Three riders represented Coffs for the weekend with Sean Golding, Aaron O'Grady and Dan Alcock making the journey to the centre of northern NSW cycling. Many thanks to Azza's mate Dan for the accommodation, finding us a room at the Gunnedah Hilton. Got a park right out the front, too. Click here to see the pics. I thought it was alright, reminded me of being at uni. Sean just laughed as he had booked a motel room in town. The Boss toughed it out for one night then retreated to Sean's hotel room floor. He might have come from Bello, but the Boss is getting soft. I bet he is feeling the creeping sensation of bugs in his hair as he reads this! ahhhhh.
Racing on Saturday was a handicap with Boss Dan off in Chopping Block, Aaron one group (3 minutes) further up the road and Sean's group off 20 minutes ahead of Scratch. The race is 111ks with rolling hills for the first hour and then flat, open roads for the remainder. The history of this race is that its one for the front markers, but it looked like that might change after about 50 minutes when the scratchies met up with Don's chopping block group and then swept up Legs O'Grady's bunch after another 20 minutes. I passed the group not long after in the Team Tarago. Although I was keeping an eye on the road I did note that the speedo was touching 70kpm, so I thought that they would have little trouble getting the front markers, especially as all groups were now out of the hills and onto the flat stages.
Sean's group managed to swallow the group in front of them but with Sean found himself at the front without allies and they made little headway for the rest of the race. The Front markers got a sniff of the finish line and held out by a couple of minutes to Sean's group and Dan and Aaron's group a further 3 or 4 minutes back.
Sunday was a scratch race from outside the Hilton to Tamworth, with Aaron promoting himself to A grade to get the legs a decent look in and Sean dropping himself to Masters 8 for the same reason. A grade was off first and it didn't take long for the action to start. Several splits along the way had the Boss pushing to get on the bunch and Aaron looking back for B grade assistance. The couple of times that I saw Aaron on the road he was doing it tough but should improve with more racing. Dan showed his class by managing to stay with the bunch only losing touch with the top three in the last 5 ks. Dan put in a noble sprint for 6th for absolutely no reason what so ever, nice work Boss.
Sean's Masters 8 group stayed together all day, and Sean was looking good for the sprint but ran out of tickets in the last 50 meters and should also improve with more hard racing leading up to the Grafton.
Kudos to all three riders who rode hard in cool tough conditions.
Cheers
Matt Vagg
Racing on Saturday was a handicap with Boss Dan off in Chopping Block, Aaron one group (3 minutes) further up the road and Sean's group off 20 minutes ahead of Scratch. The race is 111ks with rolling hills for the first hour and then flat, open roads for the remainder. The history of this race is that its one for the front markers, but it looked like that might change after about 50 minutes when the scratchies met up with Don's chopping block group and then swept up Legs O'Grady's bunch after another 20 minutes. I passed the group not long after in the Team Tarago. Although I was keeping an eye on the road I did note that the speedo was touching 70kpm, so I thought that they would have little trouble getting the front markers, especially as all groups were now out of the hills and onto the flat stages.
Sean's group managed to swallow the group in front of them but with Sean found himself at the front without allies and they made little headway for the rest of the race. The Front markers got a sniff of the finish line and held out by a couple of minutes to Sean's group and Dan and Aaron's group a further 3 or 4 minutes back.
Sunday was a scratch race from outside the Hilton to Tamworth, with Aaron promoting himself to A grade to get the legs a decent look in and Sean dropping himself to Masters 8 for the same reason. A grade was off first and it didn't take long for the action to start. Several splits along the way had the Boss pushing to get on the bunch and Aaron looking back for B grade assistance. The couple of times that I saw Aaron on the road he was doing it tough but should improve with more racing. Dan showed his class by managing to stay with the bunch only losing touch with the top three in the last 5 ks. Dan put in a noble sprint for 6th for absolutely no reason what so ever, nice work Boss.
Sean's Masters 8 group stayed together all day, and Sean was looking good for the sprint but ran out of tickets in the last 50 meters and should also improve with more hard racing leading up to the Grafton.
Kudos to all three riders who rode hard in cool tough conditions.
Cheers
Matt Vagg
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