Tony Reeckman Photography
  • Home
  • Tony's Blog
  • Galleries
    • Corowa Floods 2016
    • Pic of the week
    • Landscape Photography
    • Bird Photography
    • Dance Photography
    • Los Angeles
    • Sport Gallery
    • Cycling Photography >
      • Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race
      • Tour Down Under 2015
      • Ian Bullus Memorial
      • Greame Daws Memorial Handicap.
      • Australian Masters Time Trial Championships 2013
      • Masters Cycling Classic-Austria
      • Wagga to Albury Hcp.
      • Australian Road Nationals >
        • Mens U23 ITT
        • Women ITT
        • Elite Men ITT
  • Contact
  • Links

Return to Racing

25/2/2012

 
Picture
The Main street of Dookie,The pub looks inviting.
Today was the first race of 2012 for me and there had not been a number pinned on my jersey since Tour of Bright 2011. I hadn't considered entering the race today but on some gentle coaxing from some of the Wangaratta mob I thought, ok, and managed to enter about 2 hours before cut off. As the race was to be held by The Goulburn Valley Veterans Cycling Club it was lucky I had renewed my VVCC racing licence with Hume Veterans Cycling Club  just last week. The race was a 52km Handicap held at Dookie and was also an Open race,which means a large number entries and very good competition. 
  
Picture
Colin Stokes preparing his bike.
In a handicap race a few things have to go your way to be successful. Hopefully you'll get put into a group of riders that are at a similar level to yourself, and who are prepared to work well together to keep the pace high. You also have to hope you can ride fast enough so that the groups of riders behind you don't catch up .Everbody is always very keen to get the start list and find out what mark you've been given. There were seven in my bunch,3 women and 4 men some of whom I knew and others I didn't.
Picture
My group turned out to be a fantastic bunch of riders with everybody prepared to do their share of the work on the front. It was pretty windy on the course and I found the strong cross winds to be the most difficult to contend with. As the race wore on and we gathered up the riders whom had started ahead of us, it was looking very positive for our bunch. About half way through the last lap we caught the last of these riders, which meant our group was now the front of the race and if we didn't get caught, somebody from our group would win the race. The women in our group rode very strongly especially on the flat crosswind sections but they struggled a little on the hills. I felt pretty good the further the race went and had the idea to attack on the last climb near the cemetery. 
By the time we got to the bottom of that hill there were 4 of us left in the bunch, we had lost a couple of our women on the nasty little hill around the back of the course. I knew Colin Stokes in the bunch as we often ride together for training and he rides strongly. The other guy,John Tielen,I didn't know but I had thought for most of the race he was probably the rider in our bunch who would be the biggest threat. I wasn't certain about the remaining women,Wendy Bennett,as she'd pulled back the gap we put on her on the previous hill so was a very capable rider. 
I accelerated as hard as I could up the hill and didn't look back. When I reached the top I still had the strong rider(John) with me. But we had gapped the others by quite a bit so it was time to put the hammer down for the last couple of kilometers. We worked really well together, retaining the gap we had opened up on the climb. As we got closer to the finnish and were not going to be caught,I asked the other rider,"do you want to go side by side and sprint it out?" to which he replied in a thick European accent ,"I don't care", which was said in a friendly tone. With the last little bend then about 150 metre to the finnish I pretty much just rode as hard as I could and managed enough of a sprint to win. 
It is a wonderful feeling to win a race and  the last time I had a win was nearly a year ago . John, who came second was very happy too and we had a very nice exchange after the race. The other 2 from our group crossed the line in 3rd,Wendy Bennett, and 4th,Colin Stokes, before the scratch bunch came flying through just behind. 
Picture
My hard working bunch. L-R Wendy Bennett,myself,Evelyn Keetelaar,John Tielen,Kay Huggins and Colin Stokes. Photograph by Richard Bailey
Picture
This one is taken on the steep short climb on Duggans Rd I think. Photograph by Richard Bailey
Picture
On the last climb going full gas. Photograph by Richard Bailey
Picture
Finnishing sprint. Photograph by Richard Bailey
Picture
Very happy at the presentations,thanks to John(The Missile) Myles for his photography skills.
Picture
Some cash,a trophy and a medal. You've got to be happy with that.

Thanks to Richard Bailey for kindly supplying the photos of the racing action and to Raymond Jarratt for facilitating the exchange.Many thanks for all the support and congratulations,also for putting up with my self indulgence on the blog this week. And hopefully I've gotten over the phobia of having my new (second hand) Lightweight wheels on my bike. See full results below.

                                                         26/2/2012  G.V. Vets 52km Open.

1st     Anthony  Reeckman     H                   25min
2nd    John  Tielen              G.V                 25min
3rd     Wendy  Bennett        C.V.                25min
4th     Colin  Stokes             H                   25min
5th     Stephen  Fairless      G.V.                 scr
6th     Neville  Laffy            G.V.                2min
7th    Tom  Leaper              E                    scr
8th    Darren  Roberts          N                   2min
9th    Mark  Currie               H                   4min
10th   Peter  McDonough      G                   4min

Fastest  Time  Stephen  Fairless
1st  Unplaced  lady Evelyn  Keetelaar
1st  Unplaced G.V.Vet  rider  Brad  Scott
1st  Unplaced G.V.Vet over 60 rider  David  Schier

Lama
25/2/2012 03:13:03 pm

Nice one Tony!

Kay Huggins
25/2/2012 04:27:39 pm

Well done Tony, John ,Wendy & Colin! I would of still liked to have been with you all at the finish, had dropped off a bit in the side wind on the decent , bet Evelyn would of liked to be still on at the finish. Nice ride & good day had by all.

Tony Reeckman
25/2/2012 06:18:05 pm

Thanks Kay
I've edited the post so as to include Wendy's name. Thanks for the ride today,we had a very good group.

Tony Reeckman
25/2/2012 06:15:58 pm

Cheers Lama,see you in Wang for some TT action.

Aaron
27/2/2012 06:26:08 am

Well done Tony. Obviously the handicapper didn't see your bike when you entered. I would have had you off scratch with those lightweights ;-)

Tony Reeckman
27/2/2012 06:58:08 am

Thanks Aaron I'm self conscious enough about the wheels but all I can say is,"They worked"!!!!!

Lantern Rouge
29/2/2012 07:47:49 am

Terrific photos of the day. Looking at those faces, I could feel the pain ! Well done, TR !!


Comments are closed.

    Tony Reeckman

     

    Archives

    October 2016
    January 2015
    October 2014
    May 2014
    January 2014
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010

    Categories

    All
    2013 Mt Buffalo Challenge
    2014 Mt Buffalo Challenge
    2015 Mt Buffalo Challenge
    Adelaide
    Agriculture
    Alpine Cycling
    Baw Baw Classic
    Beechworth
    Benalla
    Bike Fitting
    Bike Maintenance
    Birds
    Bright
    Christmas
    Coffee
    Coffee Stops
    Coffee Stops
    Cooking
    Corowa
    Corowa Floods 2016
    Cycling
    Cycling Calendar
    Cycling Training
    Cycling Training
    Dance Photography
    Dji
    Domestic Racing
    Floods
    Floods 2016
    For Sale
    Gellie Custom
    Gellie Custom
    General
    Gran Fondo
    Greenedge
    House Renovations
    House Renovations2999b04abe
    Hume Veterans
    Ian Bullus
    Local Races
    Local Rides
    Local Rides
    Los Angeles
    Major Victorian Races
    Masters Racing
    Mt Buffalo
    Mt Buffalo Challenge
    Mt Buffalo Club
    Murray River
    National Championships
    North East Victoria
    NSW
    Photography
    Poetry
    Professional Races
    Professional Racing
    Race Calendar
    Recreational Rides
    Recreational Rides
    Rutherglen
    Rutherglen Cycling
    Rutherglen Cycling
    Rutherglen Wine Bottle
    Signs
    Speedplay Pedals
    Strava
    Surfing
    Sydney
    The Captains Crew
    Time Trial
    Tour Down Under
    Tour Of Bright
    Track Racing
    Travel Bike
    Veteran Racing
    Wahgunyah
    Wangaratta Cycling Club
    Wildlife
    YouTube

    Follow @TonyReeckman
    Tweet

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.