Doolan's mug lights up the sports section

Our MTBers also pretty handy on the skinny wheels

A big weekend for road cycling this weekend with two major events hosted by the Ballarat Sebastopol Cycling Club. Saturday was the 101st running of the Melbourne to Ballarat Classic. Jeremy Doolan finished in third place in a time of 2h 21m 53s, and not far behind Guy Falla 12th and Shane Cody 26th.
http://www.cyclingballarat.com.au/news/2011-07-23_melb-ballarat

Today was the Victorian club team time trial championships held out at Bunninyong. Phil Orr represented in a strong team with Jay Bourke, Josh Collingwood and Damien Turner. According to Phil it was hell and he entered a place he "imagined purgatory to be like". For someone who races 6 hour enduros on the rivet to say something like this, you know it must have been painful!

As for me it was another afternon spent playing in the mud, out at Lal Lal. This area is an untapped MTBing goldmine! Anyone wanting to train up for the big hilly marathons this is the place to go.

Doolan on top of the heap again

Read about how Jezza continues to instill fear into the hearts of mortal men, with Jedi right up there paving the way.
http://www.cyclingballarat.com.au/news/road_2011-07-16-corkscrew

An opportunity to light the way

Consider this.

East Timorese currently have access to 307kWh per person of electricity.

Australians have access to 11,500kWh per person and we use nearly all of it.

Only 5% of households in the rugged mountainous areas of East Timor, where the majority of the population lives, are connected to the electricity grid. Lets say that magically overnight every household had access to the electricity grid and that the current rate of supply per capita remained the same. The total rate of electricity supply would still be half that of Australians.

Assuming that access to electricity in order to facilitate health, education and food needs is a basic human right, aspirations to increase energy production in East Timor are certainly justified and of far more essential value than any perceived need to increase supply to our own households here in Australia.

After decades of struggling for independence from Indonesia, much vital infrastructure throughout the country has been destroyed. A difficult task to rebuild after such senseless destruction now presents itself, but what a great opportunity to implement renewable energy strategies and lead the country into a self-sufficient and sustainable future. While our government quibbles over carbon taxes, complex renewable energy incentive schemes, and political point scoring, there are organisations and individuals who are getting out there and installing solar electricity systems to provide lighting and power to schools and medical centres in the villages of rural East Timor. This is making an immediate and positive difference to peoples lives.

Of course these are baby steps in a rapidly populating country where massive investments are needed to deploy energy infrastructure of any kind. Studies have concluded that there is a high potential for electricity production from renewable sources, particularly water resources (252 MW) and wind (72 MW).Significant potential energy from solar, biomass and solid urban waste sources have also being identified, along with over 50 potential projects with installed capacity of 451 MW. This would meet 50% of energy needs by 2020.

Given that currently 100% of electricity is supplied through fossil fuels, this is neither environmentally or financially viable. Electricity cost in East Timor is on par with Australian prices despite the GDP per capita being 100 times lower.

An opportunity presented itself to us through the Ballarat Friends of Ainaro Committee to fund a solar lighting system for a primary school in the remote village of Mau Nuno in the sub-district of Ainaro. The main benefit of this is to allow students, including pre-secondary and secondary students to study at night. There are more than 350 students enrolled at any one time. Teachers will use the building for planning purposes and the facility can also be used as a community hall. The equipment and installation expertise is being supplied by the Alternative Technology Association in Melbourne who have rolled out many such systems over the last few years.

We are now happy and relieved to have met that funding goal and this project is something that can be of immediate and lasting benefit!

Training on the Great Dividing Trail

Upgrades to the Great Diving Trail, or Goldfields Track as it is now known, have been recently completed thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Federal Government. This included new track signage to better navigate your way along the some 200km of dual purpose trail from Bunninyong to Bendigo, trail works to better accommodate two wheels (of the 26” non-powered kind preferably) and some track diversions to separate MTBers from walkers at key locations for safety reasons.

Unfortunately during unprecedented storm activity and rainfall over last summer several sections of the track between Ballarat and Creswick were severely damaged making riding either impossible, unsafe, or extremely frustrating. Now, things have settled down a bit, the floodwaters have subsided and some track clearing has been carried out and after a training ride along the entire length of the Ballarat to Creswick route today, there was only one section along Slatey Creek which we had to detour around due to the fact that the track has fallen away into the river in many places.

The Great Diving Trail is a popular training and social ride for Ballarat’s cross country mountain bikers with a one-way ride taking from 1.5 to 2 hours from the centre of Ballarat to the Creswick end of the trail on the Creswick-Bungaree Road. A round trip will give you a decent ride but for those who are after a bit more there are numerous diversions off the main trail and a whole State Forest to explore.

The Ballarat to Creswick ride is not rocky like its Daylesford to Castlemaine cousin, and is deemed a lot more user-friendly to the less experienced or recreational rider. However there is still plenty there to challenge the more serious rider while still allowing for a high fun factor.



Antanas, Mick and Phil on the GDT



Phil and I set out for an early morning training ride departing from the city and accessed the GDT from the Yarrawee Creek mixed use trail. This allowed us to admire the nicely bedded in downhill runs cascading off Black Hill and to gently warm up the cold legs before rudely hitting the first slippery, rooty climb for the day. Generally you are climbing until the halfway point either on twisty singletrack or rutted-out 4WD track coated in a power sapping clay slip. I did my best to keep on Phil’s wheel and he asked if the pace was fast enough because he could hear me breathing down his neck. Well, he could have heard my breathing from 10meters back because I was going into the red just to try and keep up with his effortless cadence. Don’t worry Matt, its only the two-time State Enduro champ you’re riding with. Just grimace and learn.

We did hit a couple of technical rocky and rooty sections close to the river which were slimy and slippery but its this kind of slow moving terrain that really activates your whole body and gives you that conditioning for the long days in the saddle on the rough stuff.

In seemingly no time at all we had come to the end and then met up with Mick and Antanas, the local trail gurus who led us up some aneurism inducing climbs in order that we may sample some of the fine dining on offer from the smorgasbord that is Creswick Trails.



Mick scares off a potential rubbish dumper



Returning to Ballarat can either be done via the GDT, which flows just as well, or follow your nose along some of the smoother logging roads through the pine plantations for some nice views and fresh air, which will no doubt be forced into your lungs at a rate of knots as you ascend to the highest elevation in the forest. We combined a mix of the two and hit up a few fun tracks at Nerrina at the end just to finish off.

Check out the Garmin data:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98014910



Bike is still white, can't be that muddy out at Creswick!



Rider Update... Medicos tell Timpano Timor trip is totalled

A post surgery medico visit today for Phil Timpano, has confirmed the injury sustained at the Bendigo 6hr Enduro in May, was pretty serious.
Recovery will take a minimum of 3 months, i.e approx Mid October, with end of December being a realistic date to plan any return to serious mountain biking.
So now it's time to come to terms with this realisation, and say good bye to the Timor dream for this year. Good luck to the rest of the Ballarat riders, and take it easy in those lead up events.....cheers Phil T.

Tarmac tactics

Jedi and I kept it on the tarmac last weekend for some road action in the "Long's Hill World Champs" and some serious whippet racing.
Check out the results, fictional stories, and some great photo's
http://www.cyclingballarat.com.au/news/road_2011-07-02_longs_hill

Victorian MTB Enduro Series Round 5 – Albury

On June 25th Phil, Craig and myself continued with our 6-hour solo season on Albury's famous Nail Can Hill.

The 10km course had three distinctive sections. Firstly was the ‘intestine’ loop, a lengthy and technical rock strewn singletrack. Riding through this required constant changes in tempo, cadence and gears as you slowed down to negotiate a rock garden on a hairpin corner, or sped up to take advantage of a dip before a pinch climb. Finally, as with most intestinal journeys, you were spat out the other end and into another smelly situation.

Phil working the 'intestine'

In this case it was 2 km of fireroad climbing where we were offered respite from the previous mental challenge and could now relax and chew on something, like our stems for instance. The climb gradient gradually increased up to around the 20% mark and by the third or fourth time around the granny rings were being dusted off and many poor souls were reduced to walking.



This little bit of pinch was really starting to get tedious after about the 6th time



With legs burning but the summit in sight, gears were shifted up and the initial descent began. A short section of high speed rock garden negotiation ensued as an initial test before the point of no return as you were shunted down ‘the glock’. It was like having someone shoot at your feet and being told to dance until they had run out of bullets. ‘The glock’ was a descent at what felt like 45 degrees with four 90 degree bends in it and was generously paved with jagged pyramid shaped rocks. You know when you came to the end because there was nothing in front of you but a chasm to the hillside below and photographers on either side hoping to catch that special moment.



descending 'the glock'



Once that was out of the way the rest of the circuit was gravity fed and aptly named ‘dirt luge’. It was as fast as you dared to go. More rocks, more sharp and steep corners, some boulders you could jump over, then a few switchbacks before landing back into the narrow and hectic feed zone.

I think we were all feeling a bit underwhelmed at the beginning of the race and not sure if our legs were going to carry us through, and it was easy to let thoughts of pulling over at the end of the next lap enter your head. Strangely, Phil, Craig and myself seemed to feel better as the race drew on, and by the four hour mark were starting to pick up.

Phil came in a hot 2^nd place with 12 laps at 6.04, while I managed 15^th place with 10 laps at 6.06.

To give you an idea of the workload undertaken by the pointy end of the field, Phil’s 12 laps equated to 115km distance with over 2000m of vertical gain, over the kind of terrain that wants to throw you over the handlebars at every turn.

It was my fourth weekend in a row of racing and my legs were quite smashed after that. Time to rest a bit and let the body absorb the valuable endurance conditioning.



Phil definitely looks more comfortable on a stiff hardtail than he does on the podium, even though he is well used to it!



The team!!!

Visit our club website

For an overview of the Tour de Timor and our participation in this years event please visit
http://www.cyclingballarat.com.au/easttimor11
Happy to hear from anyone interested in helping us reach our fundraising goals!!!

From little things big things grow

In September 2010 I followed the progress of the Tour de Timor via the internet, with more than a casual interest. I wanted to see how our fellow club members were faring in this little known country that now played host to a bike race that everyone was talking about. I mused to myself that it would be great to be able to do this event one day when I had enough fitness and experience behind me to even seriously contemplate entering.

I didn't know it until about Febuary this year that the seed had been planted back then, but it took a sudden invasion of chaos into my life to ferment the idea and present it to me in the middle of the night with such assertion that I had no choice but to get up and set the wheels in motion immediately. My initial sharing of the idea with friends and fellow club members was met with much enthusiasm and encouragement and before long this speck of hope on a bleak horizon had ignited into a fireball. This had come along at just the right time and I knew that this would be something I could grab onto and pull myself out of this dark place and thrive! My passion was reborn and I couldn't wait to share it with others who could help to make this project a success.

Inspired by Roger Bade's 2010 mission to Timor Leste where he and his team presented a donation to the Klyber Domin hospital, I also wanted to make this trip more than about a group of relatively affluent cyclists having a bike racing holiday. This led me to meet a number of groups and individuals in Ballarat doing an amazing job raising funds and facilitating aid projects in Timor, particularly Ainaro, Ballarat's sister city. I should mention Liz Hardiman and the Ballarat Friends of Ainaro Community Committe, Kate Owen - a long term volunteer in Timor, Leo Rennie from the Ryder-Cheshire Foundation, Peter Canny from BSCC, and Melanie Horne who is one of the event co-ordinators in Dili.

The first task was to assemble a team of like-minded sado-masachists, who dream of adventure and thrive on constantly challenging themselves physically and mentally. I held my breath as I waited, my hopes hinging on the committment of others. The first guy to sign up, from my point of view, cemented the viability of the whole project and I knew with Phil Orr's enthusiastic endorsement that everything was going to be OK. Soon after we were really excited to be joined by Phil T, Jedi, Joel and Jeremy. Five guys whose riding abilty is matched equally by their tenacity, determination and sheer will to perform to the limit of their abilities everytime they strap on a raceplate.

More tense days followed when the opening of online registrations were delayed several times and I never strayed more than ten minutes away from a computer. Given the popularity of the event and the limited places I felt very anxious about us all being able to secure a place on the start grid. Of course with this much positive momentum already gained there was no way we were going to miss out. When I got the confirmation that I was entrant #1 closely followed by Phil and the rest of the guys, I let out a yell in my loungeroom loud enough to scare away all my demons and there was nothing but glee in my home that night I tell you.

There will be many more thankyous to come once the tour has been run and won, but for now, there are six very excited guys who are regularly and happily flogging themselves on the bike in preparation for September 11.