After a week off, there is HEAPS to catch up on this week…
Dirt Critters (Junior Dirt Crits)
by Kate Stonnill
Junior Dirt Crits wrapped up on Tuesday and, despite the threat of rain, it finished on a high.
Maddie Brown and Miles Vivash, both in Sprocket Rockets, showed enormous improvement in confidence and technique in a short time, with great success riding the bridge. They lead the charge and finished with a race lap.
The Chain Gang group turned up keen to race and so they did the longest race this season, covering Bogans, Joyride & a hot lap in under 25 minutes! Micah Chadd led them home followed by Alastair Ross in 2nd, Max O’Brien in 3rd and Trent Bowman in 4th who finished strongly to catch the leaders.
The Trail Blazers were also keen to be challenged in their last week - they raced their longest race circuit with two laps of Joy Ride followed by a lap of Critters. They rode solidly for an average of 30 minutes. The win taken out convincingly by Rueben Bateup (only rider in sub 30min) followed by Ben Ross in 2nd, Charlie Mountain in 3rd, Elsie Leatham in 4th and Jesse Fields in 5th.
Each group finished off with some Easter cheers of drinks, lamingtons and easter eggs - and the leftovers were very appreciated by the Seniors.
Dirt Crits
By Dave Empey (Ghost written by Kate)
Seniors returned to the 10 lap short course undeterred by the threat of rain. The challenge was to see how quickly Ruby Dobson could catch and pass all of B grade who started 5 min ahead… which she did. Ruby finished first in A grade with a time of 31.05. Followed in 2nd by Ant Bateup 36.24, 3rd Luke Vivash 39.50.
B grade followed with Steve Curnow taking the win in 39.25 followed by Dave Bock 44:15 and Charlie Hall in third 47.57 just ahead of brother Daniel.
With one week to go the consensus was for another Gravity Enduro to see out the season. Followed by a drink & or feed at the Mansfield after the race.
A wet and windy race.
By Tim Hall
With some foreboding, fifteen riders gathered for the regular Thursday night racing. The squalls of rain disrupted the marshals in their pre-race duties and the riders huddled behind the wall of Rodwells at the start line on Buller road.
But the rain mostly held off for the racing. At least it wasn’t too cold, just windy and wet roads.
The route was out along Buller Road, around the Barwite loop, finishing back in town opposite the showgrounds.
Limit set off with Tony Morris and David Bock, followed by David Jagger and Di Condie. David and Di were caught by Tim Hall and Craig ‘Wil’ Wilson just past the Graves Rd corner making a handy group of four for the rest of the race.
Behind them, Janine Appleton and Steve Curnow were making ground in the head wind section, but struggled after the corner when the wind was from the front quarter. Both were ‘in the mix’ when the block and second block groups came through and finished the ride with them. Included there was Tom Macmunn, Dave Moore, Bruce Halket, Steve Duke and Darren Bakker. Anthony Plumber was off the back of the bunch at that time, struggling on the hills and in the wind.
Setting out last to manage on his own was Chris Miller – punished by the handicapper for his good form in the lead up to the Mansfield Hotel Tour.
Meanwhile, out the front was David Bock, still leading and nearly holding off all the others. In the wind and, by now, on his own.
Caught on the run into town, David Bock managed to get onto the back of the group of four and stay with them to the final corner. With the back markers closing in very quickly, Tim worked his way up the climb to the finish line. Dave Jagger came in second, with Wil third and David Bock fourth.
The finish was very tight with all except three riders finishing within 90 seconds of each other.
The Mansfield Hotel award went to David Bock for his tenacity in difficult conditions, on his own out the front. A great effort!
Thanks as always to the volunteers, commissaire and handicapper for supporting the racing. And to Lise Curnow for the images this week.
O’Hanlon’s/Howes Creek Handicap - Thu 18 Mar
By Chris Miller
Riding conditions were near perfect for this year Howes Creek Handicap Road Race on a still late summer evening with a slight haze and smell of smoke in the air from all those farmers and cockies burning off last season’s crops stubble. A bunch of Mansfield finest cyclists had gathered, many arriving early for a pre-race warm up rollo and reckie of the roads to MacMillan Point. Plenty of movement and murmurs at the station starting line as all participants discussed how best to ride the handicap race and how to tackle the mighty O’Hanlons Rd hill top finish! (Over 10% - steep!)
Departure from the Lord’s Ground saw David Bock and Di Condie take off first to set the pack to chase. Wil Wilson was off next, comfortable in his tempo as he tapped it out along the long road of Malcolm St out to Howes Creek Rd. The consistent quiet achiever Janine ‘She’s Apples’ Appleton took off looking super shape and pro as always with Seven Curnow in tow. Followed by the engine room of the club, Anthony Plummer, Steve ‘The Duke’ and Damian ‘Reg’ Grundy. Next off was always strong and smiling Jock Brega, Darren Bakker and ‘Late for Detention’ Tom MacMunn. The final Motley Crue off-scratch with Bruce ‘The Don’ Halket, Chris ‘Always the Bridesmaid’ Miller and the ever chippy Dev Moore left off Scratch with a laborious time handicap of 12 minutes to chase down.
The pace was set high at the back of the field with Halket, Moore and Miller setting the now familiar Wolf-pack of rolling turns and working hard to bridge the first 2 minute gap. The roads felt heavy as ever on the warm night as heart rates quickly climbed to over 150bpm. It seemed to take forever to catch the first group at about the 10km mark with Tom MacMunn charging at the front. It was agreed to merge the groups for the betterment of all as we all continued to chase down the next groups up the road.
Road conditions proved tricky with rolling, winding roads, steep pinches and gravel covered off-camber corners to navigate. Thanks to all the marshals on each corner offering advisory caution to riders and keeping traffic informed of our presence.
With a slow wide turnaround at the MacMillam Point cul-de-sac the Scratch group Wolf-pack reformed to tackle the final chapter of the race. Halket, Moore, MacMunn and Miller kept the wattage and tempo high as we began to catch further race groups. Plenty of positive encouragement was offered as we passed Wil, Di, Steven and the ever smiling David Bock.
There were still 5 to 6 more club folk up the road so we knew it was going to be a close finish.
Chris ‘The Bridesmaid’ Miller even got ahead of himself and rose the temp off the front until Bruce ‘The Don’ told him to “pull his head in” and leave some in the tank for the final climb. The group finally caught the Engine Room of Ant Plummer and Steve Curnow equally contemplating how to bloody hell to tackle the final climb with Janine Appleton looking focused within the bunch.
With only 1 km to go and still no sign of ‘The Duke’ and ‘Reg’ who must have been closing in on the final climb up O’Hanlon Rd. Rounding Campagnolo Rd (an appropriate cycling name) Moore put in huge turn before bidding the mob good day followed by Halket offering some final advice to the group on getting set for the big climb to the finish line. MacMunn was absolutely charging on the front as he lead the scratch bunch into the final off-camber corner at a frightening speed – it took all our road handling skills to avoid over cooking the corner and end up over the bars.
The final two, ‘The Duke’ and ‘Reg’ were sited on the final hill climb as ’The Bridesmaid’ rolled passed Tom’s awesome lead out with hopes that tonight might be the night for his first win of the season.
The legendary tough climb up O’Hanlons Rd was as tough as its reputation as all riders began chewing their bar tape and watching their heart rates climb through the roof. Miller managed to keep his cadence and wattage just high enough to catch the final two with 150 metres to go. Only just hanging on and inspired by the finishing marshals singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody line “Chris Miller!” instead of “Bish Milla, we will not let him go”… Chris “No Longer The Bridesmaid” Miller managed to take his first victory for the season; but only just!
The remainder of the field continued to grind up the gruelling climb, willing the finishing line to arrive. Steve ‘The Duke’ did a great job hanging of for 2nd followed closely on the podium by Damian Grundy. Halket took 4th and Tom ‘Late for Detention’ MacMunn 5th and best dressed and quieter achiever Janine ‘She’s Apples’ Appleton 6th - Janine may have been seen gentling falling off the bike with exhaustion at crossing the finish line.
David Bock and the ever cheerful Jock Brega still also managing a smile at the end of the climb.
Needless to say that everyone gave their all on this challenging course and a bloody tough final hill climb finish.
As always a huge thanks for all the organisers and marshals of Jason Parker, Tim Hall, Michael Pearce, Tony Copland and vocalist Leonie McLaughlin…’Chris Mil La!” And thanks to Leonie for using Tony’s camera to grab a few snaps.
MMBCC well represented at National Downhill MTB Championships in Tasmania
By Kate Stonnill
The National Championships competition was held in Maydena Tasmania. Practice runs commenced on Wednesday 10 March on very dry and dusty tracks followed by seeding runs on Saturday after heavy rain which turned the tracks to “peanut butter” mud. This proved challenging for the riders who were seeding for their race runs and for the cross-country riders who had their own championships running at the same venue.
Race day, thankfully, came out sunny to dry out the tracks and give the riders a faster race run. The track was a World Cup standard trail, a first for Australia, which included very steep technical rock sections, steep off camber corners and large jumps with gaps up to 45 feet wide.
Mansfield was well represented with five riders from the club competing at the national level.
First to ride was Maddison Smith in Under 17’s women. Maddie raced well with a clean run on a very technical track to come third to take home the bronze medal.
This was quickly followed by the Under 17 men. This was the largest class on the day with nearly 70 fighting for the podium. Zac Empey raced well with only a couple of slide outs finishing strongly midfield at 39th.
Next up was Junior Women. Bella Green raced well on the gruelling track to finish 5th, only missing 4th place by one second. Elise Empey, who qualified fastest, was last to come down the hill in this category. Elise came across the line to snatch the Gold and the National title.
The girls were then followed by the Elite women. On time Elise would have finished second in Elite women. The junior women in general proving they are a force to be reckoned with. Auscycling also mentioning the strong junior women’s class.
The only class left to emerge from the trees were the much-awaited Elite men. Matthew Empey, ranked 9th, in his first year of Elite, unfortunately a nonstarter due to injury. The class was closely contested with Troy Brosnan once again finishing on top in a very exciting finish for all spectators, made even better with live timing and the huge crowd at the finish line.
Congratulations to all riders from MMBCC.
2021 Mansfield Hotel Tour
By Bruce Halket
After a covid-cancelled 2020 Tour, it’s been a pleasant week since the 2021 Mansfield Hotel Tour to know that we were finally able to organise our home race again.
Feedback to the changes have been really positive and mostly well-received.
Kudos to all the club members who had a go at racing the Tour: Rachel Delaney, Will Calvert-Jones, Chris Miller and Josh Hopwood. (In particular, thanks to Chris who volunteered on Saturday morning holding TT riders, then did his own TT, then back to work holding others - something I can see more MMBCC entrants trying next year. I’m looking at you Hopwood!)
Many, many thanks to all the club members (and others!) who volunteered their time to host the event. In particular, huge thanks to Jason Parker, Dave Jagger, Dave Moore, Jarrod Appleton and Alex Green for putting up with me on the Tour Committee. And a special thanks to Tony Copland who worked as an AusCycling Commissaire for the weekend and to Al Seaton of High Country Trees for supervising the traffic management.
Thanks also to Annina, Craig, Jamie and everyone at AusCycling Victoria and to Jean-Pierre Ronco for all the great images. For more images of the tour and other great cycling images, visit Jean-Pierre’s website.
And, of course, many thanks to our sponsors: Mansfield Hotel, All Terrain Cycles, Mansfield Crushing, Paton Air Helicopters, Krush, Lezyne and Goodyear.
We’ve already announced that we’d like to go again in 2022, the weekend after the Labour Day long weekend, 20-21 March - that is if club in general agrees to host it again. (That will be the week before the Highline MTB Fest.)
Thanks again for your support.
