Wednesday, May 25, 2011

This is what you came for...

TDR sighted at Lysterfield MTB Park testing the latest SS CX beater builds. Gravesy and the Slypig fired up the Pony Express and dished out a few lessons to the mountainbike community about how to climb, descend and generally look dope. Good work lads.

DDCX - Prologue coming up soon. Harrison Street Velodrome under lights. Going to be epic.


















BCC track tuesday... the return!

After a bit of a hiatus, TDR ventured back into the DISC cauldron for a night of track racing.
With Duggans promotion to B, Watson stepped up in C grade to post a string of strong results. 1st in th epoints, 2nd in the motorpace and 2nd in the most exciting race of the night, C grade elimination. Which saw a fast finishing Perrin making up 4 lengths in the last 100m!
Duggan came out of the blocks strongly in the opening B grade points to take out the first two sprints sealing the win. Palfensa stayed out of games going on in the pack during the elimination to take the win. Strong ride in the 80 lap A+B motor pace from both riders. Duggan almost going the distance pulling out with 5 laps to go and Palfensa hanging on till the end to get 2nd in B grade by default.
Great night of racing.
Duggan (B) - 1st points
Palfensa (B) - 1st elimination, 2nd motorpace
Watson (C) - 1st points, 2nd elimination, 2nd motorpace

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Race Report - If at first you don't succeed.....

14/05/2011 - Northern Combine Race 3: Italo Trophy Race

The third race of the Northern Combine calendar saw TDR venture out to Newham for the Italo trophy race. The weather was both windy and cold but fortunately dry, and with an uphill sprint, the conditions seemed ripe for a breakaway or a punchy climber to succeed. D grade riders raced over 60 km with two laps and C grade was a 90 km race over three laps.

The racing in C was timid at first with small 4 rider abreast echelons forming. One rider who had prior knowledge of the course chanced his arm on an early breakaway but with the peloton keeping the him in check he was left to dangle for a few km's before getting slowly reeled in. With the first lap down the fireworks started.

On having seen what the course had to offer, Palfensa took the initiative, quickening the pace of the front bunch, and causing a minor split in the field. Duggan, sitting around mid pack was almost caught out by the move managing to bridge the gap but bringing extra riders with him. As the bunch came back together after a few km's, Palfensa launched a solo attack up hill (some would say suicidal with a further 50 km remaining to race). Successful in gaining some latitude from the bunch he began the painful task of consolidating the break. The bunch reacted, and began working to reel him in slowly. When the break appeared lost, Palfensa tried again up another hill, but the peloton seemed content to let him dangle and eventually, after an audacious attempt, Palfensa came back to the fold.

Things quietened down for the remainder of the race with one potentially dangerous attack by a group of three quickly shut down. Duggan, experiencing mechanical issues was forced to abandon. As the bunch reached the penultimate corner into a block headwind an attack was made, Palfensa sitting on 2nd wheel quickly countered but felt the twang of cramp occur. Sure enough after a few moments, another attack was forthcoming leaving Palfensa and his cramps slinking back to 12 wheel.

As the attack exploded the bunch rounded the last corner together. In the sprint, Palfensa kicked, cramping and getting 5th place.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Race Report - Awww c'mon... Just let me go...

07/05/2011 - Northern Combine Race 2: Calder Park Teams Race 


TDR headed out to the hallowed bogan grounds at Calder Raceway to partake in the Tom Probert Teams support race. Kermesse format with D'alfonso and Duggan both promoting themselves to C grade. 20 laps of the raceway with sprints every 5 laps for points and Sprint King award.

Things got under way at a fairly leisurely pace. The first sprint was completed with D'alfonso taking it out after sitting on a good wheel that attacked from the peloton. In the post-sprint chaos, Duggan attacked up the hill on the back straight and got some distance on the chasing bunch before being swallowed up. The significant headwind and tailwind on the largely hot-dog circuit was going to make it tough for anything to get away.

Numerous attacks were attempted with little success including two from D'alfonso and others. These were chased down almost immediately and the bunch continued to surge towards the sprints. D'alfonso picked up the 3rd sprint for points putting him in a strong position for that award overall.

Final lap and Duggan had a good wheel in about 4th coming into the final corner. D'alfonso made a move around the outside and gained a few lengths on the peloton. Duggan quickly jumped across and with the yell of "BURY IT!" the leadout proceeded. Duggan went early and managed to pace into 2nd, backing off mid-sprint momentarily to reduce the chance of the win and subsequent promotion. D'alfonso finished mid-pack after giving a strong lead-out, wrapping up the Sprint King competition.

Watson and Co. had a very solid race in D grade, taking out the win. A good hit-out prior to the Geelong Tour this weekend.    

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Race Report - Up, up and over!

30/04/2011 - Northern Combine Race 1: Pastoria Scratch

Well it was a cracking day for racing at Kyneton for the first road race of the season for TDR. Met by sunshine and light winds, the nerves settled after signing in and we rolled out to the start. A big turnout meant that D grade was split into two fields with about 30 riders in each.

After receiving race instructions we set out in two straight lines and a cracking pace of 22 km/h. What seemed like a vast number newbies in the peloton made it difficult to find a good (safe) wheel to sit on. After fighting through the field, TDR moved to the front to ensure they were involved in anything that went. Just to show the peloton how confident he was of the win, D'alfonso dropped his bidon in the first 5 kilometres, inundating Duggan who was on his wheel in watered-down coke.

The peloton held together right up until the first ascent of the largest climb of the day. D'alfonso and Duggan had made their way to the front of the group to assess who was strong. The pressure was brought on slowly by a few riders although the pace wasn't blistering. As the front group crested, it became apparent that most of the bunch had been put under a significant amount of pressure. About 15 riders were away including D'alfonso and Duggan. Watson made the unfortunate mistake of holding a bad wheel for a little too long on the climb, and consequently got caught in no-man's-land in between the bunch and the break. He would spend the remainder of the race here time-trialling to the finish. A super strong ride!

Another lap around and a similar result on the climb. A few more were popped out the back, with the TDR boys looking like some of the stronger riders. A quick mid-peloton conference had a plan set out with D'alfonso to do less pace-making work and rest for a big effort on the final climb, with Duggan to pull turns but hope for a bunch sprint with a lead-out from D'alfonso if he was able to get over with the climbers.
















Final lap was a little more eventful with a few accelerations and some chit-chat between the break riders, some unsuccessfully trying to convince others to do some work. Duggan led the group to the final climb riding tempo, hoping that the attacks wouldn't come until later up the hill. Three riders went up the road including a rider who hadn't seen the front of the group all day and D'alfonso who was looking strong. Three became two as one of the riders was shelled about 100 metres from the crest, with Duggan not far behind.

D'alfonso rode an extremely smart finish, allowing the other rider to expend all of his energy trying to create a break on the summit and riding in the wind whilst D'alfonso sat on and waited. With 2 km to go D'alfonso kicked hard and opened up a break of about 30 m, holding the gap to the line time to take the win. Duggan ran out of road and got 4th after chasing hard. Watson placed about 8th with a super strong ride, averaging the same speed as riders in the break!

Looking forward to the criteriums at Calder Park this week!