Northern Sydney Cycling Club added 6 new photos.

3 days ago

ROB HODGSON MEMORIAL RACE REPORT

The annual Rob Hodgson Memorial Race was held today in perfect weather with huge numbers assembled to honour the memory of Rob Hodgson, one of the finest riders ever to pin on a number.
We started with the now-traditional minute's silence and the lap of honour, with Rob's dad Ross proudly riding on the front which is where you would always find Rob in a race.
After the racing Rob's mother Alison was presented with flowers and the honour of presenting the trophy, which she did with her usual dignity and grace.

In Men's Elite a super quality field was twitchy early as everyone knew that the two full pro riders - Marcus Culey and Ben Dyball - would need to be marked tightly to avoid them bossing the bunch. A few pop gun attacks didn't stick and after 5 laps the big bazookas came out and as expected Marcus and Ben gassed it - Angus (birthday boy) Calder surprised everyone by jumping and committing full on to the break. I say surprisingly because Angus has been on the piste - or was that off piste, skiing overseas - and wasn't in full race form.

Micko Cupitt joined these three but after his lungs were seen coming out of his ears, he pulled back to the chasing bunch to recover for another go. But there wasn't to be another go as the race then became the Culey, Calder, Dyball show. Lap after lap they put time into the bunch so it became purely a matter of how much they would win by. Angus was squeezed by the 2 Team Sapura team riders but showed that skiing and beer is good race prep and he gave as good as he got by sharing the work with the other two.

Eventually Marcus jumped - god only knows how many watts he pumped out to break from his companions and soon he was on his own. And that's how the race progressed with Marcus keeping the other two at bay and solo'ing away to a very classy victory. Angus got up for 2nd with Ben Dyball 3rd. I counted about 5 grams of body fat on these three as it shows what makes great riders. In the sprint for minors, Micko showed a nice kick by edging out Dan Cranfield for 4th.

In Women's Elite a very evenly-matched bunch stayed together with all riders aware that they had no team mates to work with so it was down to how fit and strong each was. Unfortunately these super-strong women were denied the opportunity to see who was best, as they got tangled up with B grade in their sprint finish which led to Bridget Bremner hitting the deck and Aaron Paul totalling his bike. The Commissaire declared no result in the race due to this unfortunate incident, and the race will be re-run at the next Beauie on 17 March - the large prizemoney will carry over to that race to make it fair.

Thankfully Bridget was up and about and able to cuddle her kids. The Commissaires awarded MWCC's India McLean (with NSCC roots) the most combative rider and she earned a pair of race shoes courtesy of The Odd Spoke bike shop in Dural.

In B grade a massive field rolled out to see who would be the super burglar and bag a big prize at this prestigious race. Simon Geezer Davies brushed away the cobwebs and slipped away off the front for a couple of laps before the bunch woke up and wound him in. Several riders tried to light it up - at one stage Matt Garnon and Ran Virdi put on the noise and made a mini-break but soon it was all back together. No attacks managed to stick for many more laps until The Vegan Violator Tai Huynh decided to gas it and soon he solo'd away with the classic Tai grin - or was it a grimace. Tai was chewing stem so much he now has the words 3T on his lips but boy did he have a dig and with one lap to go, he still had a substantial lead.

Tai was still well ahead at the bottom turn but he lactic overdosed and with 200m to go, the bunch finally caught him for a bunch kick - onya Tai for having a go. In the sprint to the line Forest Taylor from Marconi outsprinted the field to win by half a wheel from the fast-finishing Ran Virdi with Joel Stearnes 3rd. Great race guys

C grade was another super fast race with a big field riding a fast tempo to nullify any attacks. Several riders tried to get away with lots of attacks but nothing was gonna stick as the strong riders made sure that every break was quickly shut down. This was a very fast C grade and with such a high tempo the bunch stayed together the entire race. Quite a few got shelled in the last few laps with Gary Davidson doing a lot of work to split the bunch. In the end there was a super fast sprint - i for one did 1200W and there were others faster than me, so the podium placers were well deserved. Chris Knox from NSCC got up over Matty Osborne who ran out of road, with Robert Wright from Tamworth filling the podium

Final podiums:

A Grade
1st Marcus Culey NSCC
2nd Angus Calder NSCC
3rd Ben Dyball St George CC

B Grade
1st Forrest Taylor Marconi CC
2nd Ran Virdi NSCC
3rd Joel Stearnes Launceston CC

C Grade
1st Chris Knox NSCC
2nd Matt Osborne NSCC
3rd Robert Wright Tamworth CC

Women's Elite
no result

Finally thanks to the volunteers behind the scenes
Bob Santone Race Coordinator
George Mouyahet and Adrian Atherton Commissaires
John Sinclair, Peter Beaumont TCs
Lee Watts and Harro Morgan for sign-on
AND Matty Paparazzi Johnston for giving up his race to take magnificent photos ... See MoreSee Less

Northern Sydney Cycling Club shared Robert Hodgson Memorial Race's post.

4 days ago

www.facebook.com/171476106385545/posts/1011184205748060?sfns=moWith the race now only hours away, it is a good time to check in with the story behind the legend that we are honouring on the Beaumont Rd circuit tomorrow.
Robert Hodgson was one of the strongest yet most humble riders to ever come through the Northern Sydney Cycling Club. A strong Time Triallist who would twice place top 10 in the national championship. A rider renown for his ability to suffer. After one Beaumont Road club race victory I recall Rob continuing his ride for the day to head north AFTER the race and completed the brutal Bumble Hill loop. A true HARD man!
He spent much of his elite career racing in a town on the border of Switzerland and Germany for the Europcar amateur team. A devoted university student Robert balanced an excelling sporting career with a degree and being skilled in multiple languages. Robert was diagnosed in 2010 with Ewings sarcoma a rare bone cancer. In 2013 he left us aged 31. A fine article from the pen of Kevin Eddy graced the pages of CyclingTips in the lead up to the first Robert Hodgson Memorial Race in 2014. You can read it below. See you tomorrow to #ridetall for Rob!
cyclingtips.com/2014/01/ride-tall-the-robert-hodgson-story/ ... See MoreSee Less

Northern Sydney Cycling Club added 4 new photos.

4 days ago

BREAKING NEWS - HARRISON BAILEY 2ND AT MELBOURNE TO WARRNAMBOOL CLASSIC

Massive congrats to Harrison Bailey for his close 2nd place in today’s Warnie classic. 262 km of crosswinds. What an effort Harrison

This is the perfect send off for Harrison before he leaves for France to ride with a top French team based in Besancon ... See MoreSee Less