Racing Reports » 6am-ers Cycling

6am-ers take on the Melbourne to Warnambool Classic

Oct 302011

6am-er Gus Gollings keeping an eye out for his support crew in the feed zone

The bright yellow and blue of the 6am-ers was prominant yesterday on the start line of the Melbourne to Warnambool Cycling Classic. Five 6am-ers took on the big race this year and for all of them, it was a long hard lead-up to the event.

The ‘Warny‘, at 262 kilometres distance, is not a race you go into under-done. Good preparation in endurance and intensity is required and that means long hours of training right through the middle of the long Melbourne winter.

Crash Test (support), Foggy, Duke, Gus, El Mantses, Big Horn (support), Diesel and Boris (taking picture!)

Our participants this year were:

Brad Fogg (The Mist, Foggy)
Gus Gollings (Auto)
Brad James (El Mantses)
Wayne Flint (The Duke)
Richard Read (Diesel)

All getting towards middle-age (sorry if I offend any of you), and all with busy jobs, busy homes and numerous children. Anyone who can maintain such a lifestyle and still do the Warny is doing something right.

Big Horn and Crash Test - supporting the team

Our 6am-er team was supported by a super-crew consisting of Brenton Kaitler (Big Horn), Andrew Prestage (Crash Test) and Mick Ritchie (Boris). Special thanks from the team to these guys because without them committing their time to helping us through this race, it would not be completed. The 6am-er jersey on the broom held high was a God-send this year and very identifiable amonst the miriad of people, jerseys and umbrellas in the feed zones with everyone trying to stand out of the crowd.

Each of the team had a unique experience. All I’m sure will remember the day fondly, despite the blood, sweat and tears which were shed on the day… along with the experience of much pain!

El Mantses finished strongly in 88th position,
Gus followed up not far behing in 115th (Gus’s descriptions of his race here),
Foggy, through absolute grit and determination, rolled over the finish line in 132nd (tough bloke award for the day goes to this bloke), and
Diesel and The Duke didn’t finish but both had absolutely fantastic races. (Read Diesel’s description of his race here)

It was great representation for the team and as mentioned above, a prominant display of our brand throughout the whole day. We were a significant presence for a bunch of relatively old blokes! (that’s relative to all those kids in the bunch… no wonder it’s hard)

“There is no better team”

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Sep 262011

It is with great fanfare that our newest Champion, Brad “elmanetes” James shares his story in his own words.

On the 25th of September Blackburn Cycling Club held the Damian McDonald memorial road race at Eildon Victoria. The main race was held over 100km through picturesque country side consisting of various loops of the Eildon area. The main group was made up of Elite Men, U19, U23′s and Masters 123. Wayne (Duke), Jeff (2laps), Brenton (bighorn), Gus (Auto) and myself were competing in the Masters 123 category. The race plan was simply “go for the Masters 123 Championship”. With the plan intact we had riders present at the head of the bunch covering and protecting myself to conserve as much energy as possible. At the 55km mark the race went into overdrive, the Skyline climb was upon us. Cam Parleviet (U19) and myself hit the climb first in the effort to gain some valuable seconds before the Elite riders got to us. The pace was fierce and the large bunch was split into fragments. The climb was really tough, and I was not going as well as I would have liked. Jeff, Brenton and Duke surrounded me and helped me all the way to the top. Brenton provided us with superb bike handling skills by heading off road into the grass going up hill. Certainly made the riders around us laugh. Once on the descent Jeff and I went for it, going as hard as we could to catch the Duke. We knew Brenton would be OK 200m back because he drops like a stone going downhill. We were soon a group of four fast rolling 6amers. The Duke brought out the big guns for what felt like 5mins and nearly put us all into Cardiac arrest. Once composed we rounded up many riders and disposed of them just as quick. With 20km to go, Dukes legs were about to dislocate and my head was going to come clean off with this level of intensity. I new that if we rounded in as many riders as possible I stood a chance for the Championship and we insisted on our race motto “NEVER GIVE UP”! With 2km to go Jeff hit the front for one last exhaustive effort, then it was on for Duke and I. Duke dropped the hammer and gave it 110%, then it was my turn to complete the day. Hitting the front after the final bend I gave it my all for the line. A couple of guys pipped me for the line but I was completely satisfied I did all I could.

My first Club Masters 123 Championship.

The team was extraordinary on this day. For these guys to sacrifice there own ambitions for me, I am eternally grateful and humbled. We trained for it, we planned for it, we had the team for it and we executed the result.
I will never forget what my Team mates did for me on this day.

Brad James (6amers Cycling Team)

There is no better Team!

Auto, Duke, elmanetes, bighorn and 2laps (acting as team photographer)

The “Rat” 2011

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Jul 252011

What’s this you ask, well it’s the affectionate name given to CV’s Melbourne to Ballarat Handicap.

The Duke, Elmanetes and Lumpy headed west for the yearly assault on the Western Hwy to Ballarat. Beautiful conditions greeted the team with a light tail wind and dry roads. With a large presence of Police escorts at the McDonalds counter it was sure to be safe along the busy Western Hwy race route.
Cam (Lumpy) headed off first in the 18min group shortly followed by Brad (Elmanetes) and Wayne (The Duke) off 15min. The pace was on from the gun with speeds in the high forties & often dipping into the low fifty km/h range for the first third of the race.

The Pentland Hills was the first major challenge and it didn’t disappoint, Brad’s & The Duke’s 15min bunch was completely strung out and split into fragments with only 8 or so riders making the selection over the climb. The Duke and Elmanetes were able to form a group with some other 15min bunch riders that were detached and progressed rolling strong turns until the 12min group caught them around the 60km mark. At this point both had no further problems & continued to power all the way to Ballarat.

The outright winner Shannon Johnson (Preston CC) came form Lumpy’s 18min group which was a superb effort. While The Duke and Elmanetes finished well with the 12min bunch at 2:25 minutes behind the leaders. Fastest time went to Genesys Wealth Advisers Steele Von Hoff (Chelsea & Peninsula CC) with a time of 2:08:44 but close to 5mins behind line honours.

However the 6am-ers presence in the event was tarnished by a heavy fall to Lumpy which occurred around half race distance. The five rider crash was in a fast section of the course with Lumpy reporting his Garmin registered 45.7km/h at the time of the incident so damage to bike and body was inevitable. Cam was transported to Ballarat Base Hospital with suspected neck injuries.
The team caught up with Cam later at the Hospital where he was checked out with flying colours which was a huge relief to us all. Cam we wish you a speedy recovery and we are here ready to support you on your return.

Also thankyou to Alistair Ferrier who was our support driver & team photographer for the day, his assistance for this one day classic was very much appreciated.