G'day Everyone!
"Don't take life too seriously. You'll never get out of it alive." Elbert Hubbard
A lot to get through this time … take a deep breath and jump on in!
Winter Road Series
Di has put together a series of road races between this coming Saturday and late August - a series of 6 races; one every fortnight.
In the past, winter races haven't been all that well attended, so we're trying something a bit different to attract entries.
- All races start at 2pm on Saturday afternoon!
- All races start from the Botanic Park, will be about 30km long and will either finish back at the Botanic Park or on Graves Road.
- All races will be Handicapped. Entries to Di Condie via SMS on 0438 513 355 by 8pm Friday.
- If not enough racers enter, Di will SMS a cancellation to those that DO enter and we'll just go for our normal Saturday morning 9am ride. So spread the word!
- Two members have been rostered on for race duty. Check below and on the website - www.mmbcc.org.au - to see when it's your turn. All the normal rules on duty apply - if you can't do it yourself, you need to organise someone to do it for you.
Winter Road Series Duty Roster
June 18 – Deb Cook and Geoff Jones
July 02 – Dick Forrest and Rob Greenway
July 16 – Mauro Brega and Steve Plummer
July 30 – Darren Bakker and Tony Williams
August 13 – Tim Ross and Steve Flew
August 27 – Tom Thoburne and John Eisner
- There will be a random prize draw at the end of the series. If you ride three of the six races, you'll get an entry into the draw. Each extra race after that will earn you an extra ticket - so if you do all six races, you'll get 4 tickets in the draw (thanks to Narelle and 7 Peaks for letting me pinch the idea!) I'll speak to a few sponsors between now and September about prizes but the first one confirmed is free entry (including knicks and jersey) into the High Country Cycle Challenge.
Don't forget - first race is this coming Saturday at 2pm! Entries via SMS to Di on 0438 513 355 by 8pm Friday.
Club kit
The new long sleeve winter jerseys, arm warmers and wind vests have arrived from Ventou. Plus we've also got loads of new club knicks in stock too!
If you'd like some club kit, please email Tim <Tim.Ross@proactivetax.com.au> and organise a 'fitting!'
Last chance - subscribe to website updates
Don't forget, you can now subscribe to the club website and you'll be notified when a new newsletter has been posted.
To do this, go to www.mmbcc.org.au and type your email address in the box on the right and hit the button below it. (The top one is for the Latest News updates, the second one is for other special updates like a last-minute change of time or venue. You'll need to do one, then the other.) This will take you to the Blogtrottr website. They'll send you a message to the email address you entered. When you receive the Blogtrottr email, click on the link within it to confirm your subscription. And that's it!
Traffic Managers
Many thanks to all of you that have put their hands up for the Traffic Managers Course. I still haven't heard back from Deploy Management Services but I expect to hear back very soon about the course in August. So far, we have 16 members signed up. Plus Rotary has reserved six places too!
This should guarantee that the Tour de Flavour Criterium and Road Race can be held next March.
Annual General Meeting
The club's AGM will be held, as usual, at The Produce Store in August. (The actual date will be confirmed soon.)
Between now and then, please have a think about what you'd like to see the club doing and perhaps even what you can do to help!
Amy's Gran Fondo
If you haven't already heard about this, Amy's Gran Fondo will be held on Sunday 18 September along the Great Ocean Road. Sounds like it'll be really great!
http://www.amygillett.org.au/gran-fondo
Australian Masters Games
The 13th Australian Masters Games will be held in Adelaide from 7-16 October 2011 and will include road cycling and mountain biking.
To register or for more information about the Games go to www.AustralianMastersGames.com or call (08) 8409 1900.
Jeff Plant
I got an email from Jeff Plant in Canada the other day - here's what he's been up to with a mate of his; a bloke called Axel Merckx.
http://vimeo.com/24661338 and granfondoaxelmerckx.com
He said to say G'day to everyone in Mansfield!
Cycling Tips
Some of you know I'm a bit of a fan of a Melbourne-based website called Cycling Tips. Apart from the kit (which is just a little too Collingwood for me … anyone want to buy a jersey and wind vest?) it's a great site and has just been upgraded.
A couple of recent articles caught my interest and I thought you might like them too …
Here's an article on Lance's legacy - http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/06/the-armstrong-era/
Here's a very relevant one for Mansfield, on lycra in cafes - http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/2011/06/cafe-etiquette-101/
More on the interwebby!
More rules on cycling (thanks Wil) http://www.cycling-inform.com/bike-skills/136-unwritten-rules-of-cycling-etiquette;
Plus here's a little scenario I suspect a few of you are familiar with … thanks Jock - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZZG-muxPNY
Finnan's Gift Fundraiser
You may have seen a recent episode on "60 Minutes" featuring aerial skier Olympian Alisa Camplin and her husband talking about the recent loss of their young son to congenital heart disease. You can read more about it (and see the episode) on www.finnansgift.com.au
Kate McDougall and Allison Walker (and the Mansfield Farmers' market) are hosting a morning tea to raise money for this foundation which will in turn purchase much needed equipment for the Royal Childrens' Hospital. Please come along on Wednesday 22nd June from 10am for a devonshire tea fundraiser. (Ed - See Other Events tab for more details).
Two in three blame unsafe roads for staying off their bikes
A national survey conducted by the Cycling Promotion Fund (CPF) and the National Heart Foundation of Australia has found more than 62% of Australians want to be able to ride a bike for transport, but road safety fears are keeping bikes in the shed and off the road.
The data released today at the Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards in Canberra found that while more than 60% of Australians have access to a bike, almost 70% were not considering cycling for transport in the near future, even though more than half of those would like to.
According to Stephen Hodge spokesperson for the CPF, the main reasons why people were not riding bikes were unsafe road conditions (46%); speed/ volume of traffic (42%); don’t feel safe riding (41%) and a lack of bicycle lanes/ trails (35%).
"With almost a quarter of all respondents believing that cycling is not a safe form of transport, there’s a lot more that governments can be doing to foster a safe cycling culture in our cities and towns,” said Mr Hodge.
“We want to see existing bike lanes connected to each other, dedicated bike lanes physically separated from motor traffic installed and a comprehensive road users education campaign to raise awareness and make cycling safer.”
Interestingly, of respondents who rode, more than 88% rode alone and less than 1% claimed to ride with more than two people, bucking the general perception that cyclists ride in big groups, taking over the road.
“Being active for transport – walking and cycling – has numerous health benefits for the individual and government. Being active for 30 minutes a day can reduce the incidence of heart disease by as much as half. In addition, it improves air quality and saves costs associated with private transport,” said Dr Lyn Roberts, CEO - National, Heart Foundation.
More than 80% of survey respondents believed that the Federal Government should be doing more to promote a cycle safe culture and 70% agreed that the Government should be doing more to encourage cycling to school.
More than 60% of those surveyed wanted the Government to do more to encourage people to ride a bicycle to work and to offer incentives to get more people to use bikes for transport.
More facts from the survey
Those who ride a bike for transport typically ride on quiet roads (48%) and alone (87%), significantly outweighing those who cycled on busy roads (15%).
The majority of respondents cycle due to health and exercise benefits (90%) obtained from cycling but were also likely to be influenced by the economic (71%) and environmental benefits (68%).
Fast Facts - General
In 2009 1.8 million Australians rode a bike (ERASS Annual Report, 2009)
There was a 33% increase in bike riding between 2001 and 2009 (ERASS Annual Report, 2009)
More than 50% of car trips in Australian cities are under 5km and 30% are less than 3km (Australian National Cycling Strategy, 2005) making cycling a theoretically viable alternative to car use.
Download CPF Media Release: Two in three blame unsafe roads for staying off their bikes,1st June 2011, (PDF, 53kb)
Riding a Bike for Transport 2011 Survey Findings (PDF, 143kb)
For more information please contact
Kirsten Andrews - Heart Foundation - Mobile 0413 777 404 or (02) 9219 2468
Stephen Hodge - Cycling Promotion Fund - Mobile: 0411 149 910
That's all for now … see you out there.
Cheers,
Bruce Halket.