BICISPORT MEMBER NEWS
* RAW @ 15 September @ DGV - David Browne, Graham & Stephanie Cockerton have featured for most of RAW 17. The final winter RAW round was held on 15 September and David Browne finished 3rd in Division 2 with Graham Cockerton 7th. BiciSport finished 9th (from 34 clubs) in the RAW series Club Pointscore.
* NSW State Handicapping News - Robyn Sprouster (State Handicapper-BiciSport) is now working on the ACT State Handicaps for the 2018 road season. This will greatly improve the consistency of ACT handicaps (in NSW road races)
RACING THIS WEEK
* 23-24 September - ACT National Capital Tour
* 23-25 September - Battle of the Border Recharge (NSW-Qld border)
* 24 September - Eastern Creek Raceway (Waratah Masters), Sunbury Road Race (Vic, VRS)
BICISPORT TRAINING THIS WEEK
* 20 September - M7 Bikepath @ 70k @ 10.00am @ Bella Vista, and DGV Track Training @ DGV 3pm @ John Crouchley
* 21 September - Distinguished Gentlemens Ride @ Centennial Park @ 11am
* 22 September - NSW School Term ends ... traffic lighter next week
* 23 September - Meadowbank Bridge 7.30am, Piemonte Café (coffee only) from 9.30am
* 23 September - Beaumont Rd training laps from 9.00am-10.30am
BEAUMONT ROAD RECOVERY RIDE
Bob Green (BiciSport Master) in centre of shot returned to Beaumont Road Mt Ku Ring Gai for his first ride in a few years courtesy of "an interesting period of active discussion with his local doctor on not just a few health issues". Bob met up with Daniel Vanchop (left) from Northern Sydney CC. The picture above is very much greetings to Eddy, Maria & Maarten Verhulst in Belgium. The next 'post op' Beaumont Rd training ride is Sunday 24 September from 9.30am-11.00am.
BEEN A GOOD WEEK - BOWRAL CLASSIC 2016 WINs TOURISM AWARDS
* The Bowral Classic 2016 picked up two prestigious tourism awards at the Australian Event Awards on 9 September in Brisbane - being 'Best New Event' and 'Best Community Event'. Congratulations to all those who contributed to this success including several BiciSport volunteers - Alex Simmons, Peter Davis, John Crouchley & Robyn Sprouster. The next Bowral Classic is set for 22 October 2017.
BEEN A BAD WEEK
(Written by MO'R) - Recently had a long discussion with Rob Arnold (of Ride Magazine fame) on the current state of play. To say Rob was far from happy would be an understatement. On top of that received an interesting email the other day on membership fees - where it was openly admitted in the email that 'Australia wide racing membership continues to decline'. Decline ? What the ... ?. It was odd to read such a chilling statement and more than telling as the conventional wisdom over the last seven years has been two pronged, namely ... 1. more overall membership equals more revenue and 2. cyclo-sportives are 'the' growth segment for selling yet more memberships (meaning yet more of that important revenue). With Australia wide membership now 'going off' and the cyclo-sportive strategy 'crowded out' by private promoters who now dominate this cyclo space then it begs the question as to where to from here ?. If that sounds like the mother of all budgetary storms then you could be right ... look no further than the recent World Championship team selection fiasco where team spots went unfilled. Domestically things could not be more painful with the flagship NRS (Not Really Special nor Sustainable) now in serious decline with numerous races cancelled (and other stage races transformed into a criterium series !!). Maybe its all fake news but ye suspect not. Forget all the marketing bling for early next year with the taxpayer funded Gold Coast medal-feast ... 2018 is set to be a super tough year on the domestic racing scene.