Category Archives: Cyclocross

Get yourself a memento

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Nick O’Donnell was at Bowl-o-cross, as you certainly were as well.

And he took some photos, as is his wont. The gallery is on the Photostore on Roadie.net.au (anyone else slightly amused that some of Nick’s best work on Roadie shows off-road cycling?).

I like this one.

EB and AD dicing in the 'Barefoot' category at Bowl-o-cross. More fun than a barrel full of monkeys. Nicholas O'Donnell photo.

EB and AD dicing in the ‘Barefoot’ category at Bowl-o-cross. More fun than a barrel full of monkeys. Nicholas O’Donnell photo.

Get over there and find one you like, to have and hold and keep forever. To remind you of the day that cyclocross in Queensland went to the next level.

Monday madness: Convicts, bowls, bunnyhops and massive mountains

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It was a big weekend in sport!

  • Pushies Galore Bowlocross went into social media meltdown when Robbie McEwen, and a mate of his, Mark Skroblin, turned up. And raced. How freaking cool is that!

It's a good day when you get to meet your hero.

It’s a good day when you get to meet your hero.

  • Brad Norman turned up dressed as He Man. Michael McMahon wore an increasingly skimpy white dress. I was in whites, befitting our location (Holland Park Bowls Club), and sporting a 2000 Sydney Olympic tie. We had a relay race featuring helmet covers as the relay ‘batons’. The fabric covers had animal designs such as panda, frog, chicken, fox, penguin etc. My team were pussycats.
  • I raced against AB and Emma in the ‘Barefoot’ class, which turned out to be great fun, and also meant I could do the live commentary for the main races in which Robbie McEwen was racing. Good call! In our second race, Emma was miked up for live commentary as well, and that was heaps of fun. Until she binned it on some loose gravel and scratched a hole in the Spesh-Lululemon knicks! Tragedy!

There were two step-ups, followed by a steep bank. Robbie and his mate Mark rode them all day. Nobody else could!

There were two step-ups, followed by a steep bank. Robbie and his mate Mark rode them all day. Nobody else could!

Technically speaking this is a mono-hop, not a bunnyhop. Technically speaking, HOLY SHIT HE CAN RIDE.

Technically speaking this is a mono-hop, not a bunnyhop. Technically speaking, HOLY SHIT HE CAN RIDE.

  • Not only did Robbie and Mark ride that bank, and mono-hop like madmen. They also finished each race with a wheelie of at least 30 metres. In the last race, Robbie popped the front wheel into the air, and then proceeded to take both hands off the bars, while still pedalling along. O. M. G.
  • I don’t know how you could top the fun factor at Pushies Galore’s events. Nice work Gavin & Richard!

A guy selling coffee was encouraging the riders with a megaphone. It was that sort of day!

The guy selling coffee was encouraging the riders through his megaphone. It was that sort of day!

  • In faraway Sydney, Imogen smashed it to third place in the Convict 100, one of the major marathons on the NSW scene. And has earnt herself a trip to race in the Transalp mtb stage race in Europe, apparently. I suspect/hope more details will be forthcoming!

Imogen (third) and Naomi (second) chat after the Convict 100. Well, in this pic anyway, Imo's chatting, and Naomi is listening! (Pic from MarathonMTB.com)

Imogen (third) and Naomi (second) chat after the Convict 100. Well, in this pic anyway, Imo’s chatting, and Naomi is listening! (Pic from MarathonMTB.com)

Other people’s views of Bowl-o-cross:

Not new, still exciting

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Photo: Pushies Galore.

Photo: Pushies Galore.

I do see it as at least part of my role here as your host and chief correspondent at Briztreadley (all right, all right, only correspondent, hmm that does give me an idea … if there are any Brisbane-based cyclists who used to have a cycling blog and for one reason or another closed it down, and still want to muse about cycling from time to time, just let me know and you can have a guest spot on Briztreadley anytime) to provide content that is not merely chronologically news, but also news in being new news for Brisbane bike-riding.

So the continuing focus on cyclocross may therefore be tiring for some. Because, trendsetter that you are, dear Briztreadley reader, you’ve been sitting up all night watching Belgian commentary on Sporza of World Cup cyclocross races for years and years. You probably make annual trips to Melbourne and ride all the Dirty Deeds CX events.

But for most of the bike riders of Brisbane, cyclocross is relatively new, and more people every time are finding out how much fun it is.

Yesterday we had the second race of the Qld CX Summer Series, at Murarrie. Maybe Easter Saturday wasn’t the bestest day on the calendar, but there were still new folks attending and racing for the first time.

Here’s a stat that so far I think is true: 100% of the people who I know who have tried cyclocross have absolutely enjoyed and can’t wait to do it again.

So if you have been saying to yourself: I wonder why Andrew keeps banging on about cyclocross, maybe I will give it a go sometime, then there here are a couple of possibilities for you to consult your calendar about.

The next and last event in the Summer Series is in two weeks. Saturday 13th April, in the late afternoon / early evening at Chandler velodrome.

Then, in early May, is the one-off not-to-be-missed and possibly never-to-be-repeated Pushies Galore Bowl-o-Cross, at Holland Park Bowls Club. That is going to be amazing … the space for a CX race course there is very small, so the crowd will be able to see the racers the whole time. Brad is working with the Pushies Galore people on the racing format, but it seems likely it will be multiple short races, in some sort of eliminator format. Maybe even handicap races.

Every time I race CX (now such a veteran, I think a grand total of six, maybe seven races) it is much the same. The first two or three laps are an absolute adrenalin blast, going flat chat to establish position, jumping off and on the bike, trying to bunny-hop stuff, finding the limits of adhesion of your tyres on this particular day on this particular course, all at instant maximum heart-rate.

And then, 10 minutes in, you realise than there’s still 20 minutes of the race to go. How will you ever make it to the finish while still riding your bike? And you just dig in deep and find a way to do. Fatigue creeps in, and your first couple of sky-high bunnyhops are replaced by barely lifting the front wheel over the barrier and hoping that the back one doesn’t slam into it so hard that it throws you forward and over the handlebars.

And eventually, some several millennia later, somebody nice says “last lap”, and you dig even deeper and try to hang onto your current placing. Your quads are screaming, your lungs are coming up your throat and out your mouth, your head is down looking at the front wheel.

And so you finally make it to the finish line. Exhausted, elated.

Third place yesterday.

Happy with that!

Floody on his 29er mtb was a very rapid and creditable 2nd place getter. The winner (Karl) was a first-timer, who probably could have raced A grade. And following me home were Emma & Dan (both singlespeeding) and Ian, and then Ernie, on an old road bike, with the skinny tyres. Nice ride Ern!

Me, Karl, Floody (his Mum calls him Darren). B grade podium. I'm still 'in role' as the MC. Goose.

Me, Karl, Floody (his Mum calls him Darren). B grade podium. I’m still ‘in role’ as the MC. Goose.

 

Post Bike Week post

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You know that there’s no week that I enjoy more than Bike Week. For someone who loves bikes and may possibly be slightly ADHD, a different bike event (or several different events) every day for 9 days, is pretty close to heaven.

To be right in the middle of it the whole time is great fun. By the end of it, I’m tired and punch-drunk, but still having a great time. I was fortunate this year that my role for the Big Day (Sunday 24 March, when we had the Coot-tha Challenge and the Great Brisbane Bike Ride, and the Family Fun Ride) was to help manage the start line, and then be the MC for the finish site at South Bank. Easy & cruisy.

But although the Big Rides day is the climax of the week, I find the smaller events to be more fun and more personal and more interesting. My favourites this year were the ones that I was heavily involved in: Cyclocross, of course, and MTB Film Night. I was also heavily invested in the success of the Women’s MTB ride, which I couldn’t go to, not being a woman, and being busy with putting signs out on that day anyway (in case I was tempted to cross-dress or have gender realignment so I could attend).

What I like about this pic is that everyone is smiling, except Besty who has her back to the camera. Nice.

What I like about this pic is that everyone is smiling, except Besty who has her back to the camera. Nice.

I’ve given cyclocross plenty of blog-time already.

MTB Film Night was a triumph in my book. The event was Emma’s idea, and at least 80-90% of what happened was all her vision as well. We turned Epic Cycles into a relaxed and funky movie cinema for the night, with big screen and pizza and beer. About 70 people had a great evening, and during the film itself Emma and Imo and I mostly hung out outside and chatted and relaxed.

It came at the end of the day when we had Ride to Work Day at Brisbane Square, so it turned out to be one of those days where you start work at 5 am and finish at 10.30pm. You don’t want to do that too often. It turns you into a zombie.

Epic in cinema mode. A great night!

Epic in cinema mode. A great night!

So a few days after Bike Week, the zombie aspect is wearing off and I’m starting to feel like I could eat up a few more interesting bike rides soon. Some family circumstances are conspiring to keep me from that just at the moment, but down the track I’m hopeful of reporting on some mtb events, and more CX racing of course, and the occasional dirt-road Audax. Watch this space.

It’s always personal

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It was the first cyclocross of the year, and there was lots of fun, and it was a great event, the start of Bike Week, and it seemed like everyone enjoyed it, and there was a really good race in A grade between Darren Nightingale and Matt Williams, and in the open race there was the already famous duel between Emma and Imo that will go down in history and Yannick and Momo the two brothers finished one-two in the Junior race, and the flags and the arch, and the beer and the crowd and the grass and the sun and the sweat.

'Andrew! You are being beaten by a CHILD!' Yeah, I know ... and he is damn fast.

‘Andrew! You are being beaten by a CHILD!’ Yeah, I know … and he is damn fast.

But what you want to know, on my blog is: What was MY race like?

I’m so glad you asked.

It was a very busy day, with quite a lot of Bike-Weeky things to do earlier in the day, and then the set-up of the venue. While Brad and Scott and co were setting up the course, Emma and I set up the PA and the pop-up marquee for the judges, the flags and the start-finish blow-up arch.

And once the racing started I was on the public address system for the Junior and Open races, and occasionally casting increasingly worried glances around the assembled crowd to see who I was going to press-gang into becoming temporary MC during the A & B grade combined race. The answer to that was Darren Flood. The right man in the right place.

So with at least 20 seconds to spare I jumped on my bike, having first pressed my thumb into the tyre … that’s about 30-40 psi. I think.

The A graders look fit and fierce. So all we timid B graders shuffle back out of their way.

The first corner and first straight just leads to the stairs, which are a battleground for A graders. The rest of us funnel into the stairs, and after negotiating an M1-style traffic jam are through and out the other side. Could have done with an easy-listening radio station to pass the time.

The A graders are long gone, and I find myself dicing with Yannick, the youngster who had been way too good in the Junior race. I don’t know how old he is … maybe 13? Anyway, he looks a lot fitter than I do.

But we race each other for a couple of laps, and the second time through the start-finish area, Darren on the mic tells us that we are leading B grade. That was pretty much the signal for me to muck up the next re-mount, and then on the off-camber steep section of the course lose my front wheel and fall off.

At this point Imogen, spectating with the same enthusiasm that she earlier brought to racing, screams at me: “Andrew!!! You are being beaten by a CHILD!!”

Fabulous heckle.

So from first, I slid straight to fifth. Which was probably the right spot anyway. Clinton, the eventual winner, had worked his way through the B grade traffic and was clearing out. Yannick was dicing with Paul (father of one of the kids he had beaten in the Junior race) and Ron from Balmoral.

Paul had family revenge on Yannick by finishing second, but Yannick held down third.

A few times that group of three looked close enough that if I could just put my foot on the gas I might latch onto the back of the group. But when I tried to “step on it” I realised very quickly that I was already at my limit.

Cyclocross is like that.

I’m so pleased that we put on a good event. And I am even more pleased that the racing was fun for all. And that I have the chance to do maybe six or seven of these races this year.

Two days later, this morning I still had some sore or tight muscles. More training needed!

Places tenderly chosen, where the ache of antiquity was keenest

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When I went to the Lifeline Bookfest with Imogen, I picked up quite a few interesting books. I’ve chomped through one called The Football Factory which was a novel in the milieu of the English football hooligan culture in the 90s. And an Evelyn Waugh, The Loved One, which was of course mordant and delicious.

Isobel was oddly triangular ...

Isabel’s face was oddly triangular …

And next up was The Portrait of A Lady, with Henry James. With movie tie-in cover, featuring Ms Kidman, made up and photographed in such as way as to have more forehead than would seem feasible for any single person.

But Henry James you can’t rush. You have to chew every sentence carefully, two or three times.

Like this one, soon after Isabel arrives at Lord Warburton’s stately home (“a stout grey pile … a castle in a fairytale” … it’s a long way from BMX Bandits!) for the first time:

“The day was cool and rather lustreless; the first note of autumn had been struck; and the watery sunshine rested on the walls in blurry and desultory gleams, washing them, as it were, in places tenderly chosen, where the ache of antiquity was keenest.”

I typed that out for you, because when I read that I understand what mastery is. I find it inspiring.*

I’m expecting to be feeling the ache of antiquity quite keenly by late afternoon on Saturday 16 March, because that is the day that the next featured Bike Week event (featured in this special Briztreadley series that is) will be held.

Cyclocross.

And I’m in this one, up to my neck. Organising, racing, spruiking, whatever.

The cyclocross race will be held in a place tenderly chosen, to wit Wests Rugby Union, at Toowong Memorial Park, Sylvan Road Toowong.

So I have no mastery of cyclocross racing, or indeed organising a race, or blogging about a race. But I do share with Isabel Archer her enthusiasm, her openness, her joie de vivre.

I’m not expecting Nicole/Isabel to show up on Saturday, any more than I really expected Anna Meares to show up last time.

But I am inviting you. Cyclocross is super awesome fun. 100% of the people I know who have tried cyclocross want to do more. The course we’ve chosen will be very doable on a road bike, so there are no real excuses.

Saturday 16th March 3pm. Enter here.

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* OK, there is no link whatsoever between Henry James and cyclocross. There just isn’t. But that sentence knocked me out. And I wanted it to be somewhere where I would find it again in the future. One of the reasons I have a blog is to remember stuff I like.

Have cross bike, prepared to travel

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From Lewis's blog: ratracingcx.blogspot.com.au ... go check it out.

From Lewis’s blog: ratracingcx.blogspot.com.au … go check it out.

Lewis Rattray was working at a bike shop in St Kilda a few years ago, and a Belgian guy walked into the shop. As a result of that meeting, Lewis has now raced two CX World Championships in Europe and the US, many World Cup races, and soon will have a go at racing cyclocross in Japan.

Have a sneak preview of an interview that will go to air on this week’s Squeaky Wheel. Lewis spoke to me via Skype from Chicago.