Joe Lewis 4th in Aust U23 Road Race.

[Boostland]

It's a bit late but watching the nationals on SBS today I spied Joe crossing the line in 4th place narrowly missing out on a medal in a sprint finish in a tough road race.

Congratulations Joe on a good result in a class field.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/scody-australian-open-road-championships-cn/under-23-mens-road-race/results


Michael Matthews (right) of Jayco/Skins completes the trifecta as he pulls a mono on the line ahead of Drapac Porsche's Joseph Lewis.



Joseph Lewis (Drapac Porsche) was surrounded by Jayco/Skins riders in the lead group during the closing laps of the men's under 23 road race.

[The Ferret]

Boosty,

I watched the race son. It's not as good as 1st, 2nd or 3rd. But then again, no one remembers Weapon won state medals as a member of HD, Dave Perry won national medals as a member of HD, Anthony Chapman won national medals as a member of HD, Nigel Perry won the Grafton-Inverell as a member of HD, Craig Chapman won a stage of the Commonwealth Bank Classic as a member of HD, Dave Perry ran 4th overall in the Commonwealth Bank Classic as a member of HD and my training buddy Stog won a Tattersall's Cup race as a member of HD. KOCC just poach them. Shalom

Your friend

The Ferret

[Metro Commuter]

Ferret, or is it "Choker",

Lots of HDCC history spoken about.  Not sure anyone forgets the achievements of those you name nor currently cares about the dumb HDCC/KOCC banter.  It is nonsense like that which holds back positive things like merger - I am sure the HDCC hierarchy wish you would just shut the hell up about this nonsense.

FWIW, and you raised the Stoj poaching allegation previously, it is demonstrably false to assert KOCC paid to have Stoj transfer to KOCC.  The financial records, and its then Treasurer Wayne Swan, confirm this. What may have happened was individual members of KOCC, pursuing a rather purile pointscoring with membership, paid for Stoj to transfer.  I do not agree with that.

MC

[The Ferret]

Metor,

I was not asserting Peter Costello (he would now be called Wayne Swan) cooked the books. I concur that third party agreements within KOCC facilitated the transfer manoevre. Actually, aside from Olivia, Joe Lewis is the only decent rider KOCC has produced. Shalom

Your friend

The Ferret

[Metro Commuter]

Patrick Kilmurray?

Again, your head up your backside my club is better than your club is the sole reason we are in the stupid position of two clubs in the first place - clubs that have perhaps 350 registered and 200 actives racers between them.

In any event, as discussed with your club's sensible handicapper the other day, the focus for both clubs should not be the elite of the elite - who seem to be your preoccupation as well as the numpties in my own club who think it is sensible to pay their own money to poach members of other clubs - but on improving the club racing for all.  If genuine talent is identified then that is a positive, but the low quality of our local racing is apparent whenever HDCC or KOCC go away to Opens - sure, you get the stars like Steve, Rob, iLovell, Paddy and Gai doing well, but the balance struggle, and the reason is our local racing is not all that competitive compared with Sydney, Canberra or Melbourne.

[Metro Commuter]

Ferret,

...and one more thing,  people move between clubs for all sorts of reasons.  For some it might be the lure of potentially more coaching or financial support, or it might be they disagreed with things the club they had trasnferred from had done, or they have a conflict with officials at their old club (hello Turtle - what an absolutely dumb dumb move by some on the HDCC Committe, BTW - Turtle was an ideas man and a hard worker), or they simply want to change because they find they have more friends at the new club.  Lots of reasons.

When people do change for something as petty as money, you have see that they might not have the "heart on my sleeve" loyalty that you have for HDCC, and Felix has for KOCC.  Those people might be seen by some to be disloyal, or they might be seen as simply consumers looking for the best "fit" that suits them, and if it is price then it is price. 

Got to move on from this "we started in a car boot" and "we are better than them" mentality.  It is interesting to note history, and those that did those hard years setting up each club deserve recognition (which most of them have, as Life Members of each of the two premiere clubs), but those antiquated tribal views are holding us back when we need to be driving forward.

Shalom indeed.

MC

 

[hilljockey]

our local racing is not all that competitive

Maybe because there are soft options?

Kooragang is way easier than Black Hill and it has been said that lots of riders, particularly in the lower grades, prefer the former for that reason.

Also, the crit course has had a few different configurations, the square in use being adopted because allegedly the higher grade riders thought the others were too hard.

So, local racing appears to be not very hard because it does not have to be.

Would one club make it easier to get people onto harder courses?  The crit circuit could be "toughened up" with perhaps less fear of losing a few punters...

[key]

well said metro...

[Metro Commuter]

HillBillie, the great father of talent,

Spot on.

Kooragang, and the squoval at SR, are really good at getting people racing - you do not need great skill or great fitness or good tactics to have a decent race.  So they are great "feeders" in to the sport.

BH, and the Mick Chapman preferred versions of Steel River, are moderately harder courses in terms of requiring tactics, skill and fitness.  Some people simply will not want to race at them.  So they are not good feeder courses but they do present better racing for the "better" riders.

There are harder courses than BH.  We need to have the odd harder race, to remind us what we might face when we have a rush of blood and think we might place at an Open or State Masters race.

HDCC, IMRO, dropped the ball by hosting crits on other than the squoval course. Prior to the use of Mick's alternate courses there were great numbers and racing was fast and interesting - most people finished most of the race.  It was all high HR racing. When Mick had his way and the witches hats came out, numbers dropped.  Those courses significantly disadvantaged larger riders, and favoured the lighter riders.  One very large A grader vowed never to return after he was dropped after one or two laps - and he was a guy who was a strong A grader on the squoval course.  He has not returned, as far as I am aware. So it is not just that the witches hat courses were harder - it was that they were much harder for some riders than others.

One club might be able to balance the needs of all riders a bit better, and if appropriate ramp up the demands of racing for appropriate grades. The "one" club should, IMO, have a race committee comprised of people from all grades.  I would guess F grade has little interest in competing away or racing at BH, and the club would be silly to force them to do so.  But A, B and possibly C grade  might want a varied program that will assist in racing when away, and "one club" could manage that better not so much by removing choice but by providing racing that is determined by the needs of the grade rather than, at present, the different focuses that HDCC and KOCC currently have.

[Metro Commuter]

to continue - anyone else hate the way longer posts disappear and you can not see what you type...

Grading. With one club you should have a single grading system.  This is not a dig at Brett/Masso or Paul/Lee - all do a fine job.  But it irks me that at present a person has to earn their way up in each club (and part of that is rooted in a notion by some at HDCC that a B grader at KOCC is not equal to a B grader at HDCC, which while I think might be true in a few isolated examples is not true as a general proposition), and that of itself influences where a person races. I doubt few riders who have raced hard to earn a grade promotion welcome having to race back a grade and earn their way up again, especially when it takes at best 3 weeks to do so, and so most will tend to race where they are in the higher grade, all other factors being equal.

Anything else?  With one club, with combined resources, I could see how the purchase of electronic timing bands could be done.  Now that is important for three reasons.  Firstly it lets those TT fiends to get their uber expensive rigs out more often.  Secondly, it might encourage those women and kids fearful of bunch racing to have a go at a form of racing.  Thirdly, it would allow the club to run time trial events that triatheletes could participate in.  The second and third reasons have the potential to dramatically increase the number of people who race.

[Masso]

Metro wordsmith

work must be slow at the moment ?

I have the  HDCC honor of being in more re-grades ( 23 at last count) than anyone else, and i ride very hard to be demoted at time and take great delight in embarasing the supreme handicapper. Don't know wich grade i am in for KOCC may find out on Saturday Crits.

[Metro Commuter]

I have been off work for the past week - a case of ships larger than one sees when the person who has agreed to Commissaire, and some guy from C grade has to do it instead of racing on the same day some dcikwad crashed in to his 3 week old car...

[hilljockey]

Whoa!  Did TTK get your login details Metro? 

[Metro Commuter]

ha ha. He wishes he was me - then he might be able to sprint to some degree and look good in lycra

[The Ferret]

Hilljockey,

Quite the contrary son. Metro wishes he was TTK so that he could fit inside TTK's old Combo van. Alas, he can't, but he has probably eaten one!!

Your friend

The Ferret