Racing in Sydney for rest of 06 - which races?

Originally Posted by mikesbytes

About to do a plan for riding for the rest of the year and wanted to factor in some races in Sydney.

My racing background is 2 races;
- Ride for Life at Cetennial Park - Open Vets. 12 laps. Lapped by winners at the end, after suffering cramps. Pretty pleased with the results for a first ever race.
- Waratahs Tennis Centre Olympic Park - Vet C grade. Got a break on the pack on the last lap and finished second.

I'm thinking of the LACC Horsley race this Saturday, as its the last road race. What grade? Open C ?

Perhaps one of the Waratah races at Eastern Creek Raceway or Dragway. What grade Vet B grade?

And one at Heffron Park. What grade Open C?

Any suggestions ?

Originally Posted by mikesbytes

Thanks Alex, you must be racing against SideshowBob.

Struggling to find suitable time slots. At this point it looks like;
- Tennis Centre 8am, 8.45am Sunday Week.
- Heffron Park 2pm, 3pm second Saturday in November

What about Lidcome Oval ? They rearly race at Tempe Oval and my trackies tyres arn't suitable for dunc grey. Of course nothing that money won't fix.

Originally Posted by Alex Simmons

LACC usually run summer Friday nights at Lidcombe oval.

Last summer RBCC ran a track series on Thurs nights at Tempe. Don't know if they're planning to do it again this season. Check their websites, I'm sure they'll list the info if it's on.

Dunc is OK, just don't go too slow! >28km/h and you'll be fine.

The Heffron Tues night series will start as soon as daylight savings does. That's usually pretty solid racing though.

All the opens are on the CNSW website race calendar - there are a series of crits at Sydney Olympic Park. I'm racing one tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Alex Simmons

As a rough guide: W.Vets B = Heffron C = Open D/E

Originally Posted by mikesbytes

Alex, I see you are Div 3, what Div is roughly equivilant to the above guide?

Olympic Park start list

Originally Posted by Alex Simmons

Div 3 or 4. I'd have thought I'd be Div 2 but there you go. I better have a crack then!

Originally Posted by Alex Simmons

I was wrong - Div 4 would have been equivalent.

Div 3 turned out to be pretty hard - I set new Power PB in 1st 20 min of race (indeed I watched Div 2 and it would have been easier - mainly due to how I would have ridden it and the way the race panned out and I know many of the riders and their current form). I somehow think the gradings are a bit inconsistent. But I don't care really - I just wanted a fun, hard hit out and I got that.

No cigar for me - I tried several times to bridge the gap to the 2 leaders and made a big go of it with a solo effort at 2km to go but got swept up in the finale. Seems the bunch were intent on chasing chasers but not the race leaders....

Oh well, next week maybe (I expect more team based riding tactics next week though, which always makes it hard).

Originally Posted by mikesbytes

Alex,

Good to hear you enjoyed your race and had a go at bridging and why not, true you can sit in the pack, but taking a risk is more fun.

Waterfall ride was a little harder this morning, there was a strong headwind and only 4 riders capacable of doing the work, so we burn plenty of energy on the way up. Of course this related to a great tail wind for the mad mile and there were some healthy sprint speeds right at the end, with me doing 70kmh in the sprint while a member of another club rolled past me at say 73kmh. Tail winds make the figures look healthy. Coming out from the servo at Heathcoat, we left at the same time as another club and one of their riders had brain drain, he was looking behind and rode into the kerb at say 15kmh, landing in dirt on the nature strip. Minor cut on wrist but otherwise ok, so I'm sure his club members won't let him let that one down for a while. I guess my embarrishing club ride is yet to come.

Anyway back to your race, did the course include the hill that LACC use to sprint up on Tues and Thur morning training, or was it a flat course?

Michael.