Apparently we should have something here about horses; not sure why. Anyway, onto riding bicycles…
Classic Mansfield Racing
By Protra Pedina (guest Spanish cycling enthusiast from Club Rocacorba, Girona)
Some may remember that I visited Mansfield for the last few years. When not cycling in Spain I am lucky enough to travel to a few locations and sample the delights and camaraderie of cycling clubs from places as diverse as Los Angeles, Beijing and St Petersburg. But Mansfield remains my favourite – the town, countryside and the people are all beautiful.
Thursday night racing (31 October 2019) was no exception, with perfect late afternoon summer conditions for racing. With nearly 30 starters the scene was set for another club great race out the Whitfield Road and back via Barwite Road, finishing on Graves Road.
Riders gathered for the sign-on at the botanic park carpark, with Allan Gerrans overheard saying “I’ve always liked this course, it suits my style of riding, and I hope I can bury a few out there today.” Despite strong performances in the past weeks Allan didn’t feature in the finishing places this week.
Despite the best efforts of the faster markers to chase down the early starters they just couldn’t get it together in a consistent manner to challenge for the placings. Bruce Halket, when asked post-race what went wrong, replied “I should have been training rather than sitting around all winter doing nothing. This sport is a mental game, but apparently training has something to do with it.” Keiren Payne agreed strongly with this sentiment but was out of breath and unable to comment. The one bright spot for the faster riders was Josh Hopwood again set fastest time for the night. “I felt aero out there today. It’s great starting with [fellow scratch marker] Steve Brown, but really pleasing to eventually ride away from him as the race settles down.”
All the action was with the earlier starting groups as they battled crosswinds in the rolling terrain. A group of ten riders came together quickly and started working well together.
After the turnaround, the group lost Craig Wilson, Tim Hall, Micala Jacobs, Judi Duke and Steve Flew despite them putting in some sharp turns. “I loved it out there today and felt good. At the end of the day I just couldn’t stay with them” said Duke.
The winning group of Janine Appleton, Steve Curnow, Bella Green, Hunter Reeve, Dave Jagger and Alex Green settled into a rhythm for the remainder of the race. Working well into a headwind along Barwite, the first cracks started to appear as they climbed Coomesberg. David Jagger clearly out of breath was heard to mumble “So long…see you at… thanks…” leaving Appleton, Curnow and the Green’s to battle it out.
In the end, Alex Green came over the top of Appleton and Bella Green to take his first win in 8 years of club racing. Curnow came in fourth. At the post-race interview Alex Green said “I’m happy to say that you can just be an average kid with no talent at something and still make it happen if you believe in yourself and dedicate yourself 100%. I would also like to thank my mother.”
Mr Green and his family were seen celebrating the win late into the evening with dinner at the Delatite Hotel, a long term and great supporter of everything cycling in Mansfield.
As with all club races around the world that I attend, they couldn’t happen without the support of volunteers, marshals and behind the scenes work. A big thank you to all and a special call-out to the commissaire for the evening Tony Copland. He is well renowned throughout Victoria as firm but fair, particularly by visiting cyclists who make sure they have their registrations up to date.
Next Thursday the club races at a town called Jamieson; it also sounds very beautiful.
Here are the results (and the current points scores) and many thanks to both Tony Copland and Alex Green for the pics.
Dirt Crits – Gravity Enduro Summer Series race #1
By Damian Grundy
Tuesday 29 October 2019 - Rifle Butts MTB Park - what a great evening of GRAVITY fuelled racing!
It was great to see so many riders keen for the battle. It has been an amazing start to the season and yet again on Tuesday so many new faces.
The evenings racing consisted of two technical and mostly downhill courses. As Damian was setting the courses there were a couple of baby (very small, short, insignificant) uphill bits which, of course, were the MOST fun.
The field was divided into three grades with Men A, Men B and Women.
Taking out he wins on the night were Matt Empey in Men A, Kevin Gannon in Men B and Elise Empey in Women.
Matt Empey was simply dominant with an overall time for two runs of 10 min and 11 seconds. This was a full 45 seconds faster than some old has-been in second. Of course Shannon Rademaker’s chances were cruelled by a broken chain in his second run.
In Men’s B the results were much closer with 13 seconds separating first and second. Kevin Gannon recorded a very quick 11 min 12 sec for his two runs.
Elise Empey and Ruby Dobson, who was second in the Women, were separated by 11 seconds. Elise’s overall time was 1 min 27sec.
As with any race there were many tales of woulda coulda shoulda. But as we all know “when the flag drops the bulls**t stops”. Well done to everyone and especially the winners.
The gravity series will return on Tuesday 26 November. If you missed the first race (strained heart muscle possibly), never fear. This is a four race series and your best three results will count to the overall.
Here are the results and thanks to Alex Green for the pics.
AusCycling
One final thing about AusCycling before the Cycling Victoria Annual General Meeting on November 9. The club will vote on your behalf. Which way do you want it to vote?
Unless we hear otherwise, the club will likely vote YES with a few suggestions about pricing, as discussed in last week’s news. But what do you want? Have your say! Send Damian an email and let him know your thoughts.
Cycling NSW has voted NO, but I suspect the way they worded the poll question didn’t favour a YES vote. As a contrast, we’ve also included the question the Melbourne Cycling League asked their members.
And here’s the link to a response from Port Fairy Cycling Club on Facebook which is worth a read.
MTBA members will have details of their AGM and the voting process by Wed 6 Nov. Remember, each individual MTBA member gets a vote.
Speaking of Port Fairy…
Well, almost. The details of the 2020 Melbourne to Warrnambool have been released and there’s a new 75km Handicap from Port Campbell to Warrnambool a few hours before the pros. (Perhaps Protra Pedina will enter as he’s apparently visited that part of the world too.)
Finally…
Targa High Country is on next weekend. It means the Mansfield-Whitfield Road will be closed north of Bridge Creek from 10.40am on Saturday. So it’s probably not the day to plan a ride to Whitfield and back. Plus Mt Buller Road will be closed in the morning for a few hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday; plus in the afternoon on Friday and Sunday.