Waratah Vets link to bicycles.net.au

[AUbicycles]

The Waratah Vets are Australia's largest veteran Cycling Club and in their latest Tempo Newsletter near the monkey and picture of the man in charge of America is a small promo "Like Father Like Son" which mentioned bicycles.net.au

[heavymetal]

near the monkey and picture of the man in charge of America

I could only see two pictures of monkeys The one on the right was an extremely ugly looking monkey too.

Great Promo article too. Does that mean we'll have lots more vets in the forums?

[mikesbytes]

You mentioned last year that your old man was in Waratah's.

Bev's picture seems to be there everytime I look.

[sogood]

Bev's picture seems to be there everytime I look.

That's clearly a marketing ploy!

[AUbicycles]

You mentioned last year that your old man was in Waratah's.

True, a Group B rider, and he does quite a bit of work organising behind the scenes.

[mikesbytes]

You mentioned last year that your old man was in Waratah's.

True, a Group B rider, and he does quite a bit of work organising behind the scenes.

I rode my 2nd and 3rd races at Waratah Vets Olympic Park Tennis Centre in C grade last year. This year I'll ride B grade Vets, probably about twice at the Tennis Centre and once at Eastern Creek raceway.

[mikesbytes]

Checking the Vets calandar, the races that interest me are;
11 March Tennis Centre
18 March Eastern Creek Raceway

Any idea what the difference is between "graded criterium" and "graded scratch" ?

[531db]

Waratah are making a big call to be the largest Vet's club in Australia.
Methinks ACT Vets might be a bit larger in terms of number of riders.

Peter T
(ACT Vets Member).

[AUbicycles]

Waratah are making a big call to be the largest Vet's club in Australia.
Methinks ACT Vets might be a bit larger in terms of number of riders.

Actually, I said that but am relaying what I have heard so this may not fact. From the Waratah Vets website they mention that there are 350 regular riders on the role. Not certain if this is also the actual membership however.

Cheers
Christopher

[mikesbytes]

MEMBER_TYPE Waratah Veterans CC
CLUB 1
DS
ELITE
J11
J9
JB13
JG13
JM15
JM17
JM19
JW15
JW17
JW19
KIDZ
LM 1
MMAS2 16
MMAS3 27
MMAS4 39
MMAS5 22
MMAS6 18
MMAS7 31
MMAS8 16
MMAS9 11
NC 2
RIDE
RJNR
U/23
WMAS2
WMAS3
WMAS4 4
WMAS5 2
WMAS6
WMAS7
WMAS9
Grand Total 190

Thats 189 members, if you don't count the club itself

[531db]

As at 11 February 2007, ACT Vets CC had 213 current licenced riders.
Of course those licences are with the AVCC, not the ACF.
Licenced membership will increase somewhat in the next few months as those who ride the winter, but not the summer renew their licences.

Peter T.

[mikesbytes]

Is that full racing licenses? The figures I've quoted for Waratah Vets is for those with full racing licenses and that may explain the difference in the figures between mine and Christophers ?

[531db]

Yes, full AVCC racing licences, ie all are graded racers.

[mikesbytes]

Yes, full AVCC racing licences, ie all are graded racers.

Cost an arm and a leg in NSW, due to liability insurance. Whats ACT like?

[531db]

A grand total of $90.00 including club membership.

[LuckyPierre]

Not to mention, ACT Vets has some of the nicest riders (and forum members) in the whole wide world!

I can help with the 'criterium' vs 'graded scratch' question (don't worry, I asked this not long ago).
The 'graded criterium' should be a race, with groups of riders based on current grades, over a short-ish course for a set time period, finishing with a number of laps. A bit like a longer version of a track sprint. My grade typically races over 20 minutes, plus 3 laps. So, we ride to test each other out / play with each others heads - call it what you will, then the real race starts over 3 laps. It's a lot of fun!
Our 'graded scratch' races are road races, over a certain distance with riders from each grade racing against each other. It could easily be a set numbers of laps of a shorter circuit, rather than a road race.

[531db]

I suppose it should be mentioned that the ACT Vets CC actually ride real 'road races' on public roads in the ACT/nearby NSW, not 'longtrack crits' as occur at such venues as Eastern Creek and Lansdowne Park in the Sydney area.

[mikesbytes]

Lansdowne Park is defintely a crit track.

I'm keen to do one of the eastern creek races, the track looks interesting.

[AUbicycles]

I suppose it should be mentioned that the ACT Vets CC actually ride real 'road races' on public roads in the ACT/nearby NSW, not 'longtrack crits' as occur at such venues as Eastern Creek and Lansdowne Park in the Sydney area.

I don't qualify for the vets, not old enough however do know that they havn't had an easy 'ride' regarding riding routes. Originally they were doing a lot of racing on public roads around Homebush (none the less a circuit) however the NSW Police got a little uptight and effectively banned it. (I am still relaying info... not necessarily fact) however I am certain that the vets would like to ride more road routes however the Police restrictions block the way. I did some road marshalling for a race up in Callgary, and I know that they still ride up their (not sure if it actually a club race though).

As I understand, there are a lot of rules/laws that are more relaxed in Canberra, and it was built with good foundations for recreation.

Mkebytes, Eastern Creek is a good track.. there is plenty of rubber on the ground making it good for cornering... except in the rain it is very slippery.

Cheers
Christopher

[LuckyPierre]

As I understand, there are a lot of rules/laws that are more relaxed in Canberra, and it was built with good foundations for recreation.

Before I start, all of this post is made in a non-argumentative tone
I think that there's more to it that that.
The relationship with local police and councils is something that the club works very hard at. We present our program to ACT Policing and NSW Police and surrounding councils well in advance (eg. from memory, the 2007 calendar was submitted in November last year) for approval and we abide by their decisions. We got some idea of the level of scrutiny that goes into the calendar and the care with which it is made when one of the Councils (the Club deals with three) requested a change to one event due to roadworks - and the suggestions that they made regarding alternatives were really helpful.
We regularly see ACT Parks and Wildlife rangers at Tidbinbilla and Uriarra events and they always say "G'day!".
The Committee reminds us of our obligations as Race Directors and Marshals - in fact, we (the membership as a whole) got chided only last week as the number of people prepared to marshal had dropped off a bit. We operate on the understanding that events won't go ahead unless we can meet our commitments to Police and Councils with regard to the control of riders and traffic.
That said, I'm sure it is 'a bit more relaxed' down here. We race on far less busy roads, and our numbers are a bit less than the Waratahs - we have just over 210 members at present (more to come as the winter road season gets closer) and are currently getting about 80 participants at weekend races and 60-70 participants at Tuesday criteriums.
We are affiliated with the Australian Veterans Cycling Council rather than the Australian Cycling Foundation, which I think has an impact on our Club membership fees - Canberra Cycling Club is ACF affliated and its fees are twice as much for a full licence. We have to pay additional fees to race in 'open' events.
Maybe it's time for an exchange progam! Peter comes down here to race pretty regularly, so a couple of us will have to return the favour sometime. I've done my 'hot lap' at Mt. Panorama and I like the sound of racing at Eastern Creek!

[AUbicycles]

I think that there's more to it that that.

That is very true. The advantage for the Waratah Vets was that they had to search for alternatives and found Eastern Creek which is regarded as a good track, just a long way out for some.

[mikesbytes]

I heard that on their last race on public road (as distinct from closed road) at Homebush, that a bus cut the pack off.