Amy's Otway Classic 2014

The last few years I have competed in Amy's Gran Fondo and had an absolute ball! First year winning the women's team classification and last year just off the podium for 4th in my age category. It is such an amazing course with fully closed roads and we were again blessed with fine sunny weather without much of a strong breeze.

This year I was offered a guest ride for the inaugural Amy's Otway Classic. Same course, 1 hour before the Fondo and racing proper as part of the National Road Series for Building Champion Squad. It was hard to say no to trying to better my result in the Fondo last year to see if I could make it onto the podium. But this was the first year they were going to run this race as a Spring Classic, it was NOT to be missed!!


I arrived Saturday night to watch the hotly contested Amy's Wall which was a 120m hill sprint up a side street off the Lorne main drag. You could pretty much pick any side road to run this kind of competition and it would be a good choice. We found a vantage halfway up to watch the carnage. The first rider snapped a chain and other riders had gear mechanicals. But the victors at the end were Liam   Hill (who was staying with us) and Peta Mullens (freshly back from Europe season).


We arrived at our share accommodation to find a palatial guest house at our disposal for the weekend. A king size bed, private balcony and bathroom was allocated to us and we setup for the race the next day. Many thanks to the friends of BCS for hooking this up for the weekend!

The next morning Shane was on team car duties and we had a full set of soigneurs on the job with Jill and Adam helping out.  Our other guest teamie was Nikolina Orlić and it was team duties for Minda and I to get Tayla positioned well for the sprint at 20km and Nik for the start of the climb at 40km. From there on in - I was not so confident that I would be able to help out much, but I'd give it a good stab.

Tracey Gaudry spoke about the race and then we were off and running!

1.4 kms of neutral to start up and then 40km of roller coaster! I have to admit that I had a lot of fun over this section. Punching over the small rollers, driving the pace on the descents, cruising in the bunch to recover - rinse and repeat. I saw a bike change, a police motorbike wedged into a wall, what sounded like 2 crashes and I just kept moving up. FOCUS. There were a few attacks but nothing was going away before the climb.

Close to the sprint point Minda moved up to the front and set the pace, it took me a few minutes to get around the bunch to join her then take over. I kept it at a slow simmer and then kicked it up a notch at about 500m to go and swung my elbow for the sprinters to do their thing.

Things were going pretty well with Tayla getting up into 3rd or 4th place on that sprint and I went in search of Nikolina. I moved her up to the front and she stayed perched in top 10 position for the first climb.

Nikolina in BCS kit

Unfortunately by this time I found myself about mid pack through the apex of the corner onto the climb, I had a close encounter with the concrete lane divider and was pushed back further. Just to spice things up, someone broke a spoke and pulled over in front of me and then the whole bunch was up the road and I was playing steam train with the stragglers. We'd formed a group of 10 or so up the climb and pretty much stayed together all of the rest of the race.

After the descent, flat section and climb back up Deans Marsh I was starting to get my second wind. We all rolled in to finish 18mins down on the leaders time of Holden's Ellen Skerritt at 3hr15min. I came in 36th place with a slower overall time than last years Fondo, but much better climb times.

Von on far left in the BCS kit

I think it was a great race and well run. The fully closed roads were absolute bliss to be able to climb and more importantly descend using the whole road. One addition would be to open registration the night before so numbers could be pinned and timing chip stickers stuck on with lazer accuracy before  the early start the next day.

With 55 entries in the first year it was great to see so many ladies racing. This will  be an epic one day classic on the women's race calendar for the climbers that will endure. I just hope the weather so good every year!

Next race up for me is the Australian Masters Road Championships (TT, Crit and Road Race) in my home town of Ballarat. The courses are the same as the elite nationals that are run in January each year except for the criterium that is in Victoria Park. Here is the metal race pace version of one lap.

St Kilda Cycling Club (World) Road Championships 2014

I like to support my club in racing most of their events and without bias. SKCC put on some of the BEST local racing right down to the minor details. Safe, Inclusive, Fun, Organised.

We had beautiful weather all weekend and the wind had picked up to a nice ripping northerly breeze. Not only was I excited to start the race, I had not ridden the course, so only knew the distance and that we were doing 3 laps of the main route.
 
The day's lineup
It was great to see the ladies out there again and we were ready to go, albeit without much of a warm up. The 11km to the start of the looping circuit was all head wind. All the ladies grades started together and were playing nicely until the first few kms, then we were all in the gutter trying to find shelter.
 
The calm before the HEADWIND. Photo: Peter Monagle 
 
I'd done a long ride in the hills the day before so I was not sure how the legs were going to go, as I assumed it was a flatter and more rolling course. In the end it was both a good thing and a bad thing that we didn't know what the course was like - We raced the first lap together and we didn't know how it was going to go. Then the second lap it was ON to try keep up with the front runners.
 
Trying to keep my cool - not sure what Bridie is pointing at...  Photo: Peter Monagle
After Bridie O'Donnell had taken off up the hill on the second lap, Margeaux Thompson and Clare Morgan were with her then Hannah Vine jumped across to them. We had almost bridged the gap with Dale, Annie and Brooke but it was all over by the last kicker hill and the tailwind section. There was still 1 lap to go!
 
We'd been dropped from the leaders, but still had to finish so it was "once more with feeling" as the corner marshal put it. I had to chuckle as we were not feeling the gusto at that point. Brooke Anderson and I set the pace up the hills and then worked with Clare Morgan when she dropped back from the leaders to get to the tail-wind section. It was sooooo good to hit that last 11km home with the full tail wind and knowing there was going to be some sweet fresh water at the end.
 
 
By this time Clare and Brooke were recovered from the hills and we were just getting pushed along the downhill home. I had a few stabs at getting the pace higher or trying to initially break away, but for some reason they were not interested in playing that game :) In the end I tried and failed again at about 600m to go and was going about 70kmph across the finish line for 6th overall.
 
There is always a game of patience when climbing, but positioning is also crucial.  Another thing was that I ran out of water - only took 1 bottle. Fail. Many thanks to Clare and Brooke for helping me get back to the finish.

 
I drank about 1 litre of water back at the car and once my system had absorbed that, I was ravenously hungry! The good peeps at SKCC had a free gourmet BBQ and drinks to get us through and safely home.
 
While munching on a vege burger with the lot and some chicken strips, we had the presentations complete with a shower of sparkling white wine. Shane won his race and we had a lovely afternoon drive back to Melbourne with the promise of a nap on the couch to top of a lazy Sunday afternoon.
 
Next Race UP: I've been invited back to Building Champions Squad to join their escapades in the inaugural spring classic NRS race - Amy's Otway Classic.
 

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

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

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

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!
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