Ground Control reports-

There was a traditional navagation device seen this morning on the Ground Control Track.....

Looks to be a compass set inside a bell 'ding ding'
I might get rid of the GPS to get one of these.....

When your mega awesome Ay-Ups are not in use, why not do what MaxR has done and put a small stick in the mount...... Everybody's doing it this season.!

Nothing beats a ride that involves alot of standing around talking........

We miss you LazyRay.

Good to see Area 54 today.......

MTB rider of the week goes to rich who is seen often on a MTB around the southside......

Thanks for the ride.

Gold Coast- Daniel Bennett Development Fund Criterium

In the Gold Coast rotation, if there is a 5th Sunday of the month the racing is at Arundel for a charity event to benifit the Daniel Bennett Development Fund. First off is the juniors for some inspiring racing!


They might look small, but there is alot of heart in this bunch!

Attack of the day goes to this unidentified Balmoral Junior rider.

In the 'B' grade race, the plan was to attack often and get in as many breaks as possible, I am a virtual unknown on the Coast, so there were a few puzzled looks from the regulars........ Who is he? Should we let him go?

Athens Gold Medalist Sara Carrigan was seen racing today, you never know which big name riders you will see on the rotation. Somedays it is McEwen and Gates, other times it might be Clark or Cantwell.

There was a great tailwind on the back straight, good spot to splinter the group again.

If at first you fail, try try, and try again.

Ride of the week goes to Sharon Heap for doing a huge amount of work in her group. Rumour has it that she will contest the MTB National round in Adelaide early next year...

Faces contorted in pain were a common sight today, there were many small gaps that needed closing.

Bike of the day goes to J Cantwell's Parlee. Rumour has it that he had to borrow a back wheel for the race.......

Photojournalist of the day goes to the 'Papparazzi on the scene' who's identity remains a mystery.

This is the 'A' grade break that was won in the end by J Cantwell, seen here on 2nd wheel.

It was a great turnout, the racing was hard. All prize money today was donated to the Daniel Bennett Development Fund....

Thanks to all for a great mornings racing in paradise.

HPRH Nundah points race 28/11/09

Spectators came from far and wide to be at the very first Hamilton Points Race. All eyes were glued to the track as the 'A' graders rode off.


It was breakaways from the start as the 'A' graders took to the track, There was a good contingent of TriplePlay, Hamilton, Data3, and Coyote teams. The format was simple, 1 point for the winner of EACH lap, and points down to 5th place for the final lap. This format ensured a very high pace. The pace of the peloton was generally more consistant and there was a constant stream of small breaks that would sprint for the lap against each other, then fade away. There was no reward for second place in a lap sprint.

Shane O'Brien takes the very first sprint of the new series ahead of an unidentified Merida Team member.....

The 'C' grade was on the track at the same time, and there was an unfortunate crash. The Ambulance was called and entered the track with 10 mins to go. The 'A' grade was stopped and the final sprints cancelled. There were a few racers who were heard to say- "What the?"

Next up was the large and attack happy 'B' grade bunch.The pace was pretty high for the entire event. The sprints were well contested every lap. There were some unknown faces who really did well today. The attacking was constant, and a large number of small breaks were seen to grab a few laps of glory before fading to the back only to be overtaken by muliple fresh attacks.

Hats off to the Hamilton club for the format. Sprinting every lap makes for a very hard race.

There was no shortage of riders to do the hard work today. The pace was very constant, the average for the race was just shy of 43kph.........

After a spell of rest and recovery, its time to head to the front to put in a move or 3.

Sometimes it takes a few laps to move up to the front, other times it is done over 200m. The hope is that when I get near the front some strong guys will attack while the main bunch slows down a little bit.

I was surprised to get a few points today, I just wanted to attack hard.........honest.

Bike of the week- Spotted at Nundah today was this fine Trek 470 roadie, Rumour has it that the bike was just bought by a German rider who has just arrived in Brisbane. He was overheard to say "I have never seen a course with curves, in Germany, we have only 90 degree bends"

SUMMER POINTS RACE SAT 28/11/09 NUNDAH

A Grade

1 Shaun O’Brien Ffast

2 Chris Williams BCRI

3 Tony Lackey HPRW

4 ---

5 ---

B Grade

1 Carl Rayner HPRW

2 Rob Oshlack HPRW

3 Neil Smith HPRW

4 Ian Collins Ffast

5 Aaron Pickett-Heaps HPRW

C Grade

1 Tony Sinclair HPRW

2 Tony Delisser HPRW

3 Todd Milner BCRI

4 Mark Currey KP

5 Alan Grant HPRW

D Grade

1 Des Shutkowski HPRW

2 Jack McCarthy HPRW

3 Tom McIndoe Duttons

4 Ron Hanfling HPRW

5 Karen Forster SCCC

E Grade

1 Roger Bower HPRW

2 Clara O’Brien HPRW

3 Issac Lenton HPRW

4 Bob McIntyre HPRW

Till next time, Enjoy the ride! Your ride!

Upcoming Events- MTB Club XC- NRG Dec 6

Come out and enjoy some good, honest, down to earth Australian club racing.
Sunday December 6, 2009




According to those in the know the XC track at Walloon is bedding in quite well, and that is good because there is another XC race organised for 6 December.


The event is open to any MTBA club members.


7:30am rego for an 8:00am start.


To get to the track you head west of Ipswich on the Warrego Highway untill you get to the Haigslea-Amberly Road. go left here then look for the property on the left as you head towards Walloon. Rumour has it that some big gun XC types have got lost trying to find the race in the past.





There are also rumours about the return of the Pullenvale Rampage for 2009.


Sounds like a good day of Sunday XC racing.


Look out for the appearance of some of Brisbane's fastest junior racers.

Upcoming events- MTB 4-Cross Dec 6

4-Cross Illinbah

Sunday December 6, 2009

Flash Point Productions will be running the 3rd round of the 4-Cross Super Series. The Event is being organised with the Gold coast Mountainbike Club.

The event will be held on private land at Illinbah. The site is well-known in local and national circles for cross country racing, downhill racing and 4-cross racing.The event is also sponsored by the local Canungra Hotel. Rumour has it that the Flash Point Promotions Girls will be handing out flyers for the pub!

Practice will be from 10:30am untill 1:15pm. Racing starts at 2:00pm

MTBA license required.

There are also requirements for your bike, your bike MUST have 2 of the following 3 characteristics.

-26"" wheels front and rear

-Functional front suspension

-More than one working rear gear.

If 4X racing is your forte, then come out to race hard!
If you are keen on seeing some very talented cyclists in action, it is a good day out.

Remember, post race drinks at the pub in Canungra are mandatory!

'Battle of Brisbane' 67th Anniversary-

Today is a The anniversary of a significant event in Brisbane history.
The Battle of Brisbane.
I struggle and fail to find any connection with cycling.

The year was 1942 and The US military had a huge presence in the city as it was the Headquarters of the South Pacific under direction of supreme allied Commander General Douglas MacArthur. The Australians and the Americans generally got along well. The Americans were higher paid and became resented for various reasons including the attention they gave to the local women. There was a saying regarding the visitors- "They're overpaid, oversexed, and over here."
The event took place on Nov. 26-27, 1942 and started ironically on Thanksgiving Day
According to one particular historian a US Private was drunk and walking to the next watering hole on Creek and Adelaide St's.. He had stopped to talk to 3 Australians when an American MP asked for his leave pass, while looking for his pass the MP arrested him. The Australians stuck up for their new found Yankee mate and verbally attacked the American MP. When the MP raised his baton he was promptly bashed. The next MP's to arrive on the scene were immediately outnumbered and retreated to the service Club. By 8pm there were an estimated 5,000 people in the disturbance. By 10 pm the crowd had dispersed and the club was ruined. One war corespondent has said

"The most furious battle I ever saw during the war was that night in Brisbane.
It was like a civil war."
U.S. Army Sergeant Bill Bentson who was present on
both nights recalled how he was amazed to see "Americans flying up in the air".
“ But after that, it sort of settled down and you go into a pub and an Aussie
would come and up and slap me on the back. "Oh, wasn't that a good ruckus we had
the other night? And have a beer on me."

In the aftermath any reports of the event were heavily censored. even the Courier Mail only gave scant details of the mayhem. US servicemen had their mail censored to remove all mention.
So the next time someone complains about drunken schoolies becoming violent, I can say- "That's nothing........ this one time.....!"
Cultural background article

Rider of the week....

Rider of the week goes to Danny Clark(CATS), who was seen racing in the Masters A group at the Darren Smith Cycle Classic last Sunday. Danny rode very strongly to finish second to Mark Brady (CATS)......Full results HERE
Post race interview HERE


Photo Credit- Cycle Sport News........ Copyright- Peter Ford (CSN)
Danny would have to one of the most accomplished racers to ever represent Australia overseas.
he specialized in track racing, six-day racing in particular. Danny holds the number 2 spot for the highest number of wins. ever....! There is a very interesting summary of six-day racing HERE
Can you imagine how good it would be to watch cycle racing while drinking the night away and watching cabaret shows........ lets go!

Danny Clark Takes another win. Danny raced professionally from 1974 to 1997 winning 5 rainbow jerseys as world champion. Danny won the first 2 editions of the famous 'Athens Twilight Criterium' in 1980 and 1981. The criteriums were the return of night racing to American cycle racing after many years of absence. The following is a clip of Danny's brilliant 1981 win over America's fastest crit racers. The clip starts with a few laps to go and Clark has made his move off the front. He had just bridged across to a 2 man move containing Leonard Nitz (USA) and Alan McCormack (IRE). In the video he can be seen jumping away from these 2 towards the end. Brilliant stuff!

How about some technology of the day? Ahhh the memories!