News Shorts - 30 May 2016

BICISPORT TTT TRAINING starts sunday JUNE 5

Details of the first BiciSport TTT session at Terrey Hills this Sunday can be found on this website at Racing/State & National. Park up time at Piemonte Café is 7.45am with an 8am departure

RACING THIS WEEK

*  4 June - Sydney Road Titles (Penrith Lakes)

BiciSport starters - Lise Benjamin, Graham Cockerton, Anthony Colantonio

Anthony Lowes, David Munro, James Thornton, Ian Grainger, Brad Hamblett

Peter Verhoeven, Dom Zumbo, Matt Coy and Stewart Campbell

*  4 June - Calga Club Race (Central Coast CC - 2pm), Fred Icke Classic (Creswick, Vic)

*  3-5 June - Battle of the Border (NSW/Qld)

*  5 June - St Ives Criterium (MW), Eastern Creek (Waratah Masters), Calga ITT (ATTA)

BICISPORT TRAINING THIS WEEK

*  2 June - Centennial Park (11am)

*  5 June - BiciSport TTT at Piemonte Café Terrey Hills (7.45am)

This US team car pic kindly supplied by BiciSport coach Alex Simmons. Lets hope its not him standing beside the car (no hair, hair, no shirt & the footwear is a nice touch). Who is the dude in the back seat ....

News Shorts - 23 May 2016

RACING THIS WEEK

*  28-29 May - Goulburn Junior Tour

*  28-29 May - Riverland Tour (SA)

*  29 May - Dinnerville Handicap (Dapto)

BiciSport starters at Dinnerville -

*  Stew Campbell, Gio Pilu, Richard Bjorkman

*  Ben Pines, Mike Foster & James Thornton

*  29 May - Waratah Masters (Lansdowne)

*  29 May - Preston Mountain Classic (Vic), Noosa CycloSportive (Qld)

BICI TRAINING RIDES THIS WEEK

*  26 May (Thurs) - Centennial Park (11am)

*  28 May (Sat) - Moorebank Railway Bridge (7.30am)

*  29 May (Sun) - M7 Cyclepath Loop (Bella Vista 8am) 

Belgium Shorts - 16 May 2016

EDDY VERBUST MUSEUM

Eddy Verbust has been a long time friend to many Australian cyclists. Eddy has been the soigneur to the likes of Patrick Sercu, Danny Clark, Graeme & Matthew Gilmore and Scott McGrory (all have won the Ghent Six Day) and his major passion is the velodrome and the Ghent Six Day in particular. First met Eddy at the Tour of Flanders Museum over 10 years go. The Flanders Museum had just taken ownership of a genuine Eddy Merckx Molteni Volvo (hidden in a garage in Switzerland for many years) and Eddy introduced himself at the Molteni car presentation. The Eddy Verbust Museum (www.eddyverbust.be) is the biggest private collection of cycling memorabilia in Belgium and Eddy kindly opened the doors of the private collection yesterday. Eddy's jersey collection numbers some 850 and the Museum has numerous event posters and jerseys & trophies owned by Eddy Merckx & Patrick Sercu. Eddy has offered to give BiciSport members coming to Belgium in April 2017 a special guided tour. 

... some 850 jerseys ...

Eddy Merckx & Eddy Verbust (in 1967)  

Eddy Merckx Molteni Volvo sits permanently outside the Tour of Flanders Museum in Oudenaarde

News Shorts - 16 May 2016

RACING THIS WEEK

*  21 May - Hunter Districts Enduro Interclub (Kurri Kurri 2pm)

*  21-22 May - Cootamundra Weekend

*  22 May - Waratah Masters (Western Sydney Dragway)

*  22 May - Sam Miranda Winery Gran Fondo (Shepparton, Vic) 

BICI TRAINING RIDES THIS WEEK

*  19 May - Centennial Park (Café from 11am)

*  21 May - Moorebank Bridge (for Homebush Loops) 7.30am

*  22 May - North Turramurra Shops, Bobbin Head Rd (8am)  

GRAFTON to INVERELL Classic - results

*  Anthony Colantonio finished 63rd in Division 3. Alex Simmons also drove Division 3 as a Race Commissaire.

Anthony Colantonio at the Grafton to Inverell Classic finish

Belgium Shorts - Conor Tarlington to ASFRA Racing Team

Conor Tarlington (BiciSport Under 23) is to ride for the ASFRA Racing Team in Belgium from July 20 until August 20. ASFRA is closely associated to Flanders Cycles in Oudenaarde and race a full domestic Belgian program.  The ASFRA team website is www.asfrateam.webs.com. Ronny Assez is the Team Manager. Ronny is a former Belgian pro and rode the Commonwealth Bank Cycle Classic in the late 1980's. 

ASFRA Racing Team 2016 (Ronny Assez far right, kneeling)

Belgium (Plum) Shorts - 13 May 2016

Gilbert Van de Wiele (Plume Vainqueur Pro Team)

In 1910 Pol Desnerk opened a tiny bike shop in Ghent. Originally the shop was called La Plume as everything that sounded French stood for quality (even in Flanders). The name changed to Plume Vainqueur, and finally it became Plum. Plum started sponsoring riders and teams and had a full pro team from 1949 until 1961. The shop soon started taking upstairs tenants including numerous Australians (Alf Strom, Reg Arnold, & Alan Peiper) and several Englishman (Gary Wiggins & Tom Simpson). Tom Simpson was the 1965 World RR Champion and died of a drug overdose in the 1967 Tour De France.  Mike O'Reilly last visited the shop in 1987 and nothing has much changed since he visited yesterday (everything just seems to have got older or is that 'retro'). The antique bike museum in the basement of the Plum shop is a bit chaotic (understatement) but the Gios bike of Fons De Wolf was worth a look. 

The Plum Gent website is www.plum-gent.be

1980 Gios (in team blue) of Fons De Wolf with full Campagnolo groupset including Delta brakes

Mildly chaotic but plenty of nice retro steel

... not exactly Shimano Di2 and the front changer had a hand operated lever (no cables) ...

Belgium Shorts - 12 May 2016

After the Giro had moved on did likewise to Slenaken in the Limburg hills outside Maastricht. Looked at Meijs mopeds (in Maastricht) for electric powered options for the CyclingNSW Derny restoration project. After Slenaken, got an early start and drove just 2 hours onto Roubaix and walked around the famous Velodrome. The Roubaix Velodrome looks a lot more "bling" on race day with Matt Hayman giving a victory salute. Barren of the Classic bling the Velodrome looks forlorn & rundown and the less said about Roubaix town the better. Final coffee of the day was in the Tour of Flanders café at the Oudenaarde museum.

Meijs electric powered Moped

Slenaken climb used in Amstel Gold Race

Roubaix Velodrome ... with no Paris Roubaix in town the velodrome cuts a sad, forlorn & drab sight

Tour of Flanders Museum coffee shop

Giro Shorts - 9 May 2016

Stage 3 of the Giro was pan flat running through the Rhine Valley between Nijmegen & Arnhem. Drove to the village of Brummen (115k into the race). By chance the whole population threw a street party and the crowds were again massive. No sure about the pink Volvo and less sure about it carrying the "Made in Italy" tag ... 

News Shorts - 9 May 2016

RACING THIS WEEK

10 May - CyclingNSW AGM at Bankstown Sports Club 7.30am

13-15 May - Battle of the Border (NSW/Qld)

14 May - Lyndoch Classic (Barossa Valley) 

14-15 May - Tour of the South West (VRS-Warnambool)

15 May - Waratah Masters (Western Speedway)

The CyclingNSW AGM will be worthy of a ringside seat this year, with nobody seemingly happy about anything. The following weekend of racing offers some of the best of the season. 

Giro Shorts - 7 May 2016

The Giro had the first road stage today (Arnhem to Nijmegen) and passed through Otterlo just 30k from the start. The Wilier team car won the Team Car Award. The crowd was enormous with everybody in a festive mood. Otterlo is blessed with endless cyclepaths with not a car to be seen.

Giro Shorts - 5 May 2016

Rob Hadley (Hunter Districts CC) and Mike O'Reilly are in Apeldoorn for the start of the Giro. Whilst staying at the pretty village of Otterlo the burgers of Apeldoorn aren't so lucky (sort of Green Square meets Warringah Mall). Went into Apeldoorn for the Teams Presentation - the half naked Eurovision performer twirling gold batons took some explaining ....

Eurovision meets the Giro with a half naked performer wrapped in a white sheet twirling a gold baton

News Shorts - 3 May 2016

RACING THIS WEEK

*  May 7 - Grafton to Inverell Classic (NRS)

*  May 7-8 - ACT Womens & Junior Tour

*  May 8 - West Head RR (Manly), Eastern Creek Raceway (Waratah Masters)

ORANGE NSW MASTERS - BICISPORT takes 2 GOLD & 1 BRONZE

Weather for the Molong Road Race was atrocious - wet, windy & hard racing with a short hard uphill finish. The Criterium on the outskirts of Orange was a cracker - fast flowing with plenty of spectators. The ITT was the best day of the Championships - around the Orange Airport loop.

BiciSport results -

Road Race - M1Brad Hamblett 15th @ 1min 6secs. M2 Anthony Lowes 5th @ 1-11, David Munro 7th @ 1-19. M4 Dean Gale 9th @ 2-12, M5 Anthony Colantonio 23rd @ 30secs, M8 Ian Grainger 6th @ 23sec

Criterium - M1 Brad Hamblett 10th, M2 David Munro 4th, Anthony Lowes 18th, M5 Graham Cockerton 4th, Anthony Colantonio 13th, W6 Sue Tierney 1st      

Individual Time Trial - M5 Anthony Colantonio 6th, Graham Cockerton 14th, M6 Dom Zumbo 12th, M7 Ian Grainger 3rd, W6 Sue Tierney 1st 

Graham Cockerton & Anthony Colantonio in the Criterium

Sue Tierney in the Criterium

Ian Grainger and the ITT M8 podium