Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club

Hello all DHBCer's, Well it has been two months with no Crit! This month we will hopefully be all go. There are series prizes to be won and points on offer!!!





Criterium: Sunday 21/08/2010
Location: Dunc Gray Criterium circuit
Start time: 7:30am- 8am
Expected finish time: 8:30am-9:30am
Cost: $5 for racing
Prize money: nil.
Who can race: any DHBC member with a racing licence

The plan is that everybody meet at Marrickville Rd Cafe at 6:30am as usual & ride out together race & ride back as like last month. The route has been found to be suprisingly safer & quieter than expected.

Riders will need to enter through the pedestrian gates as the main gates will be locked. For driving you will need to park on the street

If anybody chooses to drive out or is coming from another direction & doesn't know where dunc Gray is; here's the map:
http://www.nsw.cycling.org.au/default.asp?id=29416



Current Series Point Score:

A/B
1.John 19
1. Simon L 19
2.Tim 17
4.Mike 14
5.Charlie 13
6. Matt 12
7.James 7
8.Mark 5
9. Alex C 3
10.Simon C 2

C/D
1.Bart 30
2.David O 27
2. Amy 27
4.Peter O 20
6.Paul 19
6. Ian 18
8.Simon B 14
9.Jules 13
10.Weiyun 12
11.Mick S 10
12.Colin 9
13.David L 8
14. Anthony PB 5
15. Travis 4
16. Anthony Ph 2
16. Rhys 2

E/F
1.Stuart 6
2.Andrew 5
3. Douglas K 3
3.Alison G 3
5. Eleri 2
5.Simon S 2
4.Alison G 3

Should probably update to the new meeting point.

This is the day of the non-fixie imperial century!

Any chance of re-scheduling for those of us with FOMO*?

And it would save poor Stuart from having to invent a very Bankstown-specific rain dance.

Andrew

*Fear Of Missing Out

Hi Simon, as Andrew has mentioned, it is the same date as the Non Fixie Century, could you please move the date

As I am not racing for 6 weeks, I can be the commonsuire (or whatever you want to call it), as long as it is on another date than the non fixie century

This is the day of the non-fixie imperial century!

Any chance of re-scheduling for those of us with FOMO*?

And it would save poor Stuart from having to invent a very Bankstown-specific rain dance.

Andrew

*Fear Of Missing Out

I spoke to Eleri on friday night about this & wasn't going to put it on this date but she didn't think that there would be too much overlap. It doesn't bother me all that much except that I feel obliged to make it happen & since we have missed 2 already we are up to round 6 of 7.

The only other weekend in the month available is this weekend. The last is cootamundra and most racing members will probably head to that making it an impossible date. being Wednesday and the informal way we run these things it is possible to move it to this Sunday, I just need to ring CNSW but it is quite short notice...

Hi Simon, as Andrew has mentioned, it is the same date as the Non Fixie Century, could you please move the date

As I am not racing for 6 weeks, I can be the commonsuire (or whatever you want to call it), as long as it is on another date than the non fixie century

The commissaire isn't a problem as I will do it anyway. However you do now need to be a sanctioned commissaire through CNSW as it is sanctioned racing.

It is really just a limited dates issue as above.

I spoke to James; road captain & we will leave this as the aimed date becuase it is now too late to schedule it for this weekend and if we cancel it we will lose another month, which is imparacticle if we are having another Crit next month anyway.

There is always a chance of a clash with every event we run and sometimes it is too difficult to find a free weekend in the month.

Well Andrew as both of us and Eleri are going to be on the adventure ride it looks like Simon S, Dougie & Alison are in the box seat for E grade. We'll have to have a chat about collusion tactics for the last round.

Well Andrew as both of us and Eleri are going to be on the adventure ride it looks like Simon S, Dougie & Alison are in the box seat for E grade. We'll have to have a chat about collusion tactics for the last round.

Hi Stuart, I've been meaning to talk to you about whether you would be missing the crit in favour of the NFI Century. My preference was for the century, so that works out well. As far as tactics is concerned, I'm sure that us three can come up with a Cunning Plan for the final race. Something along the lines of "hope that it doesn't rain", and "ride really fast".
Andrew


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From the look of the weather forecast - http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/forecasts/sydney.shtml - we're buckley's of getting on

From the look of the weather forecast - http://www.bom.gov.au/nsw/forecasts/sydney.shtml - we're buckley's of getting on

You know if there's ever another drought we will just need to run another Crit series, forget rain dances!!!

you know i can almost guarantee it will be dry if you call it off and i ride out alone to race against the other alien abducted members of the peloton. Bugger it I won't take the chance. I will take the kids to Mt Baw Baw insteadd, so they can see snow in the distance and play in the slush.

I'm out, too. I'm a bridesmaid the day/night before and am already looking forward to sleeping in that morning.

Crit wil hopefully run tomorrow morning. I'll post on the day early, 5:45am or so if it is off.

no starters leaving the cafe. Crit will need 2b cancelled. Sorry 2any1 who drove out.

Im at the track. I reckon it rained here less than an hour ago. It is slick, wet and has puddles on the track. The bottom corner is a mess. Birds are drinking from puddles at the start line.
I rode a lap anyway. How many points do I get?

Im at the track. I reckon it rained here less than an hour ago. It is slick, wet and has puddles on the track. The bottom corner is a mess. Birds are drinking from puddles at the start line.
I rode a lap anyway. How many points do I get?

Sorry Simon about cancelling, there wasn't going to be anyone to race against. You should really get one point for showing up...

Im at the track. I reckon it rained here less than an hour ago. It is slick, wet and has puddles on the track. The bottom corner is a mess. Birds are drinking from puddles at the start line.
I rode a lap anyway. How many points do I get?

IIRC you get for the win the same number of points as there were competitors in the race. So one competitor means 1 point for you Simon.
regards from Andrew, Stuart, and Eleri

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One point, it's based on people there

One point?
Pfah!
I think I can, by rights, declare myself Club Champion
The challenge was there for all.
Only I dared to take it.
The rest of you declined to even face me.
I am, therefore, club champion.
I may at some future point defend the title.

S.

I think 1 points is fair & Dougie should get 1 points for his efforts last month in the interests of fairness which makes it much closer going into the final round.

I remember the last time it got to this and we were struggling with numbers to keep this event going and we did. I also realize that E/F grade was out on an adventure ride & would have raced had they not been. Numbers for the omnium yesterday were down quite low too.

Since I had to get up a 5:45am for the sake of going to officiate this event and pick up the lap board and first aid kit from the velodrome first before realizing no one was racing (lucky I didn't drive out). What happened to everybody today was it the weather forecast, low motivation, a clash with other riding/racing, the current point score ruling you out of contention?

Will you attend the final round?

I'm was out for this one due to injuries. However i'll definately be at the final round.

As you know Simon I was out adventuring ( although I bailed at the 'gong as planned) - I'll be at the final round. One thing for me is, the track is really not that interesting. Short & fairly boring. Now, if we could use Lansdowne instead ....

As you know Simon I was out adventuring ( although I bailed at the 'gong as planned) - I'll be at the final round. One thing for me is, the track is really not that interesting. Short & fairly boring. Now, if we could use Lansdowne instead ....

I have thought about this in the past, one problem with other venues is the hiring cost. The biggest problem I always think with Dunc Gray is the travelling distance. We've looked for closer venues but there isn't a great deal around, except for Heffron which has its own problems. We could look into lansdowne but the cost of racing will probably rise.

If I'm in town and healthy I'll be at the final round. Travel and flu have been my problems since round 1.
I remember Young Fast Simon mentioned a track at Allawah. Did we get any joy there?

I'm always keen for this race, but am sick yet again (man cold) so was out this morning. Good work Simon on putting in the organisation effort, sorry to hear of the (almost) no show.

I second Chuck's motion - many thanks to Simon L for getting out of bed thanklessly.

Yes, I'm in for the next one. Sorry about taking E/F grade out of the race

I'll come to the next one. My soccer season ends next week, so riding on Sundays will be attractive again. It's a shame about this morning, but the previous 2 had pretty good numbers from memory.

It's difficult to pick dates that don't clash with something, though any clash is going to reduce numbers. Apart from the clash, I don't think there is anything else that you could of done to encourage riders to attend. I don't think the venue, points or any other factor caused the low numbers.

Numbers will always vary, depending on each persons personal situation.

Irregular events will always have attendance issues, especially one that is limited to a relatively small group of participants.

Irregular events will always have attendance issues, especially one that is limited to a relatively small group of participants.

I've found that events tend to be successful depending on the excitement for them. For example the fixie century has been an irregular event that runs annually, it doesn't seem to matter how little or how much notice you give people, lots of people will still attend once a year because it's exciting, they wouldn't do it week in week out I wouldn't think but it is the interest in the event that makes people cancel whatever they were going to do that weekend to come along.

With this Crit there is excitement about Crit racing and every few months alot of people will come along. This year I have trialed running a monthly event that has to happen every month to see if it would get a good response. The main issue has been the rain, it puts alot of doubt on whether or not it will happen and from 6 proposed events we have had 3. The problem with rain it is hard to cancel an event at 5:45am, well it is hard to cancel an event at any time but at least with track racing if people show up we have a bbq and if no one shows up it's only down the road.

I'm just wondering as this 7 month trial event gets closer to ending, whether to aim to have another series; go back to single events; give up on monthly racing and have it less regularly; just hold one to two open events once a year with big sponsors and prize money or have a break and rethink about finding a new venue?

I also wonder if people like the idea of $5 entry fee and no prize money that is friendly with the option of having prizes through a sponsor or if we should do what everybody else is doing and charge $15 and have $$$ prizes per race?? Would this be preferable? I just warn that the same 3 people tend to win each week in this format.

I'll put a poll up to see what people want to do. I'm not all that worried, my only real personal interest is that I enjoy racing club events myself & find them fun and relaxed.

I've found that events tend to be successful depending on the excitement for them. For example the fixie century has been an irregular event that runs annually...

I think that's different. The fixie century is an annual event, and a novel one at that. Quite different in nature to a criterium. Not to say that there isn't enthusiasm of our DHBC format at Dunc Gray, but facts are: 1) There are alternatives criterium races. 2) The scheduling varies. Given the early Sun am schedule, even regular Waterfall bunch number varies markedly through the year. So I would suggest that you shouldn't be too self-critical. It's just one of those things. Otherwise I really like the Dunc Gray circuit for it being both fast and safe.

I'm against having prize money, the way you have it is fine. Factors outside of your control was the cause of non attendance

Was there an arguement against racing on Saturday afternoon so as no to clash with the regular Sunday ride or other training rides ?

that could be a good idea!!

DHBC has always had a close relationship with RBCC and they run Heffron on Sat afternoons.

Was there an arguement against racing on Saturday afternoon so as no to clash with the regular Sunday ride or other training rides ?

The reason I chose Sunday when we first developed this Crit a few years ago was this:

- Most people were doing so much cycling already that to add another ride/race into their schedules meant that people with partners/wives/families/kids would not need to negotiate more time off;
-since most people can get Sunday mornings off it seemed like it would get the best attendance rates;
-Its not that we were worried about clashing with Heffron or any agreement with RBCC but at the time alot of people enjoyed racing there and said they would prefer Sunday so they could keep doing so;
- If you ride out to the Crit, race & ride home it equates to about 80kms so there is no need to feel like you are missing your morning ride, it just adds some variety to the month, I think there argument that you can't afford a racing licence is a better one than you don't want to miss your Sunday ride; though I understand.
-Dunc Cray Crit circuit is desolate on a Sunday morning so we don't get many problems with other people wanting to use the track
-IT is quicker to drive out at this time of the morning for the person running the event, having driven there many times.

Saturdays could be a possibility but I don't feel that it will happen unless there is a fairly strong level of support to make it happen.