Att: Hippy - My 2003/04 Christmas Carnival photos are finally online

[Geoff]

Hi Hip (and others),

as promised I have finally uploaded the photos taken by my
wife at the Bendigo and Shepparton Christmas carnivals.

http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~geoffg/

Just about all of the pics (as you might expect) have me in
them. I'm the one in the Richmond Cyclery colours (small
plug for my sponsor) and the yellow helmet. You may also be
familiar with some of the other riders that are also in the
shots such as Rowan, Sean, and John L from Blackburn CC, and
the ever popular Bananaman.

These pictures include pictures of both Graded and
Handicapped races. At Bendigo I raced E grade (of Elite(A)
to F grades). The total number of riders entered for this
meeting including juniors was around 300. At Shep total
number of riders was around 200 and I was racing D Grade (of
Elite(A) to D).

If you want to get practice at racing Handicaps these
carnivals are the place to do it. I only raced these two
meets but by the end of the second meet I was begining to
get that "not another handicap" feeling. I can't begin to
imagine what those who had been doing this for all 5 days
were thinking by the time they got to the final day.

In summary I had a great time, stayed upright, and learned a
lot, from a tactical perspective, about racing on the track.

cheers Geoff

btw. hippy this JAlbum software is pretty good once you get
the hang of it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

 

[hippy]

>Originally posted by Geoff
>as promised I have finally uploaded the photos taken by
>my wife at the Bendigo and Shepparton Christmas carnivals.

Cheers! Shep looks a lot steeper than Bendigo which looks
flatter than Blackburn? They both seem more open than
Blackburn - better for spectating.

>You may also be familiar with some of the other riders that are >also in the shots such as Rowan, Sean, and John L from >Blackburn CC, and the ever popular Bananaman.

I'll need a closer look for the Blackburn guys..
What's the go with this "Bananaman"? Who is he? Where's
the name from? Even the commentators at the big Vodaphone
races call him that!

How did you actually go, place-wise in these races?

>btw. hippy this JAlbum software is pretty good once you get
>the hang of it. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

No worries

helpful hippy

 

[Geoff]

"hippy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Shep looks a lot steeper than Bendigo which looks flatter
> than Blackburn? They both seem more open than Blackburn -
> better for spectating.

Shep is very similar to Blackburn but smoother and much
faster. Bendigo track is pretty close to 400m at the
measuring line and it is a weird shape. It's sort of D
shaped. The Finish line (front straight) is on the
straighter side of the course and there is not really a back
straight to speak of. Both are good for spectating although
with Bendigo being so large it's a long way from where you
are sitting to the other side of the track.

> What's the go with this "Bananaman"? Who is he? Where's
> the name from?
Even the commentators at
> the big Vodaphone races call him that!

Bananaman was formerly known as Bill Clifton. I believe he
has changed his name by deed poll. His racing licence also
names him as Bananaman. B is from the Northcote club and is
a known for his support for the development of Womens Track
Cycling via his sponsorship of the Fortress - Banana
Flooring Girls Team. (Banana Flooring is B's business). On
top of that he's an all round nice guy. And thats about all
I know about him. Does anyone else have anything to add?

> How did you actually go, place-wise in these races?

The best I did was 5th but I can't remember exactly where,
what type or which race.

Geoff