Monday, June 20, 2011

Summer Road Season

It's a topic that has been very popular with myself and a lot of friends lately. As most have just finished racing various Queen's birthday weekend tours,alot of people have told me that they have no motivation to race now as the weather get's colder and makes training alot less fun. This is a pretty common time for alot of riders especially club riders to take a break and just hibernate from racing. So let me ask the question!! Why don't we just have our road season in summer? Did you know that we are one of the only countries in the world to have our road season in winter. To me this has never made sense.I know that there is alot of tradition and history in Victorian cycling and I respect it hugely, thoug I don't think shifting the season to summer would disrespect the past. My favourite times of the year to ride is normally from around november to May.I find the conditions perfect for cycling whether you're cruising down Beach rd or hitting the Dandies.
Over the summer months I usually ride 6 days a week and find no problem getting a pedal in after or before work, normally because in the peak of summer I can get home from work,grab the bike and be home before I even need to put lights on. My motivation to ride is sky high and above all I get a great tan and look my seasonal best!
I do love racing the crit's though and just love the morning weekend races either at Glenvale or the more social Port Melbourne circuit's. But I always feel as though my good form is being wasted and needs more than 55 plus 3. I know that we have The tour of Bright which I madly flock to each year for a great weekend of racing even though i'm far from a climber.But when it finishes I find myself with great climbing legs ( for me ) but no races to test them even further............I could race the Aussie titles but I know I will not be there for long and personally don't think it's worth the bother for a regular Club rider like myself. Could you imagine racing road on saturday followed by your favourite criterium the next day! I don't think it would take much to change the season around and I personally think this would be a great investment for the future of our sport. Could you imagine having an easy winter where you could either take some time for some well deserved R&R get a little chubby and live a normal life for a bit or you could race the track ( we do have a great indoor velodrome now ) and even now cyclocross.
I personally don't think this will happen for a long time and I think that's a big mistake with cycling becoming so popular. Alot of people will say negative things about the weather being to hot and what if it's 45 and we have to race. But let me ask you this! What time of year do you like riding the most? I bet you it's not winter but summer. So why should'nt we race during the time of the year that we all love the most?

4 comments:

  1. Still too many traditionalists on the CSV board to allow this to happen. Which, I agree, is a massive shame. As imagine how much bigger the fields could be for races like the Fred Ickie.

    They also say "it's because these races have always been held in the winter". Tell me, how many guys at the Open each week could give you any sort of history of the race? There's no disrespect intended by their not knowing, it's just that it seems the "history" of races is being preserved for the sake of it.

    Finally why not even have a winter break and break the calendar up in to 'autumn' and 'spring'? Not unlike the Classics.
    Can racing for July, August and half of September. Come back with a few Opens then have the Warny as the pin up race for the spring racing calendar.


    All of this will however fall on deaf ears and we'll maintain the status quo because "that's how it's always been done".
    21st or 12th century, sometimes I'm not so sure...

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  2. Great Ideas!!! love the Warny Idea!!!
    I've never been able to feel my toes at Fred Icke,though it's such a great race but BLOODY cold!!!

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  3. Build another indoor and do it. Then at least the tour of Tasmania would possibly be double figures, and maybe no snow.

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  4. Summer road season maybe doable along coast Victoria and in Tasmania but as for the rest of the country the summer months are just too hot and/or humid for road racing.

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