MUCKERS DOWN UNDER RACE 8 OF 8. 29/08/23
Rouvy Route Used: Lake Pukaki | New Zealand | 26.05miles | 882.55ft climbing
Route 7 from the Down Under | Medium challenge
101 REGISTERED | 56 FINISHERS | 10 DNF | 34 DNS | 1 DSQ
174 different riders have jumped on at least one of these down under championship races over the last month over these main races and the 2LATE4ME ones and although its been a bit of a math’s head scratcher, its been worth it (plus I also learned some new skills in creating spread sheets 😂 rather than my trusted pen and lots of paper!)
I have been asked by a few why I didn’t follow the route order for my races and it was basically to be able to get them all finished in the 5 weeks that I had, plus, I always want my championship races to run on at least the same day of the week when on. So I had 5 weeks to run 8 races. So I chose the 2 longest ones to be stand alone races, then tried to get the other 6 into 3 nights of double headers but trying to pick the right ones so each week was about the same intensity. I also wanted the last race to be a single race rather than a double header, nothing technical about this, just seemed the right thing to do. Quite difficult to arrange all this in practice, but I hope everyone managed ok and can see the method in my madness now.
so how many actually started this last race, covering a quite long 26 miles but not too bad an elevation figure of 882ft? 67 lined up for this from a new record 101 registered riders! “Procat” got the win, just in front of the rider we know to not have the best set up and figures. I’ve constantly reached out to him to ask toeither provide extra data or just not turn up for my races, but I get no reply so unfortunately all i can do is report to ROUVY and disqualify from my results. So this moves everyone up 1 place meaning “Tuden” gets 2nd and “hinsbergen” gets 3rd, just in front of his teammate “adampel” in 4th. 5th over line comes “BartVdBrande” then a battle for 6th with “pasjordi60” just beating “broken79” in 7th.
8th goes to “stephane-martin” 9th to “wards” , 10th to “yayarecki” who just beat the Muckers Worldwide due of “Berty-Bassett6” in11th and “rmadden1” in 12th. really strong showing guys! 13th came “lrollin” , 14th “stefan793” 15th “Risckys_GURE”. Battle for 16th next with Muckers Worldwide team rider “tomlerieger” just getting the place in front of “pawiverse.com” in 17th.
looks like a massive bunch from 18th to 24th next, separated by just 11 seconds! But we only mention the top 20 when we have over 50 on the start line so well done to 18th place “Scratsner”, 19th place “Minyana” and the final mention to the 4th Muckers Worldwide team rider in the top 20: “SwissChris69”. Well done to you all and i hope you like your special mentions😉
36 more riders crossed the line and plenty gave up tonight so well done to all the finishers as this was a long race!
for those interested, the final Muckers Worldwide Down Under Championship standings will be published tomorrow night as i need to let the 2LATE4ME race run later on tonight.
cheers everyone!
| # | Category | User | Points | Team | Racetime | GAP | av.mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men |  Procat | 100 | LRD | 0:54:21.5 | 28.75 | |
| 2 | Men |  Tuden | 96 | Flø Garage Cycling | 0:55:54.4 | 0:01:33.4 | 27.95 |
| 3 | Men |  hinsbergen | 93 | Team Adam-Chris | 0:56:49.7 | 0:02:28.6 | 27.5 |
| 4 | Men | adampel | 90 | Team Adam-Chris | 0:56:50.6 | 0:02:29.6 | 27.49 |
| 5 | Men |  BartVdBrande | 88 | 0:58:29.2 | 0:04:08.1 | 26.72 | |
| 6 | Men | pasjordi60 | 86 | Thonon-Evian | 0:59:14.6 | 0:04:53.5 | 26.38 |
| 7 | Men |  broken79 | 84 | Forno Pioppi | 0:59:16.8 | 0:04:55.8 | 26.36 |
| 8 | Men | stephane-martin | 82 | TroyesAubeCyclisme | 0:59:28.9 | 0:05:07.9 | 26.27 |
| 9 | Men | wards | 80 | 0:59:40.8 | 0:05:19.7 | 26.19 | |
| 10 | Men |  yayarecki | 78 | 1:00:29.2 | 0:06:08.1 | 25.84 | |
| 11 | Men |  Berty-Bassett6 | 76 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:00:31.1 | 0:06:10.9 | 25.82 |
| 12 | Men |  rmadden1 | 74 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:00:32.1 | 0:06:11.6 | 25.82 |
| 13 | Men | lrollin | 72 | 1:00:37.6 | 0:06:16.6 | 25.78 | |
| 14 | Men |  Stefan793 | 70 | 1:01:06.8 | 0:06:45.3 | 25.58 | |
| 15 | Men |  Risckys_GURE | 68 | GURE | 1:01:34.3 | 0:07:13.3 | 25.38 |
| 16 | Men |  tomlerieger | 66 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:01:39.8 | 0:07:18.7 | 25.34 |
| 17 | Men | pawiverse.com | 64 | 1:01:39.8 | 0:07:18.7 | 25.34 | |
| 18 | Men | Scratsner | 62 | 1:03:34.2 | 0:09:13.2 | 24.58 | |
| 19 | Men | Minyana | 60 | GURE | 1:03:34.9 | 0:09:13.8 | 24.58 |
| 20 | Men | SwissChris69 | 58 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:03:35.3 | 0:09:14.2 | 24.58 |
| 21 | Men | flyger | 56 | 1:03:35.5 | 0:09:14.4 | 24.58 | |
| 22 | Men | kylofski | 55 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:03:37.8 | 0:09:16.8 | 24.56 |
| 23 | Men |  Alf1963 | 54 | Bømlo SK, Norway | 1:03:42.5 | 0:09:21.4 | 24.53 |
| 24 | Men |  Chak | 53 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:03:45.5 | 0:09:24.4 | 24.51 |
| 25 | Men | tranberg | 52 | CK GOG | 1:05:03.5 | 0:10:42.4 | 24.02 |
| 26 | Men | Pimporro_GURE | 51 | GURE | 1:05:03.7 | 0:10:42.6 | 24.02 |
| 27 | Men | S.Ludford | 50 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:05:17.9 | 0:10:56.8 | 23.93 |
| 28 | Men |  M_Kali | 49 | 1:05:18.5 | 0:10:57.5 | 23.93 | |
| 29 | Men | Dok_PS | 48 | 1:05:20.7 | 0:10:59.7 | 23.92 | |
| 30 | Men | Loki1972 | 47 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:05:24.8 | 0:11:03.8 | 23.89 |
| 31 | Men | Andy_UP | 46 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:05:27.2 | 0:11:06.2 | 23.88 |
| 32 | Men | Squalo_delle_Alpi | 45 | Shark Attack | 1:05:32.7 | 0:11:11.6 | 23.84 |
| 33 | Men | Floehaner | 44 | Erdinger Aktiv Team | 1:05:41.3 | 0:11:20.2 | 23.79 |
| 34 | Men | DolphWader | 43 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:07:18.7 | 0:12:57.7 | 23.22 |
| 35 | Men | ChadRitchie | 42 | 1:07:26.6 | 0:13:05.6 | 23.17 | |
| 36 | Men | jeff65 | 41 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:07:49.9 | 0:13:28.9 | 23.04 |
| 37 | Men | SR-71 | 40 | Gem City ICC | 1:08:22.8 | 0:14:01.8 | 22.86 |
| 38 | Men | stijnley | 39 | 1:08:23.1 | 0:14:02.9 | 22.85 | |
| 39 | Men | Mick_Michel | 38 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:09:03.3 | 0:14:42.2 | 22.63 |
| 40 | Men | Tom-MWW | 37 | Muckers worldwide & Croston Velo | 1:09:37.1 | 0:15:16.8 | 22.45 |
| 41 | Men | Mucker1974 | 36 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:10:22.7 | 0:16:01.7 | 22.21 |
| 42 | Men | KurtNiederkofler | 35 | South Tyrol | 1:10:58.8 | 0:16:37.7 | 22.02 |
| 43 | Men | ls2934 | 34 | VCFA Fontainebleau-Avon | 1:11:12.3 | 0:16:51.2 | 21.95 |
| 44 | Men | Lyndon65 | 33 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:11:12.4 | 0:16:51.4 | 21.95 |
| 45 | Men | uffzynda | 32 | Muckers Worldwide | 1:11:14.3 | 0:16:53.2 | 21.94 |
| 46 | Men | Timojoli | 31 | 1:13:29.9 | 0:19:08.8 | 21.26 | |
| 47 | Men | J.Oetting | 30 | 1:13:39.6 | 0:19:18.6 | 21.22 | |
| 48 | Men | derrydingle | 29 | 1:13:47.2 | 0:19:25.1 | 21.18 | |
| 49 | Men |  cespa | 28 | CK Vinohradské šlapky | 1:13:52.1 | 0:19:31.6 | 21.16 |
| 50 | Men | N.Rustad | 27 | 1:15:05.2 | 0:20:44.9 | 20.81 | |
| 51 | Men | PaoloTriVet | 26 | Balucchi&Co. | 1:15:06.7 | 0:20:45.6 | 20.81 |
| 52 | Women | dawniol | 25 | 1:17:08.7 | 0:22:47.2 | 20.26 | |
| 53 | Men | stetopps | 24 | WBCCC | 1:17:09.4 | 0:22:48.4 | 20.26 |
| 54 | Men | gkientzy | 23 | 1:18:44.1 | 0:24:22.1 | 19.85 | |
| 55 | Men | Bullshifter | 22 | Bullshifters | 1:22:03.7 | 0:27:42.7 | 19.04 |
| 56 | Men | steve-1955 | 21 | Stella Artois | 1:22:03.8 | 0:27:42.7 | 19.04 |
| dnf | Men | Arno_G_KMO_Cycling_Master | 10 | KMO Cycling Master Team | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men | maratonbiker | 9 | GURE | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men |  checoneger | 8 | Elite Suito | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men | miguelrouvy23 | 7 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | user_1178351 | 6 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | giorgiotriboldi | 5 | B.B TEAM | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men | diegozor | 4 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | jakschultz | 3 | yumetofu.ch | dnf | – | |
| dnf | Men | guest440 | 2 | dnf | – | ||
| dnf | Men | cydermex | 1 | dnf | – |
41st tonight on my return after a weeks vacation. had some really good battles and had pressure from behind all the way to the finish line. Special thanks to Mick_Michel who tried to help me along and without him id have probably been nearer 50th! well done to every one on this new record amount of registered riders on a Muckers race!
When I looked at the registarnt list for this race, I knew it would be tough. The strongest riders from all over the globe showed up. There were also lots of new names and I hoped the rider count would play in my favor by offering more chances to draft. My goal was a top 35. I started the race pushing 4-5 w/kg and found myself right where I wanted to be, in the second big group. Normally that would be top 20. Amazingly I was 36th though, the riders ahead were so strong. I don’t remember much in the middle, I remember mixing it up with the group. But I was exhausted after mile 8. For a bit I considered pulling off but I wanted to finish this series and finish this race so I pedaled on. I know Chad Ritchie passed me and I wanted to jump on his wheel so bad but I just didn’t have it. I ended up in no mans land riding 800 ft behind Chad and 800 feet in front of Mich for what seemed like forever. Just after halfway I got my second wind and fell into a comfortable pace. I was still holding the same distances but could tell the guys in front and behind had someone working with them. I justt kept giving my all. In the last 2 miles I managed to get past stjinly and Tom-MWW, I just outlasted them. With the disqualification, I took home a 37th. This ride was 3 minutes faster than my previous best. Although happy with the result there is a tinge of unsatisfying in it.
I too experienced the same sensations, but you always have to take the right ideas so as not to give up. You improved by 3 minutes, I arrived close to S.Loudford and Kylofski, then of course I also worked for 18 km alone and it was increasingly difficult… but we improved 💪
can’t grumble at 3 minutes and you only get better by pushing yourself and riding with better riders! well done again!
Excellent job crafting all races in 5 weeks Neil. Glad you got some help from the spreadsheet.
nice one, thank you.
Last race of the championship, Neil mentioned that before the championship started, we thought that many of the regular competitors, who we would usually be up against, might miss a race due to going on vacation midway through the championship. However, contrary to those expectations, all of them participated in every race. Despite this unexpected turn, it was time for the final race, covering 26 miles of rolling hills. Starting in 45th position, I pushed hard from the beginning, managing to move up into the 30s. During the ride, I encountered fellow Muckers “S.Ludford” and “SwissChris69,” and we rode together in a peloton along with a few other riders.
As we progressed, I noticed more Muckers ahead, including “Chak” and “Andy_UP.” Joining their group, we formed an even larger peloton and continued to push forward. Each rider took their turn leading at the front, which mentally helped me tackle the miles one by one. By the time I reached the 15th mile, I was completely exhausted, but the peloton’s camaraderie motivated me to keep going.
With only half a mile left, “SwissChris69” and “Flyger” surged ahead. I had nothing left to give after covering 22 out of 26 miles, but considering the 67 riders at the start line, I’m satisfied with the result. I extend my gratitude to Neil for organizing the Championship and eagerly anticipate the next one.
Last note: 101 registered riders for this race absolutely amazing.
great result Mucker! we continue to grow…….🤞
As always a great race, too cool to see 101 entries!!! I had to defend the 15th place in the general classification and therefore I set off decisively, I pushed on all the climbs they came hoping that my legs would do their job. I traveled for a while with jeff65 and SR-71 if I’m not mistaken but then I wanted to take the big group of S.Loudford and Kylofski who I know are stronger than me, I got there twice but then they disappeared. Strange to say but I think I did 15km alone. With 3 km to go, three of them passed me, but I pulled out a last hit from the rear and before the finish line I regained a position. Tired but happy, for how many we are today it was difficult to aim for the top 20 and therefore never give up and greetings everyone 💪
Absolutely incredible with 101 registered for tonight’s Mucker’s race 😮 super cool that so many show interest in the races and the work that goes into planning and managing the website. I had a little speech chat with Kyle before the race on Discord. It is a medium that I have only recently become acquainted with and find it quite amusing. You should all try it 👍 Kyle probably thought I was another Danish rider, because he offered that if I was he would fall back and help me if there was a crisis 😉 I just thought … he’s a real joker that Kyle 😂. Well, on to the race. It was packed with really good riders at the starting point. And with that in mind, I had a plan ready. Run the race like it was only 20km long and try to stick to the Procat like a fly on a shit. The hope was to be able to break most of the field in the first half and see what happened. We drove a good part of the first half in a group of about 8-10 people. I don’t have an overview of every man, but Chris and Adam were there and of course Procat. There was an attack from the right and left, and the group was split up several times so that each man drove 15m apart. But each time there was a gathering again. It was only when Invictus (disqualified) came up to the front group that it really exploded. I Procat and the Italian got a gap of about 150m and gave it gas to make a further lead. For my part, I could only hang on until a little over halfway down the route and had to let go of their wheels. But at that time I had over a kilometer down to the pursuers, with Adam and Chris in front, among others. Then it was just a matter of maintaining the lead and securing my third place. I could see the pursuers giving it a shot in trying to get me, but I had the strength to keep the status quo. I am super satisfied with my 3rd place, and even though I have been moved up a place to 2nd place, it does not mean much to me, as it is my own performance that I have to evaluate. that people choose to ride with help in the form of bad equipment or outright cheats doesn’t matter that much to me, as it actually helps to push me further and thus train harder for me. it is fine enough. A big thank you to the team behind Mucker’s Worldwide for keeping the wheels turning, and using their free time to make the rest of us happier and in better shape👍👍
I agree with your ideas, congratulations for the race 💪
nice way to look at it pal. well done
strange isnt it that you can still find yourself in no mans land even with loads racing on the route! Thanks for all the support and comments, means a lot. cheers!
So to keep 9th place I had to finish in front of ChadRitchie, so I asked everyone on the Muckers WhatsApp not to help him, and give me some draft when needed. They did both, Loki stayed with me the entire race, even if I had to let go of a fast group. Halfway S. Ludford joined and both just dragged me to the finishline. Meanwhile, other Muckers behind me gave Chad a hard time. I know, 9th place or 10th, doesn’t really matters and nobody cares. But it was great fun to act as a team in a common goal, very heartwarming! So thank you Muckers. And thank you Neil for setting up these great races and championship! It just gives everything a bit extra spice.
cheers Andy and well done on this race. and getting the points needed. its been a great little championship and ive learned a little bit more from this one to try and make the next one even better. cheers again, Neil
Multiple changes of plan mid race tonight. Forgive us Muckers for planning to protect some Championship positions tonight, even virtual teamwork is great fun. “Andy_UP” had the smallest advantage to protect (1 position) so we had people with Andy and people with his opponent (sorry Chad, we love you really). I was initially an anchor on Chad (no team name … Mucker?) but my problem was needing to finish within approximately 8 positions of “Tranberg” who came riding past our group … hmmm … Chad is normally way stronger than me, if I chase “Tranberg” I risk dragging Chad across, but he didn’t quite seem his usual self so I went sudden and hard and got 100ft quickly which soon increased, part one complete. I was then in a fantastic group with “kylofski”, “Chak”, “SwissChris69”, “flyger”,”PinporroGURE” and “Tranberg” and we were MOTORING along. Motoring too fast, we caught “Andy_UP” meaning he would drop back 7 positions … part two … Confident (but nervous) teammates Kyle and Chak would try to beat “Tranberg” I decided to stay with “Loki1972″ and assist Andy to the finish, it appeared the bigger risk and the 3 of us kept within 20ft of each other until his position was safe. One final bit of fun, I still wanted to finish reasonably close to”Tranberg” so had a good sprint to regain a couple of positions at the line, couldn’t quite hit 1000w (room for improvement) so will keep trying. Yet again I had to kick again to pip my foe from last week “M_Kali” … Keeping me on my toes.
I think it is awesome that on this virtual platform it is realistic enough to have Team orders. Looking back the only thing I think I could have done different was have a list of riders that were close to me in points so I could push a little harder to keep with or ahead of them.
Well done Ste, Andy owes you some pulls in the next one now!! it was amazing watching and listening to you guys working as a team. All from around the world, in your own little pain caves, yet really feeling like you were pulling a team mate along! its mad when you think about it!!!
What a race. Wasn’t ready but boy – 101 signed up 🙂
There’s a lot of infight during the race. I’d no glitch or ghost riders this time and it felt like being in a real race with that many riders.
hopefully as we go into winter, we get over 100 starters!!! might have to re-evaluate the points again if that happens….. well done Mucker
42km, no long and steep climbs – the course should suit me. After the peloton sorted itself out, I found myself in a group of 3 with Mucker1974 and N.Rustad. We rode together for a while. Mucker1974 and I were able to leave N.Rustad behind. I now had SR-71 in front of me and thought that if we worked well together we could catch him. However, Neil was not in top form after his holiday (🍕🍔🍰🍨) 😂, so I tried it alone. But SR-71 was too strong, there was no chance of catching him. In the end it was 39th place, which sounds bad, but in this field of strong riders it’s great for me. Once again a great event. Thank you all!
cheers Mucker and i am so sorry I wasn’t able to pull as well as i wanted! on a better day we would have had SR-71 but unfortunately it wasn’t today..
Going into this event, I knew it would be a long, hard race, so I would need to manage my energy early on. Only 1.5 points separating me and Andy_UP. The rider that finishes ahead of the other, gets 9th place. Yeah, not a podium spot, but it’s just the thrill of the chase that makes it all worthwhile. My plan was simple; to keep Andy_UP in sight, try to finish in front of him, and not lose too many points to 11th place, Tom-MWW.
Right before this race, I made the decision to change from the Cervelo to the new (not so super) Festka Spectre—bad move. It looked fast for this route, and I was looking for any, legal advantage for this event. Looking back, I should have checked the Rouvy Analyzer to see how this bike compared to the Cervelo for this route. This bike felt like it was made of concrete, sluggish start, couldn’t hold a draft, and I was getting dropped on the downhills. Frustrating situation, but I just had to settle down, get in my zone and ride my own race, letting points go up the road. I’m not sure being on the Cervelo would have made much difference anyway. Some days you’re hot, and some days you’re not.
Afterward, Andy sent me a message letting me know that he asked his Muckers teammate to not work with me and help him when needed. I let him know that no apology was needed here, “it is a race and that’s what teammates are for”, helping each other out—great job Andy and Muckers!
Congrats to everyone that participated in making this a super-fun championship series! As a recovering Zwifter, this has been the most fun I have had on ROUVY, thus far. A BIG thank you to Neil for all of your efforts in organizing these races, the other events you organize, points calculations, blog posts, etc.
Really enjoyed this series , last nights was a test to see what legs were like after a week off the bike but on my knees ! Set off fast as I could and was passed by a worryingly lot of people ! Pace was never gonna be sustainable but soon got into a group with 3 others and 2 were helping us keep infront of the next bunch , we worked well together but could feel legs fading a bit near the end ,worse scenario was on the cards again – a 4 way sprint , yayarecki went first and long , thought I would try and grab his wheel see if he tired – he didn’t – I did ! Then it was a true neck vein popper effort to keep place with Madden1 pushing bigger numbers just behind and getting closer finish line was just in time ! Thanks for sorting this all out and I really enjoyed it – roll on winter !
Loved this race tonight, not my favourite coarse but I was looking forward to it. Got my usual start at the back from the gun, one day I might get it right. So we are off and I got into a good rhythm and started to pick a few off. Managed to catch up to Timojoli and we started to work well with each other, he pulled me down the hills I pulled him up. About 5 or 6 km Togo we caught up with uffzynda and J. Petting we also worked well and we had a little sprint at the end to finish off what was a brillent end to a top race. Thank you Neil and Kyle for putting these a vents