Col du Lofty Champagne Cup - Barrier Draw & Declaration of Handicap Weight

Official Start List for the Col du Lofty Champagne Cup, together with ballast weight and start times:

GRIMPEUR	MINIMUM WEIGHT BALLAST	ROLLOUT TIME	TIME GAP
Dahondude	5 kg	6:08:00 AM	15:00
BY76	5 kg	6:07:00 AM	14:00
A.V.O.	4 kg	6:06:00 AM	13:00
Easy Tiger	4 kg	6:05:00 AM	12:00
Snappy Don	4 kg	6:03:00 AM	10:00
Smiling Assassin	3 kg	6:00:00 AM	7:00
Richard Smith	3 kg	5:57:00 AM	4:00
Special K	3 kg	5:53:00 AM	0:00

Notes regarding weight

Grimpeurs have been simply allocated a weight from between a minimum of 3kgs and a maximum of 5kgs.

Grimpeurs are reminded that weight includes the weight of backpack and its contents, but excludes weight of bidons, portable bike pumps, gels etc that are carried on the bike (or ordinarily carried on the bike), and will be weighed upon completion.

In terms of weight, grimpeurs are strongly encouraged to carry items necessary to share for breakfast (whether beverage, solid consumable, drinking vessel or eating utensil).

Notes regarding start time

I have reviewed everybody’s submitted times and rounded up or down where it has been thought necessary. If time has had to be round down I have accommodated in the determination of minimum ballast.

Procedure

Grimpeurs are to meet at the gum tree between 5:45am and 5:50am, and will rollout at their respective rollout time under the supervision of the official time keeper. It is noted that the (non-competing) Chief Commissionaire's will be the first to roll out carrying the Champagne Cup to the summit.

In simple terms, the winner of the Cup is the first person to ride through the ribbon between the Lofty summit lookout bollards and have correct weight declared.

Grimpeurs are reminded to obey the road rules when riding, and acknowledge that they, in choosing to race, do so at their own risk recognizing and assuming all inherent risks.

Grimpeurs are reminded to review event discussion for futher detail <= CLICK HERE

Get your office sweep here!

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Permalink Reply by snappy_don on November 1, 2011 at 9:37

Essentially this race was a mountain Time Trial, with the start times adjusted to form the handicap- and the extra weight in the packpack was an effective handicap too. For me Time Trials are a mix of the carrot and the stick. Depending on how good you're feeling at the time, you're either trying the catch the rider up the road (that's the carrot part) or if you feel you've been in the red zone for too long, you're driven on by the fear of being caught by the guy behind. The end result is usually as good a time as you're capable of, but it comes with the danger of leaving some pavement pizza at the finish line.

I did have an extremely minor Cat 6 victory at the Crafers bollards. I saw a rider with backpack ahead of me and put in a withering attack to pip them at the posts, only to find it wasn't one of my fellow competitors at all. I received a cheery 'good morning' from the girl on her MTB out for her morning roll, which took some of the gloss off my points win.

Congratulations to AVO who passed the whole field from the scratch mark excepting Richard - who only escaped by seconds. AVO caught me at the start of Shurdington Rd. I tried to engage him in 'delaying' conversation, but he was a man on a mission. Reaching Lofty car park gates I was completely cooked, but then I saw Gus's tail light winking in the fog and I busted a gut in our sprint finish. Well, calling it a sprint flatters both of us, but gears were changed and grunts and expletives were heard over the sounds of the cheering spectators.

Other highlights, noticed during the few moments I wasn't buried deep in the pain cave, were the Koala mooching around on the ground at, you guessed it, Koala corner, the beauty and stillness of fog in the trees behind Crafers, and the kangaroos that joined us at the summit. I'm sure they were trying to scrounge champagne and ZZ's home made banana bread.

Until next year. Salut.

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Permalink Reply by Gus K on November 1, 2011 at 9:44

Dammit I knew I should have switched off the blinkers and gone into in stealth mode!

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Permalink Reply by by76 on November 1, 2011 at 16:05

Sounds like a lot of fun was had by all - and judging by the photos it looked freezing. Congrats to Richard on the win, and all of the other grimpeurs who slugged it out up the mountain. Looking forward to the race report. Disappointed I had to be a late scratching due to a meeting which started an hour late anyway, but am already training for next years event (have a bit of time on my hands now).

Congrats to ZZ for coordinating what looked to be a great event, and surely to be added to the list of spring classics (spring in Australia anyway).

Out of curiosity, how did everyone go having to load 3 or 4 kgs in a backpack - I had a crack this afternoon and struggled to get enough brekky food for a weight over 2kg!