ARSEcyclist Racing Thread

[DarrenM]

My brother and I have signed up to do the Convict 68km event in May. Any of you guys done it before?

https://convict100.com.au/

I figured the full 100km would be a bit beyond me so we'll see how it goes. He also wanted to do 2 days of the Port to Port in Newcastle this year but I think I'll save that for next year when I've hopefully been able to ride more over the summer.

[CLP]

My brother and I have signed up to do the Convict 68km event in May. Any of you guys done it before?

https://convict100.com.au/

I figured the full 100km would be a bit beyond me so we'll see how it goes.

I haven't, but it looks amazing.
Looking forward to your race report, in due course

[CLP]

Not a race report as such.. but a pre-race report.
As best I can tell, qualifying for my next race, Revolve24 has closed and i'm sitting 5th on the grid behind a few heavy hitters. Now all I have to do is ride my bike for 24 hours on the 21st March. How hard can it be, right?

Screenshot_20200307-103317_Revolve24_0800.jpg

[norbs]

You have been cranking out the kms, so i expect you will go well.

[CLP]

So, not surprisingly, Revolve24 has been cancelled.
Up until yesterday evening they were saying that it was all go, even mailing out rider guides, to the surprise of many. Mid-today they announced it was cancelled. I have to say that while there's a whole lot of disappointment, there's also a lot of stress gone, given the current COVID-19 situation.

What I *suspect* has happened is that Cycling Australia gave them a heads up that they weren't going to be sanctioning event after 9:00am tomorrow, and they've preempted that announcement.

hopefully it returns, either later in the year or next year... i'll likely enter again and then spend 6 months wondering why i would do such a crazy thing :P

[DarrenM]

Convict 100 got rescheduled to August. I can't see this going away mid winter though.

[pab]

Crazy thing is that when they announced the cancellation of Revolve24, The Bend advertised that in it's place they were putting on a social ride instead and encouraged everyone to come out and ride some laps of the track. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of cancelling?

[CLP]

Crazy thing is that when they announced the cancellation of Revolve24, The Bend advertised that in it's place they were putting on a social ride instead and encouraged everyone to come out and ride some laps of the track. Doesn't that defeat the purpose of cancelling?

I suspect not, to a degree. i think the biggest concern on that event wasn't for the majority of the riders (who would be effectively in isolation on-track) but for the pit and support crew in the pit buildings for a length of time. So heading out and cutting a few laps doesn't have that element.

To be honest, I think the the event was likely to be low (but not zero) risk. A solo rider is unlikely to start if they're not well, and they likely wouldn't risk an unwell pit crew either. The team riders would probably be less risk adverse (it'd be easy enough to cut a few laps before returning to the pits) but even then, the risk was probably low. Trying to do race-intensity laps even while a little bit sick is stupidly hard going.

Based on the discussions going on in the Revolve riders FB group, i think there was an overarching concern that being at an event during a time when we're supposed to be socially isolating wasn't being responsible, even if the risk was low.

Most training and racing has been canned at this point now. CA and all (?) the state bodies have made a statement to that effect. I think only MTBA has not made an announcement. To that end, there's only 1 race on my immediate calendar that is apparently still on since MTBA are the sanctioning body. I expect that will change in the very near future.

[markus]

Yesterday was supposed to be the Mallorca 312 race, but obviously it got postponed and I was nowhere near my favorite island. So I rode around Watopia instead https://www.strava.com/activities/3349915570 (M312 has the full route and 225km and 167km options).

[CLP]

Not my race, but I felt it was worth posting ..

From the Cycling SA Super Series Cat 3 Women's Race today..

IMGP6823_0800.jpg

[norbs]

Go V!

[DarrenM]

Finally got into an event that didn't get cancelled. Shimano MTB GP 4 hour at Glenrock.

Did it as a 2 person relay with my brother and it was good fun, but super dusty. Laps were pretty hard as there are a couple decent climbs in it. We were doing 28-30 min laps compared to 19's from the pro riders and finished middle of the field. There was a 7 hour race as well, but I don't think we would have managed much more. I was starting to cramp up on the 4th lap and my brother had similar issues on his 5th. Forgetting 1/2 my food didn't help with that.

I was worried about holding up faster riders, but only had one get a little snippy when they were stuck at the back of a 5 rider train. The rest were positive and encouraging which was nice to see.

https://rockytrailentertainment.com/shi ... /#0_05AC2C

RTGPGR20-0207.jpg

RTGPGR20-0845.jpg

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[CLP]

Finally got into an event that didn't get cancelled. Shimano MTB GP 4 hour at Glenrock.

Woot! Good Job!
Lap times looked nice and consistent for you both

I've generally found that most people (even the elites!) in MTB events are pretty reasonable when trying to lap you. As long as they can see you're making an effort to let them past, all seems okay.

[CLP]

After watching V race last time, and given that i was going to be attending all the races anyway, I figured that I might as well sign up for the rest of the CSA Super Series.

First race on the agenda (after a cancelled TT due to crappy weather) was a kermesse at The Bend. Without much road or crit racing under my belt recently I was figuring I'd be dropped in short order. Much to my surprise I hung in there and finished with the group, even managing to pick off a few places in the run to the line.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4209090610

Miss V looked magnificent in her series leader jersey and came home in a well fought 2nd place, retaining her Cat 3 series lead.

V_The_Bend_0800.jpg

[DarrenM]

Nice. I saw that on Strava and was a bit jealous. A ride on a racetrack seems like it would be fun, though I guess when you're in a bunch it's ultimately not that different?

I've seen a few here on Eastern Creek but not many that would suit a casual.

[CLP]

It was a good experience overall.

I think if it was just a ride, it'd hold little interest, but as a race it was okay. The downside of it being a motor racing circuit is that it's super wide to accommodate much faster vehicles, so there's little technical challenge to racing a bike there. There's enough elevation change to make it interesting however, so you have to be on your toes to make sure you don't get spat out the back.

I was supposed to race at The Bend earlier in the year for 24 hours. Glad that i got to race there finally.

Extra photo from the race

20201018 CSA SS Tailem Bend-28_0800.jpg

[Jamo]

My brother and I have signed up to do the Convict 68km event in May. Any of you guys done it before?

I did the full Convict 100 back in my pre crash fearless days and believe it or not at one point was leading the entire bloody thing till I lost and jammed my chain and got swamped. Would've been swamped anyway once we got the climbs. Anyway it's farken hard, really hard. Lots of riding on and through stone and unforgiving to say the least. Found the Capital Punishment (also 100km) mostly a breeze by comparison.

[CLP]

Had a race (kermesse) today that, to be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to. Fairly short, but with short, steep climbs throughout.

Expecting to be dropped within the first kilometre, I surprised myself by hanging on for the first 2 laps. Finally got unhitched from the front group on the start of the 3rd (of 5 laps). Things didn't end well however, with the race being stopped and eventually abandoned at the end of the 3rd lap as one of the guys in my race had a heart attack no idea how he is at this stage.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4304962371

123792547_303681650613761_6574074339046910416_n_0800.jpg

[CLP]

Had round 3 of the PACC summer TT series yesterday in absolutely perfect conditions.
Despite feeling initially like I was still a bit fatigued, I managed a PB on the course, and my first time riding sub-27 minutes.

https://www.strava.com/activities/4556924545

Miss V also knocked ~20 seconds off her PB, so it was a good day out.

[CLP]

I think i managed a new record for myself last night. Shortest race ever.

I lined up in the CX race which was being held as part of the Santos Festival of Cycling. Front row start. Got a pretty decent start off the line. Then the rear derailleur decided to launch itself into the rear wheel Race over in about 50 metres

Damage count:
Rear Derailleur broken in at least 2 places
bent derailleur hanger
chain is twisted to all hell
mangle spoke/buckled wheel

20210123_184226_0800.jpg

20210123_184607_0800.jpg

[norbs]

Got some sick in the back of my throat seeing that.

[CLP]

Got some sick in the back of my throat seeing that.

After helping to set up the course in 40 degree heat earlier, then only managing to complete 50m of the race i wasn't super pleased

Aside from not being able to properly take part in a race i was looking forward to, I think i'm mostly annoyed by the damage to the wheel. the rest is a bolt-on replacement, so easy enough to deal with. I'll try to replace the spoke and hopefully i can get it back to true. fingers crossed.

[norbs]

I think because I have done the same thing. I can still hear the noise.

[Duke]

Be thankful the derailleur didn't come off & damage or snap your seat stay = new frame. It's pretty common that it does when something like this happens.
Do you know what actually caused it?
But yeah what a PITA, an expensive PITA...

[CLP]

Be thankful the derailleur didn't come off & damage or snap your seat stay = new frame. It's pretty common that it does when something like this happens.
Do you know what actually caused it?
But yeah what a PITA, an expensive PITA...

new frame would mean an upgrade to disk brakes!

Gut feel is a jammed jockey wheel, but i don't really know how or even why that would have happened. it all seemed a bit random. Bike was running nice and smooth in warm up, shifting nicely etc.

That said, a few weeks ago i had the chain randomly jump off a jockey wheel and jam in the derailleur. not sure if that was the start of something going on. I looked over the derailleur at the time and couldn't spot anything wrong with it, and everything was spinning smoothly.

I'm thinking of replacing it with a Microshift derailleur which are apparently compatible with Shimano and similar price for slightly better specs.