Saturated Summer Series

Round three of Logan Cycling Club’s summer criterium series was held on March 30^th 2014.

With almost one rainy race in this series each year for as long as I can remember, this time the weather held out just until our women’s A race (thanks BOM QLD).

With slightly adverse weather conditions and a wet track, it made the possibility of an early winning break more likely. 

Even before the first prime, Cassie (Specialized Securitor), Jess (Total Rush) and Jane W (Campos) seized the opportunity to get away.  

Some hesitation from the bunch and some soft turns led to the three riders gaining a reasonable lead in a short space of time.  Sally (Ashgrove Cycles) saw early on that this break could be dangerous and committed herself to getting across. 

Now with the breakaway containing four riders, the bunch would need to be working better to get them back.  

The Campos team was then under no pressure to bring back the break, since they had a strong rider represented in it (Jane).  

So it was left to others such as Liz (Riders Morningside), Jemma (Holden) and Rachel (Koiled Tineli) to do lots of work on the front. 

Similar to week 2, the break only just got caught before the finish of the race.  Jess (Total Rush) sensed this early and counterattacked her break companions with about 2 laps to go.  Jess was then out solo for about a lap with the bunch chasing.  Jazzy (Campos) tried to jump across to Jess with about one lap to go, and although she gapped the bunch, she couldn’t quite reach Jess in time.  

Hence Jess soloed to the line for a well deserved win, with Jazzy second and Louise (Campos) winning the bunch kick for third.  Jemma (Holden) finished safely in the bunch to retain her overall lead and win the series for 2014.  Thanks to Pete Dunlop for the photos from this round.

Aggressive women's racing... good to see!

Round two of Logan Cycling Club's summer criterium series was held on March 16th.

I think this was definitely the most assertive women's race I've been in for quite a while, with numerous attacks off the front.

Although many ladies got a few meters away from the bunch, most of the time they were left hanging out there for just a lap or two, and then reeled in again before the next attack would go.

With two primes, plus the final sprint to contest as well, it made for some tired legs by the end of the race.  Not long after the second prime, Cassie (Specialized Securitor) and Kirsten (KPCC) got away, and with two laps to go, this was looking rather dangerous.

Campos had the numbers in this race, and hence they were forced to get on the front and chase (especially without a team member in the break).

In a very tight finish, Kirsten and Cassie were pretty much caught on the line by the chasing bunch.  Jemma (Holden) demonstrated another awesome sprint to finish first, with Liz (Morningside) and Jane (Campos) incredibly close behind.

Cassie held on for fourth, with myself managing fifth.  I think we're all hoping the rain stays away this weekend for the final round this Sunday.    

Photos from this round by Sean Dench and Pete Dunlop.  Thanks guys!

A metre matters

The first round of the Logan Cycling Club's annual summer criterium series was held on Sunday. Overshadowing the event this year was the very recent passing of young cyclist Mardi Bartlett.  Although I didn't personally know her very well, many cyclists in the local Brisbane area did know her, and if certain things hadn't happened, she was due to be racing with us women on Sunday.
I have never shed tears before a criterium event, but Sunday was different.  The minute silence before our race was a very poignant moment, and an important time to reflect on how precious life is, and how much we should not take it for granted.

Mardi Bartlett's death was unnecessary and tragic.  However, hopefully it has helped to bring lots of people together, and raise more awareness about cyclist safety.
I feel a bit guilty about seeming some what insensitive and following this up with a relatively trivial race report. Having said that, from what Holly has indicated, I think Mardi was a person who loved life and cycling, and would have liked to see her friends race well in her memory.

This year the women's Campos team has strengthened their numbers with 3 new recruits (Jess L, Jane W, Jahna H), in addition to Jazzy, Judy Lou and Corissa.
In this first race of the series, we also had representatives from teams such as Lifecycle, Specialized Securitor, Holden, Total Rush, KP and Bicycle Riders Morningside. Add in NRS women's winner for 2013 (now AIS) Kat Garfoot, and the race was sure to be interesting.

Quite a few early breaks were initiated by various women, but about half way through the race Kat, Jemma, Liz and Jazzy created the final break of the day.  Towards the end of the race, Liz's hard work in the first few breaks of the day took its toll and she couldn't hang on any longer.
That left Kat, Jemma and Jazzy to battle it out for the top three places.

On the last lap, Kat put in a powerful attack to gap the other two, and win comfortably.  This also put her in the leader's jersey for round two (in 2 week's time).

Photos thanks to ESI, Bruce Wilson and Holly G.

Sizzling races

Well race #2 at Crestmead certainly lived up to its name on Sunday.

It was a sizzling hot day... and the pace of all the races was pretty damn hot too!
I really enjoyed this series last year, but I believe that this year Logan Cycling Club have really done an even more superb job in their organisation of the race and facilities.

Looking forward to an even tougher race this coming weekend!