NEWSLETTER   December 8, 2009

Inside:  an exclusive report on the Tour de Antarctic

Riding on the edge!  MTB Short Track Summer Series leader Clarke Petrick,

SATURDAY CENTURY RIDE

The Saturday Century Ride is now leaving from the Undoolya Road Roundabout at 5.30am on Saturday mornings.  Apologies to those who have been inadvertently kept out of the loop and who have been turning up at 6.00am for a very lonely ride.  Well done Elise for doing a solo effort on Saturday morning!

TOUR de ANTARCTIC

Dave left the rest of the bunch at the gap

Day 15 – Saturday 5^th December

Yaaaaaaaaaawn!  It was 06:30 when I sat down to breakfast this morning priming for another scientific experiment which I had not yet been involved in.  To tell you the truth I knew where the science had happened the previous day and I was hoping to go and check out somewhere new, Magnetic Island.  This is NW of the base at around 4km and has another Adele penguin rookery or “chook pen” as they are commonly known to the scientists.  Really in need of some more sleep we set off before seven on fully laden quads for the island.  Once we got there I could see the remains of their efforts from the day before as ice core lay like the carcasses of the Adele’s on Gardiner Island the night before.

We started coring another site about a hundred meters from the previous site.  Coring involves drilling with a 100mm (which is about the size of a 1.25L soft drink bottle) tube so that you can extract the core or oversized round ice block from the inside of the drill bit.  The bit is only one metre long so when the ice is deeper than a metre the core has to be pulled out and taken apart to put an extension of another meter on.  The holes that we cored were all at least 1.7m deep which is a very time consuming process even with a still wiper snipper power head to get it going faster. Once we got to the bottom you have to be careful not to push it through too fast as you can sheer off the last of the ice off the bottom.  The problem is that it was the only bit that we wanted to get.  We were finding and catching the red algae from the bottom of the food chain in Antarctica (it supports all wildlife in the Southern Ocean). Once the core was out (this did not always happen smoothly as it could break off and be taken away by the currents or the corer might not bring up the core which is very slippery to grab when you can only just get two fingers onto a meter of ice!  Best likened to trying to pick up warm jelly from a tiled floor if you have ever tried to do that with any level of success.

Anyway once out we would also get some of the algae in the water that filled up the hole that the core came from, this water level is known as the freeboard and represents the actual level of the ocean.  It is about 30cm below the surface of the ice or just far enough that your gloves fill up with water and ice on the way out of the hole.  I had a glove full of algae a number of times.  Each site had three test holes which often resulted in three holes being dug for each of these as the samples were not always consistent or abundant enough to test. That is 3 sites by 3 holes by 3 x 1.7m holes for each sample and some extras for when the coring was buggered up! So just over 45m of coring which took us up to 12:00 better known as lunch!

But wait there was more!  On the way home we stopped in at some of the Weddell Wallows to collect fresh Weddell Poos.  I could not believe my luck and instantly thought of all the dogs that have been in my life (Bella, Sam, Alice, Jess, Marty, Jet and the Chieftain and the rest) and the numerous amounts of shit that had been picked up in a lifetime!  Ah the memories, who would have thought that I could have had all the necessary training to do such a thing in Antarctica!  Packages securely in the esky on the ice cores and we were off to put them in the -20⁰ C freezer back at Davis.

The surface snow became thicker and the bike was breaking though to 20cm in most places.

The Bike Bit

After lunch I had a date with a small crew of like minded cyclists!  This was going to be one of the magic moments of the Antarctic experience.  I had put a message on the board for anyone with a bicycle to come for a sea ice ride.  Knowing of one other MTB that had made the crossing below 60⁰ South I had not expected that there would be four of us.  The other two bike if you could call them that were well adjusted to the environment with no lube and not many working parts between them!

Arming ourselves with throw ropes and ice axes we were off to cross the first and largest of the tide cracks that we expected to cross.  Man down, man down the first casualty of the ride was one of the old bangers hitting the sand and having its handle bars go in a different direction from the front wheel.  Crossing the major tide crack was relatively safe and all made it over to the sea ice but the second casualty went straight down another crack big enough to swallow both wheels up to the axle.  For those of you who have negotiated wet tram tacks on a road bike you will know what I am getting at, apart from the fact that the track is 1.7m deep and is full of ocean.

Overcoming these relatively small hurdles, with no throw bags used in anger, we made our way out towards Anchorage Island with great delight as the going became far easier than expected on the slicker ice.  Progress however was slowed greatly when the surface snow became thicker and the bike was breaking though to 20cm in most places.  I’m sure that the cyclists can appreciate that this feels like doing a stage in the hills of the Tour de France.  We were headed for the nearest icebergs to go for the photo money shots.  You have to keep the sponsors happy and there were two of us in the appropriate lycra for our favourite and supporting bike shops (Pennyfarthing Avanti Plus and Ken Self in Hobart).

The spectators were always very well dressed and most appreciative

Just great to be on a real bike after all of the time on trainers the boat!  Even better with the bergs and the birds.  (Adele Penguins came out to see what all the fuss was about).  My fondest moment of the ride was actually doing a fantastic over the bars effort into a deep drift of snow all recorded on video of course.

In true track racing style I was out of the seat pushing the biggest gear I could in an effort to get a really great shot on the camera across a broad ice section and up what looked like a solid snow bank on the other side.  After crossing the ice with low angled sun reflecting off it, I smoothly made the ascent of the small snow wave (more like a dune of sand for the desert dwellers) before the sickening feeling of the front wheel being pulled towards the icy depths below the snow.  Stopping over a far smaller distance than it had taken me to speed up, my entire front wheel was swallowed by the soft drift of snow.  Not having enough time to even consider what had happened, I sailed for what felt like an eternity through the air landing with all of the grace of a seal as its body slothfully lands on the ice when getting out of the ocean. Looking back my bike was exactly where I had left it!

Unlike the sand where your bike falls to the ground it was still upright as the snow on either side of the wheels held it in place.

Gathering my thoughts I found myself removing snow and ice from the inside of my shoes and gloves, up under my bike nicks, between my eyes and sunglasses, down my back melting into my bum crack (incidentally this later started to refreeze) and between the holes in my helmet!  What a stack in true ‘yard sale’ style.  (This is a term commonly used by skiers when they see a total beginner have a big stack, leaving items of equipment and clothing all over the slope in the process.)

The rest of the ‘Tour de Antarctic’ was relatively tame and, after a gruelling 15km in nearly 2 hours, we returned to base with a broken chain, buckled rim, sore coccyx and deflated spirits! Nah, everything but the deflated spirits and I might add that I had no mechanicals and was not harmed (nothing but pride that is) in any stages of the ‘Tour’.

Spectators rushed over to help.

Dave Atkins  (Dave is the ASCC’s only entrant in the Tour de Antarctic)

Don’t forget Dave’s BlogSpot, he is a long way from home and the riding is lonely.  http://atkinsinantarctica.blogspot.com

http://atkinsinantarctica.blogspot.com/
or email him at David.Atkins@aad.gov.au

NEW SUB COMMITTEES

Our new committee met for the first time last night and five new sub-committees were formed.  These committees will be responsible for the oversight, management of resources and conduct of events specific to their respective disciplines of Road, MTB and Track and overall club development.  Committee members who volunteered to head op these groups need the support and assistance of our membership so I encourage anyone who is interested to please contact the relevant committee members and offer their assistance. I am looking forward to a year of continued success and I am sure that we are well on track with these enthusiastic teams. 

Track 

Trevor Owen and Craig Hodge

Road

Kathy Moylan and Tim Day

MTB

Laurie Berryman, Doug Standish and Ian Johnson

Junior Development

Stuart McDonell and Clarke Petrick

Strategic Planning

Andrea Martin

FIRST AID AND SPORTS MEDICINE AUDIT

The ASCC committee are keen to develop a register of those members who hold a current First Aid Certificate or a Sports Trainer qualification.  Please forward your information to Stuart McDonell on stumcd51@bigpond.com . 

The ASCC is also keen to develop the skills of our volunteers so we would like to support our members to gain these qualifications by subsidising the cost of the courses. If we have enough interest we may be able to have our own separate course conducted at a flexible time to suit our participants.  Please let Stuart know if you are interested in completing a Senior first Aid Course.  This is a pre-requisite for the Level One Sports Trainer Course.

We also extend this invitation to parents of our junior riders and spouses etc who might also be able to provide some assistance back to the club during events.

Clarke Petrick in training (and mid-air) for the MTBA National Series

MTBA NATIONAL SERIES

Glenorchy press release sent to advocate

ASCC junior athletes Connor Skoss and Ben Rayner 14 yrs will make their debut on the national mountain bike circuit this weekend; when they travel to Tasmania for the first round of the National Series to be conducted in Glenorchy, Tasmania on 12^th and 13^th December.  The young XcR riders will have the support and experience of fellow club member Ryan Standish, the winner of the 2009 series in the U17.

These athletes are also members of Cycling NT’s underpinning XcR program which provides a development pathway from club level to NTIS across the road, track and mountain bike cycling disciplines.

15 year old Connor says, ‘I’ve put a lot of work in leading up to this and I’m keen to see what the level of competition is like at a National event’.

Coach Clarke Petrick says, ‘I’m looking forward to racing on different tracks, and in a different environment.  It is going to be wet and muddy and good practice for the National Championships at Eagle Park in Adelaide in January’.

Exposure to interstate competition is critical to the next level of athlete development for the Centralian junior riders.  This exciting experience will help drive the direction of their future training.  (Clarke and the boys flew out on Monday and are currently in Tassie.)

Mandy Hargreaves

MTB SHORT TRACK SUMMER SERIES

David 1^st versus Ryan 2^nd                          Jethro Tessman Interm. 1^st

RESULTS OF THE LAST 2009 RACE

RACE #6, held at Kurrajong Park, on Thursday 3^rd December.

 
Held on 3rd December 2009
 
JUNIORS
1st    Oliver Hartung                         9 laps
2nd   Lewis Hartung                        8 laps
3rd   Timmy Zimmerman                8 laps
4th   Steven Purdie             2 laps (DNF)
 
INTERMEDIATE
1st   Jethro Tessmann                    6 laps
2nd   Paul Standish                        6 laps
3rd   Victor Tessmann        6 laps
4th   Corey Hodge                            6 laps
5th   Jordan Hill                                5 laps
6th   Aden Paterson                        5 laps  
 
SENIORS
1st   David Johnson                        9 laps
2nd  Ryan Standish                        9 laps
3rd   Clarke Petrick                          9 laps
4th   Mick Cafe                                 9 laps
5th   Simon Murphy                         8 laps
6th   Jason Hatzimihail                   8 laps
7th   Connor Skoss                          8 laps
8th   Doug Standish                        7 laps
9th   Ian Johnson                             7 laps
10th Carl Barrow                              7 laps
11th Adam Younie                          7 laps
12th Susan Brooks                          6 laps
13th Ben Raynor                             2 laps (DNF)
 
Thanks to everyone who has assisted in the first set of races for the MTB Short Course series (Chris Standish, Brad & Pippa Tessmann, Georgie Landy, Kathy Moylan, Shane Mulcahy, Ian Johnson, Clarke Petrick and Grover the dog).  Hopefully the consistent turnout will continue in the New Year after everyone has had time to get some more training in (or more Xmas cake, whatever you choose).  There will be an exciting battle for the Short course crowns in the Intermediate and Senior categories.  Hopefully we'll see more ladies out riding in the New Year.
  

‘The Glenorchy Group’ Clarke Petrick, Ben Rayner, Connor Skoss and Ryan Standish.  Good Luck Guys!

MTB SHORT TRACK SUMMER SERIES

FIRST 2010 RACE Thursday 4th February, venue to be announced.

HELP NEEDED, PLEASE!

We are looking for someone to take responsibility for the MTB Race gear (i.e. money, race box, first aid kit, etc) and taking it to the next set of 6 MTB Short course races starting in late January.  Anyone able to help should contact Justine or Simon.

If you have any queries about anything to do with MTB cycling, call Simon Murphy on 0428 854 949 or Justine Petrick on 0438 292 677.

Remember all competitors need to have a current Cycling Australia licence (see ASCC website)

Justine Petrick

CHRISTMAS FAMILY TRIATHLON

Sunday 20^th Dec.

This one is for families of all ages, babies to grannies, prams and pushers encouraged. The future of triathlon lies in the family gene pool.  A variety of courses available according to age/ability.

Car park at Town Pool

6.30am Registration, 6.50am event briefing, 7am Start

Christmas fun, frivolities and food.

Santa says, “I believe mince tarts make excellent training fuel!”

TRIATHLON 3 X TIMES THE FUN – Santa may ride in on a bike…who knows?

ALICE SPRINGS TRIATHLON CLUB, PO Box 3291 ALICE SPRINGS  NT  0871

Website:  http://www.triathlonnt.com.au   Email:  alicetriclub@yahoo.com.au

Club information: Dean Nankivell 0437371654, Loie Sharp 89527442

OTHER CYCLING EVENTS AND CYCLING RELATED ACTIVITIES

Ausbike Adelaide.  A celebration of all things cycling

Friday 15^th January – Monday 18^th January, 2010

For further information contact:  Simon Head, General Manager, 0419 392 051 or email:info@ausbikeaustralia.com.au

Cycling Medicine Down Under  January 20 – 24, 2010, Adelaide, Australia

A unique opportunity to appreciate the scientific and medical foundation of cycling...and see it in action during the Santos Tour Down Under.

Program highlights: cycling mechanics, human biomechanics, anatomy, exercise physiology, psychology, heat and hydration, nutrition and therapeutic supplements, injury and recovery.

Keynote speakers include: David Martin (AIS), Brett Aitken OAM, Steve Hogg, David Parkin
Key supporters include: UniSA, University of Adelaide

The conference is open to all keen cyclists seeking an understanding of cycling science and wishing to increase their personal performance.

For full program and registration:

Visit: www.learningandleasure.com.au

Email: events@learningandleisure.com.au

Phone: 08 8267 6660

3 peaks challenge

March 7, 2010

The inaugural 230km ‘3 Peaks Challenge’.   The ride commences at Falls Creek Resort and descends to Mt. Beauty before tackling the three peaks.  Registrations are now open:www.3peakschallenge.com.au

National Ride2School Day
Wednesday March 17, 2010

National Ride to Work Day
Wednesday October 13, 2010

Great Victorian Bike Ride
November 27 – December 5, 2010

CLASSIFIEDS

A virtual Lawn Sale for all things bikes and cycling.  Tell us what you would like to sell, buy, obtain or give away; how long to run the ad, and then let us know when you have found your dream bike or found a new home for the old one, so that we can use the space for something else.

WANTED TO BUY       

Medium and small frame sized bikes. A large number of women and juniors are joining triathlon, often riding MTB’s and keen to get onto racing bikes.  Contact Loie 89527442 or Dean 0437371654.

WANTED WORKING OR NOT - KIDS ROAD BIKES

Stuart McDonell has been working overtime to rebuild a number of smaller road bikes for use by our younger members in the Junior Development Program.  Please check your shed and ask around to locate any junior road bikes.  Free pick up!

Please ring Stuart on 0419 853611 or 89523684 AH

REGULAR TRAINING AND SOCIAL RIDES

TRACK SEASON 2009/2010

Training:  Wednesdays

Juniors are from 5:30pm - 7pm.  Seniors from 7pm onwards

A current CA license is required.  If you don’t have one please ensure you make this fact known.

Racing: Fridays from 7pm

All Track Riders and possible Track Riders welcome

For further information contact:

Craig Hodge 89528742

Billy 89555749

Kieran 89534187

SUNDAY SOCIAL RIDE

Meet at Hungry Jacks at 7.00am for a social ride (average speed: 27 km/h); 7.30 am during the winter months. This is a good way for new members to meet others in the club and to gain an understanding of riding in a peleton. Arrive back in town at 9.00 am and stay on for coffee. 

TUESDAY AND THURSDAY HILL CLIMBS

Riders leave town between 5.30 and 6.00 am, and ride up the north Stuart Highway then re-group at Bond Springs turn-off at 6.30 am for the return ride. Most riders head into town for a coffee and are on their way to work or home between 7.30 and 8.00 am.

MONDAY, WEDNESDAY AND FRIDAY ‘HONEYMOONER’ LOOP RIDES

The ride departs opposite the Shell servo on Larapinta Drive (corner Nicker Crescent) at 5:30 am sharp and is approximately 35 km at a speed of 28-30 km/h. Come equipped with lights. Return to town for coffee by 7.00 am.

SATURDAY MORNING CENTURY RIDE

The Saturday Century Ride, a fast 100k ride, is now leaving from the Undoolya Road Roundabout at 5.30am on Saturday mornings. 

THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS

Please support our sponsors and be sure to acknowledge their support at every opportunity!

Mandy Hargreaves

~Penny Farthing Avanti Plus ~ Northern Territory Government Office of Sport and Recreation~Ultimate Ride ~ Alice Springs Physiotherapy and Sports Injury Clinic~DASA~Independent Grocers ~ Alice Springs Memorial Club ~ The Red Dog Café~Schweppes ~ Danny Orr Earthmoving ~ Central Plant Hire ~ Lion Nathan XXXX ~ Central Australia Financial Planning ~ Driver Web Design ~ CleanawayCommunity Benefit Fund~

ALICE SPRINGS CYCLING CLUB WEB SITE

Hear it first… if you’re missing the ASCC in your in-box or are dreaming of cycling during the long week, remember you can always get race results, weekend ride info or ponder your fabulous performance in future events at our website:

www.alicespringscyclingclub.com.au.

Please contact us with suggestions/contributions, especially event photos (JPEG format preferred).  Email the text you want inserted for items for Lost and Found, For Sale, Wanted and any announcements. Random speculation and gloating from your last cycling tour/race or adventure are highly regarded as newsletter fodder, so submit your word-smithing to our rigorous peer-review process… Newsletters come out approximately weekly.  We aim for Tuesday.  We would love to have some children’s contributions.  How about it kids?

N.B.:  Please keep formatting of contributions as simple as possible, especially tables.  Avoid shading, etc.

Remember:  This Club’s newsletter can only be as good as the information, results, reports, advertisements, invitations, photographs, poetry, quips and quotes, lies and gossip provided by you.  Email contributions to:

judybuckley@ozemail.com.au