Its around this time of year when cyclists begin to feel the happiness and freedom of summer drain out of them. The weather is getting colder and windier, the sky cloudier and the roads, sometimes, wetter. This means rain jackets get pulled out of bottom draws, knee warmers are unfurled and full-fingered gloves dusted off for those long, frigid rides.
I’m a pretty positive bloke though so I tend to ignore the imminent doom and gloom to focus on the brighter side of riding during the cooler months of the year. Firstly, it means there is less people out on the roads, so more space to do your own thing. Winter training is a great time of the year. If you catch a sunny day, they can often be much nicer for riding big kilometres than a hot, sunny summer’s day. Added bonus for me is I can wear a short sleeve jersey without getting sunburnt. Plus, you can also get in some serious hard-man training in the wet.
The second great thing about winter is, despite the criterium season finishing, there’s still some great racing to be had. Unfortunately, this year, we won’t have the Tour of Coleraine running, which is an immense disappointment because it is such a good event. But otherwise, there is plenty of Northern Combine action to be had (www.northerncombinecycling.org). These races a very well organised and run by a great group of volunteers from Brunswick, Coburg, Hawthorn, Italo Australia, Melton, Northcote, Preston, St Kilda and Sunbury & Hume Districts cycling clubs. If your club is not a Northern Combine member, you need to get a letter from your club’s president saying you can race Northern Combine.
Besides Northern Combine, Cycling Victoria (was CycleSport Victoria) has a number of great events on their schedule for participating and spectating. The Phillip Island Grand Prix, organised by Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club, is always a great event, which is seen as the unofficial end to the criterium season. There are plenty of individual time trials (my favourite event) on the cards with Brunswick running one on Yarra Boulevard during May. Northern Combine will also have their ITT Championships during May. I’m also excited to see that Carnegie-Caulfield will be running an ITT during July at Phillip Island, although I’ll be over at the Tour de France for this, unfortunately.
We then get into some of the big one-day events. Scotty’s Ride and Race in Shepparton are in early July, followed by the Victorian 100km Championships. The gruelling Melbourne to Ballarat also takes place in July, which attracts big fields and promises hard riding in tough conditions.
If you’re just in the mood for spectating, there’s plenty of semi-pro and professional events to take in. The Tour of Gippsland in July is always a tough race and has been won by a number of pros: Wes Sulzberger, Bernard Sulzberger and Leigh Howard in previous years. The Tour of Geelong and Tour of the Murray River take up August’s local viewing, before we head into two of the biggest events on the winter calendar. Firstly, in mid-October, it’s the Jayco Herald Sun Tour, Victoria’s biggest cycling event. Won in the past by the likes of Stuart O’Grady and Simon Gerrans, ProTour teams often send small squads of riders to the race, which is great for the exposure of smaller Continental teams based here. Always culminating with the final stage criterium on Lygon St in Carlton, the event is always great and people turn out in the thousands to watch some of our Aussie heroes, many of which come home to do the Tour, ride down their own street.
Following the Herald Sun Tour, the winter season finishes off with a bang before the summer crits begin again with the Melbourne to Warnambool. Arguably Australia’s toughest one-day race, it is often held in cold, windy and wet conditions (like last year). Its one of the oldest races in the world and also one of the longest. Up until recently it used to be 299km but it has been shortened to be slightly less than that. Whoever wins the Melbourne-Warnambool has to be almost as tough as Jens Voigt and commands respect from all for the rest of their cycling career. Just finishing the race takes a Herculean effort.
So winter shouldn't be about endless hours on the wind trainer, rewatching Tour de France dvd's and wearing out your back tyre. Go and watch some racing or, better still, participate in some yourself. There's plenty of things to do, all you have to do is rug a up a bit more than summer. Safe riding and enjoy winter 2011!
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