Australian National Road Championships, Ballarat, 6^th – 10^th January 2010

A week of cycling indulgence: The Australian National Road Championships in Ballarat, with on Wednesday the 6^th the time trial (39k), on Thursday the 7^th the Criterium and on Sunday the 10^th the road race (162k). Aussie Crates has given Logan and me the opportunity to be here, and we took it. Initially I was going to do all three disciplines, but already before the time trial I decided not to do the Criterium. If I wanted to have a serious go at finishing the road race, which was the objective (together with doing well in the time trial), I shouldn’t do the Crit, something I don’t like doing (yet) anyway. I’m staying in an apartment with Logan, Michael and Freddy and the accommodation is breathing cycling. You could call it a mess with a gathering of bikes, pumps, tools, wheels, helmets, bike boxes, bottles and bag packs, but for us it is the furniture.

“It is really a mess around here”, Freddy complains: ”They charge a pretty high rate, so I expect some service in return.”

He is not talking about the bikes and gear lying around, but about the floor being unclean and the towels and blankets not being replaced. Fair point I must admit. A vacuum cleaner tries to hide in a cupboard, but when I discover that the dust bag is full and the suction power is zero, I give up.
Logan has an injury, showing the backward behaviour that some, and far too many, have in Australia: He has been hit by a plastic water bottle thrown out a cashed-up bogan-car (some Holden Commodore) in a descent around Roleystone, purposely trying to hit him. What kind of behaviour is that? The European in me can only feel sorry for these bogans: Holden still just is Opel. In Europe it is really not cool to drive an Opel. Why would you spend all your money on upgrading your Opel? That is something we did in the ‘70s and it was called an Opel Manta. Moustache required. And then purposely trying to hit someone while – probably drunk – driving, that is really backward behaviour. Logan’s eye will turn purple in the next few days. We laugh about it. Just gently lower your glasses a bit, Logan, and look Robbie in the eye: the ideal way to send shivers down McEwen’s spine just before the sprint.

7^th of January: National Criterium Championship, 44km (40x 1.1k circuit)

I get up at 4:00, the toilet calls. Not fully awake, but awake enough to try not to wake the others, I try to be a quiet as possible. I leave the light off. When I almost well and truly asleep on the toilet, the doors opens up.

“Hey? Eh, yeah, I’m almost done”, and the doors shuts again.

I decide not to flush, that would wake the others.

At the door Logan is waiting. It is pitch black, and there is a moment of silence. I realize that the situation from Logan’s point of view needs an explanation from my side. He gets out of bed, makes his way to the toilet and finds someone sitting on it with the lights off.

“I didn’t flush”, I start.

That didn’t make any sense. Logan is silent. I can feel his mind working. I get up, go to the bathroom, find someone inside with the lights off and he goes: I didn’t flush.

He sighs: ”Eh, why not?”, almost desperate why he does not understand what he is experiencing.

For a moment I consider trying to explain it in more detail. “O, never mind, whatever”. Don’t try to explain half-awake behaviour when half awake. That’s like foolosophising when drunk.

Logan is warming up on Freddy’s rollers, aside of the Crit course, while the women are racing. Some kids in small bikes side wheels are gathered around him. They cannot get enough of him. The women’s race is a strange one. Carley Light rides solo for I think more than 15 laps while the bunch is not doing much. It does not seem as her team is controlling the race, but no other team or rider is taking the initiative to really do something. However, it does not take away anything of the Light’s effort. She did not steel her title! After she admits she ‘was only testing her legs’, until she realised she actually got a big gap.

The big spectator pull is the fact that Robbie McEwen is racing. If he is getting into shape again, it is great to watch him sprint. With five minutes to go, Logan positions himself close to starting line. McEwen hides in the back, even when the commentator tries to get him to lift his hand. I shout to Logan to give them full mongrel. He does not see me, but he looks to the side and smiles. If someone is shouting mongrel, it can only be for him. At the gun, it’s a herd of raging bulls, stampeding to the top of the ascent. The first couple of laps the pack is together – the speed is just too high for anyone to break away. Logan is positioned well, at three quarters in the bunch. When the initial rage has settled I see Logan trying to close a gap with some guys on the front. That’s bold, first time in such a strong field and having a go, but that is full mongrel all right. A lap later I see him chasing McEwen, trying to keep contact with the front bunch on the descent. At these speeds the descent should be something like a recovery, but if you loose your position in the turn at the top, you will need to make an effort – again – on the descent. The result you are in serious red numbers for a long time, stem chewing in Logan-speak. His chase proves a too long one: After 17 laps Logan is out; a little demoralised, but straight away admits that this just was, at the moment, a high standard.

“That was hard. Nothing can prepare you for that”, and takes a deep breath.

He gazes in the distance: “There are some serious fast guys out there. You can do as many hill repeats around Roleystone, you need this kind of racing to get used to that”

“Someday, D, someday, I will be up there. Don’t you forget it”

A couple of laps later the race seems to slow down. A break away gets away, and McEwen is not part of it. Everyone in the bunch is looking at him, since he missed it. Surely he wants to win this one, so he will do the work. For a couple of laps he is leading the bunch up the ascend. His position out of the saddle is almost art, compared to most others: Regularly breathing, dancing on the pedals, whereas the rest tries to hang on. He is definitely not in the red numbers yet. It looks like he is testing something rather than racing. A lap later he feels his knee and another lap later he is gone: injured, ice treatment is needed in the ambulance. That is a bitter pill for the bunch: their assumption that McEwen would do the work was entirely wrong, and the breakaway is gone. In all fairness with people like Bernard Sulzberger, Kemp, Kemps, Pell, it is a pretty good group. An in the peloton the FlyV boys are controlling anything that tries to do something. Cantwell is sitting at the back with his mouth closed, saving his legs for Sunday. It is an impressive sight.

With 2 laps Pell tries to get away on the ascent in an enormous gear. He gets away, gathering ever increasing momentum, but just can’t believe someone would have the power to stay away, after all that battle and effort. He doesn’t and Kemps wins the sprint of the breakaway, but it was the moment of the evening for me.

2010 Wattbike Elite Men's Criterium Results

Place	Rider	Name	State
1	23	Aaron KEMPS	QLD
2	373	Dean WINDSOR	NSW
3	24	William CLARKE	TAS
4	151	Chris STEFFANONI	VIC
5	29	David PELL	VIC
6	16	Bernard SULZBERGER	TAS
7	141	Lachlan NORRIS	MTB
8	21	David KEMP	QLD
DNF	34	Dylan NEWELL	VIC
DNF	135	Sam MOORHOUSE	NSW
DNF	3	Robbie MCEWEN	QLD
DNF	15	Joel PEARSON	NSW
DNF	17	Jonathan CANTWELL	QLD
DNF	18	Alessandro BAZZANA	USA
DNF	25	Zakkari DEMPSTER	VIC
DNF	28	Cameron JENNINGS	QLD
DNF	31	David TANNER	NSW
DNF	35	Jai CRAWFORD	TAS
DNF	40	Damien TURNER	VIC
DNF	43	Rhys POLLOCK	VIC
DNF	49	Hayden BROOKS	QLD
DNF	51	Charles HOWLETT	VIC
DNF	53	Casey MUNRO	VIC
DNF	74	Steele VON HOFF	VIC
DNF	83	Andrew NAYLOR	VIC
DNF	85	Peter AQUILINA	VIC
DNF	88	Donatas BLUDZIS	VIC
DNF	90	Fabio CALABRIA	VIC
DNF	91	Logan CALDER	WA
DNF	99	Mark DIPPELSMAN	QLD
DNF	100	Rob DOYLE	VIC
DNF	118	Brendan JONES	NSW
DNF	120	Ben KERSTEN	NSW
DNF	122	Kris KOKE	NSW
DNF	124	Pohung WU	TPE
DNF	134	Nicholas MITCHELL	VIC
DNF	146	Matthew SHERWIN	VIC
DNF	152	Jacob SUTHERLAND	VIC
DNF	156	Ross MUELLER	VIC
DNF	159	Gary MUELLER	VIC
DNF	160	Kyle MARWOOD	VIC
DNF	161	Wade WALLACE	VIC
DNF	164	Robert WILLIAMS	NSW
DNF	165	Andrew HERRMANN	NSW
DNF	166	Damien KEIRL	VIC
DNF	168	Rico ROGERS	NZL
DNF	375	Tom DONALD	VIC
DNS	60	James IBRAHIM	VIC
DNS	71	Dimitri LAFLEUR	WA
DNS	139	Tommy NANKERVIS	VIC
DNS	140	Peter SPENCER	QLD
DNS	158	Christopher TYMMS	VIC
DNS	167	David LOAKES	VIC

8^th of January: recovery and coffee

While Michael is training with his FlyV team, Logan, Freddy and I do a road race inspection. It’s a 10k loop with a 3k climb in it. We will have to climb this hill 16 times. It’s a tough course, especially the last 200m of the climb where is kicks up again.

Afterwards Logan and I enjoy a well-deserved coffee in Ballarat. “Are you in the race on Sunday?” Everybody knows what’s happening tomorrow.

9^th of January: National Road race Championship Under-23 122.4k

Everybody is looking good in the first laps. Freddy is looking after Michael

A break away half way the race, with Nick Aitken

Riders are starting to suffer. The bunch has exploded; the 8minute climb is taking its toll. Michael needs to let go the 1^st group.

The 1^st bunch breaks on the last lap, Durbridge struggles: for me the indication that this is brutal.