Sam Miranda Tour of the King Valley - Stage 4 - Finale

10:40 am Unknown 0 Comments

Stage 4 - Not a Handicap


I was pretty pumped for the final stage. While the CV race was a Handicap of the same course, we were running the final stage on the same course as a scratch race. This was my kind of ride, around 80kms a few punchy hills and a real stab at the finish.

The key parts of the course
Feeling pretty confident and the legs were not too achey at all after a nasty ice bath the night before and a good warmup. We rolled out from the winery start and I was even more attentive to stay up the front today and to keep Tayla out of the wind as much as I could.

Forget the ice bucket challenge! This ice bath was much more difficult!

You can see in the final footage (posted below) that the first kick for the sprint Tayla manages to get up in the points again. Magic legs! Then as I roll past Minda I get the order to close anything down that goes after the sprint. There were a few stabs off the front that I worked on, but closed the main one down.

We made it over the first QOM with no problems, then it was back lining up for the sprint again. I found myself around Nicole Whitburn and moved up the group nicely to get a good position and to see how it would play out. It was not contested by anyone but the sprint leader as she had consolidated her lead, so I moved right up the front to be ready for the next QOM. It was interesting to see how the leaders would orchestrate this one. I climbed steadily without any dramas till they almost sat up and kicked for the line. This caused a major reaction in the group and it splintered behind them. Scrabbling up the QOM behind, I could see wheels dropped on the descent and I missed the main bunch again to chase back on. It was pretty fun though :)

I could see that there was a small break that got away at that point, but the whole bunch had sat up and there was no getting through. Minda and I had a brief chat that we needed to try to close it down or it was likely to stick. I passed on the message to Emma that we needed to get up front now and set to work moving up.

We got a bit of movement happening and some chase action with a few more riders then came into the turn with the head wind home. Suddenly there was not so much interest to keep going with the chase! So there were a few more attempts to jump across that were closed down, a few more riders raising the pace with Emma until 10km to go. It was pretty uneventful finish with the breakaway riders cleaning up the podium.

Overall I finished the stage 64th across the line in the bunch and completed the whole NRS tour in 25th Place and +4:47 from the leader.

My team mates came in:
21. Minda MURRAY (BCS) +4:30
32. Tayla EVANS (BCS) +5:16
34. Georgia VESSEY (BCS) +5:25
51. Emma PANE (BCS) +6:45

Young Rider Classification:
4. Georgia BAKER +37
7. Tayla EVANS (BCS) +2:51

Stage 4 Full Results

I'd like to thanks Building Champion Squad for the opportunity to race as part of a fully formed team. They already had assigned roles so it was easier than in other teams that are formed for 1 day events or tours where everyone is still trying to ride for themselves or find their place. I felt that I actually made a contribution and knew that I was never going to win anything at this level, but could certainly keep up, make the time cut and help a few riders out. They are always on the lookout for new sponsors, so if you can help out there is a link on their page.

Also massive thanks to Thule who were part of the sponsorship of the event, sponsored the U23 category, neutral spares and helped me out for the weekend. I love what they do and if you like MTB, they are sponsoring the Bright 24hr MTB coming up soon!!

I don't think I'll be able to make it up to Canberra, but am certainly looking forward to the next 2 NRS Races in Victoria.

SBS Wrap Up footage of the final race day. I'm in the chase group trying to close the break and again in the end closing footage on the front of the bunch driving the pace. YAY!



Road Trip to Melbourne in full Team Car regalia

Sam Miranda Tour of the King Valley - Stage 3 - Strada NERO

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Stage 3 - Strada Nero


The name of this course is pretty cool. The last 2 years I had raced B-Grade for the road race and so I knew exactly how the course went and remarkably the A-Grade race played out almost the same as last year for me.

It was also great to have a team car following and Shane behind the wheel making sure we were all OK.  I have to admit there were some initial pre-race nerves, but once we were rolling I was fine.

Emma and Georgia working out the key race points

We had prepared the night before for the big day and I felt rested and ready to take on the day with my teamies. The weather was amazing with light winds and not much was going to happen in the first part of the race while everyone was fresh.

Warming up on the trainer - Thanks to Rapha for the knicks!

The rolling foot hills were lots of fun and I got to try moving up the road and sitting in the wind to protect my key riders. I climbed with the bunch over the first little hill then I had a mini panic when I saw the first Queen of the Mountain (QOM) point, but realised my two key riders were in place and they were ready to launch.

Checking out the road surface on the course recon
There was a break up the road but with Ruth Corset's attack across to that break, it pushed the pace and I was suffering up the first climb. We chased back onto the main bunch where I moved up to find my sprinter. It was tough going trying to get anywhere and ended up mainly in the wind, then finally sheltering Tayla. After the sprint we all came together again and it was time to climb for the second QOM. I was way too far back and missed the main bunch going over the top which was very poor positioning going right into the Strada Nero.

Just getting over the hill
I could see the group splintering on the climb, but could not catch up.  After I crested the top with about five more rides, we managed to get about ten rolling turns along the valley floor. We picked up a few more stragglers and were ripping strong turns to pick up the group in front in about 10mins.

We picked up another group further up the road and I had Minda and Emma with me from the team. It seemed like no time at all we were 80kms into the race and we'd caught the front bunch with the leaders sitting up. It was a little sketchy passing the team cars, but it totally buoyed my enthusiasm as it meant there was a chance we'd all finish together.

Dusty climb with the Subaru doing the team car thing! YEAH!

I gave Shane the thumbs up that everything was AWESOME and scooted along with the ladies on the way home. I had a few stabs at the front trying to raise the pace to get home sooner and slightly string things out. It may not have worked, but it was a good feeling stretching the legs after all that climbing earlier.

It was about 5km to go and the bunch was getting nervous and sketchy. I wanted to see a sprint train to string things out, but with a max limit of 5 riders per team and the difficulty of moving up on the road, it was not going to happen for anyone. Unfortunately there was a crash in the back part of the peloton at 3km to go and disrupted the mood of the field.

I was not involved and Tayla was well placed to move up for the technical finish to come in 7th overall. I came in 50th with the main bunch right on the coat tails of Minda.

Stage 3 Full Results



SBS Footage from the day's stage:

Sam Miranda Tour of the King Valley - Stage 2 - Criterium

8:57 pm Unknown 0 Comments

Criterium at Wangaratta Airport


After my last crit I knew that I needed to balance all the TT work I have been doing to deal with the short sharp efforts to attack and recover.

Secretly I love a crit on a nice wide track that is not too technical to interrupt the racing where the riders make the fun. Maybe that is part of the appeal of the St Kilda Crits that will start up soon enough in October again.

Stage Center - Von in flight down the main straight

There was the usual tussle for the front line of the start and I made some ground from third row once we were underway. You could feel the nerves of the bunch and as I had not ridden the course before, I was a little concerned as to how tight the corners for the Hotdog were going to be.

What I was more concerned about before the first turn was the surface of the circuit. I'm not sure if they had newly laid the tarmac, but they had certainly not swept it. With 85 ladies ripping over the top, there were missiles of rock being flicked up and all I could think of was popcorn and magic gum. I was hit on the face, helmet, sunnies, and all over really. We compared battle scars after with little nicks from the rocky impact.

The race was pretty slow with nothing getting away. All breaks were chased back, the bunch was so big you could sit in the slip stream and stay out of trouble, I got to try out moving up the bunch with team mates in tow for the first time - no problems with plenty of tarmac to get around on.

Minda and Von take on the WORLD with our S-Works

The hairpin turns were hilarious at the beginning, most people were dive bombing straight at the barriers, washing off all their speed and having to sprint out of the corner to get back up to bunch pace. After a while it was apparent the best line was the usual racing line where you come in fast and wide, wash off a little speed and scoot around wide and fast out of the turn.  Thank goodness there were no crashes on that cheese grater surface it would not be pretty.

We managed to launch my team mate Tayla Evans off the front into the headwind alone for a solo breakaway. She is a gun sprinter and managed to pick up a few points during the intermediate sprint laps.

The final sprint

All in all I was pretty happy with the crit and managed to make up 1 place in GC to come in 26th overall and in the bunch kick for 44th across the line.

Stage 2 Full Results

Check out the SBS wrap up mini movie of the stage here:

Photo and SBS footage bike supplied by Thule!

Sam Miranda Tour of the King Valley - Stage 1 - TT

11:30 pm Unknown 0 Comments

My guest ride for Building Champions Squad

Massive selfie - Von in Building Champion Squad kit
A few months ago I was approached to guest ride for one of the National Road Series teams and I was slightly apprehensive that I would be ready to race at that level, but I worked on the areas consistently that needed more attention to iron out the nerves and I was ready to line up with my new teamies for the weekend - Tayor Evans, Minda Murray, Georgia Vessey and my old team mate Emma Pane.

Full Start List

Stage 1 - 20km Time Trial

So I was a little excited to see the course for the TT was pretty flat. I went out the day before the race to do a recon and found the race organisers setting up and we had a little joke around with the start ramp and the newly flattened speed humps. I think they were pretty excited by the event too.

Sam from Sam Miranda Winery helping me out with my TT launch ramp testing
If I could get the pacing right this time I had hoped to make it into the top half of the field. We had been told that the time cut of 20% of the winners time was going to be enforced strictly and we wanted all of the team to finish all of the stages.

Practicing at the turn around of the TT during the recon ride
That night the rest of the team assembled for the course breakdown delivered by Shane Miller, National Masters TT Champion. Based on our recon ride he had the details to share with the team who had not seen or ridden it before.

Shane going through the TT course in detail with Geoff listening intently.
I arrived the next morning to perfect weather, sunny skies and little wind. This TT was going to be FAST! Predictions of a sub 30min time were thrown around and were right on the money with Rebecca WIASAK (SZB) coming in at 29:24.62.
Rolling out of the start ramp at Dal Zotto Wines 
I was pretty happy with my ride and came close to my team mate Minda who was the fastest of us all!! I had a pretty solid ride, achieved my goal of being in the top half and exceeded it by coming in 27th spot.

Full Stage 1 Result List

Minda Murray in full kit and totally decked out with the help of Ash Hall Cycles
Next up on the same day, Stage 2 Criterium at Wangaratta Airport.

Post by Peloton Cafe.


Feeling FAST


Thule - our RAD spares vehicle for the whole weekend of racing! I think I see a 2015 Specialized Amira on there!

Victorian Masters Time Trial and Road Race Championships

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I've got a real love for Masters age based racing. It's what got me off the side line and to pin a number on when I was out supporting Shane racing. Five years ago I remember that nobody was entering Masters 1 for women and not much had changed over the years. Last year I was the only entry and this year I tried to push and promote through my circles for ladies to come and race with me. There was some success with one other rider joining in for the TT and two others coming out for the road race.

Time Trial

Entry numbers aside (nobody is loving racing in this wintery weather),  there was still good spirits out amongst the riders and unseasonably good weather!

The time trial was held under good conditions with a heavy fog lifting in time for my start. I was allowed to wear my bootie covers to race this week and my new TT bike was ready to roll! I had been resisting an upgrade on the TT bike for some time, but with this new setup - I can't believe the difference is has made.

Shane and I have been working on body positioning, bike setup, pacing strategies and more fine details to make all the hard work on the indoor trainer feel great when out on the road. Don't get me wrong - it's all still hard work :)

Post by TimeTrial.com.au.

Without any fan-fare, we lined up for the Time Trial and were underway along the 21.7km course. It wasn't windy, the road surface was ok except for the back part of the course that felt like cobble stones and I only had 1 car come head on at me in the final finishing straight that was single lane with no shoulder.

I was pretty happy with my time knocking off 1:03 from my personal best from the last 2 years, but knew I had paced the course wrong and could have ridden it better, setting a better time. It was enough for fastest WMAS 1 and a Gold medal.

Post by Southern Masters Cycling Club.


Road Race


Back out to the same area near Lang Lang for the road race the next day and it was actually clear skies and not blowing a gale. The WMAS 1, 2 &3 were combined into one race. I had written all the turns & distances on my handlebars as it was a long and boring ride alone last year when the race blew apart.

We rode out as a group and rolled turns to the bottom of the climb where the pace picked up and a few riders started to stretch their legs. Nicole Ternel (WMAS1) set the pace initially then Sam Abbot  (WMAS3) rolled through like a steam train. I jumped on the back of her hoping to hang on a little up the main part of the climb. As she swung off the front I rolled though and kept the pace on. When I looked back we had just made a bit of a gap off the front. Sam was an energizer bunny and kept urging me on and working with me up the climb. Every winter meal and small treat felt like it was weighing me down as I climbed steadily away from the group.

As we crested the top of the range at about 21km into the 47km race, I could see we had a great gap of a minute or two. What I didn't remember was the extra climb back up before the long flat section home. Sam took off up the climb and was just within sight as I came over the top and descended. It was a long solo 15km ride back to the finish line and on a long flat road, 1 minute is a long way away. I managed the gap to the next rider that was coming up behind me to finish well.

In the end I won WMAS1 and the rider chasing was Nicole who came in second for our category and Sam won her category of  WMAS2.  Full results are available on the Southern Masters website.

Post by Southern Masters Cycling Club.

Many thanks to Shane for being a super soigneur over the weekend and to Stephen Lane for the great coaching with HPTek. The pic below is from the CV Open TT at the start of the month with my new bike.

Post by TimeTrial.com.au.

Victorian Club Team Time Trial

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Each year there is a small flurry of activity leading up to July to organise a team for the St Kilda Club to enter the Team Time Trial. This is my 4th year in a row that I've had the pleasure of sharing the pain of the challenging course in Buninyong out toward Mt Mercer.
There is an excellent sense of camaraderie this course sets up with a lot going on. Full TT bike handing skills are required on the rolling hilly sections and there is always a ripping wind (one of the reasons why the wind farm looms at the midpoint of the course). Lots of communication is required that can be a challenge with the words lost in the wind and ears are hidden behind TT helmets.
Setting up in the SKCC Tent with the teamies
This year I was lucky to have Dale Maizels and Lisa Coutts to join me in the Masters Women’s team. We had a practice in Melbourne and SKCC had setup a few trial days to get everyone practicing turns with TT bars on bikes and getting ready for the turn around point on a skinny back road.
When the race day came around the clouds parted and the roads were dry, but there was still a cold strong wind. I was happy to have my fleecy ¾ bib shorts on! SKCC had setup in prime position and a spread of banana bread, fresh fruit and lollies to keep us fuelled and to recover with after the ride.
Warming up, pinning numbers on my jersey, nibbling last snacks. All smiles here! Photo: Amy Tan
I setup the Lemond trainer next to the ladies out of the wind and was soon sweating buckets in the warmup – but I knew those little hills on the way out would catch up with me if warmup was not optimal.
In no time at all we were on the start line and off racing! I lead the ladies out and we formed a good line to take the initial descents. It was a side tail wind out and it felt pretty good, but after 5-8kms we were losing Lisa on the descents. Being taller, a little heavier and aero on TT bikes, Dale and I were coasting away. We stayed together for a few more kms then made a choice to continue on with 2 riders, and Lisa kept the pace on in case one of us had a flat and couldn’t finish.

Serious on the start line. Very happy with my toasty clothing choice! Photo: Amy Tan

I was a little worried if we had made the right decision so early, but the deal was done and we passed a few teams from Hawthorn that motivated us and spurred us on. We were shouting hellos to the other teams on course, my favourite was to my friend Manuela Marasco who was almost late to her start (I later found out she went to the wrong TT! There was an individual TT at Balliang and she made it just in time for the start at Buninyong), her team just missed out on a podium. Such a good effort!
Rolling out. Photo: Amy Tan
On the way back we were starting to get passed by the Masters Men's teams that flew past into the relentless head wind. On one uphill section I was so glad Dale was with me as it was starting to get miserable out there. We cheered each other on and finally there was 10 kms to go. I was tiring at this point and couldn't wait to get out of the wind. In previous years when I saw the finish line there was a final buzz and extra energy to chase to the end. I could barely hang onto Dale as she surged ahead, but we set a great time and I knew that I'd given everything I could for the race. 
When we went back to the tent to cool down out of the freezing wind, I welcomed some of the banana bread and more water. It was great to have the club group around to chat to and enjoy the day as so often the Time Trial scene is pretty quiet affair.
We lined up in the hall to find out that we had won the Women's Masters TTT and set fastest female team time of the day. It was a great achievement for the hard work we had put into training for the lead up to this.

Women's Masters Podium. SKCC Gold, Hawthorn Silver, Brunswick Bronze. Photo: Amy Tan
It was also great to see so many teams formed from clubs to come and try out this in a non-threatening race situation (some beginners can find mass start road races confronting). I hope it convinces a few more to try the other races too.
Winners are grinners. Photo: Selfie
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