20/09/2008
A bunch of die hard cyclists contested the Shady Creek course on what was to be a damp and windy day. Lap two was especially ‘fun’ with pouring rain and lovely sunshine greeting competitors up the climb.
Racing consisted of 2 to 3 laps of the regular Shady Creek course with the finish at the top of the Shady Creek hill. A grade began with five riders: Shane Stiles, Thommo, Thomas Sander, Callan Barker and Paul Yeatman. There was plenty of attacking up the main hill which saw Yeatman get further and further off the back until lap 3 where he was dropped. Sander ran through a pothole on lap two along the Darnum Shady Creek Road which resulted in a race ending puncture. Up the hill on lap three, a large attack dropped Yeatman and had Thommo and Barker chasing down Stiles. In the closing kilometres of the race, Barker blew up which allowed Yeatman to catch him at the bottom of the climb. By this stage, Stiles had already finished and would soon be followed by Thommo.
B and C grade rode a combined race which saw an improving Rob Monk try to dish it out to the more frisky hill climbers. James Lalor took out the race.
On Sunday, Yeatman, Lalor and Barker competed at Yinnar with the LCCC in a 40km handicap. Lalor secured third place off the limit of 15 minutes. Yeatman and Barker (off 5 minutes) were not so lucky with Callan dropping behind on lap one and Yeatman’s remaining group of three being caught (as usual!) with 3/4 of the race completed.
