Self Righteous Cyclist

The recent June long weekend here in Victoria saw the running of the Bendigo District Cycling Club's Merv Dean Memorial Senior Club 3 day tour.  Stages 1 & 2 departed from Sutton Grange and Stage 3 at neighbouring Harcourt. The event attracted about 90 riders from as far afield as Adelaide and Mt Gambier in South Australia.  Grassroots events like this are the lifeblood of our sport and give our young riders the opportunity to pit themselves against some of the best riders in the country. It might have been chilly but the competition was hot and the camerarderie between us was warm.   Stage 1 50km loop course of rolling hills, starting from Sutton Grange C grade was made up of 8 women (in their own grade) and 12 men. The race started with the KoM at 4.3km. Fergus Fitzwater and Andrew Gannon pushed hard, but Sophie Edwards pushed even harder and took top points.   A bunch of 11, including 5 women broke away at this point and worked hard to establish the ...

There's something about a handicap race which draws out the optimist in all of us.  Perhaps today will be our day, when the handicapper gets it right.  By that I mean, let's us in with a chance to win, perhaps even a place would be nice.  My confidence was high, with the 11min group of 10, the largest of the bunches, accounting for almost a quarter of the field of 45.  But first I would need to survive 75kms or three gruelling laps of Balliang's infamous Granite Road circuit. The day began with a carpool out to Balliang with fellow travellers Steve (Brunswick CC), who swapped his race number for a marshal's flag and Seb (Hawthorn CC), my 11min group accomplice.  If you haven't done a carpool to a race before, I thoroughly recommend it.  Between the banter, the tactics and the laughs, you won't be left alone with your own thoughts, stressing about the race. Meanwhile my Brunswick teammate and fellow 11min bunch member Che Dungey, left home a 5:45am and r...

 It’s a Steel! A small, but illustrious field gathered at the Brunswick Velodrome for Steel Bike day last Sunday 23 rd March. In true Brunswick style, there was no plan or schedule, just a desire to have a great time on two wheels.  Chief Commissaire Mr. Pink’s first decree of the day was to make himself redundant and hand over the reigns to the juniors of the club who were there to “watch dad go round” and cheer on the riders.  With microphone in one hand and notebook in another, our four tireless junior commissaires, Ralph, Indra, Jonathon and April, kept order, counted down laps, waved flags, added scores, interviewed riders and did party tricks. And there were some pretty slick looking bikes in action The event was held to raise funds for Tour de Cure.   Anna Nicolas, lost her partner and former member Peter “Trigger” Traeger.   Peter tragically, lost his battle with cancer in November 2022, just 11 days after his son’s first birthday.   Anna said "I...

2024 the year of not focusing on results.  Wait, didn't I nominate a bunch of time and result driven goals for 2024?  Yes I did, but I don't care about them anymore. Shortly after I broke my Kinglake PR in February, it got me thinking, when is enough, enough?  Why is it that once we reach a certain goal, we then hunger for more?  Who am I competing with here?  Yes it would be great to post a better time than my mates, but ultimately the only person I am competing against is myself.  During the year I listened to a TrainerRoad podcast on goal setting and the emphasis was on process goals, rather than outcome goals, which many of mine are.  I have always prided myself on being about the process, but there's no doubt that I have become caught up in the outcomes, because they are a tangible measure of personal success.   Listening to the Anecdotally Speaking podcast last year, they introduced a story about Joseph Heller (author of Catch 22) bei...