[Event] THE CANOLA ROLLER

[Jbr]

33 minutes ago, guidodg said:

hya riders...any feedback?

please book a windless day next year 😂

[MongooseMan]

33 minutes ago, guidodg said:

hya riders...any feedback?

Did the 80k, was nice to finish with a top10, which is a novelty for me.

felt the podiums and “lucky draw” was a bit of an afterthought compared to last year, no numbers, no age group podiums, etc.

aside from that, really enjoyed it, will be back as always next year.

 

[Jbr]

Oh yeah I waited 1.5 hour for SV podium to find out there wasn't one like last year. I could've been back home already by the time I left. But plenty of time to chat war stories and down a couple of beers

[MongooseMan]

The one time I get 3rd SV in the 80k and they don’t have a podium 😂

1 minute ago, Jbr said:

Oh yeah I waited 1.5 hour for SV podium to find out there wasn't one like last year. I could've been back home already by the time I left. But plenty of time to chat war stories and down a couple of beers

🙈

[MongooseMan]

On 9/19/2025 at 8:04 AM, guidodg said:

it won't even get dirty...it's bone dry out there

Lies 😂😂

[openmind]

1 hour ago, Jbr said:

Oh yeah I waited 1.5 hour for SV podium to find out there wasn't one like last year. I could've been back home already by the time I left. But plenty of time to chat war stories and down a couple of beers

Hmm, @guidodg this is actually a big deal for age group racers. I got a masters podium last year and that was really cool; it was one of the reasons I came back this year. 

[Jbr]

I personnaly don’t care as long as it’s made clear. I stay for podiums to get the cool photos for the team and out of respect for the organisers and the other dudes on the podium, but I value my time at home with the family more and waiting a long time for podiums is often a bit of a pain, even more so when I wait for nothing.

No worries though, I could’ve just asked, we all kind of assumed there would be since this was a race for the age cats series and last year there was age groups podiums

Edited September 21, 2025 by Jbr

[guidodg]

I will forward this to the race organizers… i just come up with the route and mark it😉😘

[Jbr]

3 hours ago, guidodg said:

I will forward this to the race organizers… i just come up with the route and mark it😉😘

It probably helps that I did it last year, but marking was perfect, I couldn't even find where it was that I had to stop last year to find my way on the descent after the main climb.

Pretty cool route, pitty I never got a chance to look at the views 😂

[MongooseMan]

A race report, because why not.

I did the 130k last year, and actually just wanted a fun ride this year, hence opted for the 80k.

First 20k out to the turn was largely uneventful. Group of about 20, mostly well behaved except for a few flat bars who could use a bit more bunch experience.

Oh, before I forget, speaking of route markings: those giant red arrows (off to a trance festival, I think?) threw me a bit about 10k in. I know this route backwards, but I was still doubting myself for a second wondering if @guidodg had given us a last minute surprise.

Made the turn, onto the first "climb" (where I usually get shelled out the back). Tried to concentrate on staying midpack here and riding tempo, and it seemed to work, first big box ticked. Was chatting with @Kom at this point, laughing about how we were still in the front group when he commented, with remarkable foreshadowing: "I've stuck my nose in the wind a bit, and I don't think it's that bad, reckon we're gonna be ok"...

Past the 30k join and split points, managed to shout instructions enough for people not to turn right when they shouldn't. Group was still about 20ish on the climb to the first farm, but as we turned right (into the wind), it all exploded. We went from a mini-peloton to  me not being able to see the 8 people ahead of me, or anyone behind. This section was rough, you expect it to be downhill recovery, but it's just rough enough that the headwind make it very hard work.

my view as the front of the race broke away through the farm:

 

 

Then it was onto the long drag up to the 60k split. The nice thing about the 80k is that you can mentally treat 60k as a "finish line" of sorts, since it's 90% downhill from there. Managed to trade turns with one other guy until I dropped him on the last kicker up to the split.

From there it was head down and hold on for dear life as we dropped through the farms and the roadworks. The other guy came back past me like a bullet, having found his legs again, immediately putting about 500m into me. Managed to slowly reel him back and as we turned left at the bottom of the hill I could see I was going to catch him on the last climb before the river. As I came past him I cramped properly, which lead to some swearing and giving him a bit of a fright 🤣

From that point you just have to put your head down and go, with 3km to go. Passed Matt Beers as I was heading into town, which for some reason gave me a nice mental boost to push to the finish.

Rolled in in 2:49, 8th overall, 7th man, 3rd SV. For a "mid-pack elite" this was a nice novelty to finish in the top 10, and I was really stoked with how my legs did yesterday.

Obviously there's huge caveats there ( @Jbr also came 7th, in the 130k, and he averaged about 5km/h faster than I did, so that gives you an idea of the competition).

But, as they say, there's no comments column on the results sheet, so I'll take it

Canolla Roller is a constant in my family's calendar, and this year did nothing to detract from that, we'll be back again next year.

Edited September 21, 2025 by MongooseMan

[dexterdent]

I did the 124.5km, and the route, organization and marshals were all great. Likely to be back!

I got a bit overexcited at the start and felt bad that only about two people were putting turns in in our big group so went and helped out bit. My seatpost came loose just as we turned into the wind, which set up a 10-15 min chase that probably burnt almost all of my matches - limped most of the way to the 80km turn off unable to really hold any wheels while also having a chain fall of a jockey wheel (and being too tired to realise what the problem was and fix it - a friendly guy pointed it out).

That long climb into the headwind after the 80km turn-off broke me. I could never see more than 2 other people, and every time we got close we shared some moaning and then pushed on (literally pushed on some of the ramps). The start of that downhill was a bit scary with a crosswind seemingly out to move my front wheel 2m to the left without having the rest of the bike follow.

Some nice downwind cruising and a surprise emergency waterpoint just before the tar probably saved my life. Because the tar drag into what felt like a hurricane had me wondering if I actually liked cycling at all, and that maybe I should stick to zwift racing. The strava section says it took me almost 40 minutes at 200W to do 10km with 115m of climbing, but it felt harder than Alpe de Huez.

From there back home needed almost no pedaling and I felt like a sailboat. Passed a beautiful puffy on the smooth gravel roads back in, and rolled to the end in just over 6 hours. Legitimately my toughest day out on a bike ever, and I have cycled MUCH further, higher and longer. I tend to not measure my own success against others but rather against myself, so I'm pretty proud of making it through parts that I could have easily quit.

Thanks Greyton!

[Jbr]

46 minutes ago, dexterdent said:

Because the tar drag into what felt like a hurricane had me wondering if I actually liked cycling at all

I think we all questionned life choices at this stage 😂

[BuffsVintageBikes]

Another wonderful weekend in Greyton has come & gone. What a lekka place, the chilled vibe almost creeps into your bones the minute you drive down the main street.

Sadly my prep for the 80kay was dealt a blowup when I picked a bacterial infection on Thur that needed an antibiotic and cortisone tablets to treat, so there went any idea I had of actually trying to "race" the event. As per normal, my legs ignored my brain telling them to let the front group go so I tried sticking with them until my heart interjected and hit the big red ABORT button after 20kms.
Sanity eventually prevailed and I decided to wait at the first water point until one of my mates arrived and I rode the rest of the ride with him at a far more chilled pace. The other 2 friends where still mixing it with the front group. I was really glad I did that once we turned into that headwind... Yoh, that was just plain nasty.

Got to the 2nd water table just as the first 3 from the long route came hauling past. They were literally flying with that raging tail wind. The last 20km's went by in a flash with much of it focused on trying to keep my front wheel on the ground while the wind had other ideas on what to do with it.

The dust was washed down with too many beers (because there was lots of dust) and an afternoon sleep was just what the Dr ordered. See you again in 2026 🤙

[FranE]

On 9/21/2025 at 9:16 AM, Jbr said:

Oh yeah I waited 1.5 hour for SV podium to find out there wasn't one like last year. I could've been back home already by the time I left. But plenty of time to chat war stories and down a couple of beers

Last year was part of WC Gravel series hence multiple podiums. 

[Skubarra]

1 hour ago, FranE said:

Last year was part of WC Gravel series hence multiple podiums. 

It was part of the gravel series this year as well...

Edit - as an aside, a bit disappointing that WP Cycling made zero effort to promote their gravel series this year. If it was actually cancelled I don't think anyone would have noticed.

Edited September 22, 2025 by Skubarra

[bleedToWin]

18 hours ago, Skubarra said:

It was part of the gravel series this year as well...

Edit - as an aside, a bit disappointing that WP Cycling made zero effort to promote their gravel series this year. If it was actually cancelled I don't think anyone would have noticed.

Hard to believe they could actually miss the low bar they set with it last year...