15th April 2008
NEWSFLASH Team KOM Cyclery Dominate the Mountain!!

Team KOM Cyclery made the annual pilgrimage to Bathurst for the NSW State Hill Climb Championships (Saturday morning), the Criterion Race (Saturday afternoon) and the Bathurst to Blayney (B2B) 110km race on Sunday.

The first event, the NSW State Hill Climb Championship had Dave Evans and Andrew Crawley enetred in the Elite category. The boys got to Bathurst 60mins before their start time with Alex "Nanna" Malone behind the wheel of the KOM van ensuring that their would definately be NO speeding tickets!

A quick 10km warmup around the crit circuit and the boys were ready to go. The start was moved slightly from last year for some strange reason adding a a 90 degree turn and a speed hump 5 metres after the start?? Dave and Andy both went very hard from the gun having not seen the course at all. Both thought after the Time Trial that this would be their downfall with both feeling they went out too hard! As it turned out Dave won in 9mins 13sec with Andy 2nd in 9mins 25secs in a result that would set the tone for the weekend.

The afternoon crits saw Alex graded in Div 3 for reasons only known to the NSW Handicapper. Wins in A Grade at Beauie Worlds and Tepko Rd as well as placings or wins at Grafton to Inverell and numerous other strong results in the past year seem to have been missed!

Anyway after sitting on the front the entire race, picking up the $50 prime with no one willing to go past him but being chased down every time he made a break, Alex was rolled in the downhill sprint. In the Div 1 race, Hayden "Haydos" Kegg, Dave & Andy lined up for the 40min race with 3 primes. All 3 boys rode strongly with Dave picking up the 2nd and 3rd prime which was ideally located at the top of a short but sharp rise. Andy went off the front with a lap and a half to go and in the end managed to hold onto 4th with Dave finishing in the top 10.

Eastie, Nath Page and Andy de Sousa hooked up with the boys Saturday evening for a Pub meal and plenty of laughs in preparation for the Blayney to Bathurst 110km race the next morning. An early start with the team getting their bikes to Blayney 40km away from where they were staying for an 8.30 kickoff. The weather "looked" perfect at the start but after 30 minutes of racing, it was clear that the bunch was going to get very wet (and cold). The early ks were covered at a fairly solid pace with the Mace boys and KOM boys doing their fair share of swapping off. The rain didnt slow the pace at all with the first selection coming at a hill at about 40km where the bunch of 80 was split in two.

The pace remained solid for the next few ks with Nathan "Law & Order" Page rolling his turn only to look around and find himself off the front. Away Nath went for the next 30km or so putting time into the bunch in the rain with the bunch hitting 90kmh on some downhills. Nath claimed the KOM on the dirt road with Dave & Andy taking 2nd and 3rd and catching Nath on the decent. This was where the final selection was made with 10 going clear after the KOM with about 30km to go. Of the 10 in the lead group, 5 were KOM riders and 3 others were Northern Sydney. The lead 10 kept the pace high to ensure they also claimed fastest time. The race was always going to come down to the last mile which was straight up Conrod straight through the hair pins to the top of Mt Panorama.

Andy, Dave & Alex got a small gap along with Adam Socha from NSCC over other 6 riders. Andy endged a few metres clear over the summit and held on for a well deserved victory. Dave was 2nd and Alex 3rd for a KOM sweep. The KOM dominance didnt end with the top 3. Nath Page was 5th after doing a massive amount of work all day as did eastie who finished 7th. Haydos was not far back coming in with the second group in 14th position.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend with some great results from all the KOM riders as well as Northern Sydney Cycling Club in general.

31st March 2008
Round 5 of the KOM Cyclery Northside Road Champs, West Head – Sunday 30 March 2008
KOM Cyclery Northside Road Champs, West Head – Sunday 30 March 2008 A-Grade
A huge turnout of riders turned up bright & early on a glorious Sunday morning for the Northside Road Champs which for A-Grade was held over 3 out-and-back laps of West Head covering approximately 70km.

A strong A-Grade field rolled down the neutral McCars Creek Rd before the official start line. Rob Hodgeson was first to attack going from the gun up the hill to the West Head turnoff. Knowing Robs strength, Dave Evans (KOM) increased the pace of the bunch & took them back onto Robs wheel several kilometers later. It was then an attack by Dave half way out to West Head on the first lap that would half the field leaving 6 riders to fight it out. From KOM there was Dave, Blair Martin & Andy Crawley, from Northern Sydney Justin Morris and Sam Moorehouse and the always present Rob Hodgeson.

The six rides swapped turns for the next 2 laps keeping the pace high and ensuring that there would be no comeback for those riders dropped earlier. The next decisive move came heading up the wall on the final lap just before the turn around. All 3 KOM riders attacked the climb with only Justin Morris getting across. The four riders, 3 KOM and 1 Northern Sydney were left to battle for the win. The KOM boys made several attempts to drop Justin but he hang in gamely.

Heading into the last 2km, Blair went to the front and kept the pace high with Dave and Justin jumping off his wheel at the bottom of the finishing hill. Justin had too much strength for Dave and went onto win with Dave 2nd, Andy 3rd and Blair 4th. Sam and Rob finish a minute or so down in 5th and 6th rounding out the field for a KOM/ Northern Sydney sweep.

The next of the races in the KOM Cyclery series is on Sunday 20th April.DO NOT MISS THIS CLASSIC EVENT!!

29th November 2007
Highland Fling - Anna Beck
Awakening in the midst of a moor on Sunday the 11th of November (or maybe a paddock in the little Scottish town of Bundanoon…), the drone of a loudspeaker reminds me of a few things;
1. I am sleeping on the floor of a van. I think I am lying on top of some shoes. Ow.
2. There’s bicycles in the van with me
3. It’s time to get up, eat, caffeinate, and register myself, because today is the Vaude Highland Fling for 2007!
4. We were blessed with sunshine for the Fling, a welcome relief after over a week of bleak weather and rain.

In usual form, team KOM were out in full force, Waz managing to get prime position for the KOM van, situating it at the gates to the parking paddock.
Entering (n.b: sandbagging) in the veteran Full Fling category, Waz bolted out of the starting gates at 7.30 with the rest of the Full Flinging field, except the Elite hard core’s.
The rest of us KOM flingers, Alex the Russian, Zoe the King, Anna the Banana, and honorary KOM rider Aiden Lefmann the curly-haired pinner, started the Fling together at 8am.
As usual, the course not too technically challenging, allowing both the Elite hard core’s and the weekend warriors the chance to have a fun and enjoyable day out, enjoying a beautiful day on the bike!
Perhaps the most memorable part of the Highland Fling 2007 was the swim leg the organizers had kindly added to cool all the sweaty, hot bike riders down. For some of us, this creek crossing required floaties, as the vertically challenged waded in depths chest high. At the 20km mark, it was exciting to know that half flingers had 37 more km’s to go with a wet chamois, while the truly brave full flingers had another 90km to complete with wet nether regions. Nice.
Entering in the half fling (“it's closer to cross country length…”), meant that pinners like Zoe and I were finished in close to three hours, leaving us time to de-chamois, clean up, eat some well-earned food, and wait for the boys and their pain faces to come in from the 110km pain fest.
Congratulations to Shaun Lewis on upholding his Fling King title earned in the 2006 Highland Fling. Waz rolled in first in vets, Zoe took out the half fling for the fairer sex, Anna Banana placing third in the open category for the half fling. Legend Mountain biker Aiden “Aidooz” Lefmann wasn’t having the ride of his career, but boldly rolled in top fifteen for the Elite hard core’s. The Russian also needed a stiff drink after battling through the course, proceeding to use the KOM van as makeshift sleeping quarters.

All in all a good day for team KOM.

22nd November 2007
Tour of Southland - Blair Martin
After suffering a bad cold in the last 5 days leading up to the Tour (it is amazing what the body's response is to tapering off training!), I was worried about the first day. However knowing I had done the work (most weeks totaling close to or more than 700km) I was also pretty excited.

On day 1, in typical Southland fashion, the elements were against us, with gale force winds and rain squalls. I got through the first stage, a 4.2km flat individual TT in 55th place, 50 seconds down on the fastest time. At least I beat Henk Vogels!

Stage 2 was 90 minutes later, 82km around Invercargill then across to Bluff. This stage was a disaster for me. After hanging onto the back of the peleton at over 60km/h in tailwinds for 15km or so, we did a 90 degree turn on the main highway, and the cross winds hit. The peleton was blown to bits, there were riders being blown off the road, it was all I could do to keep upright. After suffering in the gutter and watching the main bunch ride away, I managed to rally with about 10 other blokes for a slow and painful ride in cross and headwinds down to Bluff. Some parts were 18km/h in the 39 / 25. At least the final 2km was uphill- at 17%! I rode off the front of my bunch, but was a shattered man crossing the line, with my tail firmly wedged between my legs, 13+ minutes down on the yellow jersey.

Day 2 was pretty uneventful, 165km to Gore, and I was happy to finish in the bunch feeling fresh, having stretched my legs on a couple of the climbs. I found it was quite easy as long as you were well positioned at the bottom of a climb to stretch the peleton out, and a couple of times got into some minor breaks, which did not stick. This stage was pretty bad for stacks, one of my team mates being caught in one of the many bingles, fracturing his wrist. Thankfully aside from minor fractures and some riders losing some bark, this year's event went relatively smoothly for injuries.

Day 3 was a good one for me. Again this was a day of cross winds, but I had well learned my lesson on day 1 and my bunch positioning was spot on. At half way of stage 4 (104km) we hit the south coast of New Zealand, which was hilly and windy. This suited me perfectly, and with my friend Aaron Strong we dragged eventual winner Hayden Roulston and another couple of riders away in a break which stuck. There were only 6 of the 11 riders rolling through, the other 5 either being from the team which held the yellow jersey (until then), or just sucking wheel. I finished 10th across the line, with the peleton over 3 minutes back. I was happy to be riding strongly, and got plenty of air time on the TV coverage!

Stage 5 (88km) that afternoon was totally flat, but a break opened up again in cross winds, but I managed to ride across when it looked like I was going out the back (again poor positioning at crucial times) and finished in 18th in the main chase bunch.

The next day was probably the most enjoyable day I have had racing on a bike. Our 133km stage took us down the side of Lake Wakatipu into Queenstown, then through Arrowtown, finishing with a 3km climb onto the Crown Range. The ride down the side of the lake, past the Kingston Flyer steam train was absolutely stunning. And it was a lovely day to top it off. My goal was to race to the BOTTOM of the climb, hoping the climb would take care of itself. I was happy to survive some pretty devastating attacks from the big boys in the last 30km. Going into Arrowtown Roulston, Jeremy Vennell and Marc Ryan (2nd place GC) got a break which Vennell and Roulston held to the finish. Aaron Strong and I sat on Reon Park's wheel on the climb until we all passed Ryan, with Aaron finishing 3rd and me 4th on the stage. I had managed to pull my GC place back to 16th (from 55th), 15:42 down on yellow (13 mins of those were in stage 2 dammit!).

3 stages to go- not much more to report. Stage 7 we rode into Te Anau, again incredible New Zealand scenery. The finish of this stage was hectic, very fast with tight bends coming into town. Again happy to finish in the bunch, and Heather and I were lucky enough to share a hotel room after a beautiful team dinner at Te Anau's famous 'La Toscana' restaurant (thanks Brian and Mogs!).

The final day of the Tour had 2 stages- the first being 79km from Te Anau to Lumsden. One climb which I wasted, worrying about dragging the peleton across to the break which was a minute up the road (I should have just put the head down and gone...). The exciting part about this stage was just how quickly the peleton can close down a break- it was fun to watch as we pulled in a 1 minute break within 3km. Hauling.

I learned so much about Tour riding- where to position in the wind (see day 1), the damage that can be caused on a climb (see day 3 and 4), but also how the race is controlled by 1 team, or in reality 1 rider. The rider looking after the yellow jersey (Hayden Roulston) was Gordon McAuley. His role was to sit behind the 5-or-so blokes rolling through, with the yellow jersey on his wheel, 'closing the gate' for the rest of the peleton. He basically decided whether everyone can sit in an echelon (protecting each other from the wind), or whether everyone is in the gutter getting no protection. It pays to be on the right side of 'Gordy'! A couple of times I worked out I was better to be one of the 5 or 6 blokes rolling through, because at least then I got some shelter some of the time!

The final stage was a seemingly easy 64km from Winton into Invercargill. However I learned that one should never relax or get into a bad position in the peleton. The cross winds came into play again, and I am ashamed to say that on this stage I dropped my first wheel since stage 2. However after burying myself rolling through with a chase bunch we managed to get back on for the glorious 3 laps of Queen's Park in Invercargill (the TT course from day 1). Poor Aaron Strong celebrated a 'win' with 1 lap to go after getting into a small break, but managed to hold on for second a lap later. Again after the scare earlier in the stage I was just stoked to finish with the peleton.

Well all the hard work was well worth it. I have learned SO much, I won't have a repeat of day 1 ever again! Sorry Heather, I am definitely going back next year!

On that note, I must sincerely thank my lovely wife for putting up with me thinking totally about myself for the last 5 or so months! You have been so patient and so supportive. Thanks also to Stu Baker who's perfect training program got me into perfect shape- I just wish I could have performed a little better on the day! Aaron Strong's advice during the race was so helpful. Special mention to Dave Cottee for the amazing support of KOM Cyclery for bikes, gear and nutrition; 'Team Hubbard' for being the perfect training environment; uber-mechanics and training partners Alex 'Alejandro' Malone and Warren 'Waz' Burgess; Toni and Warren for their lovely digs and meals in Invers; and to everyone for their support and messages. It gave me a real kick to get messages from home knowing people were monitoring my progress!

Look forward to seeing you all on the road! Keep the rubber side down!

20th November 2007
Beauie Race Report - Chris Williams
Sunday 18/11/07 was the first round of the KOM-sponsored beauie worlds for 2008, which turned out to be very interesting with the new Curwood's Sprint Prime midway through the race for A, B and C grades.

A grade had many attacks attempted by various people including master Crawly who did his usual hard turns on the front, resulting in people being shelled off the back. Finally a 3-man break formed with Dave Evans that ended up staying away until the finish where Evans placed 3rd. As the bunch sprint came through Chris Williams finished 4th to get 7th place over all, and Crawly rolled across with the bunch.

B-grade was a very large bunch this week, with both young guns Tricky and Romeo setting the pace for much of the race. Rome placed second in the prime sprint after a beautiful lead out from Tricky, however Rome had to retire shortly after due to a flat. Tricky ended up rolling in with the bunch for the finish.

6th November 2007
Mont 24 Hour Race Report
Mont 24 hours MTB race Saturday 27th and Sunday the 28th of October 2007 Majura Pines Canberra.

Precisely at 12:00pm on Saturday 500 competitors lined up for a "motor cross style" start to this years Mont 24hour MTB race. Through the dust and camera flashes came some of Australia's (and the worlds) best MTB riders, and who do you think was on the front? none other than Wazza representing KOM smashing up the field closely followed by Aiden Leffman who was heard wispering "if only I could ride like DC, the legend".

24 hour KOM team of Waz, DC, Chris Clarke and Dave the Roman continued the pressure on the world class field and by nightfall were in 2nd position, 35 seconds off first place.

Unfortunately "nightfall" also saw our position fall to 9th after Dave the Roman had a lighting disaster costing the team precious 45 minutes.....(just kidding Dave, you were awesome!)

DC and Chris put in some super fast night laps trying to bridge the time gap while Waz did his KOM PR role around the event area signing autographs, shaking hands, kissing babies etc, and Dave the Roman slept....and slept....and slept.

Come dawn it was obvious we would be unable to reclaim our podium position so in true KOM fashion we continued to race for fun and to enjoy the amazing single track crafted by the Kowalaski Brothers.

Big thanks to Cannondale Australia for their hospitality, Trent from Jetblack/Nite Rider who hooked us up with some candle power for the remainder of the night.

Congratulations to GU SRAM Niterider, Gong Pinners, Chalkers and all the crazy entrants who helped make this years event an epic.

3rd October 2007
Beaumont Road World Champs Race Report
October long weekend and time for another Beaumont Road World Champs. Only this time there was wind, bushfire smoke, warm temperatures and strong fields to contend with.

The C Grade field didn't know what had hit it, with Anna Beck setting the last lap alight. The sight of Anna on the climb from the bottom corner with the entire field strung out behind her was inspiring, and shows that the hard work she is putting in with her mountain biking preparation is well on track.

The B Grade event was set alight by Chris Williams aboard his Cervelo R3 SL, who broke away from the field mid race with another rider. Chris two-upped to the finish, managing to hold on for the win with style.

KOM riders had good numbers and quality in the A Grade event. After a couple of early digs by Blair Martin and Hayden Kegg, KOM riders Andy Crawley and Alex Malone established a 6 man break away with KOM honorary member Aiden Leifmann (of Anna Beck fame), Mace's Nash Kent, Peleton's Cameron Peterson and Jim Moore from Sutherland. With superb rolling through the break stayed away, but unfortunately for Crawley a puncture ended his race early. Leifmann attacked the breakaway with just under a lap remaining, managing to hold the lead for a well deserved win. Malone was pipped by Kent in the gallop for the line to finish 3rd. An attack on the chase with 1 and a half laps remaining allowed Blair Martin to finish 6th, Hayden Kegg featured in the bunch sprint for 8th, just edging out Dave Evans.

A steady roll through Bobbin Head and coffee in Turramurra was a nice way to end a tough day of racing and another great showing by Team KOM.

25th September 2007
Grafton to Inverell Road Race Report
The KOM Cyclery Squadra achieved an exceptional third placing in the team's event in last weekend's 230km Grafton to Inverell Road Race. Not only was this race one of NSW's premier road events, it was also a national series race, meaning KOM riders were pitted against many of the country's top professional and Institute riders.

The team was spearheaded by Blair 'Martinez' Martin's fourth placing in the A Grade event, after some 7 hours in the saddle. After a small group of riders broke away early, Blair rolled through with 6 other riders in the chase bunch for over 140km in harsh cross winds, before attacking in the final throws into Grafton. Blair managed to hold off the other riders in a result he feels was even better than his NSW State Title. "That was even better than my NSW State Title," Blair was quoted as saying not long after the race.

Alex 'Alejandro' Malone used his experience of last year's D-Grade victory to perfection, in out-sprinting the peleton to finish 8th in the B-Grade division. His tactical nouse ensured that there were no riders in the bunch not doing their fair share in the challenging conditions. "Conditions were challenging," Alex said, "but I made sure there were no riders in the bunch not doing their fair share".

Hayden 'Big Jens' Kegg overcame dehydration, hunger and a severe lack of training to finish an astonishing 11th in B Grade. At the final feed zone Kegg admitted to wondering whether it was all worth it. "I was wondering whether it was all worth it," Kegg dileriously stated upon completion.

Northern Sydney rider Rob Hodgson donned the KOM colours for the race also, and after footing it with Martin in the bunch to Glen Innes (just past half way), suffered the effects of a less than adequate feeding arrangement to ride solo for much of the remainder. To his credit, Rob was suffering hallucinations by the closing stages, but still finished, even with a smile on his face.

Special mention must be made of former Grafton local Peter Scotton for making the trip with the boys. Peter's assistance in feeding the riders during the race was an absolute life saver. On top of that, the meal provided by his mother the night before was worth the trip alone. The Squad would have 'Scoot' fighting in their foxhole again at the drop of a hat.

Thanks again to Dave DC Cottee for the use of the KOM Wagon.

Also worthy of mention were the Magpies of both Grafton and Tamworth- suspicions are that the 'bling' that Malone and Kegg have hung on their bikes has made them fodder to angry nesting Maggies. Warning- do not ride near either of them during Magpie season for fear of unpredictable evasive bike handling.

Next race- Goulburn to Sydney.

20th September 2007
NZO 12HOUR
September 8th (A cold, grey and drizzly day)

It seems that all racing undertaken in the past few months has been marred somewhat by consistently bad weather. The NZO 12hour, held at Yarramundie, was no exception.

The week leading up to the event featured many downpours, and remembering the mudslop that was the 12hour course last year, we gritted our teeth and hoped that it would be a little bit finer, a little kinder to our poor old drivetrains.

KOM presence was alive and well in the 2007 event, entering a male three’s team and a female three’s team (Hard as Nails, and the KOM QOM’s, respectively).

The day started with a bang, a light pitter patter of rain contrasting starkly to the pure brute strength of the KOM teams. Both Hard as Nails (Dave Rome, Ben Smith, and a guy on a giant) and the KOM QOM’s (Zoe King, Heather Evans and Anna Beck) got off to a good start, Hard as Nails choosing to do double laps while the KOM QOM’s sticking to single’s.

Hard as Nails fought to the bone, chasing the team in front, which were proving to be some stiff competition! The KOM QOM’s also continued to kick butt, and were in the lead from the very beginning…

Alas! Drama struck as Anna broke a pallet bridge, catapulting her Cannondale Rush into the stream and face-planting her heavily onto the remaining muddied pallets. Bruised, battered, and unable to move one hand, she battled bravely on, while Hard as nails continued to churn out the laps.

As day turned into night, the riders became weary, but pressed on in heroic fashion. Hard as Nails were, by this stage, despreately in need of a good kit change.

The last lap was nail-biting; tied with the team in third, Hard as Nails pinned it to overtake and place on the podium. KOM QOM’s had secured their 1st place position early in the game.

All in all a fantastic effort, once again team KOM showing what they’re made of.

23rd August 2007
NSW State Road titles at Kurrajong
Well what can be said about the State Road titles at Kurrajong at the weekend? One word. WET! And cold, but that would be two words...

In the Women's 100km event KOM was admirably represented by Anna. While the early pace became too much for her, to her credit Anna still managed to produce a loud 'WOO-HOO' and even a smile in truly hateful conditions, when she crossed paths with the men's field!

The Elite Men's race was almost a Canberra Tour reunion for the KOM squad. Blair Martin, Hayden Kegg, Andy Crawley and Alex Malone were reunited, and were joined by Aiden Leifman of Cannondale SRAM fame (honorary KOM rider).

In his usual style, Crawley got in the early break, and lapped it out before being caught by the bunch late in the 2nd (of 5 x 33km) lap. Kegg and Malone were doing more than their share of controlling the bunch, with Martin and Leifman riding a very cagey race.

On the second climb, however, Martin and Canberra rider Steve Isbel attacked the bunch, drawing 6 other riders with them including Aiden. It wasn't long until they had caught the front makers, and then the race was back on with a bunch of a dozen at the front. On the 4th climb Martin attacked again, this time with only 5 other riders going with him. The bunch of 6 remained together until the last hill, when Martin again had a crack. When NSCC / FRF NSWIS rider Brendan Jones bridged across, the two lapped it out across the tops in the windy rainy conditions, until 3km to go where Jones attacked and got a break. Unfortunately Blair punctured with 2km to go, but had enough pressure to ride the flat to the finish and hold onto second place in the race. With Jones being in the Under 23 category, Martin took the Elite NSW State road title.

Special mention must be made of the KOM VW Van, which was a saviour to pile into after such a wet race!

This weekend the van and assorted riders will make their way to Cootamundra for a weekend of handicap racing.

14th August 2007

Ride for Life charity events report by Blair Martin
Last weekend saw the running of the Ride for Life charity events in Centennial Park. KOM again had a good showing, with the small group looking resplendent in their KOM Sugoi team kit, braving tough cross winds.

In the Elite Men's race, Blair Martin made the most of the exceptional Token carbon wheels borrowed from mechanic extrordinaire Alex Malone, in bridging across to the breakaway after 4 laps of 24. After duelling it out with the riders in the break, and lapping the rest of the field in the process, Blair finished 8th overall.

Nathan Page showed his class in riding solo for much of the race in tough conditions, but unfortunately could not quite get across to the break. Dave Evans performed his role as 'domestique' superbly, ensuring that any attempts to close down the break were foiled.

In the Masters race over 35km, Dave McIntosh finished a creditable 5th, contesting the gallop in what was a very tactical and cagey race.

The women's race was perhaps penalised a touch by being raced with the Master's men, meaning that KOM rider Heather Evans found herself adrift from the main bunch when she hit the tough cross winds. However Heather battled it out solo for the entire remaining 33km, showing true KOM grit and pride to finish 4th Elite Woman.

25th July 2007

Rosemount Estate and Musswellbrook Explorer Race Report
It was a small but keen team flying the KOM banner at the Rosemount Estate and Musswellbrook Explorer road events in the Hunter Valley over the weekend.

Heather Evans had her first race back since the ill-fated Canberra Tour, and was looking forward to testing out her legs after a while out of competition. Riding the Women's A Grade event over 55km with some of NSW, ACT and Victoria's top road racers, including the current state Time Trial Champion, her work was cut out for her.

Unfortunately the nature of the course meant that break aways did not occur, with the flat dead roads keeping the pace relatively sedate. Heather's attack up the gentle incline with 6km to go did not stick, and after leading from there to the last 200m, she chose not to contest the sprint. (Images of drivng her husband to hospital after he contested and stacked at the same event last year were still fresh in her mind!). Heather still finished strongly in the bunch, and was happy with her effort.

In the 165km Musswellbrook Explorer on the Sunday, KOM was represented by Blair Martin in the Division 1 event. Hesitation in the middle stages of the race, and ignoring the break which eventually went on to win, was costly for Blair. Being unable to rally ANY interest in a chase from the Peleton (the A Graders in the bunch thought the break was too far away, and the B Graders were happy to sit on because there were no B Graders up the road), made the event supremely frustrating. However even though he was buried in the sprint in the last 200m, Blair was happy with his effort after spending most of the last 65km either setting the pace, riding off the front, or attacking with 10km, 5km, 3km and 1km to go. At least Blair got a good day of riding and the Peleton certainly realises that KOM riders do more than their fair share of work!

The next race on the Calendar for the Roadies will be the State Champs at Kurrajong on August 18.

10 July 2007

KOM rider Zoe King's World Cup MTB Race Report 2
Hi All,
Sorry I have been so slack in sending email updates. I haven’t had email access for a while...
I'm now in Quebec, Canada at a place called Mont Sainte Anne.
Here is an update from last few weeks...
So after the second World Cup in Germany, we headed back to our Italian base. The next weekend we didn’t have a race planned, but found a Swiss State Series race we could do about 4hours from us. I got some nasty stomach bug giardia type thing and had nausea and cramps so decided not to race and try get well before the next world cup. Tory and Jo raced and ended up 1st and 4th. Go the Aussies! Next stop was Champery in Switzerland for the Third World Cup. Our accommodation was awesome. It was quite expensive in ski season, but obviously a more reasonable rate in off-season, very plush. The actual town was bit of a ghost town as not much to do when there is no snow. Beautiful wooden Swiss chalets everywhere, and woken by cows with bells every morning. We got in a killer ride which involved 18km or 1.5hours of climbing up to 2000m. Ouch, don’t think that kind of climb even exists in Oz! The rest of time was spent trying to find any semi flat road to do easier rides to taper for the race.
The race course was not as good as Germany. Not as technical, lots fire road climbing, fire road descents, and a few little sections of single track with slippery roots. One technical log hop, which most people had to walk over, I was able to ride because of all the techy riding I do around Manly! The course did get more challenging in the wet with all the exposed roots. Again each lap was only 5km and this was a quicker course. The chance of getting lapped early was very high. Race day came, and I got a reasonable start which went straight up a granny gear fire road climb. Despite the long climb, once we hit the single track there was the usual traffic jam and all the girls were running down. Bikes were being dragged and getting tangled, but it was quite a fun experience. It’s got me interested in doing some cycle cross! I seemed to fatigue early with all the climbing and fire road hammering, and ended up feeling like a Gumby on the single track. Not sure if my body had recovered from the stomach bug as I just had nothing. I ended up getting pulled again, which was really annoying as had just been passed by a girl and she was only 5metres in front and was waved through to do another lap. I should have worked that bit harder! Finished in 72nd place (2 places higher than last race but fewer starters...). Good to watch the men’s race which again ended up having a downpour and turned into another mud fest. The laps were too quick and most of the Aussie boys got pulled. The day after the race, we headed back to our Italian base for another week, and found some great MTB trails right near our home. We did bit of a tourist visit to Lake Como. Ended up on such a narrow road, our van almost got wedged. Both mirrors folded back and only mm to spare. We left our Italian home for good and headed to Val Di Sole. The next race was an Italian National race - Val Di Sole cup which is going to be the 2008 World Champs course. It was quite disappointing as the course was basically a mowed farmer’s paddock, which after fair bit of rain, turned into soft slushy mud. There was nothing technical, just slow grass and mud. Lots walking and granny gear. Two days before race my stomach bug returned with a vengeance. I struggled to do a lap of course in practice on the Friday, but I desperately wanted to race. So on Saturday I felt a little better but had a shocking race. At least I feel that I'm getting better at mud skills. I didn’t get to watch the men’s race as spent all afternoon with cramps in bed and a bit of vomiting. We were about to head to Canada so I planned to see a Doctor there. I had epic long day travel, up at 4am, 3hr drive to Milan airport. 1hr flight to Zurich, then a long 8hr flight to Montreal. Picked up a hire car and drove 4hrs to our accommodation in Quebec. So we ended up being awake for 27hours. Quite jet lagged with the time difference. Mont St Anne is another ski town. Some odd houses on the outskirts made it feel like Hicksville, but with immaculate lawns with creepy wooden statues.
The race course is definitely the best yet, with lots of tough technical climbing up slippery roots, and some sweet fast descents with sweeping berms on hard packed mud. A physically demanding course which I knew was going to hurt but at least would be lots of fun as well! We had one really warm sunny day and spent some time swimming in pool at our accommodation. It rained all the next day, and made course really slippery. Luckily the day after was warm and sunny and course dried up a fair bit. My stomach seems to be all good now thankfully.
I had a terrible start to my race, someone in the top ten crashed and there was a massive pile up. Girls and bikes tangled everywhere. Good for spectators though! I got caught up in the crash and someone ran into my derailleur. I wasn’t the only one with a damaged bike; I could here gears being crunched around me. Panic stations, there was chaos with girls wrenching their bikes free. I lost a lot of ground but didn’t panic and just tried to work my way back up steadily. It was the most aggressive race so far with girls cutting each other off in the diciest of sections. My gears were not working great after the crash, so did a quick straighten of the derailleur. Finally felt like I had a reasonable race. The crowd was amazing. Going up this zig zag climb, felt like I was in Tour De France! I made it one lap further than last race but eventually got pulled with one lap to go. I was probably only 1min away from being able to complete the final lap. My aim for the next race! Tough race but the descents were just so much fun. I ended up finishing 62nd.
The men’s race was really exciting to watch with World Champ Julian Absalon winning yet again.
The day after race, we went trail riding on probably the best track I have ever ridden. Steady fire roads climb then a 9km descent of sweeping single track. Awesome! Then we watched some of the Downhill race and I’m off to watch the Four Cross race shortly.
Loving the buzz of all the racing. Only one week and one race to go before heading home to Oz...
Hope you are all well!

12th June 2007

Team KOM win Grafton Team Time Trial 2007
The Queens Birthday long weekend brought the annual Grafton Cycling Clubs 100km teams time trial around again with teams coming from North and South to compete, all categories were catered for with a good showing of women's teams and masters to add to the good sized seniors entries.

Grafton was blessed with warm day time temperatures and fantastic sunshine while the rest of the North coast and Hunter regions were suffering horrendous flood conditions for the weekend.

All this aside Team KOM were ready to produce the ride of their lives, to claim the title of Teams Time Trial Champions for 2007, with a fast paced team consisting of a mix of elite athletes form both cycling and athletics (the dark side) and a touch of youth to break up the 30 + age bracket.

Team KOM consisted of Nathan Page (Team Capt) former AIS rider & world record holder for the 3000 individual pursuit (taking five seconds of Dean Woods old record) and bronze medallist in the same event at the 1988 world titles. Nathan has had ten years away from the sport pursuing his acting career and he has shown in his return to cycling in the past couple of years he has lost nothing,his amazing capacity to hold high speed for many miles combined with his cycling knowledge made him the invaluable lynch pin in the team.

Nathan was backed up by former National representative for New Zealand in athletics Blair Martin who has also recently joined the full time cycling ranks forgoing his athletics for some time to pursue cycling, Blair's total change to cycling has brought some great results of late winning the toughest two day tour on the local calendar in Canberra taking a great win for overall in the B grade division.

Another Kiwi import in the team was Andrew East a former top class Mountain Biker turned roadie, Eastie as he is known was on super form also just having finished second in the Sydney Championships a couple of week before, Eastie was just chomping at the bit to get involved, his preparation was second to none with nothing left to chance so we all knew he would be rock solid on the day.

Another former Australian representative runner turned cyclist was the ever consistent David Evans, who was converted to cycling several years ago and has gained some great results in the Grafton to Inverell and the local derby during the summer that is Hefron Park winning the sprint competition overall for the previous series, Dave was also the instigator in putting the idea in the boys head to put a team together for the event.

Our last member and the youngster of the team was Hayden Kegg former Iron man turned cyclist, tough as nails and never shy of doing a turn Hayden has been improving through the roof over the past few months, under the watchful eye of his sometimes training partner Trent (Wilo) Wilson Jittery Joe's pro team captain.

Sunday Race Day.

The team had perfect sunny weather with a cross tail wind on the way out to the turn around, the course was the typical undulating hard country roads, perfectly suited to team KOM.

With the flag lowered the team was of to a blistering start with Nath (the motor) Page pushing the pace up to 51kmh to set the tone for the first fifty km's.
All the guys were working well together with Blair Martin living up to his nick name of number one hitting his straps early and maintaining Nathan's pace backed up by Eastie, Dave & Hayden.

The first few km's went smoothly until disaster struck young Hayden suffering badly from cramps, the decision had to be made by the team either wait or drive for the record a quick discussion with Team Captain Nath and the team decided to keep on going.

After speaking with the team car Hayden said he would ride the course in case anything happened he could still jump in if he recovered, tough call from a tough young guy, just on that Hayden rode two hours forty minutes on his own, overall he had the fourth fasted time against five man teams!!! Watch out for him in the future he has a big motor.

With the loss of Hayden the pressure was on Dave Evans who had been suffering from flu and was on the road back to full recovery but it was touch and go, the word went out to Nath to look after Dave, with this done the boys set about on a amazing first fifty kilometre time with Blair and Eastie pulling some huge turns, some of these efforts consisted of one point five kilometre rises that seemed to come one after another in a relentless manner.

At the turn around the time showed the boys were on fire with a time that was three minutes up on the record, but had they burnt to many matches to early? Big Nath lead the team around the marker, as soon as the team turned they were met with every riders worst nightmare a block head wind, with the first fifty pace well and truly behind them and Dave although still going through was starting to suffer with effects of his flu the boys had to make sure they got the end intact as they could not afford to lose another man as they had to have four to finish to record a time.

With this realisation Nath Blair and Eastie set about putting in a super human effort Blair & Eastie were absolutely relentless in the support for Nath with all them going turn for turn for the next fifty kilometres with never say die Dave doing his best and continuing to do his turns, the return trip was an overtaking festival for the boys passing team after team some literally shaking their heads as Team Kom tore past.

With the last fifteen k's in sight is was going to be touch and go to whether or not they boys would get the record the concern now was to make sure they go to the line with four men, the strain of the pace was showing on everyone with Dave now purely willing his bike to finish, still the team did not falter with five k's to go the boys knew it was all down hill although still into a relentless head wind, the pace finally got to much for Dave but in typical dogged Dave style he was super glued to the back of the boys as he let them go through in front of him for the final 4k's to the line.

At the line the boys had produced the second fasted time ever recorded of two hours twenty minutes and twenty six seconds to WIN the title with a 42.5 km average! missing the record by a mere two mins and twenty seconds with the second place TWELVE MINUTES behind.

A foot note on that record it was set by the super strong FRF team, that team consisted of five National Champions and three National team members, after reading the above Team KOM 's effort was absolutely stellar and showed their class and commitment to each other.

The boys would all like to thank their sponsor Dave Cottee owner of KOM Cyclery who looks after them with all their cycling gear and also helped with the boys weekend expenses, also the Grafton cycling club, the race organisers and officials plus the sponsors, Grafton McDonalds and Goodies bike shop in Grafton.

8th June 2007

Ken Dinnerville Handicap Report by Blair Martin
A small but exceptionally talented and attractive group of KOMers (me- Blair, Hayden Kegg, and Andrew 'Eastie' East) raced the Ken Dinnerville Handicap road race in Dapto on Sunday.

With Eastie’s chequebook a little lighter judging by his handicap of 7 ½ minutes ahead of scratch, the tough decision for him was whether to ride off the front, or to keep his legs fresh for the gallop should one of the later bunches roll past.

Hayden was off the two and a half minute bunch, with me off 'Chopping Block' a minute and a half ahead of Scratch (along with part time cyclist and full time Dad Dave Evans- absent). Limit were let off some 23 minutes ahead of Scratch.

It was less than a lap until Scratch caught my bunch, with less than a lap further before we caught up with Hayden’s bunch. Hayden and I as usual were instrumental in keeping the pace rolling in the massive peleton.

Meanwhile, with less than a lap to go Eastie got sick of his entire bunch hanging onto him for dear life, and rolled off the front in an attempt to bridge the gap to limit.

And here is where my tactics became a touch questionable… when Brett Skippin (Clarence St Cyclery) attacked on the last hill with 15km to go I jumped across to him, and with Robbie Cater (FRF Couriers) we rolled turns for the next 13km or so. It was only coming over the last few rollers with 2km to go that we caught sight of the limit riders coming into the home straight, with Eastie steam-rolling solo in attempt to catch them. Realising clearly too late that I had helped chase down my team-mate, I sat up with 1km to go telling the other two “I am not going to sprint” (which Cater took exception to).

Limit stayed away, with Eastie a mere 400m behind, with me rolling in with Cater and Skippin another 50m adrift. Hayden contested the sprint with the rest of the fellow back markers hot on our heels, until being forced into the grass by some goose thinking he is Cippollini.

All in all a good hit out before next week’s TTT- especially pleasing for Eastie to get over his lurgy and stretch his legs.

7th June 2007

Kooralbyn-Boonah Race Report by Anna Beck
The Kooralbyn-Boonah Marathon took place this year on the 3rd of June. The race start and end was located at the Kooralbyn Resort, located about an hour and a half drive from Brisvegas. Arriving from Sydney only the evening before, my support crew and I arrived at the event around 7am for an 8am start, after staying the night in the quirky dustbowl of Beaudesert.

Arriving at the event, it was clear that the competition was fierce. Speaking to the 2006 Kooralbyn-Boonah champion earlier in the week, he had assured me that it was a small, low-key “gentle” marathon bike race. Yeah, RIGHT! Nice one, Blair. It turned out that there were about 450 entrants into the event, a fierce field indeed. After having far too much to eat that morning (my support crew kept telling me I hadn’t eaten enough) I got a good position out of the gate, but couldn’t maintain such a good position with the “churning gut”, affecting my legs and making me feel like a gumby. At the Boonah checkpoint I exclaimed that I felt awful- about a third of the way through!

“It’s good that you feel crap, it means you’ll come good” my bottle-bitch assured me. (He later told me that I looked like crap and feared how I would go for the next 60km). I believed him, and about 10km later, after riding with a dude on a Jamis, I pulled away and stopped feeling like I needed to vomit, and started to feel a bit perkier.

The first section and the last section was rough singletrack, with the entire middle section gravel, bitumen or fire roads. A perfect mixture of terrain, that suited my Cannondale Rush Femme down to the ground.

The organisers clearly wanted to make the most challenging course they could considering the little singletrack. The climbs were relentless, and granny gear was definately the preferred method of conquering these leg-breaker’s. People were saying the climbing was much harder than even the Flight Centre Epic, or the Noosa Enduro.

Spinning away, I managed to continually pass people for the next 40km. Thankgod for the ease of my new SRAM X9 grip shifters, allowing me to change many gears with just the twist of the wrist!

Then there was…THE WALL, a 5km ascent at an extremely obscene gradient. People were lined up walking, some people started walking at the bottom. Perhaps not realising that the 5km climb never seemed to end, even ON the bike, let alone walking!

There, I met my support crew once again, where I got my mouth stuffed full of Starburst lollies (I needed that to make it up the rest of the wall!). “Almost there!” I puffed. I was told there was another 20km to go. “Yeah…nearly there!”

Once the wall was conquered, I was on FIRE, pinning it up all the remaining climbs, and down through the single track on the way back to the Start/Finish. The gentleman who had told me to “harden up” when I bemoaned the final singletrack in passing conversation after the wall, got a good hard KOM whipping in the last 15km.

3 Gu’s later, a bit after 5 hours in the saddle, I flew through the finish,with an EPIC grin, on a massive high (that chocolate Gu, I am telling you, it does things to you!), just happy to have finished my first full-length MTB marathon.

A nice surprise at the presentations to place 3rd in the women’s division behind two other project hummingbird girls- not a bad crack, really. In fact, I am stoked.

Go TEAM KOM!

8th May 2007

Canberra Tour 2007 KOM Team Report
The weekend of the 27th–29th April saw Team KOM head down to the nation’s capital for the 24th Annual Canberra Tour. With a crack squad that had the perfect mix of youth and experience (young blokes who know nothing & old blokes who knew it all!) the team which comprised Blair ‘BM’ Martin, Andrew ‘Eastie’ East, Dave ‘Levers’ Evans, Alex ‘Russian’ Malone, Hayden ‘Tap’ Kegg and Andy ‘Suicide’ Crawley packed the bikes on the Thule racks and left the perfect Sydney sunshine for a weekend of rain & cold!

Race day dawned ‘ugly’. Instead of the normal spin out to the race start, the inclement weather meant that the bikes were thrown on the roof, the kit bag packed with enough warm gear for a week and we drove the short trip out to Stromlo Forest Park.

The team cars cranked up the heat (KOM warm up) as we prepared our bodies for what was to come. The sight of 6 grown men getting out of a car with all its windows fogged up, clad from head to toe in lycra would have looked extremely odd to say the least at almost any other place on the planet, but not here and not today! The pre race conversation was now less about tactics and more about should we or shouldn’t we wear arm warmers and a vest – both items were given the unanimous thumbs up and so the team rolled out looking ‘wet’ but still splendid in the team colours.

Seventy or so riders toed the line in the B grade field. The attacks started from the gun with KOM Team tactics dictating that we should have a rider in all breaks and for the early breaks Andy ‘Suicide’ Crawley took on the massive responsibility of flying the KOM banner. Suicide and several other riders headed up the road to claim the early KOM points. It wasn't long though until the peleton started to show its strength reeling in the last of the break with the final climb to go. The KOM boys moved to the front with several attempts made to drop the bunch but it wasn’t to be with fresh legs keeping the group together for a bunch sprint. Dave ‘Levers’ Evans lead out on the final incline with about 500m to go with a line of KOM boys behind. Unfortunately, we are not known for our sprinting prowess and ended up finishing 4th Eastie, 5th BM, 6th Levers and 9th Russian all in the same time as the winner. Suicide trailed in a minute or so later having paid the price for his early aggression. Hayden ‘Tap’ Kegg was the hard luck story of the stage puncturing in the middle stages and then having to solo home in torrential rain several minutes down.

The boys were buoyed by a solid first stage & knew that the tough first stage would have softened up a few legs by the afternoon. The afternoon stage saw a slight improvement in the weather with the rain at least easing back and only coming through in intermittent showers. The stage again had Suicide doing his thing off the front for the first third of the race before BM showed how hills should be ridden. Heading out of Uriarra Crossing approaching the end of the first lap, BM had gapped the bunch chasing down the last of the early aggressors. He was soon joined by a group of 4 which included the brains behind the KOM tilt, Levers!! They soon put what would turn out to be a winning gap between themselves and the peleton power through the 2nd lap. Well, four of them powered through the 2nd lap. Unfortunately, Levers was dropped up Mt McDonald from the escape group and was forced to struggle in with his ‘good mate’ Suicide. It was only later that the truth was revealed with Suicide ably assisting both Levers & Tap up a hill or two but only Tap receiving the bonus digit to the date – a feeling Tap will never forget!

BM went onto to finish 4th in the stage moving into 3rd overall and putting almost 3 minutes into the main bunch. Mr Consistency Eastie finished 6th, Russian 11th, Tap 32nd, Levers and Suicide ‘together’ in 34th and 36th.

Looking back at day one, Team KOM did everything they needed to do to set up day two. BM about 30 seconds off the lead and Eastie and Russian hovering not far down in GC. A good hot shower, a good feed at the local Italian, a bottle of Red and then off for an early night.

Day 2 dawned only slightly better than day 1. None of us knew what the day would hold although events of the following few hours would leave an indelible print on Team KOM, the race as a whole and all cyclists who enjoy competing.

Team KOM had discussed tactics to the enth degree but as we all know, unforeseen events and circumstances can change a race in an instant. We rolled out from Stromlo for 125km just on 10am with Suicide doing what he does best and taking it out from the gun. He was joined by 6 or 7 others keen to try to TTT themselves up to the business end of the GC standings. About 10 minutes later we came upon every cyclist nightmare, an accident involving a bunch and an oncoming vehicle. I’ll spare you all the detail but suffice to say that several girls in the B grade field were seriously injured in an accident on the fast decent down Cotter road. Our thoughts are with the injured cyclists and their families.

The race continued after the stop with the breakaway group of 7 or so riders being given a 30 second start. They put their heads down and the gap grew steadily to the main bunch which was upwards of 5 minutes behind. With Suicide in the break, team KOM took it fairly steady trying to tap out a steady tempo but not do all the work. After all BM was still only in 3rd place and reserves would be needed towards the end with two grueling climbs up Mt McDonald and Uriarra.

At the turn around with still approximately 70km to go the break still held a comfortable 5 minutes. Russian, Levers, Tap & Eastie moved into chase mode and took turns of driving the bunch for the next 30km of undulating terrain. BM was nicely nestled in about 10th wheel for most of the stage to date. Suicide was back with the bunch just after the feed zone having punctured earlier and using all his reserves to rejoin the break. It was now that the KOM brains trust (Levers & Eastie!) did their calculations and realised that if the break wasn’t at least reduced significantly, the podium would be filled by the break riders. The leader of the race suffered an unfortunate puncture at the wrong time and was never able to rejoin the main group. That left BM in 2nd place, that is if the break could be reduced. Team KOM stormed over Mt McDonald with Eastie pouring on the gas in the early stages of the climb before Mr GC, BM tore the legs off those stupid enough to think they could stay with him.

BM did actually have three other ‘stupid’ riders cling to his wheel as they crested the summit with the remaining peleton about 5-10 seconds down. Unfortunately, one of those riders to hang onto BM was the man in 2nd place overall on GC. After a brief discussion of tactics between Eastie & Levers as we came off Mt MacDonald, it was decided that while BM still had the 2nd placed GC rider with him, we should try and bridge the gap to assist him to get as close to the original escapes as possible. As it turned out, BM and another rider were able to get away up Uriarra and pick up enough time to ensure a nail biting finish to the general classification. For the record, stage 3 had the break away remnants of 4 riders finish only 1 minute up on BM (5th) and his hill climbing partner with the bunch another 1 minute 15 back. All remaining Team KOM riders apart from Suicide were together in the bunch at the end. It must be noted that if there was an award for most aggressive rider, Andy ‘Suicide’ Crawley had that award safely in the bag.

The team gathered near the finish line with team photos taken (Thanks to Mrs Williams) and tried to do our best to calculate the margin of victory, so we hoped! As it turned out Blair ‘BM’ Martin won the Canberra Tour with a total time of 7 hours, 39 minutes and 50 seconds, 1 minute 15 seconds ahead of the 2nd placed rider. Andrew ‘Eastie’ East finished 8th, Alex ‘Russian’ Malone 13th, Dave ‘Levers’ Evans 25th, Hayden ‘Tap’ Kegg 28th and we can never leave out Andy ‘Suicide’ Crawley in 36th.

Not only did the team take the overall honours with BM but also the team honours as well ahead of Southern Highlands. BM was 2nd in the KOM with Suicide in 4th. A special mention must to go Heather who raced brilliantly until their race was abandoned, Jo (Eastie’s better half) for feeding us on Sunday and putting up with more BS than any non rider should have to put up with on a weekend away and finally last but definitely not least, Chris Williams (& his mum) for a fantastic debut ride in D grade finishing 10th in GC.

1st April 2007

KOM riders dominate the Northside Road Championships
King of The Mountain Cyclery riders showed that hard work and training pays off with an impressive ride put in by all at the Northside Road Championships. KOM rider Dave Cottee took out first place in the Masters Division, fellow KOM rider Blair Martin took out first place in the hotly contested Elite Division with KOM team mates Alex Malone and Andy Crawley taking out third and fourth place respectively. KOM were also proud to be the sponsor of such a well run and enjoyable event. Looking forward to same huge turn out at the next event.

13th March 2007
2007 Berghaus Polaris Challenge
This year the 2007 Berghaus Polaris Challenge took place on the 10th and 11th of March at Oberon in NSW.

Polaris is a tough two day overnight MTB racing event with over 700 riders, combining mountain biking racing with elements of navigation, bush skills and touring. Teams of two ride between check points scattered over a large area of rugged country (approx 25km x 25km).

This year Adrian Jackson and Shaun Lewis won the event with the KOM team of Warren B and Dave C finishing 4th in the mens category. In the mixed pairs KOM riders Lainie and James finished 5th with a very strong ride.

Once again KOM was proud to be a sponsor of the event and a big thanks to Warren for providing the emergency mechanical repairs on the Friday night before the event.

13th March 2007
The KOM Road Team Hit The Tarmac
The KOM roadies hit the tarmac in a big way this weekend with Dave 'Levers' Evans & Alex 'Russian' Malone doubling up for two races on Sunday. Alex got the ball moving with an aggressive ride at Beaumont Rd (Beauy Worlds!) only to be heavily marked by the bunch. As usual, the Turramurra team worked beautifully together chasing their team mates down where ever they could!

Dave Evans decided to take on the over 35 brigade out at the Tennis Centre crit circuit at Homebush. The race was contested on a flat, fast course that generally leads to a bunch sprint. Not known for his sprinting prowess, Dave shook the race up at the 30min mark attacking the field & taking two riders with him. The three worked well together putting about 20sec on the chasing bunch and in a first, Dave took the three-up sprint by a tyre width.

The afternoon event was the much anticipated 'Gladiator' race out at the Dunc Gray Crit circuit at Bass Hill. The event show cased some of NSW's best riders with the KOM boys of Hayden Kegg, Alex Malone, Nathan Page & Dave Evans looking resplendent in their team colours. Not only did they look great, but they raced just as well finishing a very respectable 6th. The course which is only about 700m long was ideal for the large group of spectators and with prems on every 15mins, the racing was lightning fast and aggressive.

Well done to all from the weekend.

20th February 2007
MWMTB 2007 XC Round 1 Results
There were about 50 riders at the early opening round down at SORC's Lost Frog track.

Warren Burgess was in blistering form, lapping the A grade field after his nearest rival had to pull out after snapping his derailleur on lap 4. Mean while Zoe King was chasing down most of the B grade men on her way to the lady's win after letting them get away a bit at the start.

A Grade Men's

Place	Name	Club
1st	Warren Burgess	MWMTB - KoM Cyclery
2nd	Julian Fitzpactrick	WMBC
3rd	Michael Crummy	SCUM

A Grade Women

Place	Name	Club
1st	Zoe King	MWMTB - Cannondale/KoM Cyclery
2nd	Lindsay Gorrell	SHCC

B Grade Men's

Place	Name	Club
1st	Dylan Prohm	WMBC
2nd	Bruce Murphy	MWMTB
3rd	Zachary Dooling

23rd November 2006
Sydney Summer Short Track XC Results from Round 1
A Grade Men
Final 3 laps
1 Matthew Flemming
2 Aiden Lefmann
3 Nick Both
4 Perren Delacour
5 Andrew Crawley

A Grade Women
Final 3 laps
1 Katrin Van Der Speigel
2 Maria Papadopoulos
3 Mary Fein
4 Kimberly Flemming

B Grade Men
Final 3 laps
1 Alan Miller
2 Craig Northway
3 Jason Dreggs
4 Chris Edwards
5 Leo Assandri
6 Paul Lidgard
7 Paul Darvodelksy
8 Scott Campbell
9 Daneil Grether
10 Simon Scott

B Grade Women
Final 2 laps
1 Martine Scott
2 Tanya Moss
3 Dannille King

C Grade Men
Final 2 laps
1 Michael De Hammer
2 Ken Emeleus
3 Matt Platts
4 Craig King
5 James Buda
6 Stuart Tyler
7 Stephen Billington
8 Scott Mulqueeny
9 Nathan Miller
10 Justin Barnes

Under 13
1 Jaques De Vires
2 Alec Wilson
3 Matthew Buttler
Sean Fitzsimmonw
Jordan Higgs
Chloe Buttler
Max Reiter

Under 9
1 Lucy Mackie
2 Rhet Buttler
3 Alex Black
Cooper Black
Kye Barnes
Oskar Reiter
Gus Hone
Christian Gray

A big thank you to Rob for organising such a fantastic event.
Full results can be viewed on The Manly Warringah Mountain Biking website. http://www.mwcc.xs4.info/

12th March 2006
Race Results
Results