Don’t forget…
The MMBCC Annual General Meeting will be held at the Mansfield Hotel at 7pm this Wednesday 16 October.
Please RSVP to Cam Dobson on 0407 971 237 if you’d like to start with dinner from 6pm.
Start with consistency
By Damian Grundy
What a fantastic first night out for the Dirt Crits in the 2024-2025 season.
25 competitors with heaps of first timers and even an International competitor. It was a fun night for me and I hope everyone else had a great time.
One of the many highlights was the five female competitors. Great to see Serena, Nicole, Ariel, Rachael and Miranda. I hope to see you all regularly up there.
There were a number of younger competitors upgrading from Junior Dirt Crits, welcome and good luck for the season. For the 2024-2025 season the club is kicking off new season trophies for the Junior age category riders. There will be prizes for these categories at the end of the season.
The course and Race Site are in great shape after the recent rejuvenation works. We can’t thank Ant Bateup enough for all of his work. THANKS HEAPS ANT! And to those that gave you a hand!
Plus the working bee last weekend has made an amazing change to the Start/Finish Area, a huge lift in appearance and the feel to the place, so also a huge thanks to everyone who helped out with that.
There is still a lot of work that needs to be done so keep your eyes open for the next working bee day.
The racing for the night was our now traditional first week event of a 2 Lap Consistency Test. The winner on the night is the person who can complete 2 timed laps with the least time difference for the comparative times.
Have a look at the results sheets. It was a VERY competitive night. The eventual winner and 1st place getter for the evening was Reuben Bateup. He completed 2 laps in EXACTLY the same elapsed time of 9 min 51 sec. 0 seconds difference. I believe that that is an unbeatable result 😊
In Equal 2nd place were 3 first time Adult Dirt Crit riders all with a miserly 1 second difference, including the 2 highest placed women Serena Moring and Nicole Hoebergen. Also in equal second was Ben Ross. I think Ben deserves a special mention, still an U15 competitor and looking very quick. I predict it won’t be too long before he can show most, if not all of us older folks a clean pair of heels.
Luke Vivash managed a remarkable 3 second difference which on any other night would have potentially been a winning score but this night it was good enough for 5th place only - that’s cruel.
Other special mentions:
• Fastest 2 laps combine on the night – Cam Dobson.
• Fastest 2 lap Female – Serena Moring
• Fastest 1 lapper – Ryder Chadd
Here’s a link to the results.
Thanks everyone for turning out. I look forward to seeing you all for the second XC night in a fortnight’s time.
Busfleet are going to operate a shuttle service for bike riders from Mansfield to Mt Buller for the coming Summer.
It’s called the Locals Day Out. With a day pass you can get on and off the bus, with your bike, at different points between town and the hill, including Delatite Winery, the Hunt Club in Merrijig and Mirimbah.
And for MMBCC members, Busfleet are offering a discount on the 8am service.
Use this link to their booking portal and put in the code MMBCC when it’s time to pay.
Go to their website for more details.
Please note: the discount only applies to the 8am departure from Mansfield.
Dirt Critters is back this week
By Tim Ross and Luke Vivash
A reminder that Dirt Critters resumes this Tuesday afternoon. Meet at Rifle Butts Reserve on Tuesday after school – 4pm for Grade 3 and younger, 4:45pm for Grade 4 and older.
Dirt Critters is for primary-school age kids who like to ride and learn new skills in a fun and social environment.
Don't forget that a current Auscycling membership is required for all participants, but otherwise no charge. Potential new riders are most welcome to come along for a look and ask any questions.
It is good to see that some of our older (ie: secondary age) ex-Dirt Critters have moved up to senior Dirt Crits which starts at 6pm on Tuesday afternoons and are giving some of the adults and older kids a run for their money.
The Alpine Cycling Club Junior MTB series kicks off next Saturday (19th October) in Bright. These are friendly and relaxed events; there is no better place to give racing a go! We expect a number of Dirt Critters will be entering making this a good chance to ride with friends. Details including entries here.
For more details please email us.
A perfect start
By Dave Jagger
A perfect evening welcomed the start of the 2024/25 road cycling season.
A warm day, no breeze and a setting sun greeted the riders as they assembled on the Mt Buller road. They were all wondering how they would perform, had they trained enough during the winter, who was fitter. These were all unanswered questions that the riders were thinking about and would only be answered only as they crossed the finish line, 21 km away.
It wasn’t just the riders; the handicapper was also wondering who was in form and who had an easy winter.
First to start were Micala Jacob and Judy Duke. It was Judy’s first race for a few years and it was good to see her back.
Dave Jagger, Dave Bock and Ian Conrick were next to head off keen to keep a gap between them and the next group of Craig Wilson, Simon Hall and Tim Hall.
Jason Parker, Steve Curnow and Janine Appleton only started a minute later, and they had the advantage that they could still see the taillights of the earlier group as they headed out. This was no advantage as a minute was still too much of a gap for them and they never managed to catch them.
The race may have only been 21 km long but just after the start was a short steep climb that can make or break a group of riders. Stay together and the ride back to Mansfield along the Barwite Road would be fast and easy. Split up and it’s a long, slow, trek back by yourself.
Jarrod Appleton was able to join the next group of riders of Ryder Chadd, Steve Duke and Darren Bakker as they caught him but his partner, Adrian Dowd was not able to hang on.
The part to the finish is a 5km rollercoaster ride down into Mansfield. Carl Simmons and Bruce Halket must have thought they still had a chance as they were still in front of the fastest group of Andy Garrett, Shayne Kirby and Talia Appleton.
Out on his own was the fastest rider of the night, Jake Lay but was he quick enough? In a 45-minute race, could he really catch up 18minutes?!
The fist race of the season is always hard to predict as there are so many unanswered questions.
How fast were Jake and Talia after their European races?
How good were the new riders of Shayne Kirby and Carl Simmons?
What had Andy Garrett been doing over the winter?
In the end, the handicapper did a good analysis with all the riders crossing the finish line within a few minutes of each other.
Ian Conrick held onto the lead for most of the race followed by David Jagger, David Bock and Micala Jacobs. Jake Lay came in with the quickest time of 27 minutes, 54 seconds.
Many thanks to all our marshals and officials for keeping us safe and well-organised and to Dave Moore for his handicapping.
Next week it’s the rolling hills and river flats of Howes Creek Road.
Upcoming Events
Seymour Broadford CC - lots of road races on Saturday afternoons and on Tuesday evenings starting in November. Download the full summer 24/25 calendar here.
Mansfield Gravel Expo - 19-20 Oct - that’s next weekend!
Lake Hume Challenge - Sunday 16 February
MTB National Championships, Mt Buller - 12-18 March 2025
UCI Masters MTB World Championships, Cairns - 14-18 May 2025