Mt Buffalo Hill climb Championships, 2013

On 23 and 24 March, 2013, the Alpine Cycling Club hosted the Australian Uphill Time Trial and Road Race Championships, at Mt Buffalo.

Click here for photos by Jim Morey.

Time Trial

The time trial was held on the Saturday, starting at the Porpunkah roundabout and finishing part way up Mt Buffalo.  The course distance varied from 10km to 14km, depending on the age category of the riders.

Kelly Cycle Coaching had a strong contingent of cyclists including 7 of the 10 riders sponsored by Park Trent Properties and 1 rider from the Essendon SKODA cycling team.

Bob and Helen did a pre-race morning spin with all the riders after a great breakfast at the Bright Chalet. We did a reconnaissance of the course, looking for the smoothest parts of the road, noted the best lines to take through the corners, assessed the wind direction and discussed the best approach of tackling the course.  The first 3-5km were flat to undulating and then as the riders hit the toll gate, the road tipped upwards at a gradient of 5-7%.  It was worth starting slightly conservatively in the first 1-2km, as the race could be lost in the first section if the rider went out too hard.  After the first climb of 1km, there was a quick downhill and then the rest of the course was uphill.  Huge junks of time ended up being lost by those riders who started the TT like an all out pursuit!!

Angus Lyons, U19 rider, who has been with KCC for 2 ½ years now, was seeded second last after his 7^th place finish at the Oceania Championships last weekend in Canberra.  He also won this time trial last year by 1 second as an U17 rider, so he knew how hard he needed to ride to win.

He warmed up well and said quietly that he “felt good”.  The Angus translation of this under-rated comment is that his legs felt really good and he was in good form. And indeed they did feel good, as he rode fasted, averaging 28.7km/hr, and winning by 4sec in a time of 30mins 2.93sec.

Other U19 men’s results were:

Drew Morey 16^th

Mark Kelly 36^th

Paddy Burt 37^th

Jayden Cooper 42^nd

Steven Carroll 50^th.

In the U19 female time trial, Eloise Vaughan rode strongly in her first Nationals to finish 7^th and Vic Snibson finished 9^th.

In the U17 men’s time trial, Ben Andrews and Nick White both had solid rides, finishing 12^th and 13^th, respectively.  Their times were 1min41 and 1min53 behind the winner, Samuel Jenner (Armidale Cycling Club).

Road Race

The U17 men’s road race was a great race by KCC riders, Ben Andrews and Nick White.  The field of 43 riders were all together after a lap of the Porpunkah – Toll gate loop, as they hit the Mt Buffalo climb.  Ben set a high pace and soon the field was twindled down to 20 riders.  Not wanting to contest a bunch sprint with up to 20 riders, Ben attacked several times and soon got a gap.  He was away solo for 3km but was eventually chased down.  As soon as he was caught he recovered for a few minutes and then started attacking again.  He counted 10 attacks and eventually he cracked the legs of some of the other riders.  He kept driving the pace until there were only 6 riders left. Coming around the final corner, Ben was in 4^th wheel and realised he was too far back.  He came around 1 rider to finish 3^rd, while Nick White finished 5^th.  It was a fantastic ride by these two young cyclists.  In the overall GC, Ben and Nick finished 4^th and 6^th, respectively.  The race was won by the previous day’s winner, Samuel Jenner.  Ben and Nick both did their own mini cycling camp at Bright at Christmas time so their 3^rd and 5^th result in a National event is testament of the hard training they put in.

The women’s U19 road race split early with both Eloise and Vic in the second group.  They rode a solid race against a small but strong field, finishing 8^th and 9^th.

The men’s U19 race was a more tactical affair with a 6 rider early break going clear on the first lap of the Porpunkah – Toll gate loop.  KCC riders, Paddy Burt and Liam McAlister were both in this break and they set about riding hard to establish a good break.  By the time they hit the base of the Mt Buffalo ascent, the break had 3.5 minutes.

Todd Buschkuel (Carnegie) who was in the early break, stayed away to take the win in a time of 2hrs 14mins.

KCC’s highest finishing rider was Gus Lyons, 8^th in a time of 2hrs 16mins.   Drew Morey was 1min further back in 15^th place.  Other results were Mark Kelly, 34^th, Jayden Cooper, 41^st, Steven Carroll 48^th, and Paddy Burt 49^th.