went to Sime for his Vom, and Mrs Helpful went to Kimberly Morgan for her work at the rego table.

But there were some serious prizes.


The women's open category was dominated by newcomer Caff Harmsen, who rolled down on her Polo bike, spokecards intact. Second was Helen Newman and third was Emma Caddy. Jess Morgan, pictured looking glum behind them, came fourth.


The men's open category was full of the usual suspects, however, with 28 Jays Dougrey (right) taking out third, Dyon Balding (left) coming home second and Matt Gray (centre) romping home for the win. Interesting to note that both Matt and Jay were riding brakeless fixies. And hipsters think they're hard because they roll brake free in the city...


The women's CX category was also made up entirely of new faces, which we like to see! They were rewarded for their bravery with prizes from Rapha, courtesy of Malachai at Northside Wheelers. That's Ann-Michelle Greenward in third on the right, crowd favourite Laura "ChoongDeath" Choong in second on the left and the irrepressible Sam Bell in first.


The men's CX category was also dominated by the usual suspects, though this picture is a little misleading. On the right is one of Dyon Balding's children, standing in for Chris Carr. Chris, I have your third prize, and will give it to your sister. Good luck getting it off her. On the left is Sam Beck's dog, which was a totally awesome dog. Sam came second, and is pictured standing next to his dog. First was proud dunlop volley wearer Lewis Rattray.

Aggregate prizes were also given out, but the photographers must've been tired by this point, because there aren't many pictures of these winners. So I'll just write them out:

Women's Open
1. Jess Morgan
2. Emma Caddy

Men's Open
1. Matt Gray (well duh!)
2. Dyon Balding (double duh!)

Women's CX
1. Sam Bell
2. Alison Heskes (Alison didn't race on Sunday, but fortunately rocked up to watch...)

Men's CX
1. Lewis Rattray
2. Sam Beck

Now this I have a picture of:


Thanks to Scooter from Impact Massage for the "Wine Flavoured Beverage" (no kidding, that's what it said on the bottle) which he swiped from the Tour of Gippsland. We had earlier given Sam a "Mr Helpful" award for consistently sticking around to help pull out stakes and pack up bunting, but we considered taking it away from him after he made the whole room stink of cheap wine.

The raffle for the brand spanking new Jamis CX bike was up next. Leigh De Luca from Jamis was there to do the honours, and nine year old Emily Hughes was acting as barrell girl. There was no cheating, but in a strangely bizarre turn of events the new bike was won by the same bloke who won everything else, Lewis Rattray.


He told me afterwards he considered handing it back, but Leigh decided that fair was fair and Lewis should keep the bike. Who could deny the boy his hard won fortune?

Unlike round 2 there were no major booboos to report, but sometime after the race Sean The Man sent me this pic of himself:


Though I think it was also distributed to Lewis. Those are some sexy feet.

In closing, I'd like to once again thank all of our sponsors for their support - they are all listed there on the right, and you should click them. It was nice that you too seemed to be supporting those who support us - I would've needed to remove my shoes to count the number of very new looking Jamis CX bikes by the last round, Huw was kept busy with bike prep all morning, and I was proud to hear that Coffee Supreme were once again drunk dry. Those of you who won vouchers should totally cash them in, because apparently few people ever do. And those of you who didn't win anything should definitely come back next year. We'll find a reason to give you something.

Certain people need to be singled out for special thanks, and maybe a subtle in-joke that only we will get, like the liner notes to a Fugees record. Sam McGregor for helping set up every round and being the voice of the enviroment when I "just want to f**king chuck all those f**king bottles in the f**king bin", Greg Brunt for hilarity and also helping set up each course, the entire Morgan family - Helen, Dave, Jess and Kimberly for continuing to devote untold hours to the Brunswick Cycling Club, Angry Andrew for leaving his wife and newborn at home so he could help us set up, everyone who helped pull out stakes and coil up bunting after the races were done, the folks at the vegan bake sale - who raised over $5oo for Edgar's Misson over the three races, Caseymoira and Papa Janno for rocking the free barbecue at the end, The Blakey for tireless support of all of our dumb ideas, Nonie Carr for once again helping out with administrative duties, all the riders, all the racers, all the supporters, all the hecklers, the beersprayers, the cowbell ringers, the trumpet blowers, the people who laughed at my jokes, the photographers, the gatorade hander-upper-ers, the mudpit hooligans, whoever is in charge of the weather for making sure it rains the week before but is fine on the day of the races (I think it's Al Gore), and anyone else who just came along, talked some crap about bikes with their friends, watched some people ride around and had a hell of a time. Thanks.

We'd also like to thank our girlfriends, who have almost forgotten what we look like over the past few months. Though there are no photos of Nath, here's one of Nik:


And one of me:


So they will remember us next year.

Photos as usual used without permission, and stolen from the following. I'll add more as they come in. You may need to log into facebook for some of them.

Shane Ford, and also here.
The Blakey.
Mik.
Old Mate, and also here.
Cam Wells.
Stu's Report.

See you next winter!

Sunday 29 August 2010

You Can Make Him Like You



Results from the final round:

Dirty Deeds Round 3
Brunswick Velodrome
Sunday 29th August, 2010

Open Class : 40 mins + 1 lap

bib rider laps fin
-------------------------------------------
1 12 Matthew Gray 8 1
2 36 Dyon Balding 8 3
3 2 Jay Doughrey 8 10
4 32 Sean Hurley 8 13
9 Ben Vlass 8
6 Jamie Goddard 7
10 John Wright 7
16 David Masterson 7
18 Aron Hemmingway 7
26 Jason Dennis 7
28 Tim Marquardt 7
30 Jeremiah Vella 7
39 Tristan Bretherton 7
44 John Grover 7
45 Cam Woolcock 7
3 Kristan Baker 6
7 Matt Ladner 6
11 Shaun Wright 6
20 Joshua McDougall 6
23 Paul Heskes 6
27 Jack Marquardt 6
37 Simon Bragg 6
40 Greg Maren 6
42 Mik Efford 6
43 Andrew McConnell 6
8 John Griffiths 5
21 Douglas Allan 5
24 Norman Gray 5
25 Giovanni Mancini 5
31 Ben Chauven 5
33 Riley Hart 5
35 Helen Newman 5
38 Cath Harmsen 5
46 Eddie Sholl 5
1 Jess Morgan 4
4 Dylan Warren 4
13 Emma Caddy 4
22 Stephen Robert Kirby 4
41 Ben Fergus 4
14 Emily Hughes 3
15 Benedict Hughes 3
17 Jeff Lees 2
34 Mal Doreian 2
19 Simon Doran 1



Cross Class : 40 mins + 1 lap

bib rider laps fin
-------------------------------------------
1 45 Lewis Rattray 7 1
2 41 Sam Beck 7 3
3 43 Christopher Carr 7 6
4 29 Shaun Timberlake 7 10
12 Jeremy Soawyer 7 11
36 Leigh deLuca 7 16
42 Mikkeli Godfree 7 19
11 Huw Vellacott 7 22
21 Sam McGregor 7 27
51 Craig Borham 7 28
3 Nick Cotterell 7 37
23 Matthew Barron 7 39
48 Dean MacLennan 7 40
33 Karl Pavey 7 41
44 Hugh Watson 7 43
19 Scott Sumeo 7 44
1 Andrew Blake 6 2
5 Tom Crowley 6 8
31 Alistair McDonald 6 13
4 Andrew Scott 6 14
30 Matthew Wyatt 6 21
17 Malachi Moxon 6 23
27 David O'Brien 6 24
20 Adam Trewin 6 29
10 Will Hartnell 6 33
50 Miguel Crespo 6 34
35 Jason Flaherty 6 35
38 Stu Weir 6 36
49 Peter Kennedy 6 38
28 Brent Wejendorp 6 48
24 Che Dunget 6 49
14 Mike Claytor 6 -
40 Justin Matthews 5 4
16 Reuben Ruiter 5 5
46 Ben Dowling 5 7
47 Carl Edmonson 5 12
37 Damian Auton 5 18
15 Sam Bell 5 20
7 Nick Lett 5 25
18 Alexander Langman Hender 5 30
22 Hamish Fitzsimmons 5 31
39 James Maebus 5 32
25 Laura Choong 5 42
24j Norman Gray 5 45
32 Ann-Michelle Greenwood 4 9
9 Eleanor Jackson 4 15
13 Boad Clark 4 26
26 Jessica Steger 4 47
6 Gene Mills 4 -
34 John Shadbolt 4 -
2 Jess Morgan 3 17
4j Dylan Warren 3 46
Congratulations to everyone who raced/rode/got out there...
Please see the FAQ section for more information on judging inaccuracies.
 
affected youth

That Ain't The Way That Love's Supposed To Be.

Full wrap up to come, including thousands of amazing photos, but in the meantime, here's a message from our commissaire:

Quite a few race numbers were not returned after the race on Sunday.
Could the following people please return their numbers to the
Brunswick Cycling Club as soon as possible as they are required for
weekly club track races. Numbers can be returned:

- In person at DISC (Velodrome at 281 Darebin Rd Thornbury) on
Tuesday nights from 6pm. Please drop it off at the registration desk.
- By post to: Brunswick Cycling Club, PO Box 2027, Brunswick East, VIC 3057

Missing numbers:

Yellow
5 Emma Caddy
15 Benedict Hughes
19 Simon Doran
29 Justin Matthews
33 Riley Hart
34 Mal Doreian
39 Tristan Bretherton
41 Ben fergus

White
49 Peter Kennedy

Saturday 28 August 2010

Between One June And September You're All I Remember.

The pre-race roundup:

We've organized some one-day permits from CSV, and will be selling them tomorrow at the subsidized price of $20. That's a grand total of $30 to race. I just saved you ten bucks. Now go spend it at the bake sale.

Which leads me nicely into my next subject. The man from Jamis, Leigh De Luca, has just returned from two weeks in Bali and is keen to distribute some of the swag he carried home in his boogieboard bag. No, not that. So again, just by signing up, you gain a Jamis Glueless Patch Kit:

Image sideways because I'm computer illiterate. Anyways, this patch kit + the tyre levers from Pedros = you only need a pump next time you get a puncture. You may write me a letter of thanks next time you flat in the middle of butt fuck nowhere.

Leigh is also providing some stickers.


Because kids love stickers.

Just to reiterate, the course will be open from 12 tomorrow. Anyone who wants to come down before that and help set up is more than welcome. Bring a hammer and some gloves. Open race is at 1, CX race at 2, barbie and beer at 3, presentations at 4. See you there!

Thursday 26 August 2010

If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours

It's a funny world out there...

It seems like there is quite a groundswell of interest in 'cross out there and I guess with that comes some small backlash.

Thanks Mckenny
But after a great race in another state and with so plentiful and varied interest in the race series so far it's easy to look beyond the critics and doubters.

Meeting people up in Wollongong who are as impassioned about building a 'cross community in Australia made me feel a little better about being such a 'cross junkie.

There are also those who have been going on about how good cross is for quite some time (and who were extremely supportive and helpful when I first mentioned building a up bike or starting races). They know who they are.

But all of this leads me the following, which might be my favourite piece of writing on the cyclocross subculture I've read, and I hope goes a little towards explaining to 'outsiders' what all the fuss is about.

The Most Important Thing – A Column by Lee Waldman


HUP! HUP! HUP!

Wednesday 25 August 2010

This Microphone Conducts Sound Into Electricity.

Hey, I just yesterday got a message from the good people at Pedros. This message was today followed by two gigantic boxes that I made my students carry to my car. Intrigued yet? The students certainly were. But they were pretty confused to hear that the boxes contained heaps and heaps of chainlube and tyre levers. "Brendan, why would you need that much chainlube?" one asked. "And why would you need so many tyre levers? You've only got two hands," the other, more gifted student continued. "Well," I told them, "We're going to give out a bottle of chainlube and two tyre levers to everyone who races in our bike race on the weekend."

They thought that was pretty cool.

And then they tried to run off.

But I stopped them.

Dear Catastrophe Waitress


This past weekend two of the skinniest racers from the past 2 rounds of Dirty Deeds ventured north to see how our northern brethren run 'cross races.

Myself and Professor Blakey convinced a slightly willing friend to drive us to the early way too early saturday morning to catch a flight north to Sydney.

After befriending a 'curious' old man at the airport as we built our bikes off we were soon rolling slowly (thanks to all our race kit) into the city and some very welcome caffeine.

It should be noted that 'cross bikes make excellent commuters and the wider tyres are very helpful when you have a lot of gear with you.

A meetup with our host and we were off to settle in and enjoy the wonderful warm Sydney sunshine by the beach.

All I'll say of the rest of the day was that we definitely carbo-loaded in preparation for the race and that while Ed Hardy may have entered bankruptcy it is still quite prevalent in Bondi.

The next day we were picked up by a very helpful e-friend, kit packed, bikes were loaded and the trip down to Wollongong (~2hrs south of Sydney) was started.

It should be pointed out that for the past 3-4 months it's been very little but mud tyres and and controlled power out of corners down here. Right from the word go I suspected that I wasn't going to need my WTB crosswolfs up there. It was hovering around the high teens/low twenties and it had been a week or more since it rained.

Arrival at the venue had us impressed with the club's use of their available space. Like DD#1 these guys had used all kinds of nooks and crannies around their velodrome, but in a very interesting way.

We were quickly identified as 'visitors' and heartily greeted. Everything short of the red carpet was rolled out to us and our 'pit crew'.



We quickly had our tyres changed ([cross nerd digression]Vittoria XG up front, my street tyre at the back in a gamble based on the dry course [/cross nerd digression]), bikes set up thanks to our wonderful 'pit crew' and rolled out to check the course.



The course featured a gravel start that quickly went to grass, a short, sharp uphill pitch around a tree and then back around past the start and over a double set of barriers, a tight u-turn into some trees and over a sand mound/pit. Through a series of tight s-bends and then out over a longer, shallower sand pit around a corner and a slight uphill to a triple set of ankle high barriers. From there it was back onto gravel then off down a quick piece of off-camber, root-covered singletrack that seemed to always spit me into a tree if i exited it too quickly. From there it was on the gas along a gravel path to a log barrier, quick u-turn section and then back over the log. You then hauled out and back along the edge of the velodrome before hopping an oversized sewerage pipe. it was then back along a gravel path before dropping into the velodrome and across the centre (and some thick grass) before climbing up the wall and riding along the top edge around a good third of the track. What came next was probably my favourite part of the course, as the organiser had you turn 90-degrees and drop straight down the wall into the infield, turn right and then immediately hop a barrier. Blow you turn on that corner and you were spat straight into a the barrier. Riders then rode back around and across the velodrome, up the wall again and around some final gravel before crossing the start/finish. Check the photos for more visual evidence. Another thing that is very much worth noting is that the organisers had mown the race lines out of the grass but there was a good metre or more of 'rough' inside the tape in lots of places. This meant that if you overcooked corners you had twice the effort to power back up as you went around. Riding smart lines was key.



We managed to convince the organisers that although we had flown up for the race we actually werent that good and it was safe to put us in Division 2. As we lined up at the start with only one practice lap done (all that talking to 'new friends' and prep/kitting up has killed any real warmup plans we had) i looked around and saw a lot of smiles and felt the normal butterflies in my stomach.

Then with little more than a 'GO!' we were off... I had a decent start and found myself in 3rd-ish place heading into the first set of barriers. A good transition and i was nipping at the heels of first then i decided to make the same mistake as i had in my practice lap and miss a turn around a tree and before i knew it i was doubling back to get back on course and at the back of the field. Now all the cross reading i have done repeats the same mantra in this situation 'Don't stress, settle down quickly, focus on riding YOUR race and let others make their mistakes'. So i hunkered down and focused on riding cleanly and smart and one-by-one picked off the racers in front of me.



I'm still new at all of this and am not afraid to admit that I'm a regular visitor to the 'pain cave' during races so I'm not sure which lap it was that i ended up hearing that i'd climbed back to a podium place. I do know that i was already aware that i should have learnt bunnyhops before the race as all the MTBers were hopping a few of the barriers and making up precious ground on me. This was good as it really kept me on my toes and made me focus on the areas I knew I could use my bike and gears to my advantage (notably the velodrome and gravel path). I then got locked in a pretty good battle with this teenager on a MTB behind me. He was definitely quicker on the singletrack/sand and was charging at the bunny-hoppable barriers, and i was giving everything i had at the gravel and velodrome sections to maintain a gap. It was about then i discovered that i could hit the drop-down turn on the track quite hot  and skid-drift my rear wheel around the turn off of the track and wash speed off at the same time before the barrier. I guess all that time sliding around in the mud had paid off.


A little bobble on 2 remounts and then too much time in the rough through the grass turns and i found myself with not only the 'pesky' teenager slipping by me but also 4th place who had been hot on our wheels.

The difference between defending a position and chasing feels like night and day and now I was staring at two back wheels.

I threw almost everything I had at the kid trying to use my skinny tyred advantages while not blowing up and snuck inside him on a sharp turn a lap or so later, then hit it hard to try and build a gap.

 Unfortunately while I focused on getting around the Junior MTBer, the guy who had previously been in 4th (on a flat bar 'crossbike) built enough of a cushion that I could see him, but never quite get close enough to realistically launch an attack.



About this time I heard the MC announce the 'bell lap' for the leader and I realised the end was near. I put my head down and focused on using every lesson i'd learnt on the course to build on the gap I'd built over third (upshift for the tight s-bends/hit the sand mound fast and loose/relax through the singletrack/power down on the gravel/shift up for the velodrome climb and then 2 shifts and punch it for the walls).




The next thing I knew I was turning onto the last gravel/grass section and there was a decent gap back to third. A quick jersey zipup and I crossed the line punching the air in 3rd. High Fives from my support crew and then i took my traditional laydown on he ground as I was completely spent. I'm always useless for about 5minutes after I cross the line as I try to regain the ability to speak.

Blakey was through in 7th a few minutes later... a great effort given he realised that he was overgeared a couple of laps in and had to fight an increasingly difficult gear through thick grass on his SS as the race wore on.



Whilst thanking the organisers and swapping stories it became apparent that there was no MC for the Div#1 race and having noticed my 'verbosity' I was asked to take over the mic. Summoning up my 'inner Brendan' I accepted and the racers were soon off and powering around the course.

A great battle for the podium spots soon developed between several local riders and the winner of an earlier ICC 'cross race who had now swapped his fat-tyred ride for a sweet Yeti CX ride.

Not being familiar with the riders I decided to nickname most of the field and soon Harry Potter, Biscuit, Singlespeeder, Timbat, Johnny Cash, Sweet Pinarello, Bumblebee and The Frenchman were being cheered on by the crowd.



A couple of crashes, some mid-race antics (beer handups! sausage sandwich ordering!), 'pain faces' and a brilliant battle for 1st and 2nd and the Div#1 guys were done.

Matt 'Harry' Potter came through with 2 laps to go and took the victory from, until-then clear leader, local Graeme 'Biscuit' Arnott with organiser Tim "Timbat' Bateman in a solid 3rd.

A quick trip to the podium to receive my winnings and thank the organisers and we were packing up and heading north with very tired legs but the huge smiles on our faces that 'cross racing brings.

It was awesome to see how other clubs put courses together and to meet some very friendly 'cross junkies.

I learnt some new tricks both for course design and also for racing... and made some new friends as well as a little money.

Monday 23 August 2010

Forget-Me-Nots and Marigolds.

Hey, I just got an email from Huw at Commuter Cycles, telling me that they're not only going to bring down the Commuter Marquee, but are also offering to racers a free 'race prep', to make sure your whip is in perfect nick for your final chance at glory.

They're also offering a bike weighing service. As someone who recently discovered that their old road bike weighed over 11 kilos, leading directly to the purchase of a new road bike that comes in 4 kilos lighter, I'm not sure that I recommend this. Still kinda cool though.

Sunday 22 August 2010

Baby Baby Baby Oh Yeah!

The last race! This Sunday at the Brunswick Velodrome, Harrison St Brunswick.

Mud, sun, (vegan!) BBQ, cowbells, obnoxious commentary, raging tunes, vegan bake sale, free coffee, the best prizes i've ever had the privilege to hand out (new CX bike, anybody?), stacks, inappropriate bikes, attractive people in lycra, photo opportunities, beer hand-ups, beer hand-downs, five dollar prizes for stupid tricks / mid-race challenges, lollies from the kiosk, (ginger) beer, Pavlis' hill, champagne for our real friends, real pain for our sham friends, the velodrome where they once held the Australian titles (no kidding!), malarkey, shenanigans, hilarity!


Oh, and some bike racing. Rego and course open at 12. Open category races at 1, CX category races at 2, presentations and barbecue at 4. New and improved course that is secret right now, but may include stairs...

Monday 16 August 2010

Worse Things Happen At Sea

How is your workplace?
Do you make (good) beer for a living?
Do you have a 'cross course on your company grounds?

Yeah, me neither... but these guys do.

Speaking of which, the organisers might have a thank you for all racers and volunteers after the final race. More on that soon...

In other news this post features two of my favourite 'cross shots of recent times.

Saturday 14 August 2010

Never Mind The Darkness.

Two quick new sponsor announcements: Scooter at Impact Massage has just volunteered a free session to soothe somebody's sore legs after the final Dirty Deeds race in two weeks. He also stole some cheap champagne from the Tour of Gippsland that we can use from our own podium. And the ever-charming Dr Dom from First Place Osteopathy will also be there in a fortnight, possibly riding my Redline, but also raffling off a free bike fit. He fit me to my bike a while back, and now I'm 30 brazillion percent faster. You could be too!

Wednesday 11 August 2010

This Is A Fire Door Never Leave Open

Word from our 'northern brethren' has emerged through the electronic grapevine...

The fine folks at Illawarra Cycling Club (Wollongong) are hosting a 'cross race Aug 22nd... More details are here

I can confirm that 2 of the skinniest legged racers in the series will be heading up to hopefully not disgrace the BCC colours. Given that one of their members made the drive down especially to race the last round I'm hoping we can return the favour and not fall over their barriers too much.

If you happen to be in the 'Coal Coast' around the same time please come along and heckle and/or provide handups. We will be missing our head heckler after all.

Monday 9 August 2010

Waterwings (And Other Poolside Fashion Faux Pas)

So while I can't even begin to complain about how well the series has been going so far (it really has been a great experience) I will say that one thing has been lacking...


COWBELLS!

I know there has been at least one at each race (mainly because I live with the ringer) but if i could have one thing at the next race (apart from mud!) it would be more cowbells and noisemakers.

To give you all some inspiration here is a great (and amusing) article from the nice guys at CX Magazine.

But don't get stuck on it needing to be a "cow"bell, there are plenty of bells/hooters/horns that many of us have on our bikes, or know of musicians who own similar.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's make some noise for the racers!

Sunday 8 August 2010

One Day We'll Look Back And Laugh

Ok, so I think enough time has gone by. And we now know that there was no harm done. Which means that it's finally OK to laugh about this: