Kelly Cycle Coaching took a large group of cyclists to Oxley last weekend to compete in the Sam Miranda Tour.

The tour consisted of 4 stages for the women and was classified as a National Road Series (NRS) event.  Helen took on the role of DS for the Total Rush women who finished with 3 top 10’s in individual stages and 4th in GC.  Well done ladies.

The racing held over the same courses (for those not competing in the womens NRS event), formed part of the Victorian Road Series.  Bob had a busy weekend directing both the Essendon SKODA team and the U19 Park Trent team.  Between Bob and Helen there were also several riders competing as individuals.  Needless to say it was a busy weekend.  Thanks to Liz Hall who assisted Helen in DS duties and mechanic Gavin Wright who also snuck in the Gran Fondo the morning before racing commenced.

A special thanks to the friendly owners and fantastic accommodation and food provided by the Bright Chalet.  Your hospitality enables KCC’s athletes to recover and prepare for the racing in a friendly and relaxed environment.

For Francesca Wellington’s first month of coaching with KCC, she was off to a flying start (quite literally) with a win in the C grade women’s TT.  Nice work Fran. Carley McKay also raced well, using the NRS race to find her race form.  She finished in the top 20 in GC.

A great selection of photos from the weekend can be found by clicking here.

We asked a few riders to write about their racing over the weekend.  Please read on.

Time Trial – Friday. Drew Morey races as part of the Park Trent Team.  Below is his report on how the time trial unfolded.

The TT course was flat for the first 12km of the course with a few very small rolling hills. The last 3-4km of the course featured an undulating climb which was quite steep in the initial section. The conditions on the day were average, with  cold temperature, light but constant drizzle and low winds.

What was the race plan?

The race plan for me was to take advantage of the flatter section ensuring that I was working at 100% for the whole time.

How did the race unfold?

Out of the start house, I did my aero start and then quickly settled into a good rhythm. A few kilometres in I passed Paddy, followed by Jayden and then later Dave. After that there was no one else ahead in sight the rest of the time. For one section of the race about 1km, my power dropped 20 watts, and I fought hard to bring it back up and then attempt to increase it on the last section of the climb to compensate for the earlier drop.

The results for the Park Trent riders were:

4.  Drew MOREY (Carnegie Caulfield) 24:11.90 +1:02.1

5.  Angus LYONS (Ballarat / Sebastopol) 24:12.33 +1:02.5

14.  Patrick BURT (Hawthorn) 25:56.99 +2:47.2

15.  Jayden COOPER (Carnegie Caulfield) 26:27.54 +3:17.7

16.  David RANDALL (Carnegie Caulfield) 26:40.88 +3:31.1

Stage 2 – Strade Nero Road Race.  Report written by David Randall

In Australia we look at races in Europe such as Paris-Roubaix, Strade Bianche and the Tour of Flanders, that feature multiple climbs or sections made of cobblestones, gravel or “pavé” – it’s something of a novelty to race on anything than tarmac here!  The Sam Miranda ‘Strade Nero’ Road Race featured a 6 kilometre climb entirely made of gravel roads at an average of 4%, a challenge for the heavier members of the peloton like myself…

Sixty-seven A Grade riders rolled up to the start line in the Sam Miranda Winery for the 103km road race with beautiful mild conditions all day – crosswinds threatened to wreak havoc on the small country roads around Oxley, but we were lucky to have light conditions all day.   The team had multiple options looking at the bumpy course – Drew Morey and I could take any opportunities we had while Angus Lyons, Jayden Cooper and Patrick Burt kept us out of trouble and the wind.

The first 50 kilometres featured three small climbs, where anyone caught out at the back of the group was put in difficulty, thanks to the high pace set by climbers at the front of proceedings.  I was thankful to Patrick in particular for leading me to the start of each climb, so I was able to stay with the group over the top each time.  The Strade Nero climb had a much smoother surface on the left-hand side of the road, and I was sure to be at the front when we hit the gravel for the first time after 51 kilometres.  The benefits of starting at the front are three-fold – you can climb slower than someone starting at the back of the group, and finish together, you can choose your own line and avoid potholes much easier, and you avoid crashes in the middle of the bunch, a fate which befell Jayden in the middle of the group.

I climbed stronger than usual and finished the climb in the third group – the first included three men in the colours of Drapac Professional Cycling and Jason Spencer from the CharterMason Drapac Development Team; the second included a dozen climbers including Angus and Drew; I was in a third group with twenty-odd riders even to get back on terms.  Drew and Angus assessed the situation and decided to sacrifice their chances to wait for my group to catch up, figuring that the team could get a better result on flat roads by setting me up for the sprint.

The second and third groups eventually merged together and with a kilometre to go, the boys dropped me off tenth in the group, in anticipation of a right- and left-hand turn in the finale.  The right-hand turn came with 600m to go, and was a tight turn off the highway onto a smaller road with a traffic island separating the two lanes on the smaller road.  Unfortunately, I was caught on the left and had to dive left to avoid riding straight into the island, losing ten to fifteen places in just a few seconds.  I charged home, passing rider after rider but could only manage 14^th in the bunch and 18^th overall.  I was disappointed not to finish off the team’s efforts – when your mates work all day for you, you obviously want to finish it off for them but luck wasn’t on our side!

After the manic chase back to Oxley, the four-man break stayed away by one-and-a-half minutes in an impressive show of collective force from soon-to-be Pro-Continental team Drapac.  Congratulations to Will Walker and Drapac on taking the win and second and fourth places, and to Jason Spencer for averting a red trifecta, taking third in the four-man finish.

Thanks to Sam Miranda Winery for hosting a great weekend’s racing, Bob and Helen Kelly for the support on the day, ParkTrent Properties Group for their fantastic and unwavering support of the team and my family, for both their support and encouragement also and for accepting me back into the house after a weekend of quiet while I raced around the beautiful King Valley!

Stage 3: 85km Handicap.  By Mark Kelly.

Describe the course and the race conditions

The course was pretty flat for the Handicap with only a couple of little 500-1000m hills. The race conditions were about as good as it gets for a race during winter time as there was not much wind and it was about 20 degrees. This thing called the sun was also out and apparently it comes out when its not raining but after last weeks Tour of Great South Coast I had forgotten that this actually happens during winter.

What was the race plan?

The race plan for the 4 of us in the 8min (2 Essendon Skoda team riders being Camden Bush and myself, and 2 Park Trent team riders – David Randall and Angus Lyons) bunch was try and catch the groups in front of us while at the same time saving as many bickies as possible for the finish.

How did the race unfold

For most of the race there were no groups in sight and I thought that we were never going to catch the groups in front of us but then with about 20km to go we could see the 12min bunch up the road and thats when our group really started working well together and by the time we got to 10km to go we had caught them and limit was in sight. We then caught limit at roughly 3km to go and then it was time to get organised for the sprint.

What happened at the finish?

Once we caught limit I rode up to Camden and said “stay on my wheel, I’m leading you out” because our sprinter in the bunch Dave had already said that he wasn’t feeling to flash, so I took Cam and Angus up into a good position for us to start our lead out and Dave had managed to get onto their wheel when we were heading up through the bunch. I then got boxed in as we were about 2km out from the finish and as I went to move up again I think Cam, Angus and Dave got chopped off my wheel. Luckily though Cam and Dave managed to move up on the inside of the bunch when I moved up on the outside and by the time I got to the front they were already there so I jumped onto Daves wheel just before we rounded the corner at about 800m to go. Unfortunately Cam overshot the corner which left Dave on the front of the bunch and me 2nd wheel, so I told Dave to just go for it as it was too late to change positions for me to lead him out. Dave then gave me a ripper lead out and dropped me off at roughly 300-350m to go and I managed to get 3rd in the sprint which is quite surprising as I usually sprint like a climber who has his brakes on.  Dave’s lead out was fast enough and caused such a split that he rolled across the line unable to pedal but still finished in 7th position.

Well done fella’s.