NEWS

TBS Team Rider at Jayco Bay Crits

TBS team rider Luke Collyer raced the recent Jayco Bay Crits series in Victoria.

This is a prestigous race series and attracts some big name cyclists. Luke was racing in the support race with his NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) team mates.

This was a new style of racing for Luke and on a bigger scale than he had raced before. He was also riding in support of his team mates, rather than purely looking for results for himself.

Here is his report:

Race 1 - Geelong, Eastern Park, Long course

Throughout this race I tried to stay in the top ten as much as I could. This sort of racing was a whole new experience for me, as I had never had over 100 people in one race, and I had never been in a race that was so tightly packed.

On the start line I was lucky to be started off in the front row. Heading into the first turn there were already people fighting for the first few places at the front of the group. During the entire race I felt comfortable and was never in any real stress. I used this race mainly to get the feel for what the series would be like.

I was happy with my result during this race because throughout it I wasn’t hiding out in the back of the bunch. I used the race to experiment with things like pulling back breaks and also trying to make some of my own breaks. I ended up crossing the line in about 15th position.

Race 2 - Geelong, Eastern Park, New course - 1.8 km per lap

This race was probably our best race as a team. The course for the race was approx 1km, and had a very sharp right-hander going down the hill. On the other side of the course there was a steep little climb up to the finishing straight. During the race our NSWIS team controlled the front of the field.
We managed to get a lead out train going for the second sprint halfway through the race which we won with Po crossing the line 1st and myself in 3rd.

With one lap to go we managed to find each other again to get the train going for the final sprint. For the whole last lap our train was at the front of the race. Although up the final hill we were swamped by a few guys on the left. Pretty much straight after, one of the guy stacked and everyone scattered leaving the path clear. With me on the front and Po on my wheel we had a clear run. With 100m to go I pulled off and Po took the win. This was a great result for our team.

Luke Collyer, 2nd from left, and the NSWIS riders.

Race 3 - Geelong, Eastern Beach, Ritchie Boulevard - 600 m per lap

This was the most difficult course as it was a 600m hot-dog course with a hairpin turn on each corner. On the corners there was also a little bit of sand, which made cornering a bit slippery. There was also a metal grate running through both corners.

This race was fast. At the start of the race I was struggling to get myself to the front. So over about 10 minutes I gradually worked my way up there. Halfway through the race Angus Tobin attacked, trying to get himself to the breakaway. After a while the bunch caught up again and so I then had instructions to attack the field. After half a lap in front I came to the hairpin turn. Going around the turn I was going a bit too fast for it, as when I hit the grate across the road, my front wheel slid out sending me sliding across the ground. After having a lap out I got back in the bunch, and surprisingly I was riding a lot better than I was in the first half of the race. With 2 laps to go we started to get the lead out train going once again. Unfortunately on the same corner I came off and hit the deck once more making it twice in one race. I got up again although the commisare would not let me finish the race.

Even though I had a few tumbles I was still happy with the way I raced because I improved as the race went on.

Race 4 - Williamstown - 850 m per lap

I was not looking forward to this race as the night before I only slept for around 2 hours because of my leg from the crash. We were unfortunately started on the last row of the bunch giving us 110 riders to pass to get to the front. As soon as I started racing I could tell this was not going to be a good day. I could feel my leg seizing up with each pedal stroke. During the race I didn’t manage to make up much ground through the group. At the halfway mark, an unfortunate asthma attack prevented me from going any further in the race.

Over all I had a really good week of racing. We had our NSWIS team 1 finish in 1st place in the teams classification and NSWIS team 2 finish in third. Ethan Kimmance from our team also took out second place over all and Po getting third.

All four races were a great experience.

Luke