Bendigo Madison RR/RR



B

Bleve

Guest
Ride/Race report!

Myself and one other rode from Vermont to Bendigo, meeting a crew of
friends at Whitlesea and then we all rode up together from there on
Saturday. Caught the last few races at the track under lights.

Sunday's racing was great. the usual collection of track stuff, and a
20 lap motorpace, which seemed a bit pointless, but otherwise some
good, close racing, and it was great to see juniors etc getting to race
in front of a decent size crowd. The Bendigo carnival is a fantastic
event. The girls were a bit ripped off, 4 scratch races and 2
wheelrace/h'caps for them, which was a bit lame. They didn't get a
pointscore or anything like that.

The second last race was the goldem mile wheelrace, where Simon Clarke
and a couple of other riders came down pretty hard, Simon got up, got
straight onto the rollers and kept warm, before getting some very
painful road rash treated. Footy players etc reckon they're tough -
you want tough? Hit the ground (concrete) at ~60km/'h, get run over by
another bike, get back on and then race a 200lap/80km madison. That's
tough.

Then, the main event. The Madison. 80 km, 16 teams, 200 laps. To
skip the details, the drapac/porsche lads and the VIS pair were neck
and neck most of the way, then they both got a lap on the field, but
when the second VIS team of Clarke & Miles went, the Drapac boys went
with them, and the first VIS team didn't have the steam to go too. The
two teams took another lap, putting the two VIS teams on the same lap,
and the Drapac/Porsche team a full lap ahead. Everyone else was just
in it for show by then (about 30 laps to go, from memory). A couple of
minor prangs, but no bad injuries during the Madison itself. So, Drapac
first, VIS second, VIS (Clarke & Miles something) 3rd. Remember Clarke
had a nasty crash in the race just before it. Very exciting race, a
lot of the intermediate sprints were very very close and the Bendigo
Madison has to be one of the most intense cycle races around.

Photos :

http://www.aboc.com.au/images/galleries/20060312-bendigo-madison/

We rode back today, wet & windy, but clearing as we went. 6 very happy
but well tired riders :) We'll be back for it again next year.
 
Coolies, thanks for the pix & report. I thought the Study on female *unner butts was something that you covered well too:)

What was the alt gained for the trip to Bendigo by the way?
 
Bleve wrote:

> ... Very exciting race, a
> lot of the intermediate sprints were very very close and the Bendigo
> Madison has to be one of the most intense cycle races around.


Counting laps in a madison would also have to be the hardest jobs around
wouldn't it?

--
BrettS
 
Speaking as a sandgroper, how did the young Meyer boys go?
Steven

Bleve wrote:
> Ride/Race report!
>
> Myself and one other rode from Vermont to Bendigo, meeting a crew of
> friends at Whitlesea and then we all rode up together from there on
> Saturday. Caught the last few races at the track under lights.
>
> Sunday's racing was great. the usual collection of track stuff, and a
> 20 lap motorpace, which seemed a bit pointless, but otherwise some
> good, close racing, and it was great to see juniors etc getting to race
> in front of a decent size crowd. The Bendigo carnival is a fantastic
> event. The girls were a bit ripped off, 4 scratch races and 2
> wheelrace/h'caps for them, which was a bit lame. They didn't get a
> pointscore or anything like that.
>
> The second last race was the goldem mile wheelrace, where Simon Clarke
> and a couple of other riders came down pretty hard, Simon got up, got
> straight onto the rollers and kept warm, before getting some very
> painful road rash treated. Footy players etc reckon they're tough -
> you want tough? Hit the ground (concrete) at ~60km/'h, get run over by
> another bike, get back on and then race a 200lap/80km madison. That's
> tough.
>
> Then, the main event. The Madison. 80 km, 16 teams, 200 laps. To
> skip the details, the drapac/porsche lads and the VIS pair were neck
> and neck most of the way, then they both got a lap on the field, but
> when the second VIS team of Clarke & Miles went, the Drapac boys went
> with them, and the first VIS team didn't have the steam to go too. The
> two teams took another lap, putting the two VIS teams on the same lap,
> and the Drapac/Porsche team a full lap ahead. Everyone else was just
> in it for show by then (about 30 laps to go, from memory). A couple of
> minor prangs, but no bad injuries during the Madison itself. So, Drapac
> first, VIS second, VIS (Clarke & Miles something) 3rd. Remember Clarke
> had a nasty crash in the race just before it. Very exciting race, a
> lot of the intermediate sprints were very very close and the Bendigo
> Madison has to be one of the most intense cycle races around.
>
> Photos :
>
> http://www.aboc.com.au/images/galleries/20060312-bendigo-madison/
>
> We rode back today, wet & windy, but clearing as we went. 6 very happy
> but well tired riders :) We'll be back for it again next year.
>
 
JayWoo wrote:
> Coolies, thanks for the pix & report. I thought the Study on female
> *unner butts was something that you covered well too:)


I was on a commission :)

> What was the alt gained for the trip to Bendigo by the way?


About 1300m all up I think. It's rollers and mainly flat. The most
height was around Greensburough on the way to Wallan.
 
BrettS wrote:
> Bleve wrote:
>
> > ... Very exciting race, a
> > lot of the intermediate sprints were very very close and the Bendigo
> > Madison has to be one of the most intense cycle races around.

>
> Counting laps in a madison would also have to be the hardest jobs around
> wouldn't it?


Not really, difficult to automate though. It's basically just a points
race, only the first 3 places in each sprint get points. The
difficulty is working out which rider is "active" in software when all
the machine has is lap times for each race number. *especially* if a
sling happens in the timing area. Easy (reasonably) for humans to do,
but non-trivial for a machine.
 

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