The bikes are back

Cyclists hit the road again after summer holiday break

After a hiatus through the Summer school holidays, Mount Gambier Cycling Club members were keen to begin racing again. The first race was held over the familiar 25km course on Caves Road, with enough junior riders signing on for a 10km race.

Five young riders, mainly introduced to cycling through the Limestone Coast Regional Track Cycling Academy, greeted the commissaire and signed on to race along a 10km out and back route. They were each assigned a chaperone and set off in one minute intervals with Molly Opperman leading proceedings. She was followed by Xavier Farmilo, Glenn Tye, Sean Tye and Jesse Tull.

With the focus on getting each rider familiar with road racing, the racers were allowed to swap turns with their chaperone until they were either caught by, or caught another rider. At the finish line, Xavier had caught and passed Molly, with Sean and Jesse following, then Glenn. It was great to see the parents and supporters with their young charges.

Following the junior race, 17 riders were assigned into their handicap groupings and began their race.

First away were Jason Buckland and Dianne Major, followed five minutes later by Jen Buckland, Ainsley Curtis and Michael Dethmore. After a further four minutes had elapsed, David Tye, Spek Peake and Bruce McLaughlin were allowed to begin their chase, with Mike Bakker and Dean Zeven starting another minute later.

Young guns Elmer Buckland, Paddy Langsmith and Riley Hill allowed another three minutes to elapse before beginning their chase, with the final grouping of Jami Buckley, Matthew Opperman, Dave Bryant and Gerard Coote waiting a further three minutes for their chance to chase down everyone ahead of them.

With the wind coming from the South East, riders worked hard into the wind for the first 12.5km before enjoying a faster run towards the finish line. A flat tyre 7km into the race unfortunately ended Di Major’s race early, with Jason carrying on alone at the front of the race until the turnaround. Bruce McLaughlin was dropped from his group during the outward leg, but was able to latch onto the following group and catch up with his riding partners later in the race. The same could not be said for Gerard who was unfortunately dropped from the scratch bunch, and faced the long lonely race to the end.

Speeds picked up as the riders turned around and headed back toward the finish line. With 6km to go, Jason was caught and passed by Ainsley and Jen. Matthew, Dave and Jami were racing hard to catch the riders ahead of them, and caught the closest bunch with 7km to go. Paddy, Riley and Elmer kept pace with them for most of the rest of the race as they passed each one ahead of them. As they crested the final hill and could see the finish line, they had caught all ahead of them, and in the sprint to the line, it was Jami Buckley who took out first and fastest, followed by Matthew Opperman and Dave Bryant, then came Paddy Langsmith, Elmer Buckland, Riley Hill, Dave Tye, Spek Peake, Dean Zeven, Mike Bakker, Jen Buckland, Ainsley Curtis, Bruce McLaughlin, Jason Buckland, Michael Dethmore, and Gerard Coote.