Nationals Silver

Congratulations to Josh Hopwood who won silver at the National Championships Gran Fondo Individual Time Trial in Ballarat on Wednesday.

Great work Josh. Here are the results, including 7th out of 39 in the Road Race on Saturday afternoon!

Good luck too in next weekend’s Melbourne to Warrnambool.

First Dirt Crits of 2021

Tuesday saw the first Dirt Crits of 2021, held on a fiendishly tricky short course on the lower slopes of Riflebutts Reserve ... 10 laps for 11 starters.

Ruby Dobson started strongly and rode away from everyone, comfortably taking the win in A-grade.

Kudos to Archie O’Brien for a great ride for 5th overall and the win in B’grade. Kudos also for Charlies Hall and Dobson for great rides.

Finally, kudos to Alex Green for his quick reflexes in being able to avoid Bruce’s left elbow.

Here are the results and thanks to Alex Green for selflessly choosing to take photos instead of racing!

Next week is a Gravity Enduro.

Hopwood cleans up

By Ewyn Carter

Thursday 4 February welcomed riders at the Lord's Cricket Oval with warm and windy conditions feeding through the valley from the North. Once again a traditional Handicap race was allotted, with the course turning left onto Howes Creek Road, out to the intersection of Cummins Road for a u-turn and finishing between Malcolm Street and Maroondah Highway, 25km in length.

Di Condie began proceedings with a 12 minute handicap. As she was a lone rider, there would be no respite for the return leg into the headwind and she would need her best pacing for the night to stay away from the six staggered groups behind, of 13 riders. Would she wait for them or would she forge on alone?

The second bunch to leave contained Tim Hall, Craig Wilson, Andrew Clarke and Steve Curnow at 5'30" minutes behind. With some horsepower leaving not long after them, an opportunity for the middle pack riders to link up on the tailwind out leg and contest a win clear of the chasing riders was apparent.

The returning Joshua Hopwood would be last to leave, also solo, but with a big torque engine and placing second at the recent Australian Nationals in the age group individual time trial the cat was very much amongst the pigeons. Josh would require a pacing strategy reducing his time gap by 28.8 seconds per kilometre for a win.

By the time all groups had made their way onto the tailwind out leg along Howes Creek Road it had become apparent that the evening would produce some fantastic individual efforts and some very fast course records also. Justin Berry and returning 2020 club champion Janine Appleton both put in sterling performances, with an average speed of 37.2 km/h, placing them both in high positions overall on the all time list for that particular segment. Justin should be congratulated on his progression through this season. With consistent training and a positive attitude to his fitness, results are being produced. Well done Justin.

Meanwhile a virtual club rivalry was reaching its climax behind. Josh had scorched his bicycle tyres into the bitumen of Howes Creek Road and a new standard for excellence was becoming apparent. Ex-Mansfield lad Dan Purcell in 2017 set an eye watering time of 18'51" for the 13.58 km section of course that was considered unbreakable by some. With Dan turning his attention to circuit criterium racing in Melbourne, and doing extremely well one might add winning top category A Grade events against some of the countries best racers, Josh was motivated to return the balance of country vs metropolitan order back to its rightful place. And he did. His time of 18'25" at an average speed of 44.3 km/h was simply astonishing and the question remained; could he continue this pace to the end and take the overall course record that had stood since 2012?

The groups ahead were mostly spared Josh's cycling lesson and had stayed away for the u-turn at Cummins Road. They began their march back into the headwind, still in good positions. Di had forged on alone to still be leading with 11 kilometres remaining. Janine and Justin had collected Tim, Craig, Andrew and Steve ahead to form a strong bunch that potentially could ride away, while the faster groups behind were marshalling together to also still be in with a chance.

But the power and consistency of Josh was too good. He swept all before him on the way to a commanding victory. His pace setting had continued consistently on the return with the groups he picked up tucking in on his wheel to form a large line of riders driven by one engine. Some punchy climbs and false flats that went skyward put a lot of riders into the red and by the finish Josh had two hangers on for morale to miss the course record by a mere 4 seconds! A fantastic individual performance and the gold standard of the district was on display. Josh mixes a busy young family life with his development position in DELWP and Forest Fire Management Victoria duties over summer to consistently train and set challenging cycling goals. We wish him well for the upcoming National Road Race in his category and the world's second oldest and longest race the Melbourne to Warrnambool at 267 km.

Once again thank you to the club volunteers who produced the evenings racing and the Howes Creek community for their patience and cooperation in allowing us to use the roads safely and efficiently. The general fitness level of the club is at an extremely high standard and it is encouraging to see members' hard work paying off come race day. The results may have stopped for some, but not through lack of enthusiasm as the base of your fitness pyramids are there. I would encourage each rider to reflect on their weaknesses and really target those in the coming weeks leading into the last races of the season for a strong finish.

Here are the results and thanks to Tony Copland for the pics.