2016 Road Series Race 8 – Iron Mike

Date/Time
Date(s) - 21/05/2016
9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Location
Stromlo Forest park

Course start/finish is Stromlo West carpark approx. 4km up Uriarra Rd from SFP

Riders will ride thru Uriarra Crossing and along Brindabella Rd to the end of the bitumen and return to start/finish. Each lap is approx. 50km

• MA/B/C and WA two laps
• M/D/E and WB/C one lap

• Course: The course profile can be viewed here: https://www.strava.com/routes/4861948
• Registration: Registration opens one hour before race start and is open for 45min
• Fees: CCC Members with a permanent CCC race number $10, all other entrants $15
• An Australian approved helmet must be used in the race and be presented at race registration
• New members can refer to the following link to find out how to join the CCC https://www.canberracyclingclub.org.au/membership/ alternatively a three race permit can be purchased on the day for $44.
• Upcoming races can be found at https://www.canberracyclingclub.org.au/calendar-list/

A special thanks to our volunteers and thanks to the traffic marshals for ensuring a safe event
A reminder that racing can’t happen without those that race, also taking time out to run an event or two. Please let Race Secretary Gordo Brewster know what events you want to help out at

Iron Mike is one of the big local races and each year attracts an all star cast. Last year was carnage in a howling gale and rain, with over half the field not finishing. But this year conditions were perfect and numbers were up. Despite the fact that Coota Haycarters was also on the same day, there was a huge turnout of 93 riders

‘A’ grade was top heavy with mountain bikers. There was some relief when recent A grader dabblers, signed on to find the computer still had them registered as B graders. Young gun juniors lined up in B, and C grade was huge

B Grade Race Report

Early attacks in a 100k race would be the ongoing theme. The bunch was big, and fairly evenly matched which nullified most attacks. With each hill, the group got smaller. Snadzy and Bomber gone, Rohan gone, should have made things easier. Christophe also gone, so the French antics would not be getting in the way

Pete Marshal a great 2nd lap break. Disappeared from sight down to and out of Uriarra Crossing. He was caught but Richard, from Manly rolls off the front and up the false flat, into a headwind. “Leave him there. He’ll come back”

Brendan Byatt attempts to bridge, and the group suddenly came alive. The group rolled nicely up to the foot of Blue Range and caught Brendan. But Richard still had a 100m gap. “Leave him there. It’s still a long way to go”.

In the hills, Dale Brearley decided it was time to whittle the group down some more, but instead of hurting the young guys, he was hurting all his mates. Brendan gapped, and a descending bunch will likely not get caught by an individual, so he was gone

Climbing out of Blue Range, B was down 10. Richard from Manly was out of sight. Tom Hartley rallied the troops and solid turns were rolled, down through Uriarra. “Richard is just up there, we’ll get him in a minute”

Then the 3 Sisters … what a nightmare with 90km in the legs, and about the time you wished you’d stopped with Snadzy to talk accounting

After the 3 Sisters, where the elastic hadn’t snapped, B lost no one in this incredibly evenly matched group. There were little surges, but no organised chase to get to the front of the race. Richard from Manly stayed away. Well done Richard (from Manly). It was also one of the slowest B grade sprints to finish

A Grade Race Report

Local legends Andy Blair, Dylan Cooper, Mark Williams and Lewis Cressy lined up with grins as they chatted with “Team Green” and the rest of the A grade hopefuls

There were killer attacks from Blairy, big torque climbs from Coopes and Booth going off the front in several efforts, only to be reeled in each time. There was no friendly chatter. There were no smiles. There was no time or spare energy to think tactics. There was however, a great lot of fast and hard racing

The formula for the day was simple. Hill = Attack. With this formula at play, it was only 20k before the first casualties came. From there, a rider was dropped on each major climb. With 15 players at the start, only six stayed in close proximity of one another to the end in a very “tough day at the office” race

Blairy toke out the win in a sprint finish with Williams. Michelin-Beard out sprinted Wilson to complete the podium. Sad story of the day was Cressy suffering a flat tire with 20k to go