Dinnerville State Open this Sunday

[Derny Driver]

The marks are out on CNSW website.
Forum members Simon and Leigh are in a great bunch (5) along with my brother and some other strong riders. I think you could be up for the win Sunday.
Matt is off group 2 and it will be hard going back there.
The race is 90+km over undulating and rough roads. It may be windy which will suit the backmarkers.

My assessment of how things will pan out after viewing the bunches is this:
After lap 1, the bunches could look like this on Lap 2:
Scratch
2/3 combined
4
5
6/7
8
9

Lap3
1/2/3
4
5/6/7
8/9

Lap 4
1/2/3/4
5/6/7/8

Whether the front half of the race can hold off the back half of the race will depend on what the scratchmen do. If NSWIS commit, they can get up. If they roll turns with the punters off scratch who shouldn't be on scratch, they wont get up, and Group 5 will win.

Young DD did a little blog post for a journalism assignment this week.
http://www.uowtvmultimedia.com/2016/05/ ... lle-trend/
Link is also on CNSW website.

Good luck lads. I will be riding scooter-rear-guard for one of the groups on the day. If you need a little push, slip me a tenner on the start line
See you there

[Alex Simmons/RST]

What's your view of the handicapping this time?

[Derny Driver]

What's your view of the handicapping this time?

Its actually not too bad. I like the time gaps ..either 3, 4 or 5 minutes between groups. 4 mins from scratch to block is probably a bit stiff. And I would make the gap in front of supergroup 5, 5 minutes not 4. But I think it looks fair for all.

The scratch group has been tidied up and a couple of guys moved to block. Scratch will win or lose depending on how they play the game. Swap turns with all 20 and they lose. Drive it with the 12 hitters and they will win. They need speed and a lot of it. Over 45kph average on a hilly course to win. Lots of strong guys in groups 1 and 2 who can go all day at 42kph but that may be their downfall if they let them get involved. NSWIS need to tell everyone to get off the front and let them do the job.

There are a few eyebrow raising people on marks they shouldn't be on, some too far back, some too easy a mark. But as a whole, I think it looks really good. Its going to be a nail biting final last half lap I reckon.

Today here on the course, its blowing 60 knots due West. That means someone can put it in the gutter from the dogtrack to Marshall Mount on Lap 4 and drop everyone. Perfect scenario for a breakaway by a strong person in the lead group. Then 2km of tailwind to the line, 53-11 will be too small if the wind keeps up like it is today.

[Strawburger]

Thanks for the summary Marcus!

Hmmm, may not be the day to debut the deep carbons then

Personally I'm happy with my grading. Been fighting a long time to go up, hopefully it's not an error!

Looking forward to smashing it out and fighting for the win. May give another long breakaway a crack, see how the legs are...

[vander]

Gr 1 did over 46km/h both days at Coota and day 1 didnt get close almost got their day 2. While NSWIS were good they werent strong enough to just drive it and catch everyone. Kauffmann is a good addition. Not sure they will catch the 17min to group 5 though. Gr 3 also looks good but lucky for scratch 7min isnt much. Should be a good race.

[Derny Driver]

I just got back from motorpacing a mate on the Dinnerville course. The wind is now south-west and quite strong ...and cold. The weather should be fine and clear but I reckon you will need an undershirt, jersey, wind vest and arm warmers. Feels like the wind is coming straight off the snow.

[Strawburger]

Ouch!

[queequeg]

Rest Day for me today. I'm in Group 4 with our Club Prez.
It's only my 2nd handicap race, and looks like we have a big group. First order of the day will be to catch Group 5.
Better throw some extra layers in the car for the trip down. I was hoping it wouldn't need the winter kit!

[Derny Driver]

Rest Day for me today. I'm in Group 4 with our Club Prez.
It's only my 2nd handicap race, and looks like we have a big group. First order of the day will be to catch Group 5.
Better throw some extra layers in the car for the trip down. I was hoping it wouldn't need the winter kit!

Yeah I think you will have a difficult task to catch Group 5. good luck.
Introduce yourself to me, Im on the red scooter, numberplate DERNY

[queequeg]

Rest Day for me today. I'm in Group 4 with our Club Prez.
It's only my 2nd handicap race, and looks like we have a big group. First order of the day will be to catch Group 5.
Better throw some extra layers in the car for the trip down. I was hoping it wouldn't need the winter kit!

Yeah I think you will have a difficult task to catch Group 5. good luck.
Introduce yourself to me, Im on the red scooter, numberplate DERNY

Likewise, I should easy to spot. Cervelo S5 with Orange Tyres
Hopefully we have enough sufficiently motivated riders to drive the pace and keep it together.

[GAV!N]

It's breezy out there again. Not as windy as the last few days/weeks, but still enough to make it cold and tough. If I didn't have such a horrific man-flu I'd come out and watch

[Derny Driver]

Race went pretty much as expected. Windy from the West / Southwest. Groups gradually closed on each other until after 3 laps it was 2 large groups ...Group 5 and forward versus Scratch-2-3-4. Scratch took my advice and just let the 8 NSWIS boys on the front to do the job, and wow, every turnaround the front and middle groups got to stare in the eyes of the 8 blue jerseys as the mowed down the whole race. It was more than awesome, it was intimidating. Into the strong headwind the power of scratch was noticeable and with 20km left to race NSWIS had things under control. A couple of brave souls tried to ride off the front on the last half lap but they could not establish any decent gap as NSWIS were sngleminded in their desire for victory. About 7km from the finish there was a crash in the strong cross wind, it happened just behind the NSWIS boys, about 7 or 6 went down and the other 50 were blocked. 15 or so were left to contest the finish, I believe Scott Law had a 54 or 55-11 for the tailwind sprint. He had a 7 man lead out and sailed across the line at about 75kph with NSWIS taking 5 of the first 6 places.
I had a great view of the race from my motorbike marshall position, and when scratch caught my group (4) I was able to float around and ended up leading the scratchmen home. Met up with Mike, Leigh, Paul and Simon ...They can tell you their stories. Matt punctured 35k in and was very unlucky as Im sure he would have been in the hunt at the finish.
I put some photos on the CNSW facebook page.
Cheers,
DD

[Strawburger]

Good to see you and the bike Marcus!

I'll give a detailed description in my racing log, in short:

Felt rubbish at the start except for the climb, came good on lap 2, we were by ourselves for most of the race. We caught the limit to 6 group on the last lap at the Marshall mount climb, soon after we were caught by the nswis freight train (it was an awesome sight to see).

On the last turnaround - 12.5km to go a few limit riders forced their way in front of me at the turn, clearly they didn't have the power to accelerate out of the turn and left a gaping hole. One said sorry... But too little too late. Split the peloton. I chased for a good 3kms with two others but nswis put the foot down and disappeared over the rolling hills. I kept the pace up and was rewarded with the fastest DHBC rider over the line. 29th on time, 45th across the line.

A brutal race where only 75 finished out of 200 listed riders.

[queequeg]

I found Marcus at the start area and turns out he was leading our group (4) on the Derny.

I really had no idea what to expect as I had not a chance to see the course in advance. Our group rolled out, and the bunch formation was a rabble, starting with rotating in the wrong direction despite lots of yelling, then dropped wheels all over the place.
It did settle down, then we hit the climb and the front guys surged and opened up big gaps that we had to work hard to close. At times only half the bunch was taking turns, but it was clearly the strong half as we pulled 41.5km/h avg for lap 1 and knocked 1min30 off the Gap to G5.

Lap 2 was also similarly hot, with only a marginally slower pace. The wind on the course was brutal, so getting stuck on your own with dropped wheels was making things very tough. At the end of the lap,the gap to G5 was 2:25 (at least, that is what I heard shouted from the finish line)

I was going well into Lap 3 until we hit the climb and I was at the back in the rotation. The guys at the front surged half way up the hill and opened a gap, the back half got strung out single file and I found myself at Last wheel. I held that over the top and down the other side, but there was still a small gap on the downhill side and the bunch slowly accelerated. I was desperately trying to get back on and move up the line but my legs had nothing to counter with. I watched the bunch move further away and I was resigned to just sitting up and seeing how the next group looked and I might be able to jump on.

Well, the next group behind me turned out to be the NSWIS Freight Train, and that is what it felt like as they powered past me just before the 12.5km turnaround, only about 1.5min behind G4 who had just come past me the other way. So, I pulled the pin (although I really had only the slimmest of chances tagging into scratch)

At least the return solo leg with the tailwind was easier, but I nonetheless stopped on top of the mountain to watch the groups come back up on the start of Lap 4.

there were a couple of solo riders, one from limit and I think one from G6, followed by a Supergroup, then a gap of maybe 50m, then Scratch followed by the remainders of the groups that had been spat out by Scratch.

So, after the groups went through for the final time, I rode down the hill to watch the finish.

As expected, it was a fast sprint with the massive tailwind. The podium was mostly filled by NSWIS, but good to see Eddie Salas in 6th giving us old guys hope!

This was only my second handicap race. The conditions were tough with big winds and crappy roads, but I think my grading was pretty fair. pretty happy to have lasted until midway through Lap 3. The hot pace on Lap 1 was a shock to the system, and the high number of DNFs is testament to that.

I've obviously got some work to do on holding power for longer, but today it was going to be very hard to beat NSWIS.
To give you an idea on their strength, I passed them in the car as they rode home!

[Derny Driver]

I was going well into Lap 3 until we hit the climb and I was at the back in the rotation.

Little trick for next time mate. Lay off the back of the group out of rotation about 1km before each hill. Call the riders through. About 300m befor the climb you jump back in the line and move forward. If you time it right you will start the climb at the front. You can be overtaken by everyone up the hill and still be in the bunch at the top.
Anyway like i said...group 4 is impressive for your limited experience. The little bloke doing all the talking in your bunch has done 22 dinnervilles and i think 28 Goulburns. You have to be very good to be back there. Well done.

[queequeg]

Little trick for next time mate. Lay off the back of the group out of rotation about 1km before each hill. Call the riders through. About 300m befor the climb you jump back in the line and move forward. If you time it right you will start the climb at the front. You can be overtaken by everyone up the hill and still be in the bunch at the top.
Anyway like i said...group 4 is impressive for your limited experience. The little bloke doing all the talking in your bunch has done 22 dinnervilles and i think 28 Goulburns. You have to be very good to be back there. Well done.

Thanks for the tips. I can't even comprehend having done 22 of these before! When I started racing 12 months ago I would have been happy to be only reaching A Grade Level now, but I came through the ranks very quickly and as such I've spent most of the last 9 months just trying to learn how to actually race.

Thankfully I've had some great advice from guys like Matt, and with a bit of focused training with what time I have, I can get some consistent results. Pity I didn't start this a youngster. Too busy partying!

[trek52]

was an interesting day, Sorry mate didnt see you down there

Our block bunch was crap, there were 6 of us strong and one in particular destroying everyone else an ruining the rhythm and everyone else was flat out doing a turn so it made it messy and not consistent.

I was doing it pretty easy when we got caught but rear tyre went bang just before the turn around. Maybe I would have got dropped last lap but I feel like I could have stayed with Eddie and Brainy all day. Oh well, would have liked to sprint in that tailwind and my 55*11.......

I reckon they should have had half of the block bunch off maybe 5.30 and about 6-8 of us with 6-8 of the scratch guys off 3min with the real top end NRS guys off scratch. The rest seemed about right.

the day wasnt really that windy, I dont get why everyone thought it was, should have been there in previous years !!!

Its a great race but again CNSW let everyone down.......but I wont go into that on here !!