Given this variety in our team, what can you expect of us in 2012? 

First and foremost, we are excited that this year will see the launch of the Team Kosdown Women’s Program.  Emerging young star, Lauretta Hanson, is joined by the irrepressible Von Micich ,who will lead and develop the Women’s Program.  So expect to see more female riders wearing the Big White K as time goes on. 

As for the boys, there are a few events where you are likely to find Kosdown riders massing in good numbers and pushing hard for a result.  The Northern Combine Three Day Tour, the Midlands Tour, the Tour of Bright and maybe even the Warni are on our lists. 

For most of the team, the season will be a regular diet of Northern Combine races, punctuated by CV events and even Vets races for some of us older guys who are trying to make up for lost time by racing as much as our bodies will stand! 

You are likely to find team sprint-sensation, Shannon Johnson, pushing for the win at any race with a fast finish.  Shannon has local, NRS and championship events on his calendar.  While, our resident TT-guru, Shane Miller, will be looking for every opportunity to slip into his skinsuit – a roadtrip to Sydney beckons later in the year to defend his Australian Masters IRTT title. 

Wherever the road heads up, and stays up for silly lengths of time, you’ll find our mountain goats, Stephen Lane and Jason Laird, dancing on the pedals.  Races like Mansfield-Buller, Baw Baw, Stratford-Dargo and Tour of Bright are on the calendar for Stephen and Jason. Good luck to them and we hope they send the rest of us a postcard from the top! 

It doesn’t seem to matter where or when or in what conditions they are racing, some riders just can’t be bridled.  So wherever they are racing, you are likely to find Kos Samaras and Luca Giacomin off the front – either trying to win the race or just seeing if they can actually rip their cranks off.  We’re not sure which.  Some have even suggested that if Kos doesn’t get into the breakaway on a weekly basis he starts to get the shakes and breaks out in hives.

But seeing our riders improve is the major goal of the team and this year we’re hoping to see big things from our younger guys like Nic Katsonis, Sam Lilley, Adam Katsonis and Mitch Dedman.  With plenty of racing experience behind them and incredible support from our sponsors, we expect 2012 to be a breakthrough year for our “development riders”. Watch this space! 

Overall, the next year promises to be full of tough racing.  There are now club-level teams with more structure and support than we've seen in the past. Being on a team is now a priority for most riders.  In addition to this, the contribution to our team by its sponsors has increased dramatically.  With the backing of Kosdown Printing, KW Doggetts, Bike and Bean, The Bike Shed and Human Performance Technologies, Team Kosdown is now one of the best-supported cycling teams going around.  This increasing investment and competition means that our performance and reputation on the bike is paramount. 

Therefore, our direction for 2012 and beyond is to drive value for our sponsors by a) delivering success on the bike and b) developing high-performing young talent.  As a team, we will be working hard to see Team Kosdown become a leading elite amateur cycling team that provides a highly respected pathway for young talent.  We hope you will support us in our endeavours and follow our progress.   

Team Kosdown has over the last year recruited some great talent but we have also seen some in our ranks move on. Cycling like all sports for non professionals sometimes needs to take a break whilst athletes take care of more urgent matters at work or at home.

As a result we have two positions to fill with enthusiastic and aspiring cyclist.

Those wanting to apply can read all about us over at www.teamkosdown.com.au but here is a quick and easy summary;

We are a club based team. Some of our riders do ride the NRS in composite teams but our main focus is in providing training, racing and material support to serious Victorian based cyclist.

We are acutely aware that competing at your best, even at club level can be challenging on your time, finances and personal time. Team Kosdown is all about alleviating some of those obstacles and giving riders a helping hand towards better results.

With most of our young riders, we actively work with them to improve their training, racing and understanding of this sport. Our hope is that they may use this support and this team as a stepping stone towards the professional ranks in this country.

We also expect significant commitment from our riders. Our elite line up receives unlimited kit supply, registration, travel and material support and in return we want them to aspire to be the best at their level. The team's management takes great interest in the well being of each rider, from Lab testing to assistance with training programs.

What are we looking for in an application?

Racing CV
A sample of your weekly training schedule
A brief history about your racing and general bio

Limiting criteria

Male cyclist need to be racing in A Grade (club level) and be under 30 years of age
Female cyclist need to be racing B Grade (club level) and be under 35 years of age

Please note that we do expect a lot of applications, so be patient with the wait and process and please dont take it personally if we dont have room for you, we cant cater for all riders.

Applications can be made to teamkosdown@gmail.com

We are happy to receive from any potential applicant's questions or enquiries via the same email address.

1887 watts reached in a sprint. Photo by Leanne Cole

Day Two Geelong Gardens, Bloody Hot! 45min 

After putting in so much preparation I thought I had every base covered.  Wrong! I forgot one thing, Somewhere to stay! After stage one I had to drive back home then back down again in the morning, doesn’t sound like much but in 40+ degree heat it was not ideal. Adding to that the organisers started to line us up by our race numbers not placings, which meant I started from the rear. It took me four or five laps of a little under 3min for each lap to make my way to the front, by this stage four riders were already away and with no protection from heat or strong winds I just had to survive and collect as many points as possible. To give you some idea of the conditions of 81 starters, 60 pulled out! My two bidons felt like shot glasses, they did

nothing. After the race I was white from salt, my face arms and my entire kit, covered with evidence of the conditions. kit. It was one very tough day in the saddle, 7th was all I had in me for that day. 

Day Three Port Arlington 

After a massive and I mean massive dinner and best part of 4 litres of soft drink, electrolyte and water I woke up feeling great, not good but great. Sleeping only 30 minutes away from the event made a massive difference. I rode a few laps of the course then headed out for some more easy flat road training.

When I got back to the van everyone was riding the other way around the course. Huh? I quickly found out that the race direction had been changed, so I headed down to the boys from Monza for SRAM service and swapped the Zipp 808 for a 404 rear with a climbing cassette, now there was a 10%+ pincher every lap and I wanted to save every watt I could.

This time the top 10 GC riders were called up, much better. From the gun attacks started, riders clearly trying to form a break. 

I was just sitting in leaving the “teams to chase” the threats to GC. Soon a strong 4 rider break away formed off the front and it looked serious. I was seriously contemplating bridging across but all of a sudden, they lost their way and came back to us. 

Bonus, more energy saved. The race was shortened to meet TV times which perhaps explains why there were so many attacks. We got the 3 to go and the peloton started thinning out single file, then on the last lap I surged. Clearly marked I was given no rope, but it was enough to make them nervous and burn energy, I went again then slowed it up enough to allow a rider through and hopefully have someone to sit on before the last kick. Some rider tried to swing past on the inside of the final turn so the last seconds of the race seemed to be occupied with attempts to stay upright and force riders away from cutting into my line. The choice for them was easy, go down or sit on my wheel. Suddenly the leading rider kicked and I knew I had to go, unleashing everything I had. Like most sprinters I get tunnel vision and only want to win so it was all or nothing.  

I really don’t remember the last moments of the race, I just drove it until the front wheel was over the line. As soon as it was over things kind of started going black, I rolled around turn one and found a familiar face, asked for water then crawled to the grass and began power heaving! My HR strap felt like a 10 ton weight on my chest and I felt like I was ready to pass out. Looking back now my max watts and HR probably explain why, my max HR was well over 200bpm and my Garmin registered 1887watts.

The pace was high enough to pop 44 riders out of the race leaving only 20. The podium presentation was done, van loaded and I was heading home that’s when I really realized what had just happened, in 12 months I have travelled from racing C grade at club events to now maybe winning the Jayco Bay Crit individual support series. I did have a lump in my throat, my new twitter account was going nuts and my phone wouldn’t stop. 

Final race Williamstown

I was super nervous; I think I had 10 toilet stops while warming up. I had people I didn’t know coming up wishing me well a fair few friends and my close friends from Team Kosdown and Bike N Bean which was great. I had also received some great advice from some very experienced cyclist that calmed me down. I did feel a lot of pride wearing the Yellow jersey coming into the final day, but that soon passed once the race started.

To put it nicely the “teams” were tag teaming me like their life depended on it. Instead of breaking I figured that I had worked my ass off to be in this position and I deserve it, so I just counter attacked and started getting some help from other riders that were tired of the “teams” dictating the race. Then as the pace was starting to pick up I was 4th wheel going into the tricky turn, when the 2nd rider in line went down taking 3rd with him, I had nowhere to go but jam the brakes on. I can safely say that all my years as a motorcycle racer saved my bacon right there. I pulled it up and rolled to a stop on the front wheel with the back wheel a few inches in the air. Problem was I had nowhere to go, bikes and bodies were in the way, and I panicked until race official said its OK sit wait take a lap out, as it turns out 3 of the top 5 GC were there with me. The SRAM boys were right there with spare wheels and ready to help, thankfully I didn’t need it. Greatly appreciated!

But the rough riding only got worse. I can’t remember how many times I was ridden into the gutter or rails from that point on. Without elaborating much I made sure some of them understood that racing 300km/hr is far more unnerving then some bike rider trying to force you off your line. Heading into the final lap I was swamped by GC rider’s team mates, boxing me in. I had to put out around half a dozen efforts over 1000watts with a max of just under 1400watts. It was enough to charge forward with meters to go but not quite enough to win. I think the difference was a tyre width. But it was enough to collect the points needed for GC, and enough to win the series. Again, post race was occupied with attempts to regain my composure and re-oxygenate.   

While it was only 180min of racing it was weeks in the planning and bloody hard work that went into standing on that top of the podium wearing the yellow.

Shannon tells his story about his preparation for this event and the following National titles, a group of races that had him race almost 5 races in one week, recording sprint efforts as high as 1887 watts. 

Part 1

This winning thing seems to be easy right? Wrong so very wrong!

A few months back when I was starting to realize some of the potential I had as a sprinter I contemplated entering the Jayco Bay Crit series. I had a great road season, which was my first in this sport but I wanted to see what my sprint could do in criteriums.   

The first hurdle was getting time off work, for most who race in this country is not an easy task. Thankfully I was able to juggle some rosters and I set about putting together a program that I thought would work for me. 

Then through some cocky brain wave I thought “what the hell?

I’ll give nationals a crack too” Honestly I only wanted to survive and still be there to hear the bell, how quickly goal posts can move!

As my distance count started to dwindle all my rides had a specific purpose, to make me win. That was the simple part. I’m not going to list all my secrets but if you have ever felt light headed and needed to lay down after heavy exercise, then you know what my schedule would have looked like. 

Many times after these all I wanted to do was go home and sleep, but that dirty “R” and “W” word gave me no rest, Reality and Work. That meant working sometimes 12 hour days leading up to the Christmas period, getting a few hours sleep and hitting the road for training and racing very tired. 

In the final weeks leading up to the Bay Crit and Nationals I went to races as a work hard and winning a second priority, it was a difficult pill for me to swallow but needed to get the form I required for the critical month of January. 

Sometimes that meant having nothing left in the tank for when it counted but my aim was to make sure I was at my strongest during the peak period. 

New Years Day - Geelong on Hot Dog course 

No hang over for me, just a gut full of nerves.  I knew I had left no stone unturned but had my opposition? 

For the Bay crits Paul from Bike N Bean had fitted my Kosdown teammates Stephen Lane’s SRAM Quarq power meter to my S-Works Venge.  I wanted to get a really good look at my racing loads is compared to training. Well I can safely say I don’t think the term the best training is racing is spot on. 

Before the kick off I didn’t get a great warm up and suffered for the first 20-25min, my heart rate hugging the red zone followed by the legs feeling like saddlebags. For a moment I thought I had not prepared properly as a critical move formed up the front, with me and a lot of other riders watching it gain ground with every passing minute. But I thought it was time to see if I really had the form and bridged to the break away group, sucked it up and slowly regained my composure and oddly started to feel good.  Very quickly everything was back together again. 

You can imagine 70 odd riders on a 350m loop in 30+ degree heat all wanting to win, plenty of crashes and there were some moments where our helmets should have been boxing head gear, some of the young kids watching from the side lines would have learnt some choice new words...

It was trying to keep my ground amongst this mass of riders that actually consumed most of my time and before I knew it the 5 lap sign came out. Straight away the teams started driving the pace. But the faster they drove it, the better I felt and with that my confidence started to build. Game on! 

Going into the final lap I was positioned around 6th wheel, into the exit turn around 4th wheel and by the time we swung into final turn, 2nd wheel, perfect. 

Then a rider acting like a new recruit from the Taliban comes flying up the inside, a suicide mission but I had to react in case he pulled it off. I had to pick it up, run wide, losing my momentum and making it worse after he popped about 20 meters out of the turn he faded right as I was coming up. I had to check up for a second time. Not my usual full gas approach to the finish line but a lesson learnt. Second by a tenth or two, which in hindsight wasn’t bad as I found out I wasn’t ready for yellow.

Part 2 to follow 

Team Kosdown invites everyone down to Williamstown tomorrow at 12pm to support our rider in the yellow jersey, Shannon Johnson. In the first three stages, Shannon has a 2nd, 7th, and a 1st and will be looking at not only defending the yellow but aiming at another stage win. If you spot any of us on the sidelines, come say g'day, and when you see that yellow jersey zip past, yell at the top of your lungs!

Stage details: http://web.me.com/rbueman/JBCC/2012_Stages.html

The team will be there all day to catch the action across all grades. See you there! 

This year has seen our team not only grow in size, secure some great results but more importantly we like to think we have become a larger but very close cycling community. This weekend would have seen most of our riders finish up for the year. Some head into base training, others will be getting ready for the Bay Criteriums, Lauretta Hanson and a few others will continue their track season and some may even tip their hat at the upcoming National Road Championships. 

For most of us, we will spend time with our families, get some solid training under the belt in preparation for the 2012 road season and be glad to take it easy for a few weeks. 

From everyone at Team Kosdown, we thank you all for your support and encouragement. We appreciate everyone in the cycling and corporate community for just being there to provide some friendly words, either via our facebook page or even out on the road. 

We thank our loyal and fantastic sponsors; 

David Downey and family at Kosdown Printing

Cameron and staff at K.W.Dogget

Aleks at The Bike Shed

Paul and family at Bike n Bean

Stephen Lane for his great work at HP Tech 

And all other sponsors who have provided individual support to our riders; 

Specialized Bikes

Thule Sweden 

More great news to come in early 2012 on this front, so stay tuned. 

We wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.  Stay safe on the roads and see you in 2012.

Team Kosdown has now been supporting local cyclist for several years. We have what we think is a pretty good description on our site about who we are and why some Victorian, National and International companies have decided to support locally based cyclist via this team.

Like most teams in this country the relationship between its riders and the sponsors is critical. We like to think that one of our stand out traits is our ability to really grow that bond. We strongly believe that support from corporate Australia can only last long term if the riders not only work hard to better themselves as athletes, but also promote those who furnish them with vital support. For our young riders this is an important education, teaching them the value working hard on the bike and also developing a bond with their sponsor.

So hence why some readers would see our riders openly promote their achievements, media coverage, and other acknowledgements. Its their way of not only saying thank you to their supporters, family and friends but to their sponsors.

As stated, our team does not profess to match the larger professional teams, but rather provide a platform for young riders to better themselves as cyclist and learn the important skill of not only racing well but promoting your sponsors. For our older riders its also an important environment to illustrate to other mature cyclist that age is not a barrier, that no matter how late you come into this sport, you can still enjoy it and race with some of the best.

Our other main goal is to provide plenty of examples to corporate Australia that cycling can assist in the promotion of their business and brand, even at a state based level. We are delighted that to date, that mission has been achieved. Stay tuned for more announcements in the months to come.

Meanwhile over this last weekend most cyclist around the state were delighted to get some racing in, given the recent wild weather. On Saturday a strong field lined up for the A grade criterium at the National Boulevard, run by Coburg CC. Drapac alone had at least half a dozen riders present. In very hot conditions the racing was certainly violent, with a break away eventually sticking, including Mitch Cooper (Charter Mason Drapac) and Adam Sample (Drapac). The chasing bunch never really got itself organised with many failed attacks disrupting attempts to bring the two back to the fold. The end result was the two riders secured 1st and 2nd respectfully, with Stuart Morgan from Bikebug taking 3rd followed by Kosdown's Shannon Johnson in 4th.

Lauretta Hanson continued her great start to the track season by taking out 3rd in the Women's under 19 individual pursuit event at the Victorian Senior Track Championships. This young rider is certainly a great example why Kosdown enjoys providing support to local riders, proving that with hard work and a little help, riders can achieve their best. Lauretta rode a 2.33.3 for the event.

Shannon Johnson taking out 2nd place at the St Kilda Crit

The Tour of Bright was raced and won. Team Kosdown had a number of riders competing in various categories including Shane Miller and Stephen Lane in Masters 1,2,3, Damian Burke in Master 4,5 and young Nicholas Katsonis stepping up to elite B grade. 

Across all grades and categories the racing was hard and this classic of events certainly did not disappoint. We hope to post up here a rider’s report over the coming weeks. From the team’s perspective Shane Miller nailed the ITT after missing the break in stage 1, falling 4 seconds short of Alex Morgan the A Grade ITT winner. He backed that result up by taking out 3^rd place for the Mt Hotham climb. 

Back in Melbourne our riders competed in the Coburg, St Kilda and Glenvale crits. 

Results from the weekend 

Shane Miller 1^st place ITT – Masters 1,2,3 Tour of Bright

Shane Miller 3^rd place state 3, Mt Hotham – Masters 1,2,3 Tour of Bright

Shannon Johnson 1^st place – A Grade Coburg National Boulevard Criterium

Shannon Johnson 2^nd place – A Grade St Kilda Criterium

Sam Lilley 3^rd place – A Grade Coburg National Boulevard Criterium

Lauretta Hanson 1^st Women – C Grade Coburg National Boulevard Criterium

Lauretta Hanson 1^st Women – C Grade Glenvale 

Shane Miller powering away in the ITT

Last weekend was very much disrupted by the very strong storm front that hit Victoria but it certainly could not stop those competing on the boards in the Victorian Track Country and Metro Championships. 

Kosdown’s Lauretta Hanson fronted up to compete in the women’s J19 events, which included the Pursuit, Sprint and Time Trial disciplines. It was certainly a long day for all riders and after 9 hours of events, semi finals and medal races Lauretta was the proud winner of 2 silver and 1 gold. 

Silver – J19 womens Pursuit

Silver – J19 Time Trial

Gold – J19 Sprint 

Good summary of results here

She continues her great track record, which follows from a successful track and criterium season in 2010.  We look forward to seeing this young rider develop as the months roll on. 

This weekend several Kosdown riders will be joining hundreds of other cyclist in the gruelling Tour of Bright. Stay tune for updates and race reports. 

Our team is blessed with some very talented time trail specialist and one of these riders is Stephen Lane. He recently competed in a Half Ironman event and as part of a team, doing the bike leg of the event. It involved a staggering 90kms. Now most cyclist would consider 40km as a long ITT but Stephen was not just able to finish it but averaged 41km/hr. Next time some of you finish a criterium or road race and you average that event around that speed with 40 other riders - think of Stephen doing that by himself. Here is his report. 

Last Sunday I completed the Shepparton Half Ironman as part of a team. For those of you unfamiliar with the triathlon world a half ironman as the name describes is half the distance of the legendry Ironman events made famous by the Hawaii Ironman world championships. A half ironman involves a 1.8km swim, 90.1 km bike ride and 21.1km run. Although this year I was only completing the bike leg I have in the past competed at an elite level at this distance race and I can say it is the most gruelling racing I have ever done. 

My approach to the 90km TT would be dramatically different to that of the past as I didn’t have to save anything for the run. You may think that doing the bike alone would be easier…. Well, retrospectively I can say it wasn’t… It meant no holding back and sitting on the rivet for 2hrs hoping the legs would hold out. 

My approach was to add a little bit of science thrown in with a considerable amount of taking it km by km. The science part was the nutrition, caffeine supplementation and the aerodynamics (well some call it science and others call it an art). 70g of carbs per hour, 600mg of caffeine divided into two doses and an aero setup that was really only comfortable for about 20km. So here we go…. 

The teams went of last with the pros off first and the age groups athletes going off in 1 minute waves in between. So I basically had the whole field to catch. My motivation was that the 2011 race was on a new course (2 x 45km loops), which meant the bike record was up for grabs. A super fast time for the course would be a sub 2:10 and this was in my sights. 

Our swimmer pulled a ripping time and was about the 4^th team swimmer out of the water. I flew out of the transition area clipped in and put the hammer down. With a steady line of athletes ahead it was a matter of pulling them in one by one. With so many riders (1300 athletes in total) it was a matter of continuously calling ‘passing on your right’ to clear the road as I flew by. I settled into a blistering pace. The first 20mins my heart rate averaged 180… probably a little too hard.. but I was feeling awesome. The best motivation was the fact that I was blowing by everyone and the best part was blowing by all the guys I knew from my old triathlon days and the regular exclamation of alarm. 

One lap down and I had averaged a smidge over 43km/h still felling good and slowly catching the Pros. My plan was to go hard the first lap, back it off the first half of the second lap then smoke the final 15km. I was holding a steady pace and my watts were exactly on my threshold. All was going well until the 65km mark when I began to have a few cramps in the hip flexors. Holding such an aero position for such a long time was my greatest concern from the beginning.  I sat up until it eased then got back down and held a manageable pace. The legs still had a lot left so I tentatively wound it up hoping that the cramps would stay away. 

5km from home I had caught all but the final few Pros who would go on to win the event. These guys are freaks. There is no way with all the training in the world I could ride the pace I did and then run 21.1 km. 

I pulled into transition and tagged my runner Mark whos job it was now to bring it home. It was starting to heat up I knew the run course was a killer on a hot day. For the next 20 minutes I attempted to walk around but was still stuck in the aero position I had held for a little over 2 hrs. I could barely walk back to my car. 

Id finished the 90kms in 2:12:41 (41 km/h) and the first team off the bike… I had nothing left to give. The fastest bike spilt went to the eventual winner of the day Leon Griffen (2:09 and change)…. What a freak. Our team finished 3^rd after a blistering run by some of the other teams. It was a great day and It reminded me how much these things hurt…