The first cold chill of the winter greeted 6 eager, but slightly confused 6amers this morning.  Firstly, was it 6amers, or 6.30amers today?  Clearly the 6 that ventured out thought so but alas, @smithy6.30amer was still on the normal 6.30amer Saturday timeslot despite the early morning tweet from @bighorn6 (wait, nope, @bighorn9).  For this was not the normal 6amer Sunday.  Hang on, Saturday.

Unlike the normal 6amer Saturday, this ride had the offerings of a little more climbing, a little more steep roads and a little more suffering.  Somewhat like a Sunday really.  The roll out started with @6laps (whoops, @2laps) proving that he’s the hard (a.k.a senseless) man of the bunch wearing nothing but knicks, jersey and arm warmers although the BOM gave us the cheery news that while the impending rain forecast has been scrapped, it was replaced by temps cold enough to freeze a witches _____ (insert word of choice here). Turns out even the BOM were a little confused this morning!

It was gruppo compacto up the 1 in 20 with a strong pace being kept by all until the second kick with about 2 kms to go shook things up.  Jeff “I’ve got a cold at the moment so won’t go hard” Shaw riding strong up front all the way, his comments at the bottom of the 1 in 20 reminiscent of the ever popular you-tube clip: “sh*t cyclists say” and judging by his form, equally misleading.

The always fast blast down the tourist road to Montrose saw us bid farewell to the mist and taylo who had remembered that today wasn’t in fact Sunday and had to get back for regular Saturday duties.  The remaining 4 of lumpee, hornee, shawree and gillee headed downy to york roadee for a crack at the full montee.   This left the boys with slight trepidation about going the full monty (think pommy movie from a few years back) cos if the little feller had seen the light of day it might just have dropped off.  Preliminary estimates put the temp in the realms of -1, despite my garmin telling me otherwise, clearly it was as confused as the BOM!  The ripping climb of the full monty from inverness rd all the way to the sky high restaurant is right there with the best the nongs has to offer.

We stopped for a review session of @6laps new bike and posed for a photo at the top looking out over Melbourne:

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Above: The view from sky high – yeah, it was pretty cloudy up there!

After deciding that maybe it hadn’t been that cold at the bottom of the hill after all, we set out to find the long lost man in the red and white striped hat and jersey that was still stuck on normal saturday time @whereswally6amer (erm, @smithy6amer). A descent down perrins in search of wally proved fruitless but there was a chance encounter with other riding buddies who were heading up led to a peloton style descent of the 1 in 20 down for coffee.  Seeing evidence of a red and white sock on the side of the road near the bus stop corner led us to believe he was in the area, but alas, no direct sighting of @whereswally6.30amer.

The long leisurely coffee stop well earned where topics like TV production quality and australian politics came up (see, this really wasn’t your normal Sunday!).  Setting for home, the westerly had kicked up for the ride back taking its last sting out of the legs and as I sit writing this with 110km, just shy of 1800m vertical and just over 4 hrs in the bank, its time to kick back and watch the Sunday footy show.

Haaaaaaaang on a minute…………….

The 6amers have always done well out at Warbie and with plans and nerves aside the boys was excited for the first real team hit out of the road season. Attendees this year in B grade included Brenton, Brendan and Jeff while during the week our C grade contingent had the honours of being bumped up into B grade so this added Michael, Brad, Nick and friend Anthony into the mix. It made for quite a display of 6am-ers in one grade.
Altogether now the starting field for B-grade was approximately 50 riders with a range of big names racing.

courtesy of Michael McRitchie

Racing began with the usual neutral zone and once away saw the team having a go on the front, this eventually saw Brenton and Kane Fraser off the front followed shortly by Jeff bridging across and then Brendan a few minutes later. Working hard the 4 took turns into Powelltown with the peloton out of sight, with the 4 tempo riding up the climb the young guns eventual bridged across with 1km to the top. The descent saw the main field sit-up and come back together as those left on the climb made their wayback on.

For the 3 laps up to Nayook it was full on race tactics as small surges and attacks left many riders chasing back onto their respective groups, some were lucky to hang on while others were just plain dropped but still worked very hard to finish the race. Good racing by all saw the third lap become more selective with Jeff having to chase back to the leaders with 4 others (thanks to all but mainly Harry Hanley in particular) while Brendan was in the lead group. All together for the last climb saw the weather really close in with light rain seeing the peloton take the descent back into Powelltown single file & unscathed with cool heads, a credit to all racing.

courtesy of Blackburn Cycling Club

Once on the flats again the usual pull to bring all back together before the last 15km’s was on. The next big point in discussion with Jeff and Brendan was the place where an attack would go, fast approaching the right hand turn and kicker at Gladysdale would be it. With true form Brendan was in the front group for the kicker leaving 5 battling it out in front now.

Brendan went on to claim 4th finishing off an excellent day, Jeff rolled in 2 seconds behind with about 7 others while Brenton, Brad , Anthony and Nick also made it to the finish and a big credit to them riding the distance. Mad Mike’s recent sun tanning holiday had him in the “hurt zone” for much of the race but he still managed to hold on for 2 laps of the circuit.

Brett Curran our team manager for the day certainly saved us on the finishing line with some outstanding fluro tops to keep us all warm while we raided our show bags. Brendan accepted his 4th place finish to a standing overation from the crowd.

Thanks again to Blackburn Cycling Club, we will be back next year to tackle the Warbie beast again.

Only a few short hours until the start of the Warby road race. A great 6amer contingent will be representing us all in B grade, consisting of:

The great ‘get-ripping-into-it-straight-out-of-the-blocks’ man, multi Giro d’Italia television-viewer, Jeff Shaw. Age may no longer be on his side but there are early reports that he may be on ‘the gear’ – new gear that is. Early season form shows strong results in all the Spring Classics and SuperTabBet has him at odds of $2.20.

An entry by one of Australia’s fastest female hurdlers’ father, Michael Shaw. (note Michael sometimes goes by nicknames of ‘Mick’ or ‘Mike’ so important to realize this to avoid confusion). Fresh from a tanning-camp in far north Qld, big things are expected from Mick, not least of which the possibility of exceeding 109.6kph down the noojee descent. Bookmakers had him at only $1.20 before the course design was altered from a descent finish to the current design. As such odds are now $5.

A dark horse has emerged in the form of multi Bathurst watcher Brad ‘The Mist’ Fogg. ‘Froggy’ as he is called by some of his inner sanctum will be one of the key contenders, particularly after his new contract has seen him move up from perennial back markers ‘BPR’ to the new ‘Triple 8 Specialized’ team, managed by Roland Dane himself. With Lowndes and Whincup alongside this should be a formidable combination. As with Mick descending is The Mists strongpoint (despite neither holding the fastest 1/20 descent time, the mark of a top class descender). It is likely the climbs may take some of the edge of Fogg’s performance. Bookmakers have him tied with Mick at $5.

US-based rider Gilmore is back in the country for a short period after completing altitude training back in his homeland. Whilst it was skiing and not cycling, many feel this should create immense benefits given the high altitude nature of today’s course (the peloton reach the dizzying heights of 400m at times). As the second youngest rider in today’s 6amer team, youth is on Gilmores side and there are early reports the route from powelltown on is already lined with thousands of local ‘ladies’ who’ve put their banjos to one side to come out and cheer their dear Gilly. Due to potential distractions, bookies have Gilly at $8. Surely a good speculative bet to make in the current environment.

The final rider being fielded by the 6amers is multi Formula 1 attendee and 4-time Tour de France viewer Big Horn. A slow start to the year with only the Nationals, Alpine Classic and Baw Baw under his belt sees Horny come in perhaps underprepared. Some are concerned that his routine of 2-3 cougars on the go is now gone with the onset of a new woman. In fact since seeing her he has only ever punctured in races, not a good sign. Key strength is getting to the race start in good time with his major weakness being urinating at inappropriate times. Providing he can keep the latter under control, Liechtenstein based bookie ‘Ve-take-all-zee-money’ is putting the horny boy at $2.19.

So who will it be?
Get out there and cheer for your favourite 6amer, or cheer for the dog they remind u of. If u can’t make it the race will be telecast live on all of the major tv networks including ACB, Severn, the None Network and channel Tin.

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.

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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.