The Roar
The Roar

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A real race of truth at the nationals this January

Two-time road race champ Luke Durbridge will have his work cut out for him. (Image: Supplied)
Expert
19th November, 2014
4

If competitors thought the course was tough at the national time trial championships earlier this year, they are going to hate what’s in store for them this time around.

Back in January, the dusty, windswept paddocks and barren hills of the Burrumbeet circuit proved too much for some riders, including pre-race favourites Luke Durbridge and Rohan Dennis.

Durbridge, a two-time winner of the event, started fast but faded badly under trying conditions and had to satisfy himself with a minor placing, while Dennis failed to finish at all after being blown from his bike by a ‘willy-willy’.

But come this January, many of the riders will be wishing that they were back at Burrumbeet as the rolling hills and gusting winds of the new out and back course at Buninyong begins to sap the power from their well-chiselled legs.

The course, which leaves the quaint little township of Buninyong and travels for 20 kilometres along the Buninyong-Mt Mercer road and then 20 kilometres back, has not one section of flat. Not one!

You see, I am from the area and I ride this section of road. Oh yes, I ride it. I ride it as little as possible.

To put it nicely, it is a mongrel.

While its hills a neither long nor steep, they are incessant. It is impossible to settle into any sort of rhythm. Chains will be constantly dancing across cogs as riders try desperately to find their desired ratios. And by the time they do, it will be too late, for the nature of the road will have changed again and they will be searching for other combinations to get them over the next rise.

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Throw in the wind – it will be windy – and it all adds up to a hard day in the saddle.

At 40 kilometres long, you would expect many of the riders to be able to complete the course in less than an hour. However those who do it here will be the exception rather than the norm.

The largest of the hills on the route is Hardies Hill. It doesn’t look like much, in fact it’s not much more than a pimple on the landscape really, but it will prove more than just nuisance value for the riders.

Coming at approximately 12 kilometres on the outward journey, it rises for about 1.7 kilometres at an average gradient of four per cent. On the way back it rears up for a kilometre at an angry six per cent.

Those figures aren’t ridiculously difficult, but for riders on the limit who have been smashing themselves over the saw-toothed profile of the course, any time lost here, especially on the return journey, could prove critical.

Likewise, any rider who pushes it too hard on the return accent may find themselves running out of legs on the roller-coaster ride back into Buninyong. It will be a crucial point in the race.

The revealing of the time trial route came as a bit of a surprise, although from a fan’s point of view, any move away from Burrumbeet is a positive. With no facilities and no shelter from the sun or wind, it made for an uncomfortable day’s viewing.

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But what many were hoping for was a return to the lush environs of Ballarat’s Lake Wendouree and the historic Avenue of Honour. That was the location of the event two years ago, and large and appreciative crowds attended.

It came at a cost to the non-cycling community however as the route drastically reduced access to various parts of the city. Despite education before the event, the Town Hall was flooded with complaints. It seemed that an extra five minutes travel time in the car was too much for some people to bear!

As a result, the spectator-friendly circuit was lost to the nationals.

The move to Buninyong however is a positive. Although a few of the locals will be up in arms about the lycra-clad army taking over their town for yet another day (it already hosts the road races), most seemed to have accepted the role that their town plays in hosting the nationals each year.

The location change will see the discipline run and won in front of a far larger crowd, a crowd that will find comfort in the town’s shady streets and gardens, and sustenance in its cafes.

The riders however, may be wishing that they were back at Burrumbeet!

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