It’s been a huge week of MMBCC cycling!
Sunday
It started on February 11 with the first Mansfield Coffee Merchant Sunday Series race.
In a first for the MMBCC, it was a Handicap race but held on a small-ish circuit of 6km, along Ogilivies, Jamieson, Buller Roads and Crosbys Lane; four laps for a total race distance of 24km.
Tony Morris was first to start off Limit and had finished his first lap before half the field had started; Dan Purcell starting alone off Scratch had a huge job ahead of him.
Morris was never headed and won 3kg of Coffee Merchant coffee for a great ride.
Monday
Dirt Crits on Monday was an Irish Handicap at Riflebutts MTB Park.
The night started badly for Dan Purcell who fell during warm up and withdrew before the start after injuring his arm. Bruce Halket also fell before the end of lap one, injuring his ego.
James Griffin rode smoothly to win ahead of Jason Parker, David Jagger, Andrew Wettenhall and Dan Friday (the younger).
Here are the results.
Thursday
Thursday's road race were Graded Scratch Races to the top of the Coombesberg for A, B and C grades. Here are the descriptions from each of the winners...
A-Grade by Lewis Dowie
A-Grade were first to start from the Mansfield Botanic Park. Calls were made to disqualify Jarrod Appleton for a rolling start, having had to repair a flat tyre at the last minute, he made it just in time. Luckily for him, it wasn’t a fast start, because the neutral zone (which allows the old riders to get their heart rate up) extended until the Barwite Road turnoff. Here the pace picked up. Darren Bakker made an early break but the main bunch, riding strongly together, quickly reeled him in.
Damian Grundy made a break before the turn around at Sawpit Gully Road. The main bunch letting him go, knowing that the longer he was out front, the less chance he would have of making a break at the finish.
Lewis Dowie decided to put on an acrobatics show for the marshals at the turnaround. He came in a bit too fast and hit the brakes a bit too hard trying to avoid the rider in front and went over the handlebars. Lessons learnt: 1. Be careful with disc brakes; 2. Jock always turns right on the line; and 3. stay on the outside. The rest of the bunch took pity on his ineptitude and slowed to allow him to get back to them before the chase of Grundy began.
Various tactics were in play the rest of the race with no-one willing to be left out on the front.
Grundy and Dowie led up the Coombesberg, but there was a surge from the riders behind, pushing them out the back as the bunch came over the crest.
The race ended with a bunch sprint to the finish line. Dowie managed to find a clear run up the outside and pulled ahead to beat Bruce Halket by a wheel, with Appleton in third.
B-Grade by Dave Moore
Eight riders started in B grade and it was clear from early on that Rob Skinner, Steve Duke and Anthony Plummer were going to be the main aggressors. All of their (many) accelerations were nullified fairly quickly and all eight starters made it to the bottom of the 'Coomesberg' in one bunch.
Duke, who had spent a considerable time at the front all night, took the bull by the horns and set off up the climb at a rate of knots, with riders dropping off as the gradient increased and the speed didn't seem to decrease. Young Kody Appleton made a strong acceleration with about 1km to go, and only Dave Moore was able to follow.
After briefly catching his breathe, Moore put his nose in the wind for the second time all night and managed to push on to the finish in the lead, closely followed by Appleton and Duke.
C-Grade by Steve Curnow
C grade took it easy until the Barwite Road and then things heated up a bit with people being in front but not wanting to be.
Jodie Batchelor and Di Condie kept the bunch honest with two sprints, one before the Broken and one after. Steve Curnow and Big Wil wheeled them in, and the rest came along.
Steve Flew and John Eisner did their share of leading with Curnow offering to give them a break from time to time.
The big break was at Long Lane on the return. Eisner led, followed by Flew, Curnow, Dave Jagger, Batchelor and Kieren Payne. It worked! Jodie made sure that the front group maintained the lead, encouraging them to push on.
Once again Flew gallantly took the lead and then onto Old Tolmie Road with Coombesberg looming large. Half way up Flew made a dash only to succumb to a cramp, but he had set the ball rolling for the terrible sprint up to the finish line.
Eisner looked good, but Batchelor got the better of him and Curnow decided to give it his all, overtook Payne, Eisner and Batchelor to take out a convincing win. Condie also received a very prestigious award, leaving no doubt she had given it her all.
Pics below by Tony Copland and here are the results.
This week's road race...
The Bakker Plumbing Handicap will be held this coming Thursday 22 Feb, starting and finishing in Jamieson (late start - 6pm for a 6.30 start).
Presentations and dinner afterwards will be at The Wrong Side Brewery. Mmmmm...
Marshals: 1. Luke Olver; 2. Lewis Dowie; 3. Courtney Lynch.
Don't forget too that race two of the Mansfield Coffee Merchant Summer Series will be held on the Ogilivies Road Loop again next Sunday; but we'll start a bit earlier... 8am rego for a start at 8.30. (And we'll try not to be late starting this time!)
Marshals: 1. David Jagger; 2. Mauro Brega; 3. Tom Macmunn; 4. Dave Moore.
Club Strategic Plan
The club is developing a strategic plan and would like members to be involved in the development of it. Being a small club, the plan will be used promote membership and organise events, communicate to our local community and a broader cycling community and use in conversations with potential sponsors and agencies such as local government and state government.
The club would appreciate your involvement in the development of the strategic plan. To assist the process, MMBCC has developed a one page draft, above, that is based on information from the website and Cycling Victoria's plan. We value your input and would firstly like to invite members to a meeting on Thursday 19 April 2018 after Summer Presentations.
Could you please email Bruce to let us know if you are interested, so that we can book a venue.
Kian to MTB Nationals at Armidale
Good luck to Kian Lerch-MacKinnon who’ll travel to Armidale in norther NSW for next weekends’ Australian MTB Championships. Keep in mind that Armidale is Barnaby Joyce territory… hopefully Kian will stay out of THAT kind of trouble.