Tuesday morning was a hot, blustery drive across.  Left about 5.30am and found my place at the Glenelg Backpackers just after lunch.  Didn’t get a chance for a roll on Tuesday afternoon as it was a tad warm (had been 42 that day) so it was a fairly gentle start to the week. 

Caught up with the Shaws, Mrs Shaws and junior Shaws in the caravan park and I think we visited the Tour Village that afternoon (well it was Tuesday or Wednesday, can’t remember now!!)

Wednesday was a cracker!  We started with a roll out of town to Norton Summit where we soon found it was too windy to go chasing Wade Wallace’s 100 euros for any rider to crack 12 mins!  Mick said he could’ve done it but his gear lever wasn’t working properly to select the big chainy.  Absolutely stunning rolling section across Basket Range where Cam Hunter turned back to meet his family.  Continued the roll up to Lobethal for a great brekkie with 62,382 other riders before watching the start. 

Met up with Ange and Drew here then rolled down to Stirling to grab a spot to watch the pro’s come past a total of 4(!) times!  The Shaw’s had family commitments for lunch but met up with us soon after.  Following the completion of the race we did the first of our rides back with the pro’s!  This is such a highlight and we linked on to the World’s Fastest Bike Path for a 300+ rider descent down Eagle on the Hill.  We reached the bottom only to find it VERY difficult to cross the freeway.  That is until one of the Katusha boys decided to walk out on to the road and just stop traffic!  Across we all went then rolled into town.  Well, sort of…  We got into town to find a group of guys who’d come over were cruising round on scooters!  They were offering to motorpace anyone who wanted a lift, so we rolled up to about 57kph (no-one except 6amers could hang on) before I launched the obligatory sprint off the back hehehehe.

Thursday, well, another cracker!  We did a loop out with the Shaws, Jonesy and Cam through some new hills we’d not ridden before around Vista, Houghton, Inglewood and Milbrook.  We then had the absolutely cracking ride thru Chain of Ponds and down the Gorge Rd where it was attack after attack on the rolling descent.  Cruised back into Adelaide for the start of Stage 3 at Unley.  Shawry had a good chat to the editor of Ride Magazine and again we got up close and personal with the pro’s, including Jens! 

Thursday afternoon was spent on the beach, glorious 31 degree day and having repeated attempts at the Shaws beach obstacle course.  Mick really struggled but his daughter Dee used her hurdling skills to smash him.  We did ‘sand dune’ repeats and 100m sprints (or was this the previous day? Can’t remember!!) and again Mick just couldn’t get his legs working, probably still hurting after the attacks on Gorge Rd!  Jonesy’s bike copped a good wash, even removing the chainrings!  Mick and I contemplated not fitting the small chainy back on but Jonesy caught us in time.

Friday and the other boys all had a family day.  I joined the Rapha crew (and about 150 others) for a ride out to Stage 4.  We climbed thru the Gorge where the first real selection happened!  Wow there were riders of all abilities here!!!  The Bupa Challenge was on this day also and we were relieved to find they had massively over catered, so grabbed a load of bananas, cake, powerade etc.  Also saw a familiar face in Steve Martin who made the last minute decision to come.  We saw the intermediate sprint then rode – FAST – to get to the top of Menglers Hill for the KOM.  Solid 95k to get here meant there was 95 to go!  Had a couple of stops on the way back including the Bupa tent again for more bananas and cake, then at the Cuddle Creek pub where a few of the boys had an ale or two, before the smashfest down the Gorge!  Rolled into town with 190k on the clock.

Saturday was the Queen Stage of the race – Willunga Hill!  And what a day!  The 6amer contingent joined in with the Rapha crew for the roll down to Willunga, via every 13% climb Norwood CC could throw at us.  We climbed the 9k bike path up the Eagle on the Hill where the field was absolutely decimated!  Shawry, Cam and I rode up near the front and this time Mick said he’d been caught at a traffic light.  Think he was stuck in the 55/10 as well.  With one leg.  There were some rip roaring sections on the way to Willunga including passing the fattest cyclists ever seen, all riding on uber good bikes complete with 808’s!  Fantastic!  One even had a flat tyre and didn’t know it…  Sheesh!  Watched the start from McLaren Vale then rolled down to Willunga with about 683,246 spectators lining the roads. 

We then had the Rapha moto scooter lead us up Willunga Hill as a group.  Pulled into our vantage point about 100m before the finish and just relished the atmosphere…and the obliteration of the field by Gerro, Valverde and co!  Ride back was once again epic, saw my fastest ever speed of 103kph on the highway descent, then after a quick drink stop we bridged across to Saxobank and Astana for the ride home!  Later that night was hanging out with Steve Martin, Andrew Pike, Wade Wallace, Veeral Patal and some new mates from Townsville (who told us all about their ‘Thursday Morning Worlds’…had us in stitches hearing the epic tales of boys on 808’s racing across the ‘Arenberg Forest section’, putting each other in the gutter etc before work!!!  Finished off by being invited into a club that had a girl:guy ratio of about 90:10 by the owner coz they love cyclists!   

 What a week!!

Last Sunday (15 Jan) about ten of the guys headed out for an initial timed 1:20 followed by a couple of other climbs in the ‘nongs.  Perrins Creek, The Patch and The Crescent all saw some 6am-er action.

This week (22 Jan), a beautiful summer Sunday morning was introduced to us with a magnificent sunrise as we headed toward the ‘nongs.

With a number of 6am-ers still over in Adelaide for the Tour Down Under, a small group of seven of us headed out to Gembrook to do a quick lap around the famous ’2Laps’ race course, enjoy a coffee and Linza Torte in Emerald and then saunter back via The Wall.

________________________________________

Here’s Gilmore’s description of yet another brilliant 6am-ers Sunday ride…

Waking to find that the strong winds of saturday night had abated, as 4 6amers headed out from the meeting point to find 3 more perched on col du deakin, the beginnings of a lampre pink sunrise gave us all a taste of the ripping morning to come.

Early talk amongst the bunch led us to find that we had El Manetes and Lumpy feeling saturdays blackie-track racing in legs while autobus casually commented that he led a bunch down for 2 laps of 2 bays only to lead the bunch all the way back and then complete “lost & found intervals” with his son in the botanic gardens for the afternoon!

The stop for coffee (or something slightly cooler for some) in Emerald saw us bid farewell to El Manetes who, by all reports TTed his way back Burwood in a fashion that would have left Big Horn gasping.  Talk of a visit to the Wall on the way home left Autobus less than thrilled but once onto the climb and beyond 200+ k’s for the weekend, Auto showed true grit to put together a very solid climb.

Big Horn’s next and arguably more significant challenge is to beat Diesel’s time of 6:52 in the 200k Alpine Classic in three weeks time.  As if the Nationals wasn’t enough!

This boy doesn’t aim low.

A great ride was lead by Brenton (Big Horn) which had us cruising through some of the best roads in the ‘nongs.  Thanks Brenton for organising a good and relevant route for riders of all abilities to enjoy.

Often we try to describe why we ride and what we enjoy about it.  Good exercise, great country, excellent friends and fantastic times are some of the reasons.  But nothing describes it better than Brenton does in the following video.  A great production made up of images and video footage of a great day out on the bikes with our mates.

Click play and see some of why we ride…

A selection of photos from some of the guys is set out below. Then under that; an individual account of the weekend by Mad Mike Shaw.

This year the annual 6amers climbing camp was held around the Eildon area. Base camp was the lovely Eildon cabins and the intentions were to get some good ks and vertical in before the Tour of Bright.
Attendees in calve size order were…  Duke, Gus, Foggy, Jeff, Brenton and myself (Mad Mike Shaw).
Jeff and I were up in the hills early Friday walking through rivers spinning for trout. The rivers and scenery in this area are truely spectatcular.  If you havent experienced walking in these remote area rivers then you owe it to yourself to put it on your bucket list.
Back to cycling!…..  Back at base camp Jeff and I met up with Brenton..Horny, and Duke. I had good intentions of just chilling out and maintaining my bike ready for the big 2 days ahead. But no – this is a training camp not a picnic. So off we headed up skyline road at 12/13% for a while. I was thinking to myself whilst behind Duke, here’s a guy who has not long ago competed in the Melbourne to Warny now his getting ready for the TOB… Surely those massive calves of his will be a disadvantage later on Sunday and  he will finally be chasing me for once! High hopes but come on this blokes calves are 20kgs each!
After our little leg spin we headed to the local pub in Thorton.  Nice pub good meals and a nice chilled red was on the menu.
Once back at Eildon we met Gus and racked out for the night.
Saturday morning dawn and it was a beautiful day. Foggy arrived in his rumbling Club sport. Sun block was applied, chains lubed, brakes squeezed, bidons full of electrolyte substances, gels in jersey pockets, sunnys on the helmets, new cleats for some, and all but Jeffs casettes in pristine condition. This day was going to be huge. It included the ride out to Marysville then up to Lake Mountain and return.  Some 160klms and over 2000 vertical.

I found the 1 to 2 % gradual incline to Marysville really sap out the energy in my legs. This Lake Mountain climb is tough.  I knew the first sections were the toughest  and hung on for as long as I could. Duke Jeff and Horny climbed well with Gus and Foggy doing a stirling job Not too far behind with yours truely not having the best of days!!
At one stage I thought of my conversation the night before about how, when on those tough days climbing, you can look at that patch of grass next to you and feel like just falling over and having a nap. It really did cross my mind at 1 point in this climb. With a slight detour back towards skyline road near Eildon on the way home my legs were starting to come alive again and felt ok after a hot day in the saddle.
Once back at camp we sat around a picnic table like little kids tucking into the most wonderfull zupa dopers ever! Then it was up to the lake to strip down and ice the legs…. Now let me tell you… Two of our 6amers seem to think because they have recently been to Europe that short euro bathers are all the fashion. Ok maybe over there in the south of France, but at the Eildon boat ramp? NO. Its footy shorts or boardies.

Then came Gus…. No Euro bathers no boardies no speedos infact no bathers at all! Just his man jocks. Pale blue too. He fitted in a treat.  So here we all were the 6 of us standing in the water cooloing our legs next to the boat ramp. The conversation was one of those great moments in life. Hows the serenity? Smell that? Yep 2stroke. Gold.
Um ok here comes a family with a coupe of teenage girls putting in their boat. What on earth did they think about 6 grown men with smooth legs, some in tight lycra short euro shorts a couple in boardies and a bloke in his undies?
Saturday night saw us book a table for diner in Alexandra.  This pub has 40 parmas on its menu! Fantastic place – you name it and it comes in a parma here. Mine was a spudarama. Basically a parma with mash potato and gravy on top…yummo.
We were starving jeff ordered 2mains, Gus ate about 3mains, Horny got a girly drink, and a massive guy near us was checking that our eyes didnt go anywhere near his girlfriends legs! This guy was the size of 2 diesels!
Home early after  Gus and I tried in vane to get a Guiness on tap. Can you believe that even the shamrock hotel did not serve Guiness on tap! Anyway probably a good thing considering tomorrow, although being a shorter ride- around 130 odd ks is tougher than Lake Mt!
Ok nice little sleep in on Sunday up around 715 this is a training camp after all and thanks to the Eildon Caravan camp had a late check out of basically when ever we want. Fantastic thanks guys.
Sunday was truely one of the most spectacular rides I have ever done. We Went from Eildon across to Jamieson and return. Up and down all day. Beautifull place Jamieson, and a few other cylists in the area from around Mansfield. Once back at camp it was decided we had all earnt a world famous Buxton burger. So before we left back to the real world it was one last stop in Buxton for a magnificent burger!
Some main points on our training camp:

• No real mechanicals. .. A testiment to well maintained gear and no cheap parts.
• No punctures.       Lucky  I guess.
• Great bunch of blokes.
• Always regrouping at the top of climbs. Great bunch of blokes.
• Great pub meals.
• Nice chilled red wine. Thanks Horny.
• Um some crazy rally driving from a rally driver.
• Some weird looks from strangers at the boat ramp. Sorry for my mates dress code.
• Gus always eating and wanting to take on the Buxton Burger eating challenge.
• Dukes calves getting bigger.
• Jeff climbing like a pro in his old age.
• Foggy strong… Watch out TOB TT….
• And me well content and loved it. Now bring on the Tour Down Under.

Oh one more thing you have to train before attending these training camps or you WILL SUFFER!

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)

ACT 1: Glenfern Rd was a real heart starter as the 6am-ers burned some rubber up to Tecoma.
Style points were awarded to all performers as everyone hang on while 21 Tooth played his role to perfection.

ACT 2: Back streets through to Wellington Rd to a very nice downhill choreography by Horny, Mad Mike and The Mist weaving thier way through all the twists and turns of this Act.

ACT 3: Further on through to Pakenham with some unplanned & rare still shots of the performers as the morning sunshine warmed all 6am-ers.

     

ACT 4: Gembrook Rd roundabout to Baileys via Paternoster Rd for the planned rendezvous with the late crew. Duke, 21 Tooth and Brendon showed their form through this act. While Lumpy also showed his leading role training is coming along very nicely. Catching up with proven performers Smiling Assassin, Dev, Gilmore and Rocket in this Act saw us through to Interval.

Interval: Emerald Bakery for the Show & Shine of Rockets new dream machine.
While the consumption of every 6am-ers favourite a Linzer Torte left the Bakery staff in amazement.

     

ACT 5: The fastest Act through to Selby with a spectacular waterfall view thrown in. This much safer way home where the Hotmix was given a workover by BigHorn in his usual Horny way. Everyone else in the chasing bunch were also not left dissapointed, saying this was the best Act of the day.

ACT 6: The Trip home. The Duke only just making it to the end with his mechanical giving grief all day after some very loud grinding sounds were heard throughout every Act.

While everyone else finished their perfromances in gran·deur like true 6am-ers always do!!!

as reviewed by world reknowned author 2laps.

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.

Brad James (6amers Cycling Team)

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

Bender (some of you will remember him) took off with the family across to the Grampians for the weekend, Diesel dedicated the weekend to a bike of the 1000cc variety, Horny took on the challenge of the Amy Gillett Gran Fondo and plenty of other 6am-ers attacked a beach ride in a number of different ways.  Some short, some repeating Two Bays, and some heading all the way down the Peninsula with Arthurs Seat to boot.

The added bonus for the beach riders was the presentation of the very ‘blingy‘ 6am-er key ring.  Something which for all, will become a treasured posession.

So having called from contributions from all riders, here’s where you can go to read the vivid versions of vivacious variety:

• Happy Gilmore’s beach smashing
• Big Horn’s Amy Gillett perspective
• Diesel’s moto perspective of the Gran Fondo
• Shawie’s reflections of miserable vs. gorgeous weather

Starting with 40 kilometres of coastal riding, riders fought for position and battled along the Great Ocean Road between Lorne and Apollo Bay.  Riders had started in waves of 200, each separated by two minutes, and it was soon clear that to be competitive you needed to start in one of those first two groups.  From my point of view, being in the top section of the first wave, the pace was most definitely ON!  We arrived at the base of the first King of the Mountain point a few seconds under an hour riding.  This is where the first selection occurred and I found myself sitting in a smaller pack of about 15, the third such pack from the front.

The remaining 80 kilometres were rolling throughout fantastic farming countryside, culminating with a final climb up to Benwerrin.  It was this last ten kilometres that saw my legs finally cramp up and crack, but it seemed the same happened for many others.  I was super excited to haul the bike over the line in 3:14:57.4.  This was good enough for 90^th position outright and 9^th in the 16-29yo age group!  The outright winner – Peter Dennis – was one of three riders to break the three hour barrier, finishing in 2:59:27.8.  Joel Pearson finished first in my age group and third outright with a time of 2:59:58.2.  As much as 15 minutes seemed a big difference, it was astounding to see guys pushing through their own mental barriers and finishing in four, five and even six hours.  Absolute congratulations to all for pushing on and finishing.

A huge thanks must go to Simon Gillett from the Amy Gillett Foundation and Karin Jones from KSJ Events for putting on a truly monumental event.  Possibly the only teething issue any competitors saw was the start being delayed due to an injured koala running around the road a couple of kilometres after the start.  Almost 2,600 riders were sitting there waiting for this rogue mammal!

While I haven’t spoken with Karin, I did have a chat with Simon after the event and found out the following in terms of community engagement:

• Over 3,000 direct mail-out letters to any residents/businesses who could be affected by the event in someway.
• Of these there were only 18 objections, all of which were successfully rectified.
• 12 Community Forums were held across all towns that would be impacted.  The vast majority were hugely supportive after being involved in this level of engagement.  Many said that for other similar events (such as the GOR Marathon) there is no engagement and they find out when signs appear on the roads(!)
• 600 residents had their driveways closed for a period of four hours to ensure a completely closed road event.
• At a rough guess from a competitors viewpoint I would have thought spectator numbers were around 3-4000.  Perhaps more as it was amazing to see so many people cheering from their front yards, many having invited friends around and set up a bbq to watch the racing.  It reminded me of being in a round of the Australian Rally Championship!

And as Diesel found when escorting a photographer on his motorbike, never before has he seen so many riders together in one spot.  Yes it’s more expensive than other events at $165 to enter, but to have full road closure, the Great Ocean Road, gorgeous climbs up through Forrest, beautiful farming country and of course the fact that this is a race in the truest sense of the word, well, we definitely have to put together a 6amers team for next year.  With the rising strength of us as a group, we have quite a chance at featuring in the team results.

What a day!

See the gallery for some photos or visit Readie’s pillion Rob’s website here.