Join us for an overnight ride.

August 4 2007. 

2nd place Avanti Classic finisher Adrian Booth (above in green) has been kind enough to submit this race report:

A fantastic day greeted over 200 hundred riders from South East Queensland for the 2007 edition of the Avanti Classic. An 80km handicap held in and around Wivenhoe Dam, this event takes in some beautiful scenery and is fiercely contested by all who participate. Hosted by the Lifecycle club, Blair Stockwell has made this race an institution on the CQ racing calendar since Chris Locke won the inaugural event in 2002.

Wow, another Avanti Classic wrapped up and what a great event it was. It was fantastic to see Grant Irwin (Ord Minnett) take out the event on an Avanti Team Corsa in a closely fought finish. Adrian Booth (Merida), Steven George (Velo) and Mark Ledgerwood (2XU) rounding out the top 4 in the battle for the line.

You can view the full length photo finish here.

This Sunday sees the Lifecycle Club's major promotion for 2007 when the 6th edition of the Avanti Classic will take place at Lowood. It is the largest field for a race in recent history with a record 223 hopeful riders have paid their nomination for a crack at the $5000 in cash and prizes on offer. The major drawcard will be the $1000 for the first rider across the line, however the next 19 riders will also be in the money (see below). There are big cash prizes for fastest time placings, and separate prize categories for women and masters. Also for the early starters there are cash prizes for the first 3 through on the first lap.

I guess when I started cycling I never knew where it would all end up. It was a simple case of training a day at a time for the next competition and things snowballing quickly from there.  I can't really blame Blair for not warning me that rodeo riding would be a damned good pre requisite to cycling, but in hindsight it would have been good! Not until arriving in Holland did I regret not having a few more rides of those mechanical bulls at parties or the Ekka, just to get me a little more used to being thrown around like a rag doll. Something would have been better than nothing!  But I guess no one tells you everything and some things you just have to figure things out for yourself.

Last week the "world's best bicycle company" hosted the latest course at the training 'University' it has set up at it's U.S. headquarters at Morgan Hill in California, and I was privileged to be one of 3 Australian participants. Morgan Hill is located in a beautiful area about 30km south of San Jose. The location is a cyclists dream, quiet roads with a mixture of flat and hills, amidst some of the nicest scenery around. For the mountain biker there are awesome trails, again with a great variety of single track and fire road, with some glorious views up towards San Francisco from the mountain tops.