Rotorua Open

Sunday 8th April 2001

Jason Kelly

The Rotorua Open is raced over 80km in a handicap format i.e. first across the line wins, the time is not relevant. This year the race was held the day after the Rotorua - Taupo 100km Flyer with a small field. The field was so small that just one race was held instead of the planned separate races for the Open, Vets and Women.

Handicapping was a rough and ready approach which is about all that can realistically be expected without detailed knowledge of each and every rider. I started in a group of 7 riders which consisted of 5 Ramblers - myself, Gavin Povey, Michael Head, Scott Betteridge and Mathew Wilson, along with two other riders. Our group started 19 minutes behind the vets, 4 minutes in front of the bunch behind us and 8 minutes in front of the scratch group (which included other Ramblers’ members.)

The weather was fine and sunny with a temperature around 20°C and a light to medium southerly wind.

From the start line, Michael Head pushed the pace to see how strong the other two riders were. One responded in kind and the entire group stated to work together at a fast pace. Up the long hill towards the main highway, Michael Head and Mathew Wilson came off the back of the bunch. Nearing the top, the pace eased and Michael jumped back on but our bunch was down to six riders. Once on the main highway, with the aid of a tailwind, we raced along at a fast clip.

Turning left and into the head wind (onto the same road as used for the first part of the Rotorua - Taupo Flyer), we sighted the first rider in front of us and soon caught him. Our pace slowed up the gradual incline and as the wind strengthened. Soon enough, one of the other riders said they could see the chasing bunch. After about 1hr 20m, the chasing bunches caught us. It was obvious why as they had substantially more riders. Mathew Wilson had ridden up with the chasing bunches to catch us.

Naturally enough, the pace picked up immediately and a few hill climbs certainly stretched the legs. With about 15km to and climbing a steady incline at a solid pace, the riders in front of me dropped off the bunch. By the time I realised what had happened, I just couldn’t bridge the gap. Riding by myself, a couple of other riders caught me, but, up the next short rise, one was left long behind. Reaching the last big hill, I pushed my pace and managed to catch a few stragglers from the main bunch and almost caught Michael Head who had managed to bridge the gap I couldn’t. I crossed the finish line after 918m of vertical climbing a few minutes behind the front bunch somewhere near the back of the field.

Hamilton Open

B grade

Sunday 1st April 2001

Jason Kelly

The Hamilton Open is raced in five separate grades, A, B, C, Under 17 and Under 15, over a circuit course on the outskirts of Hamilton. The grades used in open events have little comparison to those used in the Club races. I raced in the B grade over 6.5 laps of a 15km circuit for a total distance of just under 97km. Mark Coombe was the only other Rambler in the B grade while Andrew Bott and Phillip Burns raced in the A grade.

The weather was overcast with a medium to gusty strength wind. As the race was on a circuit, this gave cross, head and tail winds. There were around 24 starters in the B grade, including Sarah Ulmer.

On the 2nd to 5th laps inclusive, there were sprints at the end of every lap for prize money. Soon after the sprint line, the road climbed a couple of reasonable gradient and length hills. Overall, the total amount of hill climbing in the course was deceptive as the total vertical climb for the race was about 989m which is a good two Te Mata Peaks. After the first lap, I decided to ignore the sprints and concentrate on the overall race.

Up the hills at the start of one of the early laps, Sarah Ulmer and two or three other riders made a small break. The bunch reacted fairly quickly and they were dragged in within a few kilometres. After that, the pace fairly much settled with a few solo riders going off the front every now and then but never threatening the bunch.

About half way round the third lap, on a gentle climb with the wind at my back, I rode smoothly to the top of the climb to find myself well clear of the front of the bunch. With still well over 50km to go, I certainly didn’t fancy my chances and just continued to ride at a solid pace until the bunch caught me several kilometres later.

By the sixth lap, the bunch was still almost all together. By this time, the hills were fairly well known and I attacked up the second hill just past the sprint line. Reaching the top, I turned around to find that myself and Sarah Ulmer were clear of the main bunch. Pushing on, we maintained the gap until the next hill. Trying to keep the pace up, I asked Sarah to come through to the front but she appeared to be struggling and didn’t manage it. We continued on and held the remains of the bunch off for a while but were eventually caught.

On the last lap, I attacked again on the same hill and managed a small break. This was not enough and I was soon caught and ended up at the back of the bunch. In the last few kilometres, some hard sprints on downhill sections left me just off the back of the bunch. I finished a few seconds behind the main bunch in a time of 2hrs 36m 45s at an average speed 37.1km/h in about 12th place. Mark Coombe finished 3rd.

Twin Peaks Open

Saturday 24th March 2001

Jason Kelly

The Twin Peaks Open is a one day, three stage event, which starts and finishes in Palmerston North. All riders start the road race stages together and prize money this year was awarded for the first five places over all three stages, in each stage and in each grade of Senior Men, Under 19 men, Vet men and Women.

The weather was fine and sunny with temperatures in the low to mid 20s. There was a light wind but nothing of any great consequence. The total field was 37 riders, 12 of which were Ramblers.

Starting in Palmerston North, the first stage was a 61km road race which travelled through Ashhurst, Colyton, back through Ashhurst and then up and over the Saddle Road to finish at an old hall on the northern side of Woodville.

The bunch stayed together until the first hill climb in Valley Road. This hill is a reasonable length and gradient and I found myself in the middle of the field, just drifting off the front bunch. Across the top, a few riders began a brief chase to rejoin the bunch and after a short period, the majority of riders re-joined the main bunch.

From there to the Saddle Rd, there were some attacks but no riders made a decisive break. As we reached the bottom of the Saddle Hill, one unfortunate rider punctured. The Saddle Road can be compared to a longer Te Mata Peak and inevitably, the stronger riders went off the front, the main bunch stayed largely together and I found myself slowly drifting out the back. On reaching the summit, the bunch was out of sight and I rode the descent with just a couple of riders in sight.

The downhill stretch has a number of speed warning signs on the corners. One of the later ones appears to be a joke as it was substantially slower than the rest but even I went considerably faster and safely through the corner than the indicated speed!

The finish of the first stage is just off the end of the descent and I found myself about 3 minutes behind the leader and about 1m30s behind the main bunch. My time was 1hr 44m 30s at an average speed of 35.2km/h. Several Ramblers took top 5 placings in the stage. The total vertical climbing in this stage over the Saddle Road was about 789 metres (Te Mata Peak is about 400m from Hastings).

The second stage is a 6.9km out and return individual time trial. The course starts down a  gentle slope which gives impressive early speeds. Not being a time trial specialist and bearing in mind the stage to come, I rode conservatively for one of the slowest times in the field. On overall time, I now found myself in the tail end of the field. Gareth Aplin was 3rd, Andrew Bott 4th and other Ramblers were just outside the top 10 with some further down the field.

The highlight of the time trial was Peter Halstead returning from the course and announcing he had completed the course in 9 minutes flat! After a bit of prodding, he stated that he actually had no idea what time he did for the course but 9 minutes sounded like a good time! Nine minutes sure was a good time that none of the riders achieved.

To get to the third stage, a controlled pace ride from the old hall to the southern side of Woodville was used. The stage started just on the edge of Woodville and headed out through Mangatainoka and Pahiatua before crossing the Pahiatua Track, turning right at Aokautere to head back to the main highway and turning left back onto the main highway at Ashhurst to finish back in Palmerston North where the race started.

The early pace in the third stage was fairly reasonable until a continuing series of attacks commenced. Some riders were obviously tired and dropped off the back as the bunch shrunk. Climbing one gentle climb, I thought the pace was fairly sedate until I looked at my speedo and saw it reading over 50km/h! After a number of attempts, Andrew Bott and Andrew Mildenhall rode away from the bunch.

Heading into the main climb on the Pahiatua Track, I positioned myself well to get over the top in the main bunch. Just as I thought I was safe, some fierce downhilling commenced and I found myself pedalling hard out downhill at over 70km/h. On reaching the bottom of the hill, a slight head / cross wind greeted us and the bunch continued to ride with some aggression.

After getting tired of being swung off the back of the bunch, I eventually fought my way to the front of the bunch up a small climb to be informed by Mark Coombe not to do any work at the front to protect Andrew Bott’s stage break which was now at about 2 minutes. Feeling reasonably tired and being 5 minutes down overall, I was easily convinced. However, one vet rider was desperate to catch the 2 leaders (he eventually finished 0.36 seconds down on the overall winner,  hence his frustration) and drove from the front of the bunch and used a wide array of colourful language to encourage others to help him. None did through Ashhurst and his temper frayed even more.

With about 5-10km to go, the time to the front two riders started to rapidly decrease and by the outskirts of Palmerston North, they were in sight. However, they hung on to finish just 4 seconds in front of the main bunch with Andrew Bott taking second place in the stage. From the main bunch sprint, Mike Annand secured 3rd place in the stage and Peter Cooke 4th. The total vertical climb in the third stage was approximately 533m with the distance of 68km covered in 1hr50m37s at an average speed of 36.9km/h.

The total ride for the day was just over 140km. As this was broken into three stages with rest times between each stage, it was not as difficult as it might sound. The final overall results were:

1st Peter Latham in 3hrs 42m 04s

3rd Gareth Aplin at 7.54s (2nd in under 19 Men)

4th Andrew Bott at 33.41s (1st in Senior Men)

11th Ben Knight at 1m33.35s

12th Peter Cooke at 1m55.22s

13th Phillip Burns at 2m00.16s

14th Mike Annand at 2m19.20s

17th Mark Coombe at 4m52.81s

18th Jason Kelly at 5m02.18s

21st Michael Head at 19m37.95s

27th Peter Halstead at 21m47.96s

29th Gavin Povey at 27m36.12s

DNF Murray Bassett